"In your films, we always see stunning visual spectacles, breathtaking large-scale scenes, and also the most fundamental and beautiful qualities of humanity—courage, perseverance, kindness, determination, and so on.
Some say that film is the embodiment of a director's thoughts. How do you view your own success?"
Compared to Director Zhang, Chen "Gezi," who always considered himself a cultured intellectual, asked a rather sophisticated question. But Gilbert's answer surprised everyone.
Normally, other directors at this point would ramble about dreams, persistence, and hard work—in short, they'd serve up some inspirational clichés.
But Gilbert was different. He talked about the market: "I think it's the progress of the market."
"Oh?" Director Zhang asked with curiosity, "Why do you say that?"
Yes—why say that?
Guo Fan had watched a few so-called successful masters give speeches, and they all went on about dreams and perseverance. Why was Gilbert not following the usual script?
Gilbert continued, "I think it's the advancement of technology and the development of cinema chains. Take Pirates of the Caribbean, for example—there's that scene where the characters turn into skeletons under the moonlight. Or The Matrix with its bullet time effect.
I don't know if you've seen them?"
Of course, the audience had seen them, and they responded enthusiastically: "Yes, we've seen them…"
A fan even shouted, "I've watched The Matrix three or four times…"
"Hahaha," Gilbert laughed when he heard that and expressed his thanks: "Thank you for loving my movies so much."
He looked at the audience and said, "This is the kind of phenomenal visual experience brought about by technological advancement. We often say story is the essence of film.
But everyone can tell a story. The challenge is how to present that story—and that's where technology becomes extremely important."
In the audience, Guo Fan was deep in thought, though he didn't quite agree with Gilbert's viewpoint: "I think story is still more important than technology.
Because the development of technology is a collective effort across the film industry. But storytelling is personal. Besides Gilbert himself, I can't think of anyone else who could come up with a story as intricate as The Matrix."
Liu Ji was impressed by his classmate: "Didn't expect that from you, Old Guo. Respect."
Guo Fan made a "shh" gesture: "Let's keep listening to Director Gilbert."
On stage, Gilbert continued, "And then there's the growth of cinema chains. Just over a decade ago, when a commercial film premiered in 3,000 theaters, that was already considered impressive.
But today, a strong commercial film can easily open in over 4,000 theaters.
The expansion of cinema chains and the increase in screen numbers are fundamental conditions for boosting a film's box office.
Although TV, the internet, and even DVDs are developing rapidly, the cinema experience is something that cannot be replaced for a long time to come.
Movies like The Matrix, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and Pirates of the Caribbean—the experience of watching them on the big screen versus a small screen is entirely different."
No one had ever dissected the relationship between film and the market from the perspectives of technology and cinema infrastructure before.
Influenced by the French New Wave, many of the film industry attendees had heard plenty of other directors talk about dreams and artistry.
Now Gilbert stood out with his unique approach—starting from reality, explaining the film industry's development through the lens of market forces and technological advancement.
Naturally, he rarely brought up his own talent. In his own words, it's the progress of the market and technology that is key—and only on that foundation can one truly unleash their talent.
Later, Gilbert and Director Zhang, as well as Chen Gezi, continued their conversation. They talked about Hollywood, then moved on to European cinema, then to the now-declining Hong Kong films, and finally to the mainland film market.
During the lecture, Gilbert presented a very clear viewpoint: "I believe that Chinese-language cinema has huge potential for future growth.
I can see the doubt in many people's eyes—but you should be confident.
Hollywood became globally dominant because it relied on its powerful domestic market. It made being popular in North America equivalent to being popular worldwide.
The future of Chinese-language films lies in leveraging the domestic market. That's how a stable base can be built.
Even if Chinese-language films can't go global, just relying on the domestic market alone will allow them to grow extremely fast.
I believe, in a dozen years or so, the Chinese film market will witness an explosive boom.
Right now, it's still hard for a film to break 100 million yuan at the box office. But in the future, breaking 100 million—or even 1 billion—won't be anything special."
At that moment, the host raised a question: "According to what you said, what should be the direction of Chinese-language films in the future?"
"That I'm not sure about. That's something you have to explore yourselves," Gilbert said with a smile.
In truth, he knew. Later on, Chinese cinema did take a wrong turn. The growth of the cinema market brought in many new audiences, which in turn led to a flood of lousy films.
Bad films are normal—but when bad films become the mainstream, that's no longer normal.
Of course, that's something he couldn't say. After all, he still had to make money with these Chinese filmmakers.
