Chapter 53 Chapter 53
"Report! The venue for this year's Silver Eagle Film Festival has been decided. It's in our country, S City."
Several months have passed since the new year, but there has still not been a movie of note. Movie fans are looking around, hoping that a star will fall from the sky and save the sluggish market.
But who would have thought that instead of waiting for the movie to be released, we ended up waiting for an international film festival to be held.
"Is this true? Is it the Silver Eagle Film Festival that I know about? The one that was held in Country M last time?"
"Hasn't this film festival always been a niche event? Why is it held directly in China this time?"
So far, there are three well-known film festivals. Among them, the Golden Cherry Award and the Silver Image Award are held in Europe and America respectively. Both awards have fixed venues.
In comparison, the Silver Eagle is different. Its taste is more niche and the judges have more say in the voting. Because the judges come from different countries, the film festival has been required to rotate between several countries since its inception.
This means that the venue will be as different as possible each year.
However, due to some historical, taste and subject matter factors, the Silver Eagle Film Festival has been traveling to several other continents and has never come to China.
Of course, by the same token, since the film festival is far away from China and does not know much about China, it is naturally difficult for it to accept films from China.
Logically speaking, the Silver Eagle Film Festival would have remained closed and conservative because of its preference, but who would have known that this year it would suddenly give everyone a big surprise.
"How exaggerated! The sun really is rising from the west."
"Come to think of it, a few years ago there was a Chinese director who participated in the Silver Eagle Film Festival, but it seems that he didn't even make it to the preliminary round."
"Yes, the judges of this film festival are quite arrogant, and I don't know what they are arrogant about."
Without exchange and communication, there will be barriers, and this is also true for film festivals that claim to be inclusive and open.
However, compared to some netizens who are digging up old issues, many people still have a kind and positive view of the film festival.
"No matter what you said before, just come."
"Having another film festival should bring in many tourists. Apart from anything else, it will boost the economy anyway."
"That's great. I heard that Director Gu's film will also be shown at the film festival. I'll go watch it if I have the chance."
“I hope Director Gu can win another award.”
While the film festival was being discussed online, the crew of "Mountain Soul" was also arranging corresponding work.
"Anyway, you have to go to this film festival, but don't worry too much about it."
As a winner of the Golden Cherry Award, Director Gu is a frequent visitor to these film festivals, but he is not as obsessed with the award as netizens imagine.
He carefully analyzed the inside story of the film festival to everyone.
“First of all, if a play wants to win an award, it depends on the subject matter.”
The creators nodded.
This is a consensus within and outside the circle. Even outsiders who are not familiar with movies can name the "hot topics" that have won awards at these niche film festivals.
Minority marginal groups and non-mainstream. With the popularity of feminism in recent years, topics that portray the plight of women of all ages are also favored by judges.
Each film festival has a different tone, the judges have different preferences, and the themes of the films that win awards are also different.
But the commonality is that no matter how different the orientations of the judges of these film festivals are, in the final analysis, most of them are still non-commercial niche art films.
Of course, this does not include classic films that have been a big hit both commercially and critically.
Director Gu is obviously not shameless enough to classify his new work into this category.
"So, we don't have an advantage in terms of subject matter."
Although he was reluctant to admit it, after watching the preview, Director Gu thought about it and felt that something was wrong.
"Isn't this movie a bit too exciting?"
Perhaps it was because the protagonist created by the script itself was exceptionally powerful, and Ning Su was cast to star in the role. Later on, in order to add the scene of the real-life fight between the two great monsters in the Grand Canyon, the screenwriter had no choice but to change the plot.
In the end, even though the analysis of the character's inner thoughts in the early part was at Director Gu's level, but in the later part, when the protagonist gained power and went back for revenge, it was no longer an art film at all.
"I feel like this will throw the judges for a loop."
In Director Gu's film, the protagonist was not tripped by his own inner constraints in the end. Instead, he overcame the internal and external conflicts, achieved his goals, and gained recognition.
For the judges who are accustomed to watching topics like "social contradictions are greater than individuals", "individuals are powerless under the system", and "accepting one's own weakness", this is like being fed a piece of chocolate-flavored shit.
What's more, before this, Director Gu's films were able to win awards, which was an attribute that the judges were familiar with.
Back then, Director Gu made a name for himself at the Golden Cherry Awards with his art films, and then used his international reputation to pressure the domestic film market, causing theaters to increase the number of screenings.
But I didn't expect this to happen this time.
"Director Gu, this is all your fault."
Perhaps thinking of the confused looks on the judges' faces after watching "Mountain Soul", the producer smiled unkindly.
