I’m a Director, I’m Not Bad

  Chapter 142 140. Trisection

   "Xu Xin, this is Mr. Li Pingdong, a master in photography~"

When he saw three cars and a dozen sleepy-eyed people got out of the car, Jay Chou who went up to meet him immediately found a gray beard, wavy long hair, dark and strong skin, about fifty years old The man introduced.

  Xu Xin raised his eyebrows quite unexpectedly.

   If he remembers correctly, "In the Mood for Love" directed by Wang Jiawei... seems to be the director, right?

  Recalling the introverted and quiet scene at that time, Xu Xin quickly shook hands with the other party.

   Still using both hands, he showed the posture of a junior:

   "Hello, Mr. Li, I'm Xu Xin, please give me your advice."

  Li Pingdong was quite polite, and nodded with a smile:

   "Hi director~"

   "Don't, don't, just call me Xiao Xu. I can't bear this title in front of you."

  Xu Xin became more modest, but Li Pingdong had the same attitude:

   "This is the rule. The director is the director. You must not call Xiao Xu~ Director Xu and Teacher Xu, choose one."

   "Uh...hahaha~"

  Hearing his playful words, Xu Xin laughed out loud, but insisted on saying:

   "I choose you to call me Xiao Xu."

   "Then director Xu~haha~"

   "Haha~"

  The two finally let go, and then Jay Chou began to introduce others.

"This is Huang Junlang, the actor who played Ah Lang. He wrote the lyrics in "Chapter Seven of the Night" and "In the Name of the Father" ~ Dantou, the actor of Ah Bao, is a member of Nanquan Mama, hey, You two, this is Xu Xin, I told you before, we are good friends, super nice~"

  In Xu Xin's eyes, these two buddies actually look quite distinctive.

  Considering the positioning of A Lang and A Bao, he reckoned that Jay Chou should be based on them.

   So he smiled and shook hands with them.

   It’s the first time we’ve met, so we’re not familiar with each other yet, but with Jay Chou here, it’s always polite.

   Then, after getting to know everyone in the team, including the art director, Li Pingdong said:

   "Yesterday, Jay Lun said to bring a camera. Did he want to take a few test shots? Do you want to set up a track? We all brought it."

  For this person, Xu Xin is naturally more polite.

  Looked at the sky, and then at the box next to Li Pingdong.

  The box has been opened, and inside is an Arri-D20.

   Zhang Yimou also used this in his studio.

  Xu Xin also likes the film quality of this camera.

  So he nodded and pointed to the beach next to him:

"There is a beach scene, Mr. Li, let's set up a slide shot on that sidewalk, how about it? The weather is just right and there are few people. Let's take a trial shot and then move on to the next one. The main thing is to look at the texture. "

"no problem."

  Li Pingdong agreed:

   "Hey, set up the track."

   Following his words, everyone, including Huang Junlang and Warhead, started to take the slide rails from the trunk.

  Xu Xin led Jay Chou and Yang Mi to the beach.

  When he arrived at the running track on the beach, he squinted his eyes at the rising sun in the east, and pointed to his feet to Li Pingdong behind him, meaning to start paving from this side, and then continued to walk forward with Jay Chou and Yang Mi.

   After walking about ten or twenty steps, he stopped.

   looked up...

   Next to the three of them is a row of trees.

  Xu Xin happened to be standing under the shadow of the tree.

  Shadows are sparse.

  Through the shadows, he looked at the sea beach in front of him that had already begun to wave, thought for a while, and said:

   "You two... go here."

  Pointing at a place three or four meters away in front of him.

  The two hurriedly stood obediently.

  Xu Xin looked at the beach in the distance again, turned around a few times, seemed to be looking for an angle, and then said:

   "Walk this way, at a slower pace, like a couple taking a walk, come on."

  He kept leaning his body, and after finding a fixed angle, he shouted at the two of them.

  Yang Mi took off her sunglasses directly, and just took two steps with Jay Chou, Xu Xin said:

   "Slow down. Take a walk, you two are Ye Xianglun and Lu Xiaoyu now, joking, take a walk."

  Hearing this, Yang Mi took the initiative to slow down her pace again. After Jay Chou also adapted to Yang Mi's pace, the two of them walked towards the shadow of the forest step by step, and Xu Xin also followed their pace and began to retreat step by step.

   Soon, the two entered the shade of the tree.

  In the early morning twilight, those red light and shadows spread from the feet of the two to the top of their heads little by little.

   The mottled shade of the tree is quickly skipped.

