Chinese Entertainment: Academic Director

Chapter 2 Reputation is important

Rebirth, what a lofty word.

In his previous life, Cao Yang also graduated from an art academy with a major in directing and editing. He has been in the circle for more than 30 years. His greatest achievement is that he helps those nominal directors or directors who have changed careers to take an overall view and do the director's work as an executive director and assistant director, and this has happened more than once or twice.

And the amazing thing is that it always achieves good box office results every time.

So, he finally got a chance to direct a low-budget movie.

However, the movie flopped miserably.

Cao Yang was very angry. Why was it that other people's films with his name as director could sell well, while his own films flopped without even making a splash?

Just because others are famous and have a high reputation?
Is it because the actors who were stuffed into the crew through various connections have poor acting skills?

Just because the script was randomly deleted and modified?
Maybe it was because his obsession was too strong, and when he was reborn, he actually had a reputation system.

This crappy thing doesn't have any messy abilities. It only has one function, which is to consume existing reputation and convert it into an immersive experience.

Cao Yang didn’t know whether the immersive experience meant what the word meant, allowing the actors to experience the experiences of the characters in the play. This broken system did not provide any explanation.

Cao Yang checked and found that his current reputation was 10627, available reputation was 10627, and his immersion experience was +1.

Why is there an immersive experience? Cao Yang still doesn't know, maybe it's a gift?

Currently, reputation cannot be converted into immersion experience. Once converted, it will display -89373. In other words, one hundred thousand reputation points are required to exchange for one immersion experience.

Fortunately, the system gives you a free immersion experience, which can be used by the protagonist to improve his acting skills. However, I don’t know how effective this immersion experience will be, so I still have to try to find actors with good acting skills.

The most urgent task is to improve your reputation in exchange for a more immersive experience.

Although the crappy system doesn't give any instructions on how to improve reputation, it's easy to figure out that it's nothing more than box office and awards.

It is only the year 2000 and the domestic film industry is still struggling to survive.

The number of screens counted in the country is less than two thousand.

Twenty years later, the number was more than 80,000 yuan!

There is such a huge difference.

The commercial film market is not good, so forget about box office for now.

But fortunately there are still art films.

For art films, it doesn’t matter whether the market is good or not.

Go to the three major European film festivals to win awards, and then sell foreign copyrights, gain both fame and fortune, and your reputation will grow rapidly, isn’t that wonderful?

This is the correct way to open an art film.

The key is how to win the award.

How can domestic directors more easily win awards abroad?

Backwardness, criticism, the dark side of society, the evil of human nature...randomly arrange and combine them, and you’ll have a chance to be selected for the main competition unit.

Of course, this alone is not enough to win an award in the main competition unit.

The three major film festivals have different focuses, the jury members who change every year have different preferences, and the theme of the film festival is also different every year...

It is difficult to win an award as there are too many factors that affect it.

It is also easy to win an award. As long as a few judges like your movie, or the chairman of the jury supports you, you can at least win one of the awards.

In this era, the awards of the three major European film festivals are still very prestigious and recognized all over the world.

Cao Yang didn't want to film the ignorance, backwardness and pain of China to please foreigners, but he was very interested in the foreign scars series and wanted to film it very much.

But it is not realistic to shoot it now, as there is neither funding nor fame.

Then take a different approach and make an author's film with a very personal style.

There is a very interesting director in South Korea. The types of films he shoots are very single, but he is a professional award winner and very much appeals to people in Europe and the United States.

He neither films pornography and violence, nor does he film the evil of human nature, nor does he film the dark side of society. His award-winning films focus solely on women.

In life, he captures and refines a series of familiar yet meaningful words and deeds, giving philosophical meaning to daily trivia and love between men and women, thereby exploring the complexity and volatility of human nature.

"On the Beach at Night Alone" is such a movie.

For Cao Yang, this movie is the best choice at the moment. The scene is simple, no special effects are needed, there are few actors, the shooting is not complicated, and most importantly, it saves money.

