Acting school started in 1998

Chapter 171 Ask
There are two types of suspense films. One is that there is a clear ending at the end;

This "Harmonica" by Cheng Er, uh, let's call it "Harmonica" for the time being, it is obviously the second type.The first draft of the script that Li Tang got from Cheng Er was actually the main line of the script.

With the main line, the next modification is to improve the grinding details of the branch lines.For a movie, it is particularly important to perfect the branch line and polish the details, and it can even directly determine the quality of the movie and the audience's enthusiasm for watching the movie.

For example, Li Tang watched a suspense film "The Gone Girl" directed by David Fincher and starring Da Ben and Rosamund Pei in his previous life.The main line of this movie is nothing more than a middle-aged literary man cheating on his husband and revenge on his elegant black-bellied wife.

If this kind of plot is put in a mainland TV series, it must be a pool of blood, but David Fincher has turned this bloody plot into a feast of heavy taste through perfect side plots and polishing of details.

Li Tang still feels a little creepy in retrospect. Whoever meets such a woman is considered unlucky. I hope that the woman he meets will never be that black-bellied Amy.

In fact, the main line of "Harmonica" is not complicated, that is, a terminally ill girl fell in love with her brother-in-law, and then became obsessed with the truth about her parents' murder, and then regarded her brother-in-law as the murderer.The whole plot revolves around whether the brother-in-law is the murderer.

Cheng Er has been polishing this script for a long time, and it is not unprepared.For example, today he brought another subplot, that is, He Wei, an accident evaluator of an insurance company, had an accident while driving on a secluded road and hit a little girl riding a bicycle.

Without hesitation, He Wei picked up the little girl who fell on the ground and drove straight to the hospital.However, the little girl's examination results showed that it was not caused by the car collision, but a small tumor hidden in the brain caused sudden syncope.

Facing his daughter's situation, the little girl's father didn't know whether to scold He Wei or thank him, but He Wei promised to use his convenience in accident assessment to help the little girl get a large sum of money from the insurance company. The cost of treatment, which the little girl's father was grateful for.

On the surface, this subplot gives people the impression that He Wei is a good person, paving the way for him to be a devil later; on the other hand, it also describes that he really wants to be a good person.

But at a deeper level, it can also explain the contradictory, complicated, and even disguised and insidious qualities of the character He Wei.

From this plot, Xiao Ke discovered that her brother-in-law He Wei took her life-saving medicine, but it was actually for a little girl who also suffered from a brain tumor. This was a misunderstanding.But did Xiao Ke think that his brother-in-law killed his parents because of a misunderstanding?

There is also the character Lin Mo, which seems a bit abrupt at first glance, but after careful scrutiny, it can be considered that Lin Mo is the third person invented by Xiao Ke.

These can all be deliberated on the lines. For example, when Xiao Ke confessed to Lin Mo, he said: "Maybe your age is about the same as my brother-in-law."

In addition, Xiao Ke met Lin Mo and found that the things lost when his parents were killed were in Lin Mo's house, but Lin Mo said that the things were given by He Wei.It is impossible to have so many coincidences in real life, which only shows that everything is Xiao Ke's imagination.

Her brother-in-law He Wei was the most important person in Xiao Ke's mind, and the death of her parents was the greatest psychological trauma in her life, so when she passed away, the two were connected.Just like He Wei, after frankly confessing to Xiao Ke that he killed Xiao's parents, he asked in the last sentence: "Have you got the satisfaction you imagined?"

The "imagination" in this line obviously implies that he made up the story of killing Xiao's parents to match Xiao Ke's imagination.

And there is still a catch in the whole plot, that is, Xiao Ke only found the silver frame at Lin Mo's house, so what about the watch that was lost when his parents were killed?Can it be understood that the murderer is not He Wei and Lin Mo, and there is a possibility that there is a third person?

For several days, Li Tang was arguing with Cheng Er about various details of the script. Unlike Cheng Er, who was from the perspective of the creator, Li Tang was more from the perspective of the audience than from the perspective of an actor.There are many reasons that Cheng Er was dumbfounded. Who made him read a lot of movies in his previous life? Moreover, among the many cults in North America and Europe, the most indispensable are this kind of murder, suspense, brain-burning, ethics, humanity, and strong women. , violence and other elements.

It can only be said that Cheng Er's book is still full of avant-garde in China at present, but it does not meet the mainstream viewing needs of domestic audiences, and more meets the appetite of Westerners.

Cheng Er's writing style is indeed very strong. For example, he can easily write the lines that Xiao Ke said to Lin Mo: "Why do we always have to go around in circles? Why can't we just talk about the main points? I just met you in the morning and came to you in the evening. Your family, you don’t know why, right? Because I’m lonely, because I have expectations for you. You know the answer, but you still have to ask. When eating at noon, the surroundings are very noisy, but I still lose my mind. It's quiet because I'm thinking of you!"

The meaning reflected in this line is that when a person likes another person, it always takes a lot of circles to get to the point, but Xiao Ke is dying, she doesn't want to waste time, and doesn't want to say some useless nonsense , she directly expressed that she likes Lin Mo.

