When Xu Wangqiu knocked on the door of Zeng Lian's bungalow, he was reading a book inside. Zeng Lianping is very young, even younger than many boys in Xu Wangqiu's class. No one regarded him as a teacher, and he was quite casual in front of him. Xu Wangqiu said to Zeng Lianping, Mr. Zeng, I have something to look for you, and after speaking, he pulled Zeng Lianping upstairs.

When they arrived at the 303 bedroom, Liu Lin and Zhang Yimou both smiled at Zeng Lianping, which was completely the old wolf's smile when he saw the lamb, revealing a sinister taste. Zeng Lianping was taken aback, what do you want to do, what kind of conspiracy do you want to do? I'm a school teacher!

Xu Wangqiu saw Zeng Lianping's vigilant face, and felt funny in his heart, and said directly: "Teacher Zeng, we are preparing to make a movie recently, and we need a photographer, I think you are particularly suitable, I don't know if you are interested." ”

Zeng Lianping was very surprised when he heard this: "You make movies, where do you get the money to make movies?"

Xu Wangqiu didn't explain, and asked rhetorically: "Don't worry about money, we must have a way, otherwise we won't look for you." I'm going to ask you now, if you were asked to be a photographer, would you do it?"

In this era, the film industry is particularly ranked according to seniority, and the graduates of the photography department all start from being mechanics and lifting machines, and then become third assistants, second assistants, big assistants, and then associate photographers and photographers. A young man like Zeng Lianping would have to stay in the position of a photographer for at least ten years. Some people even stay up as photography assistants for the rest of their lives. Seeing a white-haired camera assistant on set is nothing new at all.

Someone took the initiative to find himself as a photographer, and Zeng Lianping naturally couldn't ask for it: "Of course I do." ”

Xu Wangqiu smiled and nodded: "Then let's move on to the next topic, our movie can be regarded as a war movie, or it can be said to be an action movie, but the shooting method of our movie is different from the previous war movies." That's what we thought, the film is mostly handheld, so you have to carry it all the time, and there's a lot of running and chasing. This is a huge challenge for any photographer, do you dare to accept this challenge?"

"All on the shoulder, and there are running and chasing scenes?" Zeng Lianping thought he had heard it wrong, shook his head lightly and said, "You guys will definitely not be able to shoot like this, the picture is very shaky like this, and the picture shot can't be seen at all!"

Xu Wangqiu and Liu Lin glanced at each other and chuckled: "Why can't you watch it? This is how the documentary is made, can't you watch the documentary? This is what we want." On the real battlefield, photographers in the trenches full of artillery regardless of personal safety, infinitely close to the soldiers and artillery fire, the photographic effect is naturally not stable, they choose to carry the hand-held camera, although the final film is blurred and shaky, but this infinite proximity to the war will bring an unparalleled sense of realism. We just wanted to make a war film that was close to the real war. ”

The use of handheld cinematography in the war film was opened by Spielberg in "Saving Private Ryan", a technique that mimics the feel of John Ford's 16mm documentary "The Battle of Midway", creating extremely realistic, extremely tragic war scenes.

Zeng Lianping was a little unacceptable about this: "It's a documentary, a feature film is not filmed like this!"

Xu Wangqiu shook his head slightly: "The use of handheld photography for film shooting appeared in the 40s, and by the 50s, with the development of the French New Wave, hand-held and shoulder-mounted filmmaking has become common. The directors took the documentary cameras out on the streets, into cafes, and even into the Ferris wheel in "Four Hundred Blows." Hand-held photography has become common abroad, such as Truffaut's "Jules and Jim", in which three actors chase each other on the bridge, which is a very classic hand-held photography lens. ”

Zeng Lianping didn't expect Xu Wangqiu to pull out the New Wave, and thought to himself, aren't you resisting the New Wave and calling for learning from Hollywood, but New Wave movies do have a lot of handheld photography, so he said: "I have no problem shooting on my shoulder, but you still have chase and run shots." This is very difficult to see, because it is very difficult for the photographer to focus while running. If the lens is not in focus, the picture will be virtual. ”

Xu Wangqiu nodded slightly: "You don't have to worry about this, if you want a stable picture, we will use Steadicam, but the picture is shaky, and even a little bit of false focus is exactly what we want, which is closer to reality." In the violent motion of the battlefield, the focus cannot be very clear, which can make the audience feel the tension of the battlefield more realistically. ”

Zeng Lianping was slightly stunned: "What is Steadicam?"

Xu Wangqiu explained: "It's the camera stabilizer. Like you just said, if you take a motion shot directly with the camera, the picture will be very shaky. A few years ago, an American named Garrett Brown devised a portable device that reduced vibration and shaking: Steadicam. The principle of this thing is actually very simple, and you can do it yourself. We'll use this movie too, and you'll understand when you see it. ”

Zeng Lianping suppressed the curiosity in his heart: "You continue to speak." ”

Next, when it comes to the specific shooting of the movie, Zeng Lianping has not read the script and does not know the specific content of the movie. If you just talk dryly, then Zeng Lianping will not be able to understand many things, and there will be no way to communicate effectively.

