Chapter 50: Exerting force together

Yang Qian cooperated very well, and they almost never argued with Cao Yang throughout the process.

Although he felt that some shots would be more meaningful if edited in, editing is a process of trade-offs. What you think is good and what the director thinks is good might be different things.

Everyone's understanding of things might be different. If you don't want to argue, just seek common ground while reserving differences.

Editing is a boring and tedious process, just watching, watching, cutting, cutting, connecting, connecting every day. Fortunately, Cao Yang's work efficiency was fast, shortening this process quite a bit.

After editing, color deviations still need to be corrected.

During the filming process, due to factors such as equipment and light, the film's colors might have deviations. Color grading can correct these deviations to ensure the film's overall tone is consistent.

At the same time, it is necessary to make the visuals consistent with the film's theme and emotions, enhancing the film's artistic effect.

For example, shots in the film that need to form a contrast need to have their tones slightly strengthened to make the contrast more prominent.

After these tasks were handled, only the soundtrack remained. Two days ago, Hou Ke Ming brought several soothing pieces of music according to Cao Yang's requirements, as well as three Western Region songs sung by hired singers.

In "Empty Room," original sound was used most of the time, and only a few segments had soundtracks. It was very simple and very crude.

After selecting suitable soundtracks and adding them in, Cao Yang played the few small segments with soundtracks several times and found that although it was different from the original, there was no sense of disharmony, and it was actually quite good.

Just like short videos in later generations, taking one or several segments of a TV show or movie, adding different soundtracks, and editing them together—is it disharmonious?

So, for soundtracks, most of the time, it's just to cooperate with the plot and render emotions. It's just that some music, if chosen correctly, can hit that point better—those who can achieve this are almost all soundtrack masters.

"Empty Room" was completed.

After Cao Yang came out of seclusion, he suddenly thought that the film was finished, so it shouldn't be considered breaking his promise to Old Situ now, right?

Forget it, now is not the time to think about this. Let's get a good night's sleep first.

After resting for a day, Cao Yang returned to school.

Sure enough, just as he came out of Old Situ's office, Hou Ke Ming was waiting for him as if specifically for him, pulling him along while asking, "Post-production is done?"

Cao Yang didn't even want to answer. Is there anything you don't know about the Qingying Studio side?

"It's finished. I'll rush out English subtitles to match it in these two days. I've notified Sony Classics and MK2. They will send people over in two days, and we'll watch the original film together then."

This matter couldn't be hidden anyway, so it was better to lay it out. The school would likely be happy to see it succeed. If the film was shot well, this would also be a great help.

Sure enough, Hou Ke Ming didn't care and nodded thoughtfully, saying, "This is a good thing. Then let's wait two days. Sony Classics still has many ways."

During the time Cao Yang was in seclusion working on post-production, "On the Beach at Night Alone" had already been released in North America. As an art film, and a Chinese-language film at that, it was naturally limited, and the box office couldn't explode.

This was actually something that couldn't be helped. At the current stage of Chinese-language films, perhaps only kung fu films were a genre that ordinary American audiences were interested in.

According to box office trends, professional institutions predicted it would be between 5 million and 7 million US dollars, with the bulk of the box office mainly in Chinese-populated areas.

The reason for such a large fluctuation was mainly because Li Xiaoran went to the US to promote it, and the effect was immediate; the attendance rate in several places increased significantly.

Don't look at the low box office; this had already greatly exceeded Sony Classics' expectations. Their internal company expectation was around 3 million, and plus the box office in South America, it would basically be able to recoup the cost.

The remaining box office in East Asia and Southeast Asia would be pure profit, and this hadn't even calculated long-term gains.

Sony Classics also didn't expect that just in North America alone, they would recoup the cost and even make a profit, so they very naturally raised Cao Yang's grade by two levels.

As long as you can bring them profit, then you are their most honorable grandfather.

Sony Classics received Cao Yang's call and took it very seriously, promising to send professionals over.

MK2 also promised to send people over. They weren't like the North American box office that showed results so quickly. They had specialized art film theaters in Europe, all through long-term screenings, focusing on a steady flow.

Learning that Cao Yang had come out of seclusion, Yu Feihong sent Cao Yang another "1206."

I don't know why, but whenever she was with Cao Yang, Yu Feihong's competitive spirit was particularly strong, and she always wanted to get recognition. Just like horse riding, even though they had only been galloping for a short while, Cao Yang only said one sentence, "Your acting is on par with Li Xiaoran," and Sister Feihong screamed almost at the same time, trembling and falling off the horse.

The effect was immediate.

If Cao Yang didn't praise her acting, she could sometimes even fight Cao Yang to a draw.

Yu Feihong shook Cao Yang's arm and asked, "Tell me the truth, what do you think of my acting?"

Cao Yang looked at her. Are you going to be endless? I remember every time you ask this, you look at me with your chin up. What's going on this time? Why aren't you being arrogant?

"The acting in 'Empty Room' is very outstanding."

Cao Yang spoke the truth. As for other film and television dramas, it was okay. Compared to the little flowers of later generations, there were still points worth affirming.

"Director Tian said my acting was a pity. I never understood what he meant, and asking him didn't give me an answer."

"Maybe he just said it casually."

Just this one sentence, Cao Yang also didn't know what it meant. To understand, at least one had to infer from the preceding and following words.

"Don't mess around."

!

Yu Feihong slapped away Cao Yang's mischievous hand and continued, "I don't think he was just saying it casually at the time. She first said that if I won an award, I would also be called a 'Cao Girl,' and then she said it was a pity for my acting."

"Cao Girl?"

Yu Feihong gave a light "um" and slapped Cao Yang's hand again, "Don't mess around first, wait a moment..."

Cao Yang didn't listen. While continuing, he thought for a moment and said, "Do you want to hear the truth or Old Tian's random guessing?"

Yu Feihong became even more confused, biting her lower lip lightly, "Wh... what do you mean?"

"The truth is that your acting in 'Empty Room' is indeed very good. If you don't win an award for such a good performance, it is indeed a bit of a pity."

"Old... what does Old Tian mean?"

Cao Yang kissed her forehead, his hand movements not stopping.

"Don't..."

"Old Tian's meaning is that Liu Ye's performance is also very good, and his role is bigger than yours... He feels that if an actor can win an award, Liu Ye's possibility is greater than yours, so he felt it was a pity for you."

"Is... is that so?"

"Don't listen to Old Tian's nonsense. He was just speaking from the perspective of the film. Sometimes, when winning an award, as long as you reach that standard, external factors are more important."

"What award or not, Sister is going to reward you now..."

Yu Feihong's eyes were blurred, and with a flip, she transformed into a female knight, still as heroic and spirited as ever.

A short while later.

"Quick, quick, tell Sister, how is Sister's acting?"

"Good, very good, as good as Li Xiaoran."

Ah...

The female knight fell off the horse again.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 51 =====