1990: Starting from Baojia Street

When Sun Ling went to the kitchen to cook, Zhou Yan asked casually, What was senior brother writing just now?

Writing the soundtrack for Cannon Strike Two Lights.

It's probably a novel by Feng Jicai.

Zhao Jiping smiled and nodded, It seems that you are really knowledgeable about literature. The original work is indeed written by Feng Jicai, and the movie was shot by He Ping.

Oh, Director He.

He Ping was also the director of Chang'an Factory. He lived on the same floor as Liu Qing and others, and he and Zhou Yan were close acquaintances.

Basically, I'm almost finished writing it. I can relax a little during this period. Now I have a movie called Feng Yue on hand, and I haven't even started filming yet.

Zhou Yan nodded and said, I forgot to tell you something yesterday. The soundtrack of Alive is about to be released. Zhao Lao has a song in it. He will get a share of the soundtrack.

Zhao Jiping was certainly happy to hear that Zhao Ji's work would be released together with the soundtrack, but he still waved his hand, You are too polite. You have already paid him salary before, so forget about the share of the soundtrack. He is still young. , it’s very rare to have this opportunity.”

Zhao Jiping was really not being polite, he really thought so.

In his opinion, Zhou Yan was able to put Zhao Lao's music into the movie and give Zhao Lao his signature, which was already a great privilege.

And he doesn't think much of it.

Zhou Yan said with a smile, Senior brother, I really can't listen to you on this matter. It belongs to Zhao Zhang, and it must not be less. Now is a market economy, and we can't follow the old path. Young musicians like Zhao Zhang and the others want to To achieve good development, we need to give them some substantial support. Moreover, Zhao Kuo is also an adult, so I will ask the company to deal with him on this matter later.

Hey, when I heard you say that, I suddenly felt old. That's right, the child is older, and we can't interfere too much. You can make arrangements for this matter.

The first time Zhao Jiping felt that his son had grown up was actually last year when Zhao Ji used his salary of several hundred yuan to buy things for him and his wife.

After Zhao Yan received the salary given to him by Zhou Yan, he only kept a few dozen yuan for pocket money. The remaining money bought a watch for Zhao Jiping and a set of clothes for Sun Ling.

This year's work will be better. Zhao Zhang will go back to Chang'an for a few days. If the crew has a car from Yinchuan back to Chang'an, he can follow the car back.

I actually don't care. The main thing is his mother. I read it every once in a while when I don't see him.

Zhou Yan smiled. Zhao Jiping is a typical traditional Chinese father. He never talks about love and longing, but when they usually talk on the phone, Zhao Jiping will pretend to casually ask about Zhao Lin.

…

The next day, Zhou Yan returned to Yanjing.

It was the end of the semester, and there was still a lot of work waiting for him to do in school.

He holds the position of assistant to the department head. Although he is not very busy, he cannot do nothing but be a mascot.

I have been busy until June 17, when The Sixth Sense premiered in Yanjing.

Originally, Zhou Yan planned to build a movie theater and invite the crew and some friends to watch a movie together.

But Xu Feng firmly disagreed and insisted on holding a lively premiere ceremony.

It just so happened that the crew of Feng Yue were in Yanjing these days, so Xu Feng invited the main creative team of Feng Yue to join them.

As for The Sixth Sense, except for the young male protagonist Hu Ke who couldn't come because he couldn't go to school, all the main creative staff came, and naturally Wang Zuxian and Liang Jiahui were also there.

In addition to the main creative staff of the two crews, Chen Zhigu, the director of the Yanjing Factory, and Han Sanping, the deputy director, also came to the scene, which can be said to be a gathering of big names.

Wang Anyi, the editor of Feng Yue, was also in Yanjing recently, so he came to join in the fun.

Wang Anyi was walking with Gong Li and saw Zhou Yan surrounded by people from a distance. She asked curiously, He is the director?

Gong Li nodded, Yes, Zhou Yan.

It feels a bit familiar.

Gong Li smiled, Of course you look familiar. Zhou Yan played Chen Feipu in Raise the Red Lantern.

