Chapter 354 Bombardment
It is the end of May, and Xingchen Film and Television has ushered in the busiest month in the first half of the year.

First, there was the preparation for the two TV series "Ghost Blows Out the Light: The Mystical Ancient City" and "The Eternal Sword", followed by the premiere of "Alone on the Beach at Night".

Now, with the upcoming TV series "Ode to Joy", hundreds of employees in the company are very busy.

On the other hand, the post-production editing of "Startling by Each Step" produced by Tangren Film and Television has already reached more than half completed. Tangren's public relations department is indeed a well-known expert in the industry and has done a good job in publicity.

There has been almost no shortage of discussion about this TV series on the Internet, and other companies have started to imitate it. For a time, a large number of TV series set in the Qing Dynasty were launched in the industry.

The data speaks for itself. There are so many dynasties in Chinese history, and there are countless inspiring stories that took place in each dynasty.

But in terms of costume drama themes, the number of Qing Dynasty palace dramas is almost the same as the total number of other dynasties combined.

Of course, the reasons are naturally quite complicated. One of them is that the Qing Dynasty was very close and many ancient buildings are still there.

The second is that there are many rumors. After the Qing emperor abdicated, many eunuchs and palace maids who left the Forbidden City were happy to be interviewed by newspapers and media, and regarded what they saw and heard in the harem as a kind of intangible asset that could be sold.

In 1915, Zhonghua Book Company compiled these unofficial histories into a book called "A Grand View of Unofficial History of the Qing Dynasty" with more than one million words. This book was not very prominent at the time, but it became the largest source of material for the Qing palace dramas that dominated the screen later.

As for other dynasties, there is no such creative convenience. Except for the Three Kingdoms, there are not many TV dramas about the remaining dynasties.

...

The film industry is not something that can be conquered with just money. For example, Penguin Pictures and Alibaba Pictures, although backed by Internet companies and not short of money, their influence in the film market cannot be compared with that of old-line film companies such as China Film, Bona Film Group, and Huayi Film Group.

There were not many companies in the industry that were optimistic about this new film, Starry Night. Lu Zheng had the funds but was unable to get a suitable role for Jing Tian, ​​let alone a role in a big director's film.

This can be seen from the fact that he keeps investing in and producing movies himself. After all, it is true that you have money, but there is nothing you can do if others don't want to play with you.

Domestic media like controversial topics because controversy can attract attention and traffic.

Recently, Penguin Entertainment has just launched a news column called "Entertainment Circle", which aims to reveal the rules behind the entertainment circle. The original topic of the first issue has been prepared, called "Exploring the Development of the Domestic Entertainment Circle", and is preparing to introduce in detail the development path of the domestic film industry and domestic films since the new century.

As a result, as soon as the trailer of "2012" came out, the "Entertainment Circle" program team discussed it for a long time and immediately decided to withdraw the topic of the first issue. They temporarily decided to take advantage of the popularity of Gu Wei's movie and publish a group of manuscripts entitled "On the Four Great Domestic Directors".

The article uses the box office appeal and influence of the mainland as a basis to come up with a list of "four great directors" - Zhang Yimou, Gu Wei, Chen Kaige, and Jiang Wen.

At the same time, it was explained that the reason why Gu Wei was ranked after Zhang Yimou was because Zhang Yimou has been known as the national master since the 08 Olympics. Although there were subsequent bad films like "Three Guns", they still couldn't pull him down from the title of detective. Another point is that Zhang Yimou's qualifications are there, and the Chinese people still value this.

In addition, it was explained that the reason why there were four major directors was purely because these four people had won major awards at international film festivals, and it was specifically explained that it was only reported based on the honors.

As soon as the report came out, before anyone else said anything, it aroused Feng Xiaogang's dissatisfaction.

"I won't talk about other people first. Brother Chen Kai's movies are getting worse and worse, but he can still be on the list. I have made so many high-grossing movies, but my name is not even mentioned? Why?"

In the crew of "1942", Feng Xiaogang became instantly annoyed after seeing the report.

