Chapter 045 (1/2)

October 10, Thursday.

On the third day of ”Lola Run,” the crew still stayed in their apartment in the northwest corner of Montana.

The scene of Lola's family leads the beginning of the three stories, which is particularly important in the film. The crew has arranged for three days to shoot this part of the scene, and today is the last day.

It's already more than three o'clock in the afternoon.

In Lola's bedroom, only a room of less than 20 square meters is left after the temporary renovation. At this time, there are seven or eight people. With cameras, fill lights, reflectors and other equipment, the small room is full, and some people can only stay outside.

However, the atmosphere in the room was quite quiet.

In fact, this is the unified feeling of all the crew members since the beginning of the film.

From the first day of shooting, we found that Simon's directing style is very different. He doesn't yell like some directors, and he doesn't elaborate to the staff what kind of results he wants.

Most of the time, Simon is in a quiet state, quietly examining the surrounding scenery, quietly using the viewfinder to consider the upcoming shooting lens, quietly holding the light meter to observe every corner Then, simply give orders.

If that's all, people may enjoy this easy shooting experience.

Who doesn't want a quiet and neurotic director, compared to the innumerable growls and harsh criticisms he has suffered in many drama groups.

However, after three days, most of the crew didn't feel relaxed at all, but the pressure was growing.

The young director of the cast is too harsh.

On the first day of shooting, the first shot, Simon just spent more than two hours on the lighting.

As a typical backlight scene, there's nothing wrong with spending more time on lighting.

However, it's not the big scenes in those high budget movies. It's just a simple close-up shot. It took more than two hours to set the light. It's too much anyway.

Moreover, because of Simon's age, some members of the cast even began to wonder whether the young man knew how to make movies? Some people even feel that Simon is just showing his authority through this kind of repeated tossing.

All kinds of doubts and discontent accumulated for three days. When Simon adjusted for more than half an hour again for a phone drop in less than a second, the lighting engineer Josh Wickman finally burst out.

Josh Wickman, 33, has been a lighting engineer in Hollywood for 17 years since he was an apprentice at the age of 16. Although due to ordinary personal qualifications and lack of opportunities, he has been able to only mix with the independent film studio, but in any case, he is a veteran in this circle.

To be sure, Josh Wickman can feel the subtlety of Simon's adjustments most of the time, but he can't tolerate Simon's long and repeated deliberation.

It's too much torture.

At this time, Josh Wickman put aside the light meter he had just held in his hand, raised his voice, and said, ”Simon, I think this set is excellent. You can't waste any more time.”

With the sudden outburst of Josh Wickman, everyone stopped their work and watched together.

Simon listened to Josh Wickman, took a look at the schedule next to him and said, ”I'm not wasting my time. The shooting schedule here is three days. Now there are only the last three shots left. It's OK to finish them before work

Everyone was stunned to hear Simon say so.

With a little calculation in mind, everyone also found that although Simon was a little too harsh in many details, the shooting progress did not slow down at all.

The young man always seems to know very clearly what kind of effect he wants. As a result, it is very rare to repeatedly adjust the shooting or deliberately take more photos to reserve. Most of the time, everyone carefully prepares a shot, and then starts shooting. As long as there is no accident, there are usually only three or four shots, and then it ends. This kind of crispness speeds up the shooting progress of the film.

However, it may also be that this kind of compact speed without delay has unconsciously brought a lot of pressure to the staff.

As a result, when Jos Wickman heard Simon's explanation, he became more angry and said, ”anyway, you can't do it any more. Or you don't know what you're doing, you little rookie. ”

Aware of the dispute in the room, Ron McMillan and Sandra Bullock, who had been staying outside, quickly came in.

Ron McMillan saw more and more excited Josh Wickman, and immediately said with some reprimand, ”Josh, what's the matter?”

”What's the matter?” Feeling Ron McMillan's question, Josh Wickman said in a louder voice, ”I've had enough of it,” so he pulled the reflectors around him, looked at Simon again and said, ”boy, do you think you're Martin Scorsese? I'll tell you, I'll quit. ”With that, Josh Wickman raised his foot again, kicked a reflector, turned and walked out.

Ron McMillan was stunned when he saw that the lighting engineer had a disagreement and suddenly left.

How can this work!

It's just that Ron McMillan just wanted to chase out, but Simon caught him.

Simon's expression also sank, glanced around and said, ”maybe I'm a little too strict with the shooting, but I'm not going to change that next, so if you can't adapt, you can leave now.”

There was silence.

In the past three days, Josh Wickman was really a little bit hard to break out. Others, though dissatisfied, are far from quitting. In Hollywood, behind the scenes staff, like actors, are unemployed in many cases. It's not so easy to find a job.

Simon waited for a moment and said again: ”only this time, leave now, we can terminate the contract very peacefully. But in the next shooting, if anyone goes on strike suddenly, the crew will go to the end. ”

With that, Simon glanced around until everyone nodded. He leaned over to pick up the reflector that Josh Wickman had kicked on the ground and said, ”OK, keep shooting.”

The lighters are gone. No one is lighting. How can we take pictures?

All of us have this kind of doubt in our minds.

In the process of film shooting, other jobs may be able to guest star with each other a little, but the lighting engineer's requirements for professional skills are very high. Although the assistant that the crew provided for Josh Wickman stayed, it was obvious that the other party was not qualified for the job.

Simon ignored everyone's ideas and told the young assistant to rearrange the lighting equipment.

Ron Macmillan looked at the situation in front of her, some helpless, pulled Catherine who wanted to help and said a few words to her.

Catherine heard Ron Macmillan's words, came to Simon and whispered, ”Simon, why don't you come here today?”

”It's all right, Katherine, believe me,” Simon said with a reassuring look at the woman and pointed to the light next to her. ”Can you turn that off for me first?”