Wang Anyi has seen this movie, and Gong Li knows it. When they chatted before, Wang Anyi also praised Gong Li for her good performance in the movie.

But Wang Anyi shook his head, No, I should have seen him elsewhere, but I just can't remember.

That should be his concert. The Yanjing Silence concert previously shown on CCTV was organized by him.

Wang Anyi still shook his head, I probably haven't seen this concert.

I do not know.

Gong Li also lamented that there are so many differences between the writer's circle and the film and television circle. Now Zhou Yan is quite famous in the film and television circle, and his face is relatively familiar in the film and television circle.

Moreover, Zhou Yan's music album sold millions of copies, which was quite a sensation in China, but Wang Anyi and the others didn't know anything about it.

Of course, this seems normal. Even those very famous writers in China don’t know about it.

If she hadn't filmed Raise the Red Lantern, Gong Li wouldn't have known that there was a writer like Su Tong, and if she hadn't filmed Alive, she wouldn't have known Yu Hua.

And this time, if she hadn't filmed Feng Yue, she wouldn't even know who Ye Zhaoyan was.

On the other hand, it was Wang Anyi whose name Gong Li had heard before.

Oh, by the way. Gong Li suddenly remembered something and added, Zhou Yan is also a writer, and the movie adapted from his Tree Hole won an award some time ago.

Speaking of Tree Hole, Wang Anyi knew that it was an excellent novel previously published in Yanjing Literature. As for the film adaptation of Tree Hole, she had never heard of it.

Tree Hole was actually written by him.

Wang Anyi thought for a while and only thought of Tree Hole, but could not remember the name of the author of Tree Hole.

After a while, three identity information appeared, writer, director, and musician, and they all sounded pretty awesome.

Sister Wang, I'm going to say hello, do you want to come with me?

Wang Anyi waved his hand, I'll forget it.

Seeing that Wang Any didn't want to go, Gong Li didn't persuade him, so she went alone.

Here Wang Anyi wandered around the venue boredly. After walking a few steps, she suddenly saw a wheelchair. The person in the wheelchair had his back to her. This figure looked familiar.

Is this... Shi Tiesheng?

Out of curiosity, she went over to take a look and saw that it was really Shi Tiesheng.

Tiesheng? Wang Anyi looked surprised.

Shi Tiesheng raised his head and looked at Wang Anyi, not surprised at all, Anyi, you're here.

Why are you here?

Shi Tiesheng smiled and replied, Zhou Yan and I are good friends.

You and Zhou Yan...

Just as Wang Anyi spoke, Yu Hua came from the side and said in surprise, Hey, Sister Wang is here.

Yu Hua, you're here too.

Zhou Yan's new movie is released today, and we are here to support it. Why are you here, Sister Wang?

Before Wang Anyi spoke, Shi Tiesheng explained to her, Anyi is one of the screenwriters of Feng Yue.

Shi Tiesheng had heard Zhou Yan say this before, so he didn't feel strange when he saw Wang Anyi just now.

Yu Hua didn't know the news and was quite surprised, It's quite a coincidence. I heard that Feng Yue and Farewell My Concubine are from the same cast. I'm quite looking forward to it.

How did you and Zhou Yan know each other? Wang Anyi asked curiously.

Zhou Yan and I met because of the movie Alive. He was the soundtrack director of the movie. Tie Sheng and Zhou Yan have known each other for a long time.

Shi Tiesheng nodded, I met Zhou Yan twice in the Temple of Earth before, and we gradually became familiar with him.

Wang Anyi joked, Why do I feel like your circle in Yanjing is so small? Everyone knows everyone.

It's hard to say what kind of circle we are in. We mainly came here because of Zhou Yan. We happened to meet each other today. We can have a dinner date. Chi Zijian seems to be in Yanjing recently.

Okay, I will stay in Yanjing for a few more days.

Wang Anyi was naturally very happy to meet Yu Hua and Shi Tiesheng. She was not familiar with the other people present, including Gong Li, and she felt much more relaxed when chatting with Yu Hua and the others.

