Abstract Art Award Winner

Whether in the past or present, Zhou Le doesn't know much about Deng Jiajia.

Especially in terms of acting skills, Zhou Le can only talk about one "Tang's Acting Rules" at present.

But looking at the thick notebook handed to him by the other party...

It would be a lie to say that this person was unhappy. Now he felt that he could finally understand how a homeroom teacher felt when they encountered a student who excelled academically.

Putting aside all the trivialities, even if their grades aren't top-ranked, at least they take notes diligently in class, speak politely, and study hard.

Zhou Le used to call students like this "study thieves"!

But now that he's become a director himself, he finds these actors surprisingly appealing.

He then flipped through it again and found that the other party had indeed written it very well, in a logical and organized manner.

"Teacher Deng, what you wrote is amazing. There are many things mentioned in the script, but only in one sentence. You have expanded them with so much background story."

Deng Jiajia was pleased to be praised. She was also very good at maintaining her proper position on set. Although she was almost forty years old, she still kept herself in the position of an actress when facing such a young director.

"Absolutely. As soon as I got the script, I started preparing for these things. I've memorized all the lines perfectly."

Zhou Le slapped his thigh: "That's perfect! Teacher Deng Jiajia has already said so, so we have to arrange some one-shot videos for you later!"

It's quite difficult to shoot a movie in one continuous take, since the dialogue in movies is more obscure than in TV series, and the emotions must be expressed continuously.

Movement and expression must be perfect. There may be hundreds of words of dialogue, and not a single word can be wrong. Correspondingly, other performances must also match the mood of those scenes.

After leaving Deng Jiajia's room, Zhou Le felt more confident. After all, with an actress like Deng Jiajia, he didn't need to worry too much.
After that, they went to the rooms of Yu Entai, Yang Haoyu, Zhang Benyu, Ke Da, Chen Minghao and others to have a chat.

For acquaintances like Zhang Benyu and Ke Da, Zhou Le simply offered some encouragement. However, for actors like Yang Haoyu, whom he was relatively less familiar with, Zhou Le probed further about their personalities and attitudes.

As a result, everyone got along very well.

After everything was finalized, Zhou Le checked the logistical support one last time.

Once everything was confirmed to be in order, the start-up time was immediately decided.

February 15th is an auspicious day.

So, without alerting the media, the production team held a launch ceremony on February 15th.

The location is outside the Fulidu Studio at the Shanghu Miaopeng Film and Television Base.

Most of the things here are readily available; they just need to come in advance to set up the props and scenes they need.

This is also the filming location for most of the interior scenes.

Moving from the front of the stage to behind the scenes, Zhou Le's personal experience is completely different.

It's like going to take an exam and not daring to breathe loudly in front of the proctors patrolling back and forth.

As a result, the next day he became the proctor.

The cat and mouse roles are reversed.

This time, Zhou Le plans to shoot the interior scenes first and then the exterior scenes.

Firstly, since there are only a few actors needed for the indoor scenes, there is no need to add extras or background actors. We can at least finish filming for this period and see how things go. If things become a little more relaxed later, we can then film the outdoor scenes that require a lot of extras and passersby.

So after the opening ceremony, Zhou Le immediately arranged to film a short segment with Deng Jiajia.

This is a suspense film, and the overall perspective follows the protagonist, Li Jiahui, played by Yin Zheng.

However, since Yin Zheng is one of our own, we already have a very good relationship. We've not only worked together on a film, but we've also participated in a race together.

Therefore, giving up the first spot in this situation can also appear more generous.

This was one of Zhou Le's objectives. His second objective was that when he was reading the script, he felt that no matter how much the movie ultimately grossed, it would definitely not lose money.

In terms of promotion, his directorial debut film is definitely the most popular topic, but Zhou Le's second favorite is Deng Jiajia.

Among the actors in "iPartment," Deng Jiajia has always been the most senior, the most dedicated, and the most well-received.

Although Jin Shijia and Wang Chuanjun's attitude towards filming is recognized by many people, the two are just too straightforward in their online behavior.

