Chapter 688: The Art of the Lens

It is indeed an author who knows how to write well, but they are not using the language of film and television.

This also led Lu Yan He to a very important reflection regarding the final selection for the Lingyun Awards in the drama category.

A drama can be good enough, but its goodness might come from the language of the text, the actors' performances, or the fluidity of the editing; it is not necessarily a "hexagonal" player that is excellent in every aspect. At this point, if there is another drama whose goodness lies in the fact that its lens language is sufficiently prominent, and while it has no particularly outstanding aspects in other areas, it also has no shortcomings—

In this situation, who should be chosen?

On this matter, Lu Yan He had some disagreements with the other judges.

In the category of Best Cinematography, one judge supported a period drama about a family of winemakers, but Lu Yan He was more in favor of a modern drama.

The drama Lu Yan He supported made many people feel strange.

It was nothing else; in fact, in the minds of many, it is tacitly assumed that the Best Cinematography award is basically unrelated to modern dramas. Often, people equate the visual beauty of a drama with the quality of its cinematography. The reason Lu Yan He believed this modern drama was more suitable for the Best Cinematography award was that it hit every point accurately.

This was especially evident in the ensemble scenes.

With every person speaking, every cut of the camera, every shot captured, the fluidity of the camera movement, and the capture of every detail, Lu Yan He felt that this drama was often truly using the lens to tell the audience what the drama was about, rather than relying on the characters' lines.

Lu Yan He said, "I don't think a cinematographer for film and television is a landscape photographer, where it's just about who can shoot the most beautiful images. Whether every shot is an effective shot, and whether the information provided by the lens is accurate enough—this is equally important. This reflects a cinematographer's understanding and talent."

Among the jury, there was already a cinematographer, Xu Hui.

After listening to their debate, Xu Hui nodded and said, "In our past selections for the cinematography award, we indeed cared more about the quality of the images produced, including some technically demanding shots, such as long takes or the movement between shots. Isn't it common for 'god-tier' shots to be discussed online?"

Lu Yan He nodded. "Actually, that is exactly what I wanted to say. Why are some shots called 'god-tier' by everyone online?"

Just like that shot in "Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace" that people love to talk about, where the concubines meet the Fragrant Concubine played by Li Qin.

Just like the opening sequence of "War and Beauty."

That is camera movement.

However, such shots are very obvious displays of skill, so they are easily noticed. Yet, for a modern drama like Stephen Chow's "King of Comedy," very few people would think the cinematography is great. Because the visual images are not beautiful in the conventional sense, it is not like the shots in "Nirvana in Fire," which are made with various aesthetic proportions and are beautiful at a glance. However, if you watch "King of Comedy" carefully, with a critical mindset of "is this shot meaningful," you will discover one thing: in this movie, there is not a single wasted shot. And the premise for this is that every shot taken can effectively use the lens to express the meaning of the film.

For example, that famous scene of "I'll support you."

That really is a scene that, after combining performance, cinematography, editing, camera movement, and music, could be used as a textbook.

Empty shots, close-ups, medium shots, camera movements... every shot complements the two people's state of mind, the progression of the plot, and the dialogue and subtext.

Lu Yan He believes that for a cinematographer, the beauty of the image and the difficulty of the technique are external skills; whether one can use the lens to point out the subtext of the characters' dialogue and whether one can add to the "subtext"—that is the internal skill.

This was also something Lu Yan He realized after reading the book "White Thirteen."

As a novel, "White Thirteen" is actually excellent, but as a drama script, it is very ordinary—just neat.

Every form should have things that are unique to that form, things that other forms cannot express.

For cinematography, that is lens language.

Lu Yan He's reasoning left everyone in deep thought.

Xu Hui said, "Actually, I am very pleasantly surprised to hear such remarks from Yan He."

Lu Yan He looked at Xu Hui.

Xu Hui said, "As cinematographers, we are often asked to make the images look very beautiful, but very few directors care about what information we are shooting. Directors and actors who understand drama will discuss the movement trajectory of the lens with us, and discuss the different effects of each lens position. Directors and actors who don't understand drama will say, 'Some cinematographers make the images look so beautiful, why can't I get them to shoot some life-like shots for me...'"

Lu Yan He laughed.

