Chapter 433: Shangying's Thoughts

The popularity of "The Wandering Earth" on the Internet is incredibly high, and the fact that a TV series "Ghost Blows Out the Light: The Mystical Ancient City" became popular before it was aired has also attracted the attention of many filmmakers.

Under Gu Wei's inspiration, many domestic film companies have the idea of ​​making 3D blockbusters. However, only a few of them can put their ideas into reality.

Over the past year or so, countless investors, directors, and screenwriters in the circle have been eating and drinking together, boasting nonsense, and having many ideas, but few of them can take practical action.

But after much discussion, several large companies still came up with preliminary ideas.

At this time, Chinese film audiences remain very enthusiastic about 3D blockbusters.

Unlike a few years later, many viewers prefer the colorful 2D version rather than the dim and unclear 3D blockbusters with poor three-dimensional effects.

With the flapping of Gu Wei's "butterfly" wings, the Chinese-language film industry in this time and space has become a little different.

Some films were approved ahead of schedule, and all of them are 3D special effects blockbusters. This is naturally the result of industry investors being jealous of Gu Wei's box office success.

In a conference room of Shanghai Film Group, Ren Zhonglun, along with a group of senior executives, director Li Rengang, representatives from LeEco Entertainment and others, were conducting a script discussion for "Grave Robbers' Chronicles".

Ren Zhonglun was full of energy and vigor at that time. The popularity of "The Wandering Earth" was indeed beyond his expectations. The fact that Shanghai Film Group could get involved in it also achieved its goal.

But in the film industry, it is more profitable to follow others and eat the soup than to make your own decisions and eat the meat.

Seeing that domestic audiences are full of expectations for 3D blockbusters, Ren Zhonglun naturally wants to try his hand at it. In his eyes, as long as the investment is sufficient and the script is similar, it seems that there will be a way forward!

After some consideration, Ren Zhonglun turned his attention to the tomb-raiding theme, which was trending towards popularity. Of course, he could not even think about the "Ghost Blowing Out the Light" series, as the copyrights were in the hands of the Star Film and Television Company. Even if he got involved, he would still only get a share of the profits.

So, he focused his attention on "Grave Robbers' Chronicles", a work of the same genre.

At this time, Li Rengang, who is both the director and screenwriter, said: "For the film "Grave Robbers' Chronicles", I thought this way: due to the national conditions, it is better to remove the tomb-robbing elements, and focus on filming the exploration and monster-killing scenes.

Abroad, monster movies are a relatively mature genre, giving birth to classic films such as "Godzilla," "Jaws," "Jurassic Park," and "The Host."

There are also many monsters in Chinese mythology and legends, and we can bring them to the screen and make our own "monster-fighting films."

But everyone present had their own opinions and theories about special effects blockbusters, and Li Rengang's words instantly ignited the topic.

“As for the investment, special effects blockbusters can easily cost hundreds of millions, or even millions. If the box office fails, it’s no joke,” said a representative of LeEco Entertainment.

Li Rengang smiled when he heard this and said, "Well, the initial budget will need at least 200 million. I estimate that based on the current subject matter and topic, if the special effects are good and the plot is not bad, there will definitely be some profit."

"Two hundred million, including the subsequent publicity and promotion expenses." said someone from the publicity department of Shanghai Film Group.

Seeing Li Rengang shaking his head, another person from the Shanghai Film Production Department said, "The cost alone is as high as 200 million. If you include the publicity and promotion expenses, including miscellaneous items, the total budget must be more than 300 million. I think the cost is too high."

"Director Liu, money cannot be saved on special effects production. This is what audiences go to the cinema to see. Compared with Hollywood blockbusters that often cost hundreds of millions of dollars, this money is not much." Li Rengang immediately retorted when he saw someone raising objections.

"In fact, I think the story content can be adjusted. There is no need to keep it coherent in the middle. Interspersed with small single-line plots of other characters can also achieve the same effect and save money!" The representative of LeChuang Entertainment made a suggestion, and after he finished speaking, many people nodded in agreement.

