How does the industry view the 51st gear this year?

The Beijing News interviews directors Li Yu, Chen Zhengdao, and Lu Yulai, and actors Zhang Songwen and Guo Fucheng

Box office is important, but film quality is more important

　　On May 1st this year, 11 films have been finalized, and the number of films released is even more than last year's Spring Festival.

In the opinion of some industry insiders, in the past year, due to the impact of the new crown epidemic, the announcement of many films has been disrupted. Therefore, the major movie schedules this year actually accommodated many films that should have been released in the same period last year.

This situation is not very optimistic, because the release of more than a dozen films in a group will only cause crowded filming, but will reduce the single-day box office of each film.

At the same time, in the opinion of some film creators, the number of films released should not be a measure of the market’s market, because the film market will re-enter (for example, now) two to three weeks of new film space after May 1st but before Dragon Boat Festival. Window period, but there may be some good word-of-mouth movies forming a better long tail effect.

　　As the main creators of the film, some of them will be tight on schedule and box office because they "made a more stylized" work, because these will affect "the right to speak after filming", and some feel that whether the audience likes the work depends on whether the audience likes the work. "Fate", and some believe that, as a professional actor, don't be too affected by the fluctuations in the box office of the work.

　　A reporter from the Beijing News interviewed Lu Yulai, the director of the film "Sweeping Darkness: The Final Battle", and Zhang Songwen, the director of "Secret Visitor", and the starring Guo Fucheng, the director of "Sunshine Robbers" Li Yu, and the director of "Pig Man". Producers, etc., ask them to talk about the style and market positioning of their latest works.

Director Chen Zhengdao of "Secret Visitor"

I hope the audience can watch movies up to the movie level

　　Chen Zhengdao has a long history with the 51st file. Before that, his "Master of Hypnotism" and "Master of Memory" were released in the 51st file of 2014 and the 51st file of 2017 respectively. Because of this schedule, he was also named by the audience. "Master of Suspense", this year he brought his new work "Secret Visitor" back to the 51st file, and assembled the "ceiling" lineup of suspense genre works called by the audience (Guo Fucheng, Duan Yihong, Xu Weining, Zhang Zifeng, Rong Zishan are all in suspense There are demonstrable characters in the work), which makes many fans look forward to it.

However, Chen Zhengdao bluntly said in an interview with a reporter from the Beijing News that this release made him very nervous: "There is definitely tension, but this tension is not compared with other films, but because I made a comparison. Whether the audience likes stylized things. The box office feedback of the movie also determines whether I can get the resources for future movies and the opportunity to have more voice to shoot a suspenseful film."

　　He teased that he was no longer a young director, and his assistants changed his title to a well-known middle-aged director.

Along the way, Chen Zhengdao is very productive. He has shot 7 movies and 3 dramas in 8 years. He can be regarded as a model worker director of the same generation. "Nowadays, the mentality of being a director has indeed changed a lot, doing things and finding resources is getting more and more. By the way, sometimes I ridicule that I have finally lived to an age where I have the right to speak. But my mentality is still young, I want to shoot a lot of different things, I am not sure whether the audience likes it or not, but it will bring them a different experience "Going back to the 51st gear again, Chen Zhengdao said that he was not too anxious about the box office in the past. In the past two years, he was more anxious because the box office produced by young directors was so good (laughs), but this sense of urgency still affects his progress. It helps a lot.

　　As a movie fan, Chen Zhengdao always thinks that going to the cinema to watch a movie is a very ceremonial thing, and there are also many experiences that I feel disappointed when seeing bad movies. He used to be in Taiwan and had to get a large production team and a lot of money to shoot. A movie is extremely precious and it is not easy. Sometimes when he sees some shortcomings in the movie, he sighs, "If this place is more refined and improved, it would be great." This idea also affected him forcing himself to "Secret Visitor" is the ultimate.

He said: “I don’t know how to presume that the box office of a movie is in one schedule. The box office of the previous'Masters' series is relatively good, because the audience is more supportive of new and rare genre movies, but as the "Secret Visitor" In terms of whether some plot settings are controversial, or the audience and I have different perceptions, each of my movies uses very delicate and extreme artistic techniques, and a very scientific way to make movies, plus a long The reason for the later stage of "Secret Visitor" is that I think it is necessary to respect the audience and hope that the movies they watch in the theater are movies up to the film level. Seriousness and exquisiteness are the advantages of "Secret Visitor"."

