Seeing Director Zhang's proud look, Levi smiled beside him.
He had often thought about how to treat the Chinese film industry. He did not want the film industry to expand wildly and blindly compete with American films in terms of technology and end up losing completely.
He had thought about how to operate this process many times.
After much deliberation, the best way is to invest directly.
If you want to control the level of film shooting, you might as well just send your technical power there yourself. They saw the huge gap between their technological level and Hollywood, and after knowing why American movies burned money, they naturally stopped.
However, the problem here is that, unlike the Korean film industry, the Chinese film industry is not so welcoming of foreign investment.
If you want to invest in the Chinese film industry, you have to consider that the State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television is suppressing it, and they must approve any such request.
If it were before, he would naturally have no way to confront the General Administration. However, thanks to Ang Lee, who won the Oscar and made all the directors in the country ready to take action.
Now, if the General Administration blocks the way, someone will bulldoze them.
And their preparations can affect the General Administration. If they really join forces to put pressure, even the General Administration will have no choice but to relent.
[A/N: The General Administration allowed foreign capital to invest in film companies in 2004.]
And now, what Levi found was one of them.
In fact, when he saw Director Zhang rushing to Hollywood without even waiting, Levi knew what he was thinking.
He has long been impatient: these great directors have already become famous in the 1980s and 1990s. For them, further advancement in their careers can only be recognized on a global scale.
Seeing Ang Lee being recognized, they must be quite uneasy.
For them, if someone is willing to give them help so that they can surpass Ang Lee, they will never object.
Therefore, Levi did not hesitate to send a timely compliment. Sure enough, this immediately made him feel better.
"I've always wanted to shoot a movie like this, but shooting blockbusters is not easy. It's more time-consuming and laborious..."
Director Zhang said with a smile and began to talk about his movie ideas, and Levi also listened to his words and kept nodding his head, listening with dignity.
"Actually, this time I came here, I even brought a script..." By saying this, Director Zhang had already revealed his true intention.
And Levi immediately understood, "Can I take a look? I really want to know what your new movie is like."
Director Zhang proudly sent his script, and what Levi saw was Hero.
He has already seen this movie and is already familiar with the characters and stories in the film. He knows it very well.
This movie was the beginning of Chinese blockbuster movies. Chinese movies started increasingly pursuing big scenes and special effects, which is where the issues began.
This movie's positive and negative significance can be said to be equally huge. Fortunately, he is still only at the script stage. This gave Levi room to maneuver.
After getting the script and pretending to read it, he raised his head. "Mr. Zhang, please forgive me... I can't see where your talent lies in this script. You have had many incredible movies in the past, and they have always impressed me and made me appreciate your skill.
However, this movie seems completely different from those movies. It is not a continuation of those movies or expressing your thoughts. You have been making humanistic movies; why did you suddenly change your style?
This is more like... Maybe my wording is not proper - it's more like a 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' follow-up. It's hard for me to understand, at your level, why you would follow someone else's path?"
Levi's words made Director Zhang's face immediately turn red.
Although it was a criticism, Levi was actually very considerate to Director Zhang. In his words, he highly praised Director Zhang's level, which was considered very courteous. However, no matter how gentle he is, it is an accusation that no one will feel comfortable hearing.
The same goes for Director Zhang.
He took the script back and said, "In terms of the general humanistic connotation, I think there is no problem. You talk about following the trend, but I think martial arts movies are basically like this. There is no big difference. But this is the producer's chosen theme, and we are still discussing it."
Director Zhang obviously also felt that following Ang Lee's trend was a bit embarrassing, and he was somewhat unconfident in his words.
However, his affirmation of the humanistic connotation of the film made Levi couldn't help but smile bitterly: He is worthy of being called one of the greats in the Chinese film industry. Now that he has realized that the ideological connotations in his previous films are inconsistent with the mainstream, is he ready to change his ways?
"In terms of humanistic connotation, maybe I don't understand Chinese culture very well. You may have a deeper understanding of your thoughts, and what you want to reflect is more profound.
But, leaving aside those, as far as the movie is concerned, I think this movie pursues too much gorgeousness and seems to overshadow the central theme.
The picture of the movie serves the theme, and it would not be good if it were the other way around.
Furthermore, I don't understand why you want to make a martial arts movie at all - you can make other types of films."
