Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 777 Publicly Funded Trip
Once the main terms are agreed upon, the remaining minor details can be added and confirmed later.

Chen Fan didn't even discuss how the profits would be distributed with Jiangying Film Studio.

The main issue is that there is currently no precedent for film production companies and individuals collaborating on film projects.

Director Wu's idea was that if the film made a lot of money, he would pay the highest possible price within the stipulated range for the camera rental, and also give Chen Fan a director's bonus.

As for the adaptation fee, it will naturally be paid at the highest standard.

If you add all of these together, it should be several thousand to tens of thousands of yuan, right?
Originally, Director Wu wanted to talk to Chen Fan about this directly, but then he thought about how Chen Fan could easily collect tens of thousands of US dollars in royalties from a small notebook...

Thinking about how he had also spent a "huge sum" to buy cameras, developing and editing equipment, Director Wu felt a little uneasy and didn't dare to say anything when he left.

Chen Fan warmly invited Director Wu and the other two to stay for a simple meal, but they firmly refused, so he did not try to persuade them to stay any longer.

After watching the three leave from the doorway, I pressed the remote control to close the door and began to think about how to make this movie.

my country's film production system has gone through roughly three stages.

Later film production has largely adopted the American producer system, also known as the "producer-centric system."

When a film project is approved, the first thing to determine is the "producer".

The producer's core role is to "organize events".

The first step is to secure the necessary funding for filming, at least the initial capital, and to maintain constant contact with potential investors so that there is sufficient capital available should additional investment be needed, ensuring that filming is not affected.

The second step is to select a suitable director, as well as actors, cinematographers, and other crew members.

Generally, only directors and actors need to choose roles based on the script. ...This is the principle, but it has changed since then; whoever pays the most and is politically correct can get the role.

Whether it's suitable or not is no longer important.

In general, in a producer-centric system, the producer's core role is almost irreplaceable. Only top international directors like Cameron and Spielberg have the power and status to challenge or even replace producers.

Otherwise, everyone, including the director, would have to obey the producer's orders.

After my country's film industry entered the era of "traffic-driven" films, domestic investors also adopted this model.

Especially with a certain atypical famous director... yes, I'm talking about Guo Jingming.

After he made a fortune by creating several piles of excrement, the entire entertainment industry capital seemed to have seen another world.

Just throw in some money, find a few mediocre directors, and churn out a nonsensical script. It doesn't really matter if the script is coherent or not, because once the popular stars come in, they'll demand changes to the script.

Then they just find a few popular celebrities, make a bad movie, and encourage investors to send money. The box office can easily break 100 million.

If they also wash the rice (a metaphor for inflating box office figures), it's quite normal for the box office to be more than ten times higher.

This is how the era of bad movies works.

Prior to this, the domestic film industry was basically "director-centric".

In other words, the core figure of a film is the director. Not only does the film bear the director's strong personal style, but the entire crew also completely obeys the director's direction.

In this model, the director's task is naturally exceptionally heavy.

First, the director found a good script and decided to start filming.

His first step was to notify his regular collaborators that they needed to start preparing, set aside their schedules, and then find funding.

Of course, this is the approach taken by well-known directors, because they are not afraid of not being able to attract investment.

For unknown new directors or small-time directors, the first step becomes finding money.

If you can find money, everything is negotiable; if you can't find money, forget about everything.

This pattern persisted for over two decades, from the late 1980s to the early 2000s.

In fact, this director-centric system also benefits from the "independent producer" system that emerged during the 1993 film system reform, which has given film production greater flexibility.

Otherwise, the director has no right to decide whether or not to make a movie.

So what kind of centralized system existed before the 80s, which is now?
Hehe, a planned economy is naturally a system of central planning!

For example, when the Shanghai Film Studio receives a task from its superiors, they are asked to first formulate a plan, specifying how many films they plan to make next year, what genres they will be, and what resources, funding, and staff are needed to ensure completion.

After the filming plan was submitted, the leaders reviewed it and felt that there were too many slice-of-life stories and too few stories about struggle, so they made some adjustments and then issued the task list.

Okay, the filming schedule for next year is set.

Then the factory manager in charge of production organized a meeting. Ah, comrades in the screenwriting department, you can all start working now. Several people in a group, one or two groups are responsible for each film. Let's brainstorm and get the script done first.

Then, we need to determine which directors have filmed this year and which haven't. Those who have filmed should wait, while those who haven't should be given priority.

This is when it's time to divide the spoils. Here we go, Zhang San, you're in charge of this play; Li Si, you're in charge of that play; Wang Wu…

What?
Director Wang Wu doesn't make action films, he's only made feature films?
Wang Wu, you can leave now. Next time, you'll be given priority for feature films. This action film will be given to Zhao Liu, who wasn't chosen earlier.

