Backtracking to the Age of Literature and Art

When he heard "Antling", Yu Dong raised his eyebrows, "Antling?"

Bi Feiyu looked at Yu Dong, "Why, you have heard of it."

Yu Dong shook his head, he couldn't remember where he had heard this name before.

"Let's see." Yu Hua smiled, "Anyway, it's only three minutes, so it won't take long."

"I'll change the strap."

Wang Xiaobo ran over to change the tape, while Bi Feiyu smiled and said: "Thriller, suspense, you have to be prepared, the thrillers in Europe and the United States like to have some bloody and violent scenes, especially Yu Dong, you have to be careful, don't I just vomited again."

Yu Hua also joked: "Yu Yuanwai's spit point is too low, it's not suitable for watching thrillers."

There is an allusion to the two of them saying this. Before Yu Hua and the others were watching a strange movie "The Devil in the Basket", Yu Dong happened to look for them at that time, saw them watching the movie together, and leaned over curiously , and ask them what to watch.

The movie happened to show a bloody scene, and at just one glance, Yu Dong vomited.

In fact, Yu Dong has no special feelings for horror movies, mainly because he doesn't like bloody ones, such as chopping hands and legs.

He mainly doesn't like to see wounds. Sometimes, a long gash appears on a certain character in a movie, and Yu Dong can't stand it, so Yu Hua and the others feel that Yu Dong's spit is a little low.

Hearing Yu Hua and the others scaring him, Yu Dong was not afraid at all. Although he couldn't remember that he had heard "Antfly" there, but if this short film passed the last round of screening, there would definitely be no Yu Hua. The situation they say exists.

The Deep Space Short Film Contest has requirements that entries should not be too bloody.

While talking, Wang Xiaobo had already put the video tape in, and the short film started to play.

The whole short film is only 57 minutes and [-] seconds, so the beginning is not long. It starts with a black and white picture, and then a line of title: doodlebug, literally translated as antfly larvae.

The two o's on the doodlebug are a pair of eyes that are blinking left and right, and then the picture gradually changes, and the owner of the eyes - a haggard man with a tense expression appears.

"It's black and white." Wang Xiaobo said.

Yu Dong and the others nodded. It was indeed black and white, and the tone was particularly dark, which invisibly gave people a sense of pressure. It fit very well with the tension of the man in the film. This must have been intentional by the contributor.

The man in the film is holding a black leather shoe in his hand, looking for something on the ground, and then trying to slap it with the shoe.

The first few strokes were in vain, after a while, a boxer brief appeared on the ground, and something seemed to be pressed under it, and that thing moved on the ground with the boxer briefs on it.

When seeing this, everyone felt that the moment of horror was coming.

Perhaps, what kind of monster is under the boxer briefs?

The man rushed towards the moving boxer underwear, and finally opened the underwear, revealing a person inside. This person was exactly the same as the man, but it was a small size, only the size of a finger.

The small man also held a leather shoe in his hand, and slapped it on the ground, and then the large man also slapped it, but he didn't slap it, and chased after him.

Gradually, everyone discovered that the small man on the ground seemed to be the "future" of the large man, and that the action the small man did would be followed by the large man in a second.

Suddenly, the small man lay on the ground, raised his leather shoes and slapped the ground hard.

Afterwards, the large man did the same thing as the small man, raising his leather shoes and slapping the small man squarely.

After the filming, the large man showed a smile.

But soon, a face with a strange smile appeared behind the big man, and then a huge leather shoe directly slapped the big man on the ground.

At this point, the short film "Antfly" is over.

While applauding, Bi Feiyu said: "A suit within a suit, infinite loop."

Yu Hua also nodded, "Yes, it was a good shot."

"It seems to be a silent film." Wang Xiaobo said.

Because the film was so short and tense, they didn't realize it was a silent film until after watching it.

There is only one actor in the whole short film, there are no lines, and the action is used to interpret the plot throughout the whole process.

