We are making multimillion dollar student films - Prashant Pandey

‘We are making multimillion dollar student films’
Prashant Pandey
First published 2004 in the Asian Film Festival Quarterly


Osian-cinefan, New Delhi. The most awkward press conference I ever attended- Christopher Doyle is a misfit in the world of politically correct routine press conferences. He is swaying and wants his beer badly. I am sitting in the front row just a hand away and I am scared to ask anything. There is an uneasy silence. Even the journalists who have press cards unlike me are not asking anything. I am blank too, but nevertheless ask the first question about his journey from a wanderer to a cinematographer. The moderator of the press conference re-phrases the same question for some reason and he looks at her and starts to narrate his journey. Everybody starts to write but wait… listen what he is talking about- “You see it all started when I was an embryo and was lying on the beach. There was wind and waves washing me off. It was a terrible start.” He then begins to fake a sob, resting on the shoulders of the stoic moderator…

Welcome to the world of Christopher Doyle, the Shakespeare of post modern cinematography.

Film critics and journalists are always busy intellectualizing his work while he is wary about theoretical explanations that are just thin shadows of his visual intensity. What comes up to the fore so often that his art is based not on intellectualizing but practical and strategic needs. His favorite example is of Fallen Angels. The black and white shots in the film were due to a bad film stock. He appropriated that mistake by making it black and white. The way it appeared in the film it looked that it had a structure and gave a meaning to the film.
After the press conference I meet him again to ask few more questions. His eyes lighten up as he sees my Gandhi writing pad. He points at the charkha logo and says “You must have more of these in your country.’

You can not cut him while he is speaking. For him, every question has an answer. There was a senior journalist sitting in the last who interrupted him while he was on. Christopher Doyle answered his question reluctantly but added later, “You are a pain in the ass”.

Here is an interview with Christopher Doyle, who made a rock star appearance at Osian- Cinefan film festival.



You have a twenty five year old career. Lot of cinematographic innovations that you are credited with must have a basis. What is it? Where does it come from?

There are lots of things that have to be felt and considered in order to innovate. For example colors. There is lot of theory regarding choosing a color scheme. Storaro 1 (Vittorio Storaro) claims that green is the color of wisdom, of knowledge. Now why does he say it? Is it going to be applicable today also? Times have changed. Haven’t they? This Storaro theory can mislead many people (points at me). It’s hazardous. Follow what he says and all the films will look same. There can be no unified theory on colors. In Asia especially for countries like India and China red has a cultural significance. Does Renaissance talk about it? When we were shooting Hero there was a flashback sequence to be completed. Everybody said lets use black and white; somebody said lets use color of the skin. I suggested we use green. For me, the past is green.



How do you choose a project?

People matter for me not the script. Even if a very bad director comes to me and is full of shit even then I will work with him if I like him. It depends on where the person is coming from, value systems and so on. Every director is different. Everybody has a way of functioning. Pen-ek Ratanaruang was always telling me to go slow in the Last life in the universe. He says if you go fast then we will screw on the editing table. But that is his style. Wong kar wai is different. He is always asking for this and that. This cognitive, lets-have- fun approach is what we are known for. He does not care much about the result as long as we are happy with the frame and shot. When such a film comes out I can say this is my film too as there is lot of collaboration between director and cameraman in all the films that I do.



Every film that you do throws at viewers a visual surprise. Is it a conscious strategy?

I am getting old. There is not much innovation that I can do. It’s very tough to do new things at this level. So there lies scope for the young people. They will redefine the way we see image, not us. Then there is the danger of repetition. You set a trend and everybody hails you but you should not continue doing it. Folks did dogma and stuff but what’s new now. Move on. Make way for new things.



Is there something like a “new thing?”

Wong and I take multiple things at one time, but we’re never repeating them. We shot Happy Together in South America for this only. Nothing is original. I agree. Concepts will remain same but you could give it a very different perspective. Now when you say that it means lot of collaboration and effort. Usually it has to happen between the art department people, camera, lights and choreography. When we start talking a lot of shit comes out. Everybody is saying to other and especially me “Give me something new”.

People in the press conferences do not expect you to talk about film labs and film stocks.

But that is what we are supposed to do all the time. Post-production is very critical for Wong and me. The kind of work we do it is very important to make use of the same lab. I value their suggestions as our films are so improvised; there is no script at all. So the visual alternatives are decided upon the editing table or film labs.



What’s your India connection?

