China Entertainment: Indulge in Vanity Fair

Chapter 117

(The content of the lecture is out, if you don’t like it, you can skip it)
"Why do we say that most stories come from external stimuli? Because someone may see a piece of information, or a report, or an article, or a person, or an event... ...After this external stimulus, a thought will always linger in his mind."

"So, after this kind of idea repeatedly upgraded, combined and flashed some bright spots in his mind, a story was produced under a certain opportunity."

"Take "Far Cry" as an example. When I was in Fujian, I encountered a sudden incident and needed to rethink a story to make up for the loss caused by the sudden incident. But what story should I think of? I was very anxious, so I resented the cause of the incident. The person in this emergency, I hope that he will fall into the sea by plane, and then he will be trapped on the island before he dies, and his life and death are unpredictable, torturing him."

"Then I thought about it again, just to trap him, what if he escapes? Will he come to me, the one who cursed him? So... when I wanted to continue to think deeply, I suddenly thought that this is not Fujian? Isn’t this near the sea? Can’t I shoot a movie about being trapped or thrilling on the island?”

"So, where does this story begin? It is definitely not good to write domestic stories. There are many people in Fujian who have gone abroad, so you can write stories about overseas Chinese..."

"Okay, the story so far is the source of my feelings generated by external stimuli, and the source of my creation. Next, it can't be all the feelings after being stimulated. If I want to write a good story, I must rely on my A large number of film readings, reading a large number of novels and other story experiences to combine my films."

"So, do you think that the movie "Far Cry" seems to be similar? Have you watched it somewhere? But you can't find the exact same original version? This is the story I have combined with many, many experiences. Although it is not Amazing, but it's mature enough. A lot of times, we have to learn to write stories like this first, and then think about writing "Single Zoo" and "Pacific Rim" stories."

When He Fang spoke up to this point in one breath, his saliva was dry, so he picked up the water bottle to drink, when there was warm applause from the audience.

What He Fang said was really dry stuff. He didn't talk about major principles, nor did he talk about any obscure things. It was the simplest and most direct content that everyone could understand.

"Of course the creative method I mentioned just now is the creation in most cases, but, but, there is another situation: as a screenwriter, you suddenly receive a story request from the producer or investor, which is what we call The proposition composition. In this case, what do you use to write?"

"That's right, it's still a combination of experience as I said. After we receive the proposition, we first give a general direction, such as comedy? Tragedy? Or pure plot? Is it the hero or the heroine? Or is it a group play? After the general direction is determined first, then we start to collect relevant materials."

"Afterwards, our creation is to combine them from these materials and previous knowledge, such as the combination of plots, characters, backgrounds, and lines."

"Students who are engaged in dramas, think about it. For example, if you want to write a love story, is the template of the love story you have seen first flashed in your mind? Then you combine the templates you have collected from these templates. Combine materials to write your own love story."

"So, don't rely too much on inspiration, because inspiration...is a powerful and unconstrained style, a mysterious thing that jumps out of experience and templates. How difficult is this kind of thing? I believe that some people will never have it several times in a lifetime. So, if our If the play depends entirely on inspiration, then you may not be able to write a few stories in your life."

"In reality, there are some people who rely on inspiration to write a bestseller or two and then never write a new book. Inspiration is a good thing, but inspiration can sometimes give us shackles in turn."

As soon as He Fang finished speaking, the audience burst into warm applause, which made some people who were always stuck in the play without inspiration seem to have a kind of relief, a kind of enlightenment.

Yeah, why bother with being inspired and being unique?

"You can go and watch common movies such as romance movies, action movies, and urban movies in history. If you summarize them, you will find that most of the stories are very similar."

"Of course, what you have to do is to make your own characteristics in roughly the same story routine, such as my "Far Cry", some people say it is showing off, I have no objection."

When He Fang said this, the audience immediately burst into laughter from the students.

"So speaking of this, we have solved the question of 'Where does the story come from' that I raised at the beginning. Let's move on to the next topic, are there any routines and techniques in the play?"

He Fang finished speaking and looked at everyone.

"Have."

The students in the audience answered in unison.

