It's September, and the National Day movies are coming soon. "The Legend of White Snake", "Painting on the Wall", and "Revolution of 1911", the three strong contenders for the National Day movies, have already started their promotions.
Many of the Lunar New Year movies, including "Legend of Hongmen Banquet", "Flying Swords of Dragon Gate", "The Thirteen Hairpins", "The Great Magician", and "Counter War" have basically completed post-production and are waiting to be released.
Cheng Long and Jet Li will compete in the National Day festival, and Xu Ke and Zhang Yimou, two famous directors, will also compete in the Lunar New Year festival.
There are also A-list stars such as Li Ming, Jay Chou, Zhou Xun, Liu Yufei, Deng Chao, Xie Tingfeng, etc., so the competition is not small.
Although Li Qian and Ma Xiaogang did not participate in the competition for this year's Lunar New Year, they only had "Love Is Not Blind" on Double Eleven and "The Adventures of Li Xianji" starring Liu Ye and Zhou Xun, which relieved the pressure on the two famous directors a lot.
However, they no longer have the ambitions they had six months ago. Faced with the 1.6 billion box office of "I'm Not the God of Medicine" and the unprecedented social influence of promoting medical reform, they really feel powerless.
In the new scene of Jianguomen Street, Zhang Yimou, who has finished his late work on the film, is filming "I'm Not the God of Medicine" in the computer room.
In the past, Zhang Yimou rarely studied commercial films in depth. It was not the same approach as him, and he did not need to make commercial films. He only needed to cover up commercial films and focus on the core of literary films, and he could still achieve box office success.
However, in recent years, this method suddenly stopped working, and the audience stopped buying it.
If it were an ordinary commercial movie, Zhang Yimou might not like it, but "I'm Not the God of Medicine" is something that no director can ignore in terms of commerciality and influence.
No matter how hard you deny it, the reality is before your eyes.
I have watched the movie twice before. The overall structure is simple, the narrative is straightforward, and the three-act format commonly used in Hollywood can be recognized by any film director at a glance.
While holding the tablet, Zhang Yimou was also writing down something on the paper.
According to the time code, the corresponding content and conflict, the corresponding structural arrangement, and the corresponding character relationship, we can find out the logic and ideas of the script creation of "I'm Not the God of Medicine" and the fundamental reason for its success.
However, after spending several hours to finish the film, Zhang Yimou found that it was still as simple as it seemed.
The first nine minutes establish the protagonist's personal conflicts, family conflicts, and external conflicts, pointing to the fundamental conflict of lack of money.
Establishing the character state and image of the protagonist, and through the contradictions and conflicts faced by Cheng Yong, provide the temperament of the character when he appears on the stage, the image of a useless person who is decadent, depressed and philistine without any ability.
What follows is a matter of course. The situation becomes serious and turns for the better. The content and structure unfold from the previous five contradictions.
Then after a turnaround, the attempt failed, another important role was introduced, and initial results were achieved.
Then the initial results reached their peak, and another crisis occurred, and the hero Cheng Yong made a choice.
Grow, change, choose again.
As well as 13 minutes of Cheng Yong’s ultimate shaping, and the last 11 minutes of ultimate shaping of themes and emotions, these 25 minutes constitute the climax of the entire film.
It took most of a day to produce a pull-tab analysis worth nearly 10,000 words.
However, after reading what he had written twice from beginning to end, Zhang Yimou frowned even more seriously.
It's too simple, and it's no exaggeration to say it's unremarkable.
Even in the climax, the villain's medical representative puts pressure on the police + the police's escalating arrests + the patient's old aunt's desperate plea during the arrest + Zhang Changlin's treacherous but thought-provoking transformation + Huang Mao finally wants to shave his head.
After returning home, he had to choose to protect Cheng Yong with his life to protect the hope of the patients + the change of policeman brother-in-law in the process + the external Yindu Pharmaceutical Company had to close due to a lawsuit, leaving only pharmacies with medicines to buy.
A series of foreshadowings. In all the above processes, Cheng Yong not only was not afraid to stop, but also strengthened his determination to do this at the junctures of more crises and losses. Zhang Yimou still felt that there was nothing particularly clever about telling the truth.
The place.
Simple and straightforward, the story is told very clearly and logically step by step, so straightforward that Zhang Yimou can now replay the movie.
Zhang Yimou shook his head. This kind of logical and smooth storytelling was not his style.
Since "Hero", in order to adapt to commercialization, his films have changed from symbolism to formalism.
Just like walking a 100-meter road, Li Qian walked forward step by step, but occasionally sprinted to go faster, while he took two steps, jumped one step, took two steps, ran again, and even somersaulted.
Zhang Yimou cannot accept that the success of "I'm Not the God of Medicine" comes from this simple, unpretentious narrative style. It's like a lot of people scolding him for not being able to tell stories.
In the end, Zhang Yimou attributed the reason to medicine, a sensitive topic of people's livelihood, which touched the audience and won with the tragedy card.
Shaking his head, Zhang Yimou stood up and came out of the computer room, turned around and walked towards Zhang Weiping's office.
However, just as he was about to knock on the door and enter, the office door opened, and Ni Ni came out with a look of grievance and anger.
"???"
Zhang Yimou subconsciously glanced at Ni Ni's clothes, which were very neat.
"Director Zhang." Ni Ni saw Zhang Yimou and quickly stopped to say hello.
"What's wrong with this?" Zhang Yimou asked in confusion.
"Director Zhang asked me...to write an autobiography since I started making movies."
"Just write your autobiography."
