Isn't this funny? Xiao Ran has always believed that production fees are very important, but in fact, the offline expenses this time are so low, and the four million also includes post-production and other expenses. After calculating this ratio, not only
It couldn't reach the one to four that Xiao Ran thought, it was simply the other way around.
Liang Jiabao was the first reporter to know that Xiao Ran had released a new movie, and he immediately ran to interview Xiao Ran. However, Xiao Ran really had no confidence in his personal style of work, so he just dismissed it casually.
Even so, major merchants and enterprises are still eager to hear the news and actively offer sponsorship or advertising fees. Among them, Mitsubishi is the most enthusiastic, wishing to pick up the checkbook and immediately draw circles. The funny thing is, when the people at Mitsubishi found out,
Xiao Ran disappeared immediately after directing an experimental film this time.
In any case, many companies believe in Xiao Ran's abilities. Although Hong Kong has seen an increase in talent in recent years, and outstanding directors can be found everywhere, Xiao Ran's reputation as Hong Kong's number one commercial director is basically confirmed, at least from outside the industry.
That's right. Sponsorships were given as well, and Han Long from the planning department laughed so hard that his eyes narrowed to slits, because just from sponsorships and advertisements, he had already made millions after excluding production fees.
Besides Xiao Ran, who else can have such momentum that countless sponsors come uninvited? But Xiao Ran has no confidence in his heart. He feels that he may be a qualified commercial director, but he is definitely not a famous director at the moment, at least in terms of strength.
It is still far from the strength of Wu Yusen and others.
It's hard to describe Xiao Ran's thoughts. However, this is due to his lack of confidence, which is very helpless. However, his lack of confidence is not without reason. We can all be sure that he is not as strong as a famous director.
, so he tried to find his own style and explore a route that suited him in this experimental film.
Xiao Ran spent a lot of time selecting the staff behind the scenes. It was easy for him to be an editor. He hired his own old team. This is always the case with personal style works. It always requires people who are most familiar with the director's ideas to achieve a tacit understanding.
Cooperate.
What makes him embarrassed is that as a photographer, Huang Yongheng is not bad, but he is not good at portable photography. Among the four best photographers in Hong Kong, one is Duke Feng, the second is Liu Weiqiang, and the other two are
Everyone is new.
What's depressing is that Huang Yongheng can understand and interpret Xiao Ran's ideas and concepts very well. But Liu Weiqiang is not strong enough overall, and may not be able to understand Xiao Ran's meaning. In the end, Xiao Ran decided to use Huang Yongheng as the photography director, and Liu Weiqiang.
For photographers.
After inviting the creative staff to a restaurant, opening a private room, and ordering dishes, Xiao Ran glanced at his old friends at the table. Lighting engineer Dou Wenbao, photography director Huang Yongheng, photographer Liu Weiqiang, art director Zhang Shuping, sound director
Designer (this position is new) Xiang Bao, screenwriter You Hai, producer, etc...
Nowadays, due to the advancement of technology, the positions are divided more and more finely, so it is impossible for Xiao Ran to find all the behind-the-scenes members, only the heads of the various departments. Xiao Ran took a sip of water, leaned on the chair and said
: "I invite you all here today just to talk about the new film!"
"Brother Ran, just tell me. Brothers will definitely use their best skills to help you make the film the best it can be!" People say that the lighting engineer is the lighting master, and they are all rough and powerful people. Dou Wenbao obviously showed this
point.
Xiao Ran nodded, thinking about how to describe it: "My idea is very strange. I have always been thinking about whether the camera can be used as human eyes to see the world? So this idea came up, so Qingyun and Zhen
Yu is both a supporting character and a protagonist."
Everyone stared at Xiao Ran with wide eyes. Xiao Ran smiled with relief. He hadn't even reached the point yet. It was so easy to understand. He made a gesture and said: "It's very simple. The camera is the protagonist, the protagonist's eyes. I want to see through it."
Tell a story through the eyes of a camera, a story about a thief and a thief."
They still didn't quite understand what it meant, and You Hai was even more confused. He remembered that Xiao Ran asked him to write a script, a very interesting script. The general plot was that two thieves committed the same case by coincidence.
