Women’s Perspectives: DIRECTOR LydiaH 女性视角: 导演韩夏

SHP+ continues on the issue of minor representation of female filmmakers in China. Women’s Perspectives is a series of articles where we interview women filmmakers to give exposure to their name and their work, but also talk about their dreams, challenges and realities of being a woman in the industry.

SHP+持续关注国内女性影视创作者。在女性视角系列中，我们采访女性影视创作者，让更大的观众知道她们的名字，理解她们的工作，同时也谈论了她们的梦想、挑战和作为一名女性在这个行业中的现实。

“I’ve discovered early that I’m not the person who follows the crowd”, shared Han Xia from TEDxSuzhou stage. The statement doesn’t seem like bravado or a part of a constructed persona for public-facing events— Han Xia’s reel attests to that. Her dreamy style, which in a sense poeticizes the mundane is recognizable in commercial films, documentaries, and music videos alike. SHP+ had a chance to talk to the Beijing-based writer/director about her work and experiences as a female director in China.

“我很早就意识到我不是个随大流的人”，韩夏在TEDx苏州的舞台上如是说。这一声明看起来不像是虚张声势，也不像是为了打造什么人设，韩夏的作品就是最好的证明。她如梦似幻般的风格，在某种意义上诗意化了世俗，并且在她的广告作品、纪录片和音乐MV中均有体现。SHP+有幸采访到了这位长居北京的作家/导演，并进一步了解了她的作品，以及作为一名中国女性导演的经历。

DJI – Day Dream 《白日梦》
PRODUCTION 制作公司：你好竹子（NIHAO ZHUZI）

When she was younger, Han Xia was intimidated by branded content, and it didn’t feel like something she wanted to do. For the graduate of Central Academy of Drama, writing scripts, shooting documentaries and MVs was a more familiar area where she applied her filmmaking skills. Now, guarding the identity of an independent filmmaker, Han Xia’s gradually became more comfortable with commercial filmmaking, having shot videos for Estée Lauder, Dior, Alexander McQueen, DJI and L’Oreal to name a few. “Sometimes the brand sends a very short brief, maybe just one paragraph— the color of lipstick, or the benefits of foundation. I’ll spend a day to read it through, stare at it, trying to guess, to get the essence what the brief is really about. And then I add my story and creative ideas to it”, – Han Xia shares. In most projects she eagerly accepts, there’s this big open window for creativity, allowing Han Xia to promote her scripts to the client and then shoot it. Han Xia says that for example, for Day Dream (DJI) “the brief was something like “to see things differently”. It took me quite a while to put my ideas together for this one, we changed the script several times. I thought about the most “normal period of time”, when we lose focus— 4-5 pm. What if we could flee from the office at that hour, do something differently, and see what others were doing”.

在她年轻的时候，韩夏有点惧怕品牌冠名的内容，觉得这不并是她想要做的事。对于毕业于中央戏剧学院的她来说，写剧本、拍摄纪录片和MV是她更熟悉，也是她更乐于施展电影制作才能的领域。如今，作为独立电影人，韩夏逐渐适应了商业电影的拍摄，她曾为雅诗兰黛、迪奥、Alexander McQueen、大疆和巴黎欧莱雅等品牌拍摄过广告片。“有的时候品牌给的简报真的非常简短，可能就只有一段话，比如口红的颜色或是粉底的卖点。我会花一天的时间去细细阅读，凝视它，绞尽脑汁地去猜想，去找到这份简报的核心到底是什么。然后我会把原创的故事和创意加进去”，韩夏分享道。大多数她一口答应的项目中，都有着巨大的创作自由空间，韩夏可以向客户展示她的剧本，然后再拍摄。韩夏以大疆的《白日梦》的项目为例，告诉我们：“这个项目的简报大意是‘换个角度看问题’。我花了很长时间才把我的想法整合在一起，我们修改了好几次剧本。我想到了一天中最‘普通不过的时间段’，即下午4-5点人们注意力不集中的这段时间。如果我们能在这段时间逃离办公室，做点不同的事情，去看看其他人在做什么，会怎么样呢？”

These recurring characteristics of Han Xia’s works— explorations about the time, beautiful people wandering the streets, travel, a bit of nostalgic gaze, and absence of a clear story might’ve been repetitive, if not for the inner monologues of the characters and unexpected cinematic twists. As a multitasker assuming different roles, for each project Han Xia manages to tell a slightly familiar, but different story. She’s also keen on trying new directions, like the recent collaboration with Touching Studio for Bilibili spot, which is a complete departure from her style. “It was a very different but fun experience for me. Probably not my direction in the future, but I wouldn’t say no to opportunities like that”, Han Xia notes.

