This director needs to apologize

Chapter 134 Weird drama
In the Debussy Screening Hall of the Palais des Festivals in Cannes, the progress of the screening of "1951" was similar to that of the first test screening in China.

Pollack's mentality at this moment was no longer as careless as it was at the beginning.

Compared with Mitu, who is just a movie enthusiast, his appreciation and knowledge level are at the expert level, and the number of films he has read exceeds N orders of magnitude.

Therefore, his perception of the "night drama" in the command post was more nuanced and more fascinating.

In his opinion, although the opening scene of the movie was more difficult to shoot, the technique and artistic conception were not enough to move him.

Whether it's long shots or time freezing, it's nothing new. It can only be said that the director of this film has made some innovations based on his predecessors.

But in the scene at the command post, without reading the subtitles, he was still able to clearly grasp the emotions the actors wanted to convey to him.

Such a dark environment, such a restrained performance, and such a natural camera movement, combined to create a minimalist lens aesthetic.

As the saying goes, real skill can be seen in the details. A few minutes of a scene represents the profound knowledge of almost all departments including directors, actors, photography, lighting, art, and makeup.

His interest was suddenly aroused, the existing stereotypes were wiped away, and he began to look forward to the next development of the movie.

It would be interesting if this minimalist aesthetic style was not a flash in the pan, but could continue forever.

As a well-known film critic of Nuts, he has been invited to serve as a judge at three major European film festivals many times. He has seen many participating Chinese-language films, most of which he classified as immature auteur films.

The attributive term "author" is completely neutral. Although Pollack himself comes from Hollywood, which has a strong commercial atmosphere, he is actually a rebel. In his heart, he prefers literary films and has never resented the director's excessive or even out-of-control subjective expressions.

As for the other attributive "immature", it is also a neutral term in his personal context. It does not mean that the director's technique is immature, but that his creative purpose is immature.

This refers to the director's certain uncertainty about his own expression. When creating, he is more motivated by artistic intuition rather than artistic confidence. It reflects his dissatisfaction with the boundaries of his own expression and hopes to use this to explore and try.

Reflected in the works, there are various obscure, mixed, diverse and even chaotic themes and images, which regularly have a negative impact on normal narratives.

Pollack understands and appreciates the experimentation and exploration of auteur directors, but does not include most Chinese directors.

Because based on his perception of the Chinese films, except for a few real masters, most of the others came here to get gold plating.

Their "immaturity" is immaturity for the sake of immaturity, under the guise of experimentation and exploration.

Picking up people's wisdom without any original ideas.

On the big screen, the two leading actors walked one behind the other in the trenches. After glancing at the subtitles, Pollack could sense the general meaning of the dialogue between the two based on the actors' performances.

The actor's performance was certainly on point, but what impressed him even more was the photographer's camera movement and the director's composition. Every movement of the camera was not abrupt, and at the same time, it just captured the angle that best showed the actor's emotions.

Is this a natural understanding born from extensive practice, or is it the result of careful rehearsal that makes perfect?
In Hall 8 of Xinghui Cinema in Suicheng, the screening started 15 minutes behind the preview venue due to an extra show reserved due to a booking bug.

As soon as the opening gunfire sounded, the nurse sister sensitively noticed that the body of Political Commissar Li sitting next to her tensed up instantly.

The nurse turned her head to look at Li Yucheng's face worriedly. The usually dull face was extremely vivid at this moment, with his brows slightly wrinkled and his eyes half-closed, shining brightly under the reflection of the light from the big screen.

She no longer had the heart to watch movies and put most of her energy into the old man.

Before leaving today, the doctor in charge told her repeatedly not to make Mr. Li too excited.

On the big screen, the truck stopped and the soldiers came on stage.

The nurse who had been paying attention to the old man immediately noticed that Political Commissar Li's hand on the armrest of the seat tightened instantly, and veins popped up on the back of his hand.

She couldn't help but secretly complain, was this considered emotional? If she asked Mr. Li to leave the theater now, he would probably be stared back at.

After she saw that posture once, she never wanted to see it a second time.

The nurse silently prayed in her heart that the gods and Buddhas in the sky would bless her and that there would be no overly realistic and tragic scenes later on. She really couldn't handle it!

In fact, the nurse was a little unfounded. Li Yucheng was just a conditioned body stress response. It was only blame An Xiaofeng who made the sound effects of the gunfire too realistic, and Luo Baohe made the special effects of gunpowder smoke too realistic.

The price of the high pursuit of reality is that the audience who is accustomed to the effect of a cannon shooting down with flames in the drama has no feeling for the "real" bombardment that only smokes but does not emit fire.

When the crew was discussing the presentation of special effects, they also struggled with the balance between "art" and "reality."

The reason why he finally chose the "real" route was not because Chen Yiming suffered from the obsessive-compulsive disorder of restoring war history, but to suppress first and then expand, further highlighting the shock of the howitzer salvo scene.

Judging from the feedback from internal test screenings, the shelling sound effects and smoke special effects throughout the film were indeed weakened under the guise of "realism" and did not bring too much negative impact to the audience.

Mitu looked at the shelling smoke that occupied most of the screen, and listened to the conversation between the two protagonists and the sentry on the top of the mountain under the faint sound of gunfire. He didn't feel that the sound was too loud or the picture was too dirty.

