The King of Huayu Science Fiction

"The bureau just informed us the day before yesterday that we will prepare a more detailed plot overview or submit the entire script for review for "Miracle", which we approved last month..."

Ning Hao sighed, "You only cared about your own family and made us all miserable."

"Miracle" is a century-old work prepared by Ning Hao, focusing on the experience of young people in the new era who started their own businesses in Shenzhen 13 years later, and praising the story of ordinary people seizing opportunities and embracing happiness in the torrent of the times.

It can be regarded as a bowl of chicken soup with positive energy. Although it is not as important as the TV show film, it is still a registered project in the bureau.

Of course, he was affected by the gift film, and now he is also affected.

Chen Jingxing gave Ning Hao a blank look: "Don't pretend to complain, this isn't a movie about the Korean War, it's just the meaning of the above, and it's not the first time you bad monkeys have made a movie, and if you can come up with the script, it means there won't be any. What sensitive content, who would get stuck with a movie of this kind?"

To put it bluntly, the action of the Film Bureau is nothing more than a stress response, but it is just a formality, and what will really be affected is the project with the theme of the Korean War.

Neither the competent authorities nor the circle expected that "King Kong River" would cause such a big storm of public opinion. Although there were already some clues after the release of "Eight Hundred Revelation", they did not expect such a situation to happen.

After all, there is no clear red line between "resisting historical nihilism" and "film creation", and many things are within the fuzzy boundaries.

Moreover, "against historical nihilism" sometimes seems like a pocket crime, or it is so when it is executed and promoted. He puts all the history in it. One or two things are bound to be violated.

It is precisely because the attack area is too large, and no one has come forward to draw the boundary, so it has lost the ability to attack.

It's a paradox, but it's not an uncommon phenomenon.

Therefore, it is precisely because "against historical nihilism" has no clear boundary and authoritative explanation, so it has become a rule that only the common people light lamps and state officials set fires.

In layman's terms, it is to pick up soft persimmons and pinch them.

For film and television dramas that interpret ancient feudal history, "against historical nihilism" is one-size-fits-all, and ignore major gift projects such as "Eight Hundred Revelations" and "King Kong River".

To be honest, even Chen Jingxing himself felt puzzled whether this was done on purpose.

Because of the spirit of "anti-historical nihilism", it has been expanded, and it has made heavy blows in dramas such as ancient costumes that domestic audiences prefer, which arouses the audience's disgust.

Then, in the narrative that really involves modern and contemporary history, it magnifies water and private goods.

It can be said that the national identity and even the national identity of contemporary Huaguo are actually established by a war of resistance, a Korean war and the entire history of humiliation in modern times.

It is difficult to teach people politics in political textbooks. Even if one day you have some insights into some of the content in the political textbooks of the year, it will only be after being beaten by society.

The political concepts of Chinese people are established by history lessons, to be precise, shaped by modern history.

So it is clear which is the root and which is the end.

To defend the narrative of modern history is to defend the state and national identity of contemporary Chinese.

Distortion of modern history will inevitably arouse the audience's resentment.

As a result, viewers and netizens appear to be disgusted with censorship for a while, and support censorship for a while, just like fine points.

"Of course you can make sarcastic remarks here." Ning Hao lamented: "You make all sci-fi movies, and DreamWorks mainly produces sci-fi works, most of which are about the future, and historical nihilism can't touch you. .”

Speaking of this, he couldn't help but feel a little jealous: "Actually, I also wanted to make a science fiction film before, but at that time there were not enough professional talents in China, special effects were not good, the market was not clear, the risk was too high, and I was worried about the caliber of the review.

I really didn't expect that sci-fi movies are now a relatively limited subject matter. "

"Then you can take pictures now."

Ning Hao shook his head with emotion: "If it weren't for you, I would certainly be able to shoot without DreamWorks, but you are a bit too evil, and you have raised the standard of sci-fi film and television works to this level in just a few years. It seems thankless for others to make sci-fi movies.

The "War of Contradiction" on Hong Kong Island has been looking for funds for special effects production and a guaranteed release, but no one has accepted the offer, and the previous investment was all in vain. "

Generally speaking, it takes time for a theme to sprout and grow.

But Chen Jingxing's rise was too fast, basically one step at a time, even triple jumps.

Especially for science fiction works, the preparation and production process is relatively long for the immature Huaguo film industry.

When "Comet" and "Fatal Identity" set off a wave of brain-burning and low-cost science fiction, if there is a domestic company setting up a science fiction project.

It will take at least two years until the script creation, preparation, filming, and production are completed and released.

But two years later, works such as "Gravity" and "Matrix" are already waiting for them.

From a sci-fi sketch to a mature and even world-class sci-fi blockbuster, the process is too fast, even those who follow the trend can't keep up, and are left far behind.

However, this kind of mature sci-fi industrial film is not a flash in the pan, nor is it sharpened in a few years, but every year, like a blowout, and even extended to the field of animation.

