Huayu: Are you even sitting up straight? You're going to be the director?

Chapter 5 The Temptation of a Single Page for the Family Tree
No matter how much they boast, five million is still a considerable sum.

Although he has face, it was Ning Hao who earned it for him.

He didn't do any practical filmmaking.

Five million would be a lot of work for him.

But the key question is, why go to all this trouble for Sister Cui, a performing arts student?
Wang Hongwei was definitely shocked.

What kind of family is this? A performing arts student's first film, and they're making such a big one?

He also knows another acting student, Qi Jian, the father of Qi Jiuzhou. This year, he filmed "The Dog," which won the Best Feature Film Award at the 13th College Student Film Festival and the Jury Prize at the 9th Shanghai International Film Festival. The cost was only a little over 400 million yuan.

They eventually secured funding from three private film and television companies.

In the end, the box office revenue was only around 240 million, and the company didn't even break even.

Qi Jian is a proper graduate of the Beijing Film Academy's Department of Fine Arts, and has won the Feitian Award, Huabiao Award, and Tongniu Award...

That's how it was—a four million yuan investment, raised over three months.

If this student wanted to film something worth a hundred or two hundred thousand, Wang Hongwei would give him face, and China Film Group would invest in it.

Wang Hongwei didn't want to, and was unwilling to, touch that bad luck involving more than five million yuan.

It's worth noting that Ning Hao only made a little over 3.5 million yuan to film "Crazy Stone".

"Green Grassland" only cost 500,000.

Compared to Ning Hao, this is still a new director. If China Film Group can't provide the necessary support and things don't work out, it will make him look incompetent.

For a moment, Wang Hongwei was caught in an awkward situation, unsure whether to open the script or not.

He wanted to slap himself; he had boasted too soon.

"Sister Cui, this money is a bit too much."

After a moment's deliberation, Wang Hongwei still dared not make a move; this script was too hot to handle.

“I understand.” Cui Xinqin found Wang Hongwei’s expression somewhat amusing. “I’ll help figure out a way to make money later, but you can take a look at the script. Someone has to be the producer eventually. If you don’t come, I’ll have to go find Director Tian.”

"Actually, I think it would be more appropriate for you to approach Director Tian directly regarding this investment amount."

Wang Hongwei now felt that this matter was a hot potato, and he was wondering where this student's background came from.

"Stop testing him." Cui Xinqin smiled. "You're just too calculating. It's good to talk to Director Tian, ​​but he'll probably be uncomfortable if we discuss money with him. And as you know, he hasn't been very interested in commercial films these past few years."

Wang Hongwei knew what Cui Xinqin was talking about, and suddenly realized what she meant, covering his mouth in surprise.

In the past three years, the film "Wu Qingyuan" directed by Tian Zhuangzhuang has caused quite a stir. The original investment was 1200 million yuan, but the budget was seriously exceeded during filming, which even made it impossible to do post-production.

At one point, the investment even needed to be increased to 3000 million.

But where will the money come from?

Everyone has set up their stalls.

In June, Director Tian claimed at the Shanghai International Film Festival that he had completed his duties as director, but this triggered a series of lawsuits from investors.

For the past six months, Tian Zhuangzhuang has been extremely angry, to the point that he even suffered a heart attack.

"You're saying this script is for a commercial film?"

Wang Hongwei looked at the script, a thought forming in his mind; he wanted to read it.

Even now, many people in the industry in China have a very vague definition of commercial films.

They thought commercial films were just historical films, martial arts films, or films with traditional themes.

That's why "Crazy Stone" was able to generate such an explosive public opinion.

He and Ning Hao had previously reviewed the situation and concluded that the success of "Crazy Stone" was an inevitable result of genre stagnation and a lack of innovation.

As for its commercial aspects, if one had to summarize them in a single sentence...

"It allows the audience to focus their attention on the film for an extended period of time."

This is the result of the two's review.

This involves the application of numerous directorial techniques, such as logic, rhythm, change, foreshadowing, and suspense, as well as the display of narrative structure, conflict, emotion, genre fusion, and comedy.

