Chapter 363 Lunar New Year

After a while, Liu Hang smiled and knocked on Zhou Yan's office door.

"Teacher Zhou, you didn't even take a break when you came back, and you just came to work?"

"I came back to Yanjing just to work. There is no time to rest." Zhou Yan stood up with a smile and walked to the sofa. "Sit down."

Liu Hang nodded and sat down opposite Zhou Yan, "Actually, we can just record Nakamori Akina's new songs. You don't need to make a special trip."

"There's something else." Zhou Yan didn't explain much, "I just got a call from CCTV, saying that they hope to cooperate with us again and hold a few concerts. I came to you to ask about the studio's future from now on. Is there any more important work to do by the middle of next year so that I can avoid the time? ”

Hearing that CCTV was going to collaborate with Zhou Yan on a concert, Liu Hang couldn't help curling his lips. He felt that this matter would be of no benefit to them. After all, Zhou Yan's current schedule was already very full, and he still had to find time to collaborate with CCTV on a concert. On the contrary, it will disrupt their own plans.

But Liu Hang would definitely not say this, as he would not have the guts to offend CCTV.

"The studio has a lot of work now, but the big job is probably the soundtrack for "Titanic". There is also your new movie, but I don't know what your plans for the movie are. This year Are you ready to shoot?”

Zhou Yan nodded, "Shoot, we'll start filming in the fall, and try to release it before the middle of next year."

"Oh." Liu Hang suddenly understood something.

When Zhou Yan asked about the work intensity in the studio just now, Liu Hang was surprised, because no matter how busy the studio was, it actually had no impact on Zhou Yan himself.

Most of the work that their studio currently handles does not require Zhou Yan's personal intervention. For example, "Sweet Honey" and "Winner" are all done directly by the studio.

Li Tao and the others were responsible for writing the soundtrack, and then handed it over to the studio for recording, without Zhou Yan's intervention during the whole process.

But now Liu Hang understood that Zhou Yan wanted to shoot the movie this year, and he probably called him over to talk to him about the situation in the film studio.

There is a person in charge of the film studio, but Liu Hang now manages both studios, and the person in charge there is equivalent to a department head.

"The film studio is relatively quiet right now and can start new plans at any time. We just purchased a batch of new equipment some time ago, but they haven't been put into use yet. If you are going to start shooting a new movie, these equipment will also come in handy. ”

Zhou Yan nodded. Liu Hang was a smart man and understood what he wanted to say immediately.

"Let's do this. Take one to two hours at noon, call the people from the film studio, and have a meeting."

"Call everyone, do you want to hold a full-member meeting?"

After listening to Liu Hang's question, Zhou Yan realized that the film studio was no longer the same as before. Their studio now hired a lot of people, including twenty or thirty people in management.

Although there were not many people on the 20th or 30th, it was still different from the previous meetings with just a few people. There is no need to call everyone to this meeting today.

"Let's do this. Call the department leaders, and also call Jiang Mengfei, Liu Qing and Hong Xin."

These three people are Zhou Yan's old team, and they are in charge of different departments. They can basically form a shooting lineup.

"Okay, then set it at one o'clock noon?"

"One o'clock is too early. Let's have a rest at half past one. Let everyone eat and rest for a while."

"Understood, I'll inform you right away." After saying that, Liu Hang was about to get up.

Zhou Yan raised his hand, "Don't leave in a hurry, there are still some things to do. One of the interludes in my new movie has been decided for someone to sing. He will definitely come to the studio to record later. You will contact Xu Xiangjie from Phantom Sound soon. In addition, Phantom Sound may sign a few people in the near future, and the studio will also need to provide some support in the future. Please communicate about this. ”

Liu Hang was quite happy when he heard that Phantom Sound was going to sign a new talent, "It's a good thing, our studio will be really busy in the future. If anyone comes to rent a recording studio, we have to be more cautious. If this continues, we will I don’t even have enough.”

"Is the office area in our studio sufficient for the time being?"

"The office area is definitely sufficient, and there won't be any shortage for a while. To say it's stressful, the functional area may start to become tense in a while. The soundtrack engineering department has taken on a lot of work this year, but fortunately it's relatively scattered. Otherwise, just doing the work of their soundtrack engineering department would be enough for us. The film studio is fine and doesn’t put too much pressure on us.”

