v2 Chapter 908： Celebrity

Since the preparation of the project, the crew has basically had a large-scale publicity event every month. May is "Star Wars Day", and in June, a large-scale press conference attended by all the main actors was held in Dublin at the end of the month. √∟Vertex novel,

Although this press conference was far away from the World Entertainment Center, there were still more than 500 media reporters on the scene that day. Who called it Star Wars?

Media reporters in different regions have different interviewees, and the media from China throws almost all questions to Daniel Wu.

"Mr. Wu," a Chinese reporter asked loudly, "The IP "Star Wars" has existed for many years. When did you first contact it?"

Daniel Wu is a smart man. He knows why he can become one of the leading actors in "Star Wars: The Force Awakens." He answered the questions of Chinese reporters in great detail.

"I actually learned about the world of "Star Wars" through "Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Threat." That movie was released in 1999, and a few years later I was suddenly attracted by Darth Moore's dolls, but I didn’t know where he came from at that time, I just thought his look was cool. After a few years, I finally saw the "Phantom Threat", and then watched other prequels—sorry, don’t blame me ignorance……"

After sorting out the language a bit, Daniel Wu continued, "After that, I watched the original "Star Wars" trilogy again and saw everything from the Star Wars series. But then I thought the original three The part was just a TV derivative of the prequel trilogy. I didn’t know that those were the original movies at that time. I just like space dramas like this-pure good over evil."

By the same token, the British media have focused their problems on their English roses.

A reporter from The Times asked first, "Daisy, can you talk about getting an audition for a role?"

"As an actress who is just starting her career, my performance in auditions is usually pretty good. But the competition for "Star Wars" is different from other movies. I'm really too nervous. I participated in many auditions, every time I can have Opportunity to show the talents you didn't show last time, and to experience the feelings you didn't realize last time."

Although she is a newcomer, Daisy Ridley's performance is generous and generous, "I think I performed badly in certain rounds of auditions. I cried after the first audition. I walked back and cried bitterly Hey, because I thought I was completely messed up. It was only after the last audition was over that I thought I did a good job. After I left, I went straight home and ate a whole bag of biscuits. I sat on the sofa and said, 'I think I have tried my best'."

For those media from Latin countries, the main interviewee was Oscar Isaac.

A media reporter from Brazil asked, "Can you talk about your feelings about participating in "Star Wars" and working with director Rosenberg?"

"This is simply a childhood dream come true! It is incredible, and so joyful. It's so exciting to be able to join Star Wars."

Just like what he said, Oscar Isaac was very excited, "Director Rosenberg is great, he is definitely the friendliest and most passionate director I have worked with. He is very smart and has a special response. Fast, and still very optimistic, it is the momentum that drives everything about the entire project."

However, compared with the three new protagonists. More media still focused on Harrison Ford, and the crew paid more attention to his promotional packaging. His Han Solo has long become a popular symbol.

The emphasis on promoting Harrison Ford also meets the interests of the crew.

Symbolizing celebrities and making full use of the commercial value of celebrities is an important means for Hollywood to obtain income and ensure profits. Therefore, how to better sell the "symbolic" meaning of stars is closely linked to the development of Hollywood.

In a broad sense, celebrity is an unreliable word. Because almost everyone who appears on the screen can be labeled as a "star", in Hollywood industry terminology, the term referring to a star is actually "talent." The use of words such as "talent" is not used to indicate that a celebrity has talent, but like the Chinese "talent", it is a classification label of commercial value.

In the collective labor of film production. Celebrities are part of the creative workforce. They use their bodies and voices to express their roles on the screen, playing a very special symbolic role in the production of movies.

All movie stars are movie actors, but not all movie actors are stars. The biggest difference between an actor and a star, or the most important factor in determining the rank of a star, is the circulation value of the "name".

A movie can have hundreds of actors, but only a few "names" can be used as selling points-of course, these "names" are basically "stars" as the protagonists. When defining Hollywood stars, economic Value has always been at the center, and the star group represents the top elite among the top-selling actors.