"Yes, there are routines and techniques. Have you read the books "Basic Film Writing Skills", "Stories", and "36 Story Models"? Don't tell me that you haven't read them. If you are a film student, you haven't read them. I would doubt your professionalism."

"Haha..." The audience roared with laughter.

"These are the story routines and techniques. What does the playwriting technique include? Theme, structure, plot, characters, dramatic conflict, lines..."

Not to mention, when He Fangshuo said it, it was full of dry goods, and everyone in the audience, whether they were students or veterans of the school, nodded their heads frequently.

Some of the content may have been taught by the school, but He Fang pulled down some of the lofty things taught by the school.

Make students feel less complicated.

For example, when He Fang talked about the development of the movie's storyline, he introduced it like this: "What is the movie's story? It's like throwing a stone into a calm pond."

"At this time, the ripples of the stone startled the fish and disturbed the water plants, so a series of reactions came. And then the story in the pond happened, because the stone intervened to destroy the carp's love life with another fish, and The silver carp that was just rushed over by the water wave found that the person the carp was talking about was his wife. At this time, a black fish was frightened by the impact of the water wave and killed the silver carp and ate it, so the carp's partner wanted to avenge her husband..."

Following He Fang's random nonsense, the audience laughed again and again, but he had to admire what He Fang said made sense.

"So, the play is how to throw the stone well, and how to write these ups and downs and trivial reactions wonderfully."

……

For an hour, He Fang tried his best to talk about everything he could think of, and the students in the audience really benefited a lot. After all, He Fang provided a different way of thinking, explaining the play in a simple and clear way, not so advanced up.

After the lecture, there was a 15-minute break in the middle, and He Fang communicated with the teachers at the school. The unconvinced eyes of these teachers from the beginning seemed to have some "this kid is a little level" eye-level eyes.

After that, there was a discussion session. He Fang encouraged the students to come up with their scripts, and then asked everyone to make a diagnosis, and He Fang would tell them where the problem occurred.

This is active. After all, they are students of the Film Academy. Liberating their shameless nature is the first step, so they are not as shy as students from other schools.

After He Fang interacted with the students and discussed the play in detail, the students had a deeper understanding of many things in the play.

For example, some people have been stuck in the vicious circle of explaining and explaining, just trying to explain why the characters do what they do, for fear that the logic will not be self-consistent, and the result will be like an old lady's foot wrap that is smelly and long.

Another example is that some people are stuck in not being able to control the rhythm, and don't know when to play and when to stop.

Some people don't have enough knowledge of common sense, because they haven't experienced actual shooting, so they think that a 120-minute script refers to 120 scenes, and then write a scene in one page.

In fact, this is dogmatism. The so-called one page of a scene and 120 minutes refer to 120 scenes. something else.

For example, the environment, lighting, art, and performance requirements will be marked on it... A page like this does not refer to a page of plot.

He Fang told them about the actual shooting. A 100-minute movie may have about 80 scenes. Of course, it is not fixed. Some scenes are long and some are short.

If it is determined by the number of words, it is about 100 to [-] words for a [-]-minute movie.

Of course, there are also people who are stuck in writing characters, always don’t know how to write characters well, and always feel that their characters are not distinctive.

He Fang asked them to look at the nine-fold personality, that is, to see what a person with each personality is roughly like, which is conducive to character creation.

At the same time, he also pulled out a model of his usual character creation.

There are N kinds of protagonists, the main reason is that the supporting roles are sometimes difficult to match, some people write that there are only protagonists in the story, and there are no supporting roles.

He Fang introduced the seven types of supporting roles, for example:
mentor type

Supporting characters who give the main character the correct knowledge and perceptions.

Love type

The protagonist's favorite object is usually the (male) heroine.It has a great influence on the protagonist's state of mind and is an important role that affects the changes in the entire plot.

Assisting

He often appears inseparably with the protagonist, a necessary role to share difficulties and wealth.

Mysterious type

There will be obvious positive or negative effects on the protagonist, and he will never name himself, usually he will be deified.

