I’m a Director, I’m Not Bad

Chapter 1071 1066 Lively and bustling

Chapter 1071 1066. Lively and bustling

Inviting Makoto Shinkai to bring his new work to the Silk Road Film Festival made Xu Xin very happy.

"Your Name" can almost be said to be one of the best "theater" anime he has watched in the past two years.

Whether it is the depth of the story, or the throbbing of the budding feelings between men and women... including the excellent level of the overall animation, it really makes him feel extremely surprised.

In exchange, Xu Xin treated him to a hot pot meal at night.

Shabu-shabu mutton is paired with Japanese sake brought by Makoto Shinkai from Japan... Although it feels a bit incompatible, the two of them still enjoyed the feast after sharing a bottle.

Simply slept directly at Xu Xin's place at night.

He left in a hurry the next morning.

When he left, he also drove away a Cadillac at home.

The driver's license in Japan can be directly exchanged for an international driver's license, which is indeed very convenient.

And Makoto Shinkai stayed here for a total of 3 days.

In 3 days, he completed all the BGM recordings of "Your Name".

On the 9th, Xu Xin and I agreed to finish these tasks as soon as possible and submit the film for review as quickly as possible.

And Xu Xin promised him that he would do his best to promote the introduction of "Your Name" to China.

He felt that... there must be Chinese audiences who like this work.

Everyone is happy!

After Makoto Shinkai left, Xu Xin quickly received all the soundtracks of "John Wick".

A total of 25 songs.

For the soundtrack requirements this time, Xu Xin adopted an electronic style with multiple variation tracks.

Including the fighting scenes in the nightclub, it gives people a feeling of explosiveness and smoothness.

There is even a hint of "roughness" in it.

Just like the style of the whole film, there is no excessive nonsense, all the moves are neat and tidy, full of the tone of violent aesthetics.

Electronic music, surround, variation, dynamic... When the entire soundtrack in the film is integrated, finally...

The post-production of "John Wick" is completed.

March 10th.

Including Lao Qian, Liu Momo, and several executives of Paramount in charge of the "John Wick" project gathered together.

In the small screening room, at Lao Qian's signal, the movie started playing directly.

The opening was a noisy radio sound.

The male voice on the radio said in a brisk and somewhat teasing tone:

"Last night's snowfall was as high as 7 inches..."

And with the sound of the radio, an SUV slowly crashed into a platform at the edge of a house.

With a creak, the car door opened.

Suit, blood, pale, weak... Brother Ji, who was filled with various visual hints, walked down from the car with difficulty.

His hands were covered in blood, and his steps were staggering and weak.

After slowly leaning against the stairs, he took out a mobile phone from his arms.

There was a video on the mobile phone.

After clicking it...

Xu Xin, who was sitting next to Lao Qian, showed a "happy" look again.

Unlike the others who were focused.

He looked at the absolute leading actress of the film Liu Yifei, Fei Xianer, and Fairy Sister on his phone... He wanted to laugh.

But it was so funny...

At this time, Liu Momo, who was sitting next to him, seemed to feel something. She turned her head and saw Xu Xin's bright "obscene" smile.

He was stunned for a moment, as if he realized something.

He rolled his eyes directly.

But fortunately, no one else saw the expressions of the two.

Including Lao Qian, everyone just watched quietly, watching this director who almost single-handedly handled the entire work from project establishment to shooting to special effects and editing, what kind of story did he bring to everyone.

Soon, with a flashback, the heroine of the film "wrote".

Liu Momo turned her head again.

Xu Xin's smile became even brighter.

What a man with a bad taste.

She shook her head slightly.

But soon the next scene made her feel "comfortable".

It was a scene full of Xu Xin's personal style.

The alarm clock rang at 6 o'clock, and the distant view of the early morning before dawn was combined with the window frames of the entire room.

John Wick got up on the bed on the left side of the picture.

Visually, when he got up, he was right next to the window frame.

The bed and Mr. Wick took up at most one-third of the screen. The remaining window frames were like walls.

In the early morning in the distance, a light red in the sky, combined with the shadows of the distant mountains, gave people a sense of déjà vu of vitality. But these window frames made the entire bedroom narrow and depressing, forming a wonderful contrast with the vitality brought by the distant sunlight.

