Global Film Emperor

Chapter 271 Press Conference End

The theater lights came on, and applause erupted behind them. After Lu Ze and the main cast stood up to thank the audience, they returned to the stage and sat down in their seats.

He picked up the mineral water and took a sip. His mother kept scratching the texture of the bottle with her fingernails. Looking at the smiles of the other main creators, it seemed that they were very satisfied with the work, but Lu Ze was not happy at all.

The subject matter of "Wrong Love" is quite novel. First of all, it involves falling in love with your girlfriend while sleeping, switching between three different worlds. It's a bit mind-bending, but it's well-controlled and doesn't stray too far from the theme, turning from a romance film into a suspense film.

Lu Ze was satisfied with the script's concept, and there were no major problems with the filming. Dai Xilu and Ding Zhiyi did not hold back either; in fact, Ding Zhiyi even exceeded expectations. Lu Ze had nothing to criticize about that. These two young people have the age and experience to back them up. Not everyone has a system, and Lu Ze cannot judge others by his own standards.

The entire process is going well so far, but Lu Ze feels that something is wrong with the editing. No matter how he looks at it, it's not quite what he expected.

Although the script's order was largely restored and it seemed to convey the intended meaning, Lu Ze felt that something was missing, causing it to lose much of the original script's essence.

Firstly, it's certain that Xiao Fengying made some cuts to the scenes in the Third World, the world where Zhou Yi and Wang Mengjun were together, in order to control the film's length.

Modern films are generally kept under an hour and a half in length because an hour and a half is the longest period during which the mind can concentrate. Any longer and the audience is more likely to lose focus. It is also the audience's best physiological tolerance period. After an hour and a half, people are very likely to want to go to the toilet.

Of course, there are exceptions. For example, Indian movies are usually between two and three hours long. This is because Indians are indeed stingy and judge the quality of a movie mainly by its length. If it's too short, they feel they're losing out and consider it garbage. If it's too long, they feel they've made a profit. As long as it's watchable, it can be called a good movie.

Of course, you also have to dance; if you don't dance, you're utterly trash.

However, Indian movie theaters have an intermission, giving viewers fifteen minutes to use the restroom during the movie. You can use your left hand... well, of course, which hand you use doesn't matter.

The point is, only a group of three guys who can fit a whole troupe on a motorcycle could do something like this. Otherwise, in which country can you watch a movie and still have time to catch your breath halfway through?

Therefore, Xiao Fengying made some cuts to control the length of the film, which Lu Ze could understand. However, this resulted in fewer sweet scenes that could evoke the audience's emotions.

Even in a romance film, even one where you're eating kimchi and suddenly, bam, you get cancer and die, you still need to have something sweet beforehand. Otherwise, it's hard to make the audience empathize with the tragedy that follows.

Sweetness is the eternal killer move of romance films. As long as people still have feelings and aren't heartless, they will unconsciously like sweet scenes. As the saying goes, one trick is enough to make you successful. If the sweetness isn't enough, no matter how good or appropriate the tragedy is later, it will be a waste of effort.

Although "Wrong Love" wasn't exactly a failure in terms of its sweet romance, it clearly lacked impact. Lu Ze glanced at the audience and saw that only a minority of people had red eyes; most were just unhappy and muttering something to their friends, but Lu Ze was too far away to hear them.

Secondly, the way Zhou Yi and Wang Mengjun's breakup was expressed was too bland. Although the audience knew that the real reason for their breakup was Zhou Yi's seventeen years of fruitless searching.

Ultimately defeated by age and reality, they recognized their own mediocrity and understood that they would never actually meet each other in this lifetime. Therefore, for both of them, this relationship had no meaning or value, so they chose to let go, allowing the other person to find a real partner in the real world, instead of indulging in sleep and loving each other to death in dreams.

But I couldn't control my tears. What about the sadness of their breakup? What about the reluctance to part? What about the bewilderment of seventeen years of effort turning into nothing? I didn't show any of that.

But in reality, these missing scenes were actually filmed; it's just that Lu Ze didn't know why they didn't appear in the final version of the movie.

Perhaps what Xiao Fengying wanted to express was the hope that couples could face breakups calmly. Adding this idea to the film wouldn't be a bad thing, since it's her film and there's nothing wrong with inheriting her thoughts and ideas.

All I can say is that she didn't use editing to fully express her own thoughts. It can't be said that it was badly edited, since it still looks okay. It's just that it barely meets Lu Ze's expectations.

Judging from the genuine smiles on the faces of the main cast and crew, they are probably quite satisfied with the result. It makes sense, considering that Xiao Fengying has made quite a few bad films over the years. Now that she has made a decent movie, the pressure on her shoulders has actually been reduced considerably.

