Legendary Hollywood Director

In a conference room of the Europa Films Building, the senior executives of various departments came together.

Mr. Luc Besson.

George! Schubert, everyone...

The director of the marketing department, the director of the publicity department, the director of the distribution department, the two founders of the company and some representatives of the board of directors all sat safely in their positions.

Let's get started. Luc Besson, who was sitting in the first place, saw that everyone had arrived, and without talking nonsense, he directly arranged the preview of the movie.

Ryman handed the film to the projectionist, and the curtains were drawn all around.

In the dark and quiet atmosphere, everyone was waiting for the movie to start.

With the appearance of the picture on the screen, the background music sounded, and under the guidance of a narrator, the camera picture appeared in a school-Imperial University of Technology, the best engineering university in India.

On the first night of the freshmen entering the school, the senior came to tell them the rules, saying that they had to put a stamp on their buttocks.

The freshmen were very well behaved and had no objections. They all lowered their heads and took off their pants.

As soon as the camera turned, Aamir Khan appeared. He might be late, but seeing this scene, he was overwhelmed and ran to a dormitory and locked the door.

The senior felt that he had violated the long-standing tradition of the college and wanted to protest.

result......

......

The movie screening was over, and as the curtains were pulled up, in the light, Ryman glanced at the reactions of everyone present.

To be precise, there should be no response.

They are all senior executives of Europa Films. They have seen not a thousand movies, but also 800 movies, and they will be involved in any genre.

But today, let them see their hearts.

After more than ten minutes, when they went through the plot and feelings in their minds again, the silent atmosphere of the scene began to loosen.

not bad.

It's wonderful.

This is the cruelty of education...

The frown of Luc Besson, who had been frowning from the middle of the movie, was also relieved. For him, this movie really made his heart.

Lyman, you did a great job.

Following Luc Besson's opening, the others reiterated their solidarity:

The subject matter is very large, but the filming is very detailed.

The laughter and tragedy set off before and after, it seems very tense.

The last shot is also very good. In the cruelty, it gave a glimmer of light, and the meaning is very good.

Lehman's direct narrative with flashbacks is very cleverly used. From the campus life, let Farhan's perspective bring in, and then when the first senior committed suicide, he used the perspective of a remote control plane to see the whole situation, plus The two standpoints are clear, representing the collision of old and new educational ideas, and also further enhances the viewing effect of the plot.

Even the change of every scene and even the existence of the soundtrack will indirectly guide the changes in the audience's psychological emotions.

If he wants to laugh, he will laugh, and if he wants to be sad, he will be sad. He is the creator of this dream and the master of this movie world, and he did it.

......

To be a high-level executive of a production and distribution company, everyone present naturally has a certain professional level, and can roughly distinguish whether a movie can be recognized by the box office market.

Sometimes, the audience thinks a movie is good, but they just can't tell which is good.

This so-called good-looking can be composed of many aspects, the rhythm of the plot, the story telling, the camera image, and even the lighting, performances, and even the actors' lines and costumes can play a considerable role.

After exchanging some views, it's time to get down to business - the issue of schedule.

According to our initial tentative release date is February this year, and the post-production of the film is still fast, we can increase the pace,

It's scheduled to be released in full on February 2, how about it? You can take a look at this report. It is the number that was initially communicated with the theater chain. The distribution map is also on it, and the approximate schedule of the theater chain is also marked. Of course, the specific screening work can still be discussed.

The director of the distribution department stood up and said.

This is their job, and when the film is in post-production, it starts to be arranged in advance.

Lehman also got a document. He looked at the theater line that had been initially communicated with, frowned while watching, and asked with some doubts: Why, the geographical locations of these theaters are not very good, and the schedules are not very good. Mostly mornings and evenings.”

After carefully reading the report, he found that most of these theaters are located in small towns, or in big cities close to the suburbs. Only a small half of the theaters are located near Paris, and the rest are actually one nothing. And the release time is also very problematic. The morning and evening are not very golden segments. It is okay to arrive in the evening, but there are only two screenings, which is far worse than the three screenings from morning to noon.

Hearing Lehman's question, the director of the distribution department smiled and picked up the preliminary negotiated report in his hand.

This is a middle-aged man in his forties, close to 1.8 meters tall, a little fat, and the smile on his face looks very kind.

At this moment, he explained: These theaters are traditional art theaters. Although the geographical location is not good, the audience of the movie is roughly the same as the audience of the movie. The advantage of this is that the publicity resources will not cause most of the It is wasteful and can be used for on-the-spot advertising.”

Also, 'Three Silly in Bollywood' is a non-English film, and those mainstream theatrical markets will not give us better arrangements or theaters for screening.