Various themes, various ideas, almost all high-level concepts you can think of, such as Omnic Crisis, Alien Invasion, Space Astronautics, Zombie Wasteland, Time Travel, Time Loop, Mecha Battle, Black Technology, etc., are dreamed of. The factory has played it all over, and all of them have played to a high level.

Even for a director like Ning Hao who doesn't lack resources, if he wants to make a sci-fi movie, he has to ask himself first.

Can special effects match DreamWorks?

The answer is that it can’t compare. The special effects department of DreamWorks is known as the number one in Asia, and the special effects studios in China, including South Korea and other countries, can’t compare. If you want to hire a Hollywood special effects company to produce, then the cost performance will be far lower than DreamWorks. .

Can creativity and plot be compared?

It's even worse.

The creativity and high concept of DreamWorks is a brand that is louder than effects.

Common sci-fi genres have basically been filmed by DreamWorks, and they have even been filmed in different ways to exhaustion.

Think about it, just space movies have filmed "Low-Earth Orbit Robinson Crusoe", "Alien Survival" and "Interstellar Exploration", and by the way, cool concepts such as black holes, wormholes, and high dimensions are also incorporated up.

If there is no Chen Jingxing, no DreamWorks, it will take a few years to make an industrial sci-fi film that is well-behaved, with little brains, decent special effects, and a flawless narrative. There may be a market.

Even if it can match the middle level of Hollywood blockbusters, domestic audiences are likely to buy it.

But the problem is that the young man in front of him didn't give other companies and filmmakers this opportunity at all.

Six years ago, domestic audiences still felt very fresh about domestic science fiction films and supported them very much.

Although "Fatal Identity" is a science fiction, it actually focuses on the label of suspense and mind-burning.

Therefore, Chen Jingxing's second theatrical film "Signal" had a lot of glory in the label of domestic science fiction.

The subsequent "Source Code" used train explosions and intense action sequences to flaunt the first domestic sci-fi blockbuster - although according to sci-fi standards, the cost of less than 1 million is really not a blockbuster.

"Source Code" broke the monopoly of imported movies and set a new box office record. In addition to the novel plot, the domestic science fiction blockbuster also contributed a lot.

Chinese people don't even need to be excellent for their own productions, but they are very supportive of short-term commercial films that can be done in a satisfactory manner, just like "The Mekong River" with military action themes.

There is no shortage of patriotic fervor.

But these two years have been different.

The aesthetic threshold of Chinese audiences for domestic sci-fi themes is no less than that of domestic war action themes. Sci-fi themes are no longer rare and rare.

If "King Kong River" was released four or five years ago, it would be impossible to cause such a public opinion storm.

Because all audiences will focus on special effects and war scenes, on the majesty of industrial movies.

As for whether the ass is crooked or not, isn't the description of our army a bit clumsy and inappropriate, not to mention how many people are entangled, why do we need bicycles?
Only when you have a certain immunity to the special effects and big scenes of domestic films, or have the psychological requirements of "good special effects should be done", "what kind of war film can be made if special effects are not good" will you focus on other films. place.

Similarly, if you want to make a sci-fi blockbuster now, the audience is no longer targeting Hollywood movies, and there will be no filters that support domestic production, let alone patriotic enthusiasm.

The visual spectacle is well done, that's what it should be, why can't you do what DreamWorks can do, why should I be tolerant to you?
Moreover, sci-fi concepts must be creative, and stories must be exciting. This is how blockbuster sci-fi movies should be. Not to mention poorly told stories, audiences will mercilessly criticize them even if they are just not exciting enough.

This is a warning left to latecomers by the tragic end of several sci-fi movies invested in when the hot money was still there in the past few years.

""War of Contradiction"? I seem to have heard it..." Chen Jingxing didn't care much about Hong Kong movies, so he just thought it sounded familiar.

It's not that he has any opinions on Hong Kong Island films, but that Hong Kong Island films are already marginalized in the domestic market.

Domestic themes that can get high box office are either their own sci-fi movies, military action movies, or comedy movies based on the style of domestic comedians. Other themes, such as "The God of Medicine" or animation works can occasionally get high box office. .

Hong Kong Island films are no longer regarded as competitors by the major players in the domestic market. Occasionally a good film can get a score of more than 10 billion, which is considered very good.

As for overseas, Hong Kong films have long since declined. In fact, in Hong Kong Island’s own film market, Hong Kong films, especially commercial Hong Kong films, are almost marginalized. If it can be called an industry—the end of it.

Ning Hao didn't care about Chen Jingxing's "ignorance", and said with a little sigh: "You should have heard that it is a very early project. The project was established in 15 years, and it was mainly invested by Media Asia Pictures and Tianxiayi. Yes, Huanshi.com and some film and television companies in the mainland also invested some money.

When the project was approved, it was said that it was to create the first domestic mech sci-fi film. There was not much funding at the time, but since your "Source Code" was released, on the one hand, hot money has been pouring in rapidly. I am more and more fond of science fiction themes.

