Chapter 375: You're Just a Little Bit Off

Cao Yang plans to divide the filming of *Manchester by the Sea* into two parts.

This film adopts a non-linear narrative structure, weaving the protagonist's past and present together to create an effect of intersecting time and space.

This narrative style not only reveals the protagonist's traumatic memories but also hints at his inability to escape the predicament of his past.

However, the filming certainly cannot follow the film's playback order, nor can it be shot with the past and present intertwined.

Generally, filming is done according to scenes; this saves time, money, and energy.

Although Cao Yang is filming according to scenes this time, he is separating the shoot, with the node being the moment before and after the protagonist's house accidentally catches fire in the film.

Before the accident, the protagonist is a cheerful, ordinary person.

This is the brightest color palette in the entire film, dominated by warm tones: light green walls, yellow clothes and bedsheets, as well as the colorful towels, toys, and so on in the home.

After the accident, the protagonist shuts himself off, and the film also begins to become dull and oppressive.

The film's visual style is dominated by cool tones, with a large amount of gray, blue, and white tones creating a cold, oppressive atmosphere.

This color palette not only fits the film's theme but also reinforces the protagonist's inner loneliness and pain.

Cao Yang also has his reasons for separating the filming according to this node.

There is not much plot before that accidental fire occurs; the actors only need to perform normally, and Cao Yang does not intend to add the "immersion experience" when filming this segment.

To be specific, when filming this part of the plot, he does not intend to add the immersion experience for Cheng Long.

But in order to better portray the protagonist's state, Cao Yang is prepared to increase the "dosage" for the subsequent plot.

The protagonist's personality and emotions are severely fractured between the two periods, and this film is already "depressing" and stifling enough; Cao Yang worries that if he adds the immersion experience from the start, it might really cause Cheng Long to have a mental breakdown.

Therefore, it is quite necessary to divide it into two parts for filming.

There is very little plot before that accidental fire; except for a scene of going out to sea with his brother and nephew, almost all of it is indoor scenes.

There is no need to film this segment in Xiangjiang; filming it in the studio at the Beijing Film Studio is fine, and the room has already been set up.

Because the requirements for this plot are not high, the filming went very smoothly, with no major difficulties.

Everyone was laughing and joking, and it only took three days to finish filming.

Currently, because the entire crew is almost entirely composed of staff from the Beijing Film Academy, most of whom are the usual fixed team, and even the twenty or so interns are all students from the Beijing Film Academy, there is no need for the friction and testing that occurs in other newly formed crews.

Nor is there so much backstabbing.

There is even less of the phenomenon of group fighting that appears in some crews—in most crews, after the director finds the cinematographer, lighting technician, and so on, these cinematographers and lighting technicians will recruit or bring their own people in.

Sometimes, because of some trivial matter, as long as one department's personnel have a conflict with another department's personnel, it often escalates into a large-scale group fight involving the entire department.

Such things are actually very common.

Cao Yang's crew certainly would not have this situation; his old team members are either employees of the Beijing Film Studio or teachers from the Beijing Film Academy—in any case, they are all from the Beijing Film Academy system, so naturally, those things won't happen.

From the first day of joining the crew, Cheng Long felt very relaxed; the main reason was that the atmosphere of the crew was excellent, which is undoubtedly very beneficial for the filming of the movie.

So after finishing these specific scenes in three days, Cheng Long was still thinking that the crew's atmosphere was truly great; no wonder Director Cao can film so many classic movies.

Such a working environment can reduce too much trouble, allowing the director not to waste too much energy on managing the trivial matters of the crew.

"For the upcoming filming, I will definitely be able to complete it easily and happily."

Cheng Long made a beautiful wish.

After finishing these, many of the subsequent scenes that take place in Xiangjiang, as long as they are indoor scenes or scenes in a single location, will all be filmed at the Beijing Film Studio.

There are some scenes filmed on location in Xiangjiang, but not many; overall, there are not as many as the scenes filmed abroad.

