This director needs to apologize

Chapter 385: Either Looking for Excitement or Fun

As for the disagreements in the crew of "Her Memories", Xiaomei informed Chen Yiming as soon as he returned to China. This project has been scheduled later and only a producer has been assigned to follow the crew.

After Chen Yiming understood the situation, he put it aside. Since Xiao Qi and Li Jun didn't look for him, it meant it was just a small problem and there was no need for him to get involved.

In fact, from planning to release, a film project is often met with major and minor setbacks. It is normal for a film project to encounter setbacks all the time. There are very few projects directed by Chen Yiming himself that go so smoothly.

Generally speaking, a Chinese director, especially one in his thirties with little experience, rarely gets to take the lead in a project. More often, he serves as a cover for the real operator behind the scenes.

It is already an ideal situation for a capable and de facto executive director to get a chair in the crew. If you are unlucky enough to meet a veteran like Xu Ke, then he will be nowhere to be found and have no sense of existence, and all your efforts will be in vain.

If you don’t believe it, ask the audience who watched “New Dragon Inn” in the past life, how many of them can remember the director’s name?

Compared with their peers in the industry, Wang Wei and the other two were extremely lucky to be signed by Platinum Film Studio. Chen Yiming really had no intention of using them as tools, and he gave them enough freedom in creation. Wang Wei was even able to personally handle the post-production editing of "The Usual Suspects", which was definitely a unique treatment in the circle.

Perhaps it is for this reason that, although Chen Yiming has received rumors of poaching, he has never encountered any actual action. The three newbies all seem to be fully focused on contributing to Platinum.

Back to "Her Memories", Chen Yiming's own position is naturally on the side of the director and screenwriter. When promoting people, one must abide by the basic law. Forcing promotion will only backfire.

The charm of Mrs. Rose lies in her obsession with love, which is a typical positive portrayal of a villain. Not to mention that the real evildoer is not Mrs. Rose, but the autonomous AI that carries Mrs. Rose's memories.

So Xiaoqi actually plays two roles in the story. One is a singer who is in love during his memory flashback, and the other is an artificial intelligence who plays the role of a siren with his wife's obsession.

The former is a momentary beauty, like the moon surrounded by stars and shining brightly; the latter is a mysterious temptation, a sweet, poisonous, and femme fatale.

To put it in an analogy, Madame Rose is like "Mona Lisa's Smile". The inner heart of the person in the painting depends on the eyes of the person who views the painting. The audience's perception of this character comes in small part from Xiao Qi's interpretation, and most of it depends on the contrast of the captain and crew, who are the opposing parties in the story.

When the audience first realizes that the crew members are under mental control, they will have a vague natural aversion, which comes from the simple consensus that humans do not want to be deceived. When the crew members take the initiative to embrace and indulge in the illusion, the audience's aversion will shift accordingly, from resenting the bad woman to despising the dog.

When the first male protagonist, the captain, broke free from the illusion and found himself again, the audience's likes and dislikes changed again, and Lady Rose completely took the position of villain.

And when the final answer to the mystery is revealed and the truth comes to light, the audience learns that Lady Rose had already committed suicide for love and that the culprit behind this disaster was actually an out-of-control artificial intelligence. The more disgust they had before, the more sympathy they felt after the reversal.

At the end of the story, the vivid Lady Rose in memory makes a brilliant appearance, concretizing and further sublimating the image of the character in the audience's mind. A pure and beautiful image is thus created.

By contrasting the two images of the lady before and after, the weight of the real lady in the audience's mind is strengthened. As long as one out of ten viewers transfers their love for the character to the actor Xiao Qi, the film will not be made in vain.

The reason why Chen Yiming told this story to Lao Qi was probably for this reason.

With Xiao Qi's immature acting skills, she probably won't be able to handle too many scenes and complex roles. She is just a one-note vase. The secretary in "The Usual Suspects" is already her best effect. If she goes any further, it will backfire.

If an actor's acting skills are not up to par, they can only make up for it with technology. "Her Memories" is a more clever way of dealing with this.

Xiao Qi's screen time in the film is limited. In the longer realistic parts, she plays a robot, and she just needs to look beautiful throughout. The charm of the character comes from the plot and personality. The mysterious space siren is naturally eye-catching, which has little to do with Xiao Qi's acting skills.

In the second half, the villain's true face is revealed, and Xiao Qi doesn't need to act like a real lunatic, because Mrs. Rose is still an AI at this time, she just needs to continue to be dignified. The evil of the character is actually presented in contrast by the captain's side.

The only thing that tests her acting skills is the clips of the real lady in her memory. She has to show the unparalleled aura of a top-tier singer, and this depends on herself. If she succeeds, she will soar immediately. If she fails, it will be all in vain.

In this regard, Chen Yiming only gave Xiaoqi a few suggestions, such as visiting real singers, contacting an opera troupe or musical stage to practice, finding a professional teacher to practice bel canto singing on site, etc.

In fact, she doesn't need to practice anything special, just be able to get the posture right. When the actual shooting comes, there will naturally be more technical means available.

That's why Chen Yiming said that "Her Memories" was a project tailor-made for Xiao Qi. He was not trying to fool Qi Lao Er, but was sincere.

