This director needs to apologize

Chapter 400: Changed to the point where the original person is unrecognizable

Chen Yiming advised Mr. Shen to "be patient" under the pretext of going to Cannes to receive the award, as if the award would be easily within his grasp as soon as he entered the competition. This is of course not the case.

In fact, neither the speaker nor the listener took this statement seriously. More than 20 films competed on the same stage, but there were only seven judges voting. The prize drawing was not much different from scratching a lottery ticket. It was not that easy to win the trophy and the award.

Over the years, Chinese filmmakers have only won one Best Actor award and two Palme d'Or awards at Cannes. Going back twenty years, the last time Chen Yiming's "1" won a non-consolation prize, the Silver Palm, in the main competition unit was a thing of the past.

Take the movie "Searching for the Heart" for example. The two leading actors, Chen Yiming and Shen Ming, never had any illusions of immediate success.

It would be more accurate to say that Chen Yiming went to hand in an assignment rather than to participate in a competition. On the one hand, his second visit was a response to Cannes's "cultivation", and on the other hand, he took the opportunity to repay Shen Ming's favor.

Shen Ming is even more pure. In his semi-retired state, he is competing in the three major European film studios with a new film in which he plays the leading role, and he has clearly made the strong statement that "I am not old yet and can still make a living."

As for winning the Palme d'Or for the second time in a row or winning a Best Actor trophy, I can only say that anything is possible in dreams.

Although the three major European awards have different focuses, they still have common aesthetic orientations. Simply put, the awards can be roughly divided into two directions.

One is that the theme is given priority, such as vulnerable groups, ethnic minorities, racial issues, the gap between the rich and the poor, social ills, cultural conflicts, etc. In short, it is the traditional white left line in the literary and art circles.

The other is technology first, using shooting techniques, narrative skills, color metaphors, and rhythm masters to tell a not-bad story with novel film technology, thereby expanding the creative boundaries of filmmakers.

Just like the chief examiner is the most important factor in selecting candidates for the imperial examinations, every year Cannes will also focus on the criteria for nominations and awards based on the tastes of that year's film selectors and jury.

Like the year when Chen Yiming won the Palme d'Or, it was obvious that the film was more technology-oriented. Brother Tony himself is a person who likes to show off his skills. As the chairman, he would naturally favor films with full technical strength such as "1951".

The judge of Cannes this year is an old white man from Kangaroo Country, a well-known white leftist fighter. Most of the shortlisted films in the main competition unit are so-called social films that "mourn the hardships of people's lives."

It can only be said that the general trend of political correctness is penetrating deeper and deeper into the field of film. Making a film is not about creating in a vacuum. Cultural creations must ultimately conform to social trends.

After entrusting the entire trip to Cannes to Shen Pengfei, Chen Yiming withdrew from it, temporarily deleted "Looking for the Heart" from his work schedule, and went to the "Negotiation Expert" project team to fulfill his producer duties.

Although the filming was completed earlier, Tian Li was too slow. He took two steps back for every one he took in post-production. Even after the final cut of Searching for the Heart was submitted for review, he was still struggling with the refined version.

In fact, this movie is just under the banner of suspense, and it does not have a particularly strong suspenseful color. The beginning of the movie hints that this is a collective case, and the mastermind behind the scenes is almost obvious. The suspense is just how the protagonist can clear his name.

Therefore, both Chen Yiming's initial script and Tian Li's revised version chose a plain and unadorned chronological narrative method, focusing the film on the emergency itself. Each line advances in chronological order, and the film ends when the crisis is resolved.

In order to enhance the audience's experience, Chen Yiming's version arranged flashbacks and flashbacks at several key points. This may make the structure a little slow, but it makes it easier for the audience to understand the plot.

Tian Li was more perfectionist. He cut out all the "annotations" that didn't fit the timeline, and turned key details from obvious to implicit, as if he was sure that the audience would not resist watching the film a second or even third time.

Chen Yiming remained silent on this, which was tantamount to his agreement.

It’s not that he doesn’t care about the box office revenue of no less than seven or eight figures. He is not that naive. The key is that as a director, he empathizes with Tian Li. He feels that Tian Li’s pure original intention for the movie should not be suppressed and denied.

Compared with the short-term box office, Chen Yiming values ​​the long-term relationship with Tian Li more. Even if Tian Li abandons his original intention one day, it must be his own will.

The structure is too detailed, so bugs are inevitable. Just think about it, half a day of editing and three days of reshooting, how can it be fast?

Tian Li also became the first director of Platinum to start the "balance sheet expansion" procedure, and all the project reserve funds were wasted before the later stage was completed.

According to Earl's production process, Chen Yiming has every right to take over the post-production work directly and let Boss Tian take a vacation early.

However, he still approved the 10% additional budget despite Xiaomei's opposition. In Chen Yiming's opinion, even if Tian Li's talent is not as good as Jiang Huiwen, what has been filmed is good enough to deserve an extra chance.

For some directors, since you choose to use them, you have to bear all kinds of invisible and tangible "premiums". If you really want to be a capitalist who approves money according to the budget, then you should not choose this kind of director from the beginning.