The protagonist's fear of being reminded of the past is also a form of avoidance; Cao Yang, combining the opinions of the location manager and the assistant director after their field surveys, finally chose Quebec City in the province of Quebec, Canada, which is also Hollywood's favorite filming location.

As for the reason, first, there are many studios here, and labor costs are almost half lower than in the United States; second, the tax credit incentive policy here is very generous—you can get at least a 20% tax credit.

If you hire local workers to meet the minimum standard, there is an additional 16% labor cost tax credit.

In *Inception*, which Cao Yang filmed, many scenes were built in studios in Quebec.

The cost of filming here, all things considered, is even lower than in the UK.

In addition, Quebec's climate is a humid continental climate, characterized by extreme cold and heavy snow. The average annual snowfall here is as high as about 303 centimeters, making it one of the regions with extremely high snowfall.

Furthermore, in Quebec, it snows in late October most of the time, which also fits the protagonist's working environment abroad.

What is to be filmed next is the protagonist's state after the accident, but Cao Yang did not immediately add the immersion experience for Cheng Long.

As an actor collaborating for the first time, one must let him gradually feel that his success is not because his acting skills are truly that good, but because of the director's guidance, script analysis, and appropriate coaching.

The first scene to be filmed today is an indoor scene: in the semi-basement where the protagonist lives while working in Quebec, his brother, played by Old Situ, brings his son to visit him and buys him furniture like a sofa.

The actor for the young "nephew" is the son of a teacher at the Beijing Film Academy; the age was appropriate, so Cao Yang used him.

As an audience, we might sometimes sigh that those so-called "second-generation stars" or "second-generation actors" often start playing roles from childhood, which is unfair to other actors.

Or we say this is because his father or mother is so-and-so.

It cannot be denied that his father or mother being so-and-so is certainly part of the reason.

But there is another reason: these "second-generation" actors whose parents are actors or stars might, because they have been influenced by what they have seen and heard since childhood, be able to let go when acting, not be timid or at a loss, and also know how to handle their positioning.

This saves the director a lot of trouble.

Child actors are often the most headache-inducing for directors; it is time-consuming and laborious, and the more anxious you are, the more likely they are to be even more at a loss.

"Old Situ, do you think he will be scolded?"

Gu Changwei put his arm around Old Situ's shoulder, gestured toward Cheng Long, who was memorizing his lines, and asked in a low voice.

"Nonsense, the upcoming filming requires too much emotion and micro-expressions. Him? It's not that I look down on his acting; he does have acting skills, but compared to Cao Yang's requirements, I estimate he's still two streets away."

Old Situ smacked his lips and spoke without hesitation.

Then, Old Situ seemed to have realized something, looked at Old Gu sideways, and asked, "Does your old self know something?"

He leaned his head toward Old Gu and whispered, "Is it that Cao Yang said there's no need to actually film and waste film today? That kid hasn't done this just once or twice; is it the same this time?"

"You guess?"

Old Gu said with a smile.

"Guess my foot."

Old Situ muttered, then continued, "This kid Cao Yang is also strange. Digital cameras are popular now, and they can save film; many movies are using them, so why doesn't he like to use them?"

"Can the texture of that thing compare to film? Commercial films don't need that much texture, so it's fine to use, but art films are all about contrast, texture, and color; they definitely still have to use film."

Old Gu retorted unceremoniously.

"Hey, I was just saying, why are you retorting? I'm a Golden Lion-winning director, can't I understand this? Do you know what a Golden Lion-winning director is? The one in front of you is."

Old Situ slapped Old Gu's hand off his shoulder and swayed toward the makeup room.

Although he knew that what was being filmed today might be "superfluous," the necessary procedures still had to be followed; he couldn't let Cheng Long see that everyone didn't think highly of his performance and were colluding to "fool" him.

"Ha!"

