China Entertainment 1997

The progress of "Eternal Dragon Sword" is still very fast. It started shooting in May, and by early July, almost one-third of the filming had been completed.

The speed is fast, on the one hand, there are many filming crews. Cao Xuan learned from Zhang Dabeard and opened three filming crews, one for literary and drama, one for martial arts, and one that acted randomly to shoot scenes with supporting roles.

On the other hand, a large number of exterior scenes were sacrificed. The indoor scenes were basically shot in the capital. Some scenes were shot in Hebei Province and the outskirts of Beijing. The scenery was also shot on the shore of Tianjin. In addition, the furthest away was the grassland of Mongolia Province.

Panoramas are basically practical and meet the conditions, without too much consideration for scenery and lenses.

Compared with Zhang Dabeard's requirement to make a film comparable to a landscape documentary, "The Legend of Heaven and the Dragon Slayer" is weak in this aspect.

But there are disadvantages and advantages. The advantages are fast speed, low cost and convenient transition.

Zhang Dabeard's continuous selection and shooting of locations often took half a year or even more than half a year. The original shooting time of "The Swordsman" was short, so he did not include the time for location selection, coupled with limited funds and a clear main line.

"The Legend of the Condor Heroes" started shooting at the end of last year, and it was not completed until early summer, and some actors still had to make up for their scenes.

The subsequent "Dragon Movie" may take longer, because this time it is a multi-line narrative, even if there are multiple film crews, it will definitely take a long time.

Anyway, Liu Tianxian and Yan Kuan both have reserved schedules for half a year to eight months, and Dong Xuan, who has a small role, also needs four months.

The filming period of "The Legend of Heaven and the Dragon Slayer" is much shorter than that of "The Legend of the Dragon", and it is expected to be completed in mid-to-late September.

This cannot be said that Zhang Jizhong and Jin Yong's drama is better than "The Legend of Heaven and Dragon Sword".

The TV series does emphasize slow work and meticulous work, but meticulous work does not necessarily mean that it is completely good.

In addition to the slightly inferior exterior scenes, compared to the original version, Cao Xuan has made a lot of upgrades to "The Legend of Heaven and Dragon Sword", and the martial arts action special effects are even better than Zhang Dabeard.

To be honest, the fight scenes in Big Beard's works have always been criticized. The hair dryer + slow motion always remains the same.

Not only did Cao Xuan get two magic weapons from Big Beard, but the action design not only retained the chicness of martial arts movies, but also absorbed some of the essence of modern action movies, with a dash of coolness and fierceness.

What's more important is to add special effects. For famous scenes such as Xie Xun's lion's roar, the decisive battle at Guangmingding, the rescue of Wudang, the raid on Dadu, and the battle against the three Shaolin monks, the special effects are not just simple air waves.

Xie Xun directly shouted out a roaring lion head several meters tall; Zhang Sanfeng and Zhang Wuji waved their Tai Chi hands and turned into a huge Yin Yang fish with extraordinary momentum; Zhou Zhiruo's Nine Yin White Bone Claw's big move unleashed a sinister wind and a ghostly aura.

Just for the investment in special effects alone, "The Legend of Heaven and Dragon Sword" cost nearly 10 million. This was the friendly price paid by Cao Xuan after he acquired a Japanese special effects company.

For this reason, Fanxing and Boss Wu each invested an additional 3 million yuan. The money was so spent that Boss Wu's cheeks trembled with distress.

But the money was well spent, and the effect was very good. Cao Xuan saw the trailers produced in the early stage, and they were definitely first-rate or even top-notch in domestic film and television.

It is true that he spent tens of millions to acquire this special effects company. Hollywood dare not compare, but it is still ranked number one in Asia.

Of course, the cost is also heavy. This special effects company named [Light and Shadow] by Cao Xuan spends tens of millions every year just on equipment maintenance, technology upgrades and labor costs.

The most important thing is that after spending tens of millions, you may not be able to get a job.

"The Legend of Heaven and the Dragon Slayer" is already the first major film and television project of the Light and Shadow Special Effects Company in the past six months. The others are all scattered and small jobs with meager profits.

