Huayu: Hard fight against Zhang Weiping at the beginning

Chapter 680 Making Movies with an Internet Mindset

Inside the meeting room, Ali Ma, looking quite old, was talking to Tom Cruise across from him.

They sat at the top and one side of the conference table, which seemed somewhat empty, while the areas out of the camera's view were crammed full of light boxes, microphones, and a whole host of other things.

"Click~"

Zhang Chen called for a stop and then began reviewing the playback.

Alima also came over. This was the first time he had seen himself looking old, with gray hair, wrinkled cheeks, and mottled age spots.

He couldn't help but exclaim, "The makeup artistry of the film crew is truly amazing."

Zhang Chen ignored him and continued to review the playback, examining each frame of the scene that had just been filmed.

In the scene, Alima, who plays the elderly 'horse', speaks in a calm tone and perfectly interprets the character's loneliness and obsession. What surprised Zhang Chen the most was that Alima's eyes also revealed a hint of old age.

If the first two days of filming only required Alima to play himself, then the elderly 'horse' in Lost in the Land of the Dead needs to put on some acting skills.

Makeup can solve most problems, but it can't solve the problem of eyes.

A very old, hairy person with bright, lively eyes can be quite distracting.

Zhang Chen's biggest fear was that Ali Ma wouldn't be able to portray a sense of vicissitude, and he even had an alternative plan: if all else failed, he would give him a pair of glasses.

I didn't expect Ali Ma to perform so well.

A smile finally appeared on Zhang Chen's face, and he gave a thumbs up: "Mr. Ma, your acting is pretty good!"

The surrounding staff also echoed the praise.

"Mr. Ma's emotional control is so accurate, it doesn't seem like he's playing an elderly character for the first time."

"Especially that last look in his eyes, it instantly brought the character to life!"

Ari Ma was a little embarrassed by the praise, and waved his hand with a smile: "It's all thanks to Director Zhang's excellent guidance. He helped me understand the character every day, and the makeup team's styling was so immersive."

Mr. Ma has a high EQ. Although he is complacent, he will never take all the credit for himself.

It is better to have fun alone than to have fun together.

"That's a good take. Props team, prepare for the next scene. Makeup team, please touch up Mr. Ma's makeup a bit more."

After Zhang Chen finished speaking, the crew immediately started working according to his instructions. Seeing that there was a moment of free time, Gu Lina immediately took her phone and came to Zhang Chen's side: "Director Zhang, President Chen Xi just called and asked you to call her back when you have time."

"it is good."

Zhang Chen didn't even look up. He reached out, took the phone, found the incoming call, and dialed it back first.

"Hey, you were looking for me?"

Chen Xi's laughter came from the other end of the phone: "Yeah, I wanted to discuss something with you. I've been thinking about adding a female ghostwriter character to 'The Ghostwriter.' What do you think?"

Zhang Chen was taken aback for a moment, then began to think: "Female ghostwriter? You're not thinking of forming a couple, are you?"

"No, I haven't decided on the specific role yet. It'll either be a friend or an enemy, but I want to take a heroic and dashing path~"

"A blood-stained rose?"

"Yes, that's the feeling."

Chen Xi was very excited, and Zhang Chen immediately understood her point.

"Yes, that's a good idea. It can add a different touch to the film and break the monotony of having only male characters. The audience should like it."

He paused, then added, "Moreover, if the female swordswoman is portrayed well, she can showcase both the gentleness of women and the strength of martial arts. Once the contrast is created, the character becomes well-established."

Chen Xi is very capable; what she actually wants to join is a role similar to Ding Baiying or Ye Quanzhen.

"Then do you have anyone to recommend?"

Having her ideas affirmed immediately improved Chen Xi's mood, and her smile became even brighter.

"Your own idea is that you don't have any other options?"

Chen Xi sighed across from him: "There are too few female action stars in Hong Kong. Among the older generation, only Kara Hui is still active, but she's too old for that role. And the only one left is Michelle Yeoh. Her martial arts skills are undeniable, and she has enough international fame, but..."

Chen Xi's words carried a hint of hesitation.

Zhang Chen sensed his concern and continued, "But her focus isn't on the country anymore, right?"

Chen Xi wanted to use Michelle Yeoh, who had just filmed two kung fu movies this year, "Reign of Assassins" and "True Legend." However, everyone knew that Michelle Yeoh had already started to develop her career in Hollywood, and it was Wu Baige who made the connection.

Chen Xi hummed in agreement: "Yes, but I don't have a better candidate."

"Then let's look for them in mainland China!"

After a pause, Zhang Chen continued, "Hollywood is Michelle Yeoh's main battlefield, so she will inevitably not have much energy to devote to this area. Communication will be very troublesome, and time is also a cost."

"Besides, if Michelle Yeoh goes to Hollywood, her salary will definitely skyrocket, and your role as the ghostwriter will inevitably have to appear in subsequent installments. Using Michelle Yeoh will also increase production costs, which isn't cost-effective."

On the other end of the phone, Chen Xi nodded in agreement.

