Huayu: A Commercial Director

Chapter 10 New Year's Film Season

The difference between giving a red envelope and not giving one quickly became apparent; the media coverage the next day was significantly better, with major portal websites praising it.

Of course, there were also a few media outlets that were not present, but they continued to tirelessly spread rumors and smear them.

Chen Shou hurried to finish filming the last scene.

"Crack!"

The actors all stopped filming. Shen Teng and Ma Li, who had just finished kissing, immediately took a moment to adjust, as they might need to reshoot.

“You…” Chen Shouzhe stood up and looked at them.

Knowing they might have to reshoot, they quickly made adjustments.

"...You acted so well! I declare 'Goodbye Mr. Loser' filming wrapped up!!!" Chen Shou clapped and laughed as he turned a corner.

"Oooo!!!"

The crowd cheered. Most of the people present were making a movie for the first time, especially the fellow apprentices who had been called by Xia En.

Even Guo Qilin and Tao Yunsheng were pulled in by Chen Shou to play two elementary school students who won awards in a singing competition for primary and secondary school students, Xia Luo's character.

"I've already instructed the restaurant to prepare the wrap party," Chen Shouzhe said with a sigh of relief.

"Great! Director, when will our movie be released?" Ma Li hugged Shen Teng and asked Chen Shou.

"Let me finish post-production first." Chen Shouzhe couldn't give a direct answer, but the post-production was already in his mind. In fact, while filming was taking place, the editing department was already editing.

[Movie News Flash: The film "Goodbye Mr. Loser," directed by a disciple of Yu Qian, a crosstalk comedian from Deyun Society, wrapped up filming today at the China Film Digital Base. The film took 27 days to complete!]

"Is filming wrapped up already?"

"That's too fast! From start to finish filming, it only took 27 days. Are you a fast shooter?"

"You mentioned in a previous interview that the filming process was very fast, and it's already wrapped up in just two days?"

"Definitely a terrible movie."

"Anything produced by Deyun Society is a terrible movie, and his godfather Guo Degang is the king of terrible movies."

"Several production companies are going to suffer huge losses, especially Yu Qian, who has given all his savings to his apprentice."

"Having a mentor is great; in the entertainment industry, connections are still essential."

"Some people can't even make a TV series in ten years after graduation, while others can make a big-screen movie in just a few months. The difference is too big."

"Who exactly is Chen Shouzhe's son?"

"I heard he's not a rich kid. If he's a rich kid, he'll just play around with it himself, then that means..."

The film sparked heated discussions online, and many people in the film industry were also taken aback, not expecting the movie to be completed so quickly.

Nobody cared; everyone thought it was a mess. What good movie could a young man in his early twenties possibly make?

Chen Shouzhe first filmed the campus scenes, then the stage of achieving fame and fortune, living a life of luxury as a big star, and finally the beginning and end with the wedding.

The post-production phase has already begun. Chen Shouzhe had already written the songs and found professionals to compose the music, especially "Yi Jian Mei," which is such a classic. It took a lot of effort to put together the music. After all, he wasn't a music student; he only knew the melody, but he could remember the lyrics. His memories from his previous life were like a computer; he could just search for them and get them.

After the wrap party, the filming temporarily ended, and everything moved into post-production. Chen Shou stayed with the post-production staff.

Generally speaking, the difficulty of editing depends on the director and what kind of effect the director wants.

Sometimes post-production is more important than filming. Many film directors feel their hearts bleed when they see the parts that have been cut.

Especially the metaphorical parts that were cut for some reason, which made the film feel like a hodgepodge.

Movies should ideally not be too long, preferably under two hours. If they are too long, theaters will not approve them. This is why many movies sometimes seem strange, because the director can't control the content and tries to express too much. As a result, some content has to be cut out, leading to incomplete movie content, a poor viewing experience, and a disjointed effect.

Chen Shouzhe had already filmed the storyline in his mind. There wasn't much to edit; it was just a matter of combining the filmed clips with background music. Post-production went very smoothly, and it was completed in less than a month. Initially, Chen Shouzhe wasn't very skilled, but after the film was finished, he immediately invited the production company to watch it.

