Chapter Thirty-Six: Encountering the Hierarchical System

"The lyrics are quite well-written, and the melody is decent, but the electronic music is a bit too noisy. For a love song, it’s fundamentally unsuitable, and besides, electronic music doesn’t appeal to a wide audience." As a musician, Louis Kwan gave the song some recognition; writing love songs was his forte, and for him to call it decent meant the song possessed a certain standard.

"Electronic music indeed has a limited audience in Hong Kong, but the Britpop style in the latter part of the song is pretty good. If we tone down the electronic elements and let the Britpop style dominate, making the whole song gentler, it should have a nice effect. You already said the lyrics are good and the melody works, and with the singer’s vocal technique, the song feels almost narrative—it’s impressive. Plus, the singer’s vocal prowess isn’t bad; his use of falsetto in that section is something many singers can’t achieve." Yan Xu nodded in agreement.

"What? You think it's got potential?" Louis looked at Yan Xu and asked.

"Yes, I think it could develop." Yan Xu smiled slightly. "He’s the first singer to recommend himself to our company. Let’s hope for a good start, something auspicious."

"Alright, I’ll call him tomorrow and ask him to come to the office. Have him bring more songs." Louis glanced at the letter in the envelope, nodding. "Here’s this guy’s résumé—Liu Yida. He once formed the DLLM band. DLLM? I think Ayiu was in that band before he joined Taiji. They should know each other. I’ll ask Ayiu for some background when he returns. The song’s melody was written by Liu Yida, and the lyrics by someone named Chen Shaoqi."

"He knows Ayiu too. His image isn’t particularly good, but if we launch him with the band’s image, it should work. Or we could find someone really handsome and create a band with a striking contrast." Yan Xu said, "The lyricist Chen Shaoqi is quite talented—let’s invite him as well and see what other works he has." Yan Xu had some impression of Chen Shaoqi; he was a renowned lyricist with over three thousand works, recipient of multiple Golden Melody Awards, Best Chinese Lyrics, and Best Chinese Song awards. He’d collaborated with nearly every major name in the music industry, written many long pieces, planned large concerts, and even served as creative director at Universal Music. The lyrics for the theme song "Painted Heart" from "Painted Skin" had left Yan Xu with a deep impression; that song had once swept the streets. Yan Xu hadn’t expected that Chen Shaoqi was now writing lyrics for Liu Yida.

"We don’t need to think too far ahead—let’s wait until we meet him." Louis sat in his swivel chair, taking out paper and pen. "Now hurry up and write the ending theme song, that’s the real business."

"Alright, alright." Yan Xu took the paper and pen, and soon, a song flowed from his hand. This song had appeared in his memory because of Inque—one of Inque’s representative works.

"Lost Way?" Louis took Yan Xu’s lyrics. "The lyrics are good; they capture dissatisfaction and protest against society, expressing the confusion of a generation lost within it."

"It’s alright," Yan Xu said with a smile.

"I’ll hum the melody once—record it, and then you can arrange it." Yan Xu pressed the record button on the machine.

...

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"Done!" With the final editing shot completed, Yan Xu finally breathed a sigh of relief. He browsed through the entire film; although sound effects hadn’t been added yet, he was already quite satisfied. This wasn’t self-praise—after years of immersion in cinema, a film that satisfied him was already a mark of quality. At this point, the audience’s ability to judge films hadn’t yet been bombarded by the wave of spectacular special effects and makeup, so his film would surely captivate them. Yan Xu had spent half a million to bring in special makeup artists and effects professionals from America and Japan; otherwise, with the film’s simple sets and only a handful of large scenes, the budget wouldn’t be so high.

"The movie’s pretty good, very captivating. Some scenes are a little too bloody, but it’s thrilling." Bald Qiang sat next to Yan Xu, watching the raw film without sound effects.

"That’s exactly the effect I wanted. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have hired foreign makeup artists. This kind of sensory stimulation is very appealing to young people. The target audience for our film is young people, just as you said—it’s thrilling. The youth nowadays crave excitement." Yan Xu looked at Bald Qiang. From the start, he’d positioned the film for two groups: Hong Kong’s youth, and those dissatisfied with the city’s taxi system and drivers.

"But getting the film approved won’t be as easy as before." Bald Qiang nodded, agreeing with Yan Xu, but then seemed to remember something and sighed.

"What’s wrong? There aren’t many explicit scenes in our film. Even though it highlights some social issues, it doesn’t touch on political matters. The government shouldn’t be too strict." Yan Xu didn’t understand Bald Qiang’s concern.

"That was before. Now it’s different." Bald Qiang looked at Yan Xu, took a file from his bag, and said, "This morning, the company received a letter from the newly established Film Censorship Office. Starting today, Hong Kong’s film rating system is officially implemented, and the Film Censorship Ordinance draft has come into effect. From now on, every movie released or distributed must be rated and reviewed by the Film Censorship Office’s committee."

"All films are divided into three categories. The first is suitable for any age. The second is not suitable for children, and this second category is split into A and B. Category A means not suitable for children—content and treatment aren’t fit for children, may include mild bad language and a small amount of nudity, sexual violence, or horror, and parental guidance is advised. Category B is not suitable for youths or children—the audience should expect stronger content than A, and parental guidance is strongly recommended; films may have coarse language and sexual themes, may depict sexual acts implicitly and include nudity in certain scenes, and may contain moderate violence and horror."

"The third category is restricted to those eighteen and older, containing certain nudity and violent, bloody scenes. Your film, though lacking explicit scenes, has too much violence and blood. With the Film Censorship Office just established, they’ll strictly enforce the new system—set an example. If they rate it, it’ll definitely fall into this category." Bald Qiang placed the document in front of Yan Xu.