The 27th Shanghai International Film Festival is in full swing, with light and shadow as the painting and life as the frame. A "City of Film" promotional film "Let's Go to the Movies!", which takes culture as the core and integrates city landmarks, was launched during the Shanghai International Film Festival.
Screenshot of "Let's go to the movies!", Wukang Building
The morning light illuminates the Wukang Building reflected in the water, just like a spotlight hitting the screen, and the drama begins - "Zhang Chi" in "Speeding Life" stops "Tie Mei" in "Good Things" on the roadside, "Ma Tianmin"'s shared bicycle in "I'm Off Today" meets Lao Wu's 28-bar bicycle in "Love Mythology" in a small alley, and the "Lion Boy" excitedly somersaults on the overpass, and the classic shots in "1921" show the red heritage of Shanghai, the "Glorious City"...
This fun and lively short film pays tribute to many Shanghai-produced films. The "running" action of each character contains the love for movies and the pursuit of memories. The creators of "Let's Go to the Movies!" hope that the audience can find familiar movie characters and landmark scenes in this short film, and experience a "treasure hunt experience" that perfectly integrates movies and the city.
In a conversation with a reporter from The Paper, Liang Hai, a director born in the 1980s, and Gao Jiawang, an executive producer born in the 1990s, shared interesting stories about their creations behind the scenes and their thoughts on the film industry.
Director Liang Hai
Zhou Yemang, who flew in to make a cameo appearance, and Ge You, who is so realistic
The promotional film "Let's go and love movies!" was directed by the Shanghai Film Bureau, produced by Shangshi Films, with Zheng Dasheng as the chief producer and directed by young director Liang Hai. "This is another collaboration between our team and director Zheng Dasheng after the dance film "The Eternal Waves", the opening film of the 2023 Shanghai Film Festival. It can be said to be a continuation of the spirit of 'waves' and Shanghai's 'city of movies'." Executive producer Gao Jiawang introduced.
"Let's Go, Love Movies!" took nearly half a year from conception to shooting. After several rounds of brainstorming, the main creators finalized the concept of "rushing to". "Good Things", "Speeding Life 2", "The Wasted Times", "Today I Take a Break", "Love Mythology", "Sanmao's Wanderings", "Lion Boy 2", "Assassination of Novelist", "1921", "Unknown"... These familiar movie elements are all from "Shanghai productions", and are interspersed with Shanghai's urban landscape, from the bright lights of the Bund to the city life in the alleys, the fusion of movies and cities is ready to emerge.
It actually took only three days to actually shoot the promotional video. In order to avoid the crowds at attractions such as the Wukang Building and the Bund, the crew arrived at the scene at three or four in the morning every day to set up the scene, debug the equipment, and lead the actors in the rehearsal... "We planned everything, but we forgot about the sanitation department. Garbage trucks and sprinkler trucks were out on the street early in the morning, and we almost got caught." Liang Hai laughed, "We also underestimated the enthusiasm of Shanghai citizens. The camera lens is the dividing line. Inside the lens is the object to be filmed and the cleared site, and outside the lens is a huge crowd of onlookers. Some people even thought we were filming "Speeding Life 3" and asked, 'Will Shen Teng come?'"
"Let's go and watch movies!" Screenshot from "Speeding Life"
In real life, Director Liang Hai loves to joke and talk nonsense. When he was writing the script, he naturally designed a lot of humorous and interesting content. "At first, I was a little worried that for a work about urban culture and image, my creation might be a little frivolous. Unexpectedly, the Municipal Film Bureau approved of it very much, saying that it had the characteristics of Shanghai humor."
So, there was such a hilarious plot: a young man met an "old man" in the alley, and the old man asked the young man: "Friend, are you pretending to be Ma Tianmin in "I'm Off Today"? "The young man asked in return: "Old man, who are you playing?" The old man replied: "The Myth of Love." The young man laughed: "You, not like it." The old man was stunned on the spot, then he took off his sunglasses, and it was the actor Zhou Yemang who played "Lao Wu" in the movie "The Myth of Love".
Screenshot of Let’s Go to the Movies!, Ma Tianmin and Zhou Yemang
Zhou Yemang is the only actor in "Let's Go, Love Movies!" who is based on a movie character. Hearing that the movie was produced for the "Movie City" Shanghai, Zhou Yemang flew from Beijing to make a cameo appearance for a day. In addition, the movie "Assassination of Novelist" also readily lent the original prop armor in the movie.
Some viewers thought that a scene in a taxi in the promotional video was also played by Ge You himself. "In fact, the image of Ge You in that scene was cut out and color-graded from the original film of The Last Romance. Whether it is the scene or the character, we spent a lot of time to restore and reproduce it in the early stage. The original film used and the real scene shooting can be connected very naturally, so it creates a beautiful misunderstanding for the audience." Executive producer Gao Jiawang was a little proud of this.
