Chapter 362 Interview and Core

Chapter 362 Interview and Core

Chapter 362 Interview and Core

Wang Hao received the interview team from the film channel in his large office.

After all, he is busy with work and has no time to go to the station's studio, so he is naturally the main interview location.

"Director Wang, thank you very much for accepting our interview. Shall we start now?"

The young female reporter from the movie channel was wearing a light blue suit. She sat a little stiffly on the leather sofa, looking at Wang Hao opposite her with a bright and brilliant smile.

Wang Hao was quite relaxed and nodded.

"Well, hello, let's get started."

The female reporter first read an opening statement to the camera, then turned to Wang Hao, exchanged a few polite words, and began to ask questions according to the pre-determined script.

"Director Wang, Inception has achieved outstanding results both at home and abroad. The audiences love your film very much. I am also a fan of yours, so here is a question related to the film. I am interested in it on behalf of the audience as well as myself.

I would like to ask, does the shaking top at the end of the movie "Inception" mean that the protagonist Cobb is in a dream or not?

Is everything the protagonist has experienced meaningful?"

“Why does it have to make sense?”

Wang Hao asked back with a smile, and then recited a passage of ancient Chinese literature.

"Once upon a time, Zhuang Zhou dreamed that he was a butterfly, fluttering about like a butterfly. He thought he was content, but he did not know that he was Zhuang Zhou.

Suddenly I woke up and found myself to be Zhou. I wondered if Zhou dreamed that he was a butterfly or if the butterfly dreamed that it was Zhou? Zhou and the butterfly must be different. This is called materialization.

Even the ancient sage Zhuangzi found it difficult to distinguish between reality and falsehood in dreams, let alone us.

Although the movie "Inception" is a science fiction blockbuster shot and produced according to the Hollywood model, its core is actually drawn from our own Chinese philosophical thoughts.

In my opinion, making a movie is itself a dream-making process, and the director is a dream maker.

After watching "Inception", when you begin to doubt and think about all of this, trying to distinguish between truth and falsehood, illusion and dream, the movie has already achieved its intended purpose.

As for whether it is true or false, this is an open question that you need to explore for yourself.”

Wang Hao's words really captured the essence of keeping people in suspense. He said a lot, but did not answer any of the substantive questions.

Fortunately, the female reporter seemed to like Wang Hao's literary answer and immediately smiled and continued:
"Yes, I rarely see our unique Chinese philosophy and culture in such international commercial blockbusters.

Moreover, in my opinion, your film "Inception" not only represents Chinese culture, but also makes a certain degree of reconciliation and tolerance between Chinese and Western cultures, which I think is also very rare.

So I would like to ask, is this kind of film that blends Chinese and Western cultures a major trend in the future development of the film industry?
Does the success of Inception mean that the prospects for Sino-US co-productions far exceed those of purely Chinese films? "

"Well, that's a good question."

Wang Hao smiled and nodded.

“Let me talk about the first one first. This kind of movie that blends Chinese and Western cultures is just an attempt of mine at the moment, but it is still very successful.

Of course, in my past series of works, I have actually explored this model of cultural integration to a certain extent.

For example, the film "Wushuang" can be said to be the first Sino-US co-production I directed, which adopted the dual-hero model of Chinese and foreign male protagonists.

At that time, this movie achieved good box office results both domestically and overseas, which gave me some confidence in this model.

Later, when I was filming "Source Code", "Taken" and "Wolf Warriors", although I did not use the model of two male protagonists, I also absorbed a lot of domestic and foreign film and television cultural elements and advanced experience.

Like action elements, science fiction elements, more advanced special effects, shooting techniques...

At the same time, through the feedback from film performance, we have gradually summarized the core of some successful domestic and foreign film and television works that can resonate with all audiences around the world.

In our words, this should be called universal values, and it is also the core of the integration of Chinese and foreign cultures.

The simplest example is that in many of our movies, TV shows, animations and literary works, there is a word that often appears, and that is "love".

right?

Like the foreign film "Romeo and Juliet", our domestic film "The Butterfly Lovers", and Hollywood's "Titanic", the core cultural element of love is common to people all over the world and can be understood and felt.

From the love between men and women, the love of parents for their children, the love between people, to the love of the people for their country.

This love is the same no matter what nationality, age or skin color.

Just like in our movie "Inception", the hero is willing to risk his life and try every possible means just to go home and be with his children. This is the love of parents for their children.

This kind of love becomes the protagonist's motivation, allowing all viewers who watch this movie to understand the protagonist's series of actions.

Of course, the universal cultural core is not just love, there are other things as well.

Like the spirit of self-improvement, the desire to explore new things, and the kindness of human nature...

All these beautiful and positive emotions can promote the integration of Chinese and foreign cultures and eliminate the cultural barriers that are easily formed in the process of cultural works being disseminated around the world.

If we look at it from this perspective, with the further development of science and technology, the more convenient information dissemination, and the increasingly frequent cultural exchanges in the world, film and television cultural works like this, which have the core of the fusion of Chinese and foreign cultures, are indeed a major popular trend. "

What Wang Hao said is actually just a means for Hollywood to conquer the world over the years.

It’s just that the common cultural core commonly used in Hollywood works is their “American Dream” of freedom, equality and democracy.

Only America, which is now the beacon of the world, can talk about these things. The "Chinese" dream cannot appear in Wang Hao's movies, and audiences in other countries in the world will not recognize it.

Therefore, what he can promote now are only the most basic universal values ​​under the context of "integration of Chinese and foreign cultures".

“As for the success of Inception, does it mean that the prospects for Sino-US co-productions far exceed those of purely Chinese films?

This issue needs to be viewed from two perspectives.”

