Chapter 67 The Revolution of Film
New Line Cinema was founded in 1967. It is an independent film distribution company in the United States. It makes a living by distributing low-cost horror films to American universities.
This company entered the production industry in 1979, shooting low-cost horror films, but has never been successful.
In 1990, Golden Harvest produced "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles", but Fox was worried about losing money and did not dare to release it.
New Line made a decisive move and took a gamble. As a result, the global box office exploded to US$200 million.
New Line skyrocketed, and later became world-famous with the "Lord of the Rings" series.
It is based on this history that Yang Ye thinks that Xie is courageous and dares to gamble. I sent him the sample film of "Shaolin Temple" and invited him to come to Hong Kong to watch me make the film.
Just like Yang Ye’s partner in Nippon is Kadokawa Haruki, Yang Ye is more willing to find some powerful small companies to cooperate with than hugging the thighs of those big companies.
In this case, he will have more say and seek more benefits for himself.
For example, a big company will only pay a sum of money to buy out his movie, because they have a big business, and one more of him is not more, and one less of him is not more.
But small companies are willing to negotiate with him to share the revenue, and once the box office is successful, small companies will not dare to hack his box office in order to keep his cash cow.
After New Line Cinema rose to prominence with Golden Harvest's "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles", it has always had a very good relationship with Golden Harvest and has purchased a large number of Golden Harvest's movies for distribution in the United States.
In 1998, New Line invited Chen Long to go to the United States to film "Rush Hour", which resulted in a box office hit of US$240 million. He later filmed three movies in a row, helping Chen Long become a Hollywood star.
For a long time, New Line and Golden Harvest can be said to have achieved mutual success.
Yang Ye’s expectations were good. After Xie saw the samples of "Shaolin Temple", he thought that this would be the second "Enter the Dragon" and immediately left for Hong Kong to meet Yang Ye.
After Xie Yi saw the filming process of Yang Ye's filming team, he was completely shocked.
The smoothness of this kind of action scene beats 10086 Hollywood streets in an instant.
Compared to Yang Ye, the fight scenes in Hollywood are worse than shit.
Yang Ye said: "To tell you the truth, Fox offered $500,000 to buy the distribution rights of "Shaolin Temple" in North America, but I refused. I sent you the sample and invited you. Coming to watch me shoot a movie is actually a kind of test. If Mr. Xie really comes to Hong Kong, it means that you are optimistic about my movie and are sincere in cooperating with me, and we will have a basis for negotiation."
< br> ""Shaolin Temple" has sold more than 100 copyrights around the world and won box office championships in many places. We distributed it in Japan, the world's second largest film market, through box office splitting, and achieved the second highest box office of the year. The result is second only to "Jaws", and I also hope it can be released in a box office split."
Shay was silent for a moment and said: "Mist Yang, you need to know that the North American market is different from other markets in the world. Other markets in the world are implementing a large studio system. Film companies have their own theaters, and film production and Distribution is integrated. But in North America, this is considered a monopoly. After the Paramount Act came into effect in 1948, the production companies and theater chains in North America were now all operated independently. . If a movie wants to be screened in theaters, it needs to pay high distribution fees, which makes production very risky. Therefore, American film companies generally use buyouts to reduce risks. I’m not sure whether this movie will suit the appetite of Americans.”
Yang Ye smiled and said, “Mr. Xie, since you are willing to come all the way to Hong Kong, it means you are sure about this deal. Business, isn't it?"
Xie Yi said: "I admit that "Shaolin Temple" is an excellent film, but the risk of dividing the accounts is too high, which I cannot bear. I can... offer more than Fox. The price is high."
Yang Ye understood that what Shay said was reasonable. "Enter the Dragon" relied on a Hollywood team and only received 25 million at the box office in North America. For major Hollywood companies, although this box office is good, it is not so attractive that it must be obtained.
