Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 596 4K 3D 120fps

Before filming began for "The Butterfly Lovers," Li Qiutang's last public appearance was at the Beijing premiere of "Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk."

As the first feature film in cinematic history to be released in 4K/3D/120 frames per second, this movie is highly anticipated by movie fans worldwide and the industry.

Ann Lee explained that one of the main reasons for adopting such radical techniques was that he "couldn't see clearly" some scenes while filming "Life of Pi".

The technology has been around for a long time. Li Qiutang knew about it about three or four years ago that people were working on high frame rates. He even examined 48 frames and 60 frames in his spare time, but unfortunately found that high frame rates might not be suitable for current viewing habits.

Admittedly, 24 frames per second will cause motion blur and make it "unclear" when capturing moving images, but a high frame rate is "challenging" the viewer's eyes, and this contradiction seems irreconcilable at present. If forced to choose, Li Qiutang would definitely admit the technical shortcomings rather than challenge the viewer.

Currently, there are only five theaters worldwide that can support native 4K/3D/120fps screenings of "Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk," two of which are in mainland China, located in Beijing and Shanghai.

Today's premiere is in that theater that can show the original version.

Many celebrity guests attended the premiere today, including Zhao Wenzhuo, Zhang Ziyi, and Fan Bingbing, making it a star-studded event.

Before entering the theater, Li Qiutang said that he came to experience 120 frames per second: "I am very interested in this technology and want to see what director Li An will do." This is the truth. Although he knew that 120 frames per second would challenge the audience and that "Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk" would not do well at the domestic box office, he still wanted to experience the native 120 frames per second firsthand.

Li Qiutang was seated in the middle right position, and coincidentally, Fan Bingbing was sitting next to him.

"What a coincidence, Director." Fan Bingbing took the initiative to extend her hand, and Li Qiutang half shook her hand and half helped her to her side.

Li Qiutang said flirtatiously, "It's a coincidence, I knew you would come, so I came."

“You shouldn’t say that,” Fan Bingbing laughed. “You’re married, but I have a boyfriend.”

Fan Bingbing sat down, and the two chatted for a while before the event started.

Fan Bingbing's film "I Am Not Madame Bovary" will be released next week, "and you actually have time to attend events for other films now."

"Sigh, the production team didn't have any box office ambitions for 'Pan Jinlian,' so we were all quite relaxed." She had already won the Best Actress award at San Sebastián, so she was content. In addition, the square-round aspect ratio used in "Pan Jinlian" was also a challenge to the audience, so it's probably true that the production team didn't have any box office ambitions.

However, Li Qiutang knew that Yaolai Films had provided a 5 million yuan guarantee contract for "Pan Jinlian": if the box office was less than 5 million yuan, Yaolai would pay 2 million yuan in net box office revenue; the net revenue from 5 million to 8 million yuan would be exclusively enjoyed by Yaolai; and for the portion of the box office exceeding 8 million yuan, Yaolai would receive 50% of the net box office revenue.

The ease of the "Pan Jinlian" production team was finding Yaolai, a gullible investor. It was an art film using an unconventional square frame, and because it was directed by Feng Xiaogang and starred Fan Bingbing, they dared to sign a 5 million yuan guarantee.

If this contract came to fruition in the fall, Li Qiutang would be furious with the distribution manager.

But these behind-the-scenes things have nothing to do with Fan Bingbing; she didn't participate in film investment, she was just an actress.

She was very proud of winning the Best Actress award at the San Sebastián International Film Festival, which is the fourth largest film festival in Europe and has considerable prestige.

In terms of awards, she is indeed a top Chinese-language artist.

Li Qiutang had already praised her, and now Fan Bingbing jokingly said, "I've won so many awards, I should be worthy of your approval, right? When are you going to cast me in a movie?"

Li Qiutang took out her phone, opened the script for "The Wandering Earth," pointed to the actress's requirements, and asked, "Do you want this role?"

This is a bit much. Fan Bingbing is not a big star. Giving her a role in a public training session is really embarrassing.

Fan Bingbing cleverly defused the situation, laughing and saying, "Give me Zhu Xiaoyan, and I'll act out Zhu Xiaoyan first, then I'll help you with this role."

“Tell Yifei that if she’s willing to give it to you, I have no objection. Filming starts next week, so you still have time.”

Fan Bingbing laughed and said, "I heard that Yifei became a yoga instructor at a gym to experience life?"

"That's true." Then, Li Qiutang picked two things to tell Fan Bingbing, who laughed heartily. Before the premiere event even started, Fan Bingbing also told two stories about her experience living Li Xuelian's life: "I wore old clothes I collected from the countryside to set up a stall at the vegetable market to sell nuts, and I could earn several hundred yuan a day." Fan Bingbing only experienced this life for three to five days before filming began.

But Li Qiutang found it hard to believe. What? You can earn hundreds of yuan a day selling nuts at a rural farmers' market?
In the countryside, a monthly salary of three thousand yuan is possible, and a large number of people are eager to work there.

Li Qiutang said she had seen stills of the actors in "I Am Not Madame Bovary": "You still don't look like a rural woman."

"Why wouldn't I want to be a rural woman?"

"You are still too beautiful."

Hearing this, Fan Bingbing couldn't "lose her temper".

As the two were talking, someone walked in from the front row and greeted him with surprise: "Director, it's been a long time."

Who else could it be but Zhang Ziyi?

“We haven’t seen each other this year.” Li Qiutang shook hands with Zhang Ziyi. Zhang Ziyi seemed not to see Fan Bingbing standing to the side, and Fan Bingbing did not take the initiative to greet her.

"Yes, I'm busy taking care of the kids."

"It's almost a year old now."

"Hmm, you haven't seen her yet, have you? I'll show you sometime. My daughter is very beautiful."

Two married people were chatting about family matters when Fan Bingbing interrupted, "The event has begun."

The host had already stepped forward, so the two stopped talking and sat down to watch the event attentively.

Li An said on site that his use of such radical technology "may have caused a huge mess."

He wasn't sure about 4K/3D/120fps either—the previous New York premiere didn't receive very good reviews.

The brief pre-screening discussion ended quickly, and the screening began.

Li Qiutang observed very carefully. As a director, he not only looked at the story but also the directing techniques. He wanted to see how Li An handled the situation in a completely new context.

However, the ultra-high definition of 4K and 120 frames per second made it difficult for Li Qiutang to concentrate.

He didn't know where to look; if even a professional director was like this, what about the average viewer?

Besides clarity, there's another feeling: brightness!
4K 120fps has very high requirements for lighting. Li Qiutang felt that the brightness of "Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk" was at least 50% higher than that of ordinary films. Some scenes were even so bright that they were "distorted". It was hard to say whether it was bright or clear. Anyway, it was very awkward.

So during the post-screening discussion, Li Qiutang told Li An, "The director really messed up."

Li An smiled bitterly.

But since we're here on their turf, we should still say some nice things: "Well, it's good that they made this mistake. 4K/3D/120fps has to be tried by someone. As the saying goes, man proposes, God disposes. Trying is meaningful in itself. I hope to see the director try more things in the future."

As for the quality of the film, I won't comment.

We're all seasoned veterans, so some things are better left unsaid.

(End of this chapter)