The heat in Rio de Janeiro is almost melting, as if you can directly see the sun's rays turn into flames; The rampage of vehicles on the street honked their horns incessantly, and the chaotic sound was even more irritating; Tall palm trees drooped in the heat, and bikini girls fled the harsh sun on the beach and took refuge in the shade......

The blue sea spread out endlessly in sight, and the refreshing blue was blurred in the dazzling light, and the raging waves brought gusts of sea breeze, stirring up the hot air that was almost solidified, and barely felt a hint of coolness, but after all, it was better than nothing.

Donald looked left and right, and all the cars stopped because of the red light ahead, then he waved behind him and took the lead in front of him to quickly cross the road. Without hesitation, Lance followed Donald's pace and made his way through the formation, but Percy, Albert, and Hayden were stunned—there was no zebra crossing.

It wasn't until he noticed that Lance and Donald had disappeared behind a yellow van that Hayden hurriedly stepped forward and quickly followed, followed by Percy and Albert in a panic. However, their pace slowed down a little, and the stagnant formation began to move, although it was only less than two steps forward, but it still made the three of them tremble. Many drivers scolded the three of them for their slow motion, honking their horns and swearing in Portuguese they didn't understand, as if they would just release the brakes and run over in the next second.

I trotted all the way across the street, still feeling palpitations. Donald rolled his eyes speechlessly and turned to look at Lance, "Are you sure they'll survive here?" The mocking tone made all three of them darken their faces suddenly, but Lance chuckled, and all three of them could only swallow their complaints in aggrieved terms.

Today, Reims and his party arrived in Rio de Janeiro. Since "City of God" is a purely Brazilian film, Hollywood's preparations have been basically completed, and there are still members of the art team and the recording team who have not come, in fact, there are only five more people, and these five people will come back next month with props; Lance and his party came first to start the preliminary preparations for the movie.

After they settled in a hotel with relatively good security conditions in the city center, Donald first took Lance to have lunch with the mayor of Rio de Janeiro, the director of the police/prosecutor's bureau, the director of the cultural bureau and others, and had a friendly meeting, and then the group came to the city of God for a field trip under the leadership of Donald.

After walking only half a street ahead, the surrounding scene suddenly began to fall into disrepair, as if it was a time and space tunnel, directly from one world to another. It's hard to imagine that if you take a few steps back, you can still see the blue sea and blue sky that are full of tourists; But a few steps forward, the yellow sand came to their faces, as if they had just left the only oasis in the desert.

The surrounding houses are all low-rise laterite houses, with a staggered arrangement and neat and orderly appearance, which can obviously be seen to be a resettlement house for government/government construction. It's just that these houses are covered with a thick layer of dust, and they are dilapidated, like abandoned and dilapidated houses.

A jumble of garbage was piled up in the passages between the houses, and large swaths of flies and locusts were writhing around, as if the air had become dirty; The exterior walls of the house were strewn with countless ugly spots, and occasionally blood stains could be seen that were not completely dry, attracting a wriggling patch of maggots and fly eggs; The unfinished sand road was potholed with different shades of color, like unsightly patches of plaster; There was a stinking fishy smell in the air, mixed with rotting garbage and fermented sweat, that made the stomach tumble and even if there was a real body moldy, it would not be recognizable; At the end of the road was still a muddy construction site - not muddy at all, to be exact, the dirt that had been dug up into the hill had dried up and begun to crack, and there were large patches of weeds next to it, but there were two irregular deep pits in the middle of the road that had been formed by the tires for a long time, and there was still a mud inside, emitting an unrecognizable fishy smell......

Percy, Hayden, and Albert were silent, at first covering their mouths and noses in an attempt to block out the disgusting stench in the air, but soon their attention was too overwhelming to take care of themselves.

A crowd of ragged black children rushed up, and soon surrounded them, and their thin bodies became more and more huge in their heads, like terrible big-headed dolls; The black and white eyes looked at them fearfully and urgently, and the intricacies in their eyes were corroding them little by little; What's even more terrifying is that the people passing by did not make any fuss, and walked over with indifferent or happy expressions, and not far away there were scrawny children curled up and squatting at the door, looking at the noise of this place blankly......

