After the Spring Festival holiday, Tang An did not return to the crew of "Mysterious Superstar" immediately.
The crew has officially started working, but several assistant directors and the actors will shoot some less important scenes first, and they can only join the crew after Tang An has finished handling the things at hand.
A professional crew, the entire behind-the-scenes team and actors are all top-notch, and some unimportant scenes are no problem at all for the assistant directors who have followed Tang An for ten years and have more than ten years of experience in the industry.
Let’s take a detailed look at those people who have transitioned from art directors and photographers to directors. Which one has not been working with a big director for many years? Have you ever seen anyone under a little-known director who can become a director?
If you stay in a first-class team for ten years, you can learn something no matter what.
Tang An spent two days after the Spring Festival with Tang Jing, director of the Haizheng Television Art Center, and the military advisory group sent by the Haizheng.
Tang Jing will serve as the chief producer of the film. This is a requirement of Hai Zheng, who must supervise the production of the film at all times. In addition to the military consultant, a military producer has also been sent.
This military advisory group also has a strong background. The leader is the former captain of a special forces unit of the Navy. Its members can almost form a complete special operations group, responsible for the training of actors.
In the movie, all team members' drawing postures, slogans and commands, as well as training formations, firearm model selection, etc., were all professionally trained by the military advisory team.
"Director Tang, I really appreciate Hai Zheng's support for our private enterprise. Please rest assured that this shooting will never disappoint the leader Junwei." Tang An expressed his sincere thanks.
At least 50,000 rounds of ammunition, 70 or 80 types of firearms, tanks, armored vehicles, armed helicopters, and all European and American equipment.
Many of them came with the help of the Moroccan government where the filming took place. It is impossible to transport such large-scale weapons and equipment directly from the country.
Moreover, generally when fighting overseas, you are not allowed to wear clothing with nationality symbols, nor are you allowed to use clothing that is more identifiable to your country.
Under special circumstances at the time of the film, it was necessary to enter the combat zone. The expatriates should have been escorted to the port by the local government forces. However, because the government forces were unable to do this, according to international law, the local government forces had to provide military support for the commandos who went to rescue the hostages.
equipment.
The filming location for the movie is still Morocco, and some military equipment is also provided by the Moroccan military.
In the tank battle in the original "Wolf Warrior 2", most of them were modified domestic tanks, so they couldn't be shot in Africa. They were shot in Zhangjiakou.
In addition to these, the Navy also dispatched the Ninth Destroyer Detachment of the South China Sea Fleet, one of the three major fleets of the Chinese Navy, to assist in the filming.
The South China Sea Fleet has only two destroyer detachments, the Second and the Ninth. This is public information and I don’t know the details.
Part of the film's exterior scenes are located in Fanjiang, where the South China Sea Fleet headquarters is located, and the South China Sea Fleet is most convenient for assisting in filming.
There is no need to have too many fleets, after all this is not a science fiction movie, the more the better.
The tone from the beginning of the movie is to be realistic, and try to be as close to it as possible.
However, it is not absolutely true. The most important thing in a movie is to please the audience and create audio-visual experience. This is the first priority, and everything else must be bypassed.
Tang Jing, director of the Haizheng Art Center, said with a smile, "We at Haizheng have no experience in making movies in the past, so we have to worry a lot about this aspect."
In fact, this project is not about who is helping whom, it is all about mutual assistance. There has never been unilateral help in the world. It is still such a large-scale operation, and the armament cost alone is as high as 200 million.
At the previous plenary meeting of the neighborhood army and armed police force delegation, the General Secretary emphasized the need to solidly promote the in-depth development of military-civilian integration and provide strong driving force and strategic support for the realization of the Chinese Dream and the dream of a strong military.
"Operation Red Sea" is a movie for Tang An, but for maritime affairs, the most important thing is the "cultural project" formed by the cooperation between government departments, the navy and private companies.
