1990: Starting from Baojia Street

Most directors will definitely pay attention to the construction of the environment, but different directors attach different importance to it. Obviously, James Cameron is one of the directors who attaches great importance to this.

Zhou Yan stayed in the room for about half an hour before the director team arrived.

James was originally talking to a few assistant directors. After seeing Zhou Yan, he briefly said a few words to them and walked straight towards Zhou Yan.

"Y, I didn't expect you to be here. I know you must be very tired after rushing all the way here, so I specifically asked Bastian not to tell you that there was a shoot today."

James' words also cleared up Zhou Yan's doubts. He was just wondering why Bastian didn't tell him about today's filming when he came to see him last night.

However, James' performance once again surprised Zhou Yan. He did not expect that this tyrant in the crew actually had such a considerate side.

"I got up early in the morning and happened to meet Lori and the others, so I followed them here." Zhou Yan explained.

"How's the status?"

"not bad."

James nodded. "In that case, let's get down to work. If you need anything, just tell me. If you want to go around Dartmouth, I can arrange for someone to take you there. This is your first time in Dartmouth, right? The scenery here might give you some creative inspiration."

"Um……"

Zhou Yan just opened his mouth when he saw James suddenly narrow his eyes and look behind him with a sharp look.

Just when Zhou Yan was about to turn around to see what was going on behind him, he heard James shout, "Who hung the painting on the wall?"

Rod, another young man from the props team, ran over with a nervous look on his face, "It's me, Mr. Cameron."

James pointed to the picture frames hanging on the wall. "Then please tell me why there is a picture of Gloria on it."

Zhou Yan looked in the direction of James' finger and indeed saw a small photo in the corner. It was a photo of an old lady, who was Gloria, the actress who played the elderly Ruth.

This location is not very conspicuous and you can't find it at all if you don't look carefully.

Even this position may not be able to be included in the painting.

But even so, there's a little photo here that was discovered by James Cameron.

Rhodes quickly apologized, "Sorry, maybe I made a mistake. There are too many paintings on this wall..."

James interrupted his explanation. "Mistakes can be corrected, but there should be no excuses. Please replace the painting that should appear in that place within half an hour. I don't want your mistake to waste the precious time of all of us on site."

Rhodes was scolded so hard that he dared not breathe a word. He could only nod his head repeatedly and go to find the painting that was supposed to be placed there.

Zhou Yan witnessed everything from the side and couldn't help but sigh. He just wanted to say that James was quite gentle, but he didn't expect to be taught a lesson so soon.

In fact, Zhou Yan thought there was no big problem with the way James handled the matter just now. After all, the mistake was made by Rod, so it was natural for him to solve the problem.

However, James's attention to detail does put a lot of pressure on other crew members.

In fact, most people do not have James' unparalleled concentration.

Speaking of the photo, Zhou Yan also looked at the wall just now, but also didn't find any problems.

First of all, this photo is in a very remote location and is very small, so it is difficult to notice.

Secondly, this is the home of elderly Ruth, and the appearance of a photo does not seem to be something that cannot be explained.

But James Cameron was able to discover it, which shows that he not only has extraordinary insight, but also that the design of this room set may have come from him, or at least he was involved in the design process.

The other people at the scene were not affected by the incident. Everyone seemed to have become accustomed to this kind of thing. It shows that James Cameron is so strict in his daily life.

This was also the first time that Zhou Yan witnessed James Cameron's tyrannical style, but in fact, this was just the tip of the iceberg.

In the following half day, Zhou Yan could feel the high pressure on the set. James Cameron was in control of the whole scene like an octopus.

No matter how small the detail is, he might ask about it.

Originally, Zhou Yan thought that this scene was quite simple and could be completed in the morning, but what he didn't expect was that an entire morning had passed before he finished shooting one shot, and whether this shot could be used would have to wait until the afternoon to be confirmed.

Although the hotel is only a mile away and it takes less than ten minutes to drive there and back, the crew did not return to the hotel at noon, but instead had lunch at the filming location.

The crew's meals are outsourced, and at a certain time, the catering staff will deliver the food.

In order not to affect the interior layout, they all ate their meals in the open space outside the house.

