Chinese Entertainment: Academic Director

Chapter 248: Lao Ma’s Difficulties

When "Black Swan" was shown to the end, as the heroine danced passionately, enthusiastically and wildly, she seemed to be reborn from her cocoon, and small black feathers began to grow on her body.

Moreover, as her rotation accelerated, the feathers on her body began to grow wildly, and finally, as she spun faster and faster, with a "whoosh", her two black wings spread open, and she suddenly stopped, proudly raising her head and looking forward.

The camera rotated along with the scene, and finally reached the front, where the audience saw a perfect and clean heroine who stopped, and the audience applauded wildly.

“No way!”

"Amazing!"

“Oh my god!”

"Wow!"

……

The voices of foreigners rose one after another.

Xie Fei and Zheng Dongtian looked at each other and saw surprise in each other's eyes.

Even though Lao Tian knew that the heroine would grow black wings while dancing and become a "black swan", he watched the show without special effects.

Seeing this scene, he couldn't help but look at Cao Yang. This scene was too shocking.

"Do you remember the statue that appeared in front of us?" Xie Fei asked Zheng Dongtian in a low voice.

Zheng Dongtian thought about it and it seemed that it had appeared before. When the statue appeared, some sad music sounded, so he had an impression of it.

Generally, there is a seemingly unimportant shot in a movie, but when special music happens to sound or the protagonist pays special attention to it, in most cases the director is reminding the audience that this shot actually has a meaning.

"The armless statue that the heroine is gazing at?" Zheng Dongtian asked.

"Ah."

Xie Fei nodded. "The statue's arms are broken and missing, only two wings are raised high, two legs are tightly together, the body is upright in the posture of Jesus' crucifixion, and the lower body has male sexual characteristics..."

After a pause, he continued, "You know the symbolism of Jesus in the West. He suffered, died, and was resurrected. This sculpture may mean that if you want to have wings, you must abandon your arms, wait for the crucifixion, and be reborn after death."

Zheng Dongtian thought about it for a moment, and then his face showed an even more surprised expression.

"The heroine stabbed herself with the glass that often caused her to hallucinate, and 'killed' herself. Later, she completed her transformation, her arms turned into wings, and she became a black swan..."

Xie Fei nodded and said nothing.

Among the people from the Beijing Film Academy present, except Cao Yang, including Tian Zhuangzhuang, their artistic achievements and artistic expressions are probably not as good as Xie Fei, who won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival.

He also discovered many plots that echoed each other, as well as many meaningful camera languages.

For example, the plot where the heroine grows wings and turns into a black swan echoes the dream at the beginning of the movie. Will the pure white swan be seduced and corrupted by the devil?

In short, this movie is full of details, and it seems that every shot has a meaning.

The change in the color of the clothes, from the white and pink clothes at the beginning, gradually transitioning to gray, and finally to black, seems to be related to the change in her mood.

When showing the heroine's dancing and daily life, many of the shots are handheld and shaky, creating an unstable and tense atmosphere inside the heroine and reflecting her inner anxiety.

The film makes extensive use of mirrors, glass and other reflective objects to show the heroine's "dual personality". Distorted and split images often appear in the mirror, metaphorically indicating the collapse of self-cognition and the awakening of the black swan personality.

In narrow dance studios, bedrooms and other scenes, the mirrors and walls form a visual squeeze, reinforcing the psychological dilemma of the characters being controlled and imprisoned...

Xie Fei could think of many more details like this.

However, there is no need to discuss it with Zheng Dongtian.

He didn't want to waste his breath.

I just couldn't help it and wanted to express my thoughts, so I had a brief exchange with Lao Zheng.

Alas, if I had known earlier, I should have sat next to Cao Yang, or even next to Tian Zhuangzhuang. At least I would have a lot to communicate with Tian Zhuangzhuang.

As for Old Situ...

He was a uncouth man who had gotten really lucky. By chance, he led the 78 directing class, and by chance, he became Cao Yang's teacher!

Ugh, this is such bad luck.

Xie Fei admitted that the old guy was indeed quite good at documentaries, but as for art films, sorry, he knew nothing about art films.

Xie Fei couldn't help but look in Cao Yang's direction again, and then he sighed heavily in his heart.

Then he glared at Old Situ fiercely. He really wanted to punch the old guy twice. If he was left alone, he could become a man like Cao Yang who could make both art films and experimental films that combined art films with commercial films.

He has all the awards and is also a master in training actors. What a pity!

well! well! well!
Boring, let’s go!
Xie Fei stood up, walked up to Cao Yang, patted Cao Yang on the shoulder, and said, "This is real art!"

After saying that, he pushed the door and left without saying hello to anyone.

Zheng Dongtian was a little confused. Why was Xie Fei so mad again? Wasn't he fine just now?
baffling.

If you say he is not satisfied with the movie, he specifically goes to Cao Yang and says that this is art, and it is obvious that he is extremely satisfied with the movie.

You are so satisfied with the movie, why are you leaving? Shouldn't you take the opportunity to communicate with the people sitting next to you?