Director Zhang also agrees that martial arts movies are not a good genre. However, he has also heard people say that Chinese movies are just martial arts movies to Americans.
He wanted to be recognized by Americans, so he also chose martial arts movies. Now that he heard Levi say this, he was a little surprised.
"Other types of films? But, what can be filmed in other film types?"
He asked about what could be filmed, but Levi heard it clearly: he asked about what could be filmed to win an Oscar.
This is his biggest problem: if it is a modern film, then what foreigners have in mind must be those that reflect the darkness of society.
Director Zhang has made films like this before, but in the past few years, he has become more and more considerate of the mainstream. He was not going to shoot anything like that again.
If you don't shoot these things, and you don't shoot the martial arts that foreigners like, then what should you shoot?
"Actually, Mr. Zhang, have you ever thought about making some historical-themed movies?" Levi told Director Zhang his idea.
In fact, this was an idea he had thought about for a long time and felt he could throw it out.
"Isn't this a historical theme?"
"No. This is just a short story about history. What I'm talking about is a real historical theme, a real blockbuster." Levi shook his head.
"I still don't understand." Director Zhang said, puzzled.
"So let's put it this way: I think a country that wants to make blockbusters must always consider its own situation. China's film industry is far behind the United States in terms of technological level.
This gap is not easy to overcome; it can be filled by studying.
China wants to make blockbusters. If they just imitate, then what they film will be just a copycat version of American movies without many characteristics."
In fact, the real key is that it's impossible for Hollywood to give the true essence of technology, and what you shoot can only be second-rate stuff - but Levi feels there is no need to say this.
"However, Chinese films can have their own development direction.
If there is anything about Chinese and Soviet films that the United States cannot compare with, then it is obviously not the technology of film shooting but the manpower and material resources that can be mobilized.
Compared with works like 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,' War and Peace, that's the direction you should pursue."
War and Peace is a Soviet work from the late 60s. Director Zhang understood immediately when Levi mentioned it.
That multi-episode movie can be said to be a miracle. Under the price conditions at the time, it cost 100 million US dollars. During the filming a large number of extras participated in the filming.
The military was involved during the filming, and the military strength was maintained, as much as possible, to the exact number of people as in the actual battle - these generous filming methods, American movies don't even have to think about it.
Hundreds of thousands of actors, what a terrifying expense this must be!
It is precisely because of such a large amount of expenditure and the amazing effects produced that although the film was a Soviet film, it easily won the Oscar that year - for such an indisputably powerful blockbuster, any film industry can't deny its achievements.
Coincidentally, the use of troops to film TV series has also happened in China. When filming the 1995 version of The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, a large number of People's Liberation Army soldiers were used.
It is said that during the filming, some People's Liberation Army soldiers, who had been in the army for three years and filmed for three years, were running around in costume all the time.
This TV series is also famous for its grand scenes. When it was released that year, it conquered all the drama directors in Japan - this is a historical drama that they could not imagine.
Other countries cannot copy such a magnificent movie. This thing can only belong to a country that can concentrate its efforts on big things.
From the day movies began to develop, only five countries were truly capable of mobilizing enough manpower to shoot movies: the United States, Japan, China, India, and the Soviet Union.
Europeans are always playing tricks. They cannot shoot real big scenes, scenes where a large number of people gather. Blockbusters require cooperation, and the financial and material resources needed for blockbusters are even more astonishing.
Only these five countries have the financial resources and ability to shoot real big scenes.
But now that the Soviet Union has disintegrated, manpower in the United States and Japan is getting more and more expensive.
Americans can use computers to simulate thousands of troops, but no matter how good the simulation is, how can it be as good as the real thing?
This is the path China should take - only by leveraging its own strengths can it make its own good movies.
In this regard, Levi believes no one is better than Director Zhang.
After all, he directed the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games, which received considerable international acclaim.
With top directors and a lot of manpower, they do not compete with Hollywood in terms of technology but develop their own advantages and use their strengths to shoot historical masterpieces.
Compared with blindly chasing the footsteps of Hollywood, this is what the Chinese blockbusters should do.
*****
Thanks and kudos for my patreons
Scott DePaepe
MMMCMXCIX, or 3,999
Britanna
Marcelo Maia
Danny York
Mandy G
DragonEz
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