"Francis, what do you think is the problem?"

In the screening room of Industrial Light & Magic, Zhang Ran sat on the sofa with a faint smile on his face. Next to him is Zhang Jingchu, and across from them sit three great directors, Francis Coppola, George Lucas and Martin Scorsese.

After getting the research results of "Future Apocalypse", Zhang Ran also felt that there were indeed some problems with the rhythm of the movie, so he invited Scorsese and Coppola to ILM to hear their views on the movie. Coppola's level and vision are not comparable to ordinary people, and they have not participated in the production of "Future Apocalypse", so they can look at this movie objectively.

Hearing Zhang Ran's words, Coppola straightened his belly and showed a hearty smile on his face. He admires and is optimistic about Zhang Ran very much, and "Future Apocalypse" has obvious tributes to his "War Apocalypse", which makes him very happy: "This movie is very good and very unique, the style difference between the front and back is relatively large, the front part has almost no flaws, but the second half has a lot of psychological and emotional things, a lot of thinking, in order to leave enough space for the audience, the editing is a little loose, and it feels a little draggy!"

Zhang Ran nodded slightly, looked at Lucas, and asked, "George, what do you think?"

Lucas felt that "Future Apocalypse" was a very good movie, and now it was so perfect that it didn't need to be adjusted at all, so he said: "In March 1977, "Star Wars" was tested at the home of producer Alain Ryder, and in addition to Alain, my wife Marcia and I, Heyck, Kaitze, De Palma, and Spielberg came to see the film. As a result, when the film ended, no one applauded, only an awkward silence. Since the special effects were not finished at the time, the movie looked ridiculous. Marcia burst into tears on the spot. Parma says that the Jedi part is nothing more than a pile of shit that no one can understand. Only Steven thought the film had a future, and he said to me, George, this is great, it can make $100 million! No film made $100 million back then, and everybody thought Steven was an idiot. Now I want to say to you, Future Apocalypse is really amazing, it's worth a billion dollars!"

A few years ago, Zhang Ran taught the Midas formula to the students of Yaying, and the box office of a movie should exceed one billion dollars, and it is often necessary to follow the Midas formula. One of the most important aspects of the Midas formula is to avoid pornographic and violent scenes, get a PG or PG-13 rating, and get as many viewers as possible into the cinema.

"Future Apocalypse" is particularly tragic and bloody, the rating must be R-level, audiences under the age of 13 cannot watch it, 13-17-year-old audiences require parents or adults to accompany them to watch, and the crowd of moviegoers is much less; and from the survey data, more than 130 female viewers said that the movie is too bloody and uncomfortable to watch, while there are only more than 10 male audiences; when the movie is released, female audiences will lose a lot. Judging from the research data, the box office of "Future Apocalypse" wants to exceed 1 billion, which is tantamount to a fool's dream, unless Zhang Ran deletes those bloody and tragic scenes.

But this is obviously impossible, this bloody and tragic is very important to "Future Apocalypse", the more tragic the war, the more it can arouse the audience's thinking, make the audience realize the preciousness of life, so as to complete the construction of psychological space. Wait until the second half of the movie to think more deeply about what is human and what is human nature. If such a tragic shot is removed, the impact on the audience will be much smaller, and the effect will be greatly reduced.

Zhang Ran knew that Lucas was kind enough to comfort himself, and said gratefully: "Thank you George! Actually, I don't worry about the box office, even if the movie really loses, I can afford it." It's just that after the test screening, more than 110 viewers reported that the style of the film before and after was very different, which means that I must not have handled the movie well enough, otherwise the audience will not find out, and I hope to make the movie better. ”

Scorsese looked at Zhang Ran and began to talk about his opinion: "Francis is right, the rhythm of the movie is a little problematic, which is mainly caused by the structure of the film. There are a lot of movies that play and mix, but most of them are mixed together, and there are very few movies like "Future Apocalypse" where the front is one style and the back is one style. This kind of film in the front and back styles is particularly difficult to do well, either top-heavy or light-footed. He looked at Zhang Ran and said slowly: "You also know that the two styles will conflict, and some balance has been made in the shots, the front part of the war scene uses a lot of long shots to slow down the rhythm of the movie, and in the second half of the movie, a lot of short shots are added to enhance the rhythm of the movie." I think the second half is a little slower, and if it were a little tighter, the whole effect would be better. ”

Zhang Ran nodded and said: "When editing, I also considered whether the back part should be tighter, but I was afraid that if I cut it too tightly, the rhythm would be too fast, and a lot of emotional things would not come out, so that what I thought about and what I really expressed would be covered up, and what I wanted would not come out." ”

Coppola thought about it, felt that Zhang Ran's words made sense, and nodded slightly: "You're right, if you tighten it a little tighter, your emotions may not be enough." How to cut, the key still depends on how you choose. If you want to make the film look better, it would be better to tighten the second half of the film, but if you want to be a little more artistic, this rhythm is right now and can give the audience room to think. The key is what you want, just follow your own truest thoughts!"

Zhang Ran smiled at Coppola and said, "I know!"

