Chinese Entertainment: Academic Director

Chapter 483 Ready
Cao Yang arrived at school around 8:40 the next morning.

His office is in the directing department, but there are several signs hanging outside his office, one of which says he is the assistant dean.

Cao Yang held positions at both the Qingdao Film Studio and the Beijing Film Academy.

He was the chief producer at Qingdao Film Studio and the assistant dean at Beijing Film Academy.

On the surface, he was the assistant to Hou Keming, a leader at Beijing Film Academy.

However, one cannot interpret the situation in public institutions or government departments literally. The assistant dean can be seen as a candidate for vice dean. Sometimes the administrative rank of the assistant dean is the same as that of the vice dean. Both are senior positions in the school.

Of course, Cao Yang certainly didn't care about the administrative rank represented by the assistant dean. The school gave him this position mainly to make it easier for him to act within the school.

Yes, it can also be seen as having more symbolic meaning than practical meaning.

When Cao Yang arrived at the office door, he saw a man in his thirties already waiting there.

The moment he saw this man, he had a sudden realization, because he knew this man—specifically, he knew him from a past life.

"So it was you, Mr. Zhang Qi, the teacher at the school, and Mr. Tian's student!"

Cao Yang thought to himself.

He remembered that in his previous life it was around 2015, when he had a brief collaboration with Zhang Qi.

At the time, Zhang Qi was the director of the film "My Roommate Is a Detective," while Cao Yang was hired by the production company to be in charge of selecting extras.

It was called a selection process, but it was really just about contacting extras according to the production company's requirements. The person in charge was an assistant director on the set, and they couldn't even speak to the director at the time, Zhang Qi.

Cao Yang was just doing his job for money, and in the end, he wasn't even credited in the movie.

I really can't believe that director Zhang Qi is the same Zhang Qi.

Cao Yang sighed with emotion. Life is truly full of drama. If he hadn't been reborn and had a broken system to help him, he probably wouldn't even have the right to talk to Zhang Qi.

And now?

"Hello, Director Cao, I am Zhang Qi from the School of Management."

Zhang Qi is 35 years old this year, older than Cao Yang, but at this moment in front of Cao Yang, he is like a junior, appearing respectful and reserved.

Of course, we don't follow that seniority system anymore.

However, it is common knowledge in the industry that Lao Situ took Cao Yang as his last disciple and treated him like his own son, cherishing him dearly.

Zhang Qi's mentor, Tian Zhuangzhuang, was also Lao Tian's student, and they were very close.

Therefore, Zhang Qi didn't think there was anything wrong with what he did.

Little did he know, there were others with far thicker skin than him—Ning Hao had long since openly called Cao Yang Junior Uncle.

"No need to be so serious. You're a teacher at Beijing Film Academy and also Lao Tian's student. We're on the same side."

Cao Yang opened the office door and said with a smile.

"Okay, Director Cao."

Zhang Qi breathed a sigh of relief, but didn't show it, maintaining his respectful demeanor.

Cao Yang is an internationally renowned director, a leader of the school and the Qingying Film Studio, and the vice chairman of the Federation of Literary and Art Circles, the superior unit of the Film Association and the Television Association... No matter how you look at it, Zhang Qi felt that it was right to be respectful.

After entering the office, Cao Yang sat down and gestured for Zhang Qi to sit down as well.

Zhang Qi did not sit down immediately. Instead, he placed his resume on Cao Yang's desk, arranged it neatly, and explained, "The school's information may not be that detailed. This is some supplementary information about my basic background."

Cao Yang nodded. The other party was thoughtful. Sometimes the information entered by the school was not updated in a timely manner, and sometimes there were bound to be omissions.

"Let me take a look at your information first. There's water over there. We're not strangers, so please help yourself."

After Cao Yang finished speaking, he began to look at the documents.

Zhang Qi has a ten-year career in CCTV documentaries and has participated in a large number of documentaries.

Examples include "The Diplomatic Situation of the Republic", "Walking into Shangri-La", "A Visit to the Hometown of the Founding Marshals", and "Exploration and Discovery".

He also served as the chief director of the reality show documentary "2005 China-Korea Etiquette and Style Competition" on Beijing TV, a fact that Cao Yang did not find mentioned in his school records.

In other words, regardless of the scale of the documentary, he has experience as an independent documentary director.