"No, what does this have to do with me?"
Director Gu himself accepted the change in the nature of his film well - unlike the old-fashioned judges, he did not care about the attributes of the film.
Whether it is a niche or commercial film, its purpose is to bring spiritual comfort to the audience and take them through a short, wonderful and undisturbed time.
If the former brings the audience thoughts and insights into life, the latter is the power to create more happiness.
Both are spiritual enjoyment. How do we judge which one is higher?
Director Gu responded to the producer's teasing with confidence and conviction, and inadvertently fooled others.
Just when others couldn't help but sigh that Director Gu was indeed a famous director and had the demeanor of a senior, screenwriter Zhang Ronghe couldn't help but expose it:
"Just listen to his nonsense!"
What is the style of a famous director? He clearly wanted to be a commercial film director, but he couldn't find investment. After finally finding investment, his first film flopped. Then he discovered his talent and switched to art film.
Director Gu seems to be unconcerned about the different challenges of "Mountain Soul", but he is actually quite looking forward to it and feeling nervous.
No one only wants to make one type of movie. As a practitioner who has high aspirations for his career, Director Gu also wants to unlock another field.
If commercial genre films are also successfully unlocked, they will be able to attract more investments and shoot more types of films.
"…Bad friends, they are all bad friends."
Director Gu felt a little embarrassed after his good friend ruthlessly ruined his performance, but that did not stop him from continuing to do ideological work for the crew.
"So you guys can go ahead and have fun when the time comes. We're just there to promote the film. The most important thing is the box office performance after the film is officially released."
For commercial films, box office performance is everything.
Moreover, knowing that their film might not be able to take advantage of the Silver Eagle Film Festival, Director Gu's team was also very smart.
They negotiated with the distributor and theater owners to schedule the film's release before the Silver Eagle Awards officially announced the awards.
The idea is simply "I don't want your prize, but I must take advantage of this traffic."
Who would complain that they don’t have enough publicity?
The Silver Eagle Film Festival begins on June 1st and the official awards are announced on June 4th. In addition to being shown at the film festival, their films will officially hit theaters on the evening of June 3rd.
It's this time difference that we're taking advantage of.
"That's not right." Director Gu scratched his head again, thinking that something was wrong. "Our movie will premiere at the film festival, and some people will see it then."
What if there are bad reviews?
When he said this, the producer looked at him speechlessly: "Is it possible that our movie just wasn't liked by the judges?"
But it's really not a bad movie.
He is a rough guy, but he also represents the tastes of many ordinary audiences. Anyway, both he and the investors who were invited to watch the preview liked it very much.
Some investors even secretly rejoiced.
I didn’t think that investing in Director Gu’s movies would be profitable, but this movie is clearly going to make money.
Who doesn't like money?
There are still a few days before the official opening of the Silver Eagle Film Festival. Director Gu is busy pretending nothing has happened while privately harassing his close friends.
"You said, let's have a movie..."
After being asked by Director Gu several times, Ning Su had become very calm. He dealt with the work at hand while perfunctorily answering Director Gu:
"It's no problem if I can make my money back."
The reason why we say it will pay off instead of "can be a big hit" or "can make money" is because Director Gu doesn't buy into these consolations.
"Successful hits" and "making money" all depend on luck. In addition to the quality of the film, it also depends on the market at the time, the actors' popularity with the audience, and the timing of the release.
These factors are beyond the control of the creative team.
When a person uses these reasons to comfort the director, it often leads to the other party's questioning and deeper anxiety.
Therefore, after many failures, Ning Su and other creators have figured out the best reason to comfort themselves -
Can make back the investment.
How could this play not make a profit?
As the only male lead in the film and the highlight of the whole show, Ning Su's salary was only two million.
Apart from that, the pay for the little demons is not high.
Compared with the animal actors who are poor at communicating and inefficient, the performance of the little demons can be said to save a lot of money.
As the female lead, the role was actually played by She Ji, who was a supporting actress, and she was also very cheap.
The cost of actors was very low, and there was no need to spend much on publicity - with Director Gu's brand, plus the previous incident at the Grand Canyon, the film saved a lot of expenses.
Since there is no need to spend money on actors and publicity, the film's producers will invest most of the funds in post-production.
Especially the special effects of the film. Ning Su had taken a look at it before. Some of the scenes could not even be produced by their great demon powers.
When it comes to imagination and perception of beauty, humans are still the best.
It is precisely because of this that Ning Su is not too worried about the box office of the film - no matter how bad it is, at least there will be no problem in recovering the investment, right?
