Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 1493 What does the feather represent?
At the end of the screening at the premiere, the camera was focused on Forrest Gump, played by Tom Hanks, who was sitting on a tree stump next to a mailbox waiting for the school bus after sending his son, little Forrest Gump, to the school bus.

A close-up shot of Tom Hanks' eyes...

His expression was very restrained, without a smile or sadness. But all the audience could see Forrest Gump's deep sorrow. His black comrade, Bub, left him, his mother left him, and his beloved Jenny also left him.

Forrest Gump's hope now is his son with Jenny. Fortunately, little Forrest Gump has a very high IQ and inherited his mother's genes, which makes Forrest Gump, who has already experienced the unfairness of life, full of hope for the future life.

A feather just fell out of the "Curious George" book that little Forrest Gump was going to take to school for a speech.

This is a picture book of little people that Forrest Gump's mother read to Forrest Gump, and later Jenny also read it to her son, little Forrest Gump.

Little Forrest Gump had already boarded the school bus. After chatting with the bus driver Dorothy, the bus drove away, leaving Forrest Gump sitting there alone, missing the few people in his life who were kind to him.

Tom Hanks's performance was so subtle, without any facial movements, that the audience could feel Forrest Gump's deep loneliness and the sadness of losing his lover through his eyes. They were all wondering how long Forrest Gump would sit there and miss the few good times in his life before little Forrest Gump came back from school...

Just when the camera remained still on the close-up of Forrest Gump's face for so long that it was almost making the audience uncomfortable, it began to move slowly downwards.

The camera swept across his blue T-shirt with all three buttons buttoned neatly, to his khaki pants and comfortable dark brown shoes, and the white feather was stuck on the grass next to Forrest Gump's feet.

The breeze blew gently, and gradually the grass began to shake slightly, and then Forrest Gump's trouser legs also began to swing slightly.

The wind grew stronger, and the white feather resisted stubbornly on the grass for two times, then was suddenly blown up.

"Beep...beep...beep-beep...beep-beep-beep...beep-beep..."

The theme song of Forrest Gump, which the audience had been familiar with many times, began to play again.

The camera suddenly zoomed out, then slowly rose up, and the white feather also flew up into the air with the wind.

It was blown high by the wind, and the audience saw Forrest Gump's ancestral home in the background... The camera continued to zoom out and up, and the big tree where Forrest Gump and Jenny played when they were young appeared on the left side of the screen...

The white feathers flew higher and higher, flew away from Forrest Gump's ancestral home, and flew out of the big tree of his happy childhood, and the background became a blue sky and white clouds...

The audience recalled the childhood stories of Forrest Gump and Jenny in the first scene of the movie, when Jenny took Forrest Gump to the cornfield and made a wish to God, wishing to become a bird and fly away high...

Could this feather be Jenny's soul guiding Forrest Gump toward a better life? Or is it the incarnation of God himself?
Just as the audience was savoring the plot of this film, which was not overly sentimental but gave people a sense of reality and touchingness at every turn, a white feather suddenly jumped and flew towards the audience in front of the screen...

Just as the feather was about to hit the camera and fly out of the screen, the movie Forrest Gump ended, and the credits of the cast and crew appeared on the black screen...

Director: Ronald V. Lee

According to convention, the director's name appears at the end of the opening credits and at the beginning of the closing credits. Then comes the behind-the-scenes staff, then the actors, and finally the copyright information and the names of the various distribution and technical support manufacturers...

A variation of the Forrest Gump theme song also started playing when Ronald's name appeared. It was even sadder and more emotional than the theme song...

The audience remained silent, sitting quietly in the dark screening room. No one spoke, and no one stood up to leave. It seemed that no one realized that the movie was over. They all sat in the distance and quietly watched the cast and crew subtitles.

"The characters and plots in this film are all fictional. Any similarities with real people and events are unintentional coincidences..."

Because Forrest Gump involves too many historical figures and events, Ronald discussed it with Paramount and finally had to add this statement to prevent some people from filing lawsuits after watching the movie on the grounds that the movie plagiarized their personal experiences.

The movie ended here. When the subtitles finished, Paramount's snow mountain logo appeared on the screen, and the lights in the screening room brightened, and then brighter lights were turned on.

