After Guan Jinpeng praised the film fiercely, he said conclusively: "There is no problem for this film to participate in the Asian DV Film Competition Unit of the Hong Kong International Film Festival, and I can even guarantee that it will be shortlisted." ”

Just as He Xin and Ning Hao were overjoyed, Lao Guan smashed his mouth with a look of regret and said, "Actually, your film is a little more refined in terms of color grading and sound effects, and then transferred to the glue, which can be used to participate in European film festivals." ”

"European film festivals?" He Xin was stunned for a moment, and subconsciously said: "Director, are you talking about Cannes?"

But after saying that, he immediately reacted, it must be too late to sign up for Cannes at this time, and said: "Venice?"

Guan Jinpeng smiled and patted him on the shoulder and said, "Ah Xin, your vision is really high now, and you can see the three major European film festivals at every turn." But don't forget that there are not only these three in Europe, but also many good film festivals. ”

As he spoke, he pushed his glasses and said in a serious tone: "After all, the three major European film festivals are fiercely competitive, and even if you sign up, you may not be able to ensure that you will be shortlisted, especially a new director like Xiao Ning." So I suggest that you might as well lower the starting point, and the Nantes Tricontinentals International Film Festival in France is a good choice. ”

Listening to Guan Jinpeng's serious suggestions, Ning Hao's mind was completely confused, his biggest hope was to participate in the Asian DV competition unit of the Hong Kong International Film Festival, but the topic suddenly jumped to the European film festival. This is like a newcomer who goes to a company for an interview with trepidation, and originally wanted to get a job with a monthly salary of two or three thousand and was satisfied, but the boss of that company looked at it, wow, talent! Not only did he recruit people, but he also immediately promoted and raised his salary, with an annual salary of one million, and a house and a car. It's like a dream when people can't keep up with this rhythm all of a sudden.

Think about the so-called sixth-generation directors who are famous in China, probably except for the lucky Jia Section Chang, whose debut film "Xiao Wu" was shortlisted for the Berlin Film Festival Forum unit, one of the three major film festivals in Europe, and others such as Wang Xiaoshuai, Lou Ye, Zhang Yuan and others also started from Rotterdam, Paris, Mannheim-Heidelberg, and Greek film festivals and other international B or C film festivals.

Can you mix it up to this level?

For Ning Hao, who is a beginner and wants to become famous, it feels as if happiness comes too quickly, but it is a little unreal.

He Xin was overjoyed, but suddenly thought of a practical problem. Now he is no longer a rookie who doesn't know anything, just now Guan Jinpeng's mouth of color grading, sound effects and glue transfer, the latter two are not very difficult, domestic studios can do it, but the problem lies in color grading.

Because color grading is a product of digital cinema, digital shooting is gradually starting to rise in Hollywood, such as "The Perfect Storm", "Toy Story", "Star Wars - The Phantom Menace" and other blockbusters are digital films.

However, compared with traditional film films, there is a big gap between digital cameras and film cameras in terms of color reproduction and saturation, and it is almost impossible for digital technology to achieve the sensitivity of film to color.

And in terms of contrast, when the contrast between light and dark is relatively strong, the dark details of digital films will be very small, or even black, while film films can show very subtle details and color contrasts.

Thus was born color grading, a new profession in film post-production. It's like film needs to use light distribution to determine the printing conditions for a certain artistic requirement. Of course, as an emerging high-tech product, color grading is much more expensive than light distribution!

Although domestic digital shooting has just begun to sprout, there is still a lack of talents and equipment for film color grading, and the digital films shot are generally sent to the United States, South Korea, and Japan to do color grading, and it is said that the price is expensive, from two or three hundred thousand to five or six hundred thousand.

For example, last year, Chief Jia's "Ren Xiaoyao" was also shot with DV, and later in order to participate in the Cannes Film Festival, it was specially taken to Europe for color grading and vinescence, and this cost alone is said to have cost nearly 100,000 euros, which is converted into more than 800,000 yuan.

Ning Hao's film, when I watched it just now, the storyline, narrative method and shooting technique are certainly refreshing, but this is only an ideological thing, what is really to show to the audience, in addition to the actors' performances, technical means are also indispensable.

