Hollywood Drawing

The TV suddenly went completely black, attracting the attention of his manager Lloyd Connor. He stopped his voice and looked at the TV involuntarily.

The darkness flashed by at this moment, "Bang!" As a low background music sounded, the TV turned from pitch black to instantly bright at the same time. This background music is familiar to almost all fans who have watched the previous Batman films, especially those who have watched it more than once. It was composed by Hans Zimmer, another Hollywood score master.

The whole music is low and empty, like a classical symphony, which can easily make people feel excited. The first shot of the trailer directly replaces the audience's perspective with the camera, using a bird's-eye view to see most of Gotham City in the dark.

The next second, Batman in a pitch-black armor appeared in the center of the camera. The camera did not show Batman's face, but followed his back as he jumped down from the building.

The camera's perspective closely follows Batman as he leaps off, while also showing the audience the brilliant lights of Gotham City. The signal was clear, this was a prosperous metropolis, a giant city shrouded in darkness.

The short shot flashed by, lasting only three or four seconds, but through the wide-angle lens and the towering spatial layout in the darkness, it gave the audience in front of the TV a strong shock.

The screen suddenly dimmed again, this time for a shorter time, less than a second, and two huge letters suddenly appeared in the middle: DC.

"How do I start?"

The voice-over and the bright picture appear at the same time. When Officer Gordon opens the car door, the brightness reaches its peak. The design of the trailer is exactly the same as that of the feature film. Wayne deliberately made the scenes where Officer Gordon appears brighter, which has obvious visual differences from the others.

The reason is also very simple. Although this is a movie with dark tones as the main body, he also constantly uses the changes in the tones of the shots to tell the audience that there is also a light that cannot be ignored in Gotham, a metropolis full of crime. The representative of light is Officer Gordon.

"A year ago, the police and lawyers didn't dare touch you. What happened next?"

The clown's back flashed by, the technologically advanced Batmobile crashed into everything, the shot of Two-Face flashed by, and the shots were continuously switched quickly, simply explaining the theme of the movie.

At this time, another voiceover sounded. "What good ideas do you have?"

"It's easy, kill Batman!"

When the answer appeared, the camera rotated violently, showing the front of the speaker to the audience in front of the TV sets all over the world. Yes, it was exactly as people guessed, with white makeup on his face and a The clown with dark eye circles and long red lips!

The trailer did not give the audience time to react. After showing the main characters through a fleeting shot, darkness flashed past again. This time what appeared on the TV was a crisp big explosion, accompanied by a fire snake. The building fragments flying all over the sky were flying wildly, as if this huge explosion was happening right in front of you.

Seeing the big explosion in front of him, his manager Lloyd Connor's face turned dark red for an instant. The combination of the extremely infectious low background music and the super special effects made his emotions excited. Incomparably, at the same time, there is also a deep sense of anticipation for the film.

After the big explosion, the camera quickly switches again. Batman rides a motorcycle and shoots fiercely, flying quickly through the dark Gotham City. The clown wears a mask and holds a submachine gun to rob. The car is blown directly into the sky. Batman is from Falling from the sky and smashing the car...

Various stimulating pictures kept flashing by, leaving no time for breathing or thinking. At the same time, the background music also entered the high-pitched part, and the drum beats began to become deeper and more intense, forming the formation of wonderful pictures that flashed rapidly. good cooperation.

Suddenly, the background music suddenly stopped, and the camera showed the streets of Gotham at night. The Joker came to the center of the camera wearing his iconic windbreaker, and his monologue appeared again.

"The show is about to begin!"

"go!"

"There should be higher-level criminals in this city, and I'll give them a good look!"

The entire seven or eight seconds at the end were all scenes of the clown causing chaos, causing explosions, and committing crazy crimes. In the end, as the clown tilted his head slightly and clapped his hands together, an even more violent explosion filled the TV screen!

Just like at the beginning of the trailer, the screen returned to darkness again, with a few lines of large and dazzling blue words arranged on it: 1997.5.9 (Friday), majestic return to the big screen! "Batman 2: The Dark Knight"! Wayne Greenberg's work!

It is only a short thirty-second trailer. Although the rapidly switching shots are full of various explosions, crimes, actions, car chases, and other scenes that are a visual feast, as long as you observe carefully, you will see that There is enough information.

"Excellent production! It's like a damn dark epic opera, it's so shocking!"

