The Best Director

After staying in New York for nearly a week, Wang Yang got on the plane back to Los Angeles, and Tom Welling was with him. He got the leading actor in "High School Musical" as he wished, and he has officially signed the contract with a salary of 30. Wan, although he is the leading actor, he has never acted in any film and television productions and is not famous at all, so he is treated as a pure newcomer. After he came to Los Angeles, he also needed singing and dancing lessons.

Also traveling with him was Michael Pitt. He was penniless and was so hungry that he wanted to grab bread. Naturally, he had no money to take the plane. Wang Yang helped him pay the fee in advance and will pay it back later.

After the group returned to Los Angeles, Flame Films took a few photos of Tom Welling and uploaded them to the official website of "High School Musical", announcing that "Troy Burton" will be played by Tom Welling. Although Tom Welling is handsome, some movie fans expressed disappointment. They had guessed which big star would join, but they didn't expect it to be an unknown model; of course, some female movie fans expressed their expectation and praise. I'm going to become a fan of this pure sunny handsome guy.

Needless to say, the reaction from the media is still very cold. The heroine Jessica Alba has several works, and she is barely famous, but this Tom Welling is a complete newcomer, not a child star, not from an academy, Just a costume model, can he act? Did the young director's mind go crazy, did he think that if any handsome guy came in, the movie would be done?

Therefore, when the cast of "High School Musical" was basically confirmed, if there were three out of ten people who were optimistic about it before, now there is not even one out of ten.

The entertainment page of the "Chicago Sun" commented: "We seem to be able to foresee the fall of a new director star. This movie, which has not yet started shooting, already has all the potential for bad movies. Unflattering musical theme, inexperienced Director, inexperienced lead actor and actress, inexperienced supporting cast, a production company that was on the verge of bankruptcy. Looking at their age and experience, I wonder how bad this movie will end up?"

An insider also revealed to the media that Jessica Alba was originally chosen as the heroine for Columbia's new movie "Idle Hands", but she ended up signing a contract with "High School Musical", which made director Rodman - Fred felt sorry. Of course, the insider should be someone from the Columbia company. To increase topics and exposure, this is just a means of publicity.

"Idle Hands" producer Andrew Richard confirmed the incident to the media, saying: "I think that girl is crazy, she made an extremely stupid decision, and she will pay for her self-righteousness. .No, I'm not saying High School Musical will be bad, but there's no comparison. Luckily, we now have Eliza, who's doing a great job, and she's going to be a bright new star."

And Eliza Dushku said: "I don't mind that I am the second choice. I cherish this opportunity very much. Rodman Fried is a very talented director. The script of "Idle Hands" Also super fun and it was an honor to be in this movie. Jessica Alba? I'm friends with her and I wish her the best of luck."

Anyway, the few media who paid attention to this film all poured cold water on it. God seemed to have told them that ""High School Musical" will fail", so they scrambled to show their "foresight".

Wang Yang was not aware of this situation, but Mark Slanter was very anxious. He said to Wang Yang: "My boss, if every time there is news about "High School Musical" and the media says it is a bad movie, then After a long time, the audience will think that it is really a bad movie, and they will develop arrogance and prejudice and disdain to watch this movie."

Wang Yang thinks it makes sense, but he only knows a little about film packaging and publicity, and he can't think of a solution. Mark Slanter was already prepared. He suggested finding a public relations company to cooperate with, or directly setting up a public relations department.

Improve the company's public relations capabilities, such as getting acquainted with several media, asking them to help speak good words, and getting along well with the judging committees of various film awards, etc.

Wang Yang felt overwhelmed when he heard these things. Seeing that Mark Slanter's plan was detailed and reasonable, he simply agreed to inject a new one million into the company's account to set up a public relations department.

One million is not a lot, but Wang Yang can still afford it now, because his account will soon receive a huge sum of money, the overseas box office share of "Ghost Story". This "first DV movie in history", "the scariest horror movie", and "160 million box office in North America" ​​has been released in Europe for several weeks in Britain, Germany, Italy, France and other places, and its performance has not Disappointed by the publisher, the total overseas box office has reached more than 80 million, and as it is about to be released in Australia, Japan and other places, there is no problem with the total overseas box office exceeding 100 million.

However, for overseas distribution, Lionsgate has to cooperate with the distribution company in that country, and one more person will be divided, and several layers of taxes will be deducted, so the final distribution to Wang Yang may be less than one percent. Ten million, of course, this number is quite a lot. Moreover, the DVD of "Ghost Story" has also been launched in North America, and the sales volume is not bad. The total sales have reached more than 30 million U.S. dollars. However, in terms of DVD, Wang Yang's profit share is only 15%, and he can only share Very few, 10 million can only be divided into about 700,000.

