Chapter 157
The original author of "White Snake's Cultivation of Immortality" was admitted to Peking University in the second half of the year and became popular on the Internet. The sales of her three previously published physical books also soared. The director of the movie "Legend of the White Snake" also knew that the sales of "Wuxia" magazine also soared.
He would buy the film rights of "White Snake's Cultivation of Immortality". First of all, he himself is a loyal reader of "Wuxia" and "Legend of the White Snake". Directors like them read all kinds of books and magazines, which is basically their daily routine. They need to pick scripts and literary works, on the one hand to find inspiration, on the other hand to find a story suitable for making into a movie.
Even though the crew was closed during the filming, the fans at that time were not as crazy as they would be decades later. Making movies is just a job for today's directors and actors.
So he is well-informed.
When Jiang Ning became a big hit, his filming progress had already come to an end, and the film was about to enter the post-production editing and dubbing stage.
It's not like he hadn't thought about releasing the movie while the original author was popular, using the original author to promote the movie. This way, he could save a lot of publicity costs while also attracting a large number of readers of the original novel "White Snake's Cultivation of Immortality" to the box office.
Unfortunately, when Lemon Tree was at its peak, he didn’t have time to release the movie “White Snake”.
It was not until the popularity of "Looking for Lemon" died down that his films were completed and waiting for promotion.
It was going to be released at the end of 1997, during the winter vacation of 1998, during the New Year's Day holiday, and it was targeting the traffic of students during the winter vacation.
Before a movie is released, it also needs to be promoted.
The director immediately thought of using the popularity of the original author of "The Legend of White Snake" to attract a group of original fans.
So the first stop he chose for publicity was Peking University.
Before deciding on the publicity strategy, the director also asked Jiang Ning if he was willing to promote the movie "Legend of White Snake". Of course, he had to pay the publicity fee.
Jiang Ning didn't mind the director using her name to promote the movie. After all, her current traffic is quite high. However, she still said to the director: "A Jingda Ning Meng who didn't show up will have a better publicity effect than a Jingda Ning Meng who showed up. Director, what do you think?"
The big director thought she was unwilling to help with the promotion, and his face looked a little ugly. However, after listening to Jiang Ning's promotional strategy, he couldn't help but secretly praise her. Ning Meng is worthy of being a top student of Peking University, and her mind is quick.
The big director had met Jiang Ning before and had signed a contract with her, using her real name and ID card. Naturally, he knew Jiang Ning's true identity information and also knew that she was a real Beijing University student.
Although the movie will be released during the winter vacation, they cannot come to Beijing University for promotion during the winter vacation. Otherwise, there will be no one in the school, so how can they promote it to anyone?
Therefore, before the winter vacation, the great director had already communicated with the school leaders of Peking University. The school leaders of Peking University, knowing that this was a work of their Peking University students that was made into a movie, also supported their students. Therefore, before any Reuters news came out about this movie, promotional posters were posted on Peking University's bulletin boards, small theaters, and at the school gate. The poster showed a surging river below and a white snake combing the water veins above. Above that was a photo of the starring team. At the front was, of course, the actress who played the female lead, followed by Fahai, Xiaoqing, the acting snake demon, and even Tong Jingang and Jiang Bai, who all got a place in the corner, with Jiang Bai even showing his face.
The sensational "Find Lemon" campaign that took place in real life and on the Internet at the beginning of the school year is still fresh in the memory of many people. Because of this campaign, Lemon gained many new readers, and physical books and magazines were sold like hot cakes. How long has this happened? The "White Snake's Cultivation" written by their Peking University alumni was made into a movie?
This director, who became very famous in later generations, was not very well-known at that time, but he made a movie after all. There were also now very famous actors who came to promote the movie. The actress who played the role of the White Snake was also very beautiful. This beautiful actress was not only beautiful, but also had acting skills and was full of aura.
This news immediately exploded at Kyoto University and on the Internet.
