The director starts by learning from the abilities of renowned directors.

"Impossible! I knocked on the door and left it there according to... the address above. How could I not find it?"

Shen Qing suddenly woke up in the darkness, fumbled for an old Nokia phone on the bedside table, turned it on and glanced at the time: 0:37 on November 22, 2003.

He laughed self-deprecatingly.

It's been two weeks since I traveled through time, and I still dream about losing takeout food.

Before transmigrating, Shen Qing was quite a failure. She graduated from a 985 university and was once the pride of her village, but after wasting several years, she eventually joined the ranks of food delivery workers.

Shen Qing turned to her side, resting her head on her hand, lost in thought.

In comparison, the original owner of this body was actually doing quite well.

She graduated from the Directing Department of Beijing Film Academy in 1998 with a major in GG (Growth/Growth). In just over a year since graduation, she has already directed two films and several GG (Growth/Growth) movies, making her the pride of her whole family.

Although he directed two films, the total investment for the two films was less than 80 yuan.

Dingxin Film and Television Company, which hired him, specializes in producing TV movies for the movie channel.

A TV movie is a film that is only shown on television and is not eligible for theatrical release; otherwise, the investment would not be so low.

Shooting with a Betacam SP analog camcorder or a Panasonic or Sony standard definition digital camcorder typically costs around 300,000 to 400,000 yuan. Selling the footage to a movie channel can recoup 500,000 to 600,000 yuan, earning a small profit from hard work.

The Movie Channel was established in 1995. Within three years of its launch, it had broadcast almost all of the nearly 3000 films made since the founding of the People's Republic of China, some of which were even broadcast more than a dozen times.

By 1998, the film shortage crisis had become the most important issue affecting the survival of the movie channel.

Based on the requirement of showing one new film every day, more than 300 films would be needed every year.

In the late 90s, the total annual film production in China was only about 100 films.

Even if we bought them all, it still wouldn't be enough!

The government has also stipulated that the proportion of imported films broadcast on movie channels cannot exceed one-quarter.

What should I do?

The movie channel can't just keep showing old stuff every day!

Therefore, starting in 1999, the movie channel officially launched its TV movie program.

The channel allocates 6000 million yuan annually to invest in over 100 television movies.

"Get on the Bus" starring Huang Bo and "Uncontrollable Love" starring Pan Yueming are both products of this plan.

The general process is that someone with influence with the movie channel recommends aspiring creators to the channel. The channel then provides the topics, and the creators write the scripts based on these topics. Once the scripts are completed, they are submitted to the movie channel for review. After the movie channel approves the scripts, it allocates funds.

The founder of Dingxin Film and Television, Zhao Hongwei, and its first employee, Wang Damin, were both graduates of the Beijing Film Academy. These two senior students of the original author keenly grasped the opportunity and easily found suitable introducers, and then successfully obtained many projects from the movie channel.

Zhao Hongwei will also direct the film himself, with Wang Damin serving as the production manager.

The company also accepts male clients regularly.

When there are too many projects to handle, I find a capable junior from the Beijing Film Academy to direct for me.

We can't hire famous directors either, otherwise how much would you charge them? The total investment for a film is only three or four hundred thousand!

With such a huge demand from the movie channel, more than 100 films a year, the sheer number of which is equivalent to the entire film market in the past, well-known directors could easily find work directly with the movie channel. Especially in the past few years, the movie channel accepted almost anything.

This gave the original owner the opportunity to catch the eye of the two senior students, and he filmed two movies in just one year after graduation. He started by filming GG for Dingxin, and then naturally transitioned to filming TV movies.

Each TV movie shoot typically lasts no more than 20 days, with a paycheck of 20,000 to 30,000 yuan. In addition to filming GG, Shen Qing has earned 70,000 to 80,000 yuan since graduation.

But he wasn't an employee of Dingxin. Dingxin only had seven people in total: the chairman and vice president, two core screenwriters, plus an accountant, cashier, and administrator. The company couldn't afford to employ more people, so they would hire people temporarily when needed.

The original owner would take any job available, and if there was no work, she would find her own way to make a living.

When Shen Qing transmigrated, she was filming a scene for Dingxin Film and Television in the studio of Beijing Film Studio.

He didn't know how to be a director, but having inherited the original owner's memories, he naturally understood.

Also, Shen Qing has a system.

A few days ago, he was filming GG in Studio 2 of Beijing Film Studio. It just so happened that director Zhang Yimou was filming "House of Flying Daggers" in Studio 3 of Beijing Film Studio. Shen Qing shamelessly asked the famous director to take a photo with him.

