The Best Director

Chapter 40: Photographer

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio | Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Having spent nearly a week in New York, Wang Yang boarded a flight back to Los Angeles with Tom Willing, who had finally landed the leading role in “High School Musical” and had officially signed the contract. Despite being the lead, having never appeared in any film or television work, with no fame to his name, he was treated as a complete newcomer. Once he arrived in Los Angeles, he would also need to attend singing and dance training classes.

Michael Pitt was also part of the group, penniless and hungry enough to resort to stealing bread. Of course, he had no money for a flight, so Wang Yang covered the expenses for him, to be repaid later.

Once they returned to Los Angeles, Firefly Film Company took a few publicity shots of Tom Willing and posted them on the official website of “High School Musical,” announcing that “Troy Bolton” would be played by Tom Willing. Although Tom Willing was sunny and handsome, some fans expressed disappointment, having speculated which big star would join the cast, only to find an unknown model; of course, some female fans expressed anticipation and approval, having already become fans of this pure, sunny hunk.

As for the media’s reaction, it was needless to say, still very cold. The female lead, Jessica Alba, at least had a few works to her name, barely qualifying as a minor celebrity, but this Tom Willing was a complete newcomer. Not a child star, not from an academy, just a clothing model—could he even act? Had the young director’s brain rusted? Did he think just by bringing in a handsome guy, the film would work?

So, when the cast of “High School Musical” was more or less confirmed, if previously about three in ten people were optimistic, now not even one in ten remained hopeful.

“We seem able to foresee the fall of a directorial rising star,” opined the entertainment section of the “Chicago Sun-Times.” “This yet-to-be-filmed movie already has all the hallmarks of a flop. The unappealing musical genre, inexperienced directors, inexperienced leads, inexperienced supporting actors, and a production company previously on the verge of bankruptcy. Look at their ages and experiences; I’m quite curious to see just how bad this movie will end up being?”

An insider also disclosed to the media that Columbia’s new movie “Idle Hands” had originally chosen Jessica Alba for the leading role, yet she ultimately signed with “High School Musical,” much to the regret of director Rodman Fred. Of course, the insider must be someone from Columbia, trying to increase the topic’s exposure, merely a publicity stunt.

Producer Andrew Richard of “Idle Hands” confirmed the story to the media, saying, “I think the girl’s gone mad. She made an incredibly stupid decision and will pay for her arrogance. No, I’m not saying ‘High School Musical’ definitely won’t work, but it’s incomparable. Fortunately, we now have Eliza, who is outstanding in her performance, and she will shine as a bright new star.”

Eliza Dushku shared, “I don’t mind being the second choice; I cherish this opportunity. Rodman Fred is a very talented director, and the script of ‘Idle Hands’ is quite interesting. It’s an honor for me to be a part of this film. Jessica Alba? She and I are friends, and I wish her the best.”

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In any case, the few media outlets paying attention to this film were all keen on pouring cold water, as if God himself had declared “‘High School Musical’ is bound to fail,” and so they rushed to show off their “prescience.”

Wang Yang had no real awareness of this situation, but Mark Strong was quite anxious, telling Wang Yang, “My boss, if every piece of news about ‘High School Musical¹ is negative in the media, saying it’s a flop, then, over time, people will believe it truly is a flop. They will develop arrogance and prejudice, and disdain watching the movie.”

Wang Yang thought there was a lot of truth in that, but he had only a rudimentary understanding of film packaging and promotion and couldn’t think of a solution. Mark Strong, however, was prepared and suggested partnering with a public relations firm or directly establishing a PR department to enhance the company’s PR capabilities, like networking with a few media outlets to get them to speak positively, as well as ingratiating themselves with the judging committees of various film awards, and so on.

Wang Yang felt a headache just listening to these matters, but seeing that Mark Strong’s plan was both detailed and reasonable, he simply agreed to inject a new capital of one million into the company’s account to establish a public relations department.

One million was not a small amount, but Wang Yang could still afford it, because his account would soon receive a large sum of money—his share of the overseas box office earnings of “Paranormal Activity.” This movie, known as “the first DV film in history,” “the scariest horror movie,” and with a North American box office of 160 million, had already been shown in several European countries such as the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, and France for a few weeks. Its performance did not disappoint the distributors, and the current overseas total box office had reached over eighty million. With its impending release in countries like Australia and Japan, breaking the one hundred million mark overseas was not a problem.

However, for overseas distribution, Lionsgate had to cooperate with the distributor in that country, which meant another party was involved in the revenue sharing, and various layers of taxes had to be deducted, so the final amount that reached Wang Yang’s hands might be less than ten million. Of course, this figure was not insignificant. Moreover, the DVD of “Paranormal Activity” had also hit the market in North America, with sales being quite satisfactory—the total sales had already reached over thirty million US Dollars. However, in terms of DVD profits, Wang Yang’s share was only 15%, so he could only get a small amount, possibly around seven hundred thousand out of ten million.

But this money gave Wang Yang the opportunity to expand, allowing him to increase the investment in “High School Musical” and look for a better filming team. In fact, this work was already underway at Flame Films, with the main actors almost in place. As soon as the crew was assembled and the equipment and locations were rented, the film could officially start shooting.

