Chapter 43: A Rookie Director's Job

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  "Carey!"

  In the temporary set in the living room, Murphy called Carey Mulligan over, the test shot just now was good, but he felt that Carey Mulligan could still do better, "You're not at the point of transformation yet, show your naive side more naturally."

  After rejecting James Franco's invitation that night, a plan gradually formed in Carey Mulligan's mind to suppress her opinion of James Franco for the time being, both in rehearsals and on location, and although the performance was far from perfect, it showed her rapidly improving side.

  On the other hand, James Franco shook himself out of his character state and looked at Carey Mulligan who was listening to Murphy's words, the girl's attitude towards him had noticeably improved in the recent week when he had come out with his so-called sincerity, and it seemed that the rookie director's claims made a lot of sense.

  Carey Mulligan wouldn't fight with him, but she would occasionally crack a few jokes, which made James Franco's itchy, itchy heart more or less comforted, and everything was shifting in a good direction ...

  He quirked up the corners of his mouth as if he was seeing a longing in his heart come true.

  "You're doing a great job, Carey." Murphy continued to Carey Mulligan, "But I know you can do better, didn't you tell me you were an acting talent? Show me all your potential."

  Carey Mulligan wrinkled her nose, "I will."

  "Go get ready." Murphy waved his hand at her.

  Jack Watson, the makeup artist next to her, immediately followed Carey Mulligan and touched up her and James Franco's makeup.

  The next step was still test shooting, and Murphy, the director and cameraman, not only had to adjust the actors' condition and alignment, but also had to find the most suitable shooting position and shooting technique.

  Although many of the shooting methods were conceptualized when making plans, for a novice like him, the difference between conceptualization and on-site shooting was sometimes really a bit big.

  "Lights ready!" Murphy shouldered the camera, "Actors ready! Start!"

  Since there had been a test shoot before, both the mediocrely capable lighting technician John Douglas and the leading men and women, James Franco and Carey Mulligan, quickly got into the swing of things, especially the latter two, who appeared in Murphy's camera lens according to the set walk.

  James Franco's glass was handed to Carey Mulligan, who withdrew her gaze from surveying the living room and looked at James Franco with bright eyes, but did not take the glass.

  "What's wrong?" James Franco asked.

  Carey Mulligan said innocently, "The grown-ups have told us we can't just drink anything another man brings us."

  After several rehearsals and test shots, the two of them were improving their command of the scene, but instead of using the same shooting style as in the test shot earlier, Murphy switched to a different walk and filming technique.

  During filming, not only the actors as well as other behind-the-scenes staff need to make adjustments, but the director and cinematographer likewise have to make adjustments to find the most suitable way to get the best results.

  During the filming of the movie, Murphy has been trying to control all the elements present in the frame, which is very helpful to the narrative, and he has also used both open framing and closed framing one after another.

  In addition, he was also very conscious of the spatial coherence of the framing when he was shooting with the Stanikon.

  Spatial coherence is very important, Murphy had long ago determined the center point of the shot in the living room, a temporary set, and then clarified the spatial relationship between the characters by creating an overlap, so that the separate frames carry the same elements.

  The shots being filmed, both close-ups of James Franco and panoramic views of Carey Mulligan, all carry that cup, which both conveys the odd relationship between the two men and sends a message to the audience that the cup will play an important role in the rest of the plot.

  Murphy is also very careful to avoid too many close-ups, a thousand tall close-ups is not the only way to clarify the spatial relationship between the characters, otherwise the successive close-ups in the finished film will only make the picture look stiff and dull, without any spirit.

  Therefore, Murphy to Carey Mulligan as the center of the axis, clockwise around the shooting, this three hundred and sixty degree axis around the shooting, but also in the film is often used in the filming techniques, especially the big name Michael Bay, in the display of the character relationships and emotions, basically give a three hundred and sixty degree axis around.

  Axis shooting this thing was initially created entirely for the editing of smooth, many people think it is too rigid should break it,, Murphy does not see it this way, this technique is still widely used, see its value, especially for novice directors, a thing must be skillful in the application of the first and then talk about breaking, or what is the difference between and chaotic shooting?

  Of course there are many directors who break the axis, for example, they can destroy the psychological expectations, create a sense of confusion, the characters' position change, etc., but that is all created after the skill is pure.

  After the test shot of the segment, Murphy did not immediately start filming, but instead announced a temporary break and then called the editor over.

  The editor was in place a few days ago, from Fox Los Angeles TV Channel 6, the same Griffiths that Murphy had once studied under, and he only wanted a friendly price of ten thousand dollars.

  Compared to a novice like Murphy, Griffith, despite his lack of reputation, was a seasoned veteran when it came to editing.

  Experience can be used to share learning, Griffiths taught Murphy quite a few as a director how to schedule the various details of the editor's work, such as the director how to arrange the editing staff on the set, how to communicate with them, how to deal with the rhythm of the arrangement of the material, in the editing how to utilize the music, sound effects, and so on.

  Murphy brought a few clips from today's shoot, and Griffiths went into a temporary studio on the right side of the living room to do preliminary on-site editing of these video clips.

  As an editor also needs to participate in the whole film, but many directors will not carry out on-site editing, Murphy is different, he needs on-site editing as an auxiliary, so that it can make up for the shortcomings of inexperience, for example, he designed the scene is not reasonably accomplished, or this form can not present his ideas, so he needs Griffiths such as the help of the experienced people.

  For the other part, Murphy needed to see if there were any other filming possibilities within what was available.

  Also, live editing like this can help a rookie director find a sense of rhythm.

  The sense of rhythm was something rather vague, the movie had many elements that made it up, so it had many facets, and it was the emotional rhythm that Murphy considered the most.

  For example, the sequential changes in Haley's attitude toward Jeff.

  After half a day of busyness in the studio, Murphy came out to announce the official start of filming, so many adjustments and test shots, directly leading to the extremely slow pace of filming, a day's time down, only three passed.

  "That's it for today."

  The sky outside the window gradually darkened, Murphy announced that work was over, tomorrow was the weekend, despite the unsatisfactory progress of filming, in order to maintain the morale of the crew, he still said loudly, "Take a day off on Saturday."

  He likewise needed a little time to wrap up himself.

  Jessica Chastain walked over at that moment and whispered, "I need to go back downtown."

  Murphy simply waved his hand, and Jessica Chastain had just left when Carey Mulligan, who had finished removing her makeup, came in front of him, "Murph, are you going back for the weekend?"

  "No ...," Murphy shook his head, fatigue plastered on his face and his head seemed to be starting to ache again, "I've got work to do."

  "Just as well, I'm sidetracking Bill." Carey Mulligan looked excited, "I just made an appointment with James to rehearse the scene where Hayley subdues Jeff tomorrow."