Chinese Entertainment: Academic Director

Chapter 36 Launch Conference
With the popularity of "On the Beach at Night Alone", there are more and more topics about Li Xiaoran, Tian Zhuangzhuang, and Cao Yang.

Among them, all the comments about Li Xiaoran were praises, praising her acting skills and beauty. Some public intellectuals even began to promote Li Xiaoran as a representative of independent women.

Just by acting in a movie, you can become an independent woman of the new era?

baffling.

The discussions about Lao Tian are mainly in some tabloids and on the Internet, where people feel sorry for Lao Tian and say that if he had not been banned from directing for so many years, he would have become a famous director like Guo Shi and Kai Ge, renowned both at home and abroad.

And provided proof that a coal boss boasted in front of the media that he participated in the investment of this movie and that he paid the money just for Tian Zhuangzhuang - it was not his own movie, why would Tian Zhuangzhuang take it so seriously?
A junior student knows nothing about movies. He is just a puppet. Lao Tian is the real operator.

From here, we get to the point and start attacking censorship, blah blah blah…

There are two types of information about Cao Yang.

One view is that Cao Yang is just a nominal director, and the film was actually shot by Tian Zhuangzhuang. How could a junior student make such a good movie?

One view is that Cao Yang is extremely lucky. Looking at his straightforward and simple shots, he often uses fixed push-pull and fixed super-long shots. Who can't do this? If he hadn't met Li Xiaoran, who has superb acting skills, he wouldn't have been able to enter the main competition unit, let alone the Silver Bear.

There are even many directors who have expressed their desire to work with Li Xiaoran in the media, hoping to win the three highest awards in Europe together.

What that means is, even if you give me a Li Xiaoran, I can do the same and even do better.

A lot of media came to the launch conference of "Empty Room" this time.

Before the launch conference, production director Cheng Jianye asked Cao Yang whether he wanted to screen the media to avoid a disastrous outcome.

Cao Yang originally thought about screening, but then he thought, if you screen, then those media that are blocked outside the press conference will not report it?

It would be better to put it in so it can be controlled more easily.

Sure enough, at the launch conference of "Empty Room", apart from some related questions asked by the local media of Ludong Island, most of the other questions were about things other than the movie.

Tian Zhuangzhuang did not attend today's press conference. He was afraid that something might happen, so he simply turned a blind eye.

Besides, he is an art director, why would he attend a launch conference?

So Cao Yang was leading a group of actors on the scene.

Yu Feihong is somewhat famous, but not that famous, and there is nothing worth reporting.

Liu Ye? I don’t know him, not worth mentioning.

Many journalists know Wu Qihua, the one who played Fang Tangjing in Just My Foot, the one who deserves a beating. Of course, the more memorable ones are art films like Sex and Zen…

This can be mentioned briefly, maybe it can increase newspaper sales.

"Director Cao, the shots you used in On the Beach at Night Alone were very straightforward. Will you stick to the original style in this new film?"

This is a reporter from Xinlang Entertainment. The questions he asked were related to the new movie, so they were relatively friendly.

Cao Yang smiled and replied: "When I filmed On the Beach at Night Alone, I had just finished my sophomore year. You may not know that what we learned before sophomore year were all basics, so when I was filming the movie, I only knew these basics."

"Ah?" The reporter from Xinlang Entertainment didn't expect Cao Yang to say that.

“I am now a junior in college and have learned a lot of professional knowledge, so I will use the professional knowledge I have learned in this movie.

Have you forgotten that this is a student practice film, a test and application of the knowledge I have learned, and you can just see if I can apply what I have learned."

This is a joke, right?

Many reporters laughed and joined in the joke. "Director Cao, some people say that "On the Beach at Night Alone" was directed by Tian Zhuangzhuang. Is that true?"

Cheng Jianye stood up and wanted to stop this unfounded statement, but he was pushed down by Cao Yang as soon as he stood up.

"Yes, you are right. Tian Zhuangzhuang is the cinematographer of this film. Those shots must have been taken by him."

Cao Yang smiled and said, "You can also report directly that those simple and straightforward shots were all taken by Tian Zhuangzhuang. I really want to see what his expression will be at that time."

"Ha ha……"

Many people laughed, all knowing that Tian Zhuangzhuang was a fifth-generation director, a generation that was best at playing tricks with the camera. People who knew him would not think that it was Lao Tian’s idea.

"Director Cao, some people say that the fact that On the Beach at Night Alone won two Silver Bears is all thanks to Li Xiaoran. What do you think about this?"

Cheng Jianye couldn't help it, picked up the microphone and reminded: "Dear journalists, this is the launch conference of "Empty Room". Please note, it is the launch conference. Please don't ask questions you don't want to answer. Thank you for your cooperation."

"Okay, I'll answer this last question. The rest of the journalists who are eager to try should stop making trouble. Let's not treat the launch conference of "Empty Room" as a celebration party for "On the Beach at Night Alone", okay?"

As Cao Yang finished this sentence, the reporters below all laughed and the atmosphere eased a lot.

Anyway, even though I asked such an awkward question, the director didn't get angry and answered it, which was very considerate of him.

"Li Xiaoran's acting in 'On the Beach at Night Alone' is obvious to all, and it also won her the first mainland Chinese actress award at the Berlin Film Festival."

Cao Yang first set the tone, and then said: "But it's not entirely her credit. After all, the movie is not just about her, there are other actors and staff. Without these people, she wouldn't be able to act, right?"

"Director Cao, how much credit can you give us?" a reporter shouted.

Cao Yang smiled and counted on his fingers, one by one.

"I directed the movie, I initiated the project, I wrote the script, and I decided on the female lead... How much do you think I can take? Okay, let's get to the point."

The opening of the press conference for the filming of "Empty Room" almost became a special performance of "On the Beach at Night Alone", but it was still controllable in the end.

The reporters did not expect Cao Yang to answer every question. Since the director gave them so much face, they could not be too tactless. After all, this is not the era of paparazzi and everyone is a matter of appearance.

Of course, this is just the surface. Don't think that journalists at that time were weak. Journalists of this era would name people and insult them by their surnames when writing articles, which was quite direct.

Which big star hasn’t been scolded by name? Which director hasn’t been scolded by name? Including Guo Shi and Kai Ge, they all just go right in front of you and scold you.

In fact, the larger media are quite friendly to Cao Yang. This era is very tolerant of young people.

No matter why a student director in his twenties succeeds, even the most jealous person will say a few words at most if there is no definite evidence, and it is impossible for him to personally get involved and shoot the movie.

Why? Because he is young and a student of Beijing Film Academy.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that the media will not report it. They won’t mention names, but they can report it in another form.

For example, you can interview a passerby and use that passerby’s mouth to say what you want to say.

As for how this passerby happened to say what they wanted, it can only be said to be a coincidence.

In addition, you can also add some specific words, such as "it is said" and "it is rumored"...

Don't think too highly of ordinary media, and don't think too badly of them. It's normal to have biases and conflicts of interest, so just treat them with a normal mind.

　Thanks again brothers for the monthly tickets and recommendations, thank you, thank you!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)