"The Sixth Sense" has grossed more than 13 million U.S. dollars at the box office in North America, which is a moderate miracle for Chinese-language films.
And this miracle has had some wonderful effects on the development of Chinese-language films.
Before the final North American box office results of "The Sixth Sense" were released, Xiangjiang Golden Harvest Film Company sensed a business opportunity.
Nowadays, some actors in Xiangjiang are seeking to enter Hollywood, especially Jackie Chan, and Golden Harvest Company is also vigorously promoting Jackie Chan and wants to promote him to Hollywood.
Therefore, when Golden Harvest filmed "Red Zone" last year, they wanted to use this movie as a stepping stone to open the door to Hollywood.
In January, the movie was released in Hong Kong and was a box office success.
Sending "Red Zone" to North America for release was already decided during the filming process. It is expected that the film will land in North America early next year.
However, after "The Sixth Sense" was released in North America, Golden Harvest's ideas changed. They became more urgent and wanted to send some movies before "Red Zone".
Therefore, before New Year's Eve, Golden Harvest was contacting American film producers, trying to send their previously filmed films to North America for release.
Because of the success of "The Sixth Sense", some American film producers have become more interested in Chinese movies, so Golden Harvest quickly found a buyer.
In the end, American film producers took a liking to "Police Story 3: Super Cop".
The reason why I fell in love with this movie is very simple. This movie released in 1992 won the global box office championship of Chinese-language movies that year and had very good results.
And the director of this movie, Tang Jili, is also the director of "Red Zone".
A few days after "The Sixth Sense" was released at the North American box office, some media in Hong Kong reported that "Police Story 3" was about to land in North America. The film will be released in North America in mid-March. .
Many people are looking forward to this movie, especially some film companies. They want to know whether Chinese-language movies can be popular in North America. Just a "The Sixth Sense" cannot explain the problem.
Zhou Yan doesn't have the energy to care about these things. He is currently actively preparing for "Spring of the Cowherd Class".
The school has been built, but the scenery work has just begun.
However, Zhou Yan is not worried at all about the scenery production, because the scenery production work of "The Spring of the Cowherd Class" was done personally by the Yang Zhan family. This is also the support of Yanjing Studio to their crew.
For a scenery master like Yang Zhanjia, the scenery creation in "The Spring of the Cowherd Class" is simply a piece of cake, and Zhou Yan has already completed the preliminary design of the scenery. The team only needs to follow the design. At most, they will make some modifications based on the original design.
It was Zhou Yan who provided the framework, and Yang Zhanjia and the others were responsible for enriching the details.
Zhou Yan spent the first week of March in Jiangjuntuo. He personally followed the production team and paid attention to every detail in the school.
Although most of the scenery has been designed in advance, what is on paper may not necessarily be copied on site.
Sometimes, after the on-site production work is completed, if Zhou Yan finds any problems, he will raise them on the spot and discuss the modification plan with Yang Zhanjia.
During this period, Zhou Yan also learned a lot.
Although it is said that they built a complete school, in fact, some shots cannot be shot with real scenes. Some "mechanisms" must be built on the original real scenes to facilitate shooting. The use of time lenses.
If you want to have fun while making a movie, you need to rely on these "mechanisms".
While discussing with Yang Zhanjia, Zhou Yan also got a lot of inspiration. For example, he suddenly had the idea to shoot a set of shots that were transported from the inside of the mirror to the outside of the mirror.
Yang Zhanjia was very experienced. He told Zhou Yan that it could be achieved with a one-way mirror, but Zhou Yan also wanted to take pictures of the people in the mirror while moving the mirror.
This became difficult, because there was basically no way to ensure that the lens would not wear through. Later, the two discussed it and thought that they could find a stand-in and sit opposite the mirror to replace the person in the mirror, so that it could be achieved A 360-degree rotating lens.
……
On the last day Zhou Yan stayed in Jiangjuntuo, Xia Guobao came to find him.
Last year Zhou Yan "threw" Li Haining and Xia Guobao to Jiangjuntuo and made them suffer with the construction team. The project manager Kan Weiming implemented Zhou Yan's words and made arrangements for the two children. A lot of work.
At first, the two children were very excited and found the work on the construction site very interesting, but after a few days of working, they realized how powerful it was.
Compared with studying in the studio, the work on the construction site is too hard, especially when the weather is cold, getting up in the morning is a very test of willpower.
So after a few days of work, the two children regretted it.
However, these two children were quite brave. Although they regretted it, they did not clamor to Zhou Yan to go back. They really persisted until now.
Later, when the school was built and the construction team withdrew, Zhou Yan did not let them leave. Instead, he asked them to help with the scenery, props and other teams.