It makes people feel... Mr. Wick, who got up with his back to the camera, is trapped here.

And the next scene is even more so.

"Frame structure".

When seeing the next scene of John Wick going downstairs and giving a wide-angle shot of the first floor of the villa, these four words flashed directly in Liu Momo's mind.

The seemingly design-filled decoration and space distribution of the entire villa appear square under the wide-angle lens. One after another, the frames that are visible or invisible but built by the lens, combined with the cold green light of the morning, keep Mr. Wick tightly bound in the frame.

No matter how he walks, he can't get out.

Full of Xu Xin's style of lens language.

Not only Liu Momo thinks so.

Even Lao Qian thinks so.

Although it is only two short scenes, it is not clear what the plot will be next... However, the tension of this composition is pleasing to the eye.

No lines needed.

No need for narration.

In two scenes, the inner world of this character is fully revealed.

Explain clearly.

Feeling this, Liu Momo changed into a more comfortable position.

She had a premonition...

This is definitely a good movie!

And her guess became true in the next hour or so.

Whether it’s the color of the light, the construction of the camera, or the performance of each gun battle scene…

Paired with the dynamic music, it made her feel like she was playing a game.

Full of excitement.

Even compared to the slightly dragging rhythm in Derek's script, Xu Xin's handling of the film feels like holding two sharp machetes in his hands.

It was a clean cut all the way from Beverly Avenue to Santa Monica East Road.

The whole movie is... unusually clean.

Yes, it's clean.

It's not about his shots, or his character creation...or his standard "killer" fighting aesthetics.

neither.

But the temperament.

The temperament created by the collection of these shots.

No, clean is not appropriate either.

It should be said "simply".

If you kill my dog, I will kill your whole family.

Who comes and who dies.

If you don't come, I'll go find you.

You all must die.

Come or not, you will all die!

John Wick's behavior remains consistent throughout the film.

Nothing changes, nothing wavers.

A film that is firm, persevering and full of "manliness".

There was no delay in the 1 hour and 35 minutes, and it was completed so cleanly, crisply and neatly.

And when the shady staff list appeared on the screen, the lights also turned on at the same time.

"..."

No one spoke.

until……

"Molly, how are you feeling?"

Lao Qian turned to look at Liu Momo and asked.

Liu Momo thought for a while and gave an opinion...that everyone agreed with:

"It's like a shot of vodka, very clean movie style. I love it."

Lao Qian nodded slightly:

"Yeah, that's an appropriate description."

After speaking, he looked at Xu:

"Xu, very good."

Xu Xin shrugged:

"As long as you don't screw up the two-fifteen million."

Old Qian was happy.

He liked the humble speaking style of the Chinese people.

Always liked it.

…

noon.

Dining room.

Lao Qian, who had arrived belatedly, sat down at the table and his first sentence was...

"Xu, people in the company are very satisfied with the quality of the completion of "John Wick". Some people even said that your completion was better than their best expectations."

Then after shaking off the napkin, he continued:

"To be honest, with an investment of 25 million, we thought it would be pretty good if you could come up with a complete story. What's more, there are a lot of shootouts and other scenes in this movie, and the budget is very high no matter how you look at it. You look tight...but your completion level surprised everyone.

Not only the degree of completion, but also what is shown in it... Just now, someone in the company said that he thought you would present a scene like McCombe... But after watching this film, I feel like John ·Wick's style is truly the style of a "killer".

Some people also said that this film is different from the genre films he has watched in recent years. The subject matter is obviously very old-fashioned, but you have shot it in a very new style... In short. "

Lao Qian put on his napkin elegantly with a bit of emotion, with a smile on his face:

"Everyone likes your film very much, and the expectations for it have changed from repaying the money to making a profit."

"..."

Liu Momo and Xu Xin looked strange.

Sister Mo couldn't help but complain:

"So you didn't think it would be profitable at all?"

"Not me, Molly."

Lao Qian shook his head slightly:

"As a producer, I know what Xu is filming. But they don't have this concept...Molly, with a low-level budget of 25 million, it's actually very difficult to make a profit. Film scheduling, marketing If their means cannot keep up, they simply cannot compete with big investments.”

