A great director who grew up happily

Chapter 378 Sensitive Film Themes

As the start date approaches, Chen Jinnian becomes increasingly busy. Even though the crew has become much more mature than last year after filming several dramas, there are still some things that he needs to handle personally, such as the filming of action scenes.

In the company, he specially received two industry seniors, action director Li Zhongwei and actress Wu Yue.

There are many martial arts troupes in Hong Kong, the more famous ones are the Cheng family troupe, the Hung family troupe, the Yuen family troupe, the Liu family troupe and the Zhen family troupe. Li Zhongwei is from the Cheng family troupe, and he was the action director for many of Wu Jing's films.

It’s just that Li Zhongwei has always been active behind the scenes, so he is not well-known.

Wu Yue came on behalf of Wu Jing, who was busy with the post-production of the movie and had no time, so he could only ask his fellow junior brother to come over. Anyway, Wu Jing already owed countless favors, so it was no big deal to trouble his junior brother again.

Chen Jinnian welcomed the two into the company's reception room.

"Teacher Wu, thank you for coming here in person. I heard that you were injured during filming recently. Is everything okay?"

"It's inevitable to get hurt in this line of work." Wu Yue smiled, looking very much like the character Cai Shuigen he played back then. He has a very easy-going personality and is not as fierce as he looks.

"I heard Brother Hong talk about this. You dared to film even though you had a fractured lumbar spine. You really are risking your life. Times are different now. There's no limit to how much money you can make. You have to take good care of your health."

As a person who has experienced this, Li Zhongwei reminded Wu Yue that there are many martial artists who are more daring and aggressive than Wu Yue, but few of them have a good ending, either dead or paralyzed.

Those people back then were forced to do so by life. If they didn't fight and fall, they would have no food to eat. But now the filming techniques have long been upgraded, and the action movie market has shrunk. It's better for the younger generation who are good at fighting to be more stable. If they fight too hard, they will be gone.

"Teacher Li is right, but I have to cherish this opportunity." Wu Yue replied.

He has no shortage of roles to take on, but he can't get good resources. All he gets are small supporting roles. "Greedy Wolf" is probably the best role offer he has received in these years. It is the IP sequel to "SPL", with Principal Gu taking the lead as the male lead and Brother Hong personally directing the action. This configuration is already the ceiling in the field of domestic action movies, and it is also the one that is most likely to achieve box office results.

Wu Yue has no choice but to try his best. If he doesn't seize this opportunity, there will never be another role like this for him in the future.

Li Zhongwei shook his head and said nothing more when he saw that the other party didn't listen.

In fact, although Wu Yue is a Wuying-level athlete, she is actually quite outstanding in literary drama. In 97, she was admitted to the Central Academy of Drama with the first place in her major. After graduation, she was admitted to the National Theatre of China with the first place in her major. She is a national first-class actor.

His only problem was that he had a bad temper and aloof personality when he was young, which offended many people in the circle. In the era of martial arts dramas when he should have seized the opportunity, he had no outstanding works and fell behind step by step. Later, he finally made it through and went on to play a monkey.

This was not the first time Chen Jinnian and Li Zhongwei met, so after exchanging greetings, they took the time to watch the action video designed in advance. Today they were going to discuss the performance direction of the action and whether it could meet the requirements of the movie.

Wu Yue came here with his own ideas. One was to help his senior and give some suggestions on action design, and the other was to learn from him.

Nowadays, action actors are required to be able to direct and act in their own films. He now wants to give it a try while he is still at the end of his peak period, otherwise in two years, he will have to give up completely and turn into a literary actor.

After watching several action designs, the expressions on their faces varied.

Li Zhongwei was confident, Wu Yue was thoughtful, and Chen Jinnian had a slight frown on his face.

"No, this isn't what I want." Chen Jinnian shook his head. "It's too sloppy, the movements aren't sharp and fierce enough, and more importantly, there's no rhythm to the movements. I want something with a rhythm."

Li Zhongwei looked at Chen Jinnian in surprise. He found that the other party had the same request as his eldest brother. When his eldest brother was designing the movements, he required that the movements should have the rhythm of music. Not only should they look smooth and ornamental, but they should also sound rhythmic.

"Okay, we can revise it, but it will be very difficult to shoot. If we want to ensure the final effect, I need to lead the team to shoot it."

"No problem. As long as the actors' safety is guaranteed, it doesn't matter who shoots the film." Chen Jinnian had no intention of taking the director's power into his own hands. Professional matters should be left to professionals.

Seeing that the other party didn't care about these things, Li Zhongwei nodded in satisfaction, but when he thought of another request, his smile disappeared again.

"The action is already designed to stick to the line. If it goes beyond that, it will be difficult to pass the review."

"Don't worry about the review for now. Our story outline is fine. Some of the excessively bloody and gory scenes can be edited and revised after submission for review."

With Chen Jinnian's clear instructions, Li Zhongwei had a clear idea in his mind and knew the action choreography the other party wanted.

At this point, Wu Yue, who had been silent the entire time, asked, "Director Chen, are you sure this will pass the review?"

He currently has an offer for a drama and is still debating whether to take it, because just looking at the cast, it is a very strong and excellent crew.

"The outline of the early script has been filed. As long as the general direction is correct during filming, we can't say that it will be released 100% after the cuts, but there is still a high probability that it will be released in theaters."

Chen Jinnian has specifically learned that the rejected films fall into three main categories:

First, if it contains large-scale pornographic content, there is no room for negotiation. If anyone is killed, the director and the leading actor will not be spared.

Secondly, supernatural themes that do not depict demons and monsters may still have a chance of being released, but they are more afraid of reports and complaints after release;

Finally, there are those that are inconsistent with values, which are also the hardest hit areas for major directors’ personal opinions. The situation is more complicated and requires specific analysis of specific issues.

Chen Jinnian's film was not in one of the three hardest-hit areas, so he thought he could still give it a try.

After hearing this, Wu Yue had something to ask, "I have a film contract. Can you help me decide if it will pass the review? It's a movie adapted from an online novel called Twenty Years of Underworld, starring Xia Yu and Zhang Jingchu. The general plot is..."

Before he could finish, he was interrupted by Chen Jinnian, "Don't say anymore, I know what's going on."

He was very familiar with underworld novels and had even read several mainstream ones.

"Teacher Wu, underworld literature used to be a very popular genre online, with a huge following. But then a wave of internet cleansing operations blocked all the books, and the entire underworld literature genre was completely excavated. Do you think a movie based on this adaptation will be able to be released?"

"A film about gangsters and crime, set in Northeast China, requires the approval of the Ministry of Public Security. If the Ministry of Public Security approves, how can the martyrs who died in the crackdown on gangs and drugs rest in peace?"

Chen Jinnian discovered that Wu Yue’s vision in choosing scripts was really problematic. He couldn’t even see the obvious things. It was obvious that the IP was just there to make money.

If the film is shot according to the novel, the director won't have to wait for the movie to be released after filming, he can just go in and wait. But if it is not shot according to the novel, it will definitely be an epic flop.

After Chen Jinnian's continuous questioning made Wu Yue say that she was autistic, he continued to discuss the issue of action design with Li Zhongwei.