Zhang Huaxun glanced at Xu Wangqiu, and when he saw that his face was sinking like water, he sighed in his heart, and felt that he was afraid that the matter of cooperating with an export company would be blown, but he hesitated and continued: "As for the ending, I think it is more realistic to deal with it like this now. Huo Yuanjia, who founded the Jingwu Pavilion, was assassinated by the Dongying people, and Ji Wanshan defeated the Russian Hercules, but the authorities wanted to arrest him, all of which ended in tragedy. And I think this treatment can deepen the theme, when the broken sailboat carrying He Dahai's corpse slowly moves away, giving people a sense of depressive wind and rain, the audience will think about why the martial arts warriors won in the ring and won glory for the country, but ended up with a tragic end of having to flee to another country?

Xu Wangqiu sighed deeply and said: "You have been seriously misled by domestic experts and professors, and you attach too much importance to the ideology and artistry of the movie, and you don't realize that this will lead to dull and boring movies. We know that there are many genres of movies, war films, comedy films, horror films, kung fu films, and so on. Why do movies need to be classified? Because different people like different things, some people like comedy, some people like tragedy, some people like horror stories, some people like love stories. Due to the different needs of the audience, in order to meet the needs of different audiences, movies are gradually subdivided into various different types of movies, that is, genre films.

In Europe and the United States, where the film industry is mature, there is a tacit understanding between filmmakers and audiences, if it is a comedy, it must strive to make the audience laugh, if it is a horror film, it must scare the audience, and if it is a war movie, there must be a fierce battle. When filmmakers make movies, they will definitely follow this rule and will not think haphazardly. If the audience of a comedy film does not laugh from beginning to end, it is a big tragedy, and if a horror film is not scary at all, it is all funny, then it is difficult for the audience to recognize it, and they will feel that they have been deceived. Not to mention foreign examples, last year's domestic "Iron Armor 008" was originally a war film, but due to too much love content, the audience was scolded.

What do the audience want to watch when watching martial arts movies and kung fu movies? Mainly watch kung fu and fighting. Kung fu and fighting are the charm of kung fu movies, and the audience enters the cinema to watch kung fu and fights, not for the so-called art and ideas. For a long time, there were no kung fu movies in our country, and the audience had not seen this genre. Therefore, although the filming of "The Mysterious Buddha" is not very good, it is still very popular. However, it is not good to get abroad, everyone has watched too many kung fu movies, and "The Mysterious Buddha" is not attractive. We are now starting to cooperate with Xiangjiang, kung fu movies are the main event, if your movie is not good, then I am afraid it will be difficult to have a market in the future. ”

Zhang Huaxun was quite unconvinced by Xu Wangqiu's words: "A director from Xiangjiang once told me that when they shoot this kind of film, they must first study and consider how many big fights, a few medium fights, and a few small fights. This shows that when they made the overall concept, they took martial arts as the starting point. Because of this, after watching this kind of film, people don't have anything but hilarious scenes and dazzling martial arts. Do you think they're doing the right thing?"

Xu Wangqiu said directly: "There is a problem with this statement, but it can't be wrong." In terms of the structure of the plays, many Xiangjiang films are simply sparse, the structure is scattered and disorderly, and there are many unnecessary plots, but why do Xiangjiang movies sell well in overseas markets and are wildly sought after by the audience? The key is in the third act. Although the structure of the Xiangjiang film is scattered, in the third act, there must be a big high/tide to wrap up. If it is a kung fu movie, then there will definitely be a big battle at the end, and if this scene is cool, then the audience will be satisfied. ”

Everyone knows the importance of the third act in the film industry, but knowing and doing it are two different things, and there are many directors planted in the third act, Zhang Yimou's "The Great Wall" is a typical example. There are many problems with the movie "The Great Wall", but the biggest problem is that the third act high/tide is not high. Not long after the opening of "The Great Wall", the monsters began to attack the city, and the audience's appetite was hung to a high level, so the psychological needs of the audience must be met in the second and third acts, and they must be more exciting. But there is no big scene in the third act of "The Great Wall", and the battle is not fierce, the process of getting the monster is very easy, and the high/tide is not high, and the audience is naturally dissatisfied.

In the words of netizens, for this kind of Hollywood popcorn blockbuster, the audience will not feel that it is worth the ticket price if the third act is not intensely played for 40 minutes. In the end, play for 15 minutes, and there will be a large amount of popcorn, so don't insult the popcorn!

Zhang Huaxun retorted: "There is something wrong with your idea, I think the display of martial arts kung fu should meet the needs of revealing the theme and ideas, and obey the needs of character portrayal, and must not destroy the seriousness of the scene because of the performance of martial arts kung fu, which is detrimental to the revelation of the theme and the portrayal of the characters." In other words, we will never engage in fighting for the sake of fighting, and engage in martial arts skills. ”

Xu Wangqiu shook his head and said: "Kung fu movies must not be fought for the sake of fighting, and the thoughts and behaviors of the characters must also be logical." But this sentence also works equally well in thought and art, you can't think for the sake of thought, you can't art for art's sake, otherwise it's no different from those movies that fight for the sake of fighting. ”

Zhang Huaxun was speechless for a moment, he seemed to really think for the sake of thought, art for art's sake.