In Feng Xiaogang's eyes, Zhang Yimou is the leader of the fifth generation of directors, having won numerous awards at the three major European cinemas. Gu Wei entered Hollywood, made movies that had high box office sales and won an Oscar for Best Director. Jiang Wen is also a frequent guest at major film festivals, and "Let the Bullets Fly" even holds the box office record for domestic films. He is somewhat convinced by these three people, but what does Chen Kaige have that he can surpass him just by having a Palme d'Or trophy?
"Director Feng, the actors are ready, we can start filming." The assistant director looked at Feng Xiaogang's ugly character and said cautiously. The other people in the crew also turned their eyes to him.

"Well? You take charge of the filming first, I'll go make a phone call." After saying that, Feng Xiaogang angrily left the monitor, leaving a group of people looking at each other in bewilderment.

On the other hand, after receiving Feng Xiaogang's call, Wang Zhonglei also realized the seriousness of the matter.

In the past, news like this was reported in the circle every day. Sometimes a certain director was not as good as a certain director, sometimes that director had a higher status, and there were new topics every day.

But this time it is different. Huayi Company has just announced its entry into the cultural tourism field, and the company has several films being shot at the same time. As a result, its own director was reported by the media like this. If I don’t say something, people will think Huayi is easy to bully.

Therefore, Huayi Company invited industry media reporters to make a special report on Feng Xiaogang, which was also accompanied by a video of Director Feng being interviewed by the media and talking about his mental journey in the filming of "1942", as well as filming highlights.

Director Feng is defined as a master among domestic directors. The book details how Director Feng Xiaogang, starting from The Banquet, used his own "trilogy plan" to try to follow his own "humanistic master path".

For example, “Assembly” is about war and individuals, and tells the story of a company and a country;
"Tangshan Earthquake" is about disaster and people, the story spreads from the city to the country;

"1942" is shot in a more macro way, with multiple perspectives of the government, army, refugees, and foreign media. As the title suggests, it's about the era and the country.

Because "1942" has not yet been released, Huayi Film Studio has not said much, but has released some behind-the-scenes footage to give netizens an idea, indicating that Director Xiaogang has become a true "master."

This special column naturally appeared on the homepage of Penguin.com the next day and was highlighted at the top.

During the same period, Feng Xiaogang's interview with the "Master" was also reported by various media, and the two seemed to be competing with each other.

Online, countless netizens clicked in and read the article, and found quite a lot of controversy about the statement of the "four great directors".

Some people think that Zhang Yimou and Gu Wei have never won Europe's three most prestigious Palme d'Or awards, so they should not be ranked ahead of director Chen Kai. In terms of honors, Director Chen is the number one director in China.

Some people also say that director Chen Kai started off strong but ended badly. He hasn't produced any decent works since Farewell My Concubine. Even if he was a master and a great director in the past, he can't live off it forever, right? Is the master a lifetime job?

Some netizens even questioned that director Chen Kaige's current works have almost completely failed in terms of box office, reputation, and awards. His true level needs to be re-evaluated and he is not worthy of being among the "Four Great Directors".

At the same time, some people support that Gu Wei is the top of the four major directors, and they also give an example. Gu Wei's movie "Interstellar" has a global box office of over 1 billion and won the Golden Bear Award and the Oscar for Best Director. This is not considered a great director. What kind of director is considered a great director? The kind that won international awards but was banned in China?

Fans of various directors are arguing fiercely on Weibo, Tieba, forums and other places.

The controversy surrounding Zhang Yimou and Jiang Wen is so small that it can be ignored. Both of them are box office successes and have won international awards. If these two are not counted, there will be no great directors in China.

Of course, the most controversial person is Feng Xiaogang. After all, his reputation as the "Little Cannon" is not for nothing. In recent years, he has blasted too many reporters, netizens, and colleagues, and his character has been questioned!
As for the quality of his films, most of them are commercial films. They have good box office but not as many awards as directors like Zhang Yimou and Gu Wei, so people think he cannot be called a master.

You know, the title of master is not given casually. If you only have box office success but no awards, you are not a real master. Take Hong Kong director Wong Jing for example. He has made so many movies, but when outsiders think of Hong Kong master directors, few of them mention him.