Didn't you communicate with me just now? Lao Tian curled his lips again.

He knew Old Xie a little bit. The old guy was an intellectual, and when his intellectual tendencies came up, he was capable of doing anything.

He just happened to see Old Xie glaring at his teacher fiercely, and wondered how Old Situ had offended Old Xie again.

He actually felt a little bit of the same way. In Old Xie's eyes, his teacher was just a "rough guy", just like how he saw Hou Keming, that unlucky guy.

Alas, I never thought that my teacher, this rough and gruff guy, could actually teach me and Cao Yang... Forget it, let's add that kid Brother Chen Kai to the mix.

How lucky must my teacher be to have such talented disciples like me, Cao Yang and Lao Chen!

Old Tian's heart moved, and he came to the other side of Old Situ, and sighed in a pretentious manner: "Teacher, have you noticed that Cao Yang is imitating Brother Kai's "Farewell My Concubine"? "

"what?"

Old Situ widened his eyes, looked at Old Tian in disbelief, and asked leisurely, "Is there?"

Old Tian nodded vigorously.

"Teacher, you see, Cheng Dieyi is just like the heroine of this movie. Because of art, they have reached a state of madness, insanity, and madness. They have completely integrated the character with themselves. Cao Yang plagiarized Brother Kai."

Old Situ opened his mouth, then slapped Old Tian on the back of the head.

"Do you think I'm stupid? If I didn't have any skills, how could I have taught such outstanding students like Brother Kai and Cao Yang?
The two are completely different, okay?

Farewell My Concubine shows from a macro perspective how a drama fanatic is swept forward in the torrent of the times, while Black Swan focuses on the microscopic inner self of the individual. In her struggle with herself, the heroine releases the nature of the black swan and reaches her ideal artistic realm..."

Old Tian was stunned. How could he not understand Old Situ? How could such an interpretation come out of Old Situ's mouth?

Cao Yang wanted to laugh. Old Tian, ​​Old Tian, ​​you are walking into trouble. When I went to the teacher's house yesterday, I told the teacher the plot and compared it with "Farewell My Concubine", which the teacher could understand best.

You are just asking for a fight.

At the strong request of foreigners, the movie was shown again.

Marco Muller, however, did not watch the film again, as he wanted to dig into the details of the film, and he had plenty of opportunities to take it back to Venice to watch it repeatedly.

He pulled Cao Yang, walked outside, patted Cao Yang's shoulder hard, and laughed.

"Satisfied?"

Cao Yang also patted Lao Ma's shoulder twice with his backhand. It was a give-and-take, but he didn't dare to use too much force for fear of hurting Lao Ma.

"Ha ha……"

Lao Ma smiled and gave a thumbs up, "Just now my film selector said that your film can at least be rated A+."

"A+ grade?"

"Haha, this is our internal rating. Those who are A-level and above are eligible to compete for the Golden Lion." Lao Ma explained with a smile.

"Are you confident?" Cao Yang thought for a moment and asked softly.

Old Ma knew what Cao Yang meant. He thought about it and nodded heavily.

"If it was last year, I would have been at most 40% sure, but this year, I'm 70% sure."

Cao Yang laughed. It seemed that after his hard work, Lao Ma’s position as the chairman of the Venice Film Festival had become increasingly secure.

"Lao Ma, what do you think of the actors? Especially the female lead." Cao Yang asked again.

Marco Muller said without hesitation:
"She brought the character to life! She brought the character to life. Not only the heroine, I found that all the actors in this movie performed very well, whether it was the second female lead or the male lead, or the actor who played the heroine's mother."

After thinking about it, Lao Ma felt that this statement seemed unconvincing, so he changed his approach and said, "Let me put it this way. If any actor in this movie wins an award at any film festival, I don't think anyone will question it."

"What about Venice? I think you know what I mean."

Old Ma frowned and fell into deep thought.

Sometimes, even if an actor performs brilliantly, he or she may not necessarily win an award. This depends on many factors.

For example, if Ma "designated" Black Swan to win the Golden Lion, then if he also "designated" Black Swan to win the Best Actress award, that would be a bit too greedy.

Lao Ma is not the only one in control of the film festival; there are many other forces that need to be balanced.

Moreover, the invited chairman of the jury must be given some decision-making power, otherwise who would be the chairman of the jury?
There are also some forces outside the field that need to balance the relationship, and they have to leave a big prize for Italy, or at least leave a big prize for Europe.

The Venice Film Festival only has seven permanent awards, which is already few, and this year they have to leave one grand prize for Hollywood...

If "Black Swan" is given two major awards, will he have to renegotiate and balance the various forces that he had balanced with great difficulty before?

It's hard.

"The jury can decide who will receive some awards. I'll try to see if I can get a spot from them."

Lao Ma thought for a long time and decided to ask the jury for help.

"The jury?"

Cao Yang nodded and said, "Okay, I'll also think of a solution from the jury, and we'll work together."

(End of this chapter)