This director loves making friends.

When it comes to the behind-the-scenes staff of a film, besides the director, many people might subconsciously think that the cinematographer is the most important.

The photographer is very important, but there is another position that is just as important as the photographer: the art director.

The art director will be deeply involved from the preparation stage.

He was responsible for coordinating set construction, prop design, costume and makeup styling, determining the overall aesthetic style and color tone of the film, and transforming the abstract story background in the script into a physical space that could be filmed.

Simply put, the art director sets the visual style and tone for the entire film.

Within this overarching framework, the cinematographer will design shots, compose compositions, and determine the film's lighting and visual quality.

Qin Keqing didn't want to skimp on art direction and cinematographer.

Moreover, despite the current booming development of Hong Kong cinema, with ever-increasing production costs and rising actor salaries, the behind-the-scenes staff are not making much money.

Most behind-the-scenes staff are currently paid salaries, similar to those of ordinary white-collar workers. Only senior photographers and art directors can earn a monthly salary between 2.5 and 3.5 yuan.

Since "A Sweet Life" was invested in by Win's Entertainment, if Qin Keqing were to hire staff from Win's Entertainment, she would only need to pay Win's Entertainment wages based on the length of their work.

Qin Keqing could find ordinary staff from Yongsheng, but for photographers and art directors, she already had targets in mind.

Qin Keqing invited Zhang Shuping to serve as the art director. He had just finished serving as the art director for "The Eagle Shooting Heroes: East Meets West" and happened to be available.

Zhang Shuping has been an art director for ten years. She is versatile and can handle both period and modern dramas. She can do any style and do it very well.

He has won the Hong Kong Film Awards for Best Art Direction twice and is one of the most well-known art directors in Hong Kong.

However, both of these Best Art Direction awards were for collaborations with Wong Kar-wai: one for As Tears Go By and the other for Days of Being Wild.

As an art director, he has collaborated on even more commercial films, such as "Old Time Buddy", "Aces Go Places", "The New Legend of Zu", "Armour of Gods", "A Chinese Ghost Story II", "New Dragon Gate Inn", and so on.

An art director like Zhang Shuping can be hired for just 8 yuan.

Qin Keqing hired Liu Weiqiang as the cinematographer, the same person who later became a director and directed films such as the "Young and Dangerous" series, the "Infernal Affairs" series, "The Founding of an Army," and "The Captain."

Liu Weiqiang started his career as a photographer and has been doing so for over ten years. He has worked as a cameraman on films such as "City on Fire," "As Tears Go By," "The Adventurers," and "Lee Rock."

Qin Keqing invited Zhang Shuping and Liu Weiqiang because both of them were capable of making art films and commercial films, and both had classic works.

Since "A Bittersweet Life" aims to compete in the top three European films, it will definitely need to go all out in terms of production quality, which won't cost much more.

Qin Keqing also sighed, saying that this is the good thing about Hong Kong filmmakers: they treat filmmaking as a job and won't refuse to invite you just because you're a new director.

As long as you pay them and they happen to be available, then everything is fine.

I don't care how well your movie is made or whether it will be released.

If this were in mainland China, if a newcomer wanted to invite top-notch art directors and cinematographers, they might not necessarily agree. Their first consideration would be whether taking the job would damage their reputation if the film flopped.

Some even look down on new directors and commercial films.

This was the case at least until 2000.

This is also why Qin Keqing didn't want to cause trouble for himself and instead sought help from people in mainland China.

"I wanted to break free from the rough realism of traditional Hong Kong gangster films and achieve a unique style that deeply blends violent aesthetics with Eastern poetic beauty."

Qin Keqing first set the tone for the film.

Before filming begins, the director needs to meet with the art director and cinematographer to let them know what style the film wants, what kind of film it wants to be made into, and what purpose it wants to achieve.

This way, they can determine the overall style of the film and design shooting shots according to the director's requirements.

Zhang Shuping and Liu Weiqiang nodded without saying anything. This was just setting the tone; it was still too general. They waited for the director to provide further explanation.

"I want to use symbolic design that tells a story through color."

As Qin Keqing spoke, he wrote and explained on the movable whiteboard in the conference room: "...a closed-loop color logic of 'white-black-red' was constructed."

White represents the blank life of the protagonist before he entered the underworld, and the low-saturation bright tones of the picture show his original pure state.

The dark tone runs throughout the film, matching the ruthless nature of the gangster world and reflecting the repressed state of the protagonist's five years in the underworld.

The color red appears prominently in the revenge section, foreshadowing the outbreak of violent conflict and providing a visual implication of a bloody revenge.

Zhang Shuping straightened his posture a bit and asked, "Using low-saturation, cool tones to create a repressive atmosphere, and then unleashing a concentrated burst of high-saturation red in the revenge section, to subtly reflect the character's fate from restraint to loss of control through color changes?"

"Yes."

Qin Keqing said with a smile, "I want to use the gradation of colors to describe the development of the story and the fate of the characters."

"Doing this will increase preparation time and filming preparation time, and the audience may not notice these changes when the film is released."

Liu Weiqiang said something.

He was subtly reminding Qin Keqing that doing this in a commercial film might be a waste of time and energy. This already falls under the level of detail control required for art films, and commercial films don't need to do this.

"The pacing of 'A Bittersweet Life' is a bit fast, but the content can still be considered an art film."

Qin Keqing reminded him.

Liu Weiqiang thought about it and realized that although the movie was a revenge story, it could also be interpreted in terms of human nature.

There isn't really a fixed boundary between commercial films and art films; it all depends on how you interpret them.

"When 'A Bittersweet Life' was released in Hong Kong, it was a commercial film. But if it went to a European film festival, it would be considered an art film."

Liu Weiqiang nodded, indicating that he understood. "You're the director, so say whatever you want."

"Then we'll use slow-motion long takes to create an Eastern poetic atmosphere, use slightly out-of-focus subjective perspective shots to convey hidden emotions, and combine them with a lot of macro close-ups to capture details, directly visualizing the abstract psychology of the characters."

"Can."

Qin Keqing and Liu Weiqiang smiled and nodded in agreement: "In addition, the handheld camera was used to record the entire close combat, without deliberately glorifying the violence. The shaky camera work, which is almost documentary-style, restores the pain of the fight, making the footage more impactful."

……

After the meeting, Zhang Shuping and Liu Weiqiang's impression of Qin Keqing changed drastically.

To be honest, neither Zhang Shuping nor Liu Weiqiang initially had any special feelings towards Qin Keqing; they just thought it was an ordinary job.

Who cares who the director is? Let him do whatever he wants. Once the scheduled time is up, the money is in hand, and the job is done.

There was no disdain, no contempt.

It's just a job.

But now, they all feel that this young man from the mainland is thoughtful, creative, and truly capable.

However, these are not enough to prove that a good movie can be made.

Even so, they became more serious about their work.

After nearly three weeks of preparation, filming for "A Sweet Life" officially began.