Who are you calling "little fresh meat"? I'm the king.

Chapter 642 Golden Globe Award Nomination for Best Director (24)

The most difficult parts of filmmaking are scenes with children and animals…

Because the shooting effect is uncontrollable!
This leads to an uncontrollable shooting schedule and costs. For filmmaking, an uncontrolled schedule and costs are the most terrifying things, bar none.

Besides acting, the most important requirement for film actors is their sense of position, that is, their positional relationship with the corresponding environment, people, and camera when they are being filmed.

Otherwise, the director will be busy making you perform in your assigned position.

Children and animals are unfamiliar with this so-called sense of place.

Many professional actors don't necessarily do it well, let alone children!

Another issue is that the children over-perform.

The visuals required a natural feel; as soon as the child came on stage and heard the director say "action," his face lit up with an expression as if he had been injected with adrenaline, as if he were reciting poetry.

The results of it?
That's terrible!

So now, for films with a decent budget, animals and children are all done with CG if possible!
Ang Lee's "Life of Pi" is a typical example. Apart from the children (who are actually almost adult actors), everything else is done by CG!

Jon Favreau's *The Jungle Book* also features CG effects...

"Major Life Events" can't be done with CG...

That means creators need to understand children's thinking!

What is children's thinking?

For example, if a child is in a situation where a stranger tries to drag them away, what lines would they say?
Help?

No, this is a very typical case of applying adult thinking to children.

Most of the time, he'll call out "Mommy" or "I don't know you!"

He called for his mother because he was scared, so he called for his mother instinctively.

He shouted "I don't know you," most likely because his mother taught him "Don't go with strangers." In his world, only people he knows would pull him away. This is a crucial condition.

So, subconsciously, he thought, 'I don't know you, so I can't go with you, and you should let me go.'

This makes sense in his logic!
Within his limited understanding, he possesses his own perfect logic, so some lines need to be adapted to suit Wang Shengdi's perception...

Young children have a hard time controlling themselves; when they're tired, they want to sleep, and if you let them pat you, they'll cry…

Fortunately, Wang Shengdi is the only young actor in the entire crew for now, and Shen Yan and Han Yan are very patient with him…

If there were more of these, I can't even imagine what would happen—with so many children, it's easy for one to start crying and the others to follow suit!
Moreover, children's emotions are very direct...

She'll take it seriously!

During a rehearsal, Shen Yan had to yell at the young actress because of the plot, which scared her so much that she cried. Even after filming the scene, the little girl was still frightened…

At this point, Shen Yan needs to squat down and apologize; he has to appease her.

Of course, many times, Grandma had to step in and give Shen Yan a good beating... and then Wang Shengdi would be happy!

Oh, and the actress playing Xiaowen's grandmother, Shen Yan, was actually his own grandmother…

She has very few scenes; her main role is to take care of Shen Yan.

Grandpa is here too, playing Old Liu, the old man who spent 300,000 yuan on his own funeral!
Compared to Grandma, Grandpa's schedule was a bit tight, so he only gave the crew a week—he had to rush back to Hengdian to film "The New Dragon Crossing the River," a period martial arts drama directed by my second uncle…

He really didn't want to act in those anti-Japanese war dramas anymore; he was sick of them...

It just so happened that my second uncle had taken on a role in a production by Yongle Film & Television.

Recently, a film crew wanted to cast him in an online movie.

Shen Yan told him not to accept the role, not because he looked down on it, but because filming online movies was too arduous. Basically, one movie had to be filmed every week to two weeks, with staff working twelve hours a day and actors working ten hours a day... He was already over seventy!

Why bother making online movies? It's not like I'm starving, and I don't want to become famous... Why work so hard?

……

On December 26th, during filming for the drama "Major Events in Life," Shen Yan filmed a fight scene with Li Xian…

It wasn't really an action scene; Mo Sanmei got beaten up the whole time!
Li Xian plays Lao Liu, Mo Sanmei's rival in love...

Oh, the actor playing Xi Xi is Chen Yao…

Xi Xi is the villain. Her excuse for cheating is "you're too immature to give me a home." Then she finds Lao Liu, gets her pregnant, and Lao Liu drives drunk. Drunk driving is one thing, but he also drives the wrong way, and then he causes an accident. And to make matters worse, he's fully responsible, leaving her, heavily pregnant, to pay all her money in compensation...

This can be considered a form of retribution!
This part of the story is mainly to develop the third sister's character—soft-hearted and kind…

What was supposed to be a simple action scene turned out to be incredibly fast-paced. Li Xian was no match for him, neither in strength nor in technique…

It took three takes before it was finally considered good!
After filming wrapped, Shen Yan hurriedly asked Li Xian, "Are you alright?"

"...I'm fine...I just twisted my arm..."

Shen Yan immediately apologized: "I'm sorry..."

Han Yan also came over: "Brother Yan, didn't you say you didn't know martial arts?"

"I couldn't help it, I've been undergoing martial arts training lately... I've developed physical memory for it... When Li Xian grabbed my neck, I couldn't help it..."

"...Martial arts training? You're going to film action scenes?"

"Both of the next films will have action scenes!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Chen Xu ran over: "Brother Yan!"

"What's wrong? Why are you so jumpy... Calm down!"

"Burning received two Golden Globe nominations: Best Foreign Language Film and Best Director!"

"...Best Director?" Shen Yan asked in surprise, "Are you sure?"

"it is true!"

Chen Xu directly accessed the news on his phone…

"I'll call and ask!"

Shen Yan immediately took the phone and dialed David Fenkel's number. The latter was also surprised: "We originally thought we wouldn't get a Best Director nomination... I don't know what the Foreign Press Association was thinking, they ultimately eliminated 'Selma' and gave it to us!"

"Selma," also a major contender in this year's awards season, tells the story of Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1965 "March from Selma to Montgomery"...

The production company is Brad Pitt's Plan B...

Take last year's "12 Years a Slave" as an example; it's a movie specifically made for the Oscars!
Hoping to boost their international profile with the Oscars.

Before winning an Oscar, "12 Years a Slave" had only $70 million in overseas box office revenue. After winning the Oscar, its overseas box office revenue surged by 175%, ultimately reaching $1.35 million... "Selma" fared even worse, with only a little over $10 million in overseas box office revenue so far...

Perhaps the purpose was too clear.

Then the Hollywood Foreign Press Association objected!

The nomination was given to... Shen Yan!

"That doesn't mean it has to be given to me, does it?"

David Fenkel chuckled: "The HFPA (Hollywood Foreign Press Association) only has a maximum of 90 members, so it's easy to do public relations with them. Besides, if they want to increase their international influence, nominating a Chinese-language film is the easiest way!"

(End of this chapter)