Huayu: As a child star, I just want to be famous

Chapter 528: The creator's dilemma (4k monthly ticket requested at the beginning of the month)
After Dad’s call, Shi Xiaolong’s call came next.

"You've really made big news this time, World of Warcraft. When I was in college, this game was very popular. I didn't expect that you would bring it to the big screen now."

Chen Linfeng raised his eyebrows and said, "How about I keep a role for you?"

Shi Xiaolong was stunned. "Can we do this? I remember that the game was originally set in a purely Western setting, right? Don't we have to choose Western actors?"

"In theory, that's correct, but goblins, trolls and the like are not picky about race, you can give it a try." Chen Linfeng said with a hint of sarcasm.

"Go to hell, you're making fun of me."

"Haha, just kidding. Actually, humans and elves can also do it. As long as they put on makeup well, it won't be a big problem."

"Is that so?" Shi Xiaolong asked curiously, "Will Hollywood, especially Blizzard, agree to add Chinese actors?

I heard that Blizzard has a lot of requirements. It must be difficult for them to agree to let you have the decision-making power over the script, right?"

"Generally speaking, they would not agree, but the situation is different now. The right to speak is a game between each other. Blizzard has already begun to bow its head, and as long as it is not excessive in the future, they will continue to bow their heads."

Chen Linfeng fought so hard just to make his words count.

"And this is also for the sake of box office in the future. For a big-budget movie, who wouldn't consider the Chinese market now?"

Especially for "World of Warcraft", which was not a very successful version in its previous life, the majority of its box office revenue also came from the domestic market.

Shi Xiaolong didn't quite understand the inside story, but he trusted his brother's judgment as always.

"As long as you have thought it through, it's fine. After all, movies are expensive and require a lot of investment. There are many people watching them in China, and the cost of failure is too high. It's better to think it through carefully."

It seems that Xiaolong has also noticed that this trend is indeed quite big.

"Yeah, I know, I'll be careful."

Although Chen Linfeng has been very busy and under a lot of pressure due to the leak of information about the Warcraft project, he has also been under a lot of pressure.

However, after going through so much, he has already developed the ability to withstand pressure, and it does not affect his daily filming.

The crew is composed of veterans and the actors are mature actors, so the progress has not been affected.

It is worth mentioning that among several mature actors, Liu Xixi's acting skills have become quite prominent. She is no longer the last one, but shows the results of her hard work over the years.

In comparison, her acting skills can even be considered pretty good, as she was well prepared and had relatively few NGs, it seems that she really put in the effort, and Chen Linfeng's daily training also worked.

But after all, it is a commercial film, and there is no need for the actors to have very good acting skills, as long as it doesn't feel out of place.

Chen Linfeng hadn't acted for a while, but when he returned, he didn't seem unfamiliar at all, and the number of NGs was the least.

This sometimes made him wonder if Guo Fan was causing trouble.

"Lao Guo, why did you pass it so quickly? Are you sure it's okay?"

Guo Fan stuck his head out from behind the monitor and grinned.

"Director, you really acted well. The information was conveyed well. The lines, the positioning, and the execution were all good. If you don't believe me, come and take a look."

"Don't try to kiss my ass."

"That's impossible. Be serious, teacher. We are filming a movie here."

“Then I really went to see it.”

"Come on."

Chen Linfeng was worried, so he walked over to the monitor and watched the replay.

As for the problems, there are really not many.

But to say that it has reached the level of excellence, it cannot be said that it has reached the level of excellence. After all, this is only the second one.

However, for Chen Linfeng, is it enough to just say that there is no problem?

He turned his head and shouted towards the camera, "Lao Cao, come and take a look too."

After a while, Cao Yu stroked his chin and finished watching the video, then nodded, "I also think there is nothing wrong with it. You acted very well, and you did everything right. Your acting skills have not diminished."

"Lao Liu, what do you think?"

Liu Qingshan, who was leaning over to watch the fun, was startled. He didn't expect the director to ask him a question.

He sorted out his words and said, "Well, I think it's good too. After all, you are the director and you are the one who acted in it."

Chen Linfeng originally had a smile on his face, but now he became calm, and even looked a little gloomy.

The people around didn't know what was going on, they just felt that the atmosphere was not right and they became a little nervous.

