Entertainment: I just want to be the boss behind the scenes

Chapter 208: million-dollar "S+" web drama

When it comes to events like weddings, generally no one except the parties involved cares about the specific details.

At this point, there is no difference between a 200 million wedding and a 20,000 wedding.

It might even be worse than a wedding costing 20,000 yuan, because at least the guests will stay and see how the food is.

After the wedding, Meng Bai originally planned to chat with Teacher Li and go to second base or something.

As a result, the girl told me that she had plans outside and was not in Shanghai at all.

There is no other way, I have to go back and pick those "greasy uncles".

I spent half a month reading all the director's information, and after discussing with Tencent, I selected a few candidates.

Tencent recommended several directors who had previous works, such as Fei Zhenxiang, Jiang Jiajun and Deng Ke.

On the Arclight Films side, because of long-standing habit, Meng Bai still prefers to choose younger directors with less experience.

"Yi Zheng?"

Fang Fang looked at the information in his hand and said, "He used to make art films. His experience is not shallow, right?"

Meng Bai was stunned for a moment, then picked up another one and handed it over: "Sorry, I took the wrong one. This is the right one."

After saying that, he took the information from Fang Fang's hand and put it in a folder beside him with the words "Arc Light Director Reserve" written on it.

The directors who are selected, whether they have achievements or are newcomers, all have some abilities to some extent.

Arclight Films mainly produces online dramas. Some big-name directors cannot be invited, and they cannot always rely on Wu Bai and Wang Wei.

So taking this opportunity, Meng Bai made a classified record of all the directors who sent their work to him.

Even if you are not selected in the end, you can still get familiar with it first.

When new projects come out in the future, you can just pick them from this reserve pool without having to go through the hassle of selecting them one by one.

Fang Fang took the information handed over by Meng Baixin and glanced at the name on it.

Li Muge?
She recalled that this person seemed to be the executive director of Gao Xixi. He had filmed two urban dramas before, but the reputation and performance were quite average.

"Is there anything special about him?" Fang Fang asked curiously.

Meng Bai clicked on the computer twice, and the picture was displayed on the screen that had already been connected.

Opening a video file, he looked at Fang Fang and said, "This is the sample he sent over. You'll know after you watch it."

Having said that, he pressed the play button.

The video opens with a long shot, with the setting sun shining on the desolate and vast sea of sand, and the golden sand is stained with dots of red.

The center of the lens is a vast skyline, with the desert and the sky separated, forming a strong color contrast.

The desert under the setting sun, the grasslands where the horse team walks, the azure lakes and distant mountains, the deep and quiet canyons...

Whether it is the composition, color or music, it makes people immersed in the magnificent and fantastic scenery in a second.

"This director used to make documentaries for the National Geographic Channel!" Fang Fang exclaimed.

Meng Bai smiled. He had the same thought after reading it.

"how do you feel?"

"Very good, it indeed meets the requirements of this project." Fang Fang nodded.

With such outstanding visual expression, she is already looking forward to the final effect of the film.

……

Unlike most directors, Li Muge is not a graduate of a film and television school.

He was admitted to Peking University and studied computer information. He was a typical science and engineering guy, but later he changed his career and became a director.

"Peking University? Computer science?"

Meng Bai looked at Li Muge sitting opposite him and asked curiously, "Why did you want to change your career and become a director?"

"Because I like it."

Li Muge's expression was full of longing: "I like taking pictures of landscapes and portraits. I like the strong visual contrast between the sunset, the desert or grassland and the skyline."

"The reference sample you sent, was it something you shot before?"

"Some of them are materials I have shot before." Li Muge said, "and some of them are temporary shots I took after hearing about our project."

Perhaps fearing that Meng Bai would not believe him, he took out a USB drive and handed it over: "This is some original footage I shot. Mr. Meng, you can take a look at it."

It’s hard to say who is the most capable director among these alternative directors.

But if we talk about who is most eager for this project, it must be him.

Not only because it is a big IP, but more because it is what he has always wanted to shoot.

Meng Bai looked at the materials in the USB flash drive. Although they had not been processed or color adjusted, the photographer's lens aesthetic level could be seen just from the composition of the picture.

"I have something to tell you in advance." Meng Bai said, "I will be the chief producer and chief screenwriter of this project. I will be the final decision on the plot. Is that acceptable to you?"

"If you have any suggestions, may I ask?"

"Okay, but the final decision is mine."

"..." Li Muge thought about it and finally nodded, "I can accept it."

"Okay then." Meng Bai stood up and extended his hand. "Then I wish us a happy cooperation."

"Ah, is that all?"

Li Muge was stunned. This was too straightforward.

"How about another seminar for you?" Meng Bai said with a smile, "Hurry up, Director Li, our schedule is very tight."

The fact that he has directed his own works shows that he has qualified directing abilities.

Meng Bai is here to help with the plot, so there’s no need to worry.

Coupled with the excellent visual aesthetics, these have already met the needs of the "Jingjue Ancient City" project.

Before this, Meng Bai had already met with several other alternative directors.

There are just some problems in terms of creative style, discourse power or schedule.

Li Muge was the last one he met. While chatting, he compared him with the other candidates in his mind. After comprehensive consideration, he still felt that this one was the most suitable.

……

After the director was decided, the entire "The Lost Tomb" project officially started.

