Often the answer to some things is known in advance and the unknown becomes known, which is not necessarily a good thing.
He came to Cannes while he was having a good time, but his good fortune was already ruined before it was over. This is a true portrayal of Philip's mood that has deteriorated rapidly in the past few days.
At such a young age, he possesses considerable directorial abilities and artistic ideas, and is often said by his school and friends that he will have a place in the global directing world in the future.
The environment full of praise gave him strong self-confidence, and because one of his teachers was also a judge at Cannes, he was arrogant before coming to Cannes and believed that this short film Palme d'Or was within his reach.
Unexpectedly, before the screening of his short film began, a dark horse suddenly appeared and gave him a deep blow.
Ever since he personally heard from his teacher that day that his work was not as good as "Hope", he felt as if he had eaten something indigestible and felt very uncomfortable.
Even when his friends invite him to go out for fun, he is not in the mood to refuse them perfunctorily. If he can't refuse, he can only put on a smile and go to participate. His friends seem to be happy, but in fact every outing is a trip that he feels is terrible.
"Philip, let's go."
Today is the last day of the first stage of the short film, and it is also the day of the first stage screening of "Black Hole".
"coming."
Philip adjusted his attire, and it was still the same tuxedo that looked gorgeous and could hide hypocrisy very well.
He showed his signature sunny smile in the mirror and whispered plausibly: "How can a backward country understand art? Even if it exists by chance, it is luck, and I am the embodiment of professionalism and art."
He criticized "Hope" from the side to dispel the inner uneasiness of the past few days, and used the most narcissistic words to cover himself with a false face of confidence.
He gathered his mood and then disguised himself as a gentleman and walked out of the room looking elegant and free. He went downstairs and left the hotel, then got in the car and headed to the cinema.
"Philip, I'm here, let me admire your masterpiece."
"Philip, I'm waiting for your celebration party."
"..."
Philip came to the exhibition hall of his work "Black Hole", and friends who followed him came in to cheer.
Birds of a feather flock together.
People who can hang out with Philip have similar ideas and concepts. Not only are they arrogant and confident, but they are also not very interested in the so-called art and films of China.
If you look at "Hope", you won't be able to pronounce the words "masterpiece" and "celebration banquet".
Obviously no one went to see them, and their disdain and being blinded by the media made them question and have bad imaginations about everything in China.
Gradually, the theater was filled with people.
Philip felt a little surprised. Judging from the situation in previous years, it is difficult for the short film screening to be overcrowded.
What happened today? The attendance was full? So many people came to watch my short film?
Philip became excited, whose short film has such treatment?
What he didn't know was that "Black Hole" and "Hope" were the only science fiction films among the shortlisted short films. Given how stunning "Hope" was, many viewers naturally had strong expectations for "Black Hole," which is also a science fiction film.
And because "Black Hole" only lasts 3 minutes, this time has made many viewers curious, what kind of story can be filmed in 3 minutes?
Because of this, many people came to see the screening of "Black Hole".
As time slowly passes, the story of "Black Hole" also unfolds its mystery.
There is a completely black circle drawn on a piece of white paper. This is a black hole. This prop directly points to the topic.
A person who works overtime in the company can put his hand through this piece of paper with a "black hole" and get anything. This is the main plot line.
The main line is divided into three levels.
In the first level, the male protagonist discovers the secret of the black hole, becomes greedy in his heart, sticks the black hole on the glass of the coin-operated snack machine, reaches through the black hole, takes out a pack of snacks from the machine, and enjoys eating it
.
At the second level, after experiencing such convenience, the male protagonist's desire was amplified, and he used the black hole to take out the salary schedule from the locked glass cabinet and tampered with the salary value he was about to pay.
In the third level, the male protagonist is completely unable to contain his greed and uses a black hole to steal money from the safe.
Looking at the moving cash bills he took out, the male protagonist was swallowed up by greed, his face was so excited that he wanted to take out more money crazily.
But the safe was very big, and the actor's body involuntarily went deep into the safe, and finally completely entered the safe and was imprisoned in the safe.
At this point, the story of "Black Hole" ends.
For ordinary viewers, it is not as stunning as expected, nor does it meet their expectations based on "Hope". The whole process seems to be somewhat lacking in interest.
Although the meaning is relatively full, the greedy human nature explodes layer by layer, which is indeed worthy of people's reflection. The piece of paper as a black hole is also a good science fiction idea, but perhaps the pearl of "Hope" is ahead, seeing such an exposure of human nature
The literary science fiction film did not make the audience have too much favorable impression.
Applause was given politely, but the response was not very strong.
While laymen watch the fun, insiders watch the door.
If you record a story in words, anyone can understand it.
But showing a piece of text through multiple shots, without any lines or narration to assist the interpretation, and the connotation of the story can only be understood by observing the scenes and character performances with the eyes. This is the art of directing.
This short film does not have any lines, only lens language, but it tells the story very clearly. The story is about the core of greed in human nature and the value that greed is the original sin, and once contaminated, there will be no recovery. This is already excellent.
