Chapter 451: Big Shot Visits the Set

This day, the "Love Letter" crew suddenly had a very big-shot visitor.

The artistic director of the Hexi Film Festival, Ventour Robert.

He didn't come by himself, but was brought by director Wang Zhong.

When receiving the news from director Wang Zhong, Lu Yan He was very surprised.

Wang Zhong used his private relationship to invite Ventour Robert to China to participate in the Yuming International Film Festival in July. Now that the film festival hasn't started yet, Wang Zhong pulled Ventour Robert to Jiangzhi.

Ventour Robert is a typical person who is not well-known at the public level, but is known to everyone in the film circle.

The artistic directors of the four major international film festivals are actually all such people.

They control which films can enter the main competition unit, which films can be shortlisted for other units, and which films can only be rejected.

This is not just a matter of honor; for any film company, this involves interests.

Once shortlisted for a film festival, OK, your film has the capital to bargain—this is even more so for those low-budget independent films.

At first, the crew members didn't know what the identity of this foreigner was.

Later, when the news slowly spread, a bewildered question mark appeared in everyone's heart.

A thought that didn't need anyone to remind them popped into their minds: Is it possible that the film "Love Letter" has hope of being shortlisted for the Hexi Film Festival?

Before Ventour Robert came, no one dared to think so.

Because many of them felt that the script of "Love Letter" was very average, a melodramatic youth love story.

Also because many of them felt that Lu Yan He was a director for the first time, even if he had a certain popularity internationally, he couldn't go directly to the top international film festival, at most he would walk around in some other ordinary film festivals, such as the Yuming International Film Festival that was about to be held.

Lu Yan He briefly told Ventour Robert about the situation of the film he was filming, and introduced Chen Bige and Zhang Ruozhi to him.

Actually, Chen Bige had known Ventour Robert for a long time. This time, Chen Bige also relied on the film "Rouge" to win the Best Actress award at the Hexi Film Festival, and her status in the Chinese film circle was consolidated once again. Before this, Chen Bige was already a representative filmmaker of Chinese films.

Lu Yan He's introduction was to introduce that Chen Bige is also the lead of this film.

Looking at the entertainment industry around the world, it is not a minority to transition from an actor to a director.

Lu Yan He writing, directing, and acting in a film himself, Ventour Robert also didn't feel surprised.

After all, "Rouge" and "Lost on Journey," which were shortlisted for the Hexi Film Festival, were both Lu Yan He's screenwriting works. He is clearly a young man with ideas and creative talent.

Ventour Robert himself actually really appreciates Lu Yan He.

As a new filmmaker who has emerged in Chinese films, Lu Yan He has had many figures in the international film scene in recent years. As an artistic director, although many people crave his favor, he also craves new filmmakers who have the potential to become masters of a generation in the future.

For a film festival to maintain its influence in the world film circle and maintain its status, it is crucial to constantly discover fresh blood and cultivate its own direct-line filmmakers.

Ventour Robert went to watch the recently filmed footage with Lu Yan He.

What they watched was exactly the segment of Lu Yan He and Zhang Ruozhi in the library.

Zhang Ruozhi's deer-like eyes were bright as if painted with a layer of light in the dimly lit reading room.

Her gaze cast toward the window from time to time didn't need a line of dialogue at all.

Just such a frame, a shot, is enough to explain everything.

Film is the art of the lens.

And when following her gaze, by the window, next to the white, light-transmitting curtains, a handsome and silent boy leaned against the window, looking at the book in his hand expressionlessly.

This is the most primitive lens, without any post-production light adjustment, color adjustment, or filter.

However, because the requirements for light were very high during filming, this was picked from several hours of footage, and even if it was a primitive lens, it was very beautiful.

Very cinematic, very subtle beauty.

Ventour Robert showed a bit of surprise and said: "These few shots are too beautiful."

For Ventour Robert, he has to watch too many films every year. He can be the artistic director of the Hexi Film Festival, and his aesthetic vision for films must be extremely high. He said such words, Lu Yan He believes that in addition to the kindness on the face, there must be some sincerity. In fact, Lu Yan He is very satisfied with the shots filmed for "Love Letter," which completely reached the appearance in Lu Yan He's imagination.