…

The process of the premiere was very simple. After Zhou Yan greeted the guests, he took Wang Zuxian and other creatives to the front to be interviewed by reporters.

There has been a lot of news related to Zhou Yan in the film and television industry recently. Reporters also took the opportunity to ask Zhou Yan questions. Even Wang Zuxian and Liang Jiahui were ignored.

Reporter: First of all, congratulations to Director Zhou for winning the Best New Actor Award at the Hong Kong Film Awards some time ago. I think everyone must be very curious, did you participate in The Sixth Sense?

Zhou Yan: Yes, but it's a role with very few scenes. It's not convenient to disclose the details. You will know it when you watch the movie later.

Reporter: Can you tell us your expectations for the box office of the movie? We all know that your first feature film The Piano Boy Who Wants to Fly achieved very good results. Is your goal this time better than the last one? How about high?

Zhou Yan: The more box office the better, but I haven't set a specific goal for the time being, as long as I don't lose money.

Reporter: You are too humble. Recently we also received news that French director Olivier's remake of The Flying Piano Boy has a global box office of more than 40 million US dollars. Will this movie be released in mainland China?

Zhou Yan: You asked the wrong person about this. You have to ask Olivier.

Reporter: After this movie is released, do you have any other plans? When can we see your third feature film?

Zhou Yan: Just let it happen, I have no plans yet.

Reporter: Your movies have done very well at the box office, but they haven't won any awards. Will you compete for major awards in the future?

Zhou Yan: To say I don't want to win an award is definitely to deceive myself, but I never make movies with the goal of winning awards. As long as there is recognition from the audience, in my mind, it is equivalent to winning an award.

…

The reporters besieged Zhou Yan for a while before starting to ask questions to Wang Zuxian and Liang Jiahui.

After the interview ended, Zhou Yan took Wang Zuxian and the others into the movie theater.

When we arrived at the theater, before the movie started playing, Zhou Yan went to the front and said a few words, which probably meant thanking everyone for coming to support us.

When Zhou Yan left, Leslie Cheung turned sideways and asked Chen Kaige, Kaige, have you seen this movie in advance?

Chen Kaige shook his head, I haven't seen it, but I heard from people in the editing workshop that the movie is very special.

Special, what do you mean?

I didn't ask too much. I'll find out after a while.

Leslie Cheung nodded, said no more, and waited quietly for the movie to start.

After a while, the lights in the theater dimmed and the screen lit up.

At the beginning of the film, the opening animation of Tomson Film Company appeared, and then the characters of Yanjing Film Studio appeared, followed by the basic information of the film.

As the characters Yanjing Studio disappeared, suspenseful music began to play.

The music is not intense, but it is full of a sense of oppression. Listening to this music, you will know that this is not a warm family movie, but it even feels like a horror and suspense film.

This movie is directed and scored by Zhou Yan, and the music will certainly not disappoint. The soundtrack even steals the show before the first shot of the movie even appears.

When the credits ended, the big screen suddenly dimmed, and the entire theater fell into darkness.

Slowly, the audience saw a little bit of dim light emitting from the screen. These light spots were not obvious at first, like sparks floating in the winter night. After a while, the light spots slowly changed and began to connect into a film. .

Only then did the audience discover that it was an incandescent lamp.

Chen Kaige was quite surprised when he saw the first scene in the opening scene. Zhou Yan's shooting techniques were much improved compared to the previous movie.

In the first shot of this movie, the lights gradually get brighter. It is a small-scale opening. The contrast between light and shadow is obvious, which perfectly matches the opening soundtrack, setting a dark tone for the movie.

Before the first shot ended, the sound of a door opening sounded in the background, and then it transitioned to the second shot.

Using sound to bring out the camera is a technique Zhou Yan often used in his previous movies.

Zhou Yan has a unique talent in sound, so he can always capture some auditory details.

The second shot is fixed and from a voyeuristic perspective, facing the side of a staircase.

In this voyeuristic shot, footsteps are heard first, followed by the woman's legs descending the stairs.

