Chapter 509: Training Little Plum
While Chen Linfeng and Robert Iger were chatting happily, someone at the back of the screening room was quietly discussing the movie that was about to be screened.
"I heard that Disney has given the movie an A+ rating internally. What do you think?" Nathan from Imperial Cinemas opened the topic.
"I have read about the promotional materials released for this movie, and I think it will be a very interesting subject."
"Eric, you were influenced by the propaganda."
Joss shook his head, "I bet this movie will leave the audience scratching their heads. What can you think of on the theme of dreams?"
"Dream..."Mulholland Drive"?"
"Bingdog, that's it. I have to say that Chen is a genius. He is very good at directing commercial movies, but the problem with genius is that it is easy to overestimate the IQ of the public, so..."
Joss only said half of it, but everyone understood the unfinished meaning behind it.
"Indeed, this is a problem." Eric was convinced, "Joss, no wonder AMC trusts you so much. You are also a genius, a genius at buying movies."
Joss smiled smugly.
"Actually, there is another possibility." Someone immediately expressed a different opinion.
Joss looked over with an unkind expression, wanting to see what the people sent by the Imperial Cinema had to say.
Nathan said calmly, "Chen is a true genius. This kind of genius should go one step further and be able to understand the general understanding of the audience."
"Haha, I bet you think highly of him."
"Then we'll see."
Just then the big screen lit up and the screening was about to begin.
The staff on the stage did not say anything nonsense. After confirming that most of the people were present, they signaled the people behind the scenes to start.
Chen Linfeng has watched the movie countless times and has long lost interest.
He pays more attention to other people's expressions.
When are you most focused, which plots do you lose focus on, and which places are the most exciting?
In the past two years, he sometimes went to the cinema specifically to observe the audience.
To determine whether your own enjoyment and interests are consistent with those of the public.
If it is different, we should try our best to adjust it to make ourselves closer to the public's aesthetics.
As the status of filmmakers gradually increases, their abilities in this area are actually gradually missing.
However, the importance of the ability to be close to what the public thinks is gradually increasing.
When you feel that the audience is bored by what they like to watch, that's a danger.
According to Chen Linfeng's observation, "Inception" should have no problem with the plot rhythm.
When he was watching it in his previous life, he always felt that the beginning of the fight with the neon tycoon was a bit too fast, and he didn't quite understand what was going on.
Therefore, Chen Linfeng deliberately left one to two minutes of redundancy this time to make it easier for the audience to understand.
Now it seems that there is no better understanding. At least the extra time did not bore these moviegoers.
Joss felt a bit dangerous.
The first third of the movie, as the plot unfolds, is quite satisfactory and it accomplishes the task well.
At least after reading it, he felt that the plot was quite easy to understand.
The setting of multi-layered dreams, the dream thief's method of designing dreams and deceiving his target, seems to be naturally understood.
Subsequently, the big explosion on the streets of Shenhai and the collapse of the entire city made him sigh at Chen's imagination.
He was almost certain that this was a good movie worthy of attention.
And when it came to the climax of the movie, this extreme use of "last-minute rescue" simply amazed him.
As expected of Chen, is this a true genius?
By this point, Joss had almost forgotten that he still had the task of judging the value of the film, and was basically left in awe.
The same goes for everyone else.
Eric opened his mouth wide. The 3D effect and the dream setting made people feel as if they were in a dream.
Nathan almost lost his usual calmness.
In the last scene of the movie, only the top is spinning.
Nathan suddenly realized that this was the case. No wonder the website only had a spinning top at the beginning.
The top seemed to be spinning for a long time, and when it was time to confirm whether it would stop, the movie stopped abruptly.
"Did the top stop?"
"Is it a dream or reality in the end?"
José and Eric asked directly, unable to suppress their curiosity.
By this time, Joss had long forgotten what he had said before the screening.
Nathan and Eric had a tacit understanding and forgot about their previous differences. It was better for adults not to reveal the emperor's new clothes. It is not difficult to beat workers without being embarrassed.
The three of them discussed the plot seriously.
Eric: "I think it should be reality. I feel like the top is about to stop."
Nathan: "I also think it is reality, but we still need to take a look at some details."
Jos: "Indeed, you can't see it all in one go."
Speaking of this, the three of them looked at each other and suddenly realized something.
A movie that makes people watch it twice, and...
"That spinning top," Eric blurted out, "a great natural marketing point"
Joss suddenly realized, "Yes, this is true for us after watching the movie, and it must be the same for others."
"Disney's marketing team has been making a fuss about tops for a long time." Nathan provided new information.
At this point, the three of them have made sufficient judgments about the movie.
