Chapter 386 Fire

Among the people participating in the forum, Liu Zhou is the most famous.

Therefore, the Shanghai Film Festival’s promotion of this event is mainly focused on Liu Zhou.

The result did not disappoint them. Not only were the forum tickets snapped up by fans, but more than a hundred reporters attended the event.

When Liu Zhou walked into the venue, the entire hall was suddenly in commotion. Fans waved and screamed at Liu Zhou, and reporters pointed their cameras at Zhang Ran and pressed the shutter buttons frantically.

Liu Zhou came to the stage and sat down in his seat. On his left and right were Ning Hao and Wei Desheng, and Wang Xiaoshuai was on the far right.

Liu Zhou was not familiar with Wei Desheng and Wang Xiaoshuai, so he just nodded to them as a greeting.

Today's symposium started with the exchange between the four directors including Liu Zhou, and then the directors communicated with the distribution bosses and theater managers.

Today's discussion was hosted by Zhang Guoli. After the forum began, he introduced the guests and first asked Ning Hao to speak and talk about what kind of movies the Chinese film market needs.

Ning Hao should be the most popular director recently besides Lu Chuan, but Lu Chuan does not have a good reputation.

At present, the total box office of "No Man's Land" has reached 2.8 million yuan. It should have been taken off the screen, but an extension key was applied for, so it can be shown for another month.

There is still more than half a month before the film is released. There should be no problem for No Man's Land to break 300 million in box office.

"No Man's Land" was a huge success in both box office and reputation, and it also greatly increased the popularity and status of Ning Hao, the director of this film.

This movie undoubtedly fully demonstrates that Ning Hao is not only good at making comedies, but other types of films can also achieve high box office.

Ning Hao is more than just a comedy director.

In contrast, Feng Kuzi, one of the four great directors, still has difficulty in transformation and has never been able to move beyond comedy films.

However, Feng Kuzi has been able to consistently get high box office returns by making comedy films, which is a skill that most people do not have.

But after "No Man's Land", the outside world inevitably compared Ning Hao and Feng Kuzi again.

Feng Kuzi must have felt aggrieved, but this time he did not talk nonsense. Instead, he kept his breath and carefully prepared for "1942". He hoped to use his work to shut up the outside world.

For Ning Hao, the fact that he, as a junior, can be compared with Feng Kuazi is enough to show his excellence.

It can be said that "No Man's Land" had a great influence on Ning Hao, and this movie did not disappoint the great efforts Ning Hao put in.

So Ning Hao talked about what he saw and heard during the filming and release of "No Man's Land".

He thinks Chinese films should return to the market:
"The audiences in China are very kind. Through No Man's Land, I found that the audience's appreciation level is much higher than I originally imagined. China Cinema Chain is also very supportive of good domestic films, so I have full confidence in the Chinese film market."

Next is Wei Desheng's turn. Last year, he broke Taiwan's box office record with "Cape No. 7" and became Taiwan's best-selling director.

However, when he spoke, he complained bitterly:
“In the past few years, I have met many investors, but I have repeatedly hit a wall when talking to them about movies, art, and even business.

They always say that the script is very good and I like it very much, but the audience will not like it because it does not have many selling points and does not conform to business rules.

But why should beauty be defined by so many rules? Even though Cape No. 7 was a success, they still told me that it was an exception.

Listening to Wei Desheng’s speech, you can tell that he is another director who puts art above all else.

But Liu Zhou undoubtedly admired Wanwan's investors very much, because what they said was exactly right. "Cape No. 7" was really a special case.

Apart from "Cape No. 7", Wei Desheng really has no other high-grossing films.

As for the film "Seediq Bale", which took him eleven years to prepare and shoot, it was touted by the outside world as an epic.

But Liu Zhou had also watched this movie in his previous life, and he wanted to sleep before he saw half of it.

You should know that in his previous life, Liu Zhou was also a person with a heart for literature and art. He also watched commercial movies, but just as a way to relax. As for art films, Liu Zhou would generally watch them more seriously.

Although "Seediq Bale" tells the story of the Seediq people's struggle against a certain rule, Liu Zhou always feels that the film's presentation is a bit petty and rather dragged out.

You should know that the entire film is four and a half hours long, and was finally divided into two parts at the strong request of the distributor.

When the film was finally released on Wanwan, the box office was only over NT$10 million, which was a dismal performance.

You know, Taiwanese audiences are more fond of art films, but they obviously don't like "Seediq Bale".

After Wei Desheng finished talking, Zhang Guoli turned to Liu Zhou and asked with a smile:

"Director Liu, your films are not only of high quality, but also do very well at the box office. Now, please tell us how to balance quality and market for low- and medium-cost films."

