The Wind of China Entertainment 2005

Article 506
crossroads.

The red light came on and the car slowly stopped.

"Tear it apart~"

The sound of pulling out tissues.

"嗗嗗~"

The sound of wiping nose.

"Pfft~"

Lu Yuan glanced at him out of the corner of his eye and didn't dare to say a word.

Liu Shishi held the tissue box, bit her lips lightly, stared at the hurried pedestrians, and her shoulders shook slightly.

The total length of the movie "The Flowers of War" is 145 minutes. When the two came out of the cinema, it was half past six, the sky had darkened, and dusk was deepening.

Liu Shishi's emotions never came out of her mind, and golden beans kept falling down along the way.

In her own words, she didn't know why she was crying.

Maybe I was influenced by other audiences at first, but then as the plot unfolded, the emotions were built up and ignited at the climax, and my tear glands exploded uncontrollably.

Seeing her red eyes, wet eyelashes, and dazed look, Lu Yuan couldn't help but grinning.

"You laugh at me?"

She had sharp ears and turned her head immediately.

Her almond eyes were wide open with a hint of embarrassment and anger. If the dog dared to nod, she would make a scene.

"No, how is that possible?"

He quickly shook his head to explain.

"I just remembered that when I was reading the comments on 'Dragon Gate Flying Daggers' this morning, I saw a netizen describe Gu Shaotang in one sentence. It was quite funny."

"what?"

"Women are made of water, men are made of mud, and Li Yuchun is made of cement."

Liu Shishi didn't react for a moment, and blinked blankly. As if a light bulb went off in her head, the corners of her mouth curled up slightly, and she wanted to laugh, but she held it back.

Well, unable to hold it back any longer, she biu'd, turned her head, looked out the window, and her shoulders began to tremble again.

"Netizens are so boring, they take advantage of others' neutral style to criticize them."

"you do not say."

Lu Yuan criticized righteously and turned on the turn signal: "Hurry up and pack up, we will arrive after passing this intersection."

"Oh."

The destination of their trip was the residential area where Ning Hao lived.

Ning Hao called in the morning.

Lu Yuan originally thought that they would meet at a restaurant, but who knew that the guy would actually book it at his home.

When I entered the community, I saw Ning Hao squatting downstairs, smoking a cigarette.

There was also a thin man standing next to him, also holding a cigarette in his hand.

The man was of medium height, about thirty years old, with a short haircut and a long face. He wore glasses with brown frames and a particularly eye-catching black mole on his chin.

Lu Yuan parked the car, took out some fruit from the trunk, nodded to Ning Hao who walked up to him, and then looked at him.

When Cheng Er saw him looking at him, a smile immediately appeared on his face, the corners of his mouth twitched, and his forehead wrinkles became quite deep.

"Didn't I tell you not to buy anything? Just come here." Ning Hao took the bag of fruit.

"I bought it for your son."

Ning Hao said this, but he did not refuse and introduced the person next to him.

"Cheng Er, we live in the same neighborhood. He is our schoolmate and graduated from the Directing Department of Beijing Film Academy in 99."

"That's my brother."

Lu Yuan stretched out his hand with a smile, and roughly guessed the purpose of Ning Hao's organization today.

"Hello, senior brother."

"Hello, Teacher Lu." Cheng Er didn't dare to be arrogant.

Although he graduated early, he hasn't achieved anything in these years.

When he was a senior in college, he took 10 yuan in cash given by the school and went to Shanghai to shoot his graduation work "Criminal".

Normally, when a film is finished, it is screened in a standard screening room at a film academy.

According to tradition, if students think the film is bad, they will boo.

However, after his graduation work was shown, there was silence in the theater, followed by thunderous applause. It was truly amazing and was praised by many as the best student work of Beijing Film Academy.

However, as a creative director, he is not very prolific and his career path has not been smooth.

After graduation, I went to Shanghai Film Studio, worked as a TV scriptwriter, and shot commercials. Seven years passed quickly before I made my first feature film, The Third Man.

The highly anticipated "The Third Man" did not receive a good market response, and several projects were aborted in the middle, so if I want to make a new film, investment is a big problem.

Four more years passed like this, and today, with the encouragement of Ning Hao, I had the idea of ​​making a second feature film.

Therefore, in terms of performance and popularity, he is far inferior to his junior fellow student in the Performance Department of the same school.

The four of them exchanged greetings for a moment and went upstairs.

Xing Aina was busy in the living room. She had short hair, fair skin, and a quiet temperament.

"Come on, we're having hairy crabs today," she wiped her hands on her apron, greeted everyone, and went to pour tea.

At this time, a little boy about three years old ran out from the next bedroom, wearing sneakers, hugged Xing Aina's thighs, and looked timidly at the strange uncle in the living room through the gap between her legs.

Lu Yuan looked at him and teased him twice, and the child turned his head away in fear.

Ning Hao saw his wife being pestered by his son, so he stood up to pour tea. When he heard the voice of this guy, he was speechless: "No, I said there is no one who teases children like you."

