Chapter 8 8

November 20th, 1999 The first question Hou Hsiao-hsien is a cash cow · Yes, sorry, he is. Hou Hsiao-hsien is a cash cow. This bold prediction that completely violates common sense was not made by me, but by Zhan Hongzhi as early as 1986.Call it a prophecy, because not only did it say it too early, but before the ban on visiting relatives was lifted, Xiaoxian was a popular box office poison, and as far as we can see, Hou Xiaoxian only wanted to be a A preservation tree, that is already his best condition. During the filming of "Love in the Wind and Dust" in 1986 and "Daughter of the Nile" in 1987, in order to ask Zhan Hongzhi to plan and promote the promotion, there were several opportunities to meet and talk. Propaganda is actually not very interesting.His idea is so big that the investment boss can't help feeling sympathetic to him.Many of his seemingly dangerous thaumaturgies are actually consistent with my way.If you want to use it, you have to use his background and foundation thoroughly, bet on everything, and win big.Zhan Hongzhi understood all of this, but spent a lot of time with him in a tactful manner. The result was as he expected, wearing small shoes with big feet, and after a big circle with discounts and discounts, he returned to the original safe old road.As for his creativity, he can't use it, dare not use it, and won't use it.It was during that period, when I was in full bloom, that I heard absurdities in his conversation.For example, he said that Hou Hsiao-hsien is a cash cow.

He said, I'm talking about business, not culture. It's a risk-free business, he said. Selling a movie can be like selling a book, he said. He said that the premiere of Hou Hsiao-hsien's next film should be abroad, in Paris, New York, or Tokyo. He said, treat Hou Hsiao-hsien as a western film. He said...he said a lot.I am honored that I was a witness at the moment when those verse-like conclusions broke out.Zhan Hongzhi often "concludes first and confirms later".Regarding the above mentioned, I haven’t seen him demonstrate it in words yet, so may I temporarily talk about it with the excitement of an eyewitness at the scene first.

The second question is art and business? Wrong, why bother. The reason why Hou Hsiao-hsien still has some hope of making money is because of his art, not his business. Is such that.The market strategy of general products can seek "mass market" or "extraordinary segmented market".For example, a classical music record may only have a few thousand copies in Taiwan, but it will have a segmented market all over the world, and the collection is an astonishing scale.Similarly, apart from Hollywood's "big companies" that can truly produce films to grasp the global mass market, other film producing countries that are active in the international market have adopted extraordinary market segmentation strategies, especially France.France is currently the world's second-largest exporter of films, relying not on popular works but on high-toned artistic creations.

After the rise of the video tape market, the "selling port" of the film market has taken on a new look. The higher the degree of differentiation, the greater the chances of mutual sales of various films. In the past, it was difficult for Asian films to enter the European and American markets. There are new changes.Video tapes have also changed the income structure of movies. It has entered into a so-called "encouraging" income method. rent.The theater is no longer the only source of movie revenue, it's just a part. Therefore, on the one hand, it manages Taiwan's medium-to-high-level audience market, and on the other hand, it strives for the art film market and niche markets in other regions in Europe and the United States. This includes the sum of all rights and interests in domestic, overseas, and film and video tapes, which is the actual profit and loss performance of a film.

The recovery of port sales in the European and American markets is relatively slow, taking about one to one and a half years. Film companies must have relatively long-term investment plans and relatively sound financial capabilities.This is different from the market calculation concept of domestic films in the past, and it brings us great news. One of them, thank God, at least every film does not have to be forced into a no-choice gamble—the premiere in Taipei After one flip and two stares and flipping the cards, life and death will be decided within three days.Regardless of whether it is a short life of three days a week, a long life of two weeks, or Jackie Chan's super long life of three weeks, the film is over when it is finished.Short-term entry and exit is the only way for ordinary filmmakers in Taiwan to manage movies. It is deeply entrenched and restricts imagination and development.

Now, the new market strategy will bring revolutionary changes to the release of Chinese films in Taiwan. For example, the distribution of Western films means that the number of theaters is small, the screening period is longer, and the ticket price is higher. The search for elites The audience appeals.It makes possible a wider variety of films that are watched by a minority, and the genre of the film is more diverse and less centralized.It enables the life of the film to be extended due to the quality requirements, and its long-term continuous recovery of various rights and interests can still be paid for ten or twenty years later.Selling movies is like selling books.Zhan Hongzhi said, I am talking about business, not culture.

This is very different from the traditional operating system of Chinese films. It is already there. In the past, we did not have enough conditions to enter this system.Now, when domestic films have products that can be converted into real commercial benefits based on the achievements accumulated in film festivals over the past few years, it is time to give full play to the irreplaceable extraordinaryness of the products and develop the incomparable potential of this market. So the scene as the space and time of our thinking is different.Taking the selling ports all over the world as the target and operating in units of five to ten years, think about how different things we can do.

Let Zhu Yanping do what Zhu Yanping does, let Xingma Market go to Xingma, let the US and Canada Chinatown go to Chinatown, let Hou Xiaoxian shoot what he wants to shoot.Please don't dream of being Steven Spielberg, that's impossible.And please don't think he can make hits and blockbusters like "On Golden Pond" or .He can only shoot what he can. If this is fully practiced, he will have the opportunity to become "the only one, no one else", and this will become his business. If one day his film accidentally sells well, I'm sorry, it will definitely be an accident.

