Just when Hao Yun was worrying about the system tasks, in an apartment outside the Fifth Ring Road in Shangjing, a middle-aged man was sitting at his desk with a sad face, looking at a blank draft book and calendar. The "dead line" circled in red is in a daze.
It has been a week since he moved to a small dark room in the suburbs for retreat.
However, the script outline of the new movie still had no idea at all, and the approaching deadline almost pushed him into a corner.
In fact, it stands to reason that as a director, Tian Ye does not need to worry about things like scripts.
After all, this thing is just like the screenwriters all over the street, there are as many as you want.
With his reputation in the industry, no one has any doubt that as long as he is willing to relax and lower his standards, many screenwriters will be happy to send their scripts to him, even if it is free of charge. Being able to give a signature as the chief screenwriter will make your next script a little easier to sell.
However, Tianye naturally disdains the garbage that comes to his door.
As a well-known and talented director, the movies he makes can only be the best of the best.
If there is no ready-made script that catches his eye, he will definitely not make do with it. He would rather write an outline himself and then give it to a familiar professional screenwriter to edit and then revise it until it has a taste and is satisfactory to him. Until he nodded.
However, this process is too painful.
Especially recently, he had no inspiration at all, and even after racking his brains, he couldn't come up with an idea that satisfied himself.
But just sitting there is no good.
Not to mention that his Tianyuan Pictures still owed bank loans, and the gambling agreement with investors also forced him to speed up the progress.
If he wants to retain control of the company, he must produce a blockbuster with a box office of over 50 million this year to convince investors who question his shooting style and commercial value.
"... No inspiration at all."
Holding his head in pain, Tian Ye stood up from his chair, took out his cell phone and called his old friend.
"Come drink with me."
I heard there was wine, and the answer on the other end of the phone was very straightforward.
"Where?"
"My house in the suburbs."
About an hour later, the doorbell rang.
Tian Tian pushed away his chair and stood up. He casually picked up a coat and walked to the entrance to open the door.
The door opened, and the person who appeared at the door was his old friend Lu Fusheng, a professor in the Music Department of Yanda University, who mainly studies piano and guzheng. The two met on the set of the film and hit it off immediately because of their affinity. It was he who composed many of the episodes in Tian Ye's films.
"I was in class just now. The traffic jam on the way here delayed me for a while. I hope I'm not late." Lu Fusheng put on his slippers and walked into the living room. He said with a smile, "What's the matter? Why did you suddenly think of drinking with me? Your new script Do you have any clues?"
"Don't mention it, it's not done," Tian Tian took out two bottles of vintage wine from the wine cabinet and walked to sit down at the coffee table, shaking his head and saying, "I get upset when I mention this."
Lu Fusheng glanced at him sideways.
"Then you still have time to drink?"
"It's not that I don't have any inspiration at all. I'm drinking to drown my sorrows." He filled a glass for himself and took a sip of Tian Tian. He grinned from the spicy taste, but he still forced himself to swallow it.
Unable to bear to see his old friend in such pain, Lu Fusheng sighed, took a sip, put down the cup and said.
"Can you tell me what the subject is?"
Tian Ye thought for a while and spoke with half-closed eyes.
"The background is ancient times, troubled times, and the theme... a love that makes others envious!"
"Okay, just tell me that it's a costume romance movie, and you have to add someone to envy others," Lao Lu mocked, took a sip of wine, and continued to ask, "Then what?"
"Gone."
"Ah?" Lu Fusheng stared and looked at his old friend in disbelief, "You spent a week in seclusion and just came up with these words?"
Tian Tian explained with a wry smile.
"You are also a creative person. You should know the feeling of running out of inspiration. And I didn't just tinker with these few words. I used several large wastebaskets just for the draft paper..."
After staring blankly at his old friend for a long time, Lu Fusheng seemed to understand something and finally sighed softly.
"I probably understand what you mean... You want to make a movie that can surpass "The Knight", right?"
Lao Tian nodded silently.
"Well... if I can't make it, they will force me to make Knight Rider 2."
"The Knight" is Lao Tian's pinnacle work. It is the first martial arts film in the history of Xia Guo's films that vividly interprets the two words "chivalry" and "jianghu". It is also the first in the history of Xia Guo's films to combine romanticism and personal Heroism is combined into an epic masterpiece that has achieved both critical acclaim and box office success.
Prior to this, Xia Guo's martial arts movies were either too personal in their heroism and were not well-received by the public, or they were overly romantic in color and atmosphere, and were not well-received by the public.
Many well-known film critics commented that "The Knight" is more like a poem about the world than a movie.
Whether the audience is holding popcorn or an old scholar wearing glasses, they can all understand their own "chivalry" and "jianghu" from it, and be moved by the characters in the play and that magnificent era.
It can be said that "The Knight" not only set precedents in many fields, but also brought Xia Guo's martial arts movies to a new level.
This movie brought great success to Ye Ye's career, but on the other hand, it also left a deep mark on him.
When people mention his name, they will think of the movie "The Knight".
Although he made several movies after that, none of them could surpass his debut film in terms of box office and reputation.
The debut is the peak, which is obviously not what an ambitious director expects to see.
