The classic rural-themed TV series "Fence, Woman and Dog" received a strong response as soon as it was broadcast in 1988. Its advanced spirit of the times and twists and turns in the story prompted the audience to think about the living conditions and spiritual reality of people in the era of change.
The drama won the third prize of the 9th China TV Drama "Flying Apsaras Award" and the 8th China TV "Golden Eagle Award" for Outstanding Drama Series. The theme song "The Shadow of the Fence Wall" and the characters such as Zaohua and Maoyuan Old Man are also deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Now, with "Fence, Women and Dogs" being broadcast again on the "Revisiting Classics" channel, the story behind the work has also gained more aftertaste after years of precipitation.
Recently, the China Television Art Committee specially invited Han Zhijun, the author and screenwriter of the original novel of the drama, who is also a famous film and television director, to be interviewed and review the behind-the-scenes creative story.
Recent photo of teacher Han Zhijun
01
The first film and television work in life
Q : Was it during your time working at Changchun Film Studio that you adapted your novel Quartet of Fate into the script for the TV series Fence, Women and Dogs?
Han Zhijun : After my novel "Fate Quartet" was published, the first to be interested was the Beijing Film Studio. A senior editor found me and asked me to adapt "Fate Quartet" into a film script. I had just started when Jin Hezhi, the director of the TV series department of Dalian TV Station, came to my home in Changchun with the editor-in-chief and the production director and insisted on asking me to adapt it into a TV series. It turned out that Tang Hao, an editor of Dalian TV Station, found this "Fate Quartet" in a bookstore. After reading it, he was very excited and thought he had found a work suitable for adaptation into a TV series, so he reported it to the leaders of the TV station. After the leaders of the TV station saw it, they immediately decided to let them take charge of this TV series, so they made a special trip to Changchun to find me.
At that time, movies and TV series could not shoot the same subject matter or the same work, because TV series entered thousands of households through modern media such as TV. If the same work was shot, it would affect the distribution of movie copies. I was a person from the film studio, and I had a biased understanding of TV series at that time: I thought that movies were big works and art, while TV series were just "soap operas", so I politely declined the invitation from the TV station at first. But these friends from the TV station were very sincere and enthusiastic. They invited me to dinner, did my work, and insisted that I adapt the TV series. I was moved by them and finally gave up the adaptation of the movie script. For this reason, I specially went to Beijing to invite the editor-in-chief of the Beijing Film Studio to have a meal to express my apology.
My brother Han Zhichen is a military writer who has written many poems, essays, short plays and other genres. At that time, he had transferred to work at Jilin TV Station. Considering that he was more familiar with the language of TV series and the aesthetic psychology of TV viewers, I pulled him over to work with me to study the selection of novels, the structure of TV series and the character creation, and then I wrote and completed this work.
After the novel was adapted into a TV drama script, the TV station was very satisfied and basically did not make any major changes. At that time, I was in Chengde Mountain Resort, working with a senior director of Changchun Film Studio to adapt a historical drama. Dalian TV sent an assistant director there and asked me to make some minor adjustments to the script, and then they started filming very quickly. I did not go to the scene during the entire filming process because I had creative tasks, and soon after that I entered the advanced screenwriting class of Beijing Film Academy.
Q : What kind of response did "Fence, Woman and Dog" receive after it was broadcast?
Han Zhijun : It was my first year at the Beijing Film Academy when (Fence, Woman and Dog) was officially broadcast on CCTV, causing a sensation across the country, but I had no idea. Because the Beijing Film Academy has a rich and colorful curriculum, I was busy studying and watching a lot of Chinese and foreign movies, and rarely watched TV. It was not until CCTV interviewed me that I realized that I had become a "celebrity" overnight. It really felt like "a riot of colour". On the one hand, I felt a little caught off guard, but of course it was also a kind of encouragement to us.
This incident also had a great impact on the Beijing Film Academy. Many teachers and classmates expressed their sincere congratulations to me. There were 17 people in our senior screenwriter class, and there were relatively few girls. However, there was a "teaching assistant class" opposite our class, which was composed of young teachers who had just graduated from various universities and came to study film theory. There were 7 girls in their class. When they heard that I won the award, they half-seriously and half-jokingly awarded me a "Seven Fairies Award" to express their congratulations and encouragement. The success of this work held a good "foundation-laying ceremony" for us in the Chinese film and television industry, giving us a ladder to continue to climb to new heights. At the same time, it also made us look at the huge influence of TV series with new eyes. I remember that I wrote a sentence in my diary at that time: "Movies are big works, and TV series are works with great influence." Although this statement is not completely accurate now, it does show that I have begun to get rid of the prejudice that "TV series are just soap operas."