"Oh……"

The audience seemed to suddenly wake up from a hypnotic state, and then stood up and started to applaud vigorously, with tears in many people's eyes...

The applause continued, and Robin Wright, Gary Sinise, Michaelti Williamson, Sally Field, Tom Hanks and others stood up and walked to the stage to accept the audience's congratulations and cheers.

Ronald also stood up. He was the most excited among them.

After the actors finished filming the movie, they put the project behind them and started working on the next movie in both Chinese and English. Many people have not seen the complete "Forrest Gump". Today, they suddenly saw the footage they shot at the time. After being edited together, they were so emotionally powerful. The pride of being an actor and the emotional power that came from within all rushed to their heads.

Even though they were clapping and standing there stiffly on the stage, many of them were actually very emotional inside. This is a movie that can be regarded as a career masterpiece and will be remembered by many audiences!
Ronald was different from them. As a director, after the filming was completed, he was busy with special effects production for many weeks, and then worked in the editing room for several more weeks. He was so fed up with this movie that he wanted to vomit.

Because he was too familiar with it and paid attention to the details every day, Ronald had already had a physical reaction to "Forrest Gump". Especially those sensational scenes, which made him want to hide his face and walk away.

Although Ronald tried his best to restrain himself and did not directly arouse the audience's emotions, he deliberately concealed his emotions until the next scene revealed the real situation that Forrest Gump was facing, which made the audience remember the emotion they had a minute ago.

But nothing can withstand being watched over and over again for hundreds of times. Every time Ronald saw the scene on the big screen where Forrest Gump and Jenny were naked together for the first time in college, he always felt that he was more embarrassed than Forrest Gump on the screen.

In many places, Ronald felt that the filming was not good enough, and he would feel awkward when watching it. For example, the scenes where Forrest Gump met with historical celebrities, shook hands with many great presidents, and appeared on a talk show with John Lennon, these scenes looked a little unreal due to technical reasons, which always made Ronald feel regretful.

Especially the shots where people are talking. Since new lines are added to their old video footage every time, the special effects staff are required to modify the mouth shape frame by frame to achieve the best effect. However, human power has its limits. When those people are talking, the audience can still clearly see the mismatch between their mouths and their words.

At these times, Ronald was always like a student who had not done his homework well, waiting for the teacher's judgment and the audience's reaction.

However, to his surprise, the audience did not react to these things. They were all immersed in the plot of the movie and their concentration was not affected at all.

Ronald always felt that this was a premiere and most of the audience were fans of a certain actor or a novel, so they took a tolerant approach to these flaws.

But after it was over, the audience was so immersed in the plot that they didn't want to come out. When the lights came on, they gave long, heartfelt applause and cheers, which made Ronald very excited...

Could it be that the movie I shot is indeed very powerful?
It should indeed be powerful. I have invested a lot of time, energy, and money in this movie.

Yesterday, his marketing consultant Michael Gray sent him a suggestion. Because the audience response to the preview was very enthusiastic, he suggested doubling the film's distribution and marketing costs.

For a movie like this, the most important thing is to let as many people as possible know about it and make them want to go to the cinema to watch it.

Many of the audiences of this movie are not regular moviegoers who watch more than two movies a year on average, but middle-aged people who have not been to the cinema for a long time. Only when friends spread the word that a movie is good and worth watching, will they pick up the habit of their youth and go to the cinema to watch it.

Therefore, in order to reach these audiences, a large number of advertisements are placed in some very expensive media, including prime time on TV stations, the movie and entertainment sections of mainstream newspapers, and important time slots on local radio stations. I won’t go into details, but it’s all very expensive.

Ronald wiped his eyes with the back of his hand and followed the actors to the front. The expressions on the faces of the audience were very clear under the lighting. Ronald knew that although there were various special effects flaws and necessary cuts, Forrest Gump worked as a whole.

Movies are a very private experience, with hundreds of people in a dark room, watching the joys and sorrows on the screen without distraction.

A qualified commercial film should make the audience forget their other trivial matters and follow the plot for one and a half to two hours, with their hearts excited by the movie. Finally, in the happy ending, they should enjoy the pleasure of victory like a hero.

A great movie will make the audience forget that they are watching a movie. Their mood will be worried by the ups and downs of the protagonist in the movie, as if this is not a movie story, but a real event that happened to them, a friend they know...

