Vol 2 Chapter 358: This is filmmaking

"The most urgent thing now is to find a suitable actor to replace her!"
Before the beautiful Rivendell set, the filming of the crew had just come to an end. Taking advantage of the break, Duke brought in Charles Rowan and several other people in charge of the crew.
Swordsmanship is good to say, we can do the whole process. The key to using a stand-in is that the actor's temperament must fit the setting of the character in the novel."
He turned to look at the production manager, "Charles, the contract is terminated as soon as possible."
"I'm communicating with her agent." Charles Rowan's ability to do things is trustworthy.
Duke rubbed his forehead. There is no other way. Not to mention the huge crew of "The Lord of the Rings", even the small crew of the independent film circle, accidents happen from time to time during shooting.
"Duke..."
The speaker was Anna Prinz, who came back from the location. The actor who quit is related to the scene she will be in charge of filming. "I suggest choosing another actor from the audition."
"That's all." Duke nodded. "Anna, you are responsible for this matter."
In fact, things are not complicated. Anna Prinz is about to film a scene about Princess Rohan Iowen, and the Australian actor Miranda Otto who starred in her is also ready to enter the group. Prepare, who knows it will be there. A few days ago, the other party was involved in a car accident in Australia, with several fractures in his leg and hand bones, and had to withdraw from the crew.
The people around gradually dispersed, and Nancy Josephson, who had been standing on the periphery with Tina Fey and Cate Blanchett, walked over.
"Duke," she whispered. "Can I recommend someone?"
"Let's talk." Duke turned his head and watched the crew busy setting up the conference room for King Rivendell Elrond. "You have signed a new actor again."
"No." Nancy shook her head. "The one you worked with before."
"Oh?"
Retracting his gaze, Duke looked at her. "who is it?"
"Kate Beckinsale,"
In this respect, Nancy Josephson is definitely a qualified agent, always fighting for all possible opportunities for clients, "I think Eowyn is quite suitable for her."
"Nancy, although this character is generally biased towards the vase." Duke didn't even think about it. Directly refused, "But some scenes are still very important, I don't want to use a poker face actor."
In the last collaboration, Kate Beckinsale's terrible acting skills left a very bad impression on Duke.
Eowyn is indeed biased towards vases, but the vase role in Hollywood movies is also different from the vase role. She is still suitable for vampires without any expressions or pure vase roles with low acting requirements.
Seeing that Duke had a bad impression of Kate Beckinsale's acting skills, Nancy didn't say anything anymore, after all, Duke's words weighed heavily. It is much heavier than the future of the little actor under his name.
This suddenly vacant role has considerable weight in the film. Not long after Nancy left, Cate Blanchett came over while Duke was not busy.
"Do you also have an actor candidate to recommend?" Duke asked after seeing her tall figure.
Blanchett smiled lightly, "Remember Ira Fischer who I met in my house, Duke?"
"She?" Duke frowned and thought. Thinking of who it was, he gave Blanche special features. "Kate, leave her contact information to Tina so that she is ready to come to Wellington for the audition."
"Thank you." Blanchett leaned to Duke's ear. "My Lord Sauron."
Duke replied with an attitude of business affairs, "I can only give her a chance to audition, and other guarantees cannot be made."
Speaking of which. He was slightly curious, "What is her relationship with you?"
In most cases, Hollywood actresses will have such kindness and love there.
"Ira is one of my cousins." Blanchett explained.
After the brief conversation, Duke returned to work. Most of the representatives of various races who participated in the King Elrond’s meeting had finished putting on makeup and waited in the rest area. The layout of the venue was also nearing completion.
After going around the shooting site, Duke returned to the monitor, looked at the leaves piled up on the site, and called the person in charge of the props group.
"Bill, let your people go up to the elevator platform and drop the leaves."
Just as the head of the props group was about to leave, Duke patted his arm again and exhorted, "Six people!"
Although King Elrond’s meeting was very long, it was cut into many short shots, in which the hobbit had to switch back and forth between the actor and the stand-in. When Ian McLean and Ilya Wood appeared in close-up shots at the same time. At mid-time, the crew also raised the place where Ian McLean stood to highlight the difference between nine feet and four feet.
Then there is the work of Shaluoye that Duke urged.
