Huayu: From an ordinary person to a happy director

Chapter 28 Interview with the Sixth Princess
The reason for making "Million Dollar Baby" was not only because of its low cost and high box office, but also because it won an award at the 77th Academy Awards.

It won four awards in total: Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Director, a total of four awards.

He himself doesn't care whether he wins an Oscar or not, but the recognition of the Oscar award is very high both overseas and at home.

He could elevate his status with Million Dollar Baby.

It is actually very difficult for him, a foreigner, to win the Best Director award. Fortunately, he can use public relations. There are thousands of judges, many of whom have not seen the film. The public relations department asked them to take a look. As long as the film is not too bad, the judges will cast a vote for it for the sake of public relations.

As long as there is enough money, public relations can win a lot of votes.

This depends on Warner's strength. He has never competed for an Oscar and doesn't even have any public relations channels. Even if he could find some public relations channels, his public relations effect would not be significant. It is better to leave the public relations to Warner.

Shi Lei took out the script of "Million Dollar Baby" and started to add storyboards. As for the movie version of "Jade Guanyin", he did not plan to direct it.

……

dong dong.

"Come in." Shi Lei said casually without stopping his hands.

The door opened, Deng Hongxu walked in, and said to Shi Lei: "Boss, the media is here and wants to interview you."

"Just help me deal with it." Shi Lei looked up and said.

During this period, many media wanted to interview him, but he thought it was too troublesome and rejected them all. It was usually Deng Hongxu who arranged for people to be interviewed.

Both the current media and the new media of the future like to quote out of context. It is really troublesome to pay extra attention every time you accept an interview.

It is now 03, the Internet is not well developed, and the media publicity for the film is less than one percent of that in later generations, so he has to deal with it.

The main reason is that even if he doesn't come out for interviews, there will be a lot of paper reports about him, and the media needs breaking news more than he does.

Unlike later generations, film and television companies need to pay to buy traffic.

"Boss, this time it's the Sixth Princess's people, they must interview you."

"Sixth Princess?" Shi Lei was a little surprised.

The Sixth Princess is a CCTV that specializes in showing movies. He seldom watches TV in this life, but the memory of his previous life is still there. When he was a child in his previous life, the Sixth Princess was one of his favorite TV stations. The Sixth Princess would show blockbuster movies on Saturday nights, usually followed by a long boast before officially showing the movie.

"Where are they now?" Shi Lei asked.

"Reception room."

"Let's go. I'll be there now."

In the reception room, the reporter exchanged a few pleasantries with Shi Lei before getting down to business.

Shi Lei is a very busy man now, and other media can't meet him even if they want to, so she needs to hurry.

"Director Shi, the film originally titled "No One Knows Me" and now titled "The Matrix: Guardians" has achieved huge success in North America. What do you think about this?" the female reporter asked.

It certainly increased my international fame, gave me a higher status, and allowed me to better enjoy the advances of female stars.

"This is a victory for Chinese martial arts films. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon opened up the Hollywood market, and The Matrix: Prophet Keeper solidified the market for Chinese martial arts films, while also spreading our country's culture... In short, this is a glory for the country and the people of the country."

Shi Lei boasted about how great the influence of martial arts films was in North America, and that this was just the beginning and that domestic films would have an even greater influence in North America in the future.

Whether now or in the future, as long as domestically produced products have a huge impact abroad, it will make people across the country feel proud, because it is a symbol of a strong country.

The domestic market has been suppressed for a hundred years, and now we are striving to catch up, catch up, and finally surpass. This is the hope of every Chinese. Unfortunately, his words are false. The martial arts film market in North America only lasted for a few years, and then it was closed by domestic directors themselves.

Originally, martial arts films are a category of action films in North America. Even if they are not popular, they should be able to maintain a certain market like action films. But domestic directors are committing suicide!

Instead of shooting proper martial arts action scenes, they try to do all kinds of fancy stuff.

The entire film "The Banquet" has only one action scene at the beginning.

The plot of "The Promise" is a mess and there is not much action scenes.

Since North American audiences don't like to read subtitles, the plot is as simple as possible and the action scenes are as exciting as possible.

North American audiences prefer martial arts films, which are different from the action scenes in North America.

This is also one of the reasons why "The Matrix: Guardians" can be successful.

"Some people say that you achieved success by riding on the coattails of The Matrix 2. What do you think about this?"

Shi Lei was stunned for a moment, then he understood. Was someone jealous of him?
The success of "The Matrix: Keepers" may be seen as opportunistic in the eyes of others, but in the future there will be a professional term for it, and that is marketing!

Don't underestimate the power of marketing. Mr. Lei of Weimi and Mr. Yu of Guowei are both marketing masters. They can create hot searches and famous memes in minutes.

Ten years later, there are many movies that sold well thanks to marketing, such as "Hot As In A Hot Shell" before he traveled through time. When promoting it, the movie was not mentioned at all, and they only boasted about his weight loss!
Of course, he would not explain to others what marketing is, but simply refuted it directly:
"That's not right. The quality of The Matrix is ​​good, and it was released before The Matrix 2. It was a warm-up for The Matrix 2, not a ride on the popularity of The Matrix 2."

"As soon as The Matrix 2 came out, the box office of The Matrix: Guardians of the Galaxy more than doubled. How do you explain this?" the female reporter continued to ask.

"This is because Warner increased the number of movie theaters from 500 to 1200, which resulted in such a high box office." Shi Lei did not lie. If the number of movie theaters had not increased, the box office would not have been so high. Of course, this was only a secondary reason.

The female reporter had seen countless people who didn't tell the truth, and although she was a little upset, she continued to ask, "When it's released in China, will it be titled The Matrix: The Keepers or Defiant?"

"'The Matrix: Guardians'. I didn't ask for the name to be changed. It was Warner Bros. who asked for it. Now that it has been changed, there is no reason to change it back. It would be disrespectful to our partners." Shi Lei answered very straightforwardly.

……

The female reporter blinked. Shi Lei's answer was quite professional and thick-skinned. Who said that Shi Lei was afraid of being interviewed?

"What domestic box office do you hope The Matrix: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 will make?" the female reporter continued to ask.

"The box office should be over 100 million!"

? ?
The female reporter thought Shi Lei was going to say 200 million. After all, the box office overseas is so high, even if the domestic box office cannot surpass "Hero", it should at least reach the same level!
"I think the box office is more than 100 million." The female reporter sighed.

"Borrow your good words!" He also wanted the box office to be more than 100 million, but something happened at the beginning of this year and the film market was a bit cold.

The female reporter asked some other questions and the whole interview lasted nearly an hour.

……

After sending away the reporters of the Six Princesses, Shi Lei continued to work on the storyboards of "Million Dollar Baby".

dong dong.

"Come in."

The door opened and I looked up, and found it was Yang Mi. She was wearing a white T-shirt and a white pleated skirt, and she exuded a youthful aura as she skipped in.

Shi Lei seemed to see a high school student. Yes, Yang Mi was indeed a high school student.

(End of this chapter)