Chapter 9 where to look

In January 1996, I returned to Beijing to participate in the special program celebrating the 300th issue of "Zhengda Variety Show". Fang Shu, Fang Hui, Cheng Qian, Yuan Ming, Jiang Feng and Wang Xuechun in this program also accidentally met three Taiwanese "Miss Tour Guides" who only met on the screen in the past: Li Xiuyuan, Xie Jiaxun, Qu Yanling. It can be said that old friends and new friends are gathered together.Everyone is eloquent, and I'm afraid they won't turn the studio upside down! The director specially arranged for us former hosts to sit with the guests, and I was delighted to find myself next to Mr. Qiao Yu. "Master Joe" was a guest of the first issue of "Zhengda Variety Show".Back then, as a fledgling girl, I was "exposed" for the first time in the studio. Facing the leading figures in the academic and art circles present, I still felt a lot of embarrassment in my heart. At that time, "Master Qiao" smiled and said: Sitting on the guest seat, he asked me kindly with a strong Shandong accent: "Where did you choose it? It's your first time on TV, isn't it? Don't be afraid, Jiang Kun was far worse than you when he first appeared on stage." .Do you see that he is very promising now?" I was happy, and my tension was relieved immediately.At this time, "Master Qiao" came over and asked me in a low voice: "Just now the director told me an answer, I'm afraid she will fool me, please help me to see, is this answer right?"

Six years later, Mr. Qiao is still kind-hearted, amiable and respectable today, and he still speaks Shandong Mandarin so well.During the video break, he patted my shoulder and said unhurriedly: "Yang Lan, you are no longer the girl you used to be, but you already have the taste of a mature woman. In my opinion, the programs you host should also become mature." , to have more depth and taste, you can do it completely, I am optimistic about you." I was very moved.Since saying goodbye to "Zhengda Variety Show", I have been groping for my next step.Although the thinking is sometimes bright and sometimes dark, one thing is for sure: that is to jump out of the familiar variety shows in the past and develop into social and cultural special programs, from simple hosting to interviews, reports, and reviews. Human programming transition.Therefore, during my stay in the United States, in addition to supplementing my knowledge, I specially chose journalism as a major. I studied a series of courses such as news writing, TV news, and TV documentaries for two years. Determination.In fact, at that time, I had already started to plan and produce "Yang Lan's Sight" with Shanghai Oriental TV Station. Mr. Teng Junjie, the director of the program department of Oriental TV Station, was the director, and I was the writer and host. Taking advantage of the fact that I was still studying in the United States, I introduced It also commented on the dynamics of the American art and film circles in recent years, and then expanded the content of the program to all aspects of American society.As the content of the first stage of the program, I set my sights on Broadway musicals and recent American movies, and purchased the copyright of the relevant film clips.Since I had half a year left to graduate, I could only use my spare time to make programs, so the length of the program should not be too long, so it was set at 20 minutes per week.

However, producing a 20-minute program does not necessarily save effort compared to a half-hour or even an hour program. In terms of shooting personnel, cost, and time, there is almost no difference. It even takes more time to edit. Kung fu to select the shot, highlight the rhythm. With the help of my good friend Fei Xiang, I quickly selected a small production company in New York. The director and cameraman there have more than ten years of experience in TV production, and have experience in cooperating with Asian TV stations. What's more, they wanted the business, and they were friendly and positive, without the arrogance and bureaucracy that is typical of big American production houses.

This is the first time that I have been fully responsible for the details of topic selection, writing, scene selection, contacting interviewees, transportation and even working meals.There are strict filming restrictions at various New York City attractions."Scenic spots" such as Lincoln Center and World Trade Plaza require the film crew to submit a written application one to two weeks in advance, which requires careful planning in advance.But there was also a shortcoming, and we ran into trouble when filming “Cats,” Broadway’s longest-running musical.At that time, Fei Xiang and I needed to shoot a series in front of the giant commercial of the "Cat" drama. The best angle was in front of a large office building across the street.It was midwinter, and when the wind cooled down, people stood outside, and their faces would freeze after five minutes.It's also strange, the more it is like this, the more difficult it is to do it in one go.It's not that there's something wrong with the camera, it's that we eat "snails" (referring to saying wrong lines).It was finally finished, and suddenly a building guard jumped out from the side, blocking the camera, claiming that our foothold is a private land, and we cannot shoot without the permission of the owner.At that time, it was impossible to apply, so the film crew had to move to a street next to the building.The framing here is acceptable, but it is a big vent, and the cold wind blows head-on, making it hard to keep your eyes open.I cursed eventful New York while talking "enthusiastically" to the camera, and it was enough.Moreover, the muscles of the face and mouth were so frozen that they couldn't use it, and it was difficult to pronounce some words correctly.As a last resort, I had to hide in a nearby store to warm up, and then rushed out to record again-but at this time, the cameraman's fingers were frozen again.

