When the time was approaching September, when the major TV stations began to rebroadcast a new episode of the TV show, Levi and the production team had already returned from Germany.
"This is the best news I have received in a few months." The happiest person about the crew's return is not the people who left the United States for a month but another boss of the Enigma company who stayed in the United States, Alexander. After hearing that Levi was back, no one was happier than him—September is approaching, and the affairs of Enigma Company are gradually increasing. Alexander is also very busy now. Hearing that Levi is back, he is naturally very excited.
Logically speaking, the two programs of Enigma Company have their own producers, and Alexander has not much to do. However, the company has 30 screenwriters on both sides alone, including the filming crew, there are at least a hundred people in total, and the management of these people has to be handled by Alexander. Of course, he is also very tired.
Hearing that Levi was back, he was naturally very excited. On the second day, when Levi returned to the company, he saw that there was someone in Levi's office, so he rushed into Levi's office with the work arrangement for Levi excitedly.
"Nick, your work after you come back... oh, no."
Alexander, who hurried into the office, suddenly found someone else was there after he rushed into the office. But when he opened the door, he saw Theron was sitting on Levi's lap and talking about something, and he realized that he had come at a very bad time.
He heard from Clark over there that Levi seemed to have an ambiguous relationship with the heroine of this movie. He hadn't paid much attention to these words, but it was only when he bumped into him at this time that he found it quite embarrassing.
Seeing his arrival, Theron jumped up suddenly, but Levi grabbed her, kept her by his side, and glanced at Alexander resentfully. However, Alexander didn't mean to leave at all. He was exhausted, and Levi was still having fun here, so he wasn't in the mood to make things easy for him, "I didn't expect you to be here...well, let's chat. Nick, I thought you came to the company early to chat with Clark about post-production."
"I do have this idea...but Clark told me that I don't need to get involved there." Levi shrugged, he could see that Alexander didn't want to leave, and he knew that Alexander must be serious, so he didn't feel ashamed to hold on to Theron again.
Theron glanced at Levi with some embarrassment: It's no wonder he wasn't bashful when such a thing was spoiled. However, seeing that Alexander didn't want to leave, Theron was also slightly annoyed. She moved a chair and sat down. Facing Alexander's questioning gaze, she only responded with a slight smile.
A very courageous girl—Alexander evaluated it in his heart, but he was not interested in bothering Theron anymore, "Clark won't let you meddle in his own business? So, you don't have any job now?"
Levi said it was true, and he has no job now.
The filming of the film is over, and the rest is post-production. After the pre-shooting of a movie, the actors and the shooting-related staff can go their separate ways. The rest is for the director to bring the post-production staff to start editing, soundtrack, and other related matters.
This process will probably take one or two months to complete: after the film is shot, it must be handed over to the editor for rough cutting, and the story will be strung together according to the script. In this step, the director doesn't have much work to do—generally speaking, the editor is the main one during the rough cut. Because if it is handed over to the director for editing, the director is likely to make the movie lengthy and boring because he is reluctant to part with his own shots. This job cannot be done by Levi.
Editing is very crucial to a movie. A high-level editor can use some shots to make the boring shots come alive. The actors' lack of acting skills and lousy performance can be covered through quick switching. Of course, the most important thing is that they can use their expressive techniques to show all the director's ideas.
For this part of the work, Levi has already said that Clark should be responsible: the editor is the one who needs to express the director's ideas, just as the lighting engineer must listen to the photographer's order to show the shot, the editor must also be able to edit a good enough shot to show the idea of the movie. If you find someone who is not familiar with you, you will inevitably make a mess when editing. Levi can be assured only when Clark, who is familiar enough with Levi's ideas, can do this job.
