another way to tell the jiangxi story well
2024-09-14
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in the upcoming golden period of mid-autumn festival and national day, there will be many movies released. among the many movies, you may not notice that there is a low-budget movie called "music class". it tells the touching story of a music teacher in a rural school in jiangxi province, so it is hailed as the chinese version of "life is beautiful because of you".
the film "music class" was discovered from the prototype of the protagonist to the preparation and establishment of the film, and until the filming and production were completed, the reporter of jiangnan metropolis daily participated in the whole process, and was deeply touched by the twists and turns encountered during the filming of the film. nowadays, all parts of the country have used film and television works to promote local customs, show local culture, food and scenery, and let people check in with film and television works. after watching the movie "music class", it may bring us deep thinking, that is, when using film and television works to promote jiangxi, there is actually another way to express how to tell the story of jiangxi well.
the film premiered in nanchang and had a great start
this is the chinese version of "life is beautiful because of you"
born in the 1990s, the classic american film "life is beautiful" is directed by the famous american director stephen herek. richard dreyfuss, who plays the role of a music teacher, is the winner of the 50th academy award for best actor. this touching big-screen work tells the story of a composer who dreams of completing a great musical work, but is forced to become a music teacher due to life. in the end, his greatest work in his life is to help many students embark on the right path in life... director stephen herek is good at shooting themes focusing on family, friendship and growth, and shows the fun and beauty of life with a positive attitude.
the movie "music class" held a grand premiere in nanchang on the eve of the 40th teachers' day in 2024. this local movie, adapted from the true story of xiao huiwen, a rural music teacher in taihe county, jiangxi province, is like the chinese version of "life is beautiful because of you". it also tells the story of a music teacher using his light and warmth to change rural children and change the quality education of rural campuses with simple emotions.
in the movie "music class", the protagonist zhou ming dreams of becoming a bamboo flute player. after graduation, he is assigned to teach in a remote rural primary school. faced with the non-existent music classes and most of the rural children are left-behind children, he boldly innovates to open bamboo flute classes, and in the process of gradually establishing deep friendships with the students, he finally decides to take root in the countryside and stick to music education.
three years ago, when the reporter interviewed xiao huiwen, before entering shuicha township, he could see "big windmills" standing on the continuous mountains from afar. this mountain is tianhu mountain in shuicha township, taihe county, which is known as "little jinggang mountain under jinggang mountain" and "little lushan mountain in taihe". the entire film "music class" was filmed in taihe county. it not only shows the most representative mountain and lake scenery in the area, but also local cultural ancient villages such as zhuling river, guping village, and jueyu village. there are also the she ethnic customs in shuicha township and azalea flowers blooming all over the mountains. the movie tells a touching story and also shows the beautiful mountains and waters of jiangxi.
the authentic and natural performances of the young actors in "music class" also won the recognition of the audience. it is hard to imagine that all of them were "acting" for the first time. director zhou yong recruited young actors in taihe and selected 8 main young actors after a short period of professional training. among them, chen quanming and xiao huaichuan were the real students of teacher xiao huiwen's bamboo flute class. xiao ziqian, the leading actor who played lei fei, is only 12 years old this year. he vividly interprets how a rebellious teenager realizes his dream by playing the bamboo flute. at the premiere in nanchang, after the film was over, the story resonated strongly among the audience, and xiao ziqian was also chased by many older sisters to take photos with him, like a "star".
the filming of the movie "music lesson" went through twists and turns and difficulties
director zhou yong, from shangrao, jiangxi, has been dedicated to filming children's films for many years. he has created films such as "talking kite" and "online mom" for jiangxi. this time, he returned to his hometown to film a film after 14 years. "i want to make a better film and get better box office results when i come back to film. i hope to play a leading role in revitalizing jiangxi films." zhou yong said.
during the dragon boat festival holiday in 2021, the reporter suddenly received a call from director zhou yong, and an excited voice came from the phone. he told the reporter that he had found a particularly good news about rural teachers. later, after teacher xiao's story was reported by this newspaper, it immediately caused a strong response in society. xinhua news agency, cctv and other national media rushed to report it. wu chengxiang, a famous female singer in jiangxi, and wu songjin, a composer from jiangxi, were also moved by the story of this rural music teacher after seeing the report. they went to shuicha township one after another to give music lessons to the children. entrepreneurs from all over the province also raised money to build a professional music performance classroom for shuicha township central primary school.
at this time, zhou yong also started writing the script of "music class". after a long period of continuous polishing and modification, the work won the 17th "xia yan cup" film script award. at that time, zhou yong's new film "my physical education teacher" was affected by the market and was not very smooth after several operations. but seeing that teacher xiao's story continued to ferment in society and the script won awards, he was once again greatly encouraged, so he rekindled his fighting spirit and hoped to come back to make a good movie for his hometown.
in april 2023, zhou yong suddenly fell ill while visiting his relatives in shangrao. he was rushed to nanchang hospital for emergency treatment and then transferred to guangzhou hospital for surgery. but within a month, zhou yong invited reporters to visit shuicha township central primary school again to interview and prepare for the filming.
in zhou yong's plan, "music class" should at least be a production with an investment of tens of millions of yuan. he should invite good domestic directors and good musicians to make it into a musical film in the style of "life is beautiful because of you" and "the sound of music". not only should the story be touching, but the music should also be beautiful and moving.
but when the film project was approved and the crew really started working, everything was not as good as expected. zhou yong had just recovered from a serious illness, and because he had tried several times but failed to invite a director he liked, he had to take charge of the film himself. the worst thing was the investment problem. the good story that was originally praised by everyone ran into many difficulties when looking for investment.
