Run, Best Actor!

Looking at the business side alone, the "Tiny Times" tetralogy was actually quite successful, with four films released in three years, raking in a total of 18 billion yuan at the box office!

However, this series has always been criticized by the public as a bad movie, and none of the four movies have a Douban score of 6!

Why is that?

Here's a point that might be overlooked by many—that is, the original novel of "Tiny Times" wasn't actually that good either. The book and the movie share many similar shortcomings!

When you're halfway through reading "Tiny Times," you can almost see Guo Jingming's helplessness in the face of the unfolding plot.

In fact, the biggest taboo in a novel is to drastically change the characters during the plot development, but the three novels of "Tiny Times" are too ambitious and simply cannot fill this gap.

Jian Xi, who was initially seen by readers as at least the second male lead after much build-up, almost disappeared from the novel later on due to a bizarre affair.

Rising stars Zhou Chongguang and Gong Ming quickly replaced Jian Xi, and the feelings that readers had developed for the character in the early stages were carelessly discarded. It was as if the audience only realized before the premiere of "Princess Pearl 3" that the cast had been completely changed and something just didn't look right.

Guo Jingming was too busy during that period. He had to be a boss, sign new talents, publish magazines, and write books. He simply couldn't be in two places at once.

"Jian Xi," like any of the innocent young boys in white shirts in his previous novels, has almost no explosive potential, making it impossible to uncover anything more about him, nor can he fit into this story that the author sees as destined to go "dark."

His youth was too far removed from him, and he couldn't continue writing the character "Jianxi." So he was replaced, and the stand-in was Guo Jingming himself. He analyzed himself into two bodies—one "Chongguang" (who reveres light), a willful writer; and the other "Gongming," a ruthless businessman.

It's a real shame, because many readers really like the character "Jian Xi".

This indifferent "abandonment" was carried over into the film.

Although the characters "Jianxi" and "Chongguang" have almost no presence in the movie, Chen Xuedong, Guo Xiaosi's "new favorite," received special treatment in casting and close-up shots. His crooked smile seemed to be a mockery of Guo Xiaosi himself—this is the person who created the sunny and youthful boy "Jianxi," and then abandoned him because he thought he was worthless.

Like parents who abandon their own children in the trash, Guo Jingming in the later stages of "Tiny Times" takes pleasure in manipulating readers' emotions, no longer "respecting" the characters he created, and arbitrarily arranging their melodramatic experiences and life and death.

This point is fully reflected in the adapted film.

Upon watching the entire film, one discovers that the characters' personalities are almost entirely illogical. One moment Gong Ming is aloof and detached from worldly affairs, the next he's on a Christmas Eve date with Kitty, and the very next moment he's willing to lend a helping hand to an "unknown" Nan Xiang at a prestigious press conference.

Of course, compared to the sense of powerlessness of other character designs, Gong Ming's character design is nothing.

She could hand over a single A4 sheet of paper to Gong Ming without proofreading it; she would swipe her card to buy an exorbitantly priced cup only to be told the password was her own birthday; she would cry outside a car in a tiny miniskirt after the road was blocked by heavy snow; she would keep a diamond ring she received as a gift in her bag every moment, waiting for her boyfriend to find it; and her boyfriend, because of this misunderstanding, would not chase after her to explain, nor would he call to explain, nor would he use his cell phone to call Gu Li from a phone booth... The whole movie seems like a Mary Sue fantasy, and the most serious Mary Sue plot is in "Lin Xiao".

This girl, who initially described herself as "not as rich as Gu Li, not as pretty as Nan Xiang, and not as special as Tang Wanru," actually managed to secure a job in the "Devil Wears Prada" office and frequently did some astonishingly stupid things. The key point is that after doing something stupid, all she could do was cry, and after crying, everyone stopped blaming her and started to love her even more.

Despite being the female lead, she always appears as a giant baby in Guo Jingming's scripts.

"Girls who wear sneakers have something that girls who wear high heels don't"...

WTF!

Guo Xiaosi, what are you talking about?!

Do you think those skinny guys who wear 20cm heels and carry magazines as heavy as bricks, no matter the weather, are just vegetarians?

Is it really that easy to make it in the fashion industry?

Why didn't you just arrange for Tang Wanru to intern at ME?! She's the type who absolutely only wears sneakers!!

In fact, there are many instances in this movie where the characters contradict themselves:

Gu Li, who is already like a queen, is just a "small family" in Ye Chuanping's eyes. But Ye Chuanping, who looks down on Gu Li, doesn't even have a guest room in her own home. Guests have to set up a bed in her son's room to stay overnight.

When Lin Xiao went to visit the "wealthy family" to ask about the fashion show, the owner of the "wealthy family" actually opened the door himself. You're so rich, how come you can't even afford a nanny?