If a military movie like "Wolf Warrior" is popular, then "Operation Red Sea" directed by Tang An himself will definitely not be bad either. This is a major political achievement. Maritime Affairs, Military Wei, and the Ministry of Foreign Education have all given the green light.
Moreover, the military does not have the budget to shoot commercial film and television dramas. Although it is a military literary and art unit with high standards, it is just to complete the tasks of the superiors.
If you want to make money by making a commercial film, let alone whether it can make money, your superiors may not approve the money.
Although the cost of investing in Tang An's movies is high now, Hai Zheng doesn't have to pay a penny. He just takes 5% of the resource stocks and makes a lot of money.
Then Tang An talked with them for a while, and Tang Jing asked about the actors again.
Tang An said, "I already have a rough idea of the main actors. I will start recruiting actors after I finish filming "Mysterious Superstar" in two months. There will be enough time for the actors to train."
Tang Jing looked to Zhang Haifeng, the leader of the military advisory group, and Zhang Haifeng said, "I need at least five months of training."
Soldiers don't talk nonsense either.
"As for the actors, I will try my best to make sure within a week. I will leave it to Captain Zhang to handle the training." Tang An nodded.
The original plan was to wait for "Secret Superstar" to be completed before looking for actors, and then go to the filming location in Africa.
After all, I will join the group in a few days, and there are still many things on my hands. They are too many and too complicated, and it makes my head hurt to put them all together.
However, time was not sufficient. "Secret Superstar" took at least one and a half months to shoot, and the actors in "Operation Red Sea" needed less than half a year of training.
The shooting time was also longer than any previous film, estimated to take four to five months.
Moreover, there are too many unstable factors. In order to pursue reality, live ammunition is used in many places in the movie.
For example, the captain decided to use the tank's reactive armor to take a shot from the rebels. This was actually shot, using modified reduced-charge artillery shells that actually hit the tank's reactive armor.
There are many similar shots, and no one can guarantee that everything will be smooth sailing.
Let the actors train first. Work will start after "Mysterious Superstar" is released. The location in Morocco is almost finished.
After leaving the Haizheng Art Center, Tang An went straight to the airport and rushed to the Magic City, where he once again met Li Ruigang, the "Godfather of Chinese Media", at the Millennium Seagull Hotel near the Magic City Broadcasting Building in Changning District.
Compared with Tang An and Wang Changtian, Li Ruigang, who is the director of Shanghai Radio and Television Station and the chairman of China Media Group, is more qualified to be called a media giant.
In front of him, the chairman of the Demon Shadow Group is just a subordinate.
The size of China Media Group is not comparable to that of any other film and television company at present. The combined market value of its affiliated companies, Bestcom and Oriental Pearl, is 70 billion.
Wu Feng had previously discussed with the Vice President of Investment and Development of China Media Group about the acquisition of shares in Beston, and Tang An came to Modu partly for this reason.
Hantang Media has a lot of cooperation with China Media Group and Dragon TV. Shangshi Pictures, a subsidiary of Oriental Pearl, a subsidiary of China Media Group, has invested in a subsidiary of Hantang Media. There are also many TV series produced by the Hantang series.
It was sold to Dragon TV.
At their level, there was no need to be secretive when talking about business, so Tang An directly asked about the restructuring of the companies under the China Media Group.
Li Ruigang pondered for a moment and made no secret. The reform was carried out in a drastic way, not through petty theft.
"Director Tang, I won't hide this from you. The municipal party committee has issued an order and a reform team has been established. Minister Xu is personally in charge and I am the deputy team leader. Not only Beston and Oriental Pearl, but all the companies in the Magic City Propaganda Department system must be reformed and reorganized.
!”
Tang An was stunned for a moment, and said with some confusion, "All?"
The Propaganda Department of the Magic City only has one Director, Xu, and the Municipal Party Committee Chang Wei. He is personally in charge, and he is really going to make a big move.
