This director needs to apologize

Chapter 98 The third perspective is a powerful tool for showing off

Chen Yiming explained in detail his idea of ​​modifying the storyboard.

He also knew that his changes from day to day had accumulated a lot of complaints, so this time he adopted a roundabout strategy.

He did not directly talk about the details of the mirror operation, but instead talked about the engineers from the "Big Stone Workshop" who were stationed in the team.

"Gong Wang told me that domestic special effects technology has progressed very rapidly in the past few years. Let's not talk about the creativity of special effects. We only talk about the conventional special effects during production, which are no less advanced than overseas."

Sang Ping and Paul didn't talk to each other at all, they just looked at him sideways, as if "I'm just going to see how you fool me."

Chen Yiming is not embarrassed. He has never outdone anyone in terms of his thick skin.

"So I wanted to make an opening scene that was different from previous war movies. There was no other purpose than to show off my skills with a sufficient budget."

When they heard that they were going to play with technology, the two photographers became a little interested and gave Chen Yiming a positive look.

"Throughout the history of film, there are indeed few films with one shot to the end, but there are many films with long opening shots. Think about it, is this true?"

Sang Ping, who did not need an interpreter, nodded first, and Paul nodded again after a while.

As a director, he has some artistic pursuits, especially an author-type director, who pays special attention to technical exploration and theme expression.

The long shot in the opening scene is a recognized way to show off one's skills. After all, it is not only difficult to shoot the entire film in one shot, but it is also unnecessary. A long shot of only a few minutes in the opening show is just right.

Chen Yiming laid the groundwork and then revealed the theme, "We can't think that the entire film is awesome in just one shot. That is self-narcissism or even self-narcosis.

The audience does not have the creator's perspective. They just come to the cinema to relax.

Film critics also don't have a God's perspective. They can only see a smooth but mediocre long shot opening.

Can we use this to grab people’s attention first?I find it difficult.

Therefore, we must go one step further and elevate the opening long shot to a position similar to that of the entire film, and create a cool moving long shot that others cannot think of or shoot. Only then can it be worthy of the status of "1951" in film history. "

"Teacher Sang, Paul, don't you want to win the Best Photography Awards in the second half of this year justifiably and as everyone expects?"

When Chen Yiming said this, the two of them were finally moved by it.Which photographer can resist this kind of temptation?

The fish has bitten the hook, so you can consider closing the rod.

He took Xiangrui's notebook, turned to a blank page and started sketching.

This is a schematic diagram for experts to see, so he drew it very "freehandly". It only took a few minutes to complete the six or seven pages of schematic diagrams of the movement of the mirror.

Sang Ping and Paul came up, and Chen Yiming pointed at the notebook to explain to them.

"Look, you two, because the opening scene requires two panoramic views to take us to the foot of the mountain and the woods behind it, our camera movement is actually limited. It is not a push to the bottom, but a push and pull.

The first time was to pave the way for the truck to come, and the second time was to bring the smoke from the explosion of the shell.

I have deduced that if we move the camera according to the rhythm of push-pull-push-pull, the whole scene will be very dull, too purposeful, and not advanced at all! "

While Xiangrui was translating for Paul, Sang Ping said to Chen Yiming, "Xiao Chen, I think you can consider removing the first pull-up lens. Logically speaking, this large panorama is not particularly necessary."

Paul interrupted at the same time, "Chen, I suggest extracting or skipping frames so that the lens is more focused and unnecessary camera movements are omitted."

Chen Yiming did not respond to the two people's suggestions, but turned the page and continued talking.

"The way I adjusted it was to add a third perspective."

At this point he paused, noticing that the two received his message correctly and began to concentrate before he explained further.

“In the original design, there were only two perspectives for this scene. First, it was the third-person perspective of the camera, shooting the panoramic view, and then it switched to the protagonist’s No. 1 perspective and entered the narrative.

I think this is the key reason why all three of us feel the camera movement is dull.

The content before the protagonist enters the scene, including the panoramic view, the car driving, the car stopping, the driver getting off the car and then getting in the car, the group actors entering the scene, and the rescue. There is too much information and the time is too long, and the camera cannot hold a single perspective. "

Chen Yiming turned to the third page, pointed to a triangle marked on the dirt road and said, "I decided to add another perspective, and this is it.

It could be a mouse, but I prefer it to be a squirrel. After all, if a mouse with red eyes appears in a war movie, the symbolism is too straightforward and not high-end enough. "

Sang Ping immediately understood Chen Yiming's intention. Although it is not common to introduce animal perspectives in film shooting, it is not too unusual.

Chen Yiming's approach does not have any thematic direction. It is just an intermediary that pulls the camera to a low position.

Sang Ping asked, "Animals are not as obedient as actors. Is it difficult to find domesticated squirrels?"

Chen Yiming waited for Xiangrui to finish translating before continuing to turn to the next page.

“We can add a third perspective through post-production synthesis, and there are two specific ways.

The first is to use a green screen to shoot real squirrels and cut out the short section we need from a large amount of material.The second is to use CG special effects technology to directly create a realistic squirrel.

