Who are you calling "little fresh meat"? I'm the king.

Chapter 472 Chinese Horror

All good things must come to an end!
Shen Yan also knew that his personality was rather...domineering; basically, he rarely consulted his agent about the things he decided to do.

Yang Siwei is the kind of person who has her own opinions.

She and Shen Yan didn't actually get along very well...

Moreover, she has the ability and security to run an independent agency.

What are you planning to call it?

"Yixin Entertainment!"

Yixin Entertainment?

Shen Yan was a little surprised…

This is Yang Tianzhen's company!
Okay, after taking a closer look at Yang Siwei...

Shen Yan was certain; she was Yang Tianzhen!

An agent with an extremely high desire to perform...

In reality, agents are merely service providers. In the entertainment industry chain, capital holds the highest position, followed by celebrities…

The role of an agent is more like that of a broker, connecting people and adding packaging.

Yang Tianzhen is just a little clever, but she lacks taste, aesthetics, and foresight. She can't give artists a good positioning, and she can't bring in many resources herself.

He brought a bunch of celebrities...

They've all terminated their contracts!
However, she managed to cultivate such a prominent image of herself...

They're actually quite skilled!

Therefore, Shen Yan also invested in Yixin Entertainment.

As for his own agent…

For now, his management team is not short of people...

To reiterate, Shen Yan is a very mature artist, almost at his peak. For such a fully-fledged artist, the role of the manager is actually not very significant!

As for "My Old Classmate"...

In any case, Shen Yan will not invest in the project and has no intention of having anything to do with it!
……

In the film market, "So Young" and "Iron Man 3" accounted for more than 80% of the total box office...

Zhao Yanzi is in the spotlight again…

Shen Yan didn't care at all; she didn't care what anyone did. The film market was big enough!

However, Zhao Yanzi mentioned Shen Yan's name in an interview: "I contacted Shen Yan before, but he wasn't interested..."

This matter has sparked considerable discussion.

Some say Shen Yan is blind to talent, as he actually rejected a blockbuster work;
Some say Shen Yan looks down on "So Young"...

Finally, the 'insider' revealed that Shen Yan was busy directing his own film, *American Dreams in China*, and therefore turned down *So Young*...

That put an end to the debate.

After all, "American Dreams in China" grossed 16.5 billion yuan and received better reviews than "So Young"...

"I never went to university, so I have no feeling about university life..."

Shen Yan gave an interview to "Movie View" magazine and stated the reason very directly...

Uh… that’s not true!
After all, even the characters in "American Dreams in China" have university life...

However, the editor who conducted the interview didn't say anything.

After all, Shen Yan's interview was mainly to promote "Northeast Folk Tales"... Of course, we should still ask the questions that need to be asked.

"I've heard that many film and television companies have recently started planning youth films? As the pioneer of youth films in mainland China, do you have any plans to make another one?"

“I don’t have any ideas for now,” Shen Yan paused, then added, “However, youth films are a broad genre that can incorporate dreams, passion, and even crime, so maybe I’ll have an idea someday!”

Are you worried about an overabundance of youth films?

"After 'Crazy Stone' became a hit, a bunch of 'Crazy' series movies followed. After 'Lost in Thailand,' a bunch of road comedies jumped on the bandwagon. Once a success story emerges, many copycat films immediately appear. But many of these films lack buzz, have few stars, and are of poor quality, so their box office performance is also lackluster... Actually, the film market can adjust itself..."

"Let's talk about 'Northeast Folk Tales'... How did you come up with the idea for this subject?"

"I read a novel called 'My Years as a Taoist Priest' before, which I really liked. Then I read 'The Tale of the Three Paths' and liked it even more... So I chatted with the author, Cui Zou Zhao, for a bit... He's from Northeast China and knows a lot about Northeast folk customs... I've always wanted to make horror films, and specifically, Chinese horror films that are different from Western horror films!"

"Wait a minute, how do you define Western horror and Chinese horror?"

"Western horror relies on shock and sensory stimulation, but there's a tolerance threshold for shock and sensory stimulation. After watching a few films and building up expectations, you won't be afraid anymore. I know a hardcore friend with a high threshold; he watched *Cube*, all that gore, while slurping instant noodles... For me, Western horror is like a storm—the flashing blades, the howling of demons—the thrill is followed by the rain washing everything away."

"Western horror films achieve their terror by making people feel disgusted, such as through beheadings or amputations. The scariest method they can think of is a sudden cut to a psychopathic killer or a ghost standing in the background, and that's about it..."

"Chinese horror is deeply rooted in the long-standing traditional culture, with Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism intertwined to create a unique atmosphere of terror."

Like a stagnant pool, its surface calm, yet beneath lies the shadow of thousands of years of patriarchal system, filial piety ethics, and the cycle of yin and yang.

"It's like a banquet where everyone is silent with their heads down; a pile of burning paper money but no one around; a pair of embroidered shoes with the toes pointing towards the bed; two short and one long incense sticks burning; a grand chair swaying in the wind; the environment is frantically suggesting that there are people around you, but you can't find them, and a fear of the unknown will slowly creep into your heart."

"When playing escape rooms, I always exclude Chinese-style horror escape rooms, not for any other reason than sheer fear. Imagine this scenario: you enter a room, there's a red dress standing upright on the bed, and a pair of embroidered shoes on the floor, but no one is there..."

So, is "Northeast Folk Tales" primarily a Chinese-style horror series?

"Yes, it blends elements of fantasy, horror, monsters, and ghost stories... four short stories... Of course, the themes are still quite common: evil begets evil, good begets good, and greed knows no bounds..."

Shen Yan added, "The script is truly heartfelt!"

Is it difficult to get approved?

"We filmed two versions of the ending. The first version was the regular story, and the second version... added a storyteller character!"

"…clear!"

……

The role of the storyteller…

Actually, the original version of "My Love from the Star" aired on Anhui TV, and the ending was changed—Do Min-joon became a novelist, and the whole story was just the plot of a novel he wrote for Cheon Song-yi…

This can also be considered circumventing censorship.

It's like the TV series "Joy of Life" added a scene where a contemporary college student, played by Zhang Ruoyun, writes a university thesis under the guise of a clash between ancient and modern times...

From a technological perspective, it is essentially telling a story about what it would be like if "I" lived in ancient times.

This avoids the limitation that time-travel and reincarnation stories cannot be broadcast on satellite TV…

The same goes for "Northeast Folk Tales," which adds a storyteller to explain the supernatural and bizarre stories as just made-up tales!
Moreover, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television was very accommodating; the design of the giant monkey was quite terrifying, yet they didn't require any modifications.

Oh, "Northeast Folk Tales" is actually "Legends of the Hunters of the Xing'an Mountains"...

It belongs to the typical folklore and supernatural tales, and rural ghost stories.

Four short stories, each containing a ghost story and a true story...

The four seemingly unrelated segments are actually interconnected and eventually converge to reveal the complete story.

First, the film captures the authentic legends, then it uses a calmer and more rational perspective to expose the more chilling truth behind these supernatural tales: what is more terrifying than demons and monsters is the wickedness of the human heart!
The entire piece describes the evil of human nature, but what it actually reveals is the beauty hidden behind that evil.

　My head is throbbing terribly…

　　Take a couple of days off...

　　
　
(End of this chapter)