independent filmmaker

Because a consensus could not be reached, the female lead casting was temporarily shelved.Both Xie Lansheng and the capital wanted to continue to persuade each other, and the conversation lasted until more than two o'clock in the morning of the next day, and they finally broke up on a bad note.Ruan Cheng, who was in charge of the Xinwei membership and was also a senior vice president, left at noon. Wen Yuan was in Shanghai, and the rest of the people couldn't restrain Xie Lansheng. Of course, they didn't back down at all because of their mission.Lan Sheng thought there was no need to talk to the three of them, it was a waste of brain, so he spent the rest of the day mainly discussing other people, such as the second male and the second female, but, at the end, Wu Jiuyi brought up Zhang Youyou again. Ke Lansheng was not dizzy by his words, but was still awake, so he refused again.

Coming out of Xinwei's building, Xie Lansheng still laughed at himself.

He thought that he had also experienced the capital dilemma that mainstream directors were suffering from.

Xinwei thinks that it can make him earn about 4000 million, of course he can do whatever he wants - he can't find other ones that can make him earn this amount, and it's even quite a bit short. Besides, Xinwei will strongly recommend "Go to "Yueyang", the investment of the IT Big Three is what all directors want.In addition, the copyright has already belonged to the other party. As long as he still wants to shoot, the investor has 100 ways to make a director miserable.

Since "Love at First Sight" was released, the producers of Xie Lansheng's literary and artistic films are basically his own company, which is "Consummation Films", or Xinye's company, Deep Blue Films. There is actually no difference between the two.Because of his previous reputation, he has the capital himself, and he can recover the full cost of each film's overseas pre-sales, and it doesn't matter if the domestic box office is poor.

On the other hand, when it comes to film review, Lan Sheng relies on his years of experience and "potential for winning awards" to deal with the film bureau repeatedly, and usually gets approval.If the film bureau's revision opinion is 100% unacceptable to him, he will abandon the film, regardless of the time and energy, anyway, all the things he built before are all his own.That is to say, based on the strong confidence in the past, although he "merged" with the mainstream, he basically did not make changes and was quite independent.

This is also the overall status of their six generations of directors. When the ban was lifted in 2003, whether they were free or surrendered, whether they were rescued or surrendered, whether they were rejuvenated or extinct, this issue has been discussed repeatedly, and remains unresolved until today.However, the fact is that their generation of independent directors has completed their historical mission, which is to "rebel", plus "break the grand narrative", and then return to the big screen.

But Xie Lansheng is very aware that other directors are struggling.Directors are under double impact between power and the market, and the space for free creation is being compressed step by step.Capital intervention in film creation is more like Hollywood, but the problem is that the Chinese market does not have the system that Hollywood has accumulated for many years.

Hollywood has a pre-sale model.The six major companies will do pre-sales first, mainly referring to overseas pre-sales, and then, the six major companies will directly set the budget as "pre-sale revenue x3".This is a feedback from major companies around the world on the project. The film budget and pre-sale amount are linked, and the risk is greatly reduced.Then, the producer will use the pre-sale contract to borrow a sum of money from the bank. This figure is usually about 50% of the entire budget. In this way, the investor only needs to raise the remaining 50% of the film budget.After that, investment banks will provide investment for these film companies. For example, Bank of Merrill Lynch and Paramount once cooperated to invest 2004 million US dollars in 2005 films of Paramount in 26 and 2.31 through a private equity fund. Gate Films offered $4 million.The investment bank's stake in the project varies, usually 50%.Investment banks can "blind vote" or "selective vote", but according to statistics, the rate of return of "one by one" is the same as "one by one", and investment companies don't need to think that they know movies well.Usually, investment banks do "invest a lot" in film projects, and they eat the market, not the project, because this operating mechanism can ensure that the whole does not lose money.Finally, if a movie goes over budget, some insurance company pays for the overrun, not the studio, not the investment bank.Under such a model, the anxiety of film companies and other capital parties has been greatly reduced, but in China, in the past year, because the system is still immature, such things as gambling agreements and guaranteed distribution have become standard equipment, and film companies are under too much pressure. High, they have to bet on the performance of investors, otherwise they have to lose shares and cash, and they have to attract others to guarantee the issuance, so they are more inclined to play the star card and the marketing card, and dare not take risks.In addition, the Hollywood system attaches great importance to scripts and screenwriters, and overseas pre-sales also pay attention to scripts, and 2/3 of the big stars are screenwriters.Of course, this refers to the six major companies. Outside the six major companies, there are 5000 to [-] medium-sized companies and more than [-] small companies that are responsible for film innovation.

