When Sun Ling went to the kitchen to cook, Zhou Yan asked casually, "What was senior brother writing just now?"
"We were writing the soundtrack of "Cannon Strike Double Lantern"."
"It was Feng Jicai "
Zhao Jiping smiled and nodded, "It seems that you are really knowledgeable about literature. The original work is indeed written by Feng Jicai, and the movie was shot by He Ping."
"Oh. , Director He. ”
He Ping was also the director of Chang'an Factory. He lived on the same floor as Liu Qing and others, and he and Zhou Yan were close acquaintances.
“I’m almost finished writing it. I can relax a little during this period. Now I only have a film called “Feng Yue” on hand, and I haven’t even started filming yet.”
Zhou Yan nodded and said He said, "I forgot to tell you something yesterday. The soundtrack of "Alive" is about to be released. Zhao Lao has a song in it. He will share the share of the soundtrack."
Hearing that Zhao Lao Zhao Jiping was of course happy that his work would also be released together with the soundtrack, but he still waved his hand, "You are too polite. You have already paid him salary before, so forget about the share of the soundtrack. He is still young and can have this Opportunities are rare.”
Zhao Jiping is really not being polite, he really thinks so.
In his opinion, Zhou Yan was able to put Zhao Lao's music into the movie and give Zhao Lao his signature, which was already a great privilege.
And he doesn’t think much of it.
Zhou Yan said with a smile, "Brother, I really can't listen to you on this matter. It belongs to Zhao Zhang, and it must not be less. Now is a market economy, we can't follow the old path, Zhao Zhang and the others are like this If young musicians want to develop well, they must be given some substantial support. Moreover, Zhao Lao is also an adult. I will let the company deal with him later.”
“Hey, what? Hearing what you said, I suddenly felt old. That's right. The child is older, so we can't interfere too much. You can make arrangements for this matter. "
For the first time, Zhao Jiping felt that his son was here. When he grew up, it was actually last year when Zhao Zhang used his salary of several hundred yuan to buy things for him and his wife.
After Zhao Yan received the salary given to him by Zhou Yan, he only kept a few dozen yuan for pocket money. The remaining money bought a watch for Zhao Jiping and a set of clothes for Sun Ling.
“This year’s life will be better. Zhao Zhang will go back to Chang’an for a few days. If the crew has a car from Yinchuan back to Chang’an, he can also follow the car back.”
“I actually don’t. "It doesn't matter, it's mainly his mother," he said after not seeing her for a while. "
Zhou Yan smiled. Zhao Jiping is a typical traditional Chinese father. He never talks about love and longing, but they usually talk about it. During the phone call, Zhao Jiping would pretend to casually ask about Zhao Lin's situation.
……
The next day, Zhou Yan returned to Yanjing.
It is the end of the semester, and there is still a lot of work waiting for him to do in the school.
He holds the position of Assistant to the Dean of the Department. Although he is not very busy, he cannot do nothing but be a mascot.
I have been busy until June 17th, when "The Sixth Sense" premiered in Yanjing.
Originally, Zhou Yan planned to open a movie theater and invite the crew and some friends to watch a movie together.
But Xu Feng firmly disagreed and insisted on holding a lively premiere ceremony.
It just so happened that the crew of "Feng Yue" were in Yanjing these days, so Xu Feng invited the main creative team of "Feng Yue" to join them.
As for "The Sixth Sense", except for the young male protagonist Hu Ke who couldn't come because he couldn't go to school, all the main creative staff came, and naturally Wang Zuxian and Liang Jiahui were also there.
In addition to the main creative staff of the two crews, Chen Zhigu, the director of the Yanjing Factory, and Han Sanping, the deputy director, also came to the scene, which can be said to be a gathering of big names.
Wang Anyi, the editor of "Feng Yue", was also in Yanjing recently, so he came to join in the fun.
Wang Anyi and Gong Li walked together and saw Zhou Yan surrounded by people from a distance. She asked curiously, "Is he the director?"
Gong Li nodded, "Yes, Zhou Yan."
< br>"It feels a bit familiar."