"But..." Ni Ni was a little embarrassed, "But let me focus on describing the sex scene with Bell, and... and..."
Zhang Yimou's face darkened. Originally, there was no sex scene between Ni Ni and Bell in his script. It was Zhang Weiping who repeatedly requested it.
This was not the first time. Zhang Weiping didn't make any self-righteous comments about any film, so Zhang Yimou tolerated it, but the scale was not very large.
It's good now. It's clear that this autobiography is going to be publicized through erotic drama, or it was written by the little girl herself.
"Go and do your work."
Zhang Yimou sighed, waved his hand, and entered the office.
"Ah, this is all for publicity. It's just an autobiography. If she doesn't want to write it, I can just find someone to write it." Zhang Weiping walked over lightly and then said, "After studying "I'm Not the God of Medicine" for a day, I came up with it.
What happened?"
"The story is well told and very complete. In addition, due to the emotional card and the subject matter, let's put it together." Zhang Yimou shook his head.
"As I said, the film was just average. The main reason was that the subject matter was popular."
Zhang Weiping said disapprovingly, "Similar to the "Tangshan Earthquake", this time our "Jinling Thirteen Beauties" includes soldiers who desperately resisted after the city was broken, and also the prostitutes from the bottom of society who gave up their egos for the students and resolutely
Sacrifice, no one is more touching than them!"
The huge sales of "I'm Not the God of Medicine" actually made Zhang Weiping more confident in "Jinling Thirteen Hairpins".
Playing the emotional card and selling tears is so useful, let alone 1.6 billion, 1.3 billion, it will break 1 billion no matter what. Plus Bell can also sell overseas copyrights, and finally make a fortune.
"By the way, Minsheng Bank has confirmed that it will invest 60 million to issue movie tickets to credit card users, and get 60 million in box office for free." Zhang Weiping told another good news.
...
Many people believe that the greatest success of "I'm Not the God of Medicine" is that it chose the right subject matter and earned the audience's tears, so much so that major companies are considering whether to also film realistic themes.
Xu Ke, who has also finished the later period of "Flying Swords of Dragon Gate", is discussing a new movie with Song Ge.
""Taking Tiger Mountain by Wisdom" tells the story of the main theme in the form of a commercial blockbuster, which will indeed be a selling point." Song Ge nodded, agreeing with Xu Ke's idea.
"I'm Not the God of Medicine" doesn't just use the techniques of commercial films to tell a story with realistic themes, but it has the same purpose but different approaches.
"By the way, Director Song, you have cooperated with Li Qian before. What kind of person is he?"
Xu Ke didn't talk much about their new film together, but instead asked about Li Qianlai, with curiosity on his face.
"He."
Song Ge thought for a while and smiled, "Like Director Xu, a talented director never knows what his next idea will be. I have a hunch that his next movie will still be beyond everyone's expectations.
"
Xu Ke was stunned for a moment, then laughed, "Genius is indeed the most suitable word to describe him. It's a pity that I never had the opportunity to meet him and discuss it."
...
In the entire film industry, I don’t know how many people are talking about Li Qian, his movies, and speculating about his new movie.
As they wished, Li Qian was already taking action.
When preparing the script at home, Tong Liya pestered Li Qian to tell her the story.
"Thirty years ago, a film and television company adopted a baby, and they deliberately groomed him to become the protagonist in the world's most popular documentary reality show, The Truman Show."
Tong Liya interjected, "It must have been 30 years ago in the 1980s. There were no such programs on TV at that time."
"Just treat it as a parallel time and space and weaken the background. It has nothing to do with reality."
Li Qian explained, and then continued, "The film and television company built a large island into a small town. This small town is the recording studio of the show. The male protagonist Truman is a salesman in this small town. It looks like
He seems to be living exactly the same life as ordinary people, but he doesn't know that thousands of cameras are looking at him every second in his life, and that the whole world is watching him every moment, not to mention that the people around him include
Everyone, including my wife and friends, is a cast member of The Truman Show."
"Turning a city into a studio? Everyone is an actor? But wouldn't Truman realize it when he watches TV?" Tong Liya asked again in confusion.
"Snapped!"
Li Qian slapped Tong Liya's smooth leg and said angrily, "Don't interrupt and listen to me carefully. I see you didn't pay attention to the lectures when you studied before."
Tong Liya rubbed her red legs, took Li Qian's arm and rubbed against him, and said pitifully, "Then tell me, Teacher Li."
This sweet voice called "Teacher Li" almost made Li Qian's heart flutter, and he almost came up with the phrase "teacher and student..."
"Be serious."
Li Qian coughed lightly, looked at his fingerprints on Tong Liya's legs, and reached out to help her rub them gently.
"Although the show "The Truman Show" has become popular all over the world, there is no information about it on the island, including TV, news, and newspapers. It has been covered up. Truman grew up on the island and read books. , fall in love, get married, even his wife is an actress on the show..."
"Teacher Li, I have a problem." Tong Liya raised a hand obediently. "Everyone is an actor, including his wife. He doesn't know, so if he and his wife want that, they will also be caught by the camera. Is it time to air it?”
"That's right, but I turn off the lights when I sleep."
Tong Liya looked disgusted, "Then the actress is also willing? What about turning off the lights? Don't you like turning off the lights and still having sound? Can this be broadcast too?"
Li Qian shrugged, "Just pinch it off when you sleep. Commercials will be played. Other than that, the program will be broadcast 24 hours a day."
"That's right, but it's too difficult for an actress. She plays the wife of someone she doesn't like 24 hours a day and has to sleep with her." Tong Liya still felt it was a bit outrageous.