The nature of the soundtrack engineering department is completely different from that of the film studio. The former's business is open, and they can take over as long as the crew comes over, because they do not serve Zhou Yan.

Zhou Yan's movies all have his own soundtracks, and he established the soundtrack engineering department just to take on work from other movies.

Although the film studio not only serves Zhou Yan in name, but at this stage, it basically handles Zhou Yan's business. Several directors contracted by the studio, such as Wang Xiaoshuai and Huo Jianqi, have few and small jobs, and they are basically all Cooperate with Yanjing Film Studio.

After hearing what Liu Hang said, Zhou Yan also began to think about the subsequent development of their studio.

Although the electronics factory is very good, it is too limited. A warehouse and an office building cannot meet the studio's subsequent expansion.

He had thought about finding another place to build several new buildings before, but it was not easy to find a suitable place, and the construction required a lot of money.

Seeing Zhou Yan frowning in thought, Liu Hang suddenly said, "Teacher Zhou, Director Li has come to my place several times during this period."

Zhou Yan looked up at Liu Hang and raised his eyebrows, "Li Xiuhai?"

"Yeah."

"What did he want to see you about?"

"He didn't say anything, he just came to my office for tea, but he came a little too often, which was not right. The situation of the electronics factory is not very good now, and he is probably also very worried. We rented the warehouse and Building No. 3. Although the annual rent solved their urgent needs at the time, the hole in the factory is getting bigger and bigger now, and this rent is probably a drop in the bucket."

Zhou Yan pondered. After all, they were in the same park, and he had dealt with Li Xiuhai a lot, and he also knew Li Xiuhai's personality.

Li Xiuhai took over the electronics factory a few years ago. At that time, there were already many problems in the electronics factory, and Li Xiuhai was not the kind of person who could make drastic reforms, so the electronics factory in his hands could only die slowly.

In fact, Li Xiuhai cannot be blamed for this. The power of the times is something that ordinary people cannot resist.

And standing in the torrent of the times, no one knows what is right or wrong.

Zhou Yan traveled from the future and knew that they were dying slowly and the end was set. But they didn't know that if they could hold on for a while, there would be a new hope.

Different experts say different things. Who should ordinary people believe?

Even if they are tide riders, there are countless people who have been killed by the waves.

Therefore, Li Xiuhai's approach seems to be understandable.

If Zhou Yan hadn't taken over the warehouse and Building No. 3, the electronics factory would have had a harder time in the past two years.

Now it seems that the electronics factory is about to fail.

However, this also made Zhou Yan think a little. Although the electronics factory is very old, it has a good location and a large enough place. If he can take over the factory, he won't have to worry about the subsequent expansion of the studio.

It's just that this matter involves many things, not just money, so Zhou Yan needs to plan it carefully.

He would find time to talk to Huo Siqi. The Huo family has a wide network of contacts in Yanjing and deep roots, so it is much easier for them to do these things than him.

He did not tell Liu Hang about these things. He asked Liu Hang about the situation of the electronics factory and let Liu Hang go to work.

After Liu Hang left, Zhou Yan called Han Sanping again and wanted to ask him to borrow two people.

In fact, Han Sanping called Zhou Yan during the time when Zhou Yan was not in Yanjing, and he just called Han Sanping back to ask him if he had any business.

After the call was connected, Zhou Yan smiled and said, "Third brother, good morning."

Hearing that it was Zhou Yan, Han Sanping said happily, "You are back in Yanjing."

"Well, I just came back. I heard that you called me, so I called back to ask if you have any instructions."

"Don't be so rude to me. I called you because I saw on the news that you were going to shoot a new movie. You didn't tell me about the new movie before."

Han Sanping's tone was a little resentful, because he had told Zhou Yan more than once before that if there was a plan for a new movie, he must tell him. But he only knew about Zhou Yan's new movie after reading the news.

Zhou Yan smiled and explained, "It was a spur-of-the-moment decision. The scripts were all written in Hong Kong and Taiwan, and I didn't have time to tell you."