Competitive

The strength must have an advantage over the protagonist, but he will be excited or afraid of the hidden strength of the protagonist.It will not hinder the progress of the protagonist, but will promote the growth of the protagonist and become an opponent who can compete with himself.

Harlequin

He often pulls people back and does weird, absurd, and funny things.

Framed

Fight against the protagonist, frame the protagonist in order to get the protagonist or dislike the protagonist.

In addition to the supporting type and the adoring type, the other types of supporting roles can be either decent or villainous.

He Fang's model directly attracted cheers from the students. Many people were distressed because they couldn't write supporting roles. They didn't expect He Fang to make dry stuff.

Of course, this not only made the students enjoy listening to the lectures, but also made Wu Jing's eyes shine. He has not received any professional training, but he has always had a dream of being a director.

As He Fang said, if you want to make a movie, you must pass the level of screenwriting, but he is not a professional, he has read many scripts, but if he wants to write...

Therefore, He Fang's explanation of the play was very useful to him.

As soon as the playwriting class in the morning was finished, everyone gathered around He Fang, and He Fang answered many questions patiently.

At noon, he and Wu Jing went to the Nortel Canteen for dinner. Neither of them had eaten in the Nortel Canteen, so they wanted to try it.

Nortel's food is pretty good, just like restaurants, but more home-cooked than restaurants, delicious.

The most important thing is that there are dishes from all over the country, and the dishes are relatively authentic, without the taste of Hunan cuisine like Sichuan cuisine.

Some teachers and leaders from Nortel ate here with He Fang.

"Director, it's a good thing I came to your class today, otherwise I think I would have missed hundreds of millions. Alas, this is the sadness of non-major education. The difference is really too far." Wu Jing sighed.

"Don't say that you are not a major, I think there are problems with our Nortel teaching methods. I thought why the director graduated from American Pheasant University, but this lesson made me see the real difference. Our The teaching method is still the teaching method of the last century, no, it needs to be changed.” A teacher from the Department of Literature lamented.

"Ha, the teacher is over the top. In fact, I also figured it out from practice. It's just my experience." He Fang said modestly.

……

He Fang squinted at the back of the marking room at noon, and was notified that it was time.

It's just that when he came on stage, he was taken aback. How could there be so many more people than in the morning?

"It's not right, why are there so many people? It seems that some people don't like the content of the play, so they didn't come in the morning, but the students who study the play don't panic. Sooner or later, everyone will find out about your status."

"No, they all slept in late in the morning." Suddenly someone shouted.

"Haha..." The audience burst into laughter.

"Okay, sleeping late is not a good habit. We have to hurry up in the afternoon. Come on, let's talk about directing first. I know many people are eager to learn this, and it is also the second secret to the success of a movie. The first secret is the script, The second secret is the director. If both the script and the director are successful, it will be difficult for your film to fail.”

"It's a deep thing to talk about directors. The directors sitting in the audience are all masters. I'm a newcomer in the director field, so please bear with me if I make mistakes."

"Then we officially begin..."

He Fang picked up the water bottle and took a sip of water.

"Directing, there are several major contents: first, what is the part of the director to create? Second, the routines and skills of the director's creation, and finally, what do I think a good director looks like?"

"I know that as soon as someone hears what the director wants to create, some people think that the director wants to create everything for the entire film. Whether it's the script, or the photography, art, lighting, makeup, music, etc., almost everything needs to be created. It needs a director's guidance and creation, and what the director says is what he does."

"When someone thinks this way, it must be a bad film director. There is no doubt, 100%. Even if this kind of director can win an award occasionally, it will definitely not be mixed."

As soon as He Fang said this, some people in the audience snorted coldly, and some even sneered.

"Directors are divided into two types in the eyes of many people, one is the director of commercial films, and the other is the director of art films. However, I personally think that no matter what kind of director you are, you must follow one principle, that is Tell a story that the audience can understand."

"If you break away from this category, and you make art so extravagant, then I think you're talking about yourself instead of making a movie."

When He Fang said this, there was a sudden 'bang' from the audience, and he stood up and walked out alone.

It is estimated that it is not compatible with He Fang's ideas. Everyone is staring at He Fang. This scene is a bit embarrassing.

(End of this chapter)