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

Chapter 388 You think I'm Japanese?!

Three days later, at Paramount Studios.

Ye Ruchang walked out of the editing room looking exhausted and stretched.

He twisted his neck and said to his assistant beside him, "I'm exhausted, that shot took me days..."

"Haha, we finally reached an agreement with Old Black!"

This "old black man" obviously refers to Delroy Lindo, the original editor of "John Wick".

During the editing process, it's inevitable that the two will have disagreements, and often, both of them are actually right.

One is the mindset of the Chinese people, which considers the audience in the Chinese market.

Delroy Lindo certainly has a voice in North America and other regions, after all, Hollywood dominates the current film industry; in the end, the two could only call Chen Jin, whose advice was to listen to Lindo.

Even before Chinese culture has invaded the world, Hollywood's commercialization has been successful globally, including in mainland China.

In contrast, Chinese films are struggling to gain traction.

This has nothing to do with the quality of the film; it's simply because the country's strength hasn't yet developed.

Unlike in 4 or 5 years, when Hollywood movies are no longer so unattainable, masterpieces and myths have been shattered, and bad movies are just as common.

Even bad Hollywood movies still make money at the Chinese box office.

Therefore, in terms of the commercialization of editing, it is obvious that we have to follow Hollywood's lead.

Furthermore... Chen Jin's "Killer: Dragon" is a copy of "John Wick," so of course the original editor's opinion had to be taken into consideration, since the core of this film is an American story.

Ye Ruchang didn't think much of it. In his opinion, Delroy Lindo was indeed a very talented editor. During their editing collaboration, apart from the differences in commercial culture between Chinese and American films, the two actually appreciated each other quite a bit.

One requires a high level of editing skills, and the other feels like one person can do the work of ten.

Lin Duo also admired Ye Ruchang's energy and drive.

Ye Ruchang, on the other hand, secretly learned the other party's techniques and some editing ideas.

In short, aside from some unpleasantness during film discussions, the two had a very good relationship off-screen during the later editing of "Killer: Dragon".

It's at least much better than the relationship between the director and editor in many post-production stages.

Directors and editors sometimes really do fall out because of editing. As editors, they may have different editing philosophies, but their understanding of each other is still quite similar.

All of this is for the sake of making the movie more commercially successful.

Directors are often too idealistic, always feeling that many of their shots are excellent and reluctant to cut them.

So, during the few days Chen Jin was away, the two of them argued, but they still lived a fairly comfortable life.

"Hey, where's Director Chen? I haven't seen him for days?"

"You seem to be outside while making the call?"

"Isn't he editing it himself?"

Ye Ruchang exercised for a while, then suddenly turned to look at the closed editing room next door, which was clearly empty.

"do not know……"

"But it seems like he passed away a few days ago!"

As the assistant was talking, Ye Ruchang suddenly thought of something and chuckled, "Won't you break down like you did a few days ago?"

"Haha, that's possible!"

"Why don't we ask Xiao Ye?"

Ye Xiang was originally part of Ye Ruchang's team. They were all Guo Fan's people, so they were naturally familiar with each other.

"Never mind, I have to rush to finish this soon!"

"I feel like Director Chen has probably given up..."

What director's cut? Do you think you're Zack Snyder?

Zac Purton is undoubtedly a well-known figure in the industry. The final cut of "Watchmen" two years ago made him an instant star, and he has become a hot topic of discussion worldwide as both a director and editor.

Of course, this guy is indeed amazing.

It's impressive that a movie can be made money in three versions.

The most impressive thing is that the fans are also willing to support it.

Warner Bros. was stunned by the sales figures of the director's cut and the ultimate cut on streaming and DVD in North America, and could only admire them.

This guy is probably the only one in the whole world who would do something like that.

This is the only one of its kind in the world; there are no other branches.

Chen Jin also wants to become the next Lao Zha, which Ye Ruchang thinks is unrealistic.

As the two were chatting, they saw Chen Jin walking towards them with a fat man with a thick beard and several foreigners.

Ye Xiang was obviously inside as well.

"Director Chen!"

Ye Ruchang stubbed out her cigarette and greeted Chen Jin as she approached.

"Our editor from China, Ye!"

Chen Jin introduced the place to the bearded man beside her, who nodded at Ye Ruchang and looked at the Paramount Pictures studio.

"Does Relativity Media know about this?"

"CEO Ryan Kavanaugh!"

Chen Jin whispered to Ye Ruchang.

"..."

Ye Ruchang suddenly shuddered.

They're all in the film industry, how could they not know about the theory of relativity that's been making headlines around the world lately!
Especially in China, because Relativity has collaborated with several domestic film companies such as Huayi Brothers, it is quite well-known in the Chinese film industry.

Moreover, the most famous one is actually this fat man with a thick beard right in front of us!
Ryan Kavanaugh, hailed as a "wonder boy" by Hollywood, was named Variety's Person of the Year in 2011 and ranked 19th on Forbes' list of the world's youngest billionaires in the past year.

He has a net worth of billions of US dollars and is young and wealthy.

