Didn't you say that we would lose money after filming?

Perhaps for the vast majority of people in the industry, Zhang Zelin has undoubtedly stood at the top of all the peaks he can stand at. His life is absolutely enviable. Until now, most of the elderly people in Hanxia have retired to enjoy their old age.

However, Zhang Zelin still chose to walk in front of the director's monitor and direct the film.

Zhang Zelin graduated from Hanxia Film and Television Academy in his early years. At that time, he was in his twenties and full of vigor and vitality. He was one of the earliest directors in China who graduated from professional schools and received professional training.

This is very rare, because at that time, the film and television art field in Hanxia was not well developed. It was just in its infancy and was at least twenty years behind Europe and the United States.

At that time, European and American countries were already able to make superhero movies and were using special effects, but they were still making the transition from black and white to color movies. This process was also not smooth and was full of setbacks.

So at that time, Zhang Zelin was carrying a lot of expectations and importance.

Until later, he never let everyone down. The film "Awakening" captured the style of the people of Hanxia. This film, which is hailed as the most indispensable artistic treasure of Hanxia film and television, pushed Zhang Zelin to a peak once it was released.

In the following few years, he has been replicating this legend. It can be said that none of the works shot by Zhang Zelin at that stage were bad, and they greatly filled the gap in Hanxia's film and television.

But the good times did not last long. When facing the transition from middle age to middle age, Zhang Zelin shot an unprecedented fantasy film.

A bold attempt, a novel style, and unprecedented techniques, but it brought with it a flood of negative reviews.

That movie at that time was criticized to the point where everyone was condemning it.

Zhang Zelin's fame also plummeted from then on, and he went from being a director with a good reputation to a director with mixed reviews.

But when everyone thought he regretted making that film, he accepted an interview. When facing the camera, he was very calm. He said this: "If I have a chance to choose again, I will probably still choose to make this movie. Maybe it seems like a failed attempt now. It doesn't seem to have brought me anything, but in fact I should be grateful for it, and grateful that I chose to shoot it.

I think that as a person, especially an artist, we should not always keep ourselves in a comfort zone, and stay in a corner of an area that we feel is stable. This would be a betrayal of the ambitions in our hearts!

Art is actually a process of continuous innovation, because real art itself is experimental and not universal. So in this process, we can try to see what we can use and what we don’t need. I am very glad that I have done it, because there are many things that no one in the world can teach us, and we can only explore on our own. However, in this process, Europe and the United States are far ahead of us. We started too late, and the environment is not as good as theirs.

So at this time, as a generation with resources, connections, and opportunities, we should not only consider our own generation, but also consider what is wrong and what is wrong in the textbooks of our next generation. If I try it out today, will there be a student who can avoid taking a detour tomorrow? Because a predecessor has already tried it for him and found that this path is not feasible.

Then, I also want to try more new things, some new types of things while I can still take pictures and move. A person cannot do the same thing all his life. Of course, doing so will make him more refined in the same thing, but he will lose the desire for exploration and self, which is very terrifying for an artist, and it should be a desperate thing. I don’t want this to happen to me.

In the end, I want to say that I don’t make movies for anyone else. I make movies to express what’s in my heart. Making movies is about telling stories. It’s enough to tell the stories you want to tell. We don’t need to compete with anyone, fight with anyone, or argue with anyone. This is the most meaningless and the least likely way to create the best art.”

The Internet was not well developed at that time and information spread very slowly, but Zhang Zelin's words spread everywhere.

At first, no one paid attention to what he said, and many people even expressed disdain for him, thinking that he was just making excuses after the fact. He entered a five-year period of no films to make, and he disappeared for five years.

Later, he reappeared with a movie called "I Sing My Journey in the Green Mountains".

Same fantasy theme, same serious stream of consciousness.

But this time, the movie exploded.

It won all three major awards just a few years after its establishment, and took the Grand Slam. It is still considered one of the most artistic, beautiful and stunning works in Hanxia Film and Television.

He finally did it.

Later on, he participated in the compilation of most of the textbooks for the Hanxia Film and Television major.

He then defeated other strong opponents and became the chief director of the first Olympic Games in Hanxia.

Although that Olympic Games suffered a lot of losses, it was indeed incomparable to the Second Hanxia Olympic Games which was filled with Xia Yuan's wild ideas.

However, there is no doubt that it did greatly ignite the national self-confidence of countless Hanxia people at that time.

Until later, something well-known happened. He filmed a work called "Tai Xuan".

He hit rock bottom again.

A few years later, the 2032 Hanxia Olympics will be held.

There was an incident where he quit the directing team because of a disagreement.

After the subsequent Olympic Games became a hit, it became a benchmark opening ceremony recognized by the whole world, recognized as the most awesome Olympic Games, and also a profitable one.

He faced a time when his reputation plummeted, and at that time, he was almost ruined.

Since then, he has never filmed any works again and gradually disappeared from the public eye.

Today, he is 76 years old.
At this moment, facing everyone's worried eyes, this great director who used to be different from Xia Yuandao and had no intention of doing the same thing, finally shook his head: "I have thought a lot in the past few years. I put my mind at ease and calmed down. It's funny to say that a great director like me actually needs to reflect on myself and calm down at the end of my career. But I have to say that these years have benefited me a lot. I have figured out a lot of things." (End of this chapter)