#DOC new generation

Bai Lin, documentary director and photographer, graduated from Communication University of China and New York School of Visual Arts. Participated in the production of the documentary “Alive”, which won the best documentary in the student section of the FIRST Youth Film Festival, the best documentary feature film in the Beijing University Student Film Festival, and the best university student work in the China Documentary Academy Award. While studying in the United States, he served as the producer of the documentary “Satellite Baby”, which won the best documentary short film at the Washington Chinese Film Festival (DCCFF), and was shortlisted for the best documentary award at the Global University Student Film Festival (GUFA). As the chief director, he produced the CCTV work “Made in China: Design and Me”, which was shortlisted for the 2021 Fresh Proposals Lili Real Image Conference. Currently, she is working on her new work “Survivor”.

Part1

Overseas career and creative development - DOC XINSHENGDAI

01

FreshPitch: You chose the documentary major at the beginning of your studies. Can you talk about why you chose the documentary major and how your passion for documentaries came about?

Bai Lin: I studied at the Communication University of China as an undergraduate. In fact, there was no special documentary major at that time. I studied directing. The directing department is divided into two directions: directing performance and directing editing. I chose the direction of directing and editing. Later, I did a lot of work in documentary editing, including up to now, I will cut my works myself if time permits.

During my studies, the first time I really came into contact with documentaries was when my graduate student sister Ma Qianwen was filming “To Live”. Before that, I made a documentary about couchsurfing myself. At that time, I just thought that the documentary was more interesting and could reach all kinds of people. But during the filming of “Alive”, I really began to feel the power of documentary.

“Alive” is a story about a kidney transplant patient waiting for a kidney replacement. For patients who need a kidney transplant, matching a suitable kidney is a very long and lucky thing, with a lot of suffering and helplessness. In the closed environment of the hospital ward, full of warmth and warmth, I also saw many complicated things. It was the first time I felt the true power of documentaries. I couldn’t escape even if I wanted to. It seemed that this subject matter hit me and I had to film it. Since then, the reality that cannot be interpreted in documentaries has fascinated me.

“Alive” poster

I think that no matter what line of work we do, we will encounter many difficulties, and enthusiasm is the driving force that supports us to persevere. There are many times when I think of some of the materials I shot before, and the force of reality that hits my face encourages me to continue to make documentaries.

02

FreshPitch: You have an educational background studying at home and abroad. What foundation has this laid for your documentary creation? Have these two different education systems enriched your creative ideas?

Bai Lin: When I was an undergraduate, I took a documentary course. The teacher Cai Wei who taught at that time told me that documentary is a kind of literacy, it is not a profession, but more like a kind of literacy. I didn’t know much about it at the time, but later I gradually felt that I was more suitable for documentaries than feature films, because there are many things in documentaries that I can’t perform, but those are the things that really moved me. Those of us who study art are often looking for something that impresses us. At that time, in the process of class, I suddenly had a feeling of “found it”, which made me suddenly motivated and purposeful. Later, I continued to choose to study documentary major abroad.

Chinese documentary education may pay more attention to observation, like “flies on the wall”, let me learn to calm down to feel and observe the shooting environment, instead of rushing to express on the spot. Postgraduate study abroad has shown me more inclusiveness and exploration. Their documentary forms of expression are not limited, and there are many possibilities. At that time, I devoted myself wholeheartedly to creation and content development. What I thought about every day was what kind of update, what ideas no one else had thought of. I am also very grateful to the teachers for their generous praise and encouragement during this process. Later, when I encountered difficulties, it also gave me a lot of confidence.

03

FreshPitch: For some new directors, the creation of the first work is full of challenges and excitement. During your study at the New York School of Visual Arts, which is famous for its sociality and artistry, you participated in the filming of “Satellite Baby” directed by Huang Wanlu and won an award. What kind of thinking and inspiration do you have in your creation?

Bai Lin:The documentary major of the New York School of Visual Arts is called social documentary, with strong teachers and strong practicality. Director Huang Wanlu and I are classmates and close friends. Basically, we form a team of two and fight alone. When shooting “Satellite Baby”, there are many things that cannot be controlled. It is not as delicate and predictable as a drama film. What impressed me deeply was that the protagonist of the film was a mother whose child was suddenly lost in a relatively chaotic neighborhood. At that time, director Huang Wanlu did not expect to shoot this scene at all. We turned on the camera unconsciously and ran to find the child with our mother. The material recorded at that time was a bit confusing, but when we edited it later, we felt that it was a very real clip, and we discussed how to edit it into the realism.

