Interview ｜ The director gave all responses to the controversy of ＂Door Lock＂!

Producer 500, director Buick accepted an exclusive interview with 1905 Film Network.

Special feature of 1905 film network In director Buick’s mind, the film can be better, because many of the original contents of the script were taken away by him because of the length of time.

　

Then, in his view, how many points can this version of "Door Lock" with still guaranteed standards have? With this curiosity, we walked into his various responses to Door Lock.

　

Stills of "Door Lock"

Since the release of the film "Door Lock", the evaluation has its own controversy. As a movie, this is the norm. Whether it’s producer 500 or director Buick, it’s already predicted.

　

In the eyes of 500, this controversy happens to be the charm of Buick as a new director. He has all the courage of young people, and he also has insufficient experience in directing a tube.

　

No matter what the audience’s recognition of the essence of the film is, we can pay attention to the security situation of women living alone from "Door Lock", and perhaps this film has been successful. As Bai Baihe said at the premiere, attention itself is a kind of strength.

01　create

After Buick won the Best College Student Short Film Award in the 8th China International New Media Short Film Festival with the short film "Salvation", he received many scripts.

Director Buick accepted an exclusive interview with 1905 Film Network.

Without exception, these scripts are mostly remakes of suspense themes. In addition to "Door Lock", what impressed him deeply was a work related to the escape of the Chamber of Secrets.

The theme of suspense and horror is Buick’s preferred style. Even in the short film "Salvation" with the theme of war, we can also gain insight into his ability to control this type.　

　

If we simply want to make the suspense type to the extreme in form, then the story of the escape from the Chamber of Secrets can already be supported, but from the content level, there is still something missing as a whole. At the suggestion of 500, and combined with his own experience, Buick finally chose "Door Lock".

Five hundred was the judge of the short film award at that time. In his eyes, this new director is very special, and he has wildness that other domestic directors don’t have. If possible, two people can make a big ticket together.

　

Producer 500 accepts an exclusive interview with 1905 film network

However, Buick only has short film experience, from short to long, which is not simple. He knows that he needs a springboard, and 500 knows that this "dumb-headed" needs more practical experience in order to better shoot feature films.

　

Five hundred handed Buick the book of the series aiming. After watching it, Buick was poked by the very cinematic narrative of the previous episodes, and then took it down. However, commercial works are no better than students’ short films, and each type of work corresponds to different staff. Directors also need to have stronger leadership and external communication skills.

　

During the filming of Aiming, 500 made Buick more immersed in creative work. But when it came to "Door Lock", he really "pushed" Buick out.

　

As a producer, 500 gave Buick a lot of advice in the early stage of script creation. The script was read over and over again, and then the shortcomings were found in the middle to fill this gap. As a new director, Buick hopes to highlight his own style to the extreme in this work.

Five hundred rejected the idea. "There is still some life-oriented content in this movie to touch the more emotional places of the audience."

　

During the whole preparatory stage, Buick will have his own anxiety, and he will fall into a strange circle — — Why are these things different from what you think?

Five hundred told him, "The farthest distance between people is’ I thought’". In the communication between the crew, we must not simply use abstract words such as texture to describe it, but must form more specific words or pictures so that the crew can understand it.

　

Combining these valuable experiences, the script was also changed to a more satisfactory version, and Door Lock was formally established and started in Xiamen in September 2020.

　

02　"hiding the murderer"

When Buick got the script, it had made some adjustments compared with the original story, but in their view, these adjustments were far from enough, especially where suspense was hidden.

　

Do you want to hide? How to hide it?

The most curious thing about "Door Lock" is the identity of the man in black. For suspense movies, decryption is something that the audience can’t wait to do in the process of watching movies. If the identity of the man in black is put at the end, but the audience guesses it in advance, the whole mystery laid in the early stage will become very embarrassing.

　

"You should never think that you are smarter than the audience. Now the audience is too smart. The more you hide, the more self-defeating. In this case, it is better not to hide. " Five hundred, who is quite experienced in suspense subjects, gives his own bottom in his creation.

　

Buick also found a creative idea. "I don’t want to make a pure suspense film. The murderer is not the key issue, but the female issue is."

　

After the problem of "hiding the murderer" was solved, Buick’s creation also took shape. For example, in the subway, Fang Hui (played by Bai Baihe) and Qiao Xiaoman (played by Qiao Xiaoman) have a more definite place.

Even so, in the process of creation, 500 and Buick still had some disputes.

Five hundred told Buick that Fang Hui and the boss must be filmed in the movie. But in Buick’s view, it is not necessary. If there is already a scene in the movie where Fang Hui is harassed in the office in order to show the weakness of women in the workplace, then the drama of the wine bureau is very cumbersome.

