Chapter 50
undergrad.
What a wonderful noun.
They have clear and innocent eyes, still retain (some of the) skills they learned in college, and their asking price is not high.
Most importantly, they have not yet been contaminated by the filth of reality.
Qiao Yiqiao immediately asked the boy in the next bed: "Do you borrow materials when doing homework? Or use what you have done before."
The male college student shook his head: "Wouldn't that mean he would be copying himself? Who would do that?"
Qiao Yiqiao: "Okay. Thank you."
There are so many touching feelings in my heart that I can’t express them in words.
With a preliminary plan in mind, Qiao Yi Qiao walked out and called Zhou Rong, his only connection at the Yenching Film Academy.
Over the past year, the two have frequently communicated with each other on WeChat, and Qiao Yiqiao has always been grateful to Zhou Rong for leaving him several gigabytes of notes from his creative work.
It may only happen a few times in your life that someone is willing to help you for no reason.
This is what is called a noble person. Qiao Yiqiao thought that when you meet a noble person, you need to spend your whole life to repay him.
The best way for him to repay Zhou Rong is to make every movie seriously.
Zhou Rong quickly picked up the phone: "Hello, Xiao Qiao, what do you want to talk to me about?"
Qiao Yiqiao greeted with a smile: "Teacher Zhou, how are you doing recently?"
"Let me tell you, the European film market is so interesting!" Zhou Rong was very excited. "I think it has great reference value for our country!"
After saying this, Zhou Rong began to talk incessantly about what he had seen, heard, and learned in Europe.
Qiao Yi Qiao was not in a hurry to talk about his own affairs.
After all, listening to these things is not a waste of time, but rather very instructive.
"As we all know, the European film market has been almost completely taken over by Hollywood. Throughout the year, the box office champions are often Hollywood movies," Zhou Rong said. "But this cannot stop the rise of many European local films. Instead, it encourages them to tell more local stories."
"These stories are of high quality. They are not only influential in China, but also often win awards internationally," Zhou Rong continued. "Most Western European countries have amazing financial resources. For example, France has many support programs for local films, and their main strategy is to cast a wide net. Almost every local film can receive a lot of support from funds. They also abandon the production logic of Hollywood popcorn blockbusters and make low-cost films with local characteristics. For example, "It's Hard to Be a Parent-in-Law" has performed very well in the local market and can almost compete with "Avengers 4"!"
"Although Eastern European countries are relatively poor, they have produced more local films. For example, the number of cinemas in Poland and the Czech Republic combined is only 1,185, not even as many as in Guangdong Province, but they release nearly 100 local films a year, and the number of viewers is not low! Our country releases more than 600 films a year, but only less than 200 of them have more than 1,000 ratings. From this point of view, the proportion of local films in their countries is much higher than that in our country!"
"Their films are mainly low-cost and they are aimed at the international market. Surprisingly, the return rate is quite good!"
"So, Xiao Qiao, you're on the right track! If we want to compete with Hollywood, the only way out is to go small and fine! Low cost is always the best!"
After listening to Zhou Rong's analysis, Qiao Yiqiao felt a little relieved.
It seems that my insistence on low-cost shooting (except for being poor) has turned out to be on the right track.
To some extent, the domestic film market is similar to that of Western Europe. Blockbuster films are competing with Hollywood blockbusters for the market. However, while the costs of our blockbusters are soaring, the costs of Hollywood blockbusters are declining due to high industrialization, and the profits are getting lower and lower.
In this way, the film path of Eastern Europe is very valuable for reference.
Perhaps it is possible for works with medium or low costs but with Chinese characteristics or with unique topics to stand out and receive amazing returns.
However, the production of low- and medium-cost films is unstable and the investment return cycle is difficult to predict.
If low- and medium-cost films are standardized with the help of the film industrialization process and the cost is further reduced, then it seems to be a relatively correct and sustainable path.
And if we can explore the industrial model for low- and medium-cost films and apply it to high-cost blockbusters, perhaps in time we will be able to produce some commercial blockbusters with Chinese characteristics for export, and then we can compete with Hollywood.
Zhou Rong talked a lot before he remembered to ask Qiao Yiqiao, "By the way, what do you want to talk to me about?"
Qiao Yi Qiao quickly told Zhou Rong about everything he had encountered while working on special effects.
Zhou Rong also fell silent after hearing this.
"I was just saying that I have some films of my own, how come the special effects are done so quickly and so cheaply," Zhou Rong gritted his teeth, "I guess 80% of them are just material-on-material!"
