Chapter 158 Fish biting the tail and on-camera editing
"Cut! If we don't get the rhythm right, let's try again..."
Ronald was still congratulating himself on the natural advantages of his casting. Actors can usually get into the mood in the first step. Who knew that the next day, the filming would reach a deadlock.
After Harry and Sally went to bed, they had different perceptions of the matter. Sally had traditional values. She believed that going to bed was something that happened naturally after the relationship reached a certain level. Love and love,
The two are inseparable. Harry and her went round and round and finally became a couple, because both parties naturally developed feelings and love because of their understanding.
Harry, on the other hand, believed that affection and love were two different things and could be completely separated. Sally's smile, as if she had found her home, frightened him and made him just want to escape as soon as possible.
The next morning, Sally woke up and found that Harry was already getting dressed. She hurriedly left Sally's house on the pretext of going home to take a shower. Both of them found out about each other's misunderstanding, and in desperation, they had to call their respective best friends.
Good same-sex friends - married Mary and Jess.
There was previous experience of problems caused by out-of-sync when shooting a phone call scene. Ronald installed three scenes in the studio.
In the middle of the studio is a large bed, which perfectly replicates the bedroom of Jess and Mary's house. Bruno Kirby, who plays Jess, and Carrie Fisher, who plays Mary, are lying on the bed in their pajamas.
On the left side of the studio is a replica of Sally's room. Meg Ryan was lying on the bed and called Mary for help. She was desperate to find out what was going on.
On the right was a public phone. As soon as Harry left Sally's house, he called his best friend Jess. He was also confused and needed help from his friends.
The three scenes are actually very close to each other, but they were shot separately by three cameras. They appear to be three completely unrelated places in the camera lens.
The recording of the three scenes used a set of equipment. Four telephones (Mary and Jess each have a number on their respective bedside tables, which is a common telephone line arrangement in the homes of working women), all with props.
, is really connected, giving the actors a real performance experience.
Because the recordings of the three scenes were recorded together, this kind of shooting is actually equivalent to three gangs of people recording together in the studio.
Just like the song sung by MJ and the stars, their voices are picked up by the radio equipment, but each can hear the voices of others, and the collaboration is like a live performance.
In the script, this phone call scene takes up three and a half pages. But there is only one long shot (it was actually shot by three cameras, but it was synchronized in time). This made the filming very difficult.
Because it requires the special tacit rhythm of a romantic drama, editing cannot be used. Without a dramatic plot, all the details must fit together like mortise and tenon joints, and no mistakes can be made within 0.1 seconds.
Therefore, the introduction of any editing will make this scene easier for the audience to play. For the sake of the movie's box office and viewing experience, Ronald decided to challenge the difficulty.
"Cut! Cut!...Kelly, you said it too early. Bruno has to say this first."
"Sorry, my bad..."
In this scene, Carrie Fisher's lines stole half a beat. Both Harry and Sally felt that there was another person's voice on the phone, so they asked if it was Mary and Jess's significant other who was also answering their friend's call.
.
At this point, Jess will lie and say it's Jane Fonda from the workout tape. Mary will lie and say it's NBC morning TV host Bryant Gumbel.
These two sentences are both expressions of quick wit. In the early morning, in order not to make their best friends sad, Mary and Jess randomly made up the name of a person who was likely to make sounds of the opposite sex at this time.
When the audience sees this, they should smile knowingly. Therefore, the words of the two people cannot overlap. It must be in a rhythm where one person has just finished speaking and the other is catching up half a beat.
"Let's do it again..."
"Cut! Cut! Bruno, you didn't pick up this time."
Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal both faced the camera alone, and their dialogues were easy to solve without any difficulty. Bruno Kirby and Carrie Fisher were very troublesome because of their rhythm.
Can't make any mistakes.
Ronald spent a lot of time explaining to them this kind of rhythm that just violated the other party's speaking space, but happened not to step on it. It was difficult for the two actors to understand. This kind of handling of lines is rarely seen in Western dramas.
.
Ronald himself couldn't demonstrate lines that only two people could perform. Kobe and Fisher just memorized Ronald's ideas, so they often made mistakes.
"Everyone, take a break..." Ronald had already taken twenty shots, but the four actors still couldn't finish it smoothly.
This was the first time such difficulties occurred during the filming of this movie. Regardless of Ronald, the four actors were also very irritable, which further increased the difficulty of filming.
Ronald had to stop and asked his assistants to bring hot coffee and sweets to appease the exhausted actors and staff.
The key to the problem is to show several actors the effect Ronald wants to achieve. Otherwise, they will fumble in the dark and it will only get worse.
"Just like some duet bands, their voices will match each other..." Ronald took out the biscuits he collected and gave them to the leading actors.
"It's like harmony, right?" Carrie Fisher's boyfriend Paul Simon is a member of the band Simon and Garfunkel. This band has sang many classic movie inserts...
