1990: Starting from Baojia Street

Another reason why Zhou Yan accepted Westward Journey is that the workload is not heavy, and it is the kind of work where you can earn more money with less work.

In fact, when Zhao Jiping scored Westward Journey, he probably didn't pay much attention. In other words, it wasn't that he didn't pay attention, but he just couldn't find inspiration. The same song was used in many parts of the movie.

The Knife Club, The Reeds and The Love of My Life are repeated in many places in the film.

Overall, the movie's soundtrack is not rich, and is even a bit monotonous.

On the other hand, the music that Zhou Yan and Zhao Jiping provided for Farewell My Concubine has several times the number of songs as in Westward Journey, and they are basically all original works by the two of them.

From such a comparison, we can feel that Zhao Jiping did not perform much in Westward Journey.

As for why it didn't work out well, it's impossible to tell whether Zhao Jiping didn't like the movie and did it that way, or whether he really couldn't match the movie's airwaves and couldn't find inspiration.

But it can be regarded as a blessing in disguise. Precisely because of repetition, several of the soundtracks in Westward Journey have left a deep impression on the audience, because they can always be heard and will never be forgotten.

When you hear the same piece of music more than three times in a movie, you will most likely be able to remember it, and Reeds and The Love of a Lifetime appear more than three times in the movie.

Zhou Yan also asked about the preparations for the filming of Westward Journey, Where will the movie be shot?

I have chosen a few places, but I haven't decided yet. The most likely one is Yinchuan. After the soundtrack was settled, Yang Guohui was very relaxed. He straightened his clothes and continued, The Chang'an Studio filmed before Red Sorghum was also shot in this place.

When Yang Guohui said this, Zhou Yan felt that the scenes in Westward Journey were indeed very similar to Red Sorghum, but he did not realize this when watching it before.

It is difficult for ordinary people to associate these two movies together.

Of course, most people don't know that this movie was produced by Zhou Xingchi and Chang'an Studio.

How's the casting going? Zhou Yan asked again.

Casting has not been officially launched yet. Except for a few main actors, nothing else has been decided.

Zhou Yan nodded. He knew that the main actors mentioned by Yang Guohui were most likely Stephen Chow, Karen Mok and Zhu Yin. If there was another one, it should be Ng Meng-tat.

It will be no problem once the main actor is decided, and there is no need to rush the other actors.

Well, we are now also discussing with Chang'an Production Company how to allocate the roles.

When he heard that they were going to discuss the role allocation with Chang'an Factory, Zhou Yan originally wanted to remind Yang Guohui to coordinate well with Chang'an Factory, but after thinking about it, he forgot it. It would not be good for him to ask too many questions about some things, as it would easily cause trouble. Misunderstand.

Besides, it was also the first time that Zhou Yan and Yang Guohui met. They didn't know who Yang Guohui was yet. If they had a superficial conversation, it would be easy for problems to arise.

After talking about the movie, after a brief silence, Yang Guohui took the initiative to find a topic and said, It's a pity. If we could have come to the mainland for a while earlier, we could also have gone to see Teacher Zhou's concert. I watched all of it on TV. The show was so shocking that it’s hard to imagine what a wonderful experience it would be to watch it live.”

Compared to Stephen Chow, Yang Guohui chats more and is not stingy at all when he praises others.

If Mr. Yang wants to see it next time, I will give you some tickets. Zhou Yan said with a smile.

How embarrassing is this? I'm definitely going to spend money to support you.

When you come to the scene, you are the best support.

…

Yang Guohui didn't stay in Yanjing for long. He had dinner with Zhou Yan that night and left the next morning.

The matter of providing the soundtrack for Westward Journey has been settled. All that remains is for Caixing Company to discuss the contract details with Tomson Company. Zhou Yan should not interfere particularly if it is not necessary.

After Yang Guohui left, Zhou Yan called his brother Zhou Hong.

As soon as the call was connected, Zhou Hong's laughter came over, How's it going? Did you get any results from your recent blind date?

Zhou Hong is usually stern, but he is never stingy about making fun of his younger brother and laughs very loudly. Not only Zhou Hong knew about Zhou Yan's blind date some time ago, but everyone in the Zhou family knew about it.