When Qiao Yiqiao heard that Zhou Rong was also so angry, he felt a little relieved.
It seems that I am not too sensitive.
Any director would be unhappy if he heard about this.
Zhou Rong asked again: "So how do you want to solve it?"
Qiao Yiqiao talked about his plan to use college students who have not yet been influenced by society to help with special effects.
Zhou Rong agreed after hearing this: "Okay, I'm going to be back in two days, let's make an appointment then, I know someone who can help you with this."
Qiao Yiqiao felt relieved: "Thank you, Teacher Zhou."
…
Three days later, Qiao Yi Qiao received a message from Zhou Rong, asking him to meet at a barbecue stall in Yanjing.
It was the first time for Qiao Yiqiao to attend such a... down-to-earth welcoming banquet.
He waited at the barbecue stall for a long time before Zhou Rong arrived, exhausted, riding his electric scooter.
There was another person on the back seat of his electric scooter.
"I just returned to China, and I'm not used to left-hand steering. I can only ride a small electric donkey, so I'm late." Zhou Rong sat down quickly, "Xiao Qiao, let me introduce you. This is the lecturer of the Film and Television Technology Department of our Film Academy, Ai Wei, Lao Ai, this is Qiao Yiqiao, a young director I know, you two should get to know each other."
Qiao Yiqiao greeted politely: "Hello, Teacher Ai."
"Hello, hello," Teacher Ai shook hands, "Everyone is fine. Oh, the traffic in Yanjing is really killing me."
"It can be said that traffic jams are a problem in every metropolitan area and they have not been solved anywhere."
"Does it matter if other places can't solve the problem and we can't solve it? You can't compare the worst, Teacher Zhou! If I were to ask you, it's because you haven't paid enough attention to it. If the government pays more attention to it..."
"Why should I take it seriously? Let me tell you, the main reasons for traffic congestion are one... two..."
"Then I have a solution. One... two..."
Before Qiao Yi Qiao could say anything, the two teachers started arguing.
However, Qiao Yi Qiao was also certain that this teacher Ivy and teacher Zhou Rong were definitely of the same kind.
All cynical enough.
The two argued about the traffic congestion problem for more than ten minutes before they finally calmed down.
Ivy then looked at Qiao Yiqiao and said, "What do you want to talk to me about?"
Qiao Yi Qiao thought that they had finally gotten to the point, and then he told him about the visual effects company's copying of the materials.
After hearing this, Ivy frowned and fell silent.
After a while, he drank the wine in front of him and let out a long sigh.
Zhou Rong asked: "How do you feel?"
"I've been in school since I graduated and never left. I didn't expect the atmosphere in the industry to be like this," Ivy poured himself another glass of wine. "I've always taught the kids in school to work hard and do special effects seriously, but if they join a company like this after they graduate, then what's the point of my teaching?"
Qiao Yiqiao didn't know how to answer.
He had no choice but to drink the wine in front of him and have a drink with Ivy.
Ivy looked at Qiao Yiqiao: "You came to me because you want my students to help you with the special effects?"
"Yes," Qiao Yiqiao did not try to hide the truth when faced with Ivy's straightforward words. "I believe that Mr. Ai's students would not be so cunning and sly. Besides, to be honest, with my budget, I can either find a company that uses materials for other materials, or find college students with little experience."
"Hahaha," Teacher Ai laughed a few times, "You are a straightforward person. I like to chat with straightforward people."
Qiao Yiqiao continued, "I heard that our college has a lot of competitions. I wanted to hold one, but I don't know if it's feasible. I hope Teacher Ai can give me some advice."
Ivy thought for a while and said, "It's not a good idea. I'm not sure about the level of the students participating in the competition. I'm afraid it will delay things."
Qiao Yiqiao nodded: "That's true, but I wonder if Teacher Ai has any other opinions?"
"Yeah." Ivy fell silent.
After a while, he had an idea.
"Our school has not yet done its social practice this year."
Zhou Rong's eyes lit up after hearing this: "That's an idea!"
Then, Zhou Rong told Qiao Yiqiao about the arrangements for the Film Academy.
In every major at the Film Academy, sophomores and juniors must arrange a social practice. For example, the School of Management will go to Hengdian, the School of Performing Arts will go to the People's Art Theater, etc., and credits will be calculated.
The Department of Film and Television Technology almost always finds a large company every year to help them do a project.
"But I don't want them to go to big companies this year," Ive said. "Since this is the way the industry is, it must be bad. I might as well take them to make your "When the Walls Fall Down"."
Qiao Yiqiao nodded: "That's great, do you have any requests?"
