I was just thinking about taking the arts exam and you said I've been playing supporting roles

Chapter 135: An unexpected event! The ambition of the dean of Beijing Film Academy!

"You haven't recovered yet?"

Chen Jin came out after removing her makeup and asked Xiao Zhu who was waiting on the side.

Zhu Yanmanzi shook his head and smiled slightly, "No, I just think that your performance as Wang Xiaojian is much better than I imagined!"

"The original novel is not that touching..."

Zhu Yanmanzi had already finished reading the original novel of "Love Is Not Blind".

“Maybe we understand the characters differently!”

"In fact, Wang Yiyang in the early stage was the Wang Xiaojian that Huang Xiaoxian imagined, so he was full of flaws, effeminate, treacherous, and vicious, but in fact, he was not entirely like that."

"People are very complicated, so what I have to play in the early stage is the Wang Xiaojian in Huang Xiaoxian's mind!"

"And the real Wang Yiyang in his later life..."

Of course, the role is not static, and growth is part of the performance.

The reason why Chen Jin made everyone in the crew feel that his acting was real was because he performed such a completely different kind of character growth and change, which is something that many actors cannot figure out.

Some actors play the same role from beginning to end. It’s not that they don’t have acting skills, but that they don’t have a deep understanding of the character.

Although it is just a low-budget commercial film, Chen Jin actually invested a lot of emotion and energy into the role this time, trying to bring Wang Yiyang to life.

In fact, neither he nor the crew has the final say on whether the film will be successful or not. We will know after it is released.

"Tell your mom that I'm wrapping up today and will have dinner with everyone!"

"I told you, my mom has sensed that we might be in love..."

Zhu Yanmanzi tried to ask Chen Jin a question. Chen Jin paused, turned around and smiled, "What was your mother's reaction?"

"She played dumb and pretended to be a tortoise, pretending she didn't know, hahaha!"

This is indeed Yan Ning’s current state.

I guess only Zhu's father was kept in the dark.

"That's good, it saves us from having to be sneaky every time..."

"That can't be too straightforward!"

The two of them chatted while waiting for the rest of the crew to finish work so that they could go out for a meal in the evening.

Guo Xun has spent a lot of money during this period. He has spent nearly ten thousand yuan just on treating people to meals. Fortunately, the World Cup is over, otherwise he would have to treat people to a few more midnight snacks.

If he knew that Chen Jin had won tens of millions of dollars in a betting, he would probably want to die.

Other people watch football for the passion, but this guy watches it purely as a show.

Knowing the outcome of a game really makes it less fun to watch.

Fortunately, Guo Xun never made a bet with Chen Jin again, otherwise he would have lost even more miserably.

The crew was filming Huang Xiaoxian's scenes, and at this time in the dean's office of Beijing Film Academy, Zhang Huijun had a video of Chen Jin's make-up art exam recording and the scores of the three examiners in his hands.

All in all, Chen Jin's score in the directing department art exam was 71.3.

If compared with the undergraduate students who took the directing department's art examination this year, this result ranks tenth, which is definitely a very good score.

"There's nothing wrong with the director's department..."

"He actually passed the test!"

Zhang Huijun remembered what Chen Jin said on the phone about not going through the formalities, and when he wanted to give it a try, he never thought that Chen Jin could pass the directing department's art exam.

Because he is very clear about the difficulty of the directing department.

There are only a few people who can pass the exam nationwide every year, but according to Mr. Xie Fei, Chen Jin is actually quite suitable to be a director. He has a deep understanding of screenwriting and acting, but he still lacks a little appreciation.

But things like directorial talent, color, lens, etc. can all be learned and improved, but of course talent is also required.

But no one can be good at everything.

If a director can master one or two points, he can actually make a good movie.

You may not know the language of the camera and your aesthetic attainments are not deep, but you have strong storytelling skills and can make the audience accept your story; if you add acting skills to this, then it will be a commercial film that may not win any awards.

This is already higher than 99% of directing department graduates.

Buzz!
The cell phone on the table suddenly rang.

Zhang Huijun came back to his senses, looked at the incoming call from Tian Zhuangzhuang, and couldn't help but press the answer button.

"Old Tian, ​​what's the matter?"

Tian Zhuangzhuang is currently the director of the directing department of Beijing Film Academy. He is a classmate of Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige.

But although he is called the director, he was actually forced to take the position. The directing department of Beijing Film Academy is no different from other departments. There are too many hidden talents. For example, Xie Fei, with his qualifications, it is obvious that he can be the director.

But after being in office for a few years, he didn't want to do it anymore.

Too tired.

Then he handed over the position of director, and then Zheng Dongtian, Xie Xiaojing, and several other deputy directors, all of whom had served as director.

After many changes, it is now Tian Zhuangzhuang's turn, and he has been in this position for five years.

