Chapter 612 Gift, Rejection
Anyone who makes movies knows that editing rights are a very, very important power!
The so-called shooting is to create materials, while the so-called editing is to select out the many influential materials created during the shooting according to the story clues one by one, and finally form a smooth story, making it a film work—the former , It is the director who captures the actors' performances, the photographer's shooting, the art, the set, the costumes, and even the makeup, but with so many materials, which one is the most suitable for the story? Which one is the best way to show the director's creative ideas?
The key is to watch the clip!
This is also the fundamental reason why "Best Editing" in film awards has always been called "Little Best Film", and the awarding of Best Editing has always been considered to herald the direction of the best film winner!
It is precisely because the editing rights are extremely important, so whether it is Hollywood or domestic, as long as the production company pays for the investment and production, the producers will definitely hold the final editing rights firmly in their hands!
And when it comes to the fight for the right to cut the final cut, as long as it is mentioned, it will definitely be a history of blood and tears for almost all directors.
A good movie, in the director's mind, the first cut is extremely beautiful and thoughtful, when it arrives at the producer, it is edited with click click click, and after the release of the public release, you can see that the picture is messy and the plot is fragmented, it is all kinds of strange things , Let the director who has carried the infamy want to cry without tears!
In Hollywood, the United States, where film production is the most developed, there are more than a dozen major directors who can hold the final editing rights in their hands. Looking at China, there are probably only Qin Wei and Du Weiyun's films, and no one dares to use the knife. They are all masters, they would rather not have your investment than give up the right of final cut!
In addition, Liu Chengzhang earned that level in his last movie. It is said that the new movie "Sword Fairy" is about to start shooting. After meeting countless harsh conditions, he finally won the final editing rights of this big production!
As for the others... Unless you are spending money to play by yourself, it is said that even Zhao Meicheng, who has been hailed as one of the top three directors in China in recent years, was blindsided by the film producer because he could not get the right to finalize the film. The editing made it almost impossible to watch, so he patted the table, and finally won the producer's concession with a decisive attitude of "one big deal, one shot and two separates". He kept his editing plan in most places, but the new film started shooting. In all likelihood, he still won't be able to get the final cut rights - this is the power of the producer, or the producer!
As for Lu Ping... Don't look at him already having two successful works, he even won the Great Wall Award for Best Director, but he has no way to make the final cut!
Let's work hard for a few more years and make a few more films that can make money!
Either you are very good at making money, and keep making money, never losing money, or you are very good at art, and even become famous internationally, so that people have to regard you as a master. Otherwise, the producer How could it be possible to give up the editing rights?
Otherwise, it is obvious that independent films are all kinds of hard work from preparation to shooting to release, why are they so popular with directors? No matter at home or abroad, are they blooming everywhere?
Then again, Jin Han is such an unruly person, why does he follow Li Qian so hard?
Li Qian was willing to spend money on making unprofitable movies for him. The most important thing was that as long as it was Jin Han's work, Li Qian would not interfere in the final editing!
Otherwise, with Jin Han's arrogance, he would be willing to lower his value to direct TV dramas for others? And it's still an idol drama with only a few faces left in his mouth?
To put it bluntly, the favor of editing rights is too heavy!
The final cut is important, so what about the initial cut?
As important!
A 100-minute movie is finished shooting, and the material may be thousands or even tens of thousands of minutes long. At this time, even the producer who intends to control the movie editing must leave the power to the director and let the director start from here. A clear story line was selected from the complicated and lengthy materials, because there are so many materials, if you do not let the director personally plan and handle the editing, it is impossible for another person to play in a short time.
Basically, the initial cut sets the tone, and the final cut sets the direction.
After seeing the first cut version of the film director, the producer will conduct a review. As long as there is no problem with the overall skeleton of the story, they will generally not change the main tone and main clue of the film, but will only focus on The direction and intensity of expression should be adjusted to a certain extent—whether at home or abroad, the final cut rights exercised by the producers are basically doing subtraction!
