Huayu: Hard fight against Zhang Weiping at the beginning

Chapter 154 Hollywood Skills

December 12, the 7th day of the twelfth lunar month

The company car came to pick up Zhang Chen. The luggage was handed to the driver, and Zhang Chen got into the car.

It's the end of the year, and many migrant workers in Beijing have returned home, so the traffic in the capital has become much better.

There was no traffic jam along the way. The car drove towards the airport and Zhang Chen called home.

Most families in China are the same, especially boys, who like to look for their mothers when there is something going on at home.

Mom, it's time to pay the school tuition~
Mom, what are we having for lunch today?
Mom, I want to buy a pair of shoes~
Mom, living expenses are not enough~
There is only one situation when looking for dad: Dad, where is my mom?
Zhang Chen's family is different. He likes to talk to his father when he has things.

"Dad, I'm afraid I can't go home for the New Year this year. I have to go to the United States."

"What are you going to do in America?"

"We have a movie in collaboration with them, so we have to hurry up and shoot it."

"Don't people in the United States take a break during the Chinese New Year?"

"They celebrate Christmas over there, not the Spring Festival."

"Oh wait, your mother wants to talk to you~"

Then the phone came to Zhang's mother, and the first thing she said was: "How many days will it take to go to the United States?"

"Not sure yet, probably at least a month."

"Can we not go? I heard it's very chaotic over there, and they shoot at the slightest provocation..."

Zhang Chen knew that his mother was worried about him: "Don't worry, I used to make movies, and I basically stayed in the studio, it's very safe."

He was just making it up for comfort.

Zhang's mother on the other end had no doubts. "Okay then. Oh, by the way, be a good boy when you get there, and don't mess with any of the girls."

Zhang Chen had a black line on his forehead.

Those who have sons probably have the same experience. When the children are seventeen or eighteen years old and enter puberty, parents will give similar advice.

Anyway, starting from high school, every time Zhang Chen went out to play, such as ice skating, swimming, mountain climbing, etc., his mother would not only ask who he was going with, but also remind him not to mess with little girls and not to get into conflicts with others.

"I know. I'm not a gangster."

"Well, okay, remember to call your grandfather on the 30th to wish him a happy new year."

Because Zhang Chen's family has two aunts, they always celebrate the 30th anniversary of the birth of the child, because the two aunts can also come back on that day.

"Don't worry, I won't forget it."

After hanging up the phone, he was in a bad mood. He could hear the deep disappointment in his parents' voices.

I thought I would be able to see my son in a few days, but I was suddenly told that I couldn't go back for the New Year.

He didn't have any special feelings about these things before, but now with the memories of later life, especially after getting married and having children of his own, he understands the feelings of his parents more and more.

As the old saying goes, one does not know the kindness of parents until he gets married. For many things, you will not know the feeling until you put yourself in their shoes and experience them once.

When I arrived at the airport and passed through security, I saw two familiar figures.

"Haozi, Xiaofei, you have arrived a long time ago~"

"No, just a little earlier than you."

Ning Hao took Zhang Chen's luggage and the group walked towards the rest area.

After a while, Fan Jiuyi also arrived.

The four chatted for a while and then boarded the plane.

The filming location of "Eden Lake" is in a valley near Santa Monica, where there is a natural lake that meets the filming requirements very well.

The crew has arrived and is waiting for Zhang Chen and the others.

When the four of them arrived at the crew, Peter came up to them and said, "Zhang, you are finally here~"

Zhang Chen laughed, and the two hugged each other. Then Peter said with an exaggerated expression: "Let me guess, this beautiful lady must be the heroine of our play?"

Jiuyijie extended her hand generously: "Hello, Mr. Peter, I am Fan Binbin, you can call me Fan or Binbin."

After getting to know everyone one by one, Pitt pulled someone behind him and said, "Let me introduce you to this, too. This is the leading actor of our show, Jason Statham."

Jason, who was a little bald, also reached out his hand to Zhang Chen after hearing this: "Hello, Zhang. I heard that you insisted on letting me play this role. Thank you very much."

Jason is actually quite famous now, and he even has a starring role in a movie - "Transporter", which also did well at the box office.

Originally, the role of the male lead in this drama did not meet his expectations, but his agent told him that the director of this drama is the director of "The Dark Invasion", and he was the one who specifically asked for him.

"Darkness" is not a big production, but it is a non-English film, but it sold well in the United States, which is remarkable.

The North American film market is very exclusive.

No matter how big a star you are in your own country, you have to start all over again when you come to North America.

That's what Jason is like now.

He actually has a certain degree of fame in Europe now, but it's useless. Hollywood thinks he has no box office appeal and is unwilling to give him important roles.

Although "Eden Lake" is a low-budget film, it is produced by New Line after all, and is Hollywood's own son.

Moreover, he was chosen by the director of "The Dark Invasion", which proves that the director is very optimistic about him.

Being favored by a director is something every actor dreams of.

Schwarzenegger starred in many of Cameron's works because of his good relationship with him.

