Huayu: Hard fight against Zhang Weiping at the beginning

Chapter 518 Independent Release
There are, of course, many different interpretations of movies.

To ordinary audiences, "Whiplash" is probably a story about a leveling maniac.

In a martial arts movie, it would probably mean swinging the sword five hundred times a day without interruption for thirty years, and eventually becoming a master.

This thing is actually very easy to understand.

All men, to a greater or lesser extent, have the potential to be a leveling maniac, otherwise there is no way to explain why the online gaming industry is so popular.

Take the most popular "Legend" for example:
Levels 1-37 only take 3 days;

Levels 37-45 require 45 days;
Levels 45-47 require 92 days;
Levels 47-60 require 951 days;
Levels 60-70 require 607 days;
This is a problem that can be clearly solved by math, and anyone with a little common sense knows that the cost-effectiveness decreases as time goes by. However, the boys still continue to work hard to upgrade, just for those few extra attribute points at that level.

There is nothing wrong with ordinary audiences interpreting it this way, but in the eyes of artists, the film is quite different. They think that Whiplash is about human nature.

About gain and loss;
About the original intention;

The protagonist of the film's love for music makes him constantly pursue high hand speed. Even when he meets such a devilish teacher, he still remains true to his original intention.

At the end of the movie, the male protagonist did it. With a hand speed of 400, he created a miracle on the spot and will definitely enter the Lincoln Center.

But the question is, does entering Lincoln Center mean success?

He wanted to be at Lincoln Center because of his love for music.

But in order to acquire advanced technology, he is suffering and tormented, and he is losing his love for it.

The result is good and the process seems unimportant, but is it really right?

What did you get?
What has been lost?
Is it worth it?
The original intention has changed, but is it still the original intention?

This is like a math genius who is gifted but has to do exercises day and night under the pressure of his teacher.

Eventually he was successfully admitted to Tsinghua University, but his talent was gradually eroded in the process of doing the questions, and he became a question-solving machine.

From this perspective, "Whiplash" is anti-inspirational and anti-success-themed!
This is also the reason why "Whiplash" is sought after by film artists, they like this tune.

At the same time, they believe that Ning Hao's filming of this movie is a signal, a sign of the prodigal son's return.

The best proof of this is that the filming of "Nobody" was stopped halfway through.

This proves that Ning Hao doesn't want to continue on the path of commercial films and wants to return to the field of art.

Ning Hao: Is this what I mean?

It doesn’t really matter whether it is true or not, as long as they feel it is true.

Therefore, the domestic art community was surprisingly unanimous and welcomed Ning Hao's return with open arms.

The prodigal son can never change his fortune!
What's more, Ning Hao is one of the only three directors in the commercial film industry whose box office has exceeded 200 million. His return to the right path is equivalent to cutting off one of Zhang Chen's arms.

……

Busan, South Korea

Feng Xiaogang hid in his room and sulked because the opening film was originally supposed to be his "Assembly", but somehow it was replaced by "Pacific Rim", and "Assembly" became the closing film.

Damn, it's everywhere.

It feels a bit bullying.

I've already given you a schedule, but you want to snatch it for the opening film?
The Busan Film Festival also knew that what it did was not fair, so it gave the closing film to "Assembly".

What is this, a consolation prize?

But Feng Xiaogang didn't want such a consolation prize at all.

So he really didn't want it, and "Assembly" only participated in the screening unit as a screening film.

Feng Dapao has the air of a boss. No matter he is a boss or not, he always puts on airs.

At the opening ceremony, he watched "Pacific Rim" openly because it was the opening film.

The film caused quite a stir.

Such an excellent science fiction film was actually made by a Chinese?

It is absolutely no different from those mature science fiction films in Hollywood.

Some media have predicted that "Pacific Rim" might be the best movie at this film festival.

Feng Xiaogang was somewhat indignant. Are the media that said this blind? +
What the hell is this?
Just like that, let me change my schedule?

He admitted that he couldn't make such a movie, but that doesn't mean it's a good movie.

Such a popcorn movie has no practical significance and cannot be compared with his "Assembly".

However, after the release date was moved up, new troubles arose, because in November, the release date coincided with Ang Lee's "Lust, Caution".

"Lust, Caution" also had its release date changed. It was originally scheduled to be released on September 9, but for some unknown reason, it was postponed for a month, just in time to collide with "Assembly".

But the schedule has been changed once, is it necessary to change it again?
No!

