mijobooks Chapter 5 "Condolences"
Chapter 5 "Condolences"
In the second half of the class, Teacher Zhou showed a clip from "Russian Ark".
The entire film is shot in one take every ninety minutes, with the cinematographer carrying a Steadicam through thirty-three exhibition halls of the Winter Palace, and more than two thousand actors directing each other on set.
Lin Ruiyang looked very carefully, and in the meantime, he imagined what it would be like to make a film in one continuous shot.
Or, to put it another way, a fixed camera position, without a Steadicam, without any scheduling, just a single camera set up there?
When the bell rang, he still hadn't figured it out. He didn't stay in the classroom any longer, packed his things, and headed towards the library.
The reading room on the third floor wasn't crowded. Lin Ruiyang found a seat by the window and opened his notebook.
What Teacher Zhou said in class is still swirling in my head. There are two types of one-shot films: dynamic and static. Dynamic ones, like in *Russian Ark*, have the camera following the characters, and the film relies entirely on staging.
Static systems are much simpler; the machine can just be set up there and left to record everything quietly.
The latter option is more cost-effective and is what Lin Ruiyang is currently envisioning, but it also puts greater pressure on the film's content.
He stared at the contents of the notebook for a long time, when suddenly an image flashed through his mind: a nineteen-minute, fixed-angle shot from a low angle, filmed in one continuous take, without any cuts.
This is a short film he saw in his previous life, called "Condolences." It tells the story of the Zigong 3.31 major traffic accident.
Lin Ruiyang closed his eyes and began to recall the scenes from the short film as much as possible in his mind.
In a bungalow slated for demolition, the courtyard had been decorated like a funeral parlor. An old woman sat there on a bamboo stool, moving slowly and speaking little.
Leaders who came to offer their condolences, reporters carrying cameras, and monks chanting sutras—people came and went in front of her, busy and bustling, before finally leaving. From the conversations of these groups, the old woman's information was slowly revealed. She was a relative of the accident victims, having lost both her husband and son in the crash.
Before the reporter left, he looked up at the sky and said it was going to rain, but the old woman's husband and son were on their way to buy bricks and tiles to fix the leaky house.
The original director once said that he spent 5 days filming this short film, 1 day shooting, and the rest of the time practicing blocking and timing. If any part went wrong, he had to start over.
This short film also creates a sense of presence. The stationary camera acts as an observer, quietly recording everything. The audience is no longer someone watching a play through a screen, but someone standing by the courtyard witnessing everything firsthand.
The original film won the Tiger Short Film Award in the short film competition section of the 39th Rotterdam Film Festival, thanks to its realistic storyline and one-shot cinematography.
Lin Ruiyang opened his eyes and let out a long breath. He had made up his mind; this would be his next script, and he would direct it himself.
However, there is another problem: the original film was shot in 2009, while the March 31st accident occurred this year, meaning there were still more than ten days until the accident.
It's impossible for him to come up with a script based on real events before this.
Unless he went to the scene immediately after the accident, or he first fabricated a similar situation and then filled in the details later in the interviews and reports.
He remembers that all the dialogue in the original film was in the local dialect, except for the Mandarin spoken during the television interviews.
After organizing his thoughts, Lin Ruiyang did not write the script first.
He listed items in his notebook, writing down everything he could think of that he needed for the filming.
In a budget-friendly short film production, the director naturally takes on more responsibilities and handles everything.
The actors can be found locally, just like in the original film. As for the crew, we'll need a cinematographer, script supervisor, sound recordist, plus myself, and we'll keep the staff to a minimum.
A core team of three or four people is the most economical setup for students to shoot short films.
The equipment can be borrowed from the school, through the literature department and the college's channels.
There are also expenses for transportation, accommodation, and unexpected situations, which, when all is said and done, come to only around three thousand yuan. But considering that I might have overlooked something, I can start with a budget of five thousand yuan and adjust it in detail later.
If these seemingly trivial matters are not arranged properly, even the slightest setback could affect the entire crew and even the fate of the short film.
Regarding the money issue, we can try the school's plan first, and if that doesn't work, we can slowly think of other solutions.
But people must be taken into account first; only by finding the right people can the workforce be maximized.
"If only we could find people who are both affordable and capable," Lin Ruiyang thought to himself, silently calculating the expenses for the cast and crew.
Turning to a new page, he wrote down about a dozen names, all of whom were classmates he knew on campus—skilled and easy to talk to.
After circling the names on the page, Lin Ruiyang decided to prioritize his other two roommates. Since he and Fatty were at the back, the boys were short two people to form a four-person dorm, so they were assigned to a senior student.
One of the two senior students was from the photography department, and the other was from the sound recording department. As roommates, they often worked together with others on short film assignments.
It's graduation season now, and I've been busy preparing for my thesis defense these past few days. I don't know if they have any free time...
The setting sun streamed through the window, casting a patch of orange-yellow light on the laptop. Lin Ruiyang leaned back in his chair, enjoying this pleasant moment.
As he stretched and yawned, a question suddenly occurred to him.
In his past life, he had watched countless movies, written countless analyses, and written countless scripts, but he had never actually directed a film from start to finish.
Knowing how to shoot and actually getting the desired effect are two completely different things.
If the filming is done exactly as the original director planned, will he be able to meet the requirements of the filming plan after his rebirth?
Lin Ruiyang remained silent for a long time.
He packed his things, got up, and left the reading room. The light in the corridor had already dimmed, and he walked down the stairs, his footsteps echoing in the empty hallway.
It's not that I lack confidence, it's that I'm uncertain before taking the first step.
He paused as he stepped out the door. A gust of cold wind swept in from afar, clearing the jumbled mess in his mind.
What's the point of thinking about it more?
He hasn't found the right people, he hasn't secured the funding, and the equipment is just a hollow promise he made. If these issues aren't addressed one by one, even the best-written script will be useless.
He took out his phone and glanced at it; the Nokia's small screen showed the time: 18:10.
Based on past patterns, both senior students should be back in their dorm rooms in about half an hour. Going back now will give me time to prepare and then talk to them about my thoughts.
As for the rest, that will be published in April. I'll use that as an excuse to discuss it with the old man. Before that, I need to understand all the school's policies and see if I can make reasonable use of them.