When the woman walked down, the audience discovered that it was the heroine Joey Wong.

Wang Zuxian wore a long purple dress and walked slowly towards the camera through the light and shadow of light and dark.

The camera is very dark and the heroine is very beautiful.

Chen Kaige remembered that British director Hitchcock once said that movies are an art of voyeurism, and the essence of movies is voyeurism.

In this shot, the audience's subjective point of view is peeping at the heroine.

This is an unconventional photography method. The lens is at a relatively low angle of view, allowing the audience to look down. This viewpoint is visually novel, increases the realism of the picture, and increases the audience's sense of involvement.

Just two shots left Chen Kaige stunned.

Is Zhou Yan really a genius? He has grown so fast.

Chen Kaige has seen all the things Zhou Yan has shot before, including the short film Antfly that won the Clermont Ferrand Award. It can be said that Zhou Yan's shooting methods are improving every time, and the improvement is very obvious.

The time was short, and Chen Kaige could not notice all the details. He could only see the use of the camera first, but he was sure that there must be details in these pictures that he had not noticed.

The following shots highlight Zhou Yan's mastery of the use of lenses, and also demonstrate his research on lighting.

Each picture depicts the overall lighting position in the cellar.

This kind of lighting position description with strong sense of logic and complete details can make the audience familiar with the lighting in the scene in a short time, so that the audience's perspective will be broadened.

Chen Kaige can see these things because he is a professional director, but Leslie Cheung next to him cannot see these things.

However, although he did not understand the filming methods used by Zhou Yan, Leslie Cheung could see that the filming of this movie was indeed very high-level. In just a few shots, the audience's appetite was whetted.

Who is this woman? What is she doing in the cellar? Why does her body language suggest she is in danger? What is threatening her?

At the same time, Leslie Cheung also discovered a special point, that is, under Zhou Yan's lens, Wang Zuxian was very different from her in other movies.

Wang Zuxian is also very beautiful in other movies, but when most directors shoot her, the shots they give her are too direct.

But in Zhou Yan's shots, what makes Wang Zuxian beautiful is not her face, but her movements, light and shadow, and the environment.

Wang Anyi, who was not far from Leslie Cheung, also noticed this. Although the camera did not focus on Wang Zuxian's face or figure, it made people feel that this heroine was very beautiful.

Wang Anyi's understanding was deeper than Leslie Cheung's. When she thought of Zhou Yan as a writer, she thought of the characteristics of character description in Chinese literature.

The third-class appearance is briefly mentioned, the second-class appearance is described in detail, and the first-class appearance is not described.

Some people may be curious, how do you know whether it is beautiful or not without describing it?

This is the special feature of Chinese literary works in describing characters. They like to use the environment to describe characters, small bridges, flowing water, misty rain, and painted umbrellas. A woman stands in this picture. There is no need for any description, everyone knows her. beautiful.

This is not only true for ancient literature, but also for modern literature.

There is a sentence in Border Town that describes green mountains and green waters, and a pair of eyes as clear as crystal.

This sentence does not describe Cuicui's appearance in detail, but this sentence imprints a clear and transparent girl in the mind of the reader.

The same goes for Zhou Yan's photos of Joey Wong. Although he didn't slap Joey Wong in the face, everything around him made the audience feel that Joey Wang was beautiful.

Only half of the light was used to highlight Wang Zuxian's fragile and weak image.

Everyone at the scene had their own interpretation and understanding of the movie, from different angles, but they all found that these shots contained a lot of information.

No shot seems to be superfluous, every shot is exactly right and tries to tell something to the audience.

Some information is relatively simple and can be seen at a glance, while other information may require a lot of thinking.

But there is not much time left for the audience to think, because the pace of the movie is very fast. After a while, the first conflict appeared. A naked man broke into the home of the hero and heroine.

Through the dialogue, the audience learned that this man was once a patient of the male protagonist. Apparently there was something wrong with the male protagonist's treatment, and this man came here to take revenge on the male protagonist.