Xu Wangqiu continued: "I know why you think so, because "The Mysterious Buddha" was scolded by the critics. You hold your breath and want to prove yourself, to prove that martial arts films can be artistic, and you can make movies with ideological connotations. I think your understanding of art is too one-sided, thinking that having depth of thought and connotation is art, not only you, but the entire Chinese film industry has this problem. This is due to the excessive pursuit of literature in Chinese films, and film is the art of audiovisual language, as long as the audiovisual language is creative, it is art. Hitchcock's films are all commercial films, and do they have deep ideological connotations? Isn't his film artistic, isn't he a master?"

Zhang Huaxun was speechless.

Xu Wangqiu sighed and said: "When we go to the history of film, we will find that there are two kinds of film masters, one is a master of technology who has developed the vocabulary of film and extended the expressiveness of film, such as Eisenstein for montage and Griffith for editing;

In fact, any movie can become art if it is made well, and any type of film can become a master of film art. For example, John Ford, the master of Westerns, and Hitchcock, the master of suspense films. Kung fu films, as genre films, can also produce movie masters. There are a lot of powerful people in the field of art films, and it is very difficult to get ahead, and it is difficult for you to make achievements in the field of art films, but kung fu films are different, there are not many kung fu films, and like you said, many of them are shoddy. If you can pioneer and cultivate in the field of kung fu films, then you can become a representative of this type of movie and become a grandmaster of kung fu films. When writing film history in the future, when it comes to kung fu films, as a representative of kung fu films, you will definitely write a penny. ”

The highest pursuit of Chinese is to leave a name in history, especially for cultural people, and Zhang Huaxun is certainly no exception. Hearing Xu Wangqiu's words, his heart lit up, and his eyes sparkled: "You are right, my understanding of film art is indeed a bit one-sided!"

Xu Wangqiu immediately laughed when he heard this, what he wanted was such an effect.

Now the domestic film industry is very discriminatory against commercial films, as long as commercial films are released, there are almost no people who are not scolded, but Liu Lin and Wu Zhiliu firmly stand on the side of commercial films, just because they understand this truth.

Xu Wangqiu told Liu Lin that there are too many people engaged in art films, and even if you can achieve certain results in the field of art films, can you surpass Bergman and Fellini? I'd rather be a chicken head than a phoenix tail. Instead of becoming a third-rate figure in the field of art films, it is better for us to be representatives of a certain type of film.

Xu Wangqiu said with a smile: "It's not your problem, it's caused by the public opinion environment." ”

Zhang Huaxun smiled bitterly: "After the release of "The Mysterious Buddha", the critics were scolded, and even the "Guangming Daily" published an article criticizing us. We are under a lot of pressure and feel that so many people scold, it must be that we are wrong and should move closer to art. After listening to your words today, I suddenly became enlightened. You're right, I'll change it as you ask. Do you have any other suggestions for the script?"

Xu Wangqiu himself didn't want to give too many opinions on other people's scripts, but now that everyone else has asked, he is not polite: "The beginning of the story talks about the Boxers, and the character of Shenzhang Li participated in the Boxers back then. I think we can put the experience of the Boxers on the actor Dongfang Xu, starting with Dongfang Xu and their Boxers facing foreigners, these kung fu masters are vulnerable in front of guns, and Dongfang Xu was also shot and fell to the ground. Immediately after the story turned to sixteen years later, Dongfang Xu, who escaped death, changed his personality greatly. In the face of provocation, he can always endure it. When He Dahai challenged him, he said, no matter how high his kung fu is, can he beat guns? There is really no way, he will do it, but he will try to point it to the end.

Later, the Russians came to challenge Chinese martial arts, and several Chinese boxers were seriously injured. After seeing the power of the Russians, He Dahai thought that only Dongfang Xu could win, and asked Dongfang Xu to make a move, but Dongfang Xu refused. He Dahai knew that he couldn't beat the Russians, but in order to defend the dignity of Chinese martial arts, he still resolutely responded to the battle, and was finally killed in the ring. The blood of his compatriots made Dongfang Xu unable to sit still, he stepped into the ring and used He Dahai's tricks to knock down the Russian Hercules. The police wanted to arrest Dongfang Xu, but under the cover of the masses, he escaped smoothly and left the country. ”

Zhang Huaxun was dumbfounded when he heard this, thinking that Xu Wangqiu was really a master, after he changed it like this, not only the story was more exciting, but the character of Dongfang Xu was more vivid, and his thoughts were more profound, and he couldn't help but say: "Director Xu is really an expert, if you change it like this, the story of "Wulin Zhi" will be even more exciting." However, the opening scene of the Boxer Rebellion vs. the Eight-Nation Alliance, is the cost too high?"

Xu Wangqiu said with a smile: "As long as the script is good and a good movie can be made, even if the cost is 56 million, it is not a problem." After your script is corrected, we will not only invite martial arts instructors from Xiangjiang to help design the plays, but also invite kung fu masters from abroad to play Russian Hercules, and even Schwarzenegger. ”

Zhang Huaxun heard that money was not a problem, 56 million was fine, and he was also ready to invite a martial arts instructor from Xiangjiang to help design the play, and invite a kung fu master from abroad to play the Russian Hercules, and he trembled with excitement: "Director Xu, I'll go back and change it, and I'll ask you to look at it after the script is changed." ”

Xu Wangqiu nodded, and was about to speak, when he suddenly heard the sound of footsteps outside the house, and then a tall figure broke in: "Wangqiu! Wangqiu! Those losers in the Beijing Film Studio are so angry with me! You must help me!"