But Zhou Hong knew more details, because Zhou Hong had a good relationship with Huo Siqi and could hear the news from Huo Siqi. Huo Siqi basically knew the girls who were on blind dates with Zhou Yan.

Zhou Yan curled his lips and said, I'm sorry to disappoint you. I have already agreed with grandma not to go on blind dates for the time being.

Congratulations, you escaped. Zhou Hong smiled and asked, Why did you call me?

Yesterday Caixing's general manager Yang Guohui came to see me and invited me to be the soundtrack director for their new movie.

Caixing? Yang Guohui?

Although he opened an entertainment company, Zhou Hong didn't know much about the entertainment industry. He didn't know Caixing Company or who Yang Guohui was.

Caixing is Stephen Chow's company, and Yang Guohui is Stephen Chow's partner. Zhou Yan explained.

Oh. Zhou Hong nodded on the other end of the phone. He knew Stephen Chow.

Since it's Stephen Chow's movie, it should do well at the box office. Will you take this job?

Yes, I accepted it, and Yang Guohui said that he will use our orchestra when recording the soundtrack later.

Zhou Hong smiled and said, That's good news. I'll let Xu Junrong negotiate the price.

There is another one. They may invite Chen Hong to participate in their new movie... but they probably won't give it to the heroine.

Originally, when he heard that Stephen Chow was inviting Chen Hong to star in a new movie, Zhou Hong was interested, but later he heard that he would not be given the leading role, and his interest disappeared again.

A few days ago, as long as she could appear in Stephen Chow's movie, no matter how big or small the role was, Chen Hong would go, and the company would also arrange for her to go.

But now that the special program Yanjing Silence has been broadcast, many more crews have invited Chen Hong, and most of them are protagonists. In this case, if the role is not good enough, even if it is a Stephen Chow movie, for Chen Hong Not very attractive either.

In their drama, are there any non-female but important roles?

Zhou Yan thought for a while and found that, apart from Zixia and Bai Jingjing, the female characters in Westward Journey that can leave an impression on the audience should be Princess Iron Fan, Niu Xiangxiang, the sister of the Bull Demon King, and Chun Sansanniang, the spider spirit.

Among these three characters, Niu Xiangxiang has the lowest sense of presence. Princess Iron Fan is popular because of her line Mrs. Niu, Xiao Tiantian, and Chun Sanniang should have the most scenes.

There are probably one or two. Zhou Yan said.

Since there is, we can fight for it. I heard Xu Junrong say that most of the people who come to Chen Hong now are TV series. Don't you often say that if you can act in movies, don't act in TV series? Let's go back and wait for Stephen Chow and others to contact us. You can mention it, but if it doesn’t work, we can invest some money in it.”

When Zhou Hong said he wanted to invest money, Zhou Yan quickly said, No, don't invest money in them.

Zhou Hongqi asked doubtfully, Why, you don't think highly of them?

Well, I'm really not very optimistic about their box office performance. Zhou Yan said truthfully.

If you're not optimistic about it, why do you still want to take it? Zhou Hong was very surprised. Could it be that the script of this movie is very good?

The matter is quite complicated, and I can't explain it in just a few words. Besides, the box office of the movies I accept is not always good. The box office of Green Snake released some time ago is not very good, right?

The movie Green Snake is okay, and it's different from the past. They didn't give me a lot of money before. Besides, Green Snake was great. I think you worked very hard in kissing me in it.

Zhou Yan pouted, Brother, if you are jealous, I will make a movie for you later, find a bunch of beautiful celebrities, and kiss you one by one.

No, I can't bear it... How about making some arrangements for my eldest brother?

I will truthfully report your words to my sister-in-law after she comes over.

Zhou Hong laughed and said, Then you should make arrangements for yourself. If you make arrangements for yourself, make sure that a lot of actresses are willing, and no one else will tell you, Chen Hong will definitely be fine.

Anyone with a discerning eye can see that Chen Hong is interested in Zhou Yan. When The Sixth Sense was launched, Zhou Hong saw Chen Hong for the first time and noticed that this woman looked at his brother differently.

Zhou Yan sighed slightly, Are you in love? Why are you so gossipy lately?

What are you talking about...what does this have to do with falling in love?

It doesn't matter. I'm just talking nonsense. I won't tell you anymore. I still have a lot of work to do.

