Character

In order to tell stories, a documentary is required to provide a reasonable basis of characters at first. My initial idea was to record “fishermen” and state that the job of “fishermen”, if fact, is far away from our city life. Therefore, people are more interested in stories and the characters in the stories. Each country has its own different social state, and if you want the social state to be acceptable by the audience of other countries, choosing a good story that can communicate with each other emotionally might be the best way.

Before starting the documentary, the tentative idea and orientation about hero should be determined. In fact, the thought for choosing actors of a story film can be used to the casting of documentary as well. Only when a typical fisherman is found can stories about fishermen be told. Although they all belong to fishermen, they are different in many aspects, such as personality, family relation and even visual effect. Whether the right “characters” can be chosen is directly related to the quality of stories told by the documentary. After field research, my British heroes’ image for the story gradually becomes more and more clear: “They have to undertake this fisherman job since a very young age; they might come from a place far away from big cities, and therefore, they maintain some distance to urban life; sometimes three generations work together, that is, experienced grandfather, skilled father and the son who started learning fishing recently; finally, all of these will go on".
That is why I chose the fishermen of Adrian Noble family. When I first went for interview, I fortunately met them, who were collecting their things after fishing and preparing to go home. They were exactly three generations - grandfather, father and son. We made a nearly two-hour interview. They were very enthusiastic and willing to tell their stories to help me. This undoubtedly highlighted my documentary.

Chinese heroes’ image in stories: “They also usually come from a place far away from big cities, such as some small islands; they catch fish, which is different with British fishermen, and only in this way can provide a vivid vision to the audience; since they do not have particular requirements for fish species, I will focus on the Chinese fishermen’s fish-killing and family support”. Therefore, I chose Guangming Zou, a local fisherman from Dengbu island.

纪录片要讲故事，首先要有一个合理的人物基础。我最初的想法是想拍“渔民”，以及“渔民”这个职业离我们的城市生活其实很遥远。所以人们更感兴趣的是故事和故事里的人物。每个国家都有各自不同的社会状态，要让这种社会状态呈现在其他国家的观众面前并为他们所接受，选择好一个可以沟通彼此情感的故事可能是一个最好的方法。
在纪录片开拍之前要有对主人公的设想和定位，剧情片选演员的思路，但其实也可以用在纪录片的选角上。“要讲好‘渔民’的故事，首先要做的就是在渔民中找到一个典型。”同样是渔民，无论是性格上、家庭关系上甚至视觉效果上都有很多不同。有没有选对“角色”，直接关系到纪录片能不能讲好故事。经过实地调研，这样对于“故事”英国的主人公的形象逐渐鲜明起来：“他们必须从很小就开始渔民这项工作；他们应该来自一个远离大城市的地方，与城市生活有一段距离；有三代同时工作的，有老练的爷爷和成熟的爸爸还有刚开始学习捕鱼的儿子；最后，一直延续下去。”
所以我选择了Adrian Noble一家渔民。当我第一次去采访时，就很幸运的碰到了他们一家人正捕鱼回来在港口收拾东西，准备回家。他们当时正是三个人，爷爷、爸爸和儿子。与他们通过了将近2个小时的采访，他们非常的热心，很愿意讲述他们自己的故事来帮助我。这无疑让我的纪录片增加了很多色彩。
对于“故事”中国的主人公的形象：“他们基本也需要来自一个远离大城市的地方，比如一些小岛屿；捕捞的海鲜需要鱼英国渔民不同，这样才可以让观众的视觉有鲜艳感；对鱼他们的家庭没有特定的选择，我会把重点放在中国渔民杀鱼和家里人的支持。所以我选择了来自登步岛的当地渔民Guangming Zou。