Old Gu caught up to Old Situ in two steps, bumped him with his shoulder, and said, "Then do you know what a two-time Oscar Best Cinematography winner is? Do you know who the number one cinematographer in Asia and top five in the world is? The one in front of you is."

After saying this, Old Gu lifted his head and walked away on his own.

According to the plan, the first shot to be filmed today is very simple.

The background is that the protagonist is hit on by a girl in a bar, he does not respond, and he also gets into a conflict with two bar guests and has a fight; what is to be filmed is the shot of him returning to his residence.

There are no lines; Cheng Long only needs to open the door and come in with a blank expression, then sit down; it is filmed in two shots, totaling only twenty-some seconds.

The information this shot needs to convey is that the protagonist's life is impoverished and he lives alone in a dim semi-basement.

How can the audience be made to know this information?

The protagonist comes in, sits down, closes his eyes—a static shot lasting about ten seconds.

Behind the sofa where the protagonist sits, there is a small, rectangular, transparent window; this window is a bit high relative to the interior, almost at the ceiling. In these ten seconds of the static shot, shadows of people constantly walk past outside that "high" little window.

If people walk past outside the window on the ceiling, then one can know that this room must be a basement or something similar.

The lighting technician has already adjusted the lighting, using the reflection from the television and the natural light coming through the small window to create a sense of dimness and loneliness in the room.

Of course, relying only on the reflection of the television and the light outside the small window, the footage would certainly be dim and unclear, so the lighting technician added two yellow lights next to the television to strengthen the television's light.

"All departments, prepare."

Once the time came, today's filming began.

The script supervisor recorded the scene and shot numbers and clapped the slate in front of the camera.

Cheng Long pushed the door open and walked in, looking a bit exhausted; he didn't even take off his shoes and sat directly on the sofa.

"Cut."

Cao Yang said, "Not bad, keep one."

Then he filmed this simple shot again.

The next shot is the protagonist falling into a deep sleep with the television on, and through the movement of the shoes of the people outside the window, it can be seen that the protagonist is currently in a semi-basement room, and falling asleep with the television on makes the protagonist's loneliness and mystery even more apparent.

This makes the audience inevitably curious about what kind of events the protagonist experienced that made his personality so reclusive.

It can be seen that Cheng Long has tried his best to express loneliness and sadness; having acted in movies for so many years, his acting skills are still quite good, at least some of the feeling came out.

After these two simple shots were finished, the next shots to be filmed were also in this room, but not the same scene as the two shots above.

It was time for Old Situ to appear.

Then, those veterans of the crew saw a familiar scene.

"Cut."

"Your heart is already dead; even if your brother brings your nephew from thousands of miles away to see you, you cannot show politeness or happiness, not even a bitter smile."

"Cut."

"Do you know the phrase 'heart like still water'? Your heart has gone cold; your brother cares about you and wants to buy you furniture like a sofa, you need to show an indifferent attitude."

"Cut."

"There cannot be any fluctuation in your tone of voice, and you must have an expression that keeps people at a distance."

"Cut."

"Pay attention to the tone of voice... forget it, let's rest for another half hour."

After Cao Yang finished speaking, the entire film crew breathed a sigh of relief.

Those twenty or so students who had come to work as intern assistants had initially thought Cao Yang was the type of director with a very good temper, but they hadn't expected him to be so strict and demanding when it came to the camera work.

That was Cheng Long, the number one Chinese film star, yet he was actually being cut again and again.

Old Tian also let out a breath, sighing inwardly that acting in someone else's film was truly exhausting; he would never play a role like this again.

Huh?

Old Tian suddenly remembered that the last time he collaborated with Cao Yang to film "Empty House," that kid Cao Yang seemed to have used him to establish his authority as well, scolding him until he was bloody-headed in front of so many staff members and actors.

Good kid, so as long as I act in your film, you either use me to establish your authority or use me to accompany you in establishing it, right?

Cheng Long also let out a long breath.

This feeling... how many years had it been since he felt it?