Later, Tian Ye always wanted to get rid of the imprint of "Knightsman" and tried to innovate on the original basis. However, the audience and investors did not seem to buy it.
After the failure of two long-prepared masterpieces, the confidence and tolerance of both investors and banks in him have dropped to the limit. Especially at the latest partners' meeting, the partner representatives stood up and issued an order to him. Ultimatum.
Invest 30 million.
If you lose money again, then shoot "Knight 2"!
Although this seems to be the most reliable option, it is also the option that Tian Ye is least willing to accept.
Although "Xia Ke" is a brand that he can't get rid of, it is also a work created by him, and it is like his child to him. And now someone wants to strangle it to death with his own hands and squeeze out the last bit of its value. Of course, as a father, he cannot agree!
However, it is not that easy to fulfill the conditions proposed by investors.
According to the three-fold law, if the cost of 30 million is not to be lost, the box office must be at least 90 million. Even if the box office ceiling has been refreshed every year in recent years, it is definitely not an easy task to achieve this result.
What's more, a budget of 30 million is a very tight number for him...
"There is no need to consider large-scale productions. I don't have that much budget to capture the audience through special effects. And I thought that if I want to surpass "The Knight", I must find an entry point in the shortcomings of "The Knight".
Lu Fusheng thought for a while and said.
"love?"
Tian Ye nodded solemnly.
"That's right."
Although Xia Ke has achieved good results in many fields, he is the missing piece only in the love line.
On the one hand, it is because the world he depicts only has the pleasure of grudges that come and go, and the decisive killings of swords, poetry, and wine, and there is not much love between children. On the other hand, the length of the film is limited, and only one or two can be selected. If you focus on expansion, too much will appear bloated.
And if he wants to break through himself, he can only use this field that he has never set foot in as an entry point to describe a world that has been described in "The Knight".
Even though, this is not an easy thing.
Looking at his old friend with distress written all over his face, Lu Fusheng raised his glass, took a sip, smacked his lips and said.
"Unfortunately, I am a musician, so things like scripts can't help you much. However, if you are not in a good mood, I just heard a good song here recently, and I plan to share it with you."
"Music?" Tian Ye poured himself another glass and said nonchalantly, "Piano music?"
"In your eyes, do I only study piano?" Lu Fusheng smiled, waved his hand and said, "Unfortunately, the song I plan to listen to you is not really a piano piece, but a popular song that has become popular recently. … Although it does have piano accompaniment.”
"Ha, I have to listen to it," Tian Ye said in a joking tone after clinking glasses with his old friend, "But when did you become interested in pop music?"
Lu Fusheng smiled and didn't explain, took out his mobile phone and opened the playback software, then placed the mobile phone on the coffee table.
The prelude sounded slowly, as if coming from afar.
Tian Tian frowned and was about to listen carefully when the hoarse and delicate voice blew into his ears along with the sound of an ancient bell.
"The sound of prosperity escaped into the empty door and shocked the world."
"Meng Pian Leng has gone through many love debts throughout his life."
Before the first verse was finished, the touching melody and poetic lyrics grabbed him tightly.
Seeing the moved expression on his old friend's face, Lu Fusheng smiled and raised his cup and took a sip.
"It seems that you haven't been online in the past few days, and you haven't heard of it."
"Don't make any noise." He raised his hand, Tian Ye sat upright, frowned and moved closer to the phone, murmuring in a low voice, "Wait until I finish listening."
Seeing that his old friend was so involved, Lu Fusheng smiled inwardly and stopped talking. He quietly accompanied him to enjoy the sound of rain that traveled through time and space.
The rain outside Jialan Temple lasted for four minutes.
Although it is not long, in Tianye's heart, it feels like a century has passed.
Until he finished singing the last line "Listen to the sound of rain in Jialan Temple and look forward to eternity", his eyes were dull and he didn't come back to his senses for a long time.
That song, that lyrics, that tune...
It was like a key that opened a door to a new world in his heart!
Seeing the shocked expression on his old friend's face, a smile appeared on Lu Fusheng's face. He put down the wine glass in his hand and spoke slowly.
“This piece inspired me a lot.”
"I have been researching over the years how to integrate elements of Chinese style into Western music, and the wonderful use of the partial tone of 'Bian Gong' in this piece is simply a textbook-level innovation."
"Before this, no matter whether it is a pop song or a non-pop song, when we create Chinese-style piano music, we usually try to avoid the two notes 4 and 7 appearing on the staff. But after listening to this piece , I suddenly had a new understanding of composition.”
"Of course, in addition to the music, I also like its lyrics. The poetic feeling does not require too many pretentious words. The description of the emotion and artistic conception is just as perfect as the ending sound of xi."
"In this regard, it's quite similar to your movie."
Before he finished speaking, Tian Ye suddenly stood up from the sofa as if he had come back to his senses.
Looking at his old friend who suddenly stood up, Lu Fusheng was slightly stunned.
"What's wrong with you?"
Tian Ye did not answer, but quickly took out his mobile phone, quickly swiped the address book with his thumb that was trembling with excitement, and called his "Queen Editor".
The call was answered quickly.
Tian Tian said in a commanding tone without saying a word of greeting.
"You should immediately put down what you are doing and come to my place."
"Yes, the new script has been drafted. I want to talk to you about the outline of the script!"