Huayu: The director just wants to save money

Chapter 840: A Historical Mistake
Zhou Mo explained the plan very clearly, so the others were very efficient in calculating the accounts.

Zhou Mo's target for the average price of a movie ticket is around 20 yuan.

In order to achieve a box office of even 300 or 400 million yuan, the number of views must reach 20 million.

With this level of views, even if 1-2 yuan is rebated to people every time, the total cost is tens of millions.

Is this a true portrayal of being rich and powerful?
Wang Renjun murmured: "Can we still make money by operating this way?"

Zhou Mo smiled slightly.

make money?

He never thought about making money from "The Bugle".

There are so many profitable projects in his company, but there are only a handful of unprofitable projects that can earn other resources.

It's not easy to get one, so you should cherish it, right?
Wang Zhifei could best understand Zhou Mo's approach. In his previous life, after the release of "Military Bugle", he was the first to contribute his own salary and called on more people to watch this movie.

After talking about rebates, Chen Li asked Zhou Mo if he had any other plans.

Zhou Mo hesitated for a moment, but finally shook his head.

He originally had a promotional plan, which was to take the crew to visit colleges and universities for promotion, with the aim of attracting student audiences to watch the movie.

But then he thought about the cultural level of the main actors in the crew, and then thought about the cultural level of the students in the university...

Well, in 21, many universities published rankings of student borrowing in their own libraries.

The Anthology is listed in many rankings.

In this case, if the leading actors go to schools to promote their films and are asked questions by students that they cannot answer, or even some rather pointed topics... the result would be worse than not promoting their films at all.

At this time, Liu Xing (Zhang Yishan), who plays 101, walked in and said, "Everyone, lunch is ready. Let's..."

Half an hour later, everyone sat at the dinner table.

Chen Li joked, "Director Zhou, our filming conditions are limited here, and I hope you can forgive me for the poor hospitality."

Zhou Mo was startled, and then pointed the finger at Wang Zhifei: "Brother Fei, did you say too many bad things about me in the crew, making Director Chen think that I am a person who lives an extravagant life?"

Wang Zhifei raised his hands with a look of regret on his face.

"Yes, it's my fault. I didn't keep my mouth shut."

"Hahaha."

The jokes quickly improved the atmosphere at the dinner table. Wang Zhifei and Zhou Mo were the most familiar with each other, so they chatted about several topics and started talking. Gradually, others also joined in the conversation.

After several exchanges, Chen Li asked a question that attracted the attention of others.

"Director Zhou, I want to ask you what you think about the future market for mainstream works. Will it get bigger or smaller?"

Zhou Mo did not answer immediately, but wanted Chen Li to explain his problem in more detail.

"What did Director Chen hear that gave him these insights?"

Chen Li sighed: "I find that I am increasingly unable to grasp the market's preferences in recent years...

I won’t hide it from Director Zhou. In the past, when we were shooting some mainstream works, there were actually some fixed contents. In the past, when these fixed contents were shot, the audience would basically buy them. But now the audience is less and less interested in these procedures. ”

Zhou Mo pondered for a while and came to his own conclusion:

“That’s right. I think it’s not just mainstream movies, but the entire market’s attitude towards movies has changed. The quality requirements for the works themselves are becoming more comprehensive and higher.

The direct result of such changes is that future works will need to find their target audiences more accurately, and polarization will become increasingly likely.

The situation in the past where any age group or any group would follow a work is likely to become less and less..."

After hearing this, Chen Li fell into a brief period of thought.

As a director who mainly produces mainstream works, she really doesn't need to pay too much attention to market reaction.

Because there is a guarantee.

But there is a difference between not paying too much attention and not paying any attention.

No director wants his/her hard-earned work to be criticized and poorly received by a large number of viewers after it is broadcast.

Although some directors will not admit their mistakes after being criticized, they will complain that the audience is a bunch of idiots and want them to spend money.

But just lie to yourself with these words, and don't secretly cry in bed later.

On the other side, Liu Xing asked Zhou Mo about his future career plans.

"Director Zhou, what direction do you think I should take next? I feel like I'm at a bottleneck now."

