The Wind of China Entertainment 2005

Chapter 645 Dumplings
Outside the West Third Ring Road of Beijing, there is an inconspicuous mixed commercial and residential community.

Located on the tenth floor, in an office of less than 100 square meters, is Tian Xiaopeng’s company, October Studio.

Compared to the gorgeous facades of most cultural industry companies, October Studio, from the sign outside the door to the interior decoration, exudes an air of poverty and is not even as decent as the financial advisory company next door.

Dozens of computers and forty or fifty employees make up everything here.

After the crew finished filming, Lu Yuan rested in Beijing for two days. Since he was close by, he came to check the latest progress of the project.

As soon as I entered the studio, I saw a poster of "The Return of the Great Sage" on the wall, which was very different.

The protagonist of the pattern is naturally the Monkey King, but he is standing in front of the prison's height ruler, his face stained with blood, his eyes revealing a fierce light, and an evil smile on his face, as if showing the world his dark personality after being suppressed for 500 years.

"This style is very special and rebellious," he exclaimed.

Tian Xiaopeng explained: "Compared to the current handsome and manly Monkey King, this design is closer to our original idea. In my opinion, the Monkey King should have this kind of reckless character. He may not be completely sure when he made trouble in Heaven, but he thought that it's okay to make trouble, and the worst that can happen is death. If you want to catch me, then come and try, and beat me first!"

The two walked into the office area and saw employees busy at work.

"Are the Four Heavenly Kings brothers?"

"No, they are sisters!!" At a workstation not far away, a chubby animator was talking to himself in a daze.

There was also a tall and thin man who stood next to the tea machine. He stretched out his right hand, stroked his cheek seductively, licked his tongue greasyly, and moved his fingers down along his neck. Then, he put his hands on his chest, bit his lips, and shook coquettishly.

A heavy look.

Lu Yuan withdrew his gaze and looked at the side suspiciously. What kind of people are these? He didn’t understand, but he showed respect to them.

Tian Xiaopeng quickly explained: "Don't get me wrong, the chubby colleague was designing the scenes for the Four Heavenly Kings, and Zhugan (the tall and thin one) was filling in the details for the snake demon. Unlike real-life movies, the dialogue design of animated movies is completely dependent on the creativity of the animators.

For example, our script can only describe a naughty kid who is very annoying and keeps whining after the Monkey King, but how to behave specifically requires them to put themselves into the scene and use their brains.

To be honest, at this point in the project, we have run out of ideas for each character to perform, and I plan to invite some professional actors to audition some scenes in the film, hoping to give the production team some supplements and inspiration, and then create animations based on their performances. "

"Very good." Lu Yuan nodded.

"Clap clap clap!"

After walking two steps further inside, Tian Xiaopeng clapped his hands and said, "Everyone, stop what you are doing and see who is here today."

The tall and thin man held the bear in his hands: "Damn, Lu Yuan, isn't this my idol."

A man with a crew cut climbed up to the workstation, stretched his neck, and thrust one hand forward: "Hiss, it's really Lu Yuan!!"

"Ahhh, mom, I saw a big star in real life." The chubby employee covered his mouth with both hands and imitated Zhou Xinchi's expression, which was very exaggerated.

"Mr. Lu, can we take a photo together?"

This is too abstract. Lu Yuan smiled and skillfully greeted everyone, signed autographs, and took photos with them.

After everything was over, he glanced at Tian Xiaopeng and said, "Your expressions and movements are a bit exaggerated. Don't act like that next time."

Tian Xiaopeng was embarrassed and hesitantly repeated: "We are still young, we are still young."

In fact, knowing that Lu Yuan was coming today, the people in the studio had rehearsed in advance.

The original plan was that he would bring Lu Yuan into the studio, and everyone would be immersed in their work at first, and then after he clapped his hands, everyone would look up in confusion.

Then, act like you’re a crazy fan and show disbelief.

I didn't expect that this group of people would do something like a zombie virus outbreak.

He tried to smooth things over: "Mr. Lu is indeed a talented person, but there are indeed many people among you who are your fans."

"Okay, I see." Lu Yuan stopped teasing him and looked around: "The studio is a bit small, we will move to the headquarters in the future."

The company made a lot of money last year, the department continued to expand, and signed contracts with several director studios. Wu Lang plans to buy a building as its headquarters and is currently in the process of selecting a location.

The name of the building is far away.

"That's great, I couldn't ask for more." Tian Xiaopeng forgot the embarrassment just now and added: "Although there are only so many people in the studio, I also found an outsourcing team."

"I heard about this from my brother-in-law." Lu Yuan responded.

When there was no money, Tian Xiaopeng focused on doing things slowly and carefully. After the funds were in place, his work efficiency increased dramatically, and he estimated that the project would be completed by the end of the year.

