Huayu: The director just wants to save money

Chapter 329: Can intellectuals' deeds be called plagiarism? !

The call is connected.

Ning Hao's hearty laughter rang out.

"Boss Zhou, long time no see. What brings you here?"

"Isn't this to congratulate Director Ning on the release of No Man's Land? It's an outstanding achievement. I'm deeply sorry that I couldn't show my support for Director Ning, so I sent you this gift. I wonder if you received it?"

After going through several "hardships", "No Man's Land" was finally successfully released on December 3rd.

Although this movie can be said to have a "bad fate", there were still a lot of stars who spontaneously promoted it on the day of its release.

Especially Zhou Mo and Xu Zheng.

A new generation, a middle generation director.

Plus Ning Hao himself.

It's simply the highest status.

"Hey, the box office is just over 20 million, which is much less than I expected. It's just average." Ning Hao said modestly, but his tone was full of pride.

It was originally thought that this movie that was almost "killed" was basically doomed to fail at the box office, and even he himself didn't have much confidence in it. After all, the content was quite sensitive and the style of the movie was not very commercial.

I have been insisting on releasing the film purely because I feel relieved.

He thinks his movie is fine.

The reason why it couldn't be released was purely due to something that happened.

Otherwise it's an absolute classic.

Who knew that even without much publicity, the movie would still do well at the box office.

This is a recognition of his ability.

Ning Hao was happy and invited Zhou Mo: "Director Zhou, thank you for your support during this period. When you come back, I will invite you out to play. Then we can get drunk together."

During the period when "No Man's Land" was silent, Zhou Mo was one of the few people in the entertainment industry who could continue to support him.

So Ning Hao remained grateful to Zhou Mo.

Zhou Mo didn't beat around the bush and immediately changed the subject to business.

"It's fine to go out and have some fun, just eat and drink. I don't want to be like Xu Zheng, who was photographed hanging out in a nightclub with Huang Bo and the others, hugging and cuddling with others...

Also, Director Ning, if you really want to thank me, please help me look at a script. I suddenly remembered a script these two days. It's also a road movie, and it's all about villains. Please help me with some advice."

Ning Hao said "Oh".

Zhou Mo's proposal was beyond his expectations.

According to his understanding of Zhou Mo, he and Zhou are on completely different tracks in the film industry, and his strengths are mainly concentrated in black humor.

Zhou Mo has been involved in a wide variety of film genres, but generally speaking, they have nothing to do with road movies.

But Ning Hao didn't think much about it.

Making a movie.

Communicating with each other is a common thing. When Xu Zheng was filming "Lost in Thailand", he would contact him every now and then to ask about things. It doesn't mean that just letting others appreciate it would be considered plagiarism.

"You want to make a road movie, which is rare. Tell me about the idea?"

Zhou Mo first went online and sent the email directly to Ning Hao. After Ning Hao confirmed that he had opened the file, he told Ning Hao all the ideas he had thought of in the past few days.

After hearing this, Ning Hao couldn't calm down for a long time.

It took a long time before he could speak the lines of the play.

"According to this idea, there will be no problem in making a movie... But Director Zhou, I have something to say but I don't know whether I should say it or not."

"You said."

"Is this movie really something you came up with on a whim? Didn't Wu Baige provoke you and then you started to come up with a movie targeting him?"

"How could that be!" Zhou Mo denied.

"It's just Wu Baige, it's not worth it for me to do this."

This sounded very arrogant, but Ning Hao didn't think it was a big deal.

Not only Zhou Mo looked down on Wu Baige, but Ning Hao also looked down on her.

"I've seen 'The Crossing'. It's a piece of shit. The idea is not very good, and the characterization is not good either. It's just a scam." Ning Hao complained.

He doesn't even like superhero movies, and he even dislikes movies like "The Crossing", which are dog meat under the guise of sheep meat, rely purely on slogans, and only know how to establish character settings but cannot fill them with plots.

Ning Hao roughly scanned the main story setting of "Lost in Russia".

The protagonist Jack was originally an honest and brave young man, but he accidentally discovered the illegal and criminal activities of a big shot.

The big shots have a lot of people and want to kill him to silence him.

Jack had no choice but to board the smuggling ship heading to the Eagle Sauce at Mariel Port.

Along the way, he went through untold hardships and became friends with a man named Kevin who was chasing him.

They share weal and woe and work together with Rebecca, a beautiful, kind and brave lady with fair skin.

He also became good friends with Edison, a versatile and clever man.

In the end, they worked together and escaped the pursuit of the big shot.

In the process, the hull broke, and several people, with the help of a small boat, successfully sailed to the focus of their dreams -

Eagle Sauce.

Seems like a beautiful story, right?

Ning Hao raised his eyebrows, knowing that the story couldn't be that simple.

I turned the page and read the contents clearly, and said to myself, "As expected."

