1990: Starting from Baojia Street

Zhang Li and Liu Wenwu argued for a long time, but neither could convince the other.

The key is that you can't take action or start a fight, so you can only stop.

Liu Wenwu now realized that it was useless to argue with Zhang Li about this, because Zhang Li came here today just to accompany Hu Mei.

Zhang Li also realized that he should have been a bystander, but now he was arguing with the producer and was a little too excited.

After the two stopped arguing, the scene became a little quiet.

At this time, Zhou Yan smiled and said, "You two said you are tired, have a drink of water."

Hearing Zhou Yan's words, Liu Wenwu and Zhang Li both laughed embarrassedly.

"Director Zhou, I'm sorry to have embarrassed you." Zhang Li said.

Zhou Yan smiled and waved his hands. "Director Zhang, you are joking. I also benefited a lot from listening to your discussion just now. But, we are all gathered here today for the director of Yongzheng Dynasty, so let's talk about Yongzheng Dynasty."

Liu Wenwu also looked at Hu Mei, "Yes, Director Hu, let's talk about the topics we talked about last time."

The last time they met, Liu Wenwu gave Hu Mei a few test questions and asked her to think about how to handle several scenes.

Hu Mei nodded. "Then I will tell you one by one in order. The Thirteenth Prince Yinxiang took out the letter from the Ninth Prince to Ren Boan. Ren Boan was horrified and had no choice but to donate money. This scene..."

The scene then returned to normal, with Hu Mei alone expressing her thoughts and feelings about the play.

She was indeed well prepared and her description was very detailed. She even added some of her own ideas in some places and made some minor changes to the script.

In Zhou Yan's opinion, Hu Mei's performance was not outstanding, but it was not bad either, and was just average.

In terms of ability alone, Hu Mei is definitely not as good as Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige, or Zhang Li who is here today.

When Zhang Li was discussing with Liu Wenwu just now, you could tell that Zhang Li is a very talented person. Not only does he have solid theoretical knowledge, but he also has many wild and imaginative ideas.

If Zhou Yan were allowed to choose, he would definitely choose Zhang Li as the director. Even if Zhang Li doesn't have time now, he would be willing to wait for a while.

And Zhang Li is not completely without time. Liu Wenwu has already decided to invite Zhang Li to be the planner of "The Yongzheng Dynasty".

Liu Wenwu did not interrupt Hu Mei while she was speaking, but after she finished speaking, he started criticizing her again.

Zhang Li was so angry listening to this that he was about to debate with Liu Wenwu, but was stopped by Hu Mei.

Liu Wenwu didn't say much this time. He just said a few simple words in each scene and it ended.

Then he looked at the time and said, "Director Zhang, Director Hu, let's end today's meeting here."

Zhou Yan also looked at his watch. It was already half past ten, so he invited them, "You two should stay for dinner before leaving."

Hu Mei smiled and said, "You're welcome, Director Zhou. We still have some things to do in the factory. We'll go back now. It's not far."

The atmosphere at the scene was not very good. After hearing Hu Mei's refusal, Zhou Yan did not force her to stay. He smiled and said, "Then I won't keep you two. Come on, I'll see you off."

……

After seeing Hu Mei and Zhang Li off, Zhou Yan and the other two returned to Liu Heping's office.

Liu Heping changed the water in his cup and said with a smile, "Looks like I have to talk to other potential directors again."

In Liu Heping's opinion, the situation today was so bad, and Liu Wenwu did not invite Hu Mei to dinner later, so he must not be fond of Hu Mei.

But Liu Wenwu shook his head and said, "No need, Hu Mei is good enough."

Liu Heping raised his eyebrows in surprise, "Are you going to marry her?"

"Well, that's what I thought."

"Well...it's a good thing that the director has decided on it." Although Liu Heping didn't understand, he didn't say anything.

Zhou Yan smiled beside him. He was not surprised at all. He had discovered the day before yesterday that Liu Wenwu was a typical person who said one thing and meant another.

Even though the situation just now wasn't very good, he was actually quite satisfied with Hu Mei.

What Liu Wenwu was looking for was a director like Hu Mei who was willing to listen to opinions. If he wanted Zhang Li to be the director, the two of them would quarrel every day.

……

Hu Mei and Zhang Li walked out of the park gate. Hu Mei turned around and looked at the park, sighing, "It looks like this plan is a failure."

Hu Mei was very eager to star in the drama "Yongzheng Dynasty". She believed that she understood Yongzheng and was the best candidate to film this TV series.

Although she had no experience in writing historical dramas before, she felt very confident after reading the script.

