Zhou Xingchi can be regarded as one of the actors most familiar to domestic audiences. When Hong Kong films were introduced to the mainland, the most popular ones were four types.
Cheng Lung's kung fu comedies, Chow Yun-fat's gangster films, gambling films, Jet Li's martial arts action films, and Stephen Chow Sing-chi's nonsensical comedies.
One actor every year, Zhou Xingchi for a hundred years, this is how fans evaluate him.
Although it may be a bit exaggerated, it is enough to prove Zhou Xingchi's weight.
If it had been anyone else, his fans themselves would have been embarrassed to suffer such a loss.
Although he is said by some to only do vulgar comedy to please the audience, the hat of a nonsensical actor cannot be taken off.
The same goes for Cheng Long, Jet Li, and Chow Yun-fat. The first two were criticized for their poor acting skills, while the latter has almost become the king of bad movies.
That year, Li Lianjie won the Best Actor Award for his role in "The Movie", and a lot of people still doubted it.
These four actors have made genre movies to the extreme, and they are also the only actors who can put their own labels on the movies they star in.
In Greater China, they are also some of the most famous and influential actors.
Tang An has met Zhou Runfa, Cheng Long and Li Lianjie several times, but this is the first time he has met Zhou Xingchi.
It can be seen that he is not in very good condition. After all, it is 70 million yuan in cash, so no one will care.
Everyone loves money, whether they are making commercial films or artistic films, many artists also love money.
Zhou Xingchi once said in an interview about his views on money: Of course, money is, I hope to make more money. When I was poor, if I have the opportunity and ability, I hope that I can make more money with my own ability. This is absolute.
.
Sometimes making money is no longer what I want to make, what I want to eat, what kind of house I want to live in, what kind of car I want to take, sometimes you have to keep reaching some goals."
When asked if this goal has an end.
His answer was: "It doesn't have to have an end. In fact, it's a process of constantly reaching your goal. However, I still believe in doing things well. This is the core thing, and making money is the supporting factor."
Don't think that Zhou Xingchi loves to spend money. He wants to support the entire company, so the 70 million is the money that should be given to the company.
It took several years to release a film, but finally "Journey to the West: Conquer the Demons" did well at the box office. While waiting for dividends, I continued to shoot the next film that required more investment. The company also needs funds to operate.
Although his condition was not very good, Zhou Xingchi still cheered up.
"Hello, Director Tang."
"Director Zhou, please allow me to call you Mr. Xing. Our generation basically grew up watching your movies."
Tang An shook hands with Zhou Xingchi and said sincerely.
Zhou Xingchi smiled and said, "Director Tang, you are very polite. The movies you made are also very good. I have watched them many times, especially "The Wind". I learned a lot from the lens language used in this movie. This movie widely used flashlight."
In return, I also used stream-of-consciousness techniques such as hallucinations and jump-cutting techniques to depict the characters' psychology in "Journey to the West: Conquer the Demons."
"Director Zhou was very complimentary. In fact, I think the camera language in "The King of Comedy" is excellent. I have made this film no less than 10 times in the past few years.
The shots related to the front and back of the movie are precise, concise and clear.
The lens switching is quick and the image efficiency is extremely high.
The scheduling of long shots is crisp and neat”
Zhou Xingchi talked about movies, and Tang An continued the conversation.
From the moment Zhou Xingchi called him "Director Tang" instead of "Director Tang", Tang An knew that he knew the purpose of his visit, and the title was actually a polite refusal.
But it doesn't matter, let's talk.
Uncle Benshan can fool people into lameness. Maybe he wants to cooperate just by talking about Zhou Xingchi.
Even the aloof Zhou Xingchi felt a little helpless to have the top domestic director praise his film. The smile on his face was no longer so cold and relaxed a little.
He listened carefully to Tang An's analysis of the scene language in "The King of Comedy" and was not modest. Instead, he nodded while listening.
After Tang An finished speaking, he continued, "Maybe it was because I was in a similar state when I was filming. The idea was very clear at the time, and I felt like I was writing with a god."
"I've played "The Wind" seven or eight times, and I think the best ones are between the flashbacks and camera jumps.
The most impressive thing is that when Li Ningyu was insulted, she looked up to the sky and smiled. The camera immediately flashed to her girlish shy smile when Liu Linzong read a love poem to him. Without this flashback, the artistic conception would be much worse.
