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Special feature of 1905 film network June 20th is the last day of the 24th Shanghai International Film Festival. As in previous years, Wang Jiayan, the film reviewer, will leave the film festival office on the 20th floor of Yihai Building to finish his annual film review and arrangement for half a year.
Wang Jiayan wears a pair of glasses. He is kind, smiling and approachable. Weibo nicknamed him "the four-eyed old king", and everyone knows him among Shanghai fans.
On the day of visiting Lao Wang, the film festival entered the fourth day, which coincided with the Dragon Boat Festival, and most of my colleagues went home for vacation. There is no extra venue this year, and the colleague in charge of the on-site viewing is also responsible for it. He said it would be easier than before, but as long as the film festival is still going on, he will stick to his post and finish it until the closing.
Every year at the beginning of the year, he will come here to review the films first and then arrange them. From participating in the preparation of the first film festival in 1993 to taking over the film arrangement in 1999, Lao Wang served the film festival for nearly 30 years and arranged films for the audience for more than 20 years. Inadvertently in the interview, he murmured, "I am the first person in the world to arrange films."
Working more than 12 hours a day, just for the perfect schedule.
Before the film schedule was released, Lao Wang would come to the office at 6: 30 every morning, and he was the only one in the whole building.
"In a quiet environment, you can calm down and arrange." He said that in previous years, you had to work until 10 o’clock and 11 o’clock every night. Now you have an assistant and get off work a little early at 8 o’clock and 9 o’clock. "You can’t solve the problem of reviewing films without spending these hours."
Lao Wang’s office environment is small, with a desk, a computer, a thermos bottle, a teacup and stacks of printed proofreading tables.
Every year, the film schedule of the film festival was arranged by him and was born here.
This year, he watched a total of 833 films, and finally 405 films from 62 countries and regions were shown. These films will be distributed in 40 cinemas and 45 screens in 10 days, with a total of 1423 screenings.
On the 14th day from the opening of the film festival, Lao Wang said to himself on Weibo, "Come on, my last shot will make the film festival as gorgeous as summer flowers". On the eighth day of the countdown, he confidently wrote, "I am still strong after thousands of blows, and I will let the east, west, north and south wind."
On the evening of June 3rd, at the moment when the screening schedule was finally announced, he excitedly reported the good news to the eagerly awaited fans. "The schedule has been released, and it’s your turn to do your homework. Please forgive me for the poor schedule. I wish you all a happy June day."
Lao Wang is 72 years old this year, and he is full of ambition. Half a month before invoicing, he was able to receive most of the films that were confirmed to be shown, and began to arrange films intensively. The time was tight and the task was heavy. "One draft, two drafts and three drafts must be made, and finally the film arrangement table for the audience is already the third draft."
The job of arranging films seems simple, and the actual operation process needs to face many details, which requires a lot of care and patience.
"The first draft is the most horrible, basically roughly in a row. I know which films are put in the hall, the middle hall and the small hall, but in the end, I will find many problems. For example, movies from the same country may be lined up in this hall and less in that hall. The proportion of feature films, cartoons, documentaries, or Asian films, European films, and American films should also be balanced as much as possible. "
Every time he reviews films, Lao Wang will discuss with his colleagues which films should be placed in which theaters, and also ask the opinions of film research experts. After each film festival officially releases the exhibition list, he will also judge the fans’ preference according to the number of online clicks of the article.
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Even after more than 20 years of accumulated experience, he still can’t accurately grasp one point — — Know what the audience wants to see.
"Most people can know, for example, it is hard to find a ticket for 4K repair. This kind of old movie is thought to be placed in a central hall, with about 200 or 300 people. It has been shown to the public, and it may not be seen by many people, and there is no big hall. As a result, it is all sold out. Some movies are arranged in the hall, but few people buy them. "
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Every year, the films shown are different, and the audience’s preferences are different, which is always a variable. But Lao Wang will still make a summary every year. "Of course, we must keep learning and do it better. There is no end to this. There will be regrets every time, and there will be mistakes every time. This is normal and a challenge to yourself. "
All the Excellence is to finally discharge a perfect film arrangement table.
Pursuing more reasonable, scientific and artistic film arrangement
When he first worked as a film arranger at the film festival, Lao Wang faced only a dozen cinemas and more than 100 films. "At that time, the film arranger was very simple and the requirements were not high." With the increasing number of films, cinemas and audiences, the difficulty of film arrangement has gradually increased.
To this end, the film festival specially designed a computer film arranging system to help him operate the film arranging. Until now, this system is still being revised. "Up to now, it has not fully met our requirements. Every time I think of new problems during operation, I will give feedback to the person who designed the system and constantly improve it according to the requirements. "
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In the past three years, Lao Wang has trained a young apprentice to help with proofreading. It takes a long time to proofread hundreds of movies. With the help of his apprentice, he shared a lot of work that he had to do alone in the past. "Every movie must meet its screening requirements, such as time, ticket price, format, different film frames, and some theaters’ servers can’t be played yet. These must be proofread. In addition, it is necessary to cooperate with the time and place of the film meeting. "
Just a casual introduction lists a bunch of problems that should be paid attention to in proofreading. He said, "The requirements in all aspects are ever-changing."
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Nowadays, the film arrangement schedule of the last film festival is more and more recognized by fans, thanks to the experience and lessons learned from history. There were two "accidents", which impressed Lao Wang deeply.
