At eight o'clock in the morning, Li Qian and Tong Liya got up early and came to the studio.
"Boss, this is the outline of the script after I perfected it. Take a look."
Su Lun, who had been waiting in the studio for a long time, handed two pieces of A4 paper to Li Qian and looked at Li Qian expectantly.
Ever since Li Qian gave her the idea of "Living Together in Time and Space" in August, Su Lun has been in a state of excitement and anxiety.
Before graduation, I got the opportunity to direct a theatrical film alone. Among the directing graduates of Beijing Film Academy and China National Theater in previous years, it is extremely rare. There may not be one in a year.
Everyone who studies directing wants to make movies, but there are still only a few directing students who can actually engage in the directing industry.
The opportunity came too easily and too suddenly. Su Lun was also cautious and it took him three full months to come up with the idea.
Su Lun dropped out of school at the age of 17 in 2001 to join a film crew. Su Lun is well aware of how difficult it is to make a movie.
If you don't seize some opportunities, you don't know when the next one will be.
"The outline is very detailed."
Li Qian nodded. The outline of the movie script ranged from two to three hundred to as many as eight hundred.
There is no need for psychological description, no description of the environment, and no dialogue.
To put it bluntly, it is to use minimalist words to tell a story, which is a routine of succession and transition.
In 2008, Gu Xiaojiao wanted to get back the big house he lived in when he was a child, so he went on various blind dates with wealthy people.
In 1979, Lu Ming, who was depressed and frustrated, wanted to succeed, so this was the starting point.
For some reason, the time and space of two people overlap, and their lives change. This is inheritance.
The appearance of Lu Ming, also known as Lu Shiyi, 19 years later disrupted their current lives. This is the change.
In the end, Lu Ming's conscience was still intact and he saved Gu Xiaojiao's father. In the time and space of 1979, Gu Xiaojiao grew up to be a rich girl, while Lu Ming was still an ordinary person. This is the combination.
If Su Lun kept this outline as simple as possible, it would be almost like this, but she filled in some more details and it almost turned into a complete story.
However, if this kind of outline is given to some impatient directors, they will not even read it if it is so long.
After a slight expansion, it is a script, which can no longer be considered as an outline. If something is not right, it will be criticized.
I looked at another piece of paper, which is character analysis, plot settings for each turning point... and other details.
Putting the contents of these two pieces of paper together, it is already a half-finished script.
Putting down the two pieces of paper, Li Qian asked Xiang Su Lun, "Are you sure you choose this ending?"
As a movie related to time and space, there are too many endings to choose from.
"Cohabitation in Time and Space" can end with the two protagonists from the last two time and space meeting each other for the last time on the street, leaving a blank space.
It can also have a happy ending like "Frequency of Life and Death", where the male and female protagonists are together in the heroine's time and space of 2008.
In the end, Su Lun chose the third one. Lu Ming from that time and space in 1979 met Gu Xiaojiao from that time and space, but Gu Xiaojiao from this time and space did not know Lu Ming at all.
These are the three most typical ones, and no other ending can escape these three aspects.
Romance films are different from family films in that they do not necessarily have a happy ending. Many classic romance films either have the death of the male lead or the death of the female lead. If one of them dies, it would not be a classic.
But if a family film wants to be a hit, it's best to have a happy ending, because the most important thing for a family is reunion, which is different from love.
"Already want it, I want to compromise." Su Lun nodded. In the past three months, he had gone through three endings in his mind countless times, and he even thought about more possibilities.
confirm.
"That's okay. In the end, the two met each other. There is also a blank space for the audience to imagine how an ordinary middle-aged man, Lu Ming, won the heart of a young and beautiful rich lady."
Li Qian smiled and put down the two pieces of paper. Tong Liya next to him immediately took them and looked at them.
Although this is not realistic in reality, it is not realistic in movies and TV series.
If it were set that Lu Ming succeeded in the time and space of 1979, and later became a real estate tycoon, and then pursued the young Gu Xiaojiao, it would not taste right and would be divorced from the previous plot.
After receiving the affirmative answer, Su Lun breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed his clenched hands.
"but."
Li Qian's words made her nervous again.
"This outline and the content on the following page together are already a semi-finished script. When writing, these details do not need to be detailed to this level. When the time comes to connect them together to write the script, you will have to think about it again, which will take a lot of time.
effort."