Therefore, although "Shaolin Temple" was a hit at Cannes, Hollywood only paid a buyout price of 500,000. In fact, in addition to Fox, Warner also talked with Yang Ye, but after Yang Ye insisted on dividing the accounts, nothing happened.
However, Yang Ye still said firmly: "I just want to split the account. But I can give you a benefit. You can get the right to distribute my next movie first."
Xie Yi He was stunned: "What kind of benefit is this?"
Yang Yedao: "Today's fight scene, if you look at it this way, is actually not very exciting. It also needs the addition of lenses and editing. We will do it as soon as possible. The samples are developed and edited. If you come all the way to Hong Kong, you might as well go on a trip and see the edited footage in a few days."
Xie Yi thought to himself what else could be done. Come? Xing Ran said: "Then I will wait and see."
...
Although the filming of the first scene went smoothly, it was just because Yang Ye and martial artist Longhu had rehearsed for a long time. The subsequent scenes were not so easy.
In order to save costs, the crew had to film Hiroyuki Sanada's scenes first, because he only had two scenes and could leave after filming.
Hiroyuki Sanada has no experience in filming scenes and does not know how to use force.
Fighting scenes are different from real fights. In real fights, as long as you can win, you don’t need those fancy moves.
The beating scenes should look good, be cool, and be fierce, but should not hurt the body.
Otherwise, if the actor is sent to the hospital, how can the film be filmed?
So, Yang Ye asked Yuan Biao to teach him slowly, while he and the other dragon and tiger warriors filmed the scene where Chen Zhen caused a scene in the Hongkou Dojo, beating up a group of Japanese warriors by himself.
When Hiroyuki Sanada learned how to hold back his strength, Yang Ye then tried to trick him, and finally started filming.
Captain Sanada is a very serious person. When filming "The Promise" by Brother Kaizi, Brother Kaizi asked the actors to do their own dubbing. After finishing the dubbing, he returned to Japan. I heard that Zhang Dongjian's dubbing was better than Well, he just ran back and re-matched it.
However, even though it has been matched twice, it is still no different from a piece of shit. Let foreigners do their own dubbing. Only Brother Kaizi, a fool, can think of it. He wants to win an award and is obsessed with it. The team leader was very excited to learn the skills of making action movies. He practiced hard every day. After three days, he learned the technique of stopping force and started to use tricks with Yang Ye.
For "Fist of Heroes", Yang Ye arranged for four martial arts instructors to ensure that the filming went smoothly and was released in time for the 1976 Spring Festival.
Yuan Heping is the general director. Chen Long, Yuan Kui, and Yuan Biao gave one-to-one guidance to the three Japanese people.
Chen Long is responsible for Mifune Toshiro, Yuan Kui is responsible for Chiba Shinichi, and Yuan Biao is responsible for Sanada Hiroyuki.
About ten days later, the scene where Chen Zhen caused a scene in the Hongkou Dojo was finally completed.
......
Akutagawa Ryuichi pushed in the door drunkenly and asked Fujita Takeru: "Did you do it to poison Fearless?"
Fujita Gang Gang said expressionlessly: "Today, the Japanese Empire has greatly surpassed China in terms of economy, technology, industry and military power. I originally hoped that you martial arts students could break the myth of Chinese martial arts, but it is a pity that you can't We have no choice but to intervene."
Akutagawa Ryuichi said angrily: "Despicable!"
"The so-called war never tires of deceit."
"This sentence only applies to you soldiers, not to us who practice martial arts. My martial arts competition with Huo Yuanjia was originally upright. But I was made so despicable by you hawks and dogs. , you are not worthy of talking about the spirit of Bushido."
Akutagawa Ryuichi roared and punched Fujita Go, but Fujita raised him high, hit him on the back, and fell to his knees, hiccupping on the spot. fart.
Go Fujita said coldly: "Let me tell you what the spirit of bushido is. It means forgetting right and wrong, and in order to serve the emperor, you will not hesitate to be a sinner of history."
