Hua Qiangu, Chu Qiao Biography, Sansheng Sanshi and Xiangmi are all from the hands of "North" filmmakers, and the Beijing News interviewed the practitioners to reveal the reasons.
Why did Hong Kong directors become mainland costume drama makers?
After the Millennium, costume dramas have exploded, and diversified types such as martial arts, fantasy and Xianxia have attracted young audiences from generation to generation. Looking at the explosive costume dramas in the past two decades, we can easily find that most of them are directed by Hong Kong directors. From Legend of the Sword and the Chivalrous Man, Hua Qiangu, Biography of Chu Qiao to to the sky kingdom … Hong Kong directors inherited the production experience of Hong Kong costume dramas, and opened a new era of mainland costume dramas with their unconstrained imagination, real and freehand brushwork, and delicate and touching emotional shaping. Why do Hong Kong directors become the guarantee of costume drama? What are their advantages in shooting? The Beijing News reporter interviewed six Hong Kong TV directors to reveal their experience in filming costume dramas.
Hong Kong directors open the costume drama market
In 2005, Li Guoli, a Hong Kong director, was the producer. The costume drama The Legend of the Sword and the Chivalrous Man, directed by Wu Jinyuan, Liang Shengquan, Guanzhi Mai and others in Hong Kong, caused a sensation in the mainland and became the memories of youth of a generation of young people. Four years later, also produced by Li Guoli, The Legend of the Sword and the Chivalrous Man 3, directed by Hong Kong directors Liang Shengquan, Lin Yufen and Huang Junwen, reappeared, and Douban was rated by nearly 300,000 people, and became popular with actors such as Yang Mi, Tang Yan and Liu Shishi overnight. The success of the "Fairy Sword" series led by Hong Kong directors officially opened the prelude to the mainland costume fantasy and fairy drama.
Statistics can also prove the importance of Hong Kong directors in mainland costume themes. Throughout recent years, most of the costume works that have scored more than 8 points in Douban or rated more than 200,000 people are created by Hong Kong directors. Among them, Li Guoli, as the production director of film and television in the Tang Dynasty, has produced many landmark costume dramas, such as Legend of the Sword and the Chivalrous Man, treading on thin ice, Strange Man and a Plum. Lin Yufen has shot Hua Qiangu, to the sky kingdom and Chenxi Yuan successively, which established her label as "the trump card female directors" in the fantasy market of ancient costume. Zhu Ruibin won the recognition of many young audiences with "Sweet Honey as Heavy as Frost" and "Long Songs"; Chung Shu Kai set off a craze for costume idol dramas because of Warrior Lanling and Choosing Heaven. Guoguan Liang and Ma Huagan are tacit "old partners", and they have successively cooperated with such hit works as Lingyu, The Battle of Shushan and New bride with white hair. Jin Yong’s "Legend of the Condor Heroes" and "Eternal Dragon Slayer" have been remake again, and Jiang Jiajun, an experienced Hong Kong director, has also been chosen to work … If we say that the Hong Kong director’s "going north" in the early years has made the mainland’s booming costume fantasy and martial arts market; Nowadays, the popularity of costume dramas has also made Hong Kong directors synonymous with explosive dramas in the Mainland, and they have more room for development.
Avoid the shortcomings of cultural differences, and the behind-the-scenes teams such as Wuzhi are neat.
Why can Hong Kong directors achieve mainland costume dramas? "Give full play to advantages" is the most important reason.
In 1999, under the recommendation of people in the industry, Guoguan Liang came from Hong Kong to the mainland with a bigger market. Previously, Hong Kong audiences had few channels to see mainland film and television dramas. "Later, with this idea of going north, I saw some (mainland works). The whole production concept, from theme to performance mode, is quite different from Hong Kong. "
Hong Kong TV plays follow the factory-style production mode, with fast pace and high degree of commercialization. A play can be completed in a few months by alternately shooting the shed scene and the location. At that time, the shooting speed in the mainland was relatively slow, there were fewer commercial elements, the plot paid more attention to realism, and there were more live scenes.