"Secret Visitor" starring Aaron Kwok

Create a thriller aesthetic

　　The first collaboration between Aaron Kwok and Chen Zhengdao was the movie "Before Daybreak" released in 2016. At that time, Chen Zhengdao was a producer, but he left a deep impression on Aaron Kwok: "I admire Director Chen very much. He is very familiar with the script and shooting. They are all very rigorous, and he is an art student, and he has high aesthetic requirements. The scenes, styles, and atmosphere in the film are exquisite and careful. "Secret Visitor" is a suspense film of his strengths, and the director skills shown this time are also mature. , More level. Because all of our films were shot in South Korea, the scene layout, furnishings, photography are very precise and thoughtful, creating a special style of the film, it is a high-level thriller aesthetic film. This is Chen Zhengdao The work that is moving to a new level is also a place for everyone to watch "Secret Visitor". I also hope that everyone can go to the theater to support during the holiday, and the film will also have a good reputation and a good box office."

　　Regarding the “battle situation” in the 51st gear, Aaron Kwok said that he has always maintained a calm mind. Of course, he hopes to win a win-win at the box office and word-of-mouth to complete a work, but sometimes it may not be so: "However, I always try my best to perform, always hope If there is a good response, I will also pay attention to the film reviews and the opinions of the audience to see if there are any suggestions that can be done better. In short, I hope that everyone will support the film made with heart, because it is really not easy to complete a work."

"Sunshine Robber" director and screenwriter Li Yu

Feminine perspective, very scarce in type

　　Li Yu believes that the audience may find the comedy "Sunshine Robber" to be very novel, and this is indeed not her previous style (she has directed "Apple", "Guanyin Mountain" and "Double Exposure", all of which are somewhat literary and artistic themes. ), so the mood will naturally get nervous before the release. When making a movie, it seems that you can handle everything, but you feel uncomfortable everywhere after the filming. The creators will always enjoy working on the set the most, so You will be nervous before the show, because you are about to find a moment of empathy with the audience.

She laughed and said that her movie was always set in March. This was the first time she entered the 51st gear competition: "Actually I don’t know what the 51st gear means. For me, this schedule is just a holiday. I actually don’t I will understand and analyze the schedule. I will also go to watch other movies during the holidays. In fact, "Sunshine Robbers" touched me a lot. Whether it is the producer, Mr. Fang Li, who has put a lot of pressure to make this movie, whether it is to find a real tiger Participating in the performance is still a sincere contribution to the film regardless of return. In my opinion, this is an adventure for Fang Li. My pressure may come from his unlimited support for the film."

　　Li Yu also wanted to know what the audience was thinking, "Actually, I don’t study the genre very much, but I want to share it. I always have the feeling that this movie will choose its audience, and the audience will also choose their own movie. It's a fate."

　　To talk about what this movie can bring to everyone, Li Yu still gave the four words that define the film-emotional comedy: "From the perspective of resonance, this is a reconciliation between people and themselves, and helping others and fulfilling their promises. The story, so I hope this movie has a healing effect and a warming effect. This movie is also a slightly feminine theme in the same period, and it will also explain many women’s views and thoughts and genres. This is the scarcity of this schedule. At this stage, the director should actually say less, watching a movie is a very personal experience, and all subsequent interpretations should be left to the audience."

"Sweeping Darkness·Decisive Battle" starring Zhang Songwen

Professional actors should not pay too much attention to the box office of their works

　　Zhang Songwen played the role of the county magistrate Cao Zhiyuan with a complicated identity in the film "Sweeping Darkness: Decisive Battle". He thinks that the temperament and character setting of this movie are too attractive to him. At the same time, he also added a lot of his own understanding to the role. But in his opinion, the actor's contribution to a successful film is only about one-sixth, and the box office is unlikely to be a problem that professional actors should pay attention to.

"For example, the box office of "Sweeping Darkness: Final Battle" suddenly burst to 1 billion yuan, you would think that Zhang Songwen is a traffic, very appealing at the box office, but suddenly he may only sell 600,000 yuan at the box office, this is not a face. I think actors shouldn’t care too much about the data. It’s not directly related to the actors. The successful actors in a work only play a small part. For example, a good movie is divided into several components: crew, distribution and promotion. , The audience’s reputation is fermented, the time and place are right, the schedule is right, each movie has its own life, the credit of the actors is actually very small, almost not worth mentioning."