After the fruit was distributed, the directors began to assemble the film crew.

This is when you need to start scrambling for resources.

Even though they're from the same company, they still have to fight over it!

For example, if a factory has ten full-time photographers, but there are seven movies to shoot this year, does that mean some film crews can only be assigned one photographer?

Moreover, the factory has limited resources and cannot support the simultaneous filming of 7 movies, so there will definitely be a sequence, and the personnel assigned will vary in quality.

If you want to be the first to take photos, and you also want to be assigned to a highly capable employee, then you have to fight for it.

How to grab it?
Of course, I wouldn't just rob them directly; that's illegal, and they might not even cooperate.

The only way to get in was for the directors to talk to each one individually. At this point, big directors with good interpersonal relationships and high reputations would have an advantage. Almost any employee in the factory could pick one, and everyone would be happy to join their crew.

If you're a newcomer who's just starting out as an independent director, you'll have to work hard to find connections and might even have to give them a couple of packs of cigarettes or treat them to a nice meal.

In fact, at this point, it was already somewhat similar to the director-centric system of later generations.

However, the later director-centric system not only involved filming but also taking charge of post-production distribution, revenue collection, and other related tasks.

Directors working within the established system only need to finish shooting the film on time and to a high standard. Once editing, scoring, and post-production are all done, the rest is no longer their concern. ...So much so that they can't even get a few tickets for their own films; it's truly pathetic.

Now, if Chen Fan wants to make a movie, he will still be the director, but under the larger system, it can only be done under the name of Jiangnan Film Studio. He, on the other hand, is temporarily assigned to Jiangnan Film Studio, receiving a maximum daily allowance of two yuan, and using the studio's resources to make the movie.

After filming, he couldn't get involved in any of the follow-up matters. ...He was even more pitiful than a director who couldn't buy movie tickets.

After all, he also invested in several cameras and post-production equipment.

Just as he sat on the sofa, lost in thought, Jiang Tiantian and Jiang Lili, who had heard the commotion upstairs, came downstairs.

Seeing that only Chen Fan was in the living room, Jiang Tiantian asked, "Have they all left?"

Jiang Lili blinked. "Aren't you going to stay for a simple meal?"

Chen Fan snapped out of his daze and laughed, "Oh, they plan to head back to the provincial capital today. They were in a hurry to buy tickets, so they went back first."

It's only because he's a rich spendthrift that he travels by plane. Many organizations with insufficient funds, even high-ranking officials, mainly travel by car, train, or ship.

Only well-funded companies can afford to book plane tickets for their leaders.

It just so happens that Jiangying Film Studio is short of money, so Director Wu and his entourage traveled by ship, in a third-class cabin for sixteen people, which was almost like staying in a dormitory.

At this moment, Jiang Lili was not in a hurry to cook. She quickly ran over, sat down next to Chen Fan, hugged his arm, and asked, "Have you reached an agreement?"

Jiang Tiantian also came over and sat on the other side, staring intently at Chen Fan, and tentatively asked, "They're in such a hurry to go back, they must have reached an agreement, right?"

Chen Fan smiled and nodded, "Everything is settled. The film will be produced by Jiangxi Film Studio. I will be the director, and their production manager will be my assistant director. He will be in charge of coordinating the work of the crew. Otherwise, I won't be familiar with the people and it will be difficult to make arrangements."

Jiang Tiantian's eyes were full of surprise, "That's great! So, you'll be a movie director from now on?"

Chen Fan laughed and grabbed her small hand, saying, "The main reason is that Jiangying Studio really doesn't have any good directors. I really don't trust them with the film, so I took the plunge and did it myself."

"If they could get directors like Xie Jin, Xie Tieli, and Ling Zifeng, I'd be crazy to become a director. Wouldn't it be more comfortable to stay with you guys?"

He sighed inwardly, regretting that the film "Monk Comes Down the Mountain" was not artistically sophisticated and it would have been virtually impossible to invite these actors; otherwise, it wouldn't have been rejected by the Shanghai Film Studio.

Upon hearing his words, both sisters blushed slightly.

Chen Fan found it rather strange. They were practically an "old married couple," yet they were still easily embarrassed after all this time. It could only be due to their nature.

But I must say, girls with this kind of personality are really cute when they play games; their shy demeanor is especially endearing.

Jiang Lili pursed her lips and said with a smile, "I think as long as you make movies, your future achievements will definitely not be inferior to those of the big directors."