Okay, let's talk later.

…

After talking to Zhou Hong on the phone, Zhou Yan went to Yanjing Studio. The rough draft of The Sixth Sense was about to be cut out, so he had to come more frequently in the past two days. If there was any problem, he would contact the editor at any time. Teacher communication.

After cutting some things, it takes a lot of effort to go back and change them. It is best to find out the problems when it is convenient to trim.

After watching the film with the editor in the editing building for a while, Senior Lu walked in and asked softly: Zhou Yan, do you have time now?

Zhou Yan looked at the film, then looked at Senior Lu, and said, Fifteen minutes, is it enough?

That's enough. Senior Lu smiled.

Well, let's go to the reception room to chat. I just want to take a rest. After saying that, Zhou Yan patted the editor Yang Ming on the shoulder, Old Yang, you should also rest for a while. I'll talk to the senior about something and I'll be back soon. .”

Yang Ming waved his hand, It's okay, you can go ahead. I will have to deal with the issues you just mentioned for a while.

Zhou Yan nodded and went to the reception room with Senior Lu.

When he arrived at the reception room, Zhou Yan poured himself a cup of tea and sat down on the sofa. Senior, what do you want from me?

We've decided on a few actors for Grown Ups and I'll show them to you.

Senior Lu handed Zhou Yan a stack of information.

Zhou Yan took the information and took a look at it. There were seven people in the list. Two of the names were familiar to Zhou Yan. One was the actor Xu Yajun, and the other was Tian Zhuangzhuang, who played Zhu Helai.

In the previous life's Grown Up, Zhu Helai was played by Tian Zhuangzhuang.

Tian Zhuangzhuang's life has not been easy recently. The impact of Blue Kite was so great that Tian Zhuangzhuang fell to the bottom.

The current situation is that Tian Zhuangzhuang has no way to make a movie. Otherwise, he probably won't have time to play Grown Up.

Zhou Yan's eyes passed over Tian Zhuangzhuang's name and then back to Xu Yajun's position.

Xu Yajun is still a handsome young man and a popular male god. A few years ago, when he was just in his early twenties, he won the Golden Eagle Award for Best Actor and was the first actor to appear on the cover of Popular Film magazine .

Zhou Yan was quite surprised that Senior Lu could choose Xu Yajun, because in Zhou Yan's opinion, Xu Yajun was not the type of actor that Senior Lu would like to use.

Grown Up did not arrange centralized auditions. The main actors were met and discussed one by one by Mr. Lu. Naturally, it was impossible for Zhou Yan to go with him and meet with every actor.

So Zhou Yan didn't know about Xu Yajun's audition.

Male lead actor, how many actors have you met?

About seven or eight. After looking at it, I still think Xu Yajun is the best.

It's not bad. I thought you didn't want this kind of thing.

Mainly because of the count he played in Finding the World Back, I felt that he could play the role of Zhou Qing well.

Zhou Yan nodded and looked through the list again to make sure he didn't find the heroine.

Where is the heroine? She hasn't been decided yet?

Well, we haven't found the heroine yet, but we're still looking for her.

Then look for it slowly. There's no rush now. Zhou Yan lay on the sofa, rubbed his eyes, and asked about the soundtrack again, Have you talked to Wang Feng recently? His work attitude is not bad.

Senior Lu laughed and said, Listening to what you said, I feel like you are here to supervise the work. Wang Feng's work attitude is nothing to say. Although the filming of the movie has not started yet, he has already started writing music. We talked for four times. Five times, I was also inspired. Like you said, he's very talented, there's just one little problem.

what is the problem?

Senior Lu pursed his lips and suppressed a sentence, The aesthetics are too high.

Zhou Yan frowned and thought for a while, and then he understood what Senior Lu meant.

The protagonists in Grown Up should be exposed to very underground rock music, but Wang Feng's rock music is obviously different.

After all, Wang Feng came from a major, and the music education he received meant that he would not be able to make the same music as Black Panther and Tang Dynasty.

It’s not necessarily as Mr. Lu said that Wang Feng’s aesthetics are too high, but his style is different from the rock style that Zhou Qing, the protagonist of “Grown Up”, has access to. This is definitely a fact.

Is the music he wrote different from what you expected? Zhou Yan asked.

