lovenovelstory Chapter 117 It's hard to go from extravagance to frugality
Chapter 117 It's hard to go from extravagance to frugality
After filming is finished, it will take at least two or three months for post-production.
Most directors don't trust others to handle post-production and need to oversee it themselves.
Therefore, it takes at least eight or nine months for a film to go from preparation to post-production.
And this is assuming everything goes smoothly!
After all that is done, the director still has to worry about the film's release and marketing.
Even when a movie is released, the director often has to travel around promoting it.
So, the director can only truly relax once the film is out of theaters!
From preparation to the end of its run, a film typically takes the director almost a year to complete!
Throughout the entire process, the director has to put in a lot of effort. While others can rest, the director can't; they have to oversee everything from beginning to end.
Even before the film's release, the director was anxious about whether it would do well at the box office.
Wait until the movie is released and we make money!
At this moment, the director could finally breathe a sigh of relief. He had been working intensely for almost a whole year, and his mind had been constantly under high tension. At this point, without a proper rest for several months, or even half a year, he simply wouldn't be able to recover his energy and spirit.
If Wang Xiaohao were to write the script himself, it would take even longer!
It took him about two and a half years to go from "My Sassy Girl" to "My Love from the Star".
He's already considered a very prolific director!
At this moment, he went on to film his third movie. He can basically be described as a workaholic.
Of course, some people might disagree!
How come Hong Kong films were made so quickly back then? Some movies were even called "seven-day fresh" because they were filmed in just seven days.
The famous TV series "The Demon Cult Leader" from my previous life was filmed in just seven or eight days.
Why does it take so long to film a movie here?
First of all, we don't know if this claim is true or not. Wong Jing is known for his big mouth; he's often the one who casually makes up stories!
He also has another version of the story: the filming took five months!
Secondly, even if it took seven days to film.
That only includes the filming time, not the pre-production preparation and post-production time!
In fact, the shorter the shooting time, the more important the pre-production preparation and post-production become!
Personally, Wang Xiaohao doesn't quite believe that the Demonic Cult Leader only filmed for seven days.
Even a poorly made movie like "Young and Dangerous" takes ten days to half a month to film.
With such a large amount of action scenes for the leader of the demonic sect, it doesn't seem like it could be completed in seven days!
If it really had to be completed in seven days, it would have exhausted the lead actor!
Or perhaps it was filmed in groups, with a lot of stunt doubles used—that's a possibility!
That was also based on the very strong professional processes and the professional quality of the crew members in Hong Kong films back then.
Back in the day, Hong Kong was able to produce hundreds of films a year in such a small place.
All staff members undergo extensive training and possess extremely high professional skills. Every step of the filming process is exceptionally well-developed, forming an industry model almost akin to an assembly line.
It can be said that with money, one can easily assemble a film crew and complete the work efficiently, an environment that is impossible to find in mainland China!
In the previous era, before the film and television industry reached its peak in the early 2010s, there was a severe shortage of professional film and television personnel in mainland China.
Take lighting, for example!
At that time, the lighting technicians for most film crews in China were basically monopolized by people from a certain county in Henan.
They basically all treated it as a professional job, and were introduced to it by fellow villagers.
At that time, there was no professional lighting major in China.
The skills of these migrant worker lighting technicians vary greatly. Many of them only know the most basic lighting setups and can't do anything even slightly complicated!
And lighting is one of the most important jobs on a film set!
What's the movie called? The Magic of Light and Shadow!
How is this light and shadow magic achieved? The lighting technician is one of the most important elements.
The lack of skilled lighting technicians was one of the biggest reasons why domestic films at that time generally had poor visual appeal. Compared to foreign films and Hong Kong films, they often had a rustic feel to them!
This is why Wang Xiaohao signed professional lighting photographers like Ding Binbai and Wang Le'an to his company!
If even a crucial role like lighting on a film set is like this, one can only imagine what it's like for other roles.
When the movie "Assembly" was being filmed, they couldn't find any professional gunpowder engineers in China, so they had to hire someone from South Korea!
The lack of professional personnel means that domestic film crews certainly cannot match the efficiency of Hong Kong films.
Of course, it's true that many Hong Kong films are indeed poorly made.
Looking back at the editing of "Young and Dangerous," Wang Xiaohao realized it was incredibly rough, with numerous instances of disjointed action sequences.
Those were all flaws left because they were made in order to release the film quickly and make money, and there was simply no time to polish it properly!
Wang Xiaohao has core staff such as lighting and camera operators under his command. When he was assembling the crew, he also encountered many obstacles before finding other crew members.
There's no way around it, there are just too few truly talented people!
Often, even if you know someone who is professionally qualified, they may have already moved on to another production team, leaving you to find someone else.
This made Wang Xiaohao think about whether he should sign more professional staff into the company.
However, his so-called company is actually just his own director's studio.
Supporting too many people is too much of a burden!
There was nothing they could do; Wenhua Xingyu Company was essentially a shell company, basically belonging to Jin Ningxin's personal studio.
Wang Xiaohao began to miss the time when he was filming "My Love from the Star," and he felt that working with a big company like Magic Cube was much more pleasant.
When Wang Xiaohao was assembling the crew for "My Love from the Star," he didn't have to worry about anything.
The Rubik's Cube company quickly assembled a team of experts for him!
Now, working with Wenhua Xingyu on a film project, I feel like I'm back in a makeshift production team.
It's easy to go from frugality to extravagance, but difficult to go from extravagance to frugality
It would be really difficult to send him back to the makeshift troupe now.
Fortunately, Wang Xiaohao had sufficient funds for filming, and was eventually able to assemble the production crew.
The cast for "Love Letter" has also been finalized.
Jin Ningxin plays three roles: the most important female lead, Fujii Itsuki; the younger version of Fujii Itsuki; and the male Fujii Itsuki's girlfriend, Watanabe Hiroko.
These three characters are already the most important characters in the movie.
The next two characters with slightly more screen time are male Fujii Itsuki and Watanabe Hiroko's new boyfriend, Akiba.
These two need to find handsome guys!
In addition, there are Hiroko Watanabe's parents. The mother and grandfather of the female tree are also quite important characters.
These people are not hard to find!
Any of the veteran actors could easily handle the role.
What Wang Xiaohao didn't expect was that Sun Xuyang would call at this moment.
He said, "Director Wang, I heard your new movie is about to start filming? How's it going? Do you have any suitable roles? I'd really like to work with you, Director Wang!"