Since it was stipulated in 1984 that some enterprises and institutions must operate independently and be responsible for their own profits and losses, literary publishing houses such as "Science Fiction World" have had to establish some popular literary magazines to make up for the canceled subsidies and subsidies, while the national studios have The situation is similar and not optimistic.
In the past two years since the rise of the fifth generation of directors, Chinese movie audiences have dropped by almost 5.2 billion.
Many studios released movies that could only sell a dozen or even a few copies, resulting in huge losses.
However, the money for making these movies is no longer the same as before. It is allocated and subsidized by superiors, and most of it is borrowed from banks. The studio's profit and loss problems and debt crisis are becoming more and more serious, endangering the Survive and develop, the entire film industry's thoughts became confused.
Whether we support entertainment films or encourage literary and artistic films has been completely put on the table.
Faced with such a multiple-choice question, Fang Yan did not immediately take sides. Instead, he seemed to be taking sides and said:
"There was a movie that came out last year called "Yellow Earth". I don't know. Have you ever seen it? "
As soon as these words came out, Shi Fangyu, Teng Jinxian, Zhong Tanfei, Xie Fei and others nodded.
“What do you think of this movie?”
Fang Yan looked around with a smile.
People from the "literary aesthetic" camp were the first to stand up and unequivocally praise "Yellow Earth":
"The impact this movie has brought to us can only be described in two words. It’s ‘shocking’!”
“Yes, Zhang Yimou’s photography and art in “Yellow Earth” continue the work of “That Mountain” The "picture and color" narrative style of "That Man, That Dog" once again subverts the relationship between traditional narrative and image in Chinese films, placing 'image' above 'narrative'."
"This is not true. It can be said that it is not one of the representative works of the fifth generation of young directors!”
“…”
The praises are overwhelming. In dialect, many film critics can even be heard enthusiastically praising Chen Kaige and Zhang Yimou's anti-traditional film model of "downplaying the plot", "downplaying the characters" and "downplaying the theme", and calling it "modern". movie".
"Do modern movies have to downplay plots, characters, and themes?"
Xia Yan objected with a straight face, "I don't think so."
Zhong Tanfei nodded in agreement and said: "If according to your opinion, "The Man and the Dog in the Mountain" is not a modern movie?"
"Of course "The Man and the Dog in the Mountain" is considered a modern movie!"
People in the "literary aesthetic" camp replied almost in unison.
After all, if "The Mountain, That Man, That Dog", the pioneering work of the fifth generation, is not a modern movie, what are "Yellow Earth" and others?
"Then, here comes the problem."
Zhong Tanfei and Xia Yan looked at each other and smiled, ""The Mountain, That Man, That Dog" has a clear character relationship and a clear plot story. There are also profound themes and connotations, but I can't find any similarities in "Yellow Earth", and there are even some parts that I can't understand at all."
Fang Yan was surprised, "Zhong Laozhen read it. Don’t you understand? ”
Zhong Tanfei openly admitted that even if he watched "Yellow Earth" three times, he still couldn't understand it.
Xia Yan and other film festival veterans also agreed, criticizing "Yellow Earth" for not telling a good story at all.
Seeing that the two camps are at war with each other, Dialect is like a man who has fun, and he wants to add another fire:
"I see that the representative of Xiying Studio is also here, can you tell me about "Huang Yan"? What is the status of the copies of "The Land" so far? "
"To be honest with you, the copies of "The Yellow Earth" are not selling particularly well. "
Under the watchful eyes of everyone, the representative of Xiying Studio told the truth. He had only sold about 30 units in a year, barely keeping his capital.
“Obviously it has received rave reviews, but why is the response from the audience and the market like this?”
Fang Yan asked if there had been any seminars held within Xiying Film Studio to analyze and study the problems. .
Representatives of Xiying Studio said bluntly: "Director Wu and others feel that "Yellow Earth" is essentially a literary film, not an entertainment film, regardless of content, form, narrative rhythm and aesthetics. It is not friendly to ordinary audiences and is not very popular.”
“It seems that “Yellow Earth” attracts more filmmakers than movie audiences.”
Look left and right in dialect.
“There must be a threshold for appreciation of works of art. If you cannot reach this threshold, your understanding of the work will not be too profound.”