　

"Door Lock is about women’s independence. She is not only in the office, but also in all aspects of life. Then the wine bureau is an essential drama, and this is also a place where the audience can be more empathetic." Of course, 500 did not strongly ask Buick to add this content. "You can shoot it first, and then deal with it when editing."

　

Finally, in the editing stage, there were two versions as a whole; One is more life-oriented, and the other is more typed. From the perspective of genre preference and lens design during shooting, Buick is not satisfied with the life-oriented version, but he understands that "Door Lock" is to let the audience pay attention to women’s safety issues, so pure genre expression will weaken its power.

　

Combined with the story of life flow and stylized type expression, in Buick’s view, the most complete version of "Door Lock" should be two and a half hours. "The story should be one thing that Fang Hui experiences every day, which slowly accumulates and finally erupts." However, this version does not meet the requirements of a genre film, which is not conducive to the audience’s impression and the cinema’s film arrangement.

　

Recalling the entanglement in the editing, Buick did not forget to reflect. "These problems can actually be avoided from the script stage. If the plot is set in place reasonably, there will not be so many plot pictures that cannot be abandoned during the editing process."

　

03　cut down

"If you follow my script, it is actually particularly suitable for processing into a mini-drama with three or four episodes, and each character will have a good display." However, as a film, "Door Lock" must be cut by Buick.

　

In the original version of Door Lock, the opening was as long as 15 minutes. In the view of 500, this paragraph can be presented to the audience as a short film in the form of a pilot notice.

"There is actually her ex-boyfriend in front of the story, from the girl going home to meeting her ex-boyfriend, including the atmosphere in the corridor. Moreover, in that kind of old building, when you open the door, you may hear a cough upstairs. These thoughtful and fearful things have all been written in by me. And in that story, there are still some conversations between her and her ex-boyfriend, which explain the background of many characters. "

　

Buick read a lot of news information and combined with his own experience to create this story. Including the opening, many viewers will be curious, why do men in black lie on the top of the wardrobe? "These are not my whimsical creations, but there are cases that can be studied in reality."

　

In addition, in the story line of the dog farm at the end of the film, there is also a very important scene, which was deleted for the sake of time. This also indirectly led to the current audience’s controversy over the plot in the second half of the film.

　

"It was a self-help drama of Fang Hui, and the whole narrative was edited in parallel from the perspectives of Fang Hui and Zheng Fei (played). Fang Hui was in a coma and remembered Qiao Xiaoman’s saying in the subway,’ Hold on, hold on, that’s how you were domesticated’. Then she slowly woke up and saw the door next to her closed and two dogs. She used the coma medicine left by Zheng Fei, and injected it into the sausage. As a result, a dog died directly after eating it. Then she directly pulled the main switch and the electronic door next to it opened. She found Qiao Xiaoman and pulled her up. Another dog ran after them. Although she passed the first door, she finally got stuck at the second door. At this time, Zheng Fei came back. Zheng Fei saw everything in front of him, and there was a line,’ Why did you kill my dog?’ "

　

In the original play, there are women’s self-help and the mutual help of "girl helps girl", and at the same time, it can let the audience see the emotional changes of the role of Zheng Fei in the later stage of madness.

　

Buick excitedly revealed these cuts to us, but he couldn’t help sighing that they were all caused by inexperience. "The next play will pay attention to these contents from the script stage."

　

04　Fei Zheng

Without the support of these stories, the audience have a better question about the role of Zheng Fei, and why he became such a person.

　

In Buick’s creation, Zheng Fei has a prototype.

　

"Why is his name Jeffrey? In fact, this man is a notorious pervert murderer in the United States. He is very similar to the situation in Zheng Fei. Their external images look good, but in the end, they are found to be very dark inside, and even do a lot of unsightly things. I remember the documentary at that time asked Jeffrey, saying that you have good conditions and good looks, why can’t you fall in love with people normally? The reason for his answer is’ because I want to’. The simple answer is that we can’t think with the logic of normal people at all. They pursue absolute control and must do things according to their wishes, which is the same as Zheng Fei’s strong desire for control. "

　

It is based on this idea that Buick insisted on retaining the dialogue between Zheng Fei and Fang Hui in the car during the deletion process. "In addition to explaining the background of the characters, this scene actually implies Fang Hui, and she has no right to know it. If you want to break this paper, it will be finished."

　

Although the audience will have a lot of questions and make the film controversial after the deletion of "Door Lock", in Buick’s view, this may be the deficiency of being a new director, and it is also a place to make up for it in the future.

　

As for "Door Lock", how many points do you give?

Buick said 70 points.