At first, it was only discussed on the internal forum of Peking University, but it was soon posted online by netizens, so many Lemonmeng readers who were surfing the Internet knew about it: "White Snake Cultivation" was made into a movie?"
"The name of the movie is "White Snake"!" Then there was the promotional poster!
It is clearly written on the promotional poster that it is adapted from "The Years I Was a White Snake Cultivating Immortality", the original author of which is Ning Meng.
"Wow, it really is 'White Snake Cultivation'. No news about it was revealed before."
“I heard that they will be having a roadshow at Peking University and will be premiering at Peking University!”
"Fuck, I want to see it!"
For a moment, readers on the Internet didn’t know whether they envied the students of Peking University for being able to see the big stars up close and watch the movie "White Snake Cultivation" for the first time, or they envied them for being students of Peking University.
Some netizens who participated in the previous "Search for Lemon" campaign focused on: "White Snake is on the road show at Beijing University, so should Lemon also appear?"
This immediately reminded the majority of netizens and readers: "Yes, the film crew has gone to Peking University. As a Peking University student, the original author can't not show up, right?"
"Friends, who can take me to Kyoto University? I want to see it!"
“I want to go too!”
For a time, the movie "White Snake" had not yet started its official promotion, but with just a few posters, it had already attracted a wave of popularity on the Internet. This was something the director of "White Snake" had never expected, and for a moment, he couldn't help but smile.
"Wuxia" and the publishing house also received the news at the first time.
Nowadays, more and more people are using computers. "Wuxia" magazine is now wealthy and powerful, and the editors of the magazine are equipped with computers for work. In addition to manuscripts, more and more readers are beginning to submit their works via e-mail.
These people work on computers all year round, so they can naturally get news from the Internet at the first time, so they contacted the crew at the first time.
When the big director wanted to buy the film and television rights of "White Snake's Cultivation of Immortality", he contacted Jiang Ning through "Wuxia" magazine. So "Wuxia" magazine has the big director's contact information, and the big director also has "Wuxia" magazine's contact information.
The director had never thought of promoting it in "Wuxia" before, until he was contacted by "Wuxia" magazine and then he remembered it.
Today's "Wuxia" is very different from the "Wuxia" two years ago. The gg fee in "Wuxia" magazine is not low.
However, "Wuxia" magazine and the movie "White Snake" are complementary to each other. The big director bought two issues of promotional ads in "Wuxia" magazine, and "Wuxia" magazine gave the big director a very favorable price. Even if the big director did not pay the ads, they would definitely promote the movie "White Snake".
Including the publishing house, after hearing the news, the first thing they did was to contact Jiang Ning and sign a contract to reprint "White Snake Cultivation", waiting for the movie to be released and taking advantage of the popularity of the movie during the winter vacation to make another wave of money.
However, the quantity reprinted this time is only 200,000 copies per copy. They did not dare to add more. What if the box office of the movie is just average or the movie is not good?
Each volume has 200,000 copies, so the total number of the six volumes is 1.2 million.
Due to the previous publicity, Ning Meng has a large number of readers among college students. Many Peking University students have studied the works of Ning Meng in order to explore whether their Peking University alumnus Ning Meng is a man or a woman. Many people have become fans of Ning Meng after studying him. There are also some people who have not yet found out Ning Meng's gender and identity. They are very curious about Ning Meng's real gender and want to go and see it. Therefore, the big director who was originally worried that there would not be many people to see his promotion at Peking University came. On the day when they came, the auditorium was packed with people, and even the corridors were full of people, both male and female students. The ratio of male and female readers was almost the same.
Most of them are readers of Ningmeng, and a small number of them are here to watch the fun and follow the trend out of curiosity.
There were also some students from other schools who sneaked in.
He Qiaosheng was one of those who sneaked in.
There were so many people coming to watch the roadshow that many couldn’t squeeze into the auditorium and had to wait outside.
First, watch a movie.
The lights in the auditorium went out, and the place was dark. The projector light at the back shone on the white screen above the auditorium, and the movie began.