Because the director is artistic and always likes a lot of details, while the producer is commercial, he only needs you to bring out the clear backbone and make everyone willing to pay for tickets, that's enough!
Moreover, don't think that this is the final conclusion, because in front of the producer, there is another more extreme business organization, that is, the theater chain!
If the producers still have a certain amount of respect, understanding and empathy for the director, what the theaters want is the interests of Hong Guoguo——I will free up the theater canvas for you to show your movie, you have to let me make money! If you can make money, it’s a good movie, if you can’t make money, even if you are a master, it’s still a bad movie!
In North America, where movies are relatively developed, before the official large-scale release of some heavyweight blockbusters, the producers often call people from major theaters to sit together, first show the final cut, and then hold a meeting to collect everyone's feedback. Suggestions and opinions, and based on these opinions, make another editing adjustment!
The clips that come out until this time are the real public releases!
And this, frankly speaking, round after round of editing, the further back, the more commercial is controlling everything! So for the director of a film, once the first cut is finished, the artistic journey is considered to be over!
For the rest, there are only two words: make money!
…………
Lu Lingxi has been in contact with movies for more than ten years. Although she has been studying, studying and teaching, she has not left the big environment of campus, but she is an industry person after all. clearly.
So, not to mention being just an assistant director, even if "My Sassy Girlfriend" was directed by herself, Lu Lingxi didn't dare to expect that Li Qian would hand over the editing rights to herself!
And as an assistant director, even though it is only the initial cut rights, in Lu Lingxi's view, its weight is so heavy that it is almost a gift!
Previously, Lu Lingxi had always planned to wait until Li Qian was going to edit, so that he could use the pretext of helping out to see how he edited. In one way, he could follow the whole process of making a movie from beginning to end. Second, you can also learn some experience yourself.
But she didn't expect that Li Qian would hand over the power of the first cut to herself!
Standing on the street, looking at the gate of his own community from a distance, Lu Lingxi was so surprised that he could hardly speak.
On the phone, Li Qian said with a smile: "But it's okay, first, strictly follow the script, and don't cut randomly. After all, this is my movie. Second, it's just the first cut. If you cut it so well that I If you are not satisfied, I will very likely overturn it and start over..."
But at this moment, Lu Lingxi felt that she could not hear at all.
At this moment, she was only asking herself one sentence repeatedly in her heart: Am I going to cut a movie by myself? A movie with an investment of 10 million yuan?
…………
After getting excited, she realized that Li Qian was about to hang up the phone, and she suddenly came back to her senses, but she couldn't help asking: "Why? Why did you decide to let me do the first cut?"
Although excited, even excited, after calming down in time, she still felt that Li Qian's decision was really a bit strange!
Li Qian laughed when he heard the words, "What reason do you want to hear more?"
Lu Lingxi was dumb.
Between tongue-tied, she said, "I...you..."
Yeah, what reason would you like to hear?
That thing is called editing rights!
If I remember correctly, this movie probably only took less than 700 minutes of material, and Li Qian said from the beginning that this would be a two-hour movie, so, in fact, from the beginning, Li Qian's filming stage has already been extremely targeted. It can even be said that before the filming started, he had almost made the edits in his own mind! Therefore, let alone the first cut, it is the final cut. In fact, there is not much room for the editor to play.
But, that's editing rights!
It took more than 40 days, more than 40 crew members of nearly 50 people, 5 cameras, more than a dozen professional actors and more than 100 amateur actors, shot a total of nearly 700 minutes of various materials ...As long as I nod and agree, it will be handed over to me!
Lu Lingxi rubbed his brows in pain and smiled wryly.
The point is, those shots were all taken by myself!
And those scripts, those lines, those performances, those shootings, those sets... Although Li Qian is the director and he is only an assistant director, Lu Lingxi knows how much effort he has put into this film!
This is Li Qian's work, there is no doubt about it, but deep down in his heart, Lu Lingxi deeply thinks that this is also his own work - at least one-tenth, one-twentieth of his own , there is always, right?
