2018 Halloween schedule, Nie Yuan, Ge Tian and Du Yiheng starred in " Dark Maze " and became a mainland crime suspense film with "stunning reputation" in the same period. The production team of this film is a rising production team in Chinese suspense films. Their first film produced was " Seal of the Doors ", which won 25.71 million yuan in box office and was also the box office champion of the same type in 2015. But "Dark Maze", which has been fully upgraded from the plot to the production quality, has only won more than 3 million yuan in box office for five days.
In this regard, producer Jiang Dai accepted my exclusive interview. When talking about the previous rumors that he would "run naked to save the scene", he said with a wry smile that it was interacting with the producer Yu Dong and joking. As long as the movie has a high box office, he can "run naked" with the director. Later, he revealed the behind-the-scenes behind his filming of "The Shadow of the Door" to "The Shadow of the Door" and "The Labyrinth of the Dark", and answered "How to "The Shadow of the Door" is so popular, and who is the credit for the credit?" "Is it for fame or profit to make a movie?" and "How to successfully cooperate with Bona Film, which is known as China Fox"
From CCTV reporters to Size Huitong Film
self-exposed nude photos....
, Jiang Dai, graduated from , Communication University of China, in 2001, majored in film and television program production. After that, he applied for a director and director at CCTV. "At that time, CCTV's administrative division was not based on channel, but based on eight major centers including news, sports, literature and art, science and education, and overseas. I worked as a director and reporter in the Science and Education Channel, and worked as a documentary director for three years."
In 2004, Jiang Dai left CCTV and started a small company, mainly engaged in advertising shooting and promotional film production. He believed that his previous work was related to images, and the ultimate ideal of all the people in this industry was to make movies, so he began to change in this direction with his friends around him.
Founders of three companies Jiang Dai Chang Cheng Wenhe
As for Wen He, who once wrote "The Shadow of the Seal of the Door" and directed "The Maze of Darkness", he met Jiang Dai and was spread on the cultural top of the Forbidden City in Beijing in 2005. At that time, the company undertakes more than 60-70% of the "high-end commercial videos" in Beijing. The so-called high-end commercial videos are to shoot commercials and promotional videos for Microsoft, IBM and BMW.
"He is the director of this company, I am the project manager." At that time, one of the bosses was Lin Ning, who is now the CEO of Weiying Times, and the other is Yang Dan of Yuyue Media. So Mr. Jiang laughed and said, "In fact, everyone will be together."
Jiang Dai has made visual and three-dimensional packaging for advertising, and director Wen He has been doing promotional videos, and the two are very co-starring. Around 2012, several like-minded partners thought they had dreams of film for such a long time, but had never practiced them. They wanted to start with TV movies, set up a small studio in a promotional film company, hiring 2 or 3 people to write scripts, and from then on, they began to enter the film and television industry.
As for the company's name, "Size Huitong Film", Jiang Dai said: "Wenhe director's promotional film company is called 'Size Culture', and my company is called 'Central Video Huitong', so the two names are merged. 'Size' comes from the English 'SIZE', which means to be proportionate and standardized in doing things. 'Huitong' means to integrate and integrate. The meaning of the company: without rules, there is no square."
"We are not intruders in the film and television industry, nor are we rich to shoot movies, nor do we film for personal values, feelings, and voice." When Size Huitong Film Company was established in 2013, it had a clear goal - to make commercial movies.
Jiang Dai admitted: "We appreciate top directors like Kubrick and like movies like "The Pianist at the Sea", but can we do that now? Even if we do that, it will fail, so we settle for the second best." After the establishment of the company, the first script released was "Billiard Girl" with the theme of TV movies, telling an inspirational story about a girl playing billiards. The heroine has to play billiards, and everyone thinks she is not studying hard, so she is treated unfairly in society. But that girl just likes to play billiards, so she successfully counterattacked from a loser.According to Mr. Jiang, "Her inspirational process is very similar to "Shaolin Football".
In fact, the script of "Baby Girl" was released from 2007 to 2008, but it was not broadcast until ten years later in 2018. As for why it was hit so late? Mr. Jiang said, "At that time, we didn't know how to connect with movie channel , and later we knew that if we cooperated with the channel, the director and screenwriter would have to make the say, and the company could only earn the underwriting fee." So we had no choice but to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in development fees and gave up. "
Until 2017, during the release interval of filming "Dark Maze", the channel was normally connected, and it coincided with the reform of the movie channel. I hope to see the theme of youth and inspiration, "Billiard Girl" was successfully promoted.