Because her mind was focused on the plot, she had no time to think about the underlying reasons. In fact, she didn't need to go into detail, it was just that she was used to it.

The shelling in the opening scene is farther away and the sound is amplified, while the shelling on the top of the south bank is closer and the sound is reduced.

This contrast would have been easily recognized by the audience, but because the bombardment had been looming and had not stopped, the audience's perception had been greatly blunted, which gave Chen Yiming the opportunity to hide it.

If we pursue completely realistic sound, it would be equivalent to a 2-hour movie, and just having sex would take more than an hour. In that case, the movie would be unwatchable and extremely noisy.

Thanks to An Xiaofeng's superb sound technology, Mitu can completely eliminate the influence of the background sound of shelling, focus more on feeling the actors' performances, and think about the information behind the lines.Although Mitu is a girl, she has watched a lot of war movies, and she is not picky about food. As long as it has a good rating and a good reputation, she will watch it regardless of country or subject matter.

Therefore, she was able to realize the difference in temperament between "1951" and previous war movies with the main theme.

In the previous scene, the leading staff officer was striding forward, asking questions only after several seconds. When asking questions, he looked straight ahead, and there was no usual suggestive interaction such as turning around, turning his head or turning his head sideways.

The steps of the soldiers following were visibly slack, and they looked like they had not received much training. They responded with a slowness, like a stutterer trying to control himself to speak normally.

From the composition to the performance, everything reveals that these two people are not the same at all, and they are very unfamiliar.

Mitu can certainly foresee that the two protagonists will definitely establish a bond later on.

This is a way of processing from far to near, which is not surprising in itself. It is just a bit strange when placed in a Chinese war movie. On the contrary, it is more common in Western war movies.

The dialogue between the two also gave Mitu a sense of weirdness. The lines were short and concise, making it difficult for Mitu to forget.

"Inside the Southwest Mountains?"

"This is the north. I came from the south. Which south, I don't know."

"How did you become a soldier?"

"My family couldn't afford to support me, so I came when the county was recruiting troops."

"What did you learn on the team?"

"Walk in formation, pack bags, throw grenades, dig trenches."

"Did the class teach you how to read?"

"I just learned how to write my name."

"The task is urgent, I don't have time to write a letter home for you."

"My mother wouldn't recognize it even if I wrote it. No one in our village can read."

"This mission is very dangerous. Neither of us may be able to return home. You can resent me."

"What's the matter? The political commissar gave me potatoes."

Regardless of his face, the staff officer's emotions fluctuated, but they were still clear.

As for why I didn't look at the face, it's because the camera is very naughty, and the face is straight when the narrative is straightforward. When the critical moment of emotional transition comes, I immediately pan to Mu Xiaolin.

It's like I'm deliberately playing hide-and-seek with the audience, and it's like creating an opportunity for Duan Yining, who plays the role of a consultant, to show off his skills. Look at how good I am. I can still capture the complex inner drama by not relying on expressions but only relying on tone of voice.

Mitu, who has a delicate heart, is definitely the confidant of "1951". She can keenly identify every design of Chen Yiming that seems random but is actually intentional.

Why don't you give Duan Yining a straight face?
Because the dramatic task of this section is Mu Xiaolin's "appearance", and the plot is not on the counselor, naturally he cannot give Lao Duan too many opportunities to perform.

On the other hand, the scene design of this scene where people are talking from behind is a side reflection of the overall blue tone of the movie.

In this way, violent emotional fluctuations cannot be highlighted and emphasized, otherwise wouldn't it be self-contradictory?
Use your tone of voice to convey emotions to just the right degree.

Of course, audiences as sensitive as Mitu belong to a very small minority, and Li Weiwei cannot feel these things at all. His most direct impression is that the scene where two people are walking and talking does not seem boring at all, and is even quite pleasant. Comfortable.

His attention was focused more on the background boards the two passed by.

Whenever a weapon appears on the scene, he will get excited reflexively.

This gave him enough patience to wait for the battle scene after crossing the river.

Li Weiwei is a half-military fan. He immediately understood the task assignment made by the regiment leader when he pointed to the sand table. Therefore, he could clearly grasp the duo's itinerary and knew that after crossing the river, they would enter enemy-occupied territory. The real test for the duo.

But Li Yucheng, a real soldier, suddenly relaxed when he saw the trench march.

The nurse sister couldn't help but feel a little strange. At the beginning of the movie, Lao Li was so tense after just a few cannons were fired. Why now that the cannons were fired into the film, he didn't react at all?

In fact, the reason is very simple, Li Yucheng was in the drama.

As for the culprit, it is the trench system that Professor Sha painstakingly "restored".

One meter wide, two meters deep, with zigzag alignment, anti-gun holes with turns, and firepower points with roofs. The soldiers of the Engineer Corps, under the command of Lao Sha, were repairing this trench as if it were a work of art.

With such exquisite cultivation, of course Li Yucheng can act.

During the mobile defense stage when the front line changes frequently, no army would build trenches like this. It is unnecessary to have both.

This is the part in the entanglement between art and reality where Chen Yiming had to compromise on the artistic side.

(End of this chapter)