Economic Observation Network reporter Xie Chuchu “It doesn’t matter if a project is done well, it doesn’t matter if you do it for 10 years.” On April 25th, director Chen Kexin’s comments at the beginning of the 13th Beijing International Film Festival (hereinafter referred to as “Beijing Film Festival”) Beijing Market Project Venture Capital Final Review Roadshow said in.
“Bring a story and go with a movie”, the venture capital project of the Beijing Film Festival is a display platform for new film projects every year, and it is also a window to gain insight into the present and future of the industry.
This year, more than 800 projects participated, and 10 venture capital projects entered the final review. The project party has 15 minutes to present on stage, while directors Chen Kexin, Wen Muye, Zhang Yi, and actors Yao Chen and Huang Xuan will be the judges to comment. Sitting behind them is a “buyer decision-making group” composed of presidents, producers, and producers of major film and television companies such as Warner Bros., Wanda, and Bona, as well as industry professionals who are looking for projects for investment and cooperation.
The 10 projects shortlisted for the final review this time focus on comedy, youth, suspense and other genres, while realistic themes such as cyber violence have attracted more attention from judges and audiences. Among the evaluation criteria such as maturity, commercial elements, and innovation, the story itself has become the main “target” of the judges.
exactly what to express
The first project “Troubleshooting Youth” on stage focuses on cyber violence. The main types are drama and youth. It tells the story of two teenagers who don’t know each other because of a car accident. Because of cyber violence, they are involved in the center of public opinion and experience a series of conflicts. And the story of the ultimate peer growth after the crisis. Compared with the project party’s hesitation about whether to add love elements to make the film more commercial, the judges believed that the story itself needed more consideration.
“As a producer, of course, we must consider how to attract the audience more than the story, such as through cyber violence, love hormones, etc., but cyber violence shows the indifference and aggressiveness between people in today’s society, and the Internet will bring It magnifies. After you realize this, look at these two teenagers from the most basic perspective of human nature, instead of wrapping it with a love relationship. Start honestly with the story and the characters first.” Zhang Yi explain.
Chen Kexin said that he has seen contradictions. On the one hand, the project needs to please the market, but on the other hand, the script is not in place. Although commercial elements such as reversal are added to the script, in the end, the story is about cyber violence or the relationship between two people. ? “I think you don’t have to decide whether it’s love or not, let the script decide for itself, and the character decides for himself.”
The creation of “A186″ is based on the case of the son and mother of Peking University, but it is different from the previous creative ideas of adapting real cases into crime films. , very educational.” Zhou Mengxi, director of the project, introduced. However, this idea has aroused the discussion of the judges. Director Wen Muye believes that this is actually a story of a teenager meeting a murderer, not a story of a teenager meeting a murderer who killed his mother. It doesn’t really matter whether the murderer is the prototype of Wu Xieyu.” Unless you just want to write about Wu Xieyu, if you don’t want to write about Wu Xieyu, but just want to write about that boy, it would be better to remove Wu Xieyu’s skin.”
“What I want to see most is why a person does such a thing. What is antisocial personality and pathology? Where is the critical point of a person to do such a thing that we don’t understand? It is bigger than a 15-year-old child and bigger than everything else. , You took out such a big thing, but you told him to turn himself in.” Chen Kexin believes that the theme determined by the project is very profound, but it does not express the depth.
The project that received unanimous praise from the judges was “Driving! “. Director Liu Fang said that there are currently as many as 1.5 million female truck drivers in China, but this character rarely appears in current film and television works. Chen Kexin believes that this is a movie that can empathize with the whole world. The project also won the “Most Commercial Potential Project”. But screenwriter Liu Fang said that if the script is polished well enough, it will be landed as soon as possible.
Difficult to impress investors and producers
Feng Wei, vice president of the Asia-Pacific region and president of the Greater China region of the Motion Picture Association of America, one of the “buyer decision-making groups” sitting behind the judges, told reporters that there is currently a pain point in all major domestic venture capitals, that is, young filmmakers do not put themselves The core highlights of the project are revealed, “The project statement does not need to be exhaustive, it wants to take everything into account. Instead of spending time on a straightforward narrative, it is better to bring out the biggest highlights of the project and impress investors, producers, and judges.”
A project investor sitting in the audience bluntly said that the storyline and content are not innovative enough. At the moment when funds are tight, their choices will be more cautious. The investor of the project is a film and television company that produces period dramas. It wants to invest in and produce film projects this year, but it is still in the wait-and-see stage.
Another film producer also said that financing is difficult at present, so they only watch two types of “extreme” films, one is extreme personal expression films, works that have the potential to win awards at major film festivals; It’s the ultimate commercial movie. Among many considerations, they value the script the most. Themes such as cyber violence may seem attractive, but in the end they still have to look at the script itself. The biggest problem with this venture capital project is that it is too personal, and there are few scripts that can resonate with the audience.
In contrast, the investors of the above-mentioned projects are more optimistic about “Rain Forecast” and “Driving! “. “Rain Forecast” also focuses on personal growth, telling the story of an old boy returning to his hometown in the summer of severe drought, becoming an external employee of the Meteorological Bureau, and secretly falling in love with the hostess of the weather forecast. One day the host broadcast the wrong weather forecast. And to make up for her mistake, the boy made a rain for her.
In her opinion, the entry method of “Rain Forecast” is relatively novel, and “Drive! The content of “Focusing on Female Truck Drivers” is good in itself, but the screenwriting ability is not enough. The creator went to the actual life and work of female truck drivers to collect good materials, but the expression is not enough.Return to Sohu to see more
Editor:
Disclaimer: The opinions of this article represent only the author himself. Sohu is an information release platform, and Sohu only provides information storage space services.