"It's not a harmony, it's a kind of mutuality... How should I explain it to you?" Ronald couldn't explain it, so he simply drew a picture on the paper, using short lines to represent the rhythm of the two people talking, and each short line
Before and after, there are short lines of talking to the other party, and there is a very short overlap."
"I understand..." Everyone nodded to express their understanding.
"Action!" The break was over and Ronald had finished eating all of his aunt's biscuits. He ordered the filming to continue.
"Cut! Cut! There are too many overlapping parts, and the audience will not be able to hear clearly." After just ten seconds of filming, Ronald stopped again.
Western operas, musicals, and dramas rarely use this method of handling lines (at least Ronald didn't know it). The actors said they understood it, but in fact there was still a big problem with the rhythm.
After shooting intermittently for a day, by dinner time, Ronald had already taken thirty-five shots, but still could not achieve satisfactory results.
The director of photography next to me had already suggested that it be resolved in the editing room. But Ronald rejected it.
This is already the third act of the movie. After this scene, Harry and Sally have inevitably discovered that they are not compatible with each other. They have no room for compromise, and the plot has entered a fast lane with no forks.
Either the two of them break up completely and stop being friends. Or they accept each other and stay together forever. When the audience is watching, the experience is like stepping on the accelerator and accelerating. Once the scene is over, they will be racing at a top speed of 120.
, all the way to the end.
Therefore, the rhythm of the play is very important, allowing the audience to subconsciously accept this accelerated arrangement. If editing is used to destroy this rhythm, the audience will fall into a state of being out of action from the scene to the end.
.Ronald felt from experience that this was a critical point and refused to compromise.
After returning home, Ronald dug out various video tapes and records, trying to find a suitable demonstration. The method of filming this scene actually has a name, called in-camera editing.
In other words, the original rhythm of speaking and hanging up the phone can only be created by repeatedly comparing before and after in the editing room.
But Ronald adjusts the actor's speaking speed and pauses to achieve a natural editing effect in a long shot. The actor's performance naturally forms an editing effect. Therefore, this shooting method is also called no editing.
clipping.
After searching over and over for a long time, Ronald could not find a suitable demonstration. Just as he was dozing off among the video tapes and records, the phone rang.
"Ronald, I'm not disturbing you, am I? I'm tired of reading the script in the office. Can I go to your crew for an internship?" It was Ang Lee who called. It was Ronald who could say that.
own requirements.
"Of course, you can come tomorrow and be my assistant director." Ronald thought it would be great if the other party could take the initiative. "By the way, in your Chinese art, do you have this kind of chasing each other's lines...
"
"Yes, we often do this in Peking Opera." Ang Lee happened to be a graduate of Huagang Art School. His classmates sometimes performed arias. He knew the unique performance method of Peking Opera - fish biting its tail.
…
"You and I are married thousands of miles apart. If you have any personal concerns, just say it openly."
"Xiao Tianzuo set up Tianmen and the two countries were at war. I came to Beifan personally with the grain and grass in hand."
Early the next morning, Ronald played the Peking Opera Theater video "Silang Visits His Mother" that Ang Lee had obtained overnight for several leading actors in the studio. The two protagonists, Yang Silang and Princess Iron Mirror, sang in the palace.
The lines are very consistent with Ronald's requirement of stepping on each other's lines a little, but not affecting the audience's understanding.
Although several actors did not understand Chinese at all, their performance methods were the same, and they quickly understood the rhythm and size required by Ronald.
Just like two ornamental goldfish chasing each other and biting each other's tail, they bite each other without completely biting. It is a kind of dynamic balance.
"Do you want to come over for breakfast?" Fisher and Kobe finally completed their lines perfectly.
"No, I don't really want to go." Christo's last line was successfully completed.
"No, I feel bad..." Meg Ryan's line was also successfully completed.
Jump...bounce...bounce...bump...
The four sounds of hanging up the phone were also very rhythmic, and Ronald smiled.
"Oh...god..." Carrie Fisher said, feeling emotionally exhausted about Harry and Sally.
"I..." Bruno Kobe suddenly couldn't remember his lines and was stuck.
"Shxt..." Ronald looked at the shot that had been completed and cursed in his heart. "It's 'fortunately we don't have to go through this kind of thing again', idiot..."
"Sorry, sorry, I forgot the words..." Bruno Kobe also jumped out of bed and apologized to the actors.
“It’s okay, let’s come again”
…
Finally, when the 51st scene was filmed, the four actors finally completed this difficult performance.
"Huh... This is a print, everyone has a holiday today..." Ronald saw that everyone at the scene was exhausted and had no extra energy to shoot the remaining scenes.
"It's really difficult to make a movie..." Ang Lee lamented next to him. It was his first time on the set of a Hollywood commercial film, and he saw that an experienced director like Ronald could shoot a scene fifty-one times, almost...
collapse.