The third question is that Taiwanese movies have been played by them. what do you say You may wish to refer to "Hou Hsiao-hsien and Yang Dechang Open Up New Overseas Markets for Chinese Films" written by Wu Zhaowen, the planner of the arts and literature group of "Zili Evening News" on January 16, 1989. .Such achievements are only obtained by relying on friends to do part-time jobs and have no business at all.If there are people who know the goods and manage them well, Zhan Hongzhi said absurdly that investing in Hou Hsiao-hsien is less risky than investing in Jackie Chan.

The speaker is earnest, the listener is contemptuous, and there are also many people who hear it and laugh out loud. Two years have passed like this.In 1988, Times Film and Television Company, with its years of experience in buying and selling film and video copyrights, was able to imagine the beautiful utopia described by Zhan Hongzhi, and Qiu Fusheng decided to invest in the sea. On November 25th, "A City of Sadness" started shooting in an old-fashioned barber shop in Jinguashi, where the old Si Huanqing, played by Tony Leung, was fixing the film.In an octagonal room, there are two tank-like barber chairs in the front hall, and the back hall is converted into a photo studio. When Tony Leung is working silently, there are city people in front of him, who wash their hair and cut their hair.

Above, I explained the circumstances under which "City of Sadness" got the funds to start filming. The fourth question is just an oriental sentiment Maybe, maybe not. Just as the works of the fifth generation of directors in mainland China have frequently participated in foreign exhibitions and won awards, it has also aroused strong controversy between critics and critics in the industry. Ignorance is sold to foreigners as a selling point, as in "Yellow Earth" and "Old Well".The intense images of sex and violence in "Red Sorghum" have changed foreigners' stereotypes of Confucianism and modest China. We can also recommend another example, "Osmanthus Alley", which was produced in Taiwan, provided a window for foreign audiences to see the erotic forms of Chinese women.Hollywood's "The Last Emperor" satisfies the curiosity and voyeurism of Westerners about the mysterious ancient China.Tian Zhuangzhuang's "The Horse Thief" is based on life in Tibet. The exotic customs and magnificent pictures of the plateau are not bad.Hou Hsiao-hsien is nothing more than an oriental sentiment. These may or may not be true. If you want to talk about how Taiwanese films have gained a place in the world film industry, everyone with a little common sense knows that commercial films have no hope at all, even Hong Kong films and Jackie Chan's films can't compete with Hollywood. Of course, if we have The tragic hero insists on fighting, and I believe no one will object.Based in Taiwan, the best thing we can do is to come up with unique skills that others don't have in Taiwan. Well, it can be called local products, exotic, or a big, third-world aesthetic consciousness. Can.In short, we have it, but other countries don’t. Regardless of whether they are curious, worshiping oriental culture, researching, or respecting ethnic minorities, they all want to see and buy. We have won. Watching the first part, we said it was because of the oriental sentiment.Watching the second part, we said that it is still an oriental sentiment.Look at the third part, well, it’s still an oriental sentiment, so what is this oriental sentiment? Fifth question: lyrical tradition or narrative tradition Hey, will you run out of mixed race? Here, I must cite a lot of Chen Shixiang's remarks as a backup.Chen Shixiang (1912-1971) served as the head of the Department of Oriental Languages ​​and Literatures at Berkeley, where he lectured on Chinese classical literature and comparative literature between China and the West.I have only seen one copy of his Chinese works, "Chen Shixiang Wencun", which is one of the trendy series published by Zhiwen Publishing House in July 1972.Zhang Ailing wrote: "Professor Chen Shixiang once said to me: 'The benefits of Chinese literature lie in poetry, not in novels.' Some people think that Mr. Chen does not pay enough attention to modern Chinese literature. In fact, our past is so long and outstanding. Over the past few years, this achievement has been weighed against each other.” This is true of novels, let alone emerging Maotou movies.In order to be able to clearly explain a concept, I am sorry, but I have to compare it with Chinese and Western literary traditions. Chen Shixiang said that when Chinese literature is juxtaposed with Western literary traditions, Chinese lyrical traditions are immediately revealed.People are amazed that the great Homer epics and Greek tragedies and comedies caused the first full blooming of Greek literature, but one thing is equally astonishing, that is, Chinese literature, with its unrivaled style, rose from around the tenth century BC to the same time as Greece. Until maturity, nothing like an epic