In the end, the man shot the hero in the abdomen and then committed suicide.

Seeing this, many viewers were confused. Is the male protagonist going to die now?

It's only been less than ten minutes of the movie, right? What's next?

Probably not dead.

Soon, the camera flashed to the following autumn.

The male protagonist appears again, holding a medical record in his hand.

The audience also breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that the movie was still normal and the male protagonist survived the disaster.

The man who shot himself was probably dead. The male protagonist probably felt guilty for that incident, so he found a patient with the same condition as the man.

Prepare to relieve the self-blame in your heart by treating this patient well.

But things are not that easy. The patient boy is very resistant to the male protagonist and is unwilling to receive treatment at all.

After that, the story developed in the direction expected by the audience. In order to make the boy accept him, the male protagonist followed the boy and tried to do the boy's job.

Later, the boy told the hero that he could actually see the dead.

The male protagonist didn't believe this, and neither did most of the audience. But later, the male protagonist discovered some strange sounds in the previous recording when he listened back.

When many viewers saw this, they were stunned. Darling, is there really a ghost?

Later, as the plot progressed, the audience became convinced that the boy could indeed see the undead, and because he had such a skill, he was haunted by some undead.

However, the movie is not too scary. Instead, with the help of the male protagonist, the little boy slowly opened his heart, accepted the reality that he had Yin and Yang eyes, and began to try to use his abilities to help the undead.

Up to this point, the audience feels that this is a very good, even somewhat warm redemption movie.

Because the male protagonist felt guilty about the previous patient, he used his love and patience to guide the little boy. As the little boy became cheerful, the male protagonist was also redeemed.

But just when the audience feels that this is the movie.

At the end of the movie, the male protagonist returned home and looked at the female protagonist who was sleeping on the sofa, and suddenly heard the female protagonist murmuring in her sleep.

Why did you leave me?

The male protagonist didn't realize anything was wrong at this time and just said, I didn't leave you.

At this time, the heroine shrank and the ring in her hand suddenly fell to the ground.

The ring fell to the ground and rolled in front of the male protagonist.

At this time, the camera photographed the heroine's own ring, and then photographed the male protagonist's empty finger. The one on the ground turned out to be his wedding ring.

Looking at the ring, the male protagonist fell into a huge shock. He remembered the boy's words and the scene when he saw the boy for the first time.

At this time, some viewers haven't understood it yet, but some viewers have already understood it.

The male protagonist is dead. When he was with the little boy, he was always in an undead state.

No wonder, the heroine has been ignoring him.

No wonder, every time the male protagonist gets close to the female protagonist, the female protagonist gets cold.

It turns out that he has always been an undead, but he didn't know it.

The boy actually said that people die but don’t know that they are undead. At that time, many people didn’t think much about it. Now that I think about it, it turns out that the man he was talking about was the male protagonist.

This sudden reversal directly gave many viewers goosebumps.

Especially at this moment, the background music in the movie became very intense, pushing the emotion of the entire movie to its climax.

Leslie Cheung also had chills running down his spine. No wonder this is a very special movie. It turns out it is.

The key is that although the ending is sudden, it is not abrupt at all. The director has already given clues in the previous shots, but the audience did not think about it, so they did not take it seriously.

Now that you have seen the ending, and if you think about the details, you will understand that the director is actually leading the audience to discover the truth step by step.

But the movie didn't end here. At the end, Zhou Yan suddenly appeared. He stood in the classroom, holding a book, and said to several children: Today's story is over.

Seeing this scene, many viewers were surprised. What does this mean? The story just now was all false?

No, of course the story is false. No one would think that the story in this movie is true.

But is it necessary to say this?

Chen Kaige smiled. He knew why such a paragraph was added, just to pass the trial.

Although there is no explicit rule in mainland films that ghosts are not allowed, it does get stuck when it is submitted for review. This last scene is tantamount to a patch.

Most other viewers didn't understand, but that didn't stop them from applauding the movie. The second feature film directed by Zhou Yan did not disappoint.

