Heads Up Hollywood

It is actually very easy to arrange Qing Tian to enter the film school.

Tang En just greeted Mr. Han directly.

It's a matter of Mr. Han's words.

However, Dunn still chose to trouble Lao Mouzi.

Between Tang En and Mr. Han, there is an official relationship, and he can't waste it for such a trivial matter as Qingtian's going to school.

Tang En and Lao Mouzi are personal friends, they are friends, and it is more convenient to handle such private matters.

Tonight is the night shooting, the big scene of the palace coup at the core of the whole movie.

Tang En pretended to read the script, and nodded, "It seems that the theme expressed in this movie is very consistent with "Thunderstorm"."

Lao Mouzi said with a smile: "It is true. This is not a soap opera, but a drama full of tension. With the tone of "Thunderstorm", the theme of the movie will be very profound."

"If it's too profound, it will be banned. According to my understanding, "Thunderstorm" was banned back then."

"Haha, worry too much! Worry too much! Those people don't understand. Even if there are people who understand, there are very few people who understand. The common people must not understand."

This is probably a common problem among artists.

From "The Promise" to "The Golden Flower", and then to "The Banquet", the three major mainland directors seem to be very confident in their works, and what is more questionable is the audience's appreciation level.

Tang En hesitated for a moment, and said: "Since it is the theme of "Thunderstorm", the core depth must be enough, and I see that the shots in your shot album do have a sense of the royal family's pathological struggles and the solemnity of ancient Greek tragedies. and a sense of form. But I have a little doubt, this picture...is it too gorgeous?"

Lao Mouzi said confidently: "Yes, what we want is this gorgeous effect. The gorgeous colors are just appearances, which represent a wild gushing emotion, driven by the hue."

For artist directors like Kai Ge and Lao Mouzi, it would be too hasty to simply evaluate their films based on good or bad. Everyone has a different understanding of art and the pursuit of different ways of expression.

The difference is that some people's art is popular.

Some people's artistic views are difficult to popularize.

Directors who can play art films and commercial films at the same time are rare in the world.

Tang En expressed a different point of view, "I think layering is very important. Excessive splendor and constant spraying will lose the progression of feelings. Red flowers must be matched with green leaves to be more beautiful." "Schindler's List" The black-and-white image created the little girl’s poignant red like blood. You want to express a deep theme in the movie, but the excessively bright and lack of contrast will only draw the audience’s attention.”

Of course Lao Mouzi understands such a simple truth.

After a moment of silence, Lao Mouzi sighed, "Tang En, you still don't understand the Chinese film market enough."

"ah?"

Tang En felt a little baffled.

I do not understand?

Lao Mouzi said: "American audiences have been influenced by hundreds of years of film culture. There is a big market for commercial films, and a small market for literary films. As long as they are good films, there will be room for survival. But it is different in China. Our films are unique. How many years? Movies from 20 years ago were all based on that kind of ideology, so they weren’t movies at all. Our audience is still very ignorant of movies.”

Tang En is not unfamiliar with this argument.

Brother Kai, Zhang Ke, and Jiang Wen all made similar remarks, and Xiao Gangzi even bluntly stated that there are too many garbage audiences that lead to garbage movies.

Qing Tian blinked, a little unbelievable, "Director, this...can't it?"

Lao Mouzi called his assistant over, poured two cups of herbal tea for Tang En and Qingtian, and said while drinking, "There was a domestic film "The World" last year, have you seen it?"

Qingtian blushed slightly and shook her head.

Tang En smiled and said, "The one from Chief Jia?"

Lao Mouzi gave a thumbs up, "Yes, that's the one. It won many awards at European film festivals. After it was released in China, how much was the box office? 100,000 yuan! Xiao Jia's documentary audio-visual language is popular all over the world. The avant-garde films are all top-notch, very experimental. In China, audiences simply can’t get enough of this set. Why? No stars, no scenes, too deep.”

Qingtian said weakly: "Is it too sharp? Chinese people don't like to criticize the motherland."

Lao Mouzi shook his head and said, "You are still young, you don't understand. Passing the censorship is equivalent to getting official approval. Criticism and realistic allusions are the essence of art films. Official approval means that even if there are criticisms, there are It’s within the scope of permission. Criticism makes people progress. In the 21st century, we can’t continue to pursue a unified ideology, right?”

As he spoke, he laughed at himself, shook his head, and stopped complaining, but continued to elaborate on his film views: "The World is such an excellent movie with a box office of 100,000. There was another movie last year, directed by Wang Jing. "Courtship on the Sign", a big bad movie, requires plot without plot, logic without logic, depth without depth, and ended up getting 7 million at the box office! How ridiculous do you think?"

Qing Tian blushed, and said with some shame: "I watched that movie, it was... very interesting. This is a commercial movie, and it has a higher box office than literary movies, isn't it normal?"

