Chapter 381

This Golden Rooster Awards was quite intense in terms of competition for major awards such as Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor and Actress, as well as the eight technical awards.

In the field of art films, just the European Big Three level movies included Cao Yang's "Black Swan," Jia Zhangke's "Still Life," and Wang Quanan's "Tuya's Marriage."

In addition, there were Zhang Yimou's "Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles," Qi Jian's "Tian Gou," Yin Li's "The Knot," and Zhuang Yuxin's "Love's Tooth."

In the field of commercial films, there were Zhang Yimou's "Curse of the Golden Flower," Xiao Gangpao's "The Banquet," Chen Kaige's "The Promise," and Zhang Zhiliang's "A Battle of Wits."

Media and audiences were full of expectations for this Golden Rooster Awards when the nomination list was released a month ago.

"Black Swan" and "Still Life" were both movies that won the Golden Lion Award at the Venice Film Festival, and those commercial blockbusters that won technical award nominations, regardless of the plot, were at least full in terms of audiovisual effects.

As usual, CCTV's movie channel broadcast it live, and the host was still Sister Ni.

Because the Golden Rooster Awards had changed in terms of awards, the order of presentation was also flexible.

Awards that media and audiences expected less and paid less attention to, such as Best Children's Film, Best Documentary, Best Science and Education Film, and Best Digital Film, were not presented at the very beginning but were presented mixed with other awards.

When the Golden Rooster Awards were being reformed, Old Hou once asked Cao Yang if he should remove these less-attended awards, and Cao Yang considered it and decided to keep them.

It's not that the reformed Golden Rooster Awards pursued "high, big, and complete."

It's that these categories are also part of domestic cinema, and keeping them is very meaningful; even the Oscars have categories like Best Animated Feature, Best Live Action Short Film, and Best Documentary.

The general order of presentation was that the biggest awards were presented last, and other awards were presented mixed; only in this way could they attract the audience in front of the TV, that is, the ratings.

Otherwise, presenting unimportant ones first and big awards last would very likely make the audience switch channels, waiting only for the final big awards to watch.

And mixed presentation didn't have this concern.

The order of presentation Cao Yang formulated for the Golden Rooster Awards was that the biggest awards were presented last, which remained unchanged, while the order of other awards was different every year.

Of course, the ultimate goal of doing this was still for ratings; with high ratings, the income of the Golden Rooster Awards in all aspects could also be increased.

This time, they started by presenting a relatively important award, Best Cinematography.

Five movies were nominated: "The Banquet," "The Knot," "Curse of the Golden Flower," "Black Swan," and "The Promise."

The reason "Black Swan" was able to get a Best Cinematography nomination was because there were many unique compositions and camera movements, such as the large use of mirrors and mirror surfaces, the use of various angles, handheld tracking shots to create anxiety, etc.

Cao Yang thought this award would go to one of "Curse of the Golden Flower," "The Banquet," or "The Promise," but the result was a bit beyond his expectations; it actually went to "Black Swan."

Old Gu had an unruffled appearance, not particularly excited, as if he had expected it long ago.

On the contrary, his wife Jiang Wenli looked very excited and hugged Old Gu directly, as if declaring sovereignty, fearing that others wouldn't know she was Old Gu's wife.

Cao Yang thought about it; "Black Swan" winning Best Cinematography couldn't be considered an upset, as this movie indeed had unique features in camera usage.

On the contrary, those three commercial blockbusters indeed had exquisite costumes, makeup, and props, and the visual effects were considered very good at the time, but these had nothing to do with camera usage, and those three movies didn't use very special camera shots.

If "Black Swan" defeated those three blockbusters in costumes, makeup, and props, it would indeed be considered an upset, but in terms of Best Cinematography, it really wasn't, no wonder Old Gu had an expression of having expected it long ago.

The second award presented was also considered an important award, Best Supporting Actress.

The competition for this award was also very intense, with "Black Swan's" Lv Yi, "The Banquet's" Xun Ge'er, "Curiosity Kills the Cat's" Song Xiaojia, and "The Knot's" Shou Bing.

According to the plot, Shou Bing was the female lead in "The Knot," but the production company reported her for Best Supporting Actress.

Among these four, Xun Ge'er and Shou Bing were two of the four big Huadan, with great fame; Lv Yi could barely be considered a "Cao Girl," with a clear upward trend in the past two years, and only Song Xiaojia had the least fame.

As a result, this award was an upset; Song Xiaojia won Best Supporting Actress for her performance in "Curiosity Kills the Cat."

When the result came out, among the four people on the big screen, it was obvious that Shou Bing's smile was somewhat reluctant and bitter, unable to hide her disappointment.

Cao Yang understood after a little thought.

In this Golden Rooster Awards, if you want to say what had the least suspense, it wasn't Best Director and Best Picture; there were actually two Golden Lion Award movies at this Golden Rooster Awards, which left suspense for Best Director and Best Picture.

The one with the least suspense was probably Best Actress.

In the competition for Best Actress, Dong Xuan was able to win the Venice Best Actress award for "Black Swan," but anyone who had seen this movie would have no doubts about her acting skills.

The production company should also know this, so they planned to take a shortcut and report Shou Bing for Best Supporting Actress.

But it was also justifiable; the first female lead of "The Knot" was ostensibly Xu Jinglei from Wanwan.

Unfortunately, even if she took a shortcut, Shou Bing didn't compete against Song Xiaojia, who had much less fame than her; no wonder she was so disappointed.

Neither of the first two awards were small awards; this was to attract the audience to watch.

Xiao Gangpao had a serious face, alright, rather than serious, it was better to say he had a tense face.

He originally thought that the Golden Rooster Awards reform, adding so many technical awards, was the day for him to reconcile with the Golden Rooster Awards—he had been showing goodwill to the Golden Rooster Awards before the nomination list was released.

Xiao Gangpao said that what he said about the Golden Rooster Awards before wasn't aimed at the Golden Rooster Awards; it was the media that misinterpreted his meaning, it was some people who feared the world wouldn't be chaotic, and it was malicious slander against him.

He also said he had always respected the Golden Rooster Awards, that the Golden Rooster Awards were one of the most important awards in the country, and were awards that every filmmaker yearned for...

Later, the announcement of the nomination list saw "The Banquet" get five nominations, not just all technical awards; there was also a Best Supporting Actress nomination, and a Best Cinematography award, which was considered a very heavy big award.

This made Xiao Gangpao overjoyed and he called Cao Yang for the first time to express his gratitude.

As one of the few big directors in the country, he knew at the time the role Cao Yang played in this Golden Rooster Awards reform.

When the first Best Cinematography was presented to "Black Swan," although Xiao Gangpao was a bit regretful, he indeed didn't play tricks on the camera, so it didn't matter if he didn't get it.

But when the second Best Supporting Actress wasn't won either, Xiao Gangpao couldn't hold it anymore.

Don't look at Xun Ge'er's other aspects that might be controversial, but in terms of acting, she was very spiritual; Xiao Gangpao even felt that at least in "The Banquet," Xun Ge'er's performance didn't lose to the female lead Li Xiaoran.

Xiao Gangpao had great expectations for Xun Ge'er.

Who would have thought that she would lose to a Song Xiaojia with no fame.

Finally, when the Best Costume Design award was presented and "The Banquet" lost to "Curse of the Golden Flower," Xiao Gangpao couldn't hold it anymore, and the disappointment in his heart was incomparable.

And he started to curse the judges for being blind, curse the Golden Rooster Awards for still refusing to let him go, curse the damn Cao Yang for not helping him... in short, he went from having a serious face to having a stinky face.