Look, listening to this makes people feel distressed and regretful, and is moved by her frank and affectionate feelings, and it is also very literary.It's much better than Lou Ye's cloudy vernacular.

The communication, exchanges, and even disputes between the two continued until the afternoon of the sixth day. After reading the script that had been revised countless times and finally finalized, Li Tang closed the screen of his laptop with satisfaction, and said to Cheng Er with a smile: "It's definitely OK this time!"

It's just that as soon as his voice fell, the two of them fell into silence at the same time.

The script is finished, so what then?

Making a movie is not an easy task. With Cheng Er's reputation and qualifications, it is impossible for Shanghai Film Studio to invest in him, let alone such a non-mainstream script.

If you want to make your own movie, you have to make money first, and then you have to be famous, so that investors will be willing to invest in your movie.

Now these so-called sixth-generation directors in China are all following this path.

Jia Kechang is the best example. He first defrauded 1 yuan in the name of shooting an advertisement, and made a short film "Xiaoshan Going Home", which won the gold medal in the Hong Kong Video Video Short Film Contest.Then he used a script of "Tender Is the Night" to go to Hong Kong to shoot "Xiao Wu" with an investment of 20 yuan.

Everyone knows the following story. "Xiao Wu" shined at the Berlin Film Festival, won the Forum Unit Award, sold the copyrights of several countries, and made a lot of money.

When Jia Kechang wanted to make "Platform", film studios from France and Japan rushed to invest in him.Of course, Director Jia did not disappoint these filmmakers, not only was shortlisted for the main competition unit of the 57th Venice International Film Festival that just concluded last month, but also won an Asian Film Promotion Alliance Award.

A literary film like this with an investment of only tens of millions, as long as it can be shortlisted in the three major European film festivals, generally speaking, it will definitely not lose money, and if you are lucky, you can make a lot of money.Moreover, an excellent literary film will have stable copyright income for several years or even ten years in the future.

There is also Lou Ye, with the success of "Suzhou Creek", he has become a hot director in the field of domestic literary films. The only pity is that "Suzhou Creek" was banned from directing for five years because of the violation of regulations.

Fortunately, it is said that the current official attitude has been relaxed. After all, China's accession to the WTO is already underway, and it will officially enter the WTO next year without any accidents. Film is one of the items in the opening of the service industry.Therefore, the international image must be considered, and the unscrupulous suppression can no longer be done like in the past.

As for why Jiang Wen, the director of "The Devil Is Coming" who won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival this year, was banned, it is because the film itself is seriously inconsistent with the domestic theme film in terms of conception and value. It touched the sensitive nerves of Xiaotian and aroused Xiaotian's protest.

Although Lou Ye is still in the directing ban period, one thing is for sure. With the success of "Suzhou River", as long as he lifts the ban and comes back and wants to make a movie, then he doesn't have to worry about investment at all. At that time, some filmmakers will also come to the pole. Send money to your door.

But the fledgling Cheng Er does not have this treatment, or because he has never proved himself, he does not have the qualifications.

Why did Li Tang work so hard in the past few days? At first, he might have nothing to do, but after reading the first draft, he was inevitably a little moved. With more in-depth speculation these days, he liked He Wei more and more. Role.

But when I arrived, I found out that there was nothing to be happy about, and it was useless to shoot without money!

After a while, he asked dryly, "How much does it cost to make this film?"

Cheng Er probably thought about it early in the morning, and blurted out: "It's estimated to be a million."

But Li Tang shook his head and said, "It's definitely more than 100 million, maybe it has to be doubled."

He has experience in this. When Lou Ye filmed "Suzhou River", the initial budget was only more than 100 million yuan, but the money was not enough for the filming. In the end, Li Tang heard from Naian that it took a total of more than 200 million yuan to complete it. of.

But thinking of Naian, Li Tang's heart suddenly moved, wondering if he should go to Naian and see if she has any investment intentions.It just reminds me that Naian has been pregnant for more than seven months now, I don't know if she still has the energy.

He hesitated and said, "Otherwise, I'll ask you later."

Cheng Er's eyes lit up when he heard it, and he hurriedly said, "Brother Li, in fact, I wrote the character He Wei in your image from the very beginning."

The biggest problem Cheng Er faces when he wants to make a movie is that he has no money and no connections, but Li Tang is different. He is now a well-known actor, and his connections must be much wider than him.And his words are not fooling Li Tang. When he wrote the character of He Wei, he did subconsciously refer to Li Tang's character image.Because Li Tang seems to be the only actor he is familiar with who is closer to the character of He Wei.

Hearing Cheng Er's words, Li Tang looked at Cheng Er's expectant eyes again, and couldn't help being stunned: Hey, didn't you mean social fear, why are you so good at talking?
However, Li Tang still took the vaccination in advance: "I can only say to help you ask now, you must not have too much hope, lest you will be disappointed in time."

　The first!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)