1RomanceEB Chapter 11 Best Screenplay Award
Chapter 11 Best Screenplay Award
The hype surrounding Cannes came and went quickly.
Just a few days ago, the red carpet, gowns, and celebrities were all over social media, but now they've been overshadowed by new entertainment news.
The school has been much quieter lately. The poster downstairs in the directing department building is still there, but not many people are looking at or discussing it anymore.
Lunchtime in the cafeteria.
The fat man sat down with his tray, plopping down opposite Lin Ruiyang.
"Old Lin, have you seen the news? There are tons of people online criticizing Zhang Ziyi."
"I've seen it."
"There were constant press releases before the award ceremony, but when he didn't win, the media and commentators immediately turned against him," the fat man clicked his tongue.
"That's how film festivals are; the red carpet is one thing, and the awards are another."
The fat man couldn't help but ask, "So, do you think we could walk the red carpet twice next time we go?"
Lin Ruiyang smiled and said, "Then you should film it and get it nominated first."
The conversation ended there, but the sense of disappointment lingered.
With no classes in the afternoon, Lin Ruiyang went to the library alone, intending to find some books on sociology and law to enrich himself.
He hasn't completely decided on the direction for his next film, but one thing is clear to him: if he wants to continue down the realistic path, then it can't just be about "watching".
He still has a lot to learn, especially since different eras have different standards of censorship, and he cannot use future standards to measure the present.
When I went out in the evening, it wasn't completely dark yet.
He walked out of the school gate through a side path and followed the food stalls at the entrance.
There was a small food stall outside, and the proprietress was complaining to customers while taking their money:
"Everything is going up in price now: rent, utilities, even food wholesale prices are going up. We street vendors can't afford to raise prices."
Someone nearby chimed in, "Why don't you just raise your prices too? People will still buy."
"That won't work. Most of the people buying food are students. They don't have jobs, so they don't have much money."
Lin Ruiyang stood not far away and listened for a while. Along the way, there were different conversations, as well as many local dialects and accents.
After being reborn, he suddenly realized that the good things about this era might be hidden in conversations, with most people simply believing that children who are still in school should be more considerate.
We should neither treat students as completely independent adults to be harsh, nor treat them as ignorant children to be deceived.
In the following days, Lin Ruiyang would go out whenever he had free time.
He went to a shopping mall in the center of the business district, a beverage shop with a large flow of people, and a police station near the school.
He simply remained in a fixed position with a clear view, observing the people coming and going. Their expressions were all different, as if every type of emotion described in the book had a corresponding person.
His writing time is after he returns to his dormitory every night, where he writes down the organized texts into short stories.
Screenwriters don't lack stories, but the standard for judging a good screenwriter is whether they have the ability to organize the stories into a structured and coherent whole.
After finishing writing, Lin Ruiyang flipped through the script from beginning to end. He had a vague idea for a feature film script, but it wasn't very specific.
After thinking for a while, he still didn't know how to begin writing.
Since the plot is impossible to sort out, perhaps we should start with the relationships between the characters?
In the end, he closed the notebook and chose not to continue writing.
Character relationships are indeed the most reliable entry point, but that's also where the problem lies. Reality isn't a script; characters don't take sides around conflicts.
What he needs is a structure that is driven by reality, not one that can be seen through at a glance once it is designed.
My literature teacher once said, "Realism is not about what you see, but why you only see these things."
Lin Ruiyang subconsciously twirled his pen, as if he were reorganizing his thoughts.
The next morning, he went to office 301.
The office was the same as always, with the curtains half-drawn and steaming teacups.
When Liu Yibing looked up and saw the person who had come in, he poured him a cup of tea and gestured for him to sit down and talk slowly.
"Teacher, I'm currently writing a feature film script. I feel the logic is sound, but the relationships between the characters don't quite hold up, and it lacks a necessary driving force."
"Good, you've finally started asking questions."
Liu Yibing didn't rush to give an answer, but instead handed over several industry magazines that were on the table.
Have you been following the Cannes Film Festival lately?