They said no more, each thinking about how to report to their boss when they went back.
The same goes for other parts of the theater.
For these movie buyers who watch a lot of movies and have seen both good and bad movies, "Inception" is definitely a new type of movie.
After the movie ended, just a few casual exchanges with colleagues, and they generally confirmed their judgment.
Robert Iger sighed, "What a wonderful movie."
"chen, you have created a very good work."
"Thank you." Chen Linfeng accepted the praise with a smile.
Robert felt increasingly regretful.
Why didn't you stop those idiots earlier.
Chen cannot be represented by an infinite series. His own value as a director and screenwriter far exceeds that of an infinite series.
Subsequently, Chen Linfeng did not participate in discussions with theaters about the number of screening venues and determining the film schedule.
It's actually a bit cumbersome.
And that's the producer's job, and Rob and May will be watching.
Before the filming of "Joker" started, he once again confirmed the schedule for the next summer release.
This year is already 2012, and Hollywood has begun to fully enter the era of superhero movies.
This can be seen from several of the highlights of the summer season.
In early May, an "Avengers" movie.
July 20, "The Dark Knight Rises," the final installment of Nolan's Batman trilogy.
In addition, there is also "The Amazing Spider-Man", which will premiere on Neon in June.
In Chen Linfeng's impression, these three movies all had good box office results.
The first two movies exceeded 1 billion, and the new Spider-Man also exceeded 700 million.
Therefore, these three films must be avoided.
Other non-superhero movies, such as "Men in Black 3", "Teddy Bear", "The Expendables 2", "Special Forces 2", etc., did not do so well at the box office.
But you have to pay a little attention.
Of course, Chen Linfeng has achieved good results in the summer film for two consecutive years, and last year he even defeated "Green Lantern" miserably.
Now his new movie is also regarded by other film producers as a big player in the summer market.
The industry generally believes that the reason why "Green Lantern" is so miserable is because of its poor quality, but it may not be because it collides with "Infinite World".
Maybe if we change the schedule, it won't be so miserable.
This is why, when discussing cooperation in the second half of the year, Warner was willing to give such good conditions, including the copyright of the Joker, and it was almost half-sold and half-given, and only required an investment ratio.
If you can't beat it, just join.
Therefore, this year's "Inception" did not announce the release date, but it was rumored in the industry that it would be released in early July.
Many companies' large-scale productions automatically adjust their schedules to avoid conflicts as much as possible.
Columbia Pictures originally planned to premiere the film on Neon on June 13 and then release it in North America in early July.
Now the plan has been adjusted directly, and it is scheduled to be released on June 15, two days after Neon is released.
Thanks to this, Chen Linfeng basically didn't have much trouble with the schedule this year, and just decided to set it on July 6.
It happens to be 2 weeks apart from "The Amazing Spider-Man" and "The Dark Knight Rises".
The summer market in North America is about the same every two weeks.
What needs to be given some attention is "Special Forces 2" on June 29.
Chen Linfeng doesn't quite remember how much the box office of this movie was in his previous life.
It's just that this movie seemed to be quite popular in Bangkok at the time because it had a Korean actor.
Chen Linfeng had watched this movie before, and the character played by a Chinese guy was quite impressive with his knife skills.
Apart from that, other movies are basically just shrimps and don't require him to care too much.
Chen Linfeng transferred most of his energy to the movie "Joker".
On May 31, "Joker" officially started filming.
No media was invited, and the combination of Chen Linfeng and Leonardo naturally attracted attention.
He only needs to ask the crew to hold the camera and capture the moment when the crew starts shooting.
Then the media operations officer of the production team edits it and sends it to the official accounts of the "Joker" production team on Twitter, Facebook, Weibo, V Station, YouTube and other platforms.
Times have changed, and publicity methods are also changing.
The official account will release some behind-the-scenes footage of the crew from time to time, as well as stills, posters and other content.
In the later stage, these accounts alone were like small media outlets.
If other big Vs, marketing accounts, etc. reprint it, all kinds of promotional information will be delivered to movie fans.
After the brief power-on ceremony, Chen Linfeng said a few words briefly and asked everyone to take their seats. There were not many bells and whistles.
Having been filming for so long, I have all the prestige and qualifications.
Both the crew and the actors have natural trust in the director.
There is no need for him to use words to arouse everyone's enthusiasm.
As usual, the first shot is a very simple shot.
It is worth mentioning that "Joker" is a rare 2D movie in this era.
When everyone is pursuing 3D movies, Chen Linfeng's approach is a bit backwards.
But that’s what feature films are like, 2D is smoother and the shooting speed is faster.
The first shot was of Arthur banging his head against the wall, and it was shot without much effort.