He didn't even have time to shoot movies.

Among the fifth generation of directors in China, although Lao Tian is not as famous as Lao Mouzi and the poets, he has made several well-known movies. He was even banned from directing by the Film Bureau for 10 years. He is the only old guy who has received approval.

The Film Bureau directly issued the document, and he treated it as an "imperial edict", which made the higher-ups very angry.

Therefore, although Jiang Wen, Lou Ye and others were also banned from directing, they were only verbal warnings. The higher-ups were also afraid that these people would follow suit. After all, they also had to save their face.

Then when Jiang Wen's five-year term was over, he went to the Film Bureau to show off, saying that his five-year term had expired and asked if he could give him a filming permit or something.

Unexpectedly, the bureau’s reply was: When did we ban you from directing a movie?
Let Jiang Wen curse directly.

He actually wanted to make something like Lao Tian, but his superiors did not approve it.

Lao Tian's collection of works is unique in the entire circle. They are antiques and rare pieces, and are still on display in his home.

"What happened to Yimou's movie? He said he didn't want to submit it to Venice anymore?"

Tian Zhuangzhuang and Zhang Huijun were not polite at all and just started talking about things.

"I don't know. He won't tell me about this..."

Zhang Huijun was still a little confused: "What's wrong? Someone called you? Lao Ma?"

"Yes, he made several phone calls to Yimou. Yimou said at first that he might not be able to make it, but a few days ago he said he would rush to make it. It seems that the release date has been set?"

"I know that. On the 5th of next month, I really don't want to go to Venice!"

Zhang Huijun is still very interested in this movie. Not only is it directed by his old classmate, but the leading actor is Chen Jin.

"Lao Ma called me now and asked me to go and plead for him. The films in Venice this year don't seem to be that good. There's nothing good to show for it, and there aren't many famous directors. Even Xu Ke's commercial film Lao Ma is going to be shortlisted!"

"Or, you can talk to Yimou on the phone. Lao Ma said that if Yimou participates, he will more or less win an award, and his new film is an art film, so it won't be a problem!"

"Have the jury members been decided?"

Zhang Huijun suddenly felt something in his heart.

"It's settled. Quentin is also an old acquaintance, so it's easy to deal with!"

"So I don't understand, why didn't Yimou go?"

If it were Tian Zhuangzhuang, he would have already started to use his connections. Just kidding, the chairman of the jury knows someone who is a close friend of the chairman of Venice. Isn't it a guarantee that he will win the award?
This is how his film "Spring in a Small Town" won the Best Award in the Venice Countercurrent category.

Because the chairman of Venice, Marco Muller, is a die-hard fan of Tianzhuang.

There is no director who graduated from Beijing Film Academy who doesn’t know him, because Lao Ma also studied in Beijing Film Academy. Not only can he speak Chinese, he can even speak Northeastern dialect. He is very familiar with the fifth generation of filmmakers, and his first wife is Chinese.

Chinese directors won so many awards at the Venice Film Festival because of him. This guy truly loves Chinese films.

Venice has held so many sessions. During the eight years when he served as chairman, 8 Chinese films were shortlisted, while the total of all other sessions was only 19.

Opening back doors crazily is all about human relationships and social conventions, and they don't care about their dignity at all.

"I'll call him right away!" Zhang Huijun was moved by Tian Zhuangzhuang's words, mainly because there was a student from Beijing Film Academy in "Under the Hawthorn Tree".

Students!
He still remembers vividly the sensation when Xia Yu, the youngest film actor in Venice, was admitted to the Central Academy of Drama.

"Hurry up, we have only two days to get it done, Venice will start at the end of next month!"

Tian Zhuangzhuang gave the instructions, and Zhang Huijun didn't waste any words. He hung up the phone and called Pang Liwei directly.

"Xiao Pang, let him answer the phone!"

After a while, Zhang Yimou's slightly hoarse voice sounded: "Old Zhang, what's the matter?"

"What's going on in Venice?"

"Lao Ma called me and asked me to tell you something!"

"He... called you?"

Why is Zhang Yimou so unconvinced?

"Actually, I do want to go, but my partner is right. I've already won two Golden Lions, and no one in history has ever won three!"

"There's not much point in going there!"

“He wants me to try it in Berlin!”

Zhang Weiping actually said this to Zhang Yimou, and now Zhang Yimou doesn't care much about this.

Ever since the incident at Cannes, Zhang Yimou's filter for the three major film festivals has obviously become less severe. If Zhang Weiping's investors ask him to go, he will go; if they don't ask, he won't mention it.

Sometimes he might go all out for the crew and the team, not for himself.

In fact, there were originally two Palme d’Or awards in China, and Zhang Yimou almost won the grand slam of the biggest awards at the three major film festivals.

