This director needs to apologize

Chapter 165: Waiting and watching the unknown future
After Chen Yiming finished speaking, he threw away the pen, made another pot of tea, leaned on the back of the chair and crossed his legs to drink tea.

Da Zhuang picked up the piece of paper and stared at it in trance. After a while, he got up and went to get a pen and paper. He scratched various shapes on the paper, muttering to himself as he scratched.

Ten minutes later, Da Zhuang raised his head and said, "Yi Ming, I made a rough estimate. With an investment of over ten million, the choices for actors, scenes, service methods, etc. are very limited. Correspondingly, the script and director The requirements will be very high.

At the same time, with a limited budget, special effects can only be spared. Will the audience be willing to buy tickets and go to the cinema to watch the TV series? "

Chen Yiming smiled and clapped his hands, "Master Teng, isn't he very accurate in grasping the future trend? This will really be the case in the future. Junk movies will be made as TV series, and high-quality TV series will be made as movies.

Movies can be held as charity screenings, free to watch for free, and TV series can also be held as VVVIP. If you want to watch them, you have to recharge your membership three times. "

Ma Yuteng only thought that Chen Yiming was joking, "Yiming, I'm serious. I don't doubt your ability to write stories, but there seems to be no reason to watch the big screen in the genres you mentioned."

Chen Yiming patted his forehead and sighed.

"Times have changed, sir!
If you really agree with what I said about the market size of the upper limit of 3000 million viewers for a single film, then you have to agree with several corresponding inferences at the same time.

First, after the audience reaches a certain size, the frequency of movie viewing must be pyramid-shaped. We are targeting the group above the waist with double-digit movie viewing times per year.

For them, watching movies a few times a month is a matter of lifestyle and consumption habits, and has nothing to do with content or popularity.

If you want to win over them, you don't need to be in the top ten in the annual rankings, you just need to be ranked third among the movies of the same period.

Let me put it this way, do you still think that getting 24 movie viewers is out of reach?

Secondly, since we agree that there is such a group that is accustomed to going to and from theaters, we have to agree with their status as opinion leaders and their picky and changeable tastes.

The hodgepodge of films currently on the market will certainly not meet their needs, so I say they need to be typified and the tonality of the films must be clear and discernible.

Thirdly, if we agree with the judgment of the two major financiers that they are accelerating their entry into the film industry, then it will be obvious that the number of moviegoers will double in the next few years.

When the upper limit of a single movie reaches 6000 million or 1 million moviegoers in a few years, the differentiation of moviegoers will be even more obvious, but by that time, our production company may not be the protagonist.

Therefore, we have to be ahead of the trend, at least ahead of the two big players. Genre films are still at the beginning of their emergence, and it is the best time for new companies to take the lead. "

Da Zhuang said in confusion, "Yi Ming, I can still understand the first two, but why can't I understand the third? More and more people are watching movies. Isn't that a good thing?"

Chen Yiming didn't know how to explain it for a while, because the huge power of the combination of mobile Internet + financial capital exceeded common sense-based speculation and prediction.

The so-called information cocoon theory is difficult to understand without personal experience. Who knew that the Internet, which advertises sharing and freedom, would be so vicious and greedy after it develops to a bottleneck.

Backed by capital, numbers can be fabricated, public opinion can be manipulated, and reputation can be reversed.

When movies are not cultural commodities but capital games, and when making movies hilariously no longer make money through box office, filmmakers can only accept the result, either go along with it or avoid it.

However, Chen Yiming estimated that he should have retired by then.

He believed that he could not be like the national master, who has been able to keep pace with the times across 40 years of vicissitudes, and can still play with new rules at the age of over 70.

Chen Yiming could only vaguely pass it on, "That is an unknown prospect, let's keep our feet on the ground.

Director Ma, "1951" has just been released. If you want to see the money back, you have to wait until at least the Spring Festival of next year. It may not be until the second half of the year when you get it all. If you want to show off your talents, you have to have rice in your hands.

So I think we can make some preparations in advance, and then patiently observe it in the next half year.

For Lao Tang and Lao Jia, we can let them take on a few outside jobs first to get a feel for it, and try to stick to the genres I mentioned when taking jobs. After "The Founding of the People's Republic of China", there will be many domestic films released together, sample It shouldn't be hard to find.

After all, whether the waist group I am talking about or the basic base of genre films, they are all theoretical speculations and do not have much real sense.

During this period of waiting for the rice to be cooked, Lao Tang's team is offline and Lao Jia's team is online. They can do more solid industry research. They can just use other companies' resources to collect their own data and make money without delay.

In addition, since it wants to become bigger and stronger and launch more than one project every year, Bojue must have its own production team.

Da Zhuang, this kind of people are scarce resources in China at this stage, and it is not as easy to find as imagined.

The business logic of genre films is like building blocks. Directors, screenwriters, actors, and behind the scenes, all participants are parts and can be replaced at any time. In a sense, it is not impossible to say that it is a producer-centered system in Hollywood.

