Huayu: From charlatan to great entertainer

Chapter 213 Zhang Guoli's Request

Fan Bingbing was a little at a loss. What went wrong?

What surprised her even more was that her opponent Liu Yifei seemed to have grown a lot compared to the last time they met, both in terms of camera finding and line intonation.

Lu Kuan walked in front of the three people and said, "That's right, Bingbing. This shot is called a moment of shock. When the two of them turn to look at you, the over-the-shoulder shot will be pushed in very hard."

"It's so powerful that it isolates your face and places it in the center of the frame, giving the audience the feeling that for just one second, there's a chasm between you and them."

Fan Bingbing nodded. She also understood it this way. What was wrong?

Lu Kuan patiently explained: "Do you know your role now?"

"My role? Lan Jiangshui's female student, Bingbing."

"anything else?"

Fan Bingbing was a little confused: "Anything else?"

Lu Kuan laughed and said, "You are still the camera! You are the audience's eyes!"

Fan Bingbing: ???

Tian Qiwen and others on the side were confused and had no idea what Lu Kuan was talking about, not to mention Fan Bingbing on the field.

"Xingzai, what does this road guide mean?"

Zhou Xingchi stood with his arms folded, tapping his right forearm with the knuckles of his left hand.

Hearing Tian Qiwen's question, Dong Shuangqiang, Yu Dong, Wang Changtian, Zhang Baizhi and others around him also pricked up their ears, waiting for the Hong Kong director to explain.

"He... is a genius."

Zhou Xingchi curled his lips and showed a helpless expression. No wonder Liu Yifei would rather choose to be his stunt double than to be the female lead.

"In this shot, Fan Bingbing and the male and female protagonists are positioned opposite each other, with the three standing sideways and parallel to each other in a 1 to 2 position."

"Before Lu Kuan directed the photographer to take the close-up over-the-shoulder shot, Fan Bingbing was talking to the male and female protagonists and heard the news that his junior sister would never come back."

"but!"

"When the camera gives a close-up of the shoulder, I guess Lu Kua will use a zoom."

"Then the female protagonist's shoulder, which was originally facing away from the camera, will go from being clear to blurry, foreshadowing that these two people will leave the human world and live a lonely life in another world."

"And all of this needs to be expressed through Fan Bingbing's expression. That's why he said that in the close-up shots later on, Fan Bingbing actually plays the role of the camera, responsible for conveying this sense of desolation and alienation to the audience."

"And the hero and heroine's helplessness in traveling alone to a foreign land to save the human world is the key point of the whole story."

Holy crap! There are so many interpretations for a simple shot, and those present, whether they understood or not, were all confused.

Zhou Xingchi patted Tian Qiwen, turned around and left without saying hello to anyone.

Come with excitement and leave with excitement.

The cast and directors on the scene acted as if they hadn't heard anything, and immediately followed up with the second and third lines, completing the final scene.

Strike while the iron is hot, Liang Jiahui and Gary Oldman quickly put on makeup and went on stage. The two experienced actors contributed a wonderful rivalry for the guests on the scene.

Liang Jiahui fell to the ground with a miserable smile, and looked into the eyes of Dr. Gary Oldman, who died soon after, and could not close his eyes for a long time.

Lu Kuan picked up the intercom and said, "The jib is giving a bird's-eye view. The view will switch in three seconds."

The photographer obeyed the order and first gave a close-up of Liang Jiahui's bloodshot and tearful face, with a hint of satisfaction at the corner of his mouth.

Because he has arranged for his daughter to go to a foreign land to close the farm, the entire human world will not be destroyed by his seemingly great invention.

Three seconds later, a close-up was given to Gary Oldman. The cold-blooded federal president slowly closed his eyes filled with hatred, ending his controversial life.

The camera shot from above, revealing the bodies of the two teachers and students who once respected and loved each other, now exposed in irregular shapes.

A light breeze blew through the streets of Chinatown, filling it with a sense of desolation.

Lu Kuan checked behind the monitor to make sure everything was correct.

He stood up with the intercom in his hand and looked around. The cast and crew, both Chinese and foreign, were looking at him expectantly.

"'Alien Land'! Wrap-up!"

Boss Lu spoke in Chinese, but it did not affect the foreigners' understanding. Everyone cheered and applauded to celebrate the arrival of this moment.

For science fiction films, the real test is still ahead, in the four or five months of special effects production.

After the guests finished watching, they took turns to greet Lu Kuan and then left. Lu Kuan glanced around but did not see Zhou Xingchi.

What a weirdo.

