"Human imagination is very lacking. For example, in Hollywood, as an outsider, you may think that Hollywood is blooming with a hundred flowers, but if you understand it deeply, you will find that Hollywood is just going in circles in a hundred years."
Still in the underground screening room, the screening of "Wormhole" ended. Simon continued to hold Zhu Momo in his arms and said to Ren Jingxi beside him: "It's too far away to talk about. I'm just talking about the past twenty years. "Star Wars" If it succeeds, a large number of science fiction films will appear. If "The Godfather" succeeds, a large number of gangster films will appear. If "Platoon" succeeds, a large number of Vietnam War films will appear..."
Before Simon could finish speaking, Zhu Momo in his arms said mischievously: "Simon, you succeeded, but it's a pity that no group of Simon Westeros showed up."
Simon kissed the girl's neck and continued to say to Ren Jingxi: "Anyway, do you know what this means?"
Ren Jingxi thought for a while and said, "It's important to open up new genres, right? You said it, Simon."
"No," Simon shook his head, not being too pretentious, and continued: "Actually, what I just said is that human imagination is very lacking. Before "Star Wars", weren't there science fiction movies? Before "The Godfather", Are there no gangster movies? Before Platoon, were there no war movies?"
Ren Jingxi understood a little bit, but still couldn't grasp the key.
Simon quickly continued: "What I mean is that all types of movies that humans can imagine, in fact, whether it is Hollywood or the European film market, which was also very prosperous at one time, has actually done them all. The difference may only be from silent to sound and Technological advancements such as black and white to color. Then there is China, because people of all types have already explored it, so China does not need to repeat this exploration. You only need to study, then imitate, and then transform it into your own things."
Zhu Momo interrupted again: "Simon, are you encouraging plagiarism?"
This time Simon bit the girl's slender neck with a hint of punishment, and then looked at Ren Jingxi again: "You don't have the mental disorder that Momo mentioned just now, do you?"
Ren Jingxi smiled and shook his head: "No."
"Very good," Simon said: "The biggest advantage of human beings is that we have strong learning ability. The so-called learning is to transform the knowledge accumulated by predecessors into our own. In this world, after achieving this level, , furthermore, there are only a few people who achieve innovation. Therefore, taking learning to the extreme is enough for most people. Of course, in the industrial field, it does not matter if a group of people build another identical internal combustion engine based on one internal combustion engine. Problem. But the film and television field still needs some changes. It just so happens that this kind of change is not difficult compared to the industrial field."
"I always feel," Mo Wuling, who was sitting on the other side of Ren Jingxi, said, "Simon, you are teaching Jingxi to do bad things."
"I am enlightening you," Simon said, extending an index finger and saying, "The hand of God allows you to understand this world."
Seeing Simon's actions, Ren Jingxi smiled and cooperatively stretched out a finger and touched the man's fingertips.
Everyone smiled, somewhat with envy.
Zhu Momo also wanted to be enlightened, and stretched out her slender index finger, but Simon opened his mouth to bite it, and then he retracted it with a smile.
Mo Wuling couldn't help but speak again, feeling a little nauseous in his heart, and wanted to change the subject: "Simon, what do you think of the movie just now?"
"It's great. It's low-cost. It's already very good to be able to achieve this level," Simon said. "The next thing is marketing. If it can be done well, a box office of 30 to 50 million yuan may not be a problem."
"Can it be so much?" Ren Jingxi himself was a little surprised: "I think if it can sell for 20 million, I will be very satisfied. The cost is only 2 million."
"It depends on whether you have the courage to spend 5 million or more on marketing," Simon said. "The Chinese film market is not mature enough, so it is more likely for dark horses to appear because many things are uncertain. For example, this one, you just The cost of 2 million is just a publicity point. After many efforts, an outstanding young filmmaker finally raised 2 million to shoot his first feature film. First of all, it is a very inspiring story."