In addition, his first film after transitioning from documentaries to feature films, "Save Me," was released last year, starring Song Jia and Shi Liang.

Zhang Qi also truthfully wrote in the materials he gave to Cao Yang that "Save Me" had an investment of a little over 300 million yuan, but only 500 million yuan at the box office, making it a failed work that did not recoup its costs.

"what?"

Cao Yang was somewhat surprised; it turned out that Zhang Qi had also directed "Save Me".

He actually watched this movie in his previous life. Well, it was an uncut pirated version, which he watched on his computer. He mainly watched it because of Song Jia.

In his previous life, at this point in time, he was just an ordinary nobody. Although he had entered the film and television industry, he was just an ordinary staff member on the set.

During that time, after reading Song Jia's "Curiosity Killed the Cat," he became somewhat infatuated with her, always feeling that she possessed an attractive quality—artistic, free-spirited, and sexy.

After the movie "Save Me" starring Song Jia was released, he downloaded the uncut version on his computer and watched it several times.

Well, back then, everyone was so focused on the nude scenes of the female graduate student played by Song Jia, and the passionate scenes of her wearing black lace lingerie, that no one cared who the director was.

Unexpectedly, the director is also Zhang Qi.

Cao Yang thought about it. He had read the year-end summary of Qingying Film Studio, and it seemed that Qingying Film Studio had not invested in such a film.

"Wasn't 'Save Me' invested in by Qingdao Film Studio?"

Cao Yang picked up the water Zhang Qi had poured for him, took a sip, and casually asked...

Zhang Qi smiled helplessly and said, "Ever since Qingying Film Studio delegated investment quotas to each department and implemented a points system, the departments have become extremely strict in their review of investments. My film did not pass the department's hurdle."

Okay, Cao Yang understands.

It was Cao Yang who made the decision to delegate the annual investment quotas of Qingying Studio to each department to apply for themselves.

Furthermore, it's not just that each department at Beijing Film Academy submits its own applications; a points system has also been established for this purpose.

Simply put, each department at Beijing Film Academy initially has the same number of investment slots. However, starting from the second year, the number of investment slots each year is determined based on each department's points.

The points are calculated based on the number of points awarded for films submitted by the department, the number of points awarded for winning awards, the number of points awarded for box office success, and so on. There is a specific calculation standard for this.

Departments with more points each year will have their investment quota increased the following year based on those points, while departments with fewer points will have their investment quota reduced accordingly.

Therefore, after this self-application and points system was introduced, each department of the Beijing Film Academy strictly controlled the number of film slots to be applied for each year.

If the application is submitted in the name of the department, no one gets preferential treatment; there has to be at least one aspect: artistic merit or commercial appeal. "Luckily, I didn't pass the department's screening, otherwise, with the box office of 'Save Me,' I would have been hated by everyone."

Zhang Qi then said with a smile.

Cao Yang smiled and understood what Zhang Qi meant.

The movie "Save Me" wasn't made with awards in mind. Zhang Qi made it into a thriller, and thrillers are basically out of the running for awards.

If you can't win any awards and haven't even recouped your costs at the box office, then don't even think about getting points.

Some departments may not have many investment slots from the Qingying Film Studio due to the previous year's points system. If the film selected by the department fails and no points are awarded, the other teachers in the department will definitely have objections.

Afterwards, Cao Yang asked a few more questions about documentaries, and Zhang Qi was able to offer his own insights, demonstrating that he has a very solid foundation in documentary filmmaking.

Furthermore, Zhang Qi was recommended by Lao Tian, ​​so his character is probably not a problem.

So Cao Yang extended his hand and said with a smile, "Teacher Zhang, welcome to my graduation project filming team."

If one didn't know the situation, they would definitely find Cao Yang's statement utterly ridiculous.

Someone with several years of experience working at CCTV, a teacher at the Beijing Film Academy, and a documentary film director, who also directed a film independently last year…

It would be ridiculous to ask someone with such qualifications to join a student's graduation project filming crew, or even a doctoral graduation project filming crew.

but.

Zhang Qi appeared very excited at this moment. He held Cao Yang's hands and said, "Director Cao, don't worry, I will definitely work hard and complete all the tasks you have assigned."

With Zhang Qi joining the team, Cao Yang has basically completed the main staff for producing "A Bite of China".

Over the next period of time, he dispatched more than a dozen producers to search for the food and related people he wanted across the country, and to discuss filming details with these people.

