EFB Chapter 22 Expert
Chapter 22 Expert
Huang Anzhong is clearly not cut out for making movies.
In Cheng Dawei's eyes, he was even a person with wicked intentions!
Although Cheng Dawei agreed to come and take a look out of respect for Huang Anzhong's father.
But if the film produced by Huang Anzhong is too bad, he really can't bring himself to edit it.
Surprisingly, looking at the materials, the situation seems much better than expected!
There are two kinds of rottenness in the world: the rottenness of an expert and the rottenness of a layman.
There's no need to elaborate on how bad an amateur is; it's bad in every way, and everything about them is rotten and doesn't conform to any standards.
Even professionals would think it's blind!
Take calligraphy as an example. The typical style is the "street style," which even an expert would find jarring.
Why? Is it because the handwriting is too ugly?
That's not true at all!
Rather, it is completely contrary to the law.
It looks good to laymen, but is garbage to experts.
What are laws and regulations?
It is a set of rules and regulations that have been created by the collective experience of countless practitioners since the industry's inception.
A layman, who doesn't understand these rules, can easily fall into every possible trap!
How to describe a bad script in the eyes of an expert? It could be the plot, insufficient investment, or other reasons.
But from a technical standpoint, there is no problem!
If we were to use a film from a previous life as an example, then "Switch" would be a typical example of something amateurish and bad.
As for "The Promise," it was terrible for experts!
Cheng Dawei glanced at it and realized that it wasn't rubbish from an amateur, which immediately made him feel much more relaxed!
There were no problems with the lighting or other aspects of the photography; there were no obvious issues like out-of-focus or overexposure.
The scene direction and everything else were all quite standard, without any fancy tricks.
Very good, it's a professional film!
Cheng Dawei breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Alright! I'll take the job!"
Wang Xiaohao felt uneasy!
If he had known earlier that Huang Anzhong would hire a well-known editor to edit his work, he would have preferred to find an unknown figure in the industry himself.
Regardless of whether the technology is good or bad!
At least they're obedient.
I won't do anything reckless!
Now, Cheng Dawei is over sixty years old, and the serious aura of someone working within the system is almost visible to the naked eye.
It's very likely that Cheng Dawei is an old man that Huang Anzhong invited from the Cangnan Film Group!
Good heavens, how many years has it been since Cangnan Film Group has made a proper movie?
I wonder if their ideas are still stuck decades in the past?
Could Cheng Dawei's Phoenix Award nomination have been received two or three decades ago?
Wang Xiaohao couldn't imagine what kind of cut Cheng Dawei would make of his film if he was really an old-fashioned person.
Wang Xiaohao even secretly decided that if all else failed, he would secretly cut another copy himself!
He had studied some editing himself, though he wasn't very proficient. But editing a story shouldn't be a problem!
Even Hollywood directors, the kind without cut rights, sometimes secretly steal their own footage and edit it themselves... I'm talking about you, that's right, the self-proclaimed King of the World truck driver!
Of course, Wang Xiaohao's emotional intelligence isn't that low as to question someone's editing skills right off the bat!
These elderly people may seem to be only moderately famous, but they are actually the backbone of the industry.
Add to that the air of someone from within the system, and it goes without saying that his influence is considerable!
Unless absolutely necessary, Wang Xiaohao really didn't want to offend this kind of person! He could only respectfully say, "Then I'll have to trouble you, senior!"
Wang Xiaohao's guess was correct; Cheng Dawei was indeed an editor at Cangnan Film Group.
However, Cangnan Film Studio hasn't made a proper movie in many years.
This editor's peak was during the heyday of the Cangnan editing studio. Huang Anzhong specifically invited him to oversee the project, to see just how good Wang Xiaohao's skills really are!
Even the most skilled editors couldn't be hired through Huang Anzhong's connections.
After all, the hype surrounding the Phoenix Awards nominations is quite impressive.
But that was twenty or thirty years ago...
Huang Anzhong clearly trusted Cheng Dawei quite a bit. After hearing what Cheng Dawei said, he figured the film must have turned out pretty well!
This made Huang Anzhong smile. He patted Wang Xiaohao on the shoulder and said, "Director Xiaohao, not bad! Keep up the good work in the future."
Since Huang Anzhong also acknowledged Wang Xiaohao's abilities, his words implied that there would still be opportunities for Wang Xiaohao in the future, and that he wouldn't be completely dismissed!
Even if this movie flops, we won't push Wang Xiaohao out to take the blame!
Although Wang Xiaohao didn't catch the implication, he could roughly tell that Huang Anzhong had brought Cheng Dawei along to test him.
It's now clear that he's passed!
Wang Xiaohao thought to himself, "If you're going to hire people, don't hire the old fogies from your Cangnan factory. Hire a few of the current industry leaders instead!"
However, from this, Wang Xiaohao could see that Huang Anzhong's connections were basically concentrated within the Cangnan Factory, and he didn't have many other connections.
This made Wang Xiaohao somewhat worried again.
In the film industry, Cangnan Factory is at best a local warlord, and not even a very powerful one at that.
Its influence is very limited!
Surely your movie won't only be shown in the Cangnan cinema chain?
If that's the case, how many box office revenues could there be?
At this point, there was no point in thinking about it anymore, so Wang Xiaohao could only suppress his anxiety.
Cheng Dawei, of course, had no idea what Wang Xiaohao was thinking. He laughed and said, "No need to thank me. Speaking of which, it's been many years since I've properly edited a feature film!"
"Oh, and bring the script over so I can take a look. If there's a storyboard or something, that would be even better!"
In terms of the editing process, an editor must first thoroughly read the script and have the whole story memorized before they can start editing based on the script.
As for the so-called storyboard, it is actually similar to the director's storyboard.
However, storyboards are something that directors show to themselves and the film crew.
The storyboard, on the other hand, is for the editors to see in post-production!
Therefore, the two actually have very different focuses!
Storyboards focus on individual scenes, while storyboards are more like animation or comic strips, emphasizing the story itself.
The editing allows the editor to gain a general understanding of the complete story and even the rhythm through the visuals.
In this era, most film crews don't actually have a story script!
To put it bluntly, in this era, China has not yet industrialized its film industry, and most film crews are actually makeshift operations! They would never even think of preparing a story script for post-production!
However, Cheng Dawei came from a large state-owned factory and often maintained his old habits, which is why he asked Wang Xiaohao for the storybook!