Chapter 125: Teaching Disciples

“Ran Ge, if not for your guidance, I and my team members would never have known there’s so much to learning about lighting!” Dou Wenbao chuckled, his face showing clear pride and joy.
“A film crew relies on teamwork and seamless coordination,” Xiao Ran said, his expression growing serious, making it hard to think he was joking. “But each department is a form of art, a form of creation—something that requires your research and dedication. When combined, they become a true masterpiece!”
Seeing everyone present deep in thought, Xiao Ran smiled faintly. In fact, every aspect of film production is extremely important—take recording, for example. There are many types of sound recordists: live sound recordists, music recordists, sound effects recordists, sound designers, mixers, and sound editors, among others.
A sound recordist must also have a clear understanding of the mechanisms behind language, effects, and sound. Recording is by no means as simple as it seems; it requires selecting and refining natural sounds from the environment, as well as designing and processing them.
Don’t think recording is easy—it’s a highly technical skill. It demands not only technical qualities like clarity and sound quality but also artistic qualities such as distance, space, environment, and dynamics. In short, every aspect of film production is an act of artistic creation that greatly influences the quality of the film.
“A Dou, as long as you maintain this level of dedication to mastering this film, combined with your talent, you’ll eventually become a truly deserving and artistically valuable lighting expert!” Xiao Ran joked at the end, making Dou Wenbao blush furiously. The term “lighting expert” wasn’t a compliment—it usually referred to arrogant lighting technicians.
Huang Yongheng laughed awkwardly. Dou Wenbao could already be considered part of his core team. This was because the lighting team often needed to have a strong rapport with the camera team, so top photographers usually had their own trusted lighting technicians. For Dou Wenbao to be recognized by a master like Huang Yongheng meant he was definitely among the best lighting technicians in Hong Kong.
Yet Xiao Ran was confident that after finishing this film, Dou Wenbao’s lighting skills would reach even higher levels. Films like this often demanded exceptional lighting, and one of the best-lit films Xiao Ran remembered was “PTU”—its use of light and shadow was so skillful it could be considered the best in Hong Kong.
Turning his attention to the composer Lin Daoyun, Xiao Ran laughed heartily. “And then there’s Daoyun—your role as a composer is just as important. Others might not value music composition now, but in a few years, they’ll realize its importance to a film!”
Indeed, composers aren’t given much recognition these days, though things have improved slightly compared to years ago. This can be seen from the change in the name of the Best Original Music award at the Golden Horse Awards—originally called Best Music, it was changed to Best Original Music in the late 1980s.

When it comes to the use of music, Xiao Ran highly admires Galaxy Images. Any audience who knows how to appreciate Galaxy’s works can deeply experience the beauty of their soundtracks, which sometimes even surpass the impact of the visuals and characters—truly a peak-level technique.

When thinking of composers, Xiao Ran thinks of Zhong Zhirong, Galaxy’s top composer—a master whose debut date he unfortunately doesn’t even know. Besides Zhong Zhirong, Huang Jiaqian and Huang Yinghua are also composers highly regarded by Xiao Ran.

After dinner, Fa Ge, Su Renyao, and Feng Feier all returned to the hotel together, while Xiao Ran kept Bai Wenjing and You Zhi, who had just arrived from Hong Kong. They wandered around Macau Street, unsure of what Xiao Ran had in mind.

Xiao Ran played with a clay doll, wondering if Lin Qingxia would like it. After some thought, he dismissed the idea—it wasn’t as good as those from Wuxi. He thought it was time to test how much You Zhi had learned from him. Suddenly, without turning around, he asked, “You Zhi, during these past half month with me, what are your thoughts on film shooting?”

You Zhi and Xiao Ran had known each other for a long time as filmmakers, so there was no need for formalities in their conversation. You Zhi was momentarily stunned before feeling moved. From Xiao Ran’s sudden question, even a fool could tell that he was deliberately nurturing him.

Putting together his insights from these days, You Zhi couldn’t help but recall the scene where they filmed the torture of a traitor for the character A Chen. That day, Xiao Ran personally demonstrated the expressions involved, but What You Zhi saw was the use of violence in the scene. What impressed him most was that Xiao Ran didn’t deliberately show the act of pulling nails out but instead conveyed it indirectly through the victim’s screams.