Zhou Yan was looking at the landscape drawings drawn by Yang Zhan's family. When he saw Xia Guobao coming to see him, he put the drawing down and asked with a smile, "Guobao, what do you want from me?"
Xia Guobao pinched the corner of his clothes in embarrassment and hesitated for a long time before speaking, "Teacher Zhou, we are a bit lacking in singing practice. I'm worried that the effect will not be good during post-production."
一After hearing this, Zhou Yan knew what Xia Guobao wanted to say.
"So, you want to go back to the studio and strengthen your training?"
"Yeah." Xia Guobao nodded repeatedly.
Zhou Yan smiled, pointed to the chair opposite and said, "Sit down."
Xia Guobao hesitated for a moment, then walked over and sat down.
"Sit and wait for a while, I will read the pictures first."
"Okay."
Zhou Yan nodded and started to look at the pictures.
Looking at it, an hour has passed.
The longer Xia Guobao sat, the more uneasy he became, but he did not dare to disturb Zhou Yan.
Zhou Yan couldn't help but smile when he saw Xia Guobao's nervous look. He knew the situation of these two children here.
It is said that when they have nothing to do, these two children will also practice singing by themselves.
People are so strange. Sometimes if you pull him hard, he always wants to escape. But if you push him out appropriately, he will run over again with all his strength.
During the days when they were learning to sing in the studio, singing has become an indispensable part of these two children’s lives, but they are not aware of it, so they feel annoyed when they are learning.
But during this time in Jiangjuntuo, after leaving the studio, no one caught them practicing every day. Instead, they realized that they could no longer live without music.
On the one hand, the hardship at the construction site is part of it, but more importantly, they discovered that life without music is truly boring.
Looking at the nervous Xia Guobao, Zhou Yan put down the drawings again, and then said, "I won't take you back this time."
"Huh?" Xia Guobao was stunned.
Although he had realized before that Zhou Yan might not take them back, the moment he heard the answer, he was still very surprised and disappointed.
Xia Guobao pursed his lips and stood up slowly without any further fight with Zhou Yan, "I understand, Teacher Zhou."
This is the relationship between Xia Guobao and Li Haining The difference is that if it was Li Haining, he would definitely have to fight with Zhou Yan, and he might even get into trouble.
Just when Xia Guobao turned to leave, Zhou Yan suddenly said, "Although I won't take you back, you don't have to work with the crew in the future."
Xia Guobao looked at Zhou Yan and blinked. Blinking, a little puzzled, "Then we, just stay here?"
He doesn't quite understand, since they don't want them to work here, why are they still here?
"The movie is about to start. In order to help the students find their groove as soon as possible, starting next week, all students will come to Jiangjun Tuo to study. This will become a real school, and all of you will Will we study with the teacher here?
“Are we going to school here?”
"Well, you will all go to school here until the end of the filming. I will send special teachers to teach you knowledge."
"Are there any music classes?"
"Course schedule It will be posted on the classroom door on the first day of school, and you can just take a look at it then."
Xia Guobao was quite happy to hear that they were going to stay for class. Although they couldn't go back, they could still attend classes here. It's very good, and according to Teacher Zhou, many students will come together.
If you have a companion, at least it won't be too boring.
"Teacher Zhou, I understand. I will definitely study hard."
Zhou Yan squinted and smiled, "Let me remind you one thing, your classmates are more individual. Get along with them. You should pay attention to it.”
Xia Guobao didn’t pay much attention to Zhou Yan’s reminder.
No matter how individual you are, can you be more individual than Haining? Students with personality like Haining can play well. He wasn't worried at all about the other students.
It’s not like Mr. Zhou would find a group of ruffians to make a movie, right?
Seeing that Xia Guobao didn't care much, Zhou Yan didn't say anything.
There is a high probability that the future study life will not be as beautiful as Xia Guobao thought.
In order to allow students to enter the state, Chidi School will implement the same system as in the movie, strictly controlling the children, and most of this group of students are restless teenagers.
In order to select these students, the director team spent a lot of effort.
Many students seem to be supporting roles, but it is not easy to choose them because these characters have strict character settings, and the selection must be based on the character settings.
In fact, there is an advantage to letting students come to school here, that is, it can not affect the academic performance of these students to the greatest extent, although the academic level of many students is not good enough.
After Xia Guobao walked out of the office, Li Haining quickly ran over, "What's going on? Why did you stay in there for so long? Did Teacher Zhou give you ideological education?"
"No." Xia Guobao shook his head, "Teacher Zhou and I didn't say a few words in total."
"Not a few words?" Li Haining looked surprised, "It took you more than an hour to get in." Well, you haven’t said a few words for so long?”
“Teacher Zhou is busy looking at the drawings, and I have been waiting for him.”
