The entertainment industry shouldn't be like this

Chapter 174 When Sand Sculpture Culture Tails a Martial Arts (Two in One)

"Director Wang Wei's audition is really weird!"

This was Zhou Qiming's first and only feeling.

At this time, Zhou Qiming was in a very spacious rehearsal room in Dunhuang, and there were two people sitting behind the table, both of whom were big shots in his eyes.

One is the deputy director Xu Daoxing who is not well-known outside the circle, but is known as Wang Wei's right-hand man in the circle, and the other is Wang Wei who came to the audition in person.

It was precisely Wang Wei's request that almost drove Zhou Qiming crazy.

Not giving the plot is often a seemingly simple request.

For example, laugh.

There is no antecedent, and no consequences, just ask "from laughing to laughing sadly".

That's fine, but the problem is that Wang Wei seems to be addicted, a "big laugh", and Zhou Qiming has performed it more than ten times in different ways.

There are also "fake crying", "swearing", and even asked to sing rap!

"do it again."

"Do it another way."

"Repeat."

Zhou Qiming once thought that Wang Wei was torturing him for fun.

But soon he rejected it.

To put it bluntly, the other party's time is much more valuable than his time; tormenting him for fun, I don't know who lost it.

Therefore, even though he was in a cloud, he still acted patiently over and over again.

Gradually, the feeling of restraint disappeared, and he seemed to understand that Wang Wei was not torturing him, but looking for a performance style.

And as the impromptu performance became more and more relaxed, Zhou Qiming also vaguely figured out what style the other party wanted—it seemed to be an exaggerated or even indulgent funny style.

"This is called talent!" Seeing this, Wang Wei couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

And he finally nodded, "Well, well, let's do this first!"

Then suddenly asked: "If I let you transform into a comedian in the future, would you like it?"

Zhou Qiming was taken aback when he heard this.

He first felt that the other party thought highly of him——I'm a small player, I can play whatever role I'm given, how can I be willing?
However, he immediately understood what the other party really meant by saying this——

This time the role should not run away, and even, there may be more roles for him in the future, um, it should be a comedy role.

If he just debuted, Zhou Qiming might need to think about it for a while.

After all, being an actor is all about dreaming of becoming a big star, and even if he is not a major, he is also influenced by "orthodox filmmakers" and feels that comedians are not good enough.

Now, compared to the embarrassment and blows of being rejected by the crew continuously, being forced to stand is a trivial matter.

So, he nodded without hesitation: "I am willing."

Wang Wei then smiled and continued: "Okay, first sign the contract with the crew, and then, um, you need to read a lot of films, and the crew will help you prepare the materials."

"At the same time, you are a non-major class, right? Let's make up acting lessons. Don't worry about the cost, the crew will arrange it for you."

Zhou Qiming continued to be stunned.

It's easy to understand the supplementary acting class, but what the hell is it to read a lot of movies?

Wang Wei didn't give a specific explanation, only one sentence, "You can understand by watching the film yourself!"

To be honest, it's not that he can't see the other party's confusion.

But Wang Wei was also a little distressed.

Some things cannot be explained clearly by talking.

For example—what exactly is nonsensical style?
What impressed him deeply was that in another time and space, as the representative characters of Wulito, Master Xing and his partner Uncle Da both expressed in different interviews, "I haven't fully understood what Wulitou means until now."

Wang Wei does not think that they are unwilling to talk, but their success does not come from familiarity with theories and concepts, but from experience, instinct and talent.

Wang Wei even believes that if you really want to act according to the so-called theories and definitions, you will not be able to act in a truly nonsensical style.

Therefore, he knows what kind of style the movie wants, but he can't guide Zhou Qiming how to act with one hand, but more depends on himself.

This is easier said than done, and harder said than done.

It's easy because, after all, Zhou Qiming has just started, what he needs to do now is to completely change his thinking, to see that layer of window paper, and then puncture it!

It's hard to say because, as a comedy style, the concept of nonsense has not yet been formally refined.

Of course, not being refined doesn't mean it didn't appear.

Now the mainstream style of Chinese comedy - Wang Wei personally calls it the "Northern School" - originated from dramas and sketches, leaning towards "story" and "dance", relying on the control of the plot and character characteristics, full of black sense of humor.

Shen Yan is one of the representatives of this faction.

Where there is north, there is south.

The "Southern School" style in Wang Wei's eyes tends to be more mature nonsensical spoofs developed by European and American counterparts.

