Chapter 502: The First Gathering of the Youth Guides Association
【5700】
Compared with his skills in architectural decoration, Director Chen’s warm-up program was rather average.
The first program of the opening was Han Sanping and Chen Kaige, who returned Mr. Mei Lanfang's belongings to Mei's family together. It could be regarded as the opening theme, but the dialogue looked rehearsed and the sensationalism was a bit forced.
As for the movie itself...
Overall, the quality is still good. If it was shot by an ordinary director, it would probably win a lot of praise from the media.
But for Chen Kaige, this answer was not so satisfactory, and Leon Lai's performance was also criticized by reporters.
The scene was once filled with tension, but this time Director Chen was surprisingly humble, and coupled with Leon Lai's good attitude, it ended smoothly in the end.
However, the next day, a major newspaper published a composite photo on half of its entertainment headline. In the upper left corner of the photo was a still from "Mei Lanfang" and in the upper right corner was a still from "Operation Kunpeng".
As for the second half, it is a comparison of the photos of Chen Kaige struggling on the stage and Xu Kun sitting in the audience contentedly.
The title is "The Old and the New?!"
The huge question mark and exclamation mark are both blood red.
These are things for later, let’s not mention them for now.
However, after the premiere, it was already past 11 o'clock at night.
Just as everyone was leaving, Xu Kun, who was in disguise, brought Liu Haibo, Ning Hao, and Jia Zhangke to a nearby barbecue restaurant.
Seeing Xu Kun's hidden look, the boss didn't find it strange. There was quite a commotion in the film and television city tonight, and it was clear without any guessing that the person dressed like this must be a celebrity.
When they arrived at the private room upstairs, before Xu Kun could unload his equipment, Jia Zhangke asked, "Since the goal is to support young directors, how will the problem of financial resources be solved after the Youth Directors Association is established?"
It seems that Chief Jia also came prepared.
Liu Haibo, who had already received the task, immediately knocked on the table and said half-seriously, "Director Jia, you should have enough money to make movies, right? I heard that many foreign organizations are vying to invest in your new movie."
Taking foreigners' money to film Chinese scandals is one of the reasons why Jia Zhangke is criticized.
Jia Zhangke glanced at Liu Haibo and said calmly: "Every penny I earn and spend is worthy of my conscience."
"Isn't this right?"
Liu Haibo also glared and continued to criticize: "Is it enough to be true to your conscience? Don't you people always clamor for enlightening the people?"
"cough~"
Seeing that they were heading for a tit-for-tat confrontation right from the start, Ning Hao shook his big head and took the initiative to interrupt: "How about we order food first? At least get a few bottles of beer... tea."
He originally wanted to order a few bottles of beer, but he was worried that the three people at the table would get drunk and start fighting - mainly because he was worried that Jia Zhangke would be beaten - so he changed his mind and asked for tea.
After his interruption, the waiter brought two plates of edamame and boiled peanuts, and the atmosphere became slightly less tense.
Xu Kun then answered Jia Zhangke's question: "The Film Bureau and the China Film Association have agreed to help solve part of the problem, but the bulk of the problem still needs to be raised by ourselves. I plan to contact domestic film and television companies after the Chinese New Year, and we will organize a fundraising campaign."
After hearing this, Jia Zhangke chewed some edamame and asked back, "If we take their money, do we have to agree to their requests?"
"Haha~"
Liu Haibo sneered, as if questioning how Jia Zhangke had the nerve to ask such a question.
But Jia Zhangke ignored his criticism and stared at Xu Kun, waiting for him to give his answer.
"That depends on how much the sponsorship is." Xu Kun spread his hands and said, "If it's one or two million, we can help promote it and express our gratitude, which will be considered as returning the favor - if the sponsorship amount is large enough, then we have to negotiate it out."
"Then you have to set a charter in advance."
Jia Zhangke pressed on: "Most young people with talent and ideas are unwilling to accept too much restraint and kidnapping."
"That's easy."
