Since Netflix and HBO have developed a strategy for Asian layout, there have been more and more sincere works in Taiwan TV series in the past two years. "The Man Who Works" is such a masterpiece. It was released in May this year and thousands of netizens have already scored 9.0 on Douban.
"The Worker" official poster
"The Worker" is adapted from the best-selling book of the same name by Taiwanese writer Lin Liqing. It is directed by Zheng Fenfen and starred by Li Mingshun, Ke Shuyuan, You Anshun, Miao Keli and others.
The play tells the story of the iron worker brothers A Qi, A Qin, the board model worker Changzai, and the strange hand A Quan. These protagonists who dream of making money have staged one laugh after another scene of making money on the construction site. The reality is cruel. They help the rich work and build houses, but they are sick and unable to afford to stay in the hospital, so they can only sigh at the building.
Stills of "The Worker"
When I first watched it, I thought it was ridiculous and funny, but after encountering things backfired again and again, Sister Ba also truly felt the joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness of the group of ordinary workers, and their dream of getting rich that they could not even fight for their lives. The core of comedy is always a tragedy, and this pain is slowly revealed in the story.
In a chat with Sister Ba, director Zheng Fenfen said that she most wanted to express through "The People Who Work": No matter how difficult they are to live, they have never given up their love and hope for life. " As long as there is light in your heart, life will not sink. "
She casts the whole story in unique and delicate language, and writes down the moments about society through the images.
Stills of "The Worker"
"I think when you want to do something, people will send a signal."
After reading the original work, Zheng Fenfen wanted to shoot this drama.
She tried hard to ask about the copyright of this book, and it happened to be bought by a friend of Zheng Fenfen who had a good relationship. The two hit it off and started to cooperate.
Stills of "The Worker"
It is a very happy thing to get the copyright. How to polish Zheng Fenfen's own ideal work is a huge challenge to the entire team. It took her more than a year to conduct surveys on construction sites and workers before she began writing the script.
Stills of "The Worker"
Speaking of the biggest difficulty in the early shooting, she felt that it was in the design of the scene: " Because you know that they will not lend you a real construction site, because they earn more money after building a house than renting you a site fee. In order to lend you to film, it is impossible for them to stop this project, because their losses are hundreds of thousands or millions. "
In order to shoot their ideal scene, they must also ensure safety at the same time. Zheng Fenfen insists on choosing a construction site with (SRC) steel-bone concrete structure. This steel-bone structure has the highest shock resistance coefficient, but the cost of shock resistance coefficient is also the most expensive.
Zheng Fenfen almost gave up because of the difficulty in finding the scene. With the last glimmer of hope, they even decided to go to the temple to worship and bring some good luck, and at this moment things turned around.
Stills of "The Worker"
On the way to leave after worshiping the temple, they found a construction site next to them. This construction site happened to be exactly the same as what she wanted. The construction site owner also happened to be an interesting person. By such a coincidence, the construction site borrowed it.
Stills of "The Worker"
In Zheng Fenfen's view, when she wants to do something, she will emit a signal like a cosmic radio wave: " When you want to do something, you send this signal out, as if some people around you will receive this signal and come to help you silently. " Although this signal seems invisible, she firmly believes that this is a power to help her complete the shooting.
Stills of "The Worker"
During the shooting, only she knew the dangers of the construction site were most clear: "During the entire process of construction, the walls of the construction site were full of protruding steel bars or nails, and they all had no guardrails. As long as you accidentally stepped on the empty space, you would fall down from several floors of the good floors, or you accidentally forgot to lean against the wall, you might encounter a Nails may be inserted into the tail steel bars. "
Stills of "The Worker"
Zheng Fenfen is most afraid of safety accidents during filming. Zheng Fenfen talked about the scene where Ah Qin fought at the construction site, which was the scene with the most adrenaline secretion. The danger coefficient of fighting on the construction site can be imagined. She not only needs to pay attention to the safety of everyone, but also ensures that she can shoot an ideal picture.
