Chapter 285 A special movie, a special beginning
Zhou Yan and the others were quite conspicuous when they walked together, so they were quickly recognized by some students.
"Teacher Zhou."
Hearing the students calling him, Zhou Yan smiled and waved in response.
Hearing the commotion here, the nearby students were attracted. However, the students were quite restrained and did not get too close to Zhou Yan. Instead, they kept an appropriate distance and even stood up for Zhou Yan. The group vacated an aisle leading to the entrance of the large dining room.
Just when Zhou Yan was sighing that the students were relatively restrained, a tall and thin boy suddenly ran out.
Zhou Yan was startled when he saw this boy.
The boy himself is nothing special. The main thing is that the boy's clothes are really shocking.
It is the end of December now. The lowest temperature in Yanjing today is minus five degrees, and it is still below zero in the afternoon. This boy is only wearing a white short-sleeved T-shirt.
The T-shirt has four large black characters "Piano Boy" on it, plus an oversized exclamation point.
This word is probably not printed, but painted on by students with a black pen, and there are rough edges in some places.
"Teacher Zhou, can you sign your name for me?" the boy asked loudly, holding his T-shirt up to his chest.
Seeing the appearance of this boy, there was a burst of laughter, and many people also started cheering. It seemed that this boy was quite popular in school.
Zhou Yan walked over with a smile, "Do you have a pen?"
"Yes, yes." The boy immediately took out a marker.
Zhou Yan took the pen and signed his name on his T-shirt.
"And this." The boy took out another music album, which was "Yulin Ring" just released today.
Zhou Yan was quite surprised to see him take out his new album, because although the album was released today, its distribution was actually slow and out of stock in many places, including these video stores in Yanjing.
It must have taken some effort for this guy to buy it.
Zhou Yuan wrote his name on the CD casing, and then wrote a line below.
[1995 Winter Solstice Dining Room]
Seeing Zhou Yan finish signing his name, the boy clenched his fists excitedly, "Teacher Zhou, you must break out of Asia and conquer the world! I will always support you."< br>
Seeing the boy's excitement, Zhou Yan couldn't help but sigh, what a passionate young man.
However, no matter how enthusiastic a young man is, he is still afraid of the cold. Zhou Yan noticed that this boy's arms were purple from the cold.
He patted the boy on the shoulder, "Classmate, keep warm and don't catch a cold."
Leng Xuejun also rolled his eyes at the boy, "Liao Ruhan, go back and put on your clothes quickly."
Liao Ruhan stood at attention and saluted, "Yes, Director Leng."
After that, he He ran away happily.
Leng Xuejun shook his head and sighed, "Teacher Zhou, I made you laugh."
Zhou Yan smiled and waved his hand, "Students, it's not a bad thing to be more casual. I used to go to school Even more mischievous than him."
Hearing what Zhou Yan said, Leng Xuejun was quite puzzled. He had heard Yu Runyang, the previous principal of Yangyin, mention Zhou Yan before, saying that Zhou Yan was always reserved when he was in school and could not stand up to troublemakers at all.
Maybe Zhou Yan also wanted to find a step for them, Leng Xuejun could only guess this.
The group did not stay outside for too long and soon entered the large dining room.
At this time, many people have come to the large dining room. The main actors of "The Spring of the Cowherd Class" and most of the behind-the-scenes workers have arrived at the scene in advance.
In addition to them, there are Chen Kaige, Wang Zhengjun, Han Sanping and other old friends from Yanjing Factory.
Yu Hua and Shi Tiesheng also came and were chatting with Chen Kaige and the others.
The media reporters also came in early, but there was a fixed interview session today, so when they saw Zhou Yan coming in, they did not surround him.
After Zhou Yan entered, he greeted the guests one by one, then found Zhang Youan and asked, "Where's Sister Feng, isn't she here yet?"
"Mr. Xu is on the way."
Zhou Yan nodded and asked, "Have the invited guests and media reporters been counted?"
"Well, it's already 70 to 80% done. At three o'clock, the students will be let in."
For this premiere of "The Spring of the Cowherd Class", some tickets were also released to the student group.
Since it is held at Yan'an University, most of the tickets must have been given to students from Yan'an Normal University, and a lot of the remaining tickets were divided between Yangyin and Yan's Normal University students.
The reason why Yan Normal University was able to get so many votes is because their school has the earliest support club, which has special meaning to Zhou Yan.
On the other hand, it is also because the movie "Spring of the Cowherd Class" is related to music and education, and it is also a professional counterpart for the students of Yan Normal University.
