Director of Photography Department of Huayu

Chapter 679 Leaving a Mark in Film History
A late autumn afternoon at the Beijing Film Academy.

Sunlight filters through the tall poplar trees, casting dappled shadows on the main road of the campus.

Students who had just finished class walked in twos and threes, carrying their books, chatting and laughing, towards the cafeteria or dormitory.

Meanwhile, a small "commotion" was unfolding downstairs in the photography department's teaching building.

Several boys were huffing and puffing as they carried stacks of brand-new textbooks, still smelling fresh from the ink, out of the equipment room.

"Holy crap! 'Contemporary Cinematography Art and Techniques' is so thick! It must have hundreds of pages, right?"

"It's over, it's over, this year is going to be a disaster! The exam scope will be as vast as the universe!"

"Hey, look at the cover! Besides 'Raise the Red Lantern' and 'The Lord of the Rings,' isn't there also Wu Chen's '1939'?"

Upon hearing this, everyone turned around and looked, and were all taken aback.

"Hey, it really is! Isn't this the movie poster for Wu Chen's '1939'?"

"Could it be that this movie incorporated our school's cinematography techniques?!"

"."

The group couldn't wait any longer and picked up the photos to examine them. The case study followed the color aesthetics of Zhang Yimou's photograph "Raise the Red Lantern."
"The Construction of an 'Immersive' War Scene: An Analysis of the Pseudo-Long Take Aesthetics in '1939'!"

"Holy crap! So that's how it's filmed."

"I've learned something new. No wonder teachers are revising the textbooks today; they can even do this pseudo-one-shot technique."

"Awesome!"

"."

This discovery, like a pebble thrown into a calm lake, instantly created ripples.

Soon after the books were moved to the classroom, the students crowded around, eagerly passing the brand-new textbook around.

It's worth noting that this book, "Contemporary Cinematography Art and Techniques," is the authoritative textbook for cinematography majors in all film schools in China.

The book covers a wide range of technical styles, from classic Hollywood lighting to handheld shooting in the French New Wave, and to contemporary digital photography.

In previous versions, the deep-focus photography of Citizen Kane was included as a classic case study.

Digital intermediate color grading for The Lord of the Rings;
There is also Zhang Yimou's extreme use of color in "Raise the Red Lantern" and "Hero".

Each one is a classic worthy of being remembered in film history.

And now, Wu Chen and his "1939" are also prominently featured.

When the students turned to that chapter, they saw that the book pages contained a detailed analysis, in an extremely professional style, of the several "pseudo-one-shot" scenes in "1939" that lasted more than ten minutes and involved traversing trenches.

From the camera's motion trajectory diagram to the specific location of the hidden edit points;
From the techniques of using explosion flashes and smoke to adjust the lighting ratio on set, to the precise coordination between the photographer, actors, pyrotechnics, art department, and other departments, it's like working on a precision instrument.

Every detail was analyzed thoroughly by the professors in the photography department.

Soon, news spread like wildfire that the Cinematography Department of the Beijing Film Academy had included Wu Chen's films in the latest edition of its core teaching materials for analysis and study.
A photo taken by a student, which includes the textbook cover and a chapter from "1939," was posted on Weibo.

In just one hour, the photo was shared tens of thousands of times.

A professional media outlet with close ties to the film academy was the first to conduct an in-depth report on the matter.

[Beijing Film Academy Updates Core Textbooks! Wu Chen's "1939" Becomes the Latest Teaching Case in the Cinematography Department!] This report immediately sparked huge controversy online.

Some netizens and movie fans naturally felt proud and were very excited.

"1939! It's going straight into the textbook?"

"Damn, that's awesome, Wu Chen. I remember this book is only updated once every few years at the Film Academy. It seems that the pseudo-one-shot technique of '1939' has really impressed the cinematography department."

However, at the same time, another group of voices of doubt and opposition naturally followed.

"Isn't it a bit too early? Wu Chen is impressive, but he's still young. There's no need to rush things."

"To include a single film directly in textbooks and place it alongside cinematic classics seems a bit like overpraising it to the point of harming it,"

"Heh, to put it bluntly, it's just because Wu Chen is one of the film academy's own people, a graduate of the cinematography department. This is clearly the school trying to embellish its own image and give preferential treatment!"

"."

Many directors in the industry are somewhat envious, after all, this is very different from awards. Getting into a cinematography textbook is much harder than winning an award.

Over the years, the cases being analyzed have remained the same, unless new classics emerge.

Although they acknowledge the pseudo-one-shot technique used in "1939," it's not exactly comfortable to include it in the case so abruptly.
Feng Xiaogang was at home cursing and swearing.

"What the hell? This is in textbooks? Was my 'Assembly' bad back in the day? Damn it, these academics are just building walls around themselves."

Lu Xun was furious; his face turned as black as charcoal in the eyes of everyone on set, making it look like he had lost a loved one.
Just then, the official Weibo account of the Golden Rooster Awards seized the opportunity to retweet a film critic's post amidst the controversy, adding a "thinking" emoji.

The film critic wrote sarcastically:
"Academic discussions are perfectly acceptable. But the true value of a film must ultimately be tested by both time and the market, rather than being judged by a few 'internal textbooks'."

This veiled criticism immediately complicated the political climate within the industry.

Liu Yifei was angrily looking at the comments online, about to tell Wu Chen, but stopped abruptly when she saw that Wu Chen had already made the call.

"Well, were you surprised?"

Mu Deyuan smiled upon hearing Wu Chen's greeting.

"That's true to some extent," Wu Chen said frankly. "I was thinking that this matter would take at least a few more years."

Hearing Wu Chen's confident reply, Mu Deyuan couldn't help but burst into laughter: "You, you, are still so confident!"

However, this decision wasn't made by us.

"Ok?"

Last year, the school held academic exchange and sharing sessions with USC, NYU, the Paris National School of Imaging and Sound in France, and the London Film Academy in the UK.

One of the key points of our discussion and sharing at the time was your book, "1939".

Putting everything else aside, your use of 'pseudo-long takes' in this film is indeed one of the most valuable examples of cinematography worldwide in recent years.

I reckon we're not the only ones adjusting our textbooks. So don't worry, those rumors won't have any real impact.

"What are they saying? What are they saying?" Wu Chen was taken aback when he heard this.

"Didn't you see the news?"

Mu Deyuan was also surprised that his student had such a big heart.
(End of this chapter)