This is not a reform of the Media Group system, nor is it a reform of Magic City Optoelectronics, it is a reform of the entire propaganda outlet.
"Yes, China Media Group and Oriental Media will be integrated, some print media will be merged into newspaper groups, and film and Internet brands will be changed to municipal management."
Other reforms have little to do with Tang An, but the film aspect also needs to be reformed.
Tang An asked, "So, the Demon Shadow Group is no longer under the jurisdiction of China Media Group?"
The SMG Group is so arrogant that even the Moying Group, which owns the top three joint theater chains in the country and the second largest state-owned film group in the country, is under the SMG Group.
Li Ruigang nodded, "The equity will belong to the Municipal State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission and become an enterprise directly under the Propaganda Department."
From a subsidiary of China Media Group to a company directly under the Propaganda Department, the status of Moying Group has soared.
It is probably because the film industry has developed too fast that Moying Group was able to become independent.
Li Ruigang didn't elaborate any more, and it was hard for Tang An to pursue the question any further, as this all involved confidentiality.
Talking about business, "Dr. Li, after the merger of Bestone and Oriental Pearl, the new company should raise funds."
Li Ruigang smiled and said, "Dr. Tang, do you want to join in?"
Tang An did not deny it.
"It is expected to raise about 10 billion in funds through a non-public offering. If Director Tang is interested, we can come and discuss it later."
Li Ruigang did not refuse Tang An's request. Hantang Media is the largest film and television company in the country, and the two parties have many cooperations. Moreover, Li Ruigang's eyes are not only on the country.
Tang An was not surprised that Li Ruigang agreed so happily. From the perspective of the cultural media industry, Hantang Media is definitely a good partner.
Tang An thought for a moment and then said, "Director Li, if the newspaper group is short of funds by then, you might as well come to me."
Just now, when he said about merging print media, he reminded Tang An that Ah Li has recently become a shareholder of many print media companies in China Media Group.
"Is Mr. Tang also interested in newspapers?" Li Ruigang was a little surprised.
Tang An said, "Although the propaganda effect of paper media is no longer as good as that of the Internet, it is still an important channel. It is better than nothing."
"Okay, let's talk about it after the reform is completed."
Half of the purpose of this trip was achieved, but Tang An still had to do something for China Media Group.
The Shanghai Film Festival launched the "Chinese-speaking New Directors Program" this year. This year is the first time. The New Directors Program also held a master class, admitted more than 30 Chinese-speaking directors, and invited seven well-known directing industry insiders from around the world.
Come and give lectures, and finally select a few from the 30 master class academies and invest money in making movies for them.
The Magic City Film Festival is also hosted by China Media Group. As the only international A-class film festival in China, both the General Administration and the Magic City Propaganda Department attach great importance to it. Li Ruigang just asked Tang An to give a few lectures.
In addition to the fact that Tang An is the number one director in the Mainland, the main reason is that he has money, resources and channels, and has a one-stop service from production to promotion.
Tang An didn't care, even if he was asked to fund a few directors to make movies, it wouldn't be a big deal. In exchange for buying shares in Best News and Magic City Newspaper Group, it would be a great deal.
There are too many similar new director projects in China, such as Andy Lau's "Asian New Star Director".
Jia Zhangke’s “Additional Wings Plan”.
Guangxian’s “New Director Training Program”.
Huayi’s “H Plan”.
LeTV’s “Dream Realization Plan”.
Ning Hao made the "Bad Monkey 72 Change Plan"
There must be nearly thirty various plans at least, and nearly half of them are initiated by private enterprises. The main reason is that they lack directors who can make money. They think that if a Ning Hao is discovered, then they will make money.
It's big.
Han and Tang Media also had something similar, but it was not very effective and resulted in a net loss of money.
Tudou Pictures also has it. There are so many online dramas, and since the network is big, the director gap is not as big as usual.
It’s much easier to be a director these days, and those with talent will basically not be delayed.