So they started to work, and in the middle there was an innocent and unlucky citizen who was forced by various circumstances and had to be forced into a house by the fight between two thieves, and the police quickly surrounded the house.
, and this is how the story happened.
Xiao Ran pondered for a moment, it was really not easy to explain. At this moment, Huang Yongheng gradually showed a look of surprise on his face, and suddenly shouted: "You mean to treat the camera as the protagonist and shoot everything from this angle.
"
"Yes, this film only has the protagonist's perspective. What the protagonist can't see cannot be seen on the screen." Xiao Ran quickly explained: "And we don't need the protagonist's appearance to appear on the screen, so we just
We can use a camera instead!"
In response to Yi Fangcai's words, everyone showed surprise and understood what Xiao Ran meant. Assistant director Yu Jiayu's heart skipped a beat. He felt that Xiao Ran's idea was a bit too strange and too experimental.
.
Looking at everyone's surprised expressions, Xiao Ran was really amused. This idea came to him accidentally. Why did he think it had to be an actor? If the camera replaced the protagonist, it would definitely be interesting.
But after thinking about it for a long time, he decided that he couldn't do without actors, because even if the camera replaced the protagonist's line of sight, there were still people there. Moreover, if there were no people, there would be no intense effect. Xiao Ran didn't realize at all,
My subconscious mind still filled the film with some commercial elements.
After that, Xiao Ran thought about it for a long time and finally got inspiration from "Dark War". He thought that he might as well consider using the eyes of the camera to present a story about a battle of wits. "Dark War" is about cops and robbers, so why not robbers versus robbers.
As a result, the roles of Liu Qingyun and Wu Zhenyu appeared.
Liu Weiqiang finally understood what his mission was. He was still angry at first. After all, he was also a famous photography director, and he actually came to help Huang Yongheng. But after hearing Xiao Ran explain it like this, he immediately became interested. What to do?
If you don't start, you will immediately forget about it.
Xiao Ran knew that Liu Weiqiang must be interested. He remembered that after Liu Weiqiang and Mak Zhaohui directed "Infernal Affairs", the former said that he only hoped that he could have at least one masterpiece in his life, otherwise it would be a wasted life.
One trip.
Xiao Ran dared to bet, and Liu Weiqiang also dared to bet that if this film was successful, it would be absolutely easy for Liu Weiqiang to win any award. Because he plays the role of the protagonist in the film - he will use his best handheld
The camera serves as the protagonist's eyes to observe everything, which requires extremely high photography skills. If he can overcome this, he will be absolutely qualified to win the award.
"Lao Zhang, I still have to rely on you for art!" Xiao Ran smiled softly, his white teeth dazzling: "In this regard, I think..."
Because this inspiration was obtained recently, Xiao Ran didn't think everything through. He was just very clear that there was a desire, or rather an impulse. There was such an extraordinarily strong impulse that was driving him, driving him to desire very much.
To be able to direct such a play.
Art is always closely related to the theme of the film, just as Wang Jiawei would definitely be missing a hand without Zhang Shuping. And before the theme of the film has been decided, it is difficult for Xiao Ran to make a decision.
If it were another art director with a lower level, he might not be able to create an art effect that suits the director based on the theme and center of the film. The first is the standard, and the second is the tacit understanding. However, Zhang Shuping is Xiao Ran’s old teammate, so this
There is still some tacit understanding, and Xiao Ran has no doubt about it.
In Xiao Ran's conception, this film can have two main points, that is, he can express something through this film. It can express the thrill of the battle of wits and strength, and it can express the distortion and changes caused by the strange perspective.
.The difference between these two points may make Zhang Shuping’s art creation different at any time.
In a sense, these two ideas do not interfere with each other. The perspective is the technique, and the battle of wits is the process. After hesitating for a moment, Xiao Ran quickly made a decision: "It's very simple. The perspective must be highlighted to express
This wonderful sense of distortion. And the process is the key point. I just want to express a sense of sympathy, and it doesn’t need to be too strong.”
