Chapter 345 Nortel Lecture
“In my more than ten years of working in the industry, the question I have been asked most often is: Little Gilbert, why do you have so many wild ideas?
My answer to this is not that my ideas are great, but that I have the ability to turn them into reality. "
"Teacher, is it like "The Matrix"?" a student asked loudly.
Now the students attending the class can show off to others when they go out. They have attended little Gilbert's class, so they are his students.
Regardless of whether Little Gilbert admits it or not, at least here at Nortel, Little Gilbert is famous all over the world.
Recently, the University of Southern California also wants to hire Gilbert Jr. to teach as a visiting professor, but Gilbert is still considering it.
However, he used to see the teacher being high-spirited on the podium, and now he has become addicted to being a teacher. But there were a lot of students attending his class. For example, this time, more than a thousand people squeezed into the small auditorium.
Some students had to listen to little Gilbert's lectures even if they were standing.
This is a rare opportunity to learn and join in the fun, and students will certainly not miss it.
Therefore, not only students from the directing department, but also students from other departments such as the acting department and photography department came to join in the fun, which in turn made the directing department students glare.
"This is a course for our directing department. Why are you acting students joining in the fun?"
"Who says that the acting department can't take directing classes? Acting and directing complement each other, and directing Little Gilbert is not exclusive to your directing department."
"Director Gilbert Jr. is the honorary chairman of our directing department."
"Little Director Gilbert is still the honorary principal! The sign outside the door doesn't say it, so students from the directing department can only listen to the class. Make way for me. I want to sit here."
Facing these scoundrels, the students in the directing department felt as if their belongings had been robbed, but they had no choice but to look at the teachers and school leaders who didn't say anything!
However, when little Gilbert came to the school to give lectures, the ones who were most shocked were the freshmen who had just entered school.
I used to hear from old students that little Gilbert would come to the school to give lectures every September and October, and the freshmen were still half-convinced.
But I didn't expect to see little Gilbert himself, alive.
Little Gilbert is a legend, and his reputation is much greater than that of directors such as Guo Shi Ge Ge Chen.
This is thanks to the "Lord of the Rings" series. If this series of movies had not been filmed on Chinese soil and achieved world-renowned results, little Gilbert would not have such a high reputation here.
When faced with the students’ questions, Gilbert Jr. told the truth: “Many people dream of impressing the top management of the film company with an exquisite script, but it is actually impossible.
If "The Matrix" was written by a new screenwriter or director, it would never be available to the audience so quickly.
But if I mention this project, the film company will definitely invest in this project based on their trust in me.
Therefore, I advise all young people to never imagine that they will soar into the sky without making any preparations.
Someone said at the beginning that I got my first directing opportunity because of my relationship with director Spielberg. This is correct. But if I am not well prepared, I will fail the first time.
For a young director, the price of failure may be that he will not get any opportunities for more than ten years.
So even if you have connections, whether there are big shots who appreciate you, or whether the film company takes a fancy to you, sufficient preparation is the prerequisite for success. "
Little Gilbert spoke from the bottom of his heart, telling the truth, and he did not shy away from the fact that he got his first directing opportunity through connections.
For these students, the only way out is to still embrace their ideals and work hard to find every opportunity after recognizing the reality.
As for the various problems faced after leaving school, that will happen later.
The class lasted for more than two hours. Later, little Gilbert interacted with the students and answered some questions from the students.
For example, when it comes to creative issues between directors and screenwriters, little Gilbert’s answer is: “The first thing you need to convince is the film company, so that the film company can maintain enough trust in you and not interfere with your creation.
If you feel you have enough creativity when it comes to topic selection, then boldly propose it, preferably one that is not expensive.
Looking back at the history of film development, we will find a truth, that is, the greater the investment, the more the film models converge. This is actually related to the conservatism of film companies.
Because film companies dare not take risks on a film project with an investment of more than hundreds of millions of dollars and try new ideas, they can only make films based on past successful models. "
"Teacher, is this also the reason why there are so few original movies in Hollywood?" a student asked.
"There are actually quite a few original films," little Gilbert explained: "It's just that original films are more concentrated in small and medium-cost productions. Original films are rarely seen in large-scale A-level movies, and few original films are successful."
A student at the bottom sighed: "But actually, teacher, you have a lot of original films. I have watched many of your films."
"But my most successful one so far is actually the "Lord of the Rings" series, which are adapted from novels, isn't it?" Little Gilbert laughed.
"That's true..." The student thought, and it seemed that it was the same.
"Chicago," which won Gilbert Jr. the Oscar for Best Director, was adapted from a Broadway musical, and "The Lord of the Rings," the highest-grossing film, was adapted from a novel.
