Chapter 7: he's a genius

Landing.

This is the city of Rosarito on the north side of Mexico.

As early as four months ago, the crew purchased a 16-square-kilometer area here and built a complete filming site.

A large artificial lake was opened up in the shooting studio, and the famous "Titanic" was moored on the lake.

Even with mental preparation, when you see this huge ship with the marina scenery in the early 20th century, you are still amazed, and there is a feeling of time and space dislocation.

"James, you did a great job!"

Tang En sighed and praised sincerely.

Cameron's face was vicissitudes of life, and he was quite emotional, "The film investment is indeed huge, but I have not wasted every penny of the crew."

Come on, this guy is still complaining that Dunn robbed him of his directorship.

Dunn smiled and shook his head, "Can you board the ship and see?"

Cameron guided Dunn to board the ship, and the exclamations and respectful eyes around him made him quite proud, "The carpets, tables and chairs, layout, and style here are all made according to the standards of a hundred years ago, and many props are from the United Kingdom. By air."

Dunn nodded.

Really, it's not without reason that the investment in movies is so large.

"This ship is so beautiful!" Kate Winslet whispered, "Dawn, I read the script and said that the ship will be destroyed in the end, is that true?"

Tang En said with a smile: "Of course not, it's an animation special effect."

"I can rest assured that."

Leonardo Ricaprio immediately noticed something strange in Kate's words, lowered his voice and said, "Hey, have you eased up with Dunn?"

The two get along very well, and they are good friends who can talk about everything. A smile and pride flashed on Kate's face, "Of course, it's easy!"

"How did you do it?" Leonardo was surprised. He was very smart, so he didn't believe that Dunn would be as easygoing as he seemed.

Kate had no intention of concealing anything, and whispered, "I went to his room last night."

"Overnight?"

"Um."

"No wonder!" Leonardo suddenly realized, joking with a smile, "Don... How is he?"

Kate's fair face was rarely flushed, she pursed her lips, "It's very strong!"

"Wow!"

Leonardo laughed.

"Don't talk nonsense with others, Dunn will be unhappy." Kate was still cautious.

"I have a measure."

Leonardo waved his hand indifferently.

…

After visiting the ship, everyone went to the hotel to arrange a room, and it was decided that the filming would start in the afternoon.

As a director, Dunn will naturally get the best room. He found Grant Hill and whispered, "Arrange Kate's room next to me."

This is Hollywood, Grant certainly understands Dunn's extended meaning, no surprise, "Don't affect the shooting."

Tang En said with a smile, "Don't worry, I have my senses."

At this moment, the door of the room was slammed open with a bang, and James Cameron broke in angrily like a fight.

"Hey, Jamie, what are you doing?"

Grant stood up immediately, with a serious warning face.

"What am I going to do?" Cameron angrily threw a document in his hand onto the sofa, "I want to ask, what is he going to do?"

Grant Hill raised his eyebrows, looked at Dunn with a calm face, picked up the document from the sofa, and found that it was the script of the movie.

This script was created by Cameron and painted by himself. It is exquisite and detailed, like a work of art.

only…

In this exquisite painting, there are many red crosses that are very unpleasant.

"Dawn, you modified this?" Grant understood the reason for Cameron's rage.

Tang En said seriously: "Yes, this is the result of staying up late for five nights in a row."

Grant said in a heavy tone, "Dawn, I think you need an explanation."

Cameron gritted his teeth and said, "You are the director, and I respect your work, but you are just a director, and you have no right to change the script!"

This is Hollywood, and Hollywood rules prevail.

The director is just a tool for the producer to realize the idea on film into an image on the screen.

This is also the reason why many great directors also serve as producers.

Tang En also investigated the sunglasses system. In terms of the ability of the director and the producer, editing, screenwriting, post-production, casting and other skills are all classified under the name of the producer, which shows the great power of the producer.

In fact, since the 1990s, Hollywood has gradually moved towards the formalization of commercial films, and Hollywood films have completely become the core system of producers. No director, even a super famous director, will get editing rights.

Therefore, big directors such as Spielberg and Cameron, once a film is made, must also serve as a producer, in order to control the final editing rights.

However, Dunn has no fear.

Grant Hill, who supports him, is the official spokesperson, and Cameron has long fallen out of favor.

If it wasn't for Dunn's guilt for Cameron, he would have even teamed up with Grant long ago to completely vacate Cameron.

The most important point is that Dunn's modification is in the interest of Fox Films and satisfies the relaxed mind of the entire crew, but will not shake the beauty of the movie.