The story begins with a fairy-like female protagonist in white, who is practicing Taoism on the top of a mountain. Countless little demons surround her at the foot of the mountain, all talking about the white snake in their tribe that is about to ascend to heaven.
At the beginning, the sky was filled with clouds and mist, and the air was filled with fairy air. The next second, the White Snake failed to ascend to heaven. After counting with her fingers, she found that there was still a worldly relationship that she had not yet understood. After she told the tribe leader, the snake demon, about this, she decided to go down the mountain to repay her gratitude.
When she was packing up and preparing to go down the mountain to repay her gratitude, the male snake demon who grew up with her but had extremely low cultivation level, also caught up with the white snake, carrying his bag, and wanted to go down the mountain with her to experience the prosperity of the world.
In the script of the movie, the director listened to the suggestions given by Ning Meng at the time, and the whole tone was cheerful. For the sake of comedy, a little demon follower was specially arranged for the White Snake to be funny. This was the male snake demon who walked out of the Ten Thousand Mountains for the first time and came out with the White Snake to see the world.
Because this snake has always lived in the mountains, the only language it can speak is the local dialect of the mountains. Once it opens its mouth, the dialect with a strong local flavor makes the audience laugh to death. The audience never expected that it would be such a simple and unpretentious snake demon.
Fortunately, the heroine is not like that. As a great demon cultivator who is about to ascend to heaven, she has experienced life in the mortal world and can speak Mandarin. So she corrected the accent of the little snake demon follower, but as a result, she was almost led astray by the little snake demon, which made the audience burst into laughter again.
The heroine walks in a fairy-like manner, which is quite normal. However, the little snake demon still has her snake nature. She is obviously a little snake demon dressed as a man, but she twists and turns to the left when she walks. Her appearance and temperament are also very much like a rural auntie. There are many laughs in the beginning.
Since the director chose to release the film during the winter vacation and Spring Festival, and marketed it as a New Year's film, he naturally couldn't make a movie with a heavy tone. Who wants to watch that kind of movie during the New Year? When Jiang Ning was discussing the script with the director, what he had in mind was to make a commercial movie that the audience would like to watch.
For a subject like "White Snake's Cultivation of Immortality", it's unrealistic even if you want to make it into an award-winning movie.
Therefore, they have a very clear idea about the positioning of the film.
This is a light-hearted and funny movie that is perfect for the whole family to watch during the New Year.
The actor who plays the little snake demon was chosen very well. He portrayed the situation of the little snake demon just transformed into a human but still retaining the nature of a snake, and being ignorant, simple and funny, vividly.
Another follower is Xiaoqing, whose prototype is the big black carp in the West Lake. Because she grew up in the West Lake, she is very familiar with human life and often observes the way humans walk and talk. After transforming into a human form, she quickly adapted to human life. Because this area is her territory, a powerful white snake suddenly came, and the two monsters naturally fought. In the end, the white snake subdued the big black carp, and the two monsters became sworn sisters.
Knowing that the White Snake was coming to the human world to find a human to repay her kindness, the local snake Xiaoqing, who was familiar with the local people and things, of course felt obligated to help the White Snake. To repay the kindness, he first had to know who the benefactor was and where the benefactor was.
Among the three demons, one is devoted to Taoism and does not care about worldly matters.
One is the guardian deity of a farmer's family in a mountain village. He comes to the human world for the first time to witness its prosperity.
Xiaoqing, who has been practicing in West Lake, thinks he knows a lot about local affairs, but actually acts like a monster.
In order to find their benefactor, the three demons found out what he needed and how to repay him. They did many funny and unreliable things to repay his benefactor. Of course, they made a lot of jokes in the process. Finally, they opened a clinic for Xu Xian, found a famous teacher for him, and helped him fulfill his wish.
During this period, the White Snake transformed into an old doctor and drug dealer, teaching Xu Xian how to practice medicine and providing medicinal materials for his pharmacy.
