By the time the "City of God" was finished, October in the southern hemisphere had quietly ended, and Lance arrived in Rio de Janeiro with the tail of winter, but when he left, the scorching summer footsteps were already driving out the lazy pace.

In the blink of an eye, Lance was in Rio de Janeiro for almost five months. Although he expected that the filming of "City of God" would be very difficult at the beginning, the real situation still far exceeded Lance's expectations, and even lost control. Even with Donald's help, the shooting was still trembling and stumbling.

As the filming progressed, the gangsters near the City of God became more and more restless, especially the series of reports of the "Brazilian Globo", which focused almost the attention of the whole country, which forced them to shrink their policies and restrain their whereabouts as much as possible, so as not to be caught on such a cusp, then it would be difficult for the matter to end. Therefore, the major gangsters around the slums began to move, and some people supported the filming of the crew and showed their true faces; Others want to expel the crew and restore the old order.

The containment and tension between the big forces are filled with invisible gunsmoke, although the chicken thief Man/Nu/Er stands on the side of the "City of God" and has become the biggest protective force of the crew, but in the face of the aggressiveness of other forces, Man/Nu/Er is also a little too busy to take care of himself, he must muster up his spirit to deal with the other party, and even fight.

In October, two large-scale firearms fights broke out, and the director and crew had to stop completely. In the end, it was only because of the power of public opinion guided by the news media that they temporarily ceased fire, and the crew had the opportunity to continue all the work. But that's only part of the story.

Compared with the big forces, what is really annoying is the constant harassment of scattered forces.

In fact, the so-called "scattered forces" are not called forces at all, and may be more than a dozen children gathering together to do some petty theft; It may be the pillar of a few poor families, who take risks and do some illegal things in order to make a living. These forces have no qualitative character, nor do they have a fixed team, and at the same time, they are not controlled by big forces such as Stealing Jiman/Nu/Er, so their appearance has the characteristics of suddenness, mobility and uncertainty, and even if they want to take precautions, they can't find a suitable way.

These scattered forces are clearly aiming at the "City of God", which in their eyes is an inexhaustible treasury that can be looted when they are short of money, and then quickly solve their predicament. So, the "City of God" is like the only garden within a radius of ten miles, where almost all bees and butterflies flock here to collect honey.

But the fact is that the crew of "City of God" itself is poor jingle. The $3 million budget was quickly spent, and it included follow-up promotional costs - in other words, if it was overspent in Rio de Janeiro, the rest of the plan would have to be halted until new investments could be found.

As a last resort, Lance could only negotiate with Man/Nu/Er again, breaking the previously signed agreement, disrupting all the fixed shooting procedures every day, and then changing the shooting location, changing the shooting time and place at any time, and even changing the means of transportation, and sometimes even in the middle of the shooting, he suddenly moved the equipment collectively to move the position and continue shooting.

This change almost doubled the difficulty of filming, and every day the crew played hide and seek with those scattered forces as if they were fighting guerrilla warfare. To add insult to injury, from time to time, you will encounter the encirclement of those big forces, and you will be coerced by bright guns and knives at every turn, and the whole shooting process is completely dancing on the tip of the knife.

Even with the full vigilance of the police, the filming process was still terrifying. When Lance announced the "finalization", everyone in the crew was cheering and celebrating, and the filming, which lasted for more than two months, was, without exaggeration, a nightmare. Now, this nightmare is finally over, and naturally everyone is celebrating.

"Lance, if you had known that filming this drama would be so difficult at the beginning, would you have decided to shoot this production?" Percy scrutinized Lance's expression, but didn't see much emotion on that face, as if all of it was hidden under the thick eyelashes.

"City of God" has experienced so many ups and downs during the filming, and all of them are life-threatening disasters, and the slightest mistake can lead to irreparable consequences - maybe the film is ruined, maybe a life is ruined. It's unimaginable, but Lance almost single-handedly led the entire crew to the end, even Percy, looking back now, still has lingering palpitations.

Lance didn't speak immediately, but quietly looked at the children in front of him who were laughing and making fun happily, and for a long time, Lance whispered, "Yes." "Concise and clear, but crisp and clean, without any wavering, without any hesitation, without any hesitation.