Some people retorted: “Artistic films have always been like this. , the audience should reflect on their own aesthetic level. Has it improved over the years? "
Fang Yan frowned, "There can be a threshold for literary and artistic films, but this threshold must not prevent the general audience from going to see the movie."
"But literary and artistic films are like this, and the audience only needs to watch them. That’s fine, but we filmmakers have a lot to think about.”
"If Chinese films want to develop and integrate with international standards, they cannot do without these literary and artistic films and these avant-garde films to explore."
"Our entertainment films cannot compare with Hollywood or Hong Kong films. If Chinese films want to Overtaking in corners, literary and artistic films are the only way out!”
Someone stepped forward and resolutely defended the “literary and aesthetic” line.
“But you have ignored the most important point. This will do more harm than good to both the studio and the audience.”
Dialect unceremoniously pointed out the 1980s China What's wrong with the film industry.
These days, the pursuit and creation of artistic films far outweighs the focus on the market and audiences.
It is completely contrary to the needs of film studios, film markets, and film audiences. It is equivalent to "a car running on two lanes, not taking the same road." The reason for this is purely due to today's literary and artistic films, especially It is a fifth-generation film with investment and backing from state-owned film studios.
It is precisely because they do not have to worry about box office and profit that they have given this group of fifth-generation directors and pioneers the soil and space to explore the survival of films.
It can be said that the fifth-generation directors like Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige were the beneficiaries of the planned film system, but the later sixth-generation directors such as Jia Zhangke, Zhang Yang, Wang Xiaoshuai, and Lu Chuan were not so lucky. They faced It is an increasingly commercialized movie market, and box office is the number one priority!
So, the decline of domestic films in the 1980s and 1990s was not only due to the impact of TV series, Hong Kong films, Hollywood films, pirated discs, etc., but also because of these filmmakers who did not understand commercial films, in order to pursue literary films and international films. Awards are gradually becoming disconnected from the audience and the market.
For example, "The Promise", "Man Jiang Hong", "Turandot: The Origin of the Curse"...
The most exaggerated one is "749 Games", which is also known as the best among domestic science fiction films along with "Shanghai Fortress" "Crouching dragon and phoenix chick"!
As "exploration" goes to "extremes" and even "extremes", the films produced by these spoiled directors are often "zero copies".
From studios to movie theaters, they often cannot make ends meet, lose all their money, and eventually go bankrupt or reduce production.
After all, what can really win the audience and the market are not those "artistic films" and "avant-garde films", but the entertainment films that are now spurned, despised and rejected by the film industry and the media industry, and this about The discussion of "entertainment films" will determine the future direction of Chinese films.
………… Faced with the fact that literary and artistic films are losing money and not making money, everyone is arguing and talking, and the atmosphere at the scene is getting more and more tense.
Looking at Fang Yan who was sucked into the center of the whirlpool, Gong Cong looked worried and his palms were all sweaty.
Zhu Lu was not much better, her anxious heart beating faster and faster, especially when the representative of Xiying Studio stood up.
“As for how to make a profit, our Director Wu gradually explored and summed up a set of ideas from movies such as "Saving Private Ryan" and "River Without Navigation Beacon", which is to make "Yellow Earth" 》These films were taken abroad and signed up for foreign film festivals”
“Hawaii Film Festival, Cannes Film Festival, Berlin Film Festival, Venice Film Festival, and even the Oscars.”
"Any work that can win important awards at overseas film festivals can completely sell the film rights to international film companies on the spot."
"Then bring this award-winning work back to the country for release, with the bonus of awards, naturally It can attract more audiences to the cinema."
"Just like "The Man from the Mountain". Like "Dog", the copies did not sell well in China at first, but it caused a sensation in Japan, and won the best foreign language film from the Japan Film Academy. It immediately attracted huge attention and discussion in China, and the sales of copies and overseas copyrights were significant. Improve!”
“…………”
In an instant, the whole hall was in an uproar.
Everyone was whispering to each other, intensely discussing the feasibility of Wu Tianming's idea.
Fang Yan was greatly surprised by the model of "win awards abroad, release domestically", but later on, Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige, Lou Ye, Jia Zhangke and other fifth and sixth generation directors have always done this. I didn't expect this reputation to be ruined. Wu Tianming actually came up with a mixed solution.
Zhong Tanfei firmly objected: "Winning awards is certainly a good thing, but there are only so many international film festivals every year. The works that can be shortlisted for important awards are already very rare, and the ones that win awards are even rarer. Number.”