Stills from the TV series "Fence, Woman and Dog"
02
Accumulate experience in film and television creation in practice
Question : When adapting a novel into a TV drama script, how is the transformation from literary thinking to film and television thinking achieved?
Han Zhijun : At that time, I was working in the editorial office of Changchun Film Studio. Our "Little White Building" of Changchun Film Studio is very well-known in the film and television industry. It is one of the most important distribution centers for Chinese film literature scripts. Many famous writers have revised scripts there. Most of the scripts of the thousands of films shot by Changchun Film Studio at that time came from Little White Building. When I was working there, there were more than a dozen writers living in Little White Building almost every month, revising scripts day and night. It was really like a "revolving lantern", sending off a group and then a group, and most of them were relatively famous writers. Contacting these outstanding writers and talking about scripts with them was also a kind of improvement for me.
In addition, I read a lot of film scripts at Changchun Film Studio, both successful and failed. Successful ones can provide experience, and failed ones can also provide lessons. In particular, I often read those film scripts that are about to be put on the screen and the director's storyboard scripts, which gradually gave me a stronger sense of lens and image modeling.
According to my summary: the writing of novels, TV series and film scripts are both similar and different. In terms of plot design and character creation, they are generally similar, but in terms of narration, novels are often "connected curves", while movies and TV series are often "jumping and unconnected curves". In a sense, movies and TV series are the art of editing and the art of omission. Once you master this law, adapting novels into movies and TV series will be a breeze.
Stills from the TV series "Fence, Woman and Dog"
Q : You have collaborated with director Chen Yutian on several projects. Please tell us about your impression of him.
Han Zhijun : Director Chen Yutian was originally an actor and worked in the Changchun Film Studio Actors Troupe. However, the Changchun Film Studio Actors Troupe was full of talented people and Yutian's acting talent was almost drowned out, so he was transferred to the Dalian Repertory Theatre and soon became the leading actor and pillar of the troupe. After acting for a few years, he happened to catch up with the fact that TV dramas were beginning to become popular, so he was transferred to Dalian TV Station as a director.
In the creation of a film or TV series, the director is the main thing, the actors are important, and investment is necessary, but the script is the most important. When a director, the most important job is to grasp the script. Without a good script, it is like asking a good cook to cook without rice. No matter how good the director is, he cannot make a good film.
Director Chen Yutian is a very nice person, sincere and dedicated to filming. He understands acting and has a good working relationship with actors. He respects the screenwriter and never allows the script to be changed at will. He is a self-taught director, so he was a little lacking in scene arrangement, camera movement, and lighting at the beginning. But he has a good understanding and is hardworking. He improved quickly in creative practice and gradually entered a creative state.
Stills from the TV series "Fence, Woman and Dog"
Q : How were the main actors of Fence, Woman and Dog determined?
Han Zhijun : The actors were mainly selected by Director Chen Yutian, and then finalized by the leaders of the TV Department and the TV station. I mentioned earlier that Director Chen Yutian had been an actor in Changchun Film Studio, and later he was active on the Dalian drama stage for many years, so he knows how to perform. So, you can see that the actors he selected were very accurate: Teacher Tian Chengren from Beijing People's Art Theater played the old man Maoyuan, and the young actors who played the four sisters-in-law and the four brothers (such as Zaohua, Qiaogu, Yinsuo, Tiesuo, Xique, etc.) were all selected from the graduating class of the Performance Department of the PLA Academy of Art that year, almost "all of them". Jinsuo and Xiangcao were selected from local actors in Dalian, and Tongsuo was selected from Hebei.
There is a saying in the film and television industry: when selecting actors, the actors should get closer to the roles; after selecting actors, the roles should get closer to the actors. First of all, the appearance and temperament of these actors are right, basically matching our ideas when writing the script. After they joined the crew, they worked very hard to enter the prescribed situation in their performances, acting lifelike and vividly, fully releasing their aura and acting talent. In addition, our lines from novels to scripts are also written more vividly, without concepts, stiffness, carving, or diagrams. They are mainly about the unusual fate and complex emotional world of the characters, so it is particularly easy to arouse the audience's empathy and resonance, and it is better to attract and infect the audience.
