I was just thinking about taking the arts exam and you said I've been playing supporting roles

Chapter 301 The Death of an Artistic Youth!
"The film 'Life's Big Events' surpasses 5 million yuan at the box office in two weeks, setting a new record for Chinese art-house films!"

Chen Jin's films have grossed over 27 billion yuan, making her the highest-grossing male actor in mainland China!

Jackie Chan's self-directed and self-starring patriotic film "1911 Revolution" has been met with a lukewarm reception, grossing only 15 million yuan in its first week!

"Jet Li and Huang Shengyi's 'The Legend of the White Snake' premieres today, with both advance tickets and midnight screenings suffering a major setback!"

……

Just one day later, the media began reporting on the box office performance of several films released during the National Day holiday.

The fact that both Jackie Chan and Jet Li failed to make it is particularly rare.

The poor box office performance of "1911 Revolution" can be attributed to the abundance of patriotic blockbusters. However, the fact that "The Legend of the White Snake" only grossed 27,200 yuan in its midnight screenings, plus 212 million yuan in pre-sales, is simply unacceptable.

Fortunately, Yang Zi's family is indeed wealthy, and he wants to elevate his young wife to a higher position, so he has clearly started to exert marketing efforts on Weibo and several portal websites.

He's probably betting on a box office comeback during the seven-day National Day holiday.

There are still a lot of moviegoers during this holiday season; it feels like a mini-Chinese New Year film season, and it's a fiercely competitive time for all the big-budget films.

Indeed, there weren't many strong films to compete with "The White Snake" during this year's National Day holiday.

Originally, its biggest rival, "1911 Revolution," had already been eliminated, and "Painted Skin" was only released one day later than "White Snake." However, seeing "White Snake," "1911 Revolution," and "Life's Big Events," which can be called the strongest dark horse of the year, all fighting each other, the producers of "Painted Skin" obviously couldn't stand it anymore.

It was actually released two days earlier than "The Legend of the White Snake," with preview screenings starting on the 25th, but its reception was mixed.

That's why Yang Zi feels there's still hope for "White Snake" to be released during the National Day holiday.

Too many incompetent teammates.

The strongest competitor, the one that several companies fear, is "Life's Big Events," which has been in theaters for almost half a month.

According to normal trends, even dark horses will start to decline in box office revenue after two weeks. So, on the first day of the National Day holiday, the three films actually got roughly the same share of screenings.

The percentages fluctuated around 20%, while "1911" only reached 13%. Other films released during the National Day holiday have basically become cannon fodder.

In the original timeline, it was during this period that Guo Fan experienced his first setback in life.

His film may have the highest quality among films released during this National Day holiday, but currently, marketing is king for films in mainland China.

Both "Painted Skin" and "White Snake" have been going all out both online and offline, promoting their special effects and visuals; Jackie Chan may also be trying to salvage the situation, but unfortunately, patriotic films are really not popular these days.

"Brother Jin, should we promote this too?"

Early in the morning, Chen Jin, on her way to school, received a call from Chen Su.

These past few days, Lao Chen finally managed to get a few good nights' sleep because the box office for "Life's Big Events" was sure to be a sure thing; but no one expected that the film's trajectory would be so legendary, with the second week even surpassing the first.

Therefore, it's inevitable that they'll have to compete for the National Day holiday slots.

Even if you only make 1000 million a day, that's 1 million over the seven-day National Day holiday. Anyone would definitely try to make that much.

"Do it!"

"But let's not look for websites and media anymore. We'll get ticket subsidies and partner with various group-buying websites!"

"Also, we can use Weibo to find some film critics and influential figures to promote our movie ticket discounts!"

Instead of talking too much, give the audience real benefits.

The high ticket prices for "White Snake" and "Painted Skin" are due to limitations in special effects, and they have also secured many 3D theaters. Chen Jin's approach is clearly a strategy of "encircling the cities from the countryside," and lowering ticket prices might have a surprising effect.

With a good reputation and affordable tickets, audiences will definitely choose it first.

Even if it's just an art film.

The initial box office of 5 million yuan has already guaranteed the profits of "Life's Big Events", so even if each ticket is subsidized by 5 yuan, it is still entirely affordable.

The fierce competition among group-buying websites is nearing its end. Of the thousands of group-buying websites, 90% have already died, while some are still struggling to survive. The top few, on the other hand, are simply financially powerful and are enjoying the spoils of their battle for market share.

Dida was transformed by Chen Jin's extraordinary efforts and has now become the best-selling ticketing platform.

Meituan and Nuomi, which are group-buying websites backed by major companies, have stronger comprehensive businesses, and their offline group-buying and discounts are more popular.

But in terms of app user numbers, Dida is far ahead.

Ticketing is currently his strength and his core business.

Therefore, if there is a cooperation subsidy, the price per ticket may only be 2-3 yuan, and there are also various benefits for new user registration.

During this National Day holiday, besides the movies that are desperately promoting themselves, group-buying websites obviously also have to do all sorts of promotions.