Just as Zhang Ronghe analyzed before the filming of the film, even if the investment does not make money, as long as this road is opened up and jobs can be found for the little demons, part of the goal will have been achieved.
And to some extent, the original purpose of the demon bureau has been achieved.
After Director Gu's project ended, the company founded by Ning Su to represent Xiao Yao did receive quite a few invitations.
As a result, Xiao Du has been very busy recently and even borrowed someone from the bureau to help.
"……OK."
After this decisive blow, Director Gu could no longer ask any more questions and hung up the phone in embarrassment.
He knew that if he continued to ask anxiously, Ning Su would conduct even more in-depth soul-searching.
Does Director Gu think that his movie can’t even make back its investment?
By then, Director Gu would be even more embarrassed.
God have mercy on him, he is just a fragile young art film director who made a commercial film by mistake, and he just wants his friends to accompany him.
After dealing with Director Gu, Ning Su quickly got into his new job.
"Chief Ning, thank you for coming to guide our work." The director of the S City Monster Bureau was a middle-aged man who spoke politely to Ning Su.
Behind the director, Mi Gao winked at Ning Su.
After entertaining the director, Ning Su took Mi Gao out to eat. When old friends get together, there is really nothing to talk about.
"Why do you work here?"
Previously, after Ning Su passed the exam and was admitted to the Monster Bureau of City A, Mi Gao chose to leave with his good friend Ren Shenjing. After passing the exam, Ren Shenjing chose to work in a Monster Bureau office in the neighboring city.
Mi Gao and Ginseng Spirit are together, helping each other and preparing for the exam.
"Yes, it's been very busy here recently, so the office seconded me here." Mi Gao said with a smile. It turned into its original form and rubbed Ning Su's leg.
It turned out that after Mi Gao's introduction, Ning Su finally understood the reason.
During this nearly one year period, although the Monster Bureau did not recruit any formal monsters, the previously stubborn recruitment system had loosened up a lot.
With the establishment of the Caiyao Station, the business of the Monster Bureau became more and more busy. The originally idle monsters became busy, but even so it was not enough, so they learned from other units and recruited some temporary employees.
Although these personnel are not on the regular staff, their salaries and social insurances are good. Most importantly, as they become temporary employees of the Monster Bureau, they will receive a certain score bonus when they take the civil service exam the following year.
With the help of ginseng essence, Mi Gao took this path.
"Congratulations!" Ning Su was truly happy for his partner.
"Not as good as you, Lord Ning." Mi Gao was also very happy, but he still teased, "Lord Ning is now a popular demon."
Among the several offices under the jurisdiction of S City, the office where Ginseng Essence works has the best treatment.
Whether reporting work to superiors or asking for resources, he was rarely troubled. The reason was all because the ginseng spirit and it were once Ning Su's friends.
This made Mi Gao feel deeply moved.
Who would have thought that even if you leave your friends, you will still be protected by them?
This time too, since S City is going to host the Silver Eagle Film Festival, many monsters will take the opportunity to sneak in, and manpower is urgently needed.
Going on this kind of business trip not only adds something to one's resume, but also provides extra travel subsidies. All the young talents were vying to apply for it, but in the end, it was the one that was approved.
Later, when it learned that Ning Su would come to S City to attend the film festival, it understood everything.
"Keep up the good work in the future." Mi Gao, who was carried away by his friends, said happily.
It’s a good thing to get together with good friends, but the next work cannot be avoided - the S City Monster Bureau has been very busy recently.
When a large-scale event is held in a place, not only the human civil servants are very busy, the demon bureau will also have extra work to do.
Maintaining order is the most basic thing. In addition, the foreign monsters that come with them must be registered and managed.
"These monsters are the most troublesome. They don't know the rules."
Different from the Chinese monsters who have long been accustomed to the management of the Monster Bureau, these foreign monsters are much more lax and often do bad things.
Many times, because foreign monsters violated Chinese laws, their monster bureau had to capture and punish them.
Logically speaking, the Chinese Monster Bureau has a lot of jurisdiction, and monsters from abroad should not like to enter the country. But in reality, due to China's large population and many paradises, monsters from abroad will always find a way to sneak in.
The holding of this international film festival is just an excuse.
Our own little demons are all actively trying to squeeze into the film industry. We can't use this as an excuse to reject the arrival of foreign demons, right?
The arrival of foreign monsters is like a catfish effect, which has aroused the concerns of some local monsters, and many monsters are taking the opportunity to cause trouble.
As a result, the workload of the S City Monster Bureau increased many times.
Although Ning Su was not seconded to the S City Monster Bureau, since he was here, there was no reason for him to just stand by and watch.