Zhou Mo tells the readers directly that everything described above is true, but also not true. The so-called turning enemies into friends is just because Kevin betrayed the big shot, and after being discovered, he was also included in the must-kill list by the big shot's hunting team, and had no choice but to become a grasshopper on the same rope as Jack.

The two seem to have turned from enemies to friends, but in fact they are scheming against each other and harming each other.

Rebecca and Jack seem to be a perfect match, but in fact Rebecca covets Jack's money, and Jack's true character is revealed over time. The two use each other to deceive people together.

As for Edison, this guy has absolutely no comradeship with Jack.

Jack had seized the opportunity to threaten Edison to help him, otherwise he would be ruined. Edison also tried every means to kill Jack in the process.

Collaboration is not cooperation.

Love is not love.

Friendship is not friendship.

In terms of the overall plot, the more exciting and beautiful the first half of the show seems, the more dramatic the subsequent reversals will be.

Ning Hao pounded his fist.

"Great Director Zhou, this reversal looks really exciting."

When he first heard Zhou Mo say "Everyone is a villain, it's a road movie", he thought "Lost in America" ​​was somewhat similar to "No Man's Land".

From the beginning when Pan Xiao was spat on the car window, to the end when he decided to die together with others, all the characters that appeared throughout the whole process were not easy to deal with.

And this fuel-saving lamp is not a hidden evil.

From the killer, to the driver, to the family of three at the gas station, they were all ruthless.

Even Pan Xiao, who was badly cheated, was initially an unscrupulous lawyer who was blinded by greed and had no moral bottom line.

The film's description of the characters' evil is very straightforward and clear from beginning to end.

It's telling the audience clearly that these people are bad guys.

But "Lost in America" ​​is different.

Ning Hao saw that Zhou Mo specifically marked that the first quarter of the movie should portray the beautiful relationship between this group of people.

After a quarter of the time has passed, when the audience really begins to believe that there is nothing wrong with this group of people, all the previous "true feelings" are slowly revealed, giving the audience a sense of contrast.

Ning Hao was very clear about the pros and cons of doing so.

The advantage is naturally that it can enhance the level of the film, and the character image will be more three-dimensional because of the contrast before and after, which will bring enough surprises to the audience.

In commercial films, surprise, to some extent, means box office success.

The disadvantage is that this contrast and conflict between the beginning and the end will lead to a slight sense of tearing between the beginning and the end of the movie.

But after Ning Hao thought about it, he found that this feeling of tearing was actually not a big problem.

the reason is simple:
"The Peace" is a comedy.

Comedy plots are often driven by conflict, so the contrast between the beginning and the end does not affect the viewing experience.

If "No Man's Land" creates this kind of contrast, it will definitely not work.

Because "No Man's Land" is a serious movie.

Creating contrast affects the viewing experience.

But comedy doesn't have this concern.

"Yeah, I think so too. Now that the character settings have been completed, what we need to do next is to fill in the storyline." Zhou Mo replied.

As soon as he finished speaking, Ning Hao sent a long string of texts.

"Director Zhou, these are some of my ideas about the movie's plot." Ning Hao's voice was filled with excitement.

Zhou Mo took a closer look.

It's all road comedy plot.

Wow, this amount of story, if broken down a little, could be made into two or three movies.

"Director Ning, is this what you just wrote?" Zhou Mo asked in shock.

"of course not."

Ning Hao's tone was full of "are you kidding me?" He said, "These are some ideas I have accumulated in the past. Some of them were used when filming "Heart Flower Road", but most of them were not used. I sent them to Director Zhou to see if they can be used."

"Ah? Is that okay?"

“Of course, there is a lot of plagiarism in the world. Director Zhou, don’t think that I have written a lot here. In fact, a lot of it is borrowed from some good road movies in the past, and then slightly modified.

Comedy movies are not easy to make because there are only so many common funny jokes, and once a classic plot comes up, directors like to use it.

So Director Zhou, don't be polite, just use whatever you like."

Ning Hao spoke out the situation in the film industry: "Can the work of cultural people be called plagiarism?"

But this is indeed the industry tradition.

Don’t be polite about good things. You use them and I use them. They are already widely circulated. If they are used for a few more decades, they will become classics.

"correct."

Ning Hao continued to look through the manuscript and suddenly said, "Director Zhou, I see you are hesitating whether to make the conflicts in the movie coincidences or the inevitable result of mutual calculations?"

"Yes, I am currently hesitating about this matter. Different settings will give the audience different feelings."

Setting the conflict as a coincidence makes it more dramatic.

The conflict is set as the result of calculation, and the characters are more three-dimensional.

Ning Hao thought about it and gave advice based on his experience.

"Let's make it the result of the characters scheming against each other. There are many ways to add jokes to comedy movies, including teasing the opponent during a fight. Director Zhou, you must be familiar with this from your collaboration with Mr. Cheng Long.

But the number of conflicts that can be expressed in the entire movie is limited, and it is still set as the result of calculation. The more three-dimensional the characters are, the funnier the movie content can be. "

(End of this chapter)