Leonardo was surrounded by reporters and had a professional smile on his face.

"Yes, we will arrive in Peking the day after tomorrow. I will stay in Peking for a few days. It's a rare opportunity for me to come here."

"Of course I know the Forbidden City, the Great Wall, and the Hutongs! These are all things that the road has taught me."

"Our crew will be climbing the Great Wall together. I'm really looking forward to it. I've been saving up my energy for this for a long time, haha!"

"Lu? There's nothing much to say. You've all seen his professionalism. I feel honored to be able to work with such a director. I'm looking forward to his future career in Hollywood."

"Crystal? A very dedicated actor. When I think about it, I just starred in the TV series "Growing Pains" when I was 16 years old. To be honest, I would go crazy if I stayed on the set for more than three days."

"But she is different. She can stay from 6am to 8pm and still read the script. I can't do that. I think you can look forward to Crystal's performance."

In the dressing room, Liu Yifei and Fan Bingbing turned their backs to the makeup artist and let them remove their makeup.

Fan Bingbing recalled Liu Yifei's performance just now. He wondered what she had experienced in the past few months that made her suddenly become so mature and calm.

Bingbing broke the silence first: "Fei Yi, you are making great progress."

Concubine Liu Yi was stunned when she heard this, then smiled and said, "Thank you, Sister Bingbing. Lu Kuan always says I'm stupid and that I need to work harder than others."

Fan Bingbing was a little stunned, not knowing whether she was deliberately provoking him or doing it unintentionally.

She wasn't the type to admit defeat, so she said casually, "Princess Yi, I bought a yard at Huabin Golf Club with an outdoor barbecue. I'd like to invite you and Director Lu to come visit someday."

Concubine Liu Yi had no doubts: "Okay!"

"I also bought a yard in Gongjian Hutong. It's open-air and perfect for barbecues! Let's go there together next time."

Bingbing frowned, feeling more confused. Is she innocent or the Child-Fairy of Tianshan?

Outside the dressing room, Boss Lu was about to reach out to push the door open, but then he pulled back and turned to leave.

Ah Fei followed without knowing why.

In the evening, Ren Chonglun of Shanghai Film Studio came forward to invite Lu Kuan and other cast and crew members of "Foreign Land" to show his hospitality.

There were white wine and red wine prepared on the table. Lu Kuan urged Leonardo to take a sip of Moutai, which made him frown.

"Oh! Lou, it feels like I drank a sip of floor cleaner!"

The onlookers burst into laughter.

Liu Yifei asked curiously, "You two can drink two bottles of whiskey at a time on the set, so why can't you drink Chinese liquor?"

Boss Lu was a veteran of the alcohol test in his previous life. He smiled upon hearing this and said, "Both baijiu and foreign liquor are distilled spirits, but the raw materials are quite different. Foreign liquor is generally made from potatoes and grapes, while Chinese baijiu is made from grain crops. The process is more complicated and it is more pungent and stimulating."

He glanced at Leonardo, Emile, and the other foreigners and joked with them in Chinese: "This is called a wild boar can't eat fine bran!"

Ren Zhonglun and the others were stunned for a second, then they all clapped and laughed.

This is very insightful!

With the help of an interpreter, Ren Zhonglun introduced local cuisine to the guests from afar.

Leonardo and others were used to eating modified versions of Chinese food abroad, so when they saw this dazzling array of delicious food, they were all salivating.

Sometimes he would try the sea bass, sometimes he would pick up some eight-treasure duck with his chopsticks.

When Boss Lu saw Zhu Bajie eating ginseng fruit, he wanted to let them experience the profoundness of Chinese cuisine.

"Leo, Emil, do you know how special this fish you're eating is?"

The two looked at each other in bewilderment. It was just an ordinary fish, but it tasted delicious and tender.

When foreigners eat fish, it is rare to see a whole fish on the table. Usually they serve fish fillets with bones removed.

Before cooking, cut the two pieces of meat from the fish body along the spine. In slightly more upscale restaurants, the large bones will be picked out and the small bones will be removed with tweezers.

Larger salmon and cod are easier to handle, while smaller sardines and herring have soft bones and can be chewed directly.

Ren Zhonglun asked the restaurant chef to describe it to them in vivid detail, but the two were still confused and many cooking methods and terms were not fully understood.

Lu Kuan interrupted the chef's introduction and used the most direct method to educate these old-fashioned people. "This is four-gilled sea bass. In 1972, when your leader of Nigeria visited, this dish was included in the state banquet."

