Looking at the movie itself, there are not many selling points - well-known IP adaptations, starring the new traffic Chen Duling, and there is no shortage of fantasy special effects. However, the box office of the film, which was very popular, was far lower than expected. **Giving bad reviews and Douban's score is too low, which makes it more and more difficult for this movie with a low film schedule.
The filmmaker, who lacks experience in theatrical film marketing, is even more unprepared and inadequate in response to the abnormal public opinion turmoil, even if his efforts for many years have not been duly rewarded, he can only sigh.
A few days ago, Ms. Tang Lijun, the chief producer of this film (who is also the chief producer of the drama version of "Flower Thousand Bone"), bravely launched a "knife-edge inward dialogue" with the film and television monologue.
No matter how many involuntary reasons have created the current unsatisfactory results, the most meaningful thing for me and the team is to do a deep reflection and review. Only by perceiving those unexpected variables and examining the details of the production process and publicity strategy of the big IP adaptation can we make a positive transformation, turn it into a valuable lesson, and blossom from the quagmire one day in the future. ”
In the review, Tang Lijun hopes to restore the ins and outs of the project as much as possible, rather than explaining. In response to many questions from the audience, she explored the problem and thought about the future direction after "standing up and being beaten". Listen to the world and share your opinions. The following is Tang Lijun's account.
Market research was done, but unfortunately the situation changed quicklyIn 2015, the drama version of "Flower Thousand Bone" received an enthusiastic response, and the team had the idea of making a movie version. Because everyone is still unsatisfied. The two screenwriters of the drama version, Guo Guo (note: the original author) and Rao Jun, also had some inspiration at that time, so they created the outline of a version of the movie.
So, in the year, we did a survey on the audience of the film version of "Flower Thousand Bone". At that time, the popularity of this IP must have been very high, and the sales of various peripheral derivatives related to it were also very good.
In addition, in 2014, the box office of "Journey to the West: Havoc in Heaven" broke 1 billion, and in 2015 and 2016, "Monster Hunt" and "Mermaid" broke 2 billion and 3 billion respectively, and they were both annual box office champions. It can be said that fantasy films were a genre with a strong development momentum at that time. So we feel that the film version of "Flower Thousand Bone", which is positioned as a fantasy film, has considerable market prospects.
The film version of "Flower Thousand Bone" did not perform well at the box office after its release, and some critics analyzed that one of the reasons is that fantasy films are not popular in the market now, and the market does not like big IP adaptations, etc. So some people questioned, saying that the filmmakers don't do market research?
The fact is that we have not only done market research, but also done it on several platforms such as Yien, and we have done more than one round. Unfortunately, the situation did change too quickly.
In the following years, the film and television industry was particularly prosperous, and the original cast of the drama version, not only actors, but also screenwriters and other main creators, have not been able to get together on the schedule. So the film version of "Flower Thousand Bone" can only stay at the idea stage.
It wasn't until 2018 that I traveled to Guangxi again, and I heard that after the drama version was broadcast, Daxin County, which was the filming location, received double the number of tourists that year. However, the number of tourists has since decreased year by year. The local leaders and villagers said, come to us to shoot the movie version of "Flower Thousand Bone".
First, the scenery of Daxin in Guangxi is indeed very suitable for making fantasy films, and secondly, I think Daxin has also achieved our drama version, and I also hope to help them in their rural revitalization.
So in 2018, we made up our minds to make a film version of "Flower Thousand Bone", and set up a new creative lineup for it, and did another round of market research. At that time, fantasy films such as "Journey to the West" and "Monster Hunt 2" still had a very stable box office performance.
In addition, the survey at that time showed that the power of women had risen rapidly, which coincided with director Zhang Chaoli's idea of "telling a story of women's growth and transformation". The story and character of "Flower Thousand Bone" have potential and advantages in this regard.
I wanted to disband the crew, but I couldn't bear itScript writing restarted. Director Zhang Chaoli, screenwriter Zhu Yuhan, and literary planner Zhou Zhiyong (note: screenwriter of "Crazy Stone" and "Chinese Partner"), the three of them and the editor-in-charge spent a year and a half together to polish the script of the film version.
Director Zhang Chaoli is a fan of the original book, and he has also watched the drama several times. He once wrote a director's exposition of tens of thousands of words to me. We all hope that the film version can interpret the original book from a different and more diverse perspective. "Emphasizing emotional agitation and conflict from the perspective of tragic aesthetics", this is a core of the film version to express.
It is indeed difficult to compress the content of more than 600,000 words into the volume of the movie. There are also many methods that have been tried in the scriptwriting. For example, there was once a version of the script that did not unfold the story from the perspective of the main character. Another example is the original ten-party artifact, which was finally reduced to a three-party artifact.
In the face of the common problems of big IP adaptations, the creative team rose to the challenge with a positive starting point, but it must be a pity to make the audience feel that the "plot jump". IP has its own value, and for filmmakers, it is still necessary to listen to the opinions of the audience, learn lessons and continue to work hard to solve this problem.
Like many film and television works filmed between 2020 and 2022, the film version of "Flower Thousand Bone" has also experienced many hardships that have not been encountered before. At that time, the main investor, which originally accounted for 30 to 40% of the investment, suddenly decided to withdraw due to the problems caused by the epidemic.