"Oh, what about the result? What did he say, will he take us back?"
"No."
Hearing the word "no", Li, who was originally excited, Haining was suddenly discouraged, "Old Zhou, this guy is so cruel." The original "Teacher Zhou" suddenly became "Old Zhou".
“But.”
"But what?"
"However, Teacher Zhou said that we don't need to help with the work later. Other students will be here in a few days, and Teacher Zhou will also send some teachers over to let us Classes are here as usual."
"Classes are here as usual...that's not bad." Li Haining nodded, "It seems like it's about to start, so Teacher Zhou wants us to get into the zone as soon as possible."
"Old Zhou" became "Teacher Zhou" again.
Xia Guobao nodded, "Well, that's what Teacher Zhou said."
As for the reminder Zhou Yan gave him, he didn't tell Li Haining because he didn't take it to heart at all.
......
The next day, Zhou Yan left Jiangjuntuo and returned to Xicheng District.
Not long after he arrived home, he received a call from Xu Junrong.
"Teacher Zhou, I want to tell you some good news."
"What good news?"
"We have signed Wu Bai."
Zhou Yan's eyes lit up, "This is indeed good news, Manager Xu, you did a good job."< br>
“This is also my responsibility, but this time in order to sign Wu Bai, we gave him very high conditions, which are basically close to the standards of a first-line singer, and we also paid him a sum of 460,000. The liquidated damages, including his band, were all signed together. Also, we didn’t get the copyright for the album he produced before.”
Hearing this condition, Zhou Yan smiled. , "It doesn't matter, as long as you can sign it."
What Xu Junrong said, the only thing that made Zhou Yan feel regretful was that he did not get the copyright of the previous two albums, but this is normal. It would be good if Rolling Stone could let people go, so how could they still give in on this?
Of course, it’s a pity that it’s only a little bit, not too much.
Wu Bai is still some time away from his creative peak. Compared with the previous two albums, his subsequent albums are much more valuable.
Moreover, there is a lot of room for manipulation when it comes to copyright. You can re-record the hardcover version or the special edition and change the name later and it will still work.
“The boss means to hold a lively signing ceremony for Wu Bai.”
"No problem, just do what the boss wants. After signing Wu Bai, you have to get some snacks. We don't have many singers in our company now, so we should focus more resources on him."
Zhou Hong wants to Zhou Yan certainly understood what it meant to hold the signing ceremony with great fanfare. Zhou currently has little strength, so he can use this incident to promote his company, and at the same time tell the artists that their company attaches great importance to artists.
Pushing Wu Bai out might make Zhou more attractive to Taiwanese artists.
"I know this, after all, it cost so much to sign him. I'm going to arrange a live album for him first and release it in a few months."
Zhou Yan smiled. , Xu Junrong really refused to suffer losses. As soon as he signed Wu Bai, he wanted to let Wu Bai help him make money.
The live album is to record the version of Wu Bai's live performance and make it into an album, which can avoid the copyright issues of the original two albums.
“Of course there is no problem with this live album, but we should pay more attention to his new album and the concert.”
Hearing Zhou Yan say this, Xu Junrong laughed, “What are you doing? The words really spoke to Wu Bai's heart. When I went to sign him this time, he had one request, which was to hold a concert. "
For a singer, holding a concert is a big deal. It’s so attractive that many singers’ goal is to hold a grand concert.
There is a big difference between whether a singer has held a concert or not.
"Since he wants to do it, then prepare it for him."
"Understood."
After hanging up the phone from Xu Junrong, Zhou Yan was in a good mood. Although Zhou's company is now There are not many singers, but there is No. 43 Baojia Street, plus Wu Bai, this lineup is already quite good.
If we sign a few more potential newcomers later, the team will basically be set up.
As for the actors, one is Chen Hong and the other is Ning Jing, both of whom are pretty good.
...
The popularity of "The Sixth Sense" lasted until mid-March, when "Police Story 3" took away the popularity.
Unlike "The Sixth Sense", which was ignored when it was first released, "Police Story 3" performed quite well when it was first released in North America, with a box office of nearly US$4 million in its first weekend.
This box office directly created a new record, which is the box office record for the first weekend of a Chinese-language film released in North America. No Chinese-language film has had such a good start before.
After all, except for "The Sixth Sense", several other Chinese-language movies only grossed more than US$7 million at the box office.
"Farewell My Concubine" was so popular at the time that it only grossed over 5 million US dollars at the box office in North America. This means that "Police Story 3" will most likely surpass the final box office of "Farewell My Concubine" in its first week.
Facts have proved that "Police Story 3" has indeed done it. The film earned more than 5.4 million U.S. dollars at the box office in the first seven days of its release in North America, becoming the top box office ranking of Chinese-language films released in North America. Top four.
