Director of Photography Department of Huayu

Chapter 42 The day everyone gathers again will be a grand ceremony

A week before filming started, Beijing Film Academy had not yet started school, but as a film and television academy, nearly half of the students returned one after another.

Wu Chen serves as director, producer and photographer, and occasionally has to act as a lighting technician, keeping him very busy.

Venue, costumes, props, equipment, personnel - although most of these trivial matters were prepared before the holiday, the implementation was still a drudgery of piling up details.

"Huh! I've never been this tired in my previous life."

Wu Chen wiped his forehead. It was such a cold day, but he was sweating all over.

"Brother Chen, we have made the contact." Park Songri and the other two arrived two days ago and took over the simple task of contacting people. They ran around and finally shared some of Wu Chen's pressure.

Wu Chen slumped down in his chair and breathed a sigh of relief: "Okay, we'll officially start filming the day after tomorrow."

"The Dark Side" has a small crew of less than 20 people, and the early preparations are time-consuming, laborious and stressful. Of course, the main reason is that Wu Chen has too many concurrent positions.

But his crew is small, he doesn't have to take on multiple roles, and he doesn't have extra money to hire someone to replace him.

Just like Ning Hao's "Incense", Ning Hao basically took charge of it from beginning to end, and the others only did auxiliary work.

"Brother Chen, did you really rent that treasure from our college?" Park Songri's eyes flashed with a fiery light at this moment, as if he thought of some rare treasure.

"No!" Wu Chen said lightly.

Park Song-il and the other two were a little discouraged when they heard this. Just as they were about to say something, Wu Chen chuckled and said, "The two cameras at the academy still need to be used for teaching. I rented the ARRI from Qingying Studio. When we start filming, I'll let you touch it and try it out."

The three of them were suddenly extremely excited.

The Arriflex 35BL IV-S is a truly remarkable camera of its time, a true masterpiece and the dream camera of photography professionals.

On February 6, the 2th day of the first lunar month, in the MY district of Beijing, it will be cloudy to overcast.

The sky was gray and oppressive, like a heavy curtain, hanging low but not dull, instead revealing a tension ready to explode.

More than 20 people from the "Dark Side" crew have gathered at the door of the rented villa. Park Song-il and the other two even made a small banner to celebrate the start of filming.

He was the director and cinematographer himself, and the assistant director position was left vacant;

The lighting engineer and the sound engineer each called a junior from school to come and practice, and their skills were solid but a little green;
There are two people in the script supervisor and props team, and the three funny people who run errands and do odd jobs are Xiang Zhuo, Park Songri, and Chu Tianshu.

Of course, Wu Chen had no intention of letting go of such an important matter as lighting. He had to adjust it himself in the early stages. As his future assistant, Park Song-il naturally had to follow and learn more.

There are five actors, Zu Feng, Hu Jing, Dong Xuan, Zhou Yiwei and Zhou Yang.

However, Wu Chen arranged the scenes of supporting roles such as Zhou Yiwei and Zhou Yang in the last half month. Currently, only the scenes of the three protagonists in the villa are being filmed, mainly due to weather considerations, and of course the most important thing is to save costs.

Shooting according to the script sequence is something that only a very wealthy and powerful crew would do.

Two people also came from the atmosphere group, Dong Xuan’s two roommates, Guan Yue and Yin Xu.

Wu Chen glanced at the current personnel distribution. Well, even when he was at his lowest point, the opening ceremony he participated in was never so shabby.

However, it was this shabby crew that made him most excited - he used to envy the director who stood in the center and was the center of attention, and now he was finally among them.

"Teacher, aren't you coming to attend our opening ceremony?" Seeing that the auspicious time was approaching, Park Songri couldn't help but glance and asked.

"The teacher might not arrive until this afternoon," Wu Chen replied with a smile, then shouted to everyone, "Let's get started and prepare for the opening ceremony!"

"Director, do you want to burn some incense and offer your respects?" Guan Yue shouted in the crowd.

Dong Xuan and Hu Jing's eyes flashed. They had been on set before and knew that many directors loved this approach. Wu Chen waved his hand: "It's better to rely on yourself than on heaven or earth. Forget this."

Then he looked at the front of the villa, where there was no one else except the crew, and laughed out loud:

"Today's opening ceremony was very simple, well, not even a single media member showed up.

But we will definitely have the opportunity to get together again in the future, and then we can hold a grand opening ceremony to make up for today's regrets. Don't be dazzled by the media for the time being."

"Good!" Everyone applauded, their eyes fixed on this young man who was only twenty years old.

Dong Xuan and Hu Jing stared at Wu Chen.

This wasn't some grandiose statement; they had seen many directors say such bold words at the opening ceremony.
However, the confidence that Wu Chen exuded from the bottom of his heart and the sharpness in his eyes made them feel the infinite possibilities that lay within.

"Good luck with the boot!"

"Good luck with the start-up."

"Come and take a group photo. I'll take a few good ones for you. Maybe we can use them for publicity later." Guan Yue and Yin Xu stood up, gestured with their hands for everyone to stand, and took a few quick photos.

"Director Wu, please stand still for a moment. I want to take a picture of you, too." Just as Guan Yue and the other girl finished filming, Zhou Yang stepped out and said with a smile, "Xixi, let me take a picture of you turning on the camera."

"Okay." Wu Chen nodded with a smile.

After the filming, the shooting officially started and Wu Chen immediately began to direct.

"A fixed camera was set up on tracks to shoot long shots of the actors' conversations in the living room."

"A tripod camera was set up at the corner of the stairs on the third floor, using the villa's high ceiling structure to create an oppressive atmosphere."

“Place a low-wattage warm light behind the sofa to highlight the character’s outlines and contrast with the cool surroundings.”

"A small LED light strip is hidden inside the stair handrail to enhance the sense of layering of the scene"

"."

Everyone originally thought that Wu Chen would be flustered, but unexpectedly, Wu Chen's simple sentences for each item were clear and logical, and he even explained the reasons thoroughly, which was impeccable.

The twenty or so people in the crew were busy but not chaotic. The equipment was set up, the lights were tested, and the air began to be filled with the faint smell of film camera oil.

The five actors were reading the script together. Although Zhou Yang and Zhou Yiwei's roles were scheduled for the end, everyone was there, and Wu Chen also let them feel the atmosphere of the script reading.

The two members of the atmosphere group were the most relaxed at this time.

"Oh my god, Xuxu, have you noticed that Junior Brother Wu Chen is particularly handsome today? I felt it when we turned on the camera just now, and he looks even more handsome now." Guan Yue stood aside, a hint of surprise flashing in her beautiful eyes.

"I feel it. They say serious men are particularly attractive, and it's true!" Yin Xu exclaimed, "It's a pity that I don't have the good fortune to enjoy it."

"You are also a great beauty, what are you afraid of?" Guan Yue asked puzzledly.

"Xuan'er isn't better than me? Xuan'er doesn't say anything, but Zhou Yang is prettier than me, isn't Hu Jing prettier than me? And when filming started, didn't you hear there was also a sophomore named Liu Yifei? Even though she's not yet an adult, who among these people can I compare to?"

"Well, then Xuan'er will be under a lot of competitive pressure, right?" Guan Yue said worriedly.

"What are you talking about? It's hard to say for sure!" Yin Xu shook his head, looked at everyone busy, and said casually, "Director, do you want us to help?"

When Wu Chen heard this, he was so surprised that there was such a good thing that he said without hesitation, "Okay, two senior sisters, come and help me carry this."

(End of this chapter)