Don't I want to lose face?
……

Zheng Changsheng was right. "New World" really won an award, the New Wave Award at the Busan Film Festival.

Zhang Chen was not surprised by this. "New World" is so in line with the Korean style that it would be abnormal not to give it an award, not to mention that CJ Entertainment is behind it.

During the screening, Zhang Chen also went to see "Assembly" with Yu Nan.

Yu Nan is an artist under Chang Jihong, and is mainly involved in the arts. The two have known each other for a long time, and she has attended many of Zhang Chen's movie premieres.

Zhang Chen once said that none of the actresses in art films have big breasts. I would like to apologize to Yu Nan here because her breasts are really not small.

Moreover, he has a certain status in the field of art films, otherwise he would not have become a judge of the New Wave unit of this film festival.

After the Busan Film Festival, Zhang Chen did not return to China, but went to North America again.

In the past year, he has come here more often.

I have to come, there are too many things to worry about.

On the plane, two foreigners in the front row kept talking about the end of the world in 2012.

After getting off the plane and taking a taxi, the radio in the taxi was also discussing this matter, and they had even invited experts in a certain field to comment on it to increase its credibility.

I can only say that in the United States, public intellectual culture is also quite popular.

The taxi driver listened with great interest, and occasionally sighed, "It's the end of the world, why should I pick up passengers?"

Zhang Chen knew that this was the beginning of Warner’s efforts.

As expected of a big company, they started planning half a year in advance. Without overwhelming publicity, it was the kind that moistened things silently.

It invades people's lives unknowingly without them noticing.

Zhang Chen has always felt that Hollywood is really good at publicity, and there have been several classic cases.

The Blair Witch Project is one such film.

Missing person notices were posted, video clips were released, and the legend of the Blair Witch went viral on the Internet, causing the local police to actually believe that a murder had occurred.

In the end, the pseudo-documentary, which cost only $6, managed to gross $2.49 million worldwide. This is definitely a miracle in the history of film promotion and a classic case that all film marketers must learn from.

Another one is "2012".

The Mayan prophecy was spread on a large scale and eventually became a topic of discussion among the entire nation.

The media followed suit to take advantage of the popularity, not realizing that every discussion was equivalent to free publicity for "2012".

By the time the movie was released, although most people knew it was another hoax, it was hard for anyone to resist the curiosity to see what the end of the world would be like. In terms of boldness, the Artist Films company responsible for the promotion of "The Blair Witch Project" was already bold, but in terms of effect, "2012" was unprecedented and will never be surpassed.

After all, the most that “Blair Witch” did was deceive America.

"2012" fooled the whole world.

Downstairs in the Industrial Light & Magic building, Zhang Chen met Edlan who had been waiting for a long time. The two hugged each other warmly and then walked into the elevator together.

"I have been watching here for a while. Do you know how the people from Industrial Light & Magic evaluated our movie? They said that in the field of disaster films, we are the first to present earthquakes, floods and volcanic eruptions in one film..."

When Edlan spoke about this, his tone was full of pride. "2012" is indeed the disaster film with the largest scale of special effects so far.

"But they have been having a very hard time during this period. The difficulty and workload of 2012 are beyond their imagination. I think they will definitely complain to you later..."

When we arrived at the agreed meeting room, the special effects team was already waiting there.

They are all old acquaintances.

"Pacific Rim" was also completed by this group of people.

"Zhang, don't you know what we have been through during this period?"

Just as Edlan had expected, everyone from Industrial Light & Magic had a bitter look on their faces.

"I heard from Edlan that you were tortured by "2012"~"

“Yes, I swear, this is the most complicated special effect I’ve ever done.

The 10.5 magnitude Los Angeles earthquake you created took 20 hours to render just one frame, and the company's top executives are regretting it to death.

In order to complete the project on schedule, the company brought out 100 top-level workstations to assist with the rendering work. Even so, it still could not be completed. In order to reduce the workload, we developed a set of earthquake software to simulate the collapse of buildings..."

The people from Industrial Light & Magic kept chattering, and Zhang Chen could understand their feelings.

It is still 07, and even in the United States, the technology is not yet mature.

It’s nothing like later times, where rendering factories have thousands of computers and all kinds of special effects have become fixed templates.

Nowadays, a rendering factory with 100 computers is already a big deal.

"Well, gentlemen, you have worked so hard, can you let me see the fruits of your labor? I think you will not let me down, right?"

