In the beginning, I just wanted to make money

This year’s Shanghai Film Festival, one sentence evaluation: very official!

The big theme is "Chinese Films in the New Era".

In addition, there are “Belt and Road Film Culture Roundtable Forum”, “Reform and Opening and Chinese Film”, “New Power of Chinese Film: My 2035”, and “Belt and Road Filmmaker Salon”.

Among the total 11 forums, 5 were held.

Moreover, when introducing the official forum, the original statement - "Invite senior people to discuss from multiple perspectives such as industrial structure, film production, technological frontiers, talent training, cultural exchanges, etc." - also adds a sentence: "Response The Belt and Road Initiative, closely linked to the 40th anniversary of reform and opening up" and other official terms...

This is official. As for the many guests participating, one word can describe it: anxious!

Amid the "one-drawer contract" crisis, the film and television industry has been languishing, completely losing the high spirits of the previous two years...

The standard film release conferences of major companies are simply gone!

On the other hand, there were many new entrants at the reception. Major, medium and small companies were busy organizing receptions, and various social nights made people temporarily forget about the "sadness of film and television".

But the reality is still faced!

The Shanghai International Film Festival’s leadership summit has become a grievance meeting. Wang Changtian spoke first: “Everyone thought that challenges were coming in 2011, but in fact they were not. The current film industry has seen a significant reduction in funds, and many film companies have financing difficulties and equity pledges. , production costs continue to rise, and copyright sales continue to decline.”

“Perhaps only 10% make a break or make money every year. If investors cannot be given sufficient returns, where will the future investors of this industry be?

The withdrawal of capital has led to a shortage of funds. Many of our film and television companies are now experiencing difficulties in project financing. I am basically certain that thousands of film and television companies may go bankrupt in the next one or two years! "

Huang Zhonglei followed up: "In addition to the challenges of funding and content, Chinese film companies need a good public opinion environment. We hope that media people will conduct in-depth investigations and research and be responsible... Many self-media neither understand the industry situation nor are willing to understand it, even if It is the most basic data, data that is readily available and can be found by any search. The data that is made public every day are not willing to be quoted, but are only willing to convey certain hearsay emotionally, which has greatly affected the current image of the entire industry."

Shen Xudong interjected: "We cannot blame the self-media for this, it is us who have overdrawn our trust!"

"Money, beauty, power, and entertainment are the biggest labels people give to the entertainment industry. Nowadays, negative words like bad money, cheating, tax evasion, traffic stars, and sleeping fans are associated with the entertainment industry. There is no doubt that entertainment It’s so negative in the eyes of the public!”

"I'm talking about the public, not the fans! In the eyes of fans, my idol is pure and pure..."

"Ahem," Shen Xudong stopped and returned to the topic: "The film industry itself belongs to the entertainment industry, so it will naturally be affected. From the high-priced acquisitions of shell companies established by stars themselves by film and television companies in 2015, to the acquisitions of companies with transferred assets in 2015 Suspicion, and the recent Yin-Yang contract incident, the scandal-ridden film industry has become suspicious after a period of glory."

"I used to think that as long as I didn't participate in these things, they wouldn't affect me... It turns out that my thinking was too simple. I am a member of the entertainment industry, and Tianmei Media is also a leading film and television production company in the mainland... In the eyes of the public, Since you are in this circle, many things have nothing to do with you...at least you are not reporting what you know!"

"I'm really aggrieved. I really don't know many things... Our Tianmei company has always adhered to the right management. I can't imagine that anyone would engage in any big or small contracts. I can't figure out why a film and television production company would buy a shell company established by a star at a high price... Are celebrities that important?

Our projects rarely use so-called stars. Instead, many stars compete to star in it. For example, "The God of Medicine" was loved by Deng Chao and Chen Xiao, and they basically didn't receive much pay..."

"Except for Zhang Yi, all the other actors in "Operation Red Sea" are newcomers, but it still sold more than 4 billion!"

"There is one thing I wanted to say before, which is the high salary of stars... If you are complaining so much, why do you have to pay it? Can't you use other actors? I only have such a budget. If you like the actor or not, I will replace him if he doesn't. , there are other things like people with small traffic trying to act like big names... Why haven't I encountered this? Not even when PPTV was filming the drama..."

“Later I realized that work is the source of confidence!”