That's pretty much the end of the morning.
At noon, Chen Linfeng invited Leonardo and Lu Yang to have dinner together. "Leo, I see you don't look very happy?"
"I'm feeling Arthur's mood. I think he's usually like this."
"Uh, okay."
"This is about experience," Cheng Er said in surprise, "Isn't Leonardo an expressionist?"
Chen Linfeng spread his hands and said, "How can the distinction be so obvious in acting? Sometimes it just depends on which method is easier to use."
"Same."
Leonardo ate in silence and did not participate in the discussion.
In the afternoon, it was the scene at the beginning of the plot where Arthur received psychological counseling.
During filming breaks, Leonardo would burst into laughter from time to time, as if no one was around, surprising everyone.
Chen Linfeng was a little suspicious. This person wouldn't really be into the drama.
After more than two months of preparation, especially the second half of the month, Leonardo became a little obsessed after changing his perspective.
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Chen Linfeng also received Arthur's diary written by him.
In the film, corresponding props would have been specially prepared.
However, after reading it, he felt that there was no need to prepare at all.
This is what Xiao Lizi wrote.
Chen Linfeng didn't know whether to go over and persuade him, but after thinking about it, he decided to go and take a look.
Leonardo waved his hand directly to him, "Director, I'm fine."
"Really?" Chen Linfeng asked worriedly.
He was a bit doubtful that something might have happened if he changed the protagonist.
Leonardo smiled and said nothing.
"..."
Chen Linfeng felt increasingly infiltrated.
He couldn't help but become serious, "Leo, the complete experiential approach is evil and cannot essentially improve acting skills. The fact that the audience thinks a character is real does not mean that the character corresponds to the real person. This is really the case."
"I know, a certain amount of acting, plus some empathy, I understand, chen."
Leonardo seemed to be more awake and said calmly.
"Well, I hope you can grasp it well."
As the filming progressed, Chen Linfeng discovered that the Joker played by Leonardo was different from that of Heath Ledger and Joaquin Phoenix.
Needless to say, Heath Ledger is a complete clown and not suitable for comparison.
Compared with Joaquin's loneliness and vulnerability, Leonardo has a more neurotic temperament.
At the beginning, that is, during indoor scenes, Leonardo performed better. Compared with normal people, the weird feeling will become more and more prominent.
But when the scene was changed to outdoors, something wasn't right.
"Leo, you make too many little moves." Chen Linfeng interrupted.
"Okay director, let me adjust it."
"Hey, Leo, your walking posture is wrong."
"No, it's still wrong."
Being shouted "Ka" continuously, Leonardo couldn't help but feel a little anxious.
After being NGed for walking more than a dozen times in a row, he finally couldn't help it anymore and even got out of the clown's gloomy state.
"Chen, where did I go wrong?"
"It doesn't feel right. The way you walk now doesn't make me feel the pressure of life."
"But the script didn't pay special attention to this. Arthur can afford to be sick, and..."
"Yes, there is no special emphasis in the script, but this point must be reflected in various details." Chen Linfeng interrupted him directly.
"What's the reason for doing this?"
"The Joker and Batman are opposites."
"Yes, no one doesn't know this," Leonardo stopped mid-sentence, "Chen, you don't mean to..."
"Opposites in all directions, but there is me in you, just like the opposite semicircles in Tai Chi, this is perfect enough."
Chen Linfeng said patiently, "You focus too much on the neurotic side of the clown. Yes, that's right, that is the first and most important impression that the clown gives people."
He stared at the other party closely, "But we are the origin of the clown. Becoming a clown requires a process. You need to perfectly show the audience how Arthur became a clown step by step."
"Without this, you won't be able to convince the audience and the judges."
Leonardo thought about it carefully and finally nodded in approval.
Chen Linfeng smoothed his sleeves and said, "Come and take a look at my demonstration. You don't have to follow my example, but I can give you some reference."
The other actors and people behind the scenes were stunned.
The director wants to leave the show himself! ?
Originally, they were a little worried when they saw the two bosses of the crew arguing.
Unexpectedly, after Chen Linfeng convinced Leonardo, he actually wanted to give a demonstration himself.
This is really rare.
In fact, Chen Linfeng didn't want to, but he had no choice. Leonardo had high hopes for this movie and wanted to win an Oscar.
He himself also has some thoughts about the Berlin Golden Bear.
They were both in similar situations, both facing some scrutiny from the judges.
If you don't break through that threshold and truly shock people, you won't be able to win the award.
Chen Linfeng's previous two award-winning works focused on Li Xuejian, You Benchang and Lu Zhong respectively.
Needless to say, Li Xuejian's acting skills go without saying.
