The Best Director

The People's Republic (pep1es-k), a mile from MIT and less than a mile from Harvard University, is a bar popular with young students in the surrounding area, and at this time it was rented by the crew of "T--Team" , filming a scene on the first page of a thick script.

The bar, which was supposed to be bright during the day, was dimly arranged by the lighting engineer as if it were night. The bald white bartender behind the bar was wiping wine glasses, and some young customers were playing darts, sitting at the round wooden table. The guests drank and chatted enthusiastically, and of course they were all extras.

The positions of the two cameras are respectively placed in front of and diagonally opposite to a corner of the bar. Walley Pfister, wearing a bat, controls the front one, and Wang Yang stands beside and aims at the viewfinder; the other is controlled by Harry. -George is in charge, and the lighting and sound recording engineers and other filming teams are also in their positions. Joshua looks at Alexis sitting at the bar with a dazed expression.

She has long brown hair with flowing shawls, and her forehead is covered by big bangs. She has slender willow eyebrows, blue eyes, and a smile on her pretty round face. She is a very good girl; Natalie is sitting next to her , her long hair has been cut into a loose short, also like a petite and cute good girl; besides, there is a curly head, silly like Jay Baruchel who just woke up.

"" Following an order, the three of them casually held the glasses, and Natalie said, "We will find it, what is the most in Boston? Nerds and geniuses..."

What this scene is about is that Team T is losing a big player. When the three of them were drinking at the bar, they were accosted by Jeff Ma and others who were also drinking here, and then they had a dispute. At this time, Jeff Ma, a fat white classmate who thought they were "ordinary nerds", came over, and he approached Natalie who was talking shyly, "Hey, can I buy you a drink?"

Natalie turned her head and glanced at him, slightly raised the wine glass in her hand, and casually said, "I have an addition and subtraction question for you, how about it?" Alexis and Jay, with indifferent faces, didn't wait for the fat man to answer, and Natalie quickly read out this line that had been practiced many times in rehearsal: "+7+4-5++4-+9++6 What is -4+-8-7+4-+6 equal to?"

As soon as she finished speaking, she couldn't help secretly heaving a sigh of relief, no one said that ng finally got this damn line done, that troublesome guy Wang Yang

The fat man with glasses opened his mouth stupidly. This is a very simple math problem. A child can solve it by counting his fingers, but it is in the case of literal problems. She speaks too fast and too much, I can't remember that he said blankly: "Uh, can you say slow down?" Natalie didn't bother to pay attention to him, looked away, and said indifferently: "Can you tell the clock to go slower? Unless it's broken."

Both Alexis and Jay smiled intriguingly and raised their glasses to take a sip.

".

Wu Yanzu, who had been watching, suddenly said something, and Natalie on the other side of the camera raised her eyebrows, and when she turned her head, she heard a voice saying very quickly: "I also have a question for you, - how much is it?" "Natalie turned her head and looked at Wu Yanzu who was mocking, with a funny smile on the corner of her mouth, and said: ". "

"cuT" Wang Yang yelled to stop the crew, and everyone looked at him immediately. Joshua wiped his lips and thought with doubts: "What happened?" Wang Yang looked at Wu Yanzu and said, "Daniel , your expression is missing something. You know that Jeff's words are indeed to humiliate these people, but he is actually a little proud and arrogant, because he is smart, because there are two beauties sitting there, and a book stay."

In the setting of the role, Jeff Ma is such a proud person. At first he joined the group to play card counting to prove his ability, but after gradually learning and actual combat, he realized the importance of the team and also realized To that camaraderie and loyalty, less cynical but still proud.

"No one should tell Jeff that I said that about him." Wang Yang said again, and everyone smiled slightly. Ma Kai was the technical consultant for the filming crew, but there was no card counting in this scene, so he was not there. When the on-the-spot clerk knocked on the slate, Wang Yang shouted softly; "bsp; Wu Yanzu adjusted his expression again, and a smile appeared on his mocking face, and he said quickly: "I also have a question for you, - how much is it equal to?" ? "Natalie smiled and said: "." "Her expression slowly cooled down again, and her tone of voice became faster and more authentic: "I have a question, if you are participating in a game show, there are three doors for you to choose to open, one of which has a car behind it, and the other The two doors are goats..."

