Chinese Entertainment: Academic Director

Chapter 484 Full-scale Advancement
When Cao Yang and his group arrived at Jidi Village in Shangri-La, southern Yunnan, they made quite a show of force, which left the local Tibetans, who had been in contact with them beforehand, somewhat bewildered.

The mother and daughter, who were planning to take the rainforest to look for matsutake mushrooms the next morning, were especially at a loss.

The villagers thought that a film crew that came to follow them in search of matsutake mushrooms was like a TV reporter, with at most six or seven people. They would just take them along for a short time and let them take some pictures.

But looking at the dozen or so cars and trucks that arrived, and the forty or fifty people carrying all kinds of equipment, it looked like a battle. Were they really here to film matsutake mushrooms?

If it weren't for the arrival of the town's mayor and party secretary, as well as high-ranking officials from the autonomous prefecture and county leaders from Shangri-La, whom they only see on television, the people of Jidi Village would absolutely not have dared to take these people to the rainforest.

They've certainly broadened their horizons. It's just filming matsutake mushroom picking, why act like they're going to suppress bandits?

Furthermore, the village chief and several villagers also noticed that the top leaders in the prefecture and the county seemed to be unusually polite to the young man who looked to be around thirty years old.

They also repeatedly emphasized to the town leaders that they must fully cooperate with all the young man's requests.

This left a slight shock in the village chief's heart.

It wasn't just the village chief and villagers who were shocked.

Teacher Zhang Qi, who was filming with Cao Yang for the first time, was also quite impressed.

His approach is different from that of the villagers.

He was awestruck by the sight of the unloaded photography equipment, the accompanying technicians, and several drones of varying sizes.

As a young teacher at the Beijing Film Academy and a director aspiring to make a career in the film industry, Zhang Qi had heard of these latest digital cameras.

Both Sony's CineAlta F35 and Arri's ARRIFLEX D-21 are among the most advanced digital cameras in the world, and to some extent, they have already replaced film cameras.

Unfortunately, Zhang Qi had only heard of this state-of-the-art digital camera, which was only released last year, and had never actually seen it before; it was practically unavailable in China at present.

This time, he saw three Sony CineAlta F35s and two ARRIFLEX D-21s, all fully equipped.

It's important to know that when renting a digital camera, the camera body and lenses are usually priced separately. No film crew would rent all the lenses; they only rent the lenses they need.

What Zhang Qi saw was not only the camera body, all the accessories and lenses, but also the manufacturer's technicians who came with the machine.

Sony sent two technicians and one executive, Arri sent two technicians and one executive, and a relatively unknown digital camera manufacturer, something like RED ONE, sent three cameras and three technicians and one executive...

What the hell are these executives doing?!
These top digital camera manufacturers in the world have all sent their senior executives!

When did executives start coming with machines?
Normally, these camera manufacturers send technicians if needed.

These technicians are really impressive; Zhang Qi was referring to their attitude.

These technicians are a very special presence on the film set. When they are debugging or maintaining equipment, outsiders are absolutely not allowed to be present. They usually act all high and mighty.

Zhang Qi also knew that the travel expenses and various subsidies for these technicians were calculated in US dollars. The production crew not only had to pay for the technical work, but also had to reimburse the various expenses of these technicians.

But what about when senior executives arrive? Will they need additional high subsidies?

Although Zhang Qi knew that Director Cao Yang's film... well, even if it was a graduation project, would certainly not lack funding, the cost of so much state-of-the-art equipment, plus the various expenses and subsidies for a dozen or so foreigners, was no small sum.

It cost significantly more than his first film, "Save Me".

This only covers the costs incurred for equipment.

Zhang Qi, filled with curiosity, secretly asked Ning Hao, "Why are these digital camera manufacturers sending executives here? Does our crew need to cover their travel expenses?"

Zhang Qi estimated that he would never forget Ning Hao's expression when he looked at the "country bumpkin" for at least five years.

Although it was only for a moment.

Ning Hao patted Zhang Qi on the shoulder and said with a smile in a low voice, "They're still short of travel expenses. Director Cao is already being very kind by not asking them for money. How could they possibly ask Director Cao for money?"
Not to mention travel expenses, these Sony, Arri, and RED ONE machines were all delivered by them eagerly. Technicians were on hand to provide on-call service for the equipment, and executives came to persuade Director Cao and record his requests.

Not only will these devices cost nothing, but once Director Cao's documentary is finished, these state-of-the-art devices will be "donated" to the Beijing Film Academy and the Qingdao Film Studio in Director Cao's name.