"No works are nothing!" Speaking of this, Shen Xudong looked at Huang Zhonglei: "I always thought Huayi had transformed into real estate, but I didn't expect that Huayi was still making movies, and also made "Mobile Phone 3"... I was quite puzzled. , I am still considered the screenwriter of "Mobile Phone 2", but you didn't even think of informing me about "Mobile Phone 3"?"

"How can Huayi transform into real estate? We have been making movies for 24 years..."

Shen Xudong interrupted him: "As far as I know, Huayi has 14,000 acres of land reserves across the country... Is this the scale a company whose main business is film and television production should have?"

Huang Zhonglei also wanted to explain that Shen Xudong had already turned around and talked to Yu Dong about money laundering...

"Money laundering? I don't really understand!"

"I don't understand either, but I know that there is black money behind most Hong Kong and Taiwan movies... Recently, a gambling company has often participated in the production of Bona's movies... Do you want to investigate this?"

Yu Dong quickly said: "Our cooperation with Sun Entertainment is limited to the normal scope of film investment business. It is reasonable, legal and compliant. There is no non-business capital transaction..."

Shen Xudong smiled: "I didn't say the name of the company, you said it yourself..."

The host Yin Hong quickly changed the topic and started talking about the ‘Belt and Road Initiative’. Shen Xudong shut up...

…

"1 God" held its premiere for thousands of people...

The drama "The God of Medicine" is very Chinese!

In essence, Lu Yong's personal divine act became an inducement to the system's self-correction.

No martyrdom occurred...

Because this is reality - the movie does reflect a social contradiction, but in reality, such a contradiction is later resolved through the rule of law.

Therefore, the movie is not criticizing the shortcomings of the rule of law at all.

The Via Dolorosa part at the end is also very clever, revealing Lu Yong's divinity and also hinting at the limited scope of Lu Yong's abilities. The majority of patients still have to be saved by the institutional collective.

This is consistent with objective facts...

But this is also the reason why "The God of Medicine" was not shortlisted for European and American film festivals - the film's focus deviates from Western aesthetics.

In European and American movies, the confrontation between individuals and the system often focuses on the harm suffered by the individual, or the individual's complete resistance. The attribute of class confrontation is extremely strong.

For example, "Two Days and One Night" by the Dardenne brothers shows the cold feelings of workers after they lose their jobs due to the economic crisis.

"The Life of David Gore" allows the male protagonist to use his "mistake" of being sentenced to death to warn about the problems of the death penalty system, but he dies without any results...

Oliver Stone, Ken Loach, Kaurismaki and other American and European "angry youth" who have repeatedly received first-class awards recognition.

In comparison, the expression of "I'm Not the God of Medicine" is undoubtedly not quite right and does not conform to the aesthetics of Western movies...

If Cheng Yong goes to jail, it will be fifteen years.

The government strictly investigates and seizes smuggled drugs.

Patients died one by one...

Then it can win awards, or at least be shortlisted for mainstream film festivals.

Relatively speaking, Jia Zhangke's films will be more in line with the Western tone.

In particular, top European film festivals such as Venice and Berlin have always used strong politics as one of the considerations for the review.

Therefore, "The God of Medicine" does not have a particularly good reputation overseas, and it has not won any overseas awards worth mentioning...

But...this movie is very suitable for the Chinese market!

It does not use a highly intensified construction method to make the protagonist completely positive and tall, suffering from the oppression of society throughout the whole process. Instead, it treats each character as a simple ordinary individual, downplaying the simple The polarization of good and evil.

Cheng Yong's transformation was due to his friend's death from illness, and he felt "stimulation and shock that ordinary patients cannot feel", which led to a huge change in his thinking. This character's ideological realm was actually downgraded.

But this downgrade is consistent with the divine breakthrough of "I am not the god of medicine" and reduces Cheng Yong to an ordinary individual: the courage to change comes from intense emotional touch rather than rational logic. cognition.

This treatment makes the story more logical...

Of course, the most important thing is, "There is only one disease in the world: the disease of poverty" and "Who can live without a sick person? Can you guarantee that you will never get sick?" 'These two lines directly sublimate this movie...

Just like what Huang Mao said, ‘Did you know that even if you sell a bottle for 5,000, many people still can’t afford it! ’

The premiere ended with thunderous applause...really thunderous applause!

