"Stop, stop! Vera! Don't exaggerate the range of action! Edmundo said angrily, "How many times have I told you, it's not the same as being on stage, it's not the same!" On stage, the action is small, and the audience can't see it clearly, but this is a movie, and what we are giving here is a close-up, and the audience can see it clearly if you shake your eyebrows, and you don't need exaggerated movements, which will make the performance seem unreal. Do you understand? ”

Vera paused and replied in a very aggrieved whisper, "But Mr. Edmundo, I have been acting in stage plays for several years, and I have formed a habit of it. Even when you're not on stage, you've been asking me to speak and act in the way of a play, and now you're ......."

"Hell yes! What a hell of a life! Edmundo waved his arm violently, as if to shake out all the depression in his heart, "Damn! Vera, you're only thirteen years old, and you've been acting in stage plays for several years? Years? Is it two years or two and a half years? Nicole has been acting in stage plays for almost ten years, but her appearance is obviously better than yours! ”

"But Sister Nicole, she ......," Vera seemed to want to defend herself.

"There are no excuses, as I said a long time ago, in terms of work, never, never, no excuses! Do you understand, Vera? All we can do is work hard, work hard, and keep trying! Edmundo waved his hands wildly and said in an exaggerated voice.

"Mr. Edmundo, your language and movements are more theatrical than Vera's." At this time, another actor, Nicole, interjected with a grin.

Nicole is the pillar of the troupe, and when she sees that Vera is about to cry because of Edmundo's lesson, she hurries out to make a mistake.

"Hell!" Edmundo said. Then he stopped, and spun around twice in the same place, as if to adjust his feelings, and then he looked up again and said to Vera:

"Vera, you know what? Mr. MacDonald, I mean Mr. MacDonald Sr., he has a lot of expectations for our film, and if it works, you're going to be a big star all over the United States, and even the whole world, you know? Edmundo said.

"And you, Captain, you're going to make a fortune too, aren't you?" Nicole said with a smile.

"Yes. This is a rare opportunity for all of us. Nicole, although you are not the protagonist in this play, if this play is successful, there will be more sound movies in the future, and in those plays, there will be opportunities for you to be the protagonist. Edmundo said. He turned his head again and said to Vera, "Vera, you know, the price of film is not cheap, and it costs us money to rent this space, um, so in order to save money, it is better for us to be able to pass the lens all at once." Do you understand? ”

……

"Dad, is it worth putting so much effort into a movie like this? Moreover, can the market be that big? Greystone asked Scrooge suspiciously. Because no one has seen what real film art looks like, except Scrooge. In an era when movies were just born, a qiē was still very primitive. So much so that in order to be able to shoot the effect that Scrooge simplified and simplified in his heart, Scrooge had to go out in person. For example, in the movies of that time, there was not even the technology to move the camera, zoom in and out of the camera, or anything. Generally, the camera is directly fixed there and does not move, just like an audience member sitting in the audience in a stage play, unable to move. Of course, there is no change in perspective, no lens to follow, or anything to follow.

It's easy to make the camera move, it's just a matter of inventing the corresponding moving track, but to achieve the other effects that Scrooge requires, such as zooming in and out, and fading in and out of people, all require the support of some more complex techniques, the former requires a zoom lens, and the latter requires a stepless aperture, which requires more technical means. Of course, these problems were solved before that. Scrooge put forward the idea, and then threw it to the Dashi room, and then, the Dashi room came up with something that met Scrooge's requirements - except that the size was a little bigger: in order to ensure that there would be no problems in the zoom process, such as out-of-focus, sudden brightness and darkness, and the resolution of the zoom lens decreased, the guys in the Dashi room used a series of techniques originally used in astronomical telescopes to their new cameras, and the result was naturally that Scrooge got a kind of ultra-high resolution, The performance was almost anti-sky at the time, yet it was also as large as a camera with a large astronomical telescope. Luckily, there are easy-to-use motors, otherwise it would have been a hassle to just move them. Of course, in the process of development, Dashi Yàn Room has obtained a series of patents, and these patents must be used sometimes.

If it's just a technical problem, it's nothing more than Scrooge coming up with an idea and throwing it to the guys in the big real room to make them brainless. But in addition to technical problems, those successful films of later generations also have a series of shooting and editing skills. These things, too, are the same at this time, not even a shadow. Of course, Scrooge didn't know much about this. But he's seen it anyway. So in order to make this movie achieve a shocking effect, Scrooge also had to often run to the shooting site to personally direct or discuss with Edmundo and others. This, of course, takes up a lot of time and effort.

"Ah, Greystone. Do you think that the input and output of this transaction are disproportionate? Scrooge laughed.

Indeed, just to solve those related technical problems, the money burned in the Dashi yàn room is no longer something that can be earned back by this movie. Had it not persuaded the Boer government-in-exile to spend money on it, the film would have been almost doomed to lose money.

"Dad, that's true." Gladstone replied.

"It's true that just focusing on this movie is definitely a loss." Scrooge laughs, "Even if you don't count all the investments in technology research." But you have to take a long-term view. In the future, movies will usher in a big development, especially when the economic environment is bad. ”

Scrooge, who came from later generations, certainly knew that in later generations, how big and profitable the market for movies and their related products was, it was simply a kind of money printing machine. Moreover, there is also a strange quality of the film market, that is, when the depression comes, all walks of life are in mourning, the film market tends to be good, probably because the more difficult the times, the more people need the comfort of movies. For example, in the original history, when the Great Depression of the late twenties, the largest economic depression in human history, arrived, the GDP of the United States plummeted by more than 50 percent within a few years, most of the factories went bankrupt, and most of the farms became wasteland. But in the midst of such a depression, the American film industry has flourished and developed rapidly, making much more money than before, and even they can pay a dancing curly-haired girl close to a million dollars. Even now, the salary of one million dollars is not low, (of course, Hollywood's popular stars must be more than that) but you must know that the dollar at that time could still be directly exchanged for huàn into gold dollars, such a salary is simply astronomical. From here you can see that in that era, the film industry was brilliant.

"Really?" Gladstone whispered. However, he did not doubt his father's vision, because over the years, Scrooge had never missed a major policy.

"And, Greystone, you have to think that this movie was made while 'The Diary of Anne Frank' is in the limelight these days. Filming it is part of the publicity plan in itself. So, every penny we put into it is part of the publicity plan. As long as we can slow down the pace of the British to resolve the Boer War, every additional day of delay will bring us more benefits. And if the film itself is excellent, then new markets will also be opened up by us. The benefits from this are like ......" Scrooge thought about it again, and then replied, "It's like developing the sea back then. Lo. Because of the same. ”

"It's just that the British seem to have made up their minds to continue the concentration camp policy regardless of it." "But now the governments of the United States, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, and Austria have come together to ask the British government to send observers to their camps," Greystone said. We're making this happen. I think that once it succeeds, the British will be a little more restrained. But it may take a little while, because the British are also aware of our American moves, and they are trying to exert their influence as much as possible. Dad, will your sound movie be able to finish in two months? It would be great if I could. ”

It can take as long or as short as a film to shoot. For example, Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai spent two years filming the movie "East Evil and West Poison", after filming, perhaps because of the high and low qu, the result was a loss. So director Wang Jing used the original cast of "East Evil and West Poison" to shoot "East Becomes West" in less than two weeks, and then made back the money lost in "East Evil and West Poison", and made a lot of money. Considering that this film doesn't actually have any complicated post-production or anything, the length is also very limited, less than two hours. In addition, the current filming progress is not bad, so after thinking about it, Scrooge replied: "The shooting should be completed within a month, and I will leave the follow-up to you." ”

“”