“Satellite Baby” poster

This is a very interesting point. Looking back, as documentary filmmakers, we were not calm enough, but these experiences have made my perception of the material different. When shooting before, I would think that I should be controllable, and make it a “fly on the wall” under controllable conditions. Later, I found that documentaries are often uncontrollable, and there is truth in the uncontrollable process. things will be expressed.

Later, I took some other works, such as “Time Relationship”, “When the Lion Wakes Up”, etc. These topics were approved by our teacher at the time, and now looking back, there is still a lot of room for improvement, including how to go deeper Explore the multi-faceted nature of the subject, how to look at Chinese identity from different perspectives, etc.

Part2

In-depth creation and exploration - DOC XINSHENGDAI

01

FreshPitch: Some of your past works involved medical subjects, including your new work “Survivor”. How did you pay attention to these issues and develop your shooting interest and plan?

Bai Lin: My interest in medical subjects is related to my father’s profession. My father is a doctor in the respiratory department. He has experienced SARS, but it is amazing and fortunate that he is the only person in his department who has not been infected. My new work “Survivor” is about people who survived SARS and how they deal with the pain and trauma they experienced in the past. The opportunity to start shooting is also because of my father, who is famous in the family as a calm and stable person. But once when he was drunk and mentioned SARS in 2003, he opened his heart to me and shared his past experience. At that time, he didn’t go home for two months. He hesitated for a long time at the door of the house whether he should go home or not. In the end, he took a big plastic bag, took off all his clothes, and put the clothes in it. The moment he entered the house, he didn’t talk to his mother. To say a word, I went to take a bath and disinfect first, and when I finally came out, I had a long-lost hug with my mother for 10 minutes. I was very moved when I heard him say that it really came down from the line of life and death. .

“Survivor” stills

My father seemed such a calm person, but in fact, there were many things that took root in his heart at that time, not to mention those survivors who lost their families. So I also wanted to do a work on PTSD. Later, through my father, I got in touch with these subjects. I have followed the characters in the documentary for 6 or 7 years.

02

FreshPitch: In recent years, medical-themed documentaries have emerged. When shooting this kind of subject, what do you think is different about it compared with other subjects? Did you encounter some challenges and how did you solve them?

Bai Lin: When shooting personal medical themes, the communication cost is very high, especially the communication cost of gaining the trust of the subject. When we first worked on “Alive” directed by Ma Qianwen, it took us a long time to gain the trust of the subject. At that time, there was a young protagonist. We communicated with him for about a month, and we would go to the hospital to see him almost every two days. It was only later that trust was built up.

The same is true for “Survivor”. The protagonists are very vulnerable psychologically, because they have lost their closest family members, and the pain of bereavement is huge. In addition, what lasted longer was the blame from other relatives. For example, the daughter of the protagonist blamed him for a long time, thinking that he caused them to lose their mother. In the group I have come into contact with, the lives of many people have been affected. For example, the divorce rate is high, and the probability of children not being in contact with each other is also very high. Because a complete family was broken in the past, they were hit hard, why am I alive? Why did you save me? They keep asking themselves this question. So how to communicate with them in this process is challenging. For now, I need to give my story an ending. When making a documentary, when do we stop shooting and when do we end? This is also quite a challenge. I am still looking for and waiting.

03

FreshPitch: “Made in China: Design and Me”, which you participated in, was shortlisted for the 2021 Fresh Proposals Lili Real Image Conference. This work explores the development of Chinese design in a novel way with three young designers. Can you talk about the creation process and experience of this work?

Bai Lin: I am very grateful to the teacher who proposed the fresh proposal. He communicated with me a lot at that time and reminded me that my education experience abroad can give me a new way of expression. I liked a Netflix documentary series called “Abstract” very much, so I learned some methods from it.

The perspectives presented by the three designers selected in the documentary are very different. Wang Fengchen’s perspective is more biased towards his hometown, while Chen Anqi’s perspective is very energetic and eccentric. And like Li Ning’s designer Sun Jingyi, his overall state is more like a craftsman. In the process of making this work, we also want to present a larger Chinese design from a small perspective through a younger expression.