Li Qian didn't say anything, and gave another example, "I'm thinking of an outline now, such as writing a story about a fool. Xiao Ming is a fool. He wants to find a girlfriend, but no one is his girlfriend.
But in case he could find it, he went to find Xiaoli and Xiaofang from the same village, but they were rejected.
But Lao Wang next door asked him to find Xiao Hong, but he didn't find Xiao Hong there.
Just when she was frustrated, Xiaohong appeared again, but Xiaohong had a boyfriend, Xiaohei.
When Xiao Ming was desperate, he went to talk to a tree to express his feelings. He was surprised to find a hole in the tree.
So he became evil and began to dislike people and fell in love with trees. He happily showed off to the villagers that he had a special girlfriend, attracting the whole village to watch.
Everyone thought Xiao Ming was crazy, but he found happiness as a human being."
To put it simply, the fool Xiao Ming wanted to find a girlfriend. After chasing him for several times and failing to catch up, Lao Wang asked him to find Xiao Hong. Xiao Hong had a boyfriend Xiao Hei. The fool finally found Shu as his girlfriend. From the beginning to the end, these four
point.
After a pause, Li Qian continued, "The outline is a rough story, like the story above, how Xiao Ming chased Xiao Li, Xiao Fang, how he got revenge, who Xiao Hong is, and even Xiao Hong can be a dog,
Lao Wang was playing tricks on him, how he was chased by two dogs, etc. Just think about these details at the beginning and have a good idea.
When writing an outline, you have to think through all the details in detail. When the time comes to write the script, you will have to go through it all over again. Your mind will be very tired and confused. It is better to revise the script later and save worry.
Of course, if you are used to writing like this and have time, you can do it at your own convenience."
In the directing industry, everyone has a different style. Even in Hollywood, where the film industry is industrialized, the great directors do not follow common sense and have their own habits.
Su Lun listened carefully. Although he didn't know whether it was suitable for him yet, he wanted to write it down first.
"Boss, I understand."
"It's better to do whatever you think is good. Get the script out as soon as possible and start preparations. It's best to release it at the end of next year, and don't delay it too long."
Su Lun agreed and went to work on his own work. The half-finished script was left to Tong Liya, the heroine who had already been booked.
"Senior sister, you can read this when you have time. I will send it to you when the script comes out."
"Well, don't worry, take your time."
Tong Liya smiled, she also liked this story very much, and she also knew that not everyone was like Li Qian, who could write a movie from script to shooting so quickly.
After Su Lun left the office, Tong Liya turned around and punched Li Qian on the chest with her small fist, and said angrily, "What example did you just give? It's a tree hole. Su Lun is a girl and she doesn't pay attention."
"I just thought of it on the spur of the moment. What does girls have to do with this? What I'm talking about is a marginalized person in society pursuing the most basic human existence. It's a question worth pondering. This is art."
Li Qian spread his hands and said, "Look at Su Lun, she doesn't think that much. It's just that you are impure and think wrongly. You don't know what is going on in your mind all day long."
"You're still talking about me!"
Tong Liya punched Li Qian again angrily, thought for two seconds, came up with a word, and spat at him, "You old driver."
The term "old driver" originated from a folk song "Old Driver Take Me" in western Yunnan in 2004. Because it was too explicit and conservative and criticized, a small number of people on the Internet gradually made a bad use of the word "old driver".
Nowadays, the Internet is not widely spread. Tong Liya didn't know what this word meant before. She only heard it from Li Qian's mouth a few times.
Until one day Li Qian suddenly asked her to wear a double ponytail...
Thinking of the little fun between the two, Tong Liya immediately blushed and kicked Li Qian again.
"Holy shit!"
He was punched twice and kicked, which made Li Qian confused.
"Ignore you."
With a soft hum, Tong Liya took the half-finished script and sat on the sofa to read it.
Li Qian touched the back of his head and thought for a moment that the day had not come yet, so he suddenly felt dry.
Can't figure it out.
I came to the computer and flipped through the news.
Although the screening has not started today, and the first show will not start until nine o'clock, tens of thousands of people have watched the movie during the premiere and midnight screenings. Some media and film critics in the industry also watched the premiere but did not see the first show.
Everyone who was screened also watched the zero-point screening.