"In the front part, more parallel editing is used. Two parallel lines can better highlight the psychological changes of the characters. The process of the playwright's gradual resistance, the process of the heroine submitting for her acting career, from monitoring to appreciating to protecting them, it is best to use parallel editing to highlight the characters. When it comes to the last part, when suspense needs to be created, cross-cutting is used, but not too much. Besides, The plot is relatively flat in some places. I need you to consider using more different angles, close-up the faces of the characters to adjust the audience's observation point, don't make the plot too flat..." When discussing this movie's editing and finishing process at that time, Levi also said many of his own views.
"You don't have to tell me one by one. The gist of this movie you want to express has already been told to me more than once. I will edit it according to your ideas. Don't worry." When he was in Germany, part of it had already been completed, and Levi had also discussed his ideas with him many times. At this point, Clark also took over the command power.
"Don't worry, I will take care of everything, and even if I can't do it well, the final editing rights are still in your hands. What are you worried about?" Clark's words are not wrong, and Levi really has nothing to worry about. He is the director and producer of the film, so he has the final editing right, and he really doesn't have to care too much about the early editing.
After the rough cut, the director can perform a director's cut according to his own artistic conception, asking the film to use more techniques to express his ideas. And after this section of editing is finished, there is still the last step of fine editing to shape the movie completely. Of course, this movie does not have any special effects, so in the editing, there is no need to consider the lens superimposition, rendering, and retouching of special effects, and there is no waiting for special effects work completion; fine cutting work is very simple.
After the fine cutting is completed, improving the sound component is next. The first is the dialogue, then the sound effects, and finally, the soundtrack. After the sound mixing, the picture and sound of the movie are no longer problematic, and it is a qualified movie - these are the things that Levi needs to nod.
Enigma Company itself invested in this movie, so the final editing rights are also in the hands of Levi: Although the film that pays for itself is easy to lose money, it also has this advantage.
The final editing of a movie is often an important factor in determining whether a movie is good or bad. But film companies sometimes edit like crazy, and the reason is simple: if a movie is two hours long, two shows can be shown in one night. Only one show can be made if it is four hours long. In order to play a few more games and increase income, they cut the movie.
As for the expressive intentions of the directors? The film company is too lazy to care; for them, money is everything. 'Once Upon a Time in America' was cut from four hours to two hours, and the edited version of 'Kingdom of Heaven' simply cut out all the most important thoughts of the director. The theater version and the director's cut version are basically two movies for these movies. There are many directors who have been working hard for this all their lives. Once, someone paid their own money to publish an obituary in a magazine because their version of the film was cut, announcing that their film had not been released. When Mellon was shooting movies in his early years because the company did not give him the right to edit, he pried open the editing room door by himself in the middle of the night when no one was around and went in to edit his own movies. For this right, the directors fought very hard.
Levi spent his own money and worked hard to make the movie. He had prepared for the movie for so long, just for this final editing right. He knows the significance of this power. Even if he loses money, this power cannot be lost.
Now that this job has been handed over to Clark, Levi will naturally have nothing to do. He and Theron had a good relationship at this time, so naturally, they were together when they had nothing to do. It's just a little embarrassing to be bumped into by Alexander.
"If it's okay, how about I find something for you to do? I don't care how you mess around outside, but at least you don't mess around in the company, right? Nick, I'm half tired now, there are so many things in the company. It's fine if you're willing to help me, so don't show off your happiness in front of me, right?"
Alexander teased slightly with complaints but let Levi and Theron look at each other and smile, and neither of them spoke. Knowing that his words had no effect, Alexander could only roll his eyes.
"Nick, I know you may not be able to listen to the company's affairs now, and I didn't expect you to help me do too many things, but there are a few things that I must tell you." Alexander was too lazy to talk nonsense with him. "One thing, the screening of the movie, and another thing, the Emmy Awards are coming."
*****
Thanks and kudos for my patreons Cherif Doghri, Abdishakur Hasan, Adam LV, Danny York, haze2343, Scott DePaepe, and Dario Cameruccio.
You can read advanced chapters on my Patreon account: https://www.patreon.com/Sayonara816.