"It's done so quickly?"

Yu Qian has been busy with performances lately, but he didn't expect Chen Shouzhe to have actually finished the movie. The speed was a bit beyond his expectations. It was completed in less than two months.

"The filming went smoothly, and it was done before I knew it. Master, Godfather, come in quickly," Chen Shou greeted.

After a while, Wang Changtian, Ye Ning, and a director from Xi'an Film Studio arrived. Director Wang was the last to arrive, and all the people from the production company came.

After exchanging greetings, the group sat down, and several company logos appeared.

The opening ceremony featured a car circling the manor, with the gatekeepers and other minor characters all being crosstalk performers from the Deyun Society, providing laughs right from the start.

Disrupting a wedding, traveling back to one's student days, hitting a teacher, kissing a female classmate—all sorts of rebellious behavior are nothing less than every adult's fantasy of youth.

Then, just like in a typical online fantasy novel, he plagiarized a superstar's song, rose to fame, and indulged in a life of luxury until he met the original author.

After the film ended, Director Wang glanced at the director from Xi'an Film Studio next to him, and the two saw surprise in each other's eyes.

The film's completion exceeded their expectations; it's hard to believe it was the work of a newcomer.

Without any unnecessary embellishment, although there were some metaphorical elements, the production companies were still able to handle it.

"Clap clap clap!!!"

Wang Changtian led the applause. He hadn't expected Chen Shouzhe to film so smoothly. Although it was a comedy, he wanted to watch it a second time and found that there were some parts he didn't understand.

"Not bad, better than me." Guo Degang patted Chen Shouzhe on the shoulder and laughed.

"You're joking, how could I compare to you?" Chen Shou said modestly.

"No need to flatter me, you have formal training, you're definitely better than me," Guo Degang said happily.

"Has Director Chen decided when the film will be released?" Director Wang asked, turning around.

"I want it to be released during the Lunar New Year season." Chen Shou took a deep breath and said what he had been preparing for the past few days.

Upon hearing the words "Lunar New Year film season," they knew just how ambitious Chen Shou was.

The Lunar New Year holiday season is a period created by Huayi Brothers and has always been their main battleground. Every year, Huayi Brothers releases films and firmly grasps the box office during this period.

This year, a movie is being released, and it's a disaster blockbuster, "No End of the World," with an investment of 200 million yuan. Huayi Brothers has set a box office target of 800 million yuan.

Chen Shouzhe's choice of this time slot means he'll inevitably have to clash with Huayi.

"Why?" Director Wang asked, squinting.

"Because Huayi is not releasing a comedy this year. Every year, Huayi prepares a comedy for the Lunar New Year season to have a happy New Year's Eve. But this year is different. They are preparing a disaster film. The two films are completely different categories. In fact, our film was originally a comedy, which can also benefit Huayi's well-cultivated comedy audience." Chen Shouzhe expressed his thoughts.

“You’re right. Huayi prepares a comedy every year, and this year they’ve prepared a disaster film. There are still two months until the Lunar New Year season, so there’s plenty of time for publicity and distribution. But there’s the censorship…” Wang Changtian looked at Director Wang.

"Half a month, no problem." Director Wang nodded, agreeing with Chen Shouzhe's assessment.

The Lunar New Year film season was originally a market opened up by comedies. Huayi Brothers, which went public last year, was flush with cash and gave its big-name director Feng Xiaogang a large sum of money to make an "epic" disaster blockbuster, which meant giving up the comedies that people were used to.

Chen Shou's claim of stealing from the film company makes sense. People from several film companies understand that it is indeed a good opportunity to attract the comedy audience that Huayi has cultivated for many years.

"In that case, it's settled. It'll be released during the Lunar New Year season. Give me the film, and I'll submit it to the Film Bureau for review. It should take at least half a month," Director Wang said.

"Thank you, Director Wang," Chen Shou said excitedly.

It's almost November now, so there are still two months left. As long as the review goes smoothly, we can proceed directly.

While other film companies avoid the Lunar New Year film season like the plague, Chen Shouzhe is going head-to-head with it, which will certainly be ridiculed, but isn't it also a unique form of publicity?

(End of this chapter)