Chapter 477: Take What You Can
After the New Year's Eve concert with Lin Jiashu's band was over, Su Yun packed up with the Wang brothers and flew back to Hong Kong.
"How do you feel about living in Hong Kong these years?" Su Yun asked casually during the trip.
"Alas, if you obey your brother, you will lose his sister-in-law's favor. If you care about your ideas, you will not care about your wallet. You are still groping." Wang Jia shook his head and sighed, "Don't think about doing anything behind my back. Do you think I can't see what happened before?"
"I just think that the Hong Kong music scene hasn't caught up with your ideas." Su Yun could tell that Wang Jiaju implied that he already knew that she had someone secretly looking after her, so she quickly waved her hands to indicate that she hadn't done much.
"Forget it, we all know you want to help us." Wang Jiaxiang was afraid that his elder brother would say something wrong again, so he quickly spoke up.
"I'm not blaming Su Su for anything. I was just saying a few words." Wang Jia quickly pushed him away.
After a pause, Su Yun continued, "You know, the majority of consumers nowadays are students who are not yet mature in their thinking and young people who have just started working. The music your band makes is a masterpiece that transcends time, and they will not be able to appreciate it for a while."
"I understand that, so after traveling to mainland China with them, I started to have some other ideas." Wang Jiaju gestured and said, "I plan to expand the subject matter and interpretation a little bit, just like the album "The Earth" released at the end of this year, and let other people in the band try singing, not just me as the lead singer..."
"Then, try to find a balance between business and art..." Although the family has accumulated a certain amount of wealth due to Su Yun's success, the two brothers have basically been pursuing their common musical dream wholeheartedly in recent years, so their parents, older brother, and sisters have to work hard to support the family business.
They were also thanks to Su Yun's "secret care", otherwise it would have been difficult for them to survive the first two years when they were almost chasing their dreams at their own expense.
"I don't have time to develop in the field of music. Of course, I hope someone can inherit my dream, and these people are my good friends." Su Yun smiled, "What's more, the current situation of the Hong Kong music scene is a bit close to killing the goose that lays the golden eggs. I support you and Danny and others to stick to originality, and I also want to try my best to change this abnormal situation."
Su Yun was very unhappy about the smearing remarks in later generations that "so-and-so supports half of the Hong Kong music scene".
This situation is clearly a stage in the development of regional music, just like when the Japanese music scene was in its early stages, it also extensively referenced and covered the already mature European and American music scene, learning from others' good things and then combining them with local realities to develop its own unique music culture.
The current stage of the Hong Kong music scene is exactly repeating the stage that the Japanese music scene has already gone through.
However, because the Hong Kong music scene can "take advantage" of the currently booming film and television industry, the demand for songs is far greater than the amount of creation, so they buy the copyrights of European and American songs and Japanese and Korean songs for cover songs, or share cross-border resources from the corresponding music companies of the singers... These are all quite normal things during this development period.
There is nothing shameful about "covering" a song after purchasing the copyright and paying for it. In fact, this "Chinese cover" should actually be strictly considered as the "original Chinese version" - in today's era, the copyright of songs mostly belongs to the music company, the composer and the lyricist. If the singer is not also the composer or the lyricist, the "original" singer is actually just a pawn singing the song and can be replaced at any minute.
But in the eyes of many people who don't know the inside story, the copyright of a song belongs to the "original" singer who first sang the song...
In view of this phenomenon that only the singers are known but the various production participants behind them are not, the competition among singers in music companies is sometimes much more brutal than that in the film and television industry.
For example, whenever a record is about to be released, the song resources in the hands of music companies of all sizes are basically sorted from top to bottom according to the status of the singers in the company: big-name singers choose songs first, and take away those with obviously good quality and a high chance of becoming a hit; even if there are some "slipping through the net", they will always become "lost pearls in the music industry" due to slightly inferior supporting resources.
This top-down song selection situation has led to a situation where singers in the music industry are fighting each other all the time, and that is not something that the capital tycoons care about.
In fact, they are actually happy to see this kind of life-and-death scene - only competitiveness can provide enough motivation, and can prompt the fans who are eager to fight to grit their teeth and stamp their feet to buy a few more records. In this way, after a little bit accumulates into a big bit, won't the record sales be able to rise to a higher level?
Su Yun's face darkened when she thought of the past "dual kings rivalry" and the recent "war among the princes", as well as the "Four Heavenly Kings" era which will become the glorious period and the last afterglow of the Hong Kong music scene.
It is precisely because of these people who are behind the scenes that a group of singers who were once so close and had a good relationship have now become embarrassed and awkward whenever they meet each other.
As a result, Chen Baiyang was slandered and suffered a setback, and finally had to go abroad for recuperation; Tan Yunlun directly announced at the awards ceremony that he would no longer participate in competitive awards; and Zhang Querong also wanted to temporarily quit the music industry after struggling to hold on for another two years, and his return date is unknown...
In the eyes of these short-sighted people who only care about short-term gains and losses, her real friends are just pawns that can make money for them.
Isn't it the same for the film and television industry, which is related to the music industry?
On the surface, it seems to be booming and thriving, and it seems that there is still a long way to go; but little do people know that before the dividends of the times with the right time, place and people can be fully enjoyed, they are already being resisted openly or covertly by regions that have discovered capital outflows, directly destroying this dividend of the times at the source.
