Chapter 335: Wrap

Regarding Jiang Qinqin and Jiang Wu's multiple NGs, Wu Yuchen didn't give too much criticism; once the acting passed, he just gave simple encouragement. It was very normal for a few-minute segment to take a day to film; sometimes grinding for two or three days or even a week was common.

The point where Wu Yuchen was more efficient than other directors was that he knew what he wanted to film, and there were basically very few ineffective plot segments filmed. Not ineffective shots, but ineffective plot segments.

When filming, if a director starts to know what they want to film and films back and forth around this segment for a week, expressing it in different forms, and finally picks the one with the best effect, then even if many shots aren't used, those film rolls aren't considered wasted.

What's more to be feared is that the director themselves hasn't figured it out before filming, or their purpose isn't clear. Many directors, despite having a script when filming, can't stop once they start; they often want to film this and that. By the time they get to the final editing, many plot segments can't be used and have to be discarded.

And even more prominent is the type like Wong Kar-wai, who doesn't care about scripts; he doesn't even know what plot segments he wants to film. What he wants to film is actually that "feeling," spending a year or two filming a pile of material, and finally relying on editing to make it into a story.

At this time, Wu Yuchen was confirming tomorrow's filming situation with the staff: "Has the funeral home been contacted?"

"Contacted. Tomorrow, a space will be specifically cleared for us to film."

What was to be filmed tomorrow was the scene of the bathhouse owner being sent to the funeral home for cremation. And there was an arrangement here: the old man Niu Ben, who had always been soaking in the bath and playing chess at the bathhouse, happened to be the cremation worker at the funeral home.

The next day, at dusk, Wu Yuchen watched the playback of today's filming:

Niu Ben was wearing a uniform. He supported the coffin, gazing deeply at the old lady, and said softly: "Thank you. See you later."

Then, Niu Ben personally closed the owner's coffin lid and sent the owner into the incinerator.

At the operation desk behind the incinerator, Jiang Wu ran over, wanting to see his mother one last time. Niu Ben smiled and nodded in agreement. Then, he seemed to say reminiscently: "Maybe people have a premonition before they die!"

Jiang Wu couldn't help but turn his head to look at Niu Ben, only to hear him continue: "On New Year's Day this year, she invited me to spend the holiday together."

Afterward, Niu Ben smiled lightly: "I originally thought, at such an old age, what holiday is there to spend? But she insisted on celebrating no matter what. She even bought a small cake with a ruby, lit a candle, and we made a wish together. Then, she suddenly said to me, could we continue to run the bathhouse together?"

Niu Ben lowered his head and looked at the incinerator in front of him: "Now, I understand. Maybe it's because my fire burns well!"

After saying this, Niu Ben smiled unconsciously, but tears had already appeared in Jiang Wu's eyes, because at the beginning, he had always persuaded his mother to sell the bathhouse. Now, looking at the coffin in the incinerator again, all kinds of guilt and longing for his mother surged into his heart again.

Niu Ben turned his head, seemingly to comfort, seemingly to sigh, and continued:

"The longer I stay here, the more I believe that death is a door. Passing away doesn't mean the end of life, but passing through it into another stage.

I can be the gatekeeper, send them through this door, say 'bon voyage' to them, 'see you later,' and send them off—it's truly a great honor."

This segment used the contrast of the character. This old man's impression before was that of a humorous, funny old man, but at a time like this, after he put on a uniform and said such philosophical words, it would give the audience an extra touch.

However, Wu Yuchen's purpose in watching this playback wasn't just for inspection. He opened other filming material; this was the footage he specifically had a cinematographer run to the vicinity of Poyang Lake to film of various white cranes taking flight and soaring.

Every November, white cranes migrate from the north to the south, and their destination is Poyang Lake. In fact, Chongming Island's East Beach in Magic City occasionally had white cranes passing through and stopping, but because it wasn't fixed, Wu Yuchen simply sent people to Poyang Lake to lie in wait, filming various materials and bringing them back for him.

What he had to do now was to find the footage he wanted from these materials and then edit it after the scene filmed today.

The footage Wu Yuchen envisioned was like this:

When Niu Ben pressed the button to ignite the fire, as the flames rose, Jiang Wu wept uncontrollably, kneeling in front of the incinerator and sobbing: "Mom, I'm sorry!"

And the camera would also aim at this raging fire, then through an optical fade, transition in a superimposition effect to the footage of a group of white cranes taking flight and soaring in the sky.

White cranes were inherently auspicious beasts, having symbols of good luck and elegance.

This implication could basically be understood by any Chinese person with a little culture: that is, "riding a crane to the west"!

At the same time, this was also using symbolic techniques to interpret the words Niu Ben said before: death is not the end, but the path to the next stage.