As one of the three most popular movies during the Lunar New Year, it is also the first of the three movies to be released, and the confidentiality and publicity effect was good before the release. Now you can basically see the news about the movie's release in the entertainment section of every website.
"The long-awaited movie "Moon", director Li Qian's new work, the science fiction blockbuster "Moon" premiered grandly at UME Huaxing Cinemas in Beijing last night. The audience at the premiere responded strongly. Hundreds of viewers spontaneously gave their thanks after the movie screening.
The applause lasts forever!”
"The Lunar New Year blockbusters are coming, the latest masterpiece "Moon" by director Li Qian with a box office of 100 million yuan has a strong box office of 2.7 million at the midnight opening!"
"Since the new century, the first true science fiction film in Chinese film history has been born. Li Qian has created a new era of domestic films!"
"Suspense + science fiction, Li Qian tells you, small-budget movies can also make blockbusters!"
""Moon" grossed 2.7 million at the box office at midnight. Hundreds of movies across the country were extremely popular early this morning. The annual box office at midnight is second only to "Red Cliff"!"
"In the early hours of yesterday morning, the reporter conducted an on-site interview at a cinema showing zero-a-day screenings near Haidian University Town in Beijing. When it was about to reach 0 o'clock in the morning, the cinema lobby was already crowded with moviegoers. According to the cinema manager,
This cinema alone sold more than 400 movie tickets that night, and the popularity was the highest in the second half of the year!"
...
The wonderful sci-fi film, the response from the premiere audience, the high box office and high attendance rate of the midnight show revealed by Guangxian, naturally led to great praise from the media.
No matter what, let's blow it first and see the audience's reaction later. If it doesn't work, turn the gun around and spray Li Qian to death.
This morning, most of the media were out in force, and articles were sprinkled like snowflakes to every corner of the Internet.
As for "Love Call Transfer 2" released yesterday, even the sequel has an all-star cast such as Deng Chao, Wang Xiaoming, Huang Bo, Lu Yi, Su Youpeng, Tong Dawei, and Nie Yuan. At this moment, it was swept into the trash can by the media.
Such a strong lineup, jointly invested by China Film, Moying, and Paige Taihe, is not enough for Li Qian, a director with a box office of 100 million yuan.
Not to mention, Li Qian is more popular than other directors with a box office of 100 million yuan, and he will soon face off against two directors, Cheng Kaige and Tsui Hark.
Moreover, the box office of "Call Transfer 2" on the first day was only over RMB 3 million, and the movie was not even as good as the first one.
The first part is a story about Xu Zheng and a bunch of women, and the second part becomes a story about a woman and a bunch of men.
That's probably it. Li Qian didn't even look.
The box office of the two movies released last week, "Peach Blossom Luck" starring Ge You and Fan Binbin, was also like this, with around 3 million on the first day and 15 million in the first week.
The box office performance of "The Witness" was even worse. Although it had a good reputation, it only had a box office of 5 million in its first week.
Xie Tingfeng failed miserably at the box office. As the leader of Mesozoic actors in Hong Kong, his performance was shocking.
I guess domestic filmmakers have also clearly seen that, except for the top actors in Hong Kong, other actors are just like that and cannot handle the box office.
These three movies together are not enough to watch "Moon", and they have almost been given up by the media at this time.
The media can't wait for the release of "Mei Lanfang". No matter who loses, it will be a news feast for the media.
Whether an up-and-coming director is stifled on the road to fame by an established director, or whether an established director becomes a stepping stone to the success of an up-and-coming director, no matter which one happens, the media and industry insiders will be happy to see it happen.
After reading the news for a while, I found that they were all the same articles, nothing new.
As for the response from the audience, it was not very great. We had to wait until the evening, after it had been released for a whole day, to see large-scale audience comments.
The first movie usually starts after nine o'clock and ends close to twelve o'clock. Li Qian stayed in the studio until eleven o'clock and ordered a table of food at a nearby hotel.
Publicity is a hard job, so go after dinner.
"Yaya, you have to go home and rest. I will be back before nine o'clock in the evening."
Tong Liya wiped the oil from the corners of Li Qian's mouth with a tissue, nodded and said, "Well, come back early, do you want me to help you prepare a midnight snack?"
"Just make some. Don't make it too much trouble. You won't be able to eat much at night."
Only when you are full can you have the strength to work!