Gu Li's shoe storage area is probably as big as your house!

Originally, they were a perfect match, like old bitches meeting new bitches, but this irresponsible "writer," "screenwriter," or "director" has turned them into two opposing sides, making it impossible for them to even stand on their own ground!

The whole world is as if only twelve characters are actually living, and everyone else is just an "extras".

Not to mention the high-end and stylish apartment she lived in during college, the fact that she was the center of attention on the high school stage even extended to the city-level fashion show, as if she didn't need to be rational in her own story, and all the other designers could only be seen as supporting characters.

If she truly possessed such talent, it would be understandable. However, the few outfits that Nan Xiang submitted for the competition were so ugly that they were unbearable to look at, and they were not even as good as the works in the graduation exhibition of Yenching Institute of Fashion Technology.

The plot is ridiculously absurd, but what's worse is that, apart from Guo Caijie and Xie Yilin, the rest of the actors in the film have practically regressed to the level of someone who just started out.

The Taiwanese idiot, discovered and nurtured by Giddens Ko, is becoming increasingly unspirited. In this movie, he's practically just a pretty face, with a crooked smile in every scene. Does he think he's Edison Chen?

One second she was threatening to run away from home with her mother, and the next she was seen with her mother and her blind date. Incredibly, she could still be pretentious and say to the four women on stage, "No, they are more beautiful than before."

Good heavens, compared to this, Erkang and Ziwei's French kiss doesn't even look that cheesy!

The director's favorite trope, the "crooked smile," is naturally carried over to Chen Xuedong. Besides close-ups of his crooked smile, there are also close-ups of him looking back as he enters the operating room. Does he really need such a strong sense of camera presence?!

Do you feel like you're living under the spotlight 24/7, 365 days a year?

What business is it of a columnist like you to hold a fashion show?

Aside from not submitting your manuscript on time, do you have any real purpose in this film?

What did you say? Wei Hai is even less meaningful than you?

No! They played badminton while panting!

Hey, why don't you breathe too! Don't just breathe for the Fourth Sister's sake, breathe for us too!

See, I just wrote a few words and I've already complained so much, how could it not be a bad movie?

Upon closer examination, it turns out that none of the actors were actually very qualified.

For example, Guo Caijie's voice is not queenly at all, Li Yueming's portrayal of Jian Xi doesn't have the feel of a sunny boy, Kitty doesn't have the presence of a shrewd and capable person at all, and Jiang Chao's portrayal of Xi Cheng has no presence at all...

To be honest, judging from the casting alone, the actors' portrayal of the characters is quite accurate, much better than in TV dramas.

But Guo Jingming, a new director, actually made the opposite mistake to other new directors.

Other new directors tend to cram as much information as possible into their films, resulting in bloated movies because they don't make any choices.

But when it came to Guo Jingming, the two long hours were almost entirely devoid of a complete story. Instead, there were endless smirks from young boys, marathon-like runs by girls, long takes longer than the legs of a goddess, and slow motion slower than a 2M internet connection.

Whenever the story gets stuck, Yang Mi's very distinctive sweet voice provides narration to fill in the gaps.

To be fair, Yang Mi's performance in this drama was indeed not good, far worse than her performance in "Painted Skin II".

And the key point is that it really breaks the immersion!

This isn't a novel. You give poetic narration when you laugh, you give poetic narration when you cry, and you even give poetic narration when you're suddenly pulled onto the stage to give a speech. Just how much 45-degree sadness can you possibly have?

As for the values ​​conveyed by the film, watching only this one movie certainly gives the impression of being materialistic and disgusting.

However, after watching all four movies, especially the last one, you can still see that Guo Jingming is actually criticizing—the last group of people died, leaving only Lin Xiao, which represents Guo Jingming's mockery of that group.

But movies can foreshadow plot points, and if the audience can't see them at all, that's just a director's mistake!

The reason why the first "Tiny Times" movie was bad was that the plot was fragmented, the story was disjointed, and many things were not told in a complete way; the cinematography was also overly sentimental, like it was edited from a Korean drama on CCTV-8, and it did not look like a movie at all; not to mention the terrible acting skills of the group of actors under Guo Jingming's "training".

Guo Jingming should learn that scenes of him looking cool and beautiful in movies are not just for the sake of looking cool and beautiful, but should be connected to the plot.

The effects of backlighting and long takes are indeed beautiful, but a movie can't rely solely on those!

However, after the criticism, to be fair, the box office success of the "Tiny Times" series proves that the film series is not entirely without merit.

Despite its inefficient narrative pace and convoluted cinematic grammar, "Tiny Times" still manages to touch people's hearts in certain aspects.