Back in his rented room, he looked at the group photo, and then a magical thing happened.

The group photo suddenly shattered into countless starlight points, which then flew into his mind.

Immediately afterwards, a virtual panel appeared in front of him.

His photo with Zhang Yimou was quietly displayed on the panel, like a mobile phone photo album.

Suddenly, Shen Qing sat up in the darkness.

With a thought, the virtual panel reappeared before his eyes.

The photo of him and director Zhang Yimou on the panel was shimmering with a soft light.

Even though he knew the system would always be there, he still called it out from time to time to take a look, which made him feel more at ease.

I put away the system, lay down, and continued to let my mind wander.

According to the system's description.

He can invite a maximum of one person from the entertainment industry to take a photo with each year. After the photo is automatically uploaded to the system, he can obtain 99% of the professional abilities of the person he took the photo with.

There is a limit to the total number of people in a group photo.

No more than four people.

Putting aside the maximum number of participants for now, let's just talk about the present...

Shen Qing now possesses 99% of director Zhang Yimou's professional abilities, and in the future, she will be able to replicate 99% of the abilities of three other people in the entertainment industry.

Zhang Yimou is not only a very good director, but also a top-notch cinematographer. He is also the first Chinese actor to win an international Best Actor award.

If there's anything to criticize...

The director excels at camera work and visuals, but his scriptwriting skills are rather ordinary. Over the years, he has needed to rely on several masters in the Chinese novel writing world for textual support.

Shen Qing, as a time traveler, is strong precisely because of the script.

In other words, the time traveler with 99% of Zhang Yimou's abilities is greater than 100% of Zhang Yimou's abilities.

And it is very likely to be much larger.

Besides, there are less than two months left until 2004.

By 2004, he was able to find people to take photos with again.

Who should we choose for the next group photo?

Li An?

Spielberg?

Nolan?

He fell asleep again while lost in thought.

……

At 10 a.m., Shen Qing finished settling her payment for filming GG at the finance department of Dingxin Film and Television Company and went to Chairman Zhao Hongwei's office to say hello.

Vice President Wang Damin was also there.

"Shen Qing is here, please have a seat."

Zhao Hongwei laughed.

Shen Qingyi sat on the sofa.

Zhao Hongwei and Wang Damin were just discussing a movie, and they naturally continued their previous conversation.

"It's been almost 10 months since filming wrapped on 'Winter Solstice,' right? Will it ever be released?"

"I've heard it's fine, but until it's released, nobody's really sure what to expect!"

This is a recurring topic of discussion at Dingxin Film and Television Company recently. The reason why everyone is so concerned about "Winter Solstice" is because it is the first high-definition digital film in China to pass censorship.

Shot using a Sony HDW-F900 digital camcorder.

If "Winter Solstice" can be successfully released in theaters, it will mean that small companies have a brand new way to enter the theater market.

If you want to save money when making a movie, you can use analog cameras, standard definition digital cameras, etc., but there are extremely high barriers to getting a movie into theaters.

As of now, let alone analog or standard definition digital cameras, even movies shot with 16mm film cameras cannot be shown in theaters.

Want to show it in theaters?

can.

It must be 35mm film; cinemas currently only accept that!

But 35mm film is expensive!

Dingxin Film & Television has produced so many movies for the movie channel, all shot with standard definition digital cameras, and the cost has never exceeded 50 yuan.

But what if we used a 35mm film camera?

In the current market, 500 million is considered a small investment!

Without 300 million, you shouldn't even think about it.

But if movies like "Winter Solstice," shot with a Sony F900 high-definition digital camera, can also be shown in theaters...

The cost of shooting with a high-definition digital camera is definitely higher than that of shooting with a standard-definition digital camera, but as long as it is a digital camera, the cost is definitely cheaper than shooting with a film camera!

Dingxin Films is a small company, and shooting 35mm film is indeed beyond its capabilities, but if it can't afford to shoot 35mm film, can't it at least not shoot high-definition digital film?

Which filmmaker would be content to make only TV movies for their entire career?

If "Winter Solstice" can be successfully released in theaters, then can Dingxin Films also upgrade to making theatrical films?

"How much was the investment in 'Winter Solstice' again?"

"I heard it's 180 million."

"180 million? If it can really be shown in theaters, we can barely afford that kind of investment!"

"180 million is more than enough to shoot a 35mm film. If I were to shoot it, that would be more than enough!"

After quickly considering the matter in his mind, Shen Qing suddenly spoke up.