The two cinematographers borrowed by Liu Bige, Bao Wenliang and Wu Zhou, one strong and one young, are really good at technology. Lu Yan He's requirements, they all have ways to achieve. Liu Bige rarely holds the camera himself.

Ventour Robert showed a surprised expression after knowing that the director of "Twilight Spring," Liu Bige, was personally serving as the cinematographer for Lu Yan He's new film.

He didn't seem to expect that a director of Liu Bige's level would come over to be a cinematographer for someone else at his peak.

Ventour Robert stayed on the filming set for four hours.

During the time Lu Yan He was filming, Ventour Robert was also on the side, chatting with Wang Zhong, Liu Bige, and Chen Bige, while curiously observing.

Coincidentally, this scene was about the female Itsuki being on duty in the library, and another girl who was on duty with her liked the male Itsuki and wanted to confess to the male Itsuki.

This girl was an actress who came through an audition.

A girl from Jingyi, a freshman, named Yifan, a very artistic name.

Lu Yan He didn't know if she changed her name later, or if her parents gave her this name when she was born.

According to Lu Yan He's idea, this girl is also very beautiful, but it is another kind of beauty, thick eyebrows and big eyes, and the lush hair is a hairstyle made of wigs.

At first, the hairstylist thought Lu Yan He wanted to make this girl a little uglier, and Lu Yan He knew at a glance that the hairstylist misunderstood his meaning.

"It still needs to be good-looking, but the feeling of this girl needs to be a bit nerdy, a bit paranoid, a bit reckless and straightforward."

Yifan was surprised to hear Lu Yan He's positioning of the character she played.

"So my character has such a setting?"

After she got the script, she thought it was just a typical foil character.

It's just that she could have the opportunity to film a movie, and there were quite a few shots and lines, even if it was a foil character, she wanted to play it very much.

Even the teachers at Jingyi agreed to let her go out to take a play—under normal circumstances, students at Jingyi cannot go out to take a play in their freshman and sophomore years.

This also shows that the teachers at Jingyi trust their students to come to Lu Yan He's crew to act, and they won't suffer.

There is another point, Lu Yan He's teacher is Luo Yuzhong.

Luo Yuzhong is from the Jingyi circle.

The teachers at Jingyi will naturally take extra care of Lu Yan He.

Lu Yan He said to Yifan: "Every character, as long as it appears in the script, must have the meaning of its existence, otherwise, why write such a person?"

Yifan nodded thoughtfully.

"Look, our "Love Letter," actually has a large proportion of talking about the ambiguity and feelings between boys and girls, right?" Lu Yan He said, "The male and female Itsuki don't express their feelings to each other, miss out, and eventually become an irreparable regret, but you are brave enough to confess, brave enough to say your feelings directly, even if you are rejected in the end, and cry ungracefully, but this didn't become your regret. In the world of a film, there is secret love, there is confession, and there are those naughty students who tease and play tricks on them. For the female Itsuki, your failed confession is a memory she has about the male Itsuki, but for you, in your world, the female Itsuki is the supporting role, you are your protagonist, you have to stand in your perspective to understand this character first."

Yifan took a deep breath and said: "I feel like I understand, but I don't quite understand."

Zhang Ruozhi was listening on the side, also thoughtful.

Lu Yan He said: "It's okay, it doesn't matter if you don't understand, we'll just shoot a few more times."

On set, Lu Yan He is a director who doesn't rush progress at all.

Because he was a director for the first time, Zhao Yuheng made a shooting plan for him in the summer, and the time was very generous, so Lu Yan He had plenty of time to shoot slowly.

Because the actors filming in the summer were basically young actors, and basically actors without filming experience. In this situation, they must spend more time to familiarize and train.

The filming pressure is greater in winter, with more scenes, larger scheduling, various scenes, studio shooting, location shooting, and some scenes with many people. However, accordingly, the actors at that time were some very mature and very good actors, Chen Bige, Wan Xin, Li Songfan... all were actors who knew how to act very well, which meant that there would be many fewer NG times during filming, and efficiency would be improved a lot.

Ventour Robert watched Lu Yan He directing the actors to act on set, and directing various departments to make adjustments according to his requirements, and his emotions were very stable throughout, not irritable, and he was shocked.

