Chapter 904: Golden Time

readx;?“ I love the natural rhythm of the shoot,"

In front of Los Angeles International Airport, the crew was busy transporting the finished packages to the charter plane, and Duke was interviewed by reporters, "After filming a scene, cleaning the floor, moving back the lights, the actors can drink a glass of water." Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info you need to be more engaged in the role of a director than you are checking your email because the assistant is doing it for you; You hold a light meter in your hand and see how the light affects the actor's face......"

As in the past, the visual appeal of the shot is crucial to Duke's work, as evidenced by his love of mobile cameras, in which Duke eschews extensive static panoramas and top-down shots, instead relying on Steadicam to design dynamic panoramas that allow a scene to unfold and bring out the main points while moving.

Since the beginning of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the most difficult scenes were sometimes the simplest and most straightforward on the surface, with two people talking in a room – or in the Millennium Falcon – always the hardest to film, Duke tried to balance the majesty of Star Wars, the scale, and the intimacy and heartbeat of each character as much as possible.

At the same time, I wanted to treat the film in a more retro style.

That's not to say there won't be some quick-cut action scenes, but he's trying to shoot longer, more assertive shots.

It's a very rewarding job, Duke doesn't need a shot that lacks energy, he doesn't accept so-so work, his eyesight is as good as ever, he will catch everything, so when the crew work meets his requirements, everyone else will know that they are doing a good job.

To wrap up the scene at Warner Studios, Duke had to lead the crew out of Burbank's studio to create a grand scale and spectacular spectacle due to the filming of "galaxies far away".

In fact, Duke had never shot so many locations in a single film before.

Asked about the location, Duke said, "We're going to the Welsh forest. Skelligmichael's Island in Ireland, the frozen forests of Iceland, the deserts of Abu Dhabi. These places will have an undeniable presence in the film, and their energy will be infused into every scene. Every actor, every crew member. It's an energy that helps the film. ”

Of course, for Duke and the crew, the part of filming in the desert of Abu Dhabi was the most arduous after arriving in the UAE. The locations were separated by hundreds of miles, and the actual sites were built in a way rarely used today, using the power of wind, sand, and natural light.

A small group of Ford vehicles formed a convoy to support the desert expedition, each with its own white pickup truck filled with lenses, like rickshaws.

Frankly, it was Duke's toughest film, and the desert in Abu Dhabi was hotter and drier than expected, but in just two days, some people were already showing signs of dehydration. Duke had to force an order that everyone had to drink a lot of water.

Fortunately, IMAX film cameras are very reliable in this situation, if the digital camera will not be able to shoot due to overheating under the same conditions, extensive testing also ensures that the film crew will not be affected by the expansion of metal at high temperatures, and in extreme environments, film also shows its advantages, more like a perfect medium, and this bad environment photography also shows that today's IMAX shooting technology is very mature.

In order to guarantee the shooting of desert areas. Duke hired a team to do the care and maintenance of the film, and with a custom rain and dust cover, it was perfect enough for the IMAX camera to breathe.

In addition, the crew also contacted a well-known local producer. He was entrusted with buying large quantities of dry ice from Abu Dhabi and putting them in the lid with Velcro to fit snugly against the fuselage to reduce the heat.

After coming to the UAE, Duke hired a large number of locals to work on the crew to reduce the difficulties encountered.

Cinema is an international language, but words like "monopod" or "electrical tape" are not international. If you plan to shoot a shot abroad, come to an unfamiliar environment or even a wild place, and unexpected emergencies occur, how to choose and use the equipment? How are the footage saved? What are the local filming regulations? What should I do if I break the law unintentionally?

It's not just a matter of language.

Any Hollywood crew that goes overseas, especially when it leaves the English-speaking area, has many problems to pay attention to.

Duke's crew, for example, did a lot of preparation before coming to the UAE.

In terms of equipment alone, in addition to the "Death Star" and "Millennium Falcon" two IMAX cameras, Duke also specially asked IMAX to provide spare cameras, in the past he has not broken the record of IMAX cameras, so far two IMAX cameras have been scrapped in the process of shooting.

