Recently, with the popularity of the judicial drama " Bottom Line " on Hunan Satellite TV, Mango TV and iQiyi , these professional and unfamiliar legal words have begun to appear in the discussion topics of drama fans on social networking sites.
They took the lead in the barrage and discussed the details of the case; asked if you don’t understand it on Zhihu , and understood judicial reform measures such as the judge’s quota system and the filing registration system ; they were deeply attracted to the Weibo comments, and took out the details of the characters in the play, such as the avoidance system of judges and lawyers, and the configuration relationship between judges, clerks, and legal assistants, and other characters.
The final conclusion drawn after some disassembly is that is mostly "very real" or "learned".
"Bottom Line" is produced and distributed by Dangran Films, a subsidiary of Xiaoxiang Film Group . Due to the scarcity of subject matter and special professional characteristics, there are few works that have broken the circle in the past. After the broadcast of "Bottom Line", the audience discussed enthusiastically and the ratings increased significantly.
Obviously, this state-owned film and television company that is deeply involved in mainstream high-quality dramas has found a serious and lively way to open the judge's drama.
This innovation by Xiaoxiang Film Group has opened up a new narrative method for the long-silent rule of law dramas. The "Bottom Line" that integrates the concept of new rule of law into life is also destined to be a highlight of this year's main realistic high-quality dramas.
Why can the "Bottom Line" make the melon-eating crowd interested in the cold legal terms? Compared with previous judicial dramas, what ideas and expressions have given the audience the feeling of "the protagonist comes to the side and the precedents are reflected in reality"?
Before "Bottom Line" was launched, we had the opportunity to see 2 episodes of main films and 60 minutes of blockbusters in advance. At the scene of watching the film, I felt the surging energy of this drama. Taking advantage of the launch, we specially connected with director Liu Guotong , and asked him to talk about the creation stories behind the scenes of this drama in detail.
Director Liu Guotong
The following is Liu Guotong's story.
Court "internship" for 8 months
was very excited but also a little scared. This is my first feeling when I received "Bottom Line".
Last June, I signed a contract with Dangran Pictures after I finished the later stage of " Ideal Shining China ". At that time, the company was preparing to film a drama about a judge, so I got the script of the first five episodes of "Bottom Line". That was a story written by the screenwriter after long-term investigation of the court system, which was very exciting. I was attracted instantly.
But it was difficult for me to control this subject at that time and it was difficult to make suggestions for the play. Because I was like an ordinary audience at that time, I didn’t know much about the court system and the judges’ group. In my mind, the judge is arrogant and very awe-inspiring. I am not familiar with the legal issues mentioned in the drama, including the hierarchical relationships of the protagonists and the professional legal terms of legal terms. So, although I took over the creation of this project, I still have doubts about how to shoot it.
However, this doubt gradually disappeared after my colleagues and I entered the court to experience life.
The preparation time for "Bottom Line" is very long. From the time I joined the project in June last year to the beginning of the filming at the end of February this year, we have been collecting folklore, experiencing life, and polishing scripts in courts at all levels.
At the beginning, it was Supreme People's Court organized training to help us clarify the organizational structure of domestic courts. At the same time, we will also explain the underlying logic behind legal practice to us. After gradually mastering the industry general knowledge, you will find that the law is not a cold article in the textbook, it is warm.
For example, what is the concept of fairness and justice? Why does Goddess of Justice have to blindfold? What is entity justice , and what is procedural justice? After understanding these underlying logics, we can understand the difficulties and pain points of daily legal practice when communicating with judges.
We understand that The essence of the domestic judicial system is to serve the people, help the poor, and protect the weak. Its background color is warm, and is also the biggest difference from foreign judicial system. This sentence touched me at that time and was also the source of the warm and realistic temperament of this drama.
We went deep into courts at all levels for field research, , especially to grassroots courts, working, eating, and going to and from get off work with court police officers. , the internship experience of courts as "assistant", continued until before the start of the filming in February this year.
When I was working in the court, I and several starring actors were led by a "master". For example, Wang Xiuzhu plays a criminal judge, and she will follow the criminal court judge to attend the case discussion, hold the trial, and follow up the entire process.
Director Liu Guotong gave actor Cai Wenjing in the play.
The local court also specially issued an access card for each of us, and we can enter and exit some non-open areas normally. The court where we concentrate on experiencing life has 16 trial courts. Every morning we go to the office, we will look at the schedule and then choose the cases we are interested in to listen to. After learning more about it later, he still contacted the parties under the guidance of the judge and personally participated in the mediation of simple cases.
Jin DongThe judge played by teacher Fang Yuan is the president of the filing court of the grassroots court. In daily work, the workload of pre-trial mediation in grassroots courts is extremely high. When our "internship" is about to end, Teacher Jin Dong also personally participated in the mediation of a divorce dispute, and the couple reached an agreement in the mediation.
In fact, the large number of cases in "The Bottom Line" are not tried in court. A large number of disputes are resolved through mediation between the judge, the judge's assistant and the parties involved. The judges spoke earnestly in the mediation, very much like enthusiastic neighbors and neighborhood committee representatives.
Director Liu Guotong gave actors Cheng Yi and Cai Wenjing talked about the drama.
Court workers:
Like ordinary people and superman
In my long-term contact with court workers, I have seen many different things in them than the outside world imagined. So when the filming of "Bottom Line", my goal with the starring actors was very consistent, which was to restore the most realistic group portrait of judges we observed, .
The protagonists in the play have very distinct personalities.
Fang Yuan, played by Teacher Jin Dong, is experienced and easeful. He is the leader of young judges and the humorous responsibility in the play. During the mediation, he spoke with the parties involved in a Changsha accent. When there was a disagreement with my master, I strategically pretended to be stupid and staged a proper "workplace fooling study". When getting along with colleagues and apprentices, you can also adhere to principles while protecting your enthusiasm, care for yourself, and teach well.
