Best Director in Literature Department of Huayu

Chapter 105 The Crew Assembles and Minimalism (Seeking Monthly Tickets~)

February, New Orleans, Louisiana.

As the plane landed, looking down through the window, the Mississippi River resembled a giant python winding its way through the city.

Just months after Hurricane Katrina, even though the most bustling urban areas have recovered considerably, many traces of the damage are still visible.

Some neighborhoods are still cordoned off, and some buildings still bear the marks sprayed by rescue teams. The disaster is over, but the scars remain.

Graham had been waiting for a long time outside the airport.

Seeing Lin Ruiyang come out, he waved from afar: "Welcome back, Lin."

The two gave each other a brief hug.

Lin Ruiyang put his luggage in the trunk and asked, "Has the Louisiana state government finalized the tax refund amount?"

"Everything is done. The state government just issued the final confirmation this morning."

"Hurricane Katrina devastated Louisiana's tourism industry, and the government is now practically going crazy trying to boost local employment and bring capital back." Graham lit a cigarette and rested one hand on the steering wheel.

"They've raised the local consumption tax rebate for film and television investments to a whopping 35%! And there's no upper limit!"

"In other words, for every dollar we spend locally, the state government will return 35 cents to us in the form of a tradable tax certificate." Lin Ruiyang flipped through the legal clauses in the document.

"What did the finance department at Searchlight say?"

"They were celebrating with champagne in their Los Angeles office yesterday," Graham laughed.

"We employed more than 50% of the local union members affected by the disaster, including truck drivers, set designers, and logistics staff. This triggered a federal disaster recovery grant."

Lin, we haven't even started filming yet, but the project has already made nearly four million US dollars in profit on paper. This kind of financial security is something you absolutely can't enjoy anywhere else.

"It's good that we saved money, but did the union cause any trouble?" Lin Ruiyang asked.

In the United States, film union rules are incredibly strict, and a slight misstep can lead to strikes or hefty fines.

"Don't worry, my director." Graham exhaled a puff of smoke.

"The local union branch in New Orleans now sees the production crew as their savior! We've provided them with a guaranteed monthly salary and health insurance."

At this point, he couldn't help but chuckle: "Yesterday, a union leader came specifically to thank me, saying that he hadn't received a decent big project in six months since the hurricane."

Lin Ruiyang nodded; this was also a key reason why he ultimately agreed to choose New Orleans. (Dallas Buyers Club)

Since the budget wasn't high to begin with, every penny had to be spent wisely.

The car drove through the city and stopped in front of the hotel half an hour later.

This old Victorian hotel in the Garden District has been entirely booked by Searchlight and has become the film crew's temporary base camp.

As soon as Lin Ruiyang pushed open the suite conference room door on the top floor, a smell mixed with black coffee and disinfectant hit him.

At both ends of the long table, several lead actors who had arrived earlier were sitting around. Upon seeing Lin Ruiyang enter, everyone instinctively straightened up.

"Hello everyone, it's been a long time."

Lin Ruiyang unbuttoned his coat and casually pulled out the chair at the head of the table to sit down. His gaze swept across both sides of the long table, finally settling on Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto.

Even though he had seen the daily health monitoring reports sent by the production team in advance, Lin Ruiyang's eyelids still twitched slightly when he saw the two people in person.

Besides Matthew, who was expected to be there, Jared Leto, whom I met in person for the first time, was also extremely thin.

Her face, which once had a rock star vibe, is now so thin that her features are sharp and her collarbones can almost fill out her shirt, giving her a sickly fragility.

"How's it going, director? Don't we look like we're about to die?"

"Very good. At least from now on, you no longer need to prove your attitude towards this project."

"Now that everyone's here, let's begin."

"Start from the first page."

The script reading lasted for a whole day.

In the following days, the crew began the formal preparation phase for filming. The cinematography team tested lenses, the art department built sets, and the costume department adjusted every detail based on authentic historical materials.

Two days later, at five o'clock in the morning, outside an abandoned motel on the outskirts of New Orleans, the morning mist was spreading along a tributary of the Mississippi River.

A dozen or so yellow vans bearing the Ford Focus searchlight logo were already lined up in a long line along the roadside. For the next month, this place would be completely transformed into Dallas, Texas, twenty years ago.

"Director, the lighting truck and the giant crane are already parked outside, but... do we really not need to unload?" The lighting supervisor looked at Lin Ruiyang with some doubt.

Lin Ruiyang pointed to the only two silver aluminum alloy boxes on the ground: "No need."

There were no dozens of high-powered HMI lights, no complicated track system, and not even a large rocker arm on site.

The director of photography stood in the center of the set, with only a few equipment cases at his feet. The most conspicuous item in the cases was an Arri camera.

An Alea digital camera, and two lenses.

The set outside the motel was so rudimentary that it resembled a college student's graduation project with a tight budget.

