306. An Epic Blockbuster
Young director Zhang Yuefan hasn't been doing too well lately.
His previous film, "College Entrance Examination! College Entrance Examination! College Entrance Examination!", won the Best Special Effects Award at the Yannan University Student Film Festival. Although I don't know why the jury gave him this award, it's better to have it than not.
However, Lu Ban's "Crying" was also participating in the film festival at the time. "Crying" won the Best Special Effects Award, and many uninformed onlookers thought that the special effects of "College Entrance Examination! College Entrance Examination! College Entrance Examination!" were super awesome and completely outclassed the eye-opening "Crying".
Once the video website actually launched it, the viewers who had been tricked into watching it cried foul, cursing the terrible special effects and giving "College Entrance Examination! College Entrance Examination! College Entrance Examination!" low scores. They even speculated whether Zhang Yuefan was a relative of one of the judges.
Zhang Yuefan's reputation suffered terribly, and producers who had previously expressed interest in collaborating with her all changed their minds.
An ordinary director in this situation would have started to complain and blame others, harbor hostility towards Lu Ban, and begin preparing for revenge, seeing him as their adversary.
Further down the line, he might fail in his revenge, seek support from his seniors, and start resorting to all sorts of underhanded tactics to smear Lu Ban. Then, he might face Lu Ban head-on, only to be defeated and humiliated, ultimately becoming despondent.
But Zhang Yuefan is different.
He's just a salted fish.
He made movies because that was all he knew how to do, and it was profitable, so he kept doing it.
With no movie offers and no scripts to revise, Zhang Yuefan has no income and has started delivering food.
While delivering food, I'm also accumulating inspiration. Who knows, one day I might come up with an idea and make a movie called "Crazy Food Delivery".
If I can't make a film, I can deliver food; the income is decent here in Yannan.
If all else fails, I'll have to go back and inherit the family factory.
Today, after finishing her workday, Zhang Yuefan lay down on the bed, took out her phone, and prepared to watch some videos before going to sleep.
Before he could finish watching the satisfying video of the two mischievous kids getting into serious trouble, he saw the new trailer for the Silence Project.
"The Demon Tide, the name sounds like a blockbuster."
Although Zhang Yuefan had Lu Ban's contact information, Lu Ban was a social black hole. He rarely posted on his WeChat Moments and his statuses on video websites and Weibo were mostly about food and animals. Recently, he even posted a picture of his corgi, which was indeed quite cute.
Therefore, Zhang Yuefan had no idea when Lu Ban had put together the movie.
Many of his colleagues in his social circle are completely different.
When preparing to film, he would post on his WeChat Moments, "New script, this one is sure to be a hit!" When he started looking for actors, he would post on his Moments again, "I talked to XXX today, hoping to collaborate." When filming officially started, he would post on his Moments again, "Good luck on the start of filming, everything goes smoothly." Then he would post photos every day while filming, as if he wanted to tell the whole world how hard he was working.
But in reality, he might just be a menial worker.
For some people, showing that they are working hard is more important than the effort itself.
Lu Ban was different; he made a fortune in silence.
He looks very composed.
Zhang Yuefan opened the video and turned off the bullet comments.
The trailer begins with a dense forest, where the lush trees block out the sky.
The narration begins at this moment.
"What you see is only the surface of the Black Forest. The real danger lurks in the shadows. When the Blood Moon rises, the Demon Tide will descend."
It's a slightly weathered male voice, which, combined with the lighting and shadows in the scene, creates a sense of gentle storytelling.
Next, the scene showed snow, fortresses, and armed soldiers, creating a tense atmosphere, as if a conflict was about to erupt.
Then, the camera switched to a first-person perspective.
It appears to be a person lying prone in the snow, holding a crossbow in his hand, staring intently ahead. With each breath, the fog in the camera appears and disappears, with slight undulations, creating a strong sense of immediacy.
"It's here."
That weathered male voice rang out.
"What's here?"
Another slightly immature male voice asked in return.
"Demon Tide".
The man answered.
As soon as he finished speaking, a giant silver-gray wolf suddenly darted out from the darkness in front of the camera.
At the same time, in sync with the rhythm of the music, the scene jumps to the beat, showing a pack of wolves charging down from afar, a person holding a crossbow having their body twisted by something in the shadows, a person holding a short sword desperately slitting their own throat, and a storm sweeping through the forest.
Finally, there was a young soldier and a slightly older soldier looking at the pillar of light swaying against the dark sky—a scene of utter despair.
Will we die?
"The young soldier asked."
"Yes, of course they will die."
The older soldier answered, then turned to look at the vast tide of monsters.
"But not today."
Then, the camera moved toward the surging Demon Tide, like a raven looking down at the earth. Finally, the camera swept past the monsters, pulled up, and fixed on the blood- Moon.
The film is titled "The Demon Tide," and includes information about the production staff, supporting organizations, etc., but no release date is specified.
After watching the trailer, Zhang Yuefan slowly put down her phone.
He was originally a lazy bum, content to just lie around and do nothing.
But now, seeing Lu Ban's trailer, his complacency has been challenged.
Judging from the content of this trailer, it's not the horror genre that Lu Ban is best at, but a proper classic fantasy action blockbuster.
These kinds of movies, like AAA games, require a huge amount of financial, human, and material resources to make.
You might say that a horror movie can be filmed by finding an abandoned hospital and doing some special effects, but the grand scenes shown in the trailer for "The Demon Tide" could not have been filmed without extremely strong directing skills.
Directors who can make this type of film are definitely big names.
Zhang Yuefan found it hard to believe that just last year, Lu Ban was in a similar situation to him, only able to make low-budget films like "Crying," where the plot outweighed the special effects and scenes. But now, he was already a big-name director making commercial blockbusters.
It's impossible to say that I wasn't moved at all.
Even if Zhang Yuefan is indifferent, she still loves movies, and it's hard not to be tempted by a trailer of this caliber.
The quality of this trailer, the storytelling, and the sense of depth it conveys far surpass those of the superhero movies I usually watch. This is not just a simple commercial blockbuster; it's an epic!
The industry used to love making epic films, mostly based on history, mythology, biographies, or even completely fictional stories. But gradually, these kinds of films have almost disappeared. This is because they are extremely expensive, requiring a lot of manpower and resources, and have low profit margins. Also, there are fewer subjects to film, as many classic stories have already been made, making remakes very unprofitable.
But now, it seems Lu Ban is really going to make an epic blockbuster!??