Who are you calling powerful?.

Chapter 652: Slow and steady work, fine work - "Chi Le Chuan"

With the arrival of 2018, all the children were born, and Wei Yang's long-postponed "Chi Le Chuan" was officially restarted.

In fact, although the filming of this drama has been temporarily suspended over the past year, a lot of preparations have been going on.

Because it was delayed for a year, the foundation of "Chi Le Chuan" has become even deeper.

The script has been better polished, the costumes and props have been prepared more carefully and meticulously, and even the actors can be selected slowly. Some of them have also received a certain degree of training, and other aspects have also been given ample time to be polished.

Only slow work can produce fine work!
Although this statement is not absolute in the film and television industry, it is not without reason. Many classic works take several years or even longer from creation to completion.

For example, the success of the "Joy of Life" series is more or less due to this factor.

It was okay in the first part, Wei Yang had a cheat.

The second and third parts are semi-original, but they were still successful because they relied on the abundant funds and relatively sufficient time brought by the success of the first part.

It looks like a three-year trilogy, but in fact it was a top team that focused most of their attention on the entire project of "Joy of Life" during those years.

Shooting two or three films in a row ostensibly saves the actors and crew time for filming, but the time saved is spent on preparatory work and post-production.

Blue Whale has produced many excellent works over the years since its establishment, but the project "Joy of Life" has always been of extraordinary significance.

Not to mention the achievements and contributions to the company, behind the scenes, it is precisely because of the training of the "Joy of Life" trilogy that the production team of Blue Whale has become completely mature and reached its peak. It can also be said that this is the project in which Blue Whale has invested the most energy and emotion so far.

In fact, because the time period of "Joy of Life" is long enough and the project scale is large, almost all Blue Whale employees have dealt with this project to some extent.

This is something that most projects cannot compare to. After Wei Yang took over Blue Whale, only the early entrepreneurial project "My Love from the Star" received this treatment.

When filming "The East Palace", Blue Whale had already developed and had more than one project on hand, so it was not a full company mobilization.

Nowadays, as Blue Whale grows in size and has more and more people, I am afraid that the grand occasions of the two projects "My Love from the Star" and "Joy of Life" cannot be replicated.

The investment in "Chi Le Chuan" is huge and involves a large number of people, but it will only involve about 20% to 35% of Blue Whale.

Don’t think it’s too little, he’s only got Boss Wei, it would be great if others could get 10%.

There is no other way. Blue Whale is now involved in dozens of projects of all sizes throughout the year. There are so many people and resources involved. All of them are gathered in one project. Even with Boss Wei in charge, it will be overcrowded.

Boss Wei didn't intend for everyone to flatter him. The existing staff and resources were enough, and there was even a bit of waste.

However, slow work produces fine work + strength in numbers

It is an exaggeration to say that all aspects of "Chi Le Chuan", especially the behind-the-scenes aspects, are the best in history, but at this stage, or even going back ten or twenty years, there are few rivals.

Of course, costs also soared as a result, and the budget for "Chi Le Chuan" was changed three times.

The initial investment plan of 3 million yuan later increased to 4 million yuan, and now it is 5 to 5.5 million yuan.

This investment is absolutely top-notch in the field of small screens, and it is very likely to be the first in recent years.

As for the rumors that Penguin invested 4 million to shoot "Ever Night", 4.5 million to shoot "Fights Break Sphere", and 4 million to shoot "The Qin Empire", just listen to them.

As for publicity, those who understand will understand!

4.5 million yuan was enough to make a film like "Fighting Horses"? Did the crew spend 2 million yuan on fodder?

The investment of over 5 million yuan for "Chi Le Chuan" is real, and when it is promoted, it may reach 6 million or even 8 million yuan.

With such a high cost, Boss Wei still took the lead in reducing film pay, and personally only received 5000 million in film pay + a symbolic dividend.

You know, it is rumored online that Mr. Zhou received 9000 million yuan for filming "Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace", and Wallace Huo's pay was more than 5000 million yuan.

Putting aside Boss Wei's personal status and wealth, even considering his influence on the small screen and box office appeal, 5000 million, multiplied several times, is not excessive.

There is no other way, I have to reduce it!

There were too many people invited, and if they really wanted to pay them, even a few hundred million would not be enough. In order to control the filming funds, Boss Wei had to take the lead in reducing them.

Even so, he is the largest investor, and it actually feels a bit like taking off pants to fart, but at least he has an excuse.

As for other actors, they participated in "Chi Le Chuan" more for gilding their resumes, becoming famous, and giving face to boss Wei, so their pay was negotiable.

Even so, the scattered film remuneration and related budgets added up to nearly 200 million, which made Boss Wei very upset.

