This director needs to apologize

Chapter 17: First there are actors, then there’s the story
Chen Yiming looked surprised when he saw Cheng Yu brought over by Xiaomei.

He was so well-informed that he uncovered his own grass-roots team in one night.

Of course he remembered this reporter with whom he had a pleasant chat yesterday.

As a director, the memory of faces is instinctive.

As soon as Xiao Mei introduced him, Chen Yiming realized that he had changed his mind. It turned out that he was interviewing for a gift film. It was just a coincidence that we met today.

He suddenly realized a problem: "Holiday in Magic City" has always been labeled as an expo promotional film.

This was a huge misunderstanding, but luckily it was discovered in time.

Otherwise, after the editing is completed and submitted for review, it will be exposed first by the founder and editor, and it will be considered a big deal if it is really positioned as a promotional video.

What about the shitty box office? Do you rely on primary school students to book the tickets?
Thinking about it this way, he liked Cheng Yu even more.

Fuxing!
It just so happened that today's scene had already been filmed, leaving only one final scene of Greenwood after dark.

Therefore, he left the chores of the crew to Xiangrui and personally went to receive Cheng Yu.

……

The two of them left Duoduo Restaurant, squeezed out the crowd of onlookers, turned to Wukang Road, and found an open-air milk tea shop to sit down.

Cheng Yu couldn't wait to ask the question he had been holding back for a long time.

"Should I call you Mr. Chen or Director Chen?"

Chen Yiming waved his hands and said, "Chen Yiming is fine, but Director Chen doesn't dare to do it. Mr. Chen called me old again."

Cheng Yu cooperated, "Then I'll call you Director Chen. You definitely deserve it!"

As an aspiring entertainment reporter, Cheng Yu has visited numerous crews since he entered the industry and knows how to quickly identify the quality of a crew with the help of a short visit.

The audience can only infer the director's level through the final product, but for insiders, a working crew is the best medium to judge the director.

Based on his past experience, the crew of "Holiday in Magic City" has something special in their bones.

For most of the crew, when outsiders arrive for the first time, they will feel like they are in a vegetable market in the morning.

It was busy, noisy, and when the cameras stopped, everyone had to open their voices to speak normally.

Chen Yiming's crew is not like that. He actually doesn't talk much and his volume is not loud, but a few words can make Cheng Yu realize that this is Chen Yiming's territory.

He had only experienced this kind of atmosphere on the sets of a few great Chinese directors.

While observing against the wall, he easily caught several big fish from the people behind the scenes.

Wang Lizing, the "Lamp Leader" of the Magic Film Factory, Qi Lin, the sound engineer, and Lin Xiao from the Art Factory are all figures who are not well-known to the outside world but are well-known in the Magic Circle.

The male protagonist is Gu Yuehe who is back again.

It is not easy to put these "masters" into a crew and run it smoothly!
"Director Chen, according to the registration information of "Holiday in Magic City" at the Film Bureau, it is a love movie. Are you planning to release it on Valentine's Day next year?"

Chen Yiming also appreciated Cheng Yu a little more. He did not sit idle while waiting, but did his best to prepare for the interview.

That's called professionalism!

Of course, he is willing to meet a few more journalist friends who are professional and have attitude, which will not harm his subsequent directing career.

“We are striving to release it during the Double 11 period, so it’s better to do it sooner rather than later!”

"So this is really a romance film? Director Chen, do you think it's appropriate to use a love theme to promote the expo?"

When it's time to be sharp, Cheng Yu is never vague.

"Who stipulates that love movies cannot be made in gift films? The city of Magic City is home to graceful beauties, and the stories that take place here should naturally have a romantic element."

"Foreigners who come to Magic City will fall in love with her involuntarily. "Holiday in Magic City" is such a story."

Cheng Yu was speechless. Wouldn't your conscience hurt if one of your own was still such a rude person?
I'm better at saying this than you are!
Since he knew that the other person was a slippery man, Cheng Yu simply skipped the "main topic" of the expo and directly asked about the movie itself.

"Director Chen, I saw that there were many foreign actors on the set, including the heroine, so is "Holiday in the Magic City" a co-production?"

Chen Yiming understood Cheng Yu's subtext and immediately denied it.

"It is not a co-production, it is 100% domestic. The use of some foreign actors is entirely necessary for the plot."

……

Co-productions have become a major trend after the new millennium. Not only the two leading state-owned enterprises, Imperial Film and Demonic Film, are keen on it, but many private companies are also involved.

According to China's box office sharing regulations, if it is a purely imported blockbuster, excluding the undivided box office that is turned over to the country, the Chinese theater chain's share, and the Chinese distributor's share, in the end, foreign parties can only get about 13-15% of the total box office.

And if it is a co-production, since the Chinese distributor is often also the co-producer of the co-production, there is ample room for negotiation.In the face of the overwhelming advantage of imported blockbusters, there will inevitably be a temporary solution of "market exchange for technology". By relying on negotiated premiums, foreign parties will eventually be able to share about 25-35% of the box office, which is very close to that of purely domestic film producers. divided into proportions.

