Chinese Entertainment: Academic Director

Chapter 37 Entering the game personally
Generally, when shooting the first shot, people try to avoid NGs and swearing in order to have a good start.

For the first shot of "Empty Room", Cao Yang chose the very beginning scene of the movie.

There is a female statue with a net blocking the front. Then a golf ball is hit towards the female statue and is caught by the net.

This scene uses the so-called camera language.

What is lens language?

The techniques used in a film to convey emotion and plot are visual elements.

In other words, by discarding subtitles, music, special effects and other elements, using only the camera images can visually convey stories and emotions to the audience. Simply put, it is using the camera as a language to tell stories.

Here, the female statue symbolizes the suffering women, the golf ball symbolizes the abuser who is harming women, and the large net in front of the female statue symbolizes the protection of women who are being harmed.

Is the purpose of camera language to be shot for the audience?

of course not.

If the movie removes this opening scene and goes directly into the main film, will it have any impact?
For most viewers, it has no impact.

Most audiences watch movies for relaxation and entertainment, so they don't care about the meaning of every clip or shot in the movie.

Only a small number of viewers, either for the purpose of showing off or because they really like the movie, will dig deep into the meaning of a certain lens language.

Then, post it online and interpret it. When people see it, they suddenly realize it - oh, that's it.

The largest audience for this kind of lens language is related practitioners, such as film critics, film and television academy teachers, students reviewing films, film festival judges, etc.

This is what is called art. Directors of art films all consider themselves artists.

This movie also has a lot of this kind of camera language and meaning.

For example, in the heroine's home, there is a lion statue facing a female statue on the lawn, which symbolizes that the abuser is eyeing women and will attack the victim at an uncertain moment.

For example, in the scene in front of the police station, there is a shot of a statue of a goddess with angel wings.

This symbolizes the heroine's desire to escape from the suffering she is suffering, but we can see that there seem to be ropes wrapped around her feet, which shows that the heroine has not yet completely broken free from the shackles, paving the way for the heroine to be taken home by her husband.

For example, when the male protagonist was at the boxer's house, he covered the eyes of the photo with white paper, which was a satire on all the superior male images. The eyes represent the windows of the soul, and closing the windows of the soul is actually a hint of the filth in their hearts.

For example, the heroine's photo was taken away later. The photo was originally framed, expressing that the heroine was imprisoned in a body with a gorgeous appearance. The photo was taken out of the frame, and what it wanted to present was the idea of ​​saving suffering women.

For example, the photos of the heroine in the movie are all in black and white, which is really terrifying when you think about it carefully.

There are many other camera languages ​​of this kind. The most interesting one is that the weight scale is zero at the end, which can be interpreted in several ways.

"Liu Ye, you hit the ball. Just hit it hard. What I want is the impact of the ball hitting the net. Don't worry about whether it's accurate or not. It doesn't matter if you hit it a few more times."

Cao Yang ordered: "Camera, close up here, take the whole statue and the net in the shot, the female statue is on the left, and the right side is blank. Keep shooting until I say stop."

"All units, prepare."

"Camera?"

"OK."

"light?"

"All right."

"Receive the radio?"

"OK."

"Act 1, Scene 1, Shot 1, Begin."

The script supervisor hits the clapboard in front of the camera and the shooting begins.

The camera has already chosen the position and found the frame, so just point and shoot. It's very simple.

Liu Ye had never played golf before, and he had just practiced for the past two days. He didn't ask for accuracy, but only for his posture to look good. When he hit the first shot, his posture was indeed beautiful, but it was useless. If you don't take a picture of his posture, he won't be in the picture, and the ball he hit is the protagonist.

With a snap, the ball hit the right side of the net softly.

Liu Ye turned his head awkwardly and looked around. No one in the audience spoke, and no one laughed at him. Everyone was doing their job, and it was eerily quiet.

After taking a deep breath, Liu Ye hit his second shot. This shot was even more outrageous. He swung over the ball and didn't hit it.

Liu Ye was obviously getting nervous.

Cao Yang glared at him and pressed his hands down, signaling him to relax.

It took more than ten shots before three balls were within the approximate range.