"Dark Maze" is about to be released, and "Billiard Girl" won the lead on CCTV. "Currently, the ratings of the same period are the first, exceeding many martial arts films. "Yesterday, the leader of the movie channel praised me: "The filming is really good, your team is very powerful! "
Jiang Dai smiled and said that the team is still these people: the screenwriter of "Dark Maze" is the director of "Dark Maze" and the executive director of "Dark Maze", and the director of "Dark Maze" is also the screenwriter of "The Seal of the Door"... "I have always been a producer and supervisor." Their company has filmed four movies, and the themes are all chosen by him in the end. In addition to "The Seal of the Door" and "The Seal of the Door" have made money. "Dark Maze" is currently being screened, and there is another film "Stockholm" because the theme involves the Luoyang sex slave case, which may never be released.
"Stockholm" is not just a curiosity, but it is actually an exploration of human nature. "If the control of major online movies is relaxed, it will definitely be a hit, but if there is an order to remove the Internet, it can only be like this." The four movies go from material selection to direction. Jiang Dai believes that as a project manager, "the first priority is definitely the benefit of business returns, and art and sentiment can only be put second. ”
At the beginning, because the "Billiard Girl" project could not be promoted, Size Huitong Film decided to take the path of commercialization and make a type of movie that audiences may like - thriller and suspense film. That is why "The Shadow of the Door" and "The Dark Maze" were born one after another.
Regarding the outside world's belief that they love shooting thriller movies, Mr. Jiang responded, "Because this is the entry-level type of movies, and it is most likely to leverage the commercial market. It wouldn't be possible if we were ready to shoot love, action, ancient genre from the beginning. We are actually not specializing in making thriller movies, nor do we intend to position our company in this type of genre. "Billiard Girl" is a youthful and inspirational spirit with huge contrast, so the outside world has misunderstandings about us! "
"The Shadow of the Seal of the Door" miracle 60% depends on the fortune
The initial topic selection stage of the two thriller movies continued the form of the advertising company planning meeting. Everyone brainstormed and thought together. Each person reported the material selection and creation direction, and there were more than a dozen topics. One of them mentioned "Fengmen Village", which was haunted and was once a night. All are gone. Meng Fei also said it on the show, and it is said online that CCTV has done related interviews and reports. So is there a movie? "No, we are the first one," producer Jiang Dai said proudly. After
, the script was completed in three months, and it took half a year to complete the filming. The stupidest method was used to raise funds. The three partners had to invest 30% and the other shares were found for investors. According to Jiang Dai, "This is similar to the situation encountered in "Dark Maze". "
There was a distribution company that liked "Sealing the Door", but because of the company's financial difficulties, it could not be distributed. In 2015, Sun Yue, chairman of Xinyue Film and Television, who had a background in science and engineering, came to Size Huitong Film and watch the film and said, "Mr. Jiang, I want to make this film, and I have the confidence to do the best. ”
After talking about advance fund promotion and guaranteed issuance, Sun Yue readily agreed: “We can do it all, and the early expenses are reimbursed. "Sun Yue believes that he has made thrillers for many years and has some experience. Before, his best result was Qian Renhao Director " Weird Town " released by more than 9 million yuan.
He said: "I will do all my efforts in "The Seal of the Gate" because it is very tiring to promote and distribute. We have been doing distribution for five years and have not achieved great results. Our company will invest half a year in "The Seal of the Gate of the Gate of the Gate", put all our energy into it, and then put so much effort into it. If I don't do it well, I won't do the movie release!" After
, "Xinyue really used his mind." They used the power to "The Seal of the Gate of the Gate of the Gate", and there was a press conference of 80,000 yuan, carrying a real coffin to the scene. They also took out part of their money to do "haunted house" activities in 50 theaters across the country, with excellent results.
Although there are thousands of theaters across the country, only fifty theaters seem to be very interesting, Sun Yue said to Jiang Dai: "Our budget cannot make every theater "experience the haunted house." But we can speak to the industry through the media: "We dare to do this!" ", amplify it through media reports and leverage it to boost strength."
Because Xinyue Film, led by Sun Yue, was amazing in the promotion and distribution of "The Secret Shadow", the box office was as high as nearly 30 million. The overall return was twelve points, and twenty movies were immediately released by Sun Yue. The next year, he sent Xinyue to the New Third Board and had two rounds of financing.
