Veteran directors seek breakthroughs and wait for audience review comments: they also need to innovate

In addition to Stephen Chow's "Mermaid", almost all mainland film markets in the first half of 2016 were supported by Mesozoic directors, and there were also few phenomenal films that could support the box office. In the next schedule, Ang Lee, Zhang Yimou, Feng Xiaogang, Chen Kaige and other "veteran celebrities" we are familiar with will finally return.

Original title: Zhang Yimou, Ang Lee, Feng Xiaogang, and Chen Kaige have returned one after another...

In addition to Stephen Chow's "Mermaid", almost all mainland film markets in the first half of 2016 were supported by Mesozoic directors, and phenomenal films may support the box office. There is also little to mention for blockbusters. In the next schedule, Ang Lee, Zhang Yimou, Feng Xiaogang, Chen Kaige and other "veteran celebrities" we are familiar with will finally return. Although they are already regarded as big-name directors, they still have the courage to seek breakthroughs when making films. They dare not ignore the new generation of young audiences who are emerging-Ang Lee has played with technology, and Zhang Yimou has launched the "use of big celebrities and small fresh meat". Feng Xiaogang, who has been making comedy for 20 years, continues to work on the road of comedy, but bluntly said that "I am not Pan Jinlian" allowed him to truly learn to make movies for the first time. Of course, in the end, will the audience pay for the answers they hand over? Still to be verified.

New Film News

Since Stephen Chow's "Mermaid" grossed 3.3 billion yuan at the box office during the Spring Festival this year, the mainland film market has been relatively deserted in the first half of the year, and big-name directors were almost absent collectively. There are also many cross-border directors or new generation directors who have become popular in the past two years. Unexpected misfires have caused many viewers to express themselves in a "film shortage." Fortunately, all the "big celebrities" are about to return, which is expected to "heat up" the movie market in the next few months.

The first to be released

is "Billy Lynn's Midfield Battle" directed by Ang Lee on November 11. The film tells the story of 19-year-old American soldier Billy Lynn's triumphant return from the disastrous Iraq War and is known as an American hero. A series of encounters during this period gradually made him realize the essence of the war. Through a halftime performance of the Thanksgiving Football Open, he exposed the soldiers 'real experience on the battlefield. The new film uses a 120-frame format that is five times more than the number of existing movies, and is filmed with ultra-clear 4K and 3D technology, which will present unimaginable "future movie" pictures on the big screen.

Immediately afterwards, the comedy "I am Not Pan Jinlian" directed by Feng Xiaogang will also be released on November 18. Based on Liu Zhenyun's novel, the film tells the story of an ordinary rural woman, Li Xuelian, who has a series of stories that she does not know whether to laugh or cry because of the fake divorce from her husband. The film continues Liu Zhenyun's work style of "viewing suffering through humor" and uses many humorous passages to show the contradictions and entanglements in the process of evolving a humane society into a society governed by law. Different from the frequent starring role of "little fresh meat" in recent film works,"I am not Pan Jinlian" is almost the world of "drama bones". In addition to the female lead role Fan Bingbing, all male actors such as Guo Tao, Li Zonghan, Liu Hua, Dapeng, Yu Hewei, Zhang Yi, Zhao Lixin, and Fan Wei all performed wonderfully in the play.

Since the trailer was released, Zhang Yimou's new film "The Great Wall" has maintained its mysterious route and was finally scheduled to be released nationwide on December 16. In the film, Zhang Yimou will try out a real Hollywood business giant, telling the story of William, a European mercenary played by Matt Damon, who discovered the amazing secret behind one of the world's greatest miracles while imprisoned on the Great Wall, and fought together against this powerful force. The story of ultimately saving mankind.

In

addition to the blockbusters that have already been scheduled, several other major directors have also reported the latest developments. The day before yesterday, Chen Kaige's new film "The Legend of the Demon Cat", which was being filmed in Tangcheng, Xiangyang, exposed the latest cast. Four important actors, Huang Xuan, Jiangtai Rangu, Zhang Yuqi and Qin Hao, made the first appearance. It is reported that the story of the movie "The Legend of the Demon Cat" is based on the popular fantasy novel "Shaman Sky Sea" by the famous Japanese writer Mengmu Tapir. It tells the story of a demon cat that speaks human language stirring up Chang 'an City. The poet Bai Letian and the monk Sky Sea jointly explored, making a story of a truth that was deliberately buried.

In addition, there is news that Jiang Wen is preparing a new film "Xia Yin", which is based on Zhang Beihai's novel of the same name and tells a revenge story during the Republic of China. As early as June this year, a new batch of scripts were approved at the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, including Jiang Wen's new film "Xia Yin". The film is co-written by He Jiping and Jiang Wen and will be used as screenwriters. It will be combined with the previous two works "Let the Bullets Fly" and "One Step Away" jointly constitute the "Beiyang Trilogy". Jiang Wen said that the script is currently being polished.

It is not difficult to see from the ingenuity of the great director

that the great director's "return works" are to some extent trying to seek self-breakthroughs. Some people try new creative methods and deliberately set off new technological innovations; others adhere to the same serious attitude and continue to improve on the road of filming. However, this time, can the audience pay for the answers handed over by the big-name directors? It has yet to be tested by the audience after the film is released.

