"Hey, this cigar is kind of interesting. ”

In the small living room, Zhou Fangyuan and the third master sat opposite each other. The third master didn't take care of it, and directly took out two cigars, one for each person with Zhou Fangyuan.

Zhou Fangyuan has also strengthened his cigar tasting skills recently, but it is obviously still not as good as an old smoking gun like the third master.

The third master took a puff of cigarette and immediately opened his eyes slightly.

"Actually, it's not a precious variety, it's all hand-processed, and I personally supervise them to make it, and it tastes pretty good. ”

That's a lie, he took it straight out of the cellar, and this year's new cigar hasn't been finished yet, but when he says it, he seems to be sincere.

The third master naturally couldn't expose Zhou Fangyuan's lies, because he didn't know that this was a lie, so he just kept nodding, "It's a little interesting, it's a little interesting." ”

Smoking a cigar, after a while, the two began to talk about the topic.

"You distant media, you have done a lot of great things this year, I watched from the side, and I sweated for you. You are really bold, you dare to buy Disney, and also make comic book movies and game adaptations, you are not a completely ignorant person, this kind of movie is the easiest to lose. If you shoot well, look at how you shoot, if it is a fan, then the ordinary audience will definitely not accept it, and if it is facing an ordinary audience, the fans should be dissatisfied at that time. ”

"Yes, and there is another problem here, that is, ordinary audiences may not be really interested in this subject, they may follow the trend to watch, or they may come to kill time, if they are biased towards ordinary audiences, but ordinary audiences don't care...... Then the result is really unthinkable. ”

Zhou Fangyuan said honestly.

"And how dare you do that?"

The third master was a little curious.

"There's no way, Sanye, you should know that our domestic film market is improving every year, but our domestic movies are either family carnival genres, or all kinds of male and female love, and there are really too few genre films, we also want to have a breakthrough this time, although it is still a Hollywood movie overall, but we can learn from the things in it, so in the filming process of these movies, several production teams of Yuanfang Media are following the whole process of filming, and the purpose is to learn first-hand things. ”

Zhou Fangyuan said with a light smile.

Genre films, also known as genre films. It is a different form of film formed by different themes or techniques. For example, in the thirties and forties of the 20th century, the most prominent genres were: music, comedy, westerns, suspense, horror, crime, etc. The basic characteristics of genre films are: 1) a standardized aesthetic form dominated by narrative, 2) it is the product of standardized production of large studios, and the pursuit of profit maximization is its purpose and principle, 3) the hegemony of audiovisual language has the meaning of strengthening political culture.

Let's not talk about the last point, it's not something that a film company can play, and Zhou Fangyuan doesn't want to get involved too deeply.

Before the 60s, film historians and artists regarded Hollywood's "genre films" as similar entertainment rather than works of art produced in batches according to a fixed pattern in film factories. After the 60s, the "author theory" believed that behind a good work, there must be an "author", and claimed that if you haven't seen all of a director's work, you can't really understand a certain film.

This extreme view is nothing but a negation of the former theory, and it is to show the importance of the concept of the film genre in the United States. Because, in their opinion, the success of a film often owes itself to a certain type of tradition, rather than the director's unique contribution. There is no essential difference between this and the concept that the Chinese films of the thirties and forties were not pursuing artistic genres, but establishing genre films.

Hollywood's genre films, in fact, are identical comparisons of themes and themes, images and symbols, characters and plots, and forms and techniques. And especially those stars, when the characters they create are used as the subject of the film's narrative appreciation, attracting the audience's attention, and thus exaggerating their talents, people are indeed idealizing them. And they are nothing more than "static narrative media", as the embodiment of image symbols and genre gestures, as part of the genre form.

If the cowboy of the West - John Weith, the detective - Humphrey Bogart, and the robber - Kegney were to act in a musical film, they would certainly not have the characteristic genre essence of Fred Astaire. However, the norms of Hollywood genre films are not without its positive significance, and it is a process of accumulation, improvement, and excellence for some talented and good producers in the performance of certain narrative forms and narrative languages. This was the case with John Ford and Hitchcock, among others. This is also the reason why Hollywood is able to create some fine products. This in itself is a pleasure for the audience to conform to those easily recognizable and familiar conventions. In a sense, Hollywood sees cinema as a tradition of popular art, and genre cinema emphasizes the artist's relationship with his material, and the relationship between the material and the audience.

Although the production of Hollywood genre films and the development of genre film concepts have enriched the narrative form and narrative language of films to a certain extent, on the whole, the narrative mode of Hollywood genre films is still subordinate to the dramatic narrative mode. Genre films emphasize that the storyline of the film wins, and the relationship between the characters is also subordinate to the plot relationship. "The development of cinematic narrative is artificial, formalistic, and, like its characters, stereotyped." Hollywood emphasizes coherent editing and fluid space-time combinations to facilitate the linear development of closed causal relationships that are linked one by one. The plot and shots of the film also follow the logical development, trying to create a coherence of time and space, so as to facilitate the recognition of the audience.

The closed structural pattern creates a happy ending for the film, and also determines the assumption and unreality of the film's characters and environment. This narrative model also brings with it a series of techniques and means of closure: the whole information of the composition of the picture is concentrated in the center of the protagonist of the screen, the lighting creates a bright effect, isolating the characters from the real environment, and so on. The "three-shot" method, as a stylized method of Hollywood storyboarding, gives the camera to whoever speaks, replacing the audience's thinking, allowing the audience to follow the story, and inducing the audience to simply agree with the views and attitudes of the film and the characters. The editing method is nothing more than the task of storyboarding, and making the film smooth, coherent and smooth so that no trace of editing can be seen. This smoothness is often line after line, so the sound is also a manifestation of an enclosed space.

