Hollywood Road

Since the beginning of March, fans who follow Robert Downey Jr. found that his latest blog has recommended a book.

"I just returned to Los Angeles from my vacation. When I was visiting a bookstore on Sunset Boulevard, I found a very interesting graphic novel, which seems to be based on a certain character. The story about a magical girl is very, very interesting."

This is a blog written by Robert Downey Jr. himself, and of course it is also the work of Murphy and Twentieth Century Fox.

In addition to the text on the blog, Robert Downey Jr. also published a cover photo of a graphic novel. The line of the photo is very eye-catching-"Magic Amy".

"It's here, this bookstore has it."

Two girls walked into a bookstore in downtown Los Angeles. The one with long black hair said to the girl with short blonde hair, "Daisy, here is the graphic novel by Robert Downey Jr."

"Go, let's find it."

Daisy first entered the novel sales area of ​​the bookstore, and quickly found the graphic novel on a bookshelf, opened it and looked at it, it was indeed telling the story of a magical girl, "It seems to be very good."

"Well, I've seen it, it's pretty good." The black-haired girl nodded in agreement, "I just don't know which character it was adapted from. The prototype of Amy in the book must be a super genius."

A boy wearing glasses was attracted by what the two said, and he couldn't help but approached and asked, "Excuse me, can I know what book you are talking about?"

"This." Daisy picked up the book and shook it in front of him, "The Magical Amy."

"Thank you."

The man in glasses nodded politely to the two girls, took the same book in the past, stood there and flipped through it for a while, and walked towards the cashier with it.

Daisy looked at the cash register. "Let's go too."

She is going to go back and have a look first. If it is really good, she will recommend it in her blog and discussion group.

At the same time, the blogs of quite a few well-known bloggers in North America are recommending this graphic novel called "The Amazing Amy", which even appeared in the supplement of the "New York Times".

As part of Twentieth Century Fox, a book-tweet section of Fox TV also recommended "Magic Amy".

When the show was broadcast, the host made a key recommendation.

"We often say that the appearance of a person as an adult often stems from the childhood she spent. With such a girl, she spent an unusual childhood. The unusual thing is that she has a pair of writers' parents, and the pair of writers. The parents created a graphic novel called "The Magical Amy", and the protagonist in the book is said to be their daughter Amy."

"Although Amy and her writer parents chose to keep their personal information confidential because they don't want to be affected by the book, we can still see from the graphic novel that the magical Amy is a genius-like girl."

"Amy has excellent grades since childhood and is an all-A student. From the age of five, he has studied violin and won the top three in the amateur competitions held in his state; he began to learn to play volleyball at the age of ten and continued throughout his high school career until entering Harvard I just gave up in college; when I graduated from college, Amy got a double master's degree in psychology and sociology, and raised a dog..."

"Until we get married, the magical Amy is the winner of life."

The female character in the book is very pleasing. After being promoted by the media, the Internet, and some sections, the graphic novel gradually opened up sales. Although it did not appear on the North American bestseller list, it was also sold within more than a month. More than 100,000 copies have attracted many book fans.

Some book fans even set up their own blog for the magical Amy.

Some people on the Internet have summarized Amy’s various advantages. The magical Amy will always hand in a beautiful report card. He is an amateur music master. His violin skill is comparable to a professional player. He won the state at the age of sixteen. The champion of the Youth Volleyball Championship is a top student who graduated from Harvard University.

With the increase in sales figures of graphic novels, some book fans and other Internet users, guided by some online public opinion, are constantly asking questions on the Internet-who is the magical prototype of Amy?

Quite a few people have called the publishing house, but the publishing house under News Corporation has given a strict confidentiality agreement with the original author and cannot disclose any information.

The more mysterious, the easier it is to attract curiosity and inquiry.

I don’t know when, a blog suddenly appeared on the Internet. The blog has attracted a lot of attention. From the outside, the purpose of the blog is only one-where is the magical Amy?

Due to the lack of the support of the original work and the anti-Hollywood sentiment of the film, if "The Lost Lovers" wants to get enough eye-catching box office results when it is released, it must use more methods in publicity.

