The afternoon sun sprinkled on Cheng Peng's face, with a faint layer of gold, which looked a little dazzling.

But his expression was not very good, frowning, and his expression was a little sad, as if he had been hit by something.

This expression made everyone nervous, and Zhang Meng couldn't help asking: "Xiaopeng, what's wrong, why is your expression a little scary?" I'm a coward, don't scare me. ”

Cheng Peng sighed heavily and said, "I received a call from Wang Changqing just now, it's bad news!" ”

"Ah, no, wouldn't it?" Zhao Linlin shouted. She is full of confidence in movies, how can this be?

Tong Liyu looked at Cheng Peng's sad expression, a little uncomfortable, and comforted: "It's nothing if they can't be shortlisted, it's because they don't have vision, let's go to other film festivals!" ”

"Did you lose the selection directly, or was you sent to another unit?" Zhang Meng knows more about the film festival and knows that the Berlin Film Festival has many units, such as the new generation unit, the panorama unit and so on, in fact, it is not bad to be shortlisted for these units.

Cheng Peng sat down in his chair dejectedly, leaned back, and sat up again, simply restless: "It's bad news, very bad news!" Speaking of this, he paused, looked at the people with a somewhat depressed expression, and continued: "This news may make you have a bad Spring Festival, but that's the case, hey, there's really no way, you have to go to Berlin with me, the movie is shortlisted, it's the main competition unit!" ”

Zhang Meng and the others were stunned for a full second before they came back to their senses, knowing that they had been tricked by Cheng Peng, and they didn't have time to complain, and the great joy bloomed in their hearts: "Long live!" ”

"It worked, hahaha, we made it!"

"Great, great!"

They huddled together, shouting and screaming, roaring and shouting, like a bunch of madmen, as if they could not fully release the joy in their hearts without this.

Cheng Peng looked at a few excited partners, and the joy hidden in his heart also broke out of his shell and bloomed on his face: "Comrades, be steady!" Isn't it just to be encircled, why are you happy to be like this, if you win an award at a film festival, don't you want to run naked? ”

When they had enough trouble, Cheng Peng started the following topic: "If I go to Berlin, I will definitely walk the red carpet, we are dressed like this, and the security personnel will not let me play." Linlin, I will leave it to you to contact the clothing sponsorship, many large companies will sponsor the opening ceremony of the Berlin Film Festival, you don't have to contact the big road goods! ”

"Don't worry, you don't want to image me!"

However, when Cheng Peng saw Tong Liyu's radiant and expectant look, he felt that he should pay more attention to it, so he said: "Yaya is the face of our company, or contact her with a professional designer to design for her." For actresses, dresses are too important when walking on the red carpet, only unique and beautiful costumes can attract the attention of photographers and have a chance to appear on the cover, which is the best way to open up popularity! ”

It is a trend to ask a costume designer to design costumes for actresses who participate in the red carpet in China, but it will become more and more common. Like Zhang Jingchu's later "Peacock Dress" and Fan Bingbing's "Crane Dress" were designed by professional designers.

"Okay, leave this to me!"

"Mengzi, the main purpose of our trip to Berlin is to sell films, we must rent a booth, you are studying stage design, and the matter of arranging the booth will be left to you, these things must be prepared in advance!"

"No problem, we'll make our booth look beautiful when the time comes."

Being shortlisted for the main competition unit is very important for Cheng Peng, which means that the matter of the new film can be mentioned on the agenda. This is very realistic, if he can't be shortlisted, it will be difficult to sell a film like "The Two of Us", and he can only raise funds through other ways to make a new film with funds, which may take a long time. And once shortlisted, the film is directly presented in front of hundreds of studios around the world.

Now that the film has been shortlisted, some preliminary preparations can begin, especially some things that need to be prepared in advance.

Cheng Peng said: "Linlin, contact an actor named Lian Kai, he and Zhou Xun acted in the TV series "Green Lady", you tell him that we have a movie to ask him to be the leading actor, and at the same time, the movie needs a professional special effects makeup artist, let him also serve as a special effects makeup artist." ”

As soon as Zhang Meng heard this, he immediately asked: "What are you going to shoot for the new film, and has the script been written?" ”

"Didn't you say it when I met Linlin for the first time, horror movies, the script is written, if you are interested, you can take a look!"

Cheng Peng clicked on the script in the notebook and handed the notebook to Zhang Meng, he knew that the two of them would definitely be taken aback, and he was looking forward to it very much.

Zhang Meng and Zhao Linlin sat together, reading the script page by page, the two of them began to look relatively relaxed, but they became more and more dignified, and when the story was finished, cold sweat broke out on both of their heads.

This is a very scary story, dark, bloody, and suffocating, and both of them have numb scalps after reading the story.

Very good script!

But Zhang Meng did not cheer because of this, but was a little surprised, Cheng Peng obviously knows the rules of Chinese films very well, how could he make such a low-level mistake?

After being silent for two seconds, Zhang Meng spoke: "The story of this film is very good, and the monster theme is also a pioneer in China, but can the film pass the review?" Radio and television have always been strict with bloody and violent films, and this story is really scary, and movies that are too scary are difficult to pass the review. Linlin, what do you say! ”

Zhao Linlin nodded with a serious expression and said, "It's really dangerous, radio and television have an incognito rule, horror movies can't be too scary!" ”

Horror movies can't be too scary, it sounds like a fantasy, but that's what it is. Since "The Lonely Ghost in the Black Building" scared people to death, radio and television have been particularly strict with horror films, and there is a hidden unspoken rule when reviewing films, and movies can't be too scary.