The Dior commercial that had started later could not attract Lloyd Connor's attention at all. He was still immersed in the wonderful scenes and all kinds of vaguely guessed information. What made him suddenly alert was that he didn't know it. Unconsciously, the short trailer aroused everyone's emotions and blood.

"Succumbing to self-destruction! Hmph!"

A cold snort interrupted the agent Lloyd Connor's thoughts and made him realize that he was currently sitting in the living room of his client's luxurious villa.

"I didn't need to see the finished film to guess that I could use an excellent villain to better explore the people at the bottom of North American society and delve into the disasters caused by corrupt human nature, but I just like to add too many explosions and chases into the film. Cars and special effects are such vulgar and low-level means to attract the audience's attention, and you are willing to degenerate!" The agent shrugged. In fact, he did not agree with his client's so-called evaluation. Without those wonderful explosions, action shots and Should the big special effects scene make the audience sit down and watch two hours of slow drama scenes? Can it still be called a DC comic adaptation super blockbuster? It's better to just shoot a low-budget independent literary film, and avoid being scolded by the audience for being a charlatan.

"Roger."

Finding that his client's face was gradually turning red, he hesitated and persuaded again: "He has no fundamental conflict of interest with us. If it hadn't been for that time you wanted to sell Michael Ovitz's favor and help make a big deal in the column, "Criticizing" "The Departed", there is no conflict between us. Roger, maybe, we can try to let everything go..."

"shut the f**k up!"

Roger Ebert's angry voice hissed like a poisonous snake, and the blush on his face became even more dense. It was obvious that his anger had reached its peak. "If that damn guy hadn't asked Warner Brothers to help and squeeze me from all channels, I wouldn't have been defeated by the disease, let alone diagnosed with cancer. What do you want to say? Aha? Tell me!"

"hey-hey."

Lloyd Connor immediately raised his hands, making a gesture of surrender, and said urgently: "You know Roger, I will always stand with you, we are in the same boat."

Contrary to the atmosphere in the distant Chicago villa, in the Greenberg Manor in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, Naomi Watts held little Fendi in her arms and held up her daughter's hand amidst the giggles. The two snow-white chubby hands kept flapping.

"Findy, let's congratulate dad. Look, he did a great job, right? You should be proud of him."

Different from the Super Bowl the year before last, in addition to Sergey and Hella, Mr. and Mrs. Cruise were also invited to the living room today. Obviously, Wayne is a person who understands how you come and go and how to communicate with each other in a basic way, and the other party can take the initiative. He is not stingy with his friendship either.

Although they know that this couple has many flaws, in this circle, who can say that they are a real little white flower?

"Damn, it's so shocking!" Tom Cruise slapped the arm of the man sitting next to him and raised the beer bottle in his hand. "Congratulations, Wayne, I knew this would be a dark epic destined to shock everyone."

The two of them clinked the beer bottles with smiles on their faces and took a few sips together, not even watching the second half of the game that was about to begin.

Tom Cruise is very satisfied with the current relationship between the two of them, and he seized the opportunity to proactively show friendship, which produced a good effect. In Hollywood, who can guarantee that they will always be brilliant? In fact, in the history of Hollywood's continuous development, even super-A-list superstars have experienced ups and downs in their stardom.

Even though he is now one of the biggest box office guarantees in the industry, as a superstar with the most box office appeal, his sense of crisis will never disappear.

Yes, the styles of the two people do not match, and the possibility of cooperation is slim. But what if one day my face is not as popular as it is now? No one can say for sure. Once the day comes when transformation is really needed, at least the other party can give you a better choice.

In the eyes of most film critics and professionals, Tom Cruise seems to know how to be cool and show off his face in front of the camera, but those people don't consider that his face was the most recognized box office star by movie fans in the 1990s. Guaranteed, in fact, does a person who can achieve the status of a superstar really lack subjective acting skills?

If you are willing to look at his performance in "Rain Man" in the first two years, most viewers will be surprised to find that the brilliance of his acting skills was only slightly overshadowed by Dustin Hoffman's superb performance.

"Is it okay to be nominated for "The Departed"?"

As the second half of the Super Bowl continued, Tom Cruise leaned on the sofa with his arms outstretched, taking a sip of beer from time to time as the two chatted casually.

"Normally, it's not a big problem."

Wayne smiled bitterly and shook his head. "During this period, I have been participating in public relations receptions and various activities. There should be no problems with nominations. The difficulty is later."