In addition, the movie audience in the Chinese market has not been subdivided, and they are still concentrated in their 20s, immature, and young producers are not highly professional and unable to deal with it. The filmmakers have at most 12 years, with a few films, while there are more than 300 producers in the first echelon of Hollywood, and more than 600 producers in the second echelon.More importantly, Lan Sheng always felt that the capital he faced didn't have that much love for movies.Hollywood was greedy too, and even more greedy, but he could sense in LA that everyone thought movies were the most important thing in the world.

Of course, China also has independent directors.Academically independent directors are divided into several groups, one is the sixth generation, and the second is the "DV generation" or "new generation" after 2003.The new generation either raises their own funds, such as exchanging houses for bank loans, or selling cars or other things, or obtain start-up funds through independent film funds such as Lan Sheng's "Consummation Film Fund".As for the future, if you can get the dragon mark, you can get the dragon mark, and if you can't get the dragon mark, you can post resources on the Internet, asking the audience to see yourself, which is not easy.Now, the concept of "independent director" in China has undergone some changes. In the past, it generally referred to underground films without dragon labels, but in the past two years, the boundaries between non-dragon label films and dragon label films have become very blurred, and they may be switched to each other at any time." "Independent film" is more about other things, such as financing methods, focusing on "independent" shooting process, focusing on personal thinking and expression, which overlaps with literary and artistic films, and is closer to the European and American definitions, not to say that it is not independent if it can pass the review. It is independent if it cannot pass the trial, which is too political.

Many independent directors of the "new generation" have not received professional training, or have only been trained in "independent film schools", but some are more skilled, such as returnees from Europe and the United States.Lan Sheng's generation is all young people from the city, but the later "new generation" has a wider identity, including urban and rural people, and the theme of the movie is even lower.

It can be said that because of this double impact, both mainstream directors and independent directors are struggling to some extent, but in different forms. A director like Xie Lansheng is already very good.

Lan Sheng knows that capital makes the market prosperous, but as a director, he certainly hopes that capital will not direct the whole process.

…………

Zhang Youyou put aside first, and Xie Lansheng and Xin Wei first finalized supporting roles such as male, female, second male, third female, and third.They also had a dispute over the second male lead. Xinwei wanted to choose a very handsome actor, but Xie Lansheng wanted the actor to look like a virgin, and Xinwei's dreamactor really didn't look like a virgin.

However, the two sides are still working hard to get in touch. Xie Lansheng thinks that the different opinions on the actors are only on the male and female.

Unexpectedly, it was not.

There are new ideas.

"Director Xie," Wu Jiuyi said, "Mr. Wen and Mr. Ruan have just seen the candidates for the male third role. They think we can try to cooperate with Wanwan. This role is more humorous, or funny, and it is suitable for Wanwan."

Xie Lansheng: "..."

Wan Wan is a stage name and the most popular cross talk actor right now.The entire Chinese people know that there are tens of thousands of fat people who talk about cross talk.Xie Lansheng can imagine that if Wan Wan participated in a movie, many audiences would be very curious about his "testing the water screen" and buy tickets or subscribe.

"I'll give it a try." As for Wan Wan, Xie Lansheng didn't immediately refuse, he also thought he could take a look, "You can contact Wan Wan and come over this week for a test shot."

Wu Jiu from Xinwei said, "Okay!"

In the end, the audition was scheduled for Saturday.

Xie Lansheng asked the second, third, and third women to come to the scene.