Specifically, neither he nor Ning Hao figured it out.

Wang Hongwei also wanted to know how the young man dared to say that his script was a commercial film script.

How arrogant! "Let's see."

Cui Xinqin urged him.

Wang Hongwei then stopped hesitating and took out the script.

I glanced at the name and then scanned the timeline.

Wang Hongwei opened his mouth, somewhat taken aback.

Just looking at the year, he thought it was doomed. This was clearly a film focused on patriotism and emotional appeal. How could you make a commercial film in that era? Wouldn't you be criticized?

In an instant, he had already sentenced the script to death.

But Cui Xinqin was sitting next to me, and I was from Nanjing, so I had to finish reading the script. I glanced at it slightly to show my respect.

We can politely decline when the time comes, get rid of this hot potato, and be done with it.

As he continued reading the script, he became increasingly silent, and even his breathing became heavier.

His expression changed from disdain and seriousness at the beginning to solemnity and sadness. He clenched his fists at times and took deep breaths and sighs at others. His eyes did not shed tears, but they were indeed moist.

Cui Xinqin also saw Wang Hongwei's expression, but didn't say anything.

"hiss……"

After watching for a while, Wang Hongwei realized something was wrong.

This actually seems to be a commercial film?
Commercial film + patriotic theme?
Keep watching,
Wang Hongwei confirmed it.

"Something's wrong, something's very wrong!"

The Jixiang Photo Studio inside is a single scene where many ordinary people of different backgrounds are forced to live together in one room. By developing photos of "Sino-Japanese friendship" taken by the Japanese army, they discover evidence of the massacre, and then they make efforts to protect the truth of the negatives.

The main storyline is quite clear.

Moreover, it involves various plots such as espionage and escape rooms, seemingly driven by a strong sense of suspense.

Although set against a war backdrop, it incorporates elements of suspense, thriller, survival, emotional redemption, and various dramatic conflicts.

It was completely different from the kind of atrocities documentary that Wang Hongwei originally thought he might write.

It could even be described as going in the opposite direction.

The postman, Su Liuchang, initially clung to life with timidity, but in his dying moments, he cried out, "The Chinese people will not be allowed to be treated like this!"

The traitor Wang Guanghai, initially an opportunist, eventually charged at the Japanese army and was shot in the head.

The family that ran the photo studio started out as ordinary people trying to make a living, but in the end, the whole family was cruelly killed.

Everyone went from trying to survive to risking their lives to deliver evidence of the Great TS's crimes.

The narrative remains focused and features a high level of conflict. Emotionally, it offers hope rather than immersing the viewer in sadness and depression. The storytelling is highly immersive, making each viewer feel like they are part of the people in the safe house, becoming a "camera" witnessing the tragic events.

The content is serious, the tear-jerking moments are precise, the emotional release points are appropriate, and the restraint in the use of violence leaves room for interpretation.

The confined space is interwoven with multiple threads, each of which may be tragic, but the final outcome is a relief.

After reading the script, Wang Hongwei was completely stunned!
He wiped away his tears.

Even with the script closed, he could still imagine Old Jin from the photo studio taking several people from the auspicious photo studio with vastly different fates on a journey of thousands of miles a day, seeing all the beautiful landscapes of China in a single day.

The scene in the script where the plaque of the time-honored Nanjing brand Liuhuachun is broken into ruins reminded Wang Hongwei of the plaques he had always seen when he lived in Nanjing as a child.

I thought of the sirens that would sound throughout Nanjing every December 13th.

He couldn't hold back at all.

Wang Hongwei wiped away his tears, looked up at Cui Xinqin, and remained silent.

His eyes were bloodshot as he stared at the script.

In his mind, he was cursing, "This is a script written by a drama student?"

However, for some reason, a strange thought flashed through his mind.

The film he made with Ning Hao, "Crazy Stone," was hailed as a milestone in low-to-medium budget genre films.

But in this script, he seemed to see the temptation of having a separate page for the family tree.

If this actually succeeds!
His merits are immeasurable!

(End of this chapter)