novellhall Chapter 302 Character Voice Portrayal
Chapter 302 Character Voice Portrayal
Chapter 301 Character Voice Portrayal
"Director Yang! We didn't exceed the limit! Not only did we not exceed it, we even had a surplus!"
The production manager abruptly interrupted him, shoving the ledger in front of the two men, his voice filled with disbelief: "Our initial total budget was 3500 million, and you previously estimated that it would exceed the budget by at least 800 million. Now that the film is finished, the total cost is 3187 million, leaving a surplus of 313 million!"
"How many?"
Yang Chao dropped the cigarette in his hand to the ground.
He snatched the ledger, his eyes wide, and flipped through it line by line. When he got to the final total, his hands started to tremble.
He knew all too well how much he could create.
In order to capture the most authentic texture of the Yangtze River, he insisted on shooting entirely with 35mm film.
For critical scenes, 65mm large format film is used, and the cost of the film itself is astronomical.
In order to wait for the morning mist of the Three Gorges and the sunshine at the source of the river, he and his crew moored their boats and waited for countless days and nights, burning through boat rental fees and staff salaries every day.
Before filming began, he assured Chen Xun that he would keep the cost below 3500 million.
But halfway through filming, he himself started to feel uneasy.
He privately told the production manager to be prepared for a budget overrun of ten million, and that he would simply make up the difference out of his own pocket.
But now, not only have we not overspent, we've even made a surplus of over three million?
"How is this possible?"
After Yang Chao finished flipping through the account books, he looked up at Chen Xun, his eyes instantly reddening: "Old Chen, what—what exactly happened?"
"What else could it be? It was saved up."
Chen Xun smiled and patted him on the shoulder, feeling relieved.
He was the biggest investor in the film, and the surplus money ultimately saved him money: "Our original plan was to shoot for 105 days, but we finished 12 days ahead of schedule, which saved us a lot on boat rentals, staff salaries, and location fees for those 12 days."
The more important reason is actually the improvement in shooting efficiency.
Having spent many years in Hollywood, Chen Xun is already very familiar with the rhythm of film shooting, the control of light, and the arrangement of shots.
Many shots that Yang Chao originally thought would require more than ten takes were often completed in just two or three takes by Chen Xun and Xin Zhilei.
Even many important scenes were filmed in one take!
The film wastage alone saved nearly half of the budget.
Filming on the river is risky; the boats, lighting, and weather are all unpredictable. Many film crews are lucky if they can get two usable shots a day when shooting scenes on the water.
Chen Xun always manages to pinpoint the best shooting window, even predicting the direction of the river flow and changes in light in advance, helping the film crew adjust camera positions and parameters.
What was originally planned to be a full day of shooting often ended up being perfectly completed in just one or two hours.
And then there are those high-difficulty action scenes.
Chen Xun personally performed all the actions, from jumping into the river and climbing onto the boat to navigating the waves.
No stunt doubles needed, no reshoots required, all in one take.
This also saves a lot of time and costs.
"And Xin Zhilei, she's improved so fast."
Chen Xun looked at the girl next to him: "In the second half of the filming, she hardly needed to work on her character repeatedly. She could get into character as soon as the camera started rolling. We didn't have to reshoot because of the actors' condition, which naturally saved a lot of time and money."
Xin Zhilei blushed slightly and quickly waved her hand: "It's all thanks to Teacher Chen's excellent teaching. Without his guidance, I could never have achieved this level."
Yang Chao looked at the two people in front of him, then looked down at the account book in his hand. His heart was in turmoil, and a thousand words were stuck in his throat. In the end, they could only turn into a heavy sigh.
He spent a full ten years working on this script.
Over the course of ten years, he met with countless investors and heard countless claims that art films don't make money and that no one in China watches these poetic films.
Many times, the project almost failed to materialize due to a lack of funding.
Even though Chen Xun brought in investment and the project started smoothly, he was still on tenterhooks.
I'm afraid I won't be able to capture the footage I want, afraid of exceeding the budget and ending up with nothing, afraid that my ten-year obsession will ultimately come to nothing.
Chen Xun not only gave him a sufficient budget, but also went crazy with him, waited for the fog, and waited for the Yangtze River to be at its most beautiful.
He transformed his seemingly unrealistic artistic obsessions into real images on camera.
He also led the entire crew to manage to complete the filming, which was originally destined to exceed the budget, within budget and even with a surplus.
Without Chen Xun, there would be no complete "Crosscurrent".
The wrap party that evening was held in the courtyard of a guesthouse by the river.
A gentle breeze blew across the river.
The free-range chicken soup in the pot was bubbling away, and the bowl was filled with local barley wine.
The entire crew sat together, laughing and joking, reminiscing about their journey up the river over the past three months.
After a few rounds of drinks, Yang Chao, carrying a full bowl of wine, walked up to Chen Xun. This Northwestern man, who had spent half his life making films, had red eyes and a choked voice: "Old Chen, I have nothing to say, it's all in the wine. I owe you this film for the rest of my life."
"I'll offer you a bowl; I'll finish it, you can help yourself!"
After saying that, he tilted his head back and drank the entire bowl of strong barley wine in one gulp.
Chen Xun also picked up his bowl; he was drinking cola.
However, no one on set dared to let him drink.
He smiled and clinked glasses with Yang Chao, then downed his drink in one gulp as well: "Director Yang, don't talk to me about owing each other anything. We're working together to make a film about the Yangtze River that will stand the test of time."