At this meeting, Rivendell’s leaves would continue to fall to indicate the expansion of the evil forces, which meant that six staff members had to keep throwing leaves on the cranes that went to different locations on the set.
Don't think this is just a humble job, the crew started preparations long ago.
The leaves that were thrown down were collected by the crew in bags in autumn, but the leaves that broke away from the trees quickly turned yellow and didn’t look like fresh leaves at all, so the props crew took every piece of it. The leaves are dyed again, and then there are fallen leaves that are used extensively in this scene.
Filming has never been a simple task, and it is not at all having an excellent script or director that can do all the work.
For a meeting, Duke shot for two full days, and then moved to another studio to continue shooting Lothlorien's scenes before. Some shots cannot be solved by shooting in the field. You must choose a studio with better environmental conditions. In the middle, the situation of adding a blue screen with props can be better accomplished.
Most of the trees in the Golden Forest are realized by the crew using props and scenery. After a short filming, these elaborate props and scenery will resemble the Titanic model built by James Cameron. Like a boat, it can only be turned into and treated as waste.
Whenever this happens, the props team and the art director department always have a trace of perseverance. After all, they have concentrated too much effort on this.
It can also be seen from this aspect that most of the time spent in the preliminary preparation of the film is often several times or even ten times longer than the time used for shooting.
It’s not too obvious now. In the next few years, 100 million US dollars will become the basic starting point of mainstream commercial films. If the film wants to sell well, it will rely more on special effects. The production cycle of Hollywood films will also be prolonged. Shooting and production in one year, and publicity and release in one year will become the most basic production process.
Most directors will even be stubbornly detained in this process. Large investments have also determined that the production company will not take the production process as a trifle. Except for the top batch of directors, other directors must follow the Hollywood pipeline model. .
Even top directors such as James Cameron and Steven Spielgber are examples of continuous success under the standard Hollywood model.
To put it bluntly, if it weren't for cheating, Duke wouldn't make a movie at the rate of basically maintaining one movie a year.
And this speed has almost reached his limit. Even if he can bear some things, the others in the crew cannot bear it.
Don't forget, movies are always the product of teamwork, not a job that the director can do alone.
Although there are occasional emergencies, the shooting progress has always been under Duke's firm control. In the last few days, he has shot Lothlorien's scenes in the studio. After the daily shooting is completed, he has to review another Shots done by Anna Prinz in the studio.
Zach Schneider officially left the crew to prepare for the second two episodes of The Matrix. Anna Prinz naturally took over the position of the first deputy director and worked with Duke to share the heavy shooting work.
There are too many shots for the trilogy. Duke also discussed with John Schwarzman and asked him to lead a film crew alone, but this increasingly fat director of photography did not become a director independently. I plan, I just want to be the best director of photography in Hollywood.
"We have worked together for many years, Duke." He said to Duke in this way, "I know how much effort and energy you have put into today, and how much pressure you have endured. The profession of director is too scary for me. Busy work and ubiquitous pressure will crush me."
This kind of thing can't be forced, Duke couldn't find a second suitable candidate for a while, and the crew had to continue shooting in two.
The scene of Lothlorien in the studio took a little more than a week to finish filming, and the set-up is about to be demolished.
Before the demolition, the head of the props group, Bilt, stood here and took a commemorative footage for inclusion.
Facing the props and scenery that were subsequently turned into ruins, he was very touched,
We spent 8 months setting up the scenery and props, but the shooting time did not exceed 8 days. After the shooting, these beautiful trees and forests will disappear. , But for generations of viewers, it will always exist in the movie."
It can only be said that this is filmmaking.
Many large investment movie production processes are often projects that generate a lot of garbage.
Later, Duke participated in another interview for the role of Eowyn, but he considered Anna Prinz's opinions. After all, most of Eowyn’s scenes would be filmed by her.
The opinions of the two were relatively consistent, and there was not much disagreement. Among the three actors participating in the second audition, Ira Fischer recommended by Cate Blanchett was selected and the other party was notified to report to the crew as soon as possible.
With the completion of the Queen Galadriel role, Cate Blanchett became the first official actor to bid farewell to the crew. According to the original agreement, Duke put the crown of the Elf Queen and the white costume as a commemoration. The gift was given to her.
However, he specially prepared two sets of the queen's costume. (To be continued...)
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