Director Cai Chonglong of the Golden Horse Award for Best Documentary 2022 "Nine Guns" talks about the value and influence of documentaries
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Golden Horse Awards 2022 The best documentary of the year “Nine Guns” director [Cai Chonglong] (https://telecom.ccu. edu.tw/p/406-1088-11543,r786.php?Lang=zh-tw) was invited by the [Media Literacy Education Foundation] (https://www.facebook.com/tvcrcenter) to conduct a speech at [Staring at Reality] The second lecture of What Documentaries Teach Us] shared with you how to convey diverse viewpoints through documentaries, and also talked about some of the ups and downs of shooting and producing documentaries.
Now that we have entered the era of audio and video, many people are interested in becoming a YouTuber. For those students or young video workers who are interested in making films, Director Cai said that anyone who is interested in documentary can start learning by practicing shooting multiple short films. This is a path that can be taken. Moreover, there are now many short film competitions, such as the Taipei Film Festival and the Golden Horse Awards, which have short film competition units.
Having said that, you don’t have to be very knowledgeable when shooting a documentary. It can last for several years! Then, you don’t have to make a long feature film to qualify as a documentary. The focus of a documentary is to return to its essence, which is the value and influence it brings to society.
Director Cai said: “I have made short documentaries of sketches before, and it only took about a month or two from planning to shooting. This was to participate in the Changhua Independent Documentary Event. Our resources were limited, and the time was not enough, so it was a short film shot within a limited time.”
Some people think that documentaries must capture the changes in people and things in real time. However, in fact, in addition to photos and videos, documentaries nowadays can also use some visual design and narrative techniques.
Director Cai mentioned that in the documentary production classes he offers at school, they are usually divided into groups in advance, with about two to three people in each group. Having said that, if the division of labor is good and everyone has a consensus, you can start filming. But looking at the film “Nine Guns”, it is indeed a bit different. Because this is a traditional documentary, and its standards are relatively high, the entire shooting team totals more than a dozen people, or even nearly 20 people, because we have about five or six photographers alone.
Why is this? Although it is telling a personal story, if you have watched this documentary, you will find that Director Tsai has made this topic bigger, so it is not talking about a simple case, but this topic is obviously talking about the difficulties that many foreign migrant workers currently face in Taiwan.
Overall, “Nine Guns” is a structure with relatively large content. So, when Director Cai was making this film, he didn’t set a time when it had to be done? He just wanted to make it well, and Director Cai was teaching in school at the time, so there was less time pressure. He just thought that it was more important to make the film well. So, it probably took about 5 years from 2017 to 2022. Because the filming is done slowly, the number of team members will become larger, presenting a relatively high-standard recording scene.
Director Cai specifically pointed out that although the content structure of “Nine Guns” is relatively large, not every film needs to be shot this way. The decision still depends on the subject matter and budget. He said that because the subject matter of “Nine Guns” is relatively difficult and it is not a purely personal story, he cannot just think about what he wants to shoot and what locations he wants to go to, and then lead the team to shoot it!
Director Cai said: “For something of social significance, you can’t interview whoever you want, or photograph whatever you want. It needs time to brew. So in terms of time, the focus is not how long it takes, but the difficulty of your subject matter, which determines how much time you need to spend?”
Director Cai said sincerely: “I often advise younger friends not to make films for competitions. You still have to think carefully about what you want to film. You only participate in competitions when you really care about that matter, rather than just to participate in a competition and then randomly pick a subject to film. The results are usually not very good.”
Director Cai mentioned that he lived in Changhua when he was in elementary school, junior high school, and high school. He also suffered a lot of oppression from the outside world while growing up, so he became a relatively sensitive person. At first glance, I seem to be in the winning group in life, but in fact I am not happy. He was shocked to realize that there was something wrong with the entire education system. Just because some people might not be good at studying, some external forces separated him from some good friends.
He believes that between people, we should not just look at their education level or whether they are good at reading to decide whether we want to make friends with them? Therefore, Director Cai said that he was actually unhappy before high school. Later, after I went to college, things gradually became a little different.