This is certainly very beneficial for box office growth.

Of course, the weekday box office for "Life's Big Events" has indeed begun to decline.

Similar to the original release timeline, it is currently fluctuating around 2000 million.

Even so, it's still more than "The White Snake" and "Painted Skin," not to mention "1911"!
"White Snake" only grossed 412 million yuan on its opening day due to poor pre-sales and midnight screenings, resulting in a sharp drop in screenings. "1911" has dropped to less than 2 million yuan on its opening day, while "Painted Skin" may do better than "White Snake" on its opening day.

Market analysis suggests a target value between 500 and 600 million.

So the real box office gap is now in the two days leading up to the National Day holiday.

If "White Snake" and "Painted Skin" can climb the charts, their box office performance might still be salvageable; however, if "Life's Big Events" remains strong and takes the top spot on the daily charts, then these two films are actually in serious danger.

Originally, these two films relied on marketing to rake in over 1 million yuan each during the National Day holiday.

Even though the ratings are getting worse with each film, there aren't many other movies to watch.

But now, "Life's Big Events" stands out as a unique phenomenon.

It achieved record-breaking box office, critical acclaim, and ratings for art-house films in recent years, and also won two awards at the Venice Film Festival.

"The White Snake" and "Painted Skin"... are indeed very suspenseful!
……

After discussing marketing matters with Chen Su, Chen Jin hung up the phone.

This semester, Chen Jin has only visited the Beijing Film Academy a handful of times; she has only attended classes for two days.

However, this time Chen Jin didn't go to the acting department, but instead wore a mask and headed towards the directing department.

Tian Zhuangzhuang has already arranged a crash course in directing for him.

Every day I attend classes with students from the directing department. One class might be for freshmen from the 11 directing class, and the next class might be for master's students from the 09 class.

It's not limited to any particular year, but mainly focuses on what kind of courses are taken.

The main purpose of these courses is to enable Chen Jin to get started as a director as quickly as possible.

Moreover, many theoretical courses are indeed unnecessary for Chen Jin at present, because he has practical filming experience, so he will definitely only learn practical skills. Courses such as "History of Film Appreciation" and "College English" are obviously unnecessary.

"Audiovisual language..."

Chen Jin was trying to find out which class this was, but he didn't know which class was having this lesson.

He only has the course schedule and the time.

Upon entering the classroom, before the class had even started, several students were already seated, some chatting, others drawing and writing.

There weren't many people, just 12.

Many people think that directing students have it easy, but in reality, they are extremely lazy.

The course is quite comprehensive and requires a lot of effort from the students.

If you don't have much filming experience, then you'll have to follow the standard curriculum of the Beijing Film Academy, and you might also have elective courses, or even courses in calligraphy, painting, etc.

Students majoring in directing know that if you choose this major, it's actually very difficult to slack off. Just looking at the course load, it's quite challenging compared to other university majors. In any case, with electives, the second semester of freshman year is basically from 8 am to 9 pm every day.

In my sophomore and junior years, I did nothing but attend classes and sleep every day.

One of the most important and outstanding abilities of directing students is actually the ability to withstand pressure.

The training method might just be... exhausting you like a dog during your daily classes.

Have you seen any of the new movies that have been released recently?

One of the students asked quietly.

Chen Jin sat down at the back of the classroom without making a sound. Not far from him, a long-haired student was frantically typing on a keyboard with his head down.

It looks like they're writing a script or a written manuscript.

"I just read the director's 'Major Events in Life,' and it's absolutely brilliant!"

"I definitely have to watch 'Life's Big Events,' the other ones I've seen have really bad reviews online!" "Cheng Xiaodong gave up being a good action choreographer and started directing again. He's had so many flops since 'The Adventurers,' hasn't he?"

"They're all going to fall over; they might as well be martial arts instructors for the Imperial Advisor!"

"Haha, the director of 'Painted Skin' wasn't good either. What's in 'Painted Skin' besides the visuals?"

"This guy's even making 'The Four,' a trilogy, copying Hollywood..."

"These Hong Kong directors are all one-trick pony. Once the audience gets tired of them, they'll basically be unable to make a comeback!"

"..."

The daily conversations among directing students clearly revolve around currently popular movies and directors.

Although they themselves are not good at directing, it doesn't stop them from giving unsolicited advice and pointing out all the shortcomings of other directors.

Is what I said wrong? Not really.

But truly good directors are indeed very rare, especially given the generally low educational and technical requirements for becoming a director.

Chen Jin found it interesting.

It feels like listening to a semi-professional dominating the online forum.

Young people certainly have boundless energy.

Jingle Bell!
The bell rang, and several students returned to their seats. The teacher in charge of audiovisual language had already entered the classroom.

He first glanced at Chen Jin sitting in the back row, then began the lesson without any introduction.

It must have been Tian Zhuangzhuang who told him.

Chen Jin listened very attentively.

Chen Jin still needs to take the course "Audiovisual Language".