But there are three characters, one is a small man who a big man wants to slap to death, and there is an oversized man who wants to slap a big man to death, they all look the same, and they move the same, It just has a certain delay.

After watching the movie, the audience is easy to associate, there are smaller people under the villain, and even bigger people above the super-big people, and it continues indefinitely, everyone is slapping a smaller person. each of them being chased and slapped by another, bigger one.

This kind of set-in-a-set story structure is not new. It has been used in art works a long time ago, but "Antfly" uses this set-in-a-set structure very well.

Although it is only a 3-minute short film, many things can be seen from it. This director is very thoughtful.

There are not many props and voices used in the movie, but they can always create a special sense of horror.

For example, clocks and telephones. In the short film, there are a total of three shots of clocks, a small panorama of pushing the camera, a medium shot, and a close-up, plus the urgent ringing of the phone and the male protagonist throwing the phone into the water, which made the man nervous. The restless state is well portrayed.

After watching the movie, Yu Dong felt more familiar, but he just couldn't remember where he saw it.

He waved to Bi Feiyu, "Old Bi, give me the list."

Bi Feiyu handed the list to Yu Dong, and said with a smile, "This movie has an advantage in coming to the competition. After all, there are no lines, so there is no need for subtitles."

Although this is a joke, it makes sense.

Deep Space requires that all participating foreign language short films must be equipped with Chinese subtitles, and the producers need to do it themselves.

It is not an easy task to make Chinese subtitles for a movie. Although the producer can find someone who can speak Chinese to help translate, the effect cannot be guaranteed.

In a movie, the quality of the lines can often determine many things.

Maybe the original lines are not bad, but because of poor translation, the lines may be greatly reduced, and then the whole movie will lose points.

But "The Ant" doesn't even have a single line, so this step is directly omitted, and audiences in any country can watch this short film without any obstacles and can understand it.

At this time, Yu Dong had already got the list and found "Antfly", and then saw the list of producers behind the title.

When he saw the director's name, he couldn't help raising his eyebrows.

Christopher Nolan, he is too familiar with this name.

Speaking of Christopher Nolan, different people may think of different movies. Some people may think of his early suspense crime movie "Memento", and some people may think of the "Batman" series that made him famous.

Of course, many people should think of movies such as "Interstellar", "Inception" and "Fatal Magic".

Christopher Nolan is not a very prolific director, but most of his films have caused a sensation.

His films are always able to combine artistry and commerciality very well, which not only makes the audience feel very compelling, but also willing to spend money to go to the cinema to watch it, which is well received and popular.

Seeing Christopher Nolan's name, Yu Dong fell into deep thought. He didn't expect a deep space short film contest to attract him.

"Yu Yuanwai, you also think this movie is very good."

Bi Feiyu turned to look at Yu Dong and asked a question.

Yu Dong came back to his senses, nodded with a smile, "Of course, very good, this is a very talented director. Although the film is not long, it can be seen that this director has his own ideas in filming."

"Maybe he's a veteran, what's his name?" Yu Hua asked.

"Christopher Nolan."

Yu Hua thought for a while, then shook her head, "I've never heard of that name."

Wang Xiaobo joked, "If you have heard of it, it must be a household name. This kind of short film competition should not attract veterans, after all, the prize money is only [-] US dollars."

"Hey! It's only $100!" Yu Hua exaggerated, "Comrade Wang Xiaobo, you are talking a little too much now. You said $1 is like [-] yuan. The annual salary of a member of the staff adds up. It’s just over [-] RMB.”

What Yu Hua was talking about was the salary Yu Dong received at school. He had been working for a long time, and his rank had risen rapidly in the past few years, so his salary was quite high.

Of course, he is considered very high. The average salary of an ordinary college teacher is about 9000 yuan a year. That is to say, many college teachers can earn less than [-] US dollars without eating or drinking for ten years.

Wang Xiaobo said with a smile: "There are gaps in this world. You only stare at Yu Wai's annual salary of more than 1 yuan, but you forget that Yu Wai's average daily royalties are more than [-] US dollars. And you, Yu Hua, last Yue just changed a computer, and it cost tens of thousands of dollars."