Therefore, in order to achieve a satisfactory effect, Wu Yuchen was now comparing the two segments, finding the most suitable material. And now it wasn't just him watching; the assistant director, cinematographer, and others in the team were all picking along with him, going over it again and again and discussing it.

"Wu Dao, how about this segment? The posture of these white cranes spreading their wings and flying is beautiful!"

"Wu Dao, I think this segment is better. From taking off to flying in formation in the sky, the continuity is very good."

"You can't put the whole process in; you definitely have to pick the two most beautiful segments!"

That was true. After all, it was just a transition; you couldn't really put the whole process of flying in. The time was too long, and too much would be counterproductive, making the audience impatient.

"Alright, alright, just the footage of spreading wings and taking flight from just now. Let's pick another segment of soaring."

Wu Yuchen decided, then continued to pick another segment.

Beside a stone beach by a small river, Zhao Wenxuan squatted on the ground, holding his forehead with both hands, eyes closed, the whole person seemingly concentrating on doing something.

A few seconds later, he stood up from the ground and reached out his hand to Jiang Qinqin: "Here."

Jiang Qinqin looked down and saw a smooth, round stone in Zhao Wenxuan's palm: "What is this?"

Zhao Wenxuan took Jiang Qinqin's hand, put the stone into her palm, and then said: "A stone letter."

Then, he looked up at the sky:

"A long, long time ago, in the era before humans invented writing, finding a stone that could express one's feelings and giving it to the other person conveyed one's affection.

The person who received the stone would guess the other person's intentions based on the stone's feel and weight. For example, a very smooth stone meant you were very happy, while a rough, uneven one meant the other person was very worried about you."

Birds were chirping happily around them. Jiang Qinqin looked at Zhao Wenxuan and revealed a joyful smile. She lowered her head, held the stone in her palm, and closed her eyes silently, as if feeling the affection contained in the stone.

Then she opened her eyes, slowly raised her head, and smiled happily: "Thank you!"

Zhao Wenxuan lowered his head and asked: "What did you feel?"

Jiang Qinqin put her hand behind her back and said playfully: "Secret!"

The two couldn't help but look at each other and smile, then Jiang Qinqin asked: "Who told you such a beautiful legend?"

Hearing this, the smile on Zhao Wenxuan's face suddenly froze, his brow couldn't help but furrow, and he turned his face away: "My father."

Jiang Qinqin said: "Then that big stone at home, wouldn't it be..."

"Yes, it was given to me by him."

Zhao Wenxuan nodded, then turned around and walked back to the stone beach from before: "He said he would give me one every year. But I only have that one..."

As he spoke, he picked up a stone from the ground, threw it forcefully into the small river, and shouted angrily at the same time: "What a jerk!"

"Good! Very good, let's keep one more take!"

Wu Yuchen was very satisfied with the state of the two, so this time it passed in one take.

This scene of the stone letter had two functions.

One was to show that the relationship between Jiang Qinqin, the wife, and her husband had been restored to what it was before, and even became more intimate and trusting. Things Lin Wu hadn't told her before, he now opened his heart to her about.

The second was to pave the way for the follow-up, showing the protagonist's resentment toward the father who abandoned him and his mother. In fact, many details had been buried before, such as Lin Wu selling his cello at the beginning, while the cello he often played now was actually one he had dug out from home that had been preserved for many years. Another example was that he had dreamed of his father, but the impression of his father had always been very vague, and he couldn't remember his face anymore.

Now Wu Yuchen had already taken the crew to film 8 encoffining rituals. In the middle of this, the protagonist Lin Wu, as an encoffiner, personally sent off 8 deceased people. But in fact, he was more of a bystander. In the process of watching funeral after funeral, he indirectly felt the true passing of life and experienced the different attitudes of different families toward death, and the different choices and persistence of the living.

This kind of bystander role was not a simple or easy job. The cruelest part of life lies in the unchangeability of death, and watching these unchangeable natural laws without being infected by sadness requires a calm and gentle heart.

Thus, character roles like teachers appeared one after another. Company boss You Bencang guided Lin Wu to look at every passing life equally, teaching him that as a sender-off, one "must be calm, accurate, and hold gentle emotions";

The grandfather who always played chess alone at the bathhouse accompanied Lin Wu to bathe, watched the fish swimming against the current together, and told the bewildered Lin Wu that death "is a natural law; they are born like this"...

In this process, Lin Wu, as a naive bystander, gradually grew up. He gradually could see through the unstoppable and natural nature of death and could equally and devoutly transcend every deceased person. This was the first level of state a bystander could reach: calm but not indifferent, gentle but not sad.

But every bystander cannot escape the confusion of being a participant. This is true for every character in the film. Lin Wu faced more than one contradiction. Whether it was the social discrimination he endured as an encoffiner or even his wife's lack of understanding, or the inner void left by his father's departure since childhood, all were waiting for Lin Wu to face and solve. After all, humans are destined not to exist simply as bystanders, or rather, "bystanding oneself" is a difficult problem that everyone cannot avoid.

