director of the millennium

Chapter 17 Finished film, fixed file, film festival

After the warm birthday celebration on the first day of filming, the atmosphere among the cast members became much more harmonious.

The filming of "The Night the Comet Came" was also on the fast track.

Although this book has a lot of contradictions and interlaced time and space, it is actually not difficult to shoot in the case of sequential filming.

In the original work, a new director, three staff members, and eight little-known actors were able to finish the film in five nights.

There is no reason why the high-profile version of Wu Yuan couldn't finish filming the movie within seven days.

In fact, the shooting cycle he set is still too loose.

Except for some bumps in the first two days of shooting, the shooting in the next few nights was smooth beyond imagination.

Wu Yuan repeats every day starting shooting, NGing, telling scenes, shooting again, sending films for development, watching films...

It only took Wu Yuan 6 days and 30 working hours to complete all the filming of this movie.

Mr. Han made a mistake in his judgment. Wu Yuan actually spent nearly 30 yuan to complete the movie.

The remuneration of the actors and staff didn't cost much, and it didn't cost much to rent the small western-style building for a week, which added up to more than 6 yuan.

The bulk of the real money was spent on film.

Although the feature film of "The Night the Comet Came" was expected to be only 80-90 minutes long, Wu Yuan used 200 boxes of film when filming!
Although Wu Yuan did not waste film randomly like a pure new director.

However, because of the repetitive plot of "The Night the Comet Came" itself requires a large number of repeated shots, the film's supporting-film ratio is still around 1:9.

By the way, the film-to-film ratio of Hollywood, which has a relatively mature film and television industry system, can reach about 1:20. You can imagine how much film you need to buy.

And there is even worse news. In just half a year, because of the market-oriented policy of the film, the film market has also become bullish.

Nowadays, a box of 400-foot film costs more than 800, and this is the internal price of the film factory!
Just 200 boxes of film cost 18 yuan, plus the processing fee, a total of 20 yuan was spent on the film.

In addition to renting filming equipment, purchasing some props, and setting up scenes, the entire movie cost a little more than 28 yuan to shoot!
Fortunately, this budget is still within Wu Yuan's psychological expectations.

He also didn't deliberately waste money just because Han Sanye approved a budget of 50 yuan, let alone fill his own pockets with 8000 yuan a straw hat.

Producer Chen Yuan, who was with the whole process, saw Wu Yuan's sophisticated shooting techniques and frugal spending, and was satisfied with having a closing banquet with everyone, so he returned to China Film to return to Director Han. .

Of course, because Wu Yuan carried out the money-saving behavior to the end, he didn't plan to hire an editor to do the editing, but planned to go back to school and use the school's editing room to edit the film himself, so there was no need for Chen Yuan to keep staring at Wu Yuan.

After having a break-up meal with the actors and sending out a few red envelopes for the finale, Wu Yuan also took several boxes of finished film materials, went back to school and went straight into the editing room.

Although the school's editing equipment models are relatively old, this is not a special effects blockbuster, so the equipment is sufficient.

The most important thing is that these devices are free!

Seeing that half of the starring actors in "The Night the Comet Came" were Beijing Film Academy students, and the director was a current student, Director Xie tried his best to give Wu Yuan the green light, and even found a junior from the school's photography department. Play second fiddle to Wu Yuan and call it social practice!

In this way, the two of them spend all their time in the editing room editing films every day except for eating and sleeping.

Fortunately, it is summer vacation and there is plenty of time.

It took more than half a month, and with the full efforts of the two of them, Wu Yuan finally cut out the film.

The total film is 92 minutes, 3 minutes longer than the original version, but it reduces about 15 minutes of casual chatting and adds nearly 20 minutes of dramatic conflicts and contradictions!
Compared with the original version, Wu Yuan's edited version of "The Night the Comet Came" has greatly improved its commercial potential.

I don’t dare to say that there are no tears in the whole process, but the suspense and exciting atmosphere almost runs through the entire film, and Zhang Chi’s control is also very good. It can be regarded as a qualified commercial suspense movie!

Holding this newly cut copy disc, Wu Yuan couldn't wait to find Mr. Han and asked him to watch the final film.

In a screening room of the China Film Building, Han Sanye and Chen Yuan accompanied Wu Yuan to watch the finished film.

In the 92-minute movie, Han Sanye didn't say a word from the beginning to the end. He didn't let out a long sigh of relief until the whole movie ended: "Well done!"

"This will be a movie that brings a new experience to domestic audiences!"

"There has never been a movie with this kind of theme in Chinese-language movies before. This is an epoch-making work!"

Does "The Night the Comet Came" really deserve this praise?
To be honest, even if Wu Yuan has already made an adaptation, the experimental nature of the original film is reduced and the commercial nature is strengthened.

But this movie is really not a novelty movie.

Hollywood has been playing with the theme of parallel time and space and parallel worlds since the 90s and [-]s, and has also shot many excellent time-space suspense blockbusters.

This is not a very new subject.

This movie is excellent in terms of setting and plot. It uses as little space as possible and uses themes that would only be used in science fiction blockbusters.

But this is viewed from the perspective of the world film industry.

If the scope is narrowed down to mainland movie circles.