That's not true. I've read two songs he wrote. Both the lyrics and the melody are very good. Moreover, Wang Feng is also very able to grasp the mentality of young people who want to escape from bondage and seek freedom. If he can The music would be better if it were a little more violent.

Zhou Yan nodded, It's up to you two to discuss and adjust. It's always a good thing for the director and the soundtrack director to have more communication.

I understand this. The casting has not been decided yet, and we are not in a hurry about the soundtrack.

Is there anything else? Zhou Yan asked.

Senior Lu shook his head, No, that's it.

When he heard that it was okay, Zhou Yan took a sip of tea and then leaned back comfortably on the sofa. He had been in the editing room for a long time and was almost blinded by watching the film. The intraocular pressure was very high at the moment.

You should rest for a while, I'm going back. Senior Lu stood up with a smile.

Zhou Yan didn't even open his eyes and said, Well, you go back first.

After Senior Lu left, Zhou Yan lay on the sofa to rest. Just when he was about to fall asleep, the pager in his pocket suddenly beeped.

Zhou Yan suddenly woke up, took out the pager from his pocket, and squinted at the screen.

There are only four words written on it: Xian, Xiangjiang family.

Zhou Yan was a little surprised when she saw the news that it was Wang Zuxian. Under normal circumstances, Wang Zuxian would not call him during the day, because she also knew that Zhou Yan was busy during the day.

It was not convenient to chat in the studio, but Zhou Yan was worried that Wang Zuxian had something important, so he went to the editing room and called Wang Zuxian back.

After the call was connected, Zhou Yan smiled and said, Classmate Xiaoxian, what do you want from me?

Third brother, are you at home?

It's here at Yanjing Factory.

As soon as he heard that Zhou Yan was at Yanjing Studio, Wang Zuxian knew that it would be inconvenient to speak. She was originally soft-spoken, but now she became much more serious.

Oh, Director Zhou, are you busy now?

Yeah, not bad.

Wang Zuxian sighed slightly, Director Madangjie wants to ask me to be the go-between to introduce you two to each other.

Madangjie?

Um.

What does he want from me? Zhou Yan asked.

He didn't say anything specific. He just said that he wanted to get to know you because he knew that I had just acted in your The Sixth Sense, so he asked me to introduce him. I told him that if there is a cooperation, he can go to him. Tomson Company contacted him, but he still insisted on contacting you. Wang Zuxian said helplessly.

Of course she doesn't want to do this, but she has a good personal relationship with Madangjie. Before filming Green Snake last year, she also participated in Madangjie's movie New Meteor and Butterfly Sword.

Now that Madangjie has said this, it is really hard for her to lose face.

It's okay. Since he wants to contact you, just agree.

Then I'll give him your phone number.

No problem, just tell him that if he wants to call me in the next two days, it will be after 7:30.

Wang Zuxian couldn't help but muttered in a low voice, We still have to make phone calls after 7:30.

Then let me talk to him quickly.

…

At 7:30 pm, Zhou Yan received a call from Madangjie.

Mr. Zhou, it's a pleasure to meet you. I've always wanted to get to know you. This time I'm taking the liberty of asking Xiaoxian to help introduce you.

You're welcome, Director Mai. I've heard of you for a long time. After a brief greeting, Zhou Yan asked directly, I wonder what Director Mai wants to see me for?

Seeing Zhou Yan go straight to the point, Mai Dangjie did not make any detours, That's it, Mr. Zhou, I would like to invite you to be the soundtrack director of our new movie The Great Sino-Russian Train Robbery.

Zhou Yan was also surprised when he heard Madangjie mention The Great Sino-Russian Train Robbery. This was the second time he heard about this movie, and Hou Xin, who was responsible for Jiahe to contact Emei Chang before, also met Zhou Yan. Meet.

But Zhou Yan was not interested at all in the matter of soundtrack.

The movie The Great Sino-Russian Train Robbery has nothing worth boasting about except for the hot topic, and Zhou Yan doesn't like the shooting style of the movie.

As a movie, it fails to impress Zhou Yan.

As a commodity, it has no ability to make money.

No matter which way you look at it, Zhou Yan has no reason to take this movie.

So Zhou Yan refused directly, I'm sorry, Director Mai, I'm afraid I'm not suitable for this movie.