Yu Hua squinted her eyes and said with a smile: "What are you talking about about computers? Let's talk about the short film contest. Although ten thousand dollars is not a lot, it may not be able to attract veterans to participate. Think about it, if you really can win If you win the championship, in addition to the ten thousand dollars, you can also get the support of Deep Space Corporation."

Yu Dong said with a smile, "Don't worry about whether you are a veteran or not. This short film is really good. I'm going to ask the company to contact this director."

"Aren't you afraid that it will affect the judgment of the judges before the judging ends tomorrow?"

"As long as the judges don't know, it's fine? Alright, you guys continue to read, I'll go to the remaining office."

……

Yuyu's office is quite lively, there are several people reporting to him, it should be because of some impromptu meeting.

Seeing Yu Dong coming, these people greeted him one after another.

"Hi boss."

Yu Dong nodded, and sat down on the sofa next to him, "Keep busy, don't worry about me."

After about 5 minutes, their small meeting ended.

After the others left, Yu Liang explained with a smile, "Mr. Ji asked us to inspect Yunfan shoes—oh, it's Wang Jin's brand. Wang Jin came to our company before and sought cooperation, but it has been procrastinating." Until today, Mr. Ji suddenly asked us to pick up this matter some time ago."

Yu Dong nodded, "Oh, I've heard about this from Wang Jin before. When it comes to cooperating with their family, I don't need to consider my face, I just need to evaluate it objectively."

Yu Yu smiled and said, "Don't worry about this boss, professionalism is the premise. In fact, Wang Jin's brand is doing well, but the management is not good enough. Judging from the information we have so far, it is still worth investing in. .”

"Did Mr. Ji say how he plans to cooperate with them?"

Yu Yue shook his head, "That's not true, Mr. Ji seems to have his own ideas, so let's just investigate."

Yu Dong nodded, and didn't ask any further questions. Instead, he turned to the deep space short film, "Have all the judges for this year's short film competition arrived?"

"It's almost time to arrive, only Zhang Yimou and Director Zhang have not arrived."

"He's been busy recently, and he won't arrive until tomorrow morning. He's already told me."

Zhang Yimou is busy preparing for the movie "Golden Dreamland". Recently, he has been running between the United States and China, and he is very busy.

Originally, Yu Dong saw that he was so busy, so he didn't have to rush back to be a judge, but he insisted on coming back.

"I heard from the judges of the preliminary review that the overall quality of the shortlisted works this year is very good, and maybe we can tap a few directors with potential."

Yu Dong smiled and said, "I'm here to tell you about this. Just now, Yu Hua and the others watched a short film submitted by foreign countries. It felt very good. You can contact this director and ask him if he is interested. Work with us."

"Which movie's director?" Yu Yu asked.

"Antfly, directed by Christopher Nolan."

"Christopher Nolan..."

Yu Liang said the name in his mouth, and then turned around in the cabinet, "Yesterday they sent a list, all of which are the directors present this time, and there are also a few directors who participated in the foreign language competition, let me see if there are any." ...Oh, I found it...Chris...Fortunately, he also came and stayed in Room [-] of the Jinling Hotel."

Hearing that Christopher Nolan was also here, Yu Dong raised his eyebrows and a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.Since Christopher Nolan was able to travel thousands of miles to China, it proves that he attaches great importance to this short film competition, so it is naturally easier to talk about cooperation.

And now that he is in China, it is more efficient for the two parties to negotiate.

"Well, you should contact him as soon as possible and tell him that our company is very optimistic about "Antfly" and hope to buy the copyright of this short film. Also, ask him if he has any ideas for cooperation. It is best to let him sign with our company. Broker appointment."

"No problem, I'll contact you now." Yu Yu said.

Yu Dong waved his hands and smiled, "I'm sure we can't get in touch now. I reckon he should be in the park now."

"Well, I'll call the hotel first and ask. If I can't find it, I'll call again in the evening."