Director Cai mentioned that he grew up in Changhua and later was admitted to the Law Department of National Chengchi University. In fact, it was not because of his love for law, but the score in the joint examination that determined the university department he studied. At that time, he didn’t know much about law so he went to study. Although he was not opposed to studying law, he was not very interested in it after all. Therefore, after I returned from the army in Kinmen, I was admitted to the [Fujian University College] (http://www.gsmc.url.tw). It was also at that time that he began to have the opportunity to come into contact with some cultural studies and European critical theory; and because of this opportunity, it undoubtedly opened a window for Director Cai, making his worldview slightly different from then on.
During his graduate studies, he learned some things about critical theory, and suddenly discovered that the operation of this society was not as it seemed on the surface. For example, many people say that “everyone is equal before the law.” But if you look at social reality, you will find that not everyone is equal before the law.
Although in Taiwan, the judiciary has been reformed and made some progress in the past two to thirty years, it is still found that there is still a gap between theory and reality. Director Cai mentioned that when he was in graduate school, he suddenly discovered that many social incidents are not just a simple case problem. Many cases occur because of the structural problems behind them. In other words, it can be said that there is an overall system problem, which will continue to produce such cases.
Taking “Nine Guns” as an example, the “Ruan Guofei Incident” that occurred in 2017 is an example. If there wasn’t a very unreasonable system and law behind this whole incident, there wouldn’t actually be so many escaped migrant workers. If there weren’t so many escaped migrant workers in this society, there might not be such an extreme case.
On August 31, 2017, 27-year-old [Missing Vietnamese migrant worker Ruan Guofei](https://opinion.cw.com.tw/blog/profile/486/article/129 87) After taking drugs and drinking, he damaged people’s pickup trucks and motorcycles by the Fengshan River in Hsinchu County. Young police officer Chen Chongwen and two civil defense officers were called to the scene to round him up. Ruan Guofei was frightened and threw stones at each other, and even once opened the door of the police car to try to get into the car. In order to stop Ruan Guofei, Chen Chongwen shot him nine times with a police pistol. Ruan Guofei was shot multiple times and died in the hospital.
Director Cai said: “Ruan Guofei happened to have a conflict with the police, and the police did not know the background of the migrant workers. In fact, the two parties did not understand each other, so this tragedy occurred. If everyone does not look at this from a conscious perspective, will you only choose whether to support the police or support human rights? When you only choose sides, you will find that the world is not that simple, and it cannot be solved by choosing sides.”
Director Cai said that he gained a new worldview during his research studies, or a less general alternative perspective. And such non-mainstream views will naturally affect subsequent creations: Therefore, whether I make documentaries or feature reporters later, it will have a profound impact on me.
After graduating from the Institute of Communication at Fudan University, he first worked as a reporter in a newspaper, then as a feature reporter on a television station, and then as a documentary. Director Cai stayed in the media industry for more than ten years. After gaining experience in print media and television media, he officially changed his career and became a documentary director.
He began to think about some of the social issues that everyone dealt with when filming documentaries: Is it for ourselves? Or are you speaking out for the characters in it? This point also echoes the world view mentioned by Director Cai at the beginning of this lecture.
How do you view the world before you organize your thoughts and put forward your opinions?
Director Cai believes that documentaries are basically directors expressing their views and opinions through images. Therefore, the viewpoint presented by the documentary is still very important. While watching the documentary, in addition to paying attention to the interpretation of the details, we should also think about the director’s point of view. Did he point out any phenomena? Or who are you speaking for?
Director Cai looks back on his works. At first glance, it seems that many of the themes focus on marginalized people in society. The reason is very simple. This is because he feels that the media resources or image resources of the entire society are precious, so if he really wants to make a film, he is more inclined to choose those links that really require the public to spend more effort to understand.
It’s like we all refer to foreign migrant workers as “foreign workers”, but now we slowly change the name to “migrant workers”. It’s like everyone knows that Shan Bao is the aboriginal people, but “Shan Pao” sounds like a relatively negative thing. Nowadays, although the term “migrant workers” seems relatively neutral, in fact, it already implies the operation of some social forces behind it.