Percy was stunned, a little surprised by Lance's answer, but when she thought about it, it was reasonable, and it seemed that there was no other possibility than this answer. Perhaps, Percy already knew the answer before he asked the question, but Lance affirmed his idea with more certainty.

The corners of Percy's mouth couldn't help but show a shallow smile, and then the smile was uncontrollable, and the voice overflowed after a flutter, but it quickly retracted and regained a serious expression, "What's next?" Are you going to edit the movie yourself? ”

"I'm not going to burden myself more." Lance chuckled and said, "Besides, the editors' guild wouldn't want to see me." ”

Editing, which is a vital part of the film industry. To put it simply, the director uses the camera to tell the story, but the use of the camera is limited, and the connection must be completed through guò editing, so the work of the editor is born - they use the editing method to stitch together the story. A good editor can turn decay into magic, and the influence of editing style on film style is obvious.

At the Oscars, the ultimate award is Best Picture, where the heroes compete; In addition, the Best Film Editing Award, which is classified in the technical department, is known as the "Little Best Picture", which is an important proof of the overall strength of a work, and in the long history of the Oscars, the vast majority of Best Picture winners have also won the Best Editing Award.

In fact, at the beginning of the birth of the film, the editing was part-time by the director, because the film itself was created by the director, and he had the clearest and most accurate understanding of the connection of the shots. However, as time progressed, the profession of editor was gradually separated, because there are still differences between editors and directors.

Editors are more objective than directors because they are not involved in the filming, so they are the most calm in the creative process, and their accurate and keen insight and decisive decisions play a crucial role in the success or failure of a film. Editors must learn to stay out of the way, treat a qiē as a play, and treat each scene only as a scene to achieve the best results.

Many times, directors are often reluctant to give up and want the shots to be longer and longer, but the editor must be firm in his mind and boldly cut out all the extra shots to make the film achieve the best effect.

Editors and directors are both cooperative and antagonistic to each other, and the collision of creative ideas and sparks of ideas often makes the relationship between the two very sensitive.

With the establishment of large film companies, in order to reduce the power of directors and ensure the effect of the final film, the company supported the separation of the work of editors and directors, and then held the editing power in their hands, so as to control the quality of the film; At the same time, the creation of the American Editors' Guild prevented the monopoly of directors, and now in Hollywood, directors are forbidden to work part-time as editors - they can participate in the editing process, but the editing must be done by professional editors.

It is precisely because of this that there is a difference between the director's cut version and the official version of the film, and at the same time, there is also a difference between the first cut right and the final cut right in the film industry. These are important battlegrounds for power between studios and directors.

Only big directors like Steven Spielberg and George Lucas can hold the final cut in their hands, and even then, the studio still has the final decision - if the final cut is still not satisfied, they can ask the director to rework it; A small number of directors who have achieved a certain level of success can get the right to cut the first cut, and then pray that the version they cut out can satisfy the film company, otherwise the initiative will not be in their hands after that.

In the long history of cinema, "Once Upon a Time in America" is one of the most famous films in which the film company held the final editing rights and was completely destroyed, and the castration/cutting of the film made the film unrecognizable and unrecognizable, so that director Sergio-Leone finally died depressed. It wasn't until more than a dozen years later that the director's cut resurfaced, much to the consternation of the world. This production is also considered "the greatest failure in the history of Hollywood".

It can be said that editing is one of the crucial aspects of the success of a film. Finishing is just the beginning of another job. This is especially true for the "City of God", where the shooting can only be said to occupy 50 percent, and the remaining 50 percent must be done by editing.

Luckily, since "City of God" is an independent production, and it is invested and produced by Lance's own company, Chaos Pictures, the editing part is much simpler, with no competition for the right to cut and final cuts, and no power wrestling between the company and the director.

"I've been in touch with the editor before, an old friend, and I asked him to take all the time out of the last day and devote himself to my work. Back in Los Angeles, you can get to work. "It's not the first time Lance has made a zuò movie, so the whole process is well planned and planned early. Exhaled softly, "Now the problem is not the editing, but the release." ”

Percy also fell silent, the release of "City of God", which was even more difficult than filming. A nightmare has just ended, and another is about to begin?