Chapter 60 What Makes a Good Movie

Chapter 60: What Makes a Good Film

"A piece shot by a student, quite interesting," Su Zhijun said.

"Mhm."

The teachers didn't express much; regardless of who made it, they had to watch a few minutes first.

The short drama continued to play. The male lead, Sun Hao, scored a zero on his exam and was called to the front by the male teacher to hold his test paper and walk in circles around the classroom.

A short while later, during the review of the test questions, Sun Hao discovered that he had actually gotten one question right, but it had been marked wrong. Finding it hard to believe, he asked his deskmate, the female lead Cai Wenwen.

Cai Wenwen confirmed that he was correct; the teacher had graded it wrong. She immediately raised her hand, ready to stick up for Sun Hao.

"Teacher, he got one of the questions right."

"Which question?"

Cai Wenwen snatched the test paper from Sun Hao's hand, glanced down at it, and said, "Number eleven."

"Alright, sit down," the teacher said.

But Cai Wenwen didn't listen to him. "Teacher, he just walked around for nothing."

"Then please offer a solution," the teacher replied.

"Have the person who misgraded it walk a circle, or you apologize," Cai Wenwen said.

Everyone was stunned by her words, and the classroom fell into absolute silence.

A bespectacled girl lowered her head in embarrassment.

Because she was the one who had graded that test paper.

Cai Wenwen noticed, so she added, "Or you apologize."

"......"

...

"This lead actress is very endearing," an office teacher remarked.

"She looks a bit familiar. Is she from our school?"

"All three leads are from the Performance Department," Su Zhijun said.

Their acting was quite good. Though there were flaws, they didn't overshadow the merits, and in the face of the lighthearted, entertaining story and dialogue, those flaws were completely negligible.

The two boys were slightly foolish yet cowardly, while the girl was slightly foolish yet courageous. Their personalities shared similarities while each possessing unique charms.

Almost nothing monumental happened, yet it was remarkably engaging.

So they continued watching.

"My composition got sixty points again," Sun Hao said with a smug smile. "Let me clarify, out of a maximum of sixty!"

Then, seeing Cai Wenwen's test paper, his smile vanished instantly: "Gosh, you got ten points again!"

"You could take this score and apply for government subsistence aid; it really is as short as a telegram," Tian Tianyu, the student sitting in front of him, turned around to chime in.

Cai Wenwen retorted, "Doesn't your school pride itself on teaching Chinese well? How did it end up teaching me into this state?"

Tian Tianyu said, "Have some conscience. When you first transferred here, your exam composition only scored eight points."

"And the title was *Borrowing Another Five Hundred Years from the Heavens*," Sun Hao said. "I feel like you never have enough time for your compositions."

"I suppose I can grudgingly condone your naive thoughts," Cai Wenwen said. "However, essay writing—especially an exceptional essay—requires deep contemplation, which is a virtue. How can one abandon the meaning of creation merely for the sake of mere scores? We must not only write with style, but also with moral integrity. Look at the two of you with your high scores; you have zero integrity."

Sun Hao replied, "But your integrity only scored ten points."

...

The first episode ended quickly, and everyone only snapped back to reality when the video finished playing.

"Not bad at all. Whose work is this?" a teacher asked.

Not bad? It could practically be called excellent!

Although it didn't deal with major events or profound grand truths, a thread of "entertainment" ran through the entire piece, firmly capturing the audience's attention.

"Li Jingkun, a sophomore in the Directing Department," Su Zhijun said. In truth, he was pleasantly surprised as well; his student's short drama had turned out unexpectedly good!

"Li Jingkun?" Since they were all in the Directing Department, Xu Haofeng certainly knew him.

"That's right. He wrote and directed it himself, and of course, he funded it himself too."

"Were you his supervising advisor?"

"No, there was no advisor," Su Zhijun said. "He pulled a few classmates together and shot it entirely on his own. The assistant director is Wang Yang, and the cinematographer is Guo Junli."

The director and screenwriter roles were completed entirely independently? And executed this brilliantly?

"Not bad at all. Looks like the Class of '08 is going to produce a master director," another teacher joked.

"The most brilliant part is the dialogue, and there are many instances of foreshadowing and callbacks. It's a very complete and mature work," Xu Haofeng said.

Unfortunately, there was no time to watch the rest right now. The teachers prepared themselves and headed off to their classes.

When Xu Haofeng arrived at the classroom, he was actually a bit late, so he apologized to the full room of students and began his lecture.

This class was for the sophomores of the Directing Department, so naturally, all the students in the class had seats; it was impossible for students not to have a place to sit in their own department's class.

He spotted Li Jingkun sitting in the fourth or fifth row, alongside Wang Yang and Guo Junli.

Of course, he knew all the students in his class, though they didn't have any particularly close personal relationships outside of class. Moreover, he was busy himself—though he had heard that this student Li Jingkun was also extremely busy.

Indeed, the two of them seemed to share quite a few common traits: both were writers, and now that title included screenwriters and directors as well?

Having just watched his work, Xu Haofeng, as a teacher, felt genuinely happy for him and was very curious to hear more of his thoughts. Therefore, during the Q&A session, he called out Li Jingkun's name.

...

After the semester started, Wang Yang and Guo Junli moved back into the dormitory, though Li Jingkun told them they could occasionally drop by his place for company when they had free time.

Now that the short drama was finished, the next agenda item arose.

"Should we host a premiere?" Li Jingkun asked.

"A premiere?"

"Come over to my place to watch the finished product. You guys haven't seen it yet, have you?"

Short dramas had nowhere to screen. If video streaming websites refused to buy it, they would truly end up making it just for themselves to watch. But now that the short drama was edited, internal staff had to see the results one way or another.

"Sure, we definitely have to go. Just the three of us?"

"Let's invite a few more. Wang Yang, you go notify everyone. Any of our core crew members who want to come can sign up with you."

Aside from the three leads, several other classmates from different departments had participated in the production work; anyone free was welcome to come over. They would buy some snacks and drinks and watch the short drama at his place in the evening.

"Is it all done already?"

During class, Li Jingkun received a message from Cai Wenwen. He furtively replied, "Yes."

"Are we going to your place to watch the film tonight?"

"Yeah, I asked Wang Yang to round up some people. We'll have food and drinks ready to serve."

"Great, I'm really looking forward to it. Can I bring my roommates along?"

"Sure, right in the nick of time. Our crew has way too few girls; bring as many as you like. After we finish the short drama, we can host a mixer."

"...... Can't you think of something serious for once?"

"Li Jingkun, why don't you share your thoughts on this question?"

Just as he was deep in chat, he was abruptly called upon by the teacher out of nowhere. He had no choice but to stand up, vaguely recalling that they had just been discussing... the criteria for a good film?

"Yes, what constitutes a good film, or rather, what are the necessary conditions for a good movie?"

Xu Haofeng, sporting a head of fluffy hair, sat behind the podium and asked.

This question was actually quite broad. He thought for a good while, flashes of scenes from numerous films continuously playing in his mind.

Then he said, "This question isn't easy to answer, actually, because for the exact same film, many people say it's good while many others say it's bad. It's hard to have a standard definition or a definitive answer, so I'll just share my own thoughts."

Xu Haofeng nodded. "Go ahead."