Jiang Tiantian nodded repeatedly, "Yes, Lili is right. You learn everything quickly and grow faster than others. Didn't you say that 'Monk Comes Down the Mountain' might be made into four or five parts? After you finish filming this series, you will definitely be able to catch up with Director Xie and the others."

Chen Fan clicked his tongue, turned his head to look at the two of them from left to right, and said with a sigh, "It's a good thing you said it was in the future. If you said it was happening now, I would be in heaven."

The two sisters immediately gave a coquettish laugh and lightly punched the man a few times.

After laughing and joking for a while, Jiang Tiantian asked again, "So what are we going to do next?"

Chen Fan thought for a moment and said, "The first thing is definitely to write the script, but that's easy. All the scenes are in my mind. Adapting the literary script won't take more than a few days, and the storyboard script is also easy to handle. It can be completed within a week."

Then he looked at Jiang Tiantian and said, "Call Yali later and ask her to buy four or five cameras and send them over. Make it clear that they are for making a movie. Send them via express airmail. By the time I finish writing my script, the cameras should be ready to arrive."

He handed her the list that Kuang Mingyi had just written, saying, "There are a few more post-production equipment pieces. There's no rush for these; we can ship them by sea. They should arrive before the movie is finished."

Jiang Tiantian took the list, looked at it, and nodded seriously. "Understood. I'll go get it done in a bit."

Chen Fan hummed in agreement, then smiled and said, "Making a movie is nothing more than a few things: the crew and the equipment. We'll use the people from Jiangxi Film Studio, and I'll buy the equipment myself. Then there are the actors and the filming locations."

He grabbed one of their hands in each hand and said with a smile, "If we have the chance to travel on the company's dime, let's go out and have some fun for the rest of the summer vacation!"

The two sisters' eyes lit up immediately.

Jiang Tiantian said with a smile, "It's both a trip and a venue search, I think it's a good idea."

Jiang Lili could only nod, laughing so hard she couldn't speak.

After a two-second pause, Jiang Lili jumped up and said, "Then I'll go cook now, and then we'll leave?"

This left not only Chen Fan speechless, but even Jiang Tiantian was completely bewildered. "Leaving today? Have you bought your ticket? Have you decided on your destination? Where are you going?"

Jiang Lili turned around and looked at Chen Fan. "Xiao Fan, where are we going?"

Chen Fan took her hand, pulled her to sit down, and said with a smile, "No need to rush. We still need to go to the provincial capital first to arrange the filming work. Only then can we get the Jiangxi Film Studio to issue us a letter of introduction. Without a letter of introduction, we can't just run around aimlessly."

Jiang Lili blushed slightly and nodded gently, "Then we'll go buy tickets later and fly to the provincial capital tomorrow."

Chen Fan nodded, about to speak.

At this moment, Jiang Tiantian asked from the side, "You're going to find the venue yourself, but what about the actors? Jiang Film Studio doesn't have many suitable actors, does it?"

To say there weren't many suitable actors was only because Jiang Tiantian was being lenient with the Jiangxi Film Studio.

In fact, apart from a few veteran stage actors who had performed in plays for many years, Jiangying Film Studio did not have a single actor who had ever acted in a movie.

Oh, stage plays and movies definitely don't count. The performance style is no different from a stage play. People perform on stage, and cameras film below. Once a play is finished, a movie is also finished.

Is this what you call a movie actor?
Furthermore, as is well known, the film performance style at this time still had a strong trace of stage plays. This was partly due to the fact that most of the actors came from various cultural troupes, and partly due to the limited availability of film stock.

As mentioned before, the ratio of discarded film to unusable film is generally controlled at 1.1:1 these days, with a loss rate of no more than 10%. Under such circumstances, where would we find so much film to help actors find their rhythm and adjust their micro-expressions?

At the same time, it is also necessary to ensure the integrity of the entire scene. You can't have one actor giving a serious performance while another is giving a slapstick, amateurish, and lifelike performance. If you force them into one scene, it will look very awkward.

Therefore, before filming, the director will require the actors to practice repeatedly.

We practiced movements, expressions, and lines... and if there were any inconsistencies, we would correct them immediately.

Over time, the actors in the movies all adopted the same acting style, and although it was more natural than the stage style, it still didn't completely break away from the stage style.

In this respect, it is exactly different from Chen Fan's requirements.

He wanted the natural, lifelike acting style of later generations; he found forced posing awkward, which was one of the reasons he didn't like watching most of the films of this era.

Therefore, from the current perspective, almost all the actors are not suitable.

However, he also had a solution.

Looking at Jiang Tiantian, whose eyes were a little nervous, Chen Fan smiled and said, "It's okay, I already have a suitable candidate. I'll just go and persuade them later."

(End of this chapter)