appeared in the Chinese literary world during this period.Not only that, until two thousand years later, there was still no drama in China.The glory of Chinese literature is not epic.Its glory lies elsewhere, in the lyrical tradition. The lyrical tradition begins with the Book of Songs, followed by the Songs of Chu, and the fusion of Chu and Han produced Han Yuefu and Fu.Since Fu does not have the layout of a novel or the plot of a drama to support a long and complicated structure, Fu masters express their know-how in sonorous and joyful language and music, so that their words can be strongly penetrated into the hearts of others.Once the impulse of the novel or drama appears in the novel, no matter how weak the impulse is, it will be deformed and lead into the ostentatious words and sounds. Yuefu and Fu continue to broaden and deepen this lyrical mainstream of Chinese literary ethics.It was popular in the Six Dynasties and lasted through the generations after the Tang Dynasty. It was with the newly evolved mainstream of other species, or stood in a side branch, or was out of balance for a long time, or was swallowed up and annexed.While the narrative techniques of the play and the novel were last to emerge, the lyrical body was still powerful and percolating.Yuan novels, Ming legends, and Qing Kunqu operas, let me ask, are they not stacks of famous lyric poems, but what are they? Some people say that this Chinese literary feature is the result of the influence of India.In fact, India's influence is planted on the Chinese land that has already blossomed and borne fruit.The lyric seeds of China have already grown, and the input of Indian lyric style only makes it more gorgeous. Of course, Greece also has the lyric poems of PINDAR and Sappho, and you can pick out fragments of hymns and warnings in Homer's works, and there are many beautiful things in the choral lyrics of Greek tragedies, but just look at When the Greeks discussed literary creation, they focused on the layout, structure, plot and character creation of the story.Greek philosophy and critical spirit devoted all their energies to the epic drama.Comparing the two, ancient China focused on literary creation criticism and aesthetics, and completely took lyric poetry as the main object.The emphasis is on the sound quality of the poem, the expression of emotion, and the pouring out of oneself in private or public.Zhongni's discussion of poetry, Xing, Guan, Qun, and resentment, talks about the meaning of poetry and the music of poetry. "Poetry expresses ambition" is to pour out the desire, idea and ambition in the heart. Taking the lyric style as the essence of Chinese or other Far Eastern literary traditions will help explain the conflicting and different traditional forms and value judgments of the East and the West.A tradition that is strong enough to stand in the world is always full of vitality.Lyric poetry in China is like epic drama in the West, so Zilai has already stood at the highest position. Western evaluation of the lyrical tradition has been increasing from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. "Lyric poetry is the product of pure poetic energy," so "lyric and poetry are synonyms."Coupled with Coolidge's romantic view: "Whether prose or verse, all successful literary creation is poetry", then we can also find an old Chinese saying that represents the oriental literary view: All literary traditions are all poetic tradition. Chen Shixiang also discussed the earliest origin of the word "poetry" in China and how it evolved into a noun expressing an abstract category.Because the establishment of a new term represents the gradual differentiation and formation of a new concept, and the process was intense and fresh at the beginning. He pointed out that the earliest application of the word "poetry", with special reference, was from the ninth century to the eighth century BC, during the three dynasties of Li Xuanyou in the Western Zhou Dynasty.Western literary philosophy and criticism are inherited from Greece. It is surprising that the fact is that until the time of Aristotle, there was no word for "poetry" in Greek.Aristotle's "Poetics" (POETICS) is a pioneering work.But he said clearly at the beginning that the works of art written in iambic, elegy or their equivalent meter have not had a name until now.In order to clarify the artistic purpose and method of poetry, he had to use a word equivalent to "poetry", so he had to use a word, which was later written as Po-esis in Latin, Poesie in Middle English, and Poetry today.However, the word in Greek at that time only meant "making" in general, and it could refer to all manufactured works. It was after Aristotle's analysis and creation that this word became a proper name.According to research, "Poetics" was written between 335 and 322 BC. In the late Warring States period of China, it was already the era of Qu Song's Sao Fu creation. Indeed, the highest state of Western literary tradition is not poetry, but tragedy.The word tragic means