"Crack!"

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, the shot was considered a success.

Even though this shot is more than two minutes long, after cutting out the excess, only a few dozen seconds will be used.

The second shot is also very simple. The camera is placed at an intersection. Liu Ye comes from a distance on a motorcycle and turns away.

The crew members began to place the camera at the intersection. Tian Zhuangzhuang first looked through the lens, adjusted the position, and when he felt it was about right, he made an OK gesture to Cao Yang.

Cao Yang came over to take a look, immediately frowned, and said, "Who chose this place?"

Tian Zhuangzhuang raised his hand and said, "This is a very simple shot. I just picked one at random."

"Who told you to choose this place? Didn't I tell you that it should have a corner and a slope? The corner is there, but what about the slope?"

Cao Yang kicked the director's chair and said, "Where is the slope I wanted? You ate it up? Is it because you haven't directed a movie in ten years that you don't know how to frame the scene?"

He walked a few steps to the middle of the road at the corner, gestured with his hands, and said word by word: "Here, right here, it's going uphill, there must be a large, visible slope. Don't tell me this small ridge is the big slope I want."

"The language of the camera, do you understand? The male protagonist comes up from the bottom, turns upward, from low to high, from right to left, and goes uphill against the trend. This indicates that he will face setbacks and difficulties. Find me another one immediately."

Tian Zhuangzhuang smacked his lips in dismay, waved his hand and pointed at two staff members casually, "You, and you, follow me."

Cao Yang walked to the car rented by the crew, opened the door and got in.

"Director Cao, this..." Assistant Director Li Mingyi asked quickly.

"Let's call it a day. We'll continue shooting tomorrow." Cao Yang slammed the car door shut, and the driver took him back to the hotel.

Cao Yang returned to the hotel room. About half an hour later, Tian Zhuangzhuang pushed open the door and walked in.

"Brother, drink some water."

Cao Yang diligently poured a glass of water and handed it to Lao Tian.

"Does it feel good to curse?" Old Tian took the water cup, took a sip and asked.

"Thank you for joining the game."

Cao Yang gave Lao Tian a thumbs up. In fact, it would be more accurate to call this scene killing the chicken to scare the monkey, but Lao Tian would be furious if he said that. It was rude, rude, hehe.

With the popularity of "On the Beach at Night Alone" in recent times, various related news have been coming out. New staff members joining the crew and students who came to the Beijing Film Academy for internships have all been affected.

They subconsciously believed that Tian Zhuangzhuang was the backbone of the crew, and if anything happened they would go to Lao Tian first. This trend was becoming more and more obvious.

After Tian Zhuangzhuang discovered this problem, he knew that this situation could not continue. Otherwise, based on his understanding of Cao Yang, he would definitely drive these people away and replace them with a new group of people.

But this is not a solution to the problem. It will not only delay the shooting progress, but also cause adverse effects. It is the most undesirable method.

So Lao Tian consulted with Cao Yang and took the initiative to join the game when the filming just started, so that Cao Yang could kill a "chicken" to scare the monkeys and let everyone know who is the boss of the crew.

Otherwise, why would we shoot the golf ball hitting the statue first? Actually, the assistant director could shoot that scene. It was just to finish the first scene smoothly so that we could take the opportunity to perform in the second scene.

　I would like to thank my brothers for their monthly votes and recommendations since the book was published. I have compiled a list, but since there are too many recommendations, I cannot display them one by one. I can only keep them in mind. Thank you again. The following are the brothers who have voted for the monthly ticket: Book Friend 150811235514001, Book Friend 20191214233016407, Xiao Li Xiaoyi, It’s not okay without a name, FelixKoo, Book Friend 20210301105353343778, Book Friend 20220317224434064, Saint-Venant’s Theorem, The Stars are Quiet, lp_kst, Kunpeng Enters the South China Sea, Haotian is Justice, Book Friend 20200325153920264, Book Friend 201906221103416607, Passerby A, Vladimir Green, Book Friend 20171117203458457, Yan Qing Zhaoming, My childhood, Is it cold, China has forests, It’s very beautiful, thank you all for your support!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)