Stills of "The Worker"
She will communicate with every actor her settings and imagination of this role. The actors are asked to eat fat, tan, have a big belly, and become real workers.
Stills of "The Worker"
"I think when all the details and preparations are done, the shooting will actually go very smoothly as soon as I start. I don't need to say many of my requirements, and they naturally know that they have to do it. They have already integrated into that character and that scene, so our shooting is actually very smooth."
She asked them to start with technology, and then learn the language rhythm of workers' speech, dialects and slang when chatting. She accumulates these details of life and then incorporates them into her creations.
Stills of "The Worker"
Xiaojie is her favorite character: "Because I think Xiaojie's character of this age is very similar to what I hope. When everyone sees workers, Xiaojie will I hope to get close to the workers and understand them. To a certain extent, Xiaojie actually took on this task. "
"The Man Who Works" Stills
"I wanted to make movies from the beginning."
Zheng Fenfen is an advertising director. In 1994, she filmed her first advertising work "Jin Baba Children's Food". In 2004, "There is a Ghost in the Mobile Phone" directed by the Public TV Life Drama Exhibition won the TV Golden Bell Award for Drama Screenwriter Award. She then participated in the creation and directed many advertising and TV series.
007 was the beginning of her transition to the movie. The love film "Sleeping Youth" directed and filmed in a youthful and literary style telling the story of their crush on each other, which touched many viewers. The film won the Best Screenwriter Award at the Singapore Asian Newcomer Film Festival and was selected as a competition film in the Duvell Asian Film Festival in France and a new director in Taiwan.
After that, she seemed to turn on the one-click switch, and Zheng Fenfen officially entered the film industry.
"Sleeping Youth" official poster
Speaking of her experience of entering the film industry from the advertising industry, Zheng Fenfen clearly stated that she wanted to make movies when she first entered the advertising industry.
Because the Taiwanese film industry was sluggish at that time, she first entered Production House, and then her income improved a lot. Because at that time, photography equipment was used for shooting advertisements, she believed that these were all helping her lay the foundation in the film industry.
"Hearing" stills
It can be more and more profitable to shoot advertisements in the end, but Zheng Fenfen also feels less and less happy. Because the advertising industry is full of service products and service customers, she has been thinking about how to make herself happy since then and started writing scripts. Later, she was nominated for Best New Actor for the Golden Horse Awards and Best Actress for her self-written and directed by Peng Yuyan and Chen Yihan.
"Hearing" official poster
She smiled and talked about her life experience: " I have many setbacks and have a lot of experience in life. I think these are actually a nutrient in creation. ”
Her rich life experience rewards her with a special reward, giving her the talent to shoot diverse works, allowing her to not only create a social realistic drama "The Worker" but also a humorous and warm work like "Take My Brother Away". In 2018, "Take My Brother Away" directed by her has received a box office of nearly 400 million yuan and a good reputation, which is probably something that many people did not expect.
"Take my brother away" official poster
In the eyes of the outside world, she still does not want to be limited by one subject, and she still has more types that she wants to try in the future. One of the movies that are disastrous in love is already being planned, and she also wants to try some realistic action movies or suspense movies later. "Whether soft or hard, I hope there are some themes that can be carried out together."
"Take my brother away" stills
This time she revealed to Sister Ba that the finished filming "Take my brother away" is three siblings compared to the previous one, and this time it has become a reorganized family. Zheng Fenfen believes that this time it can bring surprises to the audience again.
In the interview, Zheng Fenfen always lamented her luck: "Along the way, there are many noble people who are helping us, so we can complete such a difficult question." She is good at discovering different details in her own way and recording every moment in life. We believe that the stories she recorded in the future can also support every ordinary person to find a little glimmer on the realistic and distant road.
Just like director Zheng Fenfen himself reminiscent of the creative path of "The Worker" on Zhihu: "Such drama can plant the seeds of goodness and convey the power of positiveness; such a life can transcend the script."
Editor/Timmy
Written by Xu Yihan
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