Hearing Zhang Chen's words, everyone who had looked miserable just now smiled: "Zhang, you guessed right, the special effects we worked so hard to create are definitely worth the money you spent, and also worth our hard work..."

As the words fell, the special effects clips they made began to play on the computer.

It was the scene where Cheng Long picked up his ex-wife's family and then fled for his life in Los Angeles.

The road surface lifted up due to the earthquake.

Cheng Long drove the Lincoln to find a way out in the chaos. Then the high-rise building in front of him collapsed and the glass curtain wall shattered. Cheng Long drove the car through the glass curtain wall and passed through the building.

Zhang Chen read it five times in a row, reading it very carefully each time.

When the building collapsed, there were broken glass, exposed steel bars, falling rocks, and car collisions; there were so many different details.

If any of these details are not realistic enough, the texture will be made into a game texture.

And these guys at Industrial Light & Magic are obviously doing a very good job.

"Satisfied, I am very satisfied, guys, I am lucky to meet you..."

Zhang Chen was generous with his praise. The more he came into contact with special effects, the more he realized how difficult it was to make them at that time.

Every frame of the picture is polished by people and time.

After coming out of Industrial Light & Magic, Zhang Chen went to the cube again.

Many things are waiting for him to decide.

"I think Twilight will be released in the summer of next year~"

Zhang Chen was surprised: "Openly competing with those big movies?"

"Yes, we will compete with them head-on. I am confident that Twilight can break through the siege." Diane seemed full of confidence.

The summer season is usually the preserve of large companies, as students are on vacation at this time and many people go to the movies.

But the number of moviegoers is large and the competition is fierce.

The six major Hollywood projects usually choose to be released at this time.

Diane dares to face the enemy head-on, it seems that she is really confident in "Twilight".

"can."

Zhang Chen chose to believe Diane.

"Also, I want our company to independently distribute this movie~"

Zhang Chen did not comment: "Tell me in detail~"

"With the good reputation of our previous works, I believe that the number of theaters opening in the United States this time can be negotiated to be 3000 or more..."

This scale of issuance is already sufficient.

The Big Six in Hollywood are no more than that.

Generally speaking, only successful sequels will open in as many as 4000 theaters. For the rest, 3000 theaters is considered a large-scale release that carries considerable risk.

"What about overseas?"

Why are there only six major Hollywood studios?
DreamWorks is so powerful, why didn’t it become the seventh largest?

Because they have complete production and distribution resources in their hands.

Some good independent film companies, relying on their own influence, can be on par with the Big Six in North America, but this is not the case when it comes to overseas.

The Big Six have fixed local distributors or distribution branches overseas, and also control policies and a series of other things, which are not something independent film companies can handle.

"This is what I think about overseas. We will still do it ourselves and not cooperate with the Big Six. Their fees are too expensive."

The six major channels are wide, but the fees are also high.

And there is no room for negotiation, because there are only a few companies that have this capability, and you will be ripped off no matter who you go to.

"The Twilight novels have been published in more than 50 countries, with sales exceeding 1.2 million copies, which has established the advantage of 'self-contained traffic' for the film and reduced the cognitive cost in overseas markets.

I think we can definitely discuss cooperation with local distributors in various countries and make the most appropriate cooperation and promotion plans based on the characteristics of the regional market.

For example, the Korean market doesn't like dark styles, so we will focus on promoting "pure campus love + supernatural elements" to suit the aesthetic preferences of local K-pop fans.

North America and major overseas markets such as the UK and Australia will be released simultaneously or quasi-simultaneously (with a time difference of no more than 7 days) to avoid pirated spoilers;
In non-English markets such as India or Türkiye, the release will be delayed by 2-4 weeks to allow time for localized dubbing and promotion, and local stars will be invited to promote the film.
In conservative markets, such as the Middle East and Southeast Asia, the dark elements of "vampires" are weakened, and the focus is on the "pure love" narrative. The posters and trailers highlight the looks and emotional tension of the male and female protagonists.

Launched "anime linkage posters" in Japan to attract the two-dimensional community.

In the European market, we can cooperate with local leading distributors, such as Warner Bros. International in the UK, UGC Distribution in France, and Constantin Films in Germany, all of which have mature cinema networks and localized marketing experience.”

Diane's words made Zhang Chen look at her with new eyes. She must have done some research behind the scenes, not just made up her mind.

As the saying goes, never fight a battle without preparation.

Since Diane was ready, Zhang Chen had no reason to back off.

"I leave it all to you. You have full authority~"

(End of this chapter)