Among the dramas broadcast on the "Revisiting Classics" channel, the major revolutionary TV series "Finding the Way", written by Wang Chaozhu and directed by Zhang Duofu and Liu Juan, has a broader historical writing perspective than in the past. It shows the struggles and explorations of a generation of Chinese Communists such as Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Zhu De, and Chen Geng from the failure of the Great Revolution in 1927 to 1932, and their tenacious persistence in the revolutionary struggle, and the story of breaking out the great road of "surrounding the cities from the countryside and seizing power by force" for the Chinese revolution. It has strong practical significance and far-reaching historical significance. After the first broadcast in 2013, the drama triggered extensive discussions among the audience on revolutionary stories and heroic epics, and won the Outstanding TV Drama Award at the 30th China TV Drama "Flying Apsaras Award". The re-broadcast of "Finding the Way" has once again made the audience feel the faith and style of the Communists.
Recent photo of director Zhang Duofu
Director Zhang Duofu has been an actor for many years and has focused on creating revolutionary works in recent years. Recently, the China Television Art Committee specially invited him to be interviewed to review the behind-the-scenes creation experience of "Finding the Way".
Zhang Duofu : Finding the Way was filmed in 2012. At that time, our drama My Name is Wang Tudi was being broadcast on CCTV. Wang Chaozhu watched the drama very carefully and thought that it had some new ideas, strong artistry, and the scenes and momentum were all in place. After watching it, he hoped that I would direct Finding the Way to break through the fixed pattern of revolutionary historical themes at that time and make the work more novel in terms of concepts and perspectives. They found me through Tianjin TV and asked me to work with them.
Poster of the TV series "Finding the Way"
The first time I met Mr. Wang was when the producer took me to Xiangshan. He was writing the script of "Finding the Way" in a hotel in Xiangshan. As soon as he saw me, he said: "I've seen your "King of Land"!" Then he introduced me to some stories about "Finding the Way", including major events. There are many newly revealed historical materials here, and he also told me about the relationship between some historical figures.
After that, I waited for about 4 months. Since Teacher Wang was able to decide on me, I turned down other plays and waited for Teacher Wang's play.
Zhang Duofu : When I met with Mr. Wang Chaozhu, he said: Director Zhang, if you want to shoot my film "Finding the Way", you have to do some homework. You have to read all these books thoroughly. I looked around and saw that the sofa was piled with books. How long would it take me to finish reading all these books?
Later, I really went to the bookstore, and my wife accompanied me to buy books related to the era of "Finding the Way", such as biographies of Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Zhu De, Chiang Kai-shek, Du Yuesheng, etc. At that time, I set a limit on how many pages I should read at home every day, and I would read one book every two days. Because the biographies were in several volumes, with a lot of content, and I also hoped to learn more about these people. Later, I spent three months reading all the books I bought.
Teacher Wang also provided me with some of their works such as "The Long March" and "Ode to Yan'an", and hoped that I would take time to watch them. I spent about a month, 10 episodes a day, watching a lot of these revolutionary historical dramas. After watching them, I knew the relationship between the characters, including these major historical events, which played a big role in my grasp of these things when I was filming later. So at that time, I was very rigorous and serious in my creation, because it was a (revolutionary) historical drama, and I hoped that the historians would not find any problems.
Stills from the TV series "Finding the Way"
Zhang Duofu : I mainly filmed the Mao Zedong plot. Originally, they wanted me to focus on the Shanghai plot to make it look better. But later, I felt that the actors in the Red Army plot were too young and had little acting experience. I had to communicate with them on the set every day. Plus, the war scenes were too difficult, so (the crew decided) that the director should film this part.
So when we first started filming, I was in Tianjin. After we finished filming, we decided on the tone, shot a look, and created a feeling for the Kuomintang (scenes), and taught them the crew. Then we took people to another place to shoot, and we were working on two different lines.
Zhang Duofu : We need to pay special attention to two departments. One is the modeling department, that is, whether the (modeling of revolutionary historical figures) is similar. If it is not similar, people will blame you. Whether the modeling of this character is like this great man, like this hero, this department is very important. Another department is the department involved in fireworks explosions. Once there is a problem in the explosion department, it involves personal injury, which is a more serious problem in filming.