Jill, who was sitting in the back, interjected: "Just like Simon's "Run Lola Run" back then."
"That's right," Simon nodded and said with a smile: "Although my filming of "Run Lola Run" was not as bumpy as outsiders imagined, what the audience needs is a story. Besides, this is a very innovative film. , although creativity about time has become very common around the world, in China, this is innovation. Finally, the film itself is also very interesting. Did you feel impatient during the viewing process just now?"
The girls around shook their heads together.
Simon said: "This is the most successful part of the film. The rhythm is very well controlled and it is done in one go. I have told people around me more than once that this is actually the commercial film I admire most. It allows the audience to not feel the passage of two hours at all." , after enjoying the movie, when the subtitles rose, I realized that two hours had passed. According to my experience over the years, any film with this quality is often very successful commercially."
Teacher Yu in the front row said: "This kind of thing, Simon, depends on luck, right?"
"Luck, the script in the early stage, and the ability of the main creator, involve many things," Simon did not deny it, saying: "However, there are actually certain rescue methods in the later stage, which are test screenings, management test screenings, film critic test screenings, and random audiences Test screenings, etc., and then revisions.”
Jill in the back row said: "Simon, you are teaching Jing Xi to do bad things again."
Everyone here obviously knows what Gill is referring to.
After all, if you know a little bit about the inside story of the film and television industry, you will know a lot of cases where Hollywood studios cut a certain director's classic film into garbage, leading to failure, such as the most typical "Once Upon a Time in America".
Seeing that the girls were all understanding, Simon didn't say much to explain Jill's words, and said directly: "The problem is that if you want to count the projects that are completely left to the director, there are also a lot of failures. As for Hollywood, if you go deep Among them, you will find that there are very few projects that have not been edited by the studio at all. The key is a question of balance. First of all, the high-level people involved in editing need to understand the movie. If you let a lawyer or accountant do this job, If they interfere indiscriminately, the possibility of failure is of course very high, but if you understand movies yourself and understand how to balance business and art, you can do a good job."
Zhu Momo shook her head: "It's not easy."
Again echoing the discussion about the development of the Chinese film market before watching the movie.
Simon smiled and did not respond this time. Instead, he stood up with the girl in his arms and said to the others: "Let's all go to bed early. Momo and I will take a bath in the east swimming pool and discuss some life ideals."
Zhu Momo giggled and was carried out of her seat. As she approached the door, she grabbed the man's arm and looked over: "Youhu, Jill, you guys come too, I can't stand him alone."
He said that he was already going out.
The atmosphere in the screening room was strange for a moment. Li Youhu stood up first, and with a smile, he directly pulled up Teacher Yu next to him: "We will go too."
Teacher Yu half-assumed.
Gil Pecter stood up directly and pulled Zhao Anni up. In a blink of an eye, only Ren Jingxi and Mo Wuling were left.
Ren Jingxi quickly lowered his head to write down some of the man's words in his notebook. After a moment, he raised his head, glanced at his best friend beside him, and curled his lips: "How about we go too?"
Mo Wuling rolled his eyes.
If there isn't Momo over there... Well, no, even if there is, it can't be done.
So he stood up and said, "I'm going back to the courtyard above first."
Ren Jingxi closed the notebook and held Mo Wuling's arm: "I think it's best to go up with you, lest you get lost and run to the wrong place."
"You're just lost."
"I just don't have to use the excuse of getting lost."
“…”
The next day is November 23rd.
Tuesday.
Simon is still in Beijing, and at the same time, this is also a very special day.
Compared with these major events, Simon's schedule here is still very relaxed.
I didn't get up until after seven o'clock in the morning. It was winter after all, so it was a very legitimate reason to stay in bed.
Went to Jinshu in the morning.
Several projects confirmed last time are progressing very quickly. In addition, this time I will watch another sample film like last night.