The term "Four Great Directors" has been widely discussed by netizens, and is quite similar to the "Four Heavenly Kings" of Hong Kong Island.

At the same time, Gu Wei, Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige, Jiang Wen and others ignored all this, but Feng Xiaogang was angry.

Well, I am now working hard to make art films, hoping to be as famous as Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige, Gu Wei and others, but this media outlet simply ignored me.

Even Wuershan, who has only made two movies, has received support from many netizens online. They believe that the box office of "Painted Skin 2" exceeded that of "Aftershock" and that in terms of commercial film box office records, Wuershan is better than Feng Xiaogang's.

If it were someone else, they would just complain to friends and forget about it, but Feng Xiaogang is not someone else.

That is a small cannon that can attack everything, including everyone. It must be attacked.

So Feng Xiaogang directly posted on Weibo: Some media in the entertainment industry are quite funny now. A group of people are just afraid of chaos and always want to stir up trouble! They even ranked stars and directors. I just want to ask, who gave you the qualifications to comment? Why are you so arrogant? You know a lot about movies, but you still rank directors in the industry. Aren't you afraid of being embarrassed?
"Then may I ask Director Feng, what major international awards have you won?" The netizen's reply was so amazing that Feng Xiaogang almost got angry.

Feng Xiaogang was naturally very unhappy when he failed to criticize others but was criticized instead. However, he was able to grow from a small figure to a great director, which shows that he had his own strengths, he was smart, and he was able to judge the situation.

Now that "1942" is being filmed, it is not a wise move to offend netizens for no reason. It is not a glorious thing to have a long-distance argument with several big directors on the Internet.

So Director Feng quietly deleted the Weibo post and said nothing about the netizens’ ridicule.

"Director Feng, please don't delete the post. Please answer the netizens' questions quickly. What international award did you win?"

Some curious netizens continued to ask questions, but at this time Feng Xiaogang held his breath and filmed "1942" more seriously, making the crew miserable.

Originally, when filming "1942", in order to pursue the best effect, everyone on the crew was in a state of losing weight. Now Feng Xiaogang has made up his mind to make a qualified commercial art film, and the requirements are even higher.

"It's all Penguin Entertainment's fault. They ranked the top four directors for no reason. They just have nothing better to do."

In the crew, a large number of actors were silently complaining in their hearts.

...

On the Internet, the events of the four major directors were very popular, and netizens were talking about it as much as they could. However, for several directors, these were just gimmicks, and one could tell at a glance that they were made up by the media to earn traffic.

It was already the end of May, and "Ode to Joy" premiered on this day.

In the previous copyright negotiations, Jiangsu and Zhejiang Satellite TV took the lead in winning the first round of broadcasting rights.

Previously, the TV series "Capital Love Story" produced by Xingchen Film and Television Company became an instant hit once it was broadcast, making other TV stations envious. Now that Jiangsu and Zhejiang Satellite TV has won the first round, it hopes to increase the popularity of Jiangsu and Zhejiang Satellite TV with this TV series.

"Ode to Joy" will be broadcast at 5 o'clock in the evening on May 31st.

At this moment, at the Jiangsu and Zhejiang Satellite TV station, the deputy director was leading a group of people, watching the ratings of the first broadcast.

That night, as soon as the first episode of Ode to Joy ended, the deputy director couldn't wait to ask about the data, "How is it? How many points?"

"Director, it has just broken through 1.5 and is still growing. According to predictions, there is a high probability that the ratings will break 2.0 tonight. It is currently ranked first in the same period." The director in charge of keeping an eye on the data shouted out loudly as soon as he got the latest statistics.

"Haha, it's done."

At this moment, the deputy director finally breathed a sigh of relief. Now, he could finally report to his superiors.

It has to be said that Jiangsu and Zhejiang Satellite TV has good luck. Originally, Mango Channel was the dominant force in terms of hit summer dramas.

However, the higher-ups just held a meeting this year and decided that starting from July, they will implement an "entertainment restriction order" which will impose strict regulations on variety entertainment programs on local satellite TV stations.