Madangjie asked doubtfully, Mr. Zhou, can you tell me why?

I have no experience in scoring music for this type of movie, and I have no interest in this type of movie. Besides, I've been very busy with work in the past two years, so I probably won't be able to spare the time.

Mai Dangjie called Zhou Yan through Wang Zuxian, so it was impossible for him to send him back just by Zhou Yan's words.

Mr. Zhou, I know that you are a very ambitious artist. You are so young and it is time to seek a breakthrough. The movie The Great Sino-Russian Train Robbery may be your breakthrough, and this movie is It is adapted from real events and is very humanistic. For an artist like you...

Madangjie was very talkative and tried to persuade Zhou Yan from the perspective of artistic pursuit.

However, Zhou Yan obviously did not accept this. When Mai Dangjie finished speaking, Zhou Yan shook his head and said, I'm sorry, Director Mai, I really can't take on this movie. Let's wait until there is an opportunity in the future and let's work together again.

Since it was Wang Zuxian who introduced him, Zhou Yan naturally couldn't be too talkative and mentioned that there would be opportunities to cooperate in the future.

Mai Dangjie was still unwilling to give up. Since his spiritual pursuit could not convince Zhou Yan, he changed his approach and started talking about money with Zhou Yan.

Mr. Zhou, this time we have freed up a lot of funds for music production. If you are willing to take on this movie, we can provide you with a salary of 300,000 yuan.

When Zhou Yan heard the salary of 300,000 yuan, he felt no emotion at all.

However, he also knew that it was quite good for Madangjie to offer such a salary. After all, the production cost of The Great Chinese-Russian Train Robbery cannot be compared with that of Westward Journey.

Director Mai, it's really not about the salary. I really can't accept it.

At this point, Madangjie knew that it was basically impossible to convince Zhou Yan.

He didn't believe that Zhou Yan was a person who regarded money as dirt, but even three hundred thousand yuan couldn't impress Zhou Yan, so they couldn't afford the price that could impress Zhou Yan.

The reason why Madangjie invited Zhou Yan to serve as the soundtrack director for The Great Sino-Russian Train Robbery was not because he appreciated Zhou Yan's music, as he said.

The real reason is that after the Yanjing Silence concert, Zhou Yan became very popular in the mainland.

With such high popularity, Madangjie also wanted to take advantage of it.

The reason why they wanted to film The Great Sino-Russian Train Robbery was to take advantage of the news, and now it makes sense that the soundtrack would be based on a popular guy like Zhou Yan.

Sighing slightly, Madangjie said, That's such a shame, Mr. Zhou, I really look forward to cooperating with you.

It doesn't matter. It will be the same if we have the opportunity to cooperate in the future.

Then I won't disturb you. If you have time in the future, come to Xiangjiang and I'll treat you to tea.

No problem. When you come to the mainland, I'll treat you to dinner.

…

After hanging up the phone from Madangjie, Zhou Yan called Wang Zuxian again.

After the call was connected, Wang Zuxian asked, Third brother, what does Director Mai want from you?

Invited me to be the soundtrack director for his new film.

Did you agree?

No, his new movie doesn't suit me very well.

Well, don't answer if it's not suitable, and you're already very busy.

The second half of the year will be busier, and the first half of the year will be better.

Yeah, third brother, I have good news for you.

What good news? Zhou Yan asked.

My decision to go to Neon to shoot an advertisement has basically been decided. It will coincide with your concert at the end of the year. Wang Zuxian said very happily.

After Green Snake, Wang Zuxian took on The Sixth Sense and did not participate in any other movies. Over the past year or so, she has basically been participating in various activities.

She made too many movies last year and the year before that. Even if each of these movies participated in a promotional event, it would take many days.

In addition to film promotion activities, there are also various brand activities. After all, she also endorses many brands.

A few days ago, Joey Wong was saying that she would advance Shiseido's advertising from next spring to this winter because she wanted to go to Zhou Yan's concert.

Now it seems that things are going quite smoothly.

In fact, even if the matter didn't work out, Wang Zuxian still wanted to go, but without an honest reason like filming an advertisement, she could only go there secretly.

Then do you want to stay in a hotel with us?

Wang Zuxian was startled, It's better not to be so blatant and let Shiseido arrange accommodation, but I can be your guide. Is this your first time going to Neon?