severe, often beyond self, terror and pity, and a thorough understanding of the universe of life. Greek tragedy is to dramatize the conflict between the hero's personal will and the fate of the two.Or the tragic hero acts blindly, until at last he discovers that fate has arranged his end all along, and he does not know it.In this we experience tragic horror and pity, from which we gain cleansing, sublimation.People are in direct contact with fate, and fate has become the incarnation of personality, and there are not one, but three goddesses, leading everyone with clues.But fate in China, whether it is the destiny or the way of heaven, is not personal.The so-called sky net is wide and sparse but not leaky, and fate covers everything that cannot be escaped, but it is not a god with will and personality, but is only compared to a net, although it is not leaky, it is sparse.Therefore, when personal will conflicts with such a vast and indistinct network, it will naturally not be conflicted.Originally, Chinese literature has never produced a tragedy like that of Greece since ancient times. Since the concept of fate in Chinese literature is not like the Greek incarnation of three image goddesses, what kind of posture does it take? Chen Shixiang said that fate is often an image of blank time and space, a huge and boundless flowing rhythm, There is no personal will, irreversible, beyond any individual, operating there.Individuals cannot conflict with it, just like the earth revolves.Although a person can also say that he is walking in the opposite direction of the earth's rotation, but if this is a conflict with the earth, it is really ridiculous.Instead of being a tragedy, it is a comedy.The Yugong who moved the mountains and Kuafu who chased the sun are all regarded as funny characters in Chinese literary tradition. The way of poetry is not to conflict, but to reflect and contrast.Neither can dramatic conflicts be used to express pain, and as a result, it cannot be resolved by tragedy's final "salvation".Poetry reflects the evolution of infinite time and space, and contrasts the fact that human beings exist in it, but it is also a fleeting fact. It is finally the fact that it is the human world and the world of great nature.On the contrary, poetry does not dissolve with redemption, but endless chant, contemplation, and silent recitation throughout life. Chen Shixiang pointed out that at the end of the 19th century, a few European literary critics and dramatists sought new ways and standards for Western tragedy art. They advocated the so-called "static tragedy", which required the cancellation of action in a tragic play.He advocates that "the real tragic element in life begins after all the so-called thrills, sorrows, and dangers have disappeared", and "only when the naked individual alone faces the infinite universe" is the highest interest of tragedy.However, these theories did not have any power in the creation of tragedies at that time, and they lacked practical achievements. "Static tragedy" drama, don't move, the phrase itself is an oxymoron.Just as rhyme cannot be without rhyme, drama cannot be without action. In the realm of tragedy, Western literature is always first-hand.As for the realm of poetry, God is pitiful, let us come. Question 6: Is it really that "good"? Not as good, I'm afraid, but it's an "exclusive". While I have the audacity to support the "Oriental sentiment" by clinging to the two major literary traditions, I also feel that no matter whether the Eastern or Western traditions are talked about today, they are really a legacy of the past, and the past is like smoke.It reminds me of "The Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty" written by Xuanzang. Wherever I go, whoever used to preach the scriptures and spread the law, the immortals and Buddhas stayed here, and the pearls, flowers, gold and jade treasures offered by good men and women are now "going to the holy place." Over time, precious stones will turn into stones." After many years, the stone traces will fade away. Go to Sheng Yumiao, and the treasure turns into stone.But occasionally, a momentary precious light flashes from the ashes, and the wandering soul changes, which will dazzle future generations.To put it bluntly, the commotion caused by Hou Hsiao-hsien's films in the European film industry can probably be compared to this.For those film creators and critics, they sighed from the bottom of their hearts, the story can also be told in this way! So simple that it could be a movie! If it was for us to shoot, the mother really can't do this kind of weird thing! But it's too simple. He didn't seem to be saying anything, and he seemed to have said everything.If you want to deny it, it's still there.It is a silent stone. After looking at it for a long time, it seems that there is a piece of jade hidden in it.There is no way to take it, so in the end, we have to treat it as a rare exotic animal and list it as a rare animal protection. Above, I have explained how Hou Hsiao-hsien's