Sacking the stills photographer is just a trivial matter for Duke, in the past, his crew did not have a special position as a stills photographer, and this time this position was set up specifically because of Sophia? Coppola introduced a well-known stills photographer in the independent film industry, but it has been proved once again that those who can handle independent films are not necessarily qualified for positions in commercial films. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

After that stills photographer named Jack left the crew, Duke once again handed over the work to John? Schwartzman's team is in charge.

In fact, the stills are to let the potential audience of the movie see "Wow, there is something I like in this movie, I want to see it!" "To that end. Stills artists generally do not have this function to judge what content is of interest to the audience and newsworthy, so the work of stills artists must carry out some hard and fast rules.

Before filming began the next day, Duke deliberately put John? Schwarzman called.

The director of photography on the opposite side said bluntly, "While we pay attention to the newsiness of the stills, we must also take into account the principle of confidentiality." ”

"I understand." John? Schwarzman nodded.

Duke added, "I only have four requirements for stills. First, no less than 3-5 stills can be used for each scene; Second, no less than 10 stills can be used every day; Third, the total working hours shall not be less than 80% of the filming time of the crew, and no less than 300 stills after retouching can be used; Fourth, the stills must be horizontal, in line with the requirements of news photos. ”

These are all quantitative requirements, and each scene, or important scene, must have 3-5 usable stills. Because sometimes there are actors whose expressions are not good at the moment during filming, there is room for selection, but there must be stills for key scenes.

John? Schwartzman was the old man who followed Duke, so he naturally understood what he meant, "Don't worry, Duke." I'll keep an eye on these jobs. ”

Subsequently, John? Schwartzman hired a very ordinary camera assistant to juggle this work, and compared to the fame of Jack, who was fired by Duke, in the independent film industry, this person can be said to be an obscure newcomer.

This kind of thing is not uncommon in Hollywood.

The producer asks to find a stills artist, of course, he will find a very good candidate for the stills shooting, but sometimes, when the film shooting begins, the producer and the stills master talk about the work, and suddenly they find out. The stills artist was 108,000 miles away from his request, and almost half of the photos could not be used.

At this time, the producer will be very surprised and angry, feeling that the stills artist is not careful, and the stills artist is also very angry, thinking that his work has not been respected accordingly......

In fact, it's easy to say, just like Duke and the stillsman, everyone's understanding of the movie may be very different.

A lot of stills artists from the independent film industry. Sometimes I think of myself as a photographer who creates work, and that's absolutely wrong. The stills artist is not a photographer who takes artistic photos, but a stills photographer is more like a news photographer.

In addition, the stills artist should not be managed by the film crew, but by the publicity team and the marketing department.

Unlike art photography, stills are largely in the service of film marketing efforts. It is one of the most powerful tools for film marketing.

Within the film industry, crews are often understood as "tasting".

The so-called "materials" such as stills, posters, and trailers are all communication tools for movies, that is, the audience does not know how a movie is, what it says, and what its quality is. By looking at these materials, you can have a preliminary understanding and impression, and if you are interested, you can further understand it, or you can go to see it, and you will buy it.

The crew wants to make the stills of the film arouse the viewer's ** and feel that it is his appetite.

Of course, the quality of the food is exactly the same as the original product, but the food tasted is the specialty of a restaurant. In fact, there is a marketing concept here, the movie should attract the audience who like this kind of film, not, you are a Chinese restaurant, you have to take out the sample of the tasting is Western food, and the guests who are very satisfied with the tasting go in to order and eat, and find that it is not the Western food they want to eat at all, and the audience who likes to eat Chinese food, as soon as they see the Western food you try here, they will not enter, which is that marketing should be in line with the characteristics of the product, not Mengren.

The quality of the movie, important content, and the performance of the actors will leave the audience with the most real first impression in the stills, which largely determines whether the audience is interested in watching it.

Sometimes this first image is a poster or a trailer, and now in this era of reading pictures, there are certain conditions for watching videos, posters and stills are the most widely disseminated, the least restricted communication conditions, and the most utilized form of pictures, in fact, if the stills are compared with the poster, the poster is more disseminated, which is why the audience often sees the poster of a foreign movie at a glance, even if they don't know the foreign language, they will recognize what movie it is.