So Jason came, even though this movie was a small production and a horror movie, he still came.

He has just started to try out tough guy roles on screen, but he can also try other acting styles. "Oh, I like your performance very much, and your image is also good. You will definitely become a big star in the future."

When Jason heard Zhang Chen's praise, he was stunned. I have a good image. I have had less hair since I was a child and went bald early. You call this a good image?
But looking at Zhang Chen's expression, it didn't seem like he was being sarcastic, so Jason didn't take it seriously.

As a foreigner, his spoken English is not very good, so maybe this is not what he wanted to express.

On the day the group arrived, in addition to getting acquainted with the crew's various departments, the first thing Zhang Chen did was to read the script.

This was specifically requested by Pitt and is customary in Hollywood.

"Script reading?" Sister Jiuyi looked embarrassed.

Zhang Chen was even more surprised: "Why, you haven't participated in a script reading either?"

Fan Jiuyi has acted in quite a few movies, but he actually didn't know what a script reading was.

Sister Jiuyi shook her head awkwardly.

In the era of big film studios, script reading was a necessary step before every film started shooting, but as the film studios have declined, it seems that no crew strictly enforces it anymore.

It seems that Zhang Yimou is the only one who still keeps this habit.

By the way, Korea seems to like to do this as well. It is said that there will be a script reading before filming of Korean dramas.

Zhang Chen himself has never participated in a script reading. Where would he go to do one? He was just an online movie director before.

Script reading is actually all the cast and crew members getting together to sort out the plot, simulate filming, and at the same time share their own understanding of the characters with others.

The benefits of doing this are obvious. It allows everyone to understand the ins and outs of the entire story from a macro perspective. Each actor will have a more accurate positioning of the role he or she plays, and the behind-the-scenes staff will have a clear understanding of what they should do next.

This can avoid a lot of trouble. Many problems can be discovered during the script reading and targeted solutions can be found.

After the script is read together, each department of the crew will know what to do in each subsequent scene, which can greatly reduce wrangling and improve efficiency.

Improving efficiency means saving money, and in Hollywood, everything is about money.

If you still can't do it after the script read, then I'm sorry, either you don't have the ability or you have a problem with your attitude, please get out.

The people from China all felt it was quite new and they learned a lot. This was their first gain from joining the Hollywood crew.

There is no such environment in China.

Ning Hao was very excited. It turned out that his trip to Hollywood was not in vain. He gained something right away.

Pitt is the producer of this show, and everything about the filming has already been planned.

"Eden Lake" has a total of more than 1200 shots, which is nearly one-third more than "The Shallows".

The shooting time is 35 days, which means at least 34 effective shots need to be taken every day.

Please note that the 35 days mentioned here are 35 working days. No matter whether they are actors or behind-the-scenes staff, they all have to rest on weekends and only work eight hours a day.

This means there are 34 effective shots every day, and even with a script reading session, time is actually very tight.

So here in Hollywood, most of the shooting is done with multiple cameras.

Multi-camera shooting is easy to understand. For one scene, two or three cameras are set up to shoot simultaneously.

Of course this is faster.

For example, if there is a scene where a man and a woman are chatting, it would be impossible to shoot it in one shot normally.

If it were in China, there would be a medium shot of the two of them first, then a shot of the male lead, and then another shot of the female lead.

In this case, the actors have to perform at least three times during the performance.

Of course it is time-consuming and laborious.

The reason for this situation is that most of the time, people in China are accustomed to shooting with a single camera.

To put it bluntly, there is only one camera.

Why? Of course, because of poverty.

At present, the daily salary of a cheap photographer in China is about one or two thousand yuan, but the camera is expensive, and the daily rental cost is three or four thousand yuan, which is equivalent to the cost of two photographers.

Actors' pay is also cheap.

Typically, labor is cheap and machinery is expensive.

So most film crews shoot with a single camera.

But it’s different in Hollywood, where machines are cheap but labor is expensive.

The rental cost of a camera is not much, but the labor cost is expensive. There are so many types of jobs behind the scenes, and the total cost is not a small number. It is very expensive.

So they are used to shooting with multiple cameras, which can be done in one go, saving time.

Saving time means saving cost. Every day of finishing filming early can save a lot of money. The daily transportation, accommodation, food, drink, defecation and insurance costs of the crew members are not a small number.

So Hollywood photographers are very familiar with multi-camera shooting.

This is their unique skill, because they were born into this kind of environment and have been exposed to it since childhood.

Ning Hao and Song Xiaofei admire these photographers very much. They are both professionals and understand the difficulty of multi-camera shooting very well.

Two or three cameras are shooting at the same time, and the lighting, scenery, art, and performance all need to be coordinated, which is not easy.

It is even more difficult if the camera is not static and may be moving.

Of course, it can save a lot of time if you do it in one go, but if something goes wrong, it will affect efficiency even more.

Why is there a separate department to study lenses? Because it is very complicated when you delve into it.

(End of this chapter)