Everyone present here today is either his elder or the director, so he doesn't have to worry about offending anyone with his questions.

Zhou Mo looked at him and habitually asked, "Can you accept being splashed with cold water and told unpleasant things?"

Liu Xing nodded immediately and said carelessly: "Of course I can accept that. I asked you today just to listen to your guidance. Whatever you say, I will definitely listen."

Zhou Mo smiled, "Okay, since you said so, then I will be more straightforward...

First of all, you are too thin now. You were also thin when you were a child, but at least your bones were covered, and it’s okay for children to be a little thin. But now you are so thin that you can’t even cover your bones. To be honest, many crews will not consider your current situation at all.

I know you will say that you are too tired, have no appetite, or have gallbladder problems, but in the end, it depends on personal choice. It is up to you to decide whether to accept the project or not. "

Liu Xing just wanted to explain to himself when he heard half of it, but he didn't expect that Zhou Mo seemed to have anticipated what he would say, so he just blocked his words in his throat.

He was silent for a while, and did not say what he was thinking. He raised his head and looked at Zhou Mo again.

"Director Zhou, do you have any other questions?"

"Yes, your current acting range is not wide enough, and you know that, so you are also trying to expand it. However, due to your appearance, this road is not easy to walk. I suggest you take it step by step and don't aim too high. Before your acting skills are up to par, taking too big a step can easily lead to failure."

Liu Xing nodded. He had gradually felt the limitations of his acting career over the years, so he tried to make a certain degree of transformation by filming "Seven Me". However, as we all know, the performance of "Seven Me" was not good, and his transformation and promotion were not successful. Thinking about it now, it should be as Director Zhou said, he was a little too ambitious at the time.

Zhou Mo didn't give him much time to think, and continued, "By the way, I heard a few days ago that you were invited to film The Deer and the Cauldron?"

Liu Xing nodded slightly.

Zhou Mo continued, "The Deer and the Cauldron is a good opportunity. When you were a kid, you played the classic role of Shu Liu Xing in Home with Kids, and a few years ago, you played the classic role of Yu Zui in Yu Zui.

If you can play Wei Xiaobao in "The Deer and the Cauldron" well, then you will basically be guaranteed to get roles of this type in the future. Whenever there is such a role in the circle, people will basically think of you.

But the problem is, you have to think carefully about whether you can play Wei Xiaobao well. Think about who played Wei Xiaobao before you, Stephen Chow, Shan Ji, and Huang Xiaoming.

With your current level, are you able to compete with them?

Over the years, whenever Jin Yong's works hit the screen, they are bound to be compared among the audience, which has basically become an essential process.

The further you shoot, the more targets the actors need to compare with, and the more difficult it becomes.

Liu Xing thought about what Zhou Mo said and immediately pursed his lips.

There is no doubt that he can never compare to Zhou Xingxing and Shan Ji.

The Master's words...

Liu Xing thought about it carefully and found that he couldn't compare.

The 50-50 split is so magical.

When we don't compare, we all think that this guy is just like that and anyone can step on him.

Once you start comparing, you'll find that this guy's ceiling is really high when he's in the spotlight.

For a moment, Liu Xing felt under great pressure.

"But I really don't want to play the role of Wei Xiaobao." Liu Xing expressed his true thoughts.

He had actually thought about the prospects that Zhou Mo told him about. If he played the role of Wei Xiaobao well, he could make a living from this career for at least ten years, and it was a career that was not very competitive.

"Then prepare well, read the original work more, and watch Shan Ji's performance." Zhou Mo gave casual advice.

The broadcast of "Yuzui" helped a lot in the establishment of the paid channel of the station, so Liu Xing would definitely be willing to help.

In the previous life, Liu Xing's version of "The Deer and the Cauldron" obtained a lot of resources. China Media Group, New Classics, Wanda, and iQiyi all participated in the production. Finally, it was premiered on CCTV-8, which was a full-scale show.

However, the subsequent performance of the TV series made such a huge investment almost go down the drain, and Liu Xing himself also suffered a sharp drop in resources after this Waterloo.

Zhou Mo didn’t watch much of the new version of “The Deer and the Cauldron” in his previous life.