"It's just not going well. We were all on the same page the past few days..." Ronald patted him on the shoulder, "Your videotape of Shiro visiting his mother was a big help. Why didn't you show it to me before?
Live such wonderful art?”
"Hi... this play was not allowed to be performed a few years ago. I am looking for the mainland version. I heard that they have not allowed it to be performed there for a long time..."
"Oh...", Ronald probably read some of the arias and knew that it was the story of the general breaking through the defense line and running to the enemy camp to visit his mother because he missed his mother. It was not very playable... both sides.
…
After resting overnight, the subsequent shooting went smoothly again.
The crew filmed a lot of Harry's scenes. At the wedding of Mary and Jess, he realized the harm his actions had caused to Sally. He called Sally every day, apologized, sent gifts, and did everything he could.
, the other party just doesn’t want to talk to him.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! The practice of going to bed and leaving in the morning with an excuse is so classic. Sally felt that she had seen through Harry and didn't want to be hurt anymore.
Finally, on New Year's Eve, Mary took Sally to the New Year's party again, and everyone watched the New Year's countdown live broadcast in Times Square in the ballroom.
Harry was walking alone on the street, and when he saw everyone reunited, very deep feelings suddenly emerged in his heart. He rushed to the street to hail a taxi, but no car would stop.
In the end, Harry couldn't stand the feeling of not being able to be with Sally, so he sped away to the venue of the New Year's party.
"I can't bear the thought of no one kissing me on New Year's Day, so I'm going back first."
Sally had a really bad date and she didn't want to be here until New Year's when everyone was kissing and hugging her. Last year it was Harry who was here, kissing her like a friend, like a consolation prize.
"Don't be like this, Sally, please stay. It's New Year's Day in only ten minutes. If there's no one, I'll kiss you." Jess, played by Bruno Kirby, felt that Sally was very sad.
Mary stopped her husband. She knew that Sally would be even more sad if she stayed and looked at the couple.
"Cut!" Ronald really restored the high efficiency of shooting. This made Ang Lee feel that his skills were so amazing that he could never catch up.
"It's the last scene, how are you preparing for it?" Ronald asked Billy Crystal.
The other party made an OK gesture. He had been thinking about it for a long time.
"Action!"
Harry ran to the door of the hall and happened to see Sally leaving.
"I love you, Sally."
"How do you plan for me to reply to you?" Sally didn't want to say more to him.
"You love me too, how about that?"
"Harry, this won't work. You can't just appear in front of me and tell me you love me to make me forget everything."
Meg Ryan's eyes were misty and her voice began to tremble. The audience will definitely fall in love with this Sally. She is sincere in her feelings, unwilling to compromise, and expects the other person to be sincere to her.
"Then what are you going to do?", Billy Crystal also played the role very well. A man can finally face his inner feelings. He has always been in love with this girl, but he didn't know it.
…
"I don't know, but it's definitely not like this...", Sally turned to leave, she didn't want to cry in front of Harry.
"What about this?" Harry was anxious and grabbed Sally.
"Nine...eight...seven...six..." People around started counting down.
"I love that you can catch a cold when it's seventy-one degrees outside, I love that it takes you an hour and a half to order a sandwich, I love the wrinkles on your nose when you think I'm a fool, I love being with you
I can still smell your perfume after staying here all day. I love that you are the last person I talk to before going to bed..."
Billy Crystal's lines are urgent and fast, which is very enjoyable.
Meg Ryan's reaction was also great. Sally was surprised by Harry's confession. She didn't expect Harry to remember so clearly a series of details about the two of them getting along. There was mist in her eyes again.
"I say this not because I am lonely, nor because today is New Year's Eve, but because if a person has figured out that he wants to spend the rest of his life with another person, then he definitely hopes that the rest of his life will come as early as possible...
"
A happy smile appeared on Meg Ryan's face. She was enjoying such a romantic confession. Isn't this the kind of confession she had been looking forward to? Sweet and tender...
Then her expression changed again, "Look, you are always like this. Every time you say something like this, I can't hate you...I...I hate you..."
Harry looked at Sally lovingly...
"I hate you..." Sally's sentence was much softer than the previous one, and her eyes turned to happiness.
"I really hate you..." A teardrop fell from Meg Ryan's face.
"I hate you……"
Billy Crystal's expression was full of sweetness, and suddenly, the two kissed each other.
The camera slowly began to zoom out, as the New Year arrived, countless fireworks fell from the ceiling, and everyone in the camera was dancing happily.
Finally, in the center of the picture is a happily kissing couple, Harry and Sally.
"Cut!"
Ronald raised his hands and applauded loudly.
Everyone started to applaud. Everyone felt that this scene was very heartwarming and it was well shot.
What's more, the main part of the movie has already been shot.
"There is a party tonight, and then we have to pay attention to the weather forecast." Ronald finally said to the two protagonists.
The main shooting scenes, as well as the plot of Harry and Sally spending Christmas in the heavy snow, will depend on the weather.