Three consecutive films have gained a high reputation. What is the basis of the series ＂Great Rivers＂？

Special feature of 1905 film network In 1978, the college entrance examination resumed and China entered a new historical development stage with the reform and opening up. The state-owned economy, the collective economy and the private economy have blossomed, and great changes have taken place in China, which has ushered in a strong impetus for the development of the socialist cause.

With the reform and opening up as the background, river of no return, represented by Song Yunhui, Lei Dongbao and Yang Xun, depicts the story of a generation’s continuous exploration and breakthrough in the wave of change, and becomes the first online novel to win the "Five One Projects Award" in Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China. Later, the river of no return trilogy became a series of TV series "Rivers".

8.8、8.8、8.2。

From the first broadcast in 2018 to the third ending in 2024, the three works of "Dajiang Dahe" series are all stable at 8 points or more in Douban. Such eye-catching word-of-mouth results are not common. In particular, it is even more rare for the level of series dramas to remain high and stable.

On the closing day of "The Years of Great Rivers are Like Songs" (hereinafter referred to as "Great Rivers 3"), we met the general director and the director.

As the director of the first and third films and the art consultant in the second film, Kong Sheng, the "soul figure" who runs through the series "Rivers and Rivers", talked about the adaptation story and the explosion code. Sun Molong, who participated in the whole process from the first part and picked up the guide tube in the third part, also shared a lot of behind-the-scenes details with us.

Directed by Kong Sheng and Sun Molong.

Reduction and adaptation

"Basically follow the original, and the most adapted is’ Song Yunhui’"

Kong Sheng was born in 1960, the same age as Song Yunhui in the novel, and the seventies and eighties were the key periods for his growth.

Song Yunhui took the college entrance examination at the age of 16, and Kong Sheng graduated from high school at the age of 18. Song Yunhui was admitted, but Kong Sheng didn’t. "But the era of experience is the same." Kong Sheng said with a smile that he recommended "river of no return" to him because it was "suitable for him" and he was determined to film the times he had experienced.

According to reports, "Big Rivers" originally only wanted to shoot two films, the first one was about 1978-1988, and the second one was about 1988-1998. Each film showed ten years, but when the team created it, it was found that the story volume of the original second film was too large, so a new one was torn down. However, regardless of the first, second or third part, the principle of focusing on the reform and opening up generation in the wave of the times has not changed.

Song Yunhui, Lei Dongbao and Yang Xun are the epitome of state-owned economy, collective economy and private economy respectively.

Song Yunhui, who was born in the countryside, seized the opportunity of the college entrance examination, went to college and went to the grassroots level, and was promoted step by step in state-owned enterprises; Lei Dongbao, from veterans to rural cadres, is a peasant entrepreneur who dares to fight and rush in the wave of reform; Yang Xun, who started from selling steamed bread to owning a personal enterprise, is a typical self-employed person. Kong Sheng said frankly that the adaptation of the series "Rivers and Rivers" basically followed the original work, and there were not many changes in the characters. The only character with more adaptations is Song Yunhui.

In the early years, the state-owned enterprises were overstaffed, which led to the lag of development and must be reformed. Song Yunhui’s fate from student to worker to manager also changes with the change of state-owned enterprises. Kong Sheng bluntly said that this role is not easy to handle and has certain limitations. The reason for his great change is that he got married after divorce, and his changes are all adjustments needed to follow the development of the times.

The director has changed, but the actors have not changed.

"Progress, the biggest change"

The first part of "Big Rivers" was directed by Kong Sheng’s partner Huang Wei, the second part was directed by Li Xue’s partner Huang Wei, Kong Sheng was an art consultant, and the third part was directed by Kong Sheng, who worked with Sun Molong and Liu Hongyuan.

In the same series, three works are operated by three different groups of directors. How to keep the creation unified?

Kong Sheng admits that there are subtle differences in the styles of the three works, but the whole is still unified. After the first part established the creative style, the second and third parts basically continued the "same paragraph". Although the directors are different, they have not cooperated before and have a certain understanding of this IP. For example, Sun Molong, one of the directors of the third film, had previously directed Minning Town’s "Two Families in Wenzhou" in cooperation with Kong Sheng. From the first film of "Big Rivers", he had participated in discussing the plot and controlling the details. In the third film, he picked up the guide tube, which was handy.

Interestingly, from the first film to the third film, the director experienced a substitution, but the actors always went into battle with the original team. Wang Kai mentioned in an interview that Song Yunhui was like another him in parallel time and space. In the first two films, he also designed some details for the role, such as arching glasses with his nose, but in the third film, everything became natural.

"He designed glasses for himself and wore three."

When Kong Sheng asked Wang Kai to play Song Yunhui, the first thing he did was to "break his image".

Wang Kai has acted in many idol dramas by virtue of his handsome appearance. Song Yunhui came from the countryside and was a little bookish. He faded from his past dress. He put on glasses for his role from the beginning and has been wearing three. When filming the first film, he wanted to "turn back" to a teenage student when he was over 30, which was a bit of a performance trace, but in the third film, his age was close to his role, and there was also a sense of maturity. Kong Sheng said that Wang Kai was steady step by step.

I have read the novel many times, paying special attention to the character Lei Dongbao, from a veteran to a rural cadre, and finally becoming a peasant entrepreneur. I have integrated my own thoughts and understanding of the different stages of the character. After the baptism of the times and the years, the momentum of the veterans in Lei Dongbao was gone in the later period, but as an entrepreneur, he felt high when he attended the party. Kong Sheng said that the Shuo Yang performance came.

In the director’s view, the biggest change among the three protagonists is Dong Zijian. Born in 1993, he was only 25 years old when he filmed the first film "Big Rivers". His understanding of the world and performance was still in the initial stage. As his role grew from a bottom boy selling steamed bread to a business owner of a powerful shopping mall, his transformation was very obvious.

The characters have changed, but the creation has not changed.

"Want to express the spirit of the times of reform and opening up"

From 2018 to 2024, nearly six years before and after, the protagonist and the characters grew up together, and the audience also paid attention to the role changes.

The first part of Lei Dongbao will be heartbroken for his wife’s death, the second part has broken his promise to marry his second wife, and the third part is directly "derailed". The appearance of "Little Three" triggered a heated discussion on the short video platform. Seeing the audience criticizing "love rat", Sun Molong "thought so". "I am very interested in the feedback from the audience. In the information age, the launch of the work does not mean that the task has been completed. After seeing the audience’s reaction, it will come to an end."

Facing the audience’s feedback on the relationship between characters, Kong Sheng explained that the element of curiosity is easy to attract attention, but this is not the focus of the series. The life of flying chickens and jumping dogs is just the waves in the trend of the times. The series "Rivers and Rivers" hopes to tell young people what kind of history the reform and opening up is, and the spirit of the times to be expressed is that everyone is positive and everyone wants to change himself.

8.8, 8.8, and 8.2, the three works in the series of "Great Rivers" are all stable at 8 points or more in Douban. Such eye-catching word-of-mouth results are not common. In particular, it is even more rare for the level of series dramas to remain high and stable.

"Keep the style unified, speak well of integrity, grasp the development of characters, do the details of the times, and maintain a consistent creative attitude. Kong Sheng summed up the explosion password of the high-scoring Chinese drama. "Do what you should do and continue to do the right thing. This is ok."