De Niro is full of confidence in Levi, but Levi himself feels a lot of pressure when filming the movie.
"It's really difficult..."
Looking at the actors in the crew shooting the movie scenes, Levi, as the director, felt happy on the one hand and a little nervous on the other. Throughout the shooting process of the movie, Levi also felt more and more that the intersecting montage and parallel montage in this movie were difficult to use, and in terms of rhythm, how to slow down the already fast-paced rhythm became his problem.
Movies are a big test for actors, but that's not the case for Levi. In the few films that Levi shot before, in his mind, there was a film that had already been formed, which could be roughly referred to and imitated.
However, the film he is shooting now has two films in his mind, and these two movies each have its own positives and each has its own flaws. If Levi wants to shoot a good movie, he can no longer just study blindly; he has to make some changes himself.
But these changes are not so easy.
Compared with simply changing The Lives of Others to an English version, moving Amelie to New York, and changing The Truman Show's rhythm, he needs to change many things for this movie.
Levi's movie is different from the American version in memory because the four characters of the police and the gang are shown in two lines, so the number of crossover and parallel montages in the movie is also changed.
How to edit these shots together reasonably so that the audience does not feel awkward and uncomfortable is a big challenge. And at the same time, how to control the rhythm, how to shoot some close-up shots, how to frame the view to highlight the characters without being obtrusive, and how to use various shooting techniques are all things that Levi needs to consider now compared to before.
With these things now, the pressure of shooting seems to be greater. For Levi, though, it's an acceptable challenge. After all, since his debut, every time he shoots a movie, he is always thinking about how to make the movies in his memory better, and the progress and changes time after time have given him the courage to make such an attempt.
Just such an attempt. It inevitably made the filming process a little slower. Because he always has to think about how to shoot movies better, the shooting progress will inevitably slow down.
When the shots need to be carefully crafted one by one, it is naturally impossible for the movie to be shot quickly. In this way, compared to Levi's original plan, the filming will be slower, which is also beyond Levi's expectations.
"This place. Let the camera move with William, and then let Colin appear on the screen. After Colin appears, put the focus on him, let the camera follow him, and realize this transition... During the shooting process, remember to be smooth enough, understand?"
Levi kept talking to the photographers about his views on the film. This movie is definitely a major challenge for him.
But as a filmmaker, of course, you should constantly accept challenges. Constantly trying new challenges of your own is what it should be.
Shooting this way may make the movie a little slower, and Levi doesn't think that's a big deal. Take your time, work slowly, and produce meticulous work; it may not be bad.
***
This idea comes from the current movie of Enigma Company: when March came, The X-Men movie of Enigma Company was officially released.
Although everyone knows that if a blockbuster movie like The X-Men is released in June's prime time, the box office will be higher, they don't want to compete with other companies for the box office.
Moreover, the distribution company also has doubts about the box office of superhero movies, so they decided to release it on this schedule.
Enigma Company doesn't have much opinion on this either: if the film is not released after production, the company's funds are also a problem, and it may not be a bad thing to release it earlier.
And this movie is a commercial film in the true sense. When the distribution company contacted the theater, it got 3,300 screens in one go - although it is still a bit short compared to the 4,000 screens of some large-scale productions, this number is also impressive enough.
Before the movie was released, the media had already estimated the movie's box office.
Although there is precedent with the success of Blade, Blade is a low-cost movie, and a 50 million box office can be considered a success.
The larger scale of shooting will definitely affect the box office. Moreover, considering the financial turmoil has just passed, the box office figures for the two consecutive years of 98 and 99 were not very satisfactory.
The media also believes this movie can have a North American box office of 150 million, which is not bad. The film investment is 70 million. The movie will never lose money if the global box office revenue exceeds 200 million.
However, beyond everyone's expectations, this movie's box office is extremely impressive. Since its first week of release, it has firmly occupied the top spot of the movie box office chart and opened a big gap with other movies. By the end of the first weekend alone, the film's box office figure has exceeded 50 million.
Excellent character modeling, wonderful plot setting, dazzling special effects, breathless scenes, and fights have become the conditions for attracting people to the movie theater.
In addition, the X-Men itself is an extremely popular comic book by Marvel Corporation. The box office of the movie exploded immediately in the first week. And in the second week also, the box office popularity remained undiminished, and it was shown more and more everywhere. The media were all dumbfounded.
"The new movie made by Enigma Company leads the box office all the way, making it impossible for other movies to catch up. If nothing else, this movie can almost lock the box office champion of the year. It is really unimaginable that a superhero movie can be shot so well."
Just a few years ago, the Batman movie let people see what it means to be short of box office and word of mouth. That failed movie has made George Clooney and Schwarzenegger feel overwhelmed.
In contrast, the X-Men has achieved such terrific box office figures, which is really amazing.
It will exceed 200 million after six weeks, with 5 million that week. The box office of 200 million is almost the box office champion for the relatively sluggish market last year and the year before - except for the anomaly in the prequels of Star Wars, almost all other movies have this box office figure.
This number also exceeded Levi's expectations, but it didn't surprise Levi: First of all, the special effects of this movie are much better than the movie in Levi's memory. Secondly, whether it is this movie's art style or the martial arts style, Levi personally supervised and managed it a little bit, which is more careful than the original work.
Again, it is the director of this movie; after all, it is Nolan: Although after the film was released, not many people mentioned his name, and few people even thought it was Levi's credit, Levi is very clear: the unique editing technique maximizes the suspenseful points, giving this movie a very unique structure, and it is also one of the important reasons for its commercial success.
Levi has influenced this movie in every way, making this movie that set off the first wave of superhero movies in memory directly have all the elements that a mature superhero movie needs to have ten years later; this kind of reform made the film a success.
Superhero movies with good special effects and plots can make money, which is the development trend, and Levi is ahead of the trend.
For a commercial film, the box office figures in North America and overseas should be roughly the same. In other words, the total box office of this film can reach 400 million or even 500 million.
Although compared with the Spider-Man in memory, this box office is still far behind, but this is definitely a high-grossing movie.
It's definitely a big hit — although Levi knows that the movie's box office isn't the movie's entire revenue. However, if a movie's box office is not good, expecting other income to be good is simply nonsense. The box office reflects the popularity of a film, which is the most intuitive way to see whether a movie is popular.
What is there to be dissatisfaction with for a commercial film if it can get such a high box office? With a high box office, everything is fine.
And all of this is what gave Levi confidence: as a producer, he participated in the production of The X-Men throughout, and he knew very well that this movie was much better than the box office he remembered.
And just when the X-Men's box office exploded, Levi also received another piece of news: The Truman Show won multiple nominations in this year's Oscar selection. Among these are the most important nominations for Best Picture and Best Director for Levi — this is the third consecutive year he has been nominated for an Oscar.
Commercial films have won the box office, and literary films have gained word of mouth, and the reason behind this is because of Levi's serious work on these films.
The meticulous craftsmanship of literary and artistic films can improve the movie's reputation, while the meticulous craftsmanship of commercial films can improve the movie's box office.
Why not refine the movie he is shooting now to make it even better?
This movie is going to be excellent and worth the effort it puts into it.
*****
Thanks and kudos for my patreons
Cherif Doghri
Scott DePaepe
MMMCMXCIX, or 3,999
Britanna
Mandy G
Adam LV
The Main Man
You can read advanced chapters on my Patreon account: https://www.patreon.com/Sayonara816.