And now, Lin Wu, having seen the changes in others' lives, having gained long reflections in death after death, and having gone through the spiritual journey of encoffining time after time, finally reached the second level of a bystander's state: facing himself.

In the past, he never mentioned anything about his father; this was a pain buried deep in his heart. Now he dared to face his resentment toward his father and pour it out to his wife.

And next, the last remaining encoffining ritual to be filmed, which was also the final scene, was to let the protagonist Lin Wu face his father directly, finally completing his reconciliation with his father and with his own inner self.

"In a moment, you two stand in this position, with your backs to the window. Lin Wu, you stand here, using your body to block the light coming through the window, letting your father's upper body be in your shadow."

At this time, Wu Yuchen was instructing Zhao Wenxuan and Jiang Qinqin on their positions.

This final scene wasn't just about filming according to the script plot; light and shadow to set the atmosphere were very important. This segment used natural light filming, with the light direction being side-backlighting and the degree of diffusion being scattered light. The intensity of the light changed slightly throughout the segment, controlled by the opening and closing of the curtains.

Then Wu Yuchen instructed the cinematographer and staff again: "Before the encoffining ritual begins, the curtains are half-open, with a slightly larger light ratio. After the encoffining ritual begins, the curtains are closed."

"3, 2, 1, action!"

"This is... Dad?" Jiang Qinqin asked softly.

The remains of the deceased old man were in Zhao Wenxuan's shadow. At this moment, the face looked aged and pitiful. At this moment, Zhao Wenxuan lowered his head to gaze at his father, the strength relationship between father and son having been reversed from childhood.

"It's a bit ridiculous to say, but I can't remember what he looks like anymore. Even looking at his face now, I still can't remember."

Afterward, Zhao Wenxuan looked at a large box, his gaze a bit bewildered, murmuring: "What was his life for, in the end? He lived for more than 70 years and only left behind a box of miscellaneous items."

Before this, in fact, the protagonist heard the news of his father's death, and his resentment toward his father made him not want to go. But the accompaniment of his wife, Jiang Qinqin, and the advice of his colleague He Saifei using her own personal experience, made Lin Wu choose to come and see his father on his final journey.

And just at this moment, the local funeral company arrived. They wanted to carry the father's remains away directly, but Zhao Wenxuan couldn't bear their rude behavior and pushed the two of them away directly. Facing their questioning, Jiang Qinqin stood directly in front of them: "My husband is an encoffiner!"

Afterward, Wu Yuchen made a gesture, and the staff pulled the curtains shut, and then Zhao Wenxuan began to personally perform the encoffining ritual for his father's remains.

However, just as he pried open his father's tightly clenched right hand, a small, flat, smooth stone fell from his hand.

The camera zoomed in, focusing on a close-up of Zhao Wenxuan's face. After seeing this stone, his pupils shrank, then he gently picked it up, looking at this stone he had given his father when he was a child, and turned his head in shock to look at his deceased father.

Zhao Wenxuan turned back, the camera following his line of sight to Jiang Qinqin. Her eyes were already moist, and she smiled as she shed tears of being moved, then gently took the stone Zhao Wenxuan handed her.

Zhao Wenxuan leaned down, holding his father's face with both hands, lowering his head to his face, touching it, gazing at it, as if he wanted to find the appearance of his father from his childhood memories again.

Tears slid from the tip of his nose and dripped onto his father's face. Zhao Wenxuan gently applied foam to his father's face, then used a razor to trim it bit by bit.

At this time, Wu Yuchen was also focused on watching the scene in the camera, not just Zhao Wenxuan's performance, but also the overall atmosphere created by the lighting. The curtains were used as a natural softbox, making the light falling into the room warmer and softer, to set off the revival of family affection at this moment, thereby helping the emotions reach a climax.

After Zhao Wenxuan finished cleansing his father's face, he held this familiar face again, biting his lip and sobbing, nodding unconsciously, his eyes full of longing.

A moment later, he turned back to meet Jiang Qinqin's gaze, feeling both aggrieved and happy, just like a child who had found his father again. Jiang Qinqin also smiled through tears, holding the stone letter in her hand.

Zhao Wenxuan reached out both hands, cupping Jiang Qinqin's hand holding the stone, and then slowly placed it on Jiang Qinqin's belly, as if he wanted to pass this stone letter on to the new life gestating in his wife's belly.

In the small room, finding the deceased father and welcoming the gestating child, the bond between the two pairs of fathers and sons reached a ritual through this stone letter.

Wu Yuchen watched the two of them smiling happily in the soft light in the camera and also shouted happily: "Cut!"