"Well, my nephew likes this." He raised his eyebrows at the little brat.

"Watch me." Ning Hao stretched out his right index finger, slightly bent it, and said, "Dudududu."

The silly kid threw his hands back, bared his front teeth, and swooped down towards his father.

Lu Yuan: "."

Liu Shishi leaned on the sofa, covering her mouth and laughing.

Xing Aina rolled her eyes in annoyance: "Whose father is the same as yours? You are treating my son like a dog."

Ning Hao was not annoyed. He rubbed his son's head with a smile.

"That's not right." Lu Yuan looked at the timid child and thought of something, feeling surprised.

"I heard from Xu Zheng that your son is very courageous. When he first met Xu Xiaobao, he hugged her and bit her."

When we were filming "Lost in Thailand" in Chiang Mai, we finished work late one night and on the way home, a few of us were chatting on the bus.

Xu Zheng said that Ning Hao brought his two-year-old son to his home to play last year. Unexpectedly, the little brat hugged his daughter and kissed her.

This scene happened to be seen by Xu Zheng, and the old father's heart was broken on the spot.

He ran to Ning Hao and warned him very seriously, asking the little yellow-haired boy to stay away from his daughter in the future.

Ning Hao carried the teapot and poured water for the three people. He curled his lips and said indifferently: "Don't listen to Xu Zheng's nonsense. What does a child know? He just thinks Xiaobao is cute."

The three continued chatting.

Ning Hao glanced at Cheng Er and saw that he was quite embarrassed and drank water frequently. He tried to calm down with his eyes and asked Lu Yuan.

“How’s the filming of Lost in Thailand going?”

"The crew is currently in Bangkok. Shi Shi and I are going to go there in the next two days. We still have a few scenes to shoot."

"Shishi is going too?"

"Yeah." Liu Shishi nodded and said, "I just finished filming two dramas and took a break for a while. I also took the opportunity to shoot materials for the promotion of "Out of Time and Space"."

Ning Hao remembered that he was also the producer of this film. Although he was puzzled about what the "material" was, he did not ask more and turned to face Lu Yuan.

"Has Xu Zheng ever mentioned to you a short film he made in his early years called 'Criminal'?"

Lu Yuan shook his head, indicating no.

Ning Hao pursed his lips towards Cheng Er: "Yes, he took the photo."

"What a coincidence?"

"Yes."

Ning Hao recalled the past: "In 99, I went to see the graduation works of students in the directing department. At that time, Cheng Er's "Criminal" left a deep impression on me.

To me, it feels like a market-oriented film with a very personal temperament. Most of the works of ordinary students are superficial techniques, but his work is particularly mature and is the best student graduation work I have ever seen.

In 2006, Cheng Er had just finished filming his first film, The Third Man. We met at a movie premiere, and later by chance we lived in the same neighborhood and became neighbors.

Cheng Er said modestly: "My acquaintance with Ning Hao also started from the movies themselves. We really became acquainted after he finished filming Crazy Racer. I think he solved the two problems that Chinese movies have always had: one is production, and the other is the market. To put it bluntly, it means both critical and commercial success."

Oh my god, these two shameless people are praising each other.

Liu Shishi listened for a while and found it so corny that she got goosebumps all over the sofa.

In Ning Hao's mouth, Cheng Er is a genius who has never been born. In Cheng Er's mouth, Ning Hao is the best director in mainland China, who can punch Zhang Yi and kick Chen Kaican.

She glanced at her boyfriend, who was listening with great interest, nodding from time to time.

Tsk tsk tsk, so fake, worthy of the Grand Slam, I can’t learn it. Liu Shishi couldn’t stand it anymore and got up and walked around.

I accidentally saw a sketch on the shelf at the entrance and looked at it carefully.

The little boy was not afraid of the beautiful sister.

The short girl, who looked like a winter melon, stood beside her, tiptoed, and pointed with her little hand: "It's mom."

Liu Shishi turned her head and compared them, and they did look alike, except that the one in the painting had long hair, while the real person had short hair.

Xing Aina smiled and said, "Lao Ning drew this for me when I first met him."

Seeing Miss Liu's curiosity, she continued, "Old Ning came to Beijing to study alone a few years ago. He enrolled in the film and television program production major of the Normal University. He had 2000 yuan in total, and after paying the tuition for one term, he had little left. He had to find a way to earn money to support himself.

He can draw, so he set up a small stall on Wangfujing Street, drawing for passers-by. One time, I happened to pass by with my friends and sat on the chair behind him to rest. This man shamelessly insisted on drawing for me, and I agreed to do it for some unknown reason. "

“Who’s being shameless?”

Ning Hao was not happy, stiffening his neck: "I heard your friend complaining that he had no living expenses, and then you said that you had spent all your money, and pointed to me as an example, saying that you can also make money by painting, and you have hands and feet, so what is there to be afraid of? At that time, I thought you were quite optimistic and was slightly touched. I casually said that I would draw a picture for you for free, but who knew that you really didn't want to pay. At least I lost money by drawing for you."

