Huayu: Director started with art films

Chapter 216 226 [Gorgeous Assistant Director Lineup]

In "Farewell My Concubine", Cheng Dieyi said to Duan Xiaolou: Not even one day, one hour, or one minute less will do.

We agreed to fight for three days and three nights, and that’s serious!

Anyway, Li Yishu took Lai Shengchuan and flew back to Yanjing overnight. He slept on the plane all the way to the Yanjing airport.

The main symptoms are mental fatigue and back pain.

But after a good night's sleep, I felt much more energetic.

Lai Shengchuan was first arranged to stay in a foreign-related hotel, and Li Yishu took him to the Beijing Film Studio at noon.

Although this movie did not have the investment from Beijing Film Studio, Li Yishu, as a long-term partner of the Beijing Film Studio, naturally enjoys certain privileges in the studio, not to mention that the current director of the Beijing Film Studio, Han Sanping, is his "third uncle"!
After introducing Lai Shengchuan to the editors of Beijing Film Studio, Li Yishu smiled and said, "Director Lai, Director Zhang, I'll trouble you to keep an eye on it for the next few days. I have some personal matters to take care of."

He had already made an appointment with Huo Wenxi to meet with Tan Xisong, director of CCTV's Advertising Economics Center and director of the Advertising Department, in the afternoon.

It was Director Tan who took the initiative to ask for a meeting with the person who proposed the winning advertising proposal. After Huo Wenxi told Li Yishu about this, he readily agreed.

Others may not know about the future glory of Director Tan, but Li Yishu is very clear that the advertising plan for CCTV's winning bid was planned by her. She is known as the godmother of Chinese advertising and the strong woman who created the CCTV winning bid box.

"It's okay, Director Li. You have something to do first. Leave the pre-production editing to us."

Lai Shengchuan smiled. He came here not only to complete the post-production of the movie, but also to get close to the mainland film studios.

There is now a trend of co-production in Hong Kong, and Lai Shengchuan focuses on art films. Since the release of "Unrequited Love in Peach Blossom Land" last year, the box office has not been very ideal, even with excellent actors such as Brigitte Lin and Jin Shijie.

If Li Yishu had not given the project of "The Reader" to Lai Shengchuan to prepare, he would probably have to go back to writing scripts and performing plays.

"Well, please."

Li Yishu said a few words to Lai Shengchuan and prepared to leave.

But who would have thought that after Han Sanping knew that he had come to the Beijing Film Studio, he immediately called him and asked him to come to his office to talk about "Red Cliff of the Three Kingdoms".

In Han Sanping's office.

"Uncle San, there's no need to hold a symposium, right?"

Li Yishu frowned. He didn't expect that Han Sanping came to him to hold a symposium on the Three Kingdoms at Chibi.

He was quite annoyed by this kind of symposium. Not only was it meaningless, but it was also just a bunch of old guys talking and chatting about everything.

"I know you don't like it. Actually, I don't like it either. But the symposium we are going to hold this time is not in those formats."

Han Sanping smiled and said, "During this period, many directors learned that I was preparing for the production of Red Cliff of the Three Kingdoms, and they all recommended themselves, hoping to be the director. There are also many experts who study the Three Kingdoms and Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and they are all very enthusiastic."

"I thought about what you told me before, that the Three Kingdoms crew would take a long time to prepare, so I thought about pulling all these people in and forming a Three Kingdoms Red Cliff Research Group. This would also lighten your burden a bit, and at the same time, we could pool our wisdom and help us find and fill in the gaps."

Hearing him say this, Li Yishu's expression softened a lot and she nodded, "If that's the case, then I have no objection. This time we are going to make our own domestic blockbuster, and I definitely can't do it alone."

Li Yishu is still self-aware. He did shoot quite a few online movies in his previous life. In terms of directing experience, he is definitely not inferior to the current big domestic directors.

After all, many people only make a dozen films in their lifetime, unlike him who can make four or five films a year.

However, his directing experience is mostly in modern film themes, either action films or crime films. A very small number of them are mythological films in the style of Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio, or historical films with fantasy elements such as Di Renjie of the Tang Dynasty.

Anyway, I have never actually directed such a large-scale production with tens of thousands of extras.

This is also the reason why Li Yishu said before that this movie would look for some assistant directors who have shot large scenes. She really doesn’t have that ability!

He might be able to manage and control a crew of hundreds or thousands of people.

But a large crew of tens or hundreds of thousands of people is no less than a general in ancient times mobilizing troops.

Incompetence means incompetence.

Li Yishu is very self-aware of this. She must not follow the example of Wu Yusen and turn a good movie like Red Cliff into a gang fight in a Hong Kong movie.