When writers write novels, it is individual labor. When screenwriters write scripts, it is a link in the collective labor chain. As screenwriters, we should strive to create space for directors, actors, photographers, artists, recording, makeup and other artistic departments to fully unleash their talents; while directors and all creative staff should strive to present the screenwriter's ideas brilliantly and turn the "blueprint" painstakingly designed by the screenwriter into an "artistic building" that rises from the ground. I think that our creative collective is lucky to meet each other.
Stills from the TV series "Fence, Woman and Dog"
03
The origin of the play's title and the work's intention
Q : Why is the name of this play called "Fence, Woman and Dog"?
Han Zhijun : The title "Fence·Woman and Dog" was my idea, and my brother Zhichen and I hit it off. At that time, I watched a lot of foreign films in the film studio and realized that the titles of film and television dramas must be unique and irreplaceable. Like the Soviet films "The Dawns Here Are Quiet", "Wild Geese Flying South", "The Forgotten Flute", "Autumn Marathon", "White Bim Black Ears", and other foreign films like "Picnic on the Rocks", "Before Sunrise", "Before Sunset", "Before Midnight", "Jelfina Stands Up", etc., you can see how unique, charming, and unforgettable these titles are, almost like hooks, attracting you to the cinema. I think that as a novel, it can be called "Fate Quartet" because it writes about the fate and emotional world of four sisters-in-law, but when we change the title of a TV series, it must be unique and unique, and we must strive to arouse the audience's interest and desire to watch, while accurately indicating the theme of the work. Therefore, the title of the TV series was finally finalized as "Fence·Woman and Dog".
There was a small episode after the TV series was broadcast: a Tianjin Women's Federation cadre wrote a critical article, saying that "Fence·Women and Dogs" put women and dogs on the same level, which was a blasphemy against women. She actually didn't understand it, because in "Fence·Women and Dogs" we mainly wrote about Zaohua's "pain of lovelessness." Although her family does have a puppy named "Hua Niu'er" in the play, this is not the main point. The main meaning is a symbol: Zaohua's self-awakening of human nature during the reform and opening up and her transformation from "non-human status" to "human status."
A well-known crosstalk artist even wrote a crosstalk to satirize the theme song of "Fence, Woman and Dog", saying: "'The stars are still the same stars, the moon is still the same moon, the mountain is still the same mountain, the beam is still the same beam', and 'The millstone is the millstone, the vat is the vat, the father is the father, the mother is the mother'... all of it is nonsense!" This crosstalk of his was broadcasted by many TV stations. To be honest, he really didn't understand the connotation of this theme song.
In "Fence, Woman and Dog", we wrote about the conflict between civilization and ignorance under the background of reform and opening up, and about Zaohua's first tragedy in life: "the pain of lovelessness". Her marriage with Tongsuo was arranged by her parents. Tongsuo was not doing his job properly, had the habits of a rural "second-rate person", and was rude and irritable. Such a marriage is no different from a vulgar contract, rusty chains, and painful torture. On the other side of the fence, Xiao Geng truly loves Zaohua, but he is out of reach because Zaohua is already "taken". Zaohua suffers in this pain of lovelessness. The second paragraph of the theme song: "Why don't the stars look like that star, the moon doesn't look like that moon, the river is not that river, and the house is not that house." Reform and opening up have brought about huge historical changes in China's rural areas. Many things have changed and are no longer the same as before. "A mule gave birth to a foal, and a black chicken turned into a colorful phoenix." People with life experience know that a mule cannot give birth to a foal, and it is impossible for a black chicken to turn into a colorful phoenix. But in the reform and opening up, all the stories that should not happen have happened. Reform and opening up have changed the material life and destiny of Chinese farmers, but one thing has never changed: "The shadow of the fence is still as long." Our Chinese society has experienced thousands of years of imperial rule, and the remnants of feudalism are like a nightmare that is hard to get rid of. The first part of our series of TV series, "Fence, Women and Dogs," focuses on the living conditions and spiritual reality of the Chinese people, and writes about the "heart history" of Chinese farmers. Many critics have correctly pointed this out in their articles.