Xu Hui shrugged: "The lens should have information, and it shouldn't be information disconnected from the drama. It's not just some seemingly cool, beautiful entrance shots, nor is it just a few flashy camera movements that make for good cinematography. I can understand why Yan He supports the drama "Libin Hotel." The cinematography of this drama is truly great; it's great because its information is provided very accurately. Look at that scene where the thief steals things from the guests; it looks like this scene is pieced together from different shots, with the camera constantly switching between the thief and the victim. In reality, it is done in one go. Its photographic movement line is the action of stealing, not the character of the thief. So, when watching this scene, we can very accurately see how he manages to steal so many things in such a crowded place without being noticed. It looks chaotic, but if you pay close attention, you will see that at every moment the thief makes a move, the camera actually has an accurate capture. It doesn't necessarily have to be a close-up—many cinematographers would emphasize it that way, and often it's a flat close-up, but here, it's a dynamic process, from the hand reaching into the bag to taking it out, to putting it into his own pocket right under everyone's noses."

Lu Yan He nodded.

Liu Teli said, "Then let's take the scene Xu Hui mentioned and watch it together. As it happens, Teacher Xu, you can also explain to us the cinematography of this scene and specifically where it is good. Let's have a class."

Xu Hui nodded.

Next, they really had a one-hour cinematography analysis class.

After the analysis, Jiang Yingxue, who had previously raised objections, nodded and said, "I've learned something."

Xu Hui: "However, I really didn't expect Yan He to see things in such detail. You aren't a cinematographer, so why would you care about these things?"

Lu Yan He said, "Because when I am writing a script, and when I am reading scripts written by others, I actually imagine the images being shot in my mind. Then, when I compare that with the final finished film, you will find that some cinematographers handle it even better than you imagined, while others are really just honestly shooting in a conventional way. Film and television dramas still require all departments to understand the script and reach a consensus so that the effort exerted can be unified. Sometimes, when I act in a scene, I feel that the essence of the scene is actually in my eyes, so I perform more introspectively, in the details, but the cinematographer shoots me in a medium shot, and the lens basically can't capture what's in my eyes, which makes me very helpless. So sometimes, I just hope that cinematographers understand drama a bit more and know what this part of the script is actually trying to do and what it needs to express."

Xu Hui laughed.

"You have to blame the director for that; cinematographers on set basically still listen to the director."

"Everything can be blamed on the director because the director is responsible for the whole drama," Lu Yan He said. "However, if you don't want your work to be picked apart, at least in your own part, you can do it well. Even if the director doesn't say anything, you can do it well yourself."

"Of course, you can say that," Xu Hui said. "Cinematographers with aspirations will definitely ponder it themselves, but there are too many guys in the industry now who just want to do the bare minimum."

"Then, for the Best Cinematography award, shall we decide today?" Liu Teli asked.

Lu Yan He shook his head and said, "We are all just in the discussion stage now. Let's concentrate on voting for the final award on the last day. We can all think about it again after we go back."

Liu Teli was a bit surprised.

If they voted under the current circumstances, the Best Cinematography award would 100% go to "Libin Hotel."

Yet Lu Yan He refused.

Was he not afraid that some twist would happen later?

Lu Yan He said, "I'm leaving the day after tomorrow to attend the Golden Globe Awards, so I have to ask for a few days off. Sorry."

Others already knew about this and had already been informed.

They nodded. Lian Bei smiled and said, "Wishing you success in winning the award!"

"What award? It's difficult," Lu Yan He shook his head. "Very difficult."

"At the time, everyone was surprised by the Golden Globe nomination, too. You never know with these things, right?" Lian Bei said. "But if you win, you have to treat us when you get back."

Lu Yan He: "Fine, you guys pick the place. Whatever you want to eat is fine; I'll treat everyone."

Lian Bei: "Look at that, he just said it was hard to win, and now he's letting us pick the place."

"My point is, regardless of whether I win or not, I will treat everyone to a meal," Lu Yan He said with a helpless smile.

After all, the Golden Globe Awards is one of the most globally watched award ceremonies.

This time, with so many popular Chinese actors nominated for performance awards, the fans of several families had already started celebrating, and now, as the ceremony approached, everyone was naturally even more expectant.

"Friends" is taking a four-day break.

On the eve of departure, Chen Siqi decided on a whim to go with Lu Yan He to attend the Golden Globe Awards.

Every nominee can bring one person to the award ceremony.

!

Lu Yan He had asked Chen Siqi before if she wanted to go. Chen Siqi originally didn't want to, but once she thought about being able to promote "Jump Up" magazine at the Golden Globes, she changed her mind.

Because the English version of the "Jump Up" mook had just been published.

Chen Siqi decided to take it onto the red carpet.

After Lu Yan He found out, he was speechless.

"I asked you to accompany me, and you didn't want to. As soon as you thought you could promote 'Jump Up,' you were willing to go," Lu Yan He squinted and said, "You keep saying you love me, hate work, want to rest, and want more time to be with me, but in reality, you love work more."