The animation film industry is currently in a downturn, and many practitioners are moving from one company to another, with a high turnover rate.

Some people in the industry run their own studios, but in order to survive, they have to take on outsourcing work or join other companies and leave after the project is completed, accumulating experience while making some extra money.

When Tian Xiaopeng waved tens of millions of funds for external recruitment, he easily recruited a group of technical experts.

Tian Xiaopeng said: "I have high requirements for outsourcing teams. I eliminated many of them at the stage of testing whether they were competent. Later, I failed several more. After getting to know the one I am using now, I found out that it had designed games for Mr. Zhou (my brother-in-law) before."

"Look at that guy with a crew cut, the one who just climbed onto the table. His name is Yang Yu, nicknamed Jiaozi. In 08, he made a movie called "Hit, Hit a Big Watermelon". Although it was a little immature, it was generally okay. He opened a studio and was one of the people I rejected."

Lu Yuan looked towards where Jiaozi was and said, "Since he was eliminated, why is he here with you now?"

"The studio can't sustain itself anymore." Tian Xiaopeng said dejectedly, "Mr. Lu, animators are really miserable now, and investors are generally cautious. Of course, I'm not saying that you are not cautious, you are the kind of person with outstanding vision."

"Stop, get to the point." Lu Yuan stopped his flattery.

“Okay!” Tian Xiaopeng immediately shut up and said with a smile, “The entire industry is in a recession, and The Return of the Great Sage is a rare large project. His studio is relatively small and the overall strength is not good, but his personal skills are excellent. After I rejected him, he asked to join the company the next day, and I agreed after considering it.”

"Can you still play like this?"

"Hey, everyone does this. I've done this before. Many old employees who left last year called and said they wanted to come back. I asked them to go through the entry procedures again. It's not their problem, but the industry is in a downturn. There are not many good opportunities. There's nothing I can do."

Lu Yuan nodded to show his understanding.

Film market in April.

At the beginning of the month, "The Chef, the Actor, the Scoundrel" directed by Guan Hu and starring Huang Bo and Liu Ye, and "Drug War" directed by Johnnie To and starring Gu Tianle and Sun Honglei were released.

The former cost 1100 million to invest, and now the box office has exceeded million.

The latter, with an investment of over 1 million RMB, was released on April 4, but unfortunately the box office has barely exceeded 2 million RMB so far.

"Drug War" is a co-production between Hong Kong and the Mainland, jointly produced by Hairun Pictures and Milkyway Image.

Hairun is a traditional film and television company that started out by making TV series and has produced a large number of TV series with good ratings and reputation.

Such as the "Serious Crime Unit 6" series, "Never Forget You", "What Can I Do to Save You, My Love", "Jade Guanyin", "Drawing Sword", etc.

After deciding to co-produce "Drug War", Hairun sent Haiyan as the screenwriter.

His representative works include classics such as "Never Forget You", "Criminal Investigation Team 6", and "Jade Guanyin".

In Hong Kong, there is director Johnnie To, whose representative works include "Gunfire", "Infernal Affairs", "The Detective", and "Election".

If mainland police and gangster films focus on the realistic presentation of the crime-solving process, Hong Kong police and gangster films are known for their compact rhythm and suspenseful settings.

So it can be said that the collaboration between Haiyan and Johnnie To, "Drug War" combines the strengths of mainland police and gangster films with the advantages of Hong Kong police and gangster films.

This is Hairun's ambitious work for the big screen, which is related to the subsequent listing plan. Hairun's listing plan has repeatedly encountered problems, and "Drug War" is also a do-or-die battle.

Unfortunately, the results were not ideal and the audience did not buy it. Although the word of mouth was good, it just had no box office.

If nothing unexpected happens, Hairun’s listing plan will be further postponed.

The film stars Gu Tianle and Sun Honglei.

Regardless of whether "Drug War" performs well or not at the box office, it will not affect Gu Tianle's next film plans.

But Sun Honglei is in a miserable situation. After experiencing two disastrous failures in "Warring States" and "Drug War", he will probably have to wait three or four years before he can enter the big screen as the leading actor again.

Investors in big productions will no longer trust him easily.

Unless he takes on small investments, it is rare to find good scripts among such small investments.

At the same time, the disastrous failure of "Drug War" made director Cheng Er very worried. After all, "Border Storm" is also a police and gangster theme.

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In the conference room, Cheng Er looked at the chief seat and said, "Boss Lu, with the current performance of Drug War, how about rescheduling Border?"

Lu Yuan held his chin and said, "Border Storm"'s main creative team is not as good as "Drug War".

Director Cheng Er is not much different from a newcomer.

As for the actors, the leading actors include Deng Chao, Luo Jin, Yuan Chen, singer Yang Kun, and Pan Yuemin.
These people have good business abilities, but they don't have much appeal.