At the end of the first part, the family of old man Maoyuan finally couldn't hold on. In the past, the three-generation family he was proud of was in danger of falling apart, and it was difficult for the four sons to make a living under one roof. After his own wife died, Zaohua's widowed mother was the object of his affection, but he was "hesitant to speak, hesitant to move forward", and he wanted to love but never dared to express it. So at the end, the old man finally figured it out and said that a forced melon is not sweet, so let's split up! The last scene is the separation of the family. He sat on the kang, took out all the money he had saved for many years, put it there, and said that you all envy this one in our village who is a ten thousand yuan household, and that one is a ten thousand yuan household. Today I can tell you that our Ge Maoyuan family is also a ten thousand yuan household! Then he divided the money among his four sons, including his grandchildren Xiaolong and Xiaohu, which made his sons and daughters-in-law stunned.
He originally disagreed with Zaohua's divorce from Tongsuo, but now he agreed, and then he walked out of the house with his hands behind his back and ran to the river. His sons and daughters-in-law thought he was going to jump into the river, and they chased after him, but they saw the old man with his hands behind his back in the sunset, walking towards the hut by the river with his beloved yellow dog. That was Zaohua's mother's home. He wanted to find his own happiness and his own love. The artist specially decorated Zaohua's mother's house with a lot of red peppers, and the atmosphere was particularly gorgeous. But the old man walked to the door, stretched out his hand to knock on the door, but was timid and hesitant. His hand trembled slightly, and suddenly stopped and froze. This was the end of the first play.
This ending has already hinted that it is quite difficult for everyone to break through the shackles of feudal ideology and truly "let thoughts break free of the cage" as the Internationale sings.
After the play won the award, the leaders of CCTV and Dalian TV decided to make sequels, so we had the second part "The Windlass, Women and Well" and the third part "Ancient Ship, Women and Net", which continued Zaohua's second and third spiritual tragedies, and showed the difficulty of ideological emancipation. This is a story for later.
Q : Did you participate in the composition of the theme song?
Han Zhijun : The music of movies and TV series is not the background of the characters' dialogues. Its task is to tell the content that the picture should tell but has not told completely. Gobrilovich said: An excellent screenwriter has two pens in his hands, a prose pen and a dialogue pen. The screenwriter uses the brushstrokes of lyrical prose to describe the scenery and characters in the script, which actually contains hints for future music creation. As long as the lyricist and composer read the script carefully, it is equivalent to communicating with the screenwriter. The screenwriter does not need to interfere with the music creation, nor does he need to discuss it specifically. Zhang Li and Xu Peidong are very talented and passionate creators, and I never interfere with their creation.
Q : What are your thoughts on the current status of rural-themed TV dramas?
Han Zhijun : There are two kinds of works. One kind is relatively profound, with deep insights into life, philosophical reflections on people and human nature, and even "historical inscription value". The other kind is a skit-style work that goes around in circles on the surface of life, lively and even able to tickle the audience.
I think our creators must calm down and go deep into life and history. They cannot go around in circles on the surface of life, and they cannot write about advanced models here or advanced experiences there. If they do not settle down, ruminate, think deeply and ponder over life, and are too eager for quick success, what they write can only be "bubbles", not real literary and artistic works, and cannot stand on their own in the long gallery of literature and art of our nation, and are doomed to be short-lived!
Being glib is not humor. Humor comes from the depths of life and contains very serious content. Many rural-themed TV dramas are now showing more and more skit-like tendencies, and using glibness to replace humor is not advisable. First, don't be conceptual, and second, don't be glib. You must strive to pursue the harmonious unity of the "three levels" of narrative, concept, and charm, so that you can produce fine works.
Not long ago, there was a TV series called "When the Mountain Flowers Bloom". Although it also writes about reform and rural education, I think it has a unique perspective, vivid characters, and a sense of life. It is quite good-looking, unlike some works that look fake at first glance. As a creator of literature and art, we must step out of the false and empty. We must sing praises of truth, goodness and beauty, and criticize falsehood, evil and ugliness. What is the main theme? I think the real main theme is nothing else but to strive to express the wishes and emotions of the vast majority of the people and convey the voices that echo in their hearts. Because the direction of historical progress does not depend on the will of a single person, but on the combined force, that is, the "diagonal of a parallelogram". The direction of the combined force of the entire human society is the direction of historical progress. Our works must conform to this direction and cannot contradict it.
Director Han Zhijun's work photos
04
Understanding of classics
Q : It has been one year since the launch of the "Revisiting Classics" channel. Please tell us about your understanding of classics and your experience in creating classic works.
Han Zhijun : Classics are excellent works that stand the test of time and allow the audience to learn new things from the past. I would like to warmly congratulate the first anniversary of the launch of the "Revisit Classics" channel. I would like to thank the staff on and off the stage of the "Revisit Classics" channel for giving us the opportunity to revisit so many excellent TV series, cartoons and documentaries.