"It's very simple, because in my opinion, the existence of those lenses is meaningless, and it will not only waste a lot of our shooting time, but also a lot of our shooting budget."

Dunn looked calm, made a downward gesture to Cameron, and pointed to the sofa beside him.

He is by no means aimless.

To make a movie, at least dozens, or even hundreds of hours of material must be shot, and after appropriate deletion and modification, the final editing will be completed.

A movie takes two or three hours, and the remaining large amount of material is of course wasted.

However, in order to have more choices in the post-production of the film, producers and directors often shoot a large amount of material regardless of cost to ensure that there are enough material selections for post-editing, so as not to make up.

Especially Cameron, this guy claims that the movie needs to be made three times!

The first time is to write the script, the second time is the process of directing the film, and the third time is the final editing.

What the film will be edited in the end, including Cameron himself, is uncertain!

But Dunn is different. He is a movie lover. He has seen the classic masterpiece like "Titanic" at least seven or eight times! For the final film of the film, I already have a template in my heart.

If that's the case, why are those discarded useless shots taken?

Time-consuming, labor-consuming, and money-consuming!

Cameron's anger continued, "Your explanation can't impress me!"

"James, do you think if we shoot according to this sub-screen script, we can catch up with next year's summer season?" Dunn stared at Cameron, "In my shooting plan, we have to complete all the scenes before the end of the year. filming, and then three or four months of post-production, before it hits theaters in mid-May next year.”

"It's impossible!" Cameron denied it at a glance, "With the current progress, it will never be finished in two and a half months!"

Tang En said with a smile: "So, we need to revise this storyboard script."

Grant understood Dunn's intentions. In the end, he was still responsible for Fox Films, and hesitantly said: "Don, even in order to catch up with the schedule, it can't affect the quality of the movie."

"Of course!" Dunn was full of confidence, flipping through the script for the split, "Look at this scene, the leading actor and the supporting actor would fight each other because of Ruth, it's ridiculous! Not to mention each other's identities, just The positioning of the film is seriously affected. We are shooting a beautiful romance film, not a martial arts action film! Leonardo is not Bruce Lee!"

Cameron was silent, Grant Hill nodded, "Well, it makes sense."

Tang En flipped another page at will, "This scene is about the ugliness released by human beings on the edge of life and death when disaster strikes. It is cruel to fight with old and young women and children for the boat seat."

Cameron immediately said: "This is human nature! There are gentlemen who sacrifice themselves in front of them, and there should be lowly people here. Human nature is complicated. If it is only one-way, the philosophy of film is too shallow."

Dunn shook his head, "It's not that I don't want to shoot, it's a one-off, simple shoot! "Titanic" is a catastrophe, it will make all fans feel chills, we can no longer use this **** fact to stab them, we need Fairytale-like beautiful human nature, to alleviate the psychological trauma caused by the disaster to fans."

Grant's eyes lit up, "Yes, Jamie, in the final analysis, this is still a Hollywood commercial blockbuster, and we can't criticize its artistry too much."

Cameron sighed and fell silent again.

Tang En turned another page, frowning slightly.

This shot is a historical fact of the year.

When the "Titanic" sank, a large ship "California" happened to pass by, but... this large ship chose to turn off the telegraph...

Cameron glanced at it and shook his head, "Okay, little guy, you convinced me that this set of shots is indeed too indifferent, so discard it."

Dunn smiled, "James, thank you for your recognition."

Cameron smiled wryly.

He recognized some of Dunn's remarks, but a doubt arose in his heart. If all this is modified and realized according to Dunn's ideas, then this movie... is it still his movie?

It's a pity that his thoughts are now irrelevant. He is nominally the first producer of the crew, but in fact, Grant Hill has taken over the power.

Grant rubbed his brows and said with a bit of pain: "Dawn, your idea is very good, and I agree with it. It's just... You deleted two-thirds of this sub-screen script! In case... I mean in the later stage When producing, there are not enough materials, so what should I do?”

Dunn pointed to his head and said confidently, "Grant, trust me? The movie picture has already taken shape, and the next task just needs to be filmed."

Grant sighed: "Well, your approach will save the crew a lot of money, and we can make up for it later."

Dunn smiled and said, "Thank you for your support, Grant."

…

"Do you think he can do it?"

Leaving Dunn's room, Grant asked Cameron quietly.

Cameron shook his head, "I don't know."

But then he let out a long sigh and said with emotion: "But I know, Tang En... he's a genius!"

If Dunn heard this scene, he would definitely laugh out loud!

"James, are you praising me? Or are you praising yourself?"

Ha ha!