The scene where Bai Xiaonian is captured and tortured is the scene where I feel the transition is the best. On the night when Bai Xiaonian was captured, only a dark castle was left. When Bai Xiaonian was tortured, he quickly cut back to the empty corridor.
, echoing Bai Xiaonian’s screams, not sloppy at all.”
Tang An nodded and smiled, "Actually, the more consideration is that these punishments cannot be shown on the big screen. In addition, every actor is very important and the length of the film needs to be compressed. It can only be expressed in this way."
Out of the cruelty of punishment.”
Then he talked about "The King of Comedy". This film is definitely the pinnacle of comedy. Tang An said that he has made the film more than ten times and it is absolutely true.
The content, scene scheduling, camera movement, scenery, editing, sound, picture, rhythm, performance, camera position are separated out one by one, and each shot of the movie is analyzed in detail to understand Zhou Xingchi's complete shooting process.
Make more than ten pull-ups, analyze and record each shot's content, scene scheduling, camera movement, scene, editing, sound, image, rhythm, performance, and camera position one by one, so that you can create an exact copy of the movie.
Because everything involved in every shot and every second has been analyzed, it means that you have restored all the director's shooting process on the spot, which is clearer than watching him shoot ten times with your own eyes. Even the director himself is not as clear as you.
Tang An simply asked Zhou Li to take out her laptop and analyze it second by second and frame by frame.
I carry several laptops with me at all times, some are used specifically to handle company affairs, and some are specifically used to analyze movies, with some professional software installed.
Open the software, play "The King of Comedy", and skip to the scene where Zhou Xingchi and Zhang Bozhi parted ways during their one-night stand.
“This scene was so breathtaking that I watched it over and over again at least 30 times.
Liu Piaopiao went out, and Yin Tianqiu peeped at the window without telling him when he would get up and come to the window! This is a very important moment to lead the audience.
There are no lines in this front-to-background relationship shot, and the spatial relationship formed by the iron bars on the window perfectly presents Yin Tianchou'ai's temptation and shrinking mentality.
Liu Piaopiao left, and Yin Tianchou turned back to face himself in the mirror. He felt regret and reluctance. At this time, he did not forget to bring the details of the characters' lives. The photos on the wall formed an interesting tension with the characters' expressions.
Then there is a surprising jump, directly from Yin Tianqiu's face to Liu Piaopiao's face. This is a moving shot, and she also had a lonely expression when she left.
I originally thought it was over, but Yin Tianqiu appeared again in the same set of shots, following the direction she was walking, and the mobile camera moved him over."
Perfect performance, a scene where a one-night stand breaks up and the character's status changes several times in a row.
Faced with Tang An's analysis and praise, Zhou Xingchi shook his head and said with a smile, "Actually, my original idea was to make the character's heart not too simple, but the shots couldn't be too lengthy. After all, it was a one-night stand, and I couldn't use a lot of shots to express the character's heart.
It’s complicated, so I chose this jumping shot.”
Tang An nodded, after all, the movie is not a TV series. The bad thing about TV series is that the camera is pointed at the characters to shoot the characters' performances, which is no more difficult than the movies.
As long as there is a good script, the actors have good acting skills and meet the requirements of the role, you can even find a freshly graduated directing student to film it.
Tang An continued his analysis, followed by that classic conversation.
Yin Tianchou: "Hey!"
Liu Piaopiao: "How is it?"
Yin Tianchou: "Leaving?"
"yes!"
"Then what?"
"work!"
Yin Tianqiu put his hands into his pants pockets: "Is it okay if I don't go to work?"
"Will you support me if you don't work?"
Yin Tianqiu took out his right hand and made a goodbye gesture.
After watching this set of shots, Tang An sighed, "This front-reverse shot is concise and clear, perfect without unnecessary expressions or lines."
Zhou Xingchi said, "I also want to avoid being verbose. After all, the relationship between the two has not been shown too much before. It is not appropriate to use too many words to sensationalize at this time."
"Yes, too much dialogue is too abrupt. Instead, it would be better to show their previous relationship and emotional changes step by step in the separation scene." Tang An agreed.
Continue the analysis.
"The scene where Liu Piaopiao leaves is amazing. In the same shot, a small lift is used to raise the screen. There is no mission expression. It only captures the back of Yin Tianqiu's head. More than half of the page is spent filming the waves, using rough waves to describe the scene.