When I went to the crew that was filming in Guangxi, I was actually thinking about disbanding and quitting. But when I arrived at the crew, I couldn't bear to see that there were already five or six hundred people gathered here overcoming their own difficulties and showing a very dedicated creative state.
I'm sure many people have had a similar personal experience, that is, when you enter an emotionally full and dedicated creative environment, you will be infected, your enthusiasm will be stimulated, and you will not bear to give up halfway.
In fact, our creative team is very experienced in fantasy film shooting. Although director Zhang Chaoli is a first-time film director, he has served as the executive director of blockbusters such as "Journey to the West", "Mermaid" and "Monster Hunt", and also directed the online drama "I'm Waiting for You in the Future". The high reputation of this drama (note: Douban 8.)3 points) is one of the main reasons why I asked him to direct the film version of "Flower Thousand Bone".
Producer Li Jinwen intervened in the project very early and gave great help in the first place of the script, the choice of art style, and the balance between real scenes and special effects. She also built the production team single-handedly. Photography teacher Zhang Wenbao, art design teacher Wang Jingjing, action director Guo Yong, modeling design teacher Li Zhou, the excellent quality of their past works can give us a lot of confidence. This is also the reason why I, who originally only invested 120 percent, decided to take over 30 or 40 percent of that company and became a "major shareholder". At that time, I couldn't see the changes in the next few years, and I was still optimistic, thinking that this was not too big to bear.
There were more than 50 episodes of the drama version of "Flower Thousand Bone", which was only filmed for more than 4 months, and there was no time to polish the play, mainly taking the emotional direction. The film version naturally hopes to upgrade the audio-visual effects of the play. Our director of photography and action director are both involved in both traditional kung fu films and fantasy films, and they have a lot of experience. Our editing director invited Mr. Lin An'er, who is famous for cutting action movies.
Due to the industry as a whole, the team of special effects directors was under a lot of pressure during those two years, with fewer staff and smaller offices. Although in the end, the special effects supervisor insisted on finishing all the special effects shots, but a small number of the shots still failed to achieve excellence.
In that situation, everyone did their best.
The film version has its own highlights, please don't beat it to deathIt is a fact that the film version of "Flower Thousand Bone" did not meet the expectations of the audience, but it also has its own highlights.
For example, the film refines new themes in the original world view and story framework. After Bai Zihua (played by Li Chengbin) saw that Hua Qiangu (played by Chen Duling) had a demon god in his body, he asked her: "What is an immortal?" What is Demon? She replied: "Cultivate to become an immortal, and degenerate into a demon." ”
This is the original worldview, but this film has been sublimated, because Bai Zihua then said: "If the devil has compassion, he can also become an immortal." This is actually to give Hua Qiangu a chance to choose independently between good and evil in human nature.
It's just that because the film version retains the general context and famous scenes of the drama version, many viewers may mistakenly think that the theme is the same as before, so they didn't taste the details of these points.
Another highlight of the film version is the live-action shooting and cultural implantation. The film version was shot in Guangxi throughout the whole process, including empty shots, exterior scenes, and interior shots. The scenery is actually very beautiful, and some of the scenery gives people a sense of fantasy.
After we organically combined the real scene and special effects, it made the audience "difficult to distinguish between real and fake" real scenes and special effects. For example, the scene of Flower Island is real-life and post-synthetic, and a large number of flowers in it are real and real-life, but it may make some viewers feel that the scene is too fantastical, and they will suspect that it is fake and shot with a green screen.
In addition, the opening animation draws on the world-class cultural heritage - Huashan rock paintings. In the film, when Hua Qiangu and Ji Qianmo (played by Mao Zijun) met for the first time, what was staged on the stage was a national intangible cultural heritage-Wu opera.
If there is a chance, the audience can patiently taste the live shooting pictures in the film, and will definitely sigh at the unique charm of Guangxi's beautiful scenery and cultural heritage.
Revisit the development of big IPIn 2022, we released a round of posters and trailers, and there were plans to release them at that time, but on the one hand, the release plans of many movies were changing uncontrollably and frequently, and on the other hand, the special effects production took longer than expected.
So, various factors pushed us to January 20 this year.
After two or three years, people's mentality and market have undergone great changes. The variables brought about by the time difference are what we need to fully consider in our future creations.
In the past 20 years, I have done more than 20 dramas, both inside and outside the system, but this is the first time I have made a theatrical movie. My biggest experience is that movies adapted from IP need a professional publicity team to build a smooth communication channel with **, critics, audiences and other groups. Whether it's before, during, or after the release, you have to take it seriously. It's a sign of respect for all parties, especially for the audience.
I also revisited the development of big IPs. The characteristics of the big IP itself are relatively strong, so although expanding its industrial chain is a very good development direction, it is difficult to reach a conclusion on whether it is suitable for film and game interaction, drama version first or film version first, and it is necessary to make a choice according to the characteristics of each big IP itself.
As film and television creators, we need to be good at listening to opinions from all directions, have the courage to review inward, and then maintain our piety and enthusiasm for artistic creation, and climb one hill after another.