"That's it..." Zhang Shuping also quickly organized it in his mind, with a hint of thinking on his face: "I think it's okay, but you really don't need any other assistance in terms of perspective?"
Xiao Ran shook his head. If he continued to work on the angle of view, he was afraid that he would go to the extreme. Then he turned his attention to Dou Wenbao: "Old Dou, in terms of lighting, you still follow Lao Huang. However, in terms of lighting, I don't need
It should not be too bright, but not too dark. You can make the contrast of the light stronger, somewhat similar to "Dark Flowers"!"
Of course Dou Wenbao has no problem. The fact that he can communicate with the director here is the result of Xiao Ran's efforts to improve his position in other positions in the past few years. He and his subordinates are Huang Yongheng's royal lighting team, and each photographer is always used to leading his own team.
Only in this way can we develop tacit understanding more appropriately and become familiar with each other's strengths and weaknesses.
When Liu Weiqiang saw Xiao Ran turning his attention to him, he immediately said with a clear heart: "Brother Ran, I understand what you mean, I'll just be in charge of the mobile phone. In your words, I am the protagonist, and the camera is my eyes!"
Xiao Ran burst out laughing. Liu Weiqiang was quite interesting. He couldn't blame him for being able to attract a lot of investment as a director in history. However, Xiao Ran still didn't think it was a good thing to let this guy be a director, even though Liu Weiqiang and Wen Jun's Young and Dangerous series were indeed very strong.
, but most of them are definitely bad movies, including Blue Blood Man and Boxing God.
Regarding Huang Yongheng, Xiao Ran's explanation was much simpler: "Use a filter lens to make the basic color of the picture darker. Moreover, I need the light contrast to be very strong. You know, it is an abandoned house. The contrast between the light inside and the outside must be very strong."
strong!"
As expected, Huang Yongheng was a photography director who worked very well with Xiao Ran and quickly raised the question: "If you want the effect of sympathy, then I don't think it's better to use too strong a black and white contrast!"
Xiao Ran was startled for a moment, and then he remembered that Huang Yongheng was also Wu Yusen's royal servant, and immediately smiled: "It doesn't matter, this is different from the sympathy in "The Bloody Heroes", it's about status and position.
Opposition. There is no identity in this one, only stance! I think we can use light contrast to enhance this effect.”
Huang Yongheng had no objection, closed his eyes, and rehearsed the shooting process by himself. In fact, this may also be the reason why it is easiest for a photographer to change his career to a director. It is not because the photographer is closest to the director, but because he needs to control the overall situation the most.
He is quite director-like in controlling the overall situation.
Regarding Zhang Yaozong, the editor, Xiao Ran didn't really need to say anything. Zhang Yaozong could basically understand Xiao Ran's intentions. For the rest, he needed to watch the filming process on the set, so that he could determine where to edit.
Next, after Xiao Ran explained some things, he saw the food being served. Xiao Ran poked the abalone in the pot and smiled softly: "I'll treat you to this meal. Don't be polite, try these three."
Abalone and Boston lobster!”
"Director Xiao is treating you to a treat, I'm sorry if you don't eat!" Everyone shouted loudly and started to move immediately. You Hai hesitated for a moment and finally asked: "Brother Ran, I don't quite understand why you want to direct such a movie.
The movie, I don’t think it’s likely to be a hit!”
Really? Why direct such a film? In terms of creativity, almost all those who have won screenwriting awards in recent years come from Xiao Ran's creativity. Why doesn't he direct those films himself? Xiao Ran knows it well, he doesn't want to be a writer who only
A famous director who is an empty shell, but a famous director in the true sense, he needs to figure out his own path in a small production.
"Husband, I don't understand. Why are you directing a movie like that when you are fine?" Lin Qingxia took a sip of the chicken soup she had been cooking for a long time, and then asked in confusion: "You are a director as famous as Wu Yusen and others.
There’s no reason to do this!”
Xiao Ran stared at his wife quietly. This was at the Ax Mountain Road studio. After Jiahe was taken over, the lease of this studio has been owned by Phantom. "The Three Heroes of the East 2" has just started filming, and now he is taking the time to deliver soup to Lin Qingxia.