There are two kinds of suspense films, one is that there is a clear ending at the end; The other is suspense from beginning to end, and what is the end in the end, each audience has their own answer.

Cheng Er's "Harmonica", well, let's call it "Harmonica" for the time being, is obviously the second type. The first draft of the script that Li Tang got from Cheng Er is actually the main line of the script.

Now that the main line is in place, the next modification is to improve the details of the branch grinding. For a movie, perfecting the subplot and polishing the details is particularly important, and can even directly determine the quality of the film and the audience's enthusiasm for watching the movie.

For example, Li Tang watched a David. The suspense film "Gone Girl" directed by Finch and starring Big Ben and Bae Chunhua. The main line of this movie is nothing more than the cheating of a middle-aged literary male husband and the revenge of an elegant black-bellied female wife.

If such a plot is placed in a mainland TV series, it will definitely be a puddle of dog blood, but David Fincher has made this bloody plot into a heavy feast through the polishing of the perfect side plot and details.

Li Tang is still a little creepy in retrospect, whoever meets such a woman is unlucky, I hope the woman I met will never be the black-bellied Amy.

In fact, the main line of "Harmonica" is not complicated, that is, a terminally ill girl falls in love with her brother-in-law, and then obsesses with the truth about the murder of her parents, and then treats her brother-in-law as a murderer. The whole plot revolves around whether the brother-in-law is the murderer.

Cheng Er has been polishing this script for a long time, and he is not unprepared. For example, today he brought another side plot, that is, He Wei, who is an accident evaluator of the insurance company, was driving on a secluded road and had an accident and hit a little girl who was cycling.

He Wei did not hesitate, picked up the little girl who fell to the ground and drove straight to the hospital. However, the results of the little girl's examination showed that it was not caused by a car impact, but a small tumor hidden in the brain that caused a sudden syncope.

Faced with his daughter's situation, the little girl's father didn't know whether to scold He Wei or thank He Wei, but He Wei promised to use the convenience of his accident assessment to help the little girl get a large amount of surgical treatment costs from the insurance company, which made the little girl's father very grateful.

This side plot gives people the impression that He Wei is a good guy on the surface, and paves the way for him to be the devil later; On the other hand, it also describes that he really wants to be a good person.

But from a deeper level, it can also illustrate the contradictory, complex, and even disguised and insidious qualities of He Wei's character.

Xiao Ke, who deduced from this plot, found that his brother-in-law He Wei took her life-saving medicine, which was actually for the little girl who also suffered from a brain tumor, which was a misunderstanding. But does Xiao Ke think that his brother-in-law killed his parents?

There is also the character of Lin Mo, which seems a bit abrupt at first glance, but after careful scrutiny, it can also be considered that Lin Mo is the third person fictionalized by Xiao Ke.

These can be scrutinized in the lines, for example, Xiao Ke confessed to Lin Mo from time to time: "Maybe you are about the same age as my brother-in-law." ”

There are also Xiao Ke who met Lin Mo and found that the things lost when his parents were killed were at Lin Mo's house, but Lin Mo said that this thing was given by He Wei. There can't be so many coincidences in real life, it can only show that everything is Xiao Ke's imagination.

Brother-in-law He Wei is the most important person in Xiao Ke's mind, and the murder of her parents is the biggest psychological trauma in her life, so when she died, the two were connected. Just like He Wei confessed to Xiao Ke that he killed the Xiao family's parents, the last sentence asked: "Have you got the satisfaction you imagined?" ”

The "imagination" in this line obviously implies that he made up the story of killing Xiao's parents in order to match Xiao Ke's imagination.

And there is also a buckle left in the whole plot, that is, Xiao Ke only found the silver frame in Lin Mo's house, so what about the watch that was lost at the same time when his parents were killed? Can it be understood that the murderer is not He Wei and Lin Mo, and there is a possibility that there is a third person?

Li Tang has been discussing various details of the script with Cheng Er for several days, and unlike Cheng Er from the perspective of the creator, Li Tang is not only from the perspective of the actor, but also from the perspective of the audience. Cheng Er was stunned by many reasons to say it, who made him read a lot of films in his previous life, and among the many cults in North America and Europe, the most important thing is this kind of murder, suspense, brain-burning, ethics, human nature, strong women, violence and other elements.

It can only be said that Cheng Er's book is still full of avant-garde in China, but it is not quite in line with the mainstream viewing needs of domestic audiences, and it is more in line with the appetite of Westerners.

Cheng Er's writing is really strong, for example, he can easily write the lines that Xiao Ke said to Lin Mo: "Why do we always have to go around in circles? Why can't we just talk about the point, I just met you in the morning, and I came to your house in the evening, you don't know why, right? Because I'm lonely, because I have expectations for you. You know the answer, but you still have to ask. When I eat at noon, it's noisy, but I still get distracted, and I'm quiet because I'm thinking about you! ”

The meaning reflected in this line is that when a person likes another person, it always takes a lot of circles to get to the point, but Xiao Ke is dying, she doesn't want to waste time, she doesn't want to say some useless nonsense, she directly expressed that she likes Lin Mo.