But the money gave Wang Yang the opportunity to show his strengths. He can increase the investment amount of "High School Musical" and find a better filming team. In fact, this work has been carried out by Flame Company for a long time. In place, as long as the crew is ready and the equipment and venue are rented, the film can officially start shooting.

The crew has many duties, some of which can be directly performed by the employees of Flame Film Company, such as finance, their work includes budget, statistics of expenditure, settlement of wages, etc.; accommodation and so on. However, for some professional positions, it is necessary to hire others to join in, such as set designers and prop designers, who handle the scene effects and props needed for shooting; costume designers and makeup artists, who are responsible for turning the actors into beautiful actors. Beautiful and bright; an art director is also needed to grasp the overall "aesthetic".

These professionals are not difficult to find. "High School Musical" is just a school film, and there is no need for special scenes or costumes that are out of reality, so the job is very simple. During the casting period, according to Wang Yang's requirements and opinions, Flame Film Company has already found personnel in this area, even signed the contract, and can start work at any time.

There are still unresolved positions. Except for the editors and soundtrack artists who are needed in the later stage, only the photography team, dance directors, and arrangers are left. The post-production personnel are looking for later, and the choreographer and arranger don’t have to worry. The singing and dancing scenes in the movie are concentrated at the end before shooting. First, the actors need time to attend training classes, and second, choreography and arrangement also need time. Flame Movie has already sent invitations to some famous composers, hoping to buy some youthful and lively songs.

It can be said that the most important thing now is the formation of the photography team, including photographers, lighting engineers, sound engineers, etc., and among them, the photographer is the most important and needs to be carefully selected.

If the director is the designer of the film, imagining and conceiving the scenes and groups of shots; then the photographer is the person who realizes these pictures. The director is like a costume designer, specifying the size and shape of a piece of cloth, and the photographer is the tailor who cuts the cloth. Without them, the cloth is still a cloth, not a garment.

For Wang Yang, he has to consider a photographer based on photography skills, composition ability, and most importantly, temper and tacit understanding. The director is the brain, and the photographer is the hands and feet. The tacit understanding between the two parties is very important. Whether there is a storyboard or not, the photographer must fully understand the director’s intention and the effect the director wants, and he must be interested and agree. It's not an overt or mechanical job, otherwise the whole movie would be mediocre.

Whether the photographer and the director get along will directly affect the shooting effect of the film and the work process.

"When I was doing photography, what I was most afraid of was working with half-baked directors or new directors. They had a lot of ideas, always like this or that, but they didn't express it clearly, or I thought it was bad to shoot like that. I I would say yes, but I thought, 'Oh my god, I don't want to do this', and of course it turned out badly, I wasn't happy with the shots, and those shots were terrible." While studying at USC, Wang Yang once heard this from a teacher in a photography class.

At that time, he asked curiously: "Why don't you give your opinion to the director?"

Then, the teacher shrugged nonchalantly, and replied with a smile: "I will not object to them. Directors are very stubborn animals. In the crew, they are like gods, whether it is actors or photographers. That's right, all the staff are serving the director. In general, they will be angry with the producer, you go to give your opinion, very good, just hit the muzzle, and they will yell at you 'Shoot whatever I say, go fiddle with your camera!' And I'm like, 'OK, let's shoot some shit.'”

There was a burst of laughter in the class, and Wang Yang remembered laughing loudly himself, and the teacher laughed again and said, "So for the students who are going to be directors, I have to tell you guys, be careful in the future! Photographers are duplicitous Guys, remember not to piss us off, we will intentionally smash it, waste your film, increase your cost budget, and let you be scolded by the producer, haha!" Then the class laughed even louder.

Thinking of this, Wang Yang, who was sitting in front of the computer, couldn't help but smile. He absolutely couldn't cooperate with such a photographer. Although no producer scolded him, it was because he was the investor himself, and he paid for the film. .

Therefore, if a director and a photographer get along well, they will generally cooperate for a long time, but the problem now is that he has no contacts in this area, and he doesn't even know a photographer, let alone a "queen photographer". Fortunately, now is not the time to make "Ghost Story". He has a company and a team. At this time, in the computer, there is a list of photographers. They are all recommended by Mark Slanter and Sandy Pax. Candidates.

Wang Yang looked at the current time, it was past eight o'clock in the morning, and today is Rachel's birthday, so his "boss" approved a day off without training. celebrate birthday. Check the time, they should be here soon. While opening the list of photographers, Wang Yang shouted to the rattan sofa not far away: "Michael, Michael! Get up quickly, my friends are coming soon!"

Michael Pitt also temporarily lives in this apartment, sleeping on the sofa. In the past few days, when Wang Yang wanted to buy anything, he asked Michael Pitt to go out to do it. Anyway, he was the scene manager, the "nanny" of the crew, and that was his job.

"Oh..." A lifeless voice came from the rattan sofa. Since this guy came to Los Angeles, he seems to have suffered from narcolepsy. He stays in bed every day, and falls asleep whenever he has free time.

