Three Hundred and Fifty-Nine - Self-Driving Force

After two consecutive days of short vacation, Wayne went to a post-production studio at Warner Bros. Studios to start the post-production work on "The Departed."

Compared with the shooting of film footage, post-production is also never a simple matter. It undoubtedly requires the cooperation of multiple departments and teams, and the basis of all of this is editing.

When the general public learns about film production, their first impression is that the director directs the crew to shoot. In fact, it is quite the opposite. It can be said bluntly that no matter how powerful the director is, including Wayne, all the previous shooting work is for editing. And service.

It’s no different from previous years. Wayne is still working with Dawn Scott’s editing team. This highly qualified commercial film editor has always worked with him in a particularly tacit understanding.

Therefore, no matter how good the film is, it cannot be without the editing part of the film. When editing a film in the post-production period, the most important thing is to pay attention to the editing of film clips.

In the past few days, Dawn Scott and his assistant have developed the negative plates shot by Wayne and produced a set of working samples, which are fully prepared for all pre-editing work.

Today, they officially use this set of samples for editing. They select the required lenses and films from a large number of samples, cut the films with scissors, and then use tape or glue to stick them together.

After that, he would watch the editing effect on the editing table. Usually he would ask Wayne and Gilmour for their opinions, and then get their approval. This process needs to be repeated and produced continuously.

This is also the so-called first rough cut, which is a relatively repetitive task and is also the basis for subsequent fine cuts.

When you enter the editing part of the film, you really enter the non-linear part of the film. Because he knows Wayne's intentions and concepts very well, most of the time Dwayne Scott, who is highly skilled, does not follow the steps when editing the film.

That is to say, we will not edit one by one in order. Many times we will cut in the middle, insert a shot, or cut out some pictures, so that we can quickly splice the desired picture effect.

Editing is a arduous and meticulous work. A feature film often has hundreds to thousands of shots. The picture part includes interior scenes, exterior scenes, real scenes and staged scenes.

Wayne usually shoots the content in the same scene together, and Dwayne Scott has to rearrange it according to the order of the content when editing. Some important scenes in the film were often shot several times by Wayne due to performance or technical reasons, and they all needed to be selected during editing.

As early as the beginning of the filming of this movie, or before the script was written, the final effect of the film was already printed in Wayne's head. This will also save a lot of time in the subsequent fine editing work. After all, he took this issue into consideration when filming.

There are a lot of similarities in shooting style between Martin Scorsese and Wayne, which is one of the reasons why he chose this movie.

If you have paid careful attention to old Martin's masterpieces, from "Mean Streets", "Goodfellas", "Taxi Driver", to "Raging Bull", "Casino" and so on, the shooting perspective focuses on the lower class civilians. Real life conditions, I like to use images to record the "panorama" of life in North America and the lives of various immigrant groups.

Therefore, the media has always called Martin Scorsese a "film sociologist" and praised him for always using his lens to objectively reveal the reality of the world.

Of course, there is also the necessary blood and violence.

Wayne also likes this. Whether it is exposing social problems or human nature, his first thought is to make good use of blood and violence.

The difference between the two is also quite obvious. Almost all of Martin Scorsese's films break and subvert the traditional narrative, which strictly follows the narrative structure of beginning-discovery-high nest-ending. And I like to use documentary shooting techniques to use actors who are closest to "life".

Wayne is the complete opposite. He is used to following the traditional academic linear narrative structure. Whether it is a so-called commercial film or an art film, telling a story well and clearly from beginning to end is the foundation. The rest is just a matter of pace. .

Regardless of whether it is multiple lines or a single-line narrative, advancing the plot according to the timeline has always been his trademark. There is no right to say who is better or worse between these two styles, but there are some differences when editing.

"Zach Snyder came over just now. He saw you discussing the film with Dawn, and then he went back."

Nina waited for Wayne to finish working and handed him a cup of coffee. She deliberately lowered her voice to avoid disturbing other people in the room.

He put the cup to his mouth and tested the temperature. He found that the coffee was not hot and was just right. After taking two big sips, Wayne walked out of the editing room with his assistant.

"Didn't you say anything?"

He asked as he sat on the lounge chair by the door. "It's probably because the first cut of "The Matrix" has been completed, otherwise he wouldn't have the time to come over."