On top of it are "The Night Banquet" worth 7 million, "Eating and Drinking Man and Woman" worth 7.3 million, and "The Sixth Sense" worth 13 million.
It is basically a sure thing to surpass "The Banquet" and "Eat Drink". It depends on whether it can surpass "The Sixth Sense". If the box office of "Police Story 3" finally surpasses "The Sixth Sense", That would set a new record.
Another week later, the box office of "Police Story 3" exceeded 12 million US dollars, leaving only over 1 million US dollars behind the box office of "The Sixth Sense".
The film will be released in North America in half a month.
In the remaining half month, it will be too easy for "Police Story 3" to get more than one million US dollars at the box office.
So, when the box office of "Police Story 3" reached 12 million US dollars, major media were already reporting that this movie would reach the top and become the new king.
At the same time, some media did not forget to criticize "The Sixth Sense" and said that "The Sixth Sense" holds the shortest record in history.
While the news that "Police Story 3" was about to surpass "The Sixth Sense" was being reported in mainland China and Hong Kong, Zhou Yan and Wang Zuxian had already appeared in Plymouth, Devon, England.
After the filming starts, the crew will shoot at Saltlen Mansion to shoot scenes inside Nolan Manor, which is the first shooting location of the movie.
The crew was stationed at the Rose Hotel, two kilometers away from the Salteren mansion, and they arranged a room for Zhou Yan in the hotel.
The two entered the hotel under the leadership of the crew, and met Kate Winslet, one of the heroines, on the way.
"Miss Winslet." The staff greeted Kate.
Kate was quite curious when she saw two Asians with black hair and black eyes, but she didn't say anything, just nodded, and left with them.
After she left, Jefferson introduced to Zhou Yan, "This is Winslet who plays Marianne, a new actress who has just debuted."
"She does look very young."
"Should be about the same age as you." Jefferson said.
“We are much older than her.” Zhou Yan said with a smile.
"Really?" Jefferson muttered, "I feel like you are smaller."
In the eyes of Europeans and Americans, Asian faces do appear smaller.
Kate should be less than twenty years old. In China, she is just entering college, but she does look similar to Zhou Yan and others. Europeans and Americans are generally more mature.
In Jefferson's eyes, Zhou Yan was probably around twenty years old.
He knew that Zhou Yan was the soundtrack director of the film, so when he met Zhou Yan, he was very surprised. He had never seen such a young soundtrack director before.
Taking Zhou Yan and the others to the room, Jefferson said with a smile, "You two can rest for a while. The director and the others are outside, and it will probably take a while before they can come back."
Zhou Yan nodded, "Okay, thank you."
After Jefferson left, Wang Zuxian stretched his body and said, "I'm exhausted on the road. This place is so remote."
They sat We flew to London and then took a long drive to Plymouth. It was really exciting along the way.
But now is not the time to sleep. They must wait until night to sleep again to reverse the jet lag.
Wang Zuxian walked to the window and pushed it open. Outside the hotel was a green hillside. This area was far away from the city, with blue sky and white clouds, and the scenery was particularly pleasant.
Looking at the scenery outside, Wang Zuxian felt comfortable, and then sat down on the lounge chair by the window.
"Fortunately, the hard work along the way is worth it. It is really suitable for relaxing here. The only flaw is that there is no sunshine."
Zhou Yan smiled, "It's quite sunny here in Plymouth It’s quite a sufficient place.”
Plymouth has a very pleasant climate, at least better than London.
Zhou Yan sat down on the chair next to him and looked at the scenery outside with Wang Zuxian. At this moment, neither of them wanted to talk. They just wanted to treat themselves as empty cabbage.
After resting for a while, Wang Zuxian patted his legs and stood up, starting to pack his luggage.
When we came here this time, the two of them didn’t have much luggage and didn’t bring many clothes, so they thought they could buy some here.
Originally Zhou Yan wanted to bring some musical instruments, but after thinking about it he gave up. He asked An Li in advance and found that the crew had many musical instruments, which could basically meet his needs.
About half an hour later, Zhou Yan and Wang Zuxian were playing backgammon when there was a knock on the door of the room.
“It’s probably An Li.”
Zhou Yan spoke to Wang Zuxian and went to open the door, but it was not An Li who knocked on the door, but two Europeans and Americans, a man and a woman.
"Hello, I am Anthony Bregman." The man introduced himself first, and then introduced Zhou Yan to the woman next to him, "This is Emma Thompson."
Zhou Yan narrowed his eyes and smiled. It turned out to be the producer and screenwriter of the movie.
Emma Thompson is not only the screenwriter, but also the heroine of the movie. She plays the eldest sister Elinor. (End of this chapter)