It's just that, in this time and space, there is no Hong Kong Island's "everything is too much and everything is crazy" environment that is both Chinese and Western, so this style has not been explored to the extreme in a very short period of time.

So, will this style make domestic audiences accept incompetence?
At least Wang Wei's answer is, no!
On the one hand, judging from the collected information, some nonsensical comedies have done well at the box office; but they are still at a relatively early stage, and all of them are small productions, and no one has analyzed and defined them.

On the other hand, it is even more interesting, the era of the Internet has come!

In the Internet age, what is the most on the Internet?
Wang Wei, who has experienced the baptism of the Internet, knows that he is not a handsome little brother or a flirtatious lady, let alone a well-known five-haired licking dog pink, but a sand sculpture netizen incarnated by countless people. Sand sculptures are the dominant species occupying the entire Internet. It is the bottom gene of the Internet.

In the eyes of sand sculptures, authority and seriousness can be deconstructed, and everything can be presented in a funny and playful way, and then sand sculpture culture is formed.

Nonsense that is anti-logic, anti-elite, and anti-noble is naturally the nutrient content of sand sculpture culture.

So Wang Wei has always had an unfounded guess—it’s a pity that the age of Master Xing at the peak of his creative power was not in the Internet age, otherwise, he would definitely be the most popular "Internet celebrity" among sand sculpture netizens, or "walking emoji package" ".

Hey, it looks like it can be verified now.

Wang Wei's eyes could not help but fall on Zhou Qiming, and he smiled meaningfully.

Zhou Qiming: "..."

I'm too hard!

The audition requirements are strange, the signing requirements are strange, and even the director's eyes are strange... Is this crew really reliable?
When Zhou Qiming was taken out, Xu Daoxing, who sensed that the other party's heart was breaking down, couldn't help laughing: "I kind of understand why you've taken a fancy to him."

There was a scene just now - he sang a rap, the sound was so broken, it pierced the soul, Xu Daoxing felt goose bumps all over the ground, but he looked intoxicated, and at the end he gestured to thank the air, as if there was something wrong with him. Thousands of people are cheering for him, the big guy has a good temperament.

This kind of state of "How embarrassing Ren Er, I can perform freely" is really in line with this spoof movie that ignores tradition, abandons established concepts, and achieves a certain state of freedom.

Wang Wei also felt that he had enough comprehension ability, and the next step should be expected.

but--

"I can't just rely on him alone, I also need a group of supporting actors who have the same voice and can play absurd and funny spirit."

Hearing this request, Lao Xu smiled more easily: "I dare not say anything else, but we in Dunhuang want to select actors, and the circle really lined up to deliver them to our door. We have made too many people popular this year!"

"With so many people at your disposal, are you afraid that you won't be able to pick the right one?"

……

Old Xu was right.

For Dunhuang's two billion-dollar movies this year, not to mention the main characters and directors, the supporting roles also saw their net worth soar.

This is not the most popular.

During this time, a TV series stole all the limelight——

The martial arts drama "Legend of the Condor Heroes", co-produced by Dunhuang and director Tang Yigong, has finally completed its production and premiered on China TV.

When it first aired, because of Tang Yigong + the signature of martial arts dramas, the ratings broke through 5-this is the standard for popular dramas.

When Guo Jing returned to the Central Plains and met Huang Rong, the peak real-time ratings broke 10 that day.

Since then, the ratings have been rising all the way, until one-third of the broadcast, the average ratings have broken 15, tying the record for the highest average ratings of domestic TV dramas in the past ten years.

You know, there are more and more entertainment projects now, and the TV ratings are declining every year. In previous years, the ratings of TV dramas breaking ten is already a phenomenon.

This year's new drama king "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" can be described as a hit among the hits.

The ratings only count the number of viewers, and another index calculated by the survey, the target audience, can better explain its popularity——

Nearly 80% of the watching households are usually busy with work or entertainment and do not watch TV. Because of this TV series, they sat back in front of the TV.

A piece of news is a good proof of this point——

In a mahjong parlor in a certain place, at the same time as "Shooting the Condors", the number of people playing mahjong was almost cut in half; in order to draw people back, the boss moved the TV to the hall to play "Shooting the Condors", unexpectedly the rest of the people also played mahjong. They are all in a pit, and they can't come out to watch TV at home, and the mahjong parlor has become deserted...

The attractiveness of this martial arts drama can be seen.