Ang Lee

wants to expand the boundaries of movies a little

further. As the world's first film produced using 120 frames/4K/3D technology,"Billy Lynn's Midfield Battle" not only challenges the limits of technology, but also challenges people's movie viewing habits. Director Ang Lee revealed that the idea of shooting higher-frame movies has been brewing since the filming of "The Fantasy Drift of Pi":"When I was filming Pi, I first came into contact with 3D and digital movies. After shooting it, I felt that 24 frames were not enough, and I couldn't even watch it. When fellow directors watched 3D in a 24-frame format, they all felt that something was wrong."

At the New York premiere held last week, the first batch of media and audiences to watch the film also had a heated debate over the film after watching it. "Hollywood Reporter" believes: "The film mainly revolves around the midfield performance of the Dallas Cowboys. The fireworks, flashlights, and smoke on the scene stimulate the soldiers 'nerves that have been tortured by war, showing their inability to forget the war." A movie website believes that Ang Lee's use of new technology is "not yet perfect."

Ordinary viewers who have seen the film also have mixed reviews of the film. Audiences who like it believe that the film brings the audience a sense of presence as if they are in the scene, as if every scene is happening in front of them: "A slowly soaked sense of reality, in war scenes and midfield performances, scenes that require a sense of presence are very effective." Audiences who didn't like it said that the overly realistic picture weakened the appeal.

Although the final appearance of the film has not yet been officially released, Ang Lee is still very confident about this new film."I think I should give the technology a chance." Lee said frankly: "I hope more colleagues will come and discuss how to do it. I just want to widen the border a little further."

When talking about why he chose new technology to shoot a drama, Ang Lee explained: "Technology can bring stories into reality. People always talk about technology and regard it as a spectacle, but technology should serve the plot and drama. I want to express this story about human nature through technology."

Zhang Yimou

tried the test of the actor model of "big coffee and small fresh meat"

. In the past, Zhang Yimou's works were mainly based on "old opera bones". This time, the cast in "The Great Wall" not only combines Chinese and Western characters, but also is a mix of old opera bones and "small fresh meat". Among them, domestic actors are "five generations of male gods gathered together". Not only are heavyweight movie stars like Andy Lau and Zhang Hanyu, but also idols born in the 2000s such as TFBOYS. There are also "little fresh meat" such as Zheng Kai, Lu Han, Lin Xinxin, Chen Xuedong, Peng Yuyan, etc., who will perform on the same stage with Hollywood stars such as Matt Damon, William Dafoe, and Pedro Pascal. This is something that Zhang Yimou has never seen in previous films, and his ambition to include audiences of all ages can be seen. Regarding such changes, the current reactions are polarized. Some people are worried about whether the acting skills of these young actors can be successful, while others believe that "In this era of the rise of a new generation of audiences, it is the general trend for Director Zhang to attach importance to the young market."

Feng Xiaogang

is going to make a comedy that has something to say this time

. In "I am Not Pan Jinlian," Feng Xiaogang tried to use round and square frames for the first time to make the film look like an ancient China literati painting, which is a new experience for the audience. Feng Xiaogang admitted that the main reason for making such a change was because "I felt that such a China story should be matched with a very China picture." But more importantly, he had done many meaningless comedies in the past just to make you laugh, but now he is more willing to "do whatever you like" when filming: "Now filming is to do what you like."

Chen Kaige

built another city based on Chang 'an City regulations

. It is nothing new for Chen Kaige to build a city for a play. Previously, he built the Qin Palace in Hengdian for "Jing Ke Assassination of the King of Qin" and built the "Zhao's Orphan City" in Xiangshan for "The Orphan of Zhao". In order to shoot the new drama "The Legend of the Demon Cat", Chen Kaige once again emphasized the need for "extremely focused craftsmanship spirit." It is reported that the audience will see the fine appearance of Tang City in the drama, which took six years and cost 1.7 billion yuan to build for "The Legend of the Demon Cat".

It is reported that in addition to referring to the regulations of the real Chang 'an City, this Tang City in Xiangyang also pays special attention to the mutual perspective relationship between each other. The staff planting each tree must run at least 20,000 steps to measure the distance between it and the building.

Big-name directors also need to innovate

. In the past two years, the box office records of domestic films have been defeated one after another by new directors. It was not until this year's Spring Festival holiday that Stephen Chow's "Mermaid" jumped to 3.3 billion yuan that they finally saved some face for the "old directors". Next, new works by major directors will be released one after another. Can their works continue the box office success of "Mermaid"? Or can it become a masterpiece of word-of-mouth again? Let us wait and see.

In the past, many new directors were able to stand out in the highly competitive market, largely because they were brave enough to innovate and produce works that were popular with the audience, most of which went to young audiences. In contrast, many big-name directors are relatively conservative in choosing themes due to the "burden of idols" or do not make too many breakthroughs, and their works often cannot give people too many surprises. In addition, today is a world for young audiences. Their viewing volume is higher and more comprehensive. They are no longer blindly superstitious about the reputation of the so-called "big director". Instead, they pay more attention to the work itself. If the quality is not good enough, its appeal to them will be greatly reduced.

Therefore, even big-name directors need to innovate the new while ensuring quality, boldly try more directions, and create more excellent works in order to continue to lead the market trend.

Of course, ways to innovate the new also need to be carefully considered. It is not simply to join a few young idols or blindly follow the trend, nor is it to film subjects that you are not good at in order to please young audiences. Instead, we should communicate more with young audiences to understand the stories or themes they really like, and then try our best to shoot works that are close to their tastes. Of course, no matter which ethnic audience it is filmed for, the quality of the works is the last word.

Editor: yvette