MC Bookstore Chapter 9: Movies are a circle
Chapter 9: Movies are a circle
Many business owners have encountered bottlenecks in their industries and are eager to find new investment channels.
The entertainment industry, with its glamorous facade, is undeniably attractive.
With a celebrity like Wang Xiaoshuang stepping forward, it's quite easy to get these nouveau riche business owners to invest!
Even the most astute business owners in their own fields will be at a loss when faced with a completely unfamiliar industry.
Listening to Wang Xiaoshuang and Huang An and the others talk about gossip in the entertainment industry, some true and some false, made them dizzy.
When the investors asked Wang Xiaohao about it, he answered cautiously.
He only talks about art and filming techniques, nothing else. He completely packages himself as a technical worker!
They watched helplessly as Huang Anzhong raised the project's budget to 50 million, and those nouveau riche bosses poured money into buying shares.
Wang Xiaohao couldn't help but lament why he lacked such credibility.
If he had the money, he could invest 50 million. Why would he need to make a romance movie?
They went straight to Shanghai University's major production!
That night, Wang Xiaohao got completely drunk. Fortunately, Ding Binbai was prepared and called someone to help him take Wang Xiaohao back home!
Fortunately, things became much simpler after that.
It's like we've finally overcome almost all the eighty-one tribulations!
It feels like we're in the middle of the filming; the real troubles are probably going to come during the actual filming and after filming is finished!
Over the next week or so, the first two million in funding began to arrive.
Wang Xiaohao's crew didn't even have time to prepare before they went to get the approvals.
The complexity of the entire approval process left Wang Xiaohao speechless.
For example, he never expected that simply making a low-budget commercial romance film would directly alarm a high-ranking official in the province, and even lead to a meeting with a deputy governor.
Despite his busy schedule, this bigwig still took half an hour to listen to Wang Xiaohao's report.
This gave Wang Xiaohao a new understanding of the influence of movies!
To put it bluntly, these days, a project with an investment of hundreds of millions or billions of yuan may not even attract the attention of a deputy at the provincial level.
However, the deputy governor made a point of taking time to learn about the film that claimed to have an investment of only tens of millions!
This gave Wang Xiaohao a new understanding of the importance the authorities attached to the film.
Inheriting the tradition from the North, film has always been the most important platform for public opinion!
In his previous life, Wang Xiaohao saw a story about how Chen Da's Palme d'Or-winning film, due to its sensitive subject matter, was only allowed to be publicly screened after discussions in Haizi.
Some people scoffed, "Are all the people in Haizi so idle that they need to discuss such a lousy movie?"
I don't believe these rumors at all.
However, Wang Xiaohao now believes that this is almost certainly true!
The official level of attention given to the film's publicity and propaganda far exceeds what most people imagine!
Fortunately, Huang Anzhong helped Wang Xiaohao with the approval process; otherwise, Wang Xiaohao probably wouldn't have been able to get the approval done on his own.
This is also why the film industry is a closed circle. The threshold is just too high!
In fact, the approval process before filming is relatively simple.
All you need to do is provide the content and a brief story outline.
The approval process after filming is complete is what really matters.
If not done properly, your movie could be edited so badly that even you wouldn't recognize it.
Wang Xiaohao used to complain sometimes!
However, after going through the process, Wang Xiaohao clearly realized that the public's and the government's perception of the film were completely different!
Ordinary people may simply view movies as an entertainment product!
But in reality, movies are definitely not just simple entertainment products. They carry much more than that!
After spending more than ten days getting the approvals and obtaining the filming permit, Wang Xiaohao was finally able to officially start building the crew.
Recruiting various crew members, renting various filming equipment, preparing costumes and props, and other pre-production work.
At the same time, the actors also need to be selected, etc.!
Some people might think that casting is the most important thing, but in reality, Wang Xiaohao believes that for commercial films, the actors are all pretty much the same, as long as they fit the character's image and temperament, that's good enough.
There's no need to ask for too much!
On the contrary, all kinds of pre-production preparations are always the most important, especially for someone like Wang Xiaohao who is making a movie for the first time. Everything is a first for him, which is the most troublesome thing.
Fortunately, Wang Xiaohao is at least a semi-professional.
Before time travel, I made short videos and did video commentary. In this life, I'm a proper professionally trained actor and have filmed quite a few geek videos, so I'm quite knowledgeable about many things.
That's how we finally got everything done, albeit with some bumps along the way!
The various tasks involved are extremely tedious, such as what kind of photography equipment and lighting props to rent.
The difference is huge, and the water is even more murky and deep.
Ordinary people who renovate their own houses and buy their own building materials and furniture will inevitably encounter countless pitfalls.
The more money the production team spends, the more intricacies are involved.
If you don't know the industry, you can easily get ripped off!
Fortunately, the world has long since entered the digital age, and we can use high-definition cameras to shoot. If it were the film era, it would have been even more troublesome!
Fortunately, this collaboration with Mr. Huang Anzhong has not been without its benefits.
Although it cost a little more money, through his channels, we were able to rent suitable equipment.
There's also the preliminary location scouting, costumes, art direction, props, and so on!
This is why Wang Xiaohao insisted on getting close to Wang Xiaoshuang.
With Wang Xiaoshuang's studio involved, things become much easier.
Without it, Wang Xiaohao would have to spend even more money, and there's no guarantee he'd achieve the same results!
Take a filming location as an example, say Wang Xiaohao is going to film in a coffee shop.
If you're an unknown film crew and you go to a coffee shop to discuss renting a filming location, they'll probably think you're a scammer.
But at this point, you say that you have the famous actress Wang Xiaoshuang in your crew.
Oh, I've heard of Wang Xiaoshuang, she's the one who acted in so-and-so's movies!
Now it will be much simpler to discuss things!
It's a pity Wang Xiaohao isn't famous. If he were a renowned director, a single word from him would probably be enough to get people to pay him to film!
Only after all these tedious preliminary preparations are completed can we begin preparing the storyboard and formulating the formal shooting plan.
Some people come up with storyboards right away. Isn't that a joke?
Unless it's a large company, a well-established production team, or a professional studio, you don't know what kind of locations you'll be able to find.
Are you preparing a storyboard?
What if the scenario is completely different?
Was your storyboard all for nothing?