“Not even Keanu Reeves?”

"Of course. This is not the era of The Matrix."

Lao Qian shrugged and continued:

"But... this movie is really eye-catching among action movies. I think it is definitely not difficult to make a profit. So... Xu."

He turned to Xu Xin:

“Next, I will apply for expanded marketing costs.”

"Um."

Xu Xin nodded.

Then he glanced at Liu Momo:

"Molly and I were talking just now... George, do you think it is very likely that it will land in our country?"

"..."

Lao Qian was stunned.

After thinking for a few seconds, he shook his head:

"Disaster."

Although he is an American, as an old man who has been in this industry for decades, the Chinese market has become an increasingly important third ticket warehouse for North American movies in recent years, so it is impossible not to pay attention to it.

Compared with the pure North American back garden temperament of the second ticket warehouse, Japan, the rules and regulations of the Chinese ticket warehouse are much more restrictive.

In fact, many American filmmakers sometimes don’t understand...why there are so many rules and regulations, but...if you can’t stand them, there are just so many.

Although this sounds like nonsense.

But it is what it is.

And now that he has gained more knowledge, Lao Qian has a rough idea of China's review standards.

In this kind of "bloody movie throughout the movie", even if the blood spurting shots are eliminated or the blood is turned black, it won't help.

This kind of "dark killer" is not flattering in terms of subject matter, let alone everyone in this film, and the plot of MR. Wick piercing them all.

"Xu, my suggestion is that you don't think about your country first. I think this movie will be good in Japan...ah! What a pity!"

He suddenly thought of something, with a look of pity on his face:

"We should invite an actor who is well-known in Japan to play a role. Then we can go to Japan to expand publicity..."

"..."

Although Lao Qian said this from the perspective of "John Wick".

But Xu Xin and Liu Momo looked really weird.

elder brother.

Stop scolding.

Hit, hit.

It's just us...

After Liu Momo glanced at Xu Xin, he directly said:

"George, I think we have a chance to show it in China..."

"oh?"

Georgia was stunned at first.

Then a pair of eyes lit up completely:

"Molly, tell me, what can you do?"

…

In fact, just now, Liu Momo’s original words were:

"This film is really good. I think our domestic audience will really like it."

And Xu Xin asked:

"Are you sure?"

Of course he wasn't asking whether the audience liked it.

But what she got in return was a blank stare from Sister Mo.

That one white look means the same thing:

"Who do you look down on?"

After receiving Sister Mo's disdain, Xu Xin directly expressed his wishes:

"Sister Mo, I want to put "John Wick" at the Silk Road Film Festival."

Naturally, Liu Momo also knew that the Silk Road Film Festival was currently making contributions to lead the way, so Xu Xin didn't need to point it out. She understood this request instantly.

And after a second understanding...since there will be no problems in the review, the remaining difficulty is actually...how to convince Paramount.

Although everyone is a financier, the distributor of this film is Paramount.

Investors + issuers, the leading power must be with them.

And for a film to be screened at an unknown overseas film festival before it is released to the public... Is it difficult?

It's actually not difficult.

But a valid reason is required.

Especially if it is shown in China.

Although it is a bit biased, in the eyes of many Americans, China is also famous for its indifference to copyright awareness.

There is no way, the impression formed in the early years is here. Even if China is the third largest vote bank in the world, the impression cannot be changed overnight.

When it is screened at a film festival, leakage of the film source must be considered, even if the anti-theft filming contract of the Silk Road Film Festival clearly states "Don't reach out, or you will be arrested", and there has never been any such incident in the past few years. matter. But again, Rome was not built overnight, nor did it collapse overnight.

Therefore, everyone needs a valid reason for the movie to go to China before it is released in North America.

At the same time, we must also reduce some of the additional conditions put forward by Paramount when it comes to pushing the envelope.

As a result, the audit master was moved out.

This was designed by the two of them.

Not a routine.

Just to save trouble.

As expected, Lao Qian was very interested.

But when I heard about the "Silk Road Film Festival", I was confused.

I have no idea what this thing is.