韩夏的作品中反复出现的特征有：关于时间的探索，美人在街头游荡，旅行，还有一点点怀旧的凝视，以及模糊不清的故事线，如果没有人物的内心独白和意想不到的电影桥段般的反转曲折，这些特征可能是重复的。作为一名身兼数职的多面手，对于每个项目，韩夏都会讲述一个让人觉得有点熟悉，但又不一样的故事。同时，她也热衷于尝试新的方向，比如最近与Touching Studio合作的Bilibili项目，就完全背离了她以往的风格。韩夏表示：“这对于我来说，是一次很不同但特别的经历。未来我可能不会专研这个类型的作品，但我不会拒绝此类的体验和机会”。

BILIBILI
PRODUCTION 制作公司：TOUCHING STUDIO

In response to our question wether it’s difficult to be a female director in China, Han Xia says that according to her experience, the situation improved in the recent 3 years or so. She’s seen a lot of women directors, producers, writers getting their shine in different projects. At the same time, when a female director is working on bigger projects like phone, or car commercials, she’ll be challenged a lot, and for other projects often asked to put a lot of “female perspective” into the campaign, the story, or film. Han Xia doesn’t really agree with that perception that women can’t create universal stories. “Of course, we’re women, but it’s not very different from being a guy director. We may have a different perspective, but it doesn’t mean we’re totally different creatures”, she says.

在回答我们提出的在中国做女导演是否困难的问题时，韩夏表示，根据她的经验，最近3年左右，情况有所改善。她见到很多女导演、女制片人、女编剧在不同的项目中都崭露头角。与此同时，当一位女导演参与电话广告、汽车广告等大型项目时，她会面临很多挑战，而在其他项目中，她们通常会被要求在广告、故事或电影中加入大量的“女性视角”。韩夏并不认同女人不能创造普世故事的观点。“没错，我们是女性，我们跟男性导演并没有太大的区别。我们或许有不同的视角，但这并不意味着我们是完全不同的生物”，她说。

The case of not many women directors in China is not so much the question of education. Having studied filmmaking in China and Canada, Han Xia admits that it was pleasantly surprising to see a considerable number of girls enrolled in cinematography and lighting studies abroad. In her writing/directing department both in China and Canada schools, almost half of students were women. Regrettably, among women half of Han Xia’s classmates in China, she estimates to probably be the only one still working as a director.

在中国，女性导演不多与教育问题并没有太大关系。韩夏在中国和加拿大都学习过电影，她承认，看到有相当多的女孩在国外学习电影拍摄和灯光效果是一件令人惊喜的事情。但根据她的经历，不论是在她的中国母校，还是加拿大母校，写作/导演学院差不多有一半学生都是女性。而令人遗憾的是，在韩夏的中国女同学中，她或许是唯一个继续做导演的人。

In Han Xia’s opinion, initiatives to include women directors in every pitch sound like a direct transplant from the West. Discussing the topic of quota-like initiatives to promote and support women directors, Han Xia’s answers, like the issue itself, are layered. On one hand, she believes at this point in China there’s no foundation to push the inclusion of women as a rule. A lot of agencies and clients don’t have a concept of hiring a woman director. It is still ok for a client to say “we don’t want a female director”. On the other hand, perhaps, a rule like that is necessary for China, but seeing women assuming previously male-only roles, as well as speaking up about discriminating experiences are also important ways to push the change, however slow it may seem. Han Xia admits, she’s quite vocal on these issues, and is very lucky to have platforms to do so— her Weibo account, but also a podcast Sneeze (喷嚏）which she co-hosts with her friend, also a woman director Zhu Zi (竹子).

