No, I can't lose to a plagiarist!

Honas Caron's face couldn't stop changing, he thought for a few seconds, and finally had an idea: "Mr. Cheng, I didn't see that you are so powerful, I have a long lens here, I don't know how to shoot it for a while, I don't know if you can help me?" ”

The content shot by the camera from the first turn on to the current shutdown is one shot, and generally a shot with a time of more than 10 seconds can be called a long shot. Long shots have high requirements for the director's design of the shots and the scheduling of the scenes, which tests the director's skills very much.

Cheng Peng looked indifferent, raised his eyebrows slightly and said, "I'm not a director who doesn't have long shots, but it's no problem to help you!" ”

Damn, it's arrogant! Jonas Caron was so angry that he almost jumped up, and if it wasn't for the Golden Globe awards scene, he really wanted to punch this guy: "Very good, I expect you to tell you how this shot is taken!" Wait, I'll write the lines! ”

A few minutes later, Jonas Caron handed the lines to Cheng Peng and briefly introduced the background of the story.

Cheng Peng looked at the lines in his hand and smiled, as he expected, it was a long shot in "Children of Mankind". In fact, he was able to tell the position of the camera just now, and he didn't see it through the storyboard, but recognized it as a shot from Alfonso Cuarón's film "Children of Men", which he had done and studied repeatedly.

There are two extremely classic long shots in "Children of Men", a 4-minute long shot in the car, and a 6-minute long shot of street fighting.

Of course, the lines written by Jonas Caron are a little different from the movie, the dialogue is not concise enough, the details are also problematic, and the script should not be mature.

Cheng Peng looked at the lines in his hand and said lightly: "There are five people in this scene, the driver, and the actor." Heroine, babysitter, black girl. From the plot you described, it is impossible for a black girl to sit next to a strange man, so there must be a woman to separate them, either the heroine or the nanny. The heroine is the head of the organization, and it makes sense to sit in the co-pilot; And when the enemy appeared, the nanny was the first to notice and cried out. If the babysitter is sitting in the passenger seat, the camera will not be able to capture her face. Can't get a picture of the horror on her face. Therefore, it is best for the babysitter to sit in the middle. ”

Jonas Cuarón's heart sank, the position of this character was designed in the same way he and his father had in mind, but it was not difficult, the difficulty was the setting up of the camera: "What should I do with the camera?" ”

"There were 5 people in the car. Space is limited, and it is impossible for photographers to sit in a car and shoot, and it is very difficult to shoot with a long lens. In order to shoot with a long lens, you had to design a special camera that was placed on the roof of the car to move freely like a camera, and the seats in the car adjusted to match the movement of the camera, and even the windshield could be lifted so that the camera could reach out of the car. ”

As soon as this statement came out. Jonas Cuarón and Alfonso Cuarón looked at each other, both with a shocked glint in their eyes, and they came to the conclusion after thinking about it repeatedly, this guy just glanced at it.

It's a monster!

Cheng Peng smiled faintly and said, "I'm not good at technology. Can only provide an idea, so don't ask me what the hell is going on with that device, I don't know! Seriously, I think instead of putting so much effort into the technology, you should put a little effort into the script, and the plot design of this scene is flawed! ”

Jonas Caron couldn't help but ask, "Where are the flaws?" ”

"The beginning of this long shot is all dialogue, which is quite boring and will make the audience feel bored, and the male protagonist feels too cold and unlikable!"

"Likable? This protagonist is not a likable guy in the first place! ”

Cheng Peng shook his head and said, "If the protagonist of a commercial movie is not likable, how many people will watch it?" Why is Pirates of the Caribbean popular? Because everybody loves Captain Jack. This is in Hollywood, if the audience doesn't like it, it means that there is no box office, and after the box office fails, there may be no opportunity to direct. If you want to stay in Hollywood, keep this in mind! ”

Jonas Cuarón was so depressed that he wanted to vomit blood, and a Chinese director came running to tell him how this man who grew up in Hollywood could get mixed up in Hollywood, and what could be more disgusting than this?

But he knew that this was the case in Hollywood, when his father, Alfonso Cuarón, almost went back to Mexico because of the box office failures of "Little Princess" and "Great Expectations": "If you change the character, the whole story may have to be reversed!" ”

"You don't need to change the character of the character, you can arrange a small detail to show the warmth of the character, or the humorous side, so that you can win the hearts of the audience! For example, the movie "Changing Face" ended with Travolta taking the little boy home, but initially the producers thought the idea was terrible and insisted that Travolta go back alone. After the movie was filmed, when it was tested in advance, the audience only rated the movie 65 points, and almost everyone was asking what happened to the little boy. Only then did the producer know that he was wrong, apologized to director John Woo, remade the ending, and when the movie was tested again, the movie received a high score of 92 points! A few seconds of footage, that's the difference! ”

Jonas Caron looked at Cheng Peng dumbfounded, this guy really knows Hollywood movies, maybe I blame him, he's not a plagiarist!

Alfonso Cuarón is not a director who is good at storytelling, his films are always visually beautiful, but the story is told in an average way, and he knows it himself, so he asked: "You're right, I don't know if you have any good ideas?" ”

"You can add a game, let the hero and heroine play a game, enliven the atmosphere in the car, and show the audience a harmonious and loving picture, which contrasts with the death of the heroine next!"