He looked at Chen Zhixi and Ning Hao. This play was introduced by Ning Hao, and Chen Zhixi was the producer.

"I don't think it's necessary!" Chen Zhixi said firmly.

"But." Cheng Er hesitated.

“Director Cheng, don’t worry!” Chen Zhixi interrupted and analyzed: “The poor box office performance of “Drug War” has nothing to do with the quality of the film, but a large part of the reason is Hairun.

This company has always been focusing on TV dramas and is known as the top TV drama producer, but it lacks experience in movies and its publicity and promotion are not in place. It can even be said that it has no specific publicity plan and completely follows the publicity routine of TV dramas.

They have been hyping up "Little Poison" on Weibo all day long. It has clearly entered the middle and late stages of promotion, but the core selling point is not prominent, the release date has not been set, and the film's attention has not increased. "

"Yes, Mr. Chen is right."

Publicity Director Zhang Bowen echoed: "Don't worry, Director Cheng. Publicity has always been our strong point. We have already arranged the publicity plan for Border."

Cheng Er then nodded slowly.

"Border" was invested with 1700 million yuan. Although the cost is not high, if there is a loss, there may not be another chance.

Lu Yuan voted for him once, but he might not vote for him the second time.

He was quite confident at first, and after the play was edited, Ning Hao praised him for being a master.

As a result, the box office of "Drug War" completely stunned him.

Seeing him like this, Lu Yuan turned around and asked Zhang Bowen, "How is Han Han's publicity preparation going?"

Both "Border" and "See You Tomorrow" are low-budget films, the former will be released in May and the latter in June.

Compared to "Border", the cast of "See You Tomorrow" may be worse, starring: Zhu Yawen, Liu Xinyou, Yin Xiaotian, etc.

Business ability is naturally not a problem, Han Han strictly controls it.

But compared to "Border", this movie has an advantage, that is, director Han Han has his own topics and fans.

Zhang Bowen smiled: "Director Han and Director Guo Jingming started cursing during the interview. The fans of both sides were quarreling fiercely. It should be said that it is really polite for scholars to curse each other."

Han Han's "See You Tomorrow" and Guo Jingming's "Tiny Times" have the same release dates.

Well, Han Han did it on purpose. He disliked the other person from the beginning.

He went on to say, "In an interview, Guo Jingming said that there are no characters in Han Han's works that people can remember. When you mention Jin Yong, you think of Huang Rong and Guo Jing, and when you mention Lao She, you think of Camel Xiangzi, but when you mention Han Han, you can't remember him. I think he is very good as a social critic and essayist, but as a writer, he has limitations."

"Han Han said during an interview that Guo Jingming worked very hard. He wrote so many novels that his eyes turned black and he was malnourished at a young age. He was not as hardworking or diligent as him. He thought he was very inspiring. In terms of market value, Guo was the most successful person in the industry. This is a perfect example of the saying - diligence can make up for lack of talent!"

Seeing Lu Yuan raised his eyebrows, Zhang Bowen smiled and said, "It's not just that. The fight on Weibo is really fierce."

“On Weibo?”

"Correct!"

Lu Yuan became interested. The two outstanding writers born in the 1980s filmed their debut works, which immediately became a hot topic.

He took out his phone and opened Weibo.

Han Han sent a line of words: I saw a sentence today. When it comes to cuteness, who can compare to Han Han... I understood it immediately.

Guo Jingming's Weibo: Moe is a word borrowed from Japan. It seems that young people like the "Japanese and Korean" culture very much. I like it too. The Japanese and Korean style is very popular these days.

Lu Yuan muttered to himself.

The meeting was over and everyone left, but Ning Hao just sat in his seat without moving.

Lu Yuan walked to the door and heard him coughing violently.

"Let's go, what are you waiting for?"

Ning Hao looked a little unnatural: "That."

"Why are you still hesitating? This is not like you."

"There is a notebook."

"Wow, you've finished revising your sci-fi script?" Lu Yuan was surprised and walked closer: "Hurry up, show it to me, how much investment is needed."

Ning Hao's expression became more and more unnatural, and he cursed himself inwardly, thinking that he shouldn't talk big. What the hell was the science fiction he was not cut out for?

Faced with Lu Yuan's expectant gaze, he gave up struggling.

"First of all, this was an accident. When I was writing a science fiction script at the beginning of the year, I received a call from Yue Xiaojun. He claimed that he was divorced and was in a bad mood. I asked him not to stay at home and find a new girl. He asked me how to find one. Without saying a word, I put down my work, took him with me, and went on a spontaneous trip."

“After I came back, I thought this experience was great, so I had the idea of ​​writing it into a script.”

"What's the name of the script?"

"'Fatal Encounter'!"

"Tsk, too vulgar. I know it's not a serious movie. Change the name."

"Forehead"

(End of this chapter)