Review the classic ＂The Water Margin＂ directed by Zhang Shaolin： Put all the heroes in Liangshan on the screen.

The 1998 edition of "Water Margin" is about to close on the channel "Revisiting Classics". In order to show the heroes of Liangshan vividly in 43 episodes, the creative team of that year carefully carved and improved every link from creative conception to script rhythm, from art modeling to sound soundtrack. After the series was broadcast, it produced great social repercussions, and the audience gave positive comments on the vivid characterization, ups and downs of the story, and the adaptation and creation based on the original work.

WeChat official account, the WeChat of "TV Art", re-edited the shooting idea published by Zhang Shaolin, the director of "Water Margin" in 1998 on "China TV", and watched the "Water Margin" wave again with the audience.

Guiding ideology of creation: keep the integrity and not be conservative, and the old stories should have new ideas.

"Good-looking" is the general guiding principle of adaptation and re-creation. It is a complex academic issue to respect the traditional appreciation habits, the aesthetic, moral and values of the nation, such as the standards of heroes and villains in the original, the meaning of good and evil, the evaluation of loyalty and treachery, and the judgment of righteousness and injustice. It is against the public’s taste to look at history completely from the standpoint of contemporary people, but it is completely outdated and the audience is not satisfied.

The novel Outlaws of the Marsh is a realistic work, a social landscape map of the Song and Yuan Dynasties, and its exciting point is to create heroes. It shows all the sentient beings of Liangshan heroes and plays a magnificent and tragic symphony of ancient heroes. The TV series "Water Margin", like the original, takes shaping a group of Liangshan heroes as its fundamental task.

One hundred and eight generals in Liangshan, all of whom are heroes among the people, have the characteristics of helping the poor and helping the poor. However, as far as the capacity of 43 TV series is concerned, we can only focus on shaping the most representative, familiar and favorite heroes. They are mainly Song Jiang, Chao Gai, Wu Yong, Wu Song, Lin Chong, likui jy, Lu Zhishen, Ruan Sanxiong, Yang Zhi, Yan Qing, etc., and they have made great efforts to shape them into flesh and blood, lifelike and recognized by the audience.

Script structure: balance the whole process of Liangshan heroes from assembly to dumping

We chose one hundred copies of Water Margin as the blueprint for TV adaptation, and made bold adjustments in the structure. Before the adaptation, we paid attention to the fact that there were three circulation versions of Water Margin, namely seventy copies, one hundred copies and one hundred and twenty copies, and only one hundred copies rewrote the whole process of Liangshan hero’s assembly, strength growth, final failure and destruction, with complete story and ending characters. This version is in line with the adaptation requirements of TV series and the appreciation habits of China people.

On this basis, we adapted the first forty episodes into 23 episodes, the main content of which is the experience of Liangshan heroes being driven to Liangshan; Concentrate forty to seventy-one episodes into eight episodes, focusing on the growth and fall of Liangshan, paving the way for the end of Liangshan heroes. We condensed the rest of the content into 10 episodes, which expanded the story clues and plot context of Lin Chong, Lu Zhishen, Wu Song and Ruan Shi, so as to change the top-heavy shortcomings of the novel.

Martial arts shooting: it is related to the success or failure of the whole drama, and it is meaningless to fight for the sake of fighting.

"The Water Margin" is famous for its martial arts in Four Great Classical Novels. Heroes must have excellent kung fu to satisfy the audience’s viewing psychology. The success of martial arts shooting will directly affect the success or failure of the whole drama. In my opinion, the martial arts of Water Margin must be obviously different from those of Hong Kong and Taiwan. Our path is "truth". We should see real kung fu with one punch, handle the relationship between truth and magic, and perform unique skills.

Martial arts action should conform to the character, and it is meaningless to fight for the sake of fighting. The principle is less but better. If you can’t fight, you can’t fight. If you really have to fight, you must play well, play the heroic style of Liangshan heroes and play the unique skills of heroes. Every martial arts play should give people a sense of pleasure, a kind of enjoyment of beauty and leave an unforgettable impression on the audience.

Serve the overall effect and pursue coordination.

Art is a major project in the modeling of this drama. It is necessary to create a living space for the characters in the drama, which has a strong sense of the times, is suitable for the identity of the characters and conforms to the scenes specified in the plot, and is conducive to the performance of the characters and the development of the times. In a word, modeling should serve the overall effect of the whole play, and any modeling design that is divorced from the plot is not desirable and is suspected of showing off. For example, all buildings should avoid the impression of being born on the same day in the same year, and strengthen the sense of time. In order to maintain the solemnity of famous works, Fan Lou, shops, dyehouses, restaurants, couplets, lanterns and colored balls at Lantern Festival have all been studied, creating a living environment in the Northern Song Dynasty.

In the aspect of character modeling, it is necessary to be personalized and stylized to help actors shape characters. In particular, we should pay attention to the "dead angle" of extras. Whether a work can become a fine work can be judged by the extras, and we can’t lose big because of small.

Finally, we should pay attention to the expressive force of the lens and strengthen the spatial effect, depth effect and dynamic effect of the picture. The use of the lens can have the rough edges of life, not over the board, and the composition should be rigorous and pursue the internal tension of the picture. The lens should be used accurately, vividly and enthusiastically.

Music sound: an irreplaceable means to create an atmosphere

Good music can add icing on the cake to TV series. In order to play the special role of music in characterization and atmosphere rendering, sometimes in a certain situation, sound is more important than the language of the picture, and the atmosphere it creates is incomparable with other means.

The music of the TV series "Water Margin" is mainly folk music. By enriching the expressive force of music with modern means of expression, the music is full of momentum and strength, showing a musical image consistent with the temperament of Liangshan heroes. Song design should be catchy and easy to sing and remember. The song "Ode to Liangshan Heroes" (later named "Good Han Song") is a high-pitched, high-spirited and moving song. In terms of sound, "Water Margin" should change the lack of attention to the sound part in China for many years. The martial arts component of this drama is heavy. If the dynamic sound is not rendered in place, it will directly affect the quality of the whole drama. Therefore, it is necessary to invite senior professionals to join the group and turn off the sound.

In Zhang Shaolin’s lengthy exposition, there are also reflections on the story rhythm, plot setting, language style, actor selection and other aspects, as well as the deduction and deduction of the whole process of script formation. It is precisely because of the creative vision of the main creative team to strive for perfection and the creative goal of striving for first-class quality products that we can leave a work that can be watched repeatedly for the majority of TV viewers.

Attachment: One of the Shooting Ideas of the TV Series "The Water Margin" and "The Shooting Ideas of the TV Series" (originally published in China TV, No.2 and No.5, 1998)