"So I still suggest you look for actresses from the mainland. There are quite a few actresses there with martial arts backgrounds. They also understand the domestic market better, are more likely to resonate with the audience, and are more cost-effective," Zhang Chen analyzed earnestly.

"Since you know so much, why don't you recommend an actor?"

"It's simple. There's a girl named Wang Zhi from the 04 class of the Central Academy of Drama who would be perfect for you. You can go find her."

"Wang Zhi?"

"Yes, she has professional martial arts skills. She used to be a member of the Shenyang Wushu Team, so her basic skills are particularly solid. She also graduated from the Central Academy of Drama, so she has acting skills. Moreover, her image is very suitable for the female ghostwriter role. She is beautiful, talented, and perfectly meets your requirements."

Don't let Wang Zhi's fame as Qiu Ya, known for her "human weapon" (referring to her large breasts), fool you. She's a real action star. She joined the Shenyang Wushu Team at the age of 12 and even showcased her swordsmanship and long fist skills on "Sisters Who Make Waves." Otherwise, why would "The Wandering Earth 2" have chosen her?

"Is it really that good?"

"Yes, you can totally sign her. With a little packaging, she'll definitely become famous!"

"Are you so sure?"

"It's much easier for female action stars to become famous than male action stars. As long as they can be described as 'heroic and dashing,' they're guaranteed to become popular..."

Male action stars need to compete on skill, style, and connections.

The competition is too fierce.

Female action stars only need to be 'heroic and dashing' to instantly capture the audience's attention.

Zhang Chen was certain that the female ghostwriter would be another classic in film history, no less than Ding Baiying and Ye Quanzhen.

"Now that you mention it, this Wang Zhi is quite interesting. Since you know him so well, why don't you just give me his phone number?"

Zhang Chen's explanation was so detailed, and he even grasped the characteristics of whether someone was capable or not so accurately. It was obvious that they had fought before, so I simply asked him for his contact information.

Unexpectedly, Zhang Chen waved his hand and said, "I only considered her when I was filming my first movie, 'The Descent,' but I lost her contact information a long time ago. If you want to find her, you'll have to go to the Central Academy of Drama to inquire yourself..." "Scumbag."

After giving his evaluation, Chen Xi hung up the phone.

"Wait, did you misunderstand something?"

But the other end had already hung up, so Zhang Chen could only mutter unhappily, "How dare you talk to the boss like that? Be careful, or I'll dock your pay."

After hanging up the phone, Zhang Chen realized that Ali Ma was right next to him. By then, Ali Ma had removed her makeup and returned to her original appearance.

Zhang Chen greeted him with a smile: "Mr. Ma, I'm sorry you had to see that."

Ali Ma laughed and said, "I overheard you on the phone just now, it sounded like you were talking about kung fu movies? Star Entertainment makes kung fu movies?"

Zhang Chen explained, "It's not Star Entertainment, it's Golden Harvest."

Ali Ma suddenly realized that he had almost forgotten Zhang Chen was a big shot in the entertainment industry, with two film and television companies under his control, one of which was already listed and the other was about to be listed.

"Director Zhang is truly young and promising!"

Zhang Chen smiled and waved his hand. He could tell from Ali Ma's tone that he seemed quite interested in kung fu movies, so he said half-jokingly, "Mr. Ma, are you also interested in kung fu movies? If so, I'll arrange a role for you."

Alima paused for a moment, but his expression clearly showed he was interested. However, he ultimately shook his head: "Forget it, I'm too old for action movies, and my schedule doesn't allow it..."

Zhang Chen looked regretful: "The action scenes aren't actually that difficult. With a martial arts instructor and some prior training, there shouldn't be any major problems."

However, there's really no way to deal with the time issue. The action scenes definitely need to be filmed in the cinema, and Mr. Ma is extremely busy. There are countless things at Alibaba that require his approval every day, so he probably doesn't have that much time to spend on set..."

But then he slapped his forehead: "Would you care about a small role that only lasts a day or two? It doesn't have many scenes, and it doesn't take up much time. It'll just be enough to satisfy my craving!"

Ali Ma was clearly tempted; otherwise, he wouldn't have bothered with "Gong Shou Dao." He immediately nodded and said, "Okay, if it's convenient for me, I'll give it a try and experience what it's like to be a martial arts actor."

"Haha, I bet audiences across the country are eager to see the tycoon get beaten up in the movie~"

Alima laughed along, not minding at all.

Zhang Chen unintentionally brought a wave of popularity to "The Ghostwriter". Ali Ma's cameo appearance in "The Ghostwriter" is a gimmick, which can only benefit the movie.

Actually, Zhang Chen originally wanted to film the domestic scenes in Shanghai, since it's more bustling and has more filming locations.

However, considering Alibaba's actual situation, it was impossible for the other party to leave Alibaba for an extended period of time to film, so they had no choice but to choose Hangzhou, where they could at least manage both affairs.

"Director Zhang, do you think the film industry and the internet can be connected?"

Ali Ma is a person with a strong desire to communicate. Whenever he has free time, he likes to chat with Zhang Chen about the film industry.