Han Sanping smiled and said, "Okay, as long as you agree, I will notify everyone and ask them to come to Yanjing for a symposium."

Hearing this, Li Yishu asked, "Who are they?"

"Director Xie Jin who filmed The Garland Under the Mountain, Director Li Jun who filmed The Decisive Battle, Director Yang Guangyuan who filmed The Bloody Battle of Taierzhuang..."

this! !

Li Yishu was surprised and asked, "Uncle San, are you sure they are willing to be assistant directors?"

Just the three people mentioned by Han Sanping above are all big names in domestic directors!

Although they are not as well-known as Zhang Yimou and Chen Kai more than ten years later, they are no worse than these two in terms of status and ability. Moreover, these three were among the top domestic directors in the 1970s and 1980s.

"Haha, of course I'm willing. This is a blockbuster movie with an investment of 200 million RMB. Who wouldn't want to be involved? If I weren't the director of Beijing Film Studio, I would want to be involved, even if it's just as an assistant director!"

Han Sanping was not only a factory director, but also a director. Later, he became the boss of China Film Corporation and was the one who produced the main theme movie "The Founding of a Republic" in which hundreds of stars starred for free.

Now that Li Yishu has been tinkering with a domestic blockbuster like "Red Cliff of the Three Kingdoms", if he hadn't just taken office as the director, there would be a lot of things in the subsequent "Red Cliff of the Three Kingdoms" crew that would require him to arrange and coordinate as the producer, otherwise he would really have to be an assistant director.

"Is Director Shen Haofang coming too?" Li Yishu asked.

Han Sanping said, "Come! He is coming with Director Wang Fulin."

"Just come."

Li Yishu nodded with satisfaction. The Three Kingdoms: Red Cliff was shot in ancient costumes, and the battles had to be fought according to the ancient deployment of troops, so that there would be rules. This is just like inviting military experts to war films nowadays.

Director Shen Haofang is an expert in this field. In 1988, he co-directed "Dunhuang" invested by a Japanese film company and filmed the Battle of Dunhuang where tens of thousands of people fought. Later, he joined the crew of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and directed the most structured Battle of Guandu.

Later, she also filmed a TV series called "The Chronicles of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty". Lee Yi-su was deeply impressed by this TV series. There was a segment about the Battle of Changshao between Qi and Lu during the Spring and Autumn Period, which was filmed in a very methodical and logical way.

In that scene, the shields were used for protection in front, and when charging, the shield soldiers in front fell down, covered with their shields, and the infantry and chariots behind stepped over them.

Perhaps from the perspective of later audiences, this scene was not as well shot as Wu Yusen's "Gangster Wars".

But this is because director Shen Haofang was limited by the constraints of the times and only wanted to restore the real ancient battlefield battles as much as possible, but ignored the fact that the film itself is a work of art that exaggerates reality.

If we want to film "Red Cliff of the Three Kingdoms", we must not film the gang wars like Wu Yusen's, nor can we limit ourselves to the "reproduction" of the older generation's vision. We must film it with an epic and blockbuster feel. It's like the Qin army firing thousands of arrows in "Hero" and the Battle of the Five Armies in the "Lord of the Rings" series...

It was originally adapted from the Ming Dynasty novel "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", so there are many unreasonable places. As long as it follows the basic style of the late Han Dynasty, the war scenes, including the weapons and equipment of the soldiers, will naturally be gorgeous and beautiful.

It can't be like the TV series about the Three Kingdoms, where all the soldiers wear ordinary cotton-padded clothes with a few armor plates on their chests and count them as armor.

After chatting with Han Sanping for a while, Li Yishu said, "I'm afraid I don't have much time these days. How about setting the date for the symposium on November 11th?"

"Okay, according to your schedule. Anyway, there is no rush for the symposium. I will also have someone design some more armor styles for you to see during this time."

Han Sanping nodded. "Red Cliff: The Three Kingdoms" is a large-scale domestic production. If we want to make it well and go global, we must strive for excellence.

"By the way, Uncle San, there is something you have to help me solve."

"what's up?"

"Old dog Teng!"

in the afternoon.

Chang'an Street.

Art Film Company.

In the company's conference room, Li Yishu met Tan Xisong, who was later hailed as the godmother of advertising. She was a middle-aged woman in her fifties with short hair, and her first impression was that of a strong woman.

After Huo Wenxi's introduction, he also extended his hand enthusiastically and said, "Hello, Director Tan, thank you for taking the trouble to come here."

Tan Xisong laughed and said, "Haha, Director Li is too polite. I didn't expect that the VCD developed by Miss Huo was actually related to Director Li."

"I just made a suggestion, but I didn't expect Miss Huo to actually come up with it."

Li Yishu said a few humble words, and on the surface, VCD had nothing to do with him.