The characters in "Sunset" are naturally suitable for teachers You and Lu.
Their acting skills are already good and they appear with some real character, so they don't need much guidance from him.
This time is different. Xiao Li’s level is not low, but he has never won an award. It’s not just the judges who caused trouble.
He really doesn't have the ability to conquer people with his acting skills.
Therefore, Chen Linfeng had no choice but to intervene.
Under the gaze of everyone, Chen Linfeng adjusted his sleeves, and then asked the floor attendant to find him two safety pins to adjust the length of his trousers until they were not enough.
It looks a bit similar to Leonardo's current attire.
Then he adjusted his position so that his back was facing Little Plum.
From Leonardo's perspective, he knew that this was Arthur's back in the display shot.
Then, he saw that Chen's back suddenly became rickety and his head was slightly lowered, as if something was pressing on his back.
Taking a few steps forward, it felt inexplicably that he was walking with difficulty.
Leonardo has a complex expression. He has never played such a low-class role in society. He is a real low-class character.
Not the poor painter in "Titanic", nor the ordinary middle school student recovering from drug addiction like "Diaries on the Edge".
Combined with the stories in the script, his understanding of the script suddenly seemed to deepen.
Chen Linfeng walked a few steps and then stopped, turning back to look at Xiao Lizi.
"How's it going? Do you understand?"
"I understand."
Leonardo couldn't help but ask, "So in your eyes, the Joker is the representative of the lower class who opposes Batman?"
"They are the chaotic bottom people," Chen Linfeng corrected, "This is just a special perspective and does not represent reality. Just like the "Her" I wrote before, you cannot generalize."
"But the audience can understand it this way, right?"
"Yes," Chen Linfeng smiled, "It seems you really understand."
Then, the filming process became more and more smooth.
Chen Linfeng would always be extremely harsh and would do it again ten or twenty times.
But after Leonardo understood the director's core idea, he obviously became different.
After the director points out the problem, he can keep adjusting towards the goal until he achieves his best result.
The core of several sections in "Joker" is Arthur's dance, which represents the node where the clown is unblocked.
In the previous few times, Leonardo was still a little at a loss, and Chen Linfeng would even demonstrate again at the beginning.
However, as his condition got better and better, he entered Arthur's world more and more.
It was as if there was another person inside him, smiling crazily.
When it comes to the most crucial scene, the dancing scene on the stairs.
Standing on the high stairs and looking down, the crew downstairs looked like garbage.
He closed his eyes and adjusted quietly.
With a "start".
Leonardo Fu had a pure heart, and for the first time he truly experienced that unbridled and depraved mentality.
Nothing matters anymore, I don't care anymore, the world is a big joke.
Why not dance!
Leonardo was so immersed in it that he didn't even care about the stairs under his feet. He only felt that he had reached true freedom.
I don't know when, when he finished dancing intoxicatedly.
He found that everyone was looking at him stupidly.
"Okay, good job, let's do it again." Chen Linfeng's calm and joyful voice came.
Even if you are possessed by a clown, you still have to protect me.
But the subsequent times were far less perfect than this time.
In Chen Linfeng's view, even the best one was almost the same as the performance in his previous life, but it was not as wanton as Leonardo's first dance.
Since then, Leonardo's performance has become more and more comfortable, and even the number of NGs has been significantly reduced.
At the end of June, when Guo Fan and Lu Yang came to change shifts, he was almost shocked when he saw Leonardo's performance.
"What's going on? When did Xiao Lizi become so good at acting?"
As a director, no matter how good the acting is, you must have good eyesight.
In Guo Fan's opinion, Xiao Lizi's acting skills were quite good before, but they were definitely not as good as this.
"Our director trained us."
Lu Yang was full of amazement. He felt that he had learned the essence.
After practicing and mastering it, you might be able to call yourself Senior Brother Chen Clan.
"Hey, I'm so lucky." Guo Fan began to regret it.
If I had known that he would speed up and finish filming "Space Traveler" earlier, I could have come here to listen to the teacher's teachings.
Who would have thought that during his absence, the teacher would show his true abilities.
Seeing his appearance, Lu Yang couldn't help but cursed secretly, "Director Chen is not here now, who are you showing off to."
He finally figured out that Guo Fan was the biggest threat and was most likely to compete with him for the position of senior brother.
"You came at the right time. "Inception" is about to be released. Director Chen and Leonardo are going to participate in the promotion. You can take over a Hollywood crew alone."
Guo Fan complained, "The main characters are gone, so there is no room for me to play."
"It would be nice if I could give you some scraps. What are you thinking about? When you become a director one day, come and film with Leonardo."
(End of chapter)