Huayu Entertainment 1995 started with hijacking.

Chapter 4: Questions More Important Than the Director

Many students in the classroom exchanged glances. A short-haired, capable-looking girl said directly:
"I don't think it's necessary. 'Car Forty-Four' is so well written. I would definitely be dissatisfied if it hadn't been selected!"

With this girl taking the lead, many others followed suit.

However, at this moment, a boy raised his hand and said:

"I admire the script of 'Bus 44' one hundred percent, but Wu has only been in university for a month. Can he do a good job as a director?"

"Wang Hongwei, aren't you also a literature major? If we're talking about directing, you're a newcomer too!" the short-haired girl retorted.

Wu Yuchen turned his head and looked in the direction of the voice. It turned out that the boy who spoke was Wang Hongwei!

Wang Hongwei is Jia Yueting's go-to actor, the one who played Xiao Wu. He even appeared naked in the movie, which can be considered a sacrifice for art.

"I didn't mean anything by it. After all, everyone admires the script, and Junior Brother Wu is the most qualified to speak on it. I just want everyone to consider how to film it well."

Wang Hongwei explained with a simple smile.

If you ask whether Wang Hongwei had ulterior motives in saying this, the answer is definitely yes!
However, his selfish motives were not for himself, but for his good friend Jia Zhangke.

As Jia Zhangke's best friend and roommate, Wang Hongwei knew his thoughts best. He knew Jia Zhangke was eager for this opportunity, so he wanted to help his good buddy fight for it.

Wu Yuchen smiled, not flustered at all.

He stood up and clapped his hands, drawing everyone's attention.

"Thank you all for liking my script."

Compared to choosing a director, I think there's another issue that's more important.

Wu Yuchen simply ignored Wang Hongwei's question and changed the subject.

The students in the classroom all looked at Wu Yuchen, wondering what the more important question was.

Wu Yuchen thought to himself, "What a lovely group of students who only have dreams in their hearts and are quick to act on them!"

Wu Yuchen scanned the crowd:

"money!

Has anyone seriously considered how much it would cost to make this short film?

Everyone was stunned by what Wu Yuchen said, not expecting him to bring up such a practical issue.

The Youth Film Group is a small group of young people who came together out of interest, passion, and ideals.

Their greatest characteristics are their passion and decisiveness, which led to the fact that no one had considered the question of how much money it would cost to make a movie beforehand.

But now that Wu Yuchen has brought up this issue, everyone has to take it seriously. However, for a moment they all looked at each other and couldn't come up with a number.

Wu Yuchen smiled:

“We can calculate them one by one.”

First, how long do you think our short film should be?

After a lively discussion, everyone agreed that although it was a short film, it shouldn't be too short; it should be at least 30 minutes long.

Wu Yuchen observed that this was another shortcoming of inexperienced newcomers: being greedy!
Wu Yuchen nodded without refuting, and continued to ask:

"So, given our experience and capabilities, how many days do you think it will take to complete the filming?"

Wu Yuchen looked at Jia Zhangke.

Jia Zhangke pondered for a moment: "None of us have experience with this. Some directors are fast, some are slow. How about we take an average of 10 days?"

No one objected. They figured that shooting a 90-minute feature film would take a month, so 30 minutes would take 10 days.

Wu Yuchen smiled and nodded, then said:

"Then let me calculate it for you. Let's start with the cost of the film."

Currently, the ratio of films to screens required by established directors in China is between three to one and four to one.

We have no experience, can I relax the ratio to 6 to 1?
That means that shooting a 30-minute short film requires 180 minutes of film.

Nowadays, the most commonly used film for shooting movies is 35mm and 16mm film.

A 400-foot roll of 35mm film now costs 1500 yuan and can be used for 4 minutes of shooting.

A 1000-foot roll of 16mm film costs 1200 yuan and can be used for 10 minutes of shooting.

Shooting with 35mm film is too expensive; we simply can't afford it.

Based on 16mm film, 180 minutes would require 18 rolls, at 1200 yuan per roll, for a total of 21600 yuan.

This is just the filming. If you include the cost of editing, developing, mixing, and post-production to create the master film, it's much more expensive than film!
Including the cost of the film, I'll estimate the total at 5 yuan.

This had already stunned the students, but Wu Yuchen didn't stop there, and then counted on another finger:

"Let's talk about the filming equipment."

A 16mm camera costs 1000 yuan per day to rent.

Nagra's tape recorder costs at least 500 yuan a day.

……

There are also the actors' salaries, the crew's labor costs, food and drink expenses, prop rental fees, etc., which amount to at least 1000 yuan per day.

That adds up to at least 4000 yuan per day, and we'll be filming for 10 days, so that's 4 yuan in total.

Finally, Wu Yuchen looked around at everyone and concluded:
"According to the requirements just now, we need at least 9 yuan to shoot this short film."

If even the slightest accident happens, it could cost at least 10 yuan!

The group of people in the classroom were dumbfounded by what Wu Yuchen said. They were just a group of students. Although many of them usually did part-time jobs, where would they get 10 yuan?

It's only 95 now, and most people only earn a few hundred yuan a month!

They usually watch countless films together, discuss current affairs, and write passionate articles.

Originally, we wanted to collaborate on a dazzling and groundbreaking work, but the first hurdle of reality has left us feeling hopeless!

Everyone stared at each other, speechless.

It was as if a ball of fire had been doused with a bucket of cold water; the atmosphere in the entire classroom fell silent.

Wu Yuchen taught these students a lesson with reality.

He also lamented that making movies in the film era was so expensive and had such a high barrier to entry!
These days, domestic directors aren't like Hollywood directors who can afford to be extravagant; they all conserve film. Even Zhang Yimou tries his best to keep the aspect ratio below 1:5.

Not everyone is Jiang Wen. In his first film as a director, "In the Heat of the Sun," he dared to shoot 25 feet of film with an astonishing film-to-film ratio of 1:15. One scene alone required 1300 meters of film!

Wu Yuchen calculated that Jiang Wen spent 101 million yuan on film alone, which is enough for many directors to make two films.

Unlike the later digital age, when Ning Hao could buy a 90-minute film called "Incense" for only 3 yuan with just a DV camera.

However, seeing that some people looked a bit dejected, Wu Yuchen knew he couldn't be too harsh on them, otherwise how could he... cough cough, call on everyone to crowdfund?

"Everyone, don't rush, we can start filming!" Wu Yuchen waved his hand and said with a smile.

Upon seeing Wu Yuchen's calm and confident demeanor, many people were immediately delighted and eager to hear his solutions.

Wu Yuchen handed the script to Jia Zhangke: "Everyone can take a look at my script first."

The prices weren't made up; they came from Jia Yueting's interviews about the filming process of "Xiaoshan Goes Home."

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(End of this chapter)