Chapter 1444 Ning Hao

There are actually many criteria for measuring a good film.

Of course, generally speaking, there are mainly two aspects.

One is box office.

The other is word of mouth.

Box office, except for certain films that cheat on ticket sales, can basically be looked up with data. Word of mouth, on the other hand, depends partly on ratings on various film websites and partly on audience reviews.

Among these, although the standards of different websites vary, whether a film is good or bad can still be roughly discerned, even if some people deliberately smear it.

As a top director and actor of Oscar-winning caliber, Jiang Wen still has the ability to distinguish whether a film is good or bad.

In his view, this film invested by Future Film and Television could really become a blockbuster in this year's summer season.

It was an intuition, the intuition of an Oscar-winning actor.

"Really?" Zhao Fusheng asked with a smile.

He didn't take Jiang Wen's words to heart; it was just a film by a new director, at most how much box office could it earn.

"I'm serious."

Jiang Wen said solemnly to Zhao Fusheng: "Although his film borrows from 'Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels', I think that kid has developed his own thing."

"Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels"?

When Zhao Fusheng heard the name, he was momentarily stunned.

The name seemed very familiar.

Had he seen this film before?

"What, you know it?" Jiang Wen looked at Zhao Fusheng's expression and asked with a smile.

Zhao Fusheng shook his head: "I just think the film title 'Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels' sounds familiar. What's the name of the film you mentioned?"

"'Crazy Stone'." Jiang Wen laughed: "The director is a newcomer named Ning Hao."

MMP!!!

Zhao Fusheng immediately lost his composure.

It was actually that guy Ning Hao!

You see, that guy was a legend in both the film and music circles. He started his career shooting MTV shorts, and later his 'Crazy Trilogy' left a formidable reputation in the domestic film circle.

Most importantly, this guy never lost money making films!

What is the standard for a good director?

Different people may have different standards, but in the eyes of investors, there is only one standard for a good director.

Being able to make money!

Whether you make art films or commercial films, as long as you can bring benefits to the company and make it profitable, you are a qualified director.

To put it mildly, if you can't make money for the company, at least you should be able to win awards.

Although Wong Kar-wai is a pain, his films can basically win awards.

And these award-winning films, when taken abroad, can more or less sell a lot of copyrights and recover costs.

So-called art films are not like those that the French make, pecking like woodpeckers, or else whining without reason. True art films are films that express some form of art.

Although Ning Hao is not a director who pursues art, his commercial films are really well made.

"I know this person. He's a director who started out shooting MTVs, right?"

Zhao Fusheng said to Jiang Wen.

Jiang Wen was taken aback and shook his head: "I'm not sure about that."

"It must be him, it must be him." Zhao Fusheng stood up, thought for a moment, and dialed Ye Jing's phone.

"What's up?"

Ye Jing was a bit surprised to receive Zhao Fusheng's call.

"Sign Ning Hao to our company." Zhao Fusheng said directly.

Ye Jing was startled: "How do you know?"

"Old Jiang is here with me." Zhao Fusheng laughed: "He's very optimistic about 'Crazy Stone'. Since that's the case, let's sign the director to our company."

Ye Jing was somewhat surprised; he rarely saw Zhao Fusheng care so much about a director.

It was clear that Zhao Fusheng was very serious.

"I understand. I'll contact him right away." Ye Jing thought for a moment and said to Zhao Fusheng: "Regarding the terms of signing..."

"Let him set them." Zhao Fusheng said slowly: "But one thing, it must be at least ten years. Or, we can cooperate in a studio model."

Now, after the reform of Future Film and Television, only top artists are eligible to cooperate with the company in a studio model.

Zhao Fusheng actually offered such terms for a new director. Ye Jing immediately felt that his attitude toward Ning Hao needed to change.

…

…

Ning Hao was indeed a bit different. When he was young, he didn't like sports or games, and he didn't feel isolated by his peers who were passionately into sports and games during their development. He said he had his own circle of friends. Most importantly, when he graduated from junior high and entered a technical secondary school, his hormones quickly found an outlet: music.

Ning Hao claimed he wasn't really interested in degrees. After muddling along for about a year, he took the college entrance exam.

He explained that going to college was just an excuse to stay in the capital; otherwise, his parents would think he had no job and was just loafing around in Beijing. Nevertheless, after graduating from Beijing Normal University, Ning Hao got into the Beijing Film Academy. He studied a specialized program at BNU and an undergraduate program at BFA. From technical school to college, from college to university—this was Ning Hao's 'triple jump' in academics.

Ning Hao studied a specialized program at BNU. When he graduated, he made a graduation work, 'Thursday, Wednesday', and then left it at home. The director of 'On the Way to School', Fang Gangliang, happened to share an apartment with him and saw the film. He sighed with relief and said to Ning Hao: 'You should be a director.'

In 1999, he worked as a TV journalist on a music channel, specializing in interviewing singers. It was because of this experience that he entered the field of music television, shooting nearly a hundred music videos for artists like Pu Shu.

Ning Hao's student film 'Thursday, Wednesday' won the Best Director Award at the Beijing College Student Film Festival and the Silver Award in the China College Student Digital Media Competition in 2001.

By 2003, before graduating from the Beijing Film Academy, Ning Hao funded himself, serving as screenwriter, director, and cinematographer, and returned to his hometown to direct his first feature film, 'Incense'.

For this film, he invested all the money he had saved over the years.

The film brought him the Grand Prize at the Tokyo Ginza Film Festival, and later won the Gold Award in the Asian Digital Competition unit of the Hong Kong International Film Festival. The film was also awarded Best Film of 2004 by the Hong Kong Arts Centre, and was an official selection for seven other major international film festivals: San Sebastian, Vancouver, Munich, Manila, Sydney, California, and the Taiwan South Film Festival.

Of course, as a fresh graduate, Ning Hao wasn't qualified to make films, so he shot many TV dramas.

It wasn't until Zhao Fusheng proposed the plan to support emerging directors.

Future Investment selected six young directors in the domestic film circle and provided them with financial support.

That's how 'Crazy Stone' came about.

At the test screening a few days ago, Ning Hao was very nervous. After all, although the investment wasn't large, it was over three million.

Most importantly, this was his first theatrical film. If it failed, in the short term, no one in the industry would likely ask him to make films.

So Ning Hao was genuinely nervous.

Fortunately, after the test screening, the response was good. Several seniors, especially Jiang Wen, came over to praise him a few words.

Lying on the sofa at home, Ning Hao rested his head on his arms and said to his busy wife Xing Na: "Old Xing, when this film makes money, we'll change to a bigger house."

"Change your head!"

Xing Na, like Ning Hao, was a Beipiao. She glared at Ning Hao: "Stop dreaming. If this film loses money, believe me, we'll have to go back to our hometown."

"Then we'll go back." Ning Hao laughed heartily: "At worst, we'll save up money to have a child first, then come back!"

As he spoke, he straightened up and said seriously: "Don't worry, I will buy you a house in the capital."

Xing Na didn't say anything, just silently wiped the table.

At that moment, Ning Hao's phone rang. He glanced at the caller ID, found it a bit strange, but still answered.

"President Ye, hello, hello, it's me." Ning Hao said respectfully.

After all, the name of Ye Jing, general manager of Future Film and Television, was undoubtedly a big shot beyond his reach.

"What?"

The next moment, Ning Hao held the phone and was instantly dumbfounded.