Gong Li smiled, "Of course you look familiar, Zhou Yan played Chen Feipu in "Raise the Red Lantern"."
Wang Anyi has seen this Gong Li knew about the movie. When they chatted before, Wang Anyi also praised Gong Li for her good performance in the movie.
But Wang Anyi shook his head, "No, I should have seen him in other places, but I just can't remember."
"That should be his concert. "Yanjing · "Silent" concert was organized by him."
Wang Anyi still shook his head, "I probably haven't seen this concert."
"I don't know."
Gong Li also lamented that there are so many differences between the writer's circle and the film and television circle. Now Zhou Yan is quite famous in the film and television circle, and his face is relatively familiar in the film and television circle.
Moreover, Zhou Yan's music album sold millions of copies, which was quite a sensation in China, but Wang Anyi and the others didn't know anything about it.
Of course, this seems normal. Even those very famous writers in China don’t know about it.
If she had not filmed "Raise the Red Lantern", Gong Li would not have known that there was a writer like Su Tong, and if she had not filmed "Alive", she would not have known Yu Hua.
And this time, if she hadn't filmed "Feng Yue", she wouldn't even know who Ye Zhaoyan was.
On the contrary, Wang Anyi, Gong Li has heard the name before.
"Oh, by the way." Gong Li suddenly remembered something and added, "Zhou Yan is also a writer, and the film adapted from his "Tree Hole" won an award some time ago."
Speaking of "Tree" Wang Anyi knew that it was an excellent novel previously published in "Yanjing Literature", but she had never heard of the film adaptation of "Tree Hole".
""Tree Hole" was actually written by him."
Wang Anyi thought for a while and only thought of "Tree Hole", but could not remember the name of the author of "Tree Hole" name.
After a while, three identity information appeared, writer, director, and musician, and they all sounded pretty awesome.
"Sister Wang, I'm going to say hello, do you want to come with me?"
Wang Anyi waved his hand, "I'll forget it."
Seeing that Wang Anyi didn't want to go, Gong Li didn't persuade her, so she went alone Went alone.
Here Wang Anyi wandered around the venue boredly. After walking a few steps, she suddenly saw a wheelchair. The person in the wheelchair had his back to her. This figure looked familiar.
Is this... Shi Tiesheng?
Out of curiosity, she went over to take a look and saw that it was really Shi Tiesheng.
“Tiesheng?” Wang Anyi looked surprised.
Shi Tiesheng looked up at Wang Anyi, not surprised at all, "Anyi, you are here."
"Why are you here?"
Shi Tiesheng smiled He replied, "Zhou Yan and I are good friends."
"You and Zhou Yan..."
Wang Anyi just spoke, Yu Hua came from the side and said in surprise, "Hey, Sister Wang is here."
"Yu Hua, you are here too."
"Zhou Yan's new movie is released today, and we are here to support it. Sister Wang, why are you here?"
Wang Anyi hasn't spoken yet, Shi Tiesheng explained to her, "Anyi is the director of "Wind Moon" One of the screenwriters."
Shi Tiesheng had heard Zhou Yan say this before, so he didn't feel strange when he saw Wang Anyi just now.
Yu Hua didn't know the news and was quite surprised, "It's quite a coincidence. I heard that "Feng Yue" and "Farewell My Concubine" are from the same cast. I'm quite looking forward to it."
< br>"How did you and Zhou Yan know each other?" Wang Anyi asked curiously.
"Zhou Yan and I met because of the movie "Alive". He was the soundtrack director of the movie. Tiesheng and Zhou Yan have known each other for a long time."
Shi Tiesheng nodded, "Before, we were in Ditan met Zhou Yan twice and gradually became familiar with him.”
Wang Anyi joked, "Why do I feel that your circle in Yanjing is so small? Everyone knows everyone."
"It's hard to say what kind of circle it is. We came here mainly because of Zhou Yan. We just happened to meet today. , we can make an appointment for dinner. Chi Zijian seems to be in Yanjing recently."
"Okay, I will stay in Yanjing for a few more days."
I met Yu Hua. Shi Tiesheng and Wang Anyi were naturally very happy. She was not familiar with the other people present, including Gong Li. She was much more relaxed when chatting with Yu Hua and the others.