　　In Zhang Songwen's opinion, "Sweeping Crimes: A Final Battle" is a very special work. It is the first Chinese film to be the subject of anti-hacking movies. Everyone says that this type of film is difficult to grasp, but you can go check it out. "Sweep the Dark", you will find that the movie still has a lot of space to explore.

Director Lu Yulai

The difficulty is how to make a movie with a different theme

　　"Maybe when the audience hears the word'sweeping black', they will think this is a main theme movie. This kind of stereotype is also the difficulty of our production this time. How to make a different main theme movie, one that makes the audience feel A good-looking movie. The most important thing is to show respect to the workers in countless anti-criminal positions.” Lu Yulai said that it is possible that ordinary people seldom encounter experiences similar to those in "Cracking Crime: Decisive Battle", but in fact these are all Reality: "We hope to make the movie real, so that everyone can empathize, and feel that it is closely related to everyone. It may be difficult for people in big cities to experience this, but some places are really evil, even better than movies. What's described here is also powerful. It does not mean that it does not exist if it does not happen to you. It is a terrible thing for everyone involved. Justice needs law enforcement officers to serve, and people need law enforcement officers to protect."

　　According to Lu Yu, perhaps every director will feel nervous before the release. "Sweeping the Darkness·Decisive Battle" is scheduled relatively late, and the pre-sale is also open late. It may not have an advantage in the series of films at the moment, but this is indeed a rare one. The movie I saw has made great attempts to restore the scale of the case: “In fact, I never thought that this movie can be released smoothly. It is very difficult for us to be able to release it. Please, it is also very difficult for us to release it. I hope the audience can go to the theater to experience this movie, because this is something that is closely related to many people."

Chief Producer of "Pig Man Movie·Dinosaur Diary"

Parent-child movie watching is the biggest prerequisite

　　As a relatively large middleweight animation film in the 51st grade, "Pig Man Movie·Dinosaur Diary" (hereinafter referred to as "Pig Man") has a stable audience and is considered by experts to be the most likely to be stable at the box office. The issuer's choice to be released on the 51st file has also been carefully considered.

The chief producer said: "The audience of the big movie "Pig Man" is mainly children aged 4 to 8. They need parents to accompany them to watch the movie. Therefore, the film can't only consider the children's vacation, but also whether the parents have time. We I have chosen to be released in the summer, and the box office on weekends is eye-catching, but it is relatively weak as soon as the working day, which will also have a certain impact on the actual subsequent filming. Therefore, the five-day holiday of May 1st this year has a positive effect on "Pig Man" in the top five. It’s definitely helpful to get higher in the box office.” He is very optimistic about the box office of "Pig Man". Because of his years of deep cultivation of animated TV, the IP image of "Pig Man" has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people: "The advantage of the film lies in all May 1st. The file animation is the most well-known IP. On the premise that the May 1st parent-child movie watching just needs it, this movie is the first choice for parent-child movie watching."

　　In fact, it took almost 3 years before and after the production of "Pig Man", which is also the first time it has returned to the big screen after two years.

In the preliminary preparations, we did a lot of discussions on the theme, background and content of the story, and finally decided to adopt the dual-IP model to incorporate the dinosaur IP that children love, and at the same time link with the "Pig Man TV Series Dinosaur Diary" The method not only guarantees the attention of Pig Man fans, but also uses dinosaur elements to drive more parent-child family movie-watching interests: "In the past, Pig Man movies wanted to be enjoyed by adults and children, so there was a bit of story content. Restrained. This time we put aside this point, and want to make every effort to create a movie where children are happy and big friends are at ease. Starting from this point, we carefully consider every plot point. We believe that this film will create a pigman series The film’s box office record, and it has a lot to do in word-of-mouth fermentation."

51 Audience Survey

　　According to statistics from a reporter from the Beijing News, if you want to watch 11 films in 51 files, you need to spend a total of 1162 minutes in the cinema, which translates to about 19 hours.

　　The survey shows that the viewing behavior of most viewers in my country is actually not affected by the schedule. Therefore, the filmmakers should not blindly think that the gathering of films to set a large schedule is a matter that meets the needs of users. In addition, the ratings are becoming more and more important. The reference standard for the audience to choose a movie, only high-quality content can withstand the audience's test.

We will wait and see how the final quality of the 51st gear this year will be.

　　Reporter Zhou Huixiaowan