In the past, we created TV series such as "Fence, Woman and Dog", "Windwheel, Woman and Well", "Ancient Ship, Woman and Net", "Fog, Sea, Sail", and "Village with Smoke Drifting Through" ("Ice and Snow" and "Wind and Rain"), and created and filmed more than 20 films such as "Two Women in Red Scarves", "Romantic Girl", "Pretty Female Neighbor", "Beautiful Baiyinna", "Big-foot Queen", and "Tang Dynasty Female Inspector". We also created 10 historical dramas in the "Eternal Love", "Eternal Sound", "Eternal Clouds and Smoke" and a number of works on modern and contemporary themes, which were welcomed by the audience and won many awards. However, "a journey of a hundred miles begins with a single step." We must not be satisfied with our existing achievements, but continue to work hard, insist on "writing about people, hearts, and souls", and create more and better works for our times and people.
Director Han Zhijun's work photos
Q : Having been involved in the industry for more than 30 years, what experiences can you share with young creators?
Han Zhijun : There are four conditions for talent's success, and none of them can be missing: inheritance, talent, skill, and opportunity.
The importance of learning is shown by putting the teacher first. We should not only learn from people, but also from life, nature and society. We should be diligent, constantly update our knowledge structure and expand our knowledge field. Only in this way can we create something new and surprising, and provide the audience with a fresh aesthetic experience. "Those who work hard will always succeed, and those who keep going will always reach their goals." That's all!
When our film "The Female Inspector of the Tang Dynasty" won the Best Opera Film Award at the 30th China Golden Rooster Awards, I said something in my acceptance speech that may be useful to young creators: "Some people say that people riding bicycles can never catch up with people driving Land Rovers. This is true on the open and smooth roads, but on the rugged and winding mountain roads, people driving Land Rovers may not catch up with people riding bicycles; and on the way to climb Mount Everest, whether people driving Land Rovers or people riding bicycles, they will definitely not catch up with people wearing hiking shoes..." For young friends, it is generally unlikely that investors will flock to them when they first start out, and they will have the conditions to "drive a Land Rover" in art, or even drive a more luxurious "luxury car", so they have to rely on their own diligence and creative labor to start bit by bit. The key is to accurately judge and choose "where to break through" to fully release their potential, which is crucial. For me, that place where "a hole can be torn open", that piece of "my own sky" that belongs to me, is often at the cape, often at the end of the world, often in the deep mountains and forests, and often in places where there are few people.
There is a couplet that I would like to give to young creators: "Where there is a will, there is a way. With a desperate struggle, the Qin army finally belonged to Chu. Where ...
postscript
Teacher Han Zhijun was born in Qian'an County, Jilin Province. Later, due to his father's job transfer, he went to Qian'erlos Mongol Autonomous County to attend primary and secondary school. He has three younger brothers and three younger sisters, and is the eldest of seven children. This ordinary family with many children has trained all seven children to become undergraduates and postgraduates, and they have made great achievements in their respective fields. In the interview with him, we can feel that in addition to the torrent of the times and personal talent, kindness, perseverance and deep thinking have a positive impact on life.
Regarding literary and artistic creation, Mr. Han put forward his own "Vitamin C Theory" in an easy-to-understand manner. He believes that works must of course reflect the spirit of the times and be ideological, but "vitamin C tablets" cannot be forced on the audience. Instead, efforts should be made to produce apples, citrus, grapes, tomatoes, passion fruit... so that the audience can eat them with relish, absorb "vitamin C" unconsciously, and convey the creator's understanding of life to them subtly, pursuing the artistic effect of "sneaking into the night with the wind, moistening things silently."
He also has a vivid "good wine theory", which is that creators should carefully brew a bottle of good and mellow wine so that the broadest audience can "drink it to their heart's content" and experts and scholars can "taste it". They should strive to find the intersection of elegance and vulgarity among the "huge pyramid-shaped audience group" and pursue the unity of "watchability" and "evaluability".
This interview on the theme of "Memories of Classic TV Dramas" also records the behind-the-scenes stories of a series of works by Mr. Han Zhijun after "Fence, Women and Dogs". We will organize and publish them in due course to share more of Mr. Han Zhijun's life insights and creative wisdom.
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)
This issue is implemented by Lin Hui, Zhang Mingwei, Wei Ke, and Liu Da (Communication University of China team)
Planning丨Zhao Cong and Li Xuan
