Backtracking to the Age of Literature and Art

When Yu Dong finished reading the whole script, Christopher was still dazed beside him.

Yu Dong was not in a hurry to talk to Christopher, but seriously recalled the "Memory Fragments" movie he had seen before, to compare with the script in his hand.

The script is written in great detail, such as how to transition scenes, how to cut shots, and whether to use color or black and white images are clearly written, without any mistakes or omissions.

In this movie, the color of the picture is a very important element.

Generally speaking, a movie has two lines, one in sequence and one in reverse. In sequence, the movie screen is in black and white, and in reverse, the phone screen is in color.

Leaving aside the deep meaning of this arrangement, the shock to the audience when the two lines collide in the end is extraordinary.

This ingenious design adds a lot to the movie.

Obviously, Christopher has his own unique insights in nonlinear narrative.

At first glance, Memento might have a stream-of-consciousness feel to it, similar to The Crowd.

But in fact, "Memento" and "The Crowd" are not the same thing. Compared with "The Crowd", "Memento" has more clever details.

Of course, the ability to have more ingenious designs is also related to the text form.

Some ingenious designs in "Memory Fragments" cannot be done in novels, such as color pictures and black and white pictures that require annotations, which cannot be introduced in novels at all.

"Cough cough."

Yu Dong coughed lightly, and after attracting Christopher's attention, he smiled and said, "The story of "Memory Fragments" is very interesting, and the design is also very ingenious. Last year, our company had a movie called "Butterfly Effect". Non-linear narrative, but "Memento" obviously has more ingenuity."

Christopher sat up straight and said with a smile, "Thank you, "The Butterfly Effect" is a very good movie. I have also read the original "Chaos Diary."

"When was this script written?" Yu Dong then asked.

Christopher said with a smile: "Actually, before September last year, I had an idea about this movie. It wasn't until a while ago that I finally wrote the script."

Speaking of the script, Christopher talked eloquently, "Memory is a very interesting thing. People will forget some things, and they will create some false memories out of thin air. YU, I wonder if you have heard of what happened in the early 90s? A case in the US where a man was accused by his daughter of killing his friend."

Yu Dong shook his head, "No."

Christopher said with a smile, "This woman accused her father of killing her good friend more than 20 years ago, but because the memory was too cruel, she was suppressed until she received psychological treatment. The memory was awakened. The jury later unanimously found the testimony to be true and the man was convicted of murder."

"You mean, this memory is fake?" Combining Christopher's words before and after, Yu Dong guessed what he meant.

Christopher shook his head, "I can only say that this memory cannot be proved to be true, nor can it be used as evidence for sentencing. Psychologist Schacht believes that during the hypnosis process, the hypnotist will induce the patient to let them The imagination builds memory, so this kind of repressed childhood memory is actually not reliable, that is, three years ago, the previous case was overturned."

Yu Dong nodded thoughtfully, "Constructing memories doesn't seem uncommon, and we can often see them in daily life."

"Memory is not reliable" is actually a very sad thing, because at some level, memory determines what kind of person a person is.What makes a person a person depends on what the person is like.

For example, if this person's memory is completely determined by another person, is this person still this person?

This is probably another problem.

"YU, have you really finished reading the script?"

Christopher Nolan finally asked what he wanted to ask, and he was relieved.

Yu Dong raised his eyebrows and smiled: "Of course, do you need me to retell the plot for you?"

"No, no." Christopher waved his hands again and again.

In fact, it’s not because of his doubts. Yu Dong reads things quickly, and he has watched movies before, so the speed of reading the script is completely beyond Nolan’s imagination. It is not surprising that Christopher will have doubts.

Yu Dong smiled and said to Christopher, "I will ask Yu Yu to make a phone call with your wife to talk about the copyright of "Antfly" and the filming of "Memory Fragments". Our company takes care of all the investment, and it is enough for them to discuss the copyright share in detail... In addition, your brother is also one of the screenwriters, so you should also communicate with him."

Christopher said with a smile, "Actually, Jonathan came with me this time."

Yu Dong raised his eyebrows and said, "Really, why didn't you let him come with you?" Yu Dong turned his head to look at Yu Liang again: "Do you know that his brother Jonathan is here? Why didn't you ask him to come?"

Yu Liang patted his head, "I only know that he has a companion, but I don't know it's his younger brother. I was negligent and forgot to ask."

In fact, even if he knew that Jonathan was here, Yu Yu would not invite Jonathan, because Yu Yu didn't know that Jonathan also participated in the script creation.

Unlike Yu Dong, he knew that Jonathan Nolan had always been a golden partner with his brother, a director and a screenwriter.

"Where is he now, is it convenient to invite him over for a meeting?" Yu Dong asked.

Christopher said with a smile: "Of course, he actually wanted to come, but he was worried that he would offend you. After all, he only said he wanted to see me yesterday. Jonathan is your loyal reader. Basically, he has read all your works published in the UK. .”

Christopher himself is also a loyal reader of Yu Dong, but he felt a little embarrassed to say such things to Yu Dong face to face, so he only said that his brother was a reader of Yu Dong.

……

Jonathan was in the lobby waiting area on the first floor of the Deep Space Building, holding a book of "Whale Song" novels, fascinated by it.This morning, he came with Christopher, and he felt very bored after walking around, so he found a book to read by himself, and happened to see this collection of "Whale Song" novels.

Christopher went over and patted Jonathan on the shoulder, who turned his head and rolled his eyes, "I just interrupted me when I saw the exciting part."