The poster is an advertising painting for the movie, and sometimes it can represent the movie, the main content, style, temperament, etc., but there is a very big difference between stills and posters, that is, posters can be post-produced and can be "made out of nothing", but stills cannot.

That's why Duke paid so much attention to stills during the filming phase.

Stills must be newsworthy, in posters, trailers, stills, these three materials, posters and trailers can be "made", that is, they can be "recreated", but stills are basically not, stills are very similar to news pictures, but they are not the same as news pictures. The biggest function of stills is actually to introduce the movie, and the release of stills is basically in the various news of the movie, or directly release the stills, so the biggest exposure of stills is through the news, so the requirements of news pictures must basically match, for example, it cannot be oblique, crooked, heavy ps, splicing, "fake".

Because there is no way to post-produce stills, the stills are basically synchronized with the filming, and at the end of the filming, the stills will be handed over to the marketing staff.

"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" is a larger film than its predecessor, but Duke doesn't plan to take George? Rather than any suggestion from Lucas, it is intended to go back to the starting point and make a new trilogy.

Duke wanted the film to be shot away from the prequel aesthetic and feel like a continuation of the original trilogy, which was crucial, Star Wars: The Force Awakens with the purity of the first installment, but in the right circumstances, the drama, beauty and shadows of The Empire Strikes Back, and he wanted the image quality to feel authentic based on IMAX film and locations.

The crew's art department also traced back to the roots, looking for inspiration, adhering to the look and feel of Duke's "analog" movie, and the shooting set used Hannah? Some of the practical sites that Serena designed and built will also use actual displays and augment some scenes with CG holograms.

These scenes typically use a 2D drive angle instead of a green screen effect live extension.

When the filming came to an end, Duke would take Anna? Prinz, Hannah? Serena and John? Schwartzman and other core crew members gathered together to once again emphasize the precautions during filming.

Several people gathered around the director's monitor, with Duke standing in the center.

"We know how to make the image fade away, keep the background naturally away, and avoid unnecessary criticism." Duke's voice is clear and loud, "It helps to design with depth of field in mind, and I asked for a very high degree of latitude in the textures and surfaces of the scene......"

Speaking of which, he looked at John? Schwartzman, "Shots shot with IMAX had to have the stylistic qualities of the original trilogy. ”

John? Schwartzman is confident, "Both the Death Star and Millennium Falcon IMAX cameras were equipped with Panavision's special anamorphic lenses, and I designed a lot of retro shooting methods based on them. ”

As he spoke, he walked over to the director's monitor and pressed the broadcast button, which saw a shot from a previous shot.

When the surrounding few people were standing in front of the monitors, John? Schwartzman explains, "These shots will have the film feel of the late '70s, while retaining some of the modern qualities that we know and love." I wanted to keep the high contrast of that era, so I asked Panavischen to add a lens coating. On the other hand, they also make the lenses feel softer. ”

Some films of the '70s used filters to get a softer look, John? Schwartzman, who was working as a camera assistant in England at the time, knew "very well" that putting a stocking in front of and behind the lens could help offset some of the film's shortcomings.

So, in the early preparations, John? Schwarzman asked people to prepare a large number of Dior 10# stockings, almost bought out the socks in the Dior store in Los Angeles, and did a lot of field tests.

The small meeting didn't last long, and at the end of the meeting, Duke asked Tina? Fei handed everyone a >

Duke has a digital booklet on his iPad that allows everyone to see the qualities and unique look qualities that each lens needs.

In the past, photographers spent a lot of time matching lenses because of color temperature, contrast, and other variables, but now with the advancement of technology, these issues can be handled through computer previews.

So, if the colors of different lenses don't match, it might have been a big problem in the past, but now that Duke is well prepared, it's no longer a problem.

Star Wars has a large number of fans, including many celebrities, and during the filming, many Hollywood stars participated in cameos, such as Charlize? Theron. (To be continued.) )

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