Since the beginning of March, fans who have followed Robert Downey Jr. have found a book recommended on his latest blog. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

"I just came back to Los Angeles from vacation, and when I was visiting a bookstore on Sunset Boulevard, I found a very interesting graphic novel, which seems to be based on a certain character, a story about a magical girl, which is very, very interesting."

This is a blog written by Robert Downey Jr. himself, and of course by Murphy and Twentieth Century Fox.

In addition to the text on the blog, Robert Downey Jr. also published a cover photo of a graphic novel, and the line of the photo is very eye-catching - "The Amazing Amy".

"This is it, this bookstore has it."

The two girls walked into a bookstore in downtown Los Angeles, and the one with the long black hair said to the girl with short blond hair, "Daisy, here's that graphic novel by Robert Downey Jr." ”

"Let's go, let's look for it."

Daisy entered the novel sales section of the bookstore first, and soon found the graphic novel on a shelf, opened it and looked at it, it was indeed a story about a magical girl, "It seems to be very good." ”

"Well, I've seen it, and it's pretty good." The dark-haired girl nodded in agreement, "I just don't know which character it is based on, the prototype of Amy in the book must be a super genius." ”

A boy with glasses next to him was attracted by the words of the two, and couldn't help but lean over and ask, "Excuse me, can you know what book you are talking about?" ”

"This." Daisy picked up the book and shook it in front of him, "The Amazing Amy." ”

"Thank you."

The man with glasses nodded politely to the two girls, went over and took an identical book, stood there and looked through it for a while, and walked towards the cash register.

Daisy looked at the cash register, "Let's go too." ”

She's going to go back and check it out first, and if it's really good, she'll recommend it on her blog and in discussion groups.

At the same time, the blogs of quite a few well-known bloggers in North America are recommending this graphic novel called "The Amazing Amy", which has even appeared in the supplement of the New York Times.

As part of Twentieth Century Fox, a book promotion program on Fox TV also highlighted "The Amazing Amy".

When the program was broadcast, the host made a key recommendation.

"We often say that the way a person looks as an adult often stems from the childhood she spent, and there is such a girl who has had an unusual childhood. This is unusual in that she has a pair of writer parents, who have created a graphic novel called "The Amazing Amy", and the protagonist of the book is said to be based on their daughter Amy. ”

"Although Amy and her writer parents chose to keep their personal information private because they didn't want to be affected by books, we can still see from the graphic novel that the amazing Amy is a genius girl."

"Amy has been a full-a-class student since she was a child, learning the violin from the age of five, and has won the top three amateur competitions held in her state; He began learning to play volleyball at the age of ten, and continued throughout his high school career until he entered Harvard University. By the time she graduated from college, Amy had a double master's degree in psychology and sociology and had a dog......"

"Until she got married, the magical Amy was a winner in life."

The female character in the book is very likable, and after being promoted by the media, the Internet and some columns, the graphic novel gradually opened up sales, although it did not make it to the North American bestseller list, but in more than a month, it also sold more than 100,000 copies, attracting many book fans.

There are even book lovers who have set up their own blogs specifically for the amazing Amy.

There are also people on the Internet who have summarized Amy's various advantages, the magical Amy will always hand in a beautiful report card, is an amateur music master, violin skills are comparable to professional players, won the state junior volleyball championship at the age of sixteen, and is a top student who graduated from Harvard University.

With the increase in the number of graphic novel sales, some book lovers and other Internet users, under the guidance of some Internet public opinion, keep asking questions on the Internet - who is the prototype character of the amazing Amy?

A considerable number of people have called the publishing house, but the publishing house, which is owned by News Corporation, has signed a strict confidentiality agreement with the original author and cannot disclose any information to the outside world.

The more mysterious it is, the more likely it is to attract curiosity and inquiry.

I don't know when, a blog suddenly appeared on the Internet, the blog attracted the attention of quite a few people, and the purpose of the blog was only one from the outside - where is the magical Amy?

Due to the lack of support from the original book and the anti-Hollywood sentiment of the film, "Gone Girl" must use more methods in publicity if it wants to get enough outstanding box office results when it is released.