The White Snake comes from the Ten Thousand Mountains, and the thing it has the most is various medicinal herbs. The scene changes, showing various little demons providing herbs to the White Snake.
Of course, since it is a movie, it cannot be all laughter without twists and turns. Just when their act of repaying their gratitude is going smoothly, Fahai, who is wandering the human world, comes with his two little apprentices.
When Jiang Ning saw the two "little" disciples behind Fahai, he almost spit out his Coke.
Jiang Ning was so happy that she couldn't stop laughing, but other audiences were stunned when they saw Jiang Bai appear on the big screen for the first time. It was really that this great director was very good at photographing beauties. Not only was he good at photographing beautiful women, he was also good at photographing handsome men.
Jiang Bai, who is already very handsome in real life, is portrayed as an ascetic little monk by this director, appearing untouched by the mundane world and otherworldly.
As soon as the little monk appeared, he amazed the audience's eyes. But before the audience could take a closer look, the scene changed and only the side profiles of the three people were seen.
The actor who plays Fahai is a veteran actor. He is tall, dignified and majestic enough. But Tong Jingang behind him is as strong as an iron tower because of years of sports training. However, his character is still that of a simple-minded man who only obeys his master's orders.
Tong Jingang really has some talent in acting. Although he plays a villain, he can be funny in a serious manner, especially when he is acting opposite his senior brother. With a face as serious as a black tower, he can act coquettishly with his senior brother without any trace of acting.
Since Jiang Bai had such a good image and temperament, the director let him act in his true colors. He had an extremely handsome face, more like Fahai than Fahai, and more like Bodhisattva than Bodhisattva. Because his appearance was so good, with a solemn and dignified oval face, the director even asked the stylist to put a little red mole on his forehead.
Jiang Bai acted seriously with such a face that seemed to be detached from the mundane world.
The director is really good at filming. Not only is he good at telling stories, but Jiang Bai and the White Snake in his lens are really amazing.
Jiang Bai obviously doesn't have many shots, but every second and every frame he appears is so beautiful that you can't take your eyes off him. When it comes to his solo shots, it's an ultimate visual feast in front of the big screen.
But the director's camera does not favor him too much. Every time such a beautiful face appears, it lasts only three seconds before disappearing, or he stands behind Fahai in a dignified and solemn manner, with an indifferent and cold expression, as if he is really a selfless Bodhisattva in the temple.
Fahai came to the medicine shop that Baishe built for Xu Xian, and the magic weapon in his hand made a ding-dong sound, "There is an evil spirit!"
What follows is the process of Fahai trying every possible means to find the White Snake and subdue the demon, but the White Snake is unwilling to show up, and so he engages Fahai in a battle of wits and courage.
This process is both serious and funny, and all the jokes are logical.
For example, the snake demon, one of the White Snake's little followers, is obviously a male snake, but in the mountain village near the mountains, the most common thing he sees is aunties and grandmas, who pinch their waists and curse at people all day long.
When Fahai wanted to capture the demon, the male snake demon twisted his body and pinched his waist, then started to curse at Fahai in the local accent like a village aunt. However, Fahai was weak, so he did not curse back at him. Instead, he swung his cane and hit the snake demon on the head.
The male snake demon was fierce and cowardly. He turned around and ran away, pinching his orchid fingers and twisting his body while shouting, "Xiaobai~~Help!"
This attack was naturally saved by the White Snake who arrived in time.
Here is another detail.
Fahai ignored the fact that this was a busy city and knocked down all the stalls and collapsed the houses, injuring countless people. There was only one detailed shot of the White Snake here. She glanced at the scattered vegetables, fruits and injured pedestrians on the ground, then picked up the little snake demon and flew out of the deserted city.
Fahai and his two disciples thought she was trying to escape, so they chased after her. Later, Xiaoqing also chased after her and fought with his two disciples.