The crew had many duties, some of which could be directly handled by employees of Flame Films, such as finance, whose tasks included budgeting, accounting for expenditures, and settling salaries; as well as some miscellaneous tasks, like contacting locations, ensuring roads were closed and the area cleared, and arranging food and accommodations for the crew, etc. But for some specialized positions, they needed to hire external professionals, such as set decorators and prop masters, who would take care of the scene effects and props used during shooting; costume designers and makeup artists, who were responsible for making the actors look beautiful; and also an art director, who oversaw the overall “aesthetic.”

These professionals were not difficult to find. “High School Musical” was just a campus movie, it did not require unrealistic special scenes or costumes, so the work was straightforward. During the casting period, Flame Films had already found the personnel in this regard based on Wang Yang’s requirements and opinions. Contracts were even signed and they were ready to start work at any time.

The positions that had not been resolved at present, apart from the editor and composer needed later, were only the photography team, as well as the dance choreographer and arranger. Post-production staff could be found later, and there was no rush for the dance choreographer and arranger. The song and dance scenes in the movie would be shot at the end. Firstly, the actors needed time to take training courses, and secondly, choreography and arrangement also needed time. Flame Films had already sent invitations to some well-known composers, hoping to purchase some youthful and catchy pop songs.

It could be said that the most important thing right now was forming the photography team, including the cinematographer, lighting technician, sound recorder, etc., and among them, the cinematographer was the most crucial and needed careful selection.

If you say the director is the designer of the movie, who imagines and conceptualizes scene after scene, shot after shot; then the cinematographer is the person who realizes these images. The director is like a fashion designer who specifies what size and what style to cut a piece of cloth into, while the cinematographer is the tailor who cuts the cloth. Without them, cloth remains merely a piece of cloth; it cannot turn into clothing.

For Wang Yang, when considering a cinematographer, he had to look at photographic skills, composition ability, and most importantly, temperament and rapport. The director is the brain, while the cinematographer is the limbs—the rapport between the two is very important. With or without a storyboard, the cinematographer must fully understand the director’s intentions and the desired effect, and they must be genuinely interested and in agreement, not reluctantly complying or working mechanically, otherwise the whole movie will be extremely mediocre.

Whether the cinematographer and the director get along directly affects the filming results and the work progress.

“When I did photography, what I feared the most was working with those half-baked directors or new directors. They had a lot of ideas, always this way and that way, but they expressed them unclearly, or I thought it would look terrible if shot that way. I would agree verbally, but in my mind, I’d think, ‘Oh my god, I don’t want to shoot it like that,’ and the results were, of course, awful. I wasn’t happy while filming, and those shots ended up being terrible,” Wang Yang had once heard a photography teacher say this while studying at the University of Southern California.

At that time, he had asked curiously, “Why didn’t you propose your own ideas to the director?”

Then, the teacher shrugged indifferently, smiled, and replied, “I’m not going to oppose them. Directors are a very stubborn breed. On a film set, they’re like gods. Whether it’s actors or cinematographers, all the crew members are there to serve the director. Usually, they get chewed out by the production side, so if you raise an objection, great, you’re just walking into the line of fire. They’ll roar at you, ‘I’ll shoot it the way I say, play with your camera!’ And then I think to myself, ‘OK, then let’s shoot a pile of crap.’

The classroom burst into laughter, and Wang Yang remembered laughing very loudly himself. The teacher then smiled and said, “So, for students preparing to become directors, I have to tell you guys, watch out! Cinematographers are two-faced characters; don’t piss us off, or we might deliberately ruin the shots, waste your film, drive up your budget, and get you yelled at by the producer, hahaha!” The laughter in the classroom grew even louder after that.

Thinking about this, Wang Yang smiled while sitting in front of the computer. He definitely couldn’t work with a cinematographer like that, although there was no producer to scold him, but that was because he himself was the investor, paying for all the film out of his pocket.

That’s why, if a director and a cinematographer get along well, they usually work together for a long time. But now, the problem was that he had no connections in this area; he didn’t even know a single cinematographer, let alone a “resident cinematographer.” Luckily, it wasn’t like the days of “Paranormal Activity” anymore. He had a company and a team, and right there on the computer, he had a list of cinematographers recommended by Mark Strong and Sandy Pikes.

Wang Yang glanced at the time, it was just past eight in the morning, and today was Rachel’s birthday. So he, the “boss,” had approved a day off from training. A group of people were planning to come over and play for the day to celebrate Rachel’s birthday. Looking at the time, they should be arriving soon. Wang Yang opened the list of cinematographers while calling out loudly to the wicker sofa not far away, “Michael, Michael! Get up quick, my friends will be here any minute!”

Michael Pitt was temporarily staying in this apartment as well, sleeping on the sofa. These past few days, whenever Wang Yang needed to buy something, he had Michael Pitt run the errand, since he was a stagehand, the “nanny” of the film crew, doing these tasks as part of his job.

“Oh…” A listless voice came from the wicker sofa. Ever since this guy arrived in Los Angeles, he seemed to have developed a sleeping disorder, staying in bed every day, and napping whenever he had a chance.