In addition, during the hiding period of "The Secret Shadow of the Door", the original second female lead Ge Tian suddenly became Liu Xiang's wife from an amateur, which also gave the movie the biggest selling point. Therefore, the success of this project is due to factors such as time, place, and people, including 60% of the fortune, which is completely different from the fate encountered by "Dark Maze" later!
How to cooperate with "Dark Maze" Bona and Nie Yuan
After "The Legend of the Door" won the box office miracle of the thriller movie, countless investors have asked Jiang Dai to cooperate and film "The Legend of the Door 2", but Jiang Dai told himself to be calm, "Because success cannot be copied, the success of the Legend of the Door is a comprehensive factor. When doing projects, you must innovate and be forward-looking." As expected, ghost movies and thrillers from 2016 to 2017 were everywhere, and there were wailing.
By chance, Jiang Dai participated in an industry event and met Xia Nan from Bona Film Production Department. Jiang Dai handed over his business card. To his surprise, Xia Nan actually said, "I know..."
asked if there was any new project, and Jiang Dai said, "We have done scripts and saved more than 20!" He sent ten people, and Bona chose six of them in one hand, and each movie was invested 20-35%. At this time, Jiang Dai felt confused because happiness came too suddenly!
then vice president of Bona Pictures Group said at the time: "Although you are a small company that is unknown, from your project, the scripts are solid. Many of the projects given to us are PPT, and your scripts have been reviewed, and it is rare for small teams as high as yours to complete."
Later, Liu Ge, then general manager of Bona Pictures distribution, also said when talking about cooperation: "We know your "Secret Shadow". Our company also analyzed why this movie sold so well during the meeting. It is not easy to create such great results at a low cost and create such great results!"
production and distribution departments unanimously agreed, and Boss Yu Dong stroked his pen and the cooperation was finalized.
initially this script was called "Death Loop" because the story was designed to hit the ghost in the tunnel. Later, the team did not want to firmly print the label of the thriller, so it changed its name to "Six Degrees" for the second time because the actors traveled through six tunnels in the film, and the art style of each tunnel was actually the personality projection of a certain character's personality.
Later, "Six Degrees" was renamed "Dark Maze" because of the copyright of the name. Meaning: People’s hearts are unpredictable, and whether they are others or their own hearts, there are always huge secrets hidden.
For many people in the outside world, "Dark Maze" borrows from "Deadly Id", "Invasion of Brain Cells", "Inception" and even "Fighting Club", "Q", etc.Does Wen He, director who has graduated from the Film Academy's advanced study class and has read as many as 10,000 films, have he learned from it?
Wen He smiled and said that it was actually that he drove through the Badaling Tunnel once. After a long time, he found that the scenery around him was the same. He thought what would happen if a tunnel could never go out, what would happen if it was made into a movie? This creates creative inspiration.
initially wanted to find Chen Kun to play the male lead. Chen Kun's agent said, "Your script is great, who is the director?" Jiang Dai said, "Who do you say the director is who is who." The other party asked him to work with director Yang Qing in " Hotpot Hero ". The latter thought it was very good after reading the script, but he was afraid that he didn't know what he could do. In addition, he only wanted to shoot the script he wrote, so he didn't work together.
also found Tong Dawei and Huang Xiaoming , but also failed to take it due to the pay, schedule, etc. Bona said, "Use us to sign the star Nie Yuan!" This way, coupled with Bona's recommended Du Yiheng and "The Secret Shadow" successfully collaborated on Ge Tian, which is already considered a big cast in a genre film with little investment.
Nie Yuan joined the group to shoot for forty days, and it took three hours to go back and forth on the mountain road every day. Every time he is exhausted, he works hard. According to producer Jiang Dai, Nie Yuan’s pay for filming "The Dark Maze" should be less than the price of filming a TV series he is now shooting. "And Nie Yuan interpreted it very well, especially when he fought in the mud and played the role of losing his wife. The painful expression was just right."
At that time, when Nie Yuan was the most popular, he was called "the four students from the mainland" together with Huang Xiaoming, Tong Dawei, and Yin Xiaotian . Later, because of his unluckyness, he reached a low point in his life after fighting in Shanghai, until the 2018 "Story of Yanxi Palace" became popular again. So in the performance of "The Dark Maze", he has a vivid experience of the characters' inner confusion.
includes Ge Tian was divorced from Liu Xiang when he was shooting, so she said in the water prison: "We have forgotten the promise at that time", "I want to tell you: How great it would be if we could go back to the day we first met." Integrated with her true feelings.