at this time, the film was about to start shooting, but the funding and preparation work encountered many disadvantages. zhou yong was exhausted before the filming started, and he was in a low mood. he lamented that many people did not understand film shooting and had no confidence in him, which made it so difficult to prepare for the filming in his hometown. in the end, most of the funds for the production of "music class" were paid by zhou yong himself, and the film had to cut costs significantly.
after the filming finally started, difficulties continued. first of all, the conditions for filming in the countryside were extremely limited, and it was very troublesome to solve the accommodation problem for the crew. the crew had to live in six or seven different places, which made it difficult to manage and coordinate. in the end, the filming was delayed because of the accommodation problem.
when taking the children to the top of the local tianhu mountain to film, the steep slope was very dangerous, and the crew even invited blue sky rescue to escort them... several times, zhou yong wanted to give up the filming of the movie "music lesson". he lamented, "i have been engaged in film work for 24 years and have never shed tears before. but this time, i shed many tears for "music lesson"."
while the film was still in the editing process, zhou yong invited industry insiders to watch the film several times in beijing and listened to their opinions. in june this year, he submitted the first draft of the film to the jiangxi provincial department of education, jiangxi film group and other relevant parties with a nervous mood. in the end, "music class" was considered "very jiangxi-flavored" and therefore received official recognition. zhou yong was very pleased to have such a result. he frankly said that he had done his best to shoot the film "music class". "i give myself 85 points for shooting this film, but i give myself 150 points for my hard work for the film."
therefore, the premiere of the movie "music class" became one of the series of activities to celebrate the 40th teachers' day in jiangxi. at present, after the premiere in nanchang, zhou yong led the crew to xinyu, "we will also conduct more than 20 stops of roadshow promotion in guangzhou, ji'an, taihe, chengdu and other places."
jiangxi's film and television industry is still lacking a "bi gan"
in fact, as early as last year, this newspaper also paid attention to another jiangxi director yi han. this director who moved from yichun to beijing shot two works, "childhood in the south" and "summer unexpected", both of which tell true stories of his hometown. these two works have also become douban high-scoring movies.
especially yi han's debut film "looking back at childhood in the south" shot in 2017, which had no professional actors and almost zero box office, scored 9.4 points on douban and was evaluated as "the only conscientious domestic work left on cctv-6". because the subject matter of the film is not the type sought after by the public, although there are 42,000 people who rated it on douban, there are still many viewers who don't know about such a film. and yi han has been planning to shoot his third film "august run" in his hometown since last year, but due to investment problems, it has not yet started.
this can't help but remind people of another film director bi gan, whose film style is quite similar to yi han's, but the results are completely different.
bi gan, a young director from kaili, guizhou, made his mark in the film industry in 2015 with his personal style of art film roadside picnic, which was shot in his hometown of kaili. subsequently, many of bi gan's films have appeared at major international film festivals, and these honors have not only won him attention, but also "captured" various resources in the film industry.
now, bi gan's latest film "wild times" is led by yi yangqianxi and shu qi, and the creative team behind the scenes is even more powerful. art director tu nan has worked with director chen kaige in "legend of the demon cat" and director wong kar-wai in "flower"; styling director huang wenying has a long history of cooperation with director hou hsiao-hsien, and her representative work is "the assassin". with such powerful resources in the industry, the film has attracted much attention since the start of filming.
for a long time, most of jiangxi's film and television works were large-scale productions led by the government, and they also received a warm response across the country. for example, "the founding of an army", the third part of the "founding of the people's republic of china trilogy" series dedicated to the 90th anniversary of the founding of the army, was directed by liu weiqiang and starred by liu ye, zhu yawen, ou hao, liu haoran and other stars, and won several hundred million yuan in box office in the film market.
today, the response to the movie "music lesson" has also given us another possibility for jiangxi films to "break through". jiangxi, with its long cultural history and beautiful landscapes, has never lacked good stories, and low-budget movies can also touch people's hearts. what we lack is more jiangxi filmmakers like zhou yong and yi han who are dedicated to the film industry; what we lack is the attention paid to these movies that tell good stories about jiangxi.
in march this year, the success of the tv series "the wind chaser" also brought more inspiration to the future development of jiangxi film and television. this work, originally planned and created by jiangxi film and television company oriental panorama, was written by screenwriter weng liangping who has worked and lived in jiangxi for many years. it is still a red theme with a main theme, but it does not only write about jiangxi and red. it is precisely because the play innovatively jumped out of the framework of previous revolutionary themes and cleverly integrated various elements that "the wind chaser" not only maintains the true nature of the red story, but also tells the story of young people's growth. therefore, it is sought after by many young audiences and is hotly discussed as "the struggle story of the current workplace."
with the development of the internet era, film dissemination has quietly changed. a successful film is no longer judged by box office. good stories, good reviews, good reputation, and unique works can also break through layers of barriers and be disseminated through various channels. they can still go out and even go international. bi gan is a director who has achieved success in this track and become a role model for others.
the emergence of artificial intelligence will bring more possibilities to the creation and dissemination of film and television works in the future. to liven up the atmosphere of jiangxi film and television creation, more young people in jiangxi who love movies need to continue to join, and they need to be brave and innovative, use their unique style of work and their own imagination to open up their horizons and try more possibilities. to further lead the "out-of-circle" of jiangxi film and television, we are waiting for the emergence of jiangxi "bi gan".
text/photo by jiangnan metropolis daily omnimedia reporter duan ping
