Chapter 209 New Ideas (14)

Film script writing is always a three-act format.

It's just that different masters divided these three acts into more details.

Hollywood's famous "Snyder beat" divides the film structure into 14 parts.

Opening scene, theme presentation, foreshadowing, promotion, argument, second act connection point, B story, entertainment game, midpoint, villain approaching, nothing left, dark night of the soul, third act connection point, final scene...

It was regarded as a bible, and a lot of production companies followed it, and then... it became a template.

Therefore, Hollywood blockbusters are the kind of things where you can guess the ending just by looking at the beginning...

"The Village Fox Wife" is also three acts, but it is different from Snyder's rhythm. It is five stories that lead to the final truth...

In fact, like "The Legend of the Xing'anling Hunter", it starts from folklore and folk stories, and finally points to the theme of "the inherent evil of human nature" that is difficult to reconcile.

"The Legend of the Xing'anling Hunter" divides the story into three parts: "demon words, lovesickness, and cause and effect".

"Mountain Village Fox Wife" directly tells 5 short stories, each story is self-consistent, and finally returns to a whole...

During the Republic of China, a heavy rain trapped a troupe who was preparing to cross the river to go to Laogou to sing a red event. On a thunderstorm night, taking shelter with the troupe were murderous bandits and unidentified policemen...

At this time, the eldest blind man in the team told the scary stories he had heard about the fox fairy.

After that, everyone followed and told stories about the fox fairy...

But the same story, told by different people, has different versions.

The Blind Man tells the story of a theater troupe who went to the village to perform a red event. Suddenly there was a strong wind and strange noises, and the troupe leader had a seizure. Everyone ran away and met a fishing fox fairy, who ate Wang Shitou's head.

The medicine seller said that the Xie family was a bad gambler. He lost money and went to the fox cave to steal sesame oil. He was tried by the fox fairy and asked to take a female fox as his wife. Lao Xie held the spiritual tablet to welcome her.

The murderer told a story: He and his master were Taoist priests. When they came to Xie's car shop, they found a lot of sheep in the yard. It turned out that they were transformed by the villagers. There was a monster in the village. Lao Xie was possessed by the monster. The master died fighting the monster. , peeled off 3 layers of the monster's skin, and the monster has 2 layers of skin left. Each layer has 5 years of skill. After 15 years, the monster will come for revenge...

Of course, he is talking nonsense, mainly to increase the horror...

After all, in horror movies, without ghosts and gods, it is difficult to create an atmosphere...

In fact, they were talking about a person in a mountain village who encountered a fox demon. That person turned everyone in the village into sheep and slaughtered them one by one.

The theme is all about the fox wife, and the theme is all about the monster in that mountain village.

Then, the murderer strikes back, gets up and kills everyone.

At this time, the show changed from a clichéd horror film to a chilling suspense film!

The murderer told a true story.

The village was hit by a drought. There was a very wealthy family named Xie. In order to prevent people in the village from starving to death, the Xie family distributed free grain to the village for three years.

But then the drought ended, and the Xie family stopped giving free money and rice to the village.

People in the village were thinking about their family.

The murderer teamed up with another gambler and planned to kidnap the Xie family's unmarried daughter-in-law to extort money.

Originally, their plan was not to kill anyone, but Xie's fiancée woke up halfway. In order to prevent her from escaping, the murderer and the fat man simply strangled her to death. In order to cover up the fact that they had committed the murder, the murderer The only living witness at the scene said: "Remember, the fox demon killed the person. If I hear other news, I will definitely kill you!"

The Xie family man loved his fiancée so much that he decided to get married holding her memorial tablet.

Thus, a rumor about the Fox Wife was born...

Moreover, after being spread by theater troupers, medicine sellers and other people from all walks of life, this rumor actually had countless versions.

As for the truth, it was covered up by the horror story of a fox wife.

The good guys become bad guys, and the bad guys become good guys fighting against the fox demon.

This movie is about the ugliness of human nature, the promotion of favor and the fight against hatred...

It's also deep and won't collapse.

As for passing the trial - this thing is a story of the Republic of China, and there is actually no ghost, it is just a rumor, and the problem of passing the trial is not big!

After Li Guoli read the full version of the script, he immediately decided: "I must film this story!"

Shen Xudong smiled: "...I originally wrote it to you."

Cai Yinong took the script, looked through it, and then frowned: "Can't this story be filmed for 1.5 million?"

"...There are not many scenes, you can rent a shabby temple to shoot... There are not many special effects scenes... Even if you hire a second-rate Hong Kong star, the cost will not exceed 3 million... If you don't have enough money, I can help you contact Chengtian!"

"...Does your company have no money?"

"…I?"

Shen Xudong was a little moved...

That is, Forrest Gump's "Please Close Your Eyes when Dark" can gross 20 million at the box office...

If the promotion of "Mountain Fox Wife" keeps up, even if the box office does not exceed 10 million, the probability of recovering the cost is still quite high!

It’s almost equivalent to a job that guarantees a steady profit, so why not do it yourself?

Shen Xudong thought for a while, then dialed Gao Fenfen's number...

…

After all, there are only a few people who get money to make movies these days.

Even Huayi only projects three or four movies a year. The one that can really make money is Feng Xiaogang...

Where do the movies shown in theaters come from?

A state-owned studio!

These companies are just shrinking, it’s not like they won’t make movies anymore...

However, there are still a small number of private companies making movies. Even if they invest, they are participating in co-productions...

When Gao Fenfen heard that Shen Xudong wanted to invest in a movie, he subconsciously refused. Then he heard that it was a horror and suspense movie, and the total cost would not exceed 3 million...

"Horror movies are the best way to make a big profit out of something small. I did some calculations. The cost is 3 million, and the movie channel should spend 500,000 to buy the TV rights. Plus rural screenings...DVD profits and overseas profits, I think the probability of getting back the money is quite high. of…"

Shen Xudong briefly talked about his thoughts...

Gao Fenfen originally wanted to say something, but suddenly remembered something and asked quickly: "Did you write the script?"

"Yes…"

"...Okay, I understand, I will contact Cai Yinong immediately!"

Gao Fenfen has absolute trust in Shen Xudong’s ability...

Upon hearing the script written by Shen Xudong, he immediately called Cai Yinong, and then heard her talk about the horror film strategy proposed by Shen Xudong. Gao Fenfen agreed on the surface, but in his heart he complained, 'You have such an idea, why don't you tell me! ’

After hearing Cai Yinong talk about the contract with United Cinemas, Gao Fenfen immediately thought of Xingmei Cinema...

The construction of Xingmei Cinema has encountered difficulties - last month, Shanghai Xintiandi International Cinema, invested by Hong Kong filmmaker Wu Siyuan, withdrew from the China Film and Television Xingmei Cinema Line and joined the Shanghai Lianhe Cinema Line...

Nowadays, although there are 35 theater chains, everyone actually knows that there are only three of them in the original three-legged structure: Shanghai Lianhe under Shanghai Film Group Corporation, BJ New Film Network under Beijing Film Group Corporation, and China Film Star Cinema under China Film Group Corporation...