An excessive pursuit of artistry.

Zhou Le has learned a lot about Jin Shijia and has seen his works. He feels that Jin Shijia's performance in "iPartment" is relatively more natural. Although his acting in other film and television dramas is not bad, he feels that he is more suitable for the stage of stage plays.

Wang Chuanjun is very talented, but he has been criticized ever since he posted "I don't like it" back then.

Therefore, the personalities displayed by these two individuals give the impression that they have suddenly realized their mistakes after going astray and want to create something that can truly be called art.

At the very least, it can't be a silly, goofy character like those in Love Apartment.

But Deng Jiajia is different. She has never been the one with the strongest presence, but no matter what, she is always the one with the best attitude.

She made a comeback with "iPartment", but she didn't try to downplay her career afterward. Instead, a few years later, she won the Best Supporting Actress award at both the Golden Rooster Awards and the Hundred Flowers Awards for her role in the movie "Silent Witness".

He rarely creates scandals and hardly ever appears on variety shows to boost his profile. To a director, this is exactly how an actor should be.

They got married relatively young, but their divorce last year was handled amicably without causing any negative public opinion.

More importantly, Zhou Le felt that the other person's temperament was somewhat similar to Wang Baoqiang's in some ways, which is what is known as a "chameleon actor".

He can convincingly portray any role and won't be confined to any particular character.

The same goes for Yu Entai. Both of them are very strong and capable actors. Although they both come from academic backgrounds, they do not have the obvious academic style of Jin Shijia. They are able to handle various types of film and television dramas with their own excellent skills.

Highlighting the acting skills of well-known veteran actors in a movie isn't actually that impressive. What's important is stripping away the outer shell of a promising actor whose fame hasn't yet been fully revealed, allowing the true brilliance of their talent to shine through.

"Because I come from an extra's background, and I'm not even formally trained, I understand this feeling all too well."

To be honest, I started making movies on a whim. I was chatting with some friends, and the topic suddenly came up. If I really wanted to chase box office success, I could have assembled an all-star cast of award-winning actors and actresses, but I felt that would be too boring.

So I wanted to bring everyone together and make a classic film. Regardless of whether this film helps anyone get better opportunities in the film industry, I want it to remain a part of film history.

After filming the first scene, Zhou Le held a pep talk.

The results were indeed quite good.

Everyone's thoughts were piqued.

Afterwards, Zhou Le had another meeting with the screenwriter.

During his break, Zhou Le polished the original script again, watched some classic films by Christopher Nolan and others, and studied the story structure, camerawork, and use of light and shadow in the TV series "Breaking Bad" and "Better Call Saul".

After all, this is a suspense film. Being able to tell a good story and develop well-rounded characters is already a third of the way to success.

The actors were able to bring out each person's personality, characteristics, and the story behind them, which is another third.

The last third consists of various uses of light and shadow and cinematic language.

Just like Zhou Le's choice to enter the acting industry.

He didn't want people to think he was inferior to others just because he came from a construction site. Just like now, even as a director, he doesn't want people to think that his career change is just a fuss.

The original script was mainly absurd comedy and murder mystery in the first half, but the second half began to shift to dark reality and violent tragedy. The change in style was relatively abrupt, so when entering the latter half, the emotional connection was broken because the audience was not psychologically prepared for the heavy theme.

So he made some adjustments, interspersing strong suspense and crisis hints in the first half of the plot to avoid pure comedy.

Furthermore, he designed some lighting and shadow effects during the transition, and also contacted some composers through friends to prepare suitable music.

They also talked with Ning Hao, Han Han, Zhang Yimou, and others about how to highlight changes through scene arrangement and smoothly guide the audience's emotions.

With this change, the detective attributes of Yin Zheng's character were weakened. Instead of relying on the murderer Qi Leshan's confession to reach a conclusion, the character was given more clues and Qi Leshan's reactions on certain sensitive issues, so that others, led by Li Jiahui, would actively approach the truth by piecing together clues, rather than revealing themselves.