在韩夏看来，让女性导演参与到每个环节中的声音，听起来就像是直接从西方舶来的概念。在讨论有关鼓励和支持女性导演的配额式举措的话题时，韩夏的回答就像这个问题本身一样，是分层的。一方面，她认为目前在中国还没有为女性平权出台规定或政策的基础。很多机构和客户都没有聘请女导演的想法。客户说“我们不想要女导演”还不算什么不妥当的言辞。另一方面，或许这样的规定对中国来说是必要的，看到女性扮演以前只有男性能扮演的角色，以及公开谈论歧视的经历，也是推动变革的重要方式，不管这看起来有多么地缓慢。韩夏坦言，她乐于积极地为这些问题发声，也很幸运有可以发声的平台 —— 她的微博账号，同时也是她的播客‘喷嚏’，在这里她与同为导演的好友竹子一起担任主持人。

“Another thing is that people often give this definition to women on set “she’s very very bossy” as something negative. But in my opinion, it’s a good thing: we should be bossy. Because we earned the chance to be bossy. If you’re described as bossy— usually it means you’re a little more straightforward, or strong-opinionated. But same to a guy director, people usually just say he’s sharp, determined. I think we should give the word “bossy” a new definition — being strong, powerful, and know what you’re doing”, Han Xia adds.

“还有一件事，人们经常在片场给女性下这样的定义：‘她非常非常地强势’，这被认为是一种消极的品质。但在我看来，这是一种优良的品格: 我们应该强势。因为我们赢得了发号施令的机会。如果你被形容为强势，这通常意味着你比较直接，或者有些固执己见。但是对于一个男导演来说，人们通常只会说他很犀利，很坚定。我认为我们应该给‘强势’这个词一个新的定义: 强大、有力量、知道自己在做什么”，韩夏补充到。

ESTEE LAUDER – UNLIMITED 24 HOURS
PRODUCTION 制作公司：你好竹子（NIHAO ZHUZI）

As to her future plans, the director shares that she won’t give up commercials, but hopes to have the opportunity to focus more on her own projects, dive deeper into the storytelling. Naming Wong Karwai on one end of her spectrum of inspiration, and Lynne Ramsay, Andrea Arnold, and Amber Grace Johnson on the other, Han Xia curiously also admits she actually really enjoys comedy elements. She calls it “sad comedy”, and maybe after the release of the project she’s working on now, this genre will be a thing. “A lot of filmmakers dream to make feature films, or never make commercials”, Han Xia laughs. She concludes: “It’s not like that for me. Of course, I want to make a feature film, and I have scripts I’ve been working on and will continue working on. But for us, the younger generation we should be open-minded to different opportunities. Like director Xin Shuang, who shot the recent BMW commercial. He also directed very popular online series 《隐秘的角落》( The Bad Kids). In the future, I think there won’t be a clear line between who makes films and who makes commercials, the genres blur, and what matters is people making interesting work”.

至于未来的计划，这位导演表示，她不会放弃广告，但希望有机会更多地专注于自己的项目，更深入地去讲故事。韩夏的灵感来源有王家卫、Lynne Ramsay, Andrea Arnold和 Amber Grace Johnson，让她感到奇怪的是，她承认自己也很喜欢喜剧元素。她管这叫“悲伤的喜剧”，或许她目前正在进行的项目上映后，这种风格会成为一种新流派。“很多电影制作人的梦想是拍故事片，或者从不拍商业广告“，韩夏笑着说。她总结道：“对我来说不是这样的。当然，我想拍一部故事片，我已经有着手撰写的剧本了，也会继续写下去。但对我们来说，年轻一代应该对不同的机会持开放态度。比如最近拍摄了宝马广告的导演辛爽。他同时还是去年大火的网剧《隐秘的角落》的导演。在未来，我认为广告人与电影人之间不会再有什么清晰的分界线，这一艺术形式会变得模糊，比起这些，有人去创作有趣的作品才是最重要的”。