Liu Zhou couldn't help but shake his head in his heart. It was the same old topic again. But since he was here, he had to say a few words. He picked up the microphone and said, "Then I'll say a few words casually. I'll just say it casually, and everyone can just listen to it casually!"

Liu Zhou can be said to be a banner of Chinese films now. In the eyes of some people, even if Liu Zhou farts, they will think it smells fragrant.

Everyone's eyes were focused on Liu Zhou, wanting to hear what he would say.

Liu Zhou organized his words and said:
“I think this question is both complex and simple. In general, it should be based on the audience.

In fact, our domestic audiences have very low requirements for movies. As long as your movie can tell the story clearly, that's enough.

In recent years, the most successful director is Director Ning Hao who sits next to me. He was able to stand out and win the love of a large number of audiences, and his movies also achieved high box office because of his outstanding storytelling ability.

His first two crazy series both had three-line narratives, but everyone can see that "No Man's Land", which is currently in theaters, also has a complete story logic.

However, many domestic directors are unable to meet this simple requirement of telling the story clearly, and many directors never care about what the audience wants.

Not only do they lack the ability, they are also extremely narcissistic. They feel that their talents are not appreciated all the time, and they turn a deaf ear to the audience's criticism, thinking that the audience knows nothing and cannot appreciate their great works! "

Hearing Liu Zhou's bold words, Zhang Guoli couldn't help but glance at Wang Xiaoshuai. Many of them, the sixth-generation directors, said something similar to what Liu Zhou said.

Many audience members were nodding their heads. No one had ever spoken for them before. Some people only scolded them as rubbish and said they were not worthy of watching someone's movie.

Liu Zhou paused and continued:

“I think it’s useless for us to hold a forum and talk nonsense like this. Even if we explain it thoroughly here, will those self-righteous directors respect the audience?

Will not!
They will still feel that everyone else is drunk but they are the only one sober, and nothing will change.

To solve this problem, we can only rely on market rules to restrict it, and these market rules can only be gradually established and improved with the industrialization of the film industry.

Now in our country, the director is still the center of the system. A film director has absolute say, which leads to no one to check and balance him, and he can do whatever he wants according to his own ideas.

This is true for those narcissistic and self-righteous directors who can completely ignore the needs of the audience.

This situation is completely unimaginable in Hollywood, where the film industry is mature.

In Hollywood, the producer is the center. The producer pays more attention to commercial returns, market reaction, the logic of the story and the fluency of the narration, and can better balance the quality of the film and the market.

Therefore, when there is a conflict of ideas between the producer and the director, the producer can even directly fire the director.

For example, Asia's national treasure director Akira Kurosawa was fired by Fox three weeks into filming "Tora Tora: Tiger Tiger" because his filming style was incompatible with Hollywood.

Therefore, if our Chinese-language films can also establish industrialization, it will not only provide Chinese-language films with more possibilities, but will also enable directors to understand the market and respect the audience.

However, the industrialization of the film industry is a long and arduous task for us, and it requires the joint efforts of all Chinese filmmakers.”

In fact, there is another way to solve the problem of shoddy domestic films, which is to release more Hollywood films.

If domestic films and Hollywood films face off head-on, domestic films will certainly suffer a considerable impact at the beginning.

For domestic directors, forget about getting by in the future. Those who don’t make movies with care will just starve to death.

However, it is difficult for Liu Zhou to say these words. The current domestic trend is to impose certain restrictions on Hollywood blockbusters and give more space and protection to domestic films.

If Liu Zhou said these words, it would definitely attract criticism, and some people with ulterior motives might even label Liu Zhou a traitor.

So after thinking about it, Liu Zhou held back and didn't say anything.

As for what Liu Zhou had just said, many people at the scene, including Zhang Guoli, could not help but nod.

They think what Liu Zhou said makes a lot of sense, and Liu Zhou has previously advocated that Chinese-language films should be industrialized.

They still don't have a clear idea about the industrialization of the film industry, but now they understand the benefits of industrialization.

But just when Zhang Guoli wanted to say a few words and let Wang Xiaoshuai speak, he unexpectedly picked up the microphone and said indignantly:
“When I came here, I warned myself to speak calmly, not to get excited, and not to offend anyone, but after listening to the speeches of the other three directors just now, I couldn’t help myself.

All three of them have achieved great box office success, but I feel that they have failed as directors!"

When these words were spoken, the guests and audience present were stunned.

But the reporters were all excited. Wang Xiaoshuai actually fired directly at Liu Zhou and the other three. He was going to cause trouble. This was big news!

Ning Hao and Wei Desheng both looked unhappy, but Liu Zhou was the only one who calmly watched Wang Xiaoshuai's passionate speech.

(End of this chapter)