The hardships of old-time movies

However, producing films with old settings is becoming increasingly difficult because finding old houses and old spaces is not easy when life is increasingly modern.

Costly and laborious

Finding a setting that fits the script, the production cost of the film and is convenient for the crew to move around is always one of the difficulties for filmmakers. If a film with an old setting cannot find an old house or an old space, it will be very difficult to convince the small screen audience to believe in the story being told. Besides costumes and actors who can portray the ancient people, the setting plays an important part in this genre of film. After many films with old settings have been made, finding an old house is not easy nowadays.

The later films require more research if they don’t want to repeat the image of a house in 9 to 10 films. Because no matter how the filmmaker changes the camera angle, changes the scenery or changes it, the audience will still recognize it as the house that appeared in the previous film. Not to mention, the rental price of old houses is still increasing. Without acquaintances, it is also very difficult for the filmmaker to negotiate a suitable price that fits the budget of the film crew.

"Life changes, contexts change and people also change. In recent times, making films with old settings has encountered many difficulties as ancient houses have become increasingly rare. Filmmakers have to rebuild the settings, which costs more investment" - Meritorious Artist, Director Ho Ngoc Xum said.

Meritorious Artist and Director Nguyen Phuong Dien said he had to spend months traveling to different provinces to survey the old-time setting for the film. Modern social films have available scenes, but old-time films require finding hidden corners to hire filming crews. Finding a suitable setting also requires restoring it to match the era of the story described in the script.

"When making the film "Sky Net" (airing in 2021 and ending in 2022 - PV), it took me many months to travel around the Western provinces to choose the setting and then spend an additional 500 million VND to restore a street to film the first episodes. Therefore, filming in an old setting not only costs money but also effort" - Meritorious Artist, director Nguyen Phuong Dien said.

For the film "Tieng tho trong mua" (aired in 2019 - PV), Meritorious Artist - Director Nguyen Phuong Dien also surveyed more than 100 ancient houses in Tien Giang, Dong Nai, Dong Thap, An Giang... to find the main setting. The reason why the director had to survey so much was because he did not want to have duplicate images when filming.

Longing for the film studio

Many people in the industry say that old houses are becoming increasingly rare and difficult to find because the owners have renovated them to make their daily lives more convenient. In the case of cultural relics, there is no renovation but they are often old and dilapidated. Using these rented old houses, the film crew cannot do anything other than adding more furniture to make them suitable. The rent is usually calculated by the day of filming, so the film crew must also calculate to stay on schedule and not incur additional costs regardless of objective weather impacts.

Making films with old settings and old spaces is not easy, because ancient houses are increasingly disappearing (Photo provided by the producer)

"Audiences like films with old settings, so producers still try to make these films despite the many difficulties compared to other films. I think a large film studio with fully invested, complete, and standard settings like those in other countries is what Vietnamese filmmakers are looking forward to," said screenwriter Dong Hoa.

According to experts, Vietnam currently has a number of private studios, but they are small in scale, more illustrative in nature and suitable for small crews to make web-dramas (online films) in historical or old-time settings. Having a standard studio will be a good solution to help producers not spend too much time, money and effort to produce films in ancient settings as well as other types of films.

To improve the quantity and quality of Vietnamese films in general, and gradually build Vietnamese films into a leading cultural industry, building film studios is essential. Films with historical settings or any other genre of film need fixed, professional locations to create additional settings to help reduce difficulties during production.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy, Deputy Director of the Department of Culture and Sports of Ho Chi Minh City, said that she had consulted the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City on the strategy for developing the city's cultural sector until 2030, with a vision to 2035, and it had been approved by the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City. In particular, the department also consulted on building a modern film studio, the planned location in Cu Chi is hundreds of hectares wide.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/van-nghe/nhoc-nhan-dong-phim-boi-canh-xua-2023062121042302.htm