Huayu Entertainment: Tianxian really wants to improve

Chapter 8 Very cost-effective

"Bruce!"

Gu Bei turned his head and saw the driver of a small truck waving at him.

He nodded in response.

This pickup truck belongs to an equipment rental company.

The equipment he rented is now in the trunk, and it is not time to move it up yet.

According to the apartment management, the apartment will give them the required

They can only enter after 10 am and leave before 10 pm to avoid affecting the rest of the tenants here.

So this car can only wait here.

Gu Bei walked into the apartment.

These old-style houses all use wooden stairs, which make a creaking sound when you walk on them after they age.

He hadn't even reached the fifth floor when he heard a familiar voice.

"Antonio! You're here quite early. I didn't expect you could even get up in this state."

Gu Bei and Antonio bumped fists. He pointed at Antonio's permanent dark circles and couldn't help but tease him.

"I didn't sleep. I came here directly after the party."

Antonio handed over a plate of lozenges. "Want some? Caffeine lozenges, to perk you up!"

"I'm well rested!"

Gu Bei waved his hand and rejected Antonio's friendly proposal.

Although Antonio was addicted to partying all day long, he was still very decisive in doing things. He came early to open the door and oversee the preparations for him.

The most important thing is that this guy doesn't take drugs, which is great.

In fact, there were quite a few students who were willing to join the crew for free.

Until the last round, there were still Antonio and a Korean, and the Korean was even more capable.

But Antonio relied on not taking drugs and having a special skill to defeat the Koreans and be chosen by Gu Bei.

Gu Bei continued to walk inside. There were already quite a few people in the apartment.

"Director, what do you think of the color of this blood?" When the makeup artist Sally saw Gu Bei, she pulled him into the bedroom next door and checked the corpse makeup she was applying.

An elderly white man with gray hair sat in the bedroom.

He nodded slightly to Gu Bei.

I didn't dare to make any big movements, otherwise the "blood" on my face would flow down.

Gu Bei took a closer look and saw that the corpse makeup had already taken shape, with several nails stuck to the actor's temples, as if he had actually been shot by a nail gun.

"The bloodstain needs to be a little redder. The light will be darker later, and the color is hard to see now."

"Then I'll add some more ingredients!"

Sally applied a little more makeup to the actor, making the bloodstains more vivid in color, and the blood coagulation dark red, which looked very realistic.

Gu Bei looked for a while and left the bedroom with satisfaction.

"Eric!"

Gu Bei greeted Eric, the photographer in the living room.

"Bruce! I've read your book, it's very well written. When do you plan to film it?" Eric was very enthusiastic when he saw Gu Bei.

"I have to prove myself first, otherwise Hollywood film companies won't trust a 20-year-old Chinese director."

Gu Bei chose "The Fault in Our Stars" as his first book, and naturally did not intend to miss the movie of the same name.

It's one of those rare low-budget movies that didn't become a huge hit thanks to viral marketing.

"I believe you can do it. With your directing skills, you are more than capable of directing a feature film!" Eric and Gu Bei had already worked together for a day.

As the most experienced filmmaker in the crew, he is the one who best understands the value of Gu Beiman's directing skills.

That's why he was willing to work with Gu Bei at a weekly salary of $5,000. His weekly salary in a regular project was more than this price, not to mention bringing in two photographer assistants.

"I hope so!" Gu Bei looked at the layout of the living room. "There might not be enough space for your camera to shoot here. I've drawn a new layout and will rearrange it later."

"I read the email you sent me. Are you planning to use so many close-ups? Close-ups require very high levels of facial detail from the actors!" Eric expressed some concern.

"I have confidence in myself!"

Gu Bei is very confident in his max-level actor skills.

The most important thing in the entire short film "The Tuner" is the male lead's acting skills.

One of the main reasons why the original film used a lot of inner monologues was that the male protagonist was unable to impress the audience with his acting skills, so he had to use inner monologues to enhance his ability to render emotions.

Gu Bei turned to look at Eric and made a request: "You need to help me check the shots later. Antonio doesn't have that much experience."

Even though Antonio was the assistant director, it was Eric who called out "cut" for Gu Bei.

This is also the reason why Gu Bei spent one-third of the budget to hire Eric, a senior photographer in the industry.

In the film era, knowing what the shots you shot would look like when played back would stop 90% of directors and was the biggest hurdle to becoming a director.

Monitor?
This thing is expensive and not easy to use. At best, it can only help you check the composition.

As for details such as color and light, we still have to wait until the film is developed the next day and screened in the film room before we can truly confirm whether it is intact.

Four years later, this threshold basically no longer exists.

The legendary ARRI ALEXA was born, quickly bringing the film industry into the digital age.

What you see is what you get. Directing skills that used to take more than ten years to hone can now be accomplished using a small screen.

So, after 2010,
The average age of directors around the world is rapidly decreasing, and various cross-border directors are beginning to appear on the scene.

But it’s still 2006, and someone still needs to control the camera.

Senior assistant directors are too expensive, but Eric is very cost-effective!
"no problem!"

Eric nodded.

He had already done it in the cafe scene, and now he was just being a little more strict with the camera.

They waited until ten o'clock, when the apartment management would allow them to enter.

Antonio, along with two photography assistants, began to rearrange the apartment scene and went downstairs to move all the equipment up.

Gu Bei was having his makeup done by Sally.

The apartment scene is divided into two parts based on the blood, shots with blood and without blood.

Then the bloody shots are divided into two parts based on whether or not the actors are wearing clothes.

Among these three segments, the most difficult one is the part where the characters are not wearing clothes, which is located at the beginning and end of the short film.

Let's shoot this part today. If there are any problems, we can reshoot it tomorrow.

By the time Gu Bei finished putting on makeup, the room had been completely redecorated.

The sofa and piano were rearranged according to the layout diagram, and the table lamp and wall-mounted mirror bought by Gu Bei were also placed there.

"Action!"

Keep the first shot simple.

The murderer old woman actress replaced Gu Bei, sat in front of the piano, and played the piano skillfully.

The piano lid was opened, and the assistant photographer held up the camera and filmed the hammers jumping inside the opened piano.

(End of this chapter)