She spoke more and more slowly, and finally her head seemed to be broken, and she smiled and said, "Director, I forgot the next words." Alexis, Wu Yanzu and others also laughed, Wang Yang Spreading his hands helplessly, he laughed and shouted, "Who gave her the damn script?"

There are no complicated movements in this scene, and the camera is very fixed, but it is not easy to complete at all, because the series of lines are difficult to remember, and they must be spoken quickly and clearly; at the same time, the subtle expressions of the characters The changes are almost the same in one sentence. Although I have rehearsed for a long time before shooting, I avoided missing ng and there will be a lot of ng in actual shooting.

This was expected. Wang Yang didn't expect to be able to shoot the whole scene in one go. That's impossible. A Q\u0026A to catch his breath would be smooth. This is not a stage play, and the movie has editing.

"The script is here." Joshua believed in "seize every opportunity to make her have a good impression of you" taught by his sister's boyfriend, and took Wang Yang's script diligently and honestly, walked up and handed it to Natalie, Belief in "It's cool as long as it's cool, but smile more at her." He smiled at Alexis next to him, stepped back and walked back. The doubts in Alexis' heart became heavier, this guy seems to be really weird...

Natalie opened the script and looked at it seriously, mumbling her lips slightly to remember; Wu Yanzu also took the opportunity to read his own script and memorize his lines. After a while, Natalie nodded and said, "Come on when you're done."

"" With an order, Walley Pfister and other crew members resumed work. Natalie continued to look up at Wu Yanzu who was standing, and said quickly: "I have a question...the other two are goats. , you choose a door, let's say it's number one, and the host, who knows what's behind the door, opens door number three, which is a goat, and then asks you 'do you want to change your mind and choose door number two?'”

Wu Yanzu immediately said: "Change." Natalie then said: "Why? What's the benefit of changing your choice? Door No. 1 is a car, and he's trying to trick you." Wu Yanzu continued with a slightly disdainful expression: "You're kidding me, it's the Monty-Hall paradox, there are three scenarios, I pick goat #1, host #2, the conversion drives away the car; I pick goat #2, host picks goat #2 Goat number one, the switch drives the car; I take the car and the host takes a sheep, I fail, but the odds of success are /. Why not?"

Holding his chin, Wang Yang observed Natalie's performance of continuing to ask the next game theory problem "Tiger Paradox", still asking and answering quickly, without any time to stop. Obviously, the audience in front of the big screen won't hear clearly in the future, they won't have time to think, or even react, but he doesn't need them to figure it out, just create an atmosphere, "these guys are geniuses" will do

At the same time, I also got some preliminary feelings about the character and "coolness" of the characters. But it must be said in plain language, and the words are clearly pronounced, so that the audience will be interested and quickly enter the play, and feel that they are thinking. It is also very important to be exciting, not too wordy.

"%#%*a...I'm sorry", "Tiger's probability...forgot", "netbsp; The play has been ng non-stop for a few minutes, and finally it's not just the lines ng, it's caused by memorizing the lines The performance was out of touch, and Wang Yang yelled cuT again. Natalie over there was almost sweating on her forehead. The number of ng times in this episode was more than that of "Juno" combined. She breathed out and was deeply shocked. Authentic: "I'm sorry." Wang Yang clapped his hands with a smile, and said, "Everyone, let's rest for a while."

There was a burst of chatting and laughing, Walley Pfister, Harry George and other filming staff all stopped working, sat down and chatted at the round table in the bar, and the extras continued to act like tourists, Natalie said frantically "Ah, these lines are too difficult to memorize. Why didn't I know that T's people are so powerful?" Wu Yanzu, who sat down on the chair, also took a breath: "My brain is also confused."

"Fortunately, I don't have any lines." Alexis patted the collarbone gratefully, Joshua's eyes widened, and his heart thumped; Jay Baruchel smiled and expressed his thoughts : "I wish there were more lines."

"Man," Wang Yang came to Wu Yanzu with a smile, and suddenly punched him in the chest and swung Jiang Ye. Wu Yanzu, who was on guard, blocked the fierce fist with one hand, and punched back, Wang Yang caught With his small arm, the right fist went directly to the elbow sideways.