In the past, domestic films could indeed operate in this way, but the current industry situation has changed. When Ren Zhonglun heard these words again, he felt a little uncomfortable and snorted:
“Before Hollywood movies entered the mainland market, this could have fooled the audience.

But the situation now is that the films introduced into China are all slightly decent Hollywood films. If Chinese-language films stick to their original intention of making money and do not change their crude nature, the situation will be like the inferior horses versus the superior horses in Tian Ji's horse race.

After a long time, what you lose is people’s hearts and markets.”

……

On the set of "The Wandering Earth", the male lead Hu Jun's scenes are being filmed.

In the studio, Hu Jun wore a specially made space suit and performed according to the script.

The MOVA facial expression capture system used is composed of dozens of cameras operating simultaneously in an array, and the entire system equipment is quite complex.

Hu Jun, who had never had such filming experience before, was quite uncomfortable, but fortunately his acting skills were indeed up to standard.

Although there are no scenes or opponents, I can still make corresponding expressions as required by the script.

The other actors who had already joined the crew but had no parts to play for the time being stood by and watched, secretly amazed.

Some of these people are veteran actors with more than ten years of acting experience, but this kind of filming technique is the first time I have seen it on the set.

The filming was going on in the crew, and outside the crew were also filled with reporters and paparazzi from various media.

During the filming period of "The Wandering Earth", visits to the set were not allowed, but after the crew finished working every day, it was the only time for these reporters to obtain footage.

If someone who knows the business comes and takes a look, they will find out.

Wow, there are reporters under various media labels.

"Beijing Entertainment News", "Morning Post", "Southern Metropolis Daily";
The three major portals: Sohu, Fox, Sina and Netease, Phoenix TV, Guangxian’s "Entertainment Live" and CCTV's "China Film Report".

Even reporters from Hong Kong's Wen Wei Po and Taiwan came.

At the same time, Song Ge was looking at the land.

This is certainly not the intention of Xingchen Film and Television Company to enter the real estate industry, but as the company's employees increase, now there are already several hundred people, coupled with a large number of imported equipment and machines, the original venue is no longer sufficient.

Think about the newly established animation company. Due to the lack of space, the company can only rent a house, which costs several million yuan a year! After learning about this situation, Gu Wei thought carefully and decided to invest in buying a piece of land and build a building himself.

As for the location, there are two major options. One is a piece of land with an area of ​​about 12000 square meters near North Third Ring Road.

The area of ​​this land is very suitable and the location is also good. It is located in Xicheng District, close to Shuangxiu Park, with greenery and leisure guaranteed. It is located in the inner four cities, the area is prosperous, and next to the North Third Ring Road, with convenient transportation.

At the same time, it is not far from the current address of Xingchen Film and Television, as well as Beijing Film Academy and Central Academy of Drama, and can be walked for no more than half an hour.

The most important thing is that among all the land available in the same period, this one is the most suitable in terms of location, area and other aspects, but the price is a bit high.

Second, there is also a good piece of property in Chaoyang District, located in the Guomao business district, but it is only over 6000 square meters. After seeing it, Gu Wei, Song Ge and others felt that the place was a bit small.

In the end, Gu Wei decided to take the bigger piece. At most, he could build a few more floors, which could also be used when new departments and other companies were established later.

This time Song Ge came here to implement this matter. There are still some procedures to go through for this land, but it will be delivered to Gu Wei soon.

At present, Song Ge has been contacting some architectural design teams. Once the plan is obtained, the construction will be put into bidding. It is expected that the building will have more than 30 floors and no more than 40 floors at most.

It’s built too high, and various procedures are required, so cost is also a problem.

Compared to Song Ge, Wang Chen has been more depressed recently.

Since taking charge of the company's TV dramas, Wang Chen has attached great importance to the investment and development in this area, actively exploring good scripts and negotiating projects.

