A grand feast for the Chinese entertainment industry

Chapter 52 Stupid

Zhang Yang ate lunch with the film crew at noon, and he practically brought over the crew's account books.

But Lin Jianlu remained completely unmoved. It was Zhang Yang's casual remark that suddenly piqued his interest: "This is your first movie! Think about it, you're so famous. When the movie is released, I'll definitely make sure to promote your name. Even if you're not the lead actor, you'll at least be a lead. How could this movie not make money? Just look at your fans, they can treat it like a music video. Doesn't that make a lot? Think about it?"

That makes a lot of sense.

There's no concept of monetizing traffic yet, and Zhang Yang can't articulate it, but the principle is the same.

Since the performance has already been done, it wouldn't seem quite right not to keep the money.

So he took the initiative to ask, "How much more is needed?"
At this point, the ledger actually became useful, but looking at the ledger was meaningless. In those early days, relationships were more important than ledgers. "Xi'an Film Studio gave me 1 million, and I secured 460,000 in sponsorships and advertising myself. If you give me another 1 million, this film will be a sure thing. Not counting sponsorships and advertising, the investment will be split 50/50 between you and Xi'an Film Studio!"

After a simple calculation, he said that if the movie could gross 600 million yuan at the box office, Xi'an Film Studio and he would basically recoup their 200 million yuan investment. If it grossed more, say 900 million yuan, the extra 300 million yuan would be the return on investment, which would still be about one-third, 100 million yuan, and the two companies would split it equally.

It doesn't seem like it's impossible to do.

Although Lin Jianlu felt that the film crew was just a makeshift operation, the kind that would lose all its money—it wasn't really any different from how he made music videos!
But then I think about it again, and it seems that my music video was actually quite popular.

Okay, it's only 100 million anyway.

So, before they had even finished a meal, Lin Jianlu suddenly invested in a movie—he transformed himself from a cameo actor in the movie "Spicy Love Soup" into an investor and producer.

In his view, monetizing traffic is just making a little bit of easy money from traffic!

In the afternoon, Xue Zhongding arrived, and after a quick discussion, a makeshift production team was formed again. Since they needed to use Rolling Stones music and have singers make cameo appearances, Duan Zhongtan and Xue Zhongding were appointed as film producers. Although Lin Jianlu had invested a million yuan, he couldn't oversee the filming himself, so he had no choice but to bring in Xue Zhongding to work on the project again. Thus, Xue Zhongding also served as the film's producer. The executive producers were Zhang Pimin, the director of Xi'an Film Studio, and Lin Jianlu.

Well, I have to say, investing in movies these days is damn easy!
Skip the layers of film companies and talk directly to the director!

Then... let's make a movie!

Yes, I saw my wife Yuanyuan again.

At first, the little girl held a grudge and was unwilling to talk to Lin Jianlu.

However, she was easy to coax. Seventeen or eighteen-year-old girls are so simple-minded. They jump into any trap you set. In just one morning, Lin Jianlu had completely changed her image.

So she started following celebrities again.

She recently developed a liking for Su Huilun, specifically the youthful and energetic Su Huilun from the recent album "Lemon-tree." After all, she's Taiwan's leading "pure and innocent girl"—Hong Kong's so-called "pure and innocent girl leader" concept was quite successful. When Su Huilun debuted, Hong Kong was just starting to promote this concept. However, at that time, Su Huilun was signed with Zhuque Culture and didn't follow this trend at all. It wasn't until 94, when she signed with Rock Records, that Rock Records began to focus on building her "youthful and innocent girl" persona. The first two years were not very successful because the album didn't take off. It wasn't until "Lemon-tree" was released, with its dynamic and cheerful rhythm and lyrics by Lin Jianlu, that the album became a huge hit. Her personal image was established immediately, and in the last two months, she has truly become very popular.

That's easy! My rumored girlfriend, I'll have her sign a hundred copies for you, and you can sell them at school!

She also likes the Little Tigers and Chyi Chin.

That's easy to handle; at least we know each other, so getting an autograph is a piece of cake.

And so, a feeling of goodwill arose instantly.

Actually, this girl is... a bit slow.

After a morning of interaction, Lin Jianlu clearly sensed that she... was not the kind of bright girl!
In my past interactions, putting aside veterans like Brigitte Lin, let's just talk about younger ones like Li Binbin and Zhou Xun. You can tell at a glance that they have a natural talent, not because of their acting skills, but because they exude a kind of charm.

Jiang Qinqin is slightly inferior; in terms of voice, stage presence, appearance, and acting, she mainly excels in her looks, especially her captivating eyes. However, she still possesses a certain cleverness.

Of course, Zuo Xiaoqian is also one of those very clever girls.

But Gao Yuanyuan... well, she's pretty too.

