Director of Photography Department of Huayu

Chapter 524 Meeting, Publicity Launch

Winter sunlight streamed into the office through the floor-to-ceiling windows, landing on a table cluttered with manuscripts and documents.

After putting down the script for "Ex Machina," Guo Fan looked around, a hint of disappointment on his face.

Wu Chen noticed this and asked out of curiosity:
"What are you looking at?"

"I was wondering why my senior brother's golden bear statue wasn't displayed here; it should have been in a whole showcase."

Wu Chen glanced at Guo Fan and smiled, "Good idea, we could set one up and display some replicas."

After saying that, he picked up the script, ran his fingers over the cover, and slowly opened the first page.

The sound of papers turning was exceptionally clear in the room.

A few lines of bold small text immediately catch the eye:

"The story takes place in the near future, where a programmer is invited to participate in a secret experiment—to evaluate whether an artificial intelligence girl truly possesses a 'self'."

Wu Chen's eyes narrowed slightly, and he tapped his fingers lightly on the table.

That feeling of both familiarity and strangeness emerged.

At first, he only wrote down a rough framework to see if Guo Fan and the company's screenwriters could support this soft science fiction. Now, the words have been laid out and have taken on the quality of a movie.

"The machine's exterior should resemble a human's, but its internal logic should create a sense of unease in the audience."

After flipping through a few pages, Wu Chen slowly spoke, "The focus of this type of subject matter is not the science fiction shell, but the philosophical implications within it."

The test scenario you described is quite interesting. It presents a rational dialogue on one side and undercurrents of emotion on the other. Very good.

As expected of a director with a talent for science fiction, his sci-fi sense is much more sensitive than others. Although it took him almost half a year to polish the script, he still appreciates this one more than a poorly made script.

Wu Chen's words were full of praise, while Guo Fan's face showed a hint of excitement.

"That's about enough, hand me a pen."

"Senior brother!" Guo Fan quickly went to the desk, picked up a pen, and handed it over.

Wu Chen marked a few places on the script, saying, "These scenes need some revision; they're a bit awkward. We need to work on the dialogue and the scenes as well."

"understand!"

Guo Fan nodded emphatically, and just then Wu Chen added a sentence.

"Is a budget of 1500 million enough?"

As soon as he heard these words, Guo Fan felt as if he had heard heavenly music. He was stunned for a moment before replying hastily.

"Senior brother, that's enough, that's enough. It feels like there's too much; there are too few scenes and characters."

"Not by much. Focus on making the film look high-quality. As for the character design of the Exoskeleton, communicate with the visual effects team. Don't rush it. I won't help you with casting; you'll have to figure that out yourself."

"understood!"

Guo Fan couldn't help but grin, then, as if remembering something, he asked in a low voice, "Senior, should I also go back to school to select people?"

The creative team behind "Love is Not Blind" was rumored to be so exaggerated that they could randomly select people from the playground of the Beijing Film Academy to join the crew, and Guo Fan apparently noticed this as well.

"It's up to you. You don't need to learn from me. You can learn from other directors. You don't need to inherit my tradition."

Wu Chen patted him on the shoulder.

These days, news has been released about both Zhang Yimou's and Chen Kaige's new films. However, compared to the sensation caused by Zhang Yimou's nationwide audition for the role of Jingqiu, Chen Kaige's role seems somewhat awkward. Just last month, Chen Kaige announced at the Great Hall of the People that South Korean actress Song Hye-kyo would play the lead role in the film;
As a result, Song Hye-kyo, the supposedly chosen female lead, claimed that she had never received an invitation from the production team, and that the claims about her participation in "Sacrifice" were utterly absurd.
This was incredibly awkward. Director Chen, who was very concerned about his image, seemed quite annoyed and immediately rebuked the other party for being "too arrogant."

"Director Wu, these two sides are so strange. One side says they didn't receive an invitation, while the other side says maybe the Song Hye-kyo they met was a clone. They each have their own version of events, and theoretically, both sides could provide solid evidence against the other, but neither side is giving any proof."

As Zhang Yi walked, he kept blinking and looking at Wu Chen, and Li Gan looked over as well.

"What do you want to ask?" Wu Chen couldn't help but find it amusing.

"Hehe, I wanted to ask Director Wu if you know anything about this, like it's a publicity stunt," Zhang Yi muttered to himself as he looked around the office.

"You've got some nerve, gossiping about Director Chen. Aren't you afraid he'll hear about it and hmph?"

Just then, Li Gan asked, "Director, at the '1939' study session later, should we say something? And if so, what should we say?"

"You!" Wu Chen thought for a moment, "Just say it normally. If anything needs to be added, Zhang Yi, you can help him."

Zhang Yi shrank back and quickly added, "Director, shouldn't you be the one to step in? What can I do to help him? I'm at a loss for words; I can't even speak to the leaders."

"Heh, do you think I believe that? I know your background perfectly well, get out of here."

Just as Wu Chen finished speaking, Gu Changwei walked quickly over from behind and greeted him.

"Brother!"

He wasn't surprised that Gu Changwei was participating in these meetings; Gu was a regular at such learning conferences.

Congratulations!

Gu Changwei still felt somewhat emotional.

Back then, he went to Berlin with Wu Chen, and both "Peacock" and "Buried" won Silver Bears. Now, he has gone without a single award at the three major film festivals, while Wu Chen has already won a Golden Bear.

"It's all luck."

Faced with Wu Chen's modesty, Gu Changwei did not tease him, but instead brought up another matter, and Wu Chen's eyes flashed.

"Oh, it's a movie directed by Sister Wenli. I definitely have to go see it."

"Okay, then thank you and Ifi in advance."

Gu Changwei chuckled, and the three of them entered the conference hall together.

The procedures for the expert learning meetings held by the bureau are mostly fixed. First, there is the commendation, followed by further emphasis on strengthening the overall coordination of the domestic promotion and screening of "1939".
Han Sanping took over the topic and gave a brief report on it.

The experts' discussion was left until the last part. During the main creators' speeches, Wu Chen spoke a lot and casually mentioned that the film's initial inspiration came from wanting to make a graduation project.
Zhang Huijun immediately understood the topic and quickly launched into a conversation about "the growth path of young directors" and "the combination of creation and education".

That afternoon, the China Film News was the first to publish an article: "Experts Discuss '1939': Another Major Breakthrough in Mainstream Films!"

Shortly after, China Film Group officially announced that nationwide promotion and distribution had been fully launched.

Shortly after the announcement, workers climbed ladders outside a cinema in Wangfujing to remove old movie posters from the Spring Festival period and replace them with a vertical banner for "1939".

The paper was flattened inside the lightbox, and as soon as the light came on, the image immediately entered the eyes of pedestrians on the street.

The scene depicts the snow-covered forests of Changbai Mountain.

The trees stood straight and cold, and a beam of searchlight cut across the gaps between the trunks, sweeping like a sharp blade.

In the foreground, two messengers crouched low, moving forward close to the tree trunks.

Footprints were scattered on the snow, and the firelight and shadows intertwined in a tense web.
The title "1939" is placed in the center with red lettering on a black background, and below it, in white lettering on a black background: [Nationwide release on April 23].
(End of this chapter)