films, including "City of Sadness", will gain a foothold in the international film world and become popular.Now you can start questioning "City of Sadness". Question 7: How did the story come about? Yes, it was born from Chow Yun Fat and Yang Lihua, it is true that all of this started from them. The end of 1985 was a dark age for Hou Hsiao-hsien, but also a bright age. "My Childhood Memories" aroused outrageous bipolar controversy around that Golden Horse Awards.At the same time, "Winter's Holiday" won the Best Film Award at the Tri-Continent Film Festival in Nantes, France, and invitations from all over the world came.Hou Hsiao-hsien oscillates between market considerations and creative intentions, whether to be or not to be Hamlet's choice.At this time, the producer Zhang Huakun made a strange trick for him, and asked them to meet two people who were impossible to meet in reality and logic, Yang Lihua and Zhou Runfa.On December 31st, the last day of that year, the headline of the drama section of Minsheng Daily published: "Chow Yun-fat and Yang Lihua, when Hua meets Fa this time, there will be a chemical change immediately." According to the cast, they came up with scripts for them. Hou Hsiao-hsien and Chen Kunhou worked together a lot during their time together, Qin Han Lin Fengjiao, Lin Fengjiao Ah B, Ah B Feng Feifei, Ah B Shen Yan, and Chen B Jiang Ling.Back to the old business, soon, the story came out.Yang Lihua's Taiwanese language is bold, and Chow Yun-fat's Cantonese is handsome and masculine, so it is assumed that Yang is the eldest sister of the restaurant, and Zhou comes from Hong Kong with a secret mission, perhaps to investigate a batch of unidentified smuggled goods.The two clashed, and after some incidents, they developed a delicate relationship, knew each other very well, and so on.In line with the background of this kind of story, Taiwan seems to be only placed in Keelung Port and its hinterland Jinguashi, Jiufen, Beitou, and Taipei, which are complicated and developed long ago.Going forward, at least when the Jiufen Gold Mine was still flourishing, it is vaguely estimated that it will be restored.It is very likely after the liberation, because during the Japanese occupation period, it was not the turn of Taiwanese to do these jobs.Yang Zhou is the main line, and the branch line is about a pair of young lovers, Ah Kun and Mei Jing, who are either parallel or intertwined with them, reflecting differently.Later we gave Yang Lihua a name and called her Axue. This story outline written by Wu Nianzhen is a favorite of Golden Harvest. I hope it will be better if it can be changed into a Hong Kong version and filmed in Macau.And Hou Hsiao-hsien first went to shoot "Lian Lian Feng Dust".On the one hand, to expand the story, in order to establish a solid background of Ah Xue, her brothers, sisters, parents and ancestors had to be born one by one. The sweet potatoes and vines became more and more involved, and a big family was looming, so it was once said that it would be filmed into a six-hour drama. Collect and distribute video tapes and cut them into a movie at the same time.But Hou Hsiao-hsien went to film Daughter of the Nile again.In the vicissitudes of life, Ah Xueye has changed hands, and Chow Yun-fat does not know whether he will succeed or not.By the end of 1987, it was decided to make two volumes, so I read books and materials.Ashe became chivalrous and tender for a while, and then returned to the original state, changing back and forth, but Ah Xue's family members were finally born one by one. At first glance, they looked like Hehes. The family members of Axue's girlhood and what happened to them constitute the first episode of "A City of Sadness".Now, the first episode attracts us far more than the next episode.The second episode has become a distant memory, only the original prototypes of Ah Hua and Ah Fa are left, and they were burned there by chance. The next episode then disappears automatically.The first episode of Fuzheng is the film, a city of sadness. The eighth question: How are events arranged? It comes from building a character. You can neither think about the incident at the beginning, nor think about it alone. It always follows people. Of course, it is also possible to start from a phenomenon or an idea, but in the end we have to face the cruel fact of how to express it, well-expressed.Cruel, because no matter how great the idea is, when it comes to creating something that must be concretely shaped, it often doesn't know where to start, and there is nothing to do.Of course, you can also use a lot of symbolism, metaphor, irony, parallelism, etc., but please let others talk about these after the work is completed.In the selection and arrangement of events, it is best not to move out these treasures. Enter people directly and face things themselves.When the characters are established one by one to shake him, although the result may only adopt his auspicious light, it is solid.The visible part allows us to see, and the hidden part allows us