Xu Wangqiu handed the script to Zeng Lianping: "You read the script first, and I'll tell you more after reading the script." ”

Zeng Lianping stopped talking, took the script and looked at it seriously. The script of "Hoe Rape" adopts the usual Hollywood routine, and there is a major crisis at the beginning. The leader of the provincial party committee was betrayed by traitors and was arrested and put in prison, and the protagonist Duan Haiping and others, led by the captain Zhang Hanting, prepared to hijack the prisoner car to save people. The domestic films of this era are still in the classical period, and the pace is slow. Zeng Lianping saw a script with such a fast pace for the first time, and he quickly fell into the story.

Zeng Lianping's heart rose and fell with the story, saddened by the sacrifice of the martyrs, worried about the fate of the hoeing and rape squad, and gritted his teeth for the insidiousness of the enemy. After reading the script, he couldn't help but let out a long sigh and said excitedly: "This story is really exciting, it can be said that it is full of ups and downs, I haven't seen such a wonderful story for a long time." ”

Xu Wangqiu smiled at Zeng Lianping and began to talk about his specific thoughts: "The two war scenes in this movie are the highlight of the whole movie. In order to express the realism of the battlefield and meet the flexibility of movement, it is necessary to shoot in the way of shoulder-borne movement. ”

Speaking of this, Xu Wangqiu opened the script, pointed to a few places and said: "I plan to shoot with these places, you have to hold the camera to shoot." In addition, in order to create a sense of realism, it is necessary to shake the camera when shooting, and the shaking of the picture can bring a stronger sense of shock than shooting a gun quietly. Once a gun is fired or a bomb explodes, you have to shake the camera to create a shaky effect. ”

Zeng Lianping couldn't help but say: "This is very difficult, you must cooperate well, you can't shake it early or late." ”

Xu Wangqiu remembers that when he used to shoot war scenes, the photographer used a massager with a long handle to imitate this effect, which was small in size and easy to use, but now there is no such thing: "Coordination is indeed a problem, and everyone will think about it again when the time comes, and see if there is any good way." As I mentioned earlier, the war scenes are also moving shots, but the movement of these shots is relatively stable, and this part will use Steadicam. When the time comes, I'll find someone to do it, and this problem is easy to solve. That's what I want from photography in general, and that's all about these two parts. Tell us what you think. ”

Zeng Lianping shook his head with a smile and said, "I don't know how to say it, these ideas of yours are quite crazy, and there is a great possibility of failure, but I have to say that these ideas are very tempting." If it can really be realized, then this movie will be a movie like never before, so I think you're crazy, but I still want to shoot with you. ”

Xu Wangqiu laughed and said: "Your choice is right, this film is indeed difficult to shoot, but it is not as difficult to shoot as imagined." But one thing is for sure, we don't dare to say that this movie will cause a sensation in the world, but it is absolutely no problem to sensational China. At that time, both the audience and the academic community will be stunned and will say that the original movie can still be made like this. ”

Zeng Lianping suddenly remembered a question: "By the way, what do you have requirements for light?"

Xu Wangqiu then remembered that he had forgotten about the light, and slapped his head: "If the whole movie can use natural light, use natural light, and using natural light will make the movie more realistic, and the most important thing in our movie is realism." Among them, the lighting of the battle scene must be natural light, mainly sunlight, and the light angle I think is backlit and side backlight. Backlighting will make the figure more intense, make the picture more dignified, and thus create a sense of power. ”

Natural light is the most difficult light to control, and it depends entirely on the weather. The photographer had no idea how long the sunlight would last, and he might have been filming and suddenly a dark cloud would obscure the sun. Some lights may only be for an hour, or even half an hour. Having full access to natural light is a huge challenge for any photographer.

Zeng Lianping shook his head with a wry smile and said, "I feel like you're really crazy." ”

After Zeng Lianping joined the creative team of "Hoe Rape", Xu Wangqiu and they began to break down the script. Breaking down the script is to draw a roadmap for the filming, which is the most important step in the preparation of the film, and is the foundation for all the work that follows.

Decomposing the script is to disassemble the script according to the basic elements such as scenes, actors, props, and special effects, and make a detailed decomposition table. After the breakdown, the director knows the details of the production and can easily create a preliminary shooting plan and budget.

According to the normal process of film preparation, after breaking down the script, you should go to the location scout, and then write the storyboard after the scene scout. Because it can be problematic to write a storyboard first and then scout the location. For example, you will find that there are some places where the camera is not available at all, and some scenes have serious noise...... As a result, the storyboard became a waste of paper, and I had to start all over again.

However, Xu Wangqiu did not follow this rule, and began to write storyboards and draw storyboards without scouting. This is also something that can't be helped, Xu Wangqiu has just entered the school, and it is difficult to convince the school just with the script. It's different with a storyboard and a storyboard, and the school will know what "The Rape" will look like, and then he may get a chance to direct.

There was no class that afternoon, and Xu Wangqiu, Zeng Lianping and Liu Lin were discussing the storyboard and storyboard in the dormitory. Gu Changwei was born in fine arts, and he was good at drawing, so the task of drawing a storyboard fell to him. Xu Wangqiu and they discussed a set of shots, and asked Gu Changwei to draw them.

Everyone was discussing enthusiastically, and a voice suddenly came from the door: "It's so lively!"