In terms of publicity and marketing, Murphy and Carla Fess worked with the relevant departments of 20th Century Fox to determine a complete plan as early as the beginning of the project. Now it is implemented according to the plan, and the results from the market feedback are also good.

However, Murphy is still mainly finishing the post-production of "The Lost Lover".

After finishing the editing of the first edition, he first took out the opening and ending scenes separately and re-processed them. The first and last scenes are both Amy Dunn played by Charlize Theron.

And after processing, it will be a single frame.

Compared with the whole movie, single-frame pictures rarely attract attention, but the first and last frames of the movie can leave a deep impression on the audience. Murphy starts and ends with very similar pictures. , To be consistent from end to end, is of great significance, and represents the development direction and theme of the entire story.

Murphy also added James Franco's post-dubbing to the single frame at the beginning and end.

"When I think of my wife, I always think of her head. I imagine breaking her cute head, combing her brain, trying to find the answer, the first answer to any marriage question: What are you thinking? How do you feel? What did we do to each other?"

This paragraph can easily arouse the audience's suspicion, and the monologue echoing the content of the first half was put at the beginning by Murphy.

There is also a monologue echoed in the second half of the content. "I woke up beside her, looked at the back of her head carefully, and tried every means to figure out Amy's mind. For the first time in the world, I no longer feel that I am right. Staring at the dazzling sun, I finally caught up with my wife’s madness, because I could feel her changing me again: I used to be a stinky hairy child, and then I became a man of mixed good and bad. Now he is at least a protagonist-in our never-ending marriage battle, there are people who are waving the flag for me. I can accept such a statement. Hell, by this time, I can't imagine without Amy Her life, she is my eternal opponent."

After getting the beginning and the end, Murphy and Jody Griffith, the editor, continued to polish the content of the feature film.

In the past, Murphy shot enough material for editing. His usual shooting method is to use the home shooting method to ensure that there are enough shots to choose from. Generally, shooting a distant view as the main lens, and then shooting close-ups separately Lens, reaction lens, cut-in lens and cut-out lens.

Shooting is for editing. Murphy shoots like this. Of course, he plans to use typical editing methods. Many scenes usually take a long-range shot as the first shot, give them a guide, and then a middle shot that contains the main plot. , The last is a close-up shot that separates individual actors or performances.

Sometimes, he also adds a positioning lens to it, which is usually placed before the panoramic lens to explain the background of the plot to the audience.

Because of multiple collaborations, Jody Griffith can better understand Murphy's intentions, and Murphy also delegates power to him, and he needs experienced Griffith to provide himself with some different editing ideas.

During the fine-cutting, Murphy gave Jody Griffiths greater authority to handle the rough cut material, instead of being the director sticking to the side. The excellent and cooperative editors will organize themselves. Looking at the material, looking for highlights, and researching whether breakthrough methods can be used to add icing on the cake, so that the director spends less time.

However, Murphy will not only review the scenes produced by Jody Griffith, but also have a fixed time to communicate with him in the morning and evening. If the director is always busy and can't even make a phone call, then It's difficult to collaborate. The editor needs to communicate with the director at the right time to get feedback, ideas and encouragement from the director on the editing results in a concentrated way.

Murphy was also very direct in his communication.

If an actor does not satisfy the director anymore, the director may euphemistically say: "Do it again with a feeling", but if you say something to the editor: "This scene is cut without a sense of power." But it is enough to let the editor say something. They are so painful that they directly say "Cut out these five frames in this paragraph and transfer to XXXX", but it will allow the editor to better understand the essence of the director's desire.

In addition, Murphy has never been stingy to share his ideas with Jody Griffith.

In the active communication between the editor and the director, if the director can share more nutrients about film shooting, narrative structure and flexible creation, it will not only be meaningful to the editor himself, but also be of great help to the editing work.

Compared with the shooting that was much faster than planned, the post-editing of "The Lost Lovers" can only be described as tortoise speed. The importance of editing to a film is undoubtedly important, and this film is especially critical. Due to sufficient time, Murphy didn't want to rush to work either.

From February to early May, the post-production is gradually coming to an end. Murphy also accepted the invitation of Twentieth Century Fox to participate in the premiere of "The Kingdom of Heaven".