Huayu 1999: Starting with nothing but getting something for nothing

Yang Che was momentarily dazed, but seeing the other person's warm and open manner made him feel ashamed of himself. However, he was about to go to the editing room of Beijing Film Academy, where someone was already waiting.

However, when Zhu Ling got off the bus, Yang Che said with a smile, "The music has ended and the person is gone, only green peaks remain on the river (1). For the sake of your goddess image in my heart, I will not go up."

Zhu Ling was taken aback, then chuckled and shook her head, said goodbye and got out of the car.

Afterwards, she stood by the roadside watching Yang Che's car drive away, letting out a long sigh of relief, feeling somewhat relaxed, somewhat moved, and somewhat wistful.

After all, being admired by such a talented young man is bound to make one feel a little overwhelmed.

It's no wonder Zhu Ling overthinks things; there are just too many factors at play: "longing in her heart," "a girlfriend who looks like her," the bouquet of flowers, and just now, "the music ended but the person was gone."

Zhu Ling wouldn't think much of it if she took out one or two or three.

Once the car had disappeared from sight, Zhu Ling smiled gently, sniffed the bouquet, and then strode home.

Yang Che was also lost in thought for a while, but only for a while, because his phone rang.

"Hello, who is this?"

"Hello Producer Yang, I'm Yu Dong, I work in film distribution."

Yang Che raised an eyebrow, his tone suddenly realizing, "I've heard so much about you. Director Li from the Shanxi Provincial Film Studio told me about you and was thinking of visiting you sometime soon, haha."

"You're too kind. I should be the one visiting you. Do you have time tonight?"

"Yes, but I'll have to trouble you to come to the Beijing Film Studio. I'll treat you to dinner, and we can talk while we eat."

"What a coincidence, I'm right here at the Beijing Film Studio."

They agreed to meet half an hour later.

After hanging up the phone, Yang Che was already thinking about the specific release strategy. He also had to drive and watch the road. The slight melancholy brought by the Queen of the Women's Kingdom naturally disappeared without a trace.

Yu Dong was also very happy. The reason he initially paid attention to Yang Che was because of "My Sassy Girl".

Entertainment Live reported on it four times in two weeks, making it hard to miss. The reports also included key points such as "box office betting agreement", "funny behind-the-scenes footage", "onlookers cheering", and "Fan Bingbing's contract termination incident". Due to his sensitivity to media, Yu Dong easily guessed that this was a planned and organized film promotion campaign.

Through a check of the records, it was learned that the film was produced by the Shanxi Provincial Film Studio. The director, Li Shuihe, was then contacted, and from Li Shuihe, Yang Che was learned about. Director Li said that Yang Che was mature beyond his years and had great strategic acumen.

He also learned that Director Li had recommended him to Yu Dong, and Yu Dong promptly contacted him. He had a premonition that Yang Che, a man of great talent and maturity beyond his years, could be of great help to him.

.........

The editor of "My Sassy Girl" is Yang Hongyu, an editor at Beijing Film Studio. She had only edited one film independently before, "Spicy Love Soup".

Finding an editor was quite a complicated process. Initially, Cheng Er wanted to find Zhou Ying, who had edited "In the Heat of the Sun" and "The Dream Factory," but she turned out to be pregnant.

Zhou Ying recommended her junior colleague Kong Jinlei, who is quite capable. I just called her, and she said she had just hung up on Lu Xuechang and started working on "A Very Summer." She truly lives up to her reputation as the busiest editor at Beijing Film Studio. I thought she was editing Jia Zhangke's "Platform," but actually she's already finished editing Teng Wenji's "Spring Rhapsody."

Then Kong Jinlei recommended her junior colleague Yang Hongyu.

Well... they're all women, and their mentor is also a woman named Zhou Xinxia, ​​the head editor at Beijing Film Studio.

It's not that Zhou Xinxia is sexist and only recruits women as apprentices, but rather that women are more meticulous, patient, and focused, especially since patience is very important.

After all, many directors are a bit neurotic, and patience can prevent editors from shoving their scissors in the wrong direction...

Uh... okay, now we have an editor, no need for scissors anymore.

But editing still requires cutting the film and then gluing it back together. This involves thinning both ends of the cut film by half and then gluing them together with quick-drying glue. Although it's supposed to be quick-drying, you still have to wait at least half a minute before you can continue. So, if you're not patient or careful, you really can't do this job.

By the way, the rough cut doesn't use the original film (the original negative) from the shooting; instead, it uses a working copy, which is a positive copy made in the developing room. The original negatives from the shooting are sent to the developing room every day for processing and preservation, which is called film developing.

Once the overall editing effect of the working copy has been reviewed and confirmed to be correct (i.e., final cut), the original negatives, or "set of films," will be cut.

Then comes printing, color matching, audio-visual compositing, printing, and finally printing copies.

..........

While many excellent editors are women, the most outstanding editors today are still men, such as: Cheung Suk-ping, Kwong Chi-leung, Xi Jiewei, and Tam Ka-ming.

These four people have something in common: they all worked as editors for Wong Kar-wai.

Therefore, it's the most awesome.

Don't rush, my friend. Isn't an editor who can cut a storyline out of "millions of shots" without breaking down the most amazing editor?

Of course, millions of shots is an exaggeration. After all, a 90-minute film usually has between 600 and 1000 shots. Even if Wong Kar-wai discards a lot of shots, like a documentary or experimental film with a large fluctuation in the number of shots, it would still only be around 10000 shots.

How many shots were there in "My Sassy Girl" when 85% of the scenes were filmed? Including those that were "reserved for one take" and those that were scrapped, there were a total of 315 shots.

So when Yang Che arrived at the Beijing Film Studio and walked with Cheng Er to the door of the editing room, they heard a chorus of surprised chatter.

"I thought it was just a shoddy job? I never expected it to be this well-done. Hongyu, this job was a breeze for you!"

"That's right. Even if there are action scenes later on, this 110-minute movie has less than 400 shots..."

"I heard Wu Shih-hsien say that their screenwriters seem to have read through countless scripts..."

At this moment, a mature voice rang out: "The simplicity of the setting is also one of the reasons. You see, detention centers, hotels, subways, restaurants, and cafes appear repeatedly."

At that moment, a surprised voice rang out: "Is this supposed to be a dream? The scenes keep recurring, and the lighting is so dreamlike."

"Don't even mention it, there's also this carousel."

"......."

It was obvious they were watching a small lightbox screen.

Yang Che and Cheng Er's lips twitched. No wonder they said that the moment a work is completed, it no longer belongs to the creator.

The setting is simple, isn't that because they're poor? After all, the characters in the film are college students, and the people outside the film are also a group of college students.

If it weren't for the need to avoid looking cheap, they wouldn't even bother filming fight scenes; they could just draw rage comics, which would be just as hilarious...

Note 1: Excerpted from Qian Qi's "Provincial Examination: Xiangling Plays the Zither": When the music ended, the person playing the zither quietly disappeared, leaving only the green peaks standing on the river.