Wednesday, August 26, 2009

恩泉點滴: 不斷退稿的打擊

自問只有小六中文程度的我﹐中文算是還可以。可是﹐要應付生命恩泉這個電視製作﹐我的中文水平果然不達標。

當阿Paul和Bonny問我有沒有興趣幫忙生命恩泉的時候﹐我的心情是興奮的。並不是可以上電視﹐因為我對幕前興趣欠奉﹔而是小時候的電視夢終於有實現的機會了。當時真是感謝主到不行﹐兜兜轉轉竟然走上電視這一行業。

原來﹐平時光有看電視的經驗是沒用的﹐畢竟我們對電視製作是門外漢﹐很多技巧我們都像摸著石頭過河﹐邊做邊學﹐而其中﹐寫稿(script-writing)就是我的第一大障礙。

記得﹐當時我﹑Ada和Rosa負責有關青年人信仰陪育(youth and children formation)之類的一集。還沒拍攝之前﹐我們需要寫出我們想要一個怎樣的故事﹑怎樣定立主旨﹑怎樣帶出主題﹑怎樣找出適當的被訪者﹑怎樣拍攝等等一連串要考慮的問題。我們在討論的時候﹐曾經天馬行空想出不同點子﹐但最後都因為經費和沒經驗而告吹。這些小挫折是不能減退我對電視製作的熱情﹐直至寫的稿被退稿那刻﹐才感到冰水潑下來的冷感。

我也不記得我們寫的稿被退了多少遍了。總之在拍攝之前我們才有一份零零落落見得人樣的拍攝稿。當然拿著這樣準備不充份的稿﹐導致我們拍的訪問內容(a-rolls)過多﹐配合畫面的內容(b-rolls)又過少﹐幸好當時有位專業的攝影師幫我們補拍了不少畫面﹐不至於只有悶悶的訪問內容。可是最終我們的後期製作還是不能幸免地辛苦完成﹐而且出來的成品也不只一次被人批評過於沉悶和欠內容性﹐不得不說是心中去不掉的一條刺。

這次的經驗告訴我﹐寫稿是前期製作一個重要的環節﹐有了完整的劇本對拍攝和後期製作也方便很多。可惜﹐這幾年下來﹐我驗證了一件事﹐就是我的中文水平依然是麻麻地。要將腦裡的畫面化為文字﹐再將文字轉為影像﹐那個過程並不像我現在我手寫我心的隨意。每次寫稿都要腦震蕩一下﹐雖然艱辛﹐卻很過癮﹐也有夠自虐。作為觀眾﹐批評固然容易﹐只有試過﹑做過﹑跌過﹑痛過﹐才會明白箇中艱辛。現在終於明白編劇真不是人當的﹐希望編劇們都得到應有的尊重。

3 comments:

Rosa said...

I don't think Chinese is that big a deal after all. For subtitles/VOs etc, we can always fine tune it/have people proofread it before getting it finalized. I think your Chinese level is more than sufficient for the work involved. It's the idea that matters. I know we all get tired at some point in time, but I don't think your Chinese level matters that much. Just take a rest and dive into it again...

Ami said...

Yeah I agree with Rosa, writing has to do with more than the Chinese vocab and the grammatical skills, it's how you structure and present the ideas/stories that you're trying to convey, not only to have the readers/audience "get" it, but to 產生共鳴 and 感覺, sometimes this can be done with very simple words. "Good" writing is never easy, there are many good Chinese teachers yet there aren't that many good Chinese writers. But keep it up! Practice will help, and ask the people who rejected your scripts for detailed comments, you'll learn from it :)

Unknown said...

Since you read so many Chinese books, your Chinese is pretty good. So the problem is not with your Chinese level, but how to present stories in an interesting way. And that's a problem that we all have. I remember when I was being trained as a reporter intern, one of my articles was rejected 5 times by the editor! I rewrote it from beginning to end 5 times! I almost went crazy! I finally learned that the problem was in how I presented the subject/story. When I "hoi hiu" in the end, the article was much more appealing than all the previous attempts. So, don't get discouraged by being rejected or criticized. It's only through practice that we can improve. Persevere!