That’s what the entertainment industry is like, it makes a lot of money, but it spends money even more!
If things continue like this, it is hard to say whether there will be a fourth budget. After all, there are many war scenes in the later part of "Chi Le Chuan". It is very expensive to shoot this kind of thing well, and it is difficult to control the cost.

Fortunately, we have Boss Wei in charge and PPTV to back us up, so we will definitely not lose money. How much we can earn depends on luck.

Although Wei Yang has been very busy recently, he still attaches great importance to "Chi Le Chuan" and even took time out to attend the crew's seminar.

...

Blue Whale, Meeting Room

The executive producer skillfully opened the PPT and began to introduce information related to "Chi Le Chuan". Some of the people present knew about it before, and some was new information. Everyone listened very carefully.

"Chi Le Chuan is expected to be filmed in 60 episodes, divided into three phases, and the ideal situation is to have one phase every 20 episodes."

"In the first stage, Gao Huan rose to prominence. He started out as a small soldier at the city gate and joined the Erzhu Rong Group after years of hard work. He became an important core member and guarded one side."

"The second stage, reaching the peak, Erzhu Rong died, Gao Huan was ambitious and began to establish himself, defeating all opponents, and eventually became the prime minister of Eastern Wei and the overlord of the north, looking at the world with a covetous eye."

"In the third stage, the two heroes competed. Gao Huan marched westward and fought many battles with Yuwen Tai. Both won and lost. In the end, he was defeated at Yubi City. The hero died in his twilight years."

The classic three-part structure is very common in dramas, and many TV series and movies are also shot this way.

For example, Wang Pangzi’s "Chasing the Dragon" mentioned earlier, and the later popular "Kuang Kuang".

Rise – Peak – End

If you look closely at the development of their characters, they are similar to the current "Chi Le Chuan", which can also be regarded as a major routine of biography.

But as I said, it doesn't matter if the routine is old, as long as it works. Gao Huan's story fits the three-part structure, and it won't be good if you use another routine.

Wei Yang himself is the chief screenwriter of this project, and he also decided on the three-part structure.

It is perfect from the screenwriter's perspective, but from the actor's perspective, the three-part structure also means that the actors have to play from teenagers/young adults to middle-aged people, and then from middle-aged people to old age. The time span is large, and the characters change a lot, which is a test of the actors' skills.

Wei Yang still had these concerns in the early years, but now he is much better, this is the confidence brought by the improvement of acting skills. In the past, he was worried about the temperament of middle-aged and elderly people, but now Wei Yang is worried that he is full of vicissitudes of life, can he still perform the vigor of youth?
However, Gao Huan himself was a hero, and even though he was young he should have a calm temperament and be more mature.

Everyone had a general understanding of the plot, and the executive producer didn't say much, and began to introduce the costumes and props.

The play "Chi Le Chuan" belongs to the Southern and Northern Dynasties, and it happens to be at the node of dynasty change, so a lot of information is quite mixed.

Under the guidance of historical consultants, the crew also took into account art and current aesthetics and did not blindly pursue historical restoration.

Instead, they crammed costumes and accessories from the late Northern Wei Dynasty, the Eastern and Western Wei Dynasty, the Northern Qi Dynasty, and the early and middle Northern Zhou Dynasty into the play, and then picked out the good-looking ones. After all, it's only a few decades of history in total, so it's normal for there to be some connections.

In the late Northern Wei Dynasty, the plots showed clothing items with the characteristics of the early Northern Zhou Dynasty, which may be the embryo of this popular style.

The plot of the late Eastern Wei Dynasty features clothing and items from the late Northern Wei Dynasty, which can be considered retro.

This is not illogical. Many clothes from the Republic of China had the rudiments of modern clothing characteristics, and more modern people like Hanfu.

Wei Yang's filming works have always been practical. Under his influence, the costumes and props of Blue Whale will be in line with history rather than a rigid restoration of history.

Not all historical objects and costumes conform to modern aesthetics.

Marketing accounts all praise our ancestors’ vision and craftsmanship. That’s because no one cares about the things our ancestors were “blind to sight and blind to craft”. If you look more closely, you’ll find quite a few ugly things.

For example, many clothing items from the Northern and Southern Dynasties do not conform to modern aesthetics, and some of them look "Japanese style".

This is not surprising, as many things in Japan were passed down during the Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties and the Tang Dynasty.

It's just that everyone is more familiar with the Tang Dynasty, so they can tell the difference apart, but in fact the Northern and Southern Dynasties were copied more heavily by Japan. Japan's tall hats, long robes, and many strange buns were all popular costumes in the Northern and Southern Dynasties.