“Now!” Wang Yang yelled again, then stopped paying attention to him and started reviewing the list of cinematographers. These cinematographers weren’t very famous, which wasn’t surprising. Well-known cinematographers typically had long-term collaborators and were unlikely to be short of projects. As Wang Yang flipped through the information, there were no surprises; they were all just ordinary cinematographers. Suddenly, one name made him pause —Wally Pfister?

That name sounded very familiar! Wang Yang furrowed his brows, looking over the cinematographer’s detailed data. Wally Pfister, now 37 years old, was the cinematographer for many R-rated erotic films, including “After Dark,” “Animal Instinct,” and the “Erotic Games” series. A-Pix, the predecessor to Flame Movie Company, shot “Erotic Games 3” with him as the cinematographer. He and Sandy Pikes were well-acquainted, being old acquaintances.

“‘Erotic Games 3’?” Wang Yang shook his head with a laugh, not right, the sense of familiarity definitely came from somewhere else. He searched his mind and immediately found the answer, exclaiming in surprise, “No way! Are you kidding me?”

Wally Pfister, with “Inception,” had won the Best Cinematography at the 83rd Academy Awards! If he were to follow the path of the future, he would have become famous in 2000 as the cinematographer for “Memento” and then went on to be Christopher Nolan’s resident cinematographer. Together, they shot blockbusters like “Batman Begins,” “The Dark Knight,” and “Inception.” Together with Nolan, he had mastered that classical cinematic color style, creating an unparalleled “texture” with scenes that were sometimes dark and obscure and sometimes brightly glaring.

Of course, the tone of “High School Musical” couldn’t play with those contrasts of light and shadow, because this movie needed a youthful, sunny tone and lighting. But that wasn’t a problem—just crank up the lights a bit, and ask for bright, sunny visuals in post-production color grading, which shouldn’t be too difficult for an “Academy Award-winning cinematographer”. The key was to see his skills in cinematography, framing ability, and his understanding and control of the lens.

Although Wally Pfister was currently just a third-rate cinematographer who specialized in R-rated films, Wang Yang believed in his ability to be competent enough to serve as the cinematographer for “High School Musical”. Wang Yang excitedly picked up his phone and called Sandy Pikes, saying with a laugh, “Hey, Sandy, are you close with Wally Pfister? Uh, I want to meet him—is he in Los Angeles? Great, get in touch with him would you…”

Just then, the doorbell of the apartment rang. Wang Yang said to Sandy Pikes, “Hold on,” and turned his head to shout, “Michael, go answer the door!” He then continued to speak into the phone, “Alright, Sandy, just tell him I’ve seen the movies he’s shot, great stuff… Which one? ‘After Dark’ or ‘Erotic Games’, hey, it doesn’t matter…”

Hearing the grating doorbell, Michael Pitt got up sluggishly from the wicker sofa, walked dizzily to the door, and opened it.

“Hi, Yang!” Jessica greeted with a sweet smile, but as the door fully opened, she was suddenly taken aback. Standing behind the door was a blond man in only a sweatshirt and shorts, bleary-eyed and definitely not Wang Yang! She eyed the fuzzy-haired legs briefly before letting out a shriek, “Oh, my God!” She stepped back a few paces, her brows knitted tightly as she demanded, “Who are you? Where’s Yang!?”

At that moment, Joshua, Rachel, Zachary, and Jessica’s good friend Erin Iris, who had been lagging slightly behind, also arrived. They too were all agape with surprise at the sight of Michael Pitt.

Michael Pitt, still groggy, rubbed his eyes and said, “Oh, hello there, I’m Michael Pitt…”

Upon hearing Jessica’s scream from the door, Wang Yang reflexively glanced that way and caught sight of Michael Pitt’s personal show. He cursed under his breath, “Damn it! That idiot just got out of bed?!” He said goodbye to Sandy Pikes and ran over, smiling and greeting the friends at the door, “Hey, everyone! Good morning.” He then turned to Rachel, saying with a smile, “Happy birthday, Rachel.”

Rachel replied with a smile, “Thanks, Yang. And he is?” Her gaze shifted to Michael Pitt.

“Michael Pitt, I should have mentioned him to you guys, a ‘Leonardo’ I met in New York. He’s going to play a small role in ‘High School Musical’, and has nowhere to stay for the time being so he’s staying here for now,” Wang Yang explained quickly and plainly. He then glared at Michael Pitt and said, “Hey, buddy, aren’t you going to get dressed?” Michael Pitt nodded with a “Oh” and went back inside, yawning.

Michael Pitt was indeed dressed, not naked. Their surprise was because no one expected to see such a person suddenly appear in Wang Yang’s apartment. Now that they had heard the explanation, everyone understood. Jessica remembered hearing about him from Wang Yang and laughed, “You scared me to death! Yang, I’m used to you answering the door. When I saw Michael Pitt, I thought he was some kind of maniac.”

Wang Yang laughed heartily and threw a playful punch in the air, saying, “Don’t worry about that, you know I can take him down with one punch.” Everyone laughed, and he made a welcoming gesture, saying, “Come on in.”