Once, on the same day and night, the same film was arranged in Tianshan Cinema and Yonghua Cinema. Because it was a film copy, the two films could not be shown at the same time. He had to take remedial measures to temporarily add three short films to Yonghua Cinema. After Tianshan Cinema was released, he sent a copy to Yonghua Cinema, which was a timely solution to the crisis of the film collision that night.
In the past, film scheduling did not consider the issue of copy security, and the film was directly scheduled after it was approved, which sometimes led to the problem of changing other films because the film copy had not arrived.
The most serious one happened in 2004, when the short-listed films in the Golden Goblet Awards main competition had not arrived by the opening day of the competition, so other films had to be temporarily shown, which caused dissatisfaction among the audience.
After this mistake, the sequence of film arrangement in the future can be readjusted. All copies of films that arrive in Shanghai safely are given priority to a few days before the screening, and films that do not arrive in copies are discharged later. Lao Wang has a strong heart. "These experiences are all derived from problems. Without these hardships, there would not be such a mature period today."
This year, I also made a little change in the film scheduling schedule. Originally, the screening time of the last movie every day was 9 pm, and Lao Wang strongly suggested that it be advanced to 8: 50.
"Don’t underestimate these 10 minutes. Often the audience will catch the subway after watching the movie, which is a minute or two away." Ten minutes in advance made his work more difficult. Because from 6: 30 to 8: 50 in the previous show, you can’t schedule movies that are too long.
Lao Wang said that being able to think more about the fans is the motivation of his work. "Arranging films is just putting them in the hall. The difficulty lies in arranging them well. All the time spent is to arrange it better, more reasonable, more scientific and more artistic. "
"From the first session to the present, I am alone."
Every year, on the billing day of the film festival, Lao Wang will come to SFC Shanghai Studios, the main venue. He used to be the deputy general manager here. He will come to see the ticket sales in the cinema and recommend good films to the audience who buy tickets offline.
Even if it is now completely online ticket sales, the lively crowds in the cinema on the invoicing day in previous years are no longer there, and Lao Wang will not be absent. On the same day every year, he will take a group photo with the film-arranging table back plate of the cinema. He said, "It’s a complex, and it’s a habit."
Wang Jiayan’s father is Wang Guangyan, a famous director of science and education films in China, and also the deputy director of classic films. This year is the centenary of the founding of the Party. The White-haired Girl was selected as the screening unit of "Hundred Years’ Journey Red Light and Shadow". Lao Wang said with a smile, "This year is the film made by my father, and my son will arrange the film."
Influenced by his father, Lao Wang has been a movie fan since he was a child. When he was young, he often contributed to the magazine Movie Story. He likes watching domestic films. This film festival was highly recommended by him. "Many post-80s and post-90s people don’t know who Liu Qing is, but our generation all know him and the History of Entrepreneurship he wrote. The whole picture and music of the film are very good, and the performance is also very good."
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Lao Wang has a deep connection with film work. He first worked in Shanghai Film Distribution and Projection Company, transferred to Shanghai Studios in 1991, and participated in the preparations for the first Shanghai International Film Festival in 1993.
In the 30 years since the opening of Shanghai Studios, he has been a witness and promoter all the way. Every department after the establishment of the Shanghai Film Festival has also left his footprints and figures. "The first session I was mainly responsible for the film trading market, the second session was a large-scale event office, the third session I was the news department, and the fourth session was the film festival department. I have been filming since the fourth and fifth sessions. "
The film festival has been held for 24 sessions, and it has gone through 28 years. The first session will always be the most impressive memory of Lao Wang.
"After the first session was completed, the International Producers Association informed that this was already a Class A international film festival, when Wu Yigong (founder) shed tears." He remembers more clearly the difficulties he faced because of his lack of experience when he held the first session.
At that time, he was the head of the marketing department of the film festival. "We set up a trading market in Shanghai Studios under very simple circumstances. There are domestic film studios, and one or two foreign countries have come, so there are only a few booths, unlike hundreds now. "
He still remembers that the first judges watched the film with the audience in the first hall of the cinema. The judges sat in the tenth row with a long table in front. "At that time, I was late for the movie and couldn’t find a place, or I took him."
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In the era when the internet is still underdeveloped, the exhibition list of the Shanghai Film Festival is conveyed to the audience by publishing newspapers. Lao Wang recalled that on the first day of ticket sales at the film festival, the audience lined up in the cinema. Many people sat in line all night, some came from other places, and some bought tickets for their children. They were very enthusiastic. "This kind of touch prompted me to do a good job and be worthy of fans."
"At that time, the movie ticket was simple, and the title was not written." "At that time, the movie was still translated at the same time, and someone was holding a microphone to translate for the audience." "At that time, I was working in the cinema, and my legs were weak every day, coordinating this thing and that activity. The meeting in the cinema was taken out by me alone, and I hosted the meeting and the meeting. " ……
Those years, those things, those people, have always been deeply branded in his heart.
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"From the first session to the present, I am alone, there is no second person, and all the people have retired." Lao Wang feels that he still insists on the first line of film screening at the film festival because he likes movies and likes this job. The growing film festival department and team partners also gave him a lot of help.
The night before the interview, he went to Shanghai Studios again. A little girl just watched it and took pictures in the cinema. As soon as she turned around, she saw him and asked him to sign the movie ticket. "It’s worthless for me to sign it, but she is very happy."
This year’s film festival has ended, and Lao Wang has temporarily left his post. He may go out to travel and relax as in previous years. Not surprisingly, he will return to the office of the film festival early next year. Come at 6: 30 in the morning, turn on the computer, make a cup of tea, continue to review and arrange films, and try to send a better schedule to the fans who meet in Shanghai once a year.
