Dominating Hollywood: Starting with Scarlett

Chapter 34 Conflict of Ideas
  One day later, Tang De met the crew members in the CAA office.

Director Ton, assistant director Jose, and scene artist Brewer. Agent Mike is also among them, but his role is only to introduce them to everyone.

"This is photographer Tang De, and now we still need lighting engineer Waden." After Mike introduced him, others greeted Tang De one after another.

Except for director Tone, this bearded man, who had been leaning back in his chair, just looked up at him and didn't even say a word.

Seeing his demeanor, Tang De didn't say much. After shaking hands with the other two people, he sat next to the assistant director.

The next second, Tone said: "Let's get started directly, Tang De. When Varden comes, you can just tell him the specific information. Is that okay?"

Although it was a question, the tone was not at all inquiring.

Tang De looked at the others and found that they seemed to be used to it, so he did not refute.

"Okay, let's get started." Tone nodded to himself, and then threw a pile of paper to them: "This is the MV footage, take a look and see if there is any problem."

Tang De picked it up and looked at it briefly. It was very sloppy. There were only some rough scenes and pictures. The dynamics of the characters and the angle of the camera were simply omitted to highlight a trouble-free situation.

However, the shooting of the MV itself is not difficult, or the director’s role is not big, especially for rap. Unless it's a MV that values ​​creativity and plot, the director's job is more like a nanny taking care of the before and after.

But this is different from what Tang De wants. What's the use of shooting a MV casually? He's not someone who wants to hang around and wait to die.

So he immediately started asking about the content in the storyboard: "Director, do I think it's a little too simple?"

Jose and Brewer both nodded their chins lightly. This was also their idea. They only shot some scenes in the black neighborhood. The two of them sat by the door and sang duet, and then interspersed with some choruses of the two at night to form the entire content of the MV. .

Even the scenes don’t change very much. There is only one scene away from the neighborhood, but only one.

For them, this kind of MV is not too easy. They can shoot three in one day, which is really boring.

But Tone didn't seem to think so. He waved the storyboard in his hand: "Simple? What are you talking about? Doesn't this song just talk about the mistress cheating on her? The woman moved to a new neighborhood and fell in love with a man. It turns out that both of them have families, so they can only like each other secretly, that's all. The neighborhood is the best scene, is there any problem?

"I've seen your resume, Tang De, and it seems like you don't have much experience. So maybe your understanding of MV shooting is a bit off. This is not a movie! Remember!"

Tang De shrugged, feeling ridiculous about his warning: "But the meaning of the MV itself is to add color to the song. It just follows the lyrics. What's the point? Then if the lyrics record the number of dollars a person buys groceries every day, shouldn't we? Do you want to take pictures of all the vegetables in the supermarket?"

"How to film it? Do you want to film the process of two people having sex? Like a European art film?"

"You are making excuses! We can definitely give the MV more plot and watchability!"

"Come on, can you still become an artist by shooting a music video? Mike, what kind of photographer did you find for me? Does he really know how to shoot?" Tone asked Mike directly.

And Mike didn't expect that the two people would be like taking gunpowder when they met. He quickly stood up and waved his hands: "Calm down, calm down."

Then he first said to Tone: "I think what Tang De said is not unreasonable. After all, the cost that customers pay us for packaging is not small. We must do the best within our capabilities. Isn't this what we should do?"

Then he said to Tang De: "Since you think this MV is simpler, how do you think it can be made better?"

When Tang De saw others turning their attention to him, he took the opportunity to speak out his idea: "I want to add a main line..."

What he wanted to add were scenes from the MV for Taylor Swift's song "I don't wanna live forever". Taylor's MVs are all shot very well, with a rich film quality and a sense of suspense.

Any song up to now is a dimensionality-reducing blow, a fresh and exciting thing that the current audience has never seen before. Just like the MV that Tang De shot for Raymond, everything from color to lighting to plot serves the song itself.

At present, many MV shootings are limited to dance and duet singing, with at most a little plot added, and there is no integration concept of a movie-level MV.

So what Tang De proposed was undoubtedly very new to them.

What he wants to add now is the scene in Taylor's music video where a man and a woman are walking in the hotel passage with the same dim background while singing to the camera.

Tang De wanted to use this scene as the main line, and constantly intersperse the memories of the two during the singing process, such as encounters in the neighborhood and some interactions with hidden emotions. Coupled with the film's camerawork and color palette, the ambiguous atmosphere is highlighted.

In this way, when the audience sees it, they will be more looking forward to the meeting between two people in the hotel, and they will have a voyeuristic feeling of participating in an affair.

As for whether the two people really met in the same hotel in the ending and sparked a collision, that is the suspense left by Tang De.

If we use a novel as an analogy, then Tone's original MV is just a running account, and the entire text proceeds straightforwardly according to the date, without any additional room for imagination.

What Tang De shoots is a suspense novel, using suspense to arouse the audience's interest from the beginning, and then solving the suspense until the end.

After listening to Tang De's idea, Mike tapped his pen on the table. Jose and Brewer were a little excited, because if they were shot like this, their role would undoubtedly become greater.

But Tone snorted coldly: "It sounds good, but do you know how much it will cost to shoot like this? Budget, how much budget can a MV have? Do you plan to convince those singers to waste their money on this?" Really? What a dream!"

"There are low-budget ways. A living person will never suffocate to death." After Tang De finished speaking, everyone except Tone laughed at this sentence.

However, Tone still went his own way: "I will not shoot according to this. The audience is here to listen to the music and come to see the singer! You have simply made a mistake in this distinction of priorities!"

After saying that, he stood up and walked out the door, and at the same time said to Mike: "Either you convince him, or let him leave."

"Bang!" The door was closed and opened again the next second. When everyone saw it, it turned out to be the late lighting engineer Wadden.

"Did I miss something? Why did Tone rush out with an angry face?" He stood at the door with a confused look on his face.

Tang De looked at Mike: "What are you going to do?"

Mike sighed: "Although I really want to support you, you have to know that Tone is the designated director over there, and I..."

"Okay, I'll go back and think about it." Tang De stood up and left the CAA building, stood on the roadside, picked up his mobile phone and made a call.

"Hey, Sluo...it's me, Tang De."

"Well, can you please help me with something? It's very simple, don't let him..."

"No problem, I'll wait."

"Just tonight...thank you brother."

Tang De hung up the phone and looked up at the top of the building. Since he couldn't have the final say, he had to let some people withdraw.

(End of this chapter)