This is another auteur film with a strong personal style. The whole film makes extensive use of fixed long shots and simple and slow push-pull shots, which traditional great directors like Tian Zhuangzhuang would not use.

Too simple and too straightforward.

When the movie was made, no one would think it was Tian Zhuangzhuang's movie, the style was obviously different.

If this movie was shot by Tian Zhuangzhuang, with his style of focusing on humanistic care, he might be able to create an alternative "Spring in a Small Town" for you.

The plot of the movie is very simple. The heroine is a famous actress who falls in love with a married director and has an extramarital affair. This is the prelude.

The movie begins with the heroine unable to bear the pressure of public opinion, so she flees abroad to relax, eat, walk and chat with friends.

Next, the heroine returned to China and had dinner and chatted with friends.

Finally, as if waking from a dream, I met the married director and had dinner and chatted with him.

It looks plain and boring.

In fact, it is boring and unremarkable.

Especially for moviegoers who seek sensory stimulation, this movie is simply torture.

There is no dark side of society, no violence, no eroticism, just two words: plain.

The European version has not evolved yet, and more attention is still paid to women, including works directed by women, the creation of female characters, and the discussion of female themes.

As long as these are involved, it will be easy to get a nomination for the main competition unit.

If there were few films of this type nominated, it would most likely win a major award. Political correctness is still very powerful.

This movie is told from a female perspective, with almost all shots focused on the female protagonist. It reflects social issues and gender equality by exploring the female theme. It not only shows the growth and changes of women, but also criticizes sexism and gender stereotypes.

It’s just what the three major European film festivals are looking for.

It was the next day when Cao Yang saw Tian Zhuangzhuang again.

In the hotel conference room rented in the name of the crew, Lao Tian looked listless and yawned continuously. It was unclear what happened last night.

Tian Zhuangzhuang glanced at Cao Yang and said nothing. After greeting him, the two of them quickly got down to work.

It’s good that Lao Tian didn’t kick his feet.

Today is the last day for interviewing the leading actress.

To call it an interview is actually a more euphemistic term. The invitations previously sent to several potential candidates were either rejected or fell into oblivion.

There was no other way. Before this, the films produced by Lu Xuechang and Wang Xiaoshuai, which were produced by Tian Zhuangzhuang, were stuck in censorship for a long time, so he was not allowed to serve in the crew this time.

On the surface, Tian Zhuangzhuang is just an actor in the crew.

So in the eyes of outsiders, isn't this just nonsense for a director in his twenties with a small investment?
Therefore, it is difficult for the heroine to give birth.

In fact, Cao Yang’s favorite candidate for the female lead is Gong Li.

At the beginning, the national director had not divorced yet, and Gong Li and the national director fell in love during the filming and got together. The actress fell in love with the married director and had an extramarital affair...

Is it familiar?

This is exactly the same setting as the movie. This similar experience, coupled with Gong Li's acting skills, made the performance very easy.

Unfortunately, it’s too expensive and we can’t afford it. The budget of the entire movie is not enough to pay his salary.

Although the coal boss is willing to pay money, he is not a fool. He pays hundreds of thousands of dollars to let Xiao Mi play an important role. What he wants is the development and the sense of accomplishment.

Pay more? That's another way to play.

Cao Yang once thought about inviting a national master to play the role of director in the film.

As long as the national teacher came, Gong Li read the script, especially the last part, where the big director who had an extramarital affair with the heroine said in tears in front of the heroine that he never regretted falling in love with the heroine, but he was too cowardly and cared too much about the secular perspective...

Just based on this scene, Gong Li would be willing to join the show even if it meant paying money.

If she could hear the national master say these words, even if it was said in a movie, she would definitely feel that her life was complete.

What a gimmick!
This film will be so shocking that it will blow up the entire Chinese-speaking world.

But then he thought, if the Imperial Master knew the contents of the script and still dared to invite him, one of him and the Imperial Master would surely die, so he gave up this crazy yet brilliant idea.

Old Tian has no choice but to play this role.

(End of this chapter)