It's a trivial matter to suffer some flesh and blood.Those who work in the TV industry have to endure hardships. Who told you to like it?Fortunately, the entire filming plan was completed on time, and I still have a sense of accomplishment in my heart. After all, this is my first time as a producer. Before going abroad, my job title at CCTV was a choreographer and director, and I have been involved in the post-editing of programs. It stands to reason that I should not be considered a layman.But at that time, if you were doing a program on the station, you only need to apply in advance, and the editing room takes as much time as you want.So I usually bring in a bunch of material, read it, memorize it, think about it, and make it up. I never feel the urgency of time.But this method is difficult to work in the United States.An average editing room (non-digital) in New York charges $200 an hour, and that's not ambiguous at all.On the first day, I edited for 10 hours, and the program was completed in about 15 minutes, but the computer room cost 2,000 US dollars.I calculated that if this continues, it will definitely exceed the budget seriously.So I quickly consulted the relevant people, and then I learned that the working method in the United States is to turn all the material tapes onto home video tapes, and after the editor and director take them home and study them repeatedly, write out the editing sequence on paper, and the time codes marked must be accurate to Seconds, and then take this written edited draft into the computer room to save time in the computer room.

This bit of experience is very valuable to me as a beginner, although the audience can't see it from the screen.But this is my first time after all, and there are many problems that I didn't consider well in advance. The biggest problem lies in the production in two places.In terms of division of labor, I was responsible for the filming and rough editing of the series of words in the early stage, and Director Teng was responsible for the final synthesis in Shanghai.Since China and the United States adopt different TV systems (PAL system in China, NTSC system in the United States), once the materials shot in the United States are converted, the color and clarity will be affected a lot (although I have chosen the current international state-of-the-art digital conversion machine).In addition, we rely entirely on international express mail to deliver the video tapes, which always takes two to three weeks to go back and forth.As a result, the post-editing time is very tight, especially when more than 50 provincial and municipal TV stations across the country are also broadcasting "Yang Lan's Sight".As a result, I lost the possibility of recording the narration. Thanks to the experience of the knee director, I reluctantly used various special effects and subtitles to weave the various series of words and film materials together.But after all, this is a remedy after a dead sheep. From a professional point of view, the integrity and depth of the program have been greatly affected.

There is another point that I did not expect, that is, some time ago, there were many pirated foreign film and television programs in the domestic market, which affected the freshness of our programs to a certain extent. All these lessons, if you are only a moderator, it is difficult to truly understand, and I feel that I have learned something while regretting it. Therefore, the shooting and production of the second phase of "Yang Lan's Sight" became targeted.At the end of May 1996, Director Teng led the Dongfang TV crew to the United States, and directly used PAL to record video, saving the image loss of conversion; I had graduated at that time and could devote myself to work; I am a videographer), and I have a better grasp of the capture and grasp of the shots, and the post-editing editor Bo Gu participated in the whole process of the pre-shooting, and I have a better idea of ​​the content and sequence of the materials.

And for me, the second phase of work is more challenging.At this time, the content of the program changed from film and television reviews to social reality topics, such as public security, drug rehabilitation, weight loss, etc., which required me to appear more as a reporter, consult information, draw up the structure of the program, interview directly in English, and personally For writing, the workload has increased several times compared to the previous stage.However, these are what I have learned in the past two years, and now I have a place to use, and I am very happy. Besides, TV is inherently fun.

Just this past April, the New York Times and Newsweek published interviews with me.Because these two newspapers and magazines are very authoritative and influential in the United States, "Yang Lan's Sight" received many "privileges" during the filming process.For example, the world-famous Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has always only allowed American TV stations to enter, and they were only allowed to shoot news and were not allowed to stay.After prior consultation, they made an exception and allowed us two hours of shooting time. Even so, the time is still tight - just walking around the museum upstairs and downstairs, two hours is not enough.So we decided to go in and "explore the road" as ordinary visitors in advance.This "exploration" is one day.Director Teng and lighting engineer Zhu Wenqi, who love art, lingered in front of the world-famous paintings and shouted for an artistic "gluttony".After such a "full meal", we sat down and "digested" carefully, and agreed that two hours is too tight, so we can only give up "noodles" and keep "points", and focus on the most abundant collection of European paintings in the Metropolitan Museum Museum and Egyptian Museum, and identified the main works and artists.That night, I dug out all the Chinese and English materials I had at hand, and wrote down nearly twenty paragraphs of concatenated words.

The second day of shooting was a scramble.Without waiting for the lady from the public relations department who accompanied us to say anything, we took the lead and started recording according to the scheduled plan.From the Renaissance to the Baroque era, from Rembrandt to Miller and Van Gogh, each of our shots is very clear, and the content of the introduction is quite accurate. The Chinese commentator specially sent by the embassy felt that it was useless. Even Said: "You all know? I have nothing to add." The efficient cooperation of the whole team also made the public relations manager sigh: "Every shot of yours is basically successful on the first pass. I have hosted the United States For domestic TV crews, their famous hosts have to record each series of words about ten times before they can get it right, and I can memorize their words from the sidelines.”