Hearing Zhou Yan's explanation, Han Sanping felt much more comfortable, "I don't mean to blame you. Normally, you are not obliged to report to me when you make a movie. But you also know my brother's current situation. Yanjing Film Studio must follow the reform policy of the radio and television. I have some ideas to realize, and I still need the support of my brothers. To put it in a bigger picture, you are now a representative figure of our Chinese film. Naturally, this film reform also needs your contribution."

Zhou Yan smiled, "Third brother, don't put me on a high pedestal."

Han Sanping laughed, "It's not me who puts you on a high pedestal, it's you who flies high. How about it, do you have time today? Is it convenient for me to take me to see the script of your new movie?"

"It's definitely okay if you want to see the script, just come over, but I'm very busy today, I'm afraid I don't have time to accompany you."

"Well, Why do I need you to accompany me to read a script? Um... Let's put it this way. I have something to do here. I'll come over when I'm done. It'll probably take about an hour. "

"No problem. You can come anytime. My script is in the office."

"Okay, let's just say it. See you later."

"Don't worry, Third Brother. I'm calling you to trouble you with something."

"Well, go ahead."

"I want to borrow Li Hong and Xiao Can and ask them to come over for a meeting at noon."

"I thought it was something. You need to tell me about it? Just call Li Hong and Xiao Can. I've told you before that Yanjing Factory is half your home. You can treat it as your own home here. Just call whoever you want. If you can't call me, I'll call you. If there's a problem, I'll take your responsibility."

Han Sanping is like this. When you interact with him, you can often feel his pressure. Sometimes it's not very comfortable, but he is very loyal and reassuring at critical moments.

Of course, Han Sanping's loyalty is not for everyone. He is so open to Zhou Yan not only because of Zhou Yan's status in the film and music industry, but also because of Zhou Yan's family background.

"It's better to ask for instructions. I don't care. Third brother, you are the factory director. If you are too casual, you will inevitably be criticized."

"Well, I don't care about these things. But I'm also very happy that you think so. How about this, you don't need to call Li Hong and the others. When I go there later, I will call them together. It's noon, and the three of us will go to your cafeteria to have a free meal together."

"Welcome."

...

Not long after talking to Han Sanping on the phone, Nakamori Akina and Ida Chengzi came to Zhou Yan's office.

Zhou Yan put down his work and took Nakamori Akina to the recording studio.

Zhou Yan didn't say anything about how to improve the Chinese version of "Snow Flower". Nakamori Akina wanted to ask, but she never asked.

The main reason was that she was still a little unfamiliar with Zhou Yan, and although Zhou Yan was younger than her, she always felt that she was still a student in front of Zhou Yan. This feeling made her always unsure how to take the initiative to talk to Zhou Yan.

Zhou Yan didn't know what Nakamori Akina thought, but even if he knew, he wouldn't care. He just wanted to record "Snow Flower" as soon as possible, and he didn't want to have a good relationship with Nakamori Akina.

Xiao Liu was still in the recording studio yesterday, and Zhou Yan was in charge of supervising the studio.

Recording a song is not a simple matter. Even though Akina Nakamori has performed very well, Zhou Yan still has to deal with some details in order to make the finished product more perfect.

Even if there are no problems with the details, Zhou Yan will try to let Akina Nakamori sing a few more times to see if there are any better things to dig out.

The recording starts at 9:30 and ends at 12 o'clock. There is a two-and-a-half-hour break at noon, and it starts again at 2:30 in the afternoon.

Akina Nakamori's performance is naturally no problem. If Zhou Yan wants to save trouble, he can basically finalize the final version, but he didn't do so and gave Akina Nakamori more time.

In addition to wanting to make the Japanese version more perfect, Zhou Yan also wants to listen to Akina Nakamori singing more, so as to find a way to solve the problem of the Chinese version.

After leaving the recording studio, Zhou Yan asked Akina Nakamori and others to go to dinner, and he went back to the office. Han Sanping was still in his office.

When he arrived in his office, Han Sanping was still sitting on the sofa with the script in his arms, but he had already read the last few pages.

Zhou Yan did not disturb him, but sat on the other side.

Han Sanping glanced at Zhou Yan, and then put his eyes back on the script.

About seven or eight minutes later, Han Sanping finished reading the last page of the script, and then heaved a long sigh of relief.