……
The process of the premiere was very simple. After Zhou Yan greeted the guests, he took Wang Zuxian and other creatives to the front to be interviewed by reporters.
There has been a lot of news related to Zhou Yan in the film and television industry recently. Reporters also took the opportunity to ask Zhou Yan questions. Even Wang Zuxian and Liang Jiahui were ignored.
Reporter: "First of all, congratulations to Director Zhou for winning the Best New Actor Award at the Hong Kong Film Awards some time ago. I think everyone must be very curious as to whether you yourself participated in "The Sixth Sense" ?"
Zhou Yan: "Yes, but it's a very small role. It's not convenient to disclose the details. You will know it later when you watch the movie."
Reporter: "Can you tell me. What are your expectations for the movie's box office? We all know that your first feature film "The Piano Boy Who Wants to Fly" achieved very good results. Is your goal this time higher than the last one?"
Zhou Yan: "The more box office the better, but I haven't set a specific goal for the time being, as long as I don't lose money."
Reporter: "You are really too modest. Recently we have also We got news that the global box office of French director Olivier's remake of "The Flying Piano Boy" has exceeded 40 million US dollars. Will this movie be released in mainland China?"
Zhou Yan: "You are asking the wrong person about this? You have to ask Olivier.”
Reporter: “After this movie is released, do you have any other plans? When can we see your third feature film?”
Zhou Yan: "Let it go, I have no plans yet."
Reporter: "Your movies have achieved very good results at the box office, but they have not won any awards. Will you compete for major awards in the future?"
Zhou Yan: "You have to say that you don't want to win awards. I must be deceiving myself, but I never make movies with the goal of winning an award. As long as it is recognized by the audience, it is equal to winning an award in my mind.”
……
Journalist. They "besieged" Zhou Yan for a while and then started asking Wang Zuxian and Liang Jiahui questions.
After the interview ended, Zhou Yan took Wang Zuxian and the others into the cinema.
When we arrived at the theater, before the movie started playing, Zhou Yan went to the front and said a few words, which probably meant thanking everyone for coming to support us.
When Zhou Yan left, Leslie Cheung turned sideways and asked Chen Kaige, "Kaige, have you seen this movie in advance?"
Chen Kaige shook his head, "I haven't seen it, but I heard it. The people in the editing workshop said that the movie is very special.”
“What does it mean by special?”
“I didn’t ask much, I’ll find out after watching it.”
Leslie Cheung nodded, said no more, and waited quietly for the movie to start.
After a while, the lights in the theater dimmed and the screen lit up.
At the beginning of the film, the opening animation of Tomson Film Company appeared, followed by the words Yanjing Film Studio, followed by the basic information of the film.
As the characters of Yanjing Studio disappeared, suspenseful music also started playing.
The music is not intense, but it is full of a sense of oppression. Listening to this music, you will know that this is not a warm family movie, it even feels like a horror and suspense film.
This movie is directed and scored by Zhou Yan, and the music will certainly not disappoint. The soundtrack even steals the show before the first shot of the movie even appears.
When the credits ended, the big screen suddenly darkened, and the entire theater fell into darkness.
Slowly, the audience saw a little dim yellow light emitting from the screen. These light spots were not obvious at first, like floating sparks on a winter night. After a while, the light spots slowly became Variables begin to connect into pieces.
The audience then discovered that it was an incandescent lamp.
Seeing the first scene in the opening scene, Chen Kaige was quite surprised. Zhou Yan's shooting techniques were much improved compared to the previous movie.
In the first shot of this movie, the lights gradually get brighter. It is a small-scale opening. The contrast between light and shadow is obvious, which perfectly matches the opening soundtrack, setting a dark tone for the movie.
The first shot hadn’t ended yet. The sound of a door opening sounded in the background, and then it transitioned to the second shot.
Using sound to bring out the camera is a technique that Zhou Yan often used in his previous movie.
Zhou Yan has a unique talent in sound, so he can always capture some auditory details.
The second shot is fixed and from a voyeuristic perspective, facing the side of a staircase.