After all, Ventour Robert actually knows very well that among ten directors, nine have a bad temper.

There is no way, the filming set is an environment with great pressure, and there are not many directors who will not be driven crazy by this environment.

Lu Yan He was not driven crazy, just because he did a lot of preparation work from the beginning, and all departments were managed so that they didn't dare to make trouble on the surface. Xin Zixing managed logistics and finance, Luo Yuzhong smoothed out the plans of various departments several times, not letting Lu Yan He step into any pits, Liu Bige sat on the scene, and when Lu Yan He couldn't express his instructions clearly, he was often the bridge to further communicate. And Zhao Yuheng, this experienced executive producer, helped Lu Yan He solve all problems and troubles, Lu Yan He only needed to make requests, and then someone would help him achieve them.

Lu Yan He really didn't feel that the pressure was great, and the film couldn't be finished.

Liu Bige said to Ventour Robert: "If you go to ask people in our Chinese film circle, you will know their evaluation of him. In the eyes of many people, he is a genius who will succeed in everything he does."

The news of Ventour Robert visiting the "Love Letter" crew was not hidden. People are willing to disclose their itinerary in China, which is also to enhance the influence of the Hexi Film Festival.

So, the official account of the "Love Letter" film posted a group photo of everyone.

Hexi Film Festival Artistic Director Ventour Robert visited the "Love Letter" filming site and had intimate exchanges with Lu Yan He, Liu Bige, and Chen Bige.

And this scene was also called by some media: Lu Yan He's international influence stamp collection plus one.

Actually, this is not Lu Yan He's influence, people were brought by Wang Zhong.

Lu Yan He himself didn't expect how, inexplicably, many things became his influence and his credit.

After this news came out, Long Yan Films, Ruyi Films, and several film companies all came to inquire whether "Love Letter" was going to participate in the Hexi Film Festival.

Lu Yan He could only laugh and muddle through, replying that the film hadn't even finished filming yet, and he didn't know if he would participate in the film festival in the future.

In fact, Ventour Robert did send him an invitation, hoping that Lu Yan He would send a copy to him after finishing this film, and he hoped to let this film have its global premiere at the Hexi Film Festival.

However, Lu Yan He hadn't decided whether to do so. Because it is not a simple matter for a film to participate in an overseas film festival, this is still an economic account.

If it is not shortlisted for the relevant unit, and it is purely to hold a premiere, then adding up all the things, this trip may mean that several million or even tens of millions of funds are smashed in.

"Flowers on the Stars" went to the Hexi Film Festival to hold a premiere, which spent a lot of money.

Can "Love Letter" be shortlisted for the official unit?

Ventour Robert didn't say, and Lu Yan He himself had no bottom in his heart.

If it is just to go there for a premiere and get some media reports, Lu Yan He feels that the payment and return may not be proportional.

At this time, the summer season has entered a stage of raging fire.

New films are constantly entering the market, most of them have failed, and many films that have been made for several years with hard work have been sentenced to death in the cinema in just two days.

The high risk and cruelty of the film market slapped every practitioner in the face.

The few dark horses that ran out before made many people inevitably have some optimistic ideas.

Reality poured cold water on them fiercely.

Entering the third week of release, "City Strategy" basically couldn't run the box office, lingering at the position of nearly 300 million.

"Nine Yin" was also powerless, and a small dark horse seemed to see the end.

Currently, only "Angry Crow" and "Lost on Journey" are still running in the market, and the long-tail effect of these two films exceeded the normal law.

Especially the former, which caught up with the summer season, a large group of children were on vacation, dragging their families to watch this animated film, and buying tickets was two or three people. At the same time, many adults also came here by reputation.

"Lost on Journey" ran a little slower, but it was very steady. The weekday box office could also maintain a decline of within 10%. Entering the third week, the weekday box office did not fall below 20 million.

Jia Long said that it was mainly due to the fact that no new competitors appeared in the new films released in the third week, giving "Lost on Journey" a new round of windows, and it could enjoy the dividends of the big market.

And at this time, "Lost on Journey" also announced a piece of news: the film will be released in five Asian countries including South Korea, Thailand, and Singapore on August 2, while Japan will be later due to convention.

