This article is from the WeChat public account: One Entertainment Observation (ID: yiyuguancha), text/Dewey.
The "strongest National Day file" really lived up to expectations, with a total box office of more than 700 million yuan in a single day, setting a single-day box office record in 2020, inspiring the entire film market, and "My Hometown and Me" as a "festival special" unsurprisingly became one of the kings of the "strongest National Day file".
According to the data of the professional version of the lighthouse, the box office of "My Hometown and Me" broke through 270 million on the opening day, lagging behind the 358 million of the animated film "Jiang Ziya", but in terms of word-of-mouth, "My Hometown and Me" completed the counterattack.
"My Hometown and Me" has the configuration of the top domestic creative team, and is also the first comedy blockbuster after the theater resumed work, with the advantages of the theme, the quality of the work this time did not disappoint the audience, Douban opened a score of 7.6 points, the current smile is proud of the entire National Day file, with the good potential of word-of-mouth to surpass "Jiang Ziya", Maoyan Professional Edition has come to 2.27 billion yuan for its box office estimate, becoming the choice of the box office champion in the schedule.
"My Hometown and Me" was launched in May this year, basically finished at the end of July, entered the publicity period in September, and finally officially released on October 1, with its rapid market judgment and project completion, thanks to the continuous high market expectations provided by the previous work of the series "My Motherland and Me", as well as the same "director's platter" film operation ideas.
Last year, "My Motherland and Me" created a genre commercial tribute film that is most in line with the current Chinese market through the perspective of civilians and the creation method of "small people + big times", with a single box office volume of 3 billion+, making it a phenomenon-level work of all ages, all regions and the whole people, and successfully opened a new era of main theme films.
The hit "My Motherland and Me" has also successfully attracted the attention of the North American market. The Hollywood Reporter said: "China has created a different 'patriotic film' from the past, making small people the protagonists of the times for the first time, and witnessing the rapid development of new China from their perspective." ”
When "Eight Hundred" won the global box office championship, the North American industry was also sighing: "Please don't blink, the Chinese market is about to release the sister article "My Motherland and Me" "My Hometown and Me". ”
When summarizing the success of "My Motherland and Me", the North American industry media also highlighted the "director's platter" attribute in the film, that is, the film invited seven of the most active and senior film directors in China in recent years, each holding a unit story, although the ages are different, the stories are not connected, and the creative forms are also very different, but they all serve the same creative theme, trying to see the big in the small, so that people from all walks of life can find their own epitome of the times.
In fact, the "Director's Platter" movie is not the first to try and make mistakes on the theme of "the main theme".
Looking back at the past of the "Director's Platter" movie, the blessings of well-known directors and well-known actors are inseparable, so why did the previous "Director's Platter" attempts have repeatedly failed, but now they can shine in the main theme? In the future, there are also many "director's platters" on the way, what innovations will they have, and what shackles will they have? In the end, is the "director's platter" movie, the director, the actor, or the content? Starting with the "Me and Mine" series, we will delve into the past and future of the "Director's Platter" film.
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="01" > "Director's Platter" Past History: The love theme has repeatedly "thunderstormed", and the main theme saves it</h1>
The idea of the "Director's Platter" film is not difficult to understand: multiple directors shoot different unit stories, and finally rely on a core idea or expression strung together in a creative mode. This model greatly improves the efficiency of film creation, and ensures the completion of the schedule, if you bring together the mature, strong summons of directors and actors behind the most popular movies on the market, then to a certain extent, you can ensure that the "director's platter" film in a shorter period of time to form the effect of the head blockbuster.
Looking back at the past domestic "director platter" movies, the theme of love is the main creative theme.
One Entertainment Observation (ID: yiyuguancha) sorted out the main commercial nature of the mainland "director platter" movies, according to incomplete statistics, "My Motherland and Me" before only 4 "director platter" movies were released, and all of them were love themes. From 2015 to 2016, it ushered in the peak of "Director's Platter" film creation, "All the Way To Surprise", "City in Love" and "Ben Love" have been released successively, squeezing the Valentine's Day and summer slots.
But unfortunately, no work before "My Motherland and Me" exceeded 100 million yuan at the box office, and no work reached the Passing Line of Douban. In addition to the 34.76 million yuan of "Fate Call Transfer" that was a hot seller that year, the remaining three "director's platter" movies showed an embarrassing situation in which the co-director's fame was getting bigger and bigger, and its box office and word of mouth were increasingly struggling.
In 2015, "All the Way Surprise", which was first directed by Mesozoic directors Jin Yimeng and Pan Anzi, received 69.77 million yuan in the Valentine's Day slot, which was decent. Subsequently, the fledgling young directors Wen Muye and Dong Runnian directed "The City in Love" received 53.62 million yuan in the summer file, which was tepid.
In 2016, "Ben Ai", directed by Zhang Yibai, Guan Hu, Zhang Meng, Teng Huatao, Gao Qunshu and other sixth-generation directors, handed over the worst answer. The film was accurately positioned to be released on Valentine's Day on February 14, and invited zhang Ziyi, Peng Yuyan and other stars to star, but the negative reputation of the film quickly fermented, Douban only reached 3.9 points, and finally only 47.46 million yuan was recorded.
