The Best Director

Chapter 408: Chapter 408: High Efficiency

“ACTION!”

As time stepped into the end of September and the TV fall season commenced, “500 Days of Summer,” which had been filming for over a month and a half, was nearing the end of production.

Its progress could be said to be stable and rapid, contrary to many outsiders’ expectations, Wang Yang had not been affected by heartache. On the contrary, after a week of unconsciousness, he seemed truly frustrated and almost refused to take weekends off; and after directing and producing 9 films, from a budget of 10,000 US dollars to 200 million US dollars, how could he still be the fresh-faced bad boy from the University of Southern California? For his tenth film, returning to a low-budget reality theme and elaborating on love, he felt very much at ease, with a smooth and flowing sensation.

When the director was in good form, so were the actors; their excellent performances were one of the important reasons for the fast-paced progress towards completion. The film didn’t have many characters, with the majority of the scenes focusing on the male and female leads, thus the crew’s daily accomplishments were largely dependent on the performances of Joseph Gordon Levitt and Natalie Portman. The fact that the “TAKE” count on the slate never broke 10 and many scenes were done in one take indicates that both actors displayed their natural talents brilliantly.

“Yang, I have a question?” “I understand!” “I don’t think so.”… As usual, Natalie made things very easy for Wang Yang. She resonated with and personally understood the role of Summer, bringing the enigmatic girl to life with great flair.

It’s not as though Wang Yang and she never argued, mainly about differences in the degree of emotional expression for Summer. This was their third collaboration, and whether it was their natural rapport or their familiarity from experience, they had already developed a considerable level of understanding, calling them the “best on-set partners” wasn’t an exaggeration at all. However, unlike Juno from “Juno” and Amanda from “MIT-21-TEAM,” who were both sharp and cool characters, Summer was a type of cool that was both calm and restrained yet passionate and talkative. She seemed fickle, giving off a distant goddess vibe, yet there were times when she needed to show she wasn’t that cool.

Beyond the harmoniously rhythmic parts of the passionate romance, how should Summer’s true attitude towards Tom be expressed in terms of emotional intensity? She clearly cared, she was clearly disappointed, so what did she look like?

Wang Yang felt this was the key to determining the success of Summer as a character and Natalie’s performance this time because ordinary viewers, while watching the film, wouldn’t think so much so quickly, especially after some cinematic techniques used in the film created confusion. It might even lead some viewers to think “Summer never loved Tom at all; she just heartlessly dumped him,” “Summer liked Tom, but she never cared about him,” “Summer played with emotions, and Tom is the victim,” and thus misinterpret the theme of the film as Tom’s unrequited infatuation followed by a journey of self-healing.

If the actress merely focused on portraying Summer’s coolness without showing that she wasn’t so cool after all, if she became a goddess too high above, it would be a failed performance, leading viewers to oversimplify her persona and leave no lasting impression; it would also make it hard for people to feel Tom’s lingering affection and regret the end of the romance. First and foremost, they did truly love each other, and the audience needed to understand that.

Therefore, it was necessary to find a fitting place for Summer’s ambivalence, which was at the core of Wang Yang and Natalie’s arguments. He inclined towards more outward expression, that a normal girl with personality is still an ordinary person. She can’t hide that much, and the viewers aren’t Tom, blinded by passionate love. Natalie, on the other hand, thought that Summer needed to retain a degree of mystique, as that’s how she loved Tom and it was also what made her stand out.

“NO, Magic Yang, you’ve got it all wrong!” On the real set of the greeting card company office, watching the footage shot by the digital camera played back on the TV screen, they were disputing a detail. This was just a routine shot, with Summer walking past Tom, who greeted her intimately, but she acted like a regular colleague. Natalie shook her head firmly, “Summer shouldn’t smile, what’s there to smile about? She’s already dissatisfied.”

Following her gaze, the first AD Nancy, Joseph, and the others looked at Wang Yang, but he nodded and said, “YES! Summer will smile, just a tiny hint of a smile, just a little bit!”

The smile was meant for a truly regular colleague, not the same as with Tom—isn’t that why she isn’t supposed to be cool? Natalie still disagreed: “I don’t think she would smile. If she smiles then, she’d smile a lot! Wouldn’t that create confusion?” While the debate occasionally flipped, Natalie hadn’t quite grasped the phasing of the emotional transition. Wang Yang gave a thorough analysis and concluded, “Either way, she’s going to smile, please! Don’t think that because you’ve given birth to three children you’re a mom, your romantic experience is too limited.” This comment made everyone really laugh, and Natalie immediately said, “But I’m a girl, are you a girl?”