  After walking out of the shade of the tree, Xu Xin stopped, and the two of them also stopped.

   "Ms. Li, this is the paragraph."

  Xu Xin seemed to have found a support point for the camera. After calling out to Li Pingdong who was personally pushing the cart, he waved to the two of them:

   "Both of you return to your original positions and wait."

  Hearing this, the two silently returned to the way they came from.

   And Xu Xin went directly to Li Pingdong who started to set up the plane seat:

   "Ms. Li, that mountain..."

  He pointed to the distance.

  Li Pingdong looked in the direction he pointed, and found that it was the mountain with the white building at the end of the bay, and nodded:

"Um."

"For a while, the position of these two people will be on the left side of the screen, and the right half will be for the mountain. Then I want you to follow the footsteps of the two people and start walking backwards. When the camera moves a little bit. I will arrange their pace , have you seen the shadow of this tree?"

  Following where he pointed, Li Pingdong nodded again:

"Um."

   "Look, this angle."

  Xu Xin took a step back.

   "The shot begins, two-thirds of the mountain, one-third of the duo and the sea behind."

  He made a box in front of himself with both hands, and began to move slowly to the left:

"Walking, walking, two-thirds of the mountain begins to cut in, and one-third of the mountain, one-third of the sea, one-third of the people go in this way, you have to find their steps. And when you step into When the shadow is one step ahead, the person in the picture becomes a two-thirds split. When the girl enters the shadow, I want her to be cut exactly on the half midline. The light and shadow should be just right so that it can be seen in the camera From her waist, move up a little bit, move up, keep this speed, keep walking out of the light and shadow, when the light and shadow come out, the picture freezes, and the two walk out of the camera. That's it."

   "..."

  Li Pingdong looked at the young man in front of him quite unexpectedly:

   "Cut in thirds to the end?"

"Yes, you see, when the two of them walk out of the camera range, they should just capture the dividing line between the end of the mountain and the sea, and then you see the tree, when the two of them finally walk out, they should be just in time Divide into this tree. Start with people, sea, and mountains, and end with trees, sea, and mountains. Here’s one. Let’s try, shall we?”

  Hearing Xu Xin's words, Li Pingdong seemed to understand Xu Xin's intention, and asked subconsciously:

   "Then do you want some... such as wind chimes or tokens of love to appear on the tree?"

"don't want."

  Xu Xin shook his head directly:

"At this time, there are too many artificial elements, and it will appear very deliberate. It is enough for us to show this kind of harmony. The pictures of mountains, seas, tree shades, and young men and women are harmonious enough to bring people a soft feeling. Atmosphere. If you add some artificial decoration, although it will look good at first glance, the audience's attention will definitely focus on the so-called wind chimes or other artificial elements. So, don't need anything, the picture is here to freeze. Nature In itself, it is a kind of extreme romance and beauty. Therefore, no filter is required. Even the dazzling color should not be too strong, and the light in front of the eyes is just right. But when the light and shadow shuttle through the two people, in order to prevent glare, focus on it You have to pay attention to adjust, okay?"

"no problem."

  Li Pingdong nodded.

  With a little surprise in his eyes, he agreed without hesitation.

  This young man... is interesting.

  In fact, although the two of them didn't specify what they were talking about just now, the central theme actually has only one meaning.

  It is how to show the tender and soft picture between men and women through the lens.

  Li Pingdong's choice is based on the language of the lens.

It is to add some artificial embellishments in front of the tree where the camera is finally fixed, to point out to the audience "they are in love"...or "have a good impression of each other" in the language of the camera, so as to clearly show the inner emotional world of the two young people .

  As long as this point is pointed out, it can almost give the audience a very strong hint.

   Tell you clearly that "they are already a couple".

  But Xu Xin didn't think it was necessary.

  He chose to use a more aesthetic, but more subtle way of expression.

Through nature, through the environment, through the extension of the half-mountain to the sea all the way down, using a downward trend from the mountain to the sea, to express a very obscure, difficult to describe in words, but it is indeed two people It has changed from a relatively solid and hard mountain to a blue and gentle sea that makes people feel an endless sea, thus creating a love curve that changes the course of the heart.

  Don't point it out deliberately.

  But through the technique of segmentation, mountains, seas, and trees are used to express a cyan and ignorant view of love.

  Mountains are static and unmoving, representing firmness and heaviness, just like the state where two people meet each other for the first time and have a new crush on each other, but they are discouraged.

  But he didn't have to go up the mountain or fix the camera, but cleverly found the downward line from the mountain to the sea, implying that the two are breaking this prohibitive state.