Xiaoqing is no match for the two disciples played by Tong Jingang and Jiang Bai, and Fahai is no match for the White Snake. Only the male snake demon is so scared that he hides behind a big rock and trembles in fear.
Just at this moment, Xu Xian, who was collecting herbs outside the city, appeared. Here, he saw the true form of the White Snake.
The actress who played the White Snake was a young actress chosen by the famous director after layers of selection from various art schools. The famous director was very good at photographing women and was good at digging out the beauty of actresses. The actress, who was already extremely beautiful, was even more stunningly beautiful under the lens of the famous director. Just that one glimpse made Xu Xian stand there in a daze, and he was grabbed by the male snake demon and pulled behind a boulder. At that moment, a spell was cast over him, causing gravel to fly everywhere.
The male snake demon reflexively lifted Xu Xian in front of him to block the rubble. Xu Xian, who had just been so elegant and handsome, was suddenly hit with bruises all over his face and blood all over his head, which was extremely funny.
The director of "The Legend of White Snake" originally took a fancy to Jiang Ning and wanted her to audition for the role of the female lead, White Snake, but Jiang Ning refused on the grounds of taking exams.
In subsequent castings, he preferred younger actresses with a cool and elegant temperament to play the White Snake.
After careful selection, they finally chose this one. I have to say that the great director is very good at choosing actors.
In order to cater to the audience's tastes, "The Legend of White Snake" actually added a love story to the script, but the love story is Xu Xian's one-sided crush on the White Snake.
When the White Snake was repaying her gratitude, she actually never showed up in person from beginning to end. Even when she was required to show up in person, she still changed her appearance, either as an old man with a white beard or a sturdy and strong man. This moment was the only time that Xu Xian saw the White Snake's true appearance in front of him, and from then on he missed the White Snake day and night and could not forget her.
There is only this little bit of implicit love story in the whole movie, and the rest is all about a little white snake with a heart for the great cause, who comes to the human world to repay her gratitude and save the people, but encounters Fahai, who is trying to subdue the demon.
The focus of this film is at the end, when the demon saves people and people conquer the demon. After a series of intensive laughs in the previous part, the final part is of course the sublimation of the theme. The White Snake saves the world, merits are bestowed from heaven, the White Snake turns into a dragon, and ascends to become an immortal.
One can’t help but wonder, are demons necessarily bad? Are people always right?
The director showed this contradiction vividly in the movie, which immediately heightened the depth of the movie.
At the end of the film, the lights came on, there was thunderous applause, and the film's creative team also walked onto the stage in the auditorium to meet the audience.
In addition to the female lead who played the White Snake, what they wanted to see most was actually the actor who played Fahai's apprentice who died in the end trying to save the White Snake. Unfortunately, he was not there, so they wanted to find "Ning Meng".
Many readers and viewers who came for Ning Meng herself, looked left and right among the creative team, but couldn't figure out who Ning Meng was.
So they asked the director: "First of all, I want to congratulate Director Yu for making a very good movie. It shows a different White Snake and also lets us know another possibility of White Snake's cultivation of immortality. We also know that this movie is adapted from Ning Meng's work "White Snake's Cultivation of Immortality". May I ask if Ning Meng herself participated in the creation of this movie?"
The director nodded affirmatively and said, "We all know that Ning Meng is a top student at Peking University. She is very talented. In fact, the general framework, direction and tone of this film were all created and perfected on the spot by Ning Meng herself when I talked to her about "White Snake Cultivation" and she also gave me guidance."
The student who asked the question's eyes lit up: "Have you met Ning Meng in person? Is he really a student of our Beijing University? Is he here today?"
The director had already confirmed today's schedule with Ning Meng and knew that she would be there. He had been searching the crowd with his eyes before.
At this moment, his eyes passed through the crowd below the auditorium and fell on Jiang Ning's face. Then he turned his eyes to the boy who asked the question. A subtle smile appeared on his face. He smiled and watched the boy nod and said, "Yes, Ning Meng is here today."
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