To the extent that Wei Yang was always worried about whether he should adopt some clothes that would be easier to confuse.

No need for that. I think the Japanese are getting a free ride and we should promote our own culture more.

Use it, but I'm afraid some audiences won't be able to accept it. After all, it goes against many people's perception of ancient costumes, and some people may mess up the rhythm.

Moreover, the restoration of clothing is somewhat subjective and it is difficult to guarantee that it is exactly the same. Not only do you have to study yourself, but you also have to be careful to avoid "original" works from Japan. If there are any mistakes or omissions, you will be labeled as a "pro-Japanese" person, which is a thankless task.

So it’s not that easy to make a good drama.

Just the costumes and props cannot restore history, but not restoring history is also not enough. There are also some other risks.

There is a reason why Wei Yang personally prefers to shoot fictional works.

As long as it's a fictional story, I can praise the costumes and props as I please. Some people who want to find fault with it will have no basis at all. After all, it's a fictional dynasty, so I can make it up however I want.

This time for "Chi Le Chuan", Wei Yang did not plan to put too much effort into the marketing of costumes and props, and just stopped at the right point to avoid a bunch of history fans nitpicking with a magnifying glass.

Not only the costumes and props, but the plot of "Chi Le Chuan" is not completely consistent with history.

The general direction is the same, but many details of the plot and characters have been handled accordingly.

After all, it is impossible to condense decades of history into a 60-episode TV series to cover every detail.

Many unnecessary plot details can be cut out, and the same goes for some characters, even one or two characters are mixed together.

For example, Wang Sizheng, this guy is actually very awesome. He was the one who built the Yubi City that made Gao Huan extremely happy. He was also the first general to defend it. Later, he guarded Hongnong and even played the "empty city plan". Later, he guarded Henan and was captured during the siege.

However, this character has many highlights, but they have little to do with the main storyline, so there is no need for this character to appear.

Wei Xiaokuan, who is related to Wang Sizheng, only appears later, but as the final boss guarding the gate of "Chi Le Chuan", he naturally needs some characterization.

But Wei Xiaokuan's early career was not very outstanding, or had little connection with the main storyline.

What should we do? We can’t just let Wei Xiaokuan, who had no presence in the past, pop up in the last few episodes and beat Gao Huan, the protagonist, all at once.

Although this is indeed what happened in history, you can't shoot a TV series like this, you have to lay the groundwork.

Therefore, "Chi Le Chuan" cut out the character of Wang Sizheng and put some of his early highlights on Wei Xiaokuan.

Although Wei Xiaokuan still does not appear much, some plots portray this man as resourceful, strong-willed, disciplined, and good at defending cities.

Let the audience understand that this person is very awesome, but has not had a good opportunity to show his talents, so he is like a latent dragon in the abyss.

So, when he finally appeared and madly beat up the protagonist Gao Huan, everyone felt uncomfortable, but it was understandable.

Another reason is that there are too many characters in the TV series and the audience can't remember them.

Therefore, many historical dramas do this, focusing the plot on the core and important supporting characters as much as possible.

Not only Wang Sizheng was cut from "Chi Le Chuan". Only five or six of the Eight Pillars of the Northern Zhou Dynasty appeared in the film, and only three or four of them appeared frequently.

The Eight Friends of Huaishuo in Gao Huan's history also mainly revolve around four people with interesting plots.

Wei Jing: Brother-in-law + confidant
Sima Ziru: A trusted adviser and also a half-black glove

Liu Gui: The key to Gao Huan's surrender to Erzhu Rong

Hou Jing: The Great General of the Universe, the Righteous General

As for the others, they either appear twice to join in the fun, or live in other people's lines.

In addition, Hulu Jin, who defected to Gao Huan after Erzhu Rong's death, also appeared in advance. He was regarded as Gao Huan's good brother in his hometown. This made the final singing of "Chi Le Chuan" more emotional.

This is not a fabricated story. Huaishuo Town, where Gao Huan was born, is in Shuozhou, and Hulu Jin was from Shuozhou.

It is possible that the two really knew each other in history, and they got together because they were from the same hometown.

In short, many details and historical changes are still significant, and they are more for the purpose of serving the plot of the TV series and the audience's perception.

After all, real history is often not as romantic and legendary as everyone thinks.

Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei never became sworn brothers. Historically, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were just Liu Bei's subordinates. They were gradually discovered and reused as the war went on, and they were only treated as brothers. In fact, they were still king and subject.

But what people like more and talk about more is the brotherhood between Liu, Guan and Zhang in Taoyuan.

TV dramas should be more artistically processed, making the characters in history books vivid and their deeds interesting, so that they will be liked by the public and gain commercial benefits...

(End of this chapter)