“There are two requirements. First, you need to subsidize our students at a suitable market price.
This is a serious internship for us. Second, your company must issue an internship certificate to my students, and the end credits must include the names of every participant," Ivy said, "and nothing else."
Qiao Yiqiao took this as agreement: "Absolutely no problem."
"I'll be watching over it, so the quality and time limit are guaranteed," Ivy drank another glass of wine. "Don't worry about that. You can come and talk to our students before we sign the contract, and then take a look at their suggestions and feedback. You're welcome to come over in the next two days."
"Okay," Qiao Yiqiao hesitated a little, "What about your reward?"
"I don't need any compensation," Ivy said firmly. "I just want my kids to experience how to do post-production special effects for a movie. This way, when they enter society, they can still remember this experience, which means my teaching was not in vain."
…
After Qiao Yi Qiao handed the materials to Ivy, he went to the Film Academy again to check out their work capabilities. The two sides communicated with each other, and then asked Xiao He to sign contracts with each student. He finally felt relieved.
Even though you have only met some people once, you will somehow feel that you are a "fellow traveler". This was the case with Qi Siqi at that time, and it is also the case with Ivy now.
After the special effects work was completed, Qiao Yiqiao started planning his next horror film.
Although the outline has been completed, dividing the scenes is a huge project.
If the purpose of an outline is to clearly outline the entire film, putting aside all techniques in order to make it understandable, then scene division can be said to be about using all techniques to make even an ordinary story interesting.
And what is the most important thing about a horror story, a campus horror story?
It’s the fear that comes from the unknown.
Therefore, Qiao Yi Qiao must find a way to hide the fact that the villain is "his older self".
It should be hidden at least until about 60 minutes, which is the part before the midpoint of the film.
The first 60 minutes of the film are meant to be as terrifying as possible.
In the end, the science fiction explanation gives this story infinite possibilities. As long as there are no real ghosts or supernatural beings, it will not touch the bottom line of the censorship, and Qiao Yi Qiao has a lot of creative space.
On the one hand, fear comes from the unknown, and on the other hand, it is the "nightmare" of all students during their school days.
--take an exam.
The protagonist must complete all the exams before entering the next stage.
This is a setting similar to infinite flow, but it is quite useful.
Just imagine.
Under the scorching sun and blue sky, there are red runways and emerald green lawns, and white doves flying between the sky.
The runway, however, is like a barrier, enclosing the area like a prison.
A head fell from the top of the screen and lay on the plastic lawn, gasping for breath. The boy in school uniform turned over, lying on his back, sweating profusely.
In a moment, the white dove flew upwards, and as it flapped its wings, it gradually turned into a mosaic.
Huh—the boy's breathing became heavier, and his expression gradually turned into fear.
Suddenly, countless martial arts sticks appeared above the playground, replicating themselves in a disorderly manner and falling like a rain of arrows. The boy stood up, surrounded by several of his companions in school uniforms, some thin and some fat.
The sky suddenly darkened, and the shadows of several people were gradually swallowed up, which shows how many short sticks there were.
Helplessly, they could only flee and run forward.
However, items such as pommel horse and parallel bars, which gave countless people headaches during their school days, suddenly appeared on the playground.
Everyone struggled to climb over and fell to the ground one after another, but the young man staggered to the edge of the track, thinking he had successfully passed.
In a moment, when the boy was about to lose his strength, the runway suddenly rose up like a giant dragon.
In his eyes, the world was just a white and red plastic track that never ended...
The hot air caused the runway in front of him to begin to deform slightly. He gasped violently, then stopped in despair.
The next moment, the entire football field quickly closed together from both ends of the goal with the center line as the axis.
"Bang!"
With a loud bang, the entire playground closed like a mousetrap, trapping the flying dragon on the track.
This is a physical education test.
At the other end of the campus, inside the library.
Several of them wore glasses as thick as the bottom of a bottle. They kept rummaging through the vast sea of books. However, their glasses became thicker and thicker and were imprinted on their faces, making them unable to take them off. They even forced them to lower their heads.
The books they couldn't hold fell to the ground, and the dense words on them floated up, making a "sizzling" sound like a branding iron every time they touched them.
More and more words rose into the sky... Densely packed words appeared above the library, breaking and reorganizing until they formed a huge word "勤" (diligence)... Melting transition...
The word "diligent" is also engraved densely on the table in the dormitory.
The shrill wake-up call sounded, and the dormitory manager's flashlight shone domineeringly into the dormitory.
