Chinese Entertainment: Directors Start with the Fairy Sister

Qingcui Garden Villa District.

Before the taxi even stopped, Zhao Yanxi saw Tianshan Tonglao waiting at the intersection with her bicycle.

"Shu Chang?"

"Director Zhao?"

The two locked eyes and immediately recognized each other.

After Zhao Yanxi got out of the taxi, Shu Chang patted the back seat of her bicycle: "Director Zhao, if you don't mind, can I give you a ride?"

"If you don't mind, it's still more convenient than me having to go there..."

Qingcui Garden is truly enormous; each villa alone spans four to five thousand square meters. Entering the villa area is like stepping into a self-contained town.

If Shu Chang hadn't led the way, Zhao Yanxi was worried she would have wandered into someone else's living room.

As they approached Liu Yifei's home, they were greeted by a constant stream of barking dogs.

"Quiet!"

A dignified, childlike voice came from the second floor.

Instantly, as if the king of dogs had personally arrived, the dogs that had been barking wildly at Zhao Yanxi fell silent and watched her enter the villa with gentle kindness.

If the outside world is a dog's world, then the villa is a cat's paradise.

The air was filled with the murmurs of cats. A cream-colored short-haired cat lay on the sofa, glancing haughtily at Zhao Yanxi before lazily lowering its head.

......

About ten minutes later, Liu Yifei finished her class and introduced Zhao Yanxi to her two music teachers.

"Thank you both for your help."

Zhao Yanxi bowed slightly to show her respect to the two seniors.

"You're too kind, Zhao," an older woman said with a gentle smile. "I heard you've already come up with the melody, but can't quite compose it?"

"Yes," Zhao Yanxi nodded, "When we were filming, those melodies just seemed to suddenly appear in my mind..."

"Back to where we started, your youthful face in my memory; "

We have finally... arrived at this day...

The old photos under the placemat connect countless memories.

Today, the boy is going to keep his final appointment with the girl...

Zhao Yanxi sang with all her heart, and the two teachers listened and wrote down their notes, their faces filled with increasing praise and amazement.

On the other side, Liu Yifei and Shu Chang were also stunned—

It's not surprising that a director with a photography background could become a writer; after all, who hasn't written an essay?

But writing essays and lyrics are completely different from singing!

Singing requires lyrics, music... and one must understand vocal music, music theory, and rhythm.

Liu Yifei wants to sing, so in addition to inviting teachers for extra lessons, she will also go to Sony for professional training.

How come Zhao Yanxi is like she's cheating, able to let the tune get into my head on its own?

"Sisi, your classmate seems pretty impressive!" Shu Chang exclaimed in a low voice.

"Are you kidding? Don't you know whose friend you are!"

"That's right, that's right, he's talented and handsome too. Sisi, does he have a girlfriend? I suddenly feel like spring has arrived..."

"You infatuated fool!" Liu Yifei spat. "Do you even know him? You fall for him so easily??"

"Hehe, I don't know him, but I know you," Shu Chang said with a smile. "How could a friend you approve of be a bad person?"

"Then you've got it wrong," Liu Yifei said irritably. "I hang out with him because he saved me, but that doesn't mean he's a good person."

"Let me tell you, he's a total womanizer. Back when he was on the set of 'The Return of the Condor Heroes,' he liked to flirt with the actresses. And when he was filming 'You Are the Apple of My Eye'..."

Liu Yifei muttered to herself, and Shu Chang's gaze towards Zhao Yanxi shifted from admiration to disdain, and then to contempt...

"Pah, what a scumbag!"

"Shh, we have to pretend we don't know," Liu Yifei said, her cheeks slightly flushed, but she pretended to be serious. "He's still the director, and I'm the lead actress. If we fall out, it will affect the movie."

"And what if his movie really becomes a hit? Maybe we can rely on him to help us in the future."

"Sisi, I'm so sorry you had to go through all this. Please take good care of yourself."

"Uh-huh……"

......

"Style your hair like an adult, and put on a smart suit..."

When I see you later, you'll be even more beautiful than I imagined—

"Yan Xi, listen to this, is this the tune?"

"Yes, yes, that's the taste!"

Zhao Yanxi nodded excitedly. Sure enough, professional matters should be left to professionals. Although the two seniors' voices still need improvement, their pitches are almost 90% as good as she remembered.

That's enough!

Besides "You Are the Apple of My Eye", the two quickly compiled "Meeting You in the Sea of ​​People".

"Sissi, this song is yours to sing. Do you have the confidence?"

"I?"

Liu Yifei pointed at herself in surprise and said, "Yan Xi, you're not kidding, are you? I've only been practicing for less than half a month..."