Look, this hearing makes people feel distressed and regretful, and they are moved by her straightforward affection, and they are also very literary. It's much stronger than Lou Ye's big vernacular in the clouds.

The communication, exchange, and even dispute between the two lasted until the afternoon of the sixth day, when after reading the script that had been revised countless times and finally finalized, Li Tang closed the screen of his laptop with satisfaction, and said to Cheng Er with a smile: "This time it's absolutely OK!" ”

It's just that as soon as his words fell, the two fell silent.

The script is done, so what then?

Making a movie is not an easy thing, with Cheng Er's fame and qualifications, it is impossible for Shanghai Film Studio to invest in him, let alone this kind of non-mainstream script.

If you want to make your own movie, you must first make money, and then you have to make a name for yourself, so that investors will be willing to invest in your movie.

Nowadays, these so-called sixth-generation directors in China are all taking this road.

Chief Jia is a prime example, he first cheated 10,000 yuan in the name of making an advertisement to make a short film "Little Mountain Comes Home", which won the gold medal in the Hong Kong Video Short Film Competition. then used a script of "Gentle Night" to flicker to Hong Kong and filmed "Xiao Wu" with an investment of 200,000 yuan.

The next story everyone knows, "Xiao Wu" shined at the Berlin Film Festival, won the forum unit award, sold the rights of several countries, and made a lot of money.

When Chief Jia was about to shoot "Platform", filmmakers from France and Japan were vying to invest in him. Of course, Chief Jia did not disappoint these filmmakers, not only shortlisted for the main competition unit of the 57th Venice International Film Festival, which just ended last month, but also won the Asian Film Promotion Alliance Award.

Similar to this kind of literary film with an investment of less than 10 million, as long as it can be shortlisted for the three major European film festivals, it will definitely not lose money in general, and if you are lucky, you can make a lot of money. Moreover, an excellent literary film will have a stable copyright income in the next few years or even more than ten years.

There is also Lou Ye, with the success of "Suzhou River", he is already a hot director in the field of domestic literary films, the only pity is that he was banned from directing by the relevant departments for five years because of the illegal exhibition of "Suzhou River".

Fortunately, it is said that the current attitude of the official authorities has been relaxed, after all, China's WTO accession negotiations are already in full swing, and it will be able to formally join the WTO next year, and films are a project in the opening up of the service industry. Therefore, we must consider the international image, and we can no longer suppress it as unscrupulously as before.

As for why Jiang Wen, the director of "The Devil is Coming", which won the Grand Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival this year, was banned, it was because in addition to the fact that the film itself was seriously out of step with the domestic main theme film in terms of ideological orientation and values, it also touched the sensitive nerves of Xiao Ri and caused Xiao Ri's protests.

Although Lou Ye is still in the ban period, one thing is certain, with the success of "Suzhou River", as long as he lifts the ban and makes a comeback and wants to make a movie, then there is no need to worry about investment at all, and there will be filmmakers who will send money to the door at that time.

But the fledgling Cheng Er doesn't have this treatment, or because he has never proven himself, he doesn't have this qualification.

Why is Li Tang working so hard these days, he may have been idle and had nothing to do at first, but after reading the first draft, he was inevitably a little moved, and as he figured out more deeply in the past few days, he liked the role of He Wei more and more.

But when I arrived, I found that I was happy in the air, and I didn't have the money to shoot for nothing!

After a while, he asked dryly: "How much does it cost to make this film?" ”

Cheng Er estimated that he had thought about it early in the morning, and blurted out: "It is estimated to be millions." ”

Li Tang shook his head and said, "One million is definitely more than one, maybe it will have to be doubled." ”

He has experience in this, when Lou Ye filmed "Suzhou River", the initial budget was only more than one million, but the money was not enough, and in the end, Li Tang heard Nai An say that it took a total of more than two million to complete.

However, thinking of Nai'an, Li Tang's heart suddenly moved, wondering if he should look for Nai'an to see if she had any investment intentions. It's just that I think of Ne An who is now more than seven months pregnant, and I don't know if I still have the energy.

He hesitated, "Otherwise, I'll ask you when you go back." ”

Cheng Er's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he hurriedly said: "Brother Li, in fact, I wrote the character of He Wei according to your image from the beginning. ”

Cheng Er's biggest problem now if he wants to make a movie is that he has no money and no connections, but Li Tang is different, no matter how he says that he is a well-known actor now, his connections must be much wider than him. And his words are not fooling Li Tang, when he wrote the character of He Wei, he did subconsciously refer to Li Tang's character. Because he is familiar with the actor who is closer to the character of He Wei, it seems that Li Tang is the only one.

When Li Tang heard Cheng Er's words, he looked at his expectant gaze again, and couldn't help but be stunned: Hey, didn't you say social fear, why are you so good at talking?

However, Li Tang still took the vaccination in advance and said: "I can only say that I can help you ask now, you must not have too much hope, so as not to be disappointed." ”

First update!

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