All of this is in the service of a certain content, in order to celebrate the sacrosanct cultural attributes. Scenery and objects, characters and actions are stable and an immutable concept of cultural attributes. It is this closed attitude that creates a world of complacent Hollywood genre films. Make the film a ritual of sorts, creating in the minds of the viewers an illusionary world with real appearances. Whether it was during the war or the Great Depression, Hollywood has always sketched out for people that fabulous, ideal, or completely non-existent "real space".

The same is true for superhero movies, in fact, if you take a closer look, the process of almost all superhero movies is the same, they all get abilities, then meet strong enemies, and then fight to win. There is no change, but every time it can always be recognized by the audience. It's really like an industrial product produced on an assembly line, without any of its own characteristics. But there is one thing that must be explained, that is, the film industry needs such genre films to enrich the market.

Genre films have nothing to say, they are lackluster, the content is monotonous and boring, and the narrative means are ...... But he's full, and he doesn't have to shake it, a proper popcorn movie.

But after a busy day, the audience went to the cinema to relax, and what they wanted to watch was not these light-hearted movies? As for domestic films, in fact, there is really a lot worse in this regard, genre films, he is not a simple copycat plagiarism, but summarizes the general process and paragraph structure of a type of movie, and then the creator fills it in by himself. Different creators must have different things to fill, and the final effect will be different.

Of course, it is not as simple as direct plagiarism, but it is also more interesting, constantly expanding the number of movies of a genre, which is called a genre film. In China, it is either plagiarism, or it is to summarize it yourself, and the development of genre films is actually very lagging behind. At this time, my colleague also represents the lagging development of the film industry, which is a complete industrial system, and it is not something that can be called a film by casually taking some pictures with a camera. The development of the domestic film industry is lagging behind, and the level of films is generally low, except for a few movies that really have a very profound connotation, and most of the movies are not as good as Hollywood, in the final analysis, the film industry is not as good as others, and the genre films are not as good as others.

Hollywood has even begun to change from action movies to genre films, and the action effects are getting better and better, while the domestic ones, comedy and romance films, are quite passable, and other movies have not developed much for a long time, which is enough to explain the problem.

Summing up, summarizing the characteristics of a type of film, and then forming a fixed structure, the creator directly fills his own things in the inherent structure, forming a similar but different type of film, so as to continue to attract the audience into the music, in order to continue to promote the development of the film industry. Otherwise, it just relies on excellent directors, occasionally jumping out of such a good movie with one or two steps, and then it is a pool of stagnant water, what's the point?

It's interesting to note that a series of movies is often the initial stage of genre films.

For example, Zhou Fangyuan's embarrassing series and Chinatown series before his rebirth are representatives of this aspect, and there are several in a row, if you take a closer look, in fact, the structure of each one is almost the same, but the jokes and bridges in it have changed slightly, this is the prototype of genre films. As long as the summary is in place and the continuous shooting continues, it is the formation of a genre film. Domestic movies have done a good job in comedy themselves, and it is reasonable to say that they have such achievements. Other Films...... What else is there besides romance films? Song and dance films? Not popular in China. Are there any suspense films? Are there any good sports movies? There are basically no numbers that can be counted.

So that's the gap.

"I also watched the movie adapted from the game, it's really good, Xiaoyuan...... I can call you Xiaoyuan, right?"

The third master changed his words and said.

"Of course, you are my elder. ”

"The elders are not elders, they are dozens of years older than you," the third master waved his hand, "I watched that movie of yours, it's really good, although I watched a lot of the plots in it, but I basically understood it later." I have also learned about your trilogy plan, which is a drama of a prince growing up and revenge and degenerating, and it is not very brilliant, according to my original idea, such a movie, even if it is successful, can only be a small success...... But in the end, I was slapped in the face, and your success was far beyond my imagination. You say, what's different about this? Is it that the special effects are better? Could it be that we can't make movies without special effects? Why is it that many of our movies are so good that no one likes them? ”

Sanye is a lifelong filmmaker, and he desperately hopes that the domestic film market can develop healthily, not only the size of the market, but also related to the shooting of films, which is a very comprehensive scope.

"I'm young, third master, what can I say," such a big topic, Zhou Fangyuan didn't dare to talk nonsense, "But according to my opinion, our domestic filmmakers have gone astray now." ”

"Oh?

The third master was a little interested.

"I don't know, Third Master, do you know anything about Western music?"

"Tell me about it. ”

"Actually, if you know a little bit about Western music, it's easy to see what's going on. Foreigners' music, in fact, has always focused on melody, look at their lyrics well, it's simply impossible to listen to or read, to be honest, if the same lyrics are translated, it is estimated that they will not be able to pass the review in China. But they can pass the trial abroad, because they don't care about that at all, they care about the melody. Our domestic music happens to be the opposite, because of our profound cultural heritage, so the lyrics are really good, but the composition is a lot worse, so many obviously very good songs are still widely sung in China, and they are not adapted to the soil and water when they go abroad.

The same goes for movies.

Domestic films are good at storytelling, ring after ring, circle after circle, which is good, but film art, for the general public, is a relaxing thing. The vast majority of the audience wants to watch popcorn, I don't want to think too much, I just want to be cool, if you make me happy, I will buy tickets to support you. On the contrary, if you don't scold, it will give you face. Our domestic movies are good at storytelling, but they also pay too much attention to the content of the story, but the rhythm of the movie and the audience's sensory problems are sometimes easy to ignore. Comedy is popular because it's cool. Love is an enduring classic theme of human beings, so it won't be too bad. As for the other ......"

Zhou Fangyuan didn't say anything more, but the meaning was already obvious.

At the end of the story, the common people don't like to watch it, and it's still useless.