  Why use a cut shot?

  Why must the girl appear on the midtangent of the lens when entering the light and shadow?

  Because it happened to be the junction of mountains and seas at that time.

  The change of the girl's position also means that the two have "downhill" and started to fall in love...or the next stage of love psychology.

  The daunting sense of distance disappeared, replaced by a feeling like the sea.

  Emotion itself is gentle, so the background between the two will be divided into this gentle state.

  As for why he had to walk into the mottled shade of the tree that was very picky about the light and angle in the difficulty of shooting, he still couldn't figure it out for the time being, but he understood that the tree where the two walked out of the camera at the end was the rest of this journey.

   Is it just the rest of the shot, or the story of the two people, which was cut up by some accident, which caused the two parties to "break up" and "get farther and farther apart", then it is hard to say.

  He hasn't read the script of this story yet, so it's hard to judge.

but…

  As if thinking of something, he turned his head and glanced at the young man who was staring into the distance in a daze.

  The things this young man shoots are all very restrained.

   Unlike some other directors, whether they are cynical or wild.

  Young directors always like to give something very full.

   When it comes to killing fish, it means bloodletting, cramping, scraping scales and removing gills, which is a mess.

  Pursue thick and colorful lens language, pursue full and saturated picture tension...If you want to be happy, carnival to the end, if you want to suppress, then suppress to the extreme...It seems that you have to stuff all the emotions in your heart to the audience.

   Shooting a romance movie, I wish the two of them would take off their pants immediately after meeting, expressing the kind of love that exploded in an instant.

  This is why many film critics say that to see the style of a young director, it is enough to only watch his first three works.

  Because the first three works are the embodiment of the most authentic directing style.

  What kind of things are filmed, then what kind of style this director may have in the future.

   To put it bluntly, it is like a calf that is not afraid of tigers when it is born. What they pursue is to express their own views on the world, so the first three works of the director are like the original sin of tasting the forbidden fruit for the first time.

  He has seen many young directors, and he can't wait to tell the audience all the language of the camera in his heart. No matter what the plot is... he must tell the audience everything he shoots.

  Give very very full.

  And in the past few decades of photography career... this young man is the first he has seen, the first young director who can shoot with such restraint.

   Otherwise, he would not follow his experience and ask the other party if he would like to add some elements that point out the subject relationship between the two.

  But the other party expressed it so implicitly and cleanly.

  Pure as a white flower...

   He was really surprised.

  Obviously when Jay Chou found him before, he specifically said that the director is a newcomer director who has not made any films yet.

  But the first film...is it so restrained?

   Really a newcomer?

  He was really surprised and surprised...but he liked this shooting method very much.

  Whether it is the kind of split-shot technique reflected through the background picture, or the implicit and restrained way.

   It all fits his own definition of "not full of lovers".

  People are getting old.

  What kind of firewood meets fire...

  I can't move it anymore.

  True love is the caring and companionship that lasts for decades like a day, and the still water flows deep.

  How can there be so much vigor?

  I'm old, my teeth are bad, I can't chew too hard things, I can't drink too strong wine, and I can't eat too much sweet food.

  On the contrary, this kind of simple but hearty style...

  He likes it very much.

really like.

  Because, this is life.

simple is the best.

  …

  The track is laid.

   "Director Xu, let's look at the angle."

  Following what Li Pingdong said, Xu Xin hurried over.

  Seeing that the angle is no problem, just after the "two-thirds" of the mountain, I nodded:

"no problem."

   After finishing speaking, he looked up at Jay Chou and Yang Mi:

   "Go at that speed just now, come here in a leisurely manner, and talk about whatever you want to talk about. Anyway, it's a test shoot. Whether it's good or not, let's call it a day and go to the next location, okay?"

   "OK."

  Yang Mi responded, and Jay Chou also made an OK gesture.

  So, Xu Xin nodded, stood beside the sliding rail, stared at the digital screen above the camera and shouted:

   "Come, three, two, one, go..."

  The screen starts to move.

  The two began to walk.

  Yang Mi was the first to speak:

   "What should we talk about?"

   "Uh...whatever."

   "Then you have to say something?"

   "What to say?"

   "Just say something."

   "What can I say?"

   "It seems that there is nothing to say."

   "Then I have to say something."

   "Are we... going around in circles?"

   "It seems to be going around in circles?"

   "It feels so strange."

   "That's why I want to say something? ... Hey, do you see that my eyes are still swollen?"

  After the words fell, light and shadow spread from the toes to the upper body.