It was as if the whole world was covered with a thin layer of yellow, even the sky overhead, as if no matter how hard it struggled, it was impossible to get rid of the shackles here, this was a world, a completely separate world.

Seeing this scene, Lance didn't panic at all, he took out three banknotes from his trouser pocket, each of which was five dollars, and held it high, and a dense arm stretched out towards Lance's right hand, but Lance's height of six .2 feet (one meter eighty-eight) had an absolute advantage, which could only be out of reach of the children. Then, Lance gave three banknotes to three different children, and in the blink of an eye, the three children were carrying the money and running out desperately, and the other children also chased after them, but after a while, the dense crowd dispersed.

Lance has been here many times before, and he has gone through a process from the panic at the beginning to the ease he is now. People always think that they know enough about slums, as if they have seen the ugliness and cruelty of the world since they have been to Brooklyn, New York, but do not forget that the United States is a developed country, and there are many developing countries and backward regions in this world.

"Hayden, did you see that?" Lance's voice pulls Hayden back into reality from the imaginary world, "I wanted to tell the story from a documentary point of view, to show every detail of this place, but this is a feature film, not a documentary, and I wanted the lens to show the grainy texture of the film, the colors can be more vibrant, and the energy of Brazil can be blended in, and there is a sense of deductive drama." ”

Someone once described it like this, a movie is like a person, the director is the brain, the screenwriter is the spine, the actor is the flesh and blood, the visual effects are the body, and the photographer is the eyes. It may not be entirely accurate, but it affirms the importance of screenwriting, and at the same time gives a glimpse of the division of labor and cooperation in film production. The importance of the cinematographer to the director, a good cinematographer can clearly present the influence in the director's mind, and even complete the director's intention according to his own understanding, presenting a better effect.

So, during the filming of "City of God", the communication between Lance and Hayden was crucial.

Hayden's brain was a little stagnant, but under Lance's guidance, he quickly came back to his senses, and when he mentioned his major, his attention immediately focused, "You mean, I want to add some music video-style psychedelic colors," this sentence made Lance frown: music video? However, Hayden did not stop, but continued, "It's like 'Trainspotting' or 'Magnolia', psychedelic and sharp, colorful but with a distinctly self-style, using the angle and sense of position of the camera to bring out the conflict of the plot." ”

Lance thought about it seriously, the photographic styles of "Trainspotting" and "Magnolia" are actually different, but they can find similarities, with a hint of poetry in the realism and a hint of coldness in the hazy. This was exactly what Lance had in mind.

Of course, this is just a theory, and it is still necessary to put into the actual shooting, and only after watching the shooting picture can you have a personal feeling, "Yes, that's pretty much it, but there is still room for discussion." I think you should read the original novel carefully, and then we'll have a meeting to discuss it. ”

Hayden nodded in the affirmative, "I thought it was going to be an action movie, and we were going to shoot a lot of violent footage, and then sit down and edit it slowly to make a cool action movie." But......" Hayden pouted with a wry smile, "I was stupid after reading the first chapter of 'City of God' on the plane. Obviously, none of those fancy shots are applicable here. We need to be realistic, but we can't make a documentary, ...... It's a real challenge. ”

"That's why I'm looking for you." Lance ignored Hayden's exaggerated sweat wiping and turned to look at Donald, "So, we're hiring actors here, is that feasible?" ”

Lance wanted the "City of God" to be performed by non-professional actors, even the most important characters, and tried to use unfamiliar faces with little acting experience and low popularity, so as to truly show the realism that the story requires. Ideally, the actors are all from the City of God, and what happens in the script is their daily lives, and this bold approach between documentary and feature film will give the film a special texture.

Ever since he decided to take over the tube himself, Lance's mind has been flooded with inspiration, and it's a wonderful feeling.

Donald shook his head, "It's too difficult...... but before he could finish his words, there was a crisp gunshot in the distance, "Bang! Bang bang! The deafening gunshot was so real, so close at hand, that the sense of crisis and fear that life was at stake swept over in an instant. The first update on the first day of 2016, Happy New Year everyone! Ask for collections, ask for recommendations, thank you all wow!