Huayu: Director started with art films

Chapter 219 [Winning the CCTV Bid, the Road to a Film and Television Empire]

The shooting location issue cannot be finalized in a short time, and today's symposium cannot complete it all at once.

So after the symposium, everyone had a simple lunch at the Beijing Film Studio. Li Yishu saw off the leaders and other directors who were not selected. He then took Xie Jin and five other directors and related experts to find a place to have a good chat.

While we are all gathered here today, let’s first set down some basic arguments.

In a small conference room.

The expert in ancient weapons and armor research, who had been prepared for this, took out a thick stack of photos and distributed them to everyone at the scene one by one: "Director Li, these are some armors from the Han Dynasty that we have collected, including the weapons and equipment used by the Han army. Everyone can take a look and give their opinions."

Looking at the real Eastern Han Dynasty armor in the photo, the iron armor and the helmet are generally similar to those in Wu Yusen's later "Red Cliff", but they are too simple and cannot reflect the majesty of ancient soldiers from the perspective of viewing the film.

"Hero" is very good in this regard. The overall shape of the soldiers is different from the armor unearthed from the Qin Shihuang Mausoleum. It can be regarded as a replacement and upgraded version. After being influenced by the colors and scenes of the movie, the rows of Qin soldiers holding swords, stepping on the yellow sand, marching step by step, with thousands of troops behind them, it can be said to be as powerful as a rainbow.

“Can the shape of Han Dynasty armor be made more ornate?”

Li Yishu frowned and looked at the experts who studied this field. "The movie is based on life and transcends life. The armor of the Han Dynasty soldiers is too simple. I remember seeing a helmet unearthed from the Qin Dynasty before. Can we refer to this design?"

"Director Li is probably talking about Qin Shizhou, right?"

One of the experts said: "The shape of the Qin stone helmet is a hooded helmet, which is actually similar to the Han Dynasty helmet, but it is much simpler. The armor unearthed from the ancient tombs of the late Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period is basically the same as the one in the photo."

"Director Li."

Director Xie Jin said, "I think it's better to be realistic. I think these armors and weapons are pretty good."

"Director Xie, realism is good, but the feeling that a movie wants to present cannot be simply realistic."

Director Shen Haofang interjected, "When I was filming Dunhuang a few years ago, Japanese designers referred to both the armor of the Northern Song Dynasty and the armor of the Ming Dynasty and designed a new set of armor. From the perspective of the shape, it is still very majestic. I think our film art should be the same as what Director Li said, based on life but higher than life."

"The Japanese are just imitating the ugly, wanting to learn everything but failing to master anything." Xie Jin shook his head and said, "I went to see your production of Romance of the Three Kingdoms. How could there be such gorgeous armor in the late Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period!"

Hearing this, Wang Fulin looked embarrassed. At that time, the crew was short of funds and had no way to make so many weapons and equipment. Therefore, the armor of the heroes of the late Han Dynasty were mostly borrowed from the Japanese crew next door.

This is also the most helpless thing for Wang Fulin. Now even if he wants to reshoot it, it is unlikely.

Director Li Jun shook his head and said, "Director Xie, realism is important. When I was filming The Decisive Battle, I also filmed it based on historical materials and the memories of veterans. But what we are going to shoot this time is the Battle of Red Cliffs in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which is different from the real Three Kingdoms in the late Han Dynasty."

Director Li Jun supports more gorgeous armor and equipment, and he had visited the crew of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" for a few days before.

Generally speaking, if we only talk about the degree of restoration, it is definitely perfect. The character modeling and image are also very consistent with the description in the book Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Moreover, it is a long TV series, so it is understandable that the costumes and props are a little simple.

But movie shots are better than TV dramas. Audiences have to spend money to buy tickets to the cinema to watch the Battle of Red Cliffs. If they only see a group of people who look like peasant rebels, who would be interested in going to the cinema to watch the Battle of Red Cliffs?
Tens of thousands of soldiers equipped with gorgeous armor and tens of thousands of peasant rebels are completely different in visual perception!

"Since we are going to film the story of the Three Kingdoms, we must film it realistically. We can't use armor from the late Han Dynasty with armor from the Ming and Qing Dynasties, right?"

"It's not about using armor from the Ming and Qing dynasties, but about redesigning it based on armor from the Qin and Han dynasties."

"..."

Several directors began arguing, and experts in history and Three Kingdoms studies immediately joined in, discussing whether to shoot the film realistically or in an artistic direction.

The experts who studied ancient weapons and armor lowered their heads and dared not say much. They could only provide relevant information, but how to use it was none of their business.

Everyone had their own ideas about directing the film, including opinions on the development of the Battle of Red Cliffs. The most important thing was that everything they said made sense. Li Yishu and Han Sanping were dizzy, but they still listened carefully to everyone's ideas and thoughts.