There were no tables, chairs, or benches, nor were there any camping tablecloths. Everyone either ate in their cars or just sat on the ground at the door to eat.

James did not seek any privileges. He also sat on the floor with his lunch box and everyone else.

The quality of the meal package is actually quite good. In addition to some bread and sandwiches, there are also a variety of seafood.

Dartmouth is close to the sea, so it is easy to eat seafood.

Seafood doesn't require any special processing, it tastes good just how it is prepared.

However, among the entire crew, Zhou Yan was the only one who enjoyed the food the most. It seemed that the others were not very interested in the seafood.

Zhou Yan understood this, because it is difficult to change the meals every day, and it is likely that before he came, the crew members had been eating the same thing every day.

If you eat something every day, you will get tired of it. If he stays in the crew for a long time, he will definitely be like everyone else.

The lunch time was not long, less than an hour in total, and the afternoon shooting began soon.

From the afternoon until the sun went down, no one got a proper rest time. However, even though the work intensity was so high, the filming of the scenes here had not yet been completed.

However, because it was already dark, we couldn't continue filming here, so we had to pause and continue when we found time later.

Although the filming here was stopped, the crew did not stop. James waved his hand and everyone went to another filming location on the seaside - the research ship.

When Zhou Yan followed the group to the survey ship, he found that the preparations before filming had been almost completed. After everyone arrived at the place, they could start filming after a little preparation.

After arriving on the boat, Zhou Yan truly realized the high-pressure state of the crew. The intensity of the night scenes was simply incomparable to that of the daytime.

……

At eight o'clock the next morning, Zhou Yan was munching on a sandwich from the crew while looking at the scenery along the way through the car window.

It was a bright and gentle morning in Dartmouth, but Zhou Yan had no mood to feel it because he hadn't slept for twenty-five hours.

When Zhou Yan and Lori went to the set yesterday morning, they never imagined that they would be there for a whole day and night.

In fact, he was still okay. After all, he was just observing and learning from the side the whole time. There was no work for him to do, and at least he didn't consume too much physical energy.

But it was different for other people. Many of them had been busy all day and night and were so tired that they didn't want to talk at all.

On the way back in the car, many people had already fallen asleep with their eyes closed.

Sebadisian handed Zhou Yan a bottle of water, then sat down next to Zhou Yan. "How are you? Are you sleepy?"

"A little." Zhou Yan took the water with a smile, "Thank you." "Go back and get some rest quickly, there's another night show tonight."

Zhou Yan nodded, "It seems that your strength is indeed quite high."

"You'll get used to it. Normally, we work more than ninety hours a week."

Zhou Yan couldn't help but be shocked when he heard Sebatisian's words. More than ninety hours a week, that means working more than thirteen hours a day on average.

Time is secondary. Many factory workers work longer hours than this, and for years.

But everyone on the set was working under high pressure. When filming on the ship, James Cameron often stood on the crane with a high-decibel loudspeaker and yelled down at the people below. He looked like an overseer whipping forced labor.

Anyone who is lazy or does something wrong may be attacked by a high-decibel "war roar".

The crew members are all slaves.

Zhou Yan really admired James' fighting ability. This guy never rested from beginning to end and was very focused. Otherwise, he would not be able to always discover the mistakes made by the staff on site in time.

And he was yelling the whole time, which was very exhausting.

As expected, successful people all have extraordinary energy.

People used to say that Zhou Yan was energetic, but compared to James, he was still a little behind. It is estimated that only Zhang Yimou can compete with James in terms of energy, but the two have different styles on the scene, so it is difficult to compare.

"Well, after a day of shooting, how do you feel? Do you feel inspired to write some music?" Sebatisian asked with a smile.

Zhou Yan waved his hand and said simply, "No."

Sebadisian nodded, showing his understanding. "Yes, there are only two scenes, and they haven't been filmed yet. Generally speaking, the work schedule of composers is relatively later, but I heard from others that you always get to do the composing work in advance, so I am quite curious."

Zhou Yan finished the last bite of the sandwich, then unscrewed the bottle and took a sip of water. "Actually, after getting the script and storyboard, I can already start composing the soundtrack. Sometimes I even use the soundtrack to participate in the filming of the movie. But this doesn't seem to be applicable to James."