Writing, directing, and producing are my duties as a creative director, but I don't know how to split my time, and I can't follow others' crews throughout the whole process. If that's really the case, wouldn't it be easier for me to do it myself?
Therefore, I have to have a producer who can implement the production ideas determined at the project meeting on my behalf and control the director who is born to be free.This determines that he must understand film production and not be confused by a few technical terms.It is the producer who has to control the process and the budget on your behalf, so he also has to understand all kinds of tricks on the crew, know the market and be familiar with the industry, so as not to be cheated.

Let’s not talk about whether such an all-rounder can be found. Even if we can find him, how will he arrange for them and how will he design the ascending channel?

I think it is true that while looking for candidates, we should train more Xiaomei. At least you and I can trust it. "

Da Zhuang kept nodding his head after hearing this. Although he did not fully agree with the "genre film theory" mentioned by Chen Yiming, he accepted the "wait and see" strategy that Chen Yiming described at the end quite smoothly.

After all, he has been the boss of a company for several years. He has been exposed to it since childhood and knows how difficult it is to find a trustworthy and capable project manager. He understands that without talent, any business is empty talk.

When Chen Yiming saw that Da Zhuang had listened, he immediately stood up and left.

"Okay, this is enough for you to keep you busy for a while, but don't rush me to start work anymore, I will go on vacation.

I'm waiting for news about the house. Don't ask me for help from the boss. I can't live alone and I can't get used to it. "

In October, the focus of online newspapers on TV was "The Founding of the People's Republic of China".

Being brought to the hot film market by "1951", it will not cool down so quickly, and the remaining warmth just wraps up the "The Founding of the People's Republic" that followed the baton.

During the 7-day long holiday, this final film directed by Han Sanye has harvested the box office with a fierce momentum of about 5000 million per day. Except for a slight drop on the last day of the long holiday, it can be said that it is moving forward.

6700 million on the opening day and 7 million in the first seven days of release. This box office performance far exceeded expectations, second only to "3.27"'s 1951 million in the second week.

Public opinion specially set a "National Day box office record" for "The Founding of the People's Republic of China", and it was praised as having single-handedly made the National Day holiday truly have the meaning of an independent schedule.

By the time Chen Yiming returned from his trip to Xishuangbanna, "The Founding of the People's Republic of China" had ended its third week of screenings, with a slightly larger drop than the previous week, but it was still able to maintain a weekly box office of over [-] million.

At this time, the total box office of "The Founding of the People's Republic of China" has exceeded 5 million, and it is almost certain to reach the "passing mark" of 6 million before it is released.

Considering that it is almost inevitable that the movie will be postponed, if Han San is thick-skinned, it is not impossible to get 7 million.

After all, compared with "1951", which has a sparse cast, "The Founding of the People's Republic of China" has too many hot spots for speculation. There are more than 100 stars, and there is a surplus of two stars a day.

During this period, Xiangrui sent Chen Yiming two more versions of the script, and the improvement was obvious. It seemed that he had indeed stepped out of the rut and officially hit the road.

Chen Yiming gave Xiangrui some suggestions, which did not involve plot details, but only adjusted the rhythm of the film.

He is also using this opportunity to slowly explore his role as creative director.

No director is willing to be a tool puppet. No matter how much emphasis is placed on the commercial nature of theatrical films, the artistry contained in them cannot be avoided. Even documentaries have their own creative purposes and themes.

Therefore, whether it is an art director outside the project or a producer within the project, they all need to face a core issue, how to deal with the relationship with the director.

When Chen Yiming was filming "Holiday in the Magic City" and "1951", Da Zhuang said he was a producer, but he was actually the head housekeeper. Most of his functions were actually taken over by Chen Yiming.

Not to mention interfering in the creation, Da Zhuang never interfered in how the money was spent.

Such a producer is obviously what every director dreams of. Unfortunately, Chen Yiming is a double standard dog. He can enjoy this treatment himself, and other directors are exempt from the discussion.

Of course, we cannot go to the other extreme and control everything to the death. If the director is restrained, he will probably not be able to make a good movie, and it will not be conducive to maintaining the director's authority. The crew will definitely be in chaos by then.

Therefore, Chen Yiming is also taking the initiative to adjust his relationship with Fu Ruixiang. After all, it is Xiangrui's project. He is just a non-staff consultant, further than the creative director. He must have a sense of proportion.

At this stage, he positions himself as a script doctor who adheres to the principles of commercial movies. His diagnosis scope is limited to logic and rhythm, and he helps find bugs and flaws.

As for the specific plot arrangement, story theme, value discussion and other different opinions, it will not be covered at all.

At the end of October, Chen Yiming selected a 10th-floor new house located on the edge of the river in the inner ring of Puxi, the capital of Puxi, from several properties recommended by Da Zhuang. The area was 12 square meters and the total price including taxes and fees was 115 million.

Chen Yiming emptied his family funds to barely scrape together enough for the down payment, and borrowed some money from Da Zhuang for the monthly payment before dividends. The only good thing was that the house was well-decorated and you could move in with your bags.

(End of this chapter)