Oh ya I was in Bihar during my travels. I used to do organic farming in a convent.( then he gives a detailed argument for organic farming) There were some 50-60 young women and I was the only man there. So you see…



Everybody in the festival is talking about Asian film making. Is there a real divide between Asia and others in the way we make our cinema? What are the dynamics of working in China, south East Asia? What really happens on the location?

Asian film making is very different it’s like the theory of charkas 2 or Zen. It’s very cyclical. This is reflected in the way we tell our stories. It is not like Hollywood people who have very saleable popcorn narratives. They have terrible ideas and they sell it.
On location the stakes are very high and also the kind of people who you work with can sometimes push you very hard. For example this young girl who was doing costumes for Hero kept on testing a particular dye on her own hand. She could do it on a cloth or tell an assistant to do it. But she wanted to feel it herself. What do you do when you work with such people?
Funny things happen all the time when you are out in the sun with the camera. .I was shooting an ad campaign for Nike in Shanghai. Apart from the technical and creative crew there were these company executives who had these documents or files in their hands and kept on checking out if we were shooting what we told them. Often they would stall the shooting telling that a particular shot was not in the storyboards. Who gives a damn about storyboards if you are getting better visual possibilities on the location? I am always trying out new shots on the location. That’s my job as a cinematographer. There are hundred better ways to take a shot. Who the hell were they? Will accountants teach us to make films?



You are openly critical of your work... unlike lot of other people in the industry.

That’s my trick. Seriously there are lots of things that only the self knows. You have to set your own standards. I know my work I am the best judge of what I do. Rest is bullshit. There are many problems in my shot taking that only I can make out. When I look at a shot I say, “Chris you fucked up. You should have stopped rolling a second before”. This kind of criticism is best and keeps you fit.

Be it the waterfall in Happy Together or Tony Lieung’s apartment in Chungking express, space unravels in layers and looks very three dimensional.

Filmmaking is not a theoretical exercise. There is wind, bad weather, good weather and hell lot of other technical problems when you are shooting. It teaches you a lot of things. I really learnt my camera when I was shooting in the desert. I have shot 5 films in the desert. Desert is a crazy place to shoot. The landscape and atmosphere determines a lot of my work. Lot of times it comes before everything. For example the Hong Kong cityscape has determined our aesthetics for a number of films. Its very cramped with small stuffed apartments, shops etc.

The flat in the Chung king Express has been really well shot. Infact we had a class lecture on memory and urban claustrophobia.

That’s my apartment.

You must be joking

No its where I live. Tony leungs apartment in the film is actually where I live. Its right in the middle of Hong Kong. Everybody knows my address there. Isnt it beautiful?



Tell us more about the kind of relationship you share with Wong kar wai.

Wong kar wai has a beautiful house where we spent lot of time drinking together and then we sleep. (Laughs) jokes apart… he has a strong family and a very solid wife.
I think I have spoken many times on our style. Wong once told me, “Remember the day when we took 53 takes for a shot”. This was for Days of Being Wild. The lovemaking shot… we kept taking retakes for two days until we got it. We are always thinking on the sets. That’s why our films go on and on. I was supposed to shoot Crouching Tiger… but “In the Mood for Love” kept on going on and on. Very Asian style… that is we choose a location first then search for a story. You could say we are we are making multimillion dollar student films.



A lot of cinematographers, film students follow your work and look up to you. What is your message for them?

I will say that I am making mistakes all the time but I think about them and try to learn from them. I never thought that I will do all this but since now I am doing it I must work hard. Sometimes my assistants are left uncared as I am working on and on at a stretch. Then I would say at last that if I can do it so can you. There are lots of people trying to copy our style. But there can be only one Fallen Angels and only one Wong Kar Wai . You cannot be doing again and again what has been done before If you don’t have big tits do not make them.



Notes-

1. Vittorio Storaro- Vittorio Storaro, ASC, AIC known chiefly for his work with Bernardo Bertoluucci with a vast legacy of seminal works like the Conformist, Apocalypse Now, Reds, The empire of the sun and The Little Buddha.

