Chinese Entertainment: Academic Director

Chapter 133 Nine-tailed Demon Fox
The movie Cao Yang was going to shoot was Painted Skin, but it was slightly changed.

The movie "Painted Skin" was shot by a Hong Kong director against the backdrop of Hong Kong filmmakers collectively moving north.

After its release, the movie’s reputation was not very good, but the box office was good, earning more than 08 million yuan, ranking third in the domestic box office rankings in , second only to "Red Cliff" and "If You Are the One".

The most criticized aspect of this movie at the time was that the content of the movie was almost two different stories from The Painted Skin in Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio. However, both before and after the movie was released, it has been marketed as an adaptation of The Painted Skin in Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio.

The story of the Painted Skin in Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio can be simply put as follows: the scholar Wang Sheng, who is married, meets a beautiful concubine on the road. He becomes obsessed with her beauty and keeps her in his study, where he indulges in revelry every night.

Wang Sheng met a Taoist priest by chance, who said that he was full of evil spirits and might have been bewitched by a monster, but Wang Sheng did not believe it.

When he returned to the study, he saw that the door was locked, so he climbed over the wall to get in. As a result, he saw that the beautiful concubine had shed her human skin and turned into an evil ghost, holding a brush in her hand and drawing on the human skin. After a while, she put on the human skin and turned into a beautiful concubine again.

Wang Sheng was almost frightened to death and quickly went to find a Taoist priest.

The Taoist gave Wang Sheng a handful of dust to warn the Painted Skin Ghost.

Unexpectedly, the Painted Skin Ghost became furious and cut open Wang Sheng's stomach, took out his heart and left.

The Taoist priest was very angry and killed the Painted Skin Ghost because the ghost dared not give face to the Taoist master.

To save Wang Sheng, his wife swallowed the sputum of a hermit in public. After returning home, she felt more and more sick the more she thought about it, so she vomited... A heart came out, Wang Sheng was saved, and everyone was happy.

It cannot be said that the story of "Painted Skin" from a Chinese Studio has nothing to do with the story of the movie "Painted Skin", but it can be said that they are not very related.

The movie "Painted Skin" is about a love triangle, a general, a demon hunter, a lizard spirit, and the former leader of the Wang family army...

Two men love a woman. The woman marries one of them. The frustrated man chooses to leave. The married man saves a painted skin demon, who also falls in love with the man...

Apart from the gimmick of Painted Skin, both the story and the core are different.

The core of Painted Skin from Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio is about retribution and desire.

The core of the movie "Painted Skin" is not desire, but love; not decadence, but transcendence; not the fierceness and willfulness of the cold tones of demons, but the forbearance and gentleness of the warm tones of humans.

Putting aside the gimmick of the adaptation, the movie "Painted Skin" is quite good as a commercial film.

What is the standard line for commercial films?
First of all, the story must be told clearly.

On the basis of being able to tell a clear story, it is best to have big scenes, exciting fighting scenes, actors' performances that can't make people feel out of place, good costumes and props, a smooth plot, and preferably attractive stars...

"Painted Skin" basically meets these requirements.

Since Cao Yang didn't want people to think that the movie adaptation was too ridiculous, he simply didn't call it an adaptation from the beginning, and even the name of the movie was changed to "Nine-Tailed Demon Fox".

When writing the script, I added a little plot.

The movie begins with a little fox and a beautiful woman on a misty mountain. The beautiful woman is the little fox's grandmother, an old fox.

It’s just that the old fox appears in human form, because she can make painted skin, and the painted skin she often uses is the image of a beautiful woman.

The old fox told the little fox interesting stories about the human world. The little fox was yearning for it, so he stole a piece of painted skin from the old fox and sneaked down the mountain.

Since the little fox has limited magic power, she cannot use her own magic power to nourish the painted skin, and can only use people's heart blood to warm it. This is why she digs out people's hearts from time to time.

The following plot is similar to the plot of Yuan, except that in the later plot, she took off her painted skin and was discovered by Wang Sheng's wife Peirong. What was revealed was not a ghost, but a little fox.

So the name of the movie was changed to "Nine-Tailed Demon Fox". As for why it is called Nine-Tailed Demon Fox instead of directly called demon fox or fox demon, it is actually very simple. The name "Nine-Tailed Demon Fox" seems more classy.

In fact, in order to fit the title of the film, Cao Yang doesn't mind giving the little fox nine tails.

With this change in the script, it seems that the little fox has become the first protagonist of the movie.

Apart from the scene where animals become spirits, there are no other shots or scenes in this movie that are difficult to review.

As for the issue of animals becoming spirits, that is easier to solve.

The higher-ups now want Cao Yang to quickly make a commercial film to test the market. As long as it is not a major issue of principle during the review process, basically no one dares to block it.

In addition, at worst, when submitting for review, you can just say that it is an adaptation of Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio, and no one will make it difficult, but just don't mention this when the movie is released or promoted.

If you want to make a commercial film, you must set up a company or studio.

Cao Yang also went to ask Hou Keming specifically, because he is currently employed by Qingying Studio and wondered if there are any relevant regulations.

Hou Keming waved his hand and said, "Go ahead and register. Nowadays, many public officials are opening companies outside. This won't have much of an impact."