The hierarchical structure of Hollywood actors is very obvious in various occasions. For example, on movie posters, the star's name will appear near the movie title, which is quite eye-catching.

Highlighting certain actors in this way is the most obvious symbolic trait, which means that the "star" is the "name" used to generate sales. The spread value of this "name" makes the "star" a recognizable value symbol And currency in circulation.

When predicting profits, a star’s box office appeal can not only be calculated and estimated, but also used for trading in the movie market.

Hollywood usually defines box office appeal in this way—regardless of other factors in the project, the proportion of financing and box office that can be attracted to a movie by the name of the actor or director alone.

The grading of the Hollywood star system is entirely based on box office appeal, that is, commercial ability, not acting.

It can be said that in the past 30 years, the level of Hollywood stars has basically no direct relationship with acting skills or artistic contributions.

Take Duke’s former Duke’s studio and now Lucasfilm, for example, Hollywood stars are usually divided into this way.

Super A-class superstars, they can guarantee pre-sales and a large-scale premiere box office.

A-level stars, they will not automatically trigger crazy pursuits, but as long as the director and budget are appropriate, and the film type is consistent with the past works of this star, they are a sure bet for the producers.

High-quality second-tier stars are actors who claim to have almost the same influence as first-tier stars. In fact, the commercial value is not stable and will be affected by factors such as budget and co-stars.

Second-tier stars can sometimes attract the attention of the distribution company, but other elements of the film are relatively more important, such as the completion of the script and the level of budget.

Third-tier stars can hardly have any influence on the market by relying on their names. However, if there are suitable co-actors, directors and budgets, they can occasionally promote the box office of the local market.

At the same time, there are some more special people in the star camp.

Some actors are not first-line stars, but they will become genre stars by repeatedly participating in certain types of commercially successful movies. Generally speaking, the main stages of genre stars are in "cult films" and "comedies".

In addition, some actors appeared in movies that were not part of the popular market, interrupting the consistent continuity of movie roles and genres.

They challenged completely different roles time and time again, and they were called "acting school".

However, after all, they are not the "mainstream" of Hollywood stars. Just like Daniel Day Lewis and others, they do not have much box office appeal. The mainstream Hollywood movie circle is not too cold about these acting schools.

Stars, as a symbolic image, have special significance for the film industry. Even directors, producers and investors at the level of Duke have never ignored the appeal of superstars.

The most significant feature of a movie as a commodity is its "uniqueness." There will be similar parts, but no two movies are exactly the same.

But such characteristics are an obstacle for consumers and producers.

Most movie transactions come from consumers who are willing to spend money to watch unknown content. Consumers’ "want to watch" mentality depends precisely on the parts of the movie that are not fully understood.

Before people see a movie, consumers cannot be sure of what they are paying for, and at the same time, producers cannot be completely sure of what consumers will like.

Hollywood has a famous saying: "Perhaps the most important fact in the entire film industry is that no one knows anything." In order to deal with this "symmetrical ignorance", only rely on the similarity or coherence between movies.

Genre films and series films are one way to deal with it, and the broader method is to use stars.

The reason why stars have an important position in the film business is because they provide a way to maintain a balance between uncertainty and certainty, difference and continuity, uniqueness and familiarity.

Therefore, a star must have a unique advantage and exist as a familiar entity. The participation of a certain star will remind people of a series of familiar and known meanings that he has appeared in the movie. The audience better understand the unknown parts of the newly released movies, such as "comedy movies starring Kim Carrey or Ben Stiller", or "love movies starring Julia Roberts".

Hollywood filmmakers describe celebrities as "a certain individual monopoly", which refers to the star's distinctive personality, which provides the film industry with product differentiation and product quality assurance.

However, celebrities are not direct commodities, and it is impossible to buy a celebrity in any cinema. (To be continued.)

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