Screenshot of "Let's Go to the Movies!" and "The Wasted Time"
Many actors performed for free out of their passion for the film. For roles that require speaking lines and performing prescribed movements, the crew found professional actors. When it comes to cartoon characters like "Sanmao" and "The Lion Boy", higher requirements are placed on the degree of fit in appearance. "The children in "The Lion Boy" were all found from drama schools. Not only are their images highly restored, but they can also restore the lion dance movements very well." Liang Hai lamented that he was so lucky, "When we were shooting, we all felt that there was no other group in Shanghai that looked so similar."
Screenshot of Let’s Go to the Movies! by Sanmao
Screenshot of "Let's Go, Let's Go to the Movies!", "Young Lion"
There is also an Easter egg in the trailer - a tribute to The Wasted Times, where the "taxi driver" is played by director Liang Hai himself. "In fact, I only showed my eyes, and I thought I hid it well. I didn't expect that after the film was released, I was immediately recognized and posted to the class group. However, some classmates also praised me, "This driver speaks standard Shanghainese!"
Audiences don't like watching movies anymore? What do filmmakers say?
During the Shanghai Film Festival, many movie fans took the "Urban Movie Walk" through the official movie map app "Movie Land". The two interviewees also had their special recommendations.
Director Liang Hai suggested that fans walk into the alleys of Shanghai's old city: "Many tourists may be attracted by the grand buildings on the Bund, but in my opinion, it is the old roads and alleys that truly reflect the charm of Shanghai. When you walk into the alleys with exquisite small houses, townhouses and Shikumen houses, the breath of life and the beauty of architecture that hit you are the most moving movie scenes in Shanghai."
Liang Hai was born in Heilongjiang, studied in Beijing, and now lives in Shanghai. "I grew up in the Northeast. When I saw the giant heating pipes across the red brick factory buildings on the road, I would think of the old industrial areas in the Northeast. When I saw the circling pigeons and heard the coordinated whistles, I would think of the alleys of old Beijing. Later, I came to Shanghai to develop and settle down. Even in Xiamen, when I saw the sunlight through the leaves casting mottled shadows on the wall, I would think of Shanghai and the plane trees in Shanghai." In Liang Hai's view, these images carry a strong regional memory. As a director, what he has to do is to use images to capture the unique visual codes of these cities. These visual symbols can instantly awaken the audience's collective memory of this city and feel the breath of this city.
Gao Jiawang
Executive producer Gao Jiawang told reporters: "As a post-95s, I was unfamiliar with Shikumen life. But during the location scouting process, these alleys gave me a great shock. I not only saw the exquisiteness of Shanghai, but also felt the fresh atmosphere of the city life, which are all valuable materials for film creation." In addition, she also recommended fans to visit the Shanghai Film Museum: "This is also one of the filming locations of "Let's Go to the Movies!" Shanghai is the birthplace of Chinese film. At this important node of the 120th anniversary of the birth of Chinese film, this place is very worthy of every fan's careful appreciation. You will definitely find countless moving movie details."
Last June, Shanghai issued the "Three-Year Action Plan for the High-Quality Development of Shanghai's Film Industry (2024-2026) to Promote the City's Spirit and Build a Film City". During this year's Shanghai Film Festival, it also launched activities such as the "Movie Fan Festival" to strive to enhance the audience's enthusiasm for movies. As practitioners in the film industry, both of them felt very encouraged.
Gao Jiawang had previously participated in the dance drama film "The Eternal Waves". This niche work with a red theme combined with dance drama not only made it to the big screen, but also became the opening film of the Shanghai Film Festival last year. "This is a great affirmation of filmmakers, and it makes us realize that there are all kinds of stories to tell and all kinds of movies to shoot in Shanghai."
During the Shanghai Film Festival, she had many plans to watch movies, such as "Tiger Poison" directed by Chan Siu-kuen and "Hong Kong Four Paths" which won the highest box office record in Hong Kong. The one she was most looking forward to was the 4K restored version of "A River Flows East" in the dialect. She was very disappointed that she failed to get a ticket.
Liang Hai has put more energy into venture capital roadshows and industry exchanges. The film "White Horse Lying in the Gap", directed and written by him, was successfully shortlisted for the Young Director Venture Capital Unit of this year's Shanghai International Film Festival.
In 2023, "White Horse Lying in the Gap" was nominated for the Best Drama Short Film in the 5th HiShorts! Xiamen Short Film Week Competition Unit. On the relevant page of Douban.com, an audience commented that this 22-minute short film "shows the scars of a generation, siblings, intergenerational relationships, regional discrimination, lonely elderly people and other issues, and the director's skills are amazing." Since then, Liang Hai has been writing the long script of "White Horse Lying in the Gap".
"In the past two years, many people have suggested that I turn to online dramas or short dramas, but after comprehensive consideration, I think they are far inferior to movies in terms of artistic expression and condensedness. For now, I still want to focus on film creation." Liang Hai said that the competition in the film industry now is no longer with other works in the same industry, but with the entire Internet ecosystem.
"Today, audiences have been exposed to high-density information on the Internet, and their viewing habits and expectations for information density have changed. While maintaining the essence of film art, filmmakers should think more about how to make their works better meet the aesthetic needs of contemporary audiences," said Liang Hai.