"Is there no non-competition clause?" Cao Yang asked. This needs to be made clear to avoid confusion in the future.

Hou Keming shook his head like a rattle. "It's not some high-tech industry that requires confidentiality. Don't worry, there is no non-compete clause."

After a pause, Hou Keming continued, "If you are worried, you can set up a personal studio, or open a company in the name of a relative.

However, opening a personal studio is a legitimate thing to do, but opening a company in the name of a relative and exposing it to others always gives people a sneaky feeling and can be criticized, so it is not a good choice. "

Cao Yang thought about it. Although many public officials and celebrities in later generations opened many companies in the name of their relatives, it did give people a sneaky feeling and a bad impression. So he could start a personal studio first. At worst, he could use the American company's investment to make a Sino-US joint venture blockbuster.

In the following days, Cao Yang began to gather people, Hou Keming also brought people to participate, and Mr. Han from China Film Group was determined to invest, and he also brought people over. For this kind of mission-oriented film, he was the open promoter.

Because we are all from the same family, after breaking down the script, there is not much difference in the calculations based on the scenes and props.

Finally, we came to the conclusion that without taking into account the actors' salaries and leaving aside the publicity and promotion, because there are some special effects that need to be done, the investment amount for this movie is probably around 4000 million.

The 4000 million includes the staff's salaries and various expenses for the following six months.

As for publicity and promotion, we’ll tentatively set it at 2000 million.

The actors' pay is controlled within 1500 million.

This adds up to 7500 million.

The previous version of "Painted Skin" announced an investment of 1500 million US dollars, which is about 07 million according to the exchange rate of 1.15, which is 4000 million more than Cao Yang's version.

In fact, it cost more than 4000 million. Cao Yang's director's salary was much higher than that of Hong Kong directors at that time, and the actors' salaries could not have reached 1500 million.

Even though China Film Corporation may have invested the majority in this movie, the main control is still held by Cao Yang, or rather Cao Yang Studio.

The copyright of the film also remained with Cao Yang Studio.

Qingying Studio had no objection to this. They invested 1500 million and asked for a % share.

China Film Corporation originally wanted to make some suggestions, but since this was a mission film and they had to invest in it, they didn't have any opinions.

China Film invested 3000 million yuan, accounting for % of the shares.

Cao Yang invested 2000 million yuan, and the director's salary and script salary were converted into 1000 million yuan, a total of 3000 million yuan, accounting for % of the share and owning all the copyrights.

Cao Yang's 1000 million director and screenwriter salary is actually a very friendly price. Before he won the Cannes Palme d'Or, he could get a director's salary of 200 million US dollars in Hollywood.

It will only be higher now. If you make a movie in Hollywood and the price is quoted at $300 million, there will definitely be many companies willing to pay that money.

The exchange rate in 03 was about 8.27, which is nearly 2500 million.

Of course, we cannot meet Hollywood standards in China, but it is still possible to cut it in half.

Therefore, Cao Yang's conversion to 1000 million is already very conscientious, and this is because we are all family.

If private or foreign capital entered, Cao Yang's offer would definitely be more than this.

Now that we have the funds, the next step is to prepare and select actors.

Cao Yang had an impulse to try out the role of Wang Sheng himself, in order to give himself an immersive experience and see what it felt like.

He has always been curious about the garbage system and wondered if he could join the game and experience it himself.

There is no rush for this. Just see if you have time when the time comes and then talk about it.

Cao Yang opened the system to see how much fame he had gained during this period of time.

Host: Cao Yang

Current reputation: 1816785
Available reputation: 516785
Play experience: +0
Filming: "Nine-Tailed Fox"

……

There were more than 100,000 points of available reputation before, the Cannes Palme d'Or added 300,000, the three Golden Rooster awards added 60,000, and there were additional points after the release of "Secret Sunshine", a total of more than 400,000 points.

It always feels like it's not worthwhile to add a theatrical experience to a commercial film. It doesn't win any awards, and the reputation it adds is really limited just by relying on the box office.

Based on the experience of these movies, Cao Yang has a rough idea that if the box office is above 10 million, and reaches 50 million, the reputation should be increased by 50,000. He doesn't know whether the upper limit is 50 million or 100 million.

We will probably know the answer after the movie "Nine-Tailed Demon Fox" is released.

It seems that if it is a commercial film, it adds an immersive experience, but it cannot win any awards and can only make a profit by having a very high box office.

During this period, the school held a grand press conference, which attracted many reporters, including those from CCTV.

At the beginning, it was a press conference after Cao Yang won the Palme d'Or in Cannes. In the second half, the school played the leading role and gave Cao Yang the appointment letter of distinguished professor in front of the reporters.

Several senior leaders of the school spoke one after another, showcasing the teaching achievements of Beijing Film Academy. The general meaning was that we have trained a student who won the Golden Lion and the Golden Palm while still in school. Our school is awesome, and there is no other school like it in the world.

Cao Yang was even a little embarrassed. He had boasted too much in front of so many reporters.

Well, it seems that my promotion of the Nortel Network at the three major European film festivals paid off.

If there is a chance next time, we will continue to brag and we can achieve mutual success.

(End of this chapter)