1978 Synthetic Writers

Chapter 549 "I heard you have a good wife?"

"marketing?"

After Jiang Xian briefly explained his requirements, Mi Jiashan was stunned for a moment. He turned to look at Xie Jin and found that the other man also looked bewildered.

"Comrade Jiang Xian, I don't quite understand what you mean. Marketing? What marketing?"

"."

Jiang Xian thought to himself that filmmakers these days are so naive; they don't understand what film commercialization is at all, and they don't even have the concept of film marketing.

It has to be those people from later generations; they make movies using the same formulas.

Even losing weight can be used as a movie gimmick, and the key is that she can always gain it all back, which becomes a new gimmick for a new movie. After a while, she loses weight again and makes a new movie. Over and over again, she makes a fortune.

There's nothing we can do about it; it's due to the overall environment.

After all, in later years, movie theaters were filled with commercial films; it was the world of commercial films.

Even the best movie will flop if it doesn't have some hype.

In fact, the Chinese film industry began discussing commercial films and marketization as early as 1987.

Here's a little-known fact: Li Shaohong directed China's first commercial film.

Does Li Shaohong know this?

She starred in "Forty Not Confused" and "Palace of Desire," which shows her talent. However, she ultimately failed with the 10 version of "Dream of the Red Chamber."

At that time, she was a junior director at the Beijing Film Studio. She was young and inexperienced, having only served as assistant director on a few films, including "The Bao Family" which produced the "Standon" film.

The Beijing Film Studio wanted to make commercial films, but the veteran directors were not interested. In the end, after much deliberation, only a few young directors who were easy to bully were left. Among them, Li Shaohong was the easiest to bully, so the task unexpectedly fell to her.

This is where some people might ask.

Why do you always turn down acting opportunities?

Yes, because at that time, whenever people talked about Hollywood, they would turn pale at the mention of it and despise Hollywood's commercial films.

When Li Shaohong heard that the filming assignment had fallen to her, she was naturally unwilling to do it. Going to the studio was useless. Finally, Tian Zhuangzhuang, her class monitor in the directing department of Beijing Film Academy, persuaded her:
"Go ahead and shoot. At least you'll get the opportunity to prove you're capable. Once you're recognized, you can shoot whatever you want."

Seeing that she had no other choice, Li Shaohong went to film the movie with tears in her eyes. Having only ever made art films before, she painstakingly searched for information everywhere, revised the script, and finally finished filming "The Silver Snake Murder Case".

Yes, the film has been criticized for having a total of 18 bloody scenes.

Surprisingly, the film was a huge hit in theaters, setting a record for the highest number of copies ever made and becoming one of the highest-grossing films of the year.

It's worth mentioning that because the movie scenes are quite bloody, some viewers thought it was directed by a male director, but it was actually directed by Li Shaohong.

Aside from her, Feng Xiaogang was probably the first person to understand the commercialization of film, and he came up with the concept of the Lunar New Year film.

Of course, our Director Chen is also a master at marketing films.

Back then, the movie "The Promise" was hyped up to the skies before its release, with a deluge of reports: "The Promise's special effects cost a whopping 340 million yuan", "The Promise's visual style is an oriental freehand style", "The luxurious Promise's 'behind-the-scenes heroes' create a visual feast", and so on. "The Promise" was even broadcast as news on CCTV's evening news program, and trailer advertisements were aired during prime time on CCTV, creating a huge buzz.

Our director Chen spent a full 1 million yuan on film promotion, and his publicity and execution are unprecedented.

The intensity of the marketing and promotion rivals that of the 1800 trending topics on Weibo by the "weight loss" female director.

It whetted the audience's appetite.

As a result, after the film's release, the "alluring" special effects that Director Chen boasted about turned into "disappointment" for the audience.

Yes, this is how the media promoted the chapter "Jang Dong-gun vs. the Mad Bull" at the time:

"The 'Wild Bull' episode tells the story of Jang Dong-gun, who plays a slave, carrying his master at incredible speed as they run through thousands of cattle to save him. To film this magnificent scene, the production team transported 100 yaks from Shangri-La, Yunnan, and used computer-generated imagery to multiply the number of cattle, creating a truly realistic scene."

After the audience has finished watching.

A huge question mark filled my head:
Excuse me?