We all know that the market for non-English films does not receive much attention in the whole of Europe. For example, Ouhu, Hidden Dragon produced by the Taiwanese director was not nominated for an Oscar, and no theater chain was willing to make great efforts to carry it out. invest.

Looking through all the non-English films that have achieved great success, we can see that the reason why they have such high market recognition and can be screened out of hundreds of works every year is not just because of the quality of the film.

The bonus of various international awards is particularly prominent. It is like a huge publicity platform, which maximizes the effect of the movie and attracts more potential movie viewers who pay attention to this type of movie.

Oscars for Best Foreign Language Film, the Palme d'Or in Cannes, the Golden Lion in Venice...they play a big role.

The director of the distribution department recalled what he had learned and continued: So, my plan is that our film will be released slowly to expand the word of mouth, and the qualitative change will cause the quantitative change, so that those cinemas will spontaneously release the film in line with the award-winning line. Putting resources into the release is what we should do the most.”

The initial plan is to test 300 theaters. Depending on the situation, adjustments will also reduce the difficulty of controlling the reputation of the film.

Lehmann did not expect that in the eyes of Europa Pictures, this work of his own needs these, rather than simply pushing it into theaters for release.

I think it's feasible. Luc Besson spoke, obviously he also thought it would be better for the film to go the award-winning route, he looked at Lehmann and asked, What do you think, what suggestions can you say? come out?

Very good idea, I have no objection, he said.

Now that Europa Pictures has a complete push plan, Lehmann itself is fine. Owners of cinema chains have always paid attention to their interests. Even if it is a market like France that treats niche-themed films with a sense of support, will the resources they get really have the same level of resources as blockbusters? Of course, it is impossible. Before a movie is actually released, it is unknown. They will initially decide the screening market plan based on the film's cast lineup or investment scale. These two points are also the most important judgment basis for the theater chain.

Unfortunately, no matter which point, Three Silly Trouble in Bollywood has not achieved, let alone a non-English-language film. As the director of distribution said, there is too little success, and no one takes the risk. In this regard, the method of redemption he proposed is indeed the most effective.

Not bad, actually, Lyman thought.

He still clearly remembers the miserable situation when Buried Alive was just released. There were less than a few dozen theaters, and the geographical location was even worse. Now, there are 300 theaters initially released, and there are special operation plans. Obviously A huge improvement.

Just when Luc Besson thought that Lehmann had already decided, he said again: Can it be done simultaneously?

The eyes of everyone in the conference room focused on him, Lehmann sorted out his thoughts, and slowly said, If you maintain a good reputation in the trial screening, you will be more competitive in terms of awards. That's right, if the situation is good, you will be shortlisted in Cannes. The main competition unit, I don’t think it will be difficult, but the operation time is too long, and it may take a year to complete the operation.”

The preview will be held in February, and the awards will be held in Cannes in May. When word of mouth is established, it may be July.

Having said this, he shook his head, Let me make an assumption first, if the movie is released in this way, it can attract audiences and get a good reputation, but with this arrangement, I think it can maintain 20% of the film. The attendance rate is amazing. After a long time, potential users can meet their own needs, and they may compress the number of screenings and the number of films. Waiting to see if they can win the grand prize, gather a wave of popularity for publicity, but if, We don't do that.

I mean, direct global simultaneous release, and leave all the reputation of the film to the market to test, instead of compressing the release space to maintain it, and if the attendance rate is high, the theater chain will definitely make additional screenings, and then cooperate with it. Prize, how is it?

After listening to Lehman's words, the director of the distribution department smiled wryly, We also understand what you mean, but this has to be based on the fact that the film has such a strong appeal, and it may not necessarily depend on word-of-mouth and the audience has many choices. They will choose to watch our films, but will havetily downgraded in advance due to the lack of evaluation of awards.

Lehman smiled and did not refute. What the supervisor said made sense. These are two different directions of operation.

And what he said about this situation was mainly for Luc Besson, and the real decision-making power has always been in his hands.

Others also understand, so everyone's eyes are focused, waiting for the company's big boss to express his opinion.

Luc Besson pondered without answering for a moment.

He is also hesitant about the feasibility of the two operating ideas. After all, he has a stake in this company. If the investment in the film fails, it will definitely affect him. Although the consequences may not be so terrible, after all, it is necessary to He is cautious.

On the one hand, they are waiting for the recognition of awards to feed the market, and on the other hand, they are taking risks and waiting for audience recognition to affect the market without relying entirely on the bonus of awards.

His gaze swept across the crowd in the conference room, and finally stopped on Laiman.

Do as Lyman says.