11pm.

Guo Fan covered his mouth and yawned.

Look over there, Director Xu is giving instructions on the movements of Keanu Reeves, who has turned into a god of death.

Gradually, fatigue began to set in.

But he was able to withstand it, but there was one disadvantage: the communication between Director Xu and Keanu Reeves was all in English, and he couldn't understand it very well. He could only look at Director Xu's gestures and make a guess.

What is he saying.

There should be something wrong with the action just now.

Indeed... Keanu could tell that he was a little tired.

In fact, many people have the illusion that making movies is easy.

It's actually not easy at all.

First of all, waiting is a process that requires adaptation.

Just like filming this scene tonight.

Perhaps in a movie, the audience can only see one or two minutes of footage at most. But these two minutes of footage are all carefully selected by the director, and the best footage is spliced ​​together and presented to the audience.

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In order to get the most perfect shot, actors may need to act out the same scene three, five, or ten times...

Secondly, it is not done in one go.

For example, this fight scene started with the killing of three intruders upstairs, during which a total of at least 11 camera positions were changed. The actors repeated the same actions at least ten or twenty times.

The purpose is to give the director everything he needs when he needs to present it from multiple angles.

What's more... adjusting the camera position, adjusting the lighting, trial and error, test shooting, etc., all require time and cost.

Behind every second that the audience sees on the screen is the hard work of the crew that takes seconds squared or even times raised to the power of time.

But fortunately... the progress tonight is very good.

The team's cooperation is very tacit, and everyone's actions are very standard.

After several sets of shots, both the texture and the picture are excellent.

The final stage of hand-to-hand combat with the last intruder has now begun.

After the filming is completed, today's task can be concluded.

Is it fast?

It's actually very fast.

We started shooting at around 7 o'clock, and it's only been 4 hours now.

It's really fast.

But in Guo Fan's view, this speed has two hard conditions.

The first is the tacit understanding of the team.

Whether it is Jonathan as the director of photography, or the cooperation between the three lighting directors, as well as the prop master, firearms master, action director, etc... these people are all very professional.

Obviously, Paramount has assembled a pretty good crew for Director Xu this time.

The so-called expert will know if there is anything as soon as he takes action.

From the first shot, Guo Fan saw the photographer and lighting engineer working together to express the contrast between light and darkness in the dark night 100%... I knew that the technical level of the people in this team was very high.

top.

At least, compared to domestic ones, their standards are at the top level.

This crew is amazing.

Second, it’s Director Xu.

In other words, this excellent team can play its own role and contribute its own professional standards, which is inseparable from Director Xu.

Director Xu is a genius.

This is the consensus within the circle.

At least this is the consensus among Chinese circles.

When Guo Fan and other classmates and peers were eating and drinking, they chatted about Director Xu. Everyone seemed to have a common understanding, that is... maybe in a few decades, Director Xu will definitely leave a mark in the history of Chinese cinema.

A bold stroke of color.

After all, he is not yet thirty years old.

Sure enough, I feel so.

But many people who say this have actually never worked under Director Xu. They just know that Director Xu is great, but they don’t know what is so great about him.

Guo Fan actually doesn't know...or to be more precise, he doesn't know what makes Director Xu so good.

When "The Hawthorn Tree" was filmed, he was still a graduate student.

After graduating from law school, I worked at Tourism Television for several years. I couldn't let go of my dream of making movies, so I decided to apply for a graduate degree at Beijing Film Academy.

After choosing Professor Yu as his mentor, he never thought that he would have a relationship with Director Xu.

After joining the crew of "Hawthorn Tree", although I had never made a movie at that time... I usually worked with the crew and watched Director Xu working there... Everyone's common understanding is that Director Xu is particularly good at filming.

He has a sense of harmony in which everything in the world is included in the lens and turned into his own thing.

The world in his eyes...must be wonderful, right?

Especially the scene where Jing Qiu, played by Liu Yifei, repeatedly walks on the old bridge.

The harmonious scene of mountain smoke, water vapor, single bridge and girl is still one of his favorite movie shots. Even in the playlist of his mobile phone, the song "BELLA CIAO" has been firmly in the inventory after being deleted several times.

Top position.

Director Xu is really good at presenting the beauty of the shot, just like Director Zhang.

But... from my current perspective, "The Hawthorn Tree" still has a bit more craftsmanship.

But this craftsmanship lies more in the script and the story... and Director Xu is also more or less tainted with it.

If I let myself evaluate it now, then the scenes in "The Hawthorn Tree" are better than Jingqiu's acting skills and the story.

And his thoughts are in line with many people's perceptions of Director Xu.

Disciples of Lao Mouzi, with the same lens aesthetics.

This has been his thinking over the past few years.

But now...

Looking at Director Xu who was still gesticulating, correcting Brother Ji, and explaining the location and other work to Jonathan... Guo Fan was unusually confused.

Because... at the beginning of this drama, he actually couldn't see the greatness of Director Xu.

He couldn't explain why he felt this way.

But... Director Xu now seems to be somewhat impeccable.

The details of the film, the details of the shots, the construction of the scene... and even the most critical thing, his instinct for the movie screen...

It seems like they all blend together.

I can’t say what’s particularly special about it.

But... even if I know that "John Wick" is a story with a low ceiling, after watching today's shooting route planned by the photographer and actors according to Director Xu, the angle of the camera, and the actions during the fight... even if the movie

It wasn't finished yet, but a very strange... feeling of empathy still appeared in his heart uncontrollably.

This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Even if he is also a member of the crew... he is one of the "creators" of the movie.

But looking at these shot scenes, it was as if he was in a theater at this moment, watching the retired killer who had experienced the pain of losing his wife and losing his dog embark on the road of revenge again, he actually felt a sense of empathy.

This feeling is really outrageous.

After all, the movie is still being shot at this stage, and actors can break the fourth wall anytime and anywhere.

But it happened that he already had this feeling of empathy in his heart.

And this emotion is not about his liking for Brother Ji, nor is it about how good he thinks the story is... or even more exaggerated, he is someone who has read the script and can spoil the direction of the story later.

Fortunately, he empathized.

And the only explanation is...he liked the footage.

I like these shots that haven’t had gunfire, blood effects, or even fine-tuned colors added in post-production.

I obviously took it myself, but it's like watching a movie.

Perhaps, this is where Director Xu is so great.

In the past, what he was best at was lens aesthetics.

And now...he is good at everything.
To be continued...