Lao Mouzi nodded, "The box office of commercial films is higher than that of literary films, which is normal. But the box office of bad films is higher than that of good films, which is a big problem. Do you know the overseas market? "The World" sells copyrights in Europe and earns a lot of money. It raised 3.5 million US dollars, a total of 20 million yuan. "Courtship and Signing" is less than 10 million box office worldwide. This is normal logic, good films should make more money than bad films."

Qing Tian was a little lost in the conversation. Seeing that Tang En had been drinking tea in silence, she stretched out her hand to hold him, and called out in a low voice, "Godfather..."

Tang En raised his head and said with a smile: "Okay, Lao Zhang, this is the status quo under the changing times. There is no need to rush. The film market in the mainland is always healthier than Russia? Is it better than Eastern Europe? The film industry over there Disappeared. What else do you want? Hollywood's current film mechanism has only been born for more than 20 years, and the tortuous history of Hollywood development has gone through many detours. Take your time! Tell me about your film?"

Lao Mouzi's complexion improved a lot, and then he shook his head and laughed: "Of course the country's development is good, forget it, let's not mention this." After a pause, he said: "I think so, domestic films with profound themes It is not flattering, or... this kind of film is very rejected by domestic audiences. It is just that the foreign market is very pursuing the artistic conception and theme. If you want to sell well in China, there is also an international market. Some special means are indispensable to shoot a certain type of film. feature film."

Tang En suddenly realized, "You mean the visual appeal of blockbuster movies?"

Lao Mouzi said: "The domestic film market is very unhealthy. Before the film is released, pirated discs will come out. It can be seen that the movie theaters are in collusion with pirates. How annoying do you think? The pirated market is so developed, who will go to the cinema?" ?If you want to draw the audience into the movie theater in this environment, it must be that the movie theater has a completely different viewing experience from the home theater. This is the necessity of blockbuster movies in this era. Do you know what ordinary people usually say?' Let’s go to the movies?’, no, it’s ‘Go to the movies.’”

Tang En nodded, that's the reason.

"House of Flying Daggers" was sprayed as a dog, and it turned out to be the box office runner-up in 2004, ahead of a series of Hollywood blockbusters such as "Lord of the Rings 3", "The Day After Tomorrow", "Spider-Man", and "Harry Potter". This year's box office champion is "Kung Fu".

"The Promise" was sprayed as a dog, and it turned out to be the box office champion in 2005, ahead of Hollywood blockbusters such as "Harry Potter", "Star Wars Episode 3", "Mr. and Mrs. Smith", and "War of the Worlds".

Both "The Golden Flower" and "The Banquet" were sprayed as dogs. As a result, they were the box office champion and runner-up respectively in 2006, continuing to crush Hollywood on behalf of domestic films.

These movies are almost exactly the same.

Before this model, Hollywood blockbusters such as "Titanic", "Life and Death", and "Pearl Harbor" led the mainland film market. After this model, it became the world of "Transformers", "2012", "Avatar", and "Fast and Furious".

From the beginning of "Hero" with cynicism to the end of "The Banquet" with endless swearing, this model has helped domestic films resist the Hollywood blockbusters sweeping the world.

Lao Mouzi said frankly: "Choosing the theme philosophy that Western audiences like, and choosing the gorgeous visual sense that mainland audiences like, is the core of making money for this type of movie."

Tang En was silent for a while, a little disapproving, "Movies can be expressed in different ways, but I heard...you chose a singer who has never acted before as the protagonist?"

Qingtian said: "I know, it's Zhou Jielun!"

Lao Mouzi said: "This is the request of the producer. For the past two films, "Hero" and "House of Flying Daggers", the audience is mainly between the ages of 25 and 45. There are not many young people. Choose one The hottest pop star of the moment helps bring the teenage crowd into the cinema."

Tang En said with a smile: "You have compromised!"

Lao Mouzi said helplessly: "There is no way to do this. Since I have accepted this project, I have to be responsible for the investment."

Tang En waved his hand and stretched his waist, "Forget it, let's not talk about this. What are you going to do for the next movie?"

Lao Mouzi suddenly laughed, "Where is the next one? After this one is finished, I will be busy with the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. That is the image of the country, so it cannot be sloppy."

Tang En said: "I thought of a historical story, which is very interesting. After you finish the Olympic Games, maybe you can try it."

"oh?"

"It's a Chinese historical story, very touching. Every time I think of this story, I feel inexplicably moved."

Qingtian was very interested, she tilted her head and asked, "Godfather, what's the story?"

Tang En smiled and said: "I know it all, and you must have heard the story of Wen Tianxiang being captured by the Mongols at the end of the Southern Song Dynasty and vowing not to surrender."

Qingtian shook her head and said with a coquettish smile: "I know that no one has died in life since ancient times, so keep your loyal heart to reflect the history!"