With a little knowledge, the first TV series that Guoguan Liang chose after "going north" was the costume comedy Legend of Jigong. "Because my Mandarin is not good, I even have problems listening, and I have never lived in the mainland. In the mainland, the lines in the north and the south are different. How can I shoot modern dramas in the mainland? " In Guoguan Liang’s view, costume drama has relatively no strict reference standards, and Hong Kong and the mainland are in the same strain in traditional culture, so costume drama can well avoid the shortcomings of cultural differences of Hong Kong directors. "Come to the mainland or shoot what I am good at. The market is so big, I should be competitive. " Guoguan Liang thinks so.
Different from Guoguan Liang, when Zhu Ruibin came to the mainland to film, the first thing he came into contact with was the time drama and fashion drama. It was not until nearly ten years ago that he gradually turned to the works of ancient costumes, and directed such works as Qing Yun Zhi, Sweet Honey as Heavy as Frost, Long Songs, Meeting with Jun Chu and so on. However, even though he has rich experience in fashion drama, he has been in the mainland for more than 20 years, and Zhu Ruibin is still afraid to shoot history and other subjects. "Because I don’t think I can control it, I don’t have such a deep cultural background to understand. There will be some ancient poems and prose in the dialogue. When I don’t quite understand it, I dare not do it myself. On the contrary, costume fantasy, idols and youth, although they also have historical backgrounds, are more about feelings than history. So I can use more imaginative ideas to integrate. "
Chung Shu Kai also shot many costume dramas and fashion dramas, and his chronological drama "A Beautiful Scene Knowing Geometry" was also very popular. In his view, Hong Kong directors should have no problem with urban fashion sense, but life dramas still need to really live in the mainland environment to feel the real life atmosphere. On the contrary, themes such as ancient costumes and the Republic of China are relatively less difficult.
The producers of costume dramas value Hong Kong directors not only because of their personal abilities, but also because it is more convenient for them to cooperate with the Hong Kong team. It is reported that many mainland costume dramas are now using teams with "Hong Kong drama genes", especially martial arts instruction, photography and lighting. In 2017, the martial arts instructor of The Legend of the Condor Heroes studied at TVB. "Now many martial arts instructors are Hong Kong people, or have worked in Hong Kong, or served as deputies under the martial arts instructors in Hong Kong. They are unique in the mainland and have their own shooting style, but their techniques are still in line with Hong Kong action design. " Jiang Jiajun observed. In 2022, the main line-up of Qi Qiyi’s suspense drama "Hidden Mother" for women in costume also showed a strong alliance between Hong Kong and mainland film and television teams. "Photography and lighting are all from Hong Kong, hoping to facilitate communication and meet the requirements of the script more directly and quickly." Qi Qiyi said.
Shooting "Martial Arts" is very thoughtful, giving consideration to both action and artistic expression.
Just as Hong Kong directors are unfamiliar with the mainland market, the mainland knows little about the resumes of Hong Kong directors.
Liang Guoguan once participated in filming Bao Qingtian, I have a date with a zombie and many other works in Hong Kong, but his initial position in the mainland was more limited to "Hong Kong director"-he must be good at filming costume dramas and martial arts dramas. When he was appointed as the director of Group B of the costume martial arts drama Xiao Eleven Lang, Guoguan Liang not only needed to shoot a lot of scenes with drama, but also was asked to be a part-time "martial arts director". "I only left a few martial arts, so let me tell them how to fight, and then I will shoot. There is really no way, so I will bite the bullet and shoot. " Guoguan Liang said with a smile.
Since the 1980s, "Martial Arts in Ancient Costume" has become synonymous with Hong Kong drama in the hearts of mainland audiences. Huo Yuanjia was the first Hong Kong drama to be introduced to the mainland, and then works such as Dragon Eight, The Condor Heroes and The Dragon Slayer by Eternal Adversity continued to be popular in the mainland. Strangeness and groping for each other make it logical for a large number of Hong Kong directors to enter the mainland costume market.
