Top of the Great Era

Chapter 3037 Women Save the World

Zhou Buqi considered it comprehensively and finally agreed.

All parties must do it.

Moreover, the final decision-making power in this matter is not actually in his hands. It is not realistic for him to stop it by force, as it would appear too overbearing.

It is also helpful to Ziweixing Global’s own business.

Just agree to it.

However, the script of The Great Wall had to be rewritten, and the director had to be changed. Zhang Yimou couldn't make a "radio gymnastics" movie again. Many old-school filmmakers in China grew up in a collective culture and were deeply influenced by it. They believed that big scenes are about getting a lot of people together, and then being well-organized and well-coordinated. It was a kind of large-scale group dance-style big scene thinking.

It's really shocking when it happens once in a while.

There is no other director in the world who can shoot such a magnificent scene.

But it’s always this pattern.

It feels fresh to watch it once, but it is easy to form a stereotype if you watch it every time. Foreigners will think that your aesthetic taste is like that. North Korea holds military parades every year, but the feeling it gives people is not shocking, but a joke.

Zhou Buqi felt that it must be changed.

He is a veteran movie fan, and he knows almost every flaw in "The Great Wall", which must be refuted comprehensively and on a large scale.

This is a fantasy blockbuster about the offensive and defensive battle between humans and monsters centered around the "Great Wall".

In this case, let's invite a director from Hollywood who is really good at making fantasy masterpieces.

Even if it's not a good shot, even if it's messed up...

When domestic public opinion ferments, the most that can be done is to scold foreign directors, saying that they do not understand Chinese culture, so that Boss Zhou can stay out of it.

As an outsider to the film industry, Zhou Buqi could only shamelessly provide some high-level guidance for the movie "The Great Wall".

Made some suggestions.

First, we need to shoot historical themes with modern thinking, and use modern modeling, clothing, and makeup to design characters, rather than digging into Chinese history.

This is the lesson learned from Disney's version of Mulan.

The makeup in the film was much criticized.

I think the makeup of the women in the film is too weird and too exaggerated, almost like that of Japanese geishas.

  With the public having such a preconceived notion, how can the movie box office still be good?

But in fact, "Mulan" specially invited historians to study the makeup and styling of the time to maximize the presentation of the original historical appearance. It was not to learn from Japanese geishas. On the contrary, the reason why Japanese geishas have such makeup is because Japan admires Chinese culture and came to the Tang Dynasty to pay homage and learn from the past.

This is a very common thinking error in Internet product design.

Don’t design products based on “reality”; design products based on “cognition”.

The so-called "cognition" refers to the user's cognition of the product.

  The truth is not right, the user is right!

They like fair, young and thin women, so all the beauties in history must be fair and thin; they like internet celebrity makeup, so all the beauties in history must be wearing internet celebrity makeup.

It's just a commercial film, don't try to be noble and spread the truth.

As a fantasy blockbuster with historical themes, "The Great Wall" must use modern people's thinking and modern conventional cognition to design historical scenes in the choice of "history".

To use the Internet’s product thinking, commercial products do not seek truth!

What we seek is a kind of "mind massage", which is to cater to the users' cognition, soothe the audience's emotions, and make the users feel comfortable.

Second, don’t tell stories about the court.

The stories of the court in ancient China are so complicated and profound. Not to mention foreigners, even if Chinese people dare to touch on them, the death rate is over 99%. It is easy to turn the treacherous court politics into a stupid drama.

Moreover, this is a Hollywood blockbuster, aimed at the whole world.

Which foreigner knows what happened in the court of ancient China?

The emperor, eunuchs, empress, relatives by marriage, ministers, feudal lords, generals... it's so confusing that it's easy to get confused.

Once you are involved in court affairs, you will definitely be disliked by both Chinese and foreigners, and you will surely die.

"The Last Emperor" is a feature film and an art film, which can be analyzed in depth.

  As a commercial blockbuster, "The Great Wall" should stop talking about those mysterious things and shoot something that everyone can understand and is in line with the current audience's understanding and mainstream thinking!

"Correct!"

“You can’t tell stories based on the values ​​of the time. You have to tell stories based on the values ​​that everyone likes the most now!”

To this end, Zhou Buqi simply gave a plot outline for the film.

It adopts the three-act structure that is most common in Hollywood scripts.

Since it is a Sino-US co-production, there will definitely be white actors and Chinese actors appearing together.

Act one.

It could be that during the Crusades, a small group of white people from Europe came to the Great Wall of China with the female slaves they had plundered. They met a small group of Chinese people, whose leader brought a maid.

The two sides went together to investigate a shocking piece of news that there was a monster eating people.

As Chinese and Western cultures collided, a fierce conflict broke out between the two sides.

They look down on each other.

But both sides discovered the monster's traces at the same time.

At the last moment, the two sides cooperated and killed the monster together. Although the slave girl and the maid were separated, who cared about women in this era? The men on both sides made peace and became good friends.

The plot enters the climax of the first act.

Then the reversal came.