In fact, Zhang Ran asked Coppola to watch the film not to get any accurate answers from them, but to confirm one thing, whether there is really a problem with the rhythm of the movie. He cut the film, and he didn't feel that there was a problem with the rhythm himself. Through their conversations with Coppola, he was convinced that there was something wrong with the rhythm of the film.

Zhang Ran still hopes that "Future Apocalypse" will strike a balance between business and art, and while the movie is good-looking, it has its own artistic insistence, and he doesn't want to lean towards one aspect alone. In the next few days, Zhang Ran re-edited the film, mainly for the second half of the film, speeding up the pace of the film and deleting some plots, and this time the cut version was only 198 minutes. After the re-editing, the research company conducted a second test screening.

During the test screening, Zhang Ran was always observing the audience's reactions, especially the female audience's reactions, and the audience's reactions seemed to be better than the last time. At the end of the screening, the audience was silent for a moment, and everyone applauded in unison.

When the research report came out, Zhang Ran was completely relieved, and the audience scored a high score of 96 points for "Future Apocalypse", which also became the highest test screening score in the history of Summit Entertainment. Of course, if you get a high score in the test screening, you may not be able to sell well at the box office when it is released. Movies such as "Little People, Big Heroes" and "Amazing Voyage" had a good reputation when they were screened and won applause, but they were a complete failure after their release. Similarly, movies like "Black Swan" and "Good Guys from the Four Seas" had a miserable reputation during their test screenings, which made people feel that the movie was finished, but after the movie was released, it was a big hit at the box office. The test screening got a high score just a good start, and publicity is as indispensable as various promotions.

As a super blockbuster, as the key film of Summit Entertainment's summer file next year, "Future Apocalypse" will conduct various tests and research in the future. For example, about 6 months before the release of the movie, the research company will test the audience's awareness and interest in "Future Apocalypse", and compare 1,000-2,000 viewers by telephone every week, asking them if they "noticed" "Future Apocalypse", and if so, what was the likelihood that they would go to see the movie when the movie was released.

However, these do not need to be worried about by Zhang Ran, there are the distribution team of Summit Entertainment and the research company to operate. Zhang Ran only needs to wait until the official promotion of the movie begins, and then take the main creator of the movie to carry out the corresponding publicity.

After the second test screening, Zhang Ran prepared to return to China to participate in the recording of the 10th anniversary party of the 01 level of the movie channel. He promised Yue Tao to participate in the recording of the movie channel program, and he must have kept his word.

Zhang Jingchu was a little unhappy: "The wedding will be held in two months, and I have always been in charge of the wedding, the wedding dress, the specific form of the wedding and the details, you don't even ask, am I getting married alone?"

Zhang Ran pressed Zhang Jingchu's shoulder and said with a smile: "I believe in you, so I can let you do it." Jingchu, I don't have to worry about you!"

Zhang Jingchu took Zhang Ran's hand off her shoulder. He snorted angrily and said, "What do you believe me, you just don't care about the wedding at all!"

Zhang Ran saw that Zhang Jingchu was really angry, raised his hand and surrendered: "It's my fault, it's my fault." However, the 10th anniversary party of the 01 class was decided last month, and it was my nod, and it would definitely not be justified if I was absent. Well, when I record this Class 01 party, I'll leave everything else behind and leave nothing at that, and I'll prepare for the wedding with you. What do you think?"

Zhang Jingchu laughed: "It's pretty much the same!"

Two days later, in the afternoon, Zhang Ran drove to the door of the movie channel building next door to Nortel on Tucheng Road. He didn't go directly into the building, but called Yue Tao first and told him that he had arrived. Soon Yue Tao came with the producer of "The Golden Years". After a simple greeting, Yue Tao and the others took Zhang Ran into the building of the movie channel.

"The Golden Years" is a talk show held by the movie channel, mainly inviting the main creators of the classic old movie crew to be present to tell interesting things in the filming process of the movie and recall the bits and pieces of the past. The whole show is somewhat similar to CCTV's "Art Life", but it is not as routine and sensational as Zhu Jun.

On the way upstairs, Zhang Ran asked the students in the class if they had arrived, and after receiving an affirmative answer, he asked the producer to take him to the students' lounge.

If a big director like Zhang Ran comes to do the show, the program team will definitely give him the best treatment and arrange a separate lounge for him. However, Zhang Ran insisted on going to the students' lounge, and the producer did not dare to go against his will, so he hurriedly took Zhang Ran to the lounge of the 01 table.

When Zhang Ran walked into the lounge, he found that the students of the 01 table were basically all there, and Li Xinyue and Zhou Zheng were also inside. When everyone saw Zhang Ran come in, they all stood up and said hello, and students like Wang Luodan and Zhang Xinyi, who had out-of-the-box personalities, even hula and shouted excitedly: "Teacher Zhang, you are here!", "Teacher Zhang, I haven't seen you for a long time!", "Teacher Zhang, I miss you so much!" ......

Zhang Ran looked at Wang Luodan and them, and said with a smile: "You really haven't changed at all, still what's the matter!"