The overall failure of "Ben Ai" also indirectly led to the difficulties of the subsequent "Director's Platter" film project. Before the release of "My Motherland and Me" in 2019, the genre was vacant in the domestic market for three years.
The "Director's Platter" movie loves the "love theme" in fact, there are traces to follow.
In the unit nature of the film, in 2010, the Hong Kong love platter film "Love in the City" won 133 million yuan at the box office, becoming the first platter film to break 100 million yuan, followed by the next year's same series of "Global Love" was also released, with a box office of nearly 60 million; in 2012, Niu Chengze's four pairs of male and female love stories "LOVE" won 137 million yuan at the box office; in 2014, "Beijing Love Story" won 400 million yuan at the box office, and director Chen Sicheng also became famous.
The above films are all unit films composed of multiple love stories and created by 1-2 directors.
It can be seen that Chinese audiences do not hate unit platter movies, and the love theme also presents a sense of fit with unit platter movies.
How to innovate in the platter film, it has marched to the "director's platter" movie mode. The "Director's Platter" film is a re-subdivision of the Platter Film, which has 3 to 7 co-directors, each in charge of a unit story, without interfering with each other. The film tries to show the same theme through colorful plot content, distinctive directorial expressions, and multi-perspective thinking and observation.
At the same time, the producer also expects several well-known conductors to become a hot topic, innovative forms of expression can attract the mainstream audience's interest in watching movies, and the love theme naturally becomes the best test field for "director's platter" movies.
Unfortunately, it backfired.
"Beijing Love Story" was a hot seller in 2014, and one of its producers, Wanda Film and Television, saw the market potential of platter love movies and quickly organized the largest "director's platter" project in commercial films--- "Ben Ai".
At the final press conference of "Ben Ai" in October 2015, the all-star director lineup composed of Guan Hu, Teng Huatao, Gao Qunshu, Zhang Meng, and Zhang Yibai was eye-catching, and Zhang Ziyi, Peng Yuyan, Tong Liya, Zhou Dongyu and other popular stars joined strongly, which can be described as star-studded, and the five stories were filmed in the most famous attractions in Japan, the United States, Norway, Istanbul, Saipan and other regions, which were overall gimmicky.
However, this top-of-the-line platter movie, Douban opened with a score of 3.9, becoming the worst masterpiece of several co-directors. Among them, the unit stories directed by different directors are full of separation, and the main theme of expression is also relatively scattered. Within a period of twenty minutes, a single story cannot be clearly shown as complete, the plot is false, and it is difficult to attract the emotional resonance of the audience, which finally leads to a very poor perception of the audience.
What is more serious is that the audience cannot see the artistic standards and creative sincerity of several famous directors in "Ben Ai". Comprehensive bad reviews cover every creative element of the film, and even some netizens bluntly said that "Ben Ai" is a "circle money trap" under the name of the joint creation of the director.
At the beginning of the release of "Ben Ai", Gao Qunshu, Teng Huatao, Zhang Yibai, and Guan Hu were blunt when they were guests on a certain interview program: "Most of our directors still shoot more men's scenes. As a regional romance film, the selection criteria of several directors are: "This place I want to go to but have not yet been." For the view of love and romance, several directors also admitted: "In fact, I still don't understand love and women." ”
"We want to see healthy competition among directors in art creation in platter films, rather than propositional compositions without sincerity." Douban netizens commented so.
"Ben Ai" completely exposes all the shortcomings of the "director's platter" movie.
These shortcomings have been alleviated to a certain extent in the "Me and Mine" series, and under the aura of the main theme creation of "big times, small people", the creators have also found a place suitable for their own play, thus making the "Director's Platter" series revitalized.
<h1 class="pgc-h-decimal" data-index="02" > the main theme becomes a god, and more possibilities for "director's platter" are on the way</h1>
If before "My Motherland and Me", all "director's platter" movies were street-throwing works, this view is too extreme. "Director's Platter" movies looking at the global film market are not the norm, but occasionally, and it is necessary to pry several famous directors to put down their bodies and submit to joint guidance and devote themselves to creation.
In 1995, Zhang Yimou was invited to make a documentary commemorating the Lumiere brothers, the father of modern cinema, and paying tribute to the most traditional filmmaking methods, and the producer invited forty film directors from all over the world to shoot a 52-second short film with the world's oldest camera made by the Lumière brothers, and could not exceed 52 seconds, could not be synchronized recording, and could not be repeated more than three times to explain the three questions of "why did you make this movie", "why do you want to make a movie" and "will the film die".
"Lumiere and the Forty Directors" Zhang Yimou
In 2002, the millennium came, and people around the world lamented the passage of time. Chen Kaige was invited to shoot an international film project that expounded the theme of time, and the film was divided into upper and lower parts, namely "Ten Minutes of Aging: Cello Chapter" and "Ten Minutes of Aging: Trumpet Piece", of which the chapter "The Depths of a Hundred Flowers" directed by Chen Kaige attracted much attention and became a classic in the hearts of film fans.