Actually, it is basically difficult for the film "Lost on Journey" to get an excellent box office overseas, because the jokes, memes, and social environment contained in it can only be empathized with in the context of Chinese society.

Announcing overseas release at this time is mainly to carry out a new round of promotion for domestic release, to stimulate its market potential that has not been squeezed out—look, this film has already become popular enough to be released overseas, why don't you come to watch it?

"Love Letter" also finally finished the summer filming scenes after filming for more than three weeks.

July came to an end.

Lu Yan He had a meal with all the members of the crew, expressed his gratitude table by table, and put on a full posture.

No extra words.

It's not the end of filming, we still have to continue filming later.

Lu Yan He also invited He Yunlan over.

This time filming this film in Jiangzhi, especially the filming at Jiangzhi Middle School, He Yunlan coordinated in it and helped a lot.

He Yunlan just felt it was a pity that the winter part of this film would not be filmed here.

The winter in Jiangzhi doesn't necessarily snow.

They have to find another place.

Lu Yan He said to He Yunlan: "I have another play in my hand, a fairy-tale theme, and I have to continue to come to Jiangzhi to film later. At that time, I have to ask Brother He to help again."

He Yunlan said: "Why are we so polite between us? You are willing to bring the crew to our place to film, I have a count in my heart, whatever I can do, I will definitely do it 100%."

Lu Yan He and He Yunlan each filled a cup of rice wine brewed by the local people and drank it dry.

The box office of "Lost on Journey" ran to 570 million.

A crime suspense film called "Explosive Needle" was released, exploded, and also got a first-day box office start of 80 million on Wednesday.

The male lead Li Yuefeng basically destroyed his image, playing an image of escaping from a criminal organization, being persecuted, and being skinny.

The female lead Zhang Lan played a charming landlady who picked up this man who fainted on the ground at her doorstep.

In order to get out of danger, the man played by Li Yuefeng disguised himself as falling in love with her, letting her help him get out of trouble, and she really fell into it, and because of this, fell into the crisis he brought.

The screen time of "Lost on Journey" lost half at once.

Lu Yan He discussed with Jia Long and conducted a live broadcast link, chatting about the interesting things behind film production, and at the same time, also revealed the plan that "Lost on Journey" might have a second part.

As a niche comedy-themed film with excellent reputation, no one expected that the film could run to this box office result.

It can be said that this film made the two creators Jia Long and Lu Yan He earn a lot.

In the long run, this film may bring tens of millions of dividends to both of them.

At this time, they are developing a sequel, which is actually reasonable.

They announced this news, actually also to further stimulate the box office performance of "Lost on Journey."

However, the producer and distributor of this film, Yannian Film and Television, was anxious.

What?

Sequel?

A high-reputation comedy film that is expected to get 700 million box office is going to develop a sequel, but didn't tell them?

What do Lu Yan He and Jia Long mean?

Do they want to bypass them to develop?

Yannian Film and Television really didn't expect that the box office performance of the film "Lost on Journey" would be so excellent.

And many industry insiders also said that this film was on the wrong schedule. If it was placed in the Spring Festival schedule, with the theme and reputation of this film, it could at least run to a box office of over 1 billion.

This is the adaptability of the theme and the schedule.

And in the summer vacation, everyone's interest in watching this background-themed film is greatly reduced.

Just like in Hollywood in the United States, the schedule around Wan Shengjie is definitely reserved for horror films.

There will definitely be no other films trying to compete for the Wan Shengjie schedule.

Because viewers will not choose films of other themes at this time.

Yannian Film and Television immediately contacted Lu Yan He and Jia Long.

Why didn't you call us when you made the sequel?

We are the company that reached out when you couldn't find anyone willing to give you the conditions you wanted for this film.

The emotional card was played flying.

And Jia Long just said lightly: "We don't want to experience again the situation where a film originally scheduled for the Spring Festival schedule is suddenly notified to make way for other films."

The reason why "Lost on Journey" became released in the summer season is because Yannian Film and Television wanted to reserve all their promotion and distribution resources in the Spring Festival schedule for Cheng Shiyan's "Beetle Project 2." ===== CHAPTER 452 =====