In the TV drama industry, with the popularity of several Qing Dynasty dramas, Wang Chen naturally turned his attention to this area.

But what he didn't expect was that Gu Wei directly rejected his proposal.

"The company will no longer allow pigtail dramas to be made, and investment will be rejected if anyone comes to ask for investment."

Wang Chen was depressed when he heard the boss's rules, but he still carried them out unconditionally.

After rejecting several popular scripts in succession, people in the circle discovered that Xingchen Film and Television disliked TV dramas with Qing Dynasty themes?
Now, some old-timers in the entertainment industry can't sit still anymore and are stirring up trouble online and making negative comments.

Gu Wei was too lazy to respond to this.

To be honest, he was not motivated by any angry, patriotic or other sentiments. He just simply disliked certain dynasties and certain hairstyles.

If the pigtail drama is divided into several stages.

The first pigtail drama to become popular was probably "The Story of Qianlong" starring Zheng Shaoqiu from Hong Kong Island.

The first TV series to become popular in mainland China was "Prime Minister Liu Luoguo" starring Li Baotian and Zhang Guoli.

It was also because of this drama that Zhang Guoli came up with the idea of ​​producing film and television. He collaborated with others to invest in the filming of "Kangxi's Private Visits", which completely set off a climax in pigtail dramas.

Afterwards, works such as "My Fair Princess", "The Secret History of Xiaozhuang", "The Iron-Tongued and Bronze-Tooth Ji Xiaolan", "Li Wei as an Official", "The Kangxi Dynasty", and dramas such as "The Yongzheng Dynasty" and "The World's Granary" brainwashed people explosively and made everyone remember the three emperors Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty.

The Qing Dynasty also became the dynasty most well-known to the public at one time.

Later, as the themes of television dramas became richer, the momentum of pigtail dramas declined slightly, but soon popular Qing Dynasty dramas such as "Palace" and "Startling by Each Step" took over and rekindled the popularity of pigtail dramas.

Later, the higher-ups finally gave the order that time-travel dramas were not allowed to be filmed, so the Qing Dynasty time-travel dramas were scrapped. The screenwriters and producers, led by that damn girl Yu Zheng, started to make melodramatic Mary Sue dramas.

Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong, Huang Taiji and Dorgon all became brain-dead and spent their days in love whenever they had nothing to do.

Although these dramas had very bad reputations, they had good ratings, and the dead girl became a hot TV producer, and was known as the Crouching Dragon and the Phoenix Chick together with Guo Yimi in the film industry.

Of course, they both died at the same time later.

Later, as the audience's standards improved, some of them became tired of these bad dramas.

Finally, there was a glimmer of hope that "pigtail dramas will lose popularity", as excellent works such as "The Legend of Zhen Huan", "Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace" and "Story of Yanxi Palace" were released one after another, which brought back a wave of popularity to pigtail dramas.

It was not until netizens woke up and realized the true face of the Qing Dynasty that a large number of viewers began to boycott pigtail dramas.

In addition, capital advocates the production of big IPs, and a certain department suppresses historical nihilism, which does not allow historical film and television dramas to be arbitrarily altered.

With the cooperation of many parties, pigtail drama has finally gradually withdrawn from the mainstream.

Of course, there is still some audience soil, and no one knows when a high-quality product will come out, which may cause another wave of corpses, but the people's hearts have been lost, and it will be difficult for it to become popular again.

It is no exaggeration to say that from 1998 to 2012-13, more than 70% of mainland actors, not to mention the artists from Hong Kong and Taiwan, have played pigtail dramas.

There is no way, the market determines everything, and actors also need to eat...

But eating is eating, and Gu Wei cannot control other people. He himself is not so poor that he needs to eat this meal.

"If I don't want to film the Qing Dynasty, then I can film other dynasties, okay?" After Wang Chen's proposal to film a Qing Dynasty-themed TV series was rejected, he couldn't help but change his idea.

.........

PS: There is some nonsense at the end of this chapter, I just want to complain!

(End of this chapter)