The particularly climactic scenes, which portray the friendship between the four girls, though somewhat forced, still have a powerful impact.

In fact, the main emotional theme of the film is friendship, and this spirit never dissipates throughout the film, and there is a connection between the beginning and the end.

Moreover, Guo Jingming knows exactly what his target audience needs. Even his trendy narration and lyrics are etched into their minds, leaving them with a dazzling and unforgettable experience. Guo Jingming has put in 10 years of effort for this, which is why he can deliver such precise and impactful content.

In fact, from this point of view, Guo Jingming has done a better job than many well-known directors in the industry.

This is the successful shaping of a commercial film director's personal style.

However, there is a huge hidden danger in fan-driven movies: the enthusiasm of fans is a consumable resource, and the appeal of the film brand will inevitably decline. If it cannot provide fans with continuous emotional value, then the film series will definitely not go far.

The main reason is that the film now relies too much on Guo Jingming's personal creative style and performance, and his shortcomings in some aspects are fatal, such as the depiction of love in the film.

After watching "Tiny Times," most people would agree that Guo Jingming has a rather unremarkable romantic history.

Because the love relationships and entanglements he designed for the characters in the plot are very clumsy. He even amplified the old-fashioned trope of social class in Republican-era dramas. In this day and age, is it convincing to create a tragic love story about arranged marriages for the post-85s and post-90s audience?

None of the romantic relationships here are touching; the emotional logic is straightforward and simplistic. While these elements might have a hypnotic effect on some viewers when wrapped in beautiful language and ethereal thoughts in a novel, romance in a movie requires solid plot points and details.

However, audiences don't see this kind of pursuit at all in the "Tiny Times" movies.

The film's haphazard display of so-called fashion and trends is awkward and laughable; it's more like wishful thinking, still stuck in the rural-urban fringe.

Guo Jingming, after all, grew up in the bustling metropolis of Shanghai and has seen more of the world than most people. However, when it comes to practical matters and details, his taste is severely lacking, which is quite regrettable.

Speaking of this, we can mention Guo Jingming's lifelong nemesis, Han Han.

Seeing that Guo Jingming had succeeded in his crossover career, this guy followed suit and became a director, making the somewhat art-house film "The Continent".

And then it became a success with just one movie.

Moreover, its box office revenue is higher than any single film in the "Tiny Times" series!

However, it was later revealed that Han Han brought more than a dozen assistant directors with him to the set, and most of the work was actually done by those assistant directors.

Later, some people mocked Han Han for this, saying that it made no difference whether he was in the crew or not.

The person who said that doesn't understand the operating logic of commercial films at all.

Commercial films don't require directors to be involved in every detail of the production like art-house directors.

Taking photos is the photographer's job;

Coordinating the film crew is the assistant director's job;

There's a script supervisor to check for omissions and fill in the gaps;

Planning the itinerary and production;

Honing acting skills depends on the actors...

In a film production, all the work is handled by specific personnel.

All a director needs to do is sit there and yell "Action!", "Cut!", "One more take!"... It's that simple!

But the director must be clear about what you want to create and what kind of feeling you want!

Because the entire crew, often numbering in the thousands, is all working to achieve the work and feeling you desire.

When any staff member or actor asks you, "How do we do this?" or "How do we act out this scene?", you can immediately tell them what to do.

If you find that you haven't thought about the question when others ask you one, then you're not qualified to sit in that position, and even if you do manage to put it on, it will be a mess.

(That guy Wang Mojing just benefited from the era's advantages; he's not a qualified director at all!)

So, the secret to why Han Han in the original timeline was more suited to the role of director than Guo Jingming and was able to produce more successful films lies here.

In fact, a commercial film director is similar to a project manager in charge of an engineering project. They know what the final result of the project should be and control each part of the project. They don't need to do everything themselves.

This may stem from Han Han's experience as a professional race car driver.

A successful professional race car driver cannot simply focus on driving.

He needs the team's help.

We need a navigator's route notes, a mechanic to ensure the vehicles are in good condition, and a racing team manager to coordinate the race schedule...

Therefore, the concept of teamwork is deeply ingrained in Han Han's mind.

After crossing over into a new field, Han Han first assembled a behind-the-scenes team before starting to film the movie.

So don't look at how many assistant directors Han Han brought to the set, but rather look at his work and whether the style he presents is consistent with his previous work.

If so, then he is a qualified director!

From this perspective, although Guo Jingming crossed over into a different field early, he still doesn't understand how to be a good director.

What Liu Tai-le needs is to make up for these shortcomings and reverse the negative reviews of "Tiny Times".

After all, the higher the rating of the works starring Yang Mi, the better the rewards she can receive!

As for whether Guo Jingming will have any complaints about this?

That was outside Liu Taile's consideration.