The first thing to do is to set up the crew.

As the first project after the establishment of Penguin Pictures, Tencent hopes to make this drama a benchmark work.

Penguin: We hope to produce it at movie level.

Meng Bai: No problem, but it will cost money.

Penguin: How much?

Meng Bai: The production cost of a single episode is at least 400 million.

Penguin: No problem, we’ll give you a budget of 500 million per episode, as long as you ensure the quality.

Meng Bai: ...Awesome!
According to the script adapted by Meng Bai, "The Lost Tomb" has a total of 20 episodes.

500 million per episode, the total cost is 1 million!
When this number came out, even Meng Bai, the producer who was looking for investors for money every day, was surprised.

You should know that "The Mojin: The Lost Legend", which was produced by Wanda, Light Media and Huayi, only had a budget of 1.5 million yuan when it was first planned.

Of course, because the budget of this movie kept going over during filming, two additional investments were made, and the final total cost was 2.5 million.

An investment of 1 million yuan can be considered a medium-to-large project even in the film industry.

If put in an online drama, it would definitely be an "S+ level" project.

However, the money was not entirely paid by Penguin Pictures itself. The producer ArcLight Pictures and the copyright holder New Dream Pictures also participated in the investment in the form of funds.

Of course, Penguin Pictures is still the largest investor, accounting for more than half of the investment.

Otherwise, it has to be Tencent’s wealth!

A project of this level naturally requires a production team of the same standard.

The art designer was found to be Wu Ming, who was an artist of Zhang Guoshi and had participated in "Hero", "House of Flying Daggers" and "Under the Hawthorn Tree".

Modeling and costume designer Chen Minzheng, a national first-class artist and chief designer of Shanying, whose representative works include "The Legend of Zhen Huan", "The Legend of Miyue", "The Revolution of 1911" and "Crossing the Guandong".

Director of photography Zhang Chaoying, main photographer of "The Qin Empire".

Lighting director Sun Hongliang won the Golden Eagle Award for Best Lighting.

In addition to the crew members, another focus is the special effects team.

Although the tone set for this project from the beginning was to be based on real scenes, as a fantasy drama, special effects are definitely indispensable.

Considering that the special effects of the entire drama involve multiple aspects such as environment, monsters, and visual effects, a total of three special effects teams were found.

MoreVFX, Orange Vision, and PixoMonDO Jingbei are all top special effects teams in China.

Such a production team is basically the upper limit for online drama projects.

At the end of October, the crew of "The Lost Tomb" was formed and the project preparations officially began.

Penguin Pictures also released series trailers and project information as a warm-up.

As a top-tier IP with the highest popularity, the news of the film and television adaptation of "Ghost Blows Out the Light" attracted a large number of audiences and fans as soon as it came out.

There are a lot of expectations, but even more worries.

After all, the lessons of "Treasure Notes" and "Nine-story Rotten Tower" are right in front of us, which can't help but make fans sweat.

It wasn't until Tencent announced that the producer of this film was Arc Light Pictures that everyone felt relieved.

Apart from anything else, with "Meng Bai" here, at least the plot is guaranteed.

And when fans saw the “production cost of 100 million”, they were even more shocked.

"One hundred million production cost? This is a web drama!"

"I remember that the production cost of 'Nine-story Demon Tower' was only 100 million, right?"

"Case solved! Why is 'The Tower of Demons' so badly made? If you set the same standard for your movies and web series, how can it not be bad?"

"I don't ask for anything else, I just hope that those popular young actors won't be allowed to play my 'Commander Hu', please don't ruin it!"

"That shouldn't be the case. Arclight doesn't seem to use popular actors very often."

"..."

There is a lot of discussion about the news online, but overall, fans are still relatively confident in Arclight Pictures.

Many netizens have already started discussing that this drama has almost secured the title of “King of Dramas” in the online drama market next year.

Obviously, the netizens' predictions are still too early.

Just a few days after Tencent Video announced the project of "Ghost Blows Out the Light: The Mystic Nine", Qiyi TV also released its own IP masterpiece "The Lost Tomb" for next year.

At the same time, the starring lineup was also announced - Chen Weiting, Zhang Yixing, and Zhao Liying.

Like "Grave Robbers' Chronicles", it is a "big IP + high traffic" model.

Now netizens are interested.

Many people are familiar with this year's "Forensic VS Tomb Robbery" battle. The two dramas fought from beginning to end, and the final results were only slightly different.

As for this time's competition between "The Lost Tomb" and "The Mystic Nine", except that the former's platform was changed from Leshi.com to Tencent Video, there are almost no other changes.

Obviously, whether the two dramas can collide with each other next year, it will become a new showdown that audiences and fans will talk about with relish.

Netizens were having a blast arguing, while other companies and platforms in the industry were cursing.

After making a splash this year, you two are still making a splash next year. When will this ever end?
This kind of "envy, jealousy and hatred" emotion will naturally only make the platforms on both sides excited.

Especially Tencent, they suddenly realized that it was a perfect decision to ask Arclight Pictures to be responsible for the production.

This wave of hype alone is worth millions in publicity costs.

By the way, Fang Fang also asked Meng Bai about who to choose as the leading actor.

Meng Bai said there was no rush and they would discuss it after he returned from Dunhuang after inspecting the filming locations.

(End of this chapter)