Especially Guo Fan, who had just made the decision, had an uncertain expression on his face.

He immediately began to doubt himself, wondering if he had done something wrong.

Or maybe there was something wrong with the shot and he didn't notice it.

Chen Linfeng looked at the performance of the people around him and sighed in his heart.

It was still too hasty.

I thought that since the crew were all old people who had been through TV dramas together, there shouldn't be any problems.

But over time, as his grades improved and his status became higher, these people, although they couldn't obviously do so, actually became more and more in awe of him.

Especially after "Inception", this feeling of awe almost reached its peak.

Chen Linfeng hadn't noticed it before.

Now with his good memory, he can find out that in the past period of time, no matter what he said, the people around him basically agreed with him.

No matter whether what he said is right or wrong, even if he is joking sometimes, there will be people who take it seriously.

This naturally includes Guo Fan.

In other words, as a student, his problem in this regard is more serious.

They are originally in a teacher-student relationship, and the status difference is even higher than that of colleagues.

This makes it impossible for them to find as many mistakes as possible.

Not to mention striving for perfection, even if there are mistakes, they may not dare to point them out.

Chen Linfeng immediately thought of the question he asked Director Yu when he was on the set of "The Sequel to Journey to the West" because he first became famous.

[How to prevent the people around you from changing their attitudes towards you because of your fame, which may cause the information you receive to be distorted. ]

Over the years, he has been very kind to the people around him, just to delay this process.

In fact, he did a pretty good job.

The core members of the crew have been rising in status along with him.

If everyone improves, it is equivalent to no one improving.

Although Chen Linfeng mentioned it a little quickly, after all, everyone has a good relationship with each other and can try to treat it with a normal attitude.

But the $10 billion for "Inception" was too powerful, and the hype from inside and outside the industry was too intense.

It's hard for these old guys in the crew not to be affected.

They suddenly realized that Director Chen is now a world-class director and is not someone they can laugh at.

Just like now, Chen Linfeng was just thinking about something, feeling heavy-hearted and his face looked a little heavy, so the other staff members felt a little nervous.

This would basically never happen in the past.

Cao Yu is slightly better. After all, he is a top photographer who has won many awards and has a high status.

He broke the silence and asked, "Director, if you... have any questions, just tell us and we'll change it according to your suggestion."

"Right, right, right," everyone around immediately agreed, "If you feel something is wrong, let's correct it immediately." Guo Fan also said, "Teacher, my level may not be good enough now, so I can't see it clearly. Please give me some pointers. I will definitely find a way to correct it."

He said this sincerely, and he really felt that his level was not good enough.

Yes, compared with the top five directors in global film history, my level is definitely far behind.

Chen Linfeng opened his mouth, not knowing what to say for a moment. If he said too much, others would probably think he was being pretentious.

In the end, he could only point at the parts of the screen that he thought were not perfect enough, and then emphasized,

“It’s not enough to just have no problems. You have to strive for perfection. Even if you really have to reach perfection, you should try as much as possible, just in case there is something better.”

"Okay, I understand, Director." Guo Fan nodded seriously.

The people around also looked serious and accepted the director's guidance.

Chen Linfeng didn't know whether they really understood.

He felt that this was the troublesome point: no matter what was said, there would always be a lot of people agreeing with it and no one would object.

But in fact, he has no idea whether everyone truly agrees with it.

He is not optimistic about whether the follow-up will be strict, especially since he is a director and an actor, and whether he can be "nitpicking".

I can only pay more attention to it in the future, and be as strict with myself as possible every time it involves my own camera.

But it is hard to say whether it is useful.

After all, there is an eternal curse for creators, that is "self-interest bias" and "self-identity".

To sum up, it is difficult for creators to look at their own works objectively.

There are many examples like this.

A typical example is some directors of domestic films. Sometimes the audience can’t understand how a certain top director can produce such a bad job.

Yuanshi Tianzun could lose all his magical powers just because he resurrected a third-generation disciple.

The best martial arts director in the past made a bunch of overdue films.

Issues such as traffic and capital alone cannot cover up the problems of the director himself.

Maybe these directors think they are doing a good job.

But any ordinary audience member can see the problem.

Sometimes, it is easy for the audience to have a question: if you ask an ordinary person about this movie, it wouldn’t be presented like this?