Wang Hao continues to export his film and television creation ideas. "First of all, the prospect of Sino-US co-production is still very promising from the perspective of the current international film and television market.

After all, co-production films need to take into account overseas markets in addition to the domestic market.

The market is larger, the audience is larger, and the relevant copyright protection laws and regulations are more complete, so the box office revenue that can be earned will naturally far exceed the relatively single domestic market.

However, investing in, shooting and producing Sino-US co-productions, or Sino-foreign co-productions, is not as easy as imagined.

As I said before, if co-productions want to be accepted around the world, eliminate cultural barriers, and allow audiences everywhere to understand the film’s story, and thus become a big seller, they must first have a cultural core that is accepted around the world.

This is just a foundation. Your story must be understandable to global audiences and it must also be exciting enough to be liked by global audiences.

And that’s not all. It’s not enough to have a great core and story. You also need to have enough highlights to attract global audiences, excellent production standards, the participation of big-name international stars, and strong distribution channels.

These elements are often indispensable, and when they come together, they point to only one type of film, that is, big-investment, big-production commercial science fiction and action films.

This has been verified by the market over a long period of time.

For example, the story content of mythological epic films and fantasy films from various countries often requires the audience to have a certain understanding of the country’s cultural history, which creates a certain threshold for viewing the film.

There is also the same problem with comedies, where many jokes are perceived differently by audiences from different cultures.

The same is true for romance films. Different views on love sometimes make it difficult for the audience to empathize with the male and female protagonists in the story.

As for horror films and other niche genres, they often face problems with local regulations or censorship systems.

Excluding these genre films that are easy to make a big profit with a small investment, commercial science fiction and action films with large production costs often mean high risks.

In addition, issues such as collection, taxation, and capital flow of co-productions are also very complicated because they involve foreign companies.

Cash flow is very important for a film company, so even though there is great potential for Sino-US co-productions, my advice is to choose carefully and not invest in it rashly.

Even if you have an idea, it is best to prepare in advance.

Compared with the prospects of co-production films, I am actually very optimistic about the prospects of Chinese films.

On the one hand, the domestic film market is growing year by year, and there are more opportunities for domestic films.

In the past, if a movie wanted to break 100 million yuan at the box office, only big directors like Zhang Guoshi could have that hope.

Nowadays, there are many domestic movies with box office revenue exceeding 100 million yuan every year.

Moreover, these films are of various types and themes, presenting a flourishing trend. Therefore, I believe that there will be many opportunities in the domestic film and television market in the future, and the prospects for Chinese films are very bright.”

Upon hearing this, the female reporter nodded in agreement with a look of approval on her face.

“As a top domestic director, Director Wang must have an extremely accurate grasp of the market, and I also agree with what you said about the great potential of the domestic film market.

So, Director Wang, what new works will you have for the domestic market this year?"

What the female reporter said was actually using the movie channel to promote Wang Hao's new movie in advance.

As for the interview, this kind of thing is just a side thing. When Wang Hao was discussing the script with the other party, they had already agreed that this segment would be broadcast on TV at that time.

"Yes, my work this year is mainly aimed at the domestic market. It is a 3D space disaster film of our own."

"A space disaster movie?!"

The female reporter seemed a little surprised. After all, a movie of this type is considered to be too explicit in China.

Especially now that China's aerospace industry is in full swing, the momentum for making space disaster films is not good. Perhaps only a big director like Wang Hao is qualified to shoot such a subject.

"Yes, a space disaster movie." Wang Hao confirmed.

Because his new movie was still in the early preparation stage, he did not reveal too many specific subject matter to the public, and everyone subconsciously thought it was a special effects blockbuster related to the universe and space.

Now, taking advantage of this interview opportunity, Wang Hao just happened to reveal the name and genre of "Gravity" - a 3D hard science fiction space disaster film in the near future - through the movie channel.

"I'm really looking forward to it. This type of movie is really rare in China. I think the audience will be able to feast their eyes like Inception."

The female reporter said this with anticipation, and Wang Hao affirmed.

"Well, compared to the exciting plot of Inception, Gravity will focus on more visual effects and explore more possibilities of 3D movies. It will be a visual feast.

Of course, in terms of story, "Gravity" will also follow the principle of integrating Chinese and foreign cultures, with universal values ​​at its core.

It’s just that this time the core of the story will have something new, something different from previous domestic and Hollywood movies.”

"Director Wang, can't you give us a little spoiler in advance?

Hahaha! After you said that, I wish time would pass quickly. "

"Stay tuned."

Wang Hao smiled mysteriously, and then the two chatted for a while about topics such as Galaxy Group's [Galaxy Movie Universe] and film industrialization, and then ended the interview.

However, this is not his last interview this year. After Inception successfully surpassed Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 and ranked third on the global movie box office rankings, the mainstream Hollywood groups on the other side of the ocean finally paid attention to Wang Hao, a young director who rose in China.

After seeing off the people from the movie channel, Wang Hao welcomed two uninvited guests from the other side of the ocean, namely the interview teams from "Film Review" and "Time Magazine".

The former is a bimonthly film magazine published by the Film Society of Lincoln Center in New York. It is a serious film review publication whose readers are intellectuals or serious movie fans. The articles are mainly non-academic long essays, film reviews or interviews.

As for the latter, also known as "Time", it was founded in 1923. It is one of the first news weeklies in nearly a century. It is known as the "Three Major American News Weeklies" together with "Newsweek" and "U.S. News & World Report".

Its content is wide-ranging, and it likes to express opinions on international issues and follow up on major international events.

Moreover, the edition that Wang Hao will appear in this time is not the Asian edition published in Hong Kong, but the American main edition.

(End of this chapter)