The reason why Cao Xuan was able to acquire this reasonably large special effects company at a low price was tens of millions of RMB.

It's not that the boss is stupid, it's that the boss is going bankrupt and can't support himself anymore. He can't get any work and is still throwing away money. Not everyone has a cash cow like Cao Xuan.

Even for Cao Xuan, raising such a gold-swallowing beast is actually a bit distressing.

Whether it is Fanxing Cinemas or Fanxing Studios, they are all money-spending projects, but they can see a bright future and real estate can appreciate in value. However, this special effects company may not make any money, and there is a high chance that it will lose money.

But as mentioned before, there are some things that you cannot just consider making money, and there are some things that you must do even if you are losing money.

Without investment, we will never get China's special effects talents. Technology will always be controlled by others, and Chinese film and television will not achieve rapid development.

At present, due to the insufficient domestic technical level and the introduction of equipment, the light and shadow company will temporarily stay abroad for development.

However, Cao Xuan will send Chinese people to study, and when the time is right, he will move the company's headquarters to China to complete the borrowing of chickens to lay eggs.

Cao Xuan is confident that the performance of "The Story of Heaven and the Dragon Slayer" is no less than that of Jin Yong's drama with a big beard, and the lack of location can be made up for with action + special effects.

And "Eternal Dragon Sword" has a very key advantage, that is the plot rhythm.

Frankly speaking, except for a few of the bearded Jin Yong dramas, most of them have a dragging plot and a slow pace.

The audience will feel that the characters talk too much nonsense and the plot progress is slow. Those with a quick temper will feel irritated, unable to concentrate, and even can't help but change the channel.

"Heaven and Dragon Sword" inherits some of the advantages of the Hong Kong version of Jin Yong's drama. It has a fast pace, relatively little nonsense about the characters, and the plot progresses quickly.

The steps of burying the buttons step by step, especially when Zhang Wuji came out of Kunlun Mountain, were a climax all the way until Ice and Fire Island, but then the Shaolin Conference brought the rhythm back.

Perhaps, this is not particularly consistent with the original work, but the climax plot can firmly attract the audience, and the subplot transitions are clear, not messy, and still understandable by the audience.

The advantages of this kind of plot arrangement are even better than those of service, location, action, etc.

Script, script, the basis of a play.

The first thing is to have a good story, and everything else is to enrich and improve the story. If the script doesn't hold up, no matter how good other aspects are, it will eventually go astray.

Zhang Bearded's Jin Yong drama, putting aside the ensemble cast of "Dragon", has many plot lines that go hand in hand, which can minimize the shortcomings of procrastination.

Other dramas, including "The Swordsman" played by Cao Xuan, all have the problem of procrastination to a greater or lesser extent.

"The Heaven and the Dragon Sword" will be broadcast next year. As a Jin Yong drama, it is destined to be compared with Zhang Beard's "Dragon" and "The Legend of the Condor Heroes".

Cao Xuan didn't take the latter seriously, but the former was indeed a strong enemy.

Therefore, when Cao Xuan was filming, he kept comparing "The Legend of Heaven and the Dragon Sword" with "The Legend of the Dragon". He didn't seek a sure win, but it was better to stay on par or not be left too far behind.

………

And when Cao Xuan was busy filming "The Legend of Heaven and Dragon Sword".

In July, Jay Chou finally released his third album "Eight Dimensions of Space".

After inheriting the popularity of songs such as "Nunchaku" from his previous album, Xiao Zhou has accumulated enough popularity and popularity in the three places across the Taiwan Strait.

As soon as "Octave Space" came out, Xiao Zhou's previous accumulation burst out with this album.

At that time, Ren Xianqi was no longer what he used to be, Xie Feng had faded out of the music scene, and was plagued by negative news.

These two top-notch singers, who had great success in the past two years, are no longer rivals of the rapidly rising Xiao Zhou.

The only one who can hold down Xiao Zhou is Cao Xuan. His two Chinese albums have been on sale for half a year, and their popularity has dropped significantly.

After all, English songs are not the native language in China. Regardless of Cao Xuan's popularity and the achievement halo bonus of "Chris Tsao" itself, several English songs are not particularly popular in the domestic music rankings.

