The behind-the-scenes production of Dangerous Journey

According to statistics from relevant departments, there are currently about 200 million people engaged in human smuggling activities in various ways around the world, accounting for about 3% of the global population. According to the CIA, as many as 50,000 women and children from Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe are smuggled into the United States every year, and most of them become prostitutes, slaves, and servants. Human smuggling is a "profitable business" that attracts greedy people who ignore the law and national dignity to take risks and make this a career. They are well-organized and brutal in their methods, creating horrific tragedies one after another under their hands.

Smuggling, a global cancer, is also growing and developing in China. Especially in the past fifteen years, criminals have been operating rampantly along the southern coast of China through deception, temptation, and coercion. Every stowaway's stowaway journey is filled with blood, tears and bitterness. The novel "Stowaway" and the 26-episode TV series "Dangerous Journey" (formerly known as "Stowaway") were born under the above background. On April 17, this TV series about stowaways will be included in the prime time slot of Beijing TV's film and television channel.

About ten years ago, a TV series "Beijingers in New York" caused a sensation across the country. This time, the original cast of "Beijingers in New York" gathered together in "Dangerous Journey" and once again joined forces to create a Chinese TV series. Stories in America. Director Shen Tao is the original cameraman of "Beijingers in New York". He has participated in the filming of "Four Generations Under One Roof", "Triumph at Midnight", "A Romantic Affair", "Never Give Up" and many other TV series. The screenwriter is the author Cao Guilin himself, starring Wang Ji and Shi Liang.

The novel "Stowaway" is another masterpiece by the famous writer Cao Guilin after "Beijingers in New York". In 1993, a Panamanian-flagged ship carrying illegal immigrants landed in New York, shocking the United States. This sudden illegal immigration incident aroused Cao Guilin's curiosity, so he visited Beijing, New York, Fujian, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Bangkok, Yunnan, Myanmar, Laos and other places, read a lot of materials, and interviewed no less than a hundred people involved. In June 1995, he completed the 430,000-word novel "Stowaway". However, the filming of the TV series "Dangerous Journey" went through many twists and turns. It was not until July 16, 2001 that everything was ready to start production smoothly.

If "Beijingers in New York" catered to people's curiosity about Chinese life in the United States ten years ago, then ten years later, domestic audiences whose material lives and aesthetic standards have greatly improved will be more interested in TV The taste of the work is much more demanding. Cao Guilin, who travels between China and the United States, his biggest feeling in the past ten years is that "domestic audiences watch more American blockbusters than Americans themselves." Cao Guilin replaced the characters in his play with the audience. After considering the audience's psychology and viewing habits, what touched him most was that "every year, as many as 50,000 Asian, Latin American and Eastern European women and children are smuggled into the United States, and most of them become Prostitutes, slaves and servants”. What he couldn't understand the most was that these people were not the poorest in the country. They could have started a family and started a business in the country, but they had to choose such a road of no return. Cao Guilin said: "The reason why this work is called a revelation style is that I not only hope to capture the audience's attention with the little-known stowaway journey, but more importantly, the collision of Eastern and Western cultures should be highlighted in the detailed depiction, like stowaway How the guests live in the United States, the reasons why they live like slaves, and what their mentality is like, these are the things that we should try to explore in the work."

Producer Cao Guilin said that the story will be completed. Documentary. Cao Guilin, a first-time producer, said that because it was his first time, there was no frame of mind when doing it, and he could shoot wherever he thought. "It took me three years to shoot this work, which was time-consuming and labor-intensive. From the streets and alleys of Beijing, the quiet bay of Xiamen Island, the tropical rainforest of Xishuangbanna to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, every scene was shot in an original way. The labor of crossing the Pacific and traveling across the country is to express a documentary style. In addition to the characteristics of story, suspense, and fast pace, documentary is its biggest feature. I think the stronger the story of the TV work, the more important it is. It highlights the documentary style, which is also the difference between it and "Beijingers in New York".

To highlight the documentary style, we need to capture the details. Cao Guilin said: "I spent two years before filming. I spent time communicating with stowaways. They were very averse to communicating with strangers and were initially hostile to me. I took the trouble to chat with them. When they knew my identity, they seemed less indifferent, and some of them were still mine. Folks, we ended up becoming very close and talking about everything, and we came to an agreement that their names would never be revealed in my books or television work. Many of them have read my novels and have considerable trust in me. "Later, I even went on some dangerous journeys with them, such as through the tropical rainforest. Therefore, many of the scenes in the play were scenes that I had personally experienced. Since it is the main theme of promoting justice and an international theme, "Dangerous Journey" "Since the inception of the project, it has received strong support from relevant Chinese authorities, and also received strong support from the US Immigration Service and the mayors of San Francisco, Chicago and Oakland where it was filmed. There are more than 400 scenes in the whole movie. There are more than 10 shots in each scene, and the crew shot 80% of the scenes in the United States. The rent for the big house of Sister Lin played by Wang Ji alone is more than 3,000 US dollars per day, and the crew filmed the scenes here for more than 10 days.