Many people first learned about "Galaxy Writer" in Xining last year. At the 17th FIRST Youth Film Festival, this first big screen work from two new directors won a lot of applause, and finally won the Jury Prize and the Best Screenplay Award in the main competition unit. On March

The first time many people learned about " Galaxy Writer " was in Xining last year. At the 17th First Youth Film Festival, this first big screen work from two new directors won a lot of applause, and finally won the Jury Prize and the Best Screenplay Award in the main competition unit.

Every new director feels extremely complicated and nervous when facing his first work to be released on the market, and Shan Dandan and Li Kuo are no exception. When Du Mu met the two directors, they had uninstalled Douban for more than ten days. When

started to be screened on a large scale across the country, the two of them opened Douban and took a look. Li Kuo said that he wanted to call Song Muzi, the star of the movie. Shan Dandan asked him why, and he said, "I want to ask him when How did he cope when others called him greasy?"

Both of them had a lot to say about the audience's likes or doubts. Shan Dandan even wrote a long article, but he still held back and did not publish it. This may be a compulsory subject for new directors - they must seize every opportunity to show themselves, but they are also afraid that over-explanation will deepen the audience's misunderstanding.

But their belief is that they must withstand it, "No matter how sad you are when you close the door, when you open the door, as long as you see the audience, as long as you see the staff, you must show optimism and perseverance, and go forward. Forward. "

" The "World Premiere" of "Film Festival Special"

"Galaxy Writer" was held at the Qinghai Grand Theater in Xining. This is usually a venue for watching dramas and drama performances. Due to the arrival of the film festival, a temporary screen was set up. The audio-visual conditions were naturally not as good as those in commercial theaters, but the movie-watching atmosphere that day was "unprecedented".

In the ordinary process of watching a movie, the most basic etiquette is to try not to make any noise to disturb others watching. But on that day, in that arena, etiquette failed. All film and television industry practitioners and media people were in a state of excitement after seeing their daily lives being so realistically and jokingly put on the big screen.

This movie captures the bitterness and misery shared by many content creators who come to Beijing to work hard. Before a screenwriter can write a good script, he has to go through too much deception and deception, and he has to go through countless revisions. Sometimes the modification opinions proposed by Party A may not be correct, but as the screenwriter of Party B, you have to modify it over and over again, or even overturn it and start over.

When the words "The characters have not grown up" appeared at the end of the film, the audience burst into applause and "awesome" for a long time. This kind of atmosphere is like fans watching a football game or fans watching a concert. It would be out of place to remain silent at this time.

Li Kuo himself also mentioned, "I have gone to the main competition of first before, including other film festivals, and this is the first time that the movie-watching atmosphere is so good."

Such enthusiasm and the reception it received after the release The cold reception also extended a new concept - "film festival special films". Many viewers questioned that this was just a "self-enclosure" of the film and television industry. After the film festival, no one would pay the bill.

Objectively speaking, the impact of the movie-watching atmosphere on the audience's movie-watching evaluation cannot be ignored. There are also more subdivided factors such as "viewing expectations" and "feeling of departure", which will significantly affect the audience's feelings after watching the movie. Does it look good or not?

Especially for comedy movies, laughter is easily contagious, and the gathering of people in the stratosphere can even more spread the laughter. "For example, I went to see " Annual Conference Can't Stop! " twice. The first time was during the screening. There were few people and it didn't feel so lively. The second time was when it was officially released and the seats were packed. The feeling was overwhelming. It’s different,” Li Kuo said.

During the screenings and road shows of "Galaxy Writers", the two directors often felt the love from ordinary audiences. Shan Dandan mentioned, "According to my observation, I found that college students responded the most enthusiastically. College students really enjoy everything. Maybe it’s because study and life are too hard."

Regarding the description of "film festival special film", the two directors believe that as long as the audience who watched the movie really feels that way, they will accept it with an open mind, "Because for our movie, every movie ticket counts for it. The box office is very precious, so we feel that as long as he buys the ticket, he is our client. "

Talking about negative reviews, what really made the two "break their guard" was that "what the audience interpreted was completely different from what we wanted to express." Li Kuo gave an example, "For example, some viewers will think that our movie I am particularly narcissistic and feel that I am talented and both parties are idiots. But in fact, we have always dealt with it with a very mocking attitude towards Zhang Yi ( Song Muzi ) and Sun Tan (He Wenjun). "

" Originally we named it "Six Points Screenwriter" because they are like this. You say he has no talent, but he also has some; you say he is really talented, but in fact he also feels a bit unable to come out. This uncomfortable feeling of being caught in the gap is quite similar to the state we were in ten years ago. If we were really talented, we would have exploded within the first few years. "Shan Dandan added. Including the portrayal of Party A in the film, "We did not want to write them as bad guys. In fact, we wanted to say that it is not easy for everyone, and we did not mean to say that talents are not appreciated. "

has "big differences" in it, and there are also things that are indeed worthy of reflection. It is the first time to direct a film, and the problem of inexperience is exposed in some details. For example, in a set of love triangle relationships, the pest (played by Li Fei) and Da Liu (played by Zhang Haosen) has moments to show his attitude and shape the character's personality, but the character of Xiaorui (played by Liu Moran) has little ink.