Therefore, she was quite disappointed when she saw Liu Wenwu's attitude.

Hearing Hu Mei's words, Zhang Li, who had just quarreled with Liu Wenwu for a long time, smiled and said, "You are exactly wrong. If Liu Wenwu didn't want to use you, why would he criticize you? The so-called praise and criticism are buyers, and applause is idlers. He can still talk about you so unscrupulously later, which must mean that he has decided to give you this job."

"Really?" Hu Mei was skeptical. "You're not saying this just to comfort me, are you?"

Zhang Li rolled his eyes. "Why should I comfort you? Don't worry, go back and wait for news."

Hu Mei still didn't quite believe it, but Zhang Li said it so confidently that made her a little uncertain.

Seeing her in a daze, Zhang Li smiled and said, "Don't worry about it. If we want to use you, we will have news soon."

Zhang Li was also familiar with the situation of "Yongzheng Dynasty". This drama was prepared for a long time and was stuck for a long time on the script and the selection of directors.

The script is basically done now. If Hu Mei is confirmed to be the director, Liu Wenwu should be notified soon and it won't take too long.

……

In fact, Zhang Li guessed correctly. Hu Mei received a call from Liu Wenwu even before she got off work that evening.

This time, Liu Wenwu was very polite and sincerely invited Hu Mei to be the director of "The Yongzheng Dynasty" and hoped that Hu Mei could get into the work as soon as possible as they still had a lot of work to do.

Hu Mei didn't expect the surprise to come so quickly. She didn't even wait for Liu Wenwu to finish speaking before she replied, "Boss Liu, I can join the team right away."

On the other end of the phone, Liu Wenwu laughed. It seemed that he had made the right choice of director.

"In that case, come over tomorrow morning."

"where to?"

"This is where you are today. We will be working here for a long time in the future."

After Liu Wenwu and Zhou Yan confirmed their cooperation, Zhou Yan directly arranged another floor for Liu Wenwu and his team to use as offices.

The park doesn't have much else now, but it has a lot of office space. Let alone one floor, it would be no problem to give them an entire building.

The office location is on-site, and it’s just a matter of adding some office supplies.

Liu Wenwu was naturally happy to have an entire floor to work on, and he was also more convinced that cooperating with Zhou Yan was the right thing to do.

If they hadn't cooperated with Zhou Yan, they wouldn't have been able to spend money to build such a large office space.

The key point is that Zhou Yan's location is very good. It is next to the Yanjing Film Academy and Yanjing Film Studio. It is also not far from CCTV, so it is convenient for everything. Hu Mei is also very happy. Going to Zhou Yan's place to work is only a few minutes away from her work in her own factory. She can still take care of things at home. It is really convenient.

"Okay, I'll go there tomorrow morning."

"In that case, I will arrange a meeting tomorrow afternoon. We can meet some people from the crew first and get to know each other. It will also be convenient for you to start your work later."

"Okay, Mr. Liu."

Hu Mei also breathed a sigh of relief at this moment. She found that Liu Wenwu was much easier to talk to than before, and was quite considerate of others.

……

When Liu Wenwu called Hu Mei, Zhou Yan was next to him.

After the two hung up the phone, Liu Wenwu smiled and said, "Director Zhou, will you come to the meeting tomorrow afternoon?"

"Well, let me take a look." Zhou Yan nodded. It was just a few steps away anyway.

"Then are you going to notify Director Jiang, or should I do it?"

"You notify them."

"No problem. I'm almost off work. I'll go find him for dinner right away."

"Okay, you go find him, I'll go back first."

"Well, walk slowly."

Zhou Yan smiled, got up and left the office.

After coming out, he did not rush back, but went to the film department.

The first batch of students from the Central Academy of Drama's school-enterprise cooperation program have been in the studio for some time, and Zhou Yan is going to go and see how they are doing.

He went to the editing room first, and as soon as he arrived, he saw several people in the office gathered together discussing something.

"In fact, our editing work should still be based on the director. We have to give the director what he wants," said editor Liu Hao.

Shu Xiang, who was sitting opposite him, laughed and said, "If the editor only listens to others, what's the use of the edited material? Then aren't we just doing odd jobs? If we listen to the director, do we have to listen to the producer? If we listen to the producer, do we have to listen to the investor? We are like puppets, at the mercy of others. Directors may be professional in filming, but how much do they know about editing?"

"Of course you can make suggestions, but if the director does not adopt them, you cannot make changes. Otherwise, why don't you shoot it yourself?" Liu Hao said.