"Yes, Director Ning is so unlucky. In the end, I am yours."

Ning Hao: "..."

Lu Yuan listened to the couple bickering and smiled.

People in the industry only know the new generation director Ning Hao, but few know that he has a virtuous and supportive wife.

When Ning Hao was filming his first movie "Incense", Xing Aina used all her savings to support his movie dream.

After that, I helped to revise the script and edit...

In the years before Ning Hao became famous, the two of them rented a house. During the long cold nights in the north without heating, Xing Aina accompanied him to eat steamed buns without any regrets. When they couldn't stand the cold, they would drink a bottle of Erguotou to keep warm.

The two of them continued to bicker, while Lu Yuan focused his attention on the script in front of him.

The script was handed to me by Cheng Er not long after I sat down. The title was very simple, just two words, "Border".

The story is divided into four chapters.

The incident took place on the border between China and Myanmar.

Due to an unexpected incident in a drug deal, the drug dealer kidnapped a girl named Xiao An as a hostage and raised her. The two fell in love and got married.

Many years later, the drug dealer wanted to quit, but he couldn't just leave this business as he pleased. His subordinates betrayed him and the government surrounded him.

So he took his wife and tried to make one last move, trying to survive in a desperate situation, surrounded by the police, the gangs, and the hatred of Xiao An's father...

Then, as expected, it cracked.

According to Ning Hao, he and Cheng Er often met at a nearby fitness club to swim, drink and chat.

One time they made an appointment to go swimming, and while drying themselves, Cheng Er told him this story.

Ning Hao thought the story was very exciting and supported him to write the script and film it.

The intention of inviting him here today is very obvious, to see if he is interested in investing, and maybe even to have him participate.

The script is a rare police and gangster theme in mainland China, and it also has a love line.

In recent years, the Chinese-language film market has gradually become prosperous, and film producers have also begun to explore shooting more types of commercial films, such as suspense and thriller.

The only thing is that there are not many police and gangster films.

自2003年的《终极无间》至2011年的《窃听风云2》，每年于内地影市公映的警匪片平均只有1-2部。

In 2011, the box office of "Overheard 2" exceeded million, becoming the best-selling Chinese-language police and gangster film ever released in mainland China.

However, in terms of overall output and genre development, police and gangster films have been stagnant.

Although the box office has continued to rise in the past three years, the market share has not made any progress, and it can even be said to be regressing.

From 2010 to 2011, the proportion of police and gangster films in the total annual output fell from 2% to 0.5%.

The reasons are rather complicated and can be roughly divided into two points.

First of all, film and television works involving police themes must be handled with caution, and the review standards are unpredictable.

Secondly, this type of work can easily become too mainstream, with stereotyped characters and a loss of character arc.

So, although Lu Yuan felt that the script was well written, he was not very optimistic about the market feedback.

Cheng Er explained: "At first I wanted to write a story about a gangster girl and a drug dealer, but when I was writing, the Mincheon earthquake happened, and I wanted to write a story about a school building collapsing.

I thought about how to combine these two stories into one, and then I thought about a drug dealer in Myanmar who built a school, and then the building collapsed, and the story gradually became "Border."

"."

Cheng Er kept talking and Lu Yuan listened silently.

Perhaps because he drank a lot of water, Cheng Er got up and went to the bathroom.

Taking advantage of the time when he was away, Lu Yuan asked Ning Hao.

"The script doesn't have any big scenes, and it doesn't require much money to shoot. Why did you think of looking for me?"

In recent years, many people have asked Ning Hao to be the producer.

Everyone in the industry knows that being a producer is nothing more than spending money to buy a brand, and as long as their name is put on the film, they can just sit back and collect money.

With Ning Hao's fame, if he went out and promoted the script, saying that he was optimistic about it, many people would be willing to pay him.

What's more, he can also seek investment from Pony.

Ning Hao did not answer directly, but asked: "What do you think of the script?"

"Very good." Lu Yuan answered truthfully.

"I think so."

Ning Hao picked up his silly son who was lying on the coffee table: "When he briefly mentioned it at first, I knew it was a good story, at least it was a breakthrough compared to previous stories of the same kind.

During the script revision, he talked to me a lot, including shooting ideas and narrative structure, which were rarely seen in domestic or even American police and gangster films before. "

He paused, with an expression that said, "I think art has a very important responsibility, which is to undertake the mission of exploration, rather than copying previous films and forms."

"Stop, stop, stop, speak human language." Lu Yuan waved his hand to interrupt.

He discovered when filming "No Man's Land" that this guy particularly likes to talk about things that seem to be very grand.

Ning Hao said seriously: "We all know that the market for domestic police and gangster films is not very good, so the box office of this movie may not be very good."

"So you want to drag me into this pit." Lu Yuan took a sip of water.

“The market for genre films needs to be explored.”

"Don't you have a star-studded program to support new directors? That means you have aspirations. This is a talent. Believe me."

(End of this chapter)