He couldn't quite accept the look of Wei Xiaobao in "The Deer and the Cauldron" (green hat). In addition, the whole drama deliberately imitated the style of Stephen Chow, but the imitation was not good enough, which gave him a headache, so he simply stopped watching it after a few episodes.

Looking back now, the crew of "The Deer and the Cauldron" deliberately imitated the style of Stephen Chow's version of "The Deer and the Cauldron", which was an obvious failure for the TV series itself.

Zhou Xingxing, can anyone imitate that?
What's more, when Stephen Chow was filming "The Deer and the Cauldron", who were Wei Xiaobao's wives?

Zhang Min, Doudou, Lin Qingxia...

It's impossible for a TV series to put together such a lineup.

On the other hand, Liu Xing also noticed that Zhou Mo only mentioned the name "Mountain Chicken" but did not mention "Zhou Xingxing", and he instantly had a guess in his mind.

"Director Zhou, don't you suggest that I learn the style of Mr. Zhou Xingxing?"

“He has his own system, and they were the Wang Zhou duo at their peak. I just can’t imagine anyone being able to shoot in their style, not even the current two.

Shan Ji is also quite difficult, but at least it is not like Zhou Xingxing, so there are some things we can learn from it.”

Liu Xing nodded heavily and kept Zhou Mo's words in mind.

……

Zhou Mo stayed in the crew of "Military Bugle" for three days.

During this period, I also helped Chen Li reshoot a scene.

A play that ended up being a big blunder because of the lack of information flow during that time period. (A real historical event)

As mentioned earlier, the content of "Military Bugle" is about what happened in the Fujian-Western base area in 29.

As the differences between the teachers and General Zhu grew day by day, coupled with the presence of Liu Angong, the conflict between the two ideas was completely detonated. General Chen had been unsuccessful in reconciling the two, and finally decided to hold a meeting to decide on the appointment of the front committee and the military thinking.

After this meeting, the teacher left the base he had built and the team he had led (he was voted out, the first and only time in his life that he was defeated from the bottom up), and chose to teach and educate at Shanghai Airlines, preside over meetings, and continue to write articles, analyze problems, and refine his ideas.

However, during this process, the teacher was infected with malaria. This disease can be cured with a single shot now, but in that era, it was a very deadly disease that could easily take the life of the patient.

In that era, the spread of information was already very slow, and because of his serious illness, he was unable to exchange information with the main force for a long time.

So a few months after the teacher left, news spread from the base that the teacher was seriously ill and difficult to treat. Later, the news even spread to Moscow in the north.

After Moscow received the news, it published an obituary of more than a thousand words in the International News Bulletin:

According to the news... he died on the front line due to long-term tuberculosis...

At the same time, the transport captain also got the news, so they happily announced their "great achievements" in the newspaper: Our army has killed XXX in the mountains...

Of course, the transport captain was not completely bragging, they had indeed organized many encirclement and suppression operations against the instructor. During one such operation, they had clearly discovered the instructor's whereabouts and were chasing him all the way. However, the instructor's guard at the time was the future God of War, who separated himself to meet the enemy and covered the instructor's retreat, creating enough time for the instructor's transfer.

It is worth mentioning that the teacher was discovered this time not because he revealed his identity, but because there was a local tyrant named Zhang Keshi who was resentful because his land was divided. When he saw the teacher, he recognized him as a big shot at first glance.

(The teacher was tall and had an imposing manner. Zhang Keshi recognized at a glance that he was no ordinary person, so he immediately informed the militia and launched an attack on the teacher...)
During this ambush, the instructor could not walk for long with his body severely damaged by malaria. Later, a kind-hearted farmer named Chen Tianyu who followed him ran more than ten miles along the mountain road with the instructor on his back, and they shook off the pursuers behind them.

It can only be said that this pursuit battle itself is quite legendary. Whether it was the instructor who was seriously ill but still persevered, or the god of war who relied on a small team of companions to desperately resist the militia, or the kind-hearted Chen Tianyu, it was the joint efforts of everyone that made this extremely dangerous transfer possible, laying the foundation for the subsequent changes in the Fourth Army.

(End of this chapter)