"Of course, he won't change his shooting ideas just for the music."

Sebastian was also a little tired. He leaned back in his chair and smiled, "Actually, I hope it's still the same budget as before. That way, everyone will be less stressed."

"The previous budget?" Zhou Yan asked curiously.

"Well, you may not know this, but at first, James just wanted to make a small-budget love movie. He wanted to prove to others that he was not only good at shooting blockbusters and spectacular scenes."

"Small production?" Zhou Yan was a little surprised. He didn't expect that James had such an idea before.

Zhou Yan was a little curious about what it would be like if James really made "Titanic" into a small-budget love movie.

"Yes, it's a small production, but guess how much it costs?" Sebatisian showed a sly smile in his eyes.

When Zhou Yan saw his expression, he knew that this so-called small production should not be too small.

"Thirty million US dollars?" Zhou Yan tried to guess.

A movie with a budget of 30 million US dollars cannot be considered a small production anywhere, but for James Cameron, it seems reasonable to call it a small production.

Sebadisian didn't keep the secret any longer and gave the answer directly, "No, his previous budget was 80 million US dollars."

Zhou Yan rolled his eyes and was completely speechless.

Although he was mentally prepared, he was still shocked by 80 million U.S. dollars.

Is it that he has no concept of money, or is it that James Cameron has no concept of money? Can a movie with a budget of 80 million not be considered a blockbuster?

However, 80 million US dollars is a small production, and James Cameron is the only one in the world who has made such a film.

"If it's 80 million US dollars, the scene will indeed be much smaller." Zhou Yan said.

“That way it will be a lot less stressful.”

Zhou Yan smiled. Sebaitisian was an assistant director, and he was always worried about things that only producers and directors would worry about. He had heard Sebaitisian say similar things more than once.

The two chatted for a few more words, and another assistant director, Christy Hills, also came over.

This was the first time Zhou Yan and Christie Hills met today. Because they were busy with filming today, the two hadn't spoken to each other.

At this moment, Christie came over and greeted Zhou Yan first, "Y, welcome to Dartmouth."

"This is assistant director Christie," Sebatisian helped introduce.

"Hello." Zhou Yan also greeted Christie.

"You're lucky to have a night scene like this on your first day here," Christie joked.

Zhou Yan nodded, "It's really lucky. After all, I just need to watch from the side."

"Haha, there really is no need for music to intervene right now. James always hopes that everyone can be well prepared, so he will ask you to come to the scene in advance."

Christie thought Zhou Yan was asked by James Cameron to come. This kind of thing was very common in their crew. James always asked for a lot.

Zhou Yan smiled and did not explain. He just praised the filming on the spot, "Your work is very professional, and I have learned a lot."

"Oh, yes, you are also a director." Christie scratched her temples and joked, "When you are filming a movie, do you use a loud speaker to mobilize your troops?"

It sounded like Christie had some complaints about James Cameron, but Zhou Yan didn't know Christie well, nor did he know the relationship between her and James, so it was hard to judge whether she had other intentions when she said this, or was just joking.

"I don't have an army. The crews we used to shoot our three films may not even be a fraction of the crews we used for this one."

“But you also made a very good movie.”

……

The three of them chatted casually, and later on, Christie asked about the soundtrack, and talked about several of Zhou Yan's songs, and asked if Zhou Yan would write a song for "Titanic".

Before Zhou Yan could answer, Sebadisian next to him suddenly said, "James doesn't like to play songs in movies."

Zhou Yan was stunned for a moment. James didn't want to play songs in the movie? Then what about "My Heart Will Go On", the theme song of "Titanic"?

Christie was also confused, "Is that so? I haven't heard James say that."

Sebadisian nodded, "He mentioned it once before."

"Oh, that's a shame." Christie expressed regret. She knew that if James Cameron had made a decision, it would be difficult to change it.

Zhou Yan remained silent. He really needed to talk to James Cameron about this and ask him what he thought.

Did Sebatisian miscommunicate, or did James really think so?

If James really doesn't want to put songs in "Titanic", he must think about how to deal with it and make choices. (End of this chapter)