All other characters in the movie, including the captain who is given the title of male protagonist, are, after all, a foreshadowing of the scene in which Lady Rose appears in memory. Strictly speaking, they are all tools.

Chen Yiming didn't know whether Li Jun and the screenwriter team really understood this point. He hadn't discussed it with Li Jun yet, but their way of expanding the crew was right. On the contrary, Xiao Qi's agent's suggestion to add more scenes to Mrs. Rose was a well-intentioned but treacherous move. Not to mention how low-level it was to turn a glimpse into more than ten glimpses, and not to consider whether Xiao Qi's acting skills could handle it, just figurating Mrs. Rose's husband was a very bad move.

The story of Snow White would be just right if it ended with her being woken up by the prince's kiss, or just fine if it ended with her returning home to get married, but it would be a shame if it ended with her living with a baby.

Can a specific male image bear the projection of Lady Rose's thousand-year love? Concrete images are always flawed, and imagination is eternal. This position can only be filled by the audience's imagination.

The operation of Xiao Qi's agent was still the old trick commonly seen in Hengcheng, adding Fei Ye to steal the spotlight. Chen Yiming didn't even have the interest to refute. Since the real protagonist Qi Lao Er and Xiao Qi didn't say anything, he just pretended not to know.

I hope she won't be stupid enough to come to my house directly.

In mid-November, Chen Yiming went to Manila to attend the opening ceremony of "The Negotiation Expert". This highly anticipated Chinatown sequel finally officially started filming.

Speaking of it, the choice of the location in the Philippines was somewhat roundabout. Compared with Thailand, the Philippines is indeed more chaotic. Not long ago, there was an incident of domestic tourists being kidnapped, which stayed on the hot search list of Weibo for several days.

Xiaomei was worried about accidents happening to the crew, so she suggested changing the filming location to other neighboring countries. After all, there are Chinatowns everywhere in Southeast Asia, so there is no need to stick to Manila.

However, the executive producer who was in the lead reported that the Philippine Department of Culture and Tourism was very enthusiastic about the crew. Not only did they offer a generous tax refund, they also agreed to provide the crew with security from the local police, and only required a symbolic sponsorship.

It was too late to say no. After reorganizing the production list, everyone found that compared with "The Usual Suspects", the number of location scenes in "The Negotiation Expert" was doubled, and there were also several large scenes with police cars.

It would be difficult to operate without the cooperation of the local police station.

From this perspective, Manila is really a must-go, after all, it offers so much.

In fact, Chen Yiming and others have overlooked the fact that the Platinum brand still has some influence in Southeast Asia.

Except for the recent "The 13th Floor", the overseas distribution of Platinum's films is handled by Warner. Since the cooperation between the two parties is a buyout system, the overseas box office has nothing to do with Platinum. Dazhuang then separated the overseas distribution and copyright operations and injected them into the new company. Therefore, Platinum has never been very concerned about the overseas box office of the films.

This time, Platinum's producer actually took a tour around Manila and found out what the three movies mentioned briefly in the email meant by their good overseas popularity. Especially "The Usual Suspects", which may have been shot in Thailand and was more to the taste of the local audience, actually made it into the top ten of the year.

For a Chinese-language film with almost no special effects, this is already a miracle. You should know that before this, the Chinese-language films that could make the list were either Wu Lianjing's action films or Hong Kong's gun battle films, without exception.

This also explains why Manila's cultural and tourism departments are so obsessed with "The Negotiator". They treat it as "The Usual Suspects 2".

Chen Yiming stayed in the local area for three days, followed the procedures, and visited a number of local bigwigs. He finally felt relieved, but before leaving, he repeatedly emphasized to everyone in the crew that they should just focus on filming, and not wander around after work, but should relax and wait until they return home.

While Platinum Films was slowly filming, its peers were making great strides. This year's Lunar New Year box office was extremely fierce.

It seemed that all of a sudden, the hurdle of 10 billion was no longer out of reach, but a small slope that could be easily climbed.

The domestic box office record that brought Anyuelin boss "fame and fortune" was broken just in November. The new work in Xu Guangtou's "Not Easy" series successfully passed the 11 billion mark and won the title of domestic film box office champion in one fell swoop.

Unfortunately, its reputation is a bit less popular than its predecessor, and the number of moviegoers is also far behind, so it can only be regarded as a potential beneficiary of ticket price inflation.

The subsequent domestic 3D blockbusters also performed well, with two exceeding 10 billion yuan, one exceeding 5 million yuan, and even the comedy compilation of Emperor Circle, which won 7 million yuan at the box office. Coupled with several Hollywood blockbusters with a box office of around 6 million yuan, the 2015 Lunar New Year box office directly boosted the market.

So at the industry conference at the end of the year, Chen Yiming was somewhat of a laughing stock, and any boss who went on stage to speak was willing to give him a mention.

You did make a feature film that did quite well, but why were you guys, Platinum, absent during the prime time at the end of the year?

Aren’t comedies and blockbusters still the movies occupying the top spots at the box office right now?
Even Xu Guangtou, who once shared the same pain with him, kept talking about the "local comedy reserve" when he spoke, and even gave him an elbow.

"It's Not Easy 2 is essentially a drama, but after much deliberation, we decided to go the comedy route. Chinese audiences go to the cinema either to seek excitement or to have fun."

(End of this chapter)