As for each person's role, it will be explored more deeply to avoid making them seem too one-dimensional. Their motivations will also change from simply protecting themselves or making a name for themselves to the complexity and tragedy of individuals under the torrent of the times.

Zhou Le revised most of the nearly 40,000-word script, but the overall direction remained unchanged, and some of the highlights of the dialogue and scenes were preserved in their original form.

This meeting with the screenwriter was to finalize these plot points, and he also indicated that if better ideas emerge later, modifications can be made at any time.

However, Zhou Le's filming has already started, while all the other films scheduled for the Spring Festival have been withdrawn from release, with only "Lost in Russia" being sold to ByteDance. This news has spread widely.

While this is a blatant betrayal to theaters, it's something to celebrate for audiences.

Going to the cinema costs at least twenty or thirty yuan for a ticket, and even on some platforms you need a membership.

But ByteDance, with its deep pockets, simply offered everyone free movie tickets.

Even though "Lost in Russia" is not as good as other films in the "Lost on Journey" series, it still received rave reviews.

"Thanks to Douyin for inviting us to the movie. The movie was very good, especially the opening scene where Xu Zheng was being sold fruit, which was so realistic. My mom is just like that."

"They're offering it for free, so what's there to be picky about? It's much better than spending forty or fifty yuan to sit in a movie theater and watch two hours of terrible movies."

"But then again, why don't other movies use this model too?"

"Some movies want higher box office returns, so how could they sell for just a few hundred million? And if they skip theatrical releases, how do they make any money? If everyone does this in the future, cinemas should close down."

"Did those who cheered for it actually go to the cinema to see the movie? Is watching it at home the same as watching it in the cinema?"

"Am I the only one who noticed that Zhou Le didn't have any movies released during the Spring Festival this year, but still predicted all of them would be jinxed?"

"Now that you mention it, I remember too. I saw that clip; Zhou Le predicted all the movies would be banned during his live stream. Case solved! The reason they were pulled from theaters was because of Zhou Le's predictions!"

Originally, everyone was discussing how "Lost in Russia" betrayed theatrical releases and embraced the internet.

One side felt that Xu Zheng's actions constituted betrayal, a betrayal of an ally, and a despicable act.

But the other side felt that the way capital was behaving was too ugly, that they could premiere wherever they wanted.

But regardless of the method, it will affect the image of both parties.

But as everyone chatted, the topic of Zhou Le's "poisonous prediction" gradually overshadowed the other topics.

Zhou Le has gradually been recognized as the latest "poisonous milk" (a term used to describe someone who is a jinx or a jinx) besides e-sports jinx Guan Zeyuan (who predicts which side will lose), World Cup hostess Yoyo (who predicts which country's jersey will lead to a loss), finance jinx Gao Xiaosong (who predicts which stock will fall), military jinx Zhang Zhaozhong, weather jinx Xiao Jingteng, and gaming jinx Huang Xudong.

She single-handedly boosted the entire Chinese-language film season during the Spring Festival.

Others might simply choose the other side, but Zhou Le directly healed everyone, and none of them survived.

Then they thought of many people who had a grudge against Zhou Le, and it seemed that none of them were doing very well now.

After figuring this out, many fans went to leave messages under the names of their favorite directors and actors, saying that they could be friends with Zhou Le anytime, but they should never ask Zhou Le to praise their work at crucial moments.

After spending a few days on set, Zhou Le finally saw these rumors about himself.

"?"

"Originally, it was thought that Xu Zheng had colluded with capital to set up a scheme, making money while ripping off the cinemas. Later, the cinemas and capital joined forces to set up another scheme to target Xu Zheng."

In the end, it turns out I was set up by capital? What does this have to do with me? All I did was praise those movies a few times. How could this possibly concern me?

Thinking of this, Zhou Le even posted a Weibo post to briefly clarify, but the comments section was full of:
"No need to explain, we all understand."

"It's okay, I don't blame you. Just don't praise movies so much in the future."

"The reputation of being a 'poisonous milk' is indeed well-deserved."

Zhou Le sighed as he watched.

"Fine, you win, capital." (End of Chapter)