For both Ding Zhiyi and Dai Xilu, this was their first time making a film; they had previously only acted in television dramas. Their first foray into the film industry and the resulting movie is quite impressive.

Therefore, among this group, only Lu Ze was not entirely satisfied with the work. He genuinely felt that the editing failed to showcase the script's strengths. He also felt it was unfair to compare his own films with "Wrong Love," as serious dramas and romance films are not comparable. Furthermore, now that the film has been released, the outcome is irreversible. Lu Ze estimated the rating would hover between 6.5 and 7.5, with no chance of reaching 8 points.

Since that's the case, Lu Ze didn't need to put on a bitter and resentful act at the press conference. Otherwise, it would cause rumors and wouldn't do him any good. He could only smile and accept it in his heart. It wasted half a year, so be it. As long as the film didn't completely collapse and become a bad movie, it wouldn't have a big impact on his reputation. Besides, he had already received his salary for "Wrong Love." He had the money, and he had done his job.

Because of this, the atmosphere at the press conference was very harmonious. Xiao Fengying picked up the microphone, walked to the center of the stage, and shared her thoughts in front of the camera flashes.

"Now that the film has finished showing, to be honest, I think this is the only work I can be proud of in recent years. It contains the meaning I wanted to convey."

"After three revisions, the script finally became what I wanted. For example, the setting of parallel universes and some changes to the characters made me very satisfied."

"I would also like to thank Lu Ze, Ding Zhiyi, Dai Xilu and other actors for their contributions to this film, especially Lu Ze, who gave me a lot of advice on details."

"There's another passage, although it might have been written by a film critic, but I can't help but bring it up to you now. As you've all seen, the events in Zhou Yi and Wang Mengjun's respective worlds are the same, only their genders are different. So what I want to express most in the whole film is whether you have ever fallen in love with yourself at some point, or whether you would fall in love with a version of yourself that is the opposite sex."

"This is the last question I wanted to ask the audience. I've asked it, and I'm not in a hurry to get an answer. So, this press conference is now over. I hope to see you all again in the near future to enjoy my work. Goodbye."

After the press conference ended, Lu Ze changed into a loose-fitting outfit in the lounge at the press conference venue, folded his tie and put it in his bag, and let out a long sigh of relief.

Actually, Lu Ze was still a little uncomfortable. After all, he had wasted half a year. He originally thought the movie would be outstanding, but it turned out to be very disappointing.

"Brother Lu, have you changed your clothes? Director Xiao asked me to ask you if you're going to the celebration party."

A staff member knocked on the door, and after Lu Ze allowed him to enter, he pushed the door open, but instead of going inside, he stood at the doorway and asked a question.

"I won't be going. Please apologize to Director Xiao for me. I have something to do, so I'll have to go now. Let's get together another time."

After the staff closed the door, Lu Ze gave a mocking laugh. There were too many audience members, and he was too embarrassed to show that expression on stage. In fact, he had been holding back this mockery in his heart for a long time.

He and Xiao Fengying would not work together again, Lu Ze was certain of this. First of all, he had a great distrust of Xiao Fengying's ability to direct. Next time Xiao Fengying offered him a film, no matter how good the script was, he would not accept it, because he now found it hard to believe in Xiao Fengying's directing skills.

It's likely that Xiao Fengying is in the same boat and won't be able to offer Lu Ze any more film contracts. She herself just said that Lu Ze gave her some suggestions, but after the film was released, Lu Ze realized that none of those suggestions had been used.

Lu Ze could assure her that he had been very careful to maintain the director's dignity and had conveyed his suggestions to Xiao Fengying in a very tactful way, hoping that she would not mind his involvement in the filming.

Yes, many directors don't like others interfering with their filming, but Lu Ze's comments weren't that serious. They were just offering light suggestions. Besides, Lu Ze is a big star. Even if a director has a bad temper, they should at least listen to a little when dealing with an actor of Lu Ze's caliber, right? After all, it's all for the good of the film's profits.

Xiao Fengying talked a lot with Lu Ze on the surface, but forgot about it completely as soon as she turned around. Lu Ze had no need to cooperate with such a petty woman.

After tidying up his suit, he went out and greeted Dai Xilu and Ding Zhiyi, but he didn't see Xiao Fengying. It was funny, if she really wanted Lu Ze to attend the celebration party, she wouldn't have just asked a staff member. It was obvious that she didn't intend to have any more contact with Lu Ze.

After his invitations from the two young men went unanswered, Lu Ze left the venue and got into Liu Bin's car to go home.

"."

I haven't been sleeping well these past few days, probably because I've had a lot on my mind. I fell asleep while writing last night and slept in my chair all night. My back is a bit stiff now, so I'll go for a walk and stretch. I should have another chapter this afternoon to catch up on last night's. I'll resume normal updates starting today. Sorry, everyone.

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(End of this chapter)