This guy has many legendary stories. He founded a company on Wall Street at the age of 22 and made hundreds of millions.

Backed by the well-known New York hedge fund EM, and with nearly $10 billion in capital raised, it participated in several well-known film projects mainly controlled by Universal and Sony.

In just five or six years, Relativity Media has risen rapidly and has now become a dazzling new star in the industry.

And the bearded man in front of me is the legendary man.

Ye Ruchang was naturally very surprised.

This "Director Chen" disappeared for a few days, and when he came back, he actually brought along such a Hollywood mogul?!
On the other hand, Chen Jin was chatting and laughing with him, which made Ye Ruchang admire his boss's boss very much!

They've even managed to chat and laugh with the founder of relativity; they're truly young talents.

To be honest, Chen Jin is not bad on her own.

The parent company of China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC) is Film Science Holdings, which owns several companies, including CETC, Xiaomi, Xiaomi Talk, Dida Group, and Dida Movies.

In terms of net worth, Chen Jin is actually about the same, and he is even younger.

But given the current dominance of Hollywood and the United States, Ye Ruchang always felt that Chen Jin had "climbed" to a higher social status.

That's not wrong. Chen Jin does want to collaborate with Relativity to release "Killer: Dragon" in North America.

But deep down, he didn't really care about Kavanaugh, who was in the billion-dollar club next to him.

Ye Ruchang felt that Kavanaugh was a big shot because of the media and news hype; in fact, Chen Jin, who knew the future, knew that he would face bankruptcy in a few years, and that he was not as mythical as he seemed.

He was essentially a front man, laundering sensitive Wall Street money through partnerships with the Big Six.

The same principle applies to the legendary game.

Compared to relativity, Chen Jin, like Wang Jianlin of Wanda, is more optimistic about Legendary Pictures, which operates on the same model.

At least they took money from Wall Street and actually made several great films, such as the Bale Batman trilogy, Pacific Rim, King Kong vs. Godzilla, etc. Oh, and Zhang Yimou's "The Great Wall" was also facilitated by Legendary.

Jing Tian's ability to make cameo appearances or even star in several Legendary Pictures films, such as Godzilla and The Great Wall, is also thanks to the efforts of China Capital.

The waters here run deep; Chen Jin's investigation over the past few days has left him feeling quite tired.

So, while Kavanaugh may seem impressive, Chen Jin actually knows him inside and out.

Kavanaugh has been quite anxious these past two years because he hasn't been able to produce any blockbuster works based on relativity. He can take money from Wall Street and live to see it, but if he can't produce anything to launder it, he won't live to spend it.

In the end, even the legendary companies could only be taken over by Wang Jianlin of Wanda Group, so it seems that no one can take over Relativity.

Despite the glamorous image they've had these past two years, only Chen Jin, besides Kavanaugh, truly understands the nature of relativity.

The following years were worse than the last.

However, it is not without its uses.

The other party has Wall Street backing them, which even the Big Six accounting firms have to respect, so they can leverage the Big Six to negotiate the issuance.

That is his value.

Chen Jin's value to Kavanaugh was simply that Relativity Media had seen the rough cut of "Killer Dragon" from top to bottom a couple of days ago. Under Costigan's persuasion, Kavanaugh was clearly very tempted.

Kavanaugh has always liked watching action movies.

You can tell from the many films he has invested in, such as "The Forbidden Kingdom" and "Fast & Furious"... so "Killer Dragon" is exactly in line with his tastes.

And most importantly, you can get a share of the profits from Killer: Dragon without spending any money.

All they wanted was distribution in North America.

All it takes is arranging theaters to screen the film; this business is indeed very profitable. If it sells well, Relativity is even willing to spend money to help with publicity, because it is beneficial to the company's promotion.

What is Wall Street?
It's a money-making machine that manipulates public opinion and traffic to generate revenue in a way that's even more outrageous than what's actually happening.

As long as you show them the benefits, they don't care who actually made the movie. In their eyes, the success of "Killer: Dragon" at the box office is a success of Relativity Media's marketing and distribution.

What Chen Jin wanted was fame and the successful launch of "Killer: Dragon" in North America.

It's understandable that the other projects would allow Relativity to make a small profit, mainly because Relativity really needs a movie to boost their company's reputation.

In contrast, Legendary Pictures has "The Dark Knight Rises" coming out this summer, completely leaving relativity far behind.

Chen Jin and Kavanaugh are now on the same page.

……

"Chan, did he edit that movie?"

Kavanaugh looked at Ye Ruchang and suddenly asked Chen Jin, "Just checking on the project as usual, so you don't get scammed."

This was Kavanaugh's purpose in coming. Although they had already seen the rough cut of the film, Kavanaugh still wanted to "inspect" the post-production work.

Cooperation requires a cooperative attitude.

"Oh, no, I cut it!"

Chen Jin smiled and said, "Just some casual editing. The real post-production is a huge project, you know, it needs to be done by professionals!"

"Ok?"

This sound wasn't just heard by Kavanaugh; even Ye Ruchang, who was standing next to him, thought he had misheard.

Although Chen Jin spoke in English.