Fang Yuan’s slackness and fireworks are actually common characteristics of grassroots judges.
Teacher Jin Dong has a very detailed grasp of the role of Fang Yuan.
When he first started to enter the role, he often bent over and arched his back slightly. I was hesitant at the time to see if the performance would damage the judge's image. Teacher Jin Dong said that when the judges involved in the mediation case, they often do not maintain a straight posture when they contact the parties, and they all bent down and look friendly. His performance status is very accurate.
In addition to the judge's side, "Bottom Line" also shows the superhuman side of the judge. This kind of superman is not personal heroism, but is entrusted by the responsibility and responsibility of the profession of judges.
Director Liu Guotong is on the set.
For example, there are many things that judges should avoid suspicion in the three provisions. It’s so small that you can’t attend various parties, and it’s so big that you can’t be a lawyer if your partner is. In the drama, Fang Yuan's wife did not work in the law firm in order to avoid it and regretted giving up her major. Song Yufei (played by Wang Xiuzhu) has to part ways because her boyfriend is a lawyer. These major sacrifices in personal life are the norm in the court system. We incorporate these into the protagonist's shaping, and we also want the audience to see that in order to stick to this profession and maintain fairness and justice, judges have made more than ordinary people's efforts.
Another example is the fiercely competitive judicial post system.
The time background set in "Bottom Line" was after the judicial reform in 2014. Judicial reform has comprehensively improved the difficulty of becoming a judge, and thus the concept of "income to the quota".
Now I want to be a judge. Not only do I need to have a degree in law, but I also have to pass the civil service examination and judicial examination, and be a judge assistant for five years to be qualified to participate in the selection of quota judges. However, the quota is not available every year, and even if there is one, it still needs to be selected to become a formal judge.
This process is very hard, not everyone can stick to it. Some court workers may have to work as clerk or judge assistant for the rest of their lives. How should they balance their career ambitions with objective difficulties in their work? The young legal assistant played by Cai Wenjing, Ye Xin, and the clerk played by Wang Shasha, , reflect the tests these young court workers have endured.
Even if you become a judge, you still have to face pressure from many aspects.
Judge's responsibility is very heavy, and sometimes a sentence in court will affect a person's life. The judge's job is also very lonely, because of the confidentiality requirement, no matter how much hesitation and swaying hesitation is in his heart, he has to overcome it himself. In the play, Cheng Yi plays the newly-entered judge Zhou Yian, who shows the challenges that young judges may face in their work.
The journey for law graduates to become judges is difficult and long, and the people who can truly take the position of judges, Their love and perseverance for this profession are unimaginable to ordinary people.
The word "real" is the highest standard
Because the preparation process is very sufficient, the shooting of "Bottom Line" is progressing smoothly. It took ninety-four days from the start of the filming in early February to the end of the morning of May 30th. During this period, we took photos in Changsha City throughout the whole process. The selection and setting of scenery mainly refer to a district-level court in Changsha.
In fact, it took us a long time to "site selection" the court. At the beginning, we watched the interior scenes of all grassroots courts across the country through the monitoring of the Supreme People's Court. After determining several goals, they went to the field inspection separately.
In the end, we chose the court in Changsha. This court is relatively new and not outdated, and has a certain representativeness of courts in the new era. Compared with the new courts in coastal areas, it is more in line with the audience's imagination of the court. If the court scene is placed in a very modern city court, the audience who do not understand the truth may feel "false and suspended". When shooting, we took the exterior and some large scenes in the court based on the specified area and according to the actual interior scene of the court office and the court, and then connected the two.
In addition to the court drama, "Bottom Line" involves many characters and large cases, so the set volume is also particularly large. There are more than 40 family sets alone, and there are also various scenes such as restaurants, companies, and shops.
In order to organically integrate various scenes, we have made such a basic setting on the image - presenting only four levels of scenes, solemn, fireworks, urban modern, and natural scenery. When selecting scenes, the scene is locked in these four categories. We have abandoned other styles, or scenes with tones in the middle. This is how the visual effect of "Bottom Line" is currently bright.
The number of special actors in "Bottom Line" is also very large, with nearly 400 people. Therefore, the unity of performance style is also a big problem.
Fortunately, our special actors are all very professional. Teacher Jin Dong is like a piece of iron-sucking stone, calling on many actors to make guest appearances, and senior actors I have worked with before have also invited them. like Liu Mintao , Cao Lei, Liu Jun, Li Naiwen Teachers performed very well in it. and even some small supporting roles in cases with few scenes. Their performances are also very realistic, with strong emotional explosiveness, expressing their demands in a straightforward and strong manner, and fighting for their own interests, just like the parties we met during the field trip.
Director Liu Guotong arranged the shooting scene.
Because the actors' performance is very complete, there are not many ups and downs in the shooting process. The remaining key point is to bury some ingenuity in the post-production editing.
"Bottom Line" has a large number of cases, and each episode is often a double, third or even fourth line, and each case is of different complexity. So, how to cross-narrative so that the audience can connect and become interested is a question we have repeatedly pondered.
The editing technique we used in the end is slightly different from the conventional two-line narrative. It basically uses intense criminal cases, intertwined with civil cases. For parallel civil cases, the subject of the case is relatively similar, and the narrative is as complete as possible.
"Bottom Line" has just aired for 6 episodes, and I am also paying attention to everyone's discussion and feedback. If I have the opportunity in the future, I hope to participate in the creation of more realistic works. allows me to experience and observe more life through shooting, and record the changes in the times and social life.
Source: Film and Television Poisonous Tongue