"Now!" Wang Yang shouted again, and stopped talking to him. He opened the list of photographers and looked. These photographers are not very famous, which is not surprising. Famous photographers usually have their own long-term experience. Partner, and there will be no shortage of film appointments. Wang Yang flipped through these materials, there was no surprise, they were all ordinary photographers, suddenly, a name made him stop, Walley Pfister?

The name is very familiar! Wang Yang frowned, looking up the photographer's detailed information, Walley Pfister, now 37 years old, he is the photographer of many erotic R-rated films, including "Erotic Blurred Night", "Animal Instinct" , "Erotic Game" series, "Erotic Game 3" of A-Pix, the predecessor of Flame Film Company, was him as the photographer. He and Sandy Parkes are very familiar, and they have an old relationship.

""Erotic Game 3"?" Wang Yang shook his head with a broken smile, no, the sense of familiarity must come from other places, so he searched in his mind, and immediately got the answer, he couldn't help but said in surprise: "No way! ? Are you kidding me!"

Walley Pfister won the best cinematography award at the 83rd Oscar for "Foundation"! It turns out that if the future path is followed, he will become famous as the photographer of "Memory Fragments" in 2000, and then he will become Christopher Nolan's queen photographer. "Batman - The Dark Knight", "Foundation" and other blockbusters.

He and Nolan are simply a perfect match, playing the color style of that classical movie with great proficiency, sometimes dark and dark, sometimes bright and dazzling, creating an unparalleled "texture".

Of course, the tone of "High School Musical" can't play with those chiaroscuro. What this movie needs is the tone and lighting of youthful sunshine, but this is not a problem. Enlarge the lighting, and when coloring in the later stage, the picture is required to be bright and sunny. It is absolutely impossible to confuse a "best photographer", the key is to look at his photography skills, composition ability, and understanding and grasp of the lens.

Although Walley Pfister is currently only a third-rate photographer who specializes in shooting R-rated movies, Wang Yang believes that his photography ability should be enough to be a photographer for "High School Musical". Wang Yang happily picked up the mobile phone, called Sandy Parkes, and said with a smile: "Hi, Sandy, do you have a good relationship with Walley Pfister? Well, I want to meet him, he is at Los Angeles? Okay, contact him..."

At this moment, the doorbell of the apartment rang, and Wang Yang said "wait a minute" to Sandy Pax, then turned his head and shouted: "Michael, go and open the door!" Then, he continued to talk to his mobile phone: "Okay, Sandy, just say I've seen one of his movies, and it's great... which one? 'Erotic Nights' or 'Erotic Games', hey, whatever..."

Hearing the harsh doorbell, Michael Pitt got up from the rattan sofa in a daze, walked to the door lightly, and opened it.

"Hi, Jan!" Jessica had a sweet smile on her face, but when the door was fully opened, she was stunned, and there was a blond man in sweatshirt and shorts standing behind the door, with sleepy eyes, It's not Wang Yang at all! She glanced at those two hairy thighs with staring eyes, and suddenly screamed: "Oh, my God!" She stepped back a few steps, frowned tightly, and questioned: "Who are you? Where is Jan!?"

At this time, Joshua, Rachel, Zachary, and Jessica's good friend Eileen Iris, who were walking slowly behind, also came. They also opened their mouths wide in surprise. Looking at Michael Peet.

Michael Pitt was still in a daze, rubbed his eyes and said: "Oh, hello, I'm Michael Pitt..."

Hearing Jessica's scream from the door, Wang Yang looked there reflexively, and when he saw Michael Pitt's solo show, he cursed helplessly: "Damn! This bastard just Get up?!" He said goodbye to Sandy Pax, ran over, greeted his friends outside the door with a smile, "Hi, everyone! Good morning." He looked at Rachel again, and said with a smile : "Happy birthday, Rachel."

Rachel smiled and said, "Thanks, Jan. He is?" Her eyes went to Michael Pitt.

"Michael Pitt, I should have told you, I met a 'Leonardo' in New York, he will play a small role in "High School Musical", he has no place to live, so he will live with me first " Wang Yang explained in a quick and simple tone, turned his head and glared at Michael Pitt, and said, "Hey, buddy, why don't you go get dressed?" Michael-Peter nodded "Oh" and walked away with a yawn went in.

Michael Pitt was still dressed, not completely naked. They were surprised how such a person suddenly appeared in Wang Yang's apartment. After listening to the explanation now, everyone came to their senses. Jessica also remembered that Wang Yang had said about this person, and said with a smile: "I was scared to death! Yang, I am used to you opening the door. I saw Michael Pete just now. I thought it was some pervert."

Wang Yang let out a haha, quickly punched out, and said: "Don't worry about this, you know, I can knock him down with one punch." Everyone laughed, he made a gesture of invitation, and said with a smile: "Everyone come in."