For a time, the once popular Mango TV was about to become a disaster area. According to insiders, many variety shows on Mango TV have been cancelled recently, with some of their content being cut or even canceled directly.

Be it a person or a corporate organization, once the protagonist's halo falls, bad things often follow. It would be fine if entertainment programs were cancelled one after another, but the key is the issuance of the "Entertainment Restriction Order", which caused another pillar of Mango TV, the "Golden Eagle Theater", to suffer a Waterloo in collecting videos.
According to media reports, the TV series "Palace Lock and Beads Curtain" produced by Mango TV this year was seriously affected by the "entertainment restriction order", but this was just the beginning of the bad luck.

The next day, the ratings results came out.

When "Ode to Joy" was broadcast on Jiangsu and Zhejiang Satellite TV, the urban network ratings exceeded 2.2. In addition, the TV series was well-made, which aroused heated discussions among netizens and received rave reviews.

"It's a conscientious drama, and the main actors each have their own characteristics."

"The key is that the rhythm is tight and not dragged out, unlike some dramas that are so long-winded that even the smallest things can take several episodes to tell."

Starting from June, a new round of imported Hollywood blockbusters is gradually arriving.

Blockbusters such as "Transformers 3", "The Smurfs", "Cars", and "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part )" will be released one after another

The competition this summer will be extremely fierce, no less than that in May.

In China, "The Founding of a Party", which had already been completed and post-production was completed, was sent to the General Administration for review. However, the feedback came back that it had not passed.

"Boss Han, after reading the news report, I thought today was April Fools' Day. You are the boss of China Film Group after all, why doesn't it work this time? Haha."

At China Film Group, Han Sanping had a strange look on his face when he received a call from Gu Wei. Gu Wei called him to discuss the movie premiere and screening schedule, but in the end he was teased by the other party.

"Don't mention it." Han Sanping couldn't help but curse a few harsh words, "There's nothing we can do now. We can only delete Tang Wei's scenes, otherwise it won't pass the review."

The script of this tribute blockbuster must have been carefully studied, but the final film unexpectedly failed to pass the review. This is either the director's or the actors' fault, needless to say.

"Well, those old guys are really narrow-minded. They care about everything."

Gu Wei thought about the cast size of The Founding of a Party, which involved the roles of at least a dozen actors. If he made any rash cuts or adjustments, the drastic measures would definitely affect the quality of the film.

You know, for this "The Founding of a Party", Han Sanping copied the production model of "The Founding of a Republic", which is his favorite. Now he is forced to make changes. No wonder Han Sanping's words are so harsh. After all, cutting off someone's financial resources is like killing his parents.

Although Tang Wei’s ban has been lifted, her performance in mainstream dramas is still not accepted by people, especially those above her.

"Let's not talk about that. Whether or not I have confidence in the box office of On the Beach at Night Alone, the situation this month is not optimistic."

The two chatted for a while, and Han Sanping asked about the box office, changing the subject.

"Director Han, this is an art film, not a Hollywood commercial film. As for the box office, I can't say for sure. Anyway, the copyright has been sold. No matter how much the box office is, it will not lose money.

Don’t have too high expectations, after all, domestic art films have been in decline.”

Gu Wei's requirement for this movie is to break 100 million yuan at the box office. If the movie has to rely on art films and imported commercial films to compete for the box office, he himself feels that there is no hope.

“You can’t say that. For an art film, the first thing to look at is the director, and the second is the actors.

You are one of the four great directors in China, and with Yifei's appeal, maybe you can get a box office of 300 to 500 million, haha."

On the phone, Han Sanping made a joke. He himself didn't believe that an art film could earn 300 to 500 million yuan at the box office. After all, there were only a few records for the highest box office of domestic films.

"Haha, what are the four great directors? They are all nonsense reported by the media. Didn't you see that even Director Chen said that he doesn't seek fame, but just wants to make every movie seriously."

Speaking of which, after the incident with the four directors, Zhang Yimou, Jiang Wen and Gu Wei did not say anything to the media. Instead, it was Brother Chen Kai who accepted the interview with reporters in a serious manner, put on a condescending attitude, and commented on Gu Wei and others.

...

(End of this chapter)