As a result, Liu Momo explained the ins and outs, including pointing out the pros and cons such as "The Silk Road Film Festival is a corner of our business card."

After the meal, Lao Qian went back to the company without stopping.

If this film can be released in China... there is such a "local", not to mention his appeal in China cannot be underestimated.

Feel……

Not to mention a big hit, but at least it can add to the revenue.

There should be no problem with this matter.

After Lao Qian left, on the way Xu Xin sent Liu Momo home, Liu Momo asked:

"Who else are you planning to invite? Do you need me to help you find them too?"

"It's not clear yet. But the factory, including Ning Hao's film called... what is it called? "Blissful"? Anyway, there was basically no movement in other films in the first half of this year, and they are fully cooperating with the holding of this fourth session. Overseas, Sister Mo, if you have someone you have good connections with, you can try to invite them. There are also many people from Europe, so try to make it more lively, the better."

Liu Momo's mouth twitched.

"Good guy...are you already in time for Oscar?"

"Haha, I think so."

Xu Xin shook his head helplessly:

"But it will definitely not reach that scale. But the task is here. This Maritime Silk Road Film Festival will be ugly if it is not lively."

"Um……"

Everyone is on their own, and Liu Momo naturally understands the importance of this film festival to Xu Xin.

Or in other words... who wins the award this year, what the award is, who wins... it's actually not important.

What the higher-ups need to see is a "scale" of results achieved through publicity.

If there is a scale, it means it's effective, and it means the path is right.

As for who wins the award, or how much GDP it generates for Fuzhou... at least, the higher-ups don't care.

It's lively, just invite friends to be guests.

As long as this is achieved, then how pure the film festival is, how valuable the awards are... they won't care, they won't ask, as long as "The Glory of Fury" doesn't come out.

It can be said that from the beginning, the shackles have been put on.

Although Xu Xin asked himself that he couldn't reach the old man's level of "I want to jump like a cow\

,"But at least he should try hard.

"Oh yes, if you can, sister, try to urge Luc Besson."

"Okay."

...

March 11.

Xu Xin boarded the plane back home.

After finishing "John Wick", his mission in the United States only left the Oscar in April.

After confirming with Lao Qian that he didn't need to be here and that the PR was completely handed over to Paramount, he patted his butt and left.

The first thing he did after returning to China was to rush to school.

Two things.

The first thing was to submit his completed graduation thesis "Control of Subconscious Representational Characteristics under Film Vision-Spatial Construction".

Unfortunately, Hou Keming was on a business trip and the two didn't meet.

We can only wait for him to come back and take a look at this paper... Actually, it's just a rough look.

How solid is Xu Xin's theory as a director? Through the several things he published in the past two years, everyone knows.

What's more, the doctorate in the Department of Performance is not as "rigorous" as other departments.

In fact, the gold content is not very high in the same industry.

After submitting the thesis, he went to the Shuangwei headquarters, which he hadn't been to for a long time. When he arrived, the documentary team of "Repairing Cultural Relics" was already waiting there.

The documentary team that entered the actual shooting stage last year divided the entire shooting process into four seasons.

Spring, summer, autumn and winter.

But the seasons here are not a particularly obvious feature, or a timeline.

It is more like a window, showing what the masters who repair cultural relics in the Forbidden City experience in different seasons.

For example, what kind of cultural relics are suitable for repair in spring, and how to do the projects that need to be renovated in summer, etc. These projects and antiques that need to be approved for repair in different seasons are sorted out according to time, filmed one by one, and finally edited together.

This winter, they have completed part of the filming.

Xu Xin is coming to see what they shot, and decide which ones to keep and which ones to be determined, and see if the shooting ideas are right.

When he arrived, he looked at these familiar faces and found that Nazha was not there, so he asked in confusion:

"Where is Nazha? She is not here?"

"No."

Ye Jun shook his head:

"She went to film. Our filming plan starts at the beginning of next month. She just happened to have a play. She hurried to finish it during this period... But Director Xu has already recorded the narration and is waiting for you to watch it."

"Narration?"