During this period of time, he also went on many missions - seeing him in S City, many local monsters stopped their activities, which reduced a lot of workload.
With him around, even the originally polite Director of S City was moved and wished that Ning Su could stay in S City forever.
After five or six busy days, the Silver Eagle Film Festival finally officially opened.
According to the schedule, the first day is the premiere, and it is also the time for the actors and crew participating in the film festival to appear on the red carpet. On this night, the judges gather to preliminarily select the most popular films.
The most popular film is often the favorite to win an award at this film festival.
The film selection had nothing to do with Mountain Soul, and the crew had already given up hope after Director Gu gave them repeated warnings, but they obviously still had to go to the red carpet.
After all, there aren’t many opportunities for the crew to make a formal appearance like this.
However, on the day before the red carpet show, Xiao Du came to his senses from his busy schedule and realized that things were going to be bad.
He urgently contacted Ning Su: "What are you going to wear for the red carpet? Are you ready? I'll find a way to borrow it for you."
As the male protagonist, Ning Su should at least not dress too poorly.
Although it's too late to borrow now.
However, to Xiao Du's surprise, Ning Su had already prepared the clothes.
"Su Yin helped me find a set, and Tang Erbao also helped."
Of course, in the end Ning Su didn't make any choice, so Tang Songzhi directly asked someone to come to his house and make a set for Ning Su.
In addition, I also helped with other accessories.
"...Okay, that's okay." After hearing the name of the master who made custom clothes, Xiao Du fell silent.
He underestimated the connections of their Section Chief Ning.
Wearing an outfit that only wealthy people would like, Ning Su was certainly spared from being ridiculed by the crowd when walking on the red carpet.
"Damn, he really has a background."
Originally, when they learned that the "Mountain Soul" crew was going to walk the red carpet, many fans of other shows were secretly stirring up trouble.
Ning Su is a newcomer and was a retired idol back then. Now he has no serious works and his pay is probably not high, so how can he afford to buy costumes?
I'm afraid he can only rely on the title of Director Gu's leading actor and borrow clothes from some insignificant niche brands.
But who knew that the other party had no such concerns at all.
After being told about the origin of Ning Su's suit, the price of the accessories and the watch, the onlookers fell silent.
It's porcelain that they can't touch.
"Forget it, why don't we discuss appearance?"
Under this comment, someone responded tactfully: "Guess what, we only discussed the outfits and not the looks before?"
There's obviously nothing to discuss!
Why do you care about your opponent's strengths and make yourself unhappy?
Fortunately, the netizens quickly found a way to comfort themselves - this Ning Su and his idol are definitely not on the same track!
The reason for this idea was that in the live broadcast, Ning Su was walking towards several officials invited by the film festival.
Not only were these officials very enthusiastic towards Ning Su, one of them even pulled him aside to talk.
"What is this? The mysterious second generation bravely enters the entertainment industry, right?"
Another person retorted: "If he was a second-generation, he wouldn't have to quit the circle."
“Is it difficult to admit that someone is excellent?”
Just as people were arguing over Ning Su again on the Internet, Ning Su, who was at the film festival, had a serious expression on his face.
The S city official whom netizens don’t know is none other than the director of the S city Monster Bureau. His arrival also indicates that monsters with unknown motives have infiltrated the film festival.
"If I find something wrong, I'll take care of it."
The director of the S City Monster Bureau breathed a sigh of relief: "That's good."
He would not feel at ease if it were someone else, but after seeing Ning Su's abilities and getting Ning Su's promise these days, his anxiety suddenly decreased a lot.
Because of the task he received, after walking the red carpet, Ning Su did not move around with the crew, but wandered around.
In the eyes of someone with ulterior motives, it is an example of ulterior motives.
"Humph, why are you pretending?"
Ning Su didn't care what others thought. During the time he was wandering around, he found the source of the strange evil spirit.
As expected, a demon had sneaked in, and judging from the bloody smell contained in the demon's aura, it might have bad intentions.
Ning Su used a trick and followed the evil spirit inside.
Compared with the bustle outside, inside the hotel banquet hall contracted by the film festival is a row of rooms temporarily used as offices.
In the conference room at the top, the films participating in the main competition unit of this film festival are being played.
At this time, "Mountain Soul" was playing on the screen.
Just as film festival judges have preferences for other films, the judges themselves will not watch all the films, which is also different from the general public's cognition.
Due to a series of reasons such as time, schedule, personality, etc., many judges will not sit down together to watch the participating films until the opening day of the film festival.
