The richest person in Chinese entertainment

Chapter 508 Movie Premiere, Respect from Peers
La La Land (Director: Zhang Chen, starring:.)

Current box office (presales): $7.567 million

Is there a movie in history that can earn over 100 million at the box office before it is released?
No!

Even in later generations, no movie could achieve such outrageous box office data before its release.

But La La Land did it.

One reason is Zhang Chen’s own influence.

This influence includes himself, and will indirectly influence other stars.

There is also Zhang Chen’s influence on the entire industry.

In recent months or even a year, the world's attention has been focused on Zhang Chen.

The second reason is that 07 was a turning point in the development of the times.

From the emergence of the mutual benefit network at the end of the last century to the arrival of the 2G era today, the first generation of smart mobile devices, led by the Apple mobile phone, began to develop.

The world today is rapidly progressing towards the Internet age.

Many technologies are rapidly iterating with the Internet as the core.

Take the film industry for example.

In the past, people had to make an appointment to watch a movie and then go to the cinema to find their favorite movies.

You also have to judge the quality of a movie by its poster, director, and actors.

But sometimes, even if you choose a movie you like, you may not be able to buy movie tickets for it immediately.

This has a lot to do with the cinema’s screening schedule.

Many times, cinemas can only adjust the screening rate of each film at any time or every other day based on the attendance rate of each theater on that day and the inquiries from customers.

But now that the "Tao Piaopiao" function has been launched, the first thing that can be done is for customers to see the ranking of everyone's favorite movies.

It indirectly affects the theater’s film scheduling.

At the same time, based on the attendance rate and the number of tickets purchased for this movie in the next few days, we can consider whether to increase the number of screenings in the first few days and reduce the number of screenings of other films as appropriate.

In the meantime, "La La Land" welcomed its premiere amid everyone's anticipation and the astonishment of Zhang Chen and others.

Yanjing, 2: p.m.

The media, celebrities, and fans who were lucky enough to grab movie tickets, who had already passed through layers of security checks and entered the Great Hall, looked excitedly at the small door next to the big screen.

"I'm coming!"

"I originally wanted to interview him on the red carpet, but the staff said Zhang Chen would not be walking the red carpet today."

“Maybe you think you’re the director?”

"There are so many directors walking the red carpet. Maybe Zhang Chen feels that he has been too high-profile recently?"

"The movie is about to be released, shouldn't we keep a high profile?"

"Who knows? But it's good enough that Zhang Chen is so rich and can make movies for everyone. Why does he ask for so many things?"

Amidst the noisy discussions, the film's creative team, led by Zhang Chen, came to the center of the stage.

The host today is a female host that no one has ever seen before.

But to be honest, this is much more pleasing to the eye than the old face Mr. He who often appeared at events attended by Zhang Chen in the past.

Especially those headlights!
"Director Zhang, can you say hello to everyone?"

Liu Yan is a full-time host who just signed a contract with Chenguang Entertainment.

She didn't expect that not long after joining Chenguang Entertainment, she would get the job of hosting the premiere of her boss's movie.

And this was the first time she met her boss's boss's boss.

I heard that the boss is usually quite approachable.

But according to rumors, the boss is not an easy person to talk to.

This made her feel a little overwhelmed when facing Zhang Chen.

Especially when Zhang Chen came up, he looked so worried.

Liu Yan even didn't know whether she should help the audience to care about her boss's situation.

"I know everyone has a lot of questions, but it's hard to explain many things to you before you see the movie."

Facing the somewhat reserved Liu Yan and the expectant eyes in the audience, Zhang Chen did not chat with everyone for a long time like other movie premieres.

He walked straight to the front row of the audience.

Katie and Chris behind him obviously did not expect that director Zhang Chen would be so willful.

After the two looked at each other, they could only follow Zhang Chen off the stage at the urging of Avril and Liu Yifei.

"Liu, is the director always like this?"

This was Katie Winslet's first time attending a movie premiere in China.

But the familiar faces of Hollywood stars in the audience made her feel like she was in the United States.