If they didn't produce garbage films, how could his greatness stand out?
To be honest, Hollywood would eventually become just as rotten. The old formulas became tiresome, and the new "correct" ways of storytelling didn't sell with general audiences.
Though the box office data still looked great, like flowers in full bloom, in reality it was like boiling oil—everything was in a slow-burn collapse.
By then, who knew what Gilbert could still do to grab the attention of moviegoers?
At the end of the lecture, it was time for audience interaction. The host asked Gilbert to choose someone from the crowd. Gilbert casually pointed—at Guo Fan.
Guo Fan was excited: "Director Gilbert, I'm a loyal fan of yours."
"Ah-ha, I remember you," Gilbert smiled at Guo Fan.
Guo Fan was stunned: "You still remember me?"
"Of course," Gilbert said with a grin. "When I gave a lecture at BFA, you asked a question back then. Your bubbly voice left an impression on me—that's why I remember you."
Guo Fan was overjoyed now, and the looks others gave him were… different. There was envy and even a bit of jealousy in their eyes.
They thought: How the hell did this guy manage that? How could Director Gilbert remember him for so long?
Guo Fan tried to contain his excitement and continued to ask, "Since the beginning of your directing career, you've made almost one film per year. How do you maintain such creative energy?"
Gilbert thought for a moment and said, "It's simple—because filmmaking is my passion. I love every part of the process, working with my team.
The creative ideas, the sparks of inspiration during collaboration—those things really excite me."
In plain terms—he's addicted to making movies.
Hearing "one movie a year" might not sound like much, but back in the day, Hong Kong films were sometimes shot in just a week.
But that kind of speed ultimately contributed to the decline of Hong Kong cinema. Though not the sole reason, a lack of respect for the objective logic of film production made it difficult to produce high-quality films there.
All those depictions in previous-world web novels—finishing a film in two or three months, with high budgets and grand production values—would be nearly impossible in reality.
Film production is not something a producer or director can casually decide—"Let's shoot a film…"—and just do it.
It must obey the objective logic of film production: a cohesive, well-coordinated team, thorough pre-production, the right casting, an excellent script.
Add in outstanding producers and directors, a multitude of industry talents working hard together over a long time, and you can produce a truly successful commercial blockbuster.
If everyone worked with micro-budgets, maybe Gilbert could manage a film in two months—but take even one installment of The Lord of the Rings trilogy—who'd dare claim it could be shot in two or three months?
Many poorly made films resulted precisely because people didn't respect the objective logic of filmmaking.
Maybe the script was solid—but due to rushed production, arrangements weren't prepared, shooting wasn't done properly, and the film ended up poorly executed.
This lecture concluded successfully with audience interaction. For Chinese filmmakers, simply listening attentively already offered plenty of takeaways.
Even though much of what Gilbert said might not directly apply to Chinese filmmakers, it at least sparked inspiration and critical thinking—and that alone was enough.
The next day brought the practical test Gilbert had arranged.
He said he would select fifty people to join The Jackie Chan Adventures crew to learn on set—but in reality, how many would be chosen depended on Gilbert's mood.
This test would determine who Gilbert might pick.
Liu Ji leveraged his advisor's influence to get his chance, and for Guo Fan, Liu Ji used some connections to secure him a spot as well.
Over three hundred people took part in the test, divided into several large classrooms at the Shanghai Drama Academy for the exam.
One might imagine it would be like an art audition, testing various creative skills.
But once they arrived and filled in their registration, Guo Fan and Liu Ji were placed in different rooms and given an exam paper. They had two and a half hours to complete it.
The exam wasn't made up of low-level multiple choice, fill-in-the-blank, or true-or-false questions. Instead, it featured conceptual prompts that required thoughtful, essay-style responses.
For example, Guo Fan saw questions about the influence of the French New Wave on European cinema, whether Chinese-language films had space for science fiction, and the role of technological advancements in film industry development and application.
Everything from ideological to technical application was covered.
At the end of the test, they encountered a highly abstract prompt: "Please envision the Chinese film market twenty years from now, describe it, and provide concrete reasoning."
These prompts were crafted by Gilbert and his trusted team in North America, specifically for these Chinese candidates.
He wasn't looking for standardized answers—anyone could write those.
What he wanted was insight into each candidate's personal thinking. He was evaluating what kind of people stood out, to choose the right ones.
Guo Fan chewed on the end of his pen for a long time, then began swiftly writing his answers.
He knew what a "standard" response might look like—but he decided to answer based on his own vision.
....
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