In fact, this part was included in the original filming clip, "Da Liu". As soon as she came in, she tried her best to flatter everyone, but Xiaorui looked on with cold eyes because she believed that the people she was sorry for were pests and not other people. She could isolate her, but she couldn't make her feel uncomfortable. There is a very sharp contrast in the attitudes of the two people. "

" This scene was already 5 pages long in the script. Five pages of text and drama was very scary. In the end, it was 15 minutes long when it was cut out. It was really too long. So this is the problem of lack of experience. If you were writing the script at that time, you would have realized that this problem might occur after filming, and moved the scene to other places, and don’t squeeze all the character highlights into this place. In the scene, will the result be better? "Li Kuo is a little regretful.

From venture capital to film festivals to the market

regrets are always inevitable, but a new director is very lucky to have a successfully released work - at least Zhang Yi and Sun Tan are not Do it.

The path that Shan Dandan and Li Kuo have taken is similar to that of most young domestic creators - when they entered the industry, they did a lot of commissioned creations to make a living, wrote original scripts and were listed in venture capital. After the venture capital investment was completed, the follow-up progress of the project was blocked. Entering the reincarnation of writing the next script.

But unlike most young creators, both of them had the awareness to actively "promote themselves" when they were unknown.

On the streets of Xining last summer, there was always a sense of urgency. You will see three or five people wearing uniforms, holding signs, inviting everyone to watch the movie one by one, like an app promotion. This is the creative team of "Galaxy Writers" because they are worried that their film will not have movie stars. , had no reputation, and could not seat 500 people in the theater, so they chose the simplest way to promote themselves. After the premiere of

, the creative team went on stage and showed off the back of their clothes in front of 500 people. The QR code above is their WeChat account.

Before the public premiere, First had an internal screening media venue. There was no original process for the main creators to meet with the media, but Shan Dandan and Li Kuo thought about it again and prepared. Go and confront the media teacher directly, "I will accept even if you throw rotten eggs, but we have to know what they think. "

" When they were watching inside, our legs were shaking at the door. Because we are a "three-no product", the first thing many media teachers say after reading this is, "Who are you?" ’, I don’t know where we came from.But if you want more people to see your film, honestly you have to do this, you have to go out of your way. "

Until the theatrical release, in the promotional materials of the short video platform, we can also see Li Kuo negotiating with the theater staff to see if the roll-up banner of "Galaxy Writer" can be placed in a more conspicuous position in the cinema. . Even if there is only a small chance to impress the audience, they don't want to miss it. During the promotion period, Shan Dandan chatted with the friends in the promotion team, wondering what other professional directors would do during the promotion period. Replying to her, "You two are the most cooperative directors I have ever seen. You two do not regard yourselves as artists. Shan Dandan regarded this as a compliment, "If one day I become a 'big director', I may not be able to create funny comedies." "

To put it in the most popular terms, in the eyes of the two of them, business is a director's duty, not love. Of course, this is based on the current situation of the Chinese film industry and is the most pragmatic path for young creators. . Li Kuo feels, “In addition to talent, hard work, and platform, a very important thing in this industry is intelligence. Being smart does not mean writing a wonderful script, but knowing when to exert effort, when to immerse yourself in your own world, and when to find the best way to promote yourself. "

This kind of intelligence is of course not innate, but the two people's professional life training has provided nourishment for this intelligence.

Li Kuo studied acting in university, and after graduation, he first worked as an ordinary employee. He has experienced It was painful to stay in a cubicle, and he also made 200 harassing phone calls a day. Later, he chose to be an actor in Beipiao. I had packed my luggage and was ready to go home, but in the end I was unwilling to choose to stay. After the movie

was released, Shan Dandan also wrote a summary of her ten-year screenwriting career on Weibo. In these ten years, dramas, TV series, Online movies, theatrical movies, sketches, short videos, variety shows, everything. The trouble with working as a screenwriter in the film and television industry at that time was that there were too many projects, and they all fell through too quickly. Said, “You don’t know which cloud has rain under it, everyone wants to get a project. "

He did too many commissioned creations, which made Shan Dandan continue to struggle and be confused. It wasn't until he communicated with another young screenwriter that he suddenly understood, "She said to me, sister, do you know? I never feel pain when people ask me to change the script. Because I know an ironclad fact, that is, I have no originality. I can only shoot where others point their guns. But I really feel that you have original ability. Why don’t you write it yourself? "

Shan Dandan began to realize that there are two types of screenwriters. Some people are more adaptable to commissioned creations, and some are more adaptable to original creations. "I just discovered that I always failed to do well when I was commissioned by others. It’s because I always like to add my own ideas, but this actually increases the workload of others. "

Such confusion is also presented in the film. Zhang Yi and Sun talk about the source of pain and entanglement, which is the vacillation between commissioned creation and original creation.

But how can it be so easy to be an original creation? For a young creator In order to get investment for an original script, Shan Dandan and Li Kuo invested in the original script "Mars Driver" in First Venture Capital. It has many advantages, including high concept, commerciality, and a longer period of continuous modification and enrichment, but it still failed to succeed. On the contrary, even if it invested in venture capital, it was difficult for investors to create "Galaxy Writer". They made the decision to act immediately, filmed it, and finally met the audience on the big screen.

In this industry where there is almost no certainty, two people who have been struggling for many years have realized the most important truth. , it means having the “smartness” to recognize opportunities, and the courage to move forward when opportunities arise.

“We have also experienced misses.So I told myself, when it’s time to seek opportunities, you must be like a shark that smells blood. No matter how many hundreds of sea miles you have, you must swim over it, no matter how tired you are. "