to imagine.Then any situation that surrounds his present and future is organic, and sometimes overlaps with others, sometimes overlaps, and sometimes never communicates with others.The rest of the work is how to weave them together. I saw Hou Hsiao-hsien's trick when he was writing the screenplay, to take fragments.The ins and outs of the incident are like a long river. If you can't start from the beginning, you will draw a knife to cut off the water and take a ladle to drink.Hou Hsiao-hsien said that the worst kind of selection of events is just for introduction or explanation.Even if there is, Hou Hsiao-hsien will always be invisible.The selected fragments of the event are mainly because of its own charm, not for the sake of links or transitions.When he took the fragment, it seemed that he had been in the core of the event from the beginning, and the core was completely soaked, so that he confidently believed that he didn't need to explain to anyone at all.His hobby often lies in presenting such impregnable clips smoothly, forgetting about it. The background of "City of Sadness" is between 1945 and 1949, when the national government moved to Taiwan.When I read books at the beginning, I forgot the distance of the road. I traced back to the five major families in Taiwan in the late Qing Dynasty. Ye Rongzhong's "Taiwan National Movement History" wrote about his personal affairs.The richness and vastness of the materials lure people into it and they cannot extricate themselves. They want to fit in everything, but it is difficult to fit in anything.In this process, I was dull and learned that screenwriting is actually a process of cutting love and cutting with both rationality and boldness.Hou Hsiao-hsien was much more sensitive, he quickly stepped into the state, threw away all the materials, and faced creation directly with bare hands. Everything begins with concreteness, and everything ends with primitive concreteness. Ninth Question Scripts, etc. are not equal to movies Not equal to much. The root is: the screenwriter's thinking is different from the director's thinking.It can be seen from one thing that Wu Nianzhen's script is extremely readable, and ordinary readers will have fun reading it as a literary work.Edward Yang's script is like a blueprint for construction, except that the staff must read it, film students study it, and film enthusiasts read it for special interest, and it takes a little hard work for others to read it. The screenwriter's thinking is the thinking of connecting scenes, and the director's thinking is the thinking of jumping shots. When the screenwriter uses scenes as a unit to express, he uses dialogue to gallop.Not the director, his unit is the camera.No matter whether he uses the processing in a single shot or edits in a group of shots, there is only one thing that makes him feel enjoyable, the charm of the picture and the light and shadow. What kind of thinking will inevitably determine what kind of structure.All the way with the dialogue of the scene, and the whole with the lens light and shadow, in fact, two different formal styles are distinguished.Hou Hsiao-hsien once said that Nian Zhen should become a director.Because Nianzhen's strong screenwriting ideas have become a family opinion, if he is going to be a director, he will be another interesting type.There is another screenwriter who should also be a director, Ding Yamin is also, and his will be another type. So take the script of "City of Sadness" to watch the movie of "City of Sadness", it is a disaster, it is a surprise, they are a pair of half-brothers, but they are so different.Not only is it not the same, it is simply different. Question 10 What to do when you can’t do it This is the reason, the script, it is impossible and will not be equal to the movie. Someone at this year's Cannes Film Festival asked Wenders which of his own films was the most satisfying, and he said it was in his mind.And I think, will always be in the mind. When the script is conceived, it is definitely the happiest moment during the whole work of the film.At that time, you thought that this movie would definitely kill the whole world! You were full of ambition, and your enthusiasm was so high that you were nervous, and it lasted for several days.Next, you have to start executing this masterpiece.So you will inevitably encounter problems that have not been solved since the ages, how to implement ideals into reality.And then you get angry, frustrated, depressed, and burnt out in the mundane.There is no exaggeration, the process of filming is a process of constant discounting in the end. In this way, there is only fatalism, but that is not the case. For example, actors, because Taiwan lacks professional actors who are generally clean and tidy like Hollywood. When a large number of non-professional actors are used for performances, it is difficult for you to cut the camera too close. Take a medium shot for a long shot.Since you can’t rely on actors to meet the requirements of the play, you have to