Anyway, even Wang and Shen's families fell into the trap.

Everyone watched episode after episode on TV and felt uncomfortable, so Shen Zhenyi went directly to Dunhuang to "urge the update".

Then, she took the "sample" home from the company, and the whole family watched the rest of the episodes in one go, bubbling with joy.

Other viewers, however, were not so happy.

While they can't stand the 10 minutes of commercials between the two episodes-advertisers are screaming and running commercials-while they can't wait for the follow-up plot.

Then, they were pleasantly surprised to find that a book was published for this series.

Compared with the late 70s and early 80s when martial arts reached its peak, the total number of people who are still willing to read books in this era is definitely less.

In particular, as the older generation of masters withered away, there were no hard-to-find martial arts novels anymore.

Until the appearance of the "Legend of the Condor Heroes" book.

Orders from all over the world came like snowflakes!
Dunhuang and related publishing houses were all laughing from ear to ear, but the audience who got the book cursed——

The novel is actually published in separate volumes, and the currently published content is the content that has already been broadcast, what a fucking profiteer!
However, the denunciation of "profiteers" does not affect the continued sales of the book - it is good to review it again, and there are more details in the book.

This level of popularity naturally brings in a lot of money.

Before the TV show was halfway through, other TV stations that bought the rights to the second round of screenings flooded in; while Huaxia TV wanted to buy all the broadcasting rights in China in a package, but Lao Wang's asking price...

The ones who benefited, of course, were the main and supporting actors.

The characters in the play, from Guo Jing and Huang Rong to the old urchin Huang Yaoshi Hong Qigong, quickly became popular one by one.

Especially Huang Rong's actor, who is just a newcomer, has become an instant hit and has become a well-known Xiaohuadan all over the country!

——It is conceivable how many actors in the industry want to fight for a role in Dunhuang.

In short, starting from June, a wave of martial arts has revived, making this summer even hotter.

Many famous martial arts masters in the past said that "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" led the martial arts culture into a new peak period.

Large and small film and television companies have stepped up their approval of martial arts film and television projects.

Because the novel was rumored to be created collectively, everyone immediately turned their attention to director Tang Yigong, the martial arts trend shaper——

Then he rejected them all!
The reason is to prepare for retirement.

Well, after all, the old man is over 60 years old, and it is a kind of wisdom to retreat bravely, and everyone can understand it.

However, before everyone sent their blessings, he "repented" again——

He plans to continue to cooperate with Dunhuang to produce two martial arts dramas!
"..."

The companies that had invited him couldn't help cursing—is this called retirement?So Dunhuang is a nursing home, right?

As everyone knows, Tang Yigong is also suffering in his heart——

He had really planned to retire.

However, that kid Wang Wei was too cunning, and before he could say anything, he produced two new novels - "The Legend of Condor Heroes" and "The Legend of Yitian Slaying the Dragon".

For hardcore martial arts fans like Tang Yigong, I'll go, it's actually the follow-up of "The World of the Condor", and it's not as exciting as it sounds.

— Cough, am I, Tang Yigong, the kind of person who never ends?Since I "created" this world, it is my responsibility to prevent it from collapsing.

Just like that, the old man hastily postponed his retirement plan.

Lao Xu, who is also a TV producer, applauded Wang Wei's "fishing technique"-"Binding Tang Yigong, in the vertical category of martial arts dramas, Dunhuang can maintain its glory for at least ten years."

But Wang Wei said: "It's too cruel for him to bind the old man for ten years."

Not cruel because you can't retire, but—

Judging from the current situation, it is not bad that martial arts dramas can still have a glorious period of five years.

As mentioned earlier, the Internet era has arrived. In this era of "rampant" sand sculptures, the young audiences faced by TV dramas have changed a lot compared to before.

It can be seen from the audience of "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" this time-almost half of the audience are middle-aged people born in the golden age of martial arts. To some extent, they watch "The Condor Heroes" as "Ye Qing" back".

But martial arts dramas cannot always rely on "gnawing the old" to maintain their glory.

When the sand sculpture culture of young people catches up with the traditional martial arts culture, those who have witnessed the "growth of a serious martial arts hero" are still there, but the world is not the same.

What young people like to watch may be the anti-routine and sand sculpture "Road to Hero Growth".

It's not just martial arts dramas, many traditional genres need to go through the pain of being deconstructed.

After all, times change so fast!

……

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(End of this chapter)