When we are shooting war scenes on set, we always hope that the atmosphere of the war scenes will be better, so we hope that there will be more explosives, such as more dynamite. Sometimes the scene is crowded with adults and people, and there are many explosion points, which makes it very messy and easy to cause accidents, which makes you feel very scared. So when shooting such war scenes, I always watch the monitor with my heart on my sleeve, constantly reminding myself, for fear that something might happen.
Zhang Duofu : Controlling historical events and historical figures is a difficult part of creating revolutionary dramas. For example, when Zhou Enlai and his men moved from Shanghai to the Soviet area, Xiang Ying and Zhou Enlai were of higher ranks than Mao Zedong, so Mao Zedong would sit on the side in meetings. But as the story progresses, Mao Zedong's position becomes higher and higher, and his seat changes constantly. Including the last scene of the TV series, such as the Gutian Conference, how Zhu De, Chen Yi, and Mao Zedong sat in these positions, we had to study them carefully, for fear of making mistakes.
My understanding of "Finding the Way" is that in 1927, the Chinese Communist Party was at a difficult crossroads. Should they establish their own armed forces? There were different opinions. At this time, they found a way, which was what Mao Zedong later said at the August 7th Conference: "Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun." They must attach importance to the military and arm themselves to resist the Kuomintang reactionaries' massacre policy. That's why the Nanchang Uprising at that time established the army led by the Chinese Communist Party, and then the Autumn Harvest Uprising and the Guangzhou Uprising (1927).
Stills from the TV series "Finding the Way"
Zhang Duofu : For example, we were filming the Battle of Dabaidi.
There weren't many descriptions of the Dabaidi battle in the script at the time. There are so many battles (in the play), there must be a focus, right? I asked a historian who was with us, I want to shoot a key scene among so many battles, redesign it, which battle do you think is worth shooting? He said: Director Zhang, you want to shoot the Dabaidi battle that few people talk about. This battle was after the Red Army left Jinggangshan, and was chased and fought by the Kuomintang (army), and they were hiding here and there. So what happened in the end? Mao Zedong designed a plan to lure the enemy deep into the territory and fought a very beautiful ambush. He said that many parts of this battle were not written much, you want to choose this battle and write about it well, I said yes.
I started to think about it. I read some materials and found that Mao Zedong once rushed to the front line impulsively. It was not necessarily in the Battle of Dabaidi, but he did this. Chen Yi and Zhu De were both on the battlefield at that time. There were not many bullets at that time, so they fought with the enemy. I wanted to borrow this part and use some freehand techniques to show the faith of the Communists in this scene.
In the Dabaidi battle, they originally thought that they could annihilate the enemies who surrounded them, but they didn't expect that there were too many of them. In the end, they had no choice but to rush forward. I designed that Zhu De asked the guards to watch Mao Zedong and not allow the chairman to go down. He and Chen Yi led all the Red Army to the front line. In the play, Mao Zedong saw that he had to rush to the front line, but the guards didn't let him go and stopped him. He said don't stop me, he wants to go. In the end, we handled Mao Zedong in a freehand way. In the dust and smoke of the explosion, he walked up a hillside, looked at the Red Army fighting with the enemy in front of him, and said: Comrades, Communists, the time to test us has come! After that, he took a telescope and sang "The Internationale" there to boost the morale of all the soldiers. When everyone saw that Chairman Mao was here, they began to fight desperately with the enemy.
At this time, a soldier died beside the flag in order to protect it, like a sculpture. Because at that time the bugle had already sounded, the soldier next to him raised the red flag and rushed to the hillside again. When he rushed to the hillside again, he was shot and fell to the ground. Another soldier rushed forward and held up the flag. Finally, under the guidance of the red flag and the urging of the bugle, many soldiers rushed to the hillside to prevent the flag from falling. The feeling we set for this flag at that time was that it was a belief of the Communists. This belief could not fall, and they rushed forward one after another, passing it on to their comrades, one after another, and finally the whole picture slowly turned red. These people stood there like statues on the monument to heroes.
Mao Zedong stood on the hillside and looked at the soldiers, tears in his eyes. Chen Yi and Zhu De slowly walked towards Mao Zedong, the three of them looked at each other, held hands tightly, and the Internationale started. Because I have read that Mao Zedong liked the Internationale. This song is very tragic and inspiring. Therefore, when we usually shoot some heroes being martyred, prison cells, or some big scenes and key moments, we will use the Internationale to set off the atmosphere of these scenes.