"Later, due to water pollution, it was once on the verge of extinction. Yili Shabai visited China twice and specifically requested this dish, but was not able to eat it." (Note 1)

"Leo, do you know how lucky you are today?"

Oh! If you had said that earlier, we would have understood. It's the royal treatment!
Leonardo followed the local customs and toasted like Lu Kuan. The host, Chonglun, felt honored and admired Lu Kuan even more.

It is not an exaggeration to say that he is well-versed in worldly affairs and human nature!
Concubine Liu Yi kept busy, listening to Lu Kuan's introduction while enjoying the meal.

I thought to myself that this washing machine is really good at eating, drinking, whoring and gambling!
In other words, she didn't know that Boss Lu made his first fortune from gambling on football, otherwise she would have to add one more thing.

Both the host and the guests had a great time. Ah Fei drove the boss back to the hotel. As they reached the lobby, Lu Kuan received a call from Ren Zhonglun, whom he had just separated from.

"Mr. Ren? You're so old, and you're still doing it twice?"

Ren Zhonglun laughed: "No, no, I have a personal matter that I want to trouble Director Lu with."

"please say."

Ren Zhonglun's classic opening line: "I have a friend..."

But this time he is indeed his friend.

"Teacher Zhang Guoli, he's the one who did 'Kangxi's Secret Visits,' Director Lu, right?"

"Teacher Zhang? I know. What's the matter?"

Ren Zhonglun glanced awkwardly at his old friend. "If Director Lu isn't in a hurry to rest, why don't we go to the private room in the business center on the 8th floor and talk in about minutes?"

"Okay, I'll wait for you."

Ren Zhonglun is a man of the stage, so he has naturally heard of directors like Boss Lu who have a bad reputation.

It was only a 10-minute drive from the restaurant to the Peace Hotel, but he told Lu Kuan it would take minutes just to give the washing machine director time to clean up his mess.

Of course, if Lu Kuan says it’s not convenient tonight, we can only talk about it the next day.

As the president of Shanghai Film Group, he didn't need to be so anxious to find someone to do things, but his old friend Zhang Guoli was pushing him too hard.

What's the matter?
Damn! It’s the same as Liu Zeyu again, the son is betraying his father!
The love-hate relationship between Guoli's son Heizi and Tong Yao.

Ren Zhonglun put down the phone and asked in confusion, "This matter is fermenting on the blogosphere. What's the point of you looking for Lu Kuan?"

"A fellow student from Communication University of China, the deputy director of the journalism department who I had dinner with last time, gave me some advice. He said Lu Kuan is familiar with the vice president of blog.com and asked me to contact him to find a solution."

This is about Mr. Qiao Shengqiao, who failed to show off at the desk when Mr. Lu was pursuing progress and joined the Democratic Progressive Party.

Ren Zhonglun still didn't understand. "That doesn't make sense. You flew here overnight just for this? Why don't you just contact Mr. Han and tell him?"

Zhang Guoli was a little embarrassed and didn't want to elaborate, but he couldn't keep it secret when asking the Shanghai Film Group boss to do something for him. That wasn't the attitude of asking for help.

"In 'Cell Phone' I play Fei Mo. Director Lu has some minor conflicts with Huayi, and I'm afraid that if I contact him rashly, it will backfire."

"Boss Han is cautious, and I don't want to trouble him."

"Brother, you're the CEO of such a large state-owned enterprise, and you have business dealings with his company. I really had no choice but to find you to say hello!"

Zhang Guoli has rarely been so depressed since he became famous. Now he really wants to beat up his son!
Boss Lu was smoking in the room and thought of Zhang Guoli whom Ren Zhonglun mentioned on the phone.

There are elites in the entertainment, film and television, and literary and art circles, and this person is a representative of both high emotional intelligence and high IQ.

He started his career in Chengdu in the 70s.

In the peaceful city of Chengdu, he has two benefactors, Lao Han and Lao Mi.

There is no need to waste words on Lao Han, who is Lao Mi?

The experienced director Mi Jiashan.

The three of them met in humble beginnings and worked together in the Emei Factory in their early years. At that time, Lao Han was just an ordinary lighting worker, commonly known as Deng Ye.

Lao Mi is an artist, and Lao Zhang has the lowest status and is an extra.

When the three brothers have nothing to do, they go to a teahouse in Qingyang District to drink tea and chat.

But people have different fates. Lao Han and Lao Mi are both legitimate successors, so I won’t go into details here.

Although Lao Zhang has no background, he has high emotional intelligence and is very smart. He plays very close to his two brothers.