That crude effect dares to call it realistic?!
The audience member who felt cheated out of a movie ticket was furious and made a classic comment: "Halfway through the movie, I finally figured it out. This film could be renamed 'The Story of a Woman and Three Clients'."

However, thanks to its box office success, The Promise still wears the cloak of a "blockbuster".

Later, an editing enthusiast named Hu Ge edited a short film called "A Bloodbath Caused by a Steamed Bun," which went viral and completely exposed Director Chen's true colors.

"Use a gimmick to make the audience anticipate your movie. In short, that's roughly what marketing means." Jiang Xian explained the concept of marketing to Mi Jiashan and Xie Jinquan.

The two weren't stupid, and they quickly realized what was happening, but a new problem arose before them.
—So what should we use as a gimmick?
The two of them turned to look at Jiang Xian.

But then he looked at Mi Jiashan meaningfully and said, "Comrade Jiashan, I've heard you have a good wife."

"???"

Mi Jiashan was stunned, looking at Jiang Xian with some confusion, "Uh, my wife Pan Hong is an actress from the Shanghai Film Studio."

“I know, I know.” Jiang Xian nodded. “I watched Pan Hong’s performance in ‘Middle Age’ three times. The female doctor Lu Wenting’s performance was so lifelike.”

"Uh, you flatter me."

Mi Jiashan said politely, but couldn't suppress his surprise, "But I don't quite understand, what do you mean?"

"Um"

Jiang Xian lowered his voice and leaned close to Mi Jiashan's face.

Mi Jiashan immediately understood, leaned closer, and heard a voice in his ear, "I wonder if Comrade Pan Hong is willing to dedicate herself to your art."

"Boom!"

It was as if a thunderbolt had struck Mi Jiashan. He immediately sat up straight and looked at Jiang Xian with disbelief.

Dedication?

Wow, there's a lot more to it than meets the eye.

He likes the novel "The Troubleshooters," but he can't let his wife do something outrageous just because of it.

"What...what do you mean by this?" Mi Jiashan asked, his mind in turmoil.

"Oh dear, please don't misunderstand."

Jiang Xian could tell from Mi Jiashan's expression that he had misunderstood. "Yes, that's right. I hope that Comrade Pan Hong will also participate in our movie."

"Act in a movie?"

Mi Jiashan wiped the cold sweat from his brow and breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, you should have said so earlier. I thought you were doing this for some other reason." "It's not what you think."

Jiang Xian broke out in a cold sweat, thinking to himself that he wouldn't dare even if he were given the guts. How could he just lay a finger on this woman? He wasn't Yang Yanjin. Besides, didn't he see that Pan Hong didn't have any other romantic relationships after her divorce?

"However, when I say 'participation,' I don't mean it in a simple sense."

"It's not just about participating in an act?" Mi Jiashan was confused. "Then what else is there to do?"

"As for Comrade Pan Hong, just give a normal performance. However, I hope that during the filming, Comrade Pan Hong can create some scandals."

"What?"

Mi Jiashan's heart, which had just calmed down, jumped again. "A scandal? What scandal?"

"Yes, it's best if it's something romantic, like rumors of her falling in love with some male lead. Let's artificially fuel those rumors."

"what?!"

Mi Jiashan's eyes widened in disbelief, and he kept shaking his head. "This, this isn't right, Comrade Jiang Xian. This isn't appropriate. If these rumors get out, won't my wife's reputation be ruined?"

"Once the movie is released and achieves box office success, then you can come out and clarify things, just like the incident involving Wang Jiawei and Zhang Yu of the Chinese men's volleyball team. Make a complete story with evidence and witnesses, and then clarify it. The audience will think it's ridiculous and won't take it to heart. Do you see how Zhang Yu's career was affected by that incident?" Jiang Xian advised earnestly.

"This"

Mi Jiashan was in a dilemma, and he sat in the chair feeling somewhat uneasy.

"Of course."

Jiang Xian picked up his wine glass and handed it to him and Xie Jin, saying, "I'm just giving you guys a suggestion for making the movie. Whether you take it or not, and how to implement it, is up to you."

Don't think I have any ulterior motives. What good would it do me if your movie were to be good or bad? My novel is already famous enough. Do I need your movie to help me expand my fame? I'm more afraid of ruining my reputation in your hands.

The reason I'm telling you all this is to tell you that sometimes you can't be too rigid in your thinking; you have to be flexible. I've been working on a TV series recently, and I want to share a principle with you, which I've recently come to realize: those of us who make film and television works can't just know how to shoot; we also need to know how to market them.