“Ha!” Everyone could hardly contain their laughter, with Nancy letting out a chuckle. From “Juno” to “500 Days of Summer,” Yang and Natalie were still fighting non-stop, and this acclaimed director sometimes lacked the dignity it was hard to imagine him making people cry back at the University of Southern California.

Wang Yang suddenly stretched out his right hand and slapped Natalie on the head. She covered her head in surprise, “Why did you hit me?” Wang Yang surveyed the people around him, proudly spread his right hand, and burst into laughter, “I hit you because I can, and you dare not hit my head, nor my right hand!” The others chuckled, and Natalie clenched her teeth, “I could sue you, everyone here could testify, but I won’t.” She said, and circled around to his side, suddenly moved behind him, and kicked his butt, “But I can kick your butt!” Wang Yang, just then, as if thinking of something, exclaimed, “Got it!”

The level of conflict between the two had always been limited to verbal sparring; they had never come to physical blows. This time the solution to their dispute was for Tom, who was saying hello, to reach out to grab Summer’s hand, only to have her avoid it, her face wearing a faint, indifferent smile.

These disputes were often a matter of perception, rooted in the difference in perspectives. Aside from gender differences, as the director, Wang Yang needed to consider the subtle feelings conveyed to the audience by the camera, the overall pacing of the film, and more; whereas Natalie only focused on interpreting the character of Summer, though of course the actor’s understanding also reflected other situations.

Overall, Wang Yang gave Natalie considerable freedom to shape the character of Summer, allowing her to keep any acting ideas that felt right. This was especially important during the fast-paced shooting of “500 Days of Summer” where inspiration and its application were crucial—without design and spiritual energy, there would be nothing.

Beyond acting itself, he used camera movements to help her find the right positions—for example, in a few key scenes, he instructed the cinematographer, Harry George, to slow down the camera pace, and designed some solo shots for her in the storyboards. Combined with post-production editing, these choices gave her performance more space and the audience more time to engage. When Summer and Tom were not in the same frame, it made her look particularly uncool.

Such treatment temporarily yielded good results. Summer appeared enchanting, satisfying both of them enough to shout, “CUT!”

Natalie and Joseph could both be said to be acting in their element, but Joseph even more so. It was as if he was simply doing what he’d done since growing up in “10 Things I Hate About You”—as if he were a beautiful vase, once he stood in front of the camera, his acting came naturally. He perfectly captured Tom’s initial indifference towards Summer, and his subsequent phases of infatuation, ecstasy, obsession, and so on, eliciting applause from the audience. In comparison, with Natalie’s slyly revealing eyes, Joseph was obedient to Wang Yang’s directions, and the two seldom had chances for disputes.

That was because playing Tom was simpler than playing Summer. Tom, like a big child, never concealed his inner emotions; they were always directly evident on his face—happiness, pride, infatuation, dejection, anger.

The only challenging part to act was the intense emotional turmoil Tom goes through after the breakup—the craziest times. Wang Yang felt Joseph’s performance lacked intensity and engagement, failing to convey a sense of soul-rending pain. He also struggled to distinguish between being depressed and having a blank expression. Wang Yang wondered if it was because Joseph had never been harshly dumped before. At such times, Wang Yang would miss Heath Ledger’s deep immersion into his roles, just look at Ennis! If Joseph could dive that deep into his role, he would certainly be doing better now.

However, expecting Joseph to suddenly achieve deep immersion was an unrealistic fantasy, so Wang Yang decided to rely on himself and fully exercise his role as an emotional guide for the director. He fabricated an imaginary breakup for Joseph and, if that failed, he would play some melancholic breakup songs, even singing them himself… The result, of course, would have been better if he hadn’t sung at all, for while Jessica, who came to visit the set, excitedly clapped her hands, everyone else seemed to have just endured a Halloween.

The two leads performed exceptionally well, and the supporting cast, including Zachary Levi, Chloe Moretz, and others, also delivered noteworthy performances. The comedic scenes featuring 8-year-old Chloe as a big-shot lover were especially delightful.

Under the passionate leadership of the director, the entire crew across all departments worked with exceptional efficiency, truly living up to the “Youth Guard.”

Harry George was increasingly maturing, possessing ample experience to cope with any situation, understanding the director’s intentions while having his own ideas, and gradually showing signs of a “Best Cinematography” contender; Joshua was beginning to express his opinions and as a producer’s assistant, under Wang Yang’s encouragement, he started to speak up with phrases like “I think” and “Is it?” He also pondered and understood everyone’s input, and this was exactly the attitude needed to become a producer. First AD Nancy Reno worked flawlessly and diligently learned from everyone, probably ranking as the most outstanding “newcomer” on set.

Such an excellent team and such efficient working pace, coupled with the fact that “500 Days of Summer” had no grand scenes or complex shots, it was no wonder that the crew achieved satisfying results. (n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om