Huayu: Are you even sitting up straight? You're going to be the director?

Chapter 50 Silence is the Beijing Film Studio Tonight
Time flies, and it's already April 17th.

Outside the Beijing Film Studio, a number of vehicles gradually arrived, and by this time most of the people present already knew how many people were coming.

The number of people attending was comparable to that of a major director's movie premiere.

Han Sanpin, Wang Zhongjun, Yu Dong...

These three people stomp their feet, and it's enough to make the Chinese film market tremble.

Moreover, all of this, happening at a film screening by a sophomore, made Wang Hongwei feel somewhat unreal.

Moreover, the entire directing department of Beijing Film Academy mobilized.

This is indeed a very large-scale operation.

Ning Hao and Xing Na were absolutely dumbfounded.

Cao Zhong's previous public relations efforts have made him no less famous than Ning Hao. As a nobody without any films, Cao Zhong, relying on the influence of China Film Group and the 70th anniversary, remained completely unmoved by the public opinion of the three major art colleges and the direct conflict with Jia Zhangke.

That's a real skill.

As time passed, the main cast, the school's director, Yu Dong, Wang Zhongjun, and others arrived. A moment later, Zhang Huijun accompanied Han Sanpin as they leisurely arrived.

Everyone signed a confidentiality agreement at the door, promising not to disclose the film's content.

Cao Zhong held a test screening for the purpose of making copies; simply asking people to make copies without any real knowledge is pointless.

If Han Sanpin were shown the film and asked to make a copy, he would definitely hesitate, since the distributor wouldn't dare to say they had absolute confidence in how many copies it would sell.

I copied too many copies, but I couldn't sell them, so I lost money.

Therefore, Cao Zhong's ultimate goal was to bring in more people so that Han Sanpin could see the reactions of more people.

In fact, Cao Zhong was not worried at all about how the Academy would evaluate the film, which was also the reason why he insisted on having Yu Dong and Wang Zhongjun come over.

This is a mainstream commercial film; what matters is the distributor's confidence.

Are academic evaluations important?
Cao Zhong didn't care.

Feng Xiaogang's movies were criticized as utter garbage, yet they were far ahead at the box office.

The group exchanged pleasantries, and Yang Mi's eyes lit up when she saw so many big shots.

Even Jing Tian and Lu Zheng were breathing heavily at this moment.

Qi Jiuzhou and Wang Renjun were so excited they were shaking. "We've really seen the world by following Brother Zhong."

"I almost fainted."

Shen Ao was, after all, just a sophomore in college and the assistant director of the film. He knew very well that once the film was made, he would be sitting at the table eating.

"Calm down." Cao Zhong looked at his brothers. "No one knows the movie better than us, so relax."

Before the movie started, Huang Xiaoming brought Cao Zhong over to meet Wang Zhongjun so that the two of them could become acquainted.

He is currently preparing to sign with Huayi, and the deal is basically finalized.

Su Mu felt very uncomfortable looking at the commotion Cao Zhong had created, and muttered to himself, "Making a film out of a media frenzy, is there even a shred of artistic merit in it?"

"Distinguished leaders, teachers, good afternoon. The fact that this film can be screened here today would not have been possible without the help of many of you. I would like to thank China Film Group, Ms. Cui Xinqin, Mr. Wang Hongwei, senior student Ning Hao, and the school for their support and assistance. I would also like to thank all the main cast and crew members and junior student Jing Tian for their dedicated support. There are too many words of thanks to take up too much of your time. Now, let's begin the screening."

After Cao Zhong finished speaking,

The lights went out in an instant, and the screen began to glow.

The film "Nanjing Photo Studio" has begun screening.

"With the aid of Japanese aircraft, artillery, and tanks, they launched a fierce attack on the Chinese defenders, determined to capture Nanjing..."

As the narration in Hunan dialect began, the background music of the film appeared in everyone's ears, and the background of the film directly got to the point.

The camera gradually moves upwards from the wheels of Huang Xiaoming's bicycle, capturing the current chaos in Nanjing from the perspective of a war veteran.

The scene of countless fighter jets gliding overhead left everyone breathless.

The atmosphere of war quickly enveloped the entire screening room, filled with soldiers resisting, civilians trying to survive, soldiers who gave up, and civilians who died.

In the short opening sequence, everyone is immediately drawn into the scene. Huang Xiaoming, the postman, is just an ordinary person fleeing in panic when the enemy invades the city.

People followed his perspective, watching Nanjing, a city about to enter a nightmare.

Wang Hongwei knows the entire script. He knows Huang Xiaoming is the protagonist, but he is not the protagonist. He is more like the thread that connects everyone.

The main creators were also very quiet.

However, Zhang Huijun, Yu Dong, Wang Zhongjun, and others frowned.

The visual scheme of this movie is bad.

It doesn't align with many current commercial films.

Although they also understand that films that confront such trauma must sacrifice some sensory pleasure in order to appreciate their artistic charm.

However, if we continue filming like this, it's easy to end up with a very flat documentary.

Documentaries are very difficult to make money at the box office.

It may have educational value at most, but it's difficult to implement widely.

This is not what they want.

Su Mu shook his head, scoffing, and muttered:
"With so many low-light and high-contrast scenes, this movie feels so depressing and uncomfortable. How can it call itself a mainstream commercial film?"
Doing business, I don't understand.
Playing with art but not understanding it.
How dare they criticize Ozu?
Students who only talk the talk are truly useless.

Su Mu didn't see anything good in the opening paragraphs.

Han Sanpin remained calm; none of the plot points in the script had been revealed yet.

As the movie continues playing...

Wang Hongwei's gaze gradually sank into it. The visual scheme, with its unusually oppressive atmosphere, perfectly matched the theme, which was very important for the director, meaning that the theme was correct.

People are more likely to get into a movie when they start to feel tense, depressed, or nauseous.

Ning Hao and Xing Nana exchanged a glance. They noticed that Cao Zhong had used many very small shots during filming.

Many of the scenes are set indoors, which gradually creates a sense of oppression.

This is actually a sign of low cost.
Unlike Ning Hao's earlier film "Crazy Stone," the indoor scenes in "Nanjing Photo Studio" did not make the film feel cheap.

On the contrary, it fostered the atmosphere.

The dramatic elements are the same; both are meticulously choreographed.

The mailman, mistaken for a soldier, disguised himself as a photography studio apprentice to save his life.

From the audience's perspective, unexpected events can happen at any time. Amidst the urgent background music and the oppressive atmosphere of waiting to die, the postman encounters the photo studio owner hiding in the cabinet while trying to deceive the Japanese photographer.

The audience was taken aback.

Everyone fell silent, holding their breath, completely immersed in the moment.

Tian Zhuangzhuang, on the other hand, has always paid attention to the artistic techniques of early cinema, especially montage.

The cross-cutting montage of Su Liuchang delivering a letter and the atrocities committed by the Japanese army, the contrasting montage of gunshots and shutter sounds, and the metaphorical montage of firearms and photographic equipment made him feel surprised and suspicious.

"Is Cao Zhong really a second-year acting student?"

"The skill in using montage is so advanced that even few people at the Beijing Film Academy can do it."

He doesn't know any of them.

At least not that many.

Cao Baoping noticed that Cao Zhong used handheld photography to capture the turmoil of war, which had a significant impact on reality.

"This family name is quite good."

As the film progressed, soon everyone forgot about art and became completely immersed in the storyline.

Everyone fell completely silent, their eyes fixed intently on the screen…

(End of this chapter)