"."

Mi Jiashan felt a mix of emotions as he listened to Jiang Xian's words. He had been making movies for several years, but he felt as naive as a greenhorn in front of Jiang Xian.

As he pondered this, he glanced at Xie Jin beside him and noticed that Xie Jin's eyes were the same color as his own. He guessed that Xie Jin's shock was no less than that of Mi Jiashan himself.

"Hey, don't think of this as being mercenary."

Jiang Xian clinked glasses with them, drank his wine, and smiled. "Now every industry is pursuing reform and modernization. Which unit isn't contracting out these days? We filmmakers can't be rigid in our thinking and just wait to be fed by the government. We have to find ways to be self-reliant."

"Hmm." Xie Jin nodded in agreement. Although he didn't like the filmmaking method Jiang Xian described, he had to admit that Jiang Xian's words made a lot of sense.

He's a veteran director who has experienced so many complex things. People like him feel the tremendous changes of the times most clearly, and they understand that the old methods can't work forever, especially since the old methods are simply not perfect.

"But...but..." Mi Jiashan was conflicted, clearly finding it difficult to make such a decision.

"It's alright, you can go home and discuss this with Comrade Pan Hong. Nowadays, we advocate gender equality, and the home can't be a one-man show by the men," Jiang Xian said to Mi Jiashan with a smile.

In short, he taught Mi Jiashan how to make the box office explode. He even came up with such a great gimmick for Mi Jiashan. As for whether or not to use it, that's up to him.

Ugh, I'm so bad, teaching someone else's husband to do this.

After a few sips of wine, Jiang Xian suddenly had this thought, and felt a pang of guilt for his wicked suggestion.

However, men, to a greater or lesser extent, all like to seek a little excitement.

While feeling guilty, the thought that Mi Jiashan and Pan Hong might actually listen to his idea and create some green scandals made his heart beat faster.

On the set of "Stories from the Editorial Department".

Zhang Yimou stared intently at the camera, not daring to be distracted for even a moment.

These days, the cameraman has almost the same power as the film crew director.

Why is it so high in status and so important?

It's a very simple principle:
In later generations, directors could simply sit in front of the monitor and observe the actors' reactions, since the footage from the cameras would be displayed on the monitor. If they were not satisfied with something, they could quickly make adjustments.

But these days, there are no surveillance cameras when filming TV shows or movies.

In other words, only the cameraman in the entire crew knows what the final shot will look like.

That would mean bearing heavy responsibilities and wielding great power.

Moreover, there is a difference between cameramen these days and those abroad.

In foreign countries, the chief cameraman is like the conductor of an orchestra; he doesn't play the instruments himself, but he directs the entire orchestra.

In China, the chief cameraman is the one who actually carries the camera; there's no such thing as directing others.

As filming progressed, Zhang Yimou suddenly put down his camera and pointed to a corner of the studio:

"Hey, what's with those books over there? They're all messed up. Fix them right away."

Fan Yu, the art director in charge of arranging that area, reluctantly got up and slowly arranged everything. Zhang Yimou glanced at it and was still somewhat dissatisfied. "Stand up those thick books, and those thin books, why are half of them hanging outside?"

Upon hearing this, Fan Yu stood there impatiently, saying, "Isn't this annoying? One minute it's this, the next it's that. What's the point of all this planning? The higher-ups have already said that we can't even broadcast this on TV. I don't know what the point of filming is."

What are you saying?

Zhang Yimou's eyes widened in disbelief. "Is this the kind of thing to say at a time like this? Just do what I'm told to do. Why all the nonsense?"

"Quit."

Fan Yu rolled his eyes. "What a piece of junk. We might not even get paid next month."

"If you're not going to do it, then get out."

Zhang Yimou didn't tolerate it either, and pointed at Fan Yu's nose and scolded him.

Fan Yu angrily threw down what he was holding and prepared to leave the set, only to bump into Jiang Xian.

"What's wrong?" Jiang Xian asked.

Looking at Jiang Xian, Fan Yu's arrogance vanished almost instantly for some reason. He lowered his head and replied in a weak voice.

“This job you’re doing... oh dear, I can’t do it.”

"I came here because you told me I could get on CCTV, but now you should find someone else."

(End of this chapter)