But what she was most curious about was her own director's behavior.

Don’t the director and creators need to answer reporters’ questions at the premiere in China?

"He's been a bit irritated lately." Liu Yifei glanced at Zhang Chen's profile, smiled secretly, and then turned to explain to Katie and Chris, "Just assume that he's in a bad mood."

"You're feeling down?" Chris leaned over and asked quietly, "Are you okay?"

"It's nothing." Liu Yifei waved her hand indifferently.

"Not watching is not a small matter, right?" Avril suddenly interrupted, looking at Liu Yifei with ambiguous eyes, "Hmm?"

She has heard a lot about her good friend's "consultation" these days.

What happened between Liu Yifei and Zhang Chen.

Although she couldn't say she knew it completely.

The mere word "get the certificate" was enough to make her feel happy for her good friend, but also envious and powerless.

"Oh, let's go to the movies!"

Liu Yifei also suddenly became upset.

Avril, Katie and Chris looked at each other.

Several people blinked in confusion.

I don’t know what happened between my boss and Liu Yifei.

But at this time, the classic "Dragon Logo" of Chinese films had begun to appear on the big screen, so he could only shut his mouth.

When the lights in the hall dimmed.

The first picture that appears on the screen is a black and white 1.33:1 picture that is stretched to a 2.55:1 color aspect ratio.

The big words on it say "Present in cinemascope"

The knowledgeable director already understood what Zhang Chen wanted to express at this moment.

This English meaning actually means "presented by wide-screen film technology."

This was a photographic technique that was popular in the 50s but was quickly replaced.

Simply put, in the process of shooting film movies, the picture is compressed into 1.22:1 35mm film.

When showing, it is stretched to a ratio of 2.55:1 and projected onto the screen.

Technology that makes movies look more magnificent.

But this technology was short-lived.

It lasted less than 20 years before being replaced by "Panavision", a more advanced wide-screen technology.

But many classic "musicals", such as "Rebel Without a Cause", were shot using this "short-lived" technique.

Therefore, in just a few seconds at the beginning of "La La Land", many filmmakers at the scene saw the subtext of the young director Zhang Chen.

One is a feeling and tribute to the development of film.

And I want to tell everyone that his movies are just like the many classic musicals produced during the heyday of the "cinemascope" technology. His movies are movies related to "music" and "dance".

In just a few seconds, the core of the movie is revealed.

This made many older filmmakers who originally wanted to make fun of Zhang Chen put away their contempt.

Many people praised Chen's last movie "Love" for being well-made.

But many people still have doubts.

If they remembered correctly, that movie had an assistant director who was famous in China and even in the world - Tian Zhuangzhuang.

No matter how the creative team explains.

Human prejudices are like a wall, with truth and doubt on both sides.

Many people are unwilling to believe that Zhang Chen, at such a young age, could make a film that sees through the "life" and "death" of love.

How old was Zhang Chen at that time?

Just in my early 20s!

No one believed that such a young director could make a high-quality movie like "Love".

But those few seconds.
It was really just a few seconds.

Moreover, ordinary audiences could not understand it and thought it was just something like the "subtitles" in a movie, but it made these filmmakers who were originally skeptical give up their original thoughts.

This clever technique and silent tribute was like a loud slap in the face to those who came with doubts.

When these people no longer had any contempt in their hearts, they followed tens of thousands of people at the scene and entered the movie shot by Zhang Chen.

A picture of blue sky and white clouds appeared on the screen.

The camera slowly descends, revealing the eternal theme of Los Angeles - traffic jam.

As the camera moves, different styles of music come from every car on the highway.

Many fans have heard the origins of these songs.

There is "My Heart Will Go On", the theme song of "Titanic", which was once played by the heroine of today's movie.

There is also punk heavy metal from one of the main creators, Avril Lavigne.

The largest number is the music released by director Zhang Chen since his debut.

This is also in line with the music preferences of American people in the past decade.

The camera moves around without any dialogue between the characters.