"It's a very novel setting, but the development of the story is very close to life." Pursing his lips, Han Sanping sighed again, "Your movies always give people a very special feeling."

The special feeling he said refers to being different from other people's movies. This difference is not only reflected in the setting and structure, but also in the handling of details.

Some people say that Zhou Yan's movies are more Westernized, but in Han Sanping's opinion, Zhou Yan's movies are not quite the same as Western movies.

There is also a more mysterious point, that is, even if the story seems to be not commercial enough, Zhou Yan can still gain a large number of audiences when he shoots it.

For example, "The Chorus", although the box office of this movie is not as good as "The Sixth Sense", it has been very popular, especially in France. It is said that it has made a name for itself among a group of comedy movies and squeezed into the top three of the box office list.

France's box office is not large, so it is not particularly surprising that it ranks in the top three of the year in France. However, the subject matter of "The Chorus" itself is not very popular in France.

Just look at the top few movies in France every year. They are basically comedies. Even if they are not pure comedies, they have many comedy elements.

So the fact that "The Chorus" can achieve such results in France also surprised many people.

Not only in France, "The Chorus" has performed well in many countries and has received high reviews.

France 2 previously conducted a questionnaire survey, and "The Chorus" received a super high score of 4.9.

And later, France 2 conducted another survey, and the score did not drop at all, and it still remained at 4.9.

This is also the only movie that has scored 4.9 points among all the movies surveyed by France 2 in the past six years, except for "Léon: The Professional", and it is also the only foreign language movie that has scored so high in this survey.

From this point, we can see how much the French like "The Chorus".

It is worth mentioning that Channel 2 also investigated "The Sixth Sense", and the score was also very high, with 4.6 points.

"Third brother, you are too kind. It's getting late. Let's go to the cafeteria for dinner."

Han Sanping waved his hand, "There is no rush to eat. I also want to talk to you about this movie. When are you going to start filming?"

"If everything goes well, it should start in the fall."

"Autumn... September or October?"

"September is basically impossible. It will take at least October. Now the team has not been formed and the actors have not been selected."

Han Sanping pondered, "If we start filming in October, it should be completed in November, right?"

"It's hard to say. This movie was filmed in the mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan. It will definitely take a little time."

"Is that so..." After thinking about it, Han Sanping said again, "I won't beat around the bush with you. If possible, I hope the movie can be completed before December, because I want it to be released in late December or early January."

Although Han Sanping didn't elaborate, Zhou Yan already knew what he wanted to do.

At this point in time, it should be the Lunar New Year period.

Han Sanping wanted to make a Lunar New Year period movie, and the first person he thought of was Zhou Yan, because the biggest feature of Lunar New Year period movies is that they have box office appeal and can attract audiences to the cinema.

And Zhou Yan's movie has this feature.

Before reading the script, Han Sanping had already made up his mind to ask Zhou Yan to release the movie during the Lunar New Year period. Now that he has read the script, he is more relieved.

Zhou Yan also pondered, and it is not impossible to release it at the end of December.

Although he just told Han Sanping that the movie has many scenes, it is not very troublesome to shoot. This is not a big movie, and the props and scenery are relatively simple.

If he works harder, he can even start shooting at the end of September, and then finish shooting in October, and complete the post-production of the movie before the end of November.

But the problem is that he has other work. Apart from other things, he has to do the soundtrack of Titanic. Even if he doesn't need to pay too much attention in the early stage, he must go to the scene once, so he will be busy.

But before Zhou Yan could speak, Han Sanping looked at Zhou Yan sincerely, "Brother, this matter is very important. If you can help, I still hope you can help. If it was someone else, I wouldn't mention it, but I know your efficiency. You always work fast and get it done fast. It won't take you too much time to shoot this movie."

"And your current team is so stable, the efficiency will only be higher. I will also spare no effort to help you clear the obstacles. If you want people, I will give you people. If you want money, I will also give you money. If you want policies, I will fight for policies for you..."

Hearing Han Sanping getting more and more excited, Zhou Yan hurriedly said, "Brother San, don't say anything. I promise you this."

Han Sanping's face suddenly became bright, and he patted Zhou Yan's shoulder vigorously, "Brothers are still reliable." (End of this chapter)