Therefore, "War of Contradictions" still received a lot of money, and the production budget has been continuously increased. It is said that with the subsequent companies and other financing channels, the production cost has soared from [-] million Hong Kong dollars to more than [-] million Hong Kong dollars.

Media Asia and Tianxia Duo have also paid more and more attention to this project, because of sufficient funds, they overturned the previous scheduled plan. It seems that they re-wrote the script and invited special effects teams from Korea and Hollywood to take charge of the special effects work.

The filming didn’t start until the end of 17, but in 18, before the film was finished, Huanshi.com withdrew its capital and no more investment, and there was a gap in the budget. Wait until last year…”

Ning Hao looked at Chen Jingxing with a half-smile: "Last year, other mainland investors also withdrew their capital one after another, coupled with the withdrawal of capital and the withdrawal of hot money, this project that was originally considered to have great potential was directly stranded.

There was a shortage of funds, and the special effects teams in the United States and South Korea also terminated the post-production. Even if Media Asia and Tianxiayi promised to share the box office, there was no truly qualified special effects team to take over the order, and the guaranteed release could not be sold. It exceeded 3.8 million before. The Hong Kong dollar investment was all in vain, it is really miserable..."

Hearing these words, Chen Jingxing remembered it. Back then, he had indeed heard that Hong Kong Island was going to make a Hong Kong-produced sci-fi film, and even claimed to create "the largest sci-fi masterpiece in the history of Chinese-language movies", far surpassing "Source". Code".

Of course, after "Gravity" is released, it will become "the first mech sci-fi movie in the history of Chinese-language movies".

After the release of "Skyhawk Warrior" last year, this title will no longer be available.

Even if you don't pay attention to the content, it's just gimmicks that are depreciating rapidly.

"Why do you care so much?"

"Isn't Hua Tianwang here? Although Hua Zai and them are not in the same circle, after all, the Hong Kong Island area can't see you up and down, so you can't see it, so you also came to me.

Brother Hua's request, I have always been able to agree and will not refuse, but do I dare to accept this project?At least it’s a shortfall of hundreds of millions of dollars, and I also asked for their script, which I didn’t want to give to Tianxiayi, so I took it for a look, heh—”

Ning Hao curled his lips: "The story is not only uncreative, it is simply naive, the background is also mediocre, there is no pattern and logic, it's 2020, the background is still this kind of meteorite hitting the earth, bringing a kind of rapid growth The tedious story of the tentacle-like aliens that, while purifying the planet, are killing all life at the same time.

If your "Skyhawk Warrior" is not released, maybe you can still make me hesitate for a second. "Skyhawk Warrior" is already released, can the audience pay for a script of this level?

No wonder Huanshi.com and the others are in a hurry to withdraw their capital.

Although the name was changed to "War of Tomorrow", it seems that Media Asia and Tianxiayi also know that it is not good. They want to touch the fame of "Edge of Tomorrow", but it does not help. Science fiction movies of this level can be found now. Who will take over?
Audiences who have watched "Skyhawk Warrior" come to the theater for the name of the mech movie, can they watch this thing?

The story, background, creativity and even connotation are all comprehensively slapped. "

Although Ning Hao was complaining seemingly mercilessly, his expression was extremely sad.

Because he is a filmmaker, as a commercial director preparing to direct industrial films, his perspective is not that of ordinary audiences, but he can appreciate the hardships and difficulties of filmmakers.

To be honest, if it was placed four or five years ago, he would definitely be willing to participate in or take over such a project.

But unfortunately, the phrase "one day in the hole, a thousand years in the world" is a true portrayal of domestic science fiction movies.

Hundreds or even thousands of film practitioners hoped to make "the largest sci-fi masterpiece in the history of Chinese-language film", but after it was shot, they could only realize with horror that the standard of domestic sci-fi movies had been raised. levels unimaginable just a few years ago.

The efforts of so many people and hundreds of millions of funds will probably be in vain.

"Hey, co-authoring me not only blocked the way of the war gift film, but also blocked the way for you to realize your sci-fi dreams?"

Chen Jingxing wondered: "Am I so heinous?"

"What do you think?" Ning Hao sighed and said, "Originally, there were several newcomer directors who provided science fiction scripts for our Bad Monkey 72 Transformation Project. Of course, it's not that kind of science fiction blockbuster. It's considered a creative project, although my opinion is relatively conservative. But it's not like I didn't think about giving them this chance.

As a result, after "Suspect Tracker III" was launched, I was too busy and didn't have time to finish watching it, but I also watched the last few episodes under Lao Xu's recommendation... After reading it, I threw all the scripts back .

I told them directly at the time that audiences can watch such level of sci-fi works by spending more than a dozen dollars on computer and TV. Ask yourself first, you have to pay tens of dollars to watch it in theaters. Can the script make people buy it?
Alas, it would be an understatement to say that you are heinous, look, how many people's dreams have you destroyed? "