During this period, Cao Yang began to teach the episode directors, cinematographers, and other key staff about his requirements for filming "A Bite of China," especially the construction of humanistic narratives, as well as the application of documentary-style techniques and technology.

Thanks to Cheng Jianye's coordination and the active cooperation of local governments, especially the local cultural departments' guarantees, those who were initially hesitant to follow the filming were reassured.

So, the producers scattered across the country managed to secure all the characters and related food items that Cao Yang planned to film in less than a month.

This nearly month-long period allowed the episode directors, cinematographers, and other key staff of "A Bite of China" to gain a basic understanding of Cao Yang's ideas and concepts.

However, apart from Zhang Qi, who had always worked in the documentary field and was surprised after learning about Cao Yang's idea, everyone else remained unmoved.

It seems that no matter what new ideas Cao Yang comes up with, even if they are revolutionary, they are not enough to cause too much of a stir in the hearts of those who have followed Cao Yang.

Yes, I'm used to it; it's become second nature.

Now that all the "materials" and personnel needed for filming had been finalized, Cao Yang informed everyone that they would depart in three days to officially begin filming.

The reason for scheduling it three days later was that he needed to take care of some things before leaving in those two days.

Just two days ago, the organization had a talk with him.

Cao Yang has some guesses about where he will be assigned next and what position he will hold.

However, this won't be announced immediately; the process will take a while.

Before filming "A Bite of China", he also had to spend some time with "The Founding of a Republic". This film has special characteristics, and as the producer and one of the project initiators, he could not just sit back and do nothing.

Besides, he had no choice but to go.

The film "The Founding of a Republic" was also filmed in several groups simultaneously.

President Han and Lao Tian went to Nanjing and Shanghai respectively, leaving Huang Jianxin to film the scenes in Beijing.

Meanwhile, the scenes to be filmed in Beijing will take place at the Great Hall of the People and Tiananmen Square, and will feature many big stars.

Filming at the Great Hall of the People and Tiananmen Square is subject to time restrictions, and while many big stars may give face to President Han and Lao Tian, ​​they may not necessarily give face to Huang Jianxin.

Huang Jianxin was unsure of himself.

This is where Cao Yang needs to take charge.

Even if he doesn't say anything and just watches on set, no one dares to cause trouble.

Many ordinary people who don't understand film and television production have a misconception that younger actors or big stars will cause trouble during filming, while so-called "veteran actors" are all dedicated.

This is actually a very one-sided view.

Things cannot be generalized.

Most of the time, young heartthrobs and big stars have very "precious" time, so they tend to cooperate well with directors during filming and try to avoid conflicts.

On the contrary, some so-called "veteran actors" will offer a lot of extra opinions to the director or crew and are not easy to get along with.

These people can be divided into two categories.

One type is those whose creative concepts differ from the director's, who believe that "the play is paramount" and will insist on their own artistic or performance style.

This cannot be generalized; it requires specific analysis.

Another type is simply relying on their seniority. They see that big stars or young idols are treated better on set than they are, and their own pay might only be a fraction of what the other actors receive, so they get upset and start causing trouble.

There are quite a few people like this.

Regardless of which of these two categories, Huang Jianxin might not be able to handle it if he encounters it.

With Cao Yang in charge, every actor was able to perform their role very seriously, and there were no troublemakers or actors who felt the script needed to be changed.

After filming these two scenes that required precise timing, Cao Yang stopped interfering. He couldn't just sit there and oversee everything; otherwise, what would be the point of having a director?

The day before she was to depart to film "A Bite of China", Jing Tian came to Cao Yang's place.

She also had a role in "The Founding of a Republic," as a battlefield announcer, the same role originally played by Huang Shengyi. Her role was small, just a brief appearance.

Her scenes have already been filmed.

She only came to "see Cao Yang off" because she knew he was going to another city to film his graduation project.

That night, she went from being shy at first to actively "stirring things up" after completely letting go.

Since she can stir up trouble, she can also resolve it.

Her youth is her greatest asset.

The next day, Cao Yang joined the entire crew and set off together to begin the official filming of "A Bite of China".

The first stop was Jidi Village in Shangri-La, southern Yunnan, where the film crew was to shoot footage of local Tibetans searching for matsutake mushrooms in the Shangri-La rainforest.

(End of this chapter)