  Unexpectedly, they are shocked to find out that this extremely powerful monster is just a scout. They have discovered a densely packed group of extremely powerful monsters that have the ability to destroy humanity!

So, both sides went back and began to ask for reinforcements. The Europeans went to Jerusalem to ask for a large army of Crusaders, and the Chinese army also returned to the court to ask for support from the imperial guards to protect the Great Wall!

Act two.

The white female slave and the Chinese maid got separated while following their male masters to fight monsters.

Heard legends in the process.

The monsters are incredibly powerful.

Can destroy all mankind.

Only the legendary dragon can defeat it.

Two brave girls went in search of the dragon.

On the other side, the battle to defend the Great Wall began!

The Chinese army fought bravely, not afraid of sacrifice, and fought to the death with the monsters to defend the Great Wall. Just when they could no longer hold on and were about to fail, the Crusaders came and bravely rushed towards the monsters.

  The white people and the yellow people staged a magnificent defensive battle on the Great Wall and defeated the monsters' attack!

The plot enters the climax of the second act.

Then the reversal came.

A more powerful attack from the monsters is coming. The super monsters have the ability to split mountains with one punch, which is extremely powerful.

  How to do?

Entering Act III.

  After a quarrel, humanity finally overcame fear. The Chinese and European armies stood together, shook hands, and decided to defend the Great Wall to the death!

The final battle began.

Very tragic.

Many war heroes died.

The Great Wall was also broken into several sections by the monsters.

  Ruined!

The Great Wall is about to fall and humanity is doomed.

  How to do?

At this time, the final climax came.

The white female slave and the Chinese maid, two very weak girls, rushed over, one holding a dragon, one that could spit fire and the other that could spray water, and they destroyed the monster.

Finally, there was a happy ending.

This outline has only one main line of thinking.

The plot revolves around defending the Great Wall and fighting monsters. The emotional scenes describe the life and death of the Chinese and Western armies, as well as the bravery, determination and ambiguity of the female slaves and maids.

It’s not white people who ultimately save the world.

Instead, they are two of the most despised "inferior women" who create a cultural impact on the arrogant patriarchal world, thus reaching a certain height in film thought.

  What men can’t do, women can; men look down on women, but women can become self-reliant and save the world!

Follow the trend of the times for women's rights.

This is modern thinking.

……

Zhou Buqi simply wrote a script outline, and then called Michael Moore and Legendary Pictures CEO Thomas Tull, "Enrich the script according to my ideas, and avoid digging deep into Chinese history. Historical themes do not mean telling historical stories. You should use modern values ​​to shoot a fictional story dressed in historical clothes."

The script is very simple.

He wrote it in Chinese, with a total of more than 4000 words, and then it was translated by Ning Lu and Zhang Zetian into 5000 English words.

Michael Moore read it quickly and said, "As a rule of thumb, commercial blockbusters need to have a love story."

Zhou Buqi said: "The relationship between the slave girl and the maid is the biggest emotional connection."

Michael Moore joked: "It feels like a Disney movie."

"Yes, it's Disney." Zhou Buqi admitted it without hesitation. "It's a strategy copied from Disney. In recent years, Disney's movies have grabbed a large market share by focusing on feminism and the interaction between girls. Why can't we do the same? Plagiarism is the first way to make products! The concept of 'The Great Wall' was plagiarized from 'Game of Thrones', so there's nothing shameful about plagiarizing Disney's values."

Michael Moore frowned slightly, feeling that this was a bit cheap.

What about the dignity of Universal Pictures?

  What about the ethics of filmmakers?

Boss Zhou's film ideas are too simple, crude and simplistic.

  Is this how all Internet products are developed?

Isn't this a rogue strategy?

Fortunately, this project is under the sole control of Legendary Pictures.

It won't ruin Universal Pictures' reputation.

Thomas Tull is different. He doesn't care about the pattern and ethics. Legendary Pictures is just an independent film company. Survival is the most important thing. "Okay, I think this is good! Tell an adventure story in the way that the audience likes most. With this script, I am more confident about the success of this project!"

Zhou Buqi smiled and said, "Then hire a few great screenwriters to polish the script carefully. Then select an excellent director with fantasy experience... In addition, you can hire a Chinese director as an assistant director to coordinate some of the filming of Chinese actors. In the final analysis, this is a Hollywood movie, and it should be shot according to the Hollywood model."

Thomas Tull nodded, feeling very happy. "This year's Oscar-winning film, Visa, was produced under your leadership. I even heard that you were the chief producer?"

"No."

Zhou Buqi was somewhat proud of himself because the film he strongly promoted, "Visa for Life" directed by Ann Lee, about the Republic of China's diplomats issuing visas to Jews during World War II, won the Oscar as expected. It was a pity that he did not win the Best Director Award.

Thomas Tour said: "I think no one knows movies better than you. With your guidance, our "The Great Wall" will definitely be a big hit in the market!"

Zhou Buqi joked, "Don't forget to pay me for the script."

"sure!"

Thomas Tull laughed.