In this voyeuristic shot, footsteps are heard first, followed by the woman's legs descending the stairs. When the woman walked down, the audience discovered that it was the heroine Joey Wong.
Wang Zuxian wore a long purple dress, passing through the light and shadow of light and dark, and slowly walked towards the camera.
The camera is very dark and the heroine is very beautiful.
Chen Kaige remembered that British director Hitchcock once said that film is an art of voyeurism, and the essence of film is voyeurism.
In this shot, the audience's subjective point of view is peeping at the heroine.
This is an unconventional photography method. The lens is at a relatively low angle of view, allowing the audience to look down. This viewpoint is visually novel, increases the realism of the picture, and increases the audience's sense of immersion. .
Just two shots left Chen Kaige stunned.
Is Zhou Yan really a genius? He has grown so fast.
Chen Kaige has seen all the things Zhou Yan has shot before, including the short film "Antfly" that won the Clermont Ferrand Award. It can be said that Zhou Yan's shooting methods are improving every time, and they are improving. Very obvious.
The time was short, and Chen Kaige could not notice all the details. He could only see the use of the camera first, but he was sure that there must be details in these pictures that he had not noticed.
The following shots highlight Zhou Yan’s mastery of the use of lenses, and also demonstrate his research on lighting.
Each picture depicts the overall lighting position in the cellar.
This kind of lighting position description with a strong sense of logic and complete details can make the audience familiar with the lighting in the scene in a short time, so that the audience's perspective will be broadened.
Chen Kaige can see these things because he is a professional director, but Leslie Cheung next to him cannot see these things.
However, although he did not understand the filming methods used by Zhou Yan, Leslie Cheung could see that the filming of this movie was indeed very high-level. In just a few shots, the audience's appetite was whetted.
Who is this woman? What is she doing in the cellar? Why does her body language suggest she is in danger? What is threatening her?
At the same time, Leslie Cheung also discovered a special point, that is, under the lens of Zhou Yan, Wang Zuxian was very different from her in other movies.
Wang Zuxian is also very beautiful in other movies, but when most directors shoot her, the shots they give her are too direct.
In Zhou Yan’s shots, what makes Wang Zuxian beautiful is not her face, but the movements, light and shadow, and environment.
Wang Anyi, who was not far from Leslie Cheung, also noticed this. Although the camera did not focus on Wang Zuxian's face or figure, it made people feel that this heroine was very beautiful.
Wang Anyi has a deeper understanding than Leslie Cheung. When she thinks that Zhou Yan is still a writer, she thinks of the characteristics of character description in Chinese literature.
The third-class appearance is briefly mentioned, the second-class appearance is described in detail, and the first-class appearance is not described.
Some people may be curious, how do you know whether it is beautiful or not without describing it?
This is the special feature of Chinese literary works in describing characters. They like to use the environment to describe characters, small bridges, flowing water, mist and rain, painted umbrellas, a woman standing in this picture, no description is needed. , everyone knows she is beautiful.
This is not only true for ancient literature, but also for modern literature.
There is a sentence in "Border Town" that describes green mountains and green waters, and a pair of eyes as clear as crystal.
This sentence does not describe Cuicui's appearance in detail, but this sentence imprints a clear and transparent girl in the mind of the reader.
The same goes for Zhou Yan’s photos of Joey Wong. Although he didn’t slap Joey Wang in the face, everything around him made the audience feel that Joey Wang was beautiful.
Only half of the light was used to highlight Wang Zuxian's fragile and weak image.
Everyone at the scene had their own interpretation and understanding of the movie, from different angles, but they all found that these shots contained a lot of information.
No shot seems to be redundant, every shot is just right and tries to tell the audience something.
Some information is relatively simple and can be seen at a glance, while other information may require a lot of thinking.
But there is not much time left for the audience to think, because the pace of the movie is very fast. After a while, the first conflict appeared. A naked man broke into the home of the hero and heroine.
Through the dialogue, the audience learned that this man was once a patient of the male protagonist. Apparently there was something wrong with the male protagonist’s treatment, and this man came here to take revenge on the male protagonist.