I asked the Boulder Workshop and they have technical reserves for both processing methods, but each has its own shortcomings in the final presentation.

The former is that the squirrel's micro-expressions may not be delicate enough, after all, the squirrel is not an actor; the latter is that the existing technology has flaws in the simulation of hair, so the authenticity is slightly inferior to the former.

Of course, no matter which one it is, it will not delay our shooting progress today.

We only need to adjust the camera movement plan. After the panorama, we pan and push the camera to focus on the point reserved for the squirrel. Then we simulate the squirrel's movement trajectory and focus the lens on the dirt road smoothly until the truck approaches and interacts with the squirrel. . "

As Chen Yiming spoke, he turned to the last page, which used circles, triangles, squares and lines to simulate the relative positions and changing trajectories of the camera, truck and squirrel.

"You two, this is how I designed it.

The squirrel came down from the tree, came out of the woods, and approached a pine cone in the road. At this time, the truck happened to pass over its head at high speed.

Push the camera past the squirrel and follow the truck to the bottom of the car. Pan + push the camera to capture the driver's feet getting out of the car. Connect the primary and secondary relationship, freeze the frame, and move the camera to follow the feet to the back of the car.

There will be tire obstruction in the middle, and we can have one more editing point.

The camera follows the feet at a low position under the car. Here we add a detail. The driver is holding on to the rear compartment fender and trying to climb into the compartment, but falls flat on his back.

At this point, the camera can naturally push the camera to give a close-up of the driver, then raise it up as the driver stands up, pan the camera over his shoulder, and briefly switch to the driver's first perspective.

In conjunction with the sound effect of the shells landing, the driver looked towards the foot of the mountain in the distance, and the camera followed and turned and zoomed up to capture the distant view filled with gunfire, and at the same time returned to the third perspective of the camera. "

Chen Yiming's explanation was straightforward and detailed, and both of them were experts. After deducing it in their minds, they quickly discovered the problem.

It was Sang Ping who spoke first, "Xiao Chen, although I am an outsider when it comes to special effects, I still have a general understanding of the principles.

Regardless of whether the squirrel is real or fake, the intersection of the squirrel and the truck must be a top priority. Without special treatment, there is a high probability that there will be incoordination and lead to a collision. "

Paul also raised a question through Xiangrui, "Chen, the camera movement has indeed changed, but it gives me a feeling of animated CG. Will this not match the overall atmosphere of the movie?"

It must be said that both of them have keen artistic intuitions, and their opinions are to the point.

If he were a time-traveler from the same batch as Chen Yiming, he might be able to expose the latter's trick in an instant. The squirrel in the opening scene might have escaped from "Ice Age".

Chen Yiming first answered Paul’s questions.

"Boy, we know this is the first scene of the movie, do the audience know?"

The two looked at each other, not quite understanding what Chen Yiming meant.

"Suppose we are the audience sitting in the cinema now. After the movie starts showing, what pictures will we see one after another?"

Chen Yiming pointed his fingers and listed it for the two of them, "First it must be Longbiao, then the CG from Moying Group, the CG from Golden Shield Film and Television, the CG from Platinum Media, and finally the feature film, right?"

This was easy to understand and both nodded.

Chen Yiming spread his hands and said, "Then after the CG animation from Platinum Media, I added a clip that looks a bit like CG but is not CG. How will the audience feel?"

Paul slapped his forehead and said loudly, "Chen, this is really a genius idea. You can actually think of using this way to arouse the audience's emotions."

Fu Ruixiang, who was watching the whole process, was also shocked. She never imagined that there was such a trick. The main film included the company promotion CG at the beginning of the film.

She asked herself, what is the audience’s first impression when they see a CG squirrel?
Most of them think, why is the opening CG of this production company so long, and why is it that the company name has not been printed after more than ten seconds?
Then as the camera continues to move, the audience suddenly realizes that the movie has already begun. What will be his perception?

Xiangrui put himself into the situation and found that he didn't have the slightest feeling of being fooled. Instead, he had more expectations for the follow-up.

As for the squirrels?
Who remembers?

The elderly Sang Ping finally realized that he would not comment on Chen Yiming's cleverness in plotting against other CGs. What he was concerned about was the scene where the truck and the squirrel met. What was Chen Yiming going to do?
Since Chen Yiming was able to come up with this plan, he had naturally considered how to implement it in advance. He could not turn a blind eye to such a big BUG.

"Teacher Sang, for the intersection, I plan to use time freezing technology."

The time freezing mentioned by Chen Yiming is a photography technique that is achieved not through a camera, but through a camera.

In short, multiple cameras at different positions form a camera array, aiming at a stationary object and pressing the shutter simultaneously or in a certain order, thus obtaining a set of photos.

Then play this set of photos in sequence according to the frame rate of the movie, so that the object can rotate to create a dynamic effect.

The technology of this time and space originated from the attempts of some pioneer directors, who wanted to make slow motion slower.

Slow to the extreme means stillness, so the camera was introduced into film shooting.

After Chen Yiming learned about this technology in detail while pulling the film, he immediately realized that this is the bullet time in "The Matrix".

This is a great tool for showing off.

(End of this chapter)