Now that you have the opportunity to edit them yourself, what reason do you have?
Isn't that the best reason?
…………
On the other end of the phone, Li Qian didn't urge him, but just waited with bated breath for Lu Lingxi's decision.
He is also a filmmaker, and he loves film very much, so he knows how tempting the pie he throws out is.
After a full ten or twenty seconds, Lu Lingxi sighed, as if she had gone through a complicated psychological struggle, and she still didn't seem to be able to make up her mind until she spoke.
But in the end, she still took a deep breath, and said in a slightly stiff tone: "It's better...forget it!"
After a pause, she raised her hand and rubbed her brows with some reluctance, but she said it out and made up her mind, she still said quickly: "One is that I am afraid that my level is limited, and it is useless to make the first cut, it will not help at all. If it doesn’t come to you, I’ll ask you to cut it again, wasting time, and second, you know, school starts, and I don’t have enough time, so…”
The more she spoke, the more firmly she spoke, and the more relaxed her tone became.
Li Qian listened quietly, without interrupting, until she finished speaking, and then asked: "So, no matter what reason I give, right?"
Lu Lingxi, who was already determined, had a moment of hesitation and struggle on his face when he heard the words, but he still replied quickly and affirmatively: "Well, I still don't think it's appropriate."
On the other end of the phone, Li Qian breathed in slowly, and then he said, "Okay, I see."
Crisp and neat.
Hang up the phone and stand on the street.
Not far away is the familiar gate of the community, and the streets are full of people and traffic.
Lu Lingxi pursed her lips, took a deep breath, smiled wryly, shook her head, then picked up the phone and dialed a number.
After more than twenty seconds, the call was connected.
"Hey, what's the matter baby? I'm still having a tea party!"
"I don't want to cook at night, so go to your house for dinner!"
"Put it down, it's not like you don't know that Lao Chen has gone to Lanzhou Mansion, and I'm too lazy to cook!" After a pause, she said: "Old rules, go out to eat, but this time it's your treat!"
"Why am I treating you again?"
"Because you earned one hundred thousand in one summer vacation!"
…………
Night, seven o'clock, a hot pot restaurant in Shuntian Prefecture.
Night fell outside, but there was still a high temperature of around 30 degrees. The air conditioner in the restaurant was fully turned on, so it was not considered hot, but when the small hot pot was boiled, it was immediately steaming.
Chen Kefang ate very happily.
Eating hot pot on a hot day, and asking for the spiciest pot, is her favorite. Over the years, even Lu Lingxi was abducted by her so that she doesn't feel so much about eating hot pot in summer.
Of course, Lu Lingxi can't eat that spicy food, so, Yuanyang pot.
It's just that today, even if it's a mandarin duck pot, Lu Lingxi is obviously not in the mood to relax and enjoy the food.
Seeing that Chen Kefang was sweating from eating, she pulled a tissue and handed it over. Chen Kefang took it, continued to chew while wiping off the sweat, and glanced at her at the same time.
"Let's talk? It's almost a meal, and your brows haven't been ironed yet! It seems that this matter is really not small!" While speaking, she picked up a chopstick and stuffed it into the fat cow. In his mouth, he said vaguely: "Ugly words are in the head. Your sister and I have narrow shoulders. I can help you make suggestions to choose a good husband or something. You can also serve as a consultant. If you want to run for president or something, don't ask me. I, my little shoulder, can't bear it!"
Lu Lingxi pursed her lips and smiled, "If you don't talk poorly, you will die of illness!"
Chen Kefang's chopsticks had already reached into the pot on her side, and when she heard this, she looked up at her, and finally put down the chopsticks, pulled a piece of paper to wipe her mouth, with a playful expression on her face, she said seriously: "Speak up! "
Lu Lingxi lowered his head for a moment, then raised his head, and said, "Li Qian asked me to help him with the first cut, but I refused."
***
There are only a few hours left in the month, so, you know what!