How can a director be a gigolo?

Chapter 23 Storyboard

Wang Xiaohao didn't have it, so he could only give his storyboard script to Cheng Dawei.

This thing isn't a storybook, because it's incomplete.

It's impossible for Wang Xiaohao to design a storyboard for every scene.

Only important scenarios will be designed!

For ordinary transitional scenes, there is absolutely no need to design a storyboard in advance.

Even so, not every director in China knows how to draw storyboards!

Only a novice like Wang Xiaohao, bearing immense pressure, prepared a considerable portion of the storyboard script specifically for making this film well!

As for how the storyboard is drawn, it mainly depends on the director's personal habits.

Some directors draw up a lot of storyboards before filming, while others do not.

Some directors draw the entire storyboard for the whole movie, while others only draw a few important scenes.

Some directors draw storyboards that are as beautiful as comics, while others draw stick figures.

It all depends on the director's personal preferences!

However, generally speaking, directors who pay attention to storyboarding often produce exceptionally beautiful shots.

Because the director had already created a detailed scene in his mind beforehand!

Therefore, a director must have an exceptionally strong imagination.

To be precise, the ability to transform text into images must be exceptionally strong.

Reading a story allows you to visualize it in your mind, creating concrete images and scenes!

Of course, some directors don't have this ability.

Often, we would bring in the people in charge of photography, lighting, art direction, set design, and costumes, and we would all discuss and finalize the scenes that needed to be filmed.

So what is meant by the industrialization of film?

Take storyboarding for example. As mentioned earlier, whether the director draws storyboards or not, and how to draw them, is highly random.

However, the strict film industrialization process is different; it requires a complete storyboard!

Moreover, the script may not necessarily be drawn by the director.

They have a dedicated storyboard artist who creates storyboards based on the script.

As the director, you just need to follow the storyboard and shoot accordingly!

To put it simply, industrialization is about breaking down and standardizing all processes. Each person is just a cog in the machine on the assembly line.

Under this industrialization of film, directors have gone from being powerful artists to becoming part of the film crew's assembly line.

This makes being a director much easier!

Of course, as a result, the films created in this way are often standard industrial products with a score of 70 or 80.

It's not that bad, but it's not that good either!

This approach will definitely stifle creativity in the long run.

The negative effects are not immediately apparent.

However, Wang Xiaohao felt that the eventual creative exhaustion of Hollywood in his previous life was definitely related to this industrial assembly line!

In a past life, someone on a gecko asked why Hollywood movies suddenly seemed to collapse overnight.

Most people attribute this to so-called political correctness, sacrificing plot and beauty for the sake of correctness.

However, Wang Xiaohao believes that the film industry's gradual stifling of creativity is another very important reason!

Wang Xiaohao's biggest advantage was that he had seen the finished product in his previous life, even though he changed the plot quite a bit himself.

However, the general image and scene were already in his mind, so Wang Xiaohao had drawn storyboards.

So he took out the script and storyboard and showed them to Cheng Dawei.

Cheng Dawei exclaimed, "Wow! This is the first time I've ever seen such a beautiful storyboard!"

He put on his reading glasses, examined it carefully, and exclaimed in admiration.

Cheng Dawei's so-called "beautiful storyboard" certainly doesn't mean that Wang Xiaohao's drawings were particularly beautiful.

In reality, Wang Xiaohao's drawing skills are quite average. His storyboarding is slightly better than stick figure drawing, but the difference is only that of big-headed doll drawing.

The main reason is that Wang Xiaohao had seen the finished film, so the images were very clear in his mind.

Therefore, his storyboard looks very beautiful to experts.

The scenes, shots, lighting, and so on have already been planned from this storyboard script.

During filming, these different roles only need to look at the storyboard once they receive it to know what to do! This greatly reduces the difficulties of language communication.

This kind of skill is something that not every new director can possess!

For example, at this moment, Cheng Dawei saw a shot of the male lead carrying a drunk female lead on his back, walking down the street.

The photographer could immediately see how to arrange the lens.

As for the specific lighting plan, it can be discussed and resolved in advance.

Should we use natural outdoor light, or do we need to set up our own lighting?

If the user wants to use outdoor lighting, what time should they go to rent the venue?

Outdoor lighting is very particular; direct sunlight and overexposure are unacceptable. The timing needs to be carefully planned to communicate with the municipal authorities and ensure sufficient shooting time is available.

If the municipal authorities can't allocate the necessary time, then we need to consider setting up the lighting ourselves. What would this lighting plan entail?

Simply put, it's about making the lighting system simulate the light of daytime.

Of course, if it doesn't have a significant impact on the plot, it would be even more convenient to simply change it to a nighttime story.

Having a storyboard in advance allows you to make various arrangements beforehand, preventing you from being completely lost on set.

Many amateur production teams encounter various setbacks and unexpected incidents during filming, often because they haven't done enough preparatory work.

And that's the difference in directorial ability!

Why does Huang Anzhong think Wang Xiaohao is capable, at least capable of acting in TV dramas?

It's precisely because Wang Xiaohao's production team operates smoothly that those messy and unexpected incidents rarely occur.

For example, we contacted the city government to close the road for filming, but when we got there we found the lighting wasn't right, so we had to adjust it on the spot...

Or they contacted the city government, but the optimal lighting time was too far, and the road couldn't be closed due to the large number of people. They could only shoot at night when there were fewer people, so they had to arrange a temporary lighting scheme to simulate daytime lighting!

There shouldn't be too many of these kinds of things!

Cheng Dawei was an expert, so after a few glances, he was full of praise for Wang Xiaohao's storyboard and had more trust in his abilities.

On the contrary, Wang Xiaohao was a little uneasy because the plot of "My Sassy Girl" was somewhat, how should I put it, subversive? Nonsensical?

Wang Xiaohao was worried that Cheng Dawei, who had the air of an old cadre, would not be able to stand it!

However, Wang Xiaohao actually underestimated Cheng Dawei.

Although his peak was indeed in the 1990s!

However, what Wang Xiaohao didn't know was that the 1980s and 1990s were the most relaxed era for filmmaking. At that time, domestic filmmakers dared to try all sorts of unconventional methods, and their imaginations were so wild that they left later generations speechless.

Wang Xiaohao's storyline was completely insufficient to move Cheng Dawei!