Zhou Yan stood in the center of the large dining room and looked around. This lecture hall was indeed quite old. The ceiling looked like it had not been repaired for a long time, and some clods of earth might fall at any time.
Not to mention the four walls, they are already stained.
On the west side of the large dining room, there is a large stage, with the movie curtain hanging on it, and the ceremony will be held on it in a while.
After talking to Zhang Youan for a few more words, Zhou Yan walked over to Shi Tiesheng and the others.
At this moment, Shi Tiesheng and Yu Hua were surrounded by many people. Chen Kaige was the closest. He already knew Shi Tiesheng. After all, he had adapted Shi Tiesheng's "Life is Like a String".
Wang Junzheng and Han Sanping were also nearby, and when they were together, the actors would naturally gather around them.
When Zhou Yan approached, Chen Kaige said with a smile, "Zhou Yan has been too busy recently, and I can't always make an appointment with him for dinner."
Han Sanping joked, "How can I I didn’t see you inviting me to dinner.”
“Hey, aren’t I mainly concerned about the wine collection in Zhou Yan’s house? Don’t worry, Director Han, next time I invite Zhou Yan to the table, I’ll invite you too. Let’s go make his wine together.”
At this time, Zhou Yan said, “No need to do it next time. I’ll have enough wine for you to have dinner tonight.”
Hearing Zhou Yan's voice, everyone looked at him one after another. Chen Kaige smiled and said, "Every code means one code. Mr. Xu is in charge of the meal today. You have to remember this meal and treat it next time."
Han Sanping said with a smile, "I don't think it's better than this. When the box office of "The Spring of the Cowherd Class" exceeds 50 million, let Zhou Yan treat him to dinner, and everyone present will have a share."
"Director, you Are you talking about the mainland box office?" Chen Kaige asked.
“Global box office.”
“Fifty million is US dollars?”
"RMB."
Chen Kaige smiled crookedly. His mouth was already crooked, but now it became even crooked.
"Then he will definitely pay for this meal. The global box office of 50 million yuan is not a challenge for him at all."
"I still want to serve everyone. Is it for welfare?”
“I think 50 million US dollars in the world is fine.”
Zhou Yan rolled his eyes and ignored Chen Kaige.
The global box office of "Spring of the Cowherd Class" exceeded 50 million yuan. There is really no pressure. With Zhou Yan and Neon's appeal in China, he can achieve this goal very easily.
But to say that 50 million US dollars is simply a fantasy. "The Sixth Sense" has not achieved the goal, and "Spring of the Cowherd" is even more impossible to achieve.
Chen Kaige naturally knew that this was impossible, so he just made a joke casually, but then he brought up "The Sixth Sense" again, "The American version of your "The Sixth Sense" will be released next year, right? That movie should have no problem with a global box office of 50 million US dollars. Otherwise, if the US version of "The Sixth Sense" has a global box office of more than 50 million US dollars, you can treat me to another meal."
Zhou Yan nodded readily. "Sure, then you can choose any restaurant in Yanjing."
"Director Zhou is great." Chen Kaige smiled and gave a thumbs up.
Everyone was laughing and chatting when suddenly Yu Hua said, "Director Zhang is here."
Hearing Yu Hua's words, everyone looked towards the door. Zhang Yimou just came in from outside alone.
Zhang Yimou was looking around, and Zhou Yan waved to him and shouted, "Director Zhang."
Hearing Zhou Yan's voice, Zhang Yimou showed a smile on his face and walked towards this side.
When we got here, everyone was chatting again.
After chatting for a while, Chen Kaige suddenly asked, "Didn't Gong Li come with you?"
Hearing Chen Kaige mention Gong Li, the atmosphere at the scene suddenly changed a lot.
Zhang Yimou and Gong Li had a falling out. This matter made the news. Most people present knew that it would be inappropriate to mention Gong Li at this time.
Zhou Yan glanced at Chen Kaige and said to himself that this Kaizi brother has no tolerance. It is impossible for him not to know what is going on with Zhang Yimou and Gong Li, but he still wants to ask Gong Li. That is intentional. He wants to Stimulate Zhang Yimou.
In fact, there is no direct conflict between Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige, but Chen Kaige has some inner demons.
Because people have always compared him with Zhang Yimou. As time went by and he heard more from others, he took it seriously.
Seeing the awkward atmosphere, Zhou Yan smiled and said, "I called Sister Li. She wanted to come, but she has been really busy recently and I really can't make the trip. Speaking of which, it's your fault, Mr. Kai." "
Chen Kaige asked strangely, "What does it have to do with me?" "It wasn't your "Feng Yue" that messed up Sister Li's schedule, otherwise she wouldn't be so busy now. "
"Yes, it's my fault."
