Liu Dedong's Spring for the Old and Others

On June 12, I braved the falling rain and hurried to the TV studio center of Three Gorges University, where Liu Dedong's documentary "Spring for the Old Man" was being shown. This is not the first screening of Liu Dedong's documentary in three universities. I missed "Spring for the Elderly" at the last screening because of work, and I have been thinking about it. This time, I had the opportunity and rushed over at once.

A few years ago, the lawn of the track and field of Yiling Middle School was replaced by plastic fake grass. Under the shade of one side, a piece of bitter fleabane was overgrown with weeds, fresh and juicy. A high school student who skipped class was lying in the haystack, and the juice in the grass was squeezed and infiltrated. It was difficult to wash clothes, but the teenager didn't care. He was absorbed in feeling the tingling sensation when the grass brushed his skin, and his thoughts floated in the breeze, swaying lightly.

At that time, teenagers felt that grass growing on the court could be a place where people could play football and create value. Grass growing on the roadside is worthless, only the fate of being eradicated. Teenagers are afraid that they will become weeds on the roadside, so they think: what is the meaning of life?

At the symposium after the screening of Spring for the Old, Liu Dedong said that a director or photographer must be keen, but keen will inevitably bring pain, which is an insoluble contradiction. Liu Dedong said that because of this contradiction, he fell into a communication barrier and could not get out.

Schopenhauer said: All those who have made outstanding contributions in political philosophy, poetry and art have a melancholy temperament.

It may also be precisely because of these people that the contributors of literature must be very keen. They can feel the sadness of autumn, the passage of time, the inhumanity of heaven and earth and the vastness of the universe from the falling of a dead leaf; They can experience the beauty of spring, the shortness of youth, the fragility of emotions and the perishable life from the victory of a flower ... They feel everything in life so carefully, think infinitely about the universe, and their spirit becomes fragile in constant self-pulling. Van Gogh, Ryunosuke Akutagawa, Yasunari Kawabata, Tadpole, Haizi, Gomez and Gu Cheng committed suicide.

If you calm down and make a list, it can be very long. Keenness and thinking about the world is a very dangerous thing, and it is easy to touch the field of madness and even death.

In college, the teacher of the history of modern literature spent a whole semester talking about the topic of "suicide". Only then did I understand that life itself can be separated from spirit, soul, morality, ethics and so on. This is an individual existence even at the core. If a person's spirit, soul, morality, ethics, etc. are separated, his core life will show a little corner.

Writers and screenwriters always give people trouble, forcing characters to give up and deny something, thus revealing the most primitive human nature.

However, I think further, we should bypass human nature, strip and dissect the characters and reveal the most primitive life.

I have always believed that people are not just composed of body and soul. Life, independent of body and soul, constitutes an individual together.

Life itself is so savage, absurd, bright and contradictory, which brings people vigorous growth and tearing pain. Both body and soul are easy to die, but life itself is tenacious without any reason.

A few years later, the high school student who had been lying in the weeds beside the track and field was lying on the operating table because of physical illness, which was infinitely close to the moment of death. Spirit, soul, morality, ethics, dreams, beliefs, knowledge, upbringing, feelings, etc. are all stripped off, and life begins to bloom.

It's probably my experience watching Spring for the Old. Spring for the Old describes a couple who have lived on the "Jianshan Mountain" all their lives. You can see the lights in the county below, but they haven't set foot in the county for 65 years, relying on the mountains to raise cattle, chickens and farm for a living. Eight children were born, but six children died, and two grown-up daughters and even son-in-law died one after another. Two old people, lonely and lonely, are living on a lonely mountain.

It's hard for me to add an adverbial to the word "alive", tenacious? Lonely? Space is limited and I don't want to expand the details of the whole film. In the process of watching movies, I suddenly thought of a sentence from Wang Xiaobo. Life may have no purpose or meaning at all, just like "grass grows in the heat", and existence is existence.