In 1988, Wang Shuo's novel was adapted into a movie called "The Troublemakers", with Lao Mi as the director and Zhang Guoli as the assistant director.

The heroine is Lao Mi’s then-wife Pan Hong, a top domestic actress.

Guoli's business continued to grow. Later, when Lao Han went to Beijing, he also went north and quickly completed the original accumulation of capital.

The reason why Zhang Guoli did not contact Lu Kuan rashly was because he had a very deep relationship with Huayi and Pants.

How deep is it?

The first war blockbuster in Xiao Gangpao's career, "Assembly", was written by Zhang Guoli, and his shadow can be seen in the later "1942" and "Youth".

The supervisor and producer of Zhang Guoli's "The 601st Call" are both Xiao Gangpao.

Huayi also supported Heizi's entire career later on, and after he moved behind the scenes, Huayi gave him a lot of support and treated him like their own son.

If we follow the common thinking, why doesn't he go to find Lao Han?
Han Shanping is now the implicit leader of all domestic filmmakers. As long as it is not a particularly difficult matter, he just needs to say hello to Boss Lu.

Or maybe it could be said that Lao Zhang is a very clear-headed person with extremely high emotional intelligence and EQ!

He really put himself in Han Shanping's perspective and considered this matter!
For Han Shanping, Lu Kuan is a rising star with great fame, while Zhang Guoli and Huayi, with whom he has conflicts of interest, are circles in which he has been rooted for a long time.

If Zhang Guoli found him, he would be in a difficult situation.

Because he knew the contradiction between the two best. Even when Lu Kuan asked Han Shanping to pass a note to let Wenjie take over the bidding work of Xiying Studio, Old Han was just the middleman and was impartial.

He didn't want to break his balance between Lu Kuan and Hua Yi.

Just like the emperors in ancient times, he didn’t like to see his ministers living in harmony with each other. He would rather see them fighting to the death all day long!
Lao Zhang's emotional intelligence was rewarded in these little things.

Later in 2009, Han Shanping led the production of "Founding of a Republic". The whole film cost 3000 million yuan and the box office was 4.3 million yuan, making a huge profit.

Later tonight, Mr. Ren from Shanghai Film Group complained that he only got a 10% investment share by relying on the theater resources at his disposal.

Mr. Zhang had nothing, but he still got 10% and made money just by doing nothing!

Where can I reason from this?
Although Mr. Ren complained, he was one of the leaders who was captivated by Lao Zhang's super high emotional intelligence.

Also in 2009, Shanghai Film Group responded to the call and formed a joint venture with private enterprises to establish Shanghai Film Group Media Asia, with Zhang Guoli as the general manager.

There is something very interesting here.

Shanghai Film Group and China Film Group are nominally at the same level, both being state-owned enterprises affiliated with the Radio, Film and Television Administration. If Zhang wants to inject private capital, he must at least establish connections at the next level.

As for where this relationship leads to, it is not something that outsiders can know.

It can only be said that the culture of such circles, large and small, is too developed in domestic society, and there are inextricable connections between people.

Dong Shuangqiang, Han Shanping, and Li Shoucheng, which one of them is not a person with "deep blessings"?
Lu Kuan used the resources in his hands to make an equal exchange with them, which in a sense was not much better than trying to get the skin of a tiger.

Once his own movie fails or loses its value in exchanging benefits, what will be the reaction of these people?
Now, Lao Tian, ​​a fifth-generation director who is like an old farmer, has some close ties with Lu Kuan.

That's why he tried his best to advise Lu Kuan to find some resources and backers in the open, so as to avoid being robbed and having nowhere to complain in the future.

Boss Lu looked at his watch and saw that there was still some time before the agreed time, so he called Xu Bo at the Public Opinion Monitoring Center.

The office is on duty 24 hours a day, so the last video incident involving Lao Liu was discovered and dealt with immediately.

"Boss, instructions."

"Is there some Zhang Heizi incident going on the internet?"

"Yes, boss, but because the identity of the person involved is not sensitive and does not meet the conditions for immediate reporting, we have not yet taken any action."

Xu Bo was a little panicked. Why did the leader call him directly? Was this a big deal?
He is one of the few people on the blog network, besides Zhuang Xu and Wang Xing, who knows Lu Kuan's true identity behind the scenes.

"Oh, it's okay, just keep watching."

After hanging up the phone, Boss Lu put out his cigarette.

That’s exactly what happened.

　Note 1:

　　I don't understand the harmony mechanism. Are the names Nixon and Elizabeth also in violation?

　　
　
(End of this chapter)