Well, first time.

I've been there several times. I'll take you to play when the time comes.

Thank you so much, guide Xiao Wang.

Haha. Wang Zuxian laughed, and then said, Tell me, when we are walking on Neon Street, do we know more about you or me? Your two albums are selling fast in Neon. Has it reached two million?

Even if my music album sells 10 million copies in Neon, not as many people know me as they know you.

It's too exaggerated.

What Zhou Yan said is actually not an exaggeration at all. Unless Zhou Yan sells 10 million albums in Neon, otherwise, there must be more people who know Joey Wong, because Wang Zuxian is an actor and relies on his face to make a living, so everyone will naturally know her face.

But Zhou Yan is different. Many Neon fans may have listened to his music countless times, but don’t know what he looks like.

When Piano Boy was released in Hong Kong before, there were photos of Zhou Yan in it, but even so, people who bought the album might not read it carefully, and they might not be able to remember it after reading it.

As for Neon, Zhou Yan only appeared once on TV Asahi, and it was impossible to expect that that one program would make many Neon people know him.

…

Neon, Tokyo.

Heisuke waved the two tickets for Touhou Legacy that he had just bought from others in front of his good friend Kameda Nanaya, I bought them.

Kameda's eyes lit up, Did you really buy it?

They had been paying attention to Zhou Yan's concert Oriental Legacy for a long time, but when it was time to release tickets, they arrived more than a day late and the tickets were sold out.

However, Heisuke was unwilling to give in and ran to find other people to ask if they could transfer the tickets. In the end, Huangtian paid off and let him get two tickets.

For these two tickets, I spent an extra ten thousand neon coins.

Kameda was surprised, So many more?

Well, otherwise they wouldn't sell it at all. The person who sold the tickets to me said that Zhou Yan broke the fastest ticket sales record for any young musician this time. It only took two days for all the tickets to be sold out.

The fastest ticket sales record for a young musician. Is there such a record? How to define a young musician? How old is a young musician?

Heisuke shook his head, I don't know about that.

Is there any record of fastest ticket sales among all musicians?

Heisuke shook his head again, I don't know about this, maybe it's him too. After all, the Suntory Concert Hall has only been under construction for a few years, and not many people come to hold concerts.

Although I am looking forward to the concert, I still feel a little uncomfortable if I am given an extra 10,000 neon coins. Nanaya Kameda covered her chest, How many music albums can I buy with these 10,000 neon coins?

Actually, we are already very good. I heard that Zhou Yan is holding a concert in Yanjing. A ticket costs hundreds of thousands of neon coins, and you may not be able to buy it.

Hundreds of thousands?!

Kameda Nanaya was shocked by this number. A concert ticket costs hundreds of thousands of neon coins. Some people's monthly salary is less than two hundred thousand neon coins. This is too exaggerated.

Don't they all say that wages in China are very low? I heard someone say last time that the average monthly salary in China is less than 10,000 neon coins. How come there are so many people spending hundreds of thousands of neon coins to go to concerts? ?”

Maybe because Yanjing is the capital, the salary is higher, or maybe Yanjing people like music more.

Heisuke was also a little confused, but when the person told him, he was very sincere and sincere, and it didn't look like he was telling lies.

But what Heisuke doesn't know is that it's not lies that create false rumors.

A lot of fake news evolves step by step from true news.

Zhou Yan held a concert in Yanjing, and the ticket price was very high. This is of course true, but the highest ticket price was only tens of thousands of neon coins.

As the news spread, the original tens of thousands of neon coins spread to hundreds of thousands of neon coins.

There is a huge gap between tens of thousands of neon coins and hundreds of thousands of neon coins, and the intuitive feelings are also very different.

As for the youngest musician's ticket sales record, it is indeed true. Zhou Yan is indeed the fastest young musician in Suntory's ticket sales.

Originally, Suntory's fastest selling ticket was sold out in one day, which was one day less than Tongfang Yiyin. However, in order to promote publicity, a qualifier was added in front of this record.

As we all know, as long as there are enough qualifiers, any record can be obtained.

Now many people have forgotten the qualifier Suntory Young Musician and think that Zhou Yan broke Neon's concert ticket sales record. (End of chapter)