With plenty of film, batteries, memory cards, and cables, no one could have predicted what would break during the shoot.

Just to deliver spare items, the crew hired a large cargo plane, which was the result of the crew coming to the desert of Abu Dhabi several times in advance to "lose weight" for the equipment list.

Before it was shipped, Duke had all the equipment tested to make sure it was safe, and it was very difficult to find such a professional repair shop in the case of foreign language barriers; He let the equipment be shipped in advance and arrive in the UAE the day before the crew to avoid wasting time in foreign filming locations, and the sooner the equipment arrives, the sooner it can enter the filming stage.

At the same time, a large number of plug-in adapters for equipment were prepared - the plugs of the European Union, the United Kingdom, the United States, Southeast Asia, Japan and South Korea are different - and a number of local telephone numbers were purchased.

In addition, the most important thing to shoot overseas is the shooting permit.

Locally, the more permits you can apply for, the better, and check with your local film bureau, although the locals may allow the crew to shoot without any permits, but the local government may not think so.

Also look for a local producer who will get the signatures of everyone who may be filmed on the location, and who is familiar with the local film laws and customs.

How do people greet each other? What actions and words are impolite? What are the local traffic rules?

These seem to be unimportant, but in fact, they will affect the operation of the crew and the efficiency of shooting.

And there is another advantage of hiring a well-known local producer, that is, it can effectively prevent theft.

Criminals can be found everywhere, and the first step to preventing theft is to keep your equipment in sight, and if you work with a local producer or crew, they will be able to tell you where the area is safe, where it is not safe, and when it is not.

Finding some locals to work with costs extra money, but in the end it will be worth it to give the crew some sound advice and save time on filming.

In the desert of Abu Dhabi, early morning and evening have become the busiest times for Duke and the crew, and this time period is relatively cool, which is conducive to the actors and other staff to work at their best; Second, this is also the most exquisite golden shooting time in Hollywood.

What is "Golden Time"? The English name of the golden time is "", also known as "", and the use of "gold" and "magic" to describe it is enough to see the preciousness and magic of this time period.

It lasts for a short period of time, the color is mainly golden, and it is mostly shot in the early morning after sunrise and in the evening before sunset, and the opportunities to capture it are extremely limited throughout the day.

In the desert, at noon, the sunlight is above people's heads, the shadow is very strong and hard, the light is dazzling, and after sunrise in the early morning and before sunset in the evening, when the sun position is close to the horizon, the light will become warmer and richer, because at this time the light passes through the atmosphere, absorbing most of the blue light in the light, leaving a warmer component in the spectrum, showing the charm of golden yellow light, the golden time light with gold, can show a new look to the ordinary scene.

Unlike the warm yellow artificial lighting under the fluorescent lamp, the outdoor natural light in the golden hour is warm, soft and layered, when the sun has just revealed the horizon, so the shadow left is longer and deeper, which can add a lot of shooting possibilities visually, so choose a good composition, the more likely the lens is to shine.

Soft light is so important for cinematography that it allows photographers to capture changing shooting conditions without losing detail and shadows.

Duke is particularly strict about the shooting requirements for this time period, the golden time is not only so short for dozens of minutes, in a large sense, it is where to shoot on the earth, shooting in the polar regions, it can last 1-2 hours, but shooting in Abu Dhabi near the equator, the golden time may only stay for a few minutes.

A lot of the desert shots in Star Wars: The Force Awakens were shot at sunset, especially the heroine Daisy? Many of Ridley's scenes require a sunset or sunrise background.

Although he didn't shoot in person, Duke still gave John? Schwartzman's film crew made two requests: one was not to set the white balance to "auto white balance"; The second is to reasonably arrange the camera position and analyze the specific scene.

For Daisy to shoot? For a dialogue scene between Ridley and BB-8, the prime time is very short, and a few hours before the prime time arrives, Duke leads the crew to the venue in advance and prepares all the equipment, which saves a lot of time to make mistakes, and if you can't shoot it all at once, you will waste a lot of time.

Therefore, how to get enough shooting time in the golden shooting time, the key is to prepare for shooting in advance. (To be continued.) )