You might not have grasped the point yet, but what Director Cao filmed was his doctoral dissertation, not a commercial film.

Director Cao has made so many classic films, but he has never used a digital camera to shoot a film. What is Director Cao's status?
If the first film shot with a digital camera is from a certain company, what a huge advertising effect that would be!
Cao Yang is now shooting a graduation project with a strong 'personal' element, and given such a great opportunity, they naturally want to bring their best equipment.

After hearing Ning Hao's words, Zhang Qi truly witnessed a small part of Cao Yang's influence in the film and television industry.

He made a comparison and concluded that if big directors like Zhang Yimou or Chen Kaige needed these latest devices, the manufacturers would definitely be happy to let them use them, since it would also enhance the influence of the devices to some extent.

However, the cost of purchasing the equipment is definitely something you have to pay.

Hmm, maybe a 5% discount?

This is just one aspect.

Zhang Qi glanced at the "huge" drone not far away, which had a fuselage length of 2.8 meters and a wingspan of 3.98 meters, and felt a complex mix of emotions.

This drone is said to have a maximum level flight speed of 250 km/h, a flight time of 3 hours, a maximum flight altitude of 3000 meters, and its level of intelligence ranks first in the country, with control precision and reliability exceeding those of similar international products…

Zhang Qi didn't know if this drone, which was clearly modified specifically for filming, was really as powerful as described.

All he knew was that the drone, formerly known as "Blade," was a multi-purpose drone independently developed by a certain institute of the Third Academy of China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation in Tianjin. After five years of development, it was said that it would be put into use in 2009, which is this year.

According to public information, this drone will not be publicly test-flown until May of this year, which means that the drone has not yet been publicly test-flown.

Just imagine, drones that haven't even had a public test flight yet, primarily used for "military" purposes such as aerial photography, forest fire prevention, oil pipeline inspection, geological surveying, marine search and rescue, and power line inspection, have now appeared here after being modified...

How could this not be breathtaking?

Drones for aerial photography... are still a very new term.

Although Zhang Qi is 35 years old, he is considered a young teacher at the Beijing Film Academy and has some connections at CCTV, so he has some understanding of the latest developments in film and television production. This year, multi-rotor drones for aerial filming have emerged, with flight control systems as their core technology, mainly achieving basic flight control and GPS hovering functions.

Zhang Qi glanced again at the several "mini" drones next to the "large" drone.

That's a quadcopter drone. Although it can be used for aerial photography, its flight time is less than 15 minutes, it has weak wind resistance, and insufficient payload, making it unable to meet the needs of film and television crews for long-term shooting in complex environments.

And it has a major drawback: it cannot meet the requirements of cinematic image stabilization, resulting in severe image shaking, and is only suitable for distant scenes.

Currently, the mainstream choice for aerial photography in the film and television industry is still to modify helicopters and equip them with gyroscope gimbals.

Zhang Qi wasn't sure if the modified "Blade" drone had solved the image stabilization problem, but according to the parameters, it clearly solved the problems of battery life, wind resistance, and load capacity.

Without considering image stabilization, it can meet the needs of film and television crews for shooting in long periods of time and in complex environments.

In the past month, Zhang Qi has become familiar with the filming plan for "A Bite of China".

The drones mainly filmed the transportation of matsutake mushrooms, including footage of a 5-minute journey covering 3 kilometers, to visually demonstrate how technology can shorten the time and space distance "from the forest to the table".

This is a long-range shot, so the image stabilization issue can be ignored.

For Zhang Qi, aerial photography was a very "new" experience - before this, it was almost impossible for a domestic documentary to use a helicopter to film the transportation of matsutake mushrooms for a food documentary.

Therefore, Zhang Qi believes that this "technology demonstration" will be absolutely surprising and shocking when the documentary airs.

At 3 a.m., Cao Yang led a large group of people, set up cameras, and followed the protagonists of this episode on matsutake mushrooms. A mother and daughter from the village hiked 20 kilometers into the primeval forest to film their "daily routine" of picking matsutake mushrooms.

While documentaries record reality, depicting past events is also a form of documentary.

Obviously, the film crew couldn't possibly have actually followed the mother and daughter on a 20-kilometer hike. They would have waited until they had filmed enough footage... then gotten in the car and drove them to their destination for the day.