Kavanaugh's question was—

"Did you cut it?"

The half-finished film that excited the whole company yesterday was actually the version directed by the director himself?
The key question is, what did this guy say?
Just a quick cut?!
Kavanaugh wondered if his new partner was exaggerating a bit too much.

If this is the level of skill you get from a casual cut, what would happen if you cut something seriously?
Although Kavanaugh is a latecomer to the film industry, he has been involved in filmmaking for the past eight years and knows the difficulties of post-production. Judging from the rough cut of "Killer Dragon," even the entire Theory of Relativity might not be able to produce such a "half-finished product."

This isn't Kavanaugh belittling his own company's talent; it's true, after all, this is "John Wick," a future global action-packed IP.

From its inception to its bankruptcy, the theory of relativity never created a major intellectual property like this.

The only blockbuster film, Fast & Furious, was licensed by Universal, which is just how awkward it is.

Chen Jin's casual cuts were already at a level that even relativity couldn't touch; and Ye Ruchang, standing to the side, was clearly even more shocked.

Does this mean Chen Jin's director's cut is already finished?
It's only been a few days!

It hasn't even been half a month!
Is this guy a master scissor maker? He finished cutting so quickly.

And it was even shown to this bigwig in relativity, who seemed quite satisfied, so he came over for a stroll?

That's what Ye Ruchang guessed, and he was right.

"Our production team believes in meritocracy!"

"So we went through several versions of the film. My team and I were the first to try it out and produced the director's cut!"

"The actual theatrical version is currently still undergoing intensive editing..."

As she spoke, Chen Jin pointed to the editing room where Ye Ruchang was.

"Engineer Ye, may we go in?"

Chen Jin asked Ye Ruchang, who was standing to the side looking completely bewildered. Ye Ruchang paused for a moment, then nodded subconsciously, "Okay, okay!"

"Xiao Li, go and tell Lao Hei... oh, no, DeRoy!"

Ye Ruchang scratched his head, almost blurting out the word "nigger," which is a big no-no in America.

Fortunately, Kavanaugh was white, and he actually understood what was going on, winking at Ye Ruchang.

"..."

Ye Ruchang is dead.

"Let's go in and take a look!"

Chen Jin beckoned Kavanaugh to walk into the studio together, but Ye Ruchang grabbed Ye Xiang, who was following behind Chen Jin, and asked, "Xiao Ye, what's going on? Director Chen... is finished editing?"

"hold head high?"

Ye Xiang pretended to be very embarrassed and stammered, "Well... well, Director Chen told me not to say it!"

"Stop talking nonsense and get to the point!"

This is outrageous! Have you forgotten who you work for?

Damn it, I'm the one who brought you to America, you traitor... Oh, no, strictly speaking, even he's Chen Jin's man.

But Ye Xiang is indeed the most clever junior member of his team.

"Brother Ye, I'm only telling you this!"

These past few days, Ye Xiang has clearly been holding back a lot. He feels that if he doesn't speak out about something that has shattered his career, he will be forever haunted by Chen Jin's editing.

Therefore, something that could affect an editor's entire career shouldn't be known only to him.

Yes, we also need to let Brother Ye experience the magic of Director Chen's haphazard editing.

"Okay, tell me, is it all done cutting?"

Ye Ruchang looked on with curiosity.

"Yes, Director Chen has indeed finished editing!"

"It only took... 3 days!"

"How much... how much?"

3 days?
Do you think I'm Japanese?!

"Brother Ye, really, just 3 days..."

Ye Xiang looked dejected; he knew that even his brother Ye wouldn't believe him.

He wouldn't have believed it if he hadn't experienced it himself.

He had already guessed it when he said that number.

Yes, even now, he still can't believe that Chen Jin finished editing "Killer: Dragon" in just 3 days.

"???"

Ye Ruchang tilted his head and stared at his little brother, squinting his eyes: "Did Director Chen tell you to say that?"

"No……"

Ye Xiang, feeling pressured by his gaze, finally said, "Xiao Jun and the others are here too. You can ask them. We helped Director Chen organize the materials together, and—"

"Great cut!"

"At least I feel good..."

After Ye Xiang finished speaking, he felt that something was still missing.

Ye Ge should really be allowed to see how Director Chen managed to edit something so amazing out of nothing.

He felt that this scene wouldn't pose much of a threat to Ye Ruchang unless he saw it!

Yes, I'll try to fool Director Chen again tomorrow and get him to demonstrate his editing prowess once more, preferably in front of Ye Ruchang and that old black man.

Let me show you what the legendary "magic scissors" really are!
"Where's the plate!"

Ye Ruchang suddenly stretched out his hand to Ye Xiang: "The cut plate is over there, let me see it!"

He simply refused to believe that something edited in three days could be acceptable.

"no!"

"Director Chen said he can't show it to you, because he's afraid it will be discouraging... Oh, no, it will affect your editing process!"

Snapped!
Ye Ruchang immediately got to work.

You won't let me see it?

Try not showing it to me. I'm determined to see the version I finished editing in these three days.

(End of this chapter)