Director Cai first worked as a text journalist, so he is naturally comfortable with the use of words and has a keen sense of it. He admitted frankly that after working as a writer for a long time, he would feel a little powerless, which also involves the dialectic between words and images. Therefore, he had thought before: As a media worker or when I am doing communication work today, are words more powerful or images more powerful?
Director Cai is a writer by background. He actually never learned how to make a film in college before? Later, when I worked in a television station, I found that I had very good colleagues around me, so I started to learn from those colleagues who were responsible for photography and editing while working. Of course, the topics and opinions are his own, but he also learned how to work with everyone.
He took the Su Jianhe Case as an example. Although mainstream media such as Lao San Channel in the past would not, in principle, produce such programs on judicial and human rights issues, Taiwanese audiences would eventually find that talking about this matter is very special and important. Even if you don’t see it in the mainstream media, it still needs to be taken seriously. Director Cai said that he began to understand that such power can be conveyed through images. Recalling that when I was working in the independent newspaper system, although the written media also reported the Su Jianhe case, they still had little influence. However, later he did a special report on Su Jianhe in Supervision’s “Investigation Report” “Death penalty! Unjust case? 〉, this program was replayed more than ten times, and I also received letters from viewers, and I realized that this was what the Su Jianhe case was like.
Director Cai said frankly that if today was just a newspaper report, people might not really feel the words. The Su Jianhe case is just three names! But today, through the TV presentation, I believe that to a certain extent, the audience can realize that these are three lives, not just three strange names.
Having said that, Director Cai will certainly have some thoughts on the process of changing his career from a reporter to a recorder. I think back then I had the opportunity to move from a newspaper to a TV station, and then from special topics to planning. It can be said that I just had this opportunity.
Therefore, Director Cai also suggested that if there is an opportunity for today’s young friends, everyone can do some in-depth reporting topics to accumulate their own experience and topics. As for how to find suitable topics, Director Cai said that his topics are usually not deliberately found. Some of them are materials accumulated during the period of working as a feature reporter. Because general special topics usually have a life cycle of only a few weeks. Except for very special news events like the Su Jianhe case, TV stations usually do not rebroadcast special topics all the time.
Therefore, the life span of this type of special program is very short, and there is not much time for filming. But because the TV station’s programs are broadcast every week, you have to keep doing the questions, which actually consumes a lot of your work, and you may not have the time to follow it carefully. Even if you want to invest more, you may not have the energy and time.
Therefore, for Director Cai, during his time working in the media, he discovered that different media have their own influence. It was while working at a television station that he began to learn how to use the influence or appeal of images.
Director Cai added that of course special features and documentaries are two different media, so even if the content is the same, the effects produced by making an album and making a documentary are often different. Therefore, a carrier with a longer lifespan will not only have more recording time, but will also generally receive more resources and social responses.
When it comes to the nature of documentaries, Director Cai mentioned that many people may think that a documentary must be 100% objective or 100% truthful in order to be considered a good documentary. He said earnestly: First of all, I would like to ask you to revise this concept. If you think that a documentary must reach that level to be a good documentary, can you find one for me to watch? Because I have never seen a documentary that is 100% objective or 100% confirmed.
Why is this? The reason is simple, because documentary, like any image creation, is a kind of representation and construction. Because we are human beings, and the camera is just a photography machine, so basically when you choose the subject, shoot and edit, every stage is a subjective choice and selection. And because this is a subjective choice and decision, we cannot reflect the truth 100%.
Director Cai believes that if every level in the process of filming a documentary is subjective, how can it be an objective presentation in the end? Although this is a very simple logic, many people just don’t think about it and think that compared to news, documentaries must be very real.
Rationality and sensibility in the film It is not impossible to choose one or the other. Being able to achieve both rationality and sensibility is the ideal of many film workers. Regarding this point, Director Cai Chonglong also mentioned that when filming “Island Murder Chronicles 1-2](https://docs.tfai.org.tw/zh-hant/film/4691), although the film itself discussed the subject of justice and injustice, which required a lot of rational dialectics and data stacking, he believed that the emotional aspect and storytelling in the film, especially the character story, should still be included. Because in order for a documentary to attract viewers to watch it, it cannot just be about reasoning.