In 3 minutes, such a story can be clearly told in a layered and progressive manner. The quality of the short film is very worthy of recognition.
However, as the audience thought, "Hope" was too stunning, making "Black Hole", which is accomplished in both directorial art and character acting, not so dazzling in this short film screening.
After the interview, Philip looked at the atmosphere. The audience stood up and left, and the professionals whispered that this was a normal atmosphere, and it could not be said to be good or bad.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! However, on the way off the stage, some audience members exchanged sounds, and its face suddenly became ugly.
"Although the story can be told clearly in 3 minutes and has a lot of meaning, I still like "Hope"."
"It's hard to imagine that "Hope" was filmed in China. The various unexpected reversals and shots are really shocking."
"..."
Phillip's originally good mood fell to the bottom at this moment.
He returned to his seat with a sullen expression, hoping that the next few audiences would have a different perception of "The Black Hole".
Unfortunately, after four consecutive rounds until the end of the screening, he concluded with one sentence in his mind: "Black Hole" is not as good as "Hope".
Philip forced a smile to cope with the media interview. After the interview, he quickly returned to the hotel with a gloomy face.
No one said that his "Black Hole" was not good, and no one said that "Black Hole" was not as good as "Hope". There were even professionals who praised his directing art.
He just heard about "Hope" through occasional exchanges at his home stadium, and his damn self-esteem and strong conceit suddenly burst out, making him feel very embarrassed and unable to face such a situation.
…
There are many tourist attractions in Paris, such as the Arc de Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, the Musee d'Orsay, Notre Dame Cathedral...
Each of these world-famous attractions has its own historical record, continuing France's cultural heritage.
When I come to France for the first time, I naturally want to visit these places.
Chu Xuan, Liu Yifei, and Liu Xiaoli's family had a lot of fun in the past few days.
In addition to going to the theater to enjoy short films and movies during the screening time, the rest of the time was spent in various scenic spots. It was inevitable that tourists from China would encounter and take photos with them. These tourists could be regarded as witnessing the warmth and beauty of the family of three during their travels.
Today the first stage of screening is over, and the results of the selection will also be announced.
In the afternoon, the family ended today's trip to Notre Dame and returned to the hotel.
"45 votes!" Liu Yifei exclaimed. As soon as she and Chu Xuan entered the room, Wen Muye came to explain the voting data announced by Cannes.
Total votes were 51, "Hope" vs. "Summer in Norway", 45:6.
This is a very exaggerated voting result. It is rare to see it in a professional selection. It has never been seen in the history of Cannes voting.
Chu Xuan and Liu Yifei were surprised, but they were more of a surprise. This undoubtedly shows that Cannes has recognized "Hope". This kind of international recognition, how can we not make people happy.
"Come on, let's congratulate ourselves." Liu Xiaoli raised a hand.
Everyone smiled, raised their hands and gave each other high fives. This kind of voting situation is worthy of self-congratulation.
During dinner, Wang Jiawei also sent a text message, saying "congratulations" and adding the sentence "There is great hope that "Hope" will come out on top."
Although this is the result of the first stage, such differentiated results also confirm the excellence of "Hope". As a judge, Wang Jiawei can see from this result that "Hope" has a high probability of winning the final award.
They were all film and television people from China, and he was also happy for Chu Xuan and Liu Yifei.
After dinner, everyone went back to their rooms to rest.
According to the news we received, "Hope" is scheduled to be screened in the second stage tomorrow in the morning of the first day.
Compared with the slight anxiety during the first stage screening a few days ago, with such a good selection result tonight, everyone is much more relieved about the second stage screening and is looking forward to the response from the scene again.
…
The next day, Philip got up early.
He no longer slept indifferently like he had done a few days ago, even though the short film was shown in the morning, without paying any attention to the other eleven competitors.
The voting results came out last night. His "Black Hole" defeated his opponents in the first stage with a voting result of 30:21, which is a very normal voting ratio.
It should have been something to be happy for his work to enter the next stage, but he couldn't be happy after seeing the voting results for "Hope".
What is the concept of 45 votes?
He doubted whether the 6 votes for "Summer in Norway" were consolation votes given by the judges. The voting situation for "Hope" was not much different from the full vote.
This undoubtedly proves that "Hope" is a dark horse from China, a dark horse that emerges from the Chinese science fiction genre that is looked down upon by Europe and the United States.
He remembered the text message sent by the teacher that day. Among his "Black Hole" and "Hope", the teacher chose "Hope" regardless of other factors.
In the teacher's mind, his "Black Hole" is not as good as "Hope".
At yesterday's screening of "Black Hole", the audience also expressed the attitude that "Black Hole" is not as good as "Hope".
He was deeply shocked and doubtful. After all, he had never seen "Hope". How could he believe that the film produced by a Chinese start-up team would be stronger than the film he had been influenced by the great European art since he was a child?
He still didn't want to believe it. When he learned that "Hope" was scheduled to be screened on the first day of the second stage today, he decided to lower himself and take a look for himself.
"Um?"