In the end, the man shot the hero in the abdomen and then committed suicide.
Seeing this, many viewers were confused. Is the male protagonist going to die now?
The movie has only been less than ten minutes, what will happen next?
Probably not dead.
Soon, the camera flashed to the following autumn.
The male protagonist appears again, holding a medical record in his hand.
The audience also breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that the movie was still normal and the male protagonist survived the disaster.
The man who shot himself was probably dead. The male protagonist probably felt guilty because of that incident, so he found a patient with the same condition as the man.
Be prepared to relieve the self-blame in your heart by treating this patient well.
But things are not that easy. The patient boy is very resistant to the male protagonist and is unwilling to receive treatment at all.
After that, the story developed in the direction expected by the audience. In order to make the boy accept him, the male protagonist followed the boy and tried to do the boy's job.
Later the boy told the hero that he could actually see the dead.
The male protagonist did not believe this, and neither did most of the audience. However, later, the male protagonist discovered some strange sounds in the previous recording when listening back.
Many viewers were stunned when they saw this, dear, is there really a ghost?
As the plot progressed, the audience became convinced that the boy could indeed see the undead, and because he had such a skill, he was haunted by some undead.
However, the movie is not too scary. Instead, with the help of the male protagonist, the little boy slowly opened his heart, accepted the reality that he had Yin and Yang eyes, and began to try to use his abilities to help the undead.
Up to this point, the audience feels that this is a very good, even somewhat warm redemption movie.
The male protagonist used his love and patience to guide the little boy because of his guilt for the previous patient. As the little boy became cheerful, the male protagonist was also redeemed.
But just when the audience feels that this is the movie.
At the end of the movie, the male protagonist returned home and looked at the female protagonist who was sleeping on the sofa, and suddenly heard the female protagonist murmuring in her sleep.
"Why did you leave me?"
The male protagonist didn't realize anything at this time, but just said, "I didn't leave you."
At this time, the female protagonist shrank her body and held her hands The ring inside suddenly fell to the ground.
The ring fell to the ground and rolled in front of the male protagonist.
At this time, the camera photographed the heroine's own ring, and then photographed the male protagonist's empty finger. The one on the ground turned out to be his wedding ring.
Looking at the ring, the male protagonist fell into a huge shock. He remembered the boy's words and the scene when he saw the boy for the first time.
At this time, some viewers haven’t understood it yet, but some viewers have already understood it.
The male protagonist is dead. When he was with the little boy, he was always in an undead state.
No wonder, the heroine has been ignoring him.
No wonder, every time the male protagonist approaches the female protagonist, the female protagonist will get cold.
It turns out that he has always been an undead, but he didn't know it.
The boy actually said that people die but don’t know that they are undead. At that time, many people didn’t think much about it. Now that I think about it, it turns out that he was talking about the male protagonist.
This sudden reversal directly gave many viewers goosebumps.
Especially at this moment, the background music in the movie also became very intense, pushing the emotion of the entire movie to its climax.
Leslie Cheung also had chills running down his spine. No wonder this is a very special movie. It turns out it is.
The key is that although the ending is sudden, it is not abrupt at all. The director has already given clues in the previous shots, but the audience did not think about it, so they did not take it seriously.
Now that you have seen the ending, and if you think about the details, you will understand that the director is actually leading the audience to discover the truth step by step.
But the movie did not end here. At the end, Zhou Yan suddenly appeared. He stood in the classroom, holding a book, and said to several children: "Today's story is over."
Seeing this shot, many viewers were surprised. What does this mean? The story just now was all false?
No, of course the story is false. No one would think that the story in this movie is true.
But is it necessary to say this?
Chen Kaige smiled. He knew why such a paragraph was added, just to pass the trial.
Although there is no explicit rule in mainland films that ghosts cannot appear, it does get stuck when it is submitted for review. This last shot is tantamount to a patch.
Most other viewers didn’t understand, but this did not stop them from applauding the movie. The second feature film directed by Zhou Yan did not disappoint.
Although this movie is not intense and does not have any love or action scenes, the rhythm is very tight, which can attract the audience to keep watching, and then usher in a shocking twist at the end.