   Just right, Jay Chou turned around.

  The two looked at each other.

   After looking at it twice, Jay Chou shook his head and chuckled:

   "It's not swollen~"

   "It's fine if it doesn't swell, otherwise it will be uncomfortable if the eyes are as small as yours."

"…ha."

  Jay Chou smiled again:

   "Please, I have a single eyelid, please don't listen to his nonsense. My eyes just look small, but they are not small."

   "Hey, where do you take us for breakfast?"

   "It's around here, over there by the pier."

   Pointing to the distance:

   "The fishing boats are back, there are a lot of fresh seafood, the taste is great~"

   "Gudu~"

  The girl swallowed:

   "Very hungry..."

  The voice falls, and the camera freezes.

  The two walked out of the camera.

   "OK."

  Xu Xin yelled, and without him saying anything, Yang Mi, Jay Chou, and the people standing next to him crowded in front of the digital screen of the camera, wanting to see what was being shot.

  Everyone huddled together, and Li Pingdong directly called up the scene he had just shot.

  Xu Xin, who was at the front of the crowd, narrowed his eyes.

   "Three, two, one, go~"

  As my voice sounded, the screen began to move slowly...

   Less than a minute.

  The screen ends.

  Xu Xin said with a sigh:

   "Mr. Li, you are really amazing..."

   "Hahaha~ Director Xu, you are not bad too, this shot is great. The camera looks great~!"

  Li Pingdong smiled.

   But the others couldn't help looking at each other...

  Including Jay Chou and Yang Mi...

  Everyone has more or less an idea in their hearts, that is...

  This paragraph...isn't it just walking, moving and shooting?

  The actor walked while talking, what else?

  What did you shoot?

  These two people... just praise each other like this?

  Although the lens looks quite comfortable.

   But I can't see anything special...

   This is the true thought of many people, and Xu Xin doesn't know what they are thinking... Or even if they know, they won't explain it.

  The primary function of a director is to interpret a good story to the audience.

  Tell everyone what kind of story I filmed.

   Or in other words, present a story from the script text to the screen.

   This is the first thing to do.

   After achieving this, to express something, or use the language of the lens and so on... That is the director's personal business.

   This is called "style".

  And the art appreciation that many viewers pursue is not to watch the director's filming, but to watch the story, the picture, and the acting skills.

   Whether the story is clear and clear, whether the picture looks comfortable, whether the acting skills of the actors look natural.

   That's what they're after.

   And did Xu Xin do it?

done.

  Mountain, sea, tree-lined road.

  These pictures have been presented to the audience through the unhurried pace of the two and the slow panning lens. That's why they feel that this episode looks pretty good.

   You can talk about deconstructing the director’s lens language, or what it’s for... Actually, it’s not necessary, and it’s out of the question.

  The first is the level of art appreciation.

  The second is... the movie screen is advancing every minute and every second. Unless it is a film critic who deliberately picks out the details, or a certain scene of the director has left a very deep impression full of specific emotions.

  Otherwise, with such settings of scenery, characters, dialogue, and plot, the audience's first impression will always be as simple and direct as "comfortable or uncomfortable" or "beautiful or not".

   It’s not that the audience doesn’t have the level of art appreciation, but that…

  99% of audiences in the film market focus on this at the beginning of watching a movie.

  Maybe in the second or third brush, they will pay attention to some things carefully, such as analyzing the language of the camera, acting skills, or a certain easter egg in it.

  But in the hearts of the audience, there is also a clear dividing line, which is which movies are worth watching more, and which movies are forgotten after watching.

   It's that simple.

A movie worth watching more must be a certain movie itself through some "aftertaste" such as pictures, shots, and themes that you can see, or can't understand, or simply ignore but still leave an impression in your heart. Win or lose is set.

  Movies that are not worth watching, most of the problems come from the plot or the audience can't understand it.

  Maybe the audience is not experienced enough, and it will take a few years to gradually understand the director's expression. Or just bad movies.

   That's another story.

  But no matter what, Xu Xin always liked the words his girlfriend said to him.

  Life is the same as movies, winning or losing is determined by the aftertaste.

  And if he knew that everyone’s perception of this highly-rated shot in Li Pingdong’s mind is just “it’s quite comfortable to look at”, he would definitely smile and express his agreement.

because…

   This is enough.

  As for what I can understand or do later...

   Then talk about it later.

  The important thing is that at this stage of life, this segment, or this moment, what I shoot can make you feel comfortable, comfortable, or happy, sad, angry, etc...

   That's enough.

