Five years later, I'm somewhat surprised that he's reappearing in my sights as a low-budget entertainment film.
Five years ago, the author also looked at Chinese films with an academic mindset. At that time, I didn’t seem to have any thoughts about Ning Hao other than being envious of winning the award. Three years ago, when I entered the real film market, I was more interested in Chinese films. Holding a gloomy state of mind, this state of mind has continued to this day. Looking at people like Ning Hao who won awards at the College Student Film Festival, I can generally guess a few trends. One is to enter a TV agency and get stuck with the movie, and the other is to make some movies that I don't understand and continue to win awards. Go, the third is to swim well in the circle, but the works are really not flattering, and the fourth is to struggle to live in dire waters. Similar to some good players in China, the young directors who are emerging are generally slowly dying, so there is no such person as Ning Hao in my mind at all, even if he took the second route and won awards abroad. , I also think he is in decline. But what I never expected was that a "Crazy Stone" allowed me to see a person walking out of a new path, which must have surprised me very much. Here, it is not Ning Hao, but Mr. Andy Lau. Without his support, it is difficult for me to say that Ning Hao would be a surprise today.
So, I checked Ning Hao's resume on the Internet: Before "Stone", there were two DV works, "Incense" and "Green Grass". The stories are absurd and the creativity is more interesting. They have won awards at some foreign film festivals. , Ning Hao admitted that he participated in the competition because he had to give himself a director's certificate.
Unfortunately, under the influence of the general environment, Ning Hao still took the road of winning the competition and begging for recognition as I expected, which should have something to do with his later acquaintance with Andy Lau. However, in my opinion, Ning Hao's real accumulation lies in the shooting experience of many MVs. Those who have watched "The Stone" should be able to feel this point. It is a matter of film analysis, and I won't mention it too much here. .
This time, the popularity of "The Stone" I hope it will appear as a phenomenon, and it is called the Ning Hao phenomenon. The significance of this phenomenon is far greater than the success of the film "The Stone".
First, can Chinese low-budget films enter the market? This is a very serious problem. Under the brilliance and momentum of a series of large-scale productions, almost no one will take into account or pay attention to small-budget movies. This includes not only the media, but also the theater itself. Scheduling low-budget films is one of the most shameful and short-sighted practices in the Chinese film market. To say it is shameful is the mentality of rushing for quick success and only for the sake of the box office, and saying that it is short-sighted because it is digging the grave of Chinese movies, which is not conducive to the growth of new movies and new directors.
In the United States, there is a B-grade film, which is generally low-cost and small-scale production (of course, the investment is larger than domestic investment). This kind of film has a dedicated theater chain, and the biggest advantage of this kind of film is that it trains new directors. , there are many ideas bursting out, and some big Hollywood films often draw inspiration from these films. In other words, low-budget films are the fertile ground and foundation for the film market. Without these things, the road to Chinese films can only get narrower and narrower, and it is impossible to form a market with just a few blockbusters.
Everyone is used to thinking that there is no publicity or hype, and low-budget movies have no box office, but this time, "Stone" successfully defeated the also low-cost but full of "Dream into Reality" by word of mouth. Of course, the author does not mean that publicity and hype are not needed, but too much reliance on publicity and hype and ignoring the film itself is also a sign of shortsightedness and lack of self-confidence by those who operate the market.
In my opinion, whether low-budget movies can enter the market is a matter of concept. In Europe and even in Korea, there are some dedicated low-budget movie theaters to support low-budget movies. It's a pity that when the author was watching "The Promise", almost all the screening rooms of all the theaters were playing "The Promise", and I couldn't see a low-budget movie, nor a screening room that had a vision for the development of the market. Can't help but say it's a tragedy.
The second question is what do audiences like to watch? Everyone has always held an elusive attitude towards the taste of the audience. On the one hand, they think that the audience level is low, and good movie audiences do not understand. On the other hand, they think that the audience is too picky. But all these statements are made under several premise. The first premise is that the film and television people themselves put it forward, and the second premise is that the audience does not actually have much choice. In China, there are very few genre films, which first means losing a large audience. After all, watching movies is not the same as watching movies of a certain type. Secondly, most Chinese movies attack Chinese audiences with a strong attitude, which is even more domineering than TV, that is, whether you watch it or not, but if you want to enter the theater, you must obey. In this case, the audience has no right to speak, so the voice of the audience cannot be understood by the directors. Although some media can say a word or two, it is very rude to say that it is difficult for these media to represent the voice of the audience. , Most of them belong to the kind of people who think they understand movies well, so the voice of the media is not so much to complain about the audience, but to create obstacles for the director and the audience.