At this time, Du Yuan, the director of the editing workshop, laughed and said, "This thing is not dead. You two are arguing here for so long. Do you really want to train Xiaolong to be your disciple? He is an actor, and he will probably not be in charge of editing in the future."

Du Yuan was the editor of "Raise the Red Lantern" and was previously at Chang'an Studio. Zhou Yan spent a lot of effort to recruit her.

After she came here, she was directly appointed as the director of the film department's editing workshop.

"Ahem." Zhou Yan said at the right time, "What are you talking about?"

Seeing Zhou Yan coming, Du Yuan rolled her eyes and said with a smile, "Nothing, just chatting. Director Zhou, why are you here?"

Most directors don't like Shu Xiang's theory.

In fact, most directors believe that the so-called editor is a knife in the director's hand, and they will do whatever the director asks them to do.

Although Zhou Yan respects editors very much, Du Yuan believes that he is the director who cares least about editors.

In the post-production process of Zhou Yan's films, the editor can be said to have no autonomy and no sense of accomplishment.

Most directors would mention their requirements to the editor during editing and ask the editor to try to realize them, but Zhou Yan was very direct. What he wanted had already been formed in his mind, and all the editor had to do was cut out the films and stick them together in order according to his instructions.

The instructions he gave were often incredibly precise.

This means that only a skilled editor is needed to edit for Zhou Yan. If Zhou Yan doesn't mind the work, he can do it himself. After all, Zhou Yan has been in the editing workshop for a long time, so he has no problem editing.

Back then, when Zhou Yan was in the Chang'an factory, he worked as a handyman for many people in their editing workshop and also did some hands-on work.

Just imagine, in the eyes of such a director, how important can the editor be?
Zhou Yan knew that Du Yuan was afraid that he would have a problem with Shu Xiang, so he didn't say anything.

To be honest, he didn't care about Shu Xiang's idea. A good director knows how to get along with the editor. Different directors need different editors, and everyone has a different cooperation mode.

Some are suitable for Shu Xiang, and some are suitable for Liu Hao.

He glanced at Shu Xiang and Liu Hao, then looked at Duan Yihong, "Duan Long, how do you feel about working in the editing room these days?"

Duan Yihong smiled and said, "Director Zhou, I feel very good. Only in the editing room can I truly feel how wonderful the process of completing a movie is. It is also convenient to watch movies here."

In fact, Duan Yihong has not experienced much of the editing process during this period. After all, there is not much work in the editing workshop right now. However, he has watched a lot of materials previously shot by the studio, including those shot by Zhou Yan.

In addition to the footage, there are also some documentaries on the scene.

Duan Yihong feels very fulfilled watching these materials and documentaries every day. He thinks that watching these materials and documentaries is more interesting and useful than analyzing those movies every day in school.

For example, in documentaries, directors often ask or instruct actors on how to act, which are vivid and real acting lessons for him.

When he was able to often observe from the director's camera perspective and the third person perspective of a documentary, he gained a more comprehensive understanding of acting.

Zhou Yan nodded. "Internships in various workshops are mainly to help you better understand the complete process of a film. As an actor, your learning will ultimately be reflected in your performance. Don't worry about this. There will be internship opportunities later."

"Thank you, Director Zhou."

Zhou Yan patted him on the shoulder and said, "Do a good job."

After saying that, Zhou Yan nodded to Du Yuan and the others, then turned and left the editing room.

He then went to several workshops in succession and had brief chats with students involved in school-enterprise cooperation.

When it was finally time for the makeup team, Zhou Yan was surprised to find that Zhang Ziyi was sitting next to Lin Juan.

"Zhang Ziyi, why are you here?"

Lin Juan explained, "Brother Zhou Yan, Ziyi is from the second batch of school-enterprise cooperation students in their school."

Zhou Yan paid attention to the first batch of students on the list of students participating in the school-enterprise cooperation program of the Central Academy of Drama, but he did not ask about the second batch.

There are batches of students participating in the school-enterprise cooperation, and there are a lot of things to do in the studio. It is impossible for him to take care of everything.

But he didn't expect that Zhang Ziyi, who was about to film "The Emperor and the Assassin", would come.

He asked curiously, "When will Director Chen start filming?"

"It should start filming in June," Zhang Ziyi replied.

"So do you want to join the group early?" Zhou Yan asked.

Zhang Ziyi suddenly lowered her head and bit her lip, "I don't know yet."

do not know……

Zhou Yan looked Zhang Ziyi up and down with interest. Could this girl refuse Chen Kaige?
If Zhang Ziyi could really reject Chen Kaige, Zhou Yan would look up to her. (End of this chapter)