At this thought, You Zhi smiled. He felt he had grasped the technique behind it. “Brother Ran, I think this is a very unique film—its style is stern and cold. But I don’t quite understand. In terms of camera work, it seems you didn’t intend to use direct methods to convey the story! Also, I feel the film takes a bystander’s attitude.”

“Direct?” Xiao Ran was momentarily puzzled and glanced at You Zhi. Indeed, he was a genius—quickly grasping the essence of the entire film. His ability to apply certain techniques was one thing, but recognizing the film’s attitude proved even more.

Generally, films choose to engage the audience by using various camera techniques to create a sense of immersion, just like novels, where readers like to immerse themselves in the story. But not every film does this.

Xiao Ran remembered Xu Anhua’s “Jade Guanyin” vividly. In that film, Xu Anhua created distance through camera work, deliberately preventing the audience from immersing themselves and instead making them watch as bystanders through all the joys and sorrows.

Technically, it was a choice of perspective, but conceptually, it was an attitude. Perspectives can be chosen in various ways—these are more specific technical aspects. But an attitude can be the mindset behind handling a film or even its theme.

Throughout film history, there have been several movies that analyze the other side of famous criminals with a sympathetic attitude. In terms of handling such an attitude, directors have various options, but most of them are tied to the film’s theme. Moreover, in general, this approach is particularly effective in non-entertainment films.

Xiao Ran explained his understanding of attitude to You Zhi. After pondering for a moment, he continued walking while teaching his talented disciple: “A film is originally an intuitive creation. For artistic films, various indirect and gradual methods can be used to convey everything. But for commercial films, intuitiveness is extremely important—this can even be seen as a clever narrative technique!”

“When it comes to specific plots and shots, there’s no need to use overly straightforward methods; that shows a lack of confidence!” Xiao Ran smiled slightly. He never expected he would be able to teach You Zhi how to direct. However, having met so many directors, he had accumulated a lot of experience and insights: “Being more indirect and circuitous leaves more room for the audience to think, thus adding more depth to the film.”

In fact, Xiao Ran was imparting his own knowledge to You Zhi, along with some of his own explorations into directing techniques. The most typical example of indirectness is “Very Sudden”—the film contains two love scenes, yet none of them are explicitly expressed.

Another example is “A Fairy Tale in Autumn.” There isn’t a single word of love in this film, not even a handshake between Fei Ge and Hong Gu. Yet even a blind person could sense the subtle tension between them. This is the brilliance of skillful technique use. Without exaggeration, Xiao Ran’s ability in this regard is on par with Zhang Wanding’s.

You Zhi carefully considered Xiao Ran’s words and grew increasingly impressed by him. Although “Dark Flowers” hadn’t been released yet, You Zhi already knew it would be a huge success. However, he clearly didn’t realize that Xiao Ran had no confidence in its box office performance, as he understood that some films rely on their historical context.

Take “Dark Flowers” for example. If it had been released in the 21st century, Xiao Ran was sure its box office would have been strong. But in the end, it merely served as a precursor to “Infernal Affairs.”

Bai Wenjing was very frustrated. He had walked a long distance with Xiao Ran, but Xiao Ran hadn’t said a word to him—he didn’t even know why he was following! Xiao Ran guessed what Bai Wenjing was thinking, stopped talking to You Zhi, and let him digest the information. Suddenly, he pointed at a TV advertisement in one of the shops and said, “A Jing, I’ve seen your marketing plan. But there are still a few issues.”

Fortunately, Macau wasn’t large, and soon they arrived at the Grand Lisboa Hotel. As soon as they stepped inside, Bai Wenjing exclaimed in surprise, “There are still problems? This is a plan that all the marketing department members have put a lot of effort into!”

Xiao Ran ignored the disrespect in Bai Wenjing’s tone and simply smiled faintly, while planning in his mind. Bai Wenjing’s plan was indeed quite good—ranging from vehicle ads to TV commercials, nothing was overlooked. But this wasn’t what Xiao Ran wanted. He intended to use the promotion strategy for “Dark Flowers” as a model to inspire creativity in the marketing department.