2. Chakras- Life seen as a continuous cycle of regeneration and decay.


By
Prashant Pandey
jumpshark@gmail.com

《音樂人生》拍攝現場照片

《屏富徑》拍攝現場

《屏富徑》將在2009年中香港電台《街頭風景》系列中播出

準備拍攝巴基斯坦人Jimmy在泡功夫茶





在準備Steadicam
攝影李植熹

《音樂人生》入選 云之南纪录影像展 2009 春分

《音樂人生》入選　雲之南紀錄片影展2009春分（09年3月21-27日) 特別展影單元
http://www.yunfest.org/yunfest09/special/13.htm

放映詳情
日期：2009年3月23日
時間：上午10：45
地點：云南省图书馆（1厅）

生命的意義不在於結果，而在於不斷追尋意義的過程－《音樂人生》

生命的意義不在於結果，而在於不斷追尋意義的過程－《音樂人生》
Amy Chien

轉載自Amy Chien facebook note


看完本片後，一直想寫些什麼，卻被腦海紛雜的思緒給干擾，遲遲無法動筆。倒不是因為片子本身難懂，而是它讓我回憶起自己大學剛畢業時，在工作時深感迷惘痛苦的歲月。因為急著想要做些什麼，又不知道要做什麼，總覺得不趕快做會來不及，那種焦慮的感覺令我暈眩。那時我無法認同生活週遭的人的生活觀和價值觀，人生真的就只有工作賺錢？賺錢享樂這麼單純嗎？是不是應該要有些更深刻的東西？生命存在的意義究竟是什麼？這些問題著實讓我痛苦了好一陣子。

套用海德格的哲學概念，那是我陷入「本真性」的思考結構中，透過自我對於具體生命經驗的反省與檢視，正面思索「存在」的意義，直接感受生命沉重的部分，坦白說那從來不是一件容易的事，因為我們人類大部分的時候不過是傳遞訊息，不被事物絆住，也從未留意事情的真正意義，過著一種「非本真」的生活。就像在新聞上看到死亡或戰爭的消息，未必會把這件事轉化在我們自身上或是親身經驗到它，畢竟生命是痛苦不堪的，因而生命內在存在著讓事情好過一點的一種傾向。

而黃家正才這麼年幼便開始意識到它並試圖追尋生命的意義，我相信這對一個青少年而言似乎過於沉重，如此早熟聰慧的心靈要如何與週遭同齡的人（甚至是所謂的大人）描述與溝通，於是透過影片的呈現，我們清楚地發現他的落寞與孤單，那種無人理解的寂寞，卻還是非常努力地想傳達並啟發大家對音樂的熱誠的認真態度。導演刻意捕捉他那格格不入的身影，對照一大群人歡樂輕盈的模樣。我覺得在影片的處理上，導演的確敏銳地掌握到黃家正的獨特性，尤其在影片中好幾處可以發現那種「差異」的對比，沒有價值判斷，一切讓觀眾自己評判。而整部影片在導演巧妙的安排下，藉由黃家正在捷克鋼琴表演的片段，突顯出宛如起、承、轉、合般的四個樂章，而影片最後則是在眾人的掌聲中閉幕。

我尤其喜歡黃家正在影片中傳達的一個理念—「演奏時要超越輸贏的概念，盡心盡力地演奏至完美，當演奏者全心全意地對待音樂、沉醉其中，音樂自然會回報給演奏者無法言喻的美妙滋味，那是任何獎盃、榮耀都比擬不上的！」不要為了比賽、為了贏得勝利才演奏，而是要努力將音樂的表現達到最完美的境界，那才應該是對待音樂的態度。

雖然人類是不可能實現「完美」的，那是「神」的領域，但人能做的不就是努力追求完美嗎？就像生命的意義對我而言，從來不在於某種結果，而是透過積極主動的追尋過程，它的意義自然會彰顯出來。如果把人生當作音樂的演奏，那不僅僅是唯一也是最後一次的演奏，自然要盡心盡力地追求完美，超越所謂勝負的結果，在追尋完美的過程中，生命（音樂）自然會回饋無與倫比的美好與幸福。

坦白說我對古典樂並不了解，雖然寫論文的時候喜歡聽鋼琴演奏，尤其是顧爾德彈奏的郭德堡變奏曲，不知道為什麼雖然只是單純的鋼琴聲，卻有如此豐富、多層次的變奏，讓人百聽不厭，每一次聆聽就多一次不同的體會，這是我覺得古典樂的迷人之處。

而觀看《音樂人生》並不需要我對古典樂有深厚的認識，片子雖然是記錄主角黃家正追尋音樂意義的過程，看完後卻讓我重新檢視自己對於人生意義的追求。這是一部反映作為人在自己有限的生命歷程中努力追尋生命意義的紀錄片，非常精采，也值得推薦!