Huayu 05, our science fiction movie universe

Chapter 30 The First Step of Chinese Science Fiction Films

"Hello! Hello! Gao Xiaofang?"

"Hello! I'm Gao Xiaofang, you are... Zhang Wei? What do you want to do?"

"I need to talk to Ali, where is she?"

"How would I know? She's not my wife. You called her!"

“I called, but no one answered!”

"Then I don't know..."

"I don't know, how could you not know? You know it very clearly in your heart. Do you dare to say that Feng Hao was not introduced to Ali by you?

How many things have you hidden from me?

Ah! Speak, where is she? ! "

"Why are you yelling at me, Zhang Wei, don't you know where your own wife is?
I have figured out that you are a useless coward!
Don't you know who Ali contacted Feng Hao for? "

……

In the empty classroom, the dry male voice was sharp and piercing, and it was obvious that he was imitating a female voice poorly.

In contrast, there was another anxious and impatient tone. Almost everyone present could hear the anger that was almost uncontrollable in his words.

"it is good!"

While the two sides paused to catch their breath, Wang Hao took the lead in applauding and said to Huang Lei with a smile:
"Teacher Huang, the rhythm of your lines is really great. Whether it's the emphasis, pauses or emotions, it's all perfect. You are worthy of being the head teacher of the acting department."

Huang Lei smiled slightly, neither showing off nor denying it modestly.

This is what the profession of an actor is like, you can tell whether he or she is talented as soon as he or she opens his or her mouth.

Obviously, Wang Hao made the right move by finding Huang Lei to play the leading role in "Buried Alive".

You know, the original starring role of this movie is Ryan Reynolds, a man who conquered Black Widow.

It was also because of his performance in this movie that he was nominated for Best Actor at the 25th Spanish Goya Awards. His acting skills are truly impeccable.

Today, Huang Lei has not yet been harmed by variety shows and has not yet become the "magician" of the future. This is the time when a middle-aged actor's acting skills are at their peak.

After getting a direct impression of Huang Lei's acting skills through this script reading, Wang Hao became more confident.

With the successful completion of the script reading, the shooting progress naturally took a big step forward.

Everything seemed to be in place, waiting for the director to give the order.

So in this mood of tension, anticipation and uneasiness, Wang Hao finally issued a formal notice: start shooting!
May 2005, 5, Saturday, sunny, [Suitable]: Start work.

In a medium-sized studio at the Shangjing Youth Film Studio, director Wang Hao, lead actor Huang Lei, props and assistant director Zhang Yang, photographer Li Kui...even Wang Hao's uncle, the producer Lu Guotao, have all arrived one after another.

For the first scene of the movie "Buried Alive", each team member hurriedly got busy according to the assigned tasks.

The props team began to set up the scene according to the storyboard script and production plan card, the photography, lighting and sound recording teams unpacked their equipment, and the makeup artists put on makeup for the leading actors...

Because most of them were employees of Qingying Studio, they were familiar with the procedures and saved a lot of time.

As for the newcomers, they were also busy, lending a hand and learning at the same time.

Everything was ready, just waiting for the actors to come on stage. Huang Lei had already arrived, after all, he was a veteran actor, so he still had a sense of professionalism.

But even if he comes, we can't shoot right away.

The shooting and production of regular films all follow standard processes, which is also part of the film industrialization.

According to this standard process, the filming of a movie can be roughly divided into five steps, namely positioning, lighting, sound testing, rehearsal, and then the formal shooting.

Just the first step of positioning is very important.

why?
Because Wang Hao and his colleagues are still using film cameras to make movies, and the more convenient digital cameras are not yet popular.

When shooting with a film camera, although there is a digital monitor, the clarity of the image is estimated to be less than 1% of the image finally presented on the screen, and the color accuracy is negligible, with only roughly two colors, black and white.

In this case, composition, focus, lighting effects, etc. are completely unknown.

Whether it is the photography and lighting staff, or the actors and directors, they all know very little.

The main creators only know the part of the effect they are responsible for: the photographer knows the composition movement, the lighting can roughly predict the lighting effect, and the director also knows how the performance will be.

But no one knows what the final complete image will look like after the film is developed.

All the results are entirely dependent on the skills of the staff and the director. It is impossible nowadays to be a director by just holding a dog and sitting in front of the monitor as in later generations.

In this case, unless you are wealthy enough to waste film and energy, you have to do your best to do all the necessary work before shooting.

This is why steps such as positioning and rehearsal are so important in the era of film photography.

Only after the actors have roughly gone through the scene in front of the photography, lighting and other staff and determined the range, route and direction of movement, can the photographer pull out the tape measure and determine the camera position, scene size and camera movement method according to the performance area.

Only by determining the focus, focal length, height and other parameters of the lens can the lighting engineer determine the placement of light in the performance area and accurately control the amount and ratio of light.

All of the above are closely linked, and if there is even a slight mistake, the final result will be disastrous.

Therefore, early actors were more dedicated and hardworking than many new-age actors, and they were also more professional.

Because there were no digital cameras in that era, it was impossible to watch the shooting effects in real time and replay them repeatedly.

Every mistake an actor makes is a literal waste of money. The pressure this brings can be imagined, and it forces the actors to improve their professional abilities.

Unless you are a big shot enough to ignore the wasted money, or generous enough to bring money into the crew, you will be scolded by the director.

Fortunately, this problem will not occur in Wang Hao's crew.

Huang Lei is a veteran actor himself, and the staff on site are also very professional. Even novices like Zhang Yang and Li Kui did a good job with the help of veteran employees of Qingying Studio.

As the actors took their positions, the lighting, photography, art and sound operators naturally gathered around.

Thanks to the fact that the set of "Buried Alive" is so simple that it only has one coffin, it is very easy to determine the performance area.

It’s so simple that the photography assistant doesn’t even need to put tape on the ground to mark the actors’ movements.

Of course, even if this aspect is omitted, the work that needs to be completed cannot be reduced.

Wang Hao held everyone present to the highest standards.

He knew that the future of Chinese science fiction films rested on him and others, and this project had to succeed and not fail!

(End of this chapter)