This indeed proves that adapted films have advantages over mainstream commercial films that original films cannot match. Of course, this does not mean that original movies are necessarily inferior to adapted movies. Although the box office of "The Matrix" is not as good as that of the "Lord of the Rings" series and the awards are not as good as "Chicago", it has already left its name in the history of science fiction movies.
Anyone who mentions Hollywood science fiction movies in the future will not be able to avoid "The Matrix" by Gilbert Jr.
It is worth mentioning that "The Matrix Reloaded", the sequel to "The Matrix" directed by James Gunn, has already grossed US$746 million at the global box office, which is a pretty good result.
"The Matrix: Revolutions" has been scheduled to be released in early July next summer and will continue to harvest box office.
For this series, Warner's TV drama department has some ideas. They want to make a series that tells the story before "The Matrix".
Gilbert Jr. communicated with Warner's TV drama department and provided them with some ideas, including the war between humans and robot AI, how robot AI wins, how the world became like this, etc.
One advantage of being in Hollywood is that you don’t have to worry about big scissors. Although you don’t have to say what you want to shoot, at least there are no restrictions on most subjects.
If a movie or TV series with a similar theme were made in China, Lao Tian told little Gilbert, the superiors would think it was the end of the world, wouldn’t that mean we would no longer exist? This is absolutely not okay...
Therefore, sometimes the creator's thinking conflicts with the manager's thinking, which makes it very annoying.
Of course, the situation is different, and you can't just use this to attack the big scissors. Facts have proven that despite limitations, talented directors can still make good films.
Hollywood doesn't have many restrictions, but it also has a lot of bad movies.
In the final analysis, the creation of movies has something to do with restrictions and policies, but the human head is the decisive factor.
If the industry is underdeveloped, you can develop the industry. If you don't have the technology, you can learn the technology. The biggest problem is that these people don't have the brains.
Unfortunately, few people realize this.
There is also a very interesting thing. After "The Matrix" became popular, a Brazilian cartoonist came forward and accused Gilbert Jr. of plagiarizing his unpublished comic manuscript and demanded compensation.
This kind of thing is ridiculous. If the manuscript has not been published, how could little Gilbert know the story in his manuscript unless the cartoonist showed it to a friend and the friend betrayed it to little Gilbert?
There is no shortage of people in this world who want to join in the fun and get into trouble, and this Brazilian cartoonist is not a fool either.
He simply used this matter to attract attention to himself. There are many similar things in Hollywood.
Disney and Warner are even more anxious than Little Gilbert in this regard, so let the legal department handle it!
After finishing his lecture at Nortel, little Gilbert also ended his trip to China and embarked on a journey back to North America.
He returned to North America in mid-October, when "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" had a North American box office of $579 million. At this stage, the film is actually ready for release.
After all, both Warner and Disney plan to release "The Two Towers" on DVD in November, so there's no point in waiting any longer.
North America still maintains small-scale screenings. It is entirely due to Disney and Warner that they have done a good job and retained the number of theaters in order to win Oscar nominations.
During this period, "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" successively earned more than 100 million U.S. dollars at the overseas box office, officially pushing the film's global box office past 1.5 billion U.S. dollars to 1.5125 billion U.S. dollars.
It seems impossible to exceed the box office of 1.6 billion US dollars, but this box office is enough to ensure that "The Two Towers" will win the North American and global box office championship this year.
However, such titles are of no use to little Gilbert. Others would be excited for a long time if they won the weekly box office champion. He won the annual box office champion, which was as easy as drinking water.
When "The Two Towers" is about to end its theatrical tour, just like last year, what countless movie fans are looking forward to is undoubtedly "The Return of the King."
On October 20, Gilbert Jr. announced on his social media account that the upcoming DVD of "The Two Towers" will add half an hour of deleted scenes, as well as behind-the-scenes footage.
In the deluxe edition DVD, the trailer for "The Return of the King" will be released for the first time.
This has undoubtedly whetted the appetite of movie fans, who are full of expectations for the upcoming DVD release.
In addition, Gilbert Jr. also revealed that he is about to produce a small-budget film, and all the work for "Return of the King" remains is promotion.
As a restless person, little Gilbert expressed his intention to make a low-budget movie to spend this boring time.
At the end, little Gilbert also revealed that he will film a story about pirates next year.
He had dreamed of becoming a pirate and going on adventures since he was a child, but it failed to come true, so he hoped to make a film to realize his dream.
However, these last two pieces of information did not attract the attention of movie fans. Everyone's attention was focused on "The Return of the King".
As a North American distributor, Disney announced the schedule of "The Return of the King" early and will be released on the first weekend of the summer season in May next year.
For this powerful opponent, other film companies have one strategy, and that is: hide as far away as possible.
Everyone knows that next year will be the final chapter of the "Lord of the Rings" series, and by then the film will explode with incredible energy.
(End of chapter)