Cheng Peng knew this rule, but after weighing it repeatedly, he decided to do it: "I plan to cut two versions, the domestic version is refreshing and not so scary, and the foreign version is more bloody and terrifying." If you can't pass the review, you can only give up the domestic market and only take the overseas road. ”

Zhao Linlin shook her head and said, "Are there any examples of horror films that are particularly high at the overseas box office?" "Midnight Bell" is so sensational in Asia, and it is also zero at the box office in North America! ”

Cheng Peng is more confident in this: "The box office in North America is only a small part of the film revenue, accounting for only 20% of the film revenue, although the box office of horror films is not good, but it has always performed well in the DVD and video tape market, and Asian films are only good sellers overseas Action and horror films." I haven't checked the specific data of "Midnight Bell" in North America, so I'll take kung fu movies to illustrate, before Jet Li entered North America, how many of his movies were released in North America? Basically not, but why is he so popular in North America? Because the tapes sell well. For example, the first part of "Once Upon a Time" grossed zero in North America, but the videotape earned more than $10 million, and the same is true for horror films. And thanks to "Midnight Bell", Hollywood has paid special attention to Asian horror films in the past two years, and it is easier than ever to sell them. ”

Facing Cheng Peng, Zhao Linlin sometimes felt very powerless, felt that she was very useless, and said with a wry smile: "You guy knows more about the film market than I do, I really don't know who is studying filmmaking." But can't you change it to one that isn't so scary? It's always good to be less risky. ”

"Let me tell you the reason for choosing this story, this story mainly requires three techniques, the first is makeup, drawing monsters, the second is modeling, building a model of the cave, and the third is green screen, there are fewer green screens, only a few shots are needed. Green screen, makeup, modeling, this is the most important component of film special effects, and it is also the basis of special effects. There is such a thing as technology that needs to be accumulated, and if I, as a director, don't accumulate experience in special effects little by little, I won't be able to play at all when I want to play big productions. ”

Cheng Peng knows that no one can eat a fat man in one bite, especially technical things, which must rely on accumulation, and there are no shortcuts in the world of movies. His goal was far ahead, and he could only move towards it step by step.

Zhao Linlin stared at Cheng Peng for a few seconds, she saw her unshakable will, and finally she nodded and said, "Okay, but why go to Xiangjiang to hire an actor to be a special effects makeup artist?" No, you can go abroad and ask for it. ”

Cheng Peng knows Lian Kai better, and later Lian Kai opened a Sheena Mofu special effects makeup company in the capital, specializing in special effects makeup, and his brain has the memory of visiting Lian Kai's company, which is very impressive, so when he needs special effects makeup, the first thing he thinks of is Lian Kai.

Lian Kai turned out to be a special effects makeup artist in Hollywood, and participated in the special effects makeup of many Hollywood movies such as "Alien" and "Mutant DNA", and became an actor by mistake. His makeup skills are very good, and more importantly, he is familiar with the Hollywood special effects circle, and recruiting people in Hollywood through him is much better than us looking for people with black eyes. ”

Zhao Linlin nodded and said, "Okay, I wrote it down, I'll contact him as soon as possible." ”

After making some arrangements for the company's affairs, Cheng Peng began to act as a shopkeeper and began to draw a storyboard with all his might.

His life went back to the way he had been a few months ago, turning off his phone, locking himself in his room, doing nothing but painting.

A few days later, the Berlinale announced the list of shortlisted films, and two Chinese-language films were shortlisted for the main competition unit of the Berlinale, one is "20, 30, 40", and the other is "The Two of Us".

"20,30,40" is a romantic comedy co-starring Zhang Aijia, Liu Ruoying and Li Xinjie, the three major actresses of Hong Kong and Taiwan. The director and starring of "The Two of Us" are newcomers who have never heard of it, the media attitude is relatively cold, and no one knows where they are, and a few media can't find a way to interview them.

Yang Fan is a loyal reader of "Beijing Entertainment Daily", because the newspaper is beautifully printed and there is a lot of gossip, although she herself is a person in the entertainment industry, she is still very interested in other people's gossip, such as Nicholas Tse's.

Yang Fan was in a good mood today, and after walking out of the campus, he came directly to the newsstand and handed the change to the aunt who sold the newspaper.

"The Beijing Entertainment Newspaper has already been prepared for you, take it!" The newspaper seller aunt is more familiar with Yang Mi, and knows that she comes every day, so she immediately handed her a newspaper.

Flipping through the newspaper, Yang Fan saw the news on the front page about "20, 30, 40" being shortlisted for the Berlin Film Festival, and felt envious in his heart, it was good to be able to go to the Berlin Film Festival, if only I could go once!

It's no wonder that she is envious, the Berlinale is a world-class stage, countless people dream of showing themselves here, and countless newcomers take off here and receive the attention of the world.

It's just that when she read along the news and read another shortlisted film "The Two of Us", she suddenly became obviously sluggish.

How is this possible, this guy's film was actually shortlisted for the Berlin Film Festival? Oh my God, I turned down a film that was shortlisted for the Berlin Film Festival!

(The second movie mainly talks about special effects makeup, and I don't know much about special effects makeup, so I can only try my best.) ）;