The judges have limited time, and some unknown movies obviously will not be brought out at this time. On this occasion, the only movies that can appear are naturally popular movies.
Either it is a famous work by a famous director, or it is a famous work by a famous director that cost a lot of public relations money.
Most of the time it's the latter.
"Mountain Soul" knew that its chances of winning the award were low, so it didn't spend any money at all. The only reason it could appear on this occasion was because it had a jury chairman who loved it.
"Oh my God, I can't understand why such a film would appear!"
"Shutting it off and showing up here is purely utilitarian."
"Does it want to ruin our Silver Eagle Film Festival?"
Just as Director Gu expected, out of trust in Director Gu's reputation, the judges started with high expectations but ended with near-excitement.
“Stop!”
On the screen, Ning Su's left arm turned into a dragon claw and he was fighting with the villain. In the background, there was a faint dragon roar.
"What is this! A Hollywood blockbuster?"
"You are not allowed to say that!" The chairman of the jury jumped out.
Just when the conference hall was in chaos, Ning Su followed the evil spirit and found the inside of the hotel.
Based on his analysis of the evil spirit, the other party should be a vine monster that has become a spirit, and usually relies on the support of the hotel's gardening staff.
Recently, the gardener went missing and the hotel called the police, but because they were hosting the film festival, they suppressed the news.
Maybe it ate people.
Thinking of this, Ning Su quickened his pace.
"Sir, this is the office area, you can't come here, sir." The judges were arguing and almost fighting. The assistant paused the screen and sneaked out.
She only earns a few dollars, it would be a waste for her to get beaten.
It was because of this that she met Ning Su who had come all the way to find her.
"Hello, I'm on business." Ning Su took out his work certificate.
Just as the assistant was hesitating whether to let him go, suddenly, a scream was heard in the conference room.
The assistant quickly pushed open the door and found that there was a vine in the conference room. The vine had rolled up a judge and was hanging in the air.
When the other judges saw this surprise, they all hid under the table.
Found it.
Ning Su breathed a sigh of relief.
He walked in, nodded politely to the strangers, said, "This is a case handled by the Special Management Bureau, please don't panic," then reached out and broke the roots of the vine monster.
Well, it didn't eat anyone, it just absorbed things it shouldn't have absorbed. I guess it was caused by those monsters from abroad.
It seems that there are other reasons for the gardener's disappearance.
The cane was broken, and the judge who was arrested was released by himself. The face that had just appeared in the movie appeared in front of him.
Thinking about how they were arguing about each other just two minutes ago, the judges had an illusion that time and space were inverted and space was changing.
"It's all right here for now, but my colleagues will come to clean up for you. Please don't worry, we will ensure your safety."
After saying these words, Ning Su politely greeted these strangers, grabbed the vine monster and retreated.
Afterwards, the employee in charge of the aftermath of the S City Monster Bureau received the news and hurried to the banquet hall.
“Oh my god.”
Ning Su had just left and the cleanup crew had not arrived yet. In the conference room, the judges were silent.
“Perhaps, this film is not a simple work of fantasy.”
“…it’s realism.”
"This movie isn't that simple anyway, is it?"
Frozen on the screen is a face that makes one unable to take their eyes off.
This night was an ordinary one for Ning Su. He participated in the red carpet calmly, completed a small episode task, and then returned home early with the crew.
After all, the movie will premiere the day after tomorrow, and there will be other promotional tasks by then.
However, that night, just before midnight, Director Gu called and said, "Xiao Ning, can you help me check if I am dazzled?"
Just a few minutes ago, the Silver Eagle Film Festival announced the name of the most watched film of the day.
"Mountain Soul".
"No, are they crazy?"
Director Gu screamed on the phone.
At the same time, in the hotel, in each room, the aftermath of the S City Monster Bureau was completed, the amnesia took effect, and the judges were banging their heads against the wall.
Who can save them? How could they not figure it out before and vote for "Mountain Soul"?
Can you fan them awake?
Unlike the judges who regretted their decision, although the chairman of the jury had his memory erased, out of his love for the movie, he quietly registered on Weibo, followed Ning Su's Weibo, and searched for content related to Ning Su.
Because of his attention, the entertainment industry's spectators stayed up all night.
"Report! He's still giving likes!"
“It’s been ordered all night!”
How much does this chairman of the jury from Ye Country love Ning Su!
Is it true that "Mountain Soul" is really good?
"Mountain Soul" was released on June 3, and on June 1, ticket purchase links for "Mountain Soul" appeared on major apps.
A post quietly appeared on the forum of little demons.
"House demons, does anyone know how to buy Lord Ning's movie tickets..."
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