This director needs to apologize

Chapter 207 Looking for foreign aid Mao Weiping

That night, Chen Yiming and several of the main creators had already watched the samples sent back, and the results could only be said to be very unsatisfactory.

The warm light filtered by the fog produced too light shadows on the actor's face, leaving too little room for post-production color correction. After several adjustments, it was either too white or too dark, making it difficult to achieve the ideal effect in Chen Yiming's mind.

In the opening scene of "Mulan", Chen Yiming hoped to speed up the pace and compress the time to the maximum extent while shaping the characters' personalities and foreshadowing the plot information.

This section is actually two scenes at different locations at the same time.

In the grassland scene, it is Mulan's father who leads the vanguard scouts to raid the East Turkic camp.

In the Populus euphratica forest, Mulan and her friends ambush two Turkic rangers and happened to save Xiao Wu who got separated from his guards.

Due to scene restrictions, Chen Yiming adopted Lin Xiao's suggestion of shooting in foggy scenes.

This was a mistake, allowing Chen Yiming to further "develop" parallel montage, and by re-adjusting the storyboards, he saved a dozen more scenes.

"Sealing smoke" was originally just a stop-gap measure to make up for the shortcomings of natural light, but after Chen Yiming revised the script, the fog became the finishing touch of the opening scene.

After compressing the duration, each existing scene has to carry a greater amount of information, so Chen Yiming's standards will naturally be higher and not lower.

The difficult problem faced by the crew now is how to make the close-up of the actor's face and the surrounding background environment clearly legible without losing details in the complex outdoor natural light environment.

Several people discussed in Chen Yiming's room until midnight, and Wang Lizing came up with a relatively reliable suggestion.

Since several major scenes were shot in the fog, and the sunrise light had to pass through the tree canopy and the fog before reaching the actors, we simply built a large shed along the tree canopy to turn the exterior scenes into interior scenes.

As for the problem of the angle of sunlight moving, it can be solved by pulling a track in the sky and using artificial light sources.

Qi Yu also suddenly had an idea and pointed out that if it is shot in a studio, the controllability of the light will be greatly improved, so that the actor's makeup can be adjusted accordingly.

As long as the light source changes regularly, the coordination of the lens, lighting, and makeup can be replicated. Constant experimentation can always "make up" an effect that meets the requirements.

He solemnly recommended to Chen Yiming Mao Weiping, a makeup assistant who he had worked with before when filming "The Court of the Tang Dynasty". Although he was very young and only in his thirties, his performance in that drama amazed Qi Yu.

Mao Weiping fully explained what it means that a person who cannot do lighting design is not a good photographer. He is quite proficient in photography, lighting, and styling design, although he is not at the level of a master in any of them.

Different from "Mulan", Wu Zetian in "The Court of the Tang Dynasty" chose to be played by an actress from beginning to end. She was the one who entered the palace at the age of 14, and she was the one who ascended the throne at the age of 67.

The actress who played Wu Zetian was already 43 years old when the TV series was filmed.

Her first close-up in the TV series, wearing a girl's double-ring bun, kneeling on the ground and looking up at the emperor, full of collagen and girlish, without any violation, it is simply heaven-defying.

In Qi Yu's memory, that scene took three days to shoot, a total of 13 times.

To this day, Qi Yu still considers that scene to be the pinnacle of his career, so much so that later he specifically asked the director for all the samples of that scene, and compared and studied them repeatedly when he had time.

The initial inspiration for that scene came from Mao Weiping's suggestion.

After hearing what Wang Lizing and Qi Yu said, Chen Yiming made a decisive decision without thinking, and just did it.

The next day, the crew was divided into two groups behind the scenes. Lu Ping directed the scenery crew to start stationing in Populus euphratica forest and set up tents under the command of Wang Lizing.

In fact, it is not a full interior scene, because building a house in the woods will lead to a consequence that the natural mist and morning dew inside the shed are not as natural as the natural scenery outside the shed.

So what Lu Ping did was not so much building a shed as hanging a mosquito net.