Although this movie does not look intense, and there are no romance or action scenes, the rhythm is very tight, which can attract the audience to keep watching, and then usher in a shocking twist at the end.

Amidst the applause of the crowd, Zhou Yan stood up and bent towards the audience to express his gratitude.

The premiere ceremony was over at this point.

When the show was over, many people came to Zhou Yan to congratulate him in person.

Leslie Cheung gave Zhou Yan a thumbs up, This movie will definitely do well at the box office in Hong Kong.

Compared with The Piano Boy Who Wants to Fly, The Sixth Sense is obviously more suitable for the tastes of Hong Kong audiences.

Zhou Yan laughed and said, I'll lend you a favor. If the movie's box office in Hong Kong exceeds 15 million, I'll treat you to dinner.

Then you can't run away with this meal. It's too much to say. Fifteen million should be fine.

The reason why Leslie Cheung has such confidence is not only because the subject matter of this movie is more suitable for Hong Kong audiences, but also because its cast is also very good. Tony Leung Ka Fai and Joey Wong are quite popular at the box office in Hong Kong.

Of course, this is not necessarily guaranteed. The film market in Xiangjiang is too fierce. Previously, Green Snake had Wang Zuxian and Maggie Cheung, and the director was Tsui Hark. Wouldn't it still be a hit?

Chen Kaige said from the side, Everyone who meets you has a share. When the time comes, you can't treat me to dinner without me.

Zhou Yan waved his hand, No problem. If the box office of The Sixth Sense exceeds 15 million in Hong Kong, I will treat all of you to dinner.

What about the Mainland? How much is the box office in the Mainland for you to treat me to dinner? Chen Kaige asked again.

It's hard to calculate the box office in the Mainland.

Isn't there an estimate?

Then 20 million. If it exceeds 20 million, I will treat you to dinner.

There's also Taiwan Island, and Neon...

Gong Li joked, Then let Zhou Yan cover our food expenses for a year.

Wang Zuxian said with a smile, If the box office of The Sixth Sense in Taiwan can exceed 15 million, I will treat everyone to dinner.

Hey, that's good.

Gong Li held Wang Zuxian's arm and said to Zhou Yan, Look, our sister Xiaoxian is worth it.

Zhou Yan nodded repeatedly, It's worth it. Of course it's worth it. Please come back in the future.

If we invite you again in the future, I'm afraid Miss Wang's salary will increase. Chen Kaige said.

In the past, Chen Kaige was reluctant to use actors like Wang Zuxian. In his opinion, although Wang Zuxian was beautiful, he had no characteristics and could not fit into his drama. However, after watching The Sixth Sense today, let alone Zhou Yan's scenes, Next, Joey Wong is really different from his previous roles.

Although the heroine didn't have many roles in this drama, Joey Wong was very lucky to get it.

Wang Zuxian said very generously, It's okay. From now on, Director Zhou will give me a discount if he asks me to make a movie.

Then where are we looking for you? Chen Kaige asked.

Zhou Yan continued, Then if you ask for it, I will definitely ask you for more salary, otherwise you won't be able to give me a discount.

Hey, isn't that just tearing down my east wall and repairing your west wall?

This is called the law of conservation of pay.

…

The box office performance of mainland movies is very modest, and news spreads relatively slowly. Even if the movies are good, they cannot become popular quickly. They all go up step by step.

Therefore, although The Sixth Sense received unanimous praise when it premiered, it did not cause any sensation in society in a short period of time.

Moreover, it is difficult to count box office statistics in the Mainland. There is no detailed data for a week after the movie was released. Not to mention the box office, there is not even the number of moviegoers.

A week later, the movie was released in Hong Kong.

Last time, Zhou Yan was unknown in Xiangjiang. The publicity of the movie was not very good at the beginning, and the movie schedule given by the cinema was mediocre.

But this time the situation is much better. Zhou Yan's reputation in Hong Kong is now different from what it was back then. Moreover, this movie also includes Tony Leung Ka-fai and Joey Wong, so the cinema is naturally willing to schedule the film. (End of chapter)