China Entertainment King of Science Fiction

Chapter 538 "The Beginning" is scheduled

"Is "The Beginning" going to be released so soon?"

Zhang Ruoyun was half-lying on the chair, raising one leg high enough for the masseur to massage his muscles. He flicked his cell phone and said in surprise: "Hey - I remember it wasn't completed in October?"

Chen Jingxing looked at the TV camera without looking back: "This drama is a low-cost science fiction sketch, and I didn't spend much time on the post-production..."

He watched the shot he had shot several times over and over again, but still felt a little dissatisfied, so he turned around and said, "Let's reshoot this scene again."

"No -"

Zhang Ruoyun whined feebly.

The filming of "1951" was undoubtedly a huge test for the actors, especially the two leading actors Zhang Ruoyun and Bai Yu.

It is not only a test of performance, but also a test of physical strength.

Repeated rehearsals and long-shot cross-scene scheduling require a lot of exercise for the actors, and the running distance in a day can even reach dozens of kilometers.

And after joining the cast of "1951", he received good news. The costume drama "Dynasty" co-produced by DreamWorks and Netflix selected him as the leading actor.

However, he was rejected by Chen Jingxing. The Hollywood Screen Actors Guild does have many Asian actors with good acting skills, but firstly, their temperament is incompatible with domestic actors, and their performance style is also different from that of domestic actors.

Chen Jingxing looked up at the still cloudy weather, and stared seriously at the actors and crew as they took their places and took another long shot that had been taken before.

Among the three dramas that DreamWorks was developing at the same time, "The Beginning" had the lowest filming difficulty and production cost, and the script was also the fastest to be produced, so it was the first to start production. It started filming in August and was completed in October.

Second, the language is usually not good enough. This is the traditional arrogance of Hollywood. There are many producers in Hollywood studios who sincerely believe that the Chinese spoken by these Chinese actors is fine.

Penguin Video and Huanshi.com’s hasty early official announcements are also to attract investment and find advertising sponsors.

Chen Jingxing finally made the decision to cast Zhang Ruoyun as the leading actor, which means that "Dynasty" can start filming after "1951" is finished.

Overtly and covertly, there are many companies and actors competing for roles in this drama, especially for the male lead. Even Netflix recommended Asian actors from Hollywood who can speak Mandarin.

The Omnic Crisis-themed "Elysium" has also started production before the release of "The Matrix III" at the end of the year.

In addition, both "Elysium" and "Dynasty" have attracted investment from Netflix, and it is natural for them to gradually accommodate Netflix in terms of playback mode.

Although Zhang Ruoyun became famous with the TV series "Signal", and has since acted in many TV series, and is more or less a first-line actor, but the main battlefield is also TV series. The competition for film actors is too fierce, and good film resources are basically not available.

to him.

However, although "The Beginning" has been hastily scheduled, its popularity is actually not small.

But even so, he will not relax his requirements for shooting quality. Although "1951" refers to "1917" in the previous life in many places, to a certain extent, this can be regarded as the first film he has shot.

Original movie.

The polarization of movies is much more serious than that of TV series. Most of the small and medium-budget movies have no splash at all. Therefore, for Chinese actors, the level of resources is almost the same as that of blockbuster TV series and small-budget movies.

This is also the reason why DreamWorks is increasingly accommodating Netflix in TV series.

After all, they themselves don’t speak Chinese. For them, foreign languages ​​like Mandarin are incomprehensible and strange languages. They don’t care whether they are standard or not. Some directors can’t even tell the difference between Cantonese and Mandarin.

From the perspective of advertisers, the broadcast volume of a drama with twelve or fifteen episodes is difficult to compare with that of a drama with forty or fifty episodes.

So when the post-production of "The Beginning" was completed and passed the domestic web drama review, Netflix couldn't wait to broadcast it online directly.

Although Zhang Ruoyun had a frown on his face, he still stood up immediately, adjusted his expression and body condition, and prepared to reshoot this 6-minute long shot.

However, it is impossible for DreamWorks dramas to find advertising sponsorship. Even if they cannot make a lot of money, it is still no problem for the platform to recover the cost of copyright fees or even make a small profit, because it is not an exclusive broadcast copyright, and the three platforms can each

It only cost over 30 million yuan, which is not a lot of money in today's copyright trading market.

Although the one-time release of the news cheered fans and viewers, it was not good news for the video platform.

Therefore, through the coordination of DreamWorks, Netflix and the three major domestic platforms that have purchased the copyright, Penguin Video, Fantasy World and Station C, will broadcast it simultaneously, and they will all be released at once.

"1951" was shot in two parts at the same time. After the first part, the second part will be shot soon. The workload is still quite a lot, and Chen Jingxing, the director of "Interstellar" will also be involved in the promotion of the upcoming Spring Festival, so

The progress is quite tight.

In terms of subject matter, DreamWorks dramas are usually more than a dozen short episodes, which is very unfavorable under the current domestic network platform revenue model. Domestic TV drama copyright transactions are basically that the longer the episode, the more

Make money.