In Jiang Jiajun’s view, the rich and systematic experience of costume drama has given Hong Kong directors a strong sense of faith in the subject. "Costume films are about rivers and lakes, a martial arts or fantasy world. The director must have a strong belief and believe in the existence of this world, so you dare to use your imagination to realize it. It is quite convenient for Hong Kong directors to shoot this aspect from the beginning of their career. "
Take the action scenes that need imagination most in ancient costumes as an example. Hong Kong directors have their own way of shooting. "We will refer to the movements of some animals, including the acrobatic troupe, to study some scenes such as flying in the play." Jiang Jiajun said that when he filmed The Legend of the Condor Heroes, he set the principle of "using less special effects, really shooting and shooting" for martial arts design, and made every effort to truly show the righteousness of chivalry with actions. For example, in the past dramas, "Eighteen Palm of Dragon" was mostly "painted" into a dragon with light-sensitive special effects. However, Jiang Jiajun asked martial arts instructors to use some tangible objects on the scene to assist in the presentation of skills. For example, leaves can be used to form a dragon in the Woods, which truly reflects the internal strength described in Jin Yong’s novels. In the play, Qiu Chuji and Yang Tiexin fought against each other’s guns and swords, hitting from the shed to the outside, and successively using stools, cups of water and snow to compete for internal strength. Jiang Jiajun once revealed in an interview with the media that the actions in this play are also derived from the real play of swords and guns, with some ethereal lightness skill and clever weapon use in the middle. In Jiang Jiajun’s view, when designing actions, you can’t just "hit", but let the audience see something more fresh than they can imagine.
Huagan Ma is used to leading some martial arts styles. In a costume martial arts drama he shot, there are ten different characters called "Ten Evil Ghosts". According to the characteristics of each character, Huagan Ma designed a completely different style of play for them. For example, "chihuo", Huagan Ma made him step on a steel wire, which seemed to float in the air, and used the invisible steel wire as his weapon, reflecting his "killing" intangible characteristics. The hero in the play is a handsome boy, but his actual mind is deep, so Huagan Ma discussed with the martial arts instructor that his tricks must look cruel, violent and explosive.
"Martial arts drama action play, the other party punched me, the protagonist is not blocked by light, and after the block, I have to throw the other party off with a beautiful figure. For example, if one or two chopsticks fly over, they can fly into the chopsticks tube … "Huagan Ma said that the action of costume drama should not only be beautiful, but also have ideas; There is artistic conception after the action, which expresses the spirit and integrity of martial arts. This is also the advantage that Hong Kong directors have in understanding the meaning of costume martial arts.
Ingenious combination of unconstrained thinking and tradition
There is a big wedding scene between Haodu (Liu Yuning) and Li Leyan (Zhao Lusi) in the TV series Long Songs. One is a princess and the other is a minister. How should the wedding of these two people be held? Zhu Ruibin was very upset about it. He asked etiquette, history and other consultants about the ancient wedding culture, how men and women should walk in, what they need to cross, how to worship the bride and so on.
In Zhu Ruibin’s view, the advantage of Hong Kong directors is their imaginative and creative thinking, which can bring more diversified and creative treatment to the lens language and picture expression of costume dramas. But it also stems from the lack of traditional culture of Hong Kong directors. "When we were young, we didn’t have a chance to understand the history of China too deeply. It was all superficial. We all listen to ancient stories, and then imagine them in our own way according to what we hear and tell them. Just like The Journey to the West, which was shot in Hong Kong before. "
Therefore, when filming costume dramas in the Mainland, Zhu Ruibin often requires himself to "grasp both hands", with the help of the mainland team’s professional control of traditional culture, combined with the imagination and lens language of Hong Kong directors. In the end, in this five-minute wedding drama, every etiquette detail was exquisitely displayed, from dressing and dressing to walking and visiting the church. The red yarn faintly visible in front of the camera and the interlaced lens show the romance and obscurity of the wedding. "I will try to put the new lens feeling into the traditional expression."
Written/Beijing News reporter Z Ryan