"I don't know, Mr. Ma, what insightful opinion do you have? Perhaps you could share it?"

Although Zhang Chen is also a big critic, he is still slightly inferior to Ali Ma. Asking him to teach Ali Ma would feel like showing off one's limited skills in front of an expert.

Ali Marco didn't feel that way and immediately began to express his opinion: "Director Zhang, I've always felt that the film industry can also be done with an internet mindset."

"Appreciate further details."

"Look how fast the internet is developing now, and how diverse user needs are becoming. We can totally do 'user co-creation'. The simplest application example is that all the roles in a play are chosen by the audience through voting..."

It's not surprising that Zhang Chen could say these things, because there's nothing wrong with it. Zhang Dahuzi did the same thing when he adapted Jin Yong's works—it was a public voting process, only Alima was replaced with internet slang.

After Alima finished speaking, he looked at Zhang Chen, who didn't interrupt and gestured for him to continue.

Ali Ma continued, "For example, during the scriptwriting stage, we open up voting for some plot points, allowing netizens to decide the key choices of the main characters, and even recruit fans to participate in the audition for supporting roles."

In this way, the audience transforms from 'observers' into 'participants,' naturally increasing their engagement with the film.

"Furthermore, we can leverage internet platforms for 'precise distribution,' using Alibaba's user profiling system to push movie trailers to people with different interest tags—those who like action scenes in kung fu movies, and those who like emotional storylines, like behind-the-scenes footage of character bonds. The conversion rate will definitely be higher than a broad-based advertising approach."

Ali Ma became more and more excited as he spoke, gesturing with his fingers on the table to represent the data model.

"There is also the IP industry chain. We can't just stop at derivative products. We need to develop an 'ecosystem linkage'."

For example, if "The Ghostwriter" becomes a hit, we can collaborate with Taobao to release "Ghostwriter-themed sword sheath accessories", do "movie-viewing red envelope promotions" with Alipay, and even develop a martial arts mobile game of the same name with a game company, so that users can continue to "be the ghostwriter" in the game after watching the movie.

Look at Disney, Elsa's dress alone from "Frozen" sold for billions. What our domestic films lack is this kind of full-chain development thinking.

Furthermore, they can create a membership system, offering free memberships to Alibaba apps with movie ticket purchases to encourage long-term user spending. This is the essence of internet thinking—turning traffic into retention, and retention into revenue.

Ali Ma spoke at length, completely absorbed in the story, but Zhang Chen didn't believe a single word he said.

The reason is simple: as later generations have proven, the internet model simply doesn't work in the film industry.

Arima is indeed very good at public speaking; if you listen carefully to his words, they all seem to make sense.

Through big data analysis, we can find a good track, which is essentially a good story.

Then, around this track, we incubate several teams, conduct internal competitions, and allocate resources to the group with better data to ultimately achieve the results.

Alibaba Pictures later did just that, confidently announcing that it would use internet thinking to overturn the existing logic of film production.

People in the internet industry are used to doing this, and no matter what industry they enter, they use this approach and are always successful.

Then, when it came to the film industry, this trick didn't work.

In their past lives, they also said something else—that having screenwriters decide what stories to write is a thing of the past. Now, we decide what to film based on IP and popularity. Then we find a group of screenwriters and non-screenwriters, professionals and amateurs, to write together, and whoever writes the best is used. Professional screenwriters only play a role in the final text conversion.

Using the same internal competition approach, the script is the foundation of a film; if they want to disrupt the film industry, they will start by disrupting scriptwriting.

Zhang Chen listened attentively, but ultimately shook his head: "Mr. Ma, I disagree with your point of view. Movies are art, not simple commodities, and cannot be entirely customized based on big data."

Movies made that way lack soul, and audiences won't buy into them.

Moreover, over-reliance on internet promotion, while attracting attention in the short term, will ultimately lead to audience abandonment if the film itself is of poor quality—the box office failures of many "traffic-driven films" last year serve as a lesson.

User co-creation can easily fall into the trap of "it's impossible to please everyone," resulting in a script that's neither fish nor fowl.

As for IP ecosystem synergy, without solid content support, derivative products and games are just castles in the air.

Disney's success stemmed from having classic characters first, followed by the development of its industrial chain, not the other way around.

The internet can enhance a film, but it can't save it from disaster; content is what truly matters.

"No, no, no, Director Zhang Chen, I firmly believe that users are king and traffic is king. Apart from these, nothing is immutable."

While the film industry has its own unique characteristics, the combination of any industry with the internet will inevitably disrupt existing production methods; that's the magic of the internet.

Great people are not easily persuaded; this applies to Alibaba's Ma and Zhang Chen alike.

Ali Ma is a stubborn guy, which doesn't surprise Zhang Chen at all. For Ali Ma, "I've even managed to get the bank sorted out, so why can't I handle the movie business?"

Are you kidding me?
Zhang Chen laughed and said, "Mr. Ma, let's not talk about this anymore. There's only one last shot left. The props team is all set. Let's finish this first..."

Alima stood up with a smile: "Yes, to finish what you started!"

(End of this chapter)