For example, the picture quality of DV shooting is very poor, and it is better to say that it is not so much a movie as a TV. And due to the haste of post-production, the sound effect is also very bad, there are a lot of off-picture noises, He Xin heard it as soon as he heard it, it was the sound of the conversation and discussion of the people when they were watching the excitement during the shooting.

In general, this film is similar to the "Xiao Wu" of Chief Jia that he watched at the beginning, but it is a film anyway.

Coming out of Guan Jinpeng's room, compared to He Xin's preoccupations, Ning Hao still looked confused, and it wasn't until he entered the elevator that he finally came to life, grabbed He Xin's arm, and said with a look of disbelief: "Ah Xin, you said that our film can really go to the Nantes Three Continents International Film Festival in France?"

"It should be okay, Guan Dao still has something to do with in France. He Xin groaned.

The Nantes Tricontinentals International Film Festival is an international film festival that presents the best films from Asia, Africa and Latin America with the aim of introducing films from third world countries.

Previously, Section Chief Jia's "Xiao Wu" and "Platform" won the highest award twice - the Golden Balloon Award for Best Film, and last year, mainland director Zhu Wen's work "Seafood" also won two awards for Best Director and Best Actor.

In recent years, for many filmmakers in the mainland, it is undoubtedly a shortcut to success to make a film and then send it to overseas film festivals to participate in and win awards.

There have been Lou Ye, Wang Xiaoshuai, Zhang Yuan, Section Chief Jia and others who have set an example before, and only by being famous can they get more opportunities.

It stands to reason that the more selfish guys like this are, the more they can't make excellent works.

However, Ning Hao is obviously an outlier among them, his purpose in making movies is to be eager to become famous and make money, but the works he makes are full of his personal distinctive style, and he is worthy of being called a "ghost director" in later generations.

Of course, this product was still very tender at this time, and after hearing He Xin's answer, he jumped up and down like a big monkey excitedly.

"But don't be too happy, you didn't hear Director Guan just now, if you want to go to the film festival, our film still needs color grading, redo the sound effects, if it is really sent to France to participate in the exhibition, there must be double subtitles in English and French, and finally you have to transfer the glue, have you calculated how much it will cost?" He Xin couldn't help but pour cold water.

"Uh......"

At this time, Ning Hao, who was carried away by the surprise, calmed down, counted his fingers for a long time, and then said with a bitter face: "If the sound effect is just to eliminate some noise, including subtitles, it won't cost much, and the big head is still in terms of transferring glue, I estimate that it will cost more than 30,000 yuan......

"Wait, wait, wait!" He Xin hurriedly interrupted, "You said that the transfer of glue is only more than 30,000 yuan? Is there any mistake, there are more than 30,000 light films!"

After making so many movies, he still knows this market, for example, the most Kodak film used now, the market price of one copy is about 1200, and it can shoot for four minutes. Of course, there is no problem of waste when transferring glue.

"Incense", a 97-minute movie, needs about 25 films, so the cost of film alone will reach about 30,000 yuan.

"Oh, big brother, you're talking about Kodak, right? Let's just use the domestic one, the price will be at least half the difference!" Ning Hao said.

"Domestic?"

He Xin has made several movies, but he has never seen a director use domestic film.

"Lekai, produced in Baoding, is at least half cheaper than Kodak. ”

"How's the quality?"

"Well, after all, this one is worth a penny, of course it's a little worse than Kodak, but it's not a big difference. ”

"No, if you really want to take it out to the exhibition, you'd rather spend more money than do it in order to save money. He Xin waved his hand.

The reason for the need to transfer glue is that the number of digital cinemas is very small in these years. He Xin just saw a report not long ago, saying that there are only 113 digital theaters in the world, of which the United States accounts for more than half with 59, China has 13 digital theaters, and France has only two.

Although digital cinema is a trend for the future, the 13 stores in China are more symbolic than practical, after all, there are not many digital cinemas on the market today. Even "The Perfect Storm" and "Star Wars - The Phantom Menace", which are real digital movie blockbusters, are converted to film mode when they are released, because 99% of the world's theaters are still shown in film mode.

Then He Xin said: "Why didn't you calculate the color just now, this is a big head!"