The purpose of this symposium is to pool ideas, to discuss one's shortcomings and the strengths of others, and to select the best directing plan and style.

There is basically no need to consider the script. If we are going to shoot a movie, it must be based on "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" instead of focusing the camera on Xiao Qiao and "Meng Meng" like Wu Yusen did.

Until around four o'clock in the afternoon.

After much discussion, there is still no conclusion. But this is normal. A big-budget film with a budget of 2 million RMB cannot be finalized in just one or two days.

Moreover, this is a film project that the higher authorities are paying close attention to, so it naturally has to be treated with caution and it is impossible to confirm it on a whim.

However, Li Yishu also set a tone for "Red Cliff of the Three Kingdoms", which is to try to consider the momentum and grandeur. Whether it is the armor of the soldiers or the warships in the Battle of Red Cliff, they must be built to be gorgeous and tall.

Although Director Xie Jin had different opinions, he decided to wait for the art, costume and makeup departments to make the relevant props and equipment before making any decisions.

After seeing these people off, Li Yishu also said to Han Sanping: "Uncle San, I'm sorry to trouble you with the preparations for the crew."

"Haha, what's the big deal about this? China's first domestic blockbuster was born from my hands. I can't express how happy I am."

Han Sanping smiled brightly, a production costing 2 million RMB was really not a small amount.

In 1988, a Japanese film company invested in the filming of "Dunhuang" in China, spending nearly 2 million yuan, but this was a Japanese blockbuster, not a domestic blockbuster.

Now that he has this opportunity, Han Sanping naturally hopes to do a good job. This is not only because of the sense of honor he gets from being involved, but more importantly, it will be of great help to Han Sanping in securing his position as the director of Beijing Film Studio.

The next morning.

Li Yishu drove Huo Wenxi to CCTV. After ten days, with Tan Xisong's insistence, CCTV officially launched the bidding project.

At that time, the CCTV building was not in the shape of pants, it was just an ordinary building.

When Li Yishu and Huo Wenxi arrived, all the members of the bidding team were already there. After chatting for a few words, the group, led by the staff, walked to the venue where the CCTV bidding competition was held.

There was not much publicity for this year's CCTV bid winner, as "Pioneer VCD" had already been chosen as the winner.

Originally, the VCD brand was not called this, but when Li Yishu went to Hefei, she discussed it with Huo Wenxi and decided to use the brand name "Pioneer".

Pioneer has several meanings. First, it is a pioneer in domestic electrical appliances. Second, it is a pioneer in breaking foreign electrical appliances. Third, it is a pioneer who takes the lead and shows his talent.

The advertising slogan was also thought up by Li Yishu, "Pioneer Electric, competing with the world", which not only highlights that the Pioneer brand is benchmarked against international standards, but also shows the breakthrough of Pioneer VCD in related fields.

This time, the cooperation with the local government of Hefei is just to build a VCD production factory. Each of them has different shares, but the Pioneer home appliances brand is owned solely by Li Yishu.

Bidding site.

The participants were all advertisers who had cooperation with CCTV. Most of them were very interested in this "bid winner" project, but the first person to try it out was always the bravest. According to the advertising director Tan Xisong, the starting price for the bid winner was 1000 million.

In 1993, this was a huge sum of money.

The companies present all had doubts about whether the Bidding King project could be successful, so they were naturally hesitant and did not dare to take action.

However, there are also some brave people who want to give it a try. After all, the gimmick of CCTV's bidding champion is still very strong.

After the auctioneer started to shout out the starting price of "1000 million", many people began to bid one after another, but most of them were in the hundreds of thousands or even millions.

"Boss, when do we bid?"

Huo Wenxi looked at Li Yishu beside him. The price of the winning bid this time had already been decided, 1888 million yuan.

Both parties were quite satisfied with this figure. Since this was the first time CCTV launched a bidding project and it was not sure whether it would be successful, its psychological expectations for the advertising fees were not high. Secondly, this project was suggested by Huo Wenxi, and it was reasonable for CCTV's advertising department to not ask for too much advertising fees.

Anyway, this is not a one-time deal. If the effect is good this time, I can make it back by winning the bid next year.

Li Yishu was even more satisfied with the price. With 1888 million yuan, he could get a year's worth of advertising on CCTV's prime time. It was really a great profit. He knew that the price of the first winning bid was as high as 6666 million yuan, and it exceeded 3 million yuan in the second year.

"No rush, let's wait for them to name the price first." Li Yishu glanced at the people around him. According to the bidding trend, the maximum price would be estimated at 1400-1500 million.

In fact, just as he expected, when someone shouted out the price "1500 million", the scene suddenly became much quieter.

The auctioneer on the stage began to shout: "1500 million per time..."

"You can call out now." When the person on the stage called out the price for the second time, Li Yishu asked Huo Wenxi to call out the price directly.

"1888 million!"

Huo Wenxi immediately stood up and shouted.

