Huayu: Director started with art films

Chapter 341 352 [Guarding the Hong Kong Island Propaganda Portal, the Abnormal Shooting Plan of "Red Cliff"]

The authorities have always been considering issuing licenses for private TV dramas, but reform and opening up is never something that can be achieved overnight.

In the late 80s, mainland film studios began to cooperate with Hong Kong and Taiwan film companies in production, gradually leading to the trend of co-production, but no relevant documents have been issued. From the top, the prospects for co-production are very good, which can not only drive the commercialization process of domestic films, but also learn from the production experience of Hong Kong and Taiwan commercial films.

Therefore, in January 1993, relevant regulations on co-production films were officially released, which led to a surge in the number of co-productions between the mainland and Hong Kong and Taiwan starting in 1993.

"A Fierce Sword", "The Kung Fu Emperor Fang Shiyu", "A Letter to Dad", "Flying Tigers", "Stock Craze", "Tai Chi Master", "The New Sword of Blood and Valour", etc.

These movies did very well at the box office after being released in mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

1993 was considered the peak year for co-productions between the mainland and Hong Kong and Taiwan.

As for TV dramas, there were only two paths for mainland TV dramas in the 80s. One was for major TV stations to produce their own dramas, and the other was to purchase TV dramas from Hong Kong and Taiwan and broadcast them on mainland TV stations.

It is precisely because of the success of film co-productions that TV drama co-productions have also begun to get on track.

Since 1991, the co-production of "Flying Fox of Snow Mountain" between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait and Hong Kong, and the co-production of "The Story of Qianlong" in 1993, as well as Qiong Yao's "Princess Crescent Moon", "Over the Hook" and "Redder Leaves Than Flowers in February" produced by Li Yishu's company...

These are all successful cases of co-produced TV dramas, so at the end of last year, the higher authorities issued relevant documents, targeting the mainland's private TV drama self-production market, and in principle prohibiting any attempts to test it.

It’s not that there aren’t some people with sharp vision who want to get a license for TV drama production, but these people have some connections, but they are not strong enough, and they have no ability at all.

It has always been difficult for the higher-ups to issue this license. Everything you do must have a good start. When the first TV drama license is issued, it must create hype for the production of private TV dramas in the mainland.

Logically speaking, the Art and Entertainment Group is definitely qualified, but Yongmei is not as prestigious as Li Yishu after all.

In addition, after news of Li Yishu's acquisition and controlling stake in Asia Television was passed on, the leadership issued the first private TV drama production license without hesitation.

At the same time, after a meeting and discussion, it was decided to give ATV, which will be headed by Li Yishu in the future, the right to broadcast on channels in the coastal areas of Guangdong.

In other words, in the future, ATV's audience will no longer be limited to Hong Kong Island, but can also expand to Guangdong.

This is a bold attempt!

The propaganda channel has always been under tight control. Traditional media resources are still mainly official, not to mention television stations, which are powerful propaganda tools.

But ATV is different. First of all, in two years, Hong Kong will return to its own jurisdiction. Secondly, the controlling shareholder of ATV is Li Yishu, a legitimate Chinese man. His plan for the future of ATV is to publicize some of the mainland's policies and benefits as much as possible in the next two years.

This is a hundred or a thousand times better than allowing the British-controlled media to report randomly!
Moreover, today's TVB is far from being as well-behaved and sensible as it was later. The station often reports some slanderous documentaries produced by the British BBC.

At the beginning, this job was handled by Li Huanggua's satellite TV station, which specialized in broadcasting BBC documentaries attacking human rights in the mainland, as well as some smearing news and so on.

Later in 1993, Murdoch invested US$5.25 million to acquire 64% of the shares of satellite TV station STAR TV from Li Huanggua. In order to gain access to the mainland market, he stopped broadcasting these discrediting programs to please the mainland officials.

TVB just took over this trouble-making stick.

This is also why after the return, Shao Laoliu began to spend a lot of money on charity and built Yifu Buildings in many cities in the mainland.

Do you really think that Shao Laoliu, who has not increased the salaries of TVB's contracted actors for more than ten years, forcing Andy Lau and other five wireless tigers at the time to protest because of their salary contracts, and who has been stingy all his life, would be willing to donate more than ten billion real money to charity?

This afternoon.

Ministry of Radio, Film and Television.

"Leader Sun, please rest assured!"

Upon learning that she could be in Asia Television, Li Yishu said excitedly: "I have a complete set of reform ideas for Asia Television, and I will definitely protect Hong Kong's public opinion for the country."