Ali and others have quickly gotten used to their sparring anytime, anywhere, and this martial arts director fights whenever he has time in the morning. Glancing at the two people who were fighting each other, Natalie continued to read the script, flipped through it a few more times, looked at the lines behind the actual card counting plot, and said: "Yan, I have a question, it seems that this is not something I should consider thing, but I want to know."

Wang Yang retracted his fists and stopped, so that Daniel Wu could continue to read the script. He sat down on the chair at the bar and asked with a smile, "What? What do you think is the problem?" Everyone also looked at Natalie with a smile. Shuya couldn't look away.

"Well, many lines seem to be quite complicated, and we can't figure it out at once." Natalie shrugged with a smile, and Wang Yang smiled and said, "You mean the audience will be full of question marks? It's my plan, they don't need to understand, the point is not here."

Natalie nodded, and said: "Actually, what I want to ask is that I have watched a lot of gambling movies, "Casino", "The King of Gamblers"...Compared with them, "T--Team" It's so special, it's the gambling part, it looks very professional, real skills, a lot of terms and details..." Wang Yang interrupted her with a smile, and said: "Then which one do you think looks better?"

"Ours is more focused and thought-provoking, and the whole story is also very attractive, which is great." Natalie flipped through the script in hand and heard Wang Yang ask, "What do you think?" Alexis smiled and replied: "I I don’t have so many ideas, but isn’t it good to be different?” Wu Yanzu said: “This is not a Hollywood gambling movie, and I can’t say that.”…

"Yes, it's very interesting." Natalie raised her head, her doubts were still unresolved, and she asked with a smile: "The content of these lines is impressive, but if it weren't for the script words that can be read repeatedly, the audience would not Will you find it boring? It’s always these difficult things. So are you going to make a movie with a... temperament? Is there anything similar? I want to see it.”

Wang Yang smiled immediately, shook his head and said, "I don't know. I don't think there was anything like it before. Anyway, I couldn't find it. Natalie, you know that movies are finally born in the editing room. Now you ask me what this movie is Like? I can't answer. But I think..." He shot a shot with his right hand, blew on the invisible smoke on his index finger, and said with a smile, "Guys, it's still the same sentence, a cool movie."

In his understanding, the so-called cool is the kind of cool that is handsome and dazzling. Each character performs their own duties. Through details and lines, they show off their professionalism and talent. The key is to form an impression. Whether it's card counting, the team's playing points in the casino, detectives and anti-detectives, and the personal talents and skills of the characters, like being proficient in multiple languages, it's all details to show off.

"Have you seen Hong Kong gambling movies?" Wang Yang suddenly asked, Natalie thought about it, but she didn't remember it, she smiled and said: "No, Hong Kong movies I like Wong Kar Wai, this is the style of Hong Kong gambling movies? "Alexis and the others also shook their heads and said no, Daniel Wu said: "I have watched "The Gambler" and "The Saint of Gamblers", but they seem to have different styles, right?"

Wang Yang did not answer this question for the time being, but expressed his opinion: "The style of Hong Kong gambling movies is to focus on gambling. There are all sorts of strange gambling skills, some of which are even out of reality, but the gambling tables of Hong Kong movies are always It’s very cool, magical, and unrestrained. It’s a picture when it comes to gambling; Hollywood gambling movies basically focus on the story of “why you want to gamble”, and then dig out the hearts of the characters. The gambling table is just a passing thing. It never stayed, it was a thick line."

Wu Yanzu nodded in agreement, and said: "Yes, I also feel the same way, Hollywood gambling movies don't seem to understand gambling skills." In fact, what he really wanted to say was that there are no gambling movies in Hollywood. Natalie felt a little strange when she heard it, and asked, "Why?"

"I don't know." Wang Yang shrugged. He couldn't understand this question for a while. Could it be that American audiences don't like to watch "professional" gambling movies? But he thinks it shouldn’t be. No one likes lameness and hates professionalism. The more professional, the more exciting and fascinated people are. This aspect has been reflected in various dramas such as doctors and crime-solving. Great story, great characters.

Especially because of the length of the film, it is impossible to use all of it to introduce card skills. This is not a popular science program or a documentary. , the T-team against the whole Las Vegas story.