"This glass is a toast to the Yangtze River, and to our journey upstream."
I drank a bowl of cola in one go.
Chen Xun was so angry that he burped!
Everyone at the table applauded.
Xin Zhilei also came over with a wine glass in hand. The young girl's eyes were red, and she bowed to Chen Xun earnestly: "Teacher Chen, thank you. Without you, there would be no me today, nor would there be Anlu who came back to life. I toast you with this glass. In the future, I will be there whenever you need me."
She tilted her head back and drank the wine in her glass clean, even though she choked and coughed, she still laughed very happily.
At this moment, text appeared before Chen Xun's eyes:
[Filming for "Crosscurrent" has been completed; project data is now finalized!]
Project Name: Yangtze River Map
[Current filming progress: 100% (Filming completed)]
[Performance Rating: S+]
Director's satisfaction rating: S
Teamwork: S
[Audience Expectations: A]
Overall Rating: S
[S-Rank Rewards Unlocked!]
[Progress of "Ten Thousand People Draw Out the Streets" +8%, Current Total Progress: 80%]
New reward: [Character Voice Portrayal]
[Character Voice Portrayal] Adapted to dubbing, narration, and multilingual dialogue scenarios.
Chen Xun breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing the final project evaluation data.
He also noticed from the progress chart that when filming big-budget commercial films like "Fast & Furious" and "Guardians of the Galaxy" in Hollywood, which grossed over a billion dollars worldwide, even with the core lead actors, the progress only increased by 3% or 5%.
La La Land received an S rating, and its progress increased by 30% in one go.
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What sets him apart from commercial films is his level of involvement.
"La La Land" is a work in which he was deeply involved in the entire process of script revision and editing.
This film, "Crosscurrent," is also an example.
He was not only the lead actor but also the largest investor, deeply involved in the entire process from script polishing and camera work to actor coaching and budget control, ultimately achieving an S-level rating.
The pace of development for independent art films is much faster than that of mass-produced commercial films.
Moreover, the deeper his involvement in the project, the stronger his control over the work, and the faster the progress.
Now all that's left is post-production to complete before it can be submitted for various awards and released!
These are all things that Director Yang Chao excels at, so Chen Xun doesn't need to worry about them.
He is more focused on the newly added "Character Voice Shaping" feature.
This was still new territory for him.
The voice acting for animated characters is completely different from that for real people.
Suddenly, his phone started vibrating.
It was a WeChat message from Robert.
"Bro, I've sent you the final dubbing script for 'Big Fish & Begonia,' the entire film's storyboard, and Qiu's character biography!"
"It's all set with Enlight Media. We'll be going into the recording studio in three days. Director Liang Xuan and Zhang Chun will be there the whole time, and the president of Coloroom Pictures will also be there."
"I've confirmed with them that the dubbing cycle will take about 5 days. In conjunction with the recording of dynamic storyboards, the animation team will adjust the character's lip movements, expressions, and rhythm of actions based on your recording. The time won't delay your meeting with Director Yu Dong and Director Guo Fan at all."
"The Enlight Media team specifically asked me to tell you that they are so grateful that you agreed to take on this voice-over work. Wu Moufan's side was making a fuss a few days ago, insisting on suppressing the director's credits for the voice-over. They were at their wits' end, saying that you are simply a savior."
A series of extremely long voice messages.
Chen Xun noticed that since Luo Bo unlocked WeChat voice messaging, he has been sending voice messages frequently and has stopped making phone calls.
Now he calls Rob more often.
Chen Xun opened the compressed file in his email and downloaded the dubbing script to his tablet.
This was his first time working on animation voice acting.
Unlike live-action performances, live-action acting involves an opponent, a scene, and costumes and props to help the actor get into character.
The animation dubbing only requires a closed recording studio, a microphone, a script, and dynamic storyboards jumping on the screen.
All emotions and character arcs can only be conveyed through sound.
Even though he had already won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor and was already very skilled at acting, he didn't dare to underestimate him in the slightest.
For the next three days, Chen Xun turned down all interviews and social engagements, staying in his room and repeatedly polishing the script with his tablet.
He went through the entire storyboard of "Big Fish & Begonia" more than twenty times, marking every line and every emotional moment of the character Qiu.
He understands the core of this character all too well.
This boy, who grew up with Chun, seemed unruly, but in reality, he gave all his gentleness and courage to Chun, and in the end, he gave his own life to allow Chun to live in the human world.
His love was not about possession, but about fulfillment.
The unspoken "I love you" that I kept hidden in my heart eventually transformed into a sense of relief amidst the storms of life.
Chen Xun even went so far as to find classic domestic animation dubbing works and listen repeatedly to the performances of older generation voice actors to study the nuances of vocal performance.
Live performances can convey emotions through eye contact and micro-expressions, but in voice acting, the feeling of a character can be completely changed by the slightest difference in breath or vibrato.
He also specially designed three layers of vocal variations for Qiu.
When he was a teenager and playing around with Chun, he had a clear and lively boyish voice with a touch of nonchalant arrogance.
When he discovers Chun's secret and is caught in a dilemma, his voice is low and somber, hiding a suppressed heartache and unease.
In the final scene where she sacrifices herself, her voice is gentle yet serene, conveying both the courage to face death and the deep affection she has kept hidden her whole life.
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