“1888万！8号出到了1888万，1888万第一次，1888万第二次……1888万第三次！成交！”

Because the inside information had been prepared in advance, when the auctioneer saw that it was number 8 who bid, he shouted out "deal" three times in a row.

The auctioneer shouted excitedly: "Let's applaud and congratulate No. 8, who won the 1888 CCTV bid with a price of 1994 million!"

"Clap clap-"

There was sparse applause at the scene, and many company leaders couldn't help but look at Huo Wenxi, curious about what the other party's product was that actually offered such a high advertising fee.

Li Yishu looked at Ma Yaoxian, the person in charge of the Hefei Industrial Park who was also sent by the local government of Hefei to build a joint venture factory. "Director Ma, the advertising has been finalized. It's up to you guys now."

Ma Yaoxian laughed and said, "It's okay, Director Li. I've already talked to Miss Huo about this. The factory will continue to produce 24 hours a day, and the machines will not stop even if people stop, to ensure that there are enough products!"

CCTV's influence is still very strong. In the next few months until the New Year, it will adopt a bombardment-style publicity campaign. The 10 VCD stocks may not be enough.

Even though the current average annual salary is only 3236 yuan, it is just like the later average deposit of 10 yuan per person, which is of little significance.

Nowadays, there are too many rich people in first-tier cities such as Yanjing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen. They can easily buy imported audio and home appliances worth tens of thousands of yuan. There are also many buyers for Santana worth 300,000 yuan and Mercedes-Benz worth millions of yuan...

A VCD that costs 3000 yuan is an ordinary person's annual salary, but to them it is not worth mentioning at all.

The reform and opening up over the past decade has also widened the gap between the rich and the poor.

noon.

Li Yishu and his group had a simple meal with Tan Xisong, director of CCTV's advertising department.

He was about to leave after the meal, but he didn't expect that after the general producer of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" Ren Dahui learned that Li Yishu had come to CCTV, he immediately came to him to discuss the copyright of the TV series.

Ren Dahui said, "Director Li, the price offered by Japan is quite high, $10 per episode, but this is only $870 million."

Li Yishu: "Producer Ren, don't worry. The broadcasting rights are only one of the benefits. There will be other copyright incomes such as videotapes and peripherals later. It's impossible to achieve it all in one go."

"I'm not in a hurry. I'm just worried that Director Li's company won't be able to successfully complete the $3000 million overseas copyright deal."

Ren Dahui shook his head. He was not in a hurry. After all, according to the contract, if he failed to pay 3000 million US dollars to CCTV within one year, the copyright would automatically return to CCTV.

Li Yishu smiled cheerfully: "Haha, don't worry, I'm not worried at all, and Producer Ren doesn't have to worry either."

Last month, CCTV TV Drama Production Center has cooperated with Li Yishu's art film company in Hong Kong. "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" was handed over to Amy to help with the copyright operation overseas. The excess amount will be counted as labor costs. If it is less than 3000 million US dollars, they will make up this amount.

This is a challenge for Amy, because it is her first time to participate in the operation of TV drama copyright. Fortunately, there is Japan, a big blood cow, and she can reap at least 3000 million US dollars from it alone.

Although the novel of Romance of the Three Kingdoms has no copyright, the TV series does have a copyright. There are videotapes, comics, cartoons, peripheral products derived from the TV series, and there are also licensed game companies that have developed stand-alone and arcade computer games based on the Three Kingdoms theme.

These are all money!
In a developed country like Japan that admires "Three Kingdoms", it can definitely bring in $3000 million in revenue.

As for other overseas countries, it is estimated that only South Korea and Southeast Asia can raise about 18 million US dollars.

But after all, it is a historical TV series with more than 80 episodes. We can find someone to dub it into English and sell it in English-speaking countries one by one, and we can make some money.

This is the first time that Amy and the Art Film Company have been operating TV drama copyrights. It’s not so easy in Japan, as they have the experience of operating Lee Yi-su’s "Love Letter", but it’s not so easy in other overseas regions.

However, as long as we can do it well this time, we will have experience for the future. The most important thing in the film and television industry is actually copyright operation.

The reason why Hollywood can sweep the world, in addition to its powerful film industry, is that they are very good at copyright operations. If a movie with a high investment fails to make a profit at the box office, then it can not only make a profit but also make money from peripheral products.

Domestic movie box office accounts for 80%-90% of the total film revenue, while Hollywood movie box office usually accounts for only about a quarter, and the remaining three quarters are obtained through peripheral copyrights.

With the memory of the future, Li Yishu now has to establish channels and experience for operating film and television copyrights for her company as soon as possible before the millennium, and build a path for a future film and television empire in advance.

　The editor is on holiday today, so the wrong title from yesterday can only be corrected tomorrow. Dear readers, please give me some monthly votes. There are still a few days left, and I hope I can get over a thousand monthly votes. Please!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)