Deng Kaiyuan, or Mr. Frog, as he is more often called, came into the café in a black T-shirt with cartoon patterns, printed pants and a pair of Converse high tops that would give you the same feel as you would probably get from the first several glances of his films –young, funny, rebellious, restless, all in all, a rocking spirit. And he was. Once sitting down, he began to talk about how he got the wound under his right eye as he ran into a pole (he asked us to retouch the photo and we did) and how he bite his tongue and got an ulcer despite the fact that we didn’t even know each other. But as the talk moved on, we found out that there were much more dimensions to this person.
Shooting for the WHU
WHU My Life Story was officially launched in September this year as the promotional short film for our university. Promotional films for universities are abound, but this one is not one of them. Its cinematic photography, dreamy music and artistic storytelling set it apart from others. Romantic and subtle, it’s a representative interpretation of a public institution that somehow remains courageously and uniquely idiosyncratic. You can find one man behind all these marvelousness—Deng Kaiyuan.
The film is short, but the production is a bumpy ride. Writing the script, shooting, editing and revising took almost a whole incredible year, during which there was even an accident. “I was driving my motorcycle and the ground is wet and slippery. I pulled the brake but was unexpectedly thrown out of the motor and was literally gliding on the ground.” A camera lens was unfortunately sacrificed. Besides this, there were other problems that plagued the production, including contacting people and coordinating, etc., but Deng managed to get over all these and the final product is totally worth the effort.
A Self-taught Talent
Deng as an independent director has works of various sorts: music videos, promotional films, independent short films, documentaries, you name it. If you have ever watched one of his works, it would be really hard for you to accept that he is totally self-taught. When shooting the documentary Addiction, one that talks about the game DOTA and the dreams of the gamers in a refreshingly touching language, one that made him known, he barely knew anything about shooting and directing. “I didn’t even have the equipment myself, it was all borrowed.” Possibly talented, he learnt all techniques by himself and is now a pro and probably one of the top student directors of WHU.
His talent was not just recognized inside WHU but also outside it. As he was interning in Youku, Do Something for Clean Air, a Youku concept film as a follow-up to Under the Dome, the sensational documentary by Chai Jing, he suffered from editing problems and the time was really urgent. He seized up the opportunity and stayed up the whole night, coming up with a final product that was unanimously approved by all the leaders at the meeting next morning. He was more deeply involved in that community since then.
Speaking of his fame, it would be impossible to overlook the music video he made for the theme song of the film, Forever Young. “It is a long story. I first met the person in charge of this when working as a log keeper for a promotional video. So when the task to shoot the video came, he thought of me, who is both a student and a director.”The music video is a huge success, like many of his works. To put things into perspective, his Youku channel now enjoys a total of over 1 million clicks.
Growing Pains
As is always said, you know people through their works, and Deng is no exception despite his insistence on establishing a clear cut line between his works and himself as an individual. His independent films are most representative of himself. In films such as How to Become a Monster and One Day, I Went to a Rock Girl’s Home for My Video cam Battery, we begin to see a person who’s funny and naughtily rebellious on the outside while also being contemplative, poetic, insightful and somewhat cynical inside. From his early productions that feature the relentless pursuit of dreams to later works such as How to Become a Monster, a figure emerges, a figure that had dreams and passion but now seems to be losing himself to the world and gradually disillusioned. This figure corresponds greatly to his state of mind at the moment. When friends and classmates around are busy finding jobs, interning or applying for graduate programs, he is now uncomfortably free after a half year’s work outside the campus. “Opportunities come and go. Opening a studio of your own is easier said than done. Most importantly, you will have to make all those boring commercial productions that you don’t have a single interest in rather than do something you’d like to do. You go to video companies and in a short period of 2 to 3 months, you can basically learn everything you need and the rest is boredom.”
Such disillusionment and disappointment drove him to ponder over the significance of having to do something. “Why do we have to do something anyway? In the book Brave New World by Huxley, people live in happiness because they do not have the urge to make a difference. So I wonder how about just do what you want even if it’s idling away your time.” No wonder, he would have “dawdling”as the theme of his new production. “I want to explore the possibility of not making a difference”, he said somewhat uncertainly.
Such confusion, such apparent non-resistance or even surrender to reality, may seem pretty negative at first, but they are common in artists of various generations. Moving from the still innocent discussion of ambition and the pursuit of dream to the more sophisticated rumination of the significance of existence and the sense of helplessness and powerlessness before the reality is probably more a sign of maturation and growth than one of resignation and submission. For Deng, who has Martin Heidegger, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, etc., ranking high in his dictionary, this might lead to something grander and more profound.
A poet triggers his creative eruption by getting drunk. So does Deng, who is also drunk currently, except that he is stoned by the reality not alcohol. Just wait and see what masterpiece he would be creating.
(Photo by Xinnan Guo, Edited by Sijia Hu)