I didn't record the scene or take notes, so just sort it out according to my impression. This is not a problem &; Answer "is not only the ending of the symposium after this exhibition, but also the ending of the symposium after the last documentary joint exhibition of Liu Dedong and Xu Yang.

About the long shot.

Many people at the scene raised questions about "long shots". Long shot is a film language as opposed to montage. Long shots have their own aesthetics, and montage also has its own aesthetics. However, no one asked "montage" at the scene. I won't expand it here, but I think it's completely personal.

Director Jin once came to the company to show his documentaries "Disappear before dawn" and "Sister Luo". The scene of the old man eating in Disappeared Before Dawn almost recorded the whole process of him slowly eating a whole bowl of rice. The director said that he just wanted to show the seriousness of this person's eating. No one else would be so absorbed, even ignoring the existence of the camera, and concentrate on eating, as if the whole world had only this bowl of rice and the only bowl of fresh water cooked food.

In Spring for the Old Man, the most impressive long shot is the dying chicken. A life, out of the power of life itself, fights against death. The old man roasted with fire, clutching his chest and basking in the sun, accompanied by his chicken companions ... In the camera, he tried to stand up again and again, fell silent again and again, struggled again and again, and finally died. Just like these two old people.

About the topic selection.

For Liu Dedong, the topic selection of Spring for the Old Man is basically a kind of fate, but it also comes from the keen and keen perception of the tension behind this story.

Liu Dedong said that he is also worried that the public can't accept long shots, but he feels very cool when he watches them, which is enough. I think it sounds willful, but it is also an artist's "loyalty" to himself.

Being loyal to oneself and to the present feelings should be the qualities that artists possess. However, film creation is different from writing and painting. In addition to keeping an independent mind and not going with the flow, you also need a certain right to speak, otherwise your ideas cannot be implemented in your works. Because every shot in the film means cost, especially the cost of money, so that artists can't really carry out their ideas. Probably every movie has a game between the director and the investor.

As for other commercial films, I made planning and creativity, and even drew sub-shots, filmed on the spot and made post-production, but I still couldn't carry out my original ideas. Team ideas, customers' ideas, and their own ideas seek a certain balance in the game. Recently, I have always wanted to make my own film, and even invested in economic costs that I can't afford at present. I never understood why I did it, and I didn't know what it was. However, it suddenly dawned on me at the symposium: I just have a lion in my heart who is eager to show, and I don't want to crouch.

Business things, you can't use a long lens, it needs to be shown to a large audience. Liu Dedong said, generally speaking, sometimes, show yourself something. Other, it doesn't matter.

Therefore, don't take the path of others when choosing a topic. On the road of art, following the crowd means being ordinary at the same time. However, being different does not necessarily mean being great. It's most important to follow your heart.

Liu Dedong said, you should leave some time for yourself. When he joined a group, "My Movie" (probably in his mind, a movie shot by a photographer and a group without his own ideas can't be called "My Movie") was shot by himself. Photography, recording and live shooting can be done by yourself as long as you find your own rhythm and habit of shooting things. Liu Dedong said that he made New Lisao. He played alone in the mountains until dawn and felt very high. He felt that he was dying, but he enjoyed it. Love your job and devote yourself to it.

Whether he is hot or not, at least, he is cool!

About "defective" shots.

When people walk in front of the camera, there is a lag when the camera swings over. In fact, in my opinion, it is not a defective lens. Documentaries are real records, unlike movies, which have live schedules. It is just lagging behind, even shaking, etc. This shot can better show the truth. The "perfect shot" has traces of scheduling, and the recorder can participate, but he should be a bystander or even a voyeur, not a controller sitting in the director's chair and shouting actions. This is my opinion.

Liu Dedong's answer is that the camera is lagging behind and truly records the photographer, people and environment, and the whole state at that time should be preserved.

The noise of the radio.

In my opinion, the whole movie has a strong radio reception. Liu Dedong uses a separate earphone and tape recorder. He also has a "secret weapon", pointing a bee at wheat, tying it to a pile similar to a tumbler, and throwing it directly in front of the characters before throwing it.