But there is no doubt that Hollywood movies that can be called "gambling movies" have not paid attention to gambling itself, and there is no professionalism and details. Why? If you think about it from the perspective of a producer, there are some clues. Thinking of this, looking at Natalie and the others, Wang Yang said with a smile: "From a commercial point of view, there has never been a market for gambling movies in Hollywood, and no one is willing to explore and try. The producers don't want to take risks. Why not Use the money to make romantic movies."

"When you are not a commercial film, but want to explore human nature and emotions; or you are just a small-budget film, if you want to win, your creative thinking will often be towards the depth of the story, and you don't want to spend the space on gambling skills; When it comes to cost, you can do a lot of big action and big scenes, and then think, what is a small table?"

As Wang Yang said, he couldn’t help but think of the future movie "7: Casino Royale" that he watched in his mind. That movie is called "pure Hollywood gambling movie". The first part, but relatively speaking, the gambling aspect is still a bit simple. But it doesn't mean that he fully supports Hong Kong gambling movies. That set is the Hong Kong movie method of the era. It is not suitable for the current world, and even Hong Kong thinks it is outdated.

Exaggeration and ability are not professional. What "T--Team" wants is dazzling, real and high-IQ card skills. What it wants is the pursuit of details and atmosphere of Hong Kong movies and the wonderful stories of Hollywood commercial movies.

"But I want to pursue a taste..." Wang Yang stood up with a smile, but Natalie became more and more puzzled as he listened, and he continued to laugh: "If "T--Team" is classified as a gambling movie, then it is Unprecedented, huh, just for fun, we want to shoot it as an unsurpassable peak." He spread his hands and said with a smile: "I don't know what it will look like on the big screen, but it will be cool, you know, it Will do."

This movie can be said to be a new experience for him. Unlike the past, this movie has no template, except that it is also adapted from "The Capture of Las Vegas", which is completely different from "Decisive Point", and it is not Traditional Hollywood gambling film. But in the past, no matter whether it is poker or Texas Hold'em, there has never been a movie with this look. Who knows whether the audience will like it or not?

You have to try it before you know the result. Wang Yang walked towards the camera and said, "I can't guarantee that it will have any miracles, but at least it didn't follow the route of failure. So I chose door No. 2, which is /'s victory Probability" said, he roared loudly: "Hurry up and read the script and wait for whoever is ng, I will punch him to the ground"

"I'll wait." Natalie gave him a provocative look, and patted her cheek lightly. Everyone naturally knew that he was joking, but they all read the script seriously and memorized the lines. After all, as an actor, no one wants to hear that "ng"

Wang Yang chatted with Walley Pfister and the others for a while, then picked up the microphone and yelled, continuing the unfinished filming just now

After all the staff were ready, and after a few emoticons, the scene finally came to the last question. In the previous several probability mathematics problems, Jeff Ma's performance surprised all three members of the T team, and at the same time, he had a great interest in him. Jeff Ma's mental arithmetic memory is amazing, and his thinking logic Believe in mathematics and not be influenced by emotion, this is an excellent candidate to fill the void of big players

"If you have to bet, how can you win?" Natalie's eyes were full of smiles, and Alexis and Jay Baruchel also had prey smiles on their faces. Hearing an irrelevant question suddenly, Wu Yanzu thought for a while and said: "There is no such thing as winning in gambling."

"Very good." Natalie showed a playful smile and asked, "Which school do you belong to?" The fat classmate laughed quickly: "T" The three of them looked at each other and smiled, and Natalie murmured: "T, T...ok" After she stood up, Ali and Jay followed. After walking a few steps, Natalie turned around and asked, "Have you joined any after-school clubs?"

Wu Yanzu chuckled, looked elsewhere, and said, "I answered too many questions tonight." Natalie nodded knowingly, and said, "That's right, but you will join a club soon. "After that, the three of them went outside. The fat man asked loudly in doubt: "Hey, what do you mean? What club?" Alexis turned her head and said with a smile, "A club that does math problems."

"cuT" Wang Yang yelled, and he took a breath in his heart. The first scene was finally completed. He gave a thumbs up and said with a smile: "The acting is very good."

Everyone laughed and cheered immediately, and the whole bar was full of voices. After celebrating, the film crew members immediately began to adjust the camera position, ready to shoot the next set of shots.