"But what about the lighting? Lin, it's a cloudy day, and the motel is as dark as a coffin." Graham was also a bit confused. Accustomed to the traditional Hollywood style of bright and dramatic lighting, he suddenly felt uneasy.

"We want the feel of a coffin."

Lin Ruiyang turned to the art department and props department and instructed them: "Replace the cheap bedside lamp in the hotel room with a 40-watt incandescent bulb. Don't replace the fluorescent light tube in the bathroom; keep the slightly flickering green light from the unstable voltage. We won't set up any external light sources; natural light and the prop lights in the scene will suffice."

This extreme minimalism left the Hollywood union workers, accustomed to grand displays, bewildered.

Because there was no need for lighting or heavy-duty tracks, the set design, which would normally take three hours, was completed in just half an hour.

The result was an extremely comical and amusing scene on set: the men in the lighting and production crews became the most idle people on set.

They were paid hefty union wages, and sitting beside their van, leisurely playing Texas Hold'em while sipping drinks.

"Boss, this young director is practically running a charity," a lighting assistant muttered to his supervisor.

"They don't have to do any heavy work, they can just lie down and get a high salary. I think God is blessing this crew."

However, in the core filming area, in that small, musty hotel room, the atmosphere was as tense as a fully drawn bowstring.

Matthew McConaughey, dressed in his baggy Texas cowboy outfit, was subconsciously searching for something on the ground.

He was used to the traditional Hollywood shooting style, and before shooting, he would always find the positioning and lighting points marked on the ground with red and green tape.

"Matthew, stop looking, there's no tape on the floor." Lin Ruiyang pushed open the door, walked over, and patted him on the shoulder to remind him.

Matthew stood there, frozen in place: "Director, where should I stop? Which camera angle's backlight and shadow should I cover?"

"Anywhere." Lin Ruiyang smiled slightly and pointed to the photographer next to him who had already carried ArriAlea on his shoulder.

"This scene will be filmed entirely handheld. There are no restrictions on movement, no lighting or framing. You don't need to take care of the camera; you just need to let the camera capture you."

In this room, I'm giving you 360 degrees of freedom to perform. You can slam the door in anger, suddenly lie down on the floor, or walk to the window and tear the curtains... whatever you feel is what Ron should do in that moment.

Matthew's eyes lit up instantly. For an method actor who was already pushing himself to the brink of losing control, the precise blocking set up by traditional film crews to accommodate lighting was often a brutal shackle.

"360-degree freedom?" Matthew chuckled hoarsely.

"Lin, you're playing with fire. If I smash this room, the crew's treasurer will be crying."

"As long as the camera is rolling, even if you burn the whole building down, Graham will still help you apply for disaster relief subsidies," Lin Ruiyang joked in a Hollywood style, before retreating behind the monitor.

"Alright, get ready to power on."

First shot: 35mm prime lens mounted.

This is a medium-shot free-capture shot.

Matthew McConaughey plays Ron, who, after learning he doesn't have much time left, locks himself in a messy hotel room and frantically searches for illegal AIDS medications.

"Action!"

The moment the clapper fell, Matthew went completely wild, no longer facing the light source like a traditional actor.

He yanked open the drawer, pulling so hard that the entire drawer was ripped out, scattering countless medicine bottles and papers all over the floor. He knelt on the floor like a mad dog, frantically rummaging through the clutter with his withered hands.

The photographer had to walk on the slippery carpet, carrying a camera weighing dozens of kilograms, constantly adjusting his center of gravity to perform high-intensity follow-up shooting.

Suddenly, Matthew stopped moving. He slumped onto the cold floor, leaning against the old spring bed.

At this point, the only light source was the 40-watt prop lamp by the bedside.

Matthew's face was half-hidden in heavy shadow, while the other half was outlined like a ghost by the faint green light leaking from the bathroom.

This is a suffocatingly terrifying scene that could never be filmed with the perfect lighting of traditional Hollywood.

Just then, the door was gently pushed open.

Jared Leto (playing Raymond), with his eyebrows shaved and dressed in a gaudy women's outfit, staggered in.

Because there are no set positioning restrictions, Leto's entry points are entirely improvised.

He looked at Matthew, whose body was a mess, and a flash of instinctive fear crossed his eyes, which then turned into compassion for his comrades.

Instead of walking to the window as originally stated in the script, he sat down against the wall and casually applied a lipstick in front of the mirror.

The photographer astutely switched to a 50mm focal length, and the close-up shot even captured the cracks on Matthew's skin caused by excessive dieting, amplifying the loneliness and struggle between the two terminally ill individuals.

"Card!"

Upon hearing this, Matthew gasped for breath, his eyes gleaming with an unprecedented sense of exhilaration.

He yelled at Lin Ruiyang, "My God! Lin! This is real acting! I completely forgot the camera was there!"