In fact, Chinese directors more or less have the DNA of "not taking money seriously", and there are countless of them who have started a business without spending half of their budget. Chen Yiming sometimes feels that these people should switch to Internet companies, after all, they are much more lavish when it comes to spending money.

Jiang Huiwen and Chen Huaikai can even be considered relatively reliable among them. Although both of them have had some cases of unfinished buildings, at least they managed to complete the projects intact and did not leave them unfinished.

Directors like Chen Yiming who stick to the budget when filming are actually a minority in the circle. How could Dazhuang be so worthy as to have more than one "Grandet" under his command, including Fu Ruixiang, Wang Wei and Li Jun, four of the five.

If he doesn't make money, who will? Even Tian Li, who can spend the most money, only slightly exceeded the budget during post-production. Compared with other graying colleagues, he is simply a model of saving money. Platinum Jue can completely withstand this level of squandering.

Chen Yiming stayed in the "Negotiation Expert" group for three days, gave Tian Li a few harmless suggestions, and then smoothed them over quickly.

The work was a bit slow, but Tian Li knew what was going on and acted calmly and measuredly. Plus, the film itself was not in a hurry to be released, so it would be fully ready in time for next year's Spring Festival.

Chen Yiming can implement the policy of "decentralization" without any burden.

After leaving the Magic Film Factory, Chen Yiming went to Qin Island for a stroll.

The set construction of "Her Memories" was finally completed last month. Now is the final stage before the start of filming. Chen Yiming went there to attend the opening ceremony.

Qindao Film and Television Base can be regarded as a "related unit" of Platinum. Previously, Xiangrui's "Five Hundred Days of Summer Solstice" gave the film and television city a grand opening. Since then, the number of crews settled here has increased rapidly, and the heads of the film and television city are all grinning from ear to ear.

Now Platinum has brought in another big project. Not only has it booked the largest studio, but the construction inside is also high-end and classy. The photos taken can be directly included in the brochure, so the film and television city will naturally not neglect it.

According to Li Jun's original intention, he was unwilling to make such a big fuss. Even with the support of Mr. Qi and Chen Yiming, he was still a little nervous. After all, this was only his directorial debut, and everything was difficult at the beginning.

However, the local people of Qindao seemed to have given this project a certain "symbolic significance". The film and television city personally took part in arranging the ceremony, and even sent a deputy senior official to attend, which raised the standard very high.

This is also the main reason why Chen Yiming went to the platform. If someone is eager to set up the platform, you can't just give them face.

After giving his routine speech on stage under the scorching sun, Chen Yiming returned to his front row seat, fanning himself and trying to suppress his restlessness as he waited for the ceremony to end.

Turn on?
Fuck it!
Chen Yiming did not ask about Li Jun's specific shooting plan. Anyway, if he was directing the film himself, he would just go home and eat after the ceremony.

Li Jun hunched over and walked quickly to sit next to Chen Yiming. This was the seat of a deputy senior official. The boss was busy with all kinds of affairs, so he gave a speech first to give the TV station enough material, and naturally left first.

Before leaving, he even went out of his way to chat with Chen Yiming for five minutes. He was quite approachable.

Without waiting for Li Jun to speak, Chen Yiming stuffed a tissue into his hand and said, "Hurry up and wipe your sweat. There's no rush. We can talk about it when we get back to the hotel."

Li Jun mumbled and then moved closer and said, "Director Chen, there is something I'm unsure about, and I'd like to seek your opinion."

Chen Yiming frowned and turned his head away, "Hasn't the script been finalized long ago? Who is trying to show off again?"

There is a background to this statement. Chen Yiming was not deeply involved in the project "Her Memories". He was neither the producer nor the screenwriter. He only had a nominal title of chief planner.

This position is barely related to the script, and the project creators all know that the earliest idea of ​​the script came from Chen Yiming, so the verbal battle about adding or changing the script will eventually involve Chen Yiming.

Li Junchu is somewhat unable to hold on to power. Without Chen Yiming, the guardian of the mountain, there are many people who want to make cunning moves on the script besides Xiaoqi's agent.

During the period before and after the script was finalized, Chen Yiming wasted a lot of time and energy on these trivial matters, which was really annoying.

The machine is about to start up, who is so blind?
Chen Yiming just wants to say one thing, if you want to clap, clap, if you don’t want to clap, get lost, it doesn’t matter if you lack one or the other.

Li Jun saw that Chen Yiming had misunderstood, so he quickly explained, "It's not about the script. It's a friend of mine who wants to borrow our spaceship to shoot a scene."

Chen Yiming was stunned when he heard this. Can customized props be borrowed?

"If you are not afraid of being exposed, then just borrow it. It is not my business if it is not this matter. Xiaomei disagrees?"

Li Jun smiled awkwardly and said, "Not only Mr. Bao, but also the producer on Mr. Qi's side disagrees, so I came to you for help.

Director Chen, listen to me, my friend really had a hard time. For the project at hand, he mortgaged his house, and then the investors withdrew their capital, so he really couldn't afford to build the set.

He only used the interior of our spaceship, and I finished filming them before they entered the scene. I made sure that even Lu Ping himself couldn’t recognize him, and there would be no mistakes.”

(End of this chapter)