After measurements and experiments, trees at a suitable distance around the scene were selected, and a dark curtain with a roof on three sides was formed facing the direction of the sun.

Hang up the mosquito net in the dark before sunrise. When the sun rises, the direct sunlight will be blocked by the curtain, and the reflected natural light can still illuminate the scene wrapped in the mosquito net. The headlights hung under the canopy replace the sun and move at a constant speed on the hooks. After being filtered by the fog, they can simulate [-]% of the direct sunlight effect, and the brightness is higher than that of the sun.

Chen Yiming, Qi Yu, Cui Fang, Lin Xiao and Mao Weiping, who rushed over, gathered around the two young actors to adjust their makeup.

When he received the call from Qi Yu, Mao Weiping, who was putting makeup on the bride, thought he was hallucinating.

In the crew of "The Palace of the Tang Dynasty", Mao Weiping is just one of the many external makeup assistants.

Although the final effect was based on his earliest suggestions, the subsequent detailed plans and the heroine's makeup were beyond the reach of an assistant in his early twenties.

After the TV series was completed, Mao Weiping did not reach the top in one step. Instead, he went back and forth from place to place, continuing to hang out in various wedding companies and doing makeup for the brides in Shanghai.

Therefore, he could not remember Qi Yu for a long time, and once thought it was a scam call.

After finding out that it was the invitation from the great director Chen Yiming, Mao Weiping turned down all the appointments without saying a word, took a flight that day and flew directly to Yinchuan, and arrived at the imperial town at noon the next day.

Chen Yiming wanted him to take a rest first, but Mao Weiping was in high spirits and insisted on starting work immediately.

During lunch, Chen Yiming and Mao Weiping had an in-depth chat.

His thinking is exactly the opposite of the concept of makeup artists in the circle, and it is also inconsistent with the artistic director's idea of ​​​​cooperating with the director to express.

It feels a bit like applying makeup to teach the director how to do things.

He believes that the more close-ups reflect a character's personality, the more important it is to highlight the importance of makeup, especially when the character appears in the opening scene.

Therefore, for him, the actor's preparation before shooting should first determine the makeup, then match the costumes, and then adjust the scene and lighting.

After the completion of this set of steps other than the actor, comes the photography techniques as a recorder and the actor's own performance.

“In this world, there are no actors with thousands of faces, only suitable actors, and the key is the right fit.

Suitable means that all expressions are based on the actor's inherent hardware conditions. Simply put, it is the actor's appearance, facial features, figure, manners, and temperament.

Some actors are not born to play certain roles, and their hardware is not up to standard. No matter how excellent their makeup, lighting, photography, acting, etc. are, they are only minor improvements based on 50 points.

This is under the premise that the software configuration is powerful. If there are temporary assembly line workers behind the scenes, the final effect will be even more disastrous. "

Mao Weiping held up a piece of braised lamb chops and spoke happily, but he was not at all restrained by facing a great director.

Listening to his previous self-introduction, he didn't feel aggrieved by being ignored for his "credit", because he never accepted the "green leaf" thinking of ordinary makeup artists, and was rather arrogant that a bird can't understand the ambition of a swan.

At a young age, he was able to transcend the boundaries of makeup work and extend his vision to consider issues in the adjacent departments of lighting, costumes, and photography. If nothing else, his self-confidence is real.

Chen Yiming broke off half of the steamed bun, dipped it in the lamb chop soup, and chewed while listening.

After Mao Weiping finished speaking a long paragraph and started eating meat, Chen Yiming said, "Teacher Mao, I heard Teacher Qi relay your thoughts. What you just said is appropriate, and I deeply agree.

It's just that the fit in my imagination is definitely different from the fit in your mind. After all, whether it is suitable or not is a subjective concept. Different people must have different ideas.

So I hope that our business discussions can be limited to the technical level.

Within this scope, I give you the greatest authorization. You can make suggestions whether it is the makeup artist's own makeup, the actors' costumes, the lighting coordination, or the modification of the scene. "

(End of this chapter)