To put it bluntly, news should be as objective as possible, but now that news is not very objective or is at a very embarrassing stage, many of us have inexplicable expectations for documentaries. It stands to reason that documentaries should be the most objective things, so many people think that if a documentary is not objective and true enough, then it is not a good documentary!
Director Cai said: “For me, I don’t see it that way. Because you are now asking documentary directors to do something that you can’t do yourself. The so-called complete objectivity is impossible! After all, each of us has our own limitations. I have my own limitations, and I also have my own worldview.”
Director Cai pointed out that of course he couldn’t say that his doubts were definitely correct. After all, it was related to everyone’s upbringing. But here, I also remind everyone of one thing: Documentaries do not reflect real events. Documentaries are actually things that are equal to realistic themes plus the director’s point of view, plus production creativity.
Think of the definition given by the father of British documentary [John Grierson] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Grierson): a creative treatment of actuality.
John Grierson published long articles “First Principles of Documentary” from 1932 to 194, which clearly pointed out: Documentaries are not just about natural materials. It is just a simple (or decorated) description, but it is about arranging, rearranging and creatively shaping these natural materials. It is in this way that documentaries can hope to achieve the effect of art.
The so-called documentary records “reality” and re-presents a certain event in the past through visual expression. But do documentaries have to be “real”? This point is naturally open to discussion. Therefore, taking “Nine Guns” as an example, the content presented through these three parts can at best be said to be a more personal story, or more of a social issue. This entire documentary naturally contains Director Cai’s views and creativity.
Therefore, Director Cai believes that documentaries cannot be 100% objective, but at least they must be subjective with evidence. Having said that, when we realize that we are subjective, what we propose must have evidence, otherwise the existence of the documentary may not have much meaning! Director Cai said with a smile that if you go to see “Nine Guns”, you can also check whether he has fulfilled these principles?
Director Cai mentioned that the difference between documentaries and feature films is not only whether the content is fictional, but the most important thing is that the connection with reality cannot be cut off. For example, the recently hit “Defender of the Eight-Child Gate” is a drama that touches on issues such as aboriginals, foreign migrant workers, the death penalty, and collusion between government and businessmen, and is based on the 1986 murder case “[Tang Ying-shen Incident] (https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-tw/唐英胜综合)”.
The basis of feature films is fiction, so even if real-life materials are used to tell the story, you cannot completely use realistic things to ask for it. Therefore, feature films have their own set of story-telling logic, and there are also cost considerations behind it.
There is another very important difference between documentaries, which is the relationship between people in the documentary. When a videographer makes a documentary, the relationship with the person being photographed is one of trust. We don’t say we have to pay the other party before they are willing to let us shoot.
In other words, documentaries are actually maintaining a relationship of trust, rather than relying on money or consideration to survive. Therefore, the relationship between the filmmaker of the feature film and the main and supporting actors can be said to be a consideration relationship, or even a commercial relationship. However, the people in the documentary have a relationship of trust.
If everyone can understand that the premise of a documentary is to focus on a trusting relationship between people, then we can capture people’s trusting relationship in front of the camera. Director Cai gave an example, for example, today we are interviewing protagonist A, and then B is his family member. Although he is not the protagonist, A will actually be affected by B. So when making a film, you can’t just focus on your protagonist and ignore the people around him.
Because they are not actors, they basically trust you and allocate their own time to film for you. So in this part, the documentary is actually dealing with a complex interpersonal relationship. Therefore, the shooting team cannot just serve their own needs, regardless of the conditions of the people being photographed. Therefore, Director Cai never forgets to remind everyone that before filming a documentary, you must remember trust and interpersonal relationships. This is a very important part.
Director Tsai mentioned that although documentaries are not as big an industry as movies, the development of documentaries in Taiwan has relatively advantages and the best soil. He also reminded everyone to take advantage of it. After all, having such resources is rare and valuable.