The proportion of foreign film producers is high, and distribution profits in China are high, a win-win situation!

As for the identification of co-productions, it is also very simple. Mainland actors must be the main actors, one of the main filming locations must be in China, and one-third of the people behind the scenes must have Chinese nationality.

Rules are just rules, they are easy to circumvent.

As a result, in the market in recent years, the so-called "China-customized version of Hollywood blockbusters" or "meeting version of superstars from both sides of the Taiwan Strait and three places" have become popular.

The former is to stick to the minimum standard of a co-production film and shoot an extra branch plot, and then hire a Chinese special effects team to make two versions of the movie.

90 minutes of overseas screening and 105 minutes of Chinese screening, perfect!
The latter is mostly done by Hong Kong-based directors. Due to cost considerations, they originally had to shoot in mainland China for post-production. The co-production only involves giving up a heroine, which is not a big problem.

So thousands of years later, all the actresses in Hong Kong City and Bay Island will act in art films.

Both of these methods lack sincerity, and the audience will not be fooled if they are tried a few times. Moreover, if commercial considerations are forced to interfere with film production, the quality of the film will inevitably be damaged.

Therefore, since the year before last, the reputation of co-production films has declined.

One of the crimes that "Guandu" was criticized for was that there were too few mainland actors, and they were all villains.

Uncle Ming, one of the three leading actors, is actually a one-size-fits-all. Wu Jun wears a mask for most of the movie. The dignified Venice Best Actor can only play a blackened puppet emperor. Mainland actors are just stepping stones in the background.

The audience may not care, but how can the circle let it go? Wu Kesen is not innocent when he is trolled.

……

Cheng Yu breathed a sigh of relief knowing that "Holiday in the Magic City" was not a piece of shit.

"How did Director Chen come up with this story? To use an exotic princess to carry a romance in a magical city. To be honest, I found it a bit difficult to embody it."

Chen Yiming has already prepared for such questions, and he will definitely be asked after the movie is released. Can he say that because he has ready-made homework, he can borrow (CHAO) and learn (XI)?

"The order of your thinking is reversed. Instead of having the story first and then finding the actors, you get to know the actors first and then the story."

In the conscience of heaven and earth, Chen Yiming did not lie at all.

Lily is little Hepburn and Gu Yuehe is Huang Pi Ke. These two happen to be friends with Da Zhuang and Tie Zhu.

Wouldn't it be a pity not to make "Holiday in the Magic City"?
Of course, Cheng Yu couldn't understand what Chen Yiming meant, but the statement was indeed interesting, so he immediately asked.

"So, Director Chen made up this story himself? He wrote and directed it?"

Chen Yiming looked up at the sky and answered vaguely.

"Ah, that's right. My friends around me contributed a lot of inspiration, and then I made some minor adjustments based on the characteristics of the hero and heroine. I just took the lead."

With tears in his eyes, he really didn’t want to be a copywriter!

Since he didn't know Lily at all, Cheng Yu's question naturally turned to Guyuehe. After all, he was the only big-name actor in the crew.

"Director Chen, what qualities did you discover in Guyuehe? If nothing else, this will be his first big-screen movie. I think many Guyuehe fans will be looking forward to your answer."

When it comes to Guyue River, Chen Yiming can be released, and there is no need to think about saving face between bad friends.

"I used to call him Shuai Gu, not to praise him for being handsome, but to mock him for being unable to restrain himself from acting handsome."

"I told him to act less in idol dramas. You will have to wear a soft light filter on your face."

"I went to see him last month after he recovered from his injuries. When I saw him, I shivered. Isn't this the partner I've been looking for for Lily?"

"It's not easy to find an actor who fits my impression of the magical city, because I didn't even think about what it would look like until I saw Lao Gu at that time."

"There was something about him that struck me deeply. Do you know what it was?"

"Motherhood, the great breath of motherhood."

"You heard it right, it's motherhood! Of course you can't see it! You are the director and I am the director?"

"I said that the imperial capital is full of strong men, and the devil is full of old ladies. Just tell me, is there any, is there?"

"A beauty in cheongsam strolls on the stone road in the alley, this is the magic city."

"A little grace, a little enchantment, a little sophistication, a little innocence, a little cunning, a little naughty, a little melancholy and a little kindness."

"Look, it's so hard to find him, and he has to be a man, so it's even harder."

"Shuai Gu was not good in the past. His youthful spirit was a little exaggerated. Now Gu Yuehe has returned to his original nature, and his submerged devilish temperament has emerged, and then I just caught him."

Cheng Yu was confused when he heard what Chen Yiming said about the mist in Yunshan. The latter's mind was like a demonic sound ringing in his ears, and all that was swirling around was motherhood.

(End of this chapter)