Although Xu Kun had not thought about this carefully before, he did not think it was a difficult problem: "Those who are willing to accept the additional conditions can get additional sponsorship. Those who are not willing can try to spend less money to achieve great things."
Jia Zhangke was silent for a while, but he did not refute. Instead, he nodded and said, "As long as we can give those young people who insist on independent creation a chance, it will be fine. After all, there is no absolute fairness in this world."
Chief Jia is not the kind of person who sticks to the old ways.
Seeing that Jia Zhangke's question had been answered, Ning Hao breathed a sigh of relief, but he couldn't help but ask the question in his mind: "Then how do we, the Youth Directors Association, identify young talents that should be supported? After all, it's not like a baby is pregnant, so it's hard to recognize it at a glance.
Especially now that filming costs are getting higher and higher, even a short film for trial is not something that ordinary people can afford - we can't just select from the rich, right?"
"I've thought about that, too."
Xu Kun answered: "My idea is that our Youth Directors Association can cooperate with video websites and TV stations to organize a collection of themed short films and promote them on TV and the Internet at the same time.
Those who want to participate can send their shooting plans to us and the video network for review. Those who pass the review will receive a certain amount of sponsorship and free shooting equipment.
As for the shooting process and progress, the video network and TV station can send people to track and monitor it to ensure that money and equipment will not be misappropriated or damaged.
When we get to the second and third rounds, we will find some big-name actors to work with the contestants, which will boost traffic and ratings, and the video network and TV station will definitely be willing to give out some money as the final bonus."
Listening to Xu Kun's story, Ning Hao couldn't help but sigh that it was indeed the case that "those who know each other are not in a hurry".
If he was still a little bit dissatisfied with Xu Kun's ability to make movies, he was completely convinced of Xu Kun's ability to build a network and make money.
What was originally a thorny issue was turned into a variety show by Xu Kun. This not only solved the funding problem, but also the channel problem. In the end, everyone benefited and was happy.
If it were him, he probably wouldn't be able to figure it out no matter how hard he tried - even if he could come up with an idea, he might not be able to convince the TV stations and video networks to get involved. But this is not a problem at all for Xu Kun.
However, Jia Zhangke raised another objection at this time: "Cooperation with video networks is a good idea, but TV stations... their censorship standards are stricter than those of the big screen. Will this lead to the exclusion of some young people who pay attention to people's livelihood issues and look forward to social progress?"
As expected, it is not so easy to deal with Chief Jia.
"What you said is not right!"
Liu Haibo tapped his fingers on the table unceremoniously: "We are discussing the essay topic now. If they come to participate in the competition and insist on misinterpreting the topic, then they can only blame themselves for being eliminated!"
Jia Zhangke did not argue with him, but turned to look at Xu Kun: "I think that in addition to box office and art, we filmmakers should still have some pursuit of humanity - this is also the spirit advocated by the older generation of filmmakers, and we should not throw it away!"
Xu Kun stopped Liu Haibo who was about to argue again, and looked into Jia Zhangke's eyes for a moment before finally deciding to make an exception: "You can arrange two people to participate in the review. If you find such a situation during the review, don't argue with the TV station or the video network. Report it directly to the Youth Directors Association and we can hold a private meeting to discuss whether to support them."
Although Xu Kun has many criticisms of the so-called sixth generation directors, some of their films do reflect social problems realistically and sharply, and even urge the government and enterprises to make corresponding improvements.
It would not be appropriate to filter out all of these and only keep the great and glorious things. Moreover, if these people were forced to stand against the Youth Directors Association, it would definitely bring some negative impact to the Youth Directors Association and Mr. Xu.
Instead of doing this, it is better to make an opening in advance and let them in to discipline them - if they are really stubborn, then we can be more targeted when we suppress them later.
After agreeing to give this type of young director room a chance, the following topics became much more harmonious. Director Li Yu, who Xu Kun asked Liu Haibo to nominate, also received unanimous recognition from everyone.
After all, Li Yu is from the sixth generation of directors, and is also considered a leader among female directors born in the 70s.
(End of this chapter)