When Philip came to the screening room of the cinema, he saw Chu Xuan and Liu Yifei in the front row welcoming the audience.
The two sides met by chance in the elevator that day, and Philip even said something humiliating to China.
But looking at his appearance now, it was obvious that he didn't recognize that Chu Xuan and Liu Yifei were the Chinese people he met in the elevator before.
It is unclear whether it was his pride that prompted him to ignore Asian faces, or whether Asian faces made Europeans and Americans look face-blind.
Philip only felt that Chu Xuan and Liu Yifei were a bit familiar, so he gave up after thinking for a while and couldn't remember them. He sat in the audience and waited for the screening of "Hope" with a critical attitude.
At the beginning of the screening, just like the first stage of the screening, the film was difficult to understand at first, but as the suspenseful shots were gradually unfolded one by one, it deeply attracted the audience's desire to continue watching.
"This performance is so bad. It has no emotions and looks like a non-human being. Is this the performance level of Chinese actors?"
Those who watch movies normally and those who look for faults with a critical attitude naturally have different concerns.
The film was good, but Philip didn’t watch it at all.
The "flaws" in the film were magnified infinitely in his eyes.
This situation can be summed up in one word in domestic Internet terms: keyboard warrior.
However, it was later revealed that the male and female protagonists were clones, which slapped him in the face.
Is there a problem with cloning human beings and using non-normal human performances to highlight them?
Phillip was heartbroken. He didn't expect that the actor's performance was a foreshadowing for revealing his identity. He admitted that this was indeed a very good design, but the next scene made him complain again and again.
"It's all invalid footage. How did this short film get so many votes?"
Like Chazelle, a moviegoer at the time, he felt baffled when he saw a series of "invalid shots".
But when the suspense of the scene was revealed, Philip was speechless when he heard the exclamations from the audience.
I’ve seen plots used to foreshadow the story, and I’ve seen performances used to foreshadow the details. I’ve rarely seen props and scene details used as foreshadowing. It’s kind of exciting to watch “Sherlock Holmes” reveal the truth step by step through props and clues.
Incredible and stunning sense of déjà vu.
This stunning shot was not over yet. The next scene was a split-level shot. One of the male and female protagonists was hanging in the vertical screen, and the other was standing in the parallel screen. Hearing the audience burst out in exclamation again, Philip took a deep breath.
Although he didn't want to admit it, he already knew where "Black Hole" lost to "Hope".
If his lens language perfectly interprets the artistic expression of human nature, then the lens language of "Hope" perfectly demonstrates the artistic beauty of the film.
The audience comes to see the movie, not to see human nature.
In "Hope", a short film with great artistic beauty, the humanity and literature in his "Black Hole" appear so vulnerable.
At the end of the first round of screenings and before the interviews with Chu Xuan and Liu Yifei began, Philip stood up and left silently.
It turns out that the props and scene details can also serve as foreshadowing for suspense.
It turns out that a split-level lens can be shot so easily.
It turns out that a plot with a non-linear structure, in which the three acts of beginning, process and result can be told interspersed in this way.
It turns out that such a simple story can be told so wonderfully in a chaotic and logically related arrangement.
This is what Philip realized and learned through "Hope", and therefore asked in his heart: Why was "Hope" not made by me? With the blessing of the European film and television industry, my filming will definitely make "Hope"
Even more amazing!
Philip's questioning like this shows that deep down in his heart he has already acquiesced in the excellence of "Hope".
It was just that strong self-esteem that suddenly made him feel a sense of honor and disgrace in his heart——
"The capital city of China is full of smog. Everyone must wear a mask when going out, otherwise they will get respiratory poisoning. It's so scary."
"Chili peppers originally belonged to us, but China stole our results and occupied the global market. This is an act of theft."
"Do you know why we look down on Chinese movies? What types of international awards are needed? They just make whatever type they want to cater to us. Without any opinion or subjective consciousness, their movies are destined to be defective products that will be eliminated by the global market.
."
Chinese people who have never been abroad will never know the vicious tendency of European and American news reports on China.
Foreigners who have never been to China will never know how fast China’s high-speed rail is, how prosperous its cities are, how high social security is, and how rapid its economic development is.
This is an information blockade against China by the overseas media industry, and it is also a joint effort by the overseas media industry to deceive the truth and brainwash non-Chinese people around the world with falsehoods.
Philip has been in such a news environment since he was a child, and his prejudice against China has come from this, which forced him to think that it would be a great shame for his short film to lose to a Chinese short film.
He took out his mobile phone and sent a text message: [Teacher, is public opinion useful?]
After a while, his teacher wrote back: [Try it.]
Philip's teacher didn't ask anything. Perhaps the understanding between teachers and students allowed his teacher to know what he was going to do.
Philip knew in his heart that there was a loophole in the "Hope" short film that was not a loophole. Only few people would notice it if they were watching the movie normally. But when he watched the movie with the attitude of looking for trouble, he discovered this "loophole".
This loophole can be big or small, but if it is deliberately amplified by the European media, he thinks it will be fatal to "Hope"!