But she is really beautiful. It can only be said that she is such a clumsy girl, with no cleverness in dealing with people and no acting skills, yet she has managed to become a goddess at almost fifty years old. She relies purely on her looks!
...After watching from the sidelines for a day, mainly to understand the crew's operating model and Zhang Yang's requirements for the actors' performances, Lin Jianlu wasted a lot of time on picking up girls—he would often make Gao Yuanyuan cover her mouth and giggle, and if no one was paying attention, she would clench her fist and give him a little punch.

The next day, filming began for Lin Jianlu's scenes.

Things didn't go smoothly at first. After Zhang Yang got stuck twice, he took the initiative to come and make a request.

For other actors, especially new ones, the director might tell them to relax and not be nervous, but when it came to Lin Jianlu, Zhang Yang said, "Lu, we're filming a movie. You need to be in acting mode, not just acting like a normal person! Get nervous. Do you remember when you were lip-syncing in the music video? You were... wow, you were trying so hard, but you couldn't even make a sound. Try to find that feeling!"

Lin Jianlu searched for ten minutes.

He admitted that he was not good at acting and did not intend to put any effort into it, but since he had promised to do so, and even joined the production and invested, he had to at least get through this.

Even those who make easy money should have professional ethics.

The character he plays is Xia Xiaowan, a photographer at a wedding photography studio. One day, he's taking wedding photos of a couple in front of a shopping mall when he accidentally spots a girl in the background—the character played by Xu Jinglei. They meet again later, and he learns that the girl sells perfume.

To put it more poetically, Xia Xiaowan had never felt such a deep attraction before, and thus, a story unfolded.

That evening, he and Lin Yuqing developed photos together in the darkroom, and their passion ignited like a volcanic eruption. However, the very next day, Lin Yuqing vanished without a trace.

Ugh, it's such a terrible story.

In Lin Jianlu's opinion, it's quite stream-of-consciousness.

But that's how the script was written. When we participated in the script reading before, everyone praised the script for this play. Lin Jianlu didn't understand it either, but she just acted it out!
The first scene they filmed was him taking wedding photos of a couple, the male and female leads, at the entrance of the mall. The scene was actually very simple; he was just directing the couple to pose for the photos.

Lin Jianlu felt that Zhang Yang's dissatisfaction was probably because he had acted too casually. He simply recalled the seriousness he had when taking photos of his girlfriend in his previous life—if he wasn't serious, people would say he wasn't taking the photos seriously, which was why the photos were bad.

Then be serious, really focused.

Okay, good, you passed.

The blatant flattery was sickeningly sweet: "Excellent! Excellent, Lu! Keep it up!"

Oh... so that's what acting is all about.

Then the scene changes to an intersection. The background shows Xu Jinglei's character handing out flyers at the intersection. Xia Xiaowan first takes photos of people from a distance, then crosses the intersection, takes a flyer, and strikes up a conversation.

Xu Jinglei's character dislikes dealing with people like Xia Xiaowan, assuming he's just like other lecherous men who come over pretending to want to smell her perfume, but are actually engaging in soft harassment. However, she still professionally sprays the perfume she's selling on her wrist and impatiently hands it to Xia Xiaowan to smell.

The story is simple, and in the script, this scene is driven by long monologues from the actors, so there's not much need for them to say lines on set. But when we actually filmed it, it was a complete mess.

First, she filmed Xia Xiaowan taking pictures from a distance with his camera, then she filmed him crossing the road. These were all very simple. With her previous experience, Lin Jianlu crossed the road with ease.

But instead of filming scenes between the two, they continued filming Lin Jianlu at the intersection, leaning against a telephone pole, looking at the other side of the road with deep affection—this take was a disaster, and Lin Jianlu had to do it more than a dozen takes!
He tried many different ways of expressing himself according to Zhang Yang's requirements, but none of them worked. In Zhang Yang's words, "Affectionate! Affectionate, Lu! There's not enough adoration in your eyes! You need to look at him with that kind of adoring gaze..."

In the end, for just this one shot, the entire crew of dozens of people spent more than two hours filming at a busy intersection!

After filming wrapped, Lin Jianlu suddenly understood the difference between domestic art films and those made by Wang Jing and others in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Hong Kong films often rely on intense character conflicts to drive the story forward, resulting in a fast-paced, commercial film style. Therefore, the presence of such intense conflict in many details and shots actually lowers the demands on the actors' performances. As long as the scene is passable and serves its intended purpose of advancing the story, it's acceptable.

However, mainland Chinese art films are completely different. Because the stories themselves lack intense conflicts of love and hate, and many are subtle and hidden emotions, they naturally rely more on the actors' performances and details to convey those emotions.

Two hours! And he only filmed himself for a few seconds!
If it were Wang Jing, even if he deliberately delayed, he would only let himself and Liang Yongqi kiss for an extra twenty minutes!

(End of this chapter)