Then he looked at the people in the literary and artistic aesthetic camp, "Can we just expect one or two works to smooth out the losses caused by artistic films to the studio?"
There was silence for a while, you looked at me, I looked at You, but no one can answer this question.
In the end, we had to repeat the same old tune, and once again brought out "Saving Private Ryan" and "That Mountain, That Man, That Dog" to express support.
“I want to clarify here that, strictly speaking, “The Mountain, That Man, That Dog” is indeed a literary film.”
Fang Yan said with a smile: “But “Saving Private Rui” "Well" is not, it is a commercial film!"
Hearing this, everyone including Zhong Tanfei was shocked, with a look of disbelief on their faces.
“To be more precise, it is a war film with the main theme that combines commerce and art.”
The dialect is serious.
"Main theme!?"
Shi Fangyu, Teng Jinxian and other people in the film bureau suddenly became energetic, and they always felt that this new word had great appeal.
Xia Yan said with great interest: "Xiao Fang, please tell everyone about this 'main theme'."
Fang Yanyan explained briefly and comprehensively, "Carry forward the feelings of family and country. "," "embodying the spirit of the times," "highlighting mainstream values," "achieving commercial success," and other words made the "main theme commercial film" highly valued by the leaders of the culture, publicity, radio and television departments present here.
"How can commercial films be linked to the main theme?"
"Yes, commercial films are entertainment films. Movies for entertainment do not seem to match the main theme!"
"Teacher Fang, no I know your 'main theme commercial film' Is there any basis for the statement? "
"..."
Fang Yan responded calmly, "From a film theory perspective, entertainment films cannot simply be compared with commercial films. Draw an equal sign.”
"The concept of entertainment films is too all-encompassing. I think it is superficial and empty. Moreover, there is no such thing as 'entertainment films' abroad. It is better to use genre films to distinguish them, which can not only be in line with international standards, but also be beneficial. The development of Chinese films in the future. "
"Can entertainment films be renamed genre films so that they can be linked to the main theme? "
The editor of "Contemporary Film" threw out his own question. question.
“There are many types of films, including narrative films, war films, science fiction films, kung fu films, horror films, comedy films, romance films, etc.”
Dialect said: “There are some suitable ones. There are also types of films that are not suitable for spreading truth, goodness and beauty and highlighting the main theme.”
Then there are countless examples. For example, "Love in Lushan Mountain" is just a pure romance film, while "Wrangler" is a romance film with the main theme.
Another example is "Wreaths Under the Mountain". Like "Saving Private Ryan", it is also a war movie with the main theme, but the former shows Chinese values, while the latter shows American values, but the same commercial results are achieved. A huge success.
"Swish, swish, swish."
At this moment, more and more people are no longer satisfied with listening, and simply take out pen and paper and write it down as if they have found a treasure.
Especially reporters, screenwriters and critics of film-related newspapers such as "Movie Illustrated", "Popular Cinema", "Contemporary Film" and so on.
"But horror films like "The Ring" are naturally not suitable for integrating into the main theme."
Fang Yan said: "In addition, there are comedies, supernatural films, literary films, etc. Adding the 'main melody' to it would be a fool's errand The head is placed on the head of a donkey, and it ends up with a "four different looks", so distinguishing the type of entertainment film is the prerequisite for making a main theme movie. "
"Well said!"
Xia Yan’s eyes lit up and he clapped his hands in joy.
Suddenly, someone responded and clapped one after another. The roar of applause gradually drowned out the sound of controversy.
Gong Zhen was surprised to find in the crowd that the ones who applauded the loudest were the representatives sent by major studios to attend the meeting.
After all, in the huge film industry, those who criticize the commercialization and entertainment of films the most are actually film critics, theorists, and magazine editors. Of course, many studios also hold the same attitude. , but the feedback from the market and audience couldn’t be more obvious.
Since 1980, the so-called "entertainment films" and "genre films" have had the highest attendance for many years.
So far, the output of entertainment films has actually exceeded 50% of the annual output of Chinese films at that time.
Whether they want money or face, studios across the country are in a dilemma, but at such a crossroads, Fangyan, the guiding light of the literary and art world, once again brings them hope. , pointing out a new way to save face and make money——
That’s the main theme type film!
Teacher Fang, you are so talented! (End of this chapter)