If you let me make an evaluation, it will be accurate.

In fact, this is the creator’s dilemma.

The same goes for Chen Linfeng when faced with creation, especially performance, which has no reference standards.

The evaluation is distorted.

He even understood this himself.

Chen Linfeng tried his best to find faults, but he always felt that he couldn't find the right point.

However, he lost the correct feedback from the outside world, which made it increasingly difficult for him to make objective evaluations.

So will all the top directors face this problem in the end?

When Chen Linfeng was 24 years old, he finally encountered an obstacle to his knowledge and understanding, or some kind of bottleneck.

At the end of October, when Chen Linfeng thought he was trapped in the obstacle of knowledge and understanding, the crew welcomed Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige, Jiang Wen and others.

Chen Linfeng has been feeling a little anxious these past few days, but he couldn't show it on his face. He smiled warmly and asked,

"Why are you guys all rushing together?"

Jiang Wen's usual loud voice rang out, "We thought about you filming, and we heard that the film and television base in Ping City is doing well, so we came to take a look."

"It's a coincidence," Chen Kaige said with a smile, "There have been a lot of rumors in the industry recently. It's said that you are going to make a World of Warcraft movie. We are also very curious, so we just came to ask about the situation."

"What's there to ask? It's just a normal movie project."

Chen Linfeng responded with a smile and ordered someone to bring a few stools.

The temperature was just right in October, so they sat together in an open space outside the studio.

The autumn wind brings cool breeze, which, coupled with the slanting sun in the sky, makes people feel very comfortable.

"This is not an ordinary project," Zhang Yimou said, "I've heard a lot of discussions about it while I was filming recently.

Some people compare this movie to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, saying that you may already have a "World of Warcraft Universe" that can compete with "The Avengers."

"Indeed, I've heard a lot of rumors." Jiang Wen nodded. "Come to think of it, since Inception, everyone has been paying more attention to your news."

Speaking of this, Chen Linfeng couldn't help but think of the problems he had encountered recently.

"Inception" did bring him great benefits, but it was too much, so much so that he now feels very difficult.

Thinking of this, I can't help but sigh.

The three of them were very puzzled. Xiao Chen should have been in high spirits at this time, so why was he so worried?

Jiang Wen asked directly, "Why are you sighing when you are such a famous person?"

Chen Linfeng did not hide anything and told him all his recent troubles.

The three men had different expressions. Zhang Yimou was silent and Jiang Wen was surprised.

Chen Kaige was even more surprised. Is there such a thing?
Chen Linfeng looked at the three people, "Have you ever encountered this situation? How did you solve it?"

I don't really hold out hope.

If this problem had really been solved, domestic films in the past would not have had to cry out to the public for a rescue.

Jiang Wen raised his eyebrows and said, "I really haven't thought about your angle. The creator's knowledge and views are blocked, and the people around him don't dare to point out the problem. It's a logical closed loop."

He frowned and thought for a long time, but couldn't think of any solution. In the end, he could only shake his head helplessly.

"Your distress is a bit high-end. I'm not at your level yet. There are still some people who can point out my faults directly among those who hang out with me."

"And I know my own bad habits. Sometimes I'm too literary. I'm trying to change them myself."

Jiang Wen felt somewhat happy when he said this, because he remembered that it was Xiao Chen in front of him who had pointed out his problems most outspokenly.

That’s good. Xiao Chen will never be afraid to point out Jiang Wen’s problem.

He now has a friend who can tell him the truth.

Chen Linfeng rolled his eyes at him and there was no point in saying any more.

He looked at Zhang Yimou again.

Zhang Yimou smiled bitterly, "If you hadn't mentioned it, I wouldn't have thought of this. In the past, Wei Ping always had different opinions, and sometimes we even opposed each other.

He is different now than before. Almost everything I say is what he believes. Just think about it, it was after "Sunset" won the Oscar.

Now that I think about it, the arguments between Wei Ping and me in the past might have been a good thing to some extent, but now that things have become harmonious, it might be harmful.”

Zhang Yimou even began to worry.

Will there be any problems with my recently filmed movie "Diaoyucheng"?
Come to think of it, it seems that after the film was edited, I showed it to Xiao Chen, and he didn't say anything.

That should be no problem.

Phew, I feel relieved.

(End of this chapter)