Some students at the scene mentioned that the radio was noisy ... to be honest, I was shocked. Maybe they are talking about some environmental noise. Liu Dedong replied that noise is also a detail and should be preserved.

I always agree with the view that noise is also a detail. Many useless things or mistakes sometimes represent the truth. When I was teaching, Teacher Lu told me that "teaching is a regrettable art", and I think this sentence can be extended to all industries. Embrace imperfection and admit regret. Even perfectionists should not pursue perfection, and "lack" is sometimes the true meaning.

In addition, from the same point of view, environmental noise is only a sense of presence, and too clean sound will only remind the audience that it is "acting." Without respect for "truth", what is the significance of documentary?

About truth.

Say "true". In fact, there is no need to discuss this issue again. "Truth" and "fact" are two concepts in literature and art, which have long been relatively conclusive (I study literature, and literature is not the first. I always think that there is no so-called axiom or conclusion in literature, only widely accepted views).

Liu Dedong gave an example that impressed me deeply: If you record a person walking home and taking pictures all the way, that's the truth. If you record this person's going home every day, a year or even decades, and record his pace, frequency, mood, changes and breathing every time he goes home ... that is "inner truth", and only inner truth is true.

About communication.

The biggest cost of each of his documentaries is communication. The filming of Children's Country lasted *** 14 months. Before the filming began, the staff took the camera, turned it off, played with the children and established communication with them.

Communication is painful, but it is necessary.

About cat abuse and nudity.

Someone at the scene asked why we should keep the scenes of cat abuse and naked women in the film. Liu Dedong said that he actually discussed with the deputy director and finally stayed.

He said that his films were originally made for a few people, and it was not important that some scenes were not accepted by the public.

Actually, I think these shots have a great influence. Many times, we are numb to life, and only the "wonderful" lens can hit the soul directly.

Commercial films go straight to the audience's wallet, and art films go straight to the audience's soul. Two different things.

About the choice of documentary and film.

Some students at the scene said that most people are making micro-movies now, and few people are making documentaries. They want to ask the teacher for advice. Let me write down Xu Yang's answer.

Most movies are out of date in two or three years or even months, and documentaries are the imprint of an era. Decades later, people will forget the movies of this era, but they will remember that there are a number of documentaries in this era that left a complete image for this era.

Liu Dedong said that he is very much looking forward to discussing not the equipment and technical problems such as lenses and cameras, but the artistic problems such as how lenses construct the relationship between people and people and the environment.

My understanding is that technology advances too fast, and the existing technology will soon surpass and be abandoned. Only art is eternal. Even with 3D, AR, VR, there is 120 PIMAX ... But in those black-and-white shots of the 1950s, the classics are still classics, which cannot be surpassed or covered.

I think I've always wanted to put some artistic things into business. Of course, commercial films should also have artistic techniques, but their commercial value must be presented.

In the early stage of planning, we should carefully consider a question: what is the core value that customers want to obtain through this film?

Business is business, and business is the mainstay.

Let's leave the pursuit of art until next time.

Suddenly I thought of one thing that the advertising industry often struggles with: airplane draft.

The airplane draft won't go out, but many awards are airplane drafts. Winning the prize, the customer agreed to accept the prize, so a cooperation was reached. The recognition of the aircraft draft is not to show it to the public on the street, but to win the trust of customers in exchange for awards.

The plane draft is useless, but we still have to do it!

Documentary does not have a particularly broad market in China at present, which is not as good as movies, TV series, online movies, online movies and so on. On the one hand, it is the embodiment of one's own artistic pursuit and the achievement of artistic practice. Maybe, if you win the prize, you can also have a nickname, right?

Although the current environment is too unfriendly to documentaries. But this does not reflect social problems, there are other ways!

For example, Liu Dedong pays attention to himself and doesn't pay attention to himself.

Xu Yang is concerned with sociology, which is academic.

Jin promotes mainstream values.

But it's all someone else's way. Find your own way.

Your own path has not been studied, but you go out and try.

The road is blocked and long, and the line will arrive.