This course covers aspects such as visuals, sound, and editing. All the familiar techniques for shot composition and music use are covered in this subject.

Chen Jin also brought a notebook, occasionally jotting down important points.

The student who had just finished writing his draft before class was listening to the lesson when, out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly noticed an extra person in the same row.

"Ok?"

Hu Bo's eyes widened for a moment, and when he looked over with his long hair covering his eyes, he felt that Chen Jin looked somewhat familiar.

But I couldn't think of anything for the time being.

Chen Jin, of course, saw him too.

At first, Chen Jin didn't pay much attention.

But when this guy flicked his long hair, revealing his slightly handsome face, Chen Jin's memory... suddenly matched with a news story from his future autobiographical movie.

In fact, Chen Jin thought that she would meet several future famous directors in the directing class.

For example, Wen Muye, Han Jianu, etc.

However, there are still too few students who become famous from their undergraduate programs.

Chen Jin had never even considered this possibility.

Master's and doctoral programs are more likely to be involved.

Wen Muye is a graduate student, as is Guo Fan.

Moreover, they are already among the few genius directors of those years at the Beijing Film Academy. It would be difficult to find many directors like them in the history of the Beijing Film Academy.

Many directors become famous after the age of 35.

Young directors under the age of 30 who have made blockbuster or award-winning films are extremely rare, not only in China but also worldwide.

Although the educational level of directing majors in China may not be high, they still have much higher score requirements compared to acting majors.

Even so, the number of outstanding directors is still very small.

Not to mention young directors.

Therefore, even for undergraduates from the 08 directing program, the class of 2011 would only achieve fame about 20 years later.

A director needs time to mature, learn, and also needs luck and talent, among other things.

These essential conditions are indispensable.

If Chen Jin didn't know the person next to her in her current class, there would likely be very few students who would become TV drama directors in the future, let alone directors of theatrical films.

Each year, the Beijing Film Academy only produces one or two outstanding students, and many of them are not very well-known.

There are only a few dozen famous graduates from all the years of the Beijing Film Academy.

Therefore, the scarcity of excellent directors is self-evident.

Currently, the directing department at Beijing Film Academy is considered to be producing some outstanding talents, with only a few notable figures like Wen Muye and Guo Fan.

However, neither of their debut works won any awards.

However, the person next to Chen Jin, this undergraduate student, caused a great sensation with his debut work and was even hailed as the most outstanding art director in the Beijing Film Academy's directing department in the past decade, without exception.

Hu Bo!

Born in 1988, passed away in 2017.

In a short span of less than 30 years, he left behind 3 novels, 3 short films, and an award-winning film.

It's such a pity he died.

It was suicide.

He was driven to his death by a sixth-generation director who had won numerous international awards.

Chen Jin had only seen news and photos about Hu Bo, as well as the name of his debut film – "An Elephant Sitting Still"!
The script for this film was initially favored by many directors and production companies, including Liu Xuan, the producer of Dongchun Pictures.

So Liu Xuan gave the script to her husband, Wang Xiaoshuai.

After reading it, Wang Xiaoshuai felt that this was a script that could win awards at the three major film festivals, so he signed a contract and began filming.

The initial collaboration went very smoothly.

But disagreements arose after filming was completed.

Hu Bo insisted on creating his own work and was unwilling to compress the 4-hour film into 2 hours.

The investors were furious because it meant they wouldn't make any money.

Therefore, the director's name and the right to be credited for the script should be stripped.

This means that no frame of the film "An Elephant Sitting Still" belongs to Hu Bo, the creator.

It's a joke in itself to painstakingly film a story you wrote, only to find that the work doesn't actually belong to you.

But what truly crushed Hu Bo was Wang Xiaoshuai's text message.

"That long version was terrible, you know? Do you think other people are idiots who can't see the shallow things you're trying to say? Calling the world a mess by talking to thin air is such a laughable expression? Regarding your confusion, I really suggest you see a doctor. It's probably pathological; you need to be careful."

This very text message drove a young man who idolized him to the brink of despair.

This four-hour film won numerous accolades, including the Golden Horse Award for Best Film, the Berlin Film Festival Award for Best First Feature, and the Asian Film Award.

It was even nominated for Best Film at several film festivals in Japan and Europe.

Of course, the film was not released in theaters because Hu Bo chose to die to prove his innocence.

Even if Wang Xiaoshuai is right, for example, changing 4 hours to 2 hours... his subsequent words were purely insulting, an insult to a junior.

At least, Chen Jin paid special attention to this news when she saw it, and she was filled with righteous indignation.

That's why he remembered Hu Bo.

At that moment, Hu Bo frowned and recognized Chen Jin as well.

He watched the entire Venice Film Festival livestream a few days ago without missing a single moment, and he was particularly impressed by Chen Jin, who won the Best Actor award.

However, he had a somewhat eccentric personality; although he recognized Chen Jin, he didn't seem very excited.

(End of this chapter)