The camera pulls up to show several students lying on their beds, trying to get up, but unable to move as if they were being paralyzed by a ghost... The mops and brooms automatically sweep the stains of the entire building towards them, and they are about to be submerged... The white beam of the flashlight shines on their faces, with heat. The dull footsteps of the dormitory manager patrolling the building are gradually approaching...
The five students lay flat on their backs, twitching in despair, like fish on a chopping board... Their bodies gradually turned into bullfrogs lying on the laboratory table... Melting transition...
The half-dissected bullfrog twitched on the laboratory table.
Several students in lab coats looked desperately at the dozens of lab tables in front of them, as well as the headless bullfrogs on them, all twitching...
There were bursts of frog croaking, and the skinless and headless bullfrogs gradually stood up and rushed towards them.
A student subconsciously took out several bottles of reagents from the medicine cabinet behind him and poured them on the bullfrogs. However, the reagents were sulfuric acid and ammonia water, and yellow-green smoke rose up, making it difficult for several students to breathe. Then, the smoke expanded and formed sulfuric acid rain, which almost corroded the entire building.
The students looked up in despair at the gradually melting wall. Suddenly, a huge iron spoon stirred the wall like a thick soup... Melting transition...
The soup bucket in the cafeteria was stirring automatically. Next to it, five students with flushed faces were struggling to eat the automatically filled lunch boxes in front of them.
The bun was completely shrunken, but the student who was holding it still bit into it, but he began to retch. The bun that fell on the ground gradually grew bigger and wrapped him tightly.
Another student was so frightened watching this scene that his hands trembled for a moment, and the tomato and egg soup in the bowl spilled onto the ground, reflecting the slogan "Don't waste" on the wall. So the student bent down and licked it...
But the pool of soup gradually became wider and wider, as vast as the ocean...
The camera pulls out, and the shrunken hair covers the sky. The bland tomato and egg soup and seaweed egg drop soup almost submerge the roof of the cafeteria... The camera continues to rise——
From a bird's eye view of the entire campus, the camera rotates, and I can see that the buildings surrounding the main teaching building are all like purgatory...
These scenes of psychological shadows from student days coming true are all shown one by one.
The exams in mathematics, chemistry, Chinese, and other subjects are all breathtaking.
Even dormitories, canteens and libraries have become battlefields for examinations.
This is both a lesson for their old selves to teach their student selves and a way for them to exhaust their younger selves' physical strength.
It was in this suffocating environment that the protagonists managed to escape tenaciously.
They ran to the end of the corridor of the teaching building in a panic, and just as they turned the corner, they saw another huge mirror.
There was a red label on one end of the mirror saying "Self-examination mirror".
Several people were stunned, and the incandescent lights in the corridor suddenly went out.
In the blink of an eye, the lights came back on.
In the mirror, an old man appeared behind each of them.
Several people looked at their old selves for a moment, and then they realized that the instigator of all this was their old selves...
Next, they will fight in the teaching building against the enemy who knows their weaknesses best.
The old people knew that they were not strong enough to deal with their younger selves, so they used various means.
After the challenge of direct fear, what follows is a complete psychological fear scene.
Qiao Yi Qiao spent several weeks to complete the preliminary division of the scene.
He thinks the current state of the work is sufficient.
As for this work, because the shooting cost is extremely low, the only possible expense is special effects.
But he already has help for future special effects.
…
At the same time, Qian You had also completed the fine editing of "When the Walls Collapse".
Qiao Yi Qiao watched the movie with his brothers again. This time the refined version was only 130 minutes long, which is considered a qualified length for a commercial film.
Although there are still some parts that need fine-tuning, the overall structure will not change.
Qiao Yiqiao can also use this streamlined work to move on to the next step
--publicity.
This is also the aspect that Qiao Yi Qiao has always been a little unsure about how to start.
The previous "Needle Walker" was an online short drama, so there was no formal publicity, while the theater promotion of "Chaotic Campus" focused on word of mouth and awards, without any substantial promotional means.
Now is the off-season for film festivals, so even if Qiao Yiqiao wanted to submit "When the Walls Fall Down" to the competition, he would have no chance. And as a commercial film, its final destination must be a box office competition, so the importance of publicity is self-evident.
Promotion and distribution are usually tied together and controlled by a large company. However, there are only a few companies in China that have distribution capabilities, which can be counted on one hand. Naturally, Qiao Yi Qiao has tried all of them.
The first place we went to was Huacheng Entertainment.
As one of the top film and television companies in China, Huacheng Entertainment can also provide a full range of promotion and distribution services for films.