In terms of publicity and marketing, Murphy and Carla Firth, in collaboration with the relevant departments of Twentieth Century Fox, determined a complete plan at the beginning of the project, and now it is implemented according to the plan, and the feedback from the market is also good.

However, Murphy is still mainly finishing the post-production of "Gone Girl".

After finishing the editing of the first version, he first took out the opening and ending scenes separately and reprocessed them, and the first and last frames were Amy Dunn played by Charlize Theron.

And after processing, it will be a single frame.

Compared to the whole film, a single frame rarely attracts attention, but the first and last frames of a film can leave a deep impression on the audience, and Murphy starts and ends with very similar images, so that the beginning and the end are corresponding, which is very meaningful, and represents the direction and theme of the whole story.

Murphy also added James Franco's post-dubbing to the opening and closing frames.

"When I think of my wife, I always think of her head, and I imagine breaking her lovely head, combing through her brain, trying to find the answer, the first answer in any marriage problem: What are you thinking? How do you feel? What have we done to each other? ”

This monologue, which is easy to arouse suspicion in the audience and echoes the content of the first half, was placed at the beginning by Murphy.

This is followed by a monologue that echoes the second half of the text, "I woke up next to her, looked at the back of her head, and tried in every possible way to figure out Amy's thoughts." For the first time ever, I no longer felt like I was staring at the glare of the sun, and I was finally catching up with my wife's madness, because I could feel her changing me again: I was a milky hairy child, then a mixed bag, and now at least a protagonist - and I can accept that there are still people cheering for me in our never-ending battle of marriage. Hell, by this time, I can't imagine life without Amy, who is my eternal adversary. ”

With the beginning and end in mind, Murphy and Jody Griffith, who worked as editors, continued to polish the content of the feature film.

Murphy had previously shot enough footage to be selected for editing, and his usual method of shooting was to use the home shooting method to ensure that there were enough shots available at the end, usually shooting a long shot as the main shot, and then shooting a close-up, a reaction shot, a cut-in shot, and a cut-off shot.

Filming is for editing, and Murphy shoots this way, of course, with the typical editing method, where many scenes are usually shot with a long shot as the first shot, giving them a guide, followed by a medium shot that contains the main plot, and finally a close-up shot that separates the individual actors or performances.

Sometimes, he will also add a positioning shot to it, which is usually placed in front of the panoramic shot to explain to the audience the background of the story.

Because of the many collaborations, Jody Griffith can better understand Murphy's intentions, and Murphy also gives him authority, and he needs experienced Griffith to provide him with some different editing ideas.

When it came time to refine, Murphy gave Jody Griffith more authority to work on the rough cut material, rather than sticking to it as a director, and the excellent and collaborative editors would organize themselves, look at the material, find the bright spots, and study whether a breakthrough method could be used, which was the icing on the cake and made the director spend less time.

However, Murphy will not only review Jody Griffith's cuts, but also communicate with him at a fixed time in the morning and evening, if the director is always busy and can't even get through on the phone, it will be difficult to collaborate, and the editor needs to communicate with the director at the right time to get the director's feedback, ideas and encouragement on the editing results in a focused way.

Murphy was also very direct in his communication.

If the actor doesn't please the director, the director may euphemistically say, "Do it again with feeling," but if you say something to the editor: "This scene is cut without a sense of power." But it was enough to make them hurt, and directly saying "cut these five frames of this paragraph and transfer it to xxxx" can make the editor better understand the essence of what the director wants.

In addition, Murphy has never been shy about sharing his ideas with Jody Griffith.

In the active communication between the editor and the director, if the director can share more nutrients about film shooting, narrative structure and flexible creation, it is not only meaningful to the editor himself, but also very helpful to the editing work.

Compared with the filming that was much faster than planned, the post-editing of "Gone Girl" can only be described as turtle speed, and the importance of editing to a film is undoubted, and this film is especially crucial, because of the sufficient time, Murphy does not want to rush.

From February to early May, as post-production drew to a close, Murphy accepted an invitation from Twentieth Century Fox to attend the premiere of Kingdom of Heaven. (To be continued.) )