create an atmosphere in the scene for him to move about. Therefore, you will pay special attention to the choice of scenes and use the special flavor of the environment to bring out the characters.The unpretentious rhythm of non-professional actors also forces you to get closer to the appearance in the real world to match the rhythm.You have to unify photography, modeling, picture light and shadow, all details, and even the way of storytelling into this rhythm.When it all comes together as a finished product, it's your form as well as your content—the kind of realistic shooting that uses mise-en-scène to tell a story in a single frame in a long take. At the beginning of shooting like this, it really had to be like this, it had its urgency, so it had its strength.The aesthetics that come out of action avoids the artificial tendency that may be carried by academies or theories, and tends to be more natural.In the end, it has become a trait that is difficult for others to replace. Different environments produce different finished products.The aesthetic consciousness of the third world, at the beginning, is often a way of expression invented in order to overcome the difficulties in equipment and technology.Of course, it is not the way advanced film industry countries in Europe and America need to shoot in that way.Such a passive creative attitude lacks self-awareness. But I think this is an important fact.The finished product comes first, and the self-consciousness comes second.Anyone who thinks that they can make Third World movies with a third-world aesthetic awareness is indeed a person who does not know what filmmaking is. Self-awareness is not about how to do or what to do at the moment of filming, sorry, that is of no use at all.Self-awareness is to understand why your work is what it is now, what is the reason and result of becoming what you are, and if you understand this level, you have already freed yourself from fatalism.You can turn the unfavorable environment to your own use and create a form and style that belongs to this environment. Then you will understand that once the works accumulate to become a style, it is the style and the limitation at the same time.The next level of difficulty is the real difficulty.Not only do you have to be smart enough to see the limit, but you have to be brave enough to break the style.Courage, because if you can't come up with something new for a while, you will most likely go back to the familiar and safe style.Perhaps hiding for a while, or for a lifetime - as long as there is no condemnation of conscience - it depends on the nature of the individual. What to do when you can't do it? For example, "City of Sadness".In the life of Taiwan in the 1940s, there were often no props or furnishings in the middle of the shoot. As a result, I had to use the ratio of light and shadow to try to cover up those decadent places.Can something new be born in this way? Let's see. Eleven Questions How to Reconcile Actors and Non-Actors· It is still: what to do when you can't do it, this question. "City of Sadness" has been very affirmed during the script discussion. This time, professional actors must be used.The reason is that it is necessary to set up a scene, and it is difficult to find an exterior location. I can't shoot the environment, so I have to walk the scene.You can't rely on the exquisite costumes and props to accumulate scenes, but you have to rely on the full sense of drama to make people forget the rest of the shortcomings.Hou Hsiao-hsien also thought about using a staged form, replacing all background arrangements with light and shadow, using exaggerated stage lighting, keeping an eye on the actors, and grasping the opponent's scene.In order to integrate its non-realistic tones, it is necessary to change the realistic shooting method and control it with absurd drama. During this period, Hou Hsiao-hsien happened to see Fassbinder's ten-hour album "Alexanderplatz". Although he only read the first two volumes, it was enough to confirm his own thoughts.Fassbender was born as a stage choreographer and has a group of outstanding actors. He is familiar with the potential and aptitude of these actors.Because there are these people, he will have an idea of ​​how to use them.He can imagine what they will give, and then he thinks and kneads it according to this object, thus creating a unique way of expression. "Alexanderplatz" talks about the various encounters of a marginal person during the Second World War, that is, it doesn't care about the sense of the times of the scene, but wins with the play, and the play depends on the actors. There are people like that who have that way of dealing with it. Hou Hsiao-hsien wanted to return to thinking, after all, there is no such a group of people who can do it so thoroughly.Only the leading actor wants to find Tony Leung.The eldest brother originally went to Ke Junxiong, but later it was Chen Songyong.But Tony Leung couldn't speak Taiwanese, and his Mandarin was broken, which made the screenwriters