"I have limited space in the car, what kind of game should I use?"

"Catch the table tennis ball!"

"Mouth-to-mouth ping-pong balls?"

"The actor takes a ping-pong ball in his mouth and sprays it at the heroine, the heroine catches it with her mouth, and then sprays it back, so that the whole picture is active, romantic and warm, and can form a strong contrast with the tragedy behind!"

Alfonso Cuarón's eyes lit up and he thought it was a great idea: "It's a good idea, that's why you let the male lead sit in the back seat and the female lead sit in the co-pilot." This way you have enough space to play the game. So what are your plans for this long-lens camera? ”

Cheng Peng glanced at Jonas Caron, and his smile bloomed: "I think it should be arranged like this, the camera starts from the male protagonist by the window on the right and turns to the center, at this time the hero and heroine are on an axis, this position belongs to the top corner camera, and the environment in the car and the position of the character are explained from an objective point of view." As the dialogue between the characters begins, the camera slowly turns to the speaker, turning into an internal backshot camera......"

The long shots in the car of "Children of Mankind" are very classic, and Cheng Peng has watched them dozens of times. Studied repeatedly. I remember very well how the camera moves. Immediately described in detail.

Alfonso Cuarón and Walter Sellers are both masters of long shots and know how much effort and time it takes to design a long shot, and this long shot has a shootout. There is a car chase, there is an explosion, and it is very difficult. Cheng Peng actually said it in one breath, how to place the lens, what camera position, how many angles, clearly, and what is even more terrifying is that the design of the whole lens is extremely smooth, without the slightest problem.

Both long-lens masters were dumbfounded. Is this called a long shot?

After speaking, Cheng Peng looked at Jonas Caron, smiled and asked, "What do you think, the arrangement of this long shot is reasonable, right?" ”

At this moment, Jonas Caron is shocked in addition to shock. He was completely convinced by Cheng Peng: "Mr. Cheng, I apologize to you, my attitude was very bad just now, and now I believe that you are not a plagiarist!" ”

Cheng Peng couldn't help but be stunned when he heard this, and asked, "Plagiarist, what plagiarist?" ”

Jonas Caron was a little surprised, "Don't you know? Mr. Blake-Snyder says you plagiarized his ideas, and your beat theory is plagiarizing his ideas! ”

Hearing Blake Snyder say that he plagiarized, Cheng Peng was stunned at the time, and there was only one reaction in his heart, I'll go, Lao Tzu, the fake Li ghost, has met the real Li Kui!

His fifteen-node theory was indeed copied from Blake Snyder's book "Save the Cat", but that book was not published until 2006, and he didn't expect Blake Snyder to stand up and ask, "What the hell is going on?" ”

In fact, the debate between Cheng Peng and reporters at the Venice Film Festival was reported by the American media, but they did not describe Cheng Peng's theory in detail, and European filmmakers have always despised this formulaic routine, so his theory did not attract much attention.

However, when "Invasion of Darkness" was released in the United States, for the sake of publicity, Weinstein put the video of Cheng Peng debating with American reporters in Venice on the official website. This video is like a bomb, which has attracted the unanimous worship of many screenwriters in the United States, this theory is too strong, and many screenwriters are like a treasure.

This also caught the attention of Blake Snyder, who was recently contemplating a book in which Fifteen Nodes was the core theory, and now that the theory was so loudly put out of someone's mouth, his first reaction was that my ideas had been plagiarized.

immediately protested through the Screenwriters Guild, saying that Cheng Peng had plagiarized his ideas, and even announced that he would sue Cheng Peng. But it is impossible to really prosecute, his book has not yet begun to be written, and there is no evidence to prove that Cheng Peng is plagiarizing himself, but he just has this feeling, how can a Chinese know so much about Hollywood movies, there must be a problem!

Jonas Caron's teacher happens to be a friend of Blake Snyder, and he proposed the fifteen-node theory to Jonas Caron, so Jonas Caron decided that Cheng Peng was a plagiarist.

Cheng Peng finally knew why Jonas Caron provoked himself, and he was a little helpless: "I don't know Blake Snyder at all, how can I plagiarize his ideas?" Fifteen nodes exist in themselves, just like the opening, substitution, development, **, and ending, he can find out, so can I, how can it be considered plagiarism? ”

Jonas Caron nodded, "Your understanding of the script and recognition is shocking, it is entirely possible to find fifteen nodes at your level, and I believe you are not a plagiarist!" ”

Cheng Peng nodded, but his heart was sinking, it was useless for Jonas Caron to believe it, the key was to make everyone believe it, otherwise with the reputation of a plagiarist, his movie might be in big trouble.

He was about to think of a countermeasure, but he heard the host on the stage say loudly: "What we are going to award next is the Best Foreign Language Film Award!" ”

Cheng Peng shook his head and looked up at the center of the stage. On the stage, the host paused and said loudly: "Please Scarlett Johansson to draw the lottery for us!" ”

To the applause of the crowd, Scarlett Johansson walked up to the stage and waved at everyone with a smile, holding an envelope with the results of the award in her hand.