"What's the big deal? It's not like you're putting on a concert. If there are any problems, we can fix the audio. Once you've mastered the skills and are ready to release an album, I'll give you both of these songs for your album!"

"Although 'You Are the Apple of My Eye' is told from a male perspective, the cameos by girls are just as captivating."

"Okay," Liu Yifei patted her chest excitedly, "then I'll sing!"

......

In late June, Zhao Yanxi was busy dealing with the dubbing issues for the film.

In my spare time, I also kept up with what was happening in the industry.

Jay Chou's directorial debut, "Initial D," has finally been released, showcasing the immense appeal of his fans.

The film grossed nearly seven million yuan on its opening day, almost double the box office of "Shanghai Dreams," which had been in theaters for more than half a month.

The latter is the winner of the Jury Prize in the main competition section of this year's Cannes Film Festival!

With this groundbreaking work, it's easy to imagine that Zhou Jielun was already a gold mine in the eyes of those film companies.

On the same day as "Initial D" was the closing ceremony and awards ceremony of the Shanghai Film Festival.

Perhaps in order to align with international standards, or to prove the international nature of the film festival, only one domestic film, "Please Praise Me," won the Jury Special Award and Best Screenplay.

The other awards were mostly given to foreign films, with the biggest winner being the Japanese film "The Country Photo Studio," which swept the awards.

"The domestic film festival is still too murky."

Zhao Yanxi sighed with emotion, realizing that when she makes art films in the future, she will have to aim for the top three European cinemas.

After all, I've seen so many award-winning films from the three major European film festivals. It would be too beneath me to skip the three major European festivals and go play for the three domestic film festivals.

After "You Are the Apple of My Eye" is released, we can start preparing an art film for fun.

Although he was a failed short film director in his past life and a failed photography student in this life, who doesn't dream of becoming a great art director?

Who wouldn't want to stand on the podium of one of the three major European art institutions, representing the highest level of artistic achievement?!

...

At the beginning of July, Zhao Yanxi spent tens of thousands of yuan in Baihua Hutong to get two songs for him and Liu Yifei.

Even a million-dollar sound engineer wouldn't actually charge a million, since their singing skills aren't that bad.

July 7.10th is a day worth celebrating.

It was the day that "You Are the Apple of My Eye" was officially completed as a film, and also the day that the 30 additional copies of the novel "You Are the Apple of My Eye" printed in April were sold out, and another 600,000 copies were printed!

The reason for publishing so many at once is, on the one hand, to avoid losses caused by logistics and other channels, and to ensure that the goods are directly distributed to various distributors;

On the other hand, it was also to prepare for the release of the movie "You Are the Apple of My Eye"!

Even the worst film adaptations can generate buzz for the original work, let alone with a popular young actress like Liu Yifei in the cast, and the novel's early sales were already quite strong.

If legitimate books cannot be distributed throughout the market after a movie is released, then the market is handed over to pirates.

Publishers aren't fools; sometimes they have to take a gamble.

The publisher prepaid 50% of the royalties for the first reprint and 60% for the second reprint. These two payments, made one after the other, brought Zhao Yanxi a total of over 90 yuan in royalties.

Including the previous 16 and the expenses for producing the theme song, Zhao Yanxi's cash directly exceeded one million!

A glance revealed seven or eight zeros, something Zhao Yanxi had only ever seen in Taikoo Li, Chuancheng, in her previous life.

It's a pity there was an extra decimal point, otherwise I could have just retired and lived a carefree life.

Make money by reading novels!

Anyway, since "Those Years" has already been completed and submitted to the State Administration of Radio and Television for review, Zhao Yanxi felt it was time to take advantage of the popularity of the author ID "Taoli Yanxi" in the novel world and quickly write another book!

"When it comes to selecting the best, it's you—'So Young'!"

Although this is a novel told from the female protagonist's perspective, it doesn't stop Zhao Yanxi from plagiarizing, because writers are inherently "a thousand faces in a thousand people".

More importantly, this novel, like "First Love," was also adapted into a very successful film.

Once the movie is released, it will in turn boost book sales, a win-win situation!

But... if you're writing a novel, why insist on writing it in China?!

You can write it even abroad!

In the original timeline, Zhao Yanxi may not have any other skills, but her English proficiency was top-notch.

After watching many movies adapted from novels, Zhao Yanxi would always find the original book to read.

The Hunger Games, the Fifty Shades of Grey series, and the Divergent series are all clearly etched in Zhao Yanxi's mind!

Since all writing is plagiarism anyway, Zhao Yanxi decided to pursue a two-pronged approach, both domestically and internationally.

Simultaneous book release!