Maybe it can reach the top ten or even the top three, but it is difficult to imagine which Chinese songs by Cao Xuan will dominate the charts stably for a long time.

Some music rankings also have relevant rules. Although they will not suppress English songs, they will relatively favor Chinese songs in terms of resources.

The vast majority of domestic music rankings are based on TV and radio on-demand. If the platform is biased, the consequences can be imagined.

In fact, apart from a few minor chart toppers, the three English songs of Cao Xuan's English EP "Chris Tsao" have the highest ranking in the domestic authoritative music rankings, namely "Natural", which ranks second.

However, the performance on the list is not outstanding, but the sales volume is quite good. Many of them are Cao Xuan fans, foreign music lovers, or students who want to listen to the music and learn English.

Although the overall sales data is not as good as Cao Xuan's Chinese songs, it is not far behind.

This is understandable to Cao Xuan. Just like his Chinese-language songs are unlikely to enter the U.S. Billboard, English-language songs may have a large audience in China, but they are certainly not as good as Chinese-language songs.

Each has its own main market, and Cao Xuan will not be particularly demanding. It would be good if it can have a certain impact.

Nowadays, Cao Xuan does not have many songs on the charts. The highest-ranking song is "Waving Flag", the Chinese version of the World Cup theme song "Waving Flag", which is basically in the top three of several authoritative lists.

This is also a rare "weak" moment for Cao Xuan in the past two years, and it is also the best period for Jay Chou to rise to power.

Xiao Zhou and the Alpha Company behind him cherish this opportunity. They understand very well that Xiao Zhou is not on the same level as Cao Xuan now.

If Cao Xuan is dismissed, Xiao Zhou will now face the enemy head-on. If he can persist and avoid defeat, it will be a great victory.

Cao Xuan suppressed the entire Chinese music scene for several years, and his success in becoming a god also cast an indelible haze in the hearts of all Chinese music industry practitioners.

Almost all old singers cannot help but recall the fear of being dominated by this man before releasing a song.

Therefore, Xiao Zhou and the others feel that they should seize this rare opportunity to gain as many fans and influence as possible, and become the kings.

When Cao Xuan releases a Chinese album next time, although he doesn't expect to win, at least he won't be as helpless as he is now.

Xiao Zhou was already the little king of Asia at this time. He thought that no one could suppress him unless Cao Xuan came out.

But I don’t want to see gods everywhere in the music industry. It’s not that simple to imitate my big brother and dominate the charts.

Previously, the "God of War under the Car" Adu became famous, and in May, the domestic version of Azar Yangkun released "It Doesn't Matter".

Relying on their unique singing voices, these two people once became the must-be imitated objects in major imitation talent shows. In various programs, one is under the car and the other is indifferent.

The following June, Xin Ensemble released the divine song "I Will Love Even If I Die".

This is the number one song in KTV with a bad voice. Countless people can’t sing it and have been shouting it at the top of their lungs for more than ten years. With its heart-breaking high notes, it is impressive. In a short period of time, it has become popular all over the country. It once reached the top of the rankings. Top of the list.

In addition, Liu Tianwang released his masterpiece "Practice", and Wang Lihong and Lu Qiaoyin's "A Kind Breakup" were also considered hits of the year.

The veteran king, the high-pitched divine singer, the representative of the side, and the top of the new generation, all of them are not easy to mess with. Even Cao Xuan is here, he has to put in a lot of effort.

Although Xiao Zhou can compete with these songs back and forth, after all, he has not yet reached the peak, and it is too difficult to completely crush them.

This also invisibly exposed the gap between Xiao Zhou and Cao Xuan. Many people discussed whether Zhou Jielun was qualified to become the next Cao Xuan.

There were many yes votes and a large number of no votes. Various media and melon-eating netizens were in full swing. If there was a Weibo now, there would be at least 1 to 3 hot searches every day.

Cao Xuan, one of the parties involved, was speechless. Although he had nothing to do with this fight in the music industry, why was his legend still circulating in the world?

Can't we just let him have a quiet day for two days?