Without overseas markets to sell its works and recover its funds, the Hong Kong film and television industry is rapidly declining, even faster than the Hong Kong music industry, which has not had a very smooth development overseas due to language restrictions.
Su Yun lowered her eyes and looked at the thermos in her hand. The wolfberry, chrysanthemum and cassia seed that had just been soaked in it mixed into a ball of bright and colorful colors: just like the current situation in the Hong Kong entertainment industry, it seems to be flourishing, but in fact, the undercurrent deep underneath has begun to surge and boil at an unknown time.
We should give suggestions on the general direction and control as much as possible, and then take advantage of the tail end of the golden age when we can still make money and gain fame, and try to make more money to pave the way for a comprehensive transformation in the future.
She and the people around her also need to work harder - only by continuing to increase their funding and fame to the top of the industry can they have more say in discussions on future development routes.
In order to gain more say, in addition to working with He Pingsi to transform the business and develop funds, we must also do our best to promote talents with potential to move up.
According to the route she has already planned, she has basically no shortage of money; the only thing she and those who want to compete for the right to speak on the future development route lack is a "chess piece" with enough weight in the entertainment industry.
Therefore, in recent years, she has been working hard to promote herself and to help her clients win various prestigious international awards.
Su Yun secretly made up his mind about the next arrangements.
After this trip to Japan, when I returned to Hong Kong with my old friends, it was already the new year.
After a short rest, Su Yun immediately began to exert her full strength at the Hong Kong speed, working non-stop day and night, and finally prepared both versions of "New Town" before the New Year's Eve.
The version that Zhao Qiming brought back to Shenzhen for public screening had a more mainstream style and a more understandable storyline, intended for ideological inspiration and policy propaganda.
The version that was sent to the Berlin Film Festival for an award was a departure from the previous version’s harmonious warmth. It focused more on the experience of implementing the “new town” policy in Hong Kong, from the failure of the initial satellite city “predecessor” to the struggle in the squatter areas, and finally to the implementation of the new policy and the completion of the “new town”. It also focused more on the confrontation at the ideological and social levels…
This was edited specifically for the Berlin Film Festival, which has long been famous for its focus on politics and social realities. Using changes in character circumstances to show historical and political changes is in line with the Berlin Film Festival's consistent appetite.
What's more, Su Yun's film is not aiming for the ultimate grand prize, the Golden Bear, but the relatively lesser Silver Bear to help Mei Yanshuang win the Berlin Film Festival Best Actress award. With the hard work of her and other Chinese directors such as Zhang, if she puts in some effort and money for public relations, there should be hope.
After all, the Berlin Film Festival is the most "friendly" to China and Chinese people among the three major awards. Many Chinese-language films and Chinese filmmakers also rely on it, taking it as a starting point and gradually heading out to the world.
Of course, there is another very important reason why Su Yun chose this year's Berlin Film Festival: her good friend Romy is one of the judges this year.
This is a particularly crucial vote.
If she had the ability to win the prize and had more guarantees, Su Yun would not be so rigid as to not do some tricks behind the scenes.
After all, ever since she first held up the Oscar statuette, she already knew how to use public relations techniques to canvass votes for herself.
When the dust settled at an award ceremony, Su Yun led the applause with satisfaction as she looked at Mei Yanshuang's face that was both crying and laughing after she knew she had won the award.
By the way, I also encourage those around me who can be encouraged.
Zha Lan, who took advantage of his free time to accompany Romy as a judge, came here for a vacation. After being dragged by Su Yun to be a cheerleader for a while, he asked in a low voice: "You are short of money recently. ? I heard that you sold shares and took over the production of special effects for movies..."
If you have time to take on other people’s production business, you won’t have time to take on his!
Su Yun glared at him unhappily and said, "What's the relationship between you and me? Why are you comparing us so much? If you really have something to do, would I not help you? I took on the special effects production business for Waterworld purely for its leading actor Kevin Costner."
"Oh, what are you going to ask him to shoot?" Although Su Yun's words could easily be misunderstood, Zha Lan, who had witnessed Su Yun's attempt to recruit the handsome boy as a worker, would never think that Su Yun was attracted to Costner as a person rather than his "talent".
"Well, I'm planning to have him be one of the leading actors in the movie series adapted from my game Resident Evil." Su Yun responded casually, "Because Costner is also an action star, it's not easy to invite him. Only by arranging resources like this can we get him."
"By the way, have you found a model that suits your taste?" Su Yun said, looking at Zha Lan again.
"I really don't understand why you care so much about my fur coat..." Zha Lan said speechlessly as he took out a stack of photos from his suit pocket. "Here are the last batch of candidates. They are the ones left after several rounds of selection. If nothing unexpected happens, I should choose one from here."
Su Yun hurriedly took the stack of photos, her hands trembling with excitement: Why do you care so much about this fur gg of Zha Lan - because this fur gg is the debut work of another French goddess!
This is the one she is going to use to play Jill, one of the heroines in Resident Evil! She has already got the male protagonist Chris, so she must be eager to get the heroine as soon as possible...
Sure enough, with another "introduction" from the French Sun God, Su Yun quickly found the beautiful goddess she had been thinking about for a long time in this stack of photos.
"Yes, that's right, it's Monica Bellucci - I like this one, give it to me!"