Of course, the so-called destination was a place that had been scouted in advance. With dozens of people in the crew and so much equipment, it was impossible for them to really follow the mother and daughter aimlessly in the primeval forest looking for matsutake mushrooms.

While filming, Cao Yang emphasized to the crew, especially the episode directors, that "A Bite of China" is different from traditional documentaries. It uses people like this mother and daughter as the core of the narrative, connecting the entire chain of collection, grading, and trading.

After finding the matsutake mushrooms, a macro lens was used to record the detailed actions of clearing away the humus and gently lifting the stem, highlighting the preciousness of this "elf-like food".

It will also use underwater lenses to showcase the symbiotic relationship between matsutake mushrooms and pine tree roots, and use time-lapse photography to record the mycelial growth process, achieving a combination of scientific and artistic goals.

Director Cao also specially filmed traditional rules such as "collecting large ones and leaving small ones" and "backfilling mycelium" with his camera, and also made close-up shots of the details of "covering with pine needles to protect the mycelium".

He also emphasized to the crew that the cultural metaphors must be well done, using the detail of "covering pine needles to protect mycelium" to metaphorically represent the spirit of harmonious coexistence between humans and nature in a sustainable development model of "taking one and leaving one".

This is also an extremely important point about "A Bite of China".

The filming process of matsutake mushrooms allowed the crew and episode directors to gain a general understanding of the purpose of filming, the main and secondary focuses, and the importance of human interest.

Afterwards, Cao Yang took the crew to Nuodeng, which is also in southern Yunnan, specifically Yunlong County in Dali Prefecture. This time, they were filming Nuodeng's ham.

Before filming the Nuodeng ham, Cao Yang emphasized two words to the crew: "millennial salt well" and "the sedimentation of time".

With these two words in mind, each episode director had their own guesses and ideas based on Cao Yang's filming of matsutake mushrooms.

This was Cao Yang's deliberate guidance; only in this way could the episode directors ensure that what they produced in the future met his expectations and achieved consistency.

It's important to understand that both Ning Hao and Gu Changwei are very thoughtful people. They will definitely follow Cao Yang's instructions completely. However, having only a script and a plan doesn't guarantee that their filming ideas will align with Cao Yang's.

Only through such deliberate guidance could Cao Yang get them to film according to this line of thinking.

After filming bamboo shoots, lotus roots, and wild fish, Cao Yang specially reserved pickled bamboo shoots and South China Sea fish for Ning Hao and Gu Changwei to try filming.

While the two filmed in terms of technique and sequence, their ideas and humanistic narratives were consistent, although they differed somewhat from Cao Yang's expectations.

Cao Yang was relieved to have confidence in the two most insightful episode directors.

As for Cao Yang's other two regular team members, Liu Shan and Li Mingyi, based on Cao Yang's understanding of them, they don't have many ideas and will definitely complete the task meticulously according to Cao Yang's requirements.

Cao Yang also trusted Zhang Qi, who had just joined the team.

Any intelligent person would not show their individuality or opinions even when Cao Yang specifically emphasized it.

If you actually do that, you're not a smart person, but someone with low emotional intelligence who's just showing off.

After filming the first episode of "A Bite of China," titled "The Gift of Nature," the production team split into six parts.

Gu Changwei, Ning Hao, Liu Shan, Li Mingyi, and Zhang Qi each set off with a group of people and equipment to begin filming the tasks assigned to them by Cao Yang.

Among these groups, only Zhang Qi was a newcomer. Cao Yang was worried that things wouldn't run smoothly on his side—which was quite possible, as the photographers and many staff members were "veterans" who had worked with Cao Yang on numerous films.

These people may not be arrogant, but it's bound to make them somewhat unhappy that an "outsider" has suddenly become their commander.

When people are unhappy, it's easy to develop antagonistic feelings. Even though Zhang Qi is Lao Tian's student and a teacher at the Beijing Film Academy, he might not be able to win over those who follow Cao Yang.

This is human nature, and it's not necessarily intentional.

The other groups certainly won't have these problems.

Cao Yang must have specifically instructed the photographers and producers in this group, and he even specially selected the more honest photographers and producers to be assigned to Zhang Qi's group.

In addition, after these groups set off, Cao Yang called Cheng Jianye over and asked him to pay more attention to Zhang Qi's group, so that they wouldn't delay the filming schedule or even affect the filming quality because of some trivial matters.

Cheng Jianye's prestige is absolutely sufficient; even Ning Hao and Gu Changwei would give him face, let alone others.

(End of this chapter)