Even in Hollywood, no director dared to treat him like this; of course, because they were all commercial films, no director would be this demanding either.

During the smooth filming of the past two days, he had thought it would continue that way, and even thought his acting skills had improved a lot over the years, allowing him to film an art-house movie so smoothly.

Who would have thought he was happy too soon.

The repeated NG's also made Cheng Long doubt himself; could it be that he really wasn't cut out for this and couldn't meet the requirements for filming an art-house movie?

But he had filmed art-house movies before!

However, thinking that this was Cao Yang's art-house movie, he felt a bit relieved.

If Director Cao's art-house movies weren't so demanding, how could every one of them win major awards?

Demanding?

Demanding was exactly right.

Cheng Long kept encouraging himself; since Director Cao had chosen him, it proved that under Director Cao's guidance, he would definitely be able to perform the state of the male lead.

However, the reality was that he once again began a journey of repeated NG's.

After a day of filming, his eyes were dull and lifeless, and he sat foolishly on the ground, beginning to doubt his life.

Am I really not suited for filming art-house movies?

Can I really never meet Director Cao's requirements?

Do I... have no acting skills?

"Director Cao, I, I..."

Cheng Long stopped Cao Yang, his tone stumbling, not knowing what to say.

Cao Yang looked at Cheng Long's state and felt that the torture was... no, he felt that the experience should be about enough; he should have some doubts about his own acting and self-perception by now.

Don't say that a person won't doubt themselves after becoming successful; that depends on who you compare them to.

If it were any other director who dared to torture Cheng Long like this, he would definitely have flown into a rage long ago.

But who is Cao Yang?

He is a super director who can win awards by filming art-house movies and win box office by filming commercial movies, a director who has never failed; could any actor doubt the vision of such a director?

When Cao Yang was constantly successful, even superstars like Depp and Xiao Lizi would not doubt him.

Therefore, when such a director thinks your performance is not up to par, even Cheng Long would only look for the reason within himself.

Cao Yang waved his hand, signaling for Cheng Long to walk and talk with him.

"Your biggest problem right now is that although you may understand the script and know the protagonist's situation, you cannot act out that sense of sorrow and desolation."

Cao Yang paused for a moment and continued:

"This is actually my fault. According to my previous habits, I would give actors at least a month and a half of coaching before official filming, but this time, because the lead is you, and you have filmed for so many years, I originally thought you could..."

Speaking to this point, Cao Yang stopped.

Hearing this, Cheng Long lowered his head in shame.

He felt both moved and guilty.

Director Cao thinks highly of me, but it seems he overestimated my acting skills, resulting in the current situation.

"Director Cao, it's not your fault, it's all my fault. It's me who didn't meet your requirements, it's me... sigh!"

The complaints Cheng Long had previously felt in his heart all turned into shame, and he couldn't help but lower his head again.

"It's okay, your acting is already very good, really."

Cao Yang patted Cheng Long on the shoulder and comforted him.

The more Cao Yang said this, the more guilty Cheng Long felt.

"Director Cao, I... I'm sorry, it's me who caused trouble for the crew, it's me who caused trouble for you... what should we do now? How about... how about the crew pauses for now, and you continue to... coach me? Don't worry, I will bear the losses caused by the crew's shutdown myself."

Cheng Long patted his chest and said it sincerely.

Cao Yang glanced at him and truly didn't see any sign of joking; he really thought this way.

"There's no need for such trouble. I said, you are actually... quite good. How about this, I will coach you for another two hours on the character, as well as the theme and connotation of the movie later.

Then, don't stay up late. After I finish, you go straight to bed, recall what I said, and ponder it repeatedly. I believe you will master it."

Cao Yang patted Cheng Long on the shoulder and sighed: "What you are missing now is just that little bit of mastery. Believe me, you can definitely do it. As long as you do as I say, tomorrow you will discover, 'so that's how it is!'"

(End of chapter)