I've read some of the reports.
"Have you noticed a problem?"
"What's the problem?"
"All the nominated films seem to be about people, but in essence they are all about 'systems'."
He opened one of the magazines and pointed to the review: "2046 is about memory and time, but its essence is about people being trapped by desires and structures."
"Yang Chao's 'Journey' may seem like a story about a person walking, but in reality, it is social relationships that are constantly pushing him to the margins."
Liu Yibing closed the magazine again.
"Your problem right now is that you're still writing about what happens between the characters, but in a movie, we need to understand why things have to happen the way they do."
Lin Ruiyang didn't answer immediately; the old man's words seemed to have completely dismantled the structure he had previously conceived. He seemed to realize that he had been merely recording, without further organizing reality.
"So it's normal for you to be stuck right now; most newcomers encounter this situation. You just haven't grasped the inevitability yet."
Liu Yibing spoke calmly as he refilled his cup with tea.
"Where should I start looking?"
"Observe the hierarchy. Go back. Your problem isn't with the script structure. Go around more, observe more. What you need to grasp is the underlying system."
When Lin Ruiyang left, his mind was empty, yet it also felt as if it were filled.
After returning home, he spent even more time observing outside the school, silently watching everything that happened around him.
As theory and practice continued to merge, he seemed to notice that structure was constantly compressing the individual's space for choice. Moreover, this was not just one person's story, but the result of multiple ordinary people being divided under the same structural pressure.
Time quickly passed to the end of May, and Lin Ruiyang already had a vague outline of what was going on: a family, two social classes, and a dispute that no one could explain. In the story, everyone was telling the truth, and everyone was lying. But the truth wasn't important; what mattered was what everyone was losing in the pursuit of it.
He thought of a movie he had seen in a previous life, where the actors' delicate and accurate portrayal of the characters' emotions made the audience's emotional balance swing back and forth between the two families.
The power of life makes the plot full of twists and turns.
But this story is too big; he needs to polish it carefully and grasp every detail.
Time slipped away quietly amidst Lin Ruiyang's busy schedule. The Golden Award ceremony was scheduled for June 20th in the school's screening room. The regular courses for the second semester of freshman year were also finished, with only the final exams remaining.
The day of the awards ceremony arrived quickly, and the literature students arrived at the lecture hall half an hour early.
A banner had already been hung at the entrance, with red background and white lettering that read "The First Golden Character Award Ceremony of the Literature Department of Yenching Film Academy".
Posters of the shortlisted works were also posted in the corridor. The introduction of "The Three Battles with the White Bone Demon" was made into a display board, with the cover of the script and a summary of the content printed on it.
Lin Ruiyang was also the only student from the class of 2003 to be shortlisted.
Lin Ruiyang and the fat man were seated in the third row near the aisle, which was a tacitly accepted rule.
As the judges and guests entered, the front row gradually filled with people.
As soon as the host stepped onto the stage, the fat man next to him kept unscrewing and capping the bottle he was holding.
"Can you put the water down and stop?"
"I'm nervous."
"It's not like you're competing, why are you so nervous?"
"If your script wins an award, as your roommate and an external member of your work unit, I'll benefit from it too!"
Lin Ruiyang didn't reply. It would be a lie to say he wasn't nervous; he was just better at controlling his facial expressions than the fat man.
The ceremony proceeded as scheduled. First came the opening remarks, followed by a summary presentation of the shortlisted works in the feature film, animation, and short film script categories.
Five short film scripts were shortlisted, with "The Monkey King 2" ranking third. An excerpt from the script, depicting the White Bone Demon's three transformations, was displayed on the big screen, accompanied by a simple stage diagram.
When Cao Baoping took the stage, the noise in the screening room noticeably subsided. The 42-year-old was an associate professor in the literature department and one of the judges for the first Golden Character Award.
"The first Golden Word Award, Best Screenplay in the Short Film category—" He opened the envelope, glanced down at it, then looked up, his gaze sweeping across the audience with a smile.
"The Three Battles with the White Bone Demon, by Lin Ruiyang".