Amidst the applause of the crowd, Zhou Yan stood up and bent towards the audience to express his gratitude.
The premiere ceremony is over at this point.
When the show was over, many people came to Zhou Yan to congratulate him in person.
Leslie Cheung gave a thumbs up to Zhou Yan, "This movie will definitely do well at the box office in Hong Kong."
Compared with "The Piano Boy Who Wants to Fly", this " "The Sixth Sense" is obviously more suitable for the tastes of Hong Kong audiences.
Zhou Yan laughed and said, "I'll lend you a favor. If the movie's box office in Hong Kong exceeds 15 million, I'll treat you to a meal."
"Then you won't be able to escape from this meal. I dare not say, 15 million should be no problem.”
The reason why Leslie Cheung has such confidence is not only because the subject matter of this movie is more suitable for Hong Kong audiences, but also because its cast is also very good. Tony Leung Ka Fai and Joey Wong are quite popular at the box office in Hong Kong.
Of course, this is not necessarily safe. The film market in Hong Kong is too fierce. Previously, "Green Snake" had Wang Zuxian and Maggie Cheung, and the director was Tsui Hark. Wouldn't it still be a hit?
Chen Kaige said from the side, "Everyone who meets you has a share, so you can't miss me for dinner when the time comes."
Zhou Yan waved his hand, "No problem, if the box office of "The Sixth Sense" exceeds 15 million in Hong Kong, I will treat you all to a meal."
"What about the mainland? How much box office in the mainland will you treat me to a meal? ?" Chen Kaige asked again.
“It’s hard to calculate the box office in the Mainland.”
“Isn’t there an estimate?”
“Then 20 million, if it exceeds 20 million, I will treat you Eat.”
"There's Taiwan, and Neon..."
Gong Li joked, "Then let Zhou Yan cover our food expenses for a year."
Wang Zuxian said with a smile. Said, "If the box office of "The Sixth Sense" in Taiwan can exceed 15 million, I will treat everyone to dinner."
"Hey, that's great."
Gong Li Holding Wang Zuxian's arm, he said to Zhou Yan, "Look, is it worth the invitation for our sister Xiaoxian?"
Zhou Yan nodded repeatedly, "It's worth it, of course it's worth it. I'll invite you again in the future."
"If I invite you again in the future, I'm afraid Miss Wang's salary will increase." Chen Kaige said.
In the past, Chen Kaige was not willing to use actors like Wang Zuxian. In his opinion, although Wang Zuxian was beautiful, he had no characteristics and could not fit into his dramas. However, after watching "The Sixth Sense" today, he didn't think so. Said, under Zhou Yan's lens, Wang Zuxian is really different from his previous roles.
Although there are not many roles for the heroine in this drama, Wang Zuxian was very lucky to take it.
Wang Zuxian said very generously, "It's okay. From now on, if Director Zhou asks me to make a movie, I will get a discount."
"Then where are we looking for you?" Chen Kaige asked.
Zhou Yan continued, "Then if you ask for it, I will definitely ask you for more money, otherwise you won't be able to give me a discount."
"Hey, that's not to tear down my wall. Have you repaired your western wall?”
“This is called the law of conservation of pay”
……
The box office performance of mainland movies is very modest, and news spreads relatively slowly. Even if the movies are good, they cannot become popular quickly. They all go up step by step.
So, although "The Sixth Sense" received unanimous praise when it premiered, it did not cause any sensation in society in a short period of time.
Moreover, it is difficult to count box office statistics in the Mainland. There is no detailed data for a week after the movie was released. Not to mention the box office, there is not even the number of moviegoers.
A week later, the movie was released in Xiangjiang.
Last time, Zhou Yan was unknown in Xiangjiang. The publicity of the movie was not very good at the beginning, and the movie schedule given by the cinema was also average.
But this time the situation is much better. Zhou Yan's reputation in Hong Kong is now different from what it was back then. Moreover, this movie also includes Tony Leung Ka-fai and Joey Wong, so the cinema is naturally willing to schedule the film. (End of this chapter)