They care about the joys and sorrows of the characters on the screen like friends and family. They become anxious when the characters fall into a low point. When Forrest Gump went to Vietnam, they were as worried as Jenny.

They will be happy when the characters succeed. When Forrest Gump comes back from the Vietnam battlefield and hugs Jenny under the monument, they will be as happy as if they were dating their beloved girl or boy.

Because of his low IQ, Forrest Gump often does some funny things, and the audience can empathize with him because most of them have made fools of themselves because of their stupidity. Even the smartest people have embarrassing moments... Ronald's editing makes them feel as if this kind of thing can happen to them.

Forrest Gump didn't care about what others thought, he just held on to his mother and Jenny's words, a simple goal that he could understand and worked hard for it. In the end, he was favored by the times and gained wealth and love, which also made the audience empathize with him.

After all, in real competition, only a few people win. Most people work hard for many years and suddenly find that they have exceeded their dreams when they were young.

"Wow, wow, wow..." The audience kept applauding, and the actors on the stage kept thanking and asking the audience to calm down.

Afterwards, the host came up and asked several actors to tell some interesting stories during the filming, and selected a few lucky audience members to ask questions to the creators.

Several audience members asked some common questions, such as their opinions on their co-stars and their understanding of the characters. Most people did not ask any questions, but instead talked about historical events that they had experienced at some point in "Forrest Gump".

Someone told the creators on the stage that he had also taken a bus to Washington DC to protest during the Vietnam War, and had also participated in rallies like Forrest Gump.

Some people told the creators that he also participated in the long-distance running event which was very popular at that time. He ran with Louis Michael Finks, one of the prototypes of Forrest Gump, when the sixteen-year-old boy Louis Michael Finks ran across America to raise funds for charity in San Francisco, California.

Someone else told us that he had been to the Vietnam battlefield, and this was the most realistic movie depicting the battlefield...

Finally, the microphone was passed to a lady who looked very peaceful.

"I would like to ask Director Li, did you arrange Jenny's death to speak for...people? I've seen your last film, Philadelphia, which was the first mainstream Hollywood film about these poor people. Do you agree with fighting for the rights of these people and protesting against those who stigmatize the unfortunate..."

"Thank you for your question..." Ronald took the opportunity to organize his thoughts. This person seemed to be one of those volunteers who contributed to charity organizations. "I didn't specify what disease Jenny had in the movie because when I asked Winston Groom, the original author of the novel, he didn't give me a definite answer.

I want to say that this is a tragedy that humans often encounter, our loved ones and friends leave us because of illness. What I want to depict is Forrest Gump's reaction when he encountered this tragedy.

This has nothing to do with a particular disease, but I agree with you very much. Jenny's previous behavior is related to the treatment she received as a child. We cannot simply attribute all this to her pursuit of freedom..."

Once these words were spoken, everyone was very satisfied and applause broke out again.

"Director Li, I want to ask you, in the opening and the finale, there is a feather flying around Forrest Gump. What do you want to express with this feather?"

Another audience member stood up to ask a question.

"Ha, you're asking this kind of question. I'm worried that you're a film critic..." Ronald said humorously, "I think this is also a question that everyone can have their own opinions and ideas. It can be whatever you want it to represent."

Seeing that the audience was still not satisfied, Ronald smiled and handed the microphone to Tom Hanks, "Why not ask the actors what they think..."

"I think our destiny is defined only by how we respond to the chance elements in our lives, and that's exactly what this feather represents when it shows up. This thing could have landed anywhere, and it just happened to land at your feet. It has very great theological significance."

After Tom Hanks finished speaking, he passed the microphone to Sally Field next to him.

"I guess it's just fate, it blows in the wind, randomly lands here or there. Was it planned, or was it accidental?"

“It can mean a lot of things to a lot of people.”

……

After a round of discussion, everyone expressed their own opinions, and the audience felt that what they said made sense. Feathers are a symbol, and it can be whatever you think it represents.

The premiere was quite successful, and in the following days, advertisements began to be launched all over the country, with the trailer of Forrest Gump being played during prime time.

Ronald thinks that the film's first weekend box office may even beat the Disney animated film "The Lion King" which is suitable for all ages.