"I didn't say it, but I don't seem to be in a hurry." Nina took the coffee cup in his hand, poured some more from the thermos, then opened her handbag very consciously and took out cigarettes and a lighter.

"Also, the bearded director from New Zealand also called before and will probably be here before lunch."

In a large cloud of smoke, Wayne nodded to indicate that he heard. At this time, apart from the film he was editing, the only things left in his mind were various arrangements for the summer release.

While the two were resting, there were footsteps in the corridor. Before he could finish smoking a cigarette, Zack Snyder ran over again and saw them sitting at the door, with a hint of joy on his unkempt face.

"Is there something wrong with The Matrix?"

Without waiting for Director Zha to say hello, Wayne took the initiative to move to the side, leaving a place for him, and asked curiously.

"The post-production work is no problem." Zack Snyder immediately shook his head after sitting down. "The initial cutting work has been basically completed. You can go and take a look when you have time. Judging from the current progress, all the work can be completed around mid-April."

"Shit, how long has it been since you changed your clothes?"

Even with the cigarettes burning, Wayne still smelled a sour smell the moment he sat down. Looking at the wrinkles in the other person's clothes, it was obvious that he had worn them for at least a week.

The people here have a strong body odor, and if you encounter some people who are in good health and have developed sweat glands, they will stumble if they don't take a shower for a day.

Therefore, most men like to spray some cologne to cover their body odor. Not to mention men, women are actually not much different. White girls look very eye-catching. In fact, if you look closely, you can find that most of the skin is rough and the pores are large.

This brings about obvious body odor, but normal people will deliberately take a shower before going out and spray some perfume.

"Really? I haven't been home for more than a week. You have too little time for The Matrix."

After lifting up his sleeve and smelling it, Zack Snyder had an indifferent expression on his face, but there was resentment in his eyes as he looked over.

If he and the editing team hadn't worked overtime like crazy, "The Matrix" would never have been able to complete the initial cut so quickly. After that, there would have to be a lot of work such as special effects rendering, soundtrack, lighting, dubbing, etc. Otherwise, it would have been impossible. It is simply impossible to finish the production before the summer season.

"ok, ok."

Wayne raised his hands in a gesture of surrender. "Tell me, I encountered some unsolvable problem that made you put down your work and come here twice! I still have some time now."

"Stephenson, Alela and others made it clear to me as soon as the filming was over that they would not participate in my next project again, damn it."

Noticing that he might not have made it clear, he quickly explained: "Stephenson is the director of photography, and Alela is the director of lighting. I don't understand, they didn't give me a chance to prove myself, and now I have joined another crew. .”

The core team behind the scenes is broken up. This kind of problem is very common in Hollywood. Most people who have had their edges smoothed out live this kind of life. In their eyes, this is just a job. When it is over, they naturally want to find another job. a job.

Most of them will not care whether the film is released or whether it is successful. Unless it is a box office hit, it will attract the attention of these people. But the chance of a box office hit is too low. Hollywood launches so many projects every year, and only a small part of them are successful at the box office.

"What do you want to say? Isn't this normal?" Wayne shook his head, not quite understanding what was so depressing about this.

Seeing that he didn't understand, Zack Snyder had no choice but to lean back in his chair and continued: "I have talked with Robert and Schwartz. These masters who have been following you behind the scenes have never thought of leaving. It's strange. Well, if you hadn’t given me this opportunity, I never would have thought that I would be filming alone.”

As he spoke, he turned his head and stared at Wayne behind the smoke seriously. "I need some experience, work experience that you haven't taught me before. Otherwise, every time a film is completed, a core behind-the-scenes team will be replaced, which requires too much energy."

When a group of industry elites get together, it is always a happy worry, because these people will never be easy to lead. Now, the team that Warner Bros. has assembled for Zack Snyder can be said to be all top players in the industry, but they have already parted ways after working together one after another.

A stable behind-the-scenes team is the biggest foundation for a director's success. Movies are never the product of individualism. Even if it is a low-cost grindhouse film, it requires the cooperation of various types of work to produce it.

Zack Snyder knows that in the future, he will definitely focus on shooting commercial productions. The issue he is most concerned about now is how to lead a stable team and surround himself with good players.

"I understand, Zach."

Wayne nodded, stretched out the fingers holding the cigarette, pointed at him and said mysteriously: "Self-drive!"