But even so, two hours flew by.The Egyptian Pavilion has not been filmed yet.At this time, we could only show the brightest and most sincere smiles, and begged the PR manager to let us shoot for a while longer (TV shooters often ask for help!) Maybe because we saw our sincerity, maybe because we appreciated our work style, The manager hesitated for a moment, and agreed: "I'll give you another half an hour." And she also took the initiative to open the "Sphinx Exhibition Room" that was closed that day, and let us take pictures quietly in it. . Later, she led us to the Asian Pavilion, and later, to the open-air booth of the museum.. half an hour, and another half an hour.. When we were sweating profusely, we breathed out a long breath and said, "Thank you, we can probably end it." The manager lady suddenly remembered something and shouted: "Oh, my boss invited me to have a lunch meeting at noon today. We're an hour late!" - Sorry, Miss Manager, we didn't mean to. What this intense work brings is the pleasure of work and the sincere mutual admiration of the whole group.Television is a collective creation, and the more mature the production of television, the finer the division of labor.Now when some people mention that "the host should collect, edit, and broadcast in one", they think that the host alone has the final say and does everything. In fact, they have gone to another extreme.There used to be a host who used extra large fonts to give his name a series of titles such as "Planner, Producer, Director, Editor, Commentator, Theme Song Singer" on the end credits, and he almost didn't write that he was a "camera" .Maybe some people think that this is the reason why the host is "worthy of the name" and versatile, but in fact this just reflects the rawness and roughness of the producer.In my opinion, as long as the hosts actively participate in the content of the program, it is enough to have a rough understanding of other types of work. There is no need to require every host to be a "universal glue".Even in Western production groups dominated by hosts, his task is only to mobilize the enthusiasm of capable people from all sides, and to grasp the overall program level and artistic style, rather than doing everything by himself. During the production of "Yang Lan's Sight", I deeply felt the importance of collective cooperation.Let’s talk about director Knee Junjie first.I met him in the summer of 1994, when he led the crew of "Flying Over the Pacific" to the United States for filming and interviewed me at Columbia University.His hard-working Saburo-style work style and flexible filming style left a deep impression on me, which also contributed to the current cooperation.He is a perfectionist, and he has high requirements for every shot and every sequence.Sometimes the concatenated words are too long, and I make some small mistakes, such as the pronunciation of one or two words is not accurate, etc., he will ask me to do it all over again.To be honest, no director has been so strict with me in the past.The audience passed it after listening to it once, and it seemed that they didn't have to be so serious.But I knew in my heart that he was right, and with such a meticulous director watching over me, I felt more confident.When the lighting is not ideal, or the background is not distinctive enough, or the composition is not beautiful, he will ask to retake.When the audience expressed their appreciation for the shooting quality of the second stage of "Yang Lan's Sight", I think the first credit should go to Director Teng. In twenty-five days from the end of May to the end of June, we filmed twenty episodes of the show.Wei Wenqi, Bo Gu, and Wu Bin of the film crew all started working endlessly for more than ten hours a day even before the jet lag had reversed.During the day, I carried the equipment to grab time, and at night, I had to check the material tapes for several hours of the day and make field notes.In the nearly one month of shooting, there was no technical error.The smooth progress of the shooting is also inseparable from the careful contact work in the early stage. My husband Wu Zheng undertook this complicated and meticulous work.In particular, Dr. Kissinger we interviewed this time, Walter Cronkite, a veteran of American TV hosts, Dan Rather, the current chief host of CBS, and the former director of the New York branch of the FBI are not easy For interviews, dealing with them requires thoughtful writing and excellent social skills.For another example, we interviewed one of the largest drug rehabilitation centers in the United States—Phoenix House Drug Rehabilitation Center. There is a rule that every drug addict who is captured in the camera needs to sign a statement agreeing to appear on TV in advance. It is indeed troublesome for the management personnel to sign one sheet for each person, so they have not confirmed the interview date for a long time, but Wu Zheng has the ability to call and fax to contact them tirelessly, and finally make the interview a success. Without the concerted efforts of the whole team, nothing can be done by me alone.These are not superficially modest words, but my true inner feelings. After writing so much, it seems that it's time to put down my pen, but I still have a lot of feelings that I can't put on paper one by one. "Yang Lan's Vision" is the first step in my transformation as a host, and it is also the beginning of my complete intervention program in planning and production.The audience has praise and criticism, and I have gained and lost, all of which are completely normal in this transitional period.People are still commenting because they still care, and the saddest thing about TV people is that no one comments, no one cares.For that, I thank the audience. However, when some friends still comment on topics such as "how is Yang Lan's hair style" or "is Yang Lan more beautiful than before", I want to say to them: "These are not so important anymore, my The line of sight has already surpassed these external images, and turned to the program itself."