Show Yin Tianchou’s mood.”
Tang An said and went back again, pointing to the scene of their conversation, "But here, only two or three seconds away, the seaside is still very calm, without any waves. This contrast is amazing!"
Next set of shots.
Before the mood calmed down, it immediately cut to the seaside road, and there was a simple and bright relationship shot.
It saves so many unnecessary processes. Yin Tianchou goes out, goes downstairs, and runs without saying a word. In a heartbeat, he catches up with Liu Piaopiao, which surprises the audience one after another.
Liu Piaopiao pretended to be relaxed.
Yin Tianchou was hesitant.
A perfect jump cut of the camera. The presentation of this hesitation is not performed by acting, but by using a jump cut of the camera and using the language of the camera to perform this hesitation.
Next is the scene that most tests the director's skills. After the confession, the camera cuts directly to the back of the two people, showing a panoramic back view without any expression.
"I'll support you!"
Finally confessed!
The camera passes over Yin Tianqiu's back and rushes towards Liu Piaopiao.
This confession, "I'll support you," turned directly into a moving shot, rushing towards her!
This feeling cannot be expressed in words, so it can only be presented through images. This is a movie!
The camera got closer and closer to Liu Piaopiao.
The touching turn of the head with flying hair will leave a mark in the history of Chinese films, just like the heroic Zhang Min looking back at Zhang Wuji while riding a white horse.
It’s not about how good the acting is (of course it’s not bad), the key is the sequence of shots, the way the image builds up to this moment, and whoever plays it (as long as it’s a natural film performance), it’s all moving.
"Take care of yourself first, idiot."
Liu Piaopiao left, and Yin Tianchou felt sad.
This time is finally the ending of the scene. The shot is very long. After she leaves the painting, he stands still. This scene is exactly the same as the first shot of the previous scene, and it also hints in the image that it is over.
The male and female protagonists must be together. This is an iron rule in most film and television dramas.
At this point in the performance, the audience will still feel a little lucky.
But then this shot of the car window moving, leaving his home just now, clearly tells us that this is over and they can't fall in love.
I finally let my guard down and prepared for the next scene.
But the director deceived us and directly dealt a heavy blow to our hearts.
In the car, Liu Piaopiao was already crying.
Seeing this, Tang An closed his laptop.
He sighed, "Extremely concise and accurate audio-visual language. The film method of leading the audience, deceiving the audience, and implementing a sudden attack is like the Tianshan Plum Breaker in martial arts."
If the scene had been cut to a point where the scene was not crying until leaving in the car, but had started from scratch, it would have been complete, and the audience would have been on guard, and they would not have been so moved.
This is the most critical point, it can be called the great shift of the universe!"
A qualified and genuine performance.
There are too many people who can perform to this level.
But there are not many genre films that can divide the shots to this extent, lift the actors up with audio-visual language, and reach the peak of empathy.
The director is the soul of a movie!
For nearly an hour, the two discussed a scene for nearly an hour.
When the time was almost up, Tang An and Zhou Xingchi shook hands and said goodbye.
"Director Zhou, still remember in "The King of Comedy", you had to get back your lunch box even if your hand was cut off?
Remember your sentence in "The God of Cookery": I want to fight for it! I am not proving how great I am, but proving that I must take back what I have lost!"
"Cooperate with me, and the Han and Tang Group will fully support your next movie. Prove to everyone that Wang Zhongjun can give 70 million with his own hands!"
"I will consider it. I benefited a lot from chatting with Director Tang today. Thank you."
Zhou Xingchi nodded, his smile becoming more sincere and no longer cold.
After leaving the hotel, secretary Zhou Li asked with some confusion, "Chairman, will Mr. Xing agree?"
"Won't."
Tang An shook his head with regret.
"Why, wasn't it a good conversation?"
"He is capable, confident and proud, not to mention I am also a director."
In the end, Zhou Xingchi still called him "Director Tang", and basically there was not much hope for cooperation.
After chatting for a long time, I still didn’t fool you!
Tang An sighed, his words are not enough!
The king cannot see the king!
ps: Hahaha, it’s time to reveal my identity as a fan of Xingye for 20 years. I have watched all his movies more than ten times and the TV series "He Comes from Jianghu" three times!