It's not "Tongtianpu" directed by a Mongolian. Although Simon is more interested in it, Jinshu is still focusing more on the two main pillars, Zhang Guoshi and Feng Pongtang. This time, we are watching Feng Pongtang's upcoming film at the end of this year. The new film is another Feng comedy, called "Failure", which is still from the script of writer Wang. It tells the story of a small clothing store owner who tries to have both sides between two women, but fails to steal a chicken.
The core of it is a satire on some current social phenomena in China.
Furthermore, this is a film that is completely out of shape.
The quality of the films produced by Feng Wang Group is very guaranteed. What's more, Director Feng Da has not yet reached the state of being an angry young man who has become older and older as he becomes more active later. He is still down-to-earth. Coupled with the rapid recovery of the market, the Lunar New Year release early next year will be With a box office of 100 million yuan, there is great hope.
After watching the movie, at the lunch party, in addition to the senior executives of the Jinshu Department and some big names in the industry, Simon also met Mr. Xu who came all the way from Hong Kong.
The story of "Detective Dee: The God of Dragon King" was discussed face to face at the dinner party.
Simon did not hold anything back, and told everyone here one by one about some of the outstanding features of the previous version in his memory. Next, of course, is the performance of Old Monster Xu.
Furthermore, regarding the actors, Simon also stated his position directly in front of Mr. Xu, and tried to use those from the mainland, in line with Simon's last idea of cultivating professional film talents from the mainland.
As for Hong Kong, again, Simon doesn't have much prejudice, but he feels that the accent there is not suitable for mainland-style ancient costumes.
The more I talked about it, the more I talked about it, so I didn’t forget about the styling.
In the previous "Detective Dee" series, what Simon couldn't stand the most was Wu Zetian's style. Anyway, this time it definitely couldn't be Karina Liu. Wu Zetian should have a queen style, and for someone, Simon saw more She is a resentful woman in the palace who can only be described as mean from her appearance to her personality.
And the styling.
Maybe some people refer to some pictures of ladies and say they are very restored, but if you look at those Tang Dynasty TV series such as "Tang Minghuang" and "Wu Zetian" in the 1990s, they are beautiful, stunningly beautiful, and they are also restored, It is also recorded in the pictures of ladies. After all, different regions and even different painters in different periods actually had different styles of women in the Tang Dynasty.
Why choose the ugly and weird one
Simon couldn't stand it anyway, and since he could intervene, he would never allow this to happen again.
After lunch, there were some routine schedules until around three o'clock in the afternoon, when Simon rushed to the airport to fly to Shanghai.
A gathering of the Human Society is arranged here in the evening.
Still eating, drinking and having fun.
By the way, I watched a performance by the girls from the Chinese National Style Art Troupe.
The first Shanghai International Arts Festival is taking place recently, which mainly focuses on operas, dramas and other traditional folk arts from around the world. The Guofeng Art Troupe was invited and came here at the end of October.
After the two major themes of "The Book of Songs" and "Tang Yun", Simon no longer assigned specific goals to the Guofeng Art Troupe.
Well, men’s instinct is to like the new and dislike the old.
Although I still watch it occasionally, and the girls spend a lot of money to keep it, I am just not as interested as I was at first.
Therefore, more arrangements are made by the Guofeng Art Troupe’s own small team. Including accepting the invitation from the Shanghai International Art Festival this time, it was also a decision made by this company alone. Shirley, who has completely become the leader of the art troupe, personally led the team.
After socializing until late last night, I woke up in the building at No. 18 on the Bund the next day.
Next to them are one big girl and one small girl, Shirley and Miu Miu.
Although I'm not old enough to eat the little girl, I just got excited and thought I could teach Nizi something she needed to know last night. Well, actually it was logical, and then it became logical.
After breakfast, this trip to China came to an end.
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and of course I still have to rush back to Los Angeles to spend time with my woman and children. However, it is expected that he will come again during the Chinese New Year. He spent the Spring Festival with Lin Su and her son, and Simon cannot be partial to Chen Qing this time.