(The Battle of Dabaidi) This was designed separately. It was not in the script. I wrote many pages about this emotion. In the end, all the opening scenes of "Finding the Way" used this.
Zhang Duofu : I think the idea of "revisiting classics" is good in every way and benefits the people. It allows the people to revisit the classic works they loved in the past, know where to watch them, and these works can really convey what the people like.
(Filming of "Finding the Way") When they were in Jinggang Mountain, Zhu De and Mao Zedong went up the mountain to pick up food. It was very cold in the cold winter, and everyone wore straw sandals. Seeing everyone's miserable state, Mao Zedong and Zhu De sang "The Internationale" to encourage everyone. But when we were filming on the spot, all the students who played the soldiers did not know how to sing and did not know "The Internationale".
TV series "Finding the Way" work photos
Why do we, the people who are engaged in the arts, say that we should have a sense of responsibility? We should introduce that period of history to the current audience, so that they can understand that the current life is hard-won and is exchanged for the lives and blood of the martyrs. The "Revisiting Classics" (channel) allows them to see works like "Finding the Way" again, and they will be moved. So I think this channel is well set up and is also helpful to our industry.
Zhang Duofu : I think that we are going off the track when we shoot period dramas or revolutionary historical dramas. For the sake of beauty, many scenes make the difficult revolutionary struggles of the past overly romantic, so that people today will feel that it was not that hard back then. This is misleading.
So when we are creating, historical dramas are history, we have to restore it, and we can't exaggerate it for the sake of pictures or some special effects. Including the drama of Jiang Jie that I am about to shoot now, we really strictly follow the bloody era, everything is difficult and everything is lacking. There are only two chairs in a room, empty, and there are not so many fancy furnishings on the table. Because the environment is too gorgeous, it will give the audience a bad (misleading) feeling. For example, "Finding the Way" also strictly follows this creative law. It was very rigorous at the time. These films can be shown to people today, especially those in our film and television industry, so that they can see that this is how it was handled in the past, and it is acceptable to handle it this way.
Zhang Duofu : Seek truth and justice, adhere to principles, and take responsibility.
When I was a kid, I watched the old movies "The Battle of Shangganling" and "The Battle of South and North". They were so real and good. When I was filming at Changchun Film Studio, the makeup artist had participated in "Heroic Sons and Daughters". He said that they experienced life for four months, watching how the North Korean people worked every day, how they put on makeup, including how to carry a stretcher in the water. They created a classic work in this way.
Some works nowadays are made just by reading the script, which is too empty. I think it is due to various reasons, such as excessive flattery of the audience and excessive pursuit of market benefits, while ignoring the ideological quality of a real work of art, as well as the positive social benefits. Only then can we talk about economic benefits. Only when the ideological quality, artistry, social benefits and economic benefits are unified can it be considered a truly good work.
In 1987, actor Zhang Duofu came into the public eye. His first work was as the No. 1 male role in the film "The Book and the Sword" directed by Ann Hui. He was also the actor approved by Mr. Jin Yong to play Chen Jialuo. In 1995, he resolutely transformed from an actor to a director. Since then, he has been rooted in behind-the-scenes creation for nearly 30 years, and his works cover a wide range of subjects.
Director Zhang Duofu said that this oral history was the most systematic interview he had ever received since he started his career. During the conversation, he shared his artistic pursuits from the Huaibei Song and Dance Troupe to the Kunming Military Region National Defense Art Troupe in his early years, why he transitioned behind the scenes after becoming famous, the difficulties and breakthroughs in the creation process of his representative works, and other life experiences at different stages. The gains and losses on the road to creation, luck and persistence, facing difficulties and smiling at the ups and downs are all included.
Behind the success of "Finding the Way" is the collective pursuit of quality and innovation by the creative team. As for director Zhang Duofu, he has produced many excellent works before and after "Finding the Way". This high-quality completion of a major revolutionary theme work can be seen as an inevitable result of his professional accumulation and firm ideas.
This article is an interview article from the "Classic TV Drama Memories" oral history collection project
Project leader: Lin Hui (oral history expert at Communication University of China)
Executives of this issue: Lin Hui, Wei Ke, Liu Da, Cao Qingjiang, Li Qiuping (Communication University of China team)
Planning: Zhao Cong and Li Xuan