"I will call on my friends to vote for you."

"Thanks, Tom."

Raising the bottle as a gesture, Wayne smiled and nodded, clearly indicating that he accepted the favor. When everything is still uncertain, he will not let it go easily even if it is a vote that can be obtained. After all, this matter of competing for the Olympics may not happen to him again for many years to come.

The finished production of "The Dark Knight" plus the publicity and distribution budget has exceeded 200 million US dollars. The more huge the investment is in a project, the more resources the production company will usually invest in publicity and marketing. .

Before the Super Bowl, the film had already used leaks to win the sympathy of most ordinary viewers. When the Super Bowl halftime commercial show ended, the influence of "The Dark Knight" reached another level, unlike other summer commercials. As a blockbuster marketing strategy, "The Dark Knight" has been bombarding the entire North American region through various media channels since the end of January.

Wayne knows very well in his heart that compared to his production style, which is more appreciated by Academy members, he is actually a commercial film director. Even he himself will not deny this.

It is because of this that even though "The Departed" has a considerable advantage during the entire awards season, he has never relaxed his public relations lobbying. As long as there is an occasion where he needs to appear, even if it is a small internal viewing. During filming sessions, he would take the trouble to nod and say hello to the invited guests.

Especially at this critical time in early February, he simply gave up the post-production work on "The Dark Knight", leaving Charles Rowan to focus on it for the time being, and since then he has devoted all his energy to various social activities. For example, Warner Bros. and Greenberg Studios jointly hold film viewing parties every three to five days. The target group that can receive invitations is very wide. Local film critics in Los Angeles, led by Kenneth Turan, have Members of the Academy who have voting rights, media reporters who have greatly helped promote the film, and people related to the Oscar event have all appeared on the invitation list one after another.

Of course, those guests invited through various connections will not only get a good social platform. Some people like hot girls and models, and some people like spirits. But the most satisfying thing for these people is that everyone No one who comes to the movie party will leave empty-handed.

Perhaps the hardcover video tape of "The Departed" will not attract most people. There are many people who have not seen this film until now. But the latest video recorders used to play these video tapes were definitely sought after by most people. This batch of custom-made gadgets from Warner Bros. were all given away in the name of "borrowing".

It should be noted that this is a large-scale public relations method, which has actually touched the bottom line of the college's expression of the spirit of free competition. The Oscars are indeed a game with special rules, but the fancy operations of Wayne's public relations team made insiders feel for the first time the unlimited potential of the gold-dollar offensive.

Many competitors who also have ambitions for this year's Oscars did not wait for the Academy's warning. The public relations parties there were still going on one after another. The big guys in the Academy acted as if they had not seen anything. By default, this year’s Oscar public relations feast saw the appearance of such a strange being who smelled like copper.

"Academy President Frank Pearson has hinted to Bruce that after the formal nominations are announced, he hopes that we will stop all actions that cross the line."

Wayne leaned on the sofa tiredly, the mockery on his face undisguised. Those powerful old men have indeed made promises to themselves more than once, but the reason why they remain silent is not because of their lineage and surname, but because of the brand-new luxurious audio-visual room at home, as well as the various slightly extravagant gadgets. Satisfaction in hobbies.

Nina raised her hand and pushed up her glasses. After looking up, she did not answer her boss's topic. She lowered her head again and flipped through several pieces of printing paper, which were densely printed with dazzling names and numbers.

"I feel like a disgusting fly now, and those people must be annoyed by me."

After confirming it again, Nina made a self-deprecating joke.

The phone numbers that appear on this are all home numbers of some academy members living in remote cities. In the past two days, she made almost all the phone calls to promote "The Departed" to them. The phone bombing was Wayne's idea. , although she didn’t know if it had any effect, she still did it.

Everything has reached the most critical point in time. The assistant lady does not care about the impatient replies from the judges, or even some bad-tempered swear words, provided that all these actions can have enough effect.

"No, no, no."

Wayne shook his head in amusement. "You are not yet a successful fly. The work is not over yet. You know, there is no way for others to do this kind of work."

The assistant stood up resignedly, her mouth twitched twice, and walked towards the second floor with the printing paper. The next task was to bombard the email. As long as she confirmed that the academy member had an email, she would ensure that recommended videos would be sent to that person's email. s mail.

This is also an idea that Wayne came up with. No one can tell whether it is shameless or not. Anyway, everything must be done before the nomination list is announced the day after tomorrow.