Looking at Xu Xin's somewhat puzzled eyes, Ye Jun nodded:

"Yes, after we finished filming, when we were sorting out the materials, we found that... In fact, the process of Nazha asking questions would seem a bit abrupt, so we changed it on the basis of the original copy. She will do professional narration, and cover the questions through the narration in the narration, and these masters will intersperse the real-shot answer clips in the narration. This makes it more vivid and natural... We now have two versions, one is still the original Nazha interview, and the other is this revised version of the narration..."

"Then let's take a look at the narration first."

As Xu Xin spoke, Ye Jun adjusted the slides and played a clip.

Soon, Nazha's clear voice was heard:

"Traditional Chinese painting pigments are generally divided into two categories: mineral pigments and plant pigments. In the painting "Spring Outing", the rocks are outlined with fine lines, and the mountain is filled with stone blue and stone green. The foot of the mountain is smudged with mud gold. After a long time, some minerals have oxidized and turned black, and some mineral pigments have penetrated into the silk, or the colloid has degenerated. It is easy to float out of the silk. How to remove the black and how to fix the color are great challenges for the restorer."

Hearing the clear and melodious voice, Xu Xin nodded slightly.

Well, a very comfortable rhythm.

Not fast or slow, clear and round.

There is no particularly obvious dental sound, swallowing words, no particularly strong nasal cavity, or pretending to be deep.

Of course, there is no particularly formal, like the broadcasting tone of a broadcaster.

She has a very good tone, not fast or slow, and there is a kind of... warmth and pearls that are particularly matched with the "Spring Outing" in the picture.

This girl...can be considered to have learned it.

His eyes were filled with satisfaction.

Ever since "The Sound of Wind", Wang Zhiwen's "stupid method" of how to train actors' lines has been passed down from his ancestors to these actors of "Double Only".

How to read the narration.

How to speak during the dialogue... These processes are systematically learned in school, and honed by magazines, novels, and newspapers one after another...

Let's put it this way.

At present, it is hard to hear anyone complaining about the awkward lines of Feixianer, Shishi, Jiaojiao, and Baozi.

Let’s not talk about anything else, just talk about Lin Xinxin… Everyone knows that Lin Gou has a strong accent when he speaks in private, and he can’t change it no matter what he does. But in all the TV series and movies he has participated in, he is basically the dubber.

It is true that he eats porridge every day in private, but on TV, you can never hear any Northeastern accent.

This is all the result of the "Wang Zhiwen training method".

Others are like this, and Nazha is also like this.

He feels very comfortable listening to this narration.

As this part of the monologue ended, another voice said:

"When strengthening, the first is the composition, and the second is the concentration..."

As this old master with sparse hair and a slightly fat body sat in front of the camera, he used a folding fan to give examples bit by bit, and expressed how to do the step of "removing black spots". The camera switched to "Spring Outing" again.

First, Nazha's voiceover explained to the audience why the painting should be "de-blackened", then the master explained the theory, and finally the picture showed the comparison of "Spring Outing" before and after de-blackening...

Don't mention it, just this scene made Xu Xin satisfied.

Yes, this documentary "Forbidden City" is in this style.

It is not a mountain stream that emphasizes meaning over form...On the contrary, the perspective of this documentary is always the masters who restore cultural relics.

Through the antiques they restored, they express their exquisite craftsmanship and the hard work behind them.

Using the objective perspective of a documentary to structure the inheritance of this craft and the efforts made by the Celestial Empire in the protection of antiques and cultural relics, this is the core idea of this documentary.

Let more young people become interested and answer their doubts about how to repair cultural relics, etc.

Originally, Xu Xin was worried that even if this young team did enough preparation under his guidance, the effect of the first shot would not be very good...either it was reading from the script or it was difficult to adjust.

But... after watching this clip, he felt relieved instantly.

Not bad.

This documentary has the right flavor.

Just shoot it like this, no problem.

But he didn't rush to praise it.

This is just the beginning... As the chief director, he has to be responsible to watch everything everyone shoots.

But no matter what, he is really relieved.

Right...

Documentaries should be shot like this, find a clear theme and purpose, and use the camera to record the most real video data...

Suddenly his eyes moved.

Speaking of which...

"A Bite of China 2" seems to be released this year, right?