Even the investment money was from Li Yishu’s account in HSBC Bank in Hong Kong.

After exchanging greetings.

Tan Xisong also took the initiative to speak: "Ms. Huo, Director Li, CCTV has approved the winning bid for this advertising plan, but this matter involves a lot of things and it is difficult to complete in a short period of time. March next year may be a little late, but we have held a meeting to discuss it, and the earliest we can do it is January next year."

"Director Tan."

Li Yishu interrupted her and said, "You are the head of CCTV's advertising department. You should be well aware that advertising requires timeliness. You should have seen our product VCD, right?"

Tan Xisong agreed: "Yes, I have seen it. The product is very good. It has great advantages over the current video recorders on the market in terms of clarity, performance and price. I will definitely buy one when it is launched on the market."

"The price does have a big advantage, but it's not big enough for ordinary people to buy it casually."

Li Yishu shook her head and said, "I know CCTV is a state-owned unit, and many things cannot be decided on a whim, but Director Tan, the home appliance product that Miss Huo hired someone to develop is unique in the world. Now domestic home appliances, whether it is refrigerators, washing machines or air conditioners..."

"These are all imported products, all developed by foreigners. We have finally developed a world-leading product, and we must promote it on the largest TV station in the country so that foreigners can see the excellent performance of this home appliance product, thereby increasing our home appliance exports, rather than just manufacturing for others..."

Huo Wenxi is a native Hong Konger who has lived in Hong Kong since he was a child. He cannot understand the sense of honor that mainlanders have in certain things, so when communicating with Tan Xisong, he was unable to stir up this emotion.

However, Li Yishu knows how to stimulate this emotion.

The VCD player was indeed developed by the Chinese. Although the key electronic components need to be imported from Hong Kong, domestic production is not impossible as long as the profit is sufficient.

Listening to Li Yishu's words, Tan Xisong fell into deep thought. Ever since Huo Wenxi came to her, she started looking for people to find out about the VCD.

CCTV itself is a news organization with offices in many countries around the world. With a little inquiry, you will find out that this kind of product does not exist abroad. It is indeed independently developed in China and the intellectual property rights are also in China.

Moreover, as someone who has used VCD herself, she knows very well that once this product is promoted properly, it will definitely be a must-have device for every family that owns a television in the future.

Television is not available 24 hours a day now. It starts at eight in the morning and ends before twelve at night.

This is CCTV, other local TV stations probably ended even earlier.

This phenomenon continued until the end of 2007, when CCTV's first program was broadcast 24 hours a day. It was the only TV channel at the time that had programs around the clock.

You can't just leave the TV there without any TV programs, right?
VCRs are expensive and videotape rentals are not cheap either, but the emergence of VCDs has undoubtedly given ordinary families more choices. They can watch any TV series or movie they want with a VCD, even if they have to stay up all night.

The most important thing is that the price is relatively cheap, with a unified retail price of 3000 yuan.

Compared with a VCR that costs four or five thousand, a good imported brand costs seven or eight thousand, which is equivalent to the price of a TV.

"Director Li, I understand what you mean. How about this? Give me three days and I'll give you a reply in three days. If it works, then we can make special arrangements. If not, then we can only wait."

Tan Xisong had served in the navy in the 70s. Although he was a clerk, he was still a man of decisive character. Hearing the implicit meaning of Li Yishu's words, and for the sake of what Li Yishu called the light of domestic home appliances and the performance that would be gained if this winning bid project was successful, he decided to find his leader to report in detail.

CCTV is not only a national media, but most importantly, it is also a propaganda outlet. Its every move can easily influence thousands of people.

Therefore, no matter what reform it is, it must be done with great caution.

Li Yishu was delighted: "Thank you very much, Director Tan."

The Chinese New Year is just a few months away. Chinese people may be frugal on weekdays, but when it comes to the Chinese New Year, no matter how poor the people are financially, they will not save money. Even Yang Bailao will buy a two-foot red hairband for his daughter Xier on this day.

So we secure the winning bid in November, start promotion in December, and then by January and February, it will definitely sell well across the country.

"Director Li, don't be too quick to thank me. I can only say that I have tried my best in this matter."

"I understand, Director Tan, but no matter what, I will do you a favor for this matter."

"I don't deserve this favor..."

When Tan Xisong said this, he remembered something and said with a smile, "By the way, Director Li, even if this matter is settled, this favor is no longer necessary."

Hmm? Li Yishu raised an eyebrow, not quite understanding what the other party meant.

"The Three Kingdoms crew has already contacted the Japanese TV station thanks to your relationship with Director Li. The price is still being discussed, but it should not be less than the number you mentioned before. Our advertising department can be said to be relieved."

(End of this chapter)