Huayu started as a substitute director

Chapter 250: Cool and Awesome

Shanghai is still very hot in August, it can be described as bustling.

On the set of "Now You See Me", the crew was busy as hell, and most of the six or seven hundred people were wearing short-sleeved shirts and sweatshirts.

Leaders of various departments, including Han Jianu, were communicating and coordinating everywhere. Lu Dabo was in charge of the most people and was also holding a list and calling out names.

This crew is different from the traditional crew. In addition to the traditional production team, director team, photography team, lighting team, costumes, makeup, props, recording, etc.

A department ranges from 20 to 50 people.

There are also departments such as visual effects, special effects, stunts, transportation, and props.

The largest department is the transportation department with 129 people, and the prop workers have 334 people. These two departments account for nearly people.

The main thing is that the shooting needs to be moved to many places, so the transportation department must be coordinated to close the venues, and the dirty and tiring work is done by the stage workers, and they can also serve as extras.

This play originally had a lot of extras, and the magic in the movie was all stage-based, requiring atmosphere to be created, but it was all temporary.

Lu Dabo was in charge of several hundred field workers, drivers and other logistics personnel.

The special effects on the set are physical, mechanical and in-camera special effects, not digital special effects, and are not the same as visual effects.

There are six to seven hundred people in the filming crew, and there are many screenwriters, visual designers, etc. who are not in the crew. Many people are doing other things outside and preparing for the coordination of the next scene.

In short, the entire crew has nearly a thousand people!

This is the accumulation of young talents not only from Beijing Film Academy but also from various major universities gathering at Yutu over the years.

There is nothing else to say. As a newly emerging force, Yutu gives more opportunities to young people. It is open and inclusive. It does not have such a strong prejudice and does not require much age and experience barriers.

The principal always looks at ability, not background.

Of course, Beijing Film Academy still has the greatest influence. With the expansion of its production volume, it has basically monopolized all the young talents of Beijing Film Academy.

Those who are unsuccessful will come to Yutu to try their luck!
We just had a simple opening ceremony in the morning, where everyone took a photo together as a souvenir or something, of course, including the main staff and actors.

Fang Hong's crew usually doesn't have so many fancy ceremonies, they are all very simple.

We set up and adapted ourselves on the first morning, and started filming in the afternoon. The crew moved to a large flat.

The scene here is arranged to look like a European-style luxury building, and the camera is also set up to shoot the scene in which the male lead Duan Yihong appears.

He played the role of the lover. He was seen standing in front of a large full-length mirror, playing poker with great skill.

Duan Yihong was wearing makeup, and the brown skin on his face was delicately treated. Coupled with his casually messy suit jacket and hair, he exuded male hormones.

Looks cool and attractive!

Of course this is him in the movie, he in real life is another matter!
The crew stopped shooting halfway through this scene, and several assistant directors, photographers, and art directors sat together to discuss.

While they were discussing, the crew members saw the principal being strangled by Liu Tianxian on the back of the neck, with one of his hands locked behind his back, as if he were a prisoner.

Only Liu Tianxian dared to do this. No one else dared to treat the principal like this. In their eyes, the principal was majestic after all.

Except for the main staff, other people in the crew cannot come into contact with the leading actors and stars and keep their distance.

One is for safety; the other is to prevent these people from seeing gossip.

"How dare you talk nonsense to me?" Liu Tianxian said sternly.

Along the way, he actually said that she had long hair and short knowledge!
"I don't dare anymore!" Fang Hong admitted his mistake.

Liu Tianxian let him go, but since there were so many people on the crew, she still had to give him some face.

Men all like to save face.

"You two are finally here." Han Jianu, Chen Sicheng, Lu Yang, photographer Liu Yin and other crew leaders came forward to greet them.

"Is there any problem?" Fang Hong said
"Look, this is the picture I just shot. The result is not what I expected. It feels awkward, awkward with the characters and the effect."

Chen Sicheng handed Fang Hong a tablet computer, which displayed the footage they had just shot.

Fang Hong took it and looked at it. Liu Tianxian also leaned over behind him and looked at it.

The picture shows Duan Yihong playing poker in front of a floor-length mirror. His moves are very fancy. It is a very ordinary shot, with the switching between either a long shot or a close-up.

Fang Hong thought about what the original film footage looked like.

The original film's shots are dazzling, but they always give people a visual impact.

The colorful stage, dazzling lights, flying ribbons, and stunning 360-degree rotating lenses make the audience feel as if they are really in a special performance by a famous magician.

The use of light and shadow creates a sense of confusion and unpredictability; the grand scenery and unique atmosphere of the city create a colorful city picture.

In a word, it is: gorgeous!

This is something that Chinese photographers and directors cannot use at this stage. Chinese filmmaking still tends to be realistic and does not have so many fancy techniques.

With the current digital technology revolution and post-production special effects, we should be able to create countless images that are beyond our imagination.

From heaven to earth, there are all kinds of movie spectacles that transcend the real world!
"this."

Fang Hong figured it out and was about to say something when he saw Liu Tianxian stretching his little head beside his shoulder, his breath lightly hitting his skin.

He handed the tablet to Liu Tianxian, and then said to the others:
“Let me make it clear to you first, this is a purely commercial film. Maybe you have studied The Prestige privately and thought that it should be shot in that direction, which is completely wrong. Although both films are about magic, they are completely different types of films.