Chen Siqi: "We're six of one, half a dozen of the other; let's not talk about each other."

"Hmph."

And after Lu Yan He brought Chen Siqi, Yan Liang brought Li Zhibai—

Actually, Zhou Ping'an really hoped to be able to enter the main venue with Yan Liang, but Yan Liang refused directly, saying he had already promised Li Zhibai (even though he hadn't even asked Li Zhibai if he was going at that time).

Li Zhibai was, of course, okay with it. After finishing "Chinese Paladin," he had plenty of free time now.

As for Zhan Yun, she had originally planned to attend with Yangzhou, but unexpectedly, so many things happened in between, and they had now broken up.

She finally decided to attend with her mother.

"Me? I'll just go by myself," Chen Bige said. "I can't win an award anyway, so it's pointless to bring anyone."

Chen Bige, who was nominated for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama at the Golden Globes for "Love Letter," didn't plan to bring anyone because she felt she couldn't possibly win.

Lu Yan He asked, "Sister Bige, if you really don't have anyone you plan to bring, could you bring Zhang Ruozhi?"

As the other lead actress of "Love Letter," Zhang Ruozhi is now an actor signed with Shi Huo.

At the time when "Love Letter" attended the Hexi Film Festival, Zhang Ruozhi missed her first appearance on the international stage because she was preparing for the college entrance examination.

Chen Bige nodded.

"Sure."

Lu Yan He: "Thank you."

Chen Bige asked, "The young girl Ruozhi is quite likable. I haven't seen any news about her recently. Did you sign her for any dramas, or what?"

"No, she's in college, so we didn't arrange any work for her," Lu Yan He said. "During these few years of college, we might only be able to let her make guest appearances in some roles."

Chen Bige: "I see, no wonder I rarely see news about her."

"When you can study properly, you should study properly. There will be plenty of time and opportunities for work later; once the opportunity to study is missed, it won't come back," Lu Yan He said.

"The newcomers you discover are really lucky; they don't have to worry about missing development opportunities or worry about not being popular anymore," Chen Bige said. "After I became popular back then, I didn't dare to stop at all, fearing that I would become irrelevant, so I didn't dare to miss any opportunity."

"Ah?" Lu Yan He looked at Chen Bige suspiciously. "Sister Ziyan clearly told me that you were very rebellious back then, didn't work properly, and was always causing trouble for her."

Chen Bige: "..."

Lu Yan He added, "Sister Ziyan also said that back then, most of her work was cleaning up your messes."

"Alright, alright," Chen Bige quickly called a stop to it.

Lu Yan He laughed.

Chen Bige: "Sister Ziyan is really something, telling you about these things."

Lu Yan He: "Because every time I belittle myself, Sister Ziyan uses you as an example to tell me that I've already done very well."

Chen Bige almost rolled her eyes all the way to Chen Ziyan's house.

Lu Yan He arrived in Los Angeles in the afternoon.

The temperature was very low.

Lu Yan He was wearing a down jacket and gloves, but he was still cold.

If it were just him, he would have just stayed in the hotel.

However, Chen Siqi said she wanted to go out for a stroll, so Lu Yan He had no choice but to accompany her.

Chen Siqi brought the English version of the "Jump Up" mook and had Lu Yan He take promotional photos of her on the streets of Los Angeles.

After Chen Siqi finished, she had Lu Yan He be the model.

Lu Yan He: "..."

The two of them wandered in the bleak cold wind for two hours and took who knows how many "Jump Up" model photos.

It wasn't until evening that Chen Siqi said, "Let's find a place to eat something first."

Lu Yan He nodded vigorously, "Let's go quickly."

They entered a fast-food restaurant.

As a result, not long after they went in, Lu Yan He was recognized.

And it wasn't just one person who recognized him; everyone came to ask for a photo.

In order to be able to finish his dinner properly later, he cooperated and took photos with everyone.

After they were done, Chen Siqi said, "Is your popularity in the United States this high now? How come we can just walk into any restaurant and someone recognizes you?"

"It's Los Angeles, after all. Popularity might be higher in big cities, but if you go to cities that aren't as modernized or urbanized, it's basically non-existent," Lu Yan He said. "Over the past two years, I've often had public activities in Los Angeles, not only acting in movies but also appearing on several television programs and in newspapers."

Chen Siqi: "So you have so much exposure here in the US, I didn't even know."

"It hasn't really stopped anyway," Lu Yan He said. "Especially the television programs I've been on; they still have quite a large audience. Every time I appear on a TV show here, it follows up with a trending topic on Twitter."