It wasn't until Nina's back disappeared on the stairs that he turned his head and lit a cigarette leisurely. He looked out the window at his daughter, nanny and Australian actress who were having fun with three puppies on the grass, and murmured to himself: " Phone bombing, email bombing, media manipulation, PR money... Harvey, I have to admit, this method of yours is really effective!"

The only thing that made him laugh was probably the tactic of smearing his competitors that he hadn't had the chance to use yet. Now that "The Departed" was in an advantageous position, he didn't need such smearing tactics anymore. The ruthless Bruce Rosenblum did not even wait for the Oscars to end, but took the time to find a lot of things for Miramax. Now the big fat man should be too busy to stop.

As the Warner Bros. distribution chief put it, if you want Wayne to be busy and not have to worry about the Oscars, then let's keep you busy too.

Every year during the awards season, especially in the days before the official announcement of the Oscar nominations in early February, the entire Hollywood will enter a chaotic atmosphere. It can be said that public relations teams and public relations agents are everywhere. This is the most valuable publicity show in the entire Hollywood. , the last chance to get tickets.

No one in the entire industry, whether they are top-tier business superstars or young actors who have just emerged, is willing to lose this ticket.

Fortunately for the stars who hope to follow the crew to the awards ceremony, those big and small stars who have no works this year, or whose works will definitely not appear on the list, their agents are like ants on a hot pot, frequently Appearing at various public relations parties to build relationships, looking for favors, and running around like crazy before the final list is announced.

The significance of the Oscars to people in the industry is not just the small group of participants who hope to win. They become special guests at the awards ceremony, award presenters, etc. It is the hope of these celebrities to participate in this big show. Showing your face is a test of your status as a celebrity and your connections within the circle.

This year is different from previous years. Almost every year at this time, some celebrities or crews will receive a vague warning from the academy. This is a reminder to those who have gone too far with public relations tactics. If you don’t know how to restrain yourself at this time, the academy will Probability will expose you directly to the media to show your fairness. But this year, the situation was exactly the opposite. It seemed that the entire Hollywood was taken aback by Wayne's team's gold and dollar offensive. By the time some people began to realize that the Academy had not issued a warning about these actions, it was actually too late.

On February 6, 1997, as usual, the organizing committee announced the nomination list for the 69th Oscar nearly two months in advance. At the same time, it was notified that the awards ceremony would be held on March 24 at the Temple Theater in Los Angeles. When seeing the nomination list At that moment, Wayne's heart, which had been half-suspended, finally fell to the ground.

There were no surprises at all. "The Departed" has already won almost all front-end awards, including most of the union's internal awards. It also won awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Screenplay, Nominated for 9 awards including Best Editing, it can be said that the early efforts were not in vain, and the film won the first battle.

At the same time, all the crew involved in public relations in the early stage of this Oscar event secretly admired the operation of Wayne's team. It was like a battle switch that lowered the bottom line of Oscar. His team taught everyone step by step what it meant. The spirit of "free competition".

Regardless of public relations tactics, strictly speaking, there is a clear difference between Wayne and Lao Ding in the lens language of the entire movie "The Departed". But compared to the prize-chasing environment that Old Martin encountered at the time, he was much better and had many advantages.

As the leader of "The Departed", his influence is much stronger than that of the low-key old Martin at the same time. Throughout Hollywood in the 1990s, he was one of the banners of the entire North American film industry. In the context of continuous production on the assembly line, Next, his success is more like a path that cannot be copied.

Nowadays, when people mention Hollywood noir films, they will immediately think of Wayne, and when they think of him, they will also have to admit that it was he who made film noir, a genre that is so niche that it can no longer be niche, successful. Put it in front of the public movie fans, there is a faint trend of getting closer to the mainstream.

Along with the realization of this process, his dominance in business has even spawned a superhero series with even more amazing business prospects. Therefore, objectively speaking, as long as there is no profit involved, no one in the industry will not admit that he has great influence on the business. Hollywood as a whole has contributed.

Of course, this is also the main reason why the old European film circles who have criticized Wayne several times are disdainful of Hollywood and the Oscars. In the hearts of those who stick to art, the Oscar is like a watchword, and they enjoy the so-called art. halo, and often bows to commercial influence.

But in Wayne's eyes, he doesn't think the three major European film festivals are very artistic. In some aspects, they are even more commercialized than the Oscars. Everyone is sharing the cake, but the rules of the game are different.