On July 18, Li Qian had been in Beijing for five days.
The office address of the studio was also chosen. Instead of renting an office building, we rented a two-story building on the East Third Ring Road.
The area is not large, so basically the studio only needs a small screening room, a computer room for post-processing, and two warehouses, so there is not much demand.
I have found someone to apply for the industrial and commercial license, and the relevant licenses for the film studio are also being processed.
Most of the equipment is purchased through Guangxian and is still on the way.
The main thing is to buy what you need first. As for the screening room, we will wait until the box office split of "Jaws" comes down.
After working hard for a few days, Li Qian called everyone for a meeting with a serious look on his face.
"From now on, preparations for our studio's first theatrical film will officially begin."
"Moreover, this time we are going to use a film camera. The difficulty is not comparable to that of major online movies, so we must be fully prepared."
"Use a film machine?"
Zhang Zhonghua couldn't help but speak out.
Qi Yukun and Guo Fan also had surprised expressions on their faces. Although they are not professional directors, they also know that using film cameras and digital movies are completely different concepts.
To put it bluntly, there is a huge difference in the difficulty of shooting digital movies and film movies.
What's more, Li Qian said before that the cost this time is around six to seven million, making it a low-cost movie. Movies of this size are rarely shot on film.
Li Qian was not surprised by their doubts, which was normal.
"There is basically no problem in terms of cost. Seven million is the production cost, plus the publicity and distribution, it is tens of millions. I also did some calculations."
"This movie is about ninety minutes long. One reel of 400-foot 35mm film can be shot for three minutes. Based on a 1:8 film ratio, at least 240 reels of film are needed."
"The price of a reel of film is about 1,500, and 240 reels is 360,000. The cost of developing and printing is 3 yuan per foot. The total of 240 reels of film is 96,000 feet, which is 280,000. The cost of the film is about 640,000."
"A set of film cameras plus lenses, a complete set of lights, track systems, and shock-absorbing systems, the whole set will cost an average of 12,300 yuan per day. If everything goes well, the shooting will be completed in about 40 days, which is 500,000 yuan."
The cost of the camera and film alone is 1.14 million, which is the biggest reason why low-cost movies choose digital cameras.
Too expensive and difficult.
However, this problem can be ignored in large-scale productions. Considering the production cost, which can easily reach hundreds or hundreds of millions, these millions are nothing at all.
Domestic film movies have a film-to-film ratio between 1:8 and 1:15. It’s not easy to reach 1:8.
Even in the Hollywood film industry system, the normal film-to-film ratio is as high as 1:20.
In other words, for a 90-minute movie, 1,800 minutes of film must be prepared.
Qi Yukun and Guo Fan only had half a bucket of water at most. They calculated the numbers silently in their hearts and looked at Li Qian in confusion.
Only Zhang Zhonghua present here had shot several film films when he was at the Jiangzhe Film Studio. I roughly summed it up in my mind, and it was almost the same number.
However, he also said, "But what about the crew? The improvised crew may not even be able to reach the 15-percent-to-film ratio by then, let alone if the filming is completed in forty days. The cost may even double."
"This depends on you, Lao Zhang."
Li Qian smiled and said, "Dozens of domestic film studios, large and small, are basically closed down now. The same is true in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Lao Zhang, see if you can find some of your old colleagues."
"At least get me a camera master, two follow focus guys, and two lighting masters."
Unexpectedly, it would fall on him. Zhang Zhonghua smiled bitterly and shook his head.
However, the studio doesn't have many openings throughout the year, and those people are basically out to pick up work. It's not difficult to find two people to come over, so I agreed.
"Then let me try."
"It's troublesome, Lao Zhang."
Film movies place great demands on photographers and lighting masters, and even the technical level of the focus puller is insufficient, which will add huge difficulties to the crew.
Film cameras are not like digital cameras. The on-site director can see the shooting effect through the monitor.
As for film machines, they have to be sent to be developed and printed after shooting on the same day. Only when they are brought back after development and printing, the director will know the effect of the shot.
Issues such as lenses, lighting, etc. all depend on the skills of two masters.
Only the photographer can see the quality of the lens and the lighting through the viewfinder.
Of course, this does not mean that there are no monitors in film movies. The monitor image of a film camera comes from the small 2-inch monitor that comes with the camera used by the focus operator to check the image, and is then connected to the large 17-inch monitor.
.
However, the picture on this monitor is particularly blurry. After all, the two-inch screen is enlarged to a 17-inch large monitor. I can only judge the angle and watch the approximate performance of the actors.
For the final image, you can only look at the finished film after printing. It will be sent for processing on the same day as the photoshoot. If there are any problems, the photo will be re-photographed.
Therefore, often at the shooting scene, the director has to ask the photographer after taking the shot, and the photographer will only say OK.
Otherwise, it would be easier for an excellent photographer to turn into a director than any other position.
With Zhang Yimou far away and Gu Changwei nearby, he can make a seamless transition from a first-class photographer to a first-class director.
Photographers and lighting masters who are not good enough can even extend the shooting cycle from two months to three months, and the 1:8 film ratio can be reduced to 1:15.
There is no problem with these two positions, basically it will be much easier for the crew.
Of course, film movies and digital movies have different requirements for actors.
But actors are easy to deal with. Mainland actors, especially first- and second-tier actors, are very cheap.
This is all determined by the relationship between supply and demand. There are too many actors and too few commercial films. It is difficult for even a first-line actor to get the lead role in a commercial film costing tens of millions of dollars throughout the year.
There are so many male leads in TV dramas, low-budget literary films, and pseudo-artistic films that you can take on as many as you want.
Therefore, the production cost of Li Qian's film, plus the publicity and distribution costs paid by Guangxian, totaled about 10 million yuan for a commercial film.
Coupled with Guangxian Xuanfa, Li Qian himself has also proved his ability through two classic Internet dramas, and he can basically choose any actor.
You won't be like Li Guangjie, who still depends on whether the other party is willing or not.
Now that I have become famous, I have a big publicity company, and I have a commercial film worth tens of millions, so first-line actors have to take the initiative to come to my door.
After all, nowadays, let alone large-scale productions worth hundreds of millions, medium-production films are basically covered by actors from Hong Kong.
Take a look at last year's "Golden Armor", "The Banquet", "Baby Project", "Scar City", "Fearless Fearless", "Dragon Tiger Gate", "Ink Attack", these are domestic movies with a box office of more than 20 million.
, except for Uncle Ge and Jet Li, none of the male protagonists are mainland actors.
By the way, there are exceptions to "Crazy Stone" and "Yun Shui Yao". The latter stars Chen Kun and cost 30 million yuan in exchange for 35 million box office.
It was even worse the year before last, with not a single one.
Mainland Mesozoic actors don't have many opportunities on the big screen.
The crew has no problem, the production cost of 7 million will be enough.
There’s no problem with the actors, there are plenty of people for Li Qian to choose from.
Xuanfa has Guangxian in charge, so there is no problem.
After eliminating all kinds of difficulties, Li Qian can then retreat and write scripts with peace of mind.
Other problems were discovered and solved gradually during filming.
Li Qian has even heard of some particularly strict crews in Hollywood. Before going to any location, they must first understand the weather conditions at this time in previous years, and record the lighting conditions at each time of day in different weather conditions.