  Because it at least...doesn't make you feel like you're wasting your life watching my movies...

   That's it.

  …

  The so-called expert will know if there is one as soon as he makes a move.

  Other people may still be ignorant, but Li Pingdong, who has gradually seen Xu Xin's shooting concept, is relieved.

  When disassembling the equipment, I kept chatting with Xu Xin.

  He also smokes.

  The two of them smoked a cigarette each, chatting about the tone of the movie by the car.

   And when Xu Xin said to him: "Mr. Li, I hope that any screen in this movie can be used as a wallpaper", Li Pingdong looked at him in surprise...

   then nodded:

   "It should be ok, those selected locations are very good, I will understand after a while."

   Soon the equipment in the car was installed, and the team headed towards Tamkang Music Middle School.

  There are two filming locations in the script for the campus play.

  One is Jay Chou's alma mater, Tamkang Music Middle School, and the other is Truth University.

  Go to Tamkang Music Middle School first.

  Because the students are still in class and there is no holiday, Jay Chou didn't go in.

  Xu Xin, Li Pingdong, Yang Mi and other seven or eight people walked into this middle school under the leadership of the school.

  After entering the vicinity of the teaching building, you can hear the sound of various musical instruments.

  The destination of everyone is actually very simple, which is the corridor on the first floor of Tamkang Music Middle School.

   Jay Chou is not here, so no one will listen to him tell the story of his childhood studying here.

  Xu Xin and Li Pingdong walked back and forth in the corridor twice, and basically circled various places.

   During the period, Xu Xin took many photos, but after staying for less than an hour, he walked out.

  The team starts to move to the next stop.

  The University of Truth.

In the script, the old piano room of Tamkang Middle School has been demolished long ago, and there is a place called "Red Girl Building" on the side of Truth University, which is just like the old piano room in Jay Chou's memory. The scene where the playground scene was shot in the episode is also here, the crew must come and see it.

  But the shooting is definitely not in the old piano room.

   Instead, it adopted a one-to-one reproduction method, and copied the ones that need to be used. At present, the old piano room recording studio of Truth University has been set up as soon as possible, and it is in the studio.

   This time, Jay Chou dared to show up, but he still covered himself tightly.

  Aroused the curiosity of many students.

   Fortunately, the security personnel arranged by the school were strong enough and did not cause any commotion. Just when everyone was guessing whether the person wearing the round hat was Jay Chou, everyone left.

  After coming out, the convoy started to go to New Taipei City non-stop.

  The Linshanbi trail over there, and the living area that is the home of "Lu Xiaoyu".

  At noon, they went to the video store in the script.

   Actually, it was not a video store, but a restaurant called "LABU".

   When Jay Chou was a child, there was indeed a video store here, but it closed down later. And he has already negotiated with the boss to rent it temporarily. The LABU restaurant is currently closed. When he went, the decoration workers were rushing to decorate the venue.

   Convert the small bay in the lobby of the restaurant into a video store.

  In the afternoon, everyone returned to Taoyuan Airport. Jay Chou thought that the most beautiful shot in the picture, the location of Chaoyin Haifeng Lane, was here.

After coming here, Xu Xin made a special assumption about the camera, and let Baotou, who was wearing a white shirt today, ride a borrowed bicycle up this half slope, ride down, and go around for two times. three laps.

   After running all the exterior scenes for the whole day, the time also came to night.

  Everyone has been busy since 5 o'clock in the morning, and by now... really exhausted.

  In addition, I didn't sleep well. When I returned to Danshui Town from Taoyuan, everyone except Dani who was driving, including Xu Xin, was snoring everywhere.

  Dani is actually quite tired, but Sun Ting's driver's license cannot be used here.

  The two cannot switch hands.

   And returned to Jay Chou's house in a daze, and Dani didn't leave...

  Sun Ting did not leave either.

   It doesn't matter if it's a sofa or a floor.

  In short, if you lie down, you really can’t get up.

  Everyone does.

   The dazed Xu Xin didn't even remember how he got back to bed.

  I feel as if I close my eyes and feel dizzy.

   Then when I opened my eyes again, it was pitch black outside.

   subconsciously touched the side...

  Girlfriend is still there.

but…

   "Gu~~~"

   The stomach that has not eaten for more than 12 hours reminds him frantically...

hungry.

   Ask for a monthly pass for 14,000! ! Brothers, if you have a ticket, give it to me... It's rare that I'm still in the top 20 in the city this month. I want to rush up and touch the heels of those great gods... Ask for a monthly ticket! Thank you everyone!

  (end of this chapter)