The shooting scenes of Now You See Me must be gorgeous, and the shots must be dazzling. We are shooting a visual magic show, not a real magic show. The magic is just a selling point. Do you understand what I mean?"

These words made the people gathered there ponder, and then they looked at each other. Some of them understood, but some of them were not quite sure.

"The feeling you put it this way is like the thrill of a one-night stand. It feels good and exciting, but you forget it immediately afterwards." Chen Sicheng grasped the key point.

But no one said his metaphors were vulgar or anything. We were all adults, and they were just discussing the feeling of the movie. "You can say that." Fang Hong nodded.

"Now You See Me" is such a crazy, cool and awesome movie. When I watched it, I felt it was so awesome, "Oh my God!"

After watching it, I felt that was the case.

There are also many loopholes and the plot cannot stand up to scrutiny.

None of these are important. Any movie that can get high box office around the world is like this. It’s very enjoyable while watching it, but if you don’t watch it, it just feels like that.

Let’s take a typical example: Marvel movies!

"Movies themselves are a kind of visual magic. When a kind of magic is used to create real magic, it can no longer be described as magic, but becomes a visual feast with an exponential increase in viewing experience." Lu Yang also understood the key.

"That's what happened."

Although Fang Hong didn't understand, he was greatly inspired.

Liu Tianxian didn't quite understand what was being said, but she was also greatly encouraged, feeling as if they were discussing film art.

And she is getting closer to "art"!
After collective discussion, everyone present roughly understood what Fang Hong wanted to express. This way of filming was different from other movies.

Other movies highlight characters and use them to create atmosphere, but this movie completely uses images to set off characters and atmosphere.

"The shot must be bright and eye-catching through the use of fast, slow and special lenses," said photographer Liu Yin.

"It still requires delicate close-up shots to express the inner world of the characters."

Fang Hong said, and then said: "Let's shoot a scene first to see the effect!"

Now that the theory is clear, let’s shoot it and see, they will probably know how to shoot awesome scenes.

The group walked towards the filming area, and Liu Tianxian returned the tablet to Chen Sicheng. She was just looking at it out of curiosity.

The scene was well arranged, but the effect of the filming did not meet the requirements.

"Take away the upper robotic arm, and have the staff lay a circle of track around the actor. It should be the kind that rotates 360 degrees. The lens should be at the same level as the actor. Also, prepare two more sets of cameras to capture the actor's movements in detail." Fang Hong explained to Liu Yin.

"Okay!" Liu Yin understood what he said.

Fang Hong said to the artist Li Anran: "The changes in lighting should have a projection effect. It can't be too bright, but should be faint. This way the picture will be deeper and make people feel incredible, with a sense of mystery that attracts people."

"Okay!" Li Anran went to re-coordinate the visual effects with the lighting team.

This is the tone of the film. After the art design, the lighting, costumes, and props are arranged according to the style of the art to create the desired scene.

There is no need to adjust props and costumes, as they have already been designed and approved. The lighting needs to be fine-tuned on site and cannot be confirmed in advance.

The same goes for photography, which is adjusted on the spot according to requirements.

These are all elites. Fang Hong just needs to explain it to them briefly and they will know what to do.

The scene style and shooting style were rearranged on the spot. Chen Sicheng and Lu Yang understood the effect he wanted and were busy coordinating according to his requirements.

Duan Yihong, Liu Tianxian, Xie Miao and several other actors stood aside, waiting for the staff to finish their work before continuing filming.

"Yihong, your movements later should show coolness. Don't be too deliberate. Make it natural." Fang Hong took the opportunity to explain the play to the actors.

"Is there anything I need to pay attention to in the performance?" Duan Yihong asked.

"Just be more delicate." Fang Hong said.

In fact, this play does not give the actors much room to perform. The scenes switch very quickly, and they are cut away before you can see it clearly. All you can see is the visual aspect.

But it still depends on the actors to perform well.

"Xie Miao, you just like to show off!" Fang Hong said.

"understand!"

Xie Miao nodded. It was not difficult for him to show off his moves.

He plays a hermit who is good at hypnosis and mind reading, so his action techniques have to be flashy and showy.

Liu Tianxian watched and listened to Fang Hong's ideas on what he wanted to express in the film and the actors' movements, and thought he was quite talented.

Why did you always say you can't make movies? Aren't these movies good?

You know exactly what style you want. If you really don’t know how to take pictures, you will be confused and not know what you want.

Other directors are like this, they don’t know what they want when making a movie, they just express it randomly and their style changes randomly.

When Fang Hong was making movies, he was very clear about what he wanted.

Before, Fang Hong always said that he couldn’t make movies and his film-making skills were not good enough, so I gradually believed it.

How did all these movies become such big hits? Was it just luck or feeling? She didn't believe it. There must be real talent behind it.

No one thinks that Fang Hong can't make movies. No one who has worked with Fang Hong has ever said that Fang Hong can't make movies.

Even the newspapers and media didn't say anything about it.

If he really couldn't shoot, then people like Chen Sicheng, Lu Yang, Wen Muye, Guo Fan, Wang Ran, and Yu Xian wouldn't work under him.

The director's original purpose is to determine the style, the desired concept, and what he wants to express. As long as Fang Hong can express it, he is a good director.

No matter what the expression is, whether it is "cool" or "uncool", it doesn't matter.

The important thing is to express clearly and concisely, and "cool" is also a kind of expression.

It’s just that it’s difficult to become a master in this way!
(End of this chapter)