"That means there are quite a few Americans interested in you."

Lu Yan He said with a smile, "It's mainly because I'm handsome."

Chen Siqi: "... Can you not be so Li Zhibai-fied?"

Lu Yan He touched his nose.

"Did the English version of the 'Jump Up' mook not hold any promotional activities here?" Lu Yan He asked.

Chen Siqi said, "It's too expensive, what can we hold? We can only piggyback on the Golden Globe red carpet to do some promotion."

"..." Lu Yan He said, "Would it be better if I opened a Twitter account?"

"Forget it," Chen Siqi shook her head. "You didn't open one before, and there's no need to open one specifically to promote 'Jump Up' now. It's fine, just do it normally. If the English version really can't be promoted, relying on you can only help for a while."

Lu Yan He asked, "What do the publishing agencies here say?"

"They said that there haven't been any very successful cases for this type of mook-style book before," Chen Siqi said. "So far, the only overseas mook versions that have truly launched a few issues and had some influence are the Korean and Japanese versions. In Europe and America, it basically hasn't opened up the situation. However, they are still willing to try, so this time we reached a cooperation."

Lu Yan He: "If it still doesn't move after continuous promotion later, why not just change the method?"

"Ah?"

"Look at those fashion magazines, a Vogue does dozens of language versions, and each language's magazine is localized," Lu Yan He said. "Why don't you also learn from this form and develop magazines in other languages, doing localization?"

"Is there a market for literary magazines to do this?" Chen Siqi shook her head, feeling it was very difficult.

"Then I don't know, but as far as magazines doing multi-language versions, I've only seen fashion magazines as a successful example," Lu Yan He said. "Magazines that don't do localization are rarely seen to be successful. Look at Japanese manga magazines; they are so successful, but they actually haven't been pushed abroad."

"Maybe my wanting to push the magazine overseas is an unreliable decision," Chen Siqi smiled. "Based on my experience dealing with so many overseas publishing agencies, what they are interested in is still our domestic best-selling authors and works, not magazines. Even if the magazine's sales have steadily reached over 300,000 copies, others are indeed not interested, and making it into a mook doesn't help either."

Lu Yan He said, "There really is no successful precedent."

Chen Siqi: "But let's try anyway. At worst, it's just paying tuition. At least through this, we've gotten to know publishing agencies all over the world, dealt with them, and gotten familiar with them, which makes it easier for us to promote domestic authors' novels to them."

Lu Yan He asked, "How is the publishing market for our domestic authors' novels overseas now?"

"The suspense, crime, and mystery genre is relatively popular, while others are just average," Chen Siqi said. "Among the authors we have signed and represent for overseas publishing, those who are more noticed are Liu Jiazhen, who is more popular in Europe, America, and Japan, and Ming Yin, who is popular in Asia. Europe and America published one book, but the sales were very poor. Apart from them, everyone else has only published one or two books, none of which sold very well, so it's hard to tell anything."

Lu Yan He was a bit surprised.

Chen Siqi said, "On one hand, our overseas promotional channels are very average, and the publishing agencies we cooperate with don't provide much promotional and marketing resources, which leads to them basically having no promotional exposure. On the other hand, foreign readers actually don't have the habit of reading Chinese literature. Modern Chinese literary works actually don't have much influence overseas; those with high popularity are still those traditional classic works, like 'Journey to the West'."

"This really requires accumulating over time to open up the market and cultivate readers," Lu Yan He said. "Cultural influence is actually just like that. Why are European, American, Japanese, and Korean works frequently popular in China? At least one reason is that they have gradually cultivated a reader base that can read literary works from these countries. Japan has anime, and the US has movies. Because of these popular works, people slowly become familiar with and know their culture. But our Chinese culture still seems too 'broad and profound' for foreigners, and the threshold is high."

Chen Siqi nodded and said, "Yes, I feel the same way. When I deal with many foreign publishing agencies, I know as soon as we talk that they are actually very unfamiliar with our domestic publishing situation, only knowing a few of the most famous ones. Moreover, because there are no successful best-selling authors, they don't believe from the bottom of their hearts that Chinese novels can be best-sellers. But because there are some particularly best-selling foreign authors in China, there are always publishers doing new foreign authors, and they can launch a few relatively popular best-sellers every year."

She smiled and said, "This is also why I decided to come to the Golden Globes with you. On one hand, I want to build my personal image brand; it's only natural for me to promote the books under my banner on various social media. On the other hand, I feel I still can't be aloof. I can't forget how 'Jump Up' got its start. With the star and celebrity effect that can obviously be utilized, why wouldn't I use it? I want to get to know these circles and ask them to help me promote the books under my banner."