"OK!" Yang Ye held the mirror in his hand, gestured and said: "Mr. Sanada, congratulations on your successful completion."
Hiroyuki Sanada bowed respectfully to Yang Ye and said: "Thank you to the director for your guidance, I learned a lot."
"The previous fight scene will be cut out tomorrow, Mr. Sanada If you are interested, you can go back to Japan after watching it.”
Captain Sanada said, I want to watch it again: How can you beat me to leave?
He said with a smile on his face: "That's great!"
……
Yang Ye, the Seven Little Fortunes, three Japanese and one American, gathered in the screening room to watch newly cut pornographic films.
This is a classroom fighting scene. Chen Zhen used one-on-one to cleanly beat many Black Dragon Society warriors until they were dislocated. The process was smooth and tense, and it was exciting to watch.
After watching this, Chen Long was greatly inspired and took the initiative to speak: "Mr. Yang, when I watched it live before, I just thought it was very smooth and the arrangement was very exquisite. After watching this clip, I realized that you It solves the one-on-many problem in martial arts."
Yuan Heping said: "In previous action scenes, if there was a one-on-many scene, no matter how many people the protagonist faced, the fight would be the same. Two people are fighting, and the others are posing in a circle. The protagonist defeats one, and the other one takes over. This is actually very unreasonable, but everyone has been filming like this for more than ten years, and no one thinks there is anything wrong with it. It wasn’t until Mr. Yang mentioned it to me that I realized that this could be changed.”
Yang Ye said: “Traditional martial arts scene design generally uses panoramic shots, so that others can only do it. They posed around each other, because if they were swarmed, the protagonist would definitely die
In the re-arranged action scenes, Wu Xinghui worked closely with the photographer. We made full use of the camera and editing techniques. During the fight between the protagonist and the opponent, unnecessary people must be avoided and cannot appear in the camera. Instead, it uses the audience's illusion to make the audience believe that the protagonist is fighting a bunch of people. "
"For example, if you look at this paragraph, I was beating him and he kicked me. At this time, a man suddenly jumped out and chopped me. I flew up and kicked him towards the window. At this time, we changed the lens to a close-up shot of him crashing through the window. During the fight between the protagonist and others, there will always be other people suddenly popping up from outside the camera, which will give the audience a tense and breathless feeling. "
" Bang bang bang bang! ”
Everyone applauded, saying that they had learned it.
In fact, this technique was invented by the "Seven Little Blessings". It is not a big deal in later generations. Everyone is used to it and has seen it for a long time. Tired of it.
But now it was the first time that Yang Ye taught everyone "without reservation", which moved the "Seven Little Blessings" present and made them respect Yang Ye even more.
Especially Yuan Heping, Chen Long, Hong Jingbao, and Yuan Kui, all future world-class martial arts instructors, all of them feel enlightened.
Then we showed the action choreography of Chen Zhen causing a scene in the Hongkou Dojo. This fight had more participants than the previous classroom fight, but using the method Yang Ye mentioned before, the choreography was exciting and exciting. Adrenaline rush.
After watching it, Xie Yi praised: "Mist Yang, you are definitely a genius. I think you are leading a revolution in action movies."
Yang Ye laughed. : "Mr. Shay, are you willing to cooperate with me?"
Shay said: "Of course I am willing. This deal is worth the risk. Even if I lose money in the end, I will introduce your movie to the United States. Just as you said, 30% of the box office will be shared."
Here The 30% refers to the box office ration, which is the money received by the distributor after deducting the theater chain's share. Yang Ye also signed this kind of contract with Nippon Pictures and Kadokawa Pictures.
Yang Ye said confidently: "Believe me, Mr. Shay, this is not a risk, your career will take off because of this!"
I thought it would take another week to be put on the shelves, completely No preparation, I will post two chapters first, and there will be more tomorrow morning.
(End of this chapter)