Whether the movie is made for the audience, the answer is yes, but it does not mean that the movie is made to cater to the audience. In my opinion, there must be a lot of people watching the gross and tertiary movies, but it is hard for me to imagine that these films are in the audience. Are there many audiences playing in the theater? This situation in China is only suitable for remote video studios. Therefore, the audience has a choice when entering the theater, so what do they choose?
One very unfortunate thing is that many directors have not been reluctant to put down their posture and stand in the audience's perspective to make a film, to make a film that does not express their own thoughts or their complexes. Is it so difficult to make a good movie? ? "Stone" is very beautiful, because Ning Hao puts himself in the audience's perspective.
There is a hint that can explain all this. Some people say that "The Stone" is very similar to the British director Guy Ritchie's "Two Smoking Guns" and "Kidn". I have also watched these two films. The deepest impression is that they are fun and beautiful. I think everyone who has seen these two films has this feeling. As for the ideology and the philosophy of life, I am afraid that the most NB film critics will slowly invent them. As an audience, Ning Hao felt the same fun and good-looking, relaxed without thinking too much, so he wanted to dedicate this fun and good-looking feeling to the Chinese audience. Obviously, Ning Hao considered himself from the perspective of an audience. How to make a film, this is how a film like "Stone" was made. Empathy is easy to say, but not easy to do. The first thing to eradicate is the metaphysical definition that film is a performance art film and a propaganda machine, and the concept of film as entertainment is what Chinese directors lack most. Second, keep your thoughts simple. Don’t think about winning awards and making good movies. This kind of distraction is also very important.
So in my understanding, the audience is actually the director himself. The main question is whether the director himself realizes that he is the audience, and whether he really puts down the director's air to make a film. This is the key point of what the audience likes to watch.
The third problem is one of the most annoying. As soon as "The Stone" came out, the first question that came to my mind was how many "Stones" can one "Promise", "House of Flying Daggers" and one "Hero" film?
I remember that summer, for some reason, "House of Flying Daggers" squeezed out "Harry Potter" that was supposed to be screened in the summer, and since then, I have been deeply hostile to fifth-generation directors. Countless filmmakers will say the phrase "do something for the Chinese film market". This is a very false slogan. Facts have proved that the fifth generation has done the worst and even the most immoral. Chong Ao again and again can be labeled as having an international impact on Chinese films, but in fact, they are all setting up a biography for themselves.
Korean films have made remarkable achievements in recent years, mainly because their domestic market has been formed. Under this circumstance, Korean films have really begun to face Asia and the world. In other words, domestic conditions allow their films to prove something to the world, but China is putting the cart before the horse. When the domestic market is bleak, it has to spend huge amounts of money to prove something to the world. This is a very stupid strategy.
Although many internationally renowned directors such as Luc Besson Spielberg occasionally make films, they spend most of their time cultivating new talents, while Chinese directors, especially those famous directors such as Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige, etc., do not do so, although they are not obliged to do so. Doing so, but you can't use your own status and reputation to suppress young Chinese directors. They are in a monopoly in terms of funds, schedules and other aspects. This is not only inconsistent with the saying "do something for the Chinese film market" even contradictory. Here, I would like to thank Mr. Andy Lau again. In any case, Andy Lau has made a real contribution to Chinese film.
The new star director plan is a plan that should not be underestimated. It does not depend on how many directors it can bring out, but mainly because it gives many directors real opportunities. The role of new directors is reflected all over the world. There is no doubt that the rise of Korean cinema is due to the emergence of a slew of new directors. In China, new directors live in the shadow of the fifth generation forever, and their vitality cannot be manifested. It is conceivable that in the case of fair competition, if "Stone" and "Wuji" are released together in a month, who is the real profit and market? Who can profit? Who can have a positive effect on the future Chinese TV market, and who can have a negative effect.
I have always been reluctant to deny what some well-known directors have done for Chinese films in the past, but I must admit that these directors are indeed seriously hindering the development of the Chinese film market. Zhang Yimou to direct the Olympic Games should be a great blessing for the Chinese film market!
This article uses the Ning Hao phenomenon to express my views on how to form the Chinese film market from three aspects: distribution, material selection and new forces, but I also know that it is not easy to make a film in China. There are so-called reasons for this. The unspoken rules and other issues cannot be exhausted, but at least Ning Hao has allowed me to see some loosening of those established rules, which is a great relief.
Here, I would like to thank Andy Lau and Ning Hao who have made real contributions to the Chinese film market.
2006-7-14 Yutong County
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