Zhou Yan was trying to poke Chen Kaige's lungs. If others said this, Chen Kaige would probably be angry, but when Zhou Yan said this, there was nothing he could do about it. angry.
Chen Kaige also knew that Zhou Yan was targeting him.
After all, Zhou Yan is the host in today's event. His words will embarrass Zhang Yimou, and Zhou Yan will definitely lose face.
Seeing the current situation, Zhou Yan probably wouldn't be able to talk about it later, so he said, "It's getting late. Everyone, please take a seat. The ceremony will begin soon."
After hearing what Zhou Yan said, they went to their respective seats and sat down.
As soon as they dispersed, Xu Feng rushed over, and the venue began to let students from outside inside.
After about ten minutes, the ceremony officially began.
The premiere ceremony of "Spring in the Cowherd" is similar to the process of "Sense and Sensibility". The host first introduced the purpose of today's ceremony and then introduced the guests who came to the scene.
After that, Xu Feng came on stage to introduce the background and production process of the film.
Xu Feng did not bring a script, but directly took the microphone and said, "It's actually very simple to make Zhou Yan's movies. Anyone who knows him knows that all the movies he makes are written, directed, and scored by himself. Every one of them is composed by himself." The plan is to have him from the beginning to the end.”
“The same goes for this movie, which didn’t worry me too much. Not long after “The Sixth Sense” was released last year, I was thinking about his next movie. I wanted to make some movies. Later I called him with two scripts, one was "Once Upon a Time in Yanzhou" and the other was "Once Upon a Time in Shanghai". But during the phone call, he had a story in mind, which was related to education and music. "
"To be honest, I was very happy when I heard that this story was related to education and music. As you know, Zhou Yan is a music teacher, and this kind of subject matter is simply unacceptable to him. Tailor-made. Later I read the script and it confirmed my idea. Although it is inspired by a movie "A Cage of Nightingales" half a century ago, the two movies are completely different. "Spring of the Cowherd Class" meets all my expectations for a good movie."
"The shooting of this movie is not long, but the preparation time is very long, and there are many actors who need to train and learn. , and even lost weight, we even built a school specially for this movie..."
It can be seen that Xu Feng is very excited. Since "Farewell My Concubine", she has grown very Time has not been so exciting.
Although her participation in the movie "Spring of the Cowherd" was not high, unlike when she was in the middle and coordinated every day during the filming of "Farewell My Concubine", she really liked the movie "Spring of the Cowherd". movie.
The status of this movie in her heart is second only to "Farewell My Concubine", and the reason why she has not done "Farewell My Concubine" is just because her participation was not high.
"Spring in the Cowherd Class" fully demonstrates Zhou Yan's talent.
Xu Feng spoke for a long time, and finally thanked all those who participated in the production of the film.
“The box office of the movie is left to the market and the audience, but no matter what, I want to thank you for bringing you such a perfect movie.”
After Xu Feng finished speaking, it was the turn of the main creative staff to take the stage.
Zhou Yan took the entire director team and several leading actors on stage.
None of the young actors came today because today is Friday and they are all in school. Zhou Yan didn’t want the premiere to affect their studies.
When there are holidays later, Zhou Yan doesn’t mind letting these children show off.
The choir composed of young actors is still in existence. They usually go to the studio to study and rehearse after school or during holidays.
After Zhou Yan and the others came on stage, they all chatted very relaxedly and talked about some interesting things that happened during the filming.
In addition, others will inevitably praise Zhou Yan.
Several members of the directing team are relatively restrained, but several leading actors have no scruples, especially Wang Xueqi, who is very good at getting things done. As long as the microphone is in his hands, he must say a few words about Zhou Yan.
The key is that when Wang Xueqi spoke, he was serious and full of energy. The flatterers he flattered were all "sound", even though Zhou Yan was thick-skinned, he turned red in the face.
“Every picture and every piece of music in Director Zhou’s movie allows the audience to enjoy...”
Hearing Wang Xueqi's boasts getting more and more outrageous, Zhou Yan quickly winked at the host, indicating that it was getting late.
The host understood the idea and immediately said with a smile, "Thank you, Teacher Wang, for sharing. Next..."
The next step is the reporter's interview. The media reporters on the scene have been impatient for a long time. , at this stage they all raised their hands.
First, I clicked on two domestic media and asked questions related to movies.