What themes are being shot in mainland movies now?
It's a local film like "My Father and Mother", a romantic comedy like "See You or Separate", a martial arts film like "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", and a satirical film like "The Devil Is Coming".

Or realistic movies like "Platform", "Get in the Car" and "Silent River".

Science fiction?Suspense?Parallel time and space?

No director has ever made a film of this type.

And precisely in Hollywood, movies of this kind are part of the mainstream blockbusters among commercial movies!

Han Sanye, as the main helmsman in promoting the development of the mainland film market, what he most hopes to see is that mainland movies can flourish like Hollywood, with various themes, large and small films competing for splendor!
After the establishment of China Film Group, the first thing he did was to promote director Zhang Yimou to make a real mainland blockbuster, a film that catches up with the international blockbuster level!

The project is now in its early stages of preparation.

At this time, Wu Yuan's "The Night the Comet Came" appeared.

Although this movie is not a blockbuster, it is definitely a movie that is more "commercial" than other current mainland movies!

Although the cost of this movie is only 30, it has the classic three-act structure of commercial movies.

From the beginning to the setting of the characters and then to the establishment of the theme by the passing of the comet, important transformation events occur, dramatic scenes appear, confrontations and quarrels occur one after another, and finally the heroine falls into the soul choice, the climax of the story occurs, the theme is sublimated, leaving a thought-provoking ending.

It sounds simple, but it is true that before Wu Yuan, no one in the mainland has made such a commercial film.

For the sixth and fifth generation directors, such movies are too "simple" and have no artistic value at all, so they cannot be called good movies.

But the Chinese film industry needs movies like this to enrich the spiritual life of the public!

Yangchun Baixue's art is too high-end, and the realistic themes are too heavy. Ordinary people who have just escaped from poverty can't really appreciate it.

After watching "The Night the Comet Came", Han Sanye slapped his thigh excitedly, thinking in his heart, this movie can be used to test the Chinese commercial film market!

Although he wants to make a commercial blockbuster with an investment of hundreds of millions, he has no idea in his heart, and he is afraid that the market will not be able to accept this kind of commercial film!

Now there is "The Night the Comet Came" to test the waters first, to see the market response, to see the public's acceptance and box office response to this kind of commercial film. It will also be very helpful for Mr. Han's blockbuster plan!

"Classmate Xiaoyuan, I think this movie has gone very well. When do you plan to release it?" Mr. Han asked impatiently.

There is no timetable for movies to be released these days, and the only one that can be called a popular one is the Lunar New Year file that was just opened two years ago.

Even during the Lunar New Year period, there are usually only two or three movies released, and the market is pitifully small.

Naturally, Wu Yuan didn't plan to go to celebrate the new year.

This year's Lunar New Year file includes "Happy Time" directed by Zhang Yimou, "Defensive Counterattack" starring Zeng Weiwei, "A Family of Exams" starring Song Dandan, "What a Big Surprise" starring Yuan Li, and a cannon fodder movie "Beautiful Home" .

In my memory, the box office of this year's Lunar New Year market was very dismal. Zhang Yimou's "Happy Time" only had a box office of 550 million, and he was scolded for his exhaustion.

In the Lunar New Year file, the highest-grossing movie was 550 million, which shows the dismal movie market this year.

September is not suitable either. There is a movie to be released in September this year, Feng Xiaogang's "A Sigh"!
This is the great director who created the Lunar New Year movie in Mainland China. His film has a very high public base. If Wu Yuan chooses to release it in September, he really won't be able to attract audiences to watch it.

Today's audiences haven't had the luxury to watch two movies in a row in a month. Between Feng Xiaogang and the unknown Wu Yuan, the audience will only choose Feng Xiaogang!
"It will be released in October, at least there is a National Day holiday." Wu Yuan said with a smile.

"October?" Mr. Han frowned.

Nowadays, there is no such thing as a National Day holiday. During the National Day holiday, most people who have money in their pockets choose to travel instead of going to the cinema to watch movies.

"Let's choose October, it will be released on October [-]st." Wu Yuan shrugged and said, "Since we want to cultivate the habit of going to the cinema to watch movies in the audience, we must choose holidays, at least the National Day has seven days off, everyone can't Are you playing outside for seven days?"

"If we can spare a day to go to the cinema to watch a movie, that is our victory."

"Mainland movies can't always focus on one Lunar New Year slot. Hollywood still has five major slots!"

"By the way, Director Han." Wu Yuan thought for a while and said, "I want to take this film to the Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival at the end of September."

"I think there is still a market for this movie abroad, and it can be sold!"

　The original version of "The Night the Comet Came" is not a commercial film, only an experimental film. However, the protagonist used his 20 years of rich experience in watching movies to add some commercial elements to the film.

　　
　　"Hero" is a commercial film with a classic three-act structure. The whole story can be summed up in one sentence, that is, the assassin assassinates the king, and finally gives up when the assassination is about to succeed, which is very dramatic.

　　What makes this movie awesome is not how awesome the plot itself is, but that this movie has ushered in the era of commercial blockbusters in the mainland. Some people in the mainland dare to be the first in the world to make commercial blockbusters!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)