There is no focus on any one person in the movie.

Just when everyone was confused, a light and unprovoked piano music "hijacked" the soundtrack.

The camera also stopped in front of a girl's car.

At this point, the movie has only been going on for a little over a minute.

The audience was stunned.

So fast?
They knew it was a movie with "song and dance" elements.

They knew there would be singing and dancing in the movie, but they didn't expect it to come so soon and so suddenly.

But the light music in their ears told them otherwise.

The part of the movie they were most looking forward to was here - Zhang Chen's song.

This is the first time that music written by one of the world's undisputed number one musicians has been incorporated into a movie.

It would be a lie to say I wasn't looking forward to it.

They are looking forward to how this music will be presented in the movie.

Everyone straightened their backs unconsciously.

As if doing so would help them better listen to Zhang Chen's works.

After they finished listening to the lively piano music, the girl in the car began to sing.

“I think about that day
(Thinking of that day again)

I left him at a Greyhound station
(Greyhound station west of Santa Fe)
West of Sante Fe
(We part ways here)
We were seventeen,

(We were only 17)
but he was sweet and it was true
(The atmosphere is sweet and beautiful)
Still I did what I had to do
(But I still chose to leave)

"

The lyrics clearly tell one thing - dreams.

As this song played, people stuck in traffic on the highway walked out of their cockpits one after another.

Join the group of girls singing and dancing.

It ended up being a big freeway rave.

But the lyrics describe the sad and trivial things of a small person chasing his dreams.

But this sad and trivial story is sung in the most positive way.

"And even when the answer's no
(Even if rejected)
Or when my money's running low
(Even if I'm short of money)
The dusty mic and neon glow are all I need
(A music microphone and bright neon signs are enough)
"

Movie fans were mesmerized as they watched the people singing and dancing on the big screen.

My mood also became extremely relaxed along with the singing.

Who dares to say that they have never encountered difficulties?

But generally when I encounter difficulties, I am always in a low mood and keep silent.

How great it would be if I could express something that is not happy like these people in the movie happily.
It has to be said that the first song in "La La Land", "Another Day of Sun", brought a huge surprise to all the audience.

It turns out that Zhang Chen (Leon), the wealthy man, also understands the pain of little people like them?

The audience felt that Zhang Chen's young, handsome, but distant face was much closer to them at this moment.

The smiling face that they automatically imagined was like a ray of sunshine shining into their hearts, which were originally sour because of work and life.

Different from ordinary audiences.

Many filmmakers at the scene were watching Zhang Chen’s shooting techniques for this film.

Only an expert can see how difficult it is to shoot this shot.

Long shots, hundreds of cars, and thousands of extras.

One shot to the end!
Each of these items combined will add an unknown amount of difficulty to the filming of the movie.

But Zhang Chen presented them with a perfect picture that made everyone immersed in it.

What they see is the scene arrangement shown in this shot and the director's directing skills of the director who shot this shot.

I don’t know how much effort is put behind this.

They couldn't even imagine how much time the film director would have to spend directing the movements of these extras for these few minutes of footage.

I dare not imagine how many takes were wasted in this few minutes of footage.

I can’t even imagine how devastated director Zhang Chen was every time he had to start the whole scene over again because of a “small flaw” during the filming of this shot.

Because every "NG", from re-setting the scene to re-shooting, requires hours of waiting.

Needless to say, the state of the extras, whether the director's mental state is stable, is the key to the perfect presentation of this shot.

If the director's mentality fluctuates during the filming process, the 5-minute song will not allow all the audience on the scene to fully immerse themselves in it.

Many directors on the scene couldn’t say they could finish this “long shot” without swearing or breaking down.

Only a director who has personally experienced that kind of torture can understand the "sadness" and "persistence" contained in the first few minutes of this movie.

This makes many old people who have been in this industry for decades respect Zhang Chen.

Based on this attitude towards movies, it can be said that "he deserves it".

He deserves last year's "Palme d'Or" trophy and all the honors he has received in the film industry.

(End of this chapter)