Of course, just being talented is not necessarily enough. You also need to be able to deceive, make better ppts and plans, and deceive the senior executives of major companies, then investing will be much easier.
It wasn't possible ten years ago. The market was so big. At that time, a company only made a few movies a year, and there was no shortage of directors.
Lectures are just lectures. Tang An also went to Beijing Film Academy several times and was given chicken soup and the like.
Today is the day when the master class starts, so Tang An didn't hurry up and came a quarter of an hour early.
But when Tang An arrived, six other teachers also arrived.
Hong Kong literary film director Guan Jinpeng, who has directed films such as "Rouge Button", "Ruan Lingyu", and "Lan Yu", has won the Golden Horse and Golden Statue Best Director.
Wei Desheng, the director of "Cape No. 7" and "Sediq Bale", won the Golden Horse Award for Best Film twice.
Japanese director Shunji Iwai is a Japanese director who is relatively familiar to domestic audiences. He is known as Wong Kar-wai. He later made a Chinese movie starring Zou Xun, Qin Hao and others, with Hu Ge as a special star.
There are three directors and three photographers.
Jia Zhangke’s partner and official photographer Yu Liwei has won many best photography awards.
"2046" and "Aunt's Postmodern Life" photographer Guan Benliang also won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography.
Li Yaohui, the cinematographer of "Infernal Affairs", "Initial D", and "Scar", has won three Academy Awards for Best Cinematography.
They all have one thing in common, except for Wei Desheng, there is almost no experience in large-scale commercial blockbusters.
These students in the Master Class of the New Director Program do not need to learn commercial blockbusters, at least not now, and no one will invest in them.
"Good morning everyone, sorry for being late."
They were not very familiar with each other, so Tang An just said hello.
"Hello, Director Tang."
Guan Jinpeng nodded slightly. The two parties were not in the same circle, and Tang An was not very fond of Director Xiangjiang.
However, Wei Desheng was much more enthusiastic and used the honorific directly.
"Hello, Director Tang."
Wei Desheng is a member of Yang Dechang. Yang Dechang and Chen Guofu have a close relationship, and he also served as assistant director to Chen Guofao in "Two Eyes".
Without reaching out to hit the smiling man, Tang An shook hands with him and said with a smile, "Hello, Director Wei."
Wei Desheng immediately stepped forward, took the initiative to shake hands with Tang An, and said slightly excitedly, "I heard before that you were coming, Director Tang, but I didn't expect it to be true."
Tang An was a little surprised to be so enthusiastic.
Wei Desheng has not made another film after the big-budget "Sediq Bale". Baodao movies are in a slump, especially large-scale productions that invest hundreds of millions or even hundreds of millions. It is impossible to do it locally. Only big companies from the mainland
That's why he was so enthusiastic about Tang An.
If Tang An knew what he was thinking, he would definitely laugh.
I didn't know Tang An from Ben that day, so the three photographers just said hello casually and couldn't talk to each other at all.
They had no intention of establishing a relationship with Tang An, they were just being polite.
Those three photographers have all participated in the shooting of well-known movies and often collaborated with first-line directors.
Even if you want to have a relationship, you can't lose your face in front of everyone.
Fortunately, time passed quickly, and a few people came next door to attend a small press conference, and the 30 directors were also in place.
Of the 30 directors, 90% of them didn’t know each other. The only ones who could recognize their names were Dong Leonnian, the screenwriter of "The Love of the Flower" and the future "Lao Pao Er" and "Crazy Alien".
Also, Wen Muye, the only director in this master class who has made his mark, will later become famous with "I'm Not the God of Medicine".
A director who can produce a box office of 3 billion yuan in one session can be regarded as a great success.
Everyone sat down, the students sat under the stage, the teacher sat on top, and there were a few reporters and photographers below.
This is like being a teacher, the kind of person who teaches by example and gives formal lectures in more than one class.