Over the years, Xie Lansheng has continuously revised the audition process before shooting.First of all, he never let the audition actors know the content of the movie in advance, whether it is the outline or the biography of the characters.He found that the best way to know whether an actor understands the movie and the role is to "surprise the attack", because those who can enter the heart of the character can perform well on the spot, without having to figure it out repeatedly.Second, he will try to make the audition scene exactly the same as the movie set.He asked the actors to audition in costumes in the real scene, and the lighting and so on were all set up, so that the actors were "real".Third, he will drive the camera and complete all the movie auditions.Now that the filming is digital, he doesn't need to worry about the film anymore. You must know that an actor's eyes are different from the lens.However, he will use long shots instead of storyboards. He doesn't want to disturb the actors, he just wants to encourage them to act in the way they understand.Again, he will call on rival actors.He knew early on that there was a chemical reaction between the actors. Sometimes, the two actors could work together, but at other times, they just couldn't work together, which is amazing.In the end, he still would not agree with the assistant director to do all the work, because only the director knows whether he likes it or not.

During Wanwan's audition, Xie Lansheng discovered an important problem in the first minute.

As a crosstalk actor, Wanwan has a completely different personal brand from other actors. It can be said that Wanwan's way of acting, demeanor, eyes, and lines are all different from actors.

In other words, no one can play with him.

Too inconsistent.

Xie Lansheng could tell that they were all struggling.Wan Wan is by no means not working hard enough, he really wants to act well, and he is also humble and eager to learn.He is not good at imagining movements, he is only good at making gestures and giving eyes, even a little too much, one hand is always hanging on the side, and the other hand is always gesticulating in the air, and when he reads the lines, he has some relish Son, it's a bit exaggerated, with modal particles unconsciously, and always waiting for people to "praise" and continue to "tease", but the actors opposite can only give simple reactions.

It can be seen that Wan Wan is not used to it, and the others are also very not used to it, no matter how you look at it, it is not harmonious enough.

Xie Lansheng also worked very hard to teach Wan Wan how to act in roles, but it didn't work. Wan Wan's way of working has been deeply ingrained over the years. He thought it would be too difficult and unrealistic to become an actor.

Lan Sheng reluctantly ended the audition, and Wu Jiuyi, the producer of Xinwei, came up to him: "Director Xie, how is he? He must be pretty good, right? We have done research before, and Wan Wan is humble and kind. It won't hold you back."

"No." Lan Sheng stood still in front of him, without the slightest hesitation in his tone, "His way of performing is definitely a way of talking about cross talk. No one can play with him. They seem too inconsistent."

Wu Jiuyi frowned suddenly: "No one can play with him?"

"I tried my best." Xie Lansheng said sincerely.He looked at his watch, and said again, "I've been trying this audition for almost four hours. I also like Wan Wan, but he is not suitable for acting in a movie."

Xie Lansheng knew that if Wanwan wanted to test the waters in movies, a bunch of directors would rush to sign, but he thought that the quality of the movie itself would drop significantly, which was not acceptable to him.

"Okay," Wu Jiuyi didn't say anything, "I'll go back and talk to Mr. Wen and Mr. Ruan about the result."

"Okay, trouble."

…………

After Wu Jiuyi went back, there was no further news.

Xie Lansheng took it for granted that Wanwan had already been passed.

As a result, unexpectedly, one morning after a week, another person from Xinwei Video called Xie Lansheng and said, "Director Xie, we have shared your evaluation with Wanwan's team and want to see it. Is there any good solution, not only to respect your evaluation, to make the movie better, but also to allow Wanwan to participate in the film."

Xie Lansheng asked: "The result?"

He doesn't think there is any good solution to the problem, but if there is, he will definitely consider it. He is willing to achieve a win-win situation with investors within a certain range.

The person from Xinwei replied: "That's right. Wanwan's team can have another person to play with him. Wanwan is a joker, and he is a flatterer. They have been working together for 15 years, and there must be a tacit understanding between them."

Xie Lansheng: "..."

"However, you have to revise the script and add a character. Now this edition has quite a lot of lines for everyone. You can come to a silent one, who is mainly responsible for collaborating with Wan Wan. The setting of the new character can be Wan Wan's middle school Friends, this does not affect the overall plot, the content will be more interesting."

Xie Lansheng gasped silently on the other end of the phone.

"Director Xie," the other side was still saying, "If you don't know cross talk, don't know how to praise it, how to make it funny, the Wanwan team can send a co-screenwriter to write the book together."