The person in charge of the reception was the director of the publicity group, a well-known figure in the industry who had promoted and distributed countless blockbuster films. She was in her forties and everyone called her Sister Cao.
Sister Cao took several leaders of the publicity team to watch the film.
After watching the movie, they went to the conference room with Qiao Yi Qiao.
"We all like this film very much," Sister Cao said frankly, "not only because it is well shot, but also because of the very popular male star Qi Siqi. Mainly because of the subject matter itself, there is also room for publicity. We are all very optimistic about this project. Social issues are also something we often deal with at Huacheng Entertainment, so we have the confidence to do so."
Qiao Yiqiao nodded.
Huacheng Entertainment is really good at publicity, and many of the films that he thinks are of average quality can be sold as small hits.
The effective approach of Huacheng Entertainment is to fit the theme of the film into a social issue to expand the discussion.
And "When the Walls Fall Down" has this gene.
"But because prisoners as protagonists are quite controversial, we also need to spend a lot of money on adjusting audience expectations," Cao added. "We may downplay this in our publicity. We will focus on marketing the earthquake, after all, it is something that affects everyone's emotions."
"oh?"
Qiao Yi Qiao was a little hesitant.
The earthquake will indeed spark a big topic, but it will also reveal the scars of many people.
Although the earthquake is indeed a major event in his film, the focus is not on the extensive earthquake relief work, but on the changes that take place among the prisoners after the earthquake.
A small highlight in a big event.
Qiao Yiqiao felt that if the earthquake was singled out and discussed in detail, it would be a bit of a "wolfskin job".
What he originally thought was that we could emphasize the earthquake, but not that earthquake.
But now Huacheng Entertainment means that they will carry out publicity and promotion related to the earthquake.
Of course, these are all details and there is still room for negotiation.
After expressing her intention, Sister Cao held a meeting with the department for two more days before calling Qiao Yiqiao over.
Ms. Cao smiled and said, "After careful discussion and estimation, we really want to represent the work "When the Walls Collapse". Can we talk about the specific matters of cooperation?"
Qiao Yiqiao nodded: "Please go ahead."
"Our company has always done publicity and distribution together, so we have three cooperation models to choose from."
"The first is the most common split-revenue distribution. In this case, we don't need your distribution fees. We will split the revenue with the exhibitor. The ratio can also be told to you, which is 5:5. What we can promise is the filming rate in each region, which is no less than 5% at least."
"The second way is to buy out and distribute. We buy out your copyright, and the box office revenue will have nothing to do with you. Although I believe you will not choose this distribution method, we still make you an offer of 30 million. You can consider it carefully."
"The last type is guaranteed release. We will give you a base price, which is probably between 100 million and 150 million. If the box office is below this, we will give you a share of the profits according to this price. If it exceeds this number, we will use a higher share."
In fact, there is another distribution model called agency distribution.
That is to say, Qiao Yi Qiao paid a one-time commission and let the distribution company complete the distribution work, and did not participate in the box office sharing.
But obviously Huacheng Entertainment does not want to choose this model. They even gave a guaranteed price of 150 million, which means they expect the box office of this movie to reach more than 150 million.
Most movies will choose the revenue-splitting distribution model, which can help producers avoid risks and costs to the greatest extent, and Qiao Yiqiao is no exception.
"I would prefer the first option. Based on this, could you please tell me about the promotional strategy and...costs?"
"We will give you a complete promotional plan later," said Sister Cao. "As for the promotional expenses, the price we offer is... 50 million."
Fifty million?
It was the first time that Qiao Yiqiao heard such a large number.
Even more than three times the cost of his film.
"Of course, you don't have to pay in advance," Sister Cao smiled, "We will prioritize recovering this part of the fee from the box office revenue sharing, and then share the rest with the producer."
"Okay." Qiao Yi Qiao didn't know what to say.
This will start very quickly.
It was so sudden that even after Qiao Yiqiao returned to the Youth Hostel, he still hadn't recovered from the shock of hearing the "50 million" advertising fee.
But he reacted quickly.
Because he saw the detailed plan sent by Huarong Entertainment.
At first he seemed normal.
It wasn't until he saw that they were going to interview the victims of the earthquake and listen to their stories that he suddenly lost his composure.
Isn't this just exposing someone's scars?
And the offer given for this revealing interview was actually 2 million.
There is also a promotional budget for TK short videos.
They planned to post 300 short videos, and the price for each short video was as high as 3,000 yuan!
In this way, the huge figure of 50 million was finally gathered together.
Qiao Yiqiao: “…”
It's true that there is no businessman without fraud.
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