Zhang Yimou's "No One Less" was actually nominated for the Palme d'Or, but the organizers felt that the scenes of the national flag and the national anthem were too political and suspected it of political propaganda.

Cannes asked Zhang Yimou to delete this shot in order to win the award.

But Zhang Yimou was still quite tough. He simply withdrew from the competition, sent "Not One Less" to Venice for review, and wrote a letter of angrily denouncing the Cannes organizers.

After that, Zhang Yimou never went to Cannes again, and "Not One Less" eventually won the Venice Golden Lion.

At that Cannes Film Festival, Zhang Yimou originally had two films submitted for review.

It was originally a double insurance, as there was also a movie called "My Father and Mother", so it was basically a sure win for the big prize.

This film was finally sent to Berlin and won the Jury Prize!

It has to be said that although the National Master has been criticized for many things, at least he can stand his ground on major issues; this is why his status and reputation have always been higher than those of Chen Kaige and others.

Although he has made many bad films, his film-making philosophy has always been quite innovative.

Many directors will be living off their past success in the future, and some even no longer have a market, only the fourth-tier cities in their country are successful.

No actor or director can have the box office appeal that Zhang Yimou has in China's fourth-tier cities.

He is not good enough in first-tier cities, but cinemas in small cities only recognize him.

This seemingly small market is the dream of all actors, filmmakers, and directors because it has a population of hundreds of millions.

The reason why "Wolf Warrior 2" was able to reverse the decline in its second week was actually due to the success of fourth-tier cities.

These people don’t usually watch movies, but if there is a movie directed by a big director or with a good reputation, they will go to the cinema and buy tickets to watch it.

“Berlin won’t be here until next year!”

"Besides, Lao Ma is one of us. There weren't many outstanding works in Venice this year, but Xu Ke was shortlisted!"

"What movie is that? It's a commercial movie?"

"You are... for Chen Jin, right?"

Zhang Yimou was silent for a while and then spoke.

"Then let me talk to Lao Zhang. Going to Venice is not cheap, and we have to promote it. The schedule has to be changed..."

Zhang Yimou felt it was a bit troublesome.

He is a trouble-shy person.

"Chen Jin, this is just one aspect. He is a newcomer and may not win the award. I am just conveying Lao Ma's opinion!"

"No, I've seen the movie, he acted very well, but the length of the film is not enough. The real core of this movie is still Jingqiu, the leading female character!"

If it was a movie starring Chen Jin, Zhang Yimou might have given it a try.

"No chance at all?"

"I don't know, who is the chairman of the jury?"

"Quentin, you know him!"

"Him, haha..."

A slightly perverted guy suddenly appeared in Zhang Yimou's mind.

"Okay, then I'll talk to my partner first!"

"I didn't expect that you care more about it than I do?"

Zhang Yimou really found it unbelievable.

"Yimou, tell me the truth, how does Chen Jin compare to Xia Yu when he first debuted?"

This is an answer that Zhang Huijun really wants to know.

"You can't compare them!"

"But Chen Jin has talent and a good acting foundation, so it's all about character + acting!"

"Xia Yu played her true self, without any traces... I don't know if Venice will accept this. Chen Jin has several very strong scenes in The Hawthorn Tree, which Xia Yu cannot perform..."

"But Chen Jin did a great job, even though both of them played roles set in the 70s!"

It’s not that Zhang Yimou is bragging. He is indeed looking at the two different movies from the perspective of a director, and the characters in the movies are purely performances.

"This is enough!"

"There is no Xia Yu in this session!"

"Ha ha!"

Zhang Yimou understood what Zhang Huijun meant.

Sometimes, an actor encounters a role that suits him or her, and this is irreplaceable by any other performance.

The third brother to Chen Jin is different from Ma Xiaojun in "Sunny Days".

Ma Xiaojun is very similar to Xia Yu, and Chen Jin definitely does not live like the third brother, and their family backgrounds are also different, but Chen Jin can also make Zhang Yimou feel that he is the third brother.

This is obviously not a level that can be achieved through acting. Zhang Yimou couldn't explain why Chen Jin could do it and could only attribute it to her temperament and talent.

"Okay, I'm hanging up then!"

"Well, let me have a good chat with Lao Zhang!"

Zhang Yimou hung up the phone, handed the phone to Pang Liwei, and sighed, "Xiao Pang, the release date... may have to be changed!"

"I'll have to trouble you to make a few more trips!"

"Okay, it's okay!"

Pang Liwei smiled, and hesitated to speak, but finally said: "Director Zhang, actually... I also support going to Venice!"

"why?"

"You don't know how expensive fuel and rice are until you run a household. I just want our studio to make more money!"

"Xiao Pu works two jobs and his salary has never increased!"

Chen Jin has become famous, so even if the studio only takes 30%, it will still be a big profit.

(End of this chapter)