"Haha, Comrade Xiao Li is right. Protect Hong Kong's public opinion. But after all, you bought ATV with money. The TV station has a complex staff and huge expenses. We can't let you lose money."

Leader Sun thought for a moment and said, "Well, didn't you say that in order to reduce costs, we should shoot TV series in the mainland film and television city? As long as the TV series we shoot meet the requirements of the mainland TV station's broadcast license, I will communicate with the TV stations below and introduce more TV series from your ATV in the future."

"Thank you, leader. With your words, I can rest assured to reform ATV."

Li Yishu's eyes lit up. He had this idea before, but it was much better for his leader to give the order than to find someone to sell the product door-to-door.

"Don't worry. I also asked someone to find out about ATV's situation yesterday. It's losing a lot of money, tens of millions of Hong Kong dollars a year."

"Leader, it is because of the serious losses that we need to reform and clean up the internal affairs, so that we can have an explanation to the outside world."

Hearing this, Leader Sun laughed and said, "That makes sense. As for the reform of ATV, let's follow your ideas, Comrade Li. You often go abroad, so you should be aware of some reports and false news outside. In the future, ATV's channels in Guangdong must strictly control relevant news."

"Understanding leader, I will always pay attention to the reform of ATV."

After chatting with the leader for a while, about ten minutes later, Li Yishu walked out of the leader's office excitedly.

He was the top leader of the Ministry of Radio, Film and Television, an important department directly under the National Academy. His rank was much higher than that of Han Sanping, the future chairman of China Film.

With the support of top leaders, ATV’s future prospects are limitless.

the next day.

Inside the conference room of Beijing Film Studio.

The main creative team of "Red Cliff of the Three Kingdoms" gathered together again.

Directors Xie Jin, Li Jun, Yang Guangyuan, Wang Fulin and Shen Haofang were all present.

After nearly two years of preparation, the film and television city has been almost completed. All the costumes, props and even warships are ready, just waiting for the crew to start filming.

As the chief director, Li Yishu began to mobilize personnel and plan the progress of the next film shooting.

"Red Cliff of the Three Kingdoms" is divided into two parts.

There are three major battles in total, the beginning of Cao Cao's expedition to the Wuhuan, the Battle of Bowangpo and the Battle of Changbanpo, and the final Battle of Red Cliff. These three major battles are divided into cavalry battles, infantry battles, and naval battles.

If you want to complete the filming step by step, it will definitely not be done overnight.

There are hundreds of actors and actresses involved, and hundreds of thousands of extras. (Number of appearances in the movie)

Li Yishu believes that he does not have the control ability to manage such a large crew. Although he has decades of filming experience, most of his work has been in small crews with no more than a hundred actors and no more than a thousand extras.

In the previous life, Wu Yusen's "Red Cliff" was petty-minded, treating the battlefield as a gang fight and political intrigue as a "palace fight". Li Yishu didn't want to destroy the reputation he had accumulated over the years.

Therefore, if he wants to finish the filming within a year and complete the post-production of the film within a year, he must distribute the work, which will make it a lot easier for him.

"Thank you, Director."

Li Yishu looked at Director Xie Jin and said with a smile, "The Battle of Red Cliff is related to the highlight of the second part of our film, and it is also the most exciting part of the whole film. I hope to truly restore the style of the Battle of Red Cliff and give the audience a sense of déjà vu of a blockbuster movie."

"No problem, Director."

Xie Jin was full of confidence and eager to try. He patted his chest and said, "In the past two years, I have been studying books on ancient naval warfare and have also found many foreign movies about great voyages. I promise that I will not only restore the Battle of Red Cliffs, but also strive for perfection."

"Haha, then let's wait and see what Director Xie has to offer."

Li Yishu smiled. He was still looking forward to Xie Jin filming the Battle of Red Cliff. In his previous life, he had seen "The Opium War" directed by Xie Jin. Although it was a modern naval battle with cannons and guns, the scene of the navy fighting on the sea still left a deep impression on him.

Of course, assigning the Battle of Red Cliffs to Xie Jin does not mean that Li Yishu completely ignored it. Although he had no experience in directing naval battles or shooting large-scale war scenes, he was a person who was reborn from the future and had watched many more films about ancient naval battles in the future than Xie Jin.

Li Yishi remembered that later South Korea filmed a movie about the famous Battle of Myeongnyang, one of the three major expeditions of the Wanli Emperor, and threw in a plot in which the Koreans praised their own generals. The film was quite exciting in its handling of the naval battle.