Wen Muye, Deng Chao, Chen Xiao, Zeng Li, and Zhang Yu came to the stage to express their thanks and share their creative experiences, and then Shen Xudong came to the stage.

"The degree of completion of "The God of Medicine" is quite high. Fumino is really awesome... What's even more awesome is the awesome new director like Fumino. Our company has signed more than thirty people... So, in the final analysis, I am the best! "

"Haha... To bring it back, the drama "The God of Medicine" is very special. It has a realistic theme... and I estimate that it will be a box office hit... What I mean by a box office hit is more than 3 billion!"

"Let's not talk about this first, let me talk about the power of images!"

Shen Xudong said a few opening remarks, and then went directly to the topic: "I entered the industry relatively early. In 2004, I wrote a book called "Outstanding Citizen" and took the overseas award-winning route... The film market at that time was relatively poor. Your film was overseas. If you don’t win the prize, it’s impossible to recover the cost!”

"I was very lucky. My first movie, "Outstanding Citizen", helped Mr. Chen Daoming win the Venice Best Actor, and I became famous for the first time... The next one was "The Aviator", and I also won the award... But "The Aviator" The mainland box office was very dismal... In 2005, I started to produce my first domestic film, does anyone know which film it was?"

Someone from the audience yelled "Life Events", and Shen Xudong nodded immediately: "Yes, "Life Events"... also starred Deng Chao. To be honest, Deng Chao's acting skills back then are definitely worthy of an actor trophy. It's a pity that Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers ignored them. ... Since then, I have been completely indifferent to these two awards... This is a digression. Later, I participated in three films directed by Feng Xiaogang: "Orphan", "Mobile Phone 2", and "If You Are the One"... Director Feng recently won the award for "Mobile Phone 3" "Targeted by Teacher Cui..."

Speaking of this, Shen Xudong said helplessly: "Many netizens asked me about the inside story, but I don't know anything. I even found out about turning on "Mobile Phone 3" through Weibo..."

"Bringing it back to the story, probably after "Life Events", I feel that the film market has become more chaotic. With a qualified story, suitable actors, and good publicity, the basic box office can exceed 100 million, so I I started filming "Famous", which was very good, with a box office of over 200 million..."

"In those years, the top-grossing films in the film market usually featured big stars and big productions. "Famous" was not a big production. The setting was a large rented villa... It influenced many subsequent films to a certain extent~"

"After entering 10 years, blockbuster films have begun to iterate. This iteration not only reflects the level of film and television production but also reflects the needs of society and the times. In the past few years, as long as any sad youth film was released, it would definitely make a lot of money. But the audience’s aesthetics are improving, and the demand for high-quality films is also growing... Therefore, youth movies in recent years have been difficult to sell, so "Young You" added elements of campus bullying and juvenile delinquency... It is very popular!"

"The theme themes such as the "Wolf Warrior" series, "Operation Red Sea", and "Operation Mekong" have become popular, which indicates that the audience is beginning to accept and pay strong attention to the feelings of family and country..."

"In the next three to five years, the main theme theme will definitely be something that cannot be ignored!"

"Other than that, it's all about realism!"

"Realistic themes, focusing on reality, focusing on topics that the audience cares about, such as fraud, school district housing, and poverty alleviation, are more likely to resonate with the audience... But it is very difficult for creators... especially a successful creator like me , because I don’t pay attention to these things in my life... For example, school district housing is just a concept to me. I own several properties in BJ, and basically there are houses in every school district... So what should I do?"

"Discover new talents and train new directors!"

"If realist themes want to win applause from the audience, they must have the power of images. Some people may ask: What exactly is the power of images?"

Speaking of this, Shen Xudong raised two fingers: "Empathy and resonance!"

"You have to make the audience feel it personally... "The God of Medicine" is such a movie. After reading the script, my favorite line is: There is only one disease in the world, a disease of poverty, and no cure... Maybe this movie has many shortcomings , but this line is enough!”

"thank you all!"

…

Shen Xudong’s speech was really inspired...

He rarely says so much publicly, but this time it was quite touching.

On the one hand, "The God of Medicine" is indeed a good movie and will definitely be a hit;

On the other hand, in the entire industry, capital is indeed ebbing...

This completely opposite situation made him very interesting.

Maybe, movies can be a business thing, but they can’t be full of copper odors!