Lu Yan He nodded.

"That is indeed a way."

A shortcut.

The two of them chatted while eating.

After eating, they walked back to the hotel together.

Under the night sky, the city of Los Angeles actually looks no different from domestic cities at first glance.

Such modernized cities are all much the same.

It's just that in a foreign land, it's not as comfortable as being at home.

The several bodyguards around were all on guard.

Even if they weren't sticking close to them, this formation still made it impossible for Lu Yan He and Chen Siqi to completely relax.

Lu Yan He said, "It used to be quite comfortable to come abroad for work because no one recognized me, and I could stroll around by myself. I didn't expect it to become impossible so quickly now."

Chen Siqi: "In the future, when we go out for travel, will we only be able to go to places with fewer people?"

Lu Yan He nodded with a smile and said, "If you don't mind being disturbed, popular places are actually fine, too. Everything is fine, domestic is also fine. As long as you put on sunglasses and a mask, in most cases, it won't be that easy to be recognized."

"We haven't been out together for a long time. Are you free during the New Year this year?"

"I'm free, as long as I finish the Spring Festival Gala," Lu Yan He said. "Although it will be very busy this year, with four dramas to shoot, plus the one I'm guest-starring in for the teacher, that's five dramas, but I'll be free during the Spring Festival."

"Then let's go out together," Chen Siqi said. "I also want to take my grandparents out to play. I'm usually too busy with work and have no time to accompany them at all. Even when I occasionally go back, I have to leave after just one meal."

"Sure," Lu Yan He asked, "Do you need me to arrange anything?"

"Forget it since you're so busy now," Chen Siqi shook her head. "I'll arrange it."

"Okay."

The next day, from early in the morning, it was extremely busy, with things to do every hour.

Starting from getting his styling done, Lu Yan He had two interviews to do.

Anyway, every time he came over, Darren Wilson wouldn't let him be idle.

And if you want to be a qualified artist, you have to master one principle:

For work that your agent has accepted for you that is beneficial to your career development, as long as you can do it, cooperate as much as possible. Don't take the work others have accepted for you lightly just because you are a big star and popular.

In the field of acting, you are an artist, and you can insist on some of your own things. In the field of an artist's work, every achievement of yours is inseparable from the support of your team. If you rely on your popularity and complain that this is tiring or that work is not high-end or troublesome enough, you are not only dampening your own enthusiasm for work but also the sustainability of your career.

Of course, it is precisely because Lu Yan He has such thoughts that Chen Ziyan said Lu Yan He is actually an artist with a very high degree of cooperation.

It is also because of this point that the entire industry truly has a well-known reputation for Lu Yan He's cooperation.

After the interview, Lu Yan He had to take departure photos according to the arrangements of Wang Biao and the others.

Subsequently, after eating something to pad his stomach, he had to prepare to leave.

Attending an award ceremony is relatively kinder to male actors; at least he doesn't have to starve himself to fit into a gown, not daring to eat anything.

However, Lu Yan He also had his own headaches.

For example, the problem of "recognizing people." Tonight, Darren Wilson would not be by his side. For him, his most important client today was Edward Hodgson, who was vying for the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.

So, without someone whispering in his ear to remind him "who the other person is," it would be terrible if Lu Yan He couldn't recognize someone who greeted him whom he had met before—

An awkward scene would occur.

When Lu Yan He was on his way to the car, he was very seriously using his tablet to go over the guests attending the Golden Globe Awards tonight, looking at photos one by one, matching names, including what representative works they had.

Lu Yan He actually never thought that he would have to do this kind of thing, although he had already done it many times before.

Chen Siqi looked at this scene, very surprised.

"Really, I'm convinced. If you aren't successful, who is?" Chen Siqi said. "Even I, who socialize every day, am not as exaggerated as you."

Lu Yan He: "There's no other way. In this situation, to avoid embarrassment, I can only do this."

Chen Siqi suddenly let out an "eh."

"What's wrong?" Lu Yan He asked.

Chen Siqi: "My phone just pushed a news story saying that the Shijin Group is negotiating with Ye Mai Net, wanting to acquire Ye Mai Net. The one in charge of the negotiation is Yang Zhouli."

Additional update for monthly tickets tomorrow, 5,000 words guaranteed, 100 monthly tickets + 1,000 words. It is currently 2,173 words.

Continuing to write in the live broadcast room, welcome to watch. (End of this chapter)