For those who are interested in learning to make documentaries, Director Cai also hopes that they can first propose a project. The main content should include the shooting motivation, schedule planning, content outline, and related plans for fieldwork, etc.
In fact, it’s not just documentaries that need to pay attention to fieldwork, now it’s also the same for feature films. Director Cai mentioned that the screenwriters of previous TV series such as “[The Chosen Man - Wave Maker](https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-tw/The Chosen Man - Wave Maker)” and “[The Defender of the Eight-Child Gate](https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-tw/The Defender of the Eight-Child Gate)” have also done a lot of research. Take “Defender of the Eight-foot Gate” as an example. According to the research data just released by the production team, this is almost a master’s thesis-level research data.
If even feature films require fieldwork and preparation in advance, let alone documentaries. Because if what we want to know is not clear enough, how can we shoot a certain depth? How can you come up with your own opinions?
Director Cai pointed out that if he wanted to film about migrant workers, he would first become an expert on migrant workers.
He also reminded friends who are interested in getting into imaging work that in addition to shooting short films, they usually also need to have a certain amount of endurance. Because a film may take two months to shoot, or even “Nine Guns” took five years to shoot. Therefore, friends who want to join the documentary field must not only have keen insight, but also have a certain amount of endurance.
Director Cai mentioned that documentaries are not actually mirrors that reflect reality, so many people may ask: So what is it? In fact, documentary is the hammer that builds the mirror. Therefore, documentary is not as objective a mirror as everyone imagines. In fact, it should be a hammer.
If we talk about “Nine Guns”, Director Cai hopes that the documentary may have some transformative energy that can be conveyed to the audience. There are some things in society. It is not that it cannot be changed, but its change may be very slow, such as some relatively institutional things or systemic things.
Director Tsai said: “If we talk about the issue of migrant workers, people may be sad or angry after seeing this case, but if you just say that I want to highlight the rights of migrant workers or [police rights] (https://www.storm.mg/lifestyle/4628050?mode=whole), I hope this thing can change society. However, what we may want to see more is the overall system or structural change of Taiwanese society.”
Many people have asked Director Tsai, after the filming of “Nine Guns”, have there been any specific changes in Taiwanese society regarding the issue of migrant workers? He admitted that changes in this part may take five to ten years or even longer. But even if there aren’t big changes, we can’t stop making them just because the changes are slow.
Having said that, although society as a whole does not seem to have changed much, it is actually moving forward. For example, more and more people are concerned about the issue of migrant workers. This is a change. For example, if you are watching “The Defender of the Eight-foot Gate” recently, you will be surprised to find that the issue of migrant workers discussed in the play has become a very hot issue. This is a change!
These things were impossible to happen before. Even “Nine Guns” could be recognized by the Golden Horse Award. This may have been unlikely to happen before. This is a change.
Director Cai said with a smile: “So, please don’t keep asking the documentary director, what effect do you hope to have after the filming? Or what impact? In fact, the key to whether it can have an impact depends on everyone watching the film. After everyone watches the entire documentary, and when this group of people with different social backgrounds or professional backgrounds understand this issue, think about what they can do in the future and do it. When everyone does something little by little, the entire society will bring about changes!”
Director Cai’s meaning is very simple. If everyone just feels sad after watching the documentary, or feels powerless in their hearts, then it is just consumption. In other words, documentaries will just become ordinary commodities, which will actually mean nothing and probably will not bring any changes to society.
Finally, Director Tsai encouraged everyone with these words: “It is true that documentaries have the power to change. But the key to whether it can initiate change in society lies in the hands of the viewers who watch the film.”
►►► Continue reading: Director of CNEX Chinese Documentary Proposal Conference Zhang Yulan talks about what documentaries can teach us
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Further reading
- Director of CNEX Chinese Documentary Proposal Conference Zhang Yulan talks about what documentaries teach us
- Former “former health” magazine editor-in-chief Huang Huiru talks about how to write concise essays (content input)
- Media Person Zhu Shujuan: From writing to business, how to become an independent journalist