"It is not without flaws in performance." But many viewers were amazed by Luan Yuanhui, Ge Tian, Qi Lanyin and Lu Zhuo's performances. "Jiang Dai said excitedly. He revealed that Ge Tian had finished the film and cried and said with tears in his eyes: "I didn't expect the movie to be so good! "
. Qi Lanyi and Lu Zhuo, who shined in "Dark Maze", were both brought to the audition group by the assistant director. After several rounds of screening, everyone found that it was very good and in line with the character setting. Xiaoxi was originally the embodiment of Zhouzhou puppet toys. Qi Lanyin herself has a puppet feeling, which is in line with the plot setting.
Jiang Dai originally thought Qi Lanyi was a COSPLAY type girl, but she had a particularly strange chemical reaction. After the film was completely filmed and cut, she looked at it. The comfortable performance turned out to be very comfortable. After the movie was released, before Qi Lanyi was shot to death, she used her weak and delicate hands to put on her brother's headphones in a pool of blood, which also made many female audiences in the theater cry. How to face various negative controversies in
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said he was very surprised about the current box office results of more than 3 million yuan. Many people once told him: "Choose to cooperate with Bona Film is a double-edged sword. The advantage is that you will immediately enter the array of the most awesome film company cooperative teams in China. The disadvantage is that your movie has the smallest size in its film library system. How much energy can you invest? How much publicity and promotion are done? It's hard to spend a lot of money on marketing like "Wushuang". ”
But when working with Bona, Jiang always weighs the fact that "Dark Maze" can be equipped with so many excellent actors and can enhance the reputation of the film. Bona is indeed an original brand enterprise for the film. Jiang Dai believes that no one is an ever-winning general in making movies, and there are successes and failures.He recently systematically studied the top 250 high-scoring directors of Douban movies and found that the other party had failed and immature projects, so he believed, "If you want to be an excellent 5%, you must work harder and be more cautious!"
, even , director Cao Baoping, , has such a big production and so attentiveness, and the box office ceiling is only 100 or 200 million yuan. Mr. Jiang Dai said, "How big cast is director Cao Baoping uses? There is no way, so the market for small and medium-sized movies is currently very narrow! The "Beijing No. 81" series is no longer called a horror movie, but a star-led blockbuster. That kind of case is very special and must not be copied.
talks about the ceiling of thriller movies, Jiang Dai said that if there is a horror movie in the future, the quality is very high-quality, and meets a very marketing team, and it is still in the Spring Festival period, there is no impossible for 1 to 2 billion box offices."
talks about future development, Jiang Dai believes that "we must innovate! Break through layers of shackles, continue to innovate, and win the recognition of the audience! Without leap and innovation, there is a dead end. Now domestic theater movies have only a 5% survival rate. If my movie wants to enter this rank, it must be predicted that in the next two years, the innovative criminal suspense films such as "Dark Maze" with good reputation and stories are still being treated coldly. If you make a movie, you must be more awe-inspiring, more humble and more trembling. "
Mr. Jiang has also boasted countless awesomeness, "This film has a box office of 50 million, and the box office of 80 million is the goal." After the release, Maoyan and Taopiaopiao scored above 7.7-7.8 points without word-of-mouth maintenance. This is a rare positive review for original films in the mainland, but there is still no box office output.
talked about the audience's polar comments after watching "The Dark Maze": "The front is so exciting, the back is so slow." "The front is a small LOW film, and the back is very high-end and surprising."
Mr. Jiang revealed that he accompanied various gods to watch movies, no less than fifty times. He analyzed the audience, young, likes exciting, and feminine, likes the front, has a little experience, and likes the back part because of his positive values. In fact, it is a "movie discussing love and hate" wearing a suspense cloak.
Faced with the cold reception of the market, Jiang Dai, as a producer, believes that he must be responsible. "It is hard to say about the specific quantification, but neither I nor the director have done better. We may need to be more professional in producing. For an industry practitioner, since he has entered this industry, he can only do his best to make better works. But at which level we can reach, we can only speak with the works." Everyone in this industry should be humble and trembling, because movies are far more difficult and complicated than we imagined! "Jiang always summarized it like this.
Speaking of the future goals of Size Huitong Film, Mr. Jiang admitted, "We must break the current deadlock and make films that are both well-known and popular. It takes two years for me to get every project and I have to be more cautious! ”
As for whether to make movies for fame or profit, he believes that everyone has two aspects of fame and fortune in any profession. “I happen to like movies. As long as it can still support my family, I will do this. "
Producer Jiang Dai once wanted to make ten movies, but now he has completed four movies. He also wanted to be a director. What kind of good things can he give to the audience in the future?