Back then, to determine the annual marketing strategy, Time Warner’s executives held countless meetings just to come up with a feasible and effective plan. In the end, Warner employed a massive campaign—using newspapers, magazines, television, and the internet—with all its subsidiaries working together to promote “Harry Potter.” With such ambition and resources, even a poor movie could become a hit.

Bai Wenjing’s promotion plan was indeed good. First, they revealed in the company’s entertainment weekly that Xiao Ran was personally directing the film, starring Ge Fei, which piqued the curiosity of other newspapers and magazines. Then, as Xiao Ran suggested, they claimed the new film would be a uniquely styled and distinctive work, further arousing media interest.

The news was released at the right time through the marketing department’s press office, while at the same time, advertisements appeared everywhere in Hong Kong. It was impossible for the public not to pay attention to the film—truly an excellent strategy.

Once in the elevator, Xiao Ran finally stared at Bai Wenjing, making him feel uneasy. Then Xiao Ran smiled slightly and said, “Your plan is good, but it lacks a bit of skill in progressing gradually. Don’t release all the information at once; instead, gradually disclose some behind-the-scenes footage and progress to keep the public curious through the media.”

“Besides that, make full use of the trailer as a unique medium to convey some information, so that audiences start to become curious!” What Xiao Ran was referring to were tactics commonly used by future film companies, with only slight differences in detail. “For the trailers, I’ve already filmed the first one, and two more versions will follow. Each version will have a different length, and you need to manage carefully when to broadcast them on TV!”

“Why three trailers?” Bai Wenjing didn’t understand and asked right away—that was his personality. But Xiao Ran just smiled without answering.

When Bai Wenjing returned to Hong Kong and watched the 15-second trailer, he was stunned. The trailer actually had little to do with the film itself—it was just a maze, with a faceless person wandering around it, repeatedly reaching the exit only to turn away.

Bai Wenjing was stunned because, in that moment, he was completely captivated by the trailer. He now eagerly wanted to know when the next trailer would be released. Such a subtle and implicit trailer technique was definitely far more effective than straightforward ones.

Sure enough, three days later, TVB and ATV broadcasted this short trailer simultaneously. Immediately, the novel trailer sparked great curiosity among the public, with some even calling the stations to ask, “When will this film be released?”

Bai Wenjing didn’t expect this trailer to cause such a huge reaction in Hong Kong. It was more of a teaser than a real reaction. At this time, the marketing department’s news team took advantage of the hype to release news about “Dark Flowers” to the media, along with the first poster. It was a very exquisite poster—Bai Wenjing, following Xiao Ran’s instructions, hired the best graphic designers to create it. The first poster showed the backs of two people, two almost identical silhouettes. Many people guessed it might be the same person. But the media knew otherwise. Under further inquiry, Bai Wenjing was overjoyed and took the opportunity to introduce the newcomer Su Renyao. Soon, the whole city was in an uproar because of “Dark Flowers.” The three major companies were shocked—they hadn’t expected Xiao Ran’s work to create such a huge market frenzy even before it was released. Of course, alongside surprise, there was also jealousy, as their marketing teams weren’t professional enough. Bai Wenjing continued to release information to keep the media curious, and indirectly, the audience as well. Amid this frenzy, even the news of a new movie company opening was overshadowed. This company was the one mentioned earlier by the three giants and Xiao Ran as one that grew through mergers. On that day, its doors were deserted, far from the bustling scene on the day “Shadow” opened. Interestingly, not even the company’s behind-the-scenes boss showed up that day. No one could figure out who the boss was, and no one paid much attention to the company. Yet, no one expected another company capable of competing in the market to quietly enter this already chaotic market in Hong Kong.
*****
Recommended: A new work by Ideal Era, “Wind Thief,” http://www.feiku.com/showbook.asp?bl_id=43575; A new work by Sword Hero, “Ximei Tu,” http://www.feiku.com/showbook.asp?bl_id=42441; A work by Hero with a Smile, “Dream City of Beauty Competition,” http://www.feiku.com/showbook.asp?bl_id=43912