stalemate for a long time without a way out.Suddenly one day Hou Xiaoxian said, let Ah Si be dumb and forget about it. joke! However, it was this joke that awakened the dreamer with one word, breaking the deadlock and falling straight down. It balanced Chen Songyong's overly slanted clues in time.Because there is a fierce business struggle over there, and Tony Leung here can neither fight head-to-head nor use the excitement of the incident to fight against it. What should I use? I found it.Not only are the many new conditions that may be radiated by the matter of deafness itself, but also rely heavily on Tony Leung's eyes, body language, and even the expressive method of the silent world, just like using the subtitles of a silent film.Now, suddenly there is a blank land that has not been cultivated. You are so excited that you equip it with a variety of strange things. In fact, you can only grow some green plants in the end, but this discovery was really happy at the beginning. It's absurd to say it, and the creative attitude is so rash. I'm sorry, but it is the truth. Of course it didn't come out of nowhere.Hou Hsiao-hsien has a longtime family member, Hou Conghui, who is familiar with a senior, Mr. Chen Tingshi. Sometimes when he talks about Mr. Chen's character, he also has a quick photo in front of the celebrity coffee shop, which leaves a deep impression on him.Mr. Chen fell from a tree when he was eight years old and broke his middle ear. Since then, he has been unable to speak or hear, and talks with others with a pen.Contacted Mr. Chen through Hou Conghui to make an appointment.陈先生不是别人，正是当年“五月画会”重要的一位画家，至今我们家还保存有他的一本版画集，一九六七年国立艺术馆出版，全部英文介绍，印刷设计在今天看也绝对是上品。没想到陈先生还记得我小时候，说以前见到我们姐妹这么小，现在都长大了。笔谈一整晚，好多材料后来都放进了剧本里。 开镜五天，梁朝伟心晃晃的，反映给侯孝贤，遂趁一天休息，连女主角辛树芬和演哥哥的吴义芳，一伙开小巴士去台中拜访陈先生。 陈先生一人住，钥匙寄在对面的邻居家，电话也由邻居转。带我们参观楼上楼下，全是他收集的奇石，称自己是石痴。我们就在那成山成谷的墨画雕塑和石头里腾出一块桌面笔谈，陈先生还烧了水泡茶，又启开可乐和芭乐汁给男生喝。他总是体恤的为免沟通繁乱而把决定先做了，再知会对方，不由推辞，他便带大家去街上一家湖南馆吃晚饭。他给那家店写过一幅字，现去讨还人情，自然是要哄我们安心的说辞。一边吃他即笔谈知会，嘱我们吃完可上车走，不必绕路送他，他自己坐车几分钟就到家。是这样怕增加人家麻烦的人，他也不学手语，因早年曾见公车上聋哑人比手画脚交谈聒噪的样子，故决意不学，宁可笔谈。梁朝伟听了动容，说陈先生好sensitive。 侯孝贤与摄影陈怀恩皆赞叹梁朝伟的集中专注，但看过头几日拍的毛片，侯孝贤说，梁朝伟太精准了。他的精准、细微之层次，侯孝贤说，太精致干净了，显得他鹤立鸡群，跟其他人产生差距，需要调整。所以当晚从陈先生处赶回台北，便请梁朝伟看一些毛片，主要是日前所拍詹宏志、吴念真、张大春随吴义芳从市场走进照相馆的一段。这批文艺界的非演员，银幕上看时感觉很真实，很素。侯孝贤希望梁朝伟能够放粗糙些，直接些，溶入那些人的质感中。 梁朝伟，我最记得他的，是小巴士车上他跟陈怀恩叽喳一堆，谈音乐。陈怀恩取出一卷卡带推荐他听，曲叫TheSkyisCrying。梁朝伟一听好激动，说他就是想学吹这种小口琴，没学会，很country，有没有，像妈妈在厨房煎饼，灯亮了，黄昏草长长，坐在那里吹口琴的味道…… 陈松勇，工作人员给他取了一个外号“悲情猩猩”。与他演对手戏的如太保、文帅、雷鸣等，都是老牌演员，这回可拼上了，演技大竞赛，一个比一个酷，帅得。 高捷演老三，十足经得起大特写的非演员，顶抢镜头。吴义芳，林怀民的自得门生，以一种舞蹈的节拍来演出。辛树芬不像演戏的在演戏。李天禄铁是最过瘾的人物了。许多许多，演员非演员，钟鼎山林，各显神通。有一阵子，侯孝贤简直不知如何把他们调音到一个协和的基调上。乃至用骗的，试戏时偷拍下，正式来倒不拍了。 侯孝贤工作时的坏脾气，惟对演员挺耐心，极其迂回之本事。后来他考虑着，未见得必须把每位演员扭适到自己要的基调上，不如让他们各自去，不协和就不协和，然后用不协和的剪接法来统一，剪成一股认真而又荒谬的气味，说不定反而比原先预设的东西好。 总之是，现场能给什么拍什么。此刻正在剪接的侯孝贤，他说，总之是拍到了什么剪什么。 十二问到底编导站在哪一边· What do you say. 对于电影里采用二·二八事件为材料的部分，引起媒体多次报导，乃至前进影评人非凡的期望和失望，直是件不幸的事。不幸，因为那实在膨胀了编导所能做的，和所能给的。编导站在哪一边·左边·右边·中间·中间偏右·中间偏左·对不起，从头到尾似乎没有在编导的意识里产生过焦点。 在黑暗与光明之间的一大片灰色地带，那里，各种价值判定暧昧进行着。很多时候，辩证是非显得那么不是重点，最终却变成是每个人存活着的态度，态度而已。作为编导，苟能对其态度同声连气一一体贴到并将之造形出来，天可怜见，就是这么多了。 一件造形成为只属于你的成品时，是无需着一言你已在那里。而你的在那里，就是你的一切态度和主张逃不掉的都在那里了。不幸见光死的话，只有认命。 拍一九四五年到一九四九年的台湾，是的叫人晃荡荡。拍得出来吗·像不像那时代呢·那时候的那些人是这样的吗· 经过这一段编剧拍摄的漫长过程，了解到，反映不反映时代，结果只是反映作者的眼里所认为看到的那个时代。它永远受限于作者本身的态度和主张。一个完全客观和完整面貌的时代，不管在历史或文学呈现上，其实永远不存在。然则不正是如此。一个时代不正是主观而有限制地存在于作品之中，所以无限长久地传下去被人记得。侯孝贤了解到，不管你怎么力求重现那个时代，也只能做到某种程度的接近，但课题似乎并不在这里。而在你的眼界中你看到了什么，你认为怎么样，你想说些什么，就统统拿出来。创作的终极，结果只是把自己统统拿出来，看吧，都在这里了。 张爱玲的名言，作者给他所能给的，读者取他所能取的。 十三问那么《悲情城市》想说些什么· 最早，想说哺哺哺的萨克斯风节奏。 一篇访问里侯孝贤说，最早是来自于我对台湾歌的喜爱。那时候我听到李寿全新编洪荣宏唱的《港都夜雨》，那种哺哺哺的萨克斯风节奏，心中很有感慨，想把台湾歌那种江湖气、艳情、浪漫、土流氓和日本味，又布满血气方刚的味道拍出。 闻言真让人频频皱眉头，何况那些期待他甚高的前进影评人。 后来，他说假如他能拍出天意，那就太过瘾了。 天意·拜托他又像黄信介的大嘴巴在乱放炮。随后他用了大家比较能接受的现代化语汇，自然法则。 我希望我能拍出自然法则底下人们的活动，侯孝贤这样说。 关于出版电影剧本，以前有《恋恋风尘》和《悲情城市》，这次，我们决定了用分镜剧本的形式出版。 原因是，一年多前已有一部《戏梦人生——李天禄回忆录》问世，涵盖了李天禄自出生到八十岁间的生平事迹。其丰富妙趣的口述内容，使任何第二手传播都黯然失色。何况根据他光复前的经历所编演成的剧本，岂不是太多余了。 所以我们想把李天禄的口述回忆录，与侯孝贤的电影，二者清楚区隔开来，让这本书的存在有其独立性，就这样，打算出版分镜剧本。 当然，这是因为是侯孝贤的电影，以及，侯孝贤的分镜。身为此片的编剧之一，我也非常好奇，这部片子到底会变成一个什么样子出来，似乎，不到最终拷贝印出，无人能知。 是的无人能知。因为侯孝贤的分镜，不是在拍摄前，或拍摄中就已搞定的。事实上，他不大分镜，而宁愿保留一半模糊不明的状态抵达现场，然后拍。他在拍摄中所做的，与其说是导演，恐怕更像一名采撷者。用访问里他自己的话是：“你要进入客体，你专注在客体的时候，客体就会告诉你它有什么。”似乎，他只是在观察、搜索、等待，当客体忽然发出言语时，他就马上抓住，装进他的箱囊里。 于是他带着满满一箱珍贵元素回来了。到剪接室，摊开来，细看。他说：“到最后剪辑的时候，你要面对这些拍出来的东西，而不是你原先想的东西。通常这对导演来讲很难。” 由于这次三分之二以上的场景必须在福建拍，底片送到香港冲，冲出来的毛片，既然还要坐飞机去香港看，他也索性不看了。杀青回台湾后，直接看剪接机，横竖全部在这里，没有的已经没有，不好的不能再好，遂进入剪接。一剪剪了三个多月，慢啊，为此侯孝贤几乎跟廖庆松翻脸。 起先是，小廖仍要采用“气韵剪接法”，那是他从《悲情城市》里剪出来的心得。一言以蔽之，就是剪张力。剪画面跟画面底下的情绪，暗流绵密，贯穿到完。但这回，侯孝贤不要张力，他要，他要什么呢，开头也说不清，只是削去法的，他不要情绪。如此，两人磨掉绝大部分的时间跟精力，最糟时，侯孝贤抱怨，以后他找一名技工完全听他指令就行了。 要剪到后来，侯孝贤才明确能说出他要的是，像云块的散布，一块一块往前叠走，行去，不知不觉，电影就结束了。他叫小廖仔细看剪接机上拍到的阿公，他说：“片子照阿公讲话的神气去剪，就对了。” 剪出来，两小时二十二分钟，一百个镜头。真是少得可怜的镜头。其使用，跳接(cut)之外，只有五个摇移(pan)。一个照片特写，余皆近景，中景，全景，远景，大远景。除此，再没有了。 用这样的镜头说故事，使人想到手工艺时代。 后来在东京现象所作冲印，意外看到禁片《蓝风筝》，好片。小廖赞叹若能让他来剪《蓝风筝》，会比现在看到的厉害几倍。小廖那副模样，很像米开朗基罗指着一块大石说，在这里面，有一个大卫。他要凿开沌■，将不出世的大卫现身。 这次小廖谈剪接心得，他说，法则这个东西，你别小看它，它是很严酷存在的。好比《戏梦人生》，你非得花那么多时间去找，跟它相处，长期相磨，慢慢这个法则才出现了。看到它，它统一着这部片子，是最适合这部片子的形式跟内容，然后，你就顺着它，它会带着你，一路下去，很快，剪出来了。 我把他的话记下来，或可名之曰，云块剪接法。 ——谈论《好男好女》