Chapter 359 Movie Life
Aren’t Hong Kong movies supposed to be martial arts films with flying, swordplay and sabers?

The smoke rises in the desert, the sun sets over the long river, a group of people ride camels far out of the Great Wall, national hatred, family hatred, love and hate
Why is this the thing being filmed now?
The most glorious period of Hong Kong films should be the 8s and 90s, when high-quality films emerged in an endless stream. Of course, there were also many bad films, but the flaws did not outweigh the merits. In the end, in the new century, only police and gangster films remained.
There aren't even any new actors, the cast is still full of actors in their 5s and 60s.

After being inspired by Douyin in his previous life, Wang Deming looked for many Hong Kong videos to watch. He thought he would be able to see a prototype this time when he came to the Clearwater Bay Studios.

I never expected that what they were filming was actually Huangmei Opera. A Li Heizi fell from the sky?

"Okay, let's take a break. Letty, Ling Bo, come here, I'll tell you about the next scene."

"Brother Hanxiang, Mr. Wang is here."

"Mr. Wang is here?"

Li Hanxiang turned around and saw Wang Deming standing at the door of the studio with a smile on his face.

"Hey, Mr. Wang, why are you here today?" Li Hanxiang pretended to slap his forehead. "Is Madam Shouchun thinking about the new film?"

"Haha, it's almost done, it's almost done. The filming of The Butterfly Lovers is almost finished. Once I edit it and it's released, I can prepare for the new play."

"When Madam Shouchun comes out of confinement, I can play a guest role."

Wang Deming smiled and whispered something to the driver Ali. After the latter left, he smiled and shook his head: "It's both. I'm actually quite curious about making movies."

"But, I saw you singing and dancing while filming. It seemed like Huangmei Opera?"

"Oh, Mr. Wang, you also know Huangmei Opera?" Li Hanxiang was delighted, "Come here, please come this way."

Li Hanxiang introduced a group of actors to Wang Deming before saying, "You may not know that Huangmei Opera is the most popular film in recent years, especially in Taiwan and Southeast Asia. A single film can sell for tens of millions."

"We at Shaw Brothers cannot compete with the three film companies Great Wall, Phoenix, and New Union. We don't have that many good scripts, so we always follow the market."

"A good script?"

"yes."

At this time, Ali brought people and pushed a cart into the studio, and the cast and crew shouted "Long live."

Although Wang Deming had heard Zhang Shouchun say this, he still felt something was wrong.

He looked around but didn't see King Hu, so he asked, "Where's Director King Hu?"

"Mrs. Shouchun is sponsoring a film for him, and he is preparing it now."

"Haven't started filming yet?"

"Mr. Wang, filming a movie requires a lot of preparation, which usually takes several months or even a year."

"It takes so long?" Wang Deming was even more puzzled. Aren't Hong Kong films all about speed? How many days does it take to make a film at the fastest?
"Of course, if it's a crude Cantonese opera film, it won't take that long. If you invite famous Cantonese opera actors like Hong Xiannü, it can be shot in just a few days."

"Director Li, can you tell me about it if you're not busy?"

After Li Hanxiang gave Wang Deming a detailed introduction, he realized that it was not yet the time for Hong Kong films to flood the market, and a movie's props, costumes, sets, location shoots, etc. all needed to be prepared in advance.

Although props and costumes are ready-made, you are lucky to be able to use some of them. It takes a lot of effort to build the scenery and select the location for the exterior scenes.

King Hu is very serious about movies. He is looking for a clothing factory to select fabrics for the costumes of "Children of the Earth". He is also asking advertising companies and Shaw Brothers' set designers and producers to study the sets and locations. As for the shooting time, it will take at least two months. "Is that so?" This was beyond Wang Deming's expectation. He had previously thought that Li Hanxiang would make more than a dozen movies a year, and King Hu would make another dozen, all to promote Chinese culture.
If only this many movies are made in a year, then wouldn’t the five newly purchased theaters and the newly opened advertising company be bottomless pits?

No matter how rich you are, you can't do this, right?
"Director Li, how do Shaw Brothers cooperate with you? Is it for each movie?"

"cooperate?"

Li Hanxiang spoke in plain language again.

It turns out that Shaw Brothers has switched to the blockbuster system since Mr. Shaw Yip took over. All directors and actors are paid, and there is basically no need to hire external actors, so Shaw Brothers can produce several films a year, up to 8 or 9.

If it were the three Great Wall film companies, they would only have contracts with directors and actors, and the output would be only one or two films a year.

However, among Shaw Brothers' film directors and screenwriters, only Li Hanxiang is capable of being recognized. Unlike the three companies of Great Wall, there are so many talented people, such as Yang Hansheng, Shi Dongshan, Situ Huimin, Sima Wensheng, Shen Fu, Lu Dun, Wang Weiyi, Li Qing, Zhang Ying and many other talented directors, screenwriters and screenwriters.

It is known as: a gathering of the elites in the film industry, of great scale.

Wang Deming was stunned after hearing this. Oh my god, are these three Great Wall film companies so powerful? I know that Jet Li's Shaolin Temple was filmed by Yingdu after the merger of these three film companies.

He fell into deep thought, then asked, "Can the movies of those three companies be sold in Taiwan?"

Li Hanxiang shook his head.

"Here, Director Li, I remember you told me that you worked at the Great Wall Company before and that you are very familiar with Shen Fu and others. Please help me make an appointment with them so that we can talk about making a movie together."

"You and Director Hu can only make one movie a year, which I think is too little." Wang Deming immediately made a decision: "Of course, if you have friends you trust who have the ability to be directors, you are welcome to recommend them."

"A newly opened theater can't always show Spanish-language films, right?"

Li Hanxiang thought for a moment and said, "Okay, I'll call you right away after I make an appointment."

"Thank you for your hard work!"

"Haha, you're welcome. This is all for the prosperity of Chinese-language films in Hong Kong."

On the way home, Wang Deming felt a little helpless. The pool of Hong Kong films is too small now. He also didn't expect that the two well-known directors, Li Hanxiang and Hu Jinquan, would shoot films too slowly. It is true that slow work produces fine work, but it is useless if the quantity is small.

Two days later, Wang Deming received a call from Li Hanxiang, who made an appointment with his friends from Great Wall Company at noon three days later. In order to make it convenient for Wang Deming, the venue was chosen as Zhengyanglou Beijing Cuisine.

Time passed quickly and it was the agreed time. Wang Deming got off work at noon and walked to Zhengyanglou Beijing Cuisine. When he entered the private room that had been reserved in advance, he was speechless.

The private room was originally for ten people, but there are probably 12 or 3 people sitting there now. It's packed and lively, but is this the place for discussing business?
Li Hanxiang saw him coming in and quickly introduced him, "Wang Xianzhi, this is Director Zhu Shilin, I worked with him on my first film, he's a senior, this is Mr. Li Mingzhe, Mr. Xia Yunhu..."

"This is Ms. Xia Meng."

"Oh, hello everyone."

"Hello, Mr. Wang!"

Director Zhu Shilin is the oldest. He smiled like a Maitreya Buddha and said, "I heard from Hei Zai that there is a wealthy tycoon who wants to strongly support our Chinese-language films. I am so happy!"

"We were just filming "A Dream of Spring in the Pastoral Land" and we brought them over to meet with Mr. Wang for learning and exchange."

(End of this chapter)