"Where did your book come from?" Christopher asked curiously.

"You mean it? I bought it from the Science Fiction Theme Pavilion. It's an English version. It's a collection of novels and short stories, all of which are very exciting." Jonathan said with a smile.

Christopher glanced at the cover of the novel, then smiled and said, "It's a novel by the original author of "Her Eyes."

"Her eyes?" Jonathan was a little puzzled. Compared with his brother, his reading volume was much lower.

"Her Eyes" once broke the domestic box office record, but it is not considered a blockbuster internationally, so not many people have seen this movie.

The global box office of less than 8000 million US dollars is undoubtedly a bit low for a sci-fi movie, but its cost is only more than 2000 million US dollars, which is already a lot of money for the producer.

As long as you can make money, you can attract the attention of capital, so after "Her Eyes" was released at the box office, many people came to Liu Cixin, hoping to adapt his other novels into movies.

The "Whale Song" in Jonathan's hand is one of them.

Christopher said with a smile, "Let's not talk about that, Yu said he wanted to meet you, come with me."

"He wants to see me?" Jonathan jumped up suddenly, "Did you tell him about signing?"

"No, after we meet, you can mention it yourself." Christopher shook his head and said.

Jonathan glanced at the book in his hand, "Should I go and buy two books by YU first?"

"No need." Christopher thought for a while and said.

Jonathan Nolan asked again: "How about the real YU? Do you think he will be angry if I ask him to sign someone else's book?"

"..."

"Why did he suddenly want to see me?" Jonathan asked again.

Christopher said with a smile: "Because he knows that you are also one of the screenwriters of "Memento", so he wants to see you and chat with you. He is very optimistic about "Memento"."

"Really?" Jonathan clenched his fist and shouted, "Yeah, I knew there was no problem. Does that mean that Deep Space will invest in this movie? How much money are they going to invest? Enough for you to make a movie So, are you still looking for other investors?"

Christopher twitched the corner of his mouth, "Jonathan, can't you say a few words less, my head is about to explode."

"I'm concerned about you. Tell me quickly, how much will Deep Space pay? As a screenwriter, will I be paid a lot for screenwriting?" Jonathan said.

……

Jonathan's talkative nature, even in front of Yu Dong, did not weaken at all.

He was shy for maybe half a second, after half a second.He let go completely and blew Yu Dong's works up and down.

Jonathan is an English major, and he is half of the same class as Yu Dong, so he has a good style when he blows the works, and various professional terms keep popping out of his mouth.

Looking at the chattering young man in front of him, Yu Dong twitched the corners of his mouth. He hadn't seen such a noisy person for a long time.

Jonathan was in his early twenties and hadn't officially graduated from school. He was about the same size as his brother, but he looked very different.

Compared with Christopher who always lowered his head and looked calm, Jonathan had a high-spirited posture when he spoke, just like a teenager talking to other people.

The difference in personality between the two brothers is also related to life experience.

Although both were born in the UK and later went to the US with their parents, Christopher Nolan spent much longer in the UK than his younger brother Jonathan.They are two brothers, one is like a father and the other is like a mother.

Halfway through the chat, Jonathan suddenly said,
"My family and all my friends know that I like your work, which is a good thing, but sometimes it's not so good. For example, on my birthday a few days ago, I received three copies of "Old Books" , two copies of "Westward" and some other works of yours. They are definitely the worst people in the world to give gifts, because they should know that since I like your works so much, there will definitely be these works in the house. Of course ...if they send a signed book, they're the best gift-givers in the world. I wasn't home when you had the book signing in Chicago..."

Christopher, who was sitting next to Jonathan, coughed lightly, signaling his brother to stop talking.

Based on his understanding of his younger brother, he knew that Jonathan was asking YU to sign a book on the sidelines, and he was using the excuse of his birthday.

But Jonathan did not lie, his birthday was in June, and he received several novels by YU on his birthday.

Yu Dong, who was sitting across from him, smiled. He was not a fool, so it was impossible for him not to hear such an obvious hint.

"It's a pity, if you come to China earlier, I can prepare a gift for you. How about this, to make up for your regret on your birthday, I will give you a set of my collected novels, but they are all in Chinese. If you want to understand it, it may take a lot of effort."

Jonathan didn't hesitate at all: "Yes, of course, is there a signature on it?"

"There will be. The other set of books is relatively complete and heavy. It may take some time to bring them back."

"Cough cough." Christopher coughed again from the side.

Jonathan understood, and said, "Christopher is actually your loyal reader, and he took me to read your novel from the beginning."

Yu Dong nodded, "I'll give each of you a set."

In fact, Yu Dong felt that what Jonathan said was polite, because during the long communication just now, Yu Dong didn't feel Christopher's enthusiasm as a loyal reader, and he didn't even take the initiative to mention a certain Yu Dong's novel.

After receiving the gift, Jonathan was satisfied, but his conversation did not decrease at all. He asked about Yu Dong's new work, "There was news in the United States that your new book will meet readers in the spring, but now the spring is over. It’s been over, we haven’t seen any new works yet, so is that fake news?”

"It's not fake news, I did say before that the new book will meet you in the spring."

"Then why..."

"But I didn't say what spring it was."

"..."

Seeing that Jonathan froze, Yu Dong said with a smile, "Just kidding, the new book was originally planned to meet you in the spring, but it was postponed due to translation problems. If there is no accident, it should be released to everyone at the end of July." Meet."

"The Da Vinci Code" was not released in the spring, not simply because of translation, but also because of some official reasons, but it was basically resolved during this period.