The third person clicked was a neon media. After the other person was clicked, he was very happy and said with a smile, "Mr. Zhou Yan, today is not only the premiere of "Spring of the Cowherd Class" , is also the day when your third theme music album "Yulin Ling" is released globally. As we all know, you are now the most famous musician in Neon, and many music fans in Neon are paying attention to this album. I would like to ask a question on behalf of Neon fans. Why is this album called Yu Lin Ling? Does it have any special meaning? ”
Although today is the premiere of "Spring of the Cowherd Class", when the Neon reporter asked this question, no one at the scene felt there was any problem.
Zhou Yan took the microphone and nodded, "A very good question, but this question is not a problem for most people here. Yulinling is a word brand name, originally from Tang Dynasty The famous song of Chao Jiaofang expresses the sorrow of love and separation, and the theme of my album is the same. The songs included in it are all related to the sorrow of separation. Except for "Drinking the Water of the Yangtze River Together", everyone has heard it before. In addition to the songs from "Sense and Sensibility", some songs from "The Sixth Sense" are also included. Of course, in addition to these, there are other new songs. "
The Neon reporter remembered Zhou Yan's answer very seriously, and then said, "I want to ask another question. Do you have any plans to go to Neon for a concert next year? I haven’t played a concert in Neon in two years.”
Zhou Yan said with a smile, “I haven’t played a few concerts in the past two years, but I can tell you that our band will most likely go there next year. Neon.”
After asking two questions, the Neon reporter was quite satisfied and sat down with a smile.
Zhou Yan left quite a long time for the media this time, half an hour. The reporters had basically asked all the questions that should be asked.
Zhou Yan did not answer some questions that should not be asked.
After the question and answer session ended, Han Sanping took the stage as a guest representative and delivered a speech.
After Han Sanping finished speaking, the host announced the start of the movie viewing.
The entire ceremony lasted for more than two hours, and by the time the movie started to show, it was almost six o'clock.
The curtains in the large dining room were drawn up, and when the lights were turned off, the entire hall became dark, and the audience fell silent.
Soon, the curtain lit up and the opening credits played.
When the credits ended, the curtain darkened again.
At first, the audience didn't care, because many movies started with a "black screen" at the beginning of the transition, and the main film would appear immediately.
But soon, the audience discovered that something was not right. The black screen was a bit long.
About six or seven seconds later, there was a knock on the door.
“Dong dong dong——”
“Come in.” A somewhat old voice sounded.
"Teacher Lin, we have a domestic call. It's urgent." A second young voice sounded.
This voice... seems to be Zhou Yan's.
Some people recognized that the second voice belonged to Zhou Yan.
But why is the curtain still dark, only sounds can be heard.
Is there a problem with the on-site equipment?
But no one dared to speak out.
"Tell him to call after the concert." The old voice sounded again.
The footsteps are getting closer and closer.
"It's about your mother." Zhou Yan's voice sounded.
Silence...
"Hello."
At this time, the curtain finally lit up again.
On the screen, an old man was adjusting his collar. His expression was solemn and his eyes were filled with tears.
Although the curtain was black for more than 20 seconds and the audience could not see anything, they could understand why the old man had tears in his eyes.
In more than twenty seconds of darkness, there are only a few lines, but it seems that a lot has been said.
The old man’s mother should have passed away, and he was preparing for a concert at this time. In addition, the audience can also get the news that the old man should be a famous musician, because they are now It's abroad.
This special shooting technique also surprised the audience.
Soon, the second shot of the movie appeared. The old man was in a concert hall, holding a conductor's baton and directing the orchestra to play a symphony.
Some people who are familiar with music have heard that what is being played now is the Waltz from "The Life of an Artist" by Johann Strauss Jr.
This piece of music has a sharp beat and a brisk rhythm. The joyful atmosphere it expresses is in contrast to the old man's grief for losing his mother.
Leng Xuejun sat next to Zhou Yan, looking at the screen, and two lines of poetry could not help but echo in his mind.
"In the past, I left, and the willows lingered. Now I come to think about it, and the rain and snow are falling."
Just like the first line of the poem, the scene in the movie at this moment is a typical example of expressing sadness through happy scenes.
Leng Xuejun has a feeling that this scene may also be the keynote of the entire movie. The music and the scene at the beginning not only have a lyrical effect, but also have a narrative function that jointly completes the plot.
Of course, this is all Leng Xuejun’s speculation. He has no research on movies.
However, even if he has little research on movies, Leng Xuejun can feel the charm of this movie through just a few shots.
(End of this chapter)