Ning Hao is also knowledgeable, and when he heard this, he immediately cried and said, "Can you not mix the color, otherwise I will have to sell the house!"

He Xin is also one of the producers who account for half of the shares of this film, but now he is also worried. There was already news that Li Miaoxue had asked Mr. Tao, the owner of Chunlan Hotel, to contact the landlord of the small courtyard. The landlord's whole family has gone abroad, and this small yard was left by the ancestors, who originally wanted to rent it out, but never rented it out. After Mr. Tao mentioned this, it had the intention of selling, but he offered a high price of 600,000 yuan.

This price He Xin inquired, it is indeed a bit high, according to the normal housing price in the area of Yushan Road, at most about 500,000. is still in the process of bargaining, if it is really sold for 500,000 yuan by then, then the little spare money he has in hand now, plus the salary of the drama "Scenery of Love", which is currently being filmed, will all have to be taken into it.

But after thinking about it, Guan Jinpeng just mentioned this, even if he really wants to participate in the Nantes Tricontinents International Film Festival, it is still early, because this film festival does not open until November and December every year.

And this film, although he looks good, Guan Jinpeng is also full of praise, but no one knows what the prospect is, it is better to take a look at the Asian DV competition unit of the Hong Kong International Film Festival first. If the response is not good, then even if it is brought to Europe to participate in the exhibition, it will be in vain.

The two sat on the sofa in the lounge area of the lobby of the Huiquan Dynasty, staring at each other with big eyes, He Xin just wanted to speak, but Ning Hao raised it first: "Then why don't you see what the result of going to Hong Kong to participate in the exhibition this time is, and then talk?"

Obviously, the two poor people in desperation thought of it together, He Xin nodded and said: "This is the best, if you can win the gold medal in the Asian DV competition unit, I heard that there seems to be a bonus of 50,000 Hong Kong dollars." ”

"That's a long way off, and this amount of money is estimated to be only enough for Kodak film transfer. ”

Ning Hao still didn't forget the opportunity to participate in the exhibition in Europe, which was definitely a great opportunity for him. This product is still a little reluctant to say: "You really can't help but adjust the color?"

"Participating in the European Film Festival, the award is one thing, but the more important thing is to sell the film. In fact, the film festival itself is also a platform for film trading, and the quality of the film directly determines whether our film can be sold at that time! If we can sell one more country in the future, all the money for post-production may be returned. ”

He Xin, who has participated in the Berlin and Cannes Film Festivals, is relatively familiar with this kind of European film festival. The so-called sixth-generation directors like Wang Xiaoshuai, Lou Ye, and Jia Kechang, their films are basically banned in China, but why do foreign filmmakers invest in their films?

This is not a gratuitous internationalist spirit, but because there is a market for their films abroad and they can make money.

Like Ning Hao, he has seen two films shot with DV, one is "Ren Yao" by Jia Section Chief, and the other is "Seafood" by Zhu Wen, who won the Best Director Award at the Nantes Three Continents Film Festival last year.

"Let It Go" was graded and re-glued at a great price, and the picture presented on the screen is almost the same as a film movie, and the clarity is higher.

And Zhu Wen's "Seafood" has no color grading, and the picture is monotonous and rough, which is similar to watching TV.

Of course, the best-selling of "Let Easy" in Europe has nothing to do with Chief Jia's fame and previous achievements, but "Seafood", which is also not under "Let Easy" with the same thoughts and artistic conceptions, is not cared for, which probably stems from the extremely rough and discolored picture of "Seafood"!

At the same time, "Seafood" only won the Best Director Award and Best Actor Award at the Nantes Three Continents International Film Festival, but missed the Best Film Award, probably for this reason!

"Okay, let's talk about these worries when you get the prize in Hong Kong. ”

He Xin patted Ning Hao, who was looking mixed with mixed feelings, on the shoulder, stood up and stretched, and said, "Let's go, come back to eat with me." ”

"Ah, go to your mother-in-law's house, I'm not very empty-handed, right?"

He Xin looked at him with disdain and said, "Every time I went to eat with me before, I didn't see you mention anything!"

Ning Hao hurriedly said: "No, everyone used to film together here, of course it doesn't matter." But now it's equivalent to coming to the door, so you can't lose your etiquette!"