The tense and exciting war scenes on the two armies' ships can easily draw the audience into the atmosphere of the movie.

After talking about director Xie Jin’s work, Li Yishu started chatting with directors Li Jun, Wang Fulin and others.

The crew's work allocation was finalized as early as the year before last. Each assistant director was responsible for a different shooting scene, and each of them had already planned the shooting requirements and progress in advance.

The meeting lasted for a full week.

It integrates the crew's early preparations over the past two years, as well as the planning of several directors for war scenes, and lists more than a hundred pages of shooting plans and progress plans.

From the first day of filming in June, we had to think about what content to shoot, when the film's progress should be controlled, the mobilization of props such as costumes and makeup, the allocation of personnel, and the coordination of actors between different groups, etc.

Be precise!

For example, today Dehua plays Zhao Yun who is participating in the Battle of Changbanpo, and tomorrow Dehua will participate in the Battle of Chibi to kill Cao Cao.

Taking into account the uncontrollable factors during the shooting, the progress will naturally not be so precise, but it will not exceed two days at most.

Han Sanping, Xie Jin and others were all amazed by such a perverted crew plan.

In the past, when mainland China was shooting movies, whether it was an ordinary feature film or a large-scale production such as "The Three Great Battles", there was definitely planning, but it was often not so precise.

There is only one reason why Li Yishu did this, and that is to improve the domestic film industry.

In the past two years, he has been to the United States to film, including visiting other crews. He is very clear that the Hollywood film industry is actually an alternative "assembly line". Except for a few super directors, all small and medium-sized crews work and shoot according to the "assembly line" formulated by Hollywood.

Of course, it wouldn’t be that perverted, nor would it be so precise that the costumes and props would be used by different crews on different days.

It’s just that Li Yishu really likes the future director Nolan, and his plans for the crew are so almost perverted.

The advantage of doing this is obvious, that is, when shooting a large-scale film with a large number of extras, the crew can truly be dispersed but not chaotic.

Otherwise, with nearly 100,000 extras and nearly one million people being mobilized, it would be easy to get confused and completely paralyzed if this kind of abnormally precise planning was not done in advance.

Not only will it delay the crew's filming progress, it will also disrupt the director and actors' investment in the film.

To give a simple example, the Battle of Red Cliffs required the involvement of around 50,000 to 60,000 extras in the filming. Even though most of them were transferred troops with a very high degree of obedience, chaos was bound to occur if not properly planned.

On the last day of the meeting, after it was decided that June 6th would be the official start date, Li Yishu said:
"Everyone, the Three Kingdoms Red Cliffs crew seminar is over, but we still can't relax. This film is the first truly epic war blockbuster directed by Chinese filmmakers. It is related to the future development of our commercial blockbusters overseas. So in the next two or three months, before the start of filming, we still have to do a good job of preliminary preparations. Any mistakes must be corrected as soon as possible."

Xie Jin laughed: "Director, the planning is already precise, down to what to shoot every day and what the actors will eat. The only thing left is to arrange the time for the actors to put on makeup and start filming. There is no need to worry about insufficient preparation."

"Director Xie is right!"

Li Yishu laughed and said, "How about arranging the time for the actors to put on makeup and start filming? Can we really make it a military-style shoot like in the army?"

"No, don't do that!" Director Li Jun said, not knowing whether to laugh or cry: "Director, if you do this, when the crew starts filming, won't everyone be like the robots in science fiction novels, without any ideas at all."

Director Yang Guangyuan sighed: "I understand why the director can achieve such a high level of success at such a young age. With such a detailed shooting plan, as long as there are no major problems with the actors, the crew will definitely shoot quickly and with high quality."

Xie Jin laughed and said, "Yeah, if the director did that, I'm afraid when we get to the crew, the actors will come to trouble me, because it was me who suggested it."

"Haha, it's just a joke, don't take it seriously."

Li Yishu smiled cheerfully, then looked at Han Sanping, the producer and supervisor, and said, "Director Han, tomorrow you can notify the main actors of the crew to join the crew and start training, especially the military commanders, to practice circus in the next two months."

Although we trained for three months last year, since filming was about to start, the actors who played the military commanders still had to join the crew for some intensive training.

In the Battle of Red Cliff in "Three Kingdoms", there are still many horseplays performed by the generals.

As for whether they will come or not, that is not a problem. The film budget is high and the actors' pay is far above the market price. After all, some actors have to shoot for nearly a year.

Han Sanping nodded: "Okay, Director, I will arrange it with them."

(End of this chapter)