“Made in China: Design and Me” Stills

The editing process is actually very interesting. How to edit and intersect these three character lines in parallel? The director Gao Yichao and I also tried many different methods. He compared the editing climax points of the three stories together, and would like to say Which designer reaches what point first, and then how to stitch it together is a relatively rigorous logical thinking, and finally we will continue to try with perceptual things.

04

FreshPitch: You mentioned editing. Editing in documentaries is also very important. It will shape the shape of a story. How did you feel about the clip?

Bai Lin: Editing is a very difficult process. I believe that most editors may be in a state of daze on the editing table. About 50% of the editing work is in the work of material arrangement, which is very boring. But make good use of this 50%, and the last 10% is very fulfilling. Although the front is painful, I love editing in general. The relationship between director and editor is actually not so clear in foreign countries. In many cases, the two are connected. Although I have a lot of practice in editing, I still want to be a director after positioning myself.

Part3

Future Outlook and Direction - DOC XINSHENGDAI

01

FreshPitch: During these years of documentary creation, have you encountered any difficulties and bottlenecks, and how did you break through and grow?

Bai Lin: I think most documentary directors may lack some confidence in their own works. This confidence may not only be in the content, but more in terms of investment and return. We all hope to strike a balance between making money and expressing ourselves. In terms of content, I still have a lot of things I want to do. If I don’t do it in this life, I think it will be a pity, and I want to devote more energy to beneficial places.

02

FreshPitch: In the creation of these different themes, have your creative focus and direction become clearer? During this process, can you share what kind of creative experience you have accumulated?

Bai Lin: At present, as a director, my creative career is still too young. Many times I haven’t thought through it very thoroughly. Whenever I am shooting, what I see are some things of human nature, a kind of helplessness we live in this world, which is universal. I am a relatively pessimistic person, so I think I want to continue this real pessimism, but find a sense of humor, lightness, and even a glimmer of hope in the pessimism. I also slowly discovered that I hope some abstract Expressive and personalized expressions can become the style of your own works.

The second is to grasp the real power. There are some things, it’s not how it should be in our heads. I don’t want to live in a fantasy where others tell me how this is done and how it should be. I hope that I can experience and express myself, and I believe in my own feelings and knowledge more firmly, which I have become more and more clear recently.

Bai Lin

03

FreshPitch: What is your vision for your future creative direction? Are there any new and ongoing projects you can share with us?

Bai Lin: The top priority is to make my new film “Survivor”. There are many things in it that I have always wanted to do but haven’t tried. Specifically, I would bring in the line of my father, bring in my family, which might be a bit of a private image, like “Daily Conversations,” “When I Look at You,” which I haven’t tried before. This way of expression, I am very excited.

Later, I also want to try to discuss the reality, how to use images to present fiction and non-fiction, this is a bit mysterious, it may be like Apichatpong’s “Memory”, but it is also a bit difficult to describe. In addition, I like contemporary art very much. When I was in the United States, I also visited museums such as MOMA, Whitney, and Guggenheim. New York gave me such pioneering things. My images are combined.

04

FreshPitch: Finally, as a rising young generation of directors, do you have any advice to share in terms of documentary creation or personal growth?

Bai Lin: I respect the early documentary directors in China. There are many unspeakable things about their works that move me, which makes me insist on making documentaries. Indeed, as directors of the younger generation, we need to learn something from them, think about our own unique things, and break free from all restrictions. When I was making a proposal recently, it was very interesting to hear other creators express their images in the way of horror films.

I also recently met teacher Liao Qingsong again, and I expressed my gratitude to him. He had a sentence before that has been encouraging me invisibly. He said that the difficulties we encounter as creators seem to be constantly torturing ourselves, but only after we have tortured ourselves all over the body can we really climb over the mountain. Don’t give up easily, maybe sometimes the process is very painful, this pain is a necessary process. And this pain must be something we can bear, it will happen to us, and that is for us to grow. I once heard a documentary director say that making a documentary is like swimming in the dark, unable to find your head. I also have this feeling. Sometimes we don’t know where the end of this work is, and we don’t know where the end of our career is, but we know what we need to accomplish in our lives. For the last 1% sense of accomplishment, the first 99% are worthwhile.