In 2009, Jiang Wen was invited to co-produce the "New York Impression" movie "New York I Love You", and during the epidemic in 2020, Jia Zhangke was invited to co-shoot the short film "Visit" with the epidemic as the background and the theme of "space".
It can be seen that even if the "director's platter" films are mostly "propositional compositions", and the requirements are harsh, the restrictions are numerous, and the director's self-play space is not large, but after having a strong name, the directors' creative motivation and healthy competition mentality are naturally displayed.
To last year's National Day file of "My Motherland and Me", the meaning behind it is also obvious.
It is worth noting that "My Motherland and Me" has aroused heated discussion in the North American industry, and many media have also highlighted the "director's platter" attribute in the film.
"Ten years ago, the Chinese tribute film was "The Great Undertaking of the Founding of the People's Republic", which gathered a platter film composed of more than 200 stars, attracting the interest of countless audiences, and now the Chinese tribute film has once again played the 'director's platter' attribute, becoming the biggest point of interest of Chinese audiences who are now paying more and more attention to word of mouth." "Variety Magazine" once commented on this.
The two words of word of mouth are also the shackles of the "director's platter" movie, but "My Motherland and Me" has done a good job of solving, and the seven story units, although the styles are very different and unique, are all superior works.
Chen Kaige's "Daytime Shooting Star" and Guan Hu's "Night Before" are steady and shocking, reflecting the common growth of "little people" and the motherland; Xu Zheng's "Win the Championship" and Ning Hao's "Hello Beijing" are witty and humorous, embodying the humorous wisdom and true feelings of "little people"; Xue Xiaolu's "Return", Zhang Yibai's "Encounter", and Wen Muye's "Escort", which are warm and delicate, embodying the emotional life of "little people". The seven stories truly form an organic whole, showing the creative theme of "small people + big times", and achieving a new main theme film of national empathy.
"My Motherland and Me" stills of "Hello Beijing" directed by Ning Hao
The selection of the most favorite director unit in the film has become an active talking point among fans, and "My Motherland and Me" has truly become a healthy competition in the "Director's Platter" movie. With this healthy competition content and the national day slot atmosphere dividend, the film exceeded 3.1 billion yuan at the box office, and still ranks eighth in the historical box office list, becoming the benchmark work of the "Director's Platter" film.
The follow-up work "My Hometown and Me" is also being screened, and the impressive result of a single-day box office of 270 million yuan once again makes the advantages of the "Director's Platter" movie fully displayed.
Immediately after October 25, the film "King Kong Chuan", co-directed by Guan Hu, Guo Fan and Lu Yang, will be released on the occasion of commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Chinese Volunteer Army's War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, which tells a story through the three perspectives of three directors - the engineering bridge was repaired and then repaired again, and this creative idea provides more innovative possibilities for the "director's platter" film.
So, is the main theme film the best theme for the director's platter film, or is it the only theme that should be there?
The answer is not necessarily. After the theme of love and the theme of the main theme, the female theme that has attracted much attention in the market this year has also become a new attempt for "director's platter" movies.
Co-directed by Zhang Aijia, Li Shaohong, Chen Chong and Yu Feihong, "There is Her in the World" is officially launched, and will tell four stories of four women in 2020 as the time background.
The "Director's Platter" film will be presented with more rich content.
In addition to the famous director's blessing of the "director's platter" film to make it present a head effect, in the trial and error of some projects, the "director's platter" film can also be regarded as a test field for young directors to emerge. For example, in 2015's "City in Love", young directors such as Wen Muye and Dong Runnian in the project accumulated experience and explored their own film aesthetics in the platter film, and grew rapidly, becoming a "surprise" in the market in recent years.
"City in Love" Prague: Written and directed by Wen Makino
At present, most of the venture capital projects in major domestic film festivals are mainly short films, and potential young directors cannot access feature film creation due to seniority and cost reasons, and they cannot get the attention of the commercial market due to short film restrictions. If at this time, the "organic" platter of short films with the same style and similar theme can be turned into a feature film work, it may provide a new possibility for the film market.
The performance of "My Hometown and Me" in the National Day file is still unstoppable, driven by strong market value, perhaps "Hometown" will not be the last part of the "Me and My" series, regardless of whether the series name can be continued, the "director's platter" model of the main theme will continue to exist. In addition, in other genres, the "director's platter" will continue to be tried and wrong. No matter how the "director platter", the whole work still needs a successful helmsman to deeply think about how to avoid splitting the narrative, how to mobilize the director's enthusiasm for creation, how to raise the main theme of the "propositional composition" and so on.
The "Me and Mine" series has already made a good template for the "Director's Platter", and it is expected that the next innovation of "King Kong Chuan" will make the "Director's Platter" film have a longer lifespan, and the theme creation of Chinese films will be more abundant.