Entering 2020, the box office harvest of "The Matrix III" has slowed down, but the discussion and interpretation of the film are still hot. As the Spring Festival is approaching, DreamWorks' new drama "The Beginning" has also quickly announced its release date

The launch date is January 17th, just one week before the Spring Festival.

Especially when you are just emotionally aroused, and then you have to go on board for a week or several days, your emotions and expectations will be worn away, and even after a week, you will have almost forgotten the previous plot.

No matter how you squeeze out the toothpaste in different ways, the broadcast cycle of a TV series with more than ten episodes is not as good as that of a TV series with dozens of episodes. The broadcast cycle is closely related to advertising and investment, and it is also closely related to the number of broadcasts.

Because they do not rely on advertising, the TV series purchased by Netflix do not have the problem of playback cycles. They are all released at once, and there is no backlog problem.

Because the other two dramas, "Elysium" and "Dynasty", both have investment from Netflix, "The Beginning", which was launched at the same time as these two dramas, naturally also entered Netflix's sights.

Even if the radio and television has issued a policy to limit the number of TV series, there are policies from above and countermeasures from below. If you do not advocate that the number of episodes exceeds 40, then I will divide the works that exceed the set limit into two parts to take advantage of the loopholes.

However, the reason why "The Beginning" was so hastily scheduled is mainly because of Netflix.

Domestic video platforms naturally cannot wait for Netflix to take the first step, and I am afraid it will have a relatively large impact on their own playback volume.

Due to the delay in casting and limited manpower and material resources, although the script of the costume zombie drama "Dynasty" has been completed, it has not started filming.

It's just that the number of episodes in DreamWorks' shows is relatively small, with only 20 episodes to basically last, and the pace is very fast, which is good at building up a sense of anticipation. Therefore, compared to other dramas that often have 40 or 50 episodes and still squeeze out toothpaste, they don't seem to have that "

It’s a heinous crime.”

Of course, the reason why it was decided so quickly is that the Spring Festival is indeed the prime time period for TV dramas.

And because its main revenue is membership income, not advertising revenue - at least Netflix still emphasizes that it remains ad-free, which is also a major feature of attracting member users.

In the previous life, "The Beginning" sold the overseas network broadcast rights to Netflix after it became a hit in China. Now, with the endorsement of DreamWorks and the blessing of the DreamWorks brand, Netflix has bought "The Beginning" since the project was established.

Copyright of "The Beginning".

This is also the reason why the crew hired a masseur to massage the actors' muscles, because it is easy to get injured due to excessive exercise. Once the lead actor is injured, the entire project schedule will be delayed.

Although overall "1951" has two male protagonists in the first part, judging from the scenes, Zhang Ruoyun plays more of a communications soldier than Bai Yu plays a scout.

The project "1951" is a very rare opportunity for Zhang Ruoyun, and he has put a lot of effort into this film. After all, this is his first time starring in an important film project.

Since last year's "Inception", it has been a big step forward in the film industry.

Netflix is ​​working hard to develop the Asian market and is open to dramas from Asia, especially East Asia.

Especially during the Spring Festival, there is actually a shortage of entertainment content. Because of the broadcast of Spring Festival Gala and other Spring Festival programs, apart from the reruns of the Spring Festival Gala and sketches, as well as the reruns of old dramas, there is no very entertaining content on the TV. The Spring Festival movie market

The popularity actually has something to do with it.

Chen Jingxing not only valued this movie, but also felt a little nervous and was under a lot of pressure.

Even if Chen Jingxing sells exclusive copyrights, he cannot sell them at sky-high prices.

This news naturally makes the audience very happy. Every audience does not like the toothpaste-squeezing broadcast method, especially domestic audiences have not been trained to watch dramas on a weekly basis. Some of DreamWorks' previous dramas were broadcast four episodes a week.

The toothpaste squeeze was also criticized by the audience.

In addition to DreamWorks' science fiction dramas being well-received, the heroine Zhao Jinmai is also more famous than in her previous life.

Even the video platform "The Beginning", which is about to be released by DreamWorks, was disappointed that he could come out for an interview, but he refused.

This is a rare opportunity for online platforms.

Chen Jingxing's movie plus a gift film, double buff superimposed, the significance of "1951" to him cannot be overstated.

In "The Wandering Earth", her role is actually not played to a great extent. If there is any blessing, it is the blessing of being a celebrity.

The main reason is the influence of "The Walking Dead". Not only is the influence of the show phenomenal, but the character arc of Zhao Jinmai's character in "The Walking Dead" is also very brilliant.

The audiences of science fiction dramas such as "The Walking Dead" and "The Beginning" are also relatively high, and they are mainly young audiences such as students.

Therefore, when various platforms announced the release date, DreamWorks did not launch much marketing, and the popularity of "The Beginning" suddenly surged on the Internet.

(End of chapter)