Kowloon Tong, located in the northern part of Kowloon, is a rare low-density development zone in downtown Hong Kong. It mainly consists of bungalows and villas, and the environment is quiet. Among them, there is a building with the signature of Hong Kong Salon Film Co., Ltd., No. 6 Deyun Road.

Salon Film Company is the exclusive Asian agent of Panavision, one of the world's three largest camera manufacturers, and is also the largest film shooting equipment rental company in Hong Kong.

"Mr. Chen." In a warehouse with a large space, Weng Weiquan pointed to a big guy in front of him and said, "I think it's more appropriate for you to use this camera."

Weng Weiquan is not tall, relatively thin, and wears glasses, looking like a weak scholar.

However, his resume is extraordinary.

Weng Weiquan was born in 1949 and studied photography at the Los Angeles Art Center College in California in 1969. He obtained a bachelor's degree in 1971. In the same year, he and the famous Chinese photography master Huang Zongzhan filmed a documentary about Chinese immigrants' life in the United States, "A Day in Rock Town". In the early stages of filming, Huang Zongzhan suffered a heart attack, so the entire documentary was independently completed by Weng Weiquan, and the completion was very beautiful, which was appreciated by Huang Zongzhan. When he returned to Hong Kong, Huang Zongzhan sponsored him to hold a personal photography exhibition.

In 1974, Weng Weiquan went to Indonesia to photograph a documentary. In 1975, he worked as a teacher in the Department of Medicine of Baptist College. In 1976, British Independent Television came to Hong Kong to shoot a documentary about a drug story and hired him as an assistant producer and photographer.

This documentary lasted for more than a year. Weng Weiquan lived with drug addicts in the West Ring Road area for a long time. He collected a large amount of drug information by using secret photos, thus creating the idea of ​​shooting a movie about drug trafficking stories.

But whether it is the content of the drug trafficking movie or the style of a pseudo-documentary movie, it is unprecedented in Hong Kong, so Weng Weiquan could not find an investment. He planned to raise funds for filming by himself, but happened to hear from a friend that Chen Chong was preparing to invest in a new movie. So with a try-out attitude, he invested a personal resume and shooting plan to Oriental Charming Film Company, but he was not sure that he was notified of the investment soon.

Chen Chong was very interested in documentary-style shooting techniques. He originally planned to be the producer of Weng Weiquan's films himself, but in recent months, he has been running around and busy. He really has no time and is not going to delay any further, so he had to hand over the production work to Zeng Lizhen and let Weng Weiquan start shooting new movies with him at the same time.

As for Yu Yunhang's "The List of Evils", Chen Chong picked two newcomers from the company's mailroom to serve as assistant producers and responsible for budget control. As for the rest, everything was delegated and Yu Yunhang was responsible for his own responsibility.

Weng Weiquan studied photography, so he needed Zeng Lizhen's help. Yu Yunhang is a top student who graduated from UCLA's film department. After returning to Hong Kong, he first served as an assistant to Hu Jinquan, and then directed on TVB. He has filmed many dramas. Yan Hao filmed "Jiali Coffee". He is the producer, with education, experience, and producers. It is not a big problem for him.

Huang Zongzhan was nominated for Oscars ten times and won the Oscar for Best Photography twice. In the 1950s and 1960s, a Chinese man was an unquestionable master of photography. He added his eyes to Weng Weiquan, which shows that Weng Weiquan's photography level was absolutely first-class, so Chen Chong followed him and chose the camera together.

"Mr. Weng has good eyesight." A middle-aged man stood aside and introduced: "This Super-Speed-lenses-Announced is Panavishen's latest product, with high saturation and high-brightness, and his first choice for experts."

"Okay, then rent this." Chen Chong couldn't tell whether it was good or bad. He only knew that Panavishen was a top-notch camera brand. Many Hollywood blockbusters had their logo on the ending subtitles, just as common as the Intel logo on laptops.

"Which one is going to use by Mr. Weng?"

"I use this." Weng Weiquan raised a small portable camera and said: "This one is lightweight, can be carried on the shoulder and can be held in the hand, making it convenient for shooting in the crowd."

Chen Chong took it curiously, fiddled with it for a while, smacked his lips, and said, "This is not light either. If you carry it for a day, you will definitely be exhausted."

"It's good to get used to it." Weng Weiquan said: "It's not always carried the shooting. By the way, Boss Wang, what camera support systems do you have?"

"Some, there are many types." The middle-aged man was Wang Changzhi, the owner of Salon Film Company. He took out a picture album, turned to one of the pages diligently, and said, "What do you think of this?"

Weng Weiquan looked at it, nodded and said, "This is good, Italy's Cartoni, a good thing."

But he immediately frowned again and asked, "But this rent?"

"Gatoni is the best camera manufacturer in the world. From top to bottom, it is made of exclusive patents. It is strong and stable, and can rotate at any angle. It is perfect for Panavishen." Wang Changzhi said with a professional smile: "The things are good, and the price will naturally be a little more expensive, and you get what you pay for."

"As long as the goods are good, the price is easy to say." The more money you make, Chen Chong is becoming more and more generous. He is not stingy with anything that can improve the quality of the movie. "Mr. Weng, don't worry about the budget. If you need to shoot, rent it down, and I will say hello to Sister Zhen."

With Chen Chong's approval, Weng Weiquan let go and purchased a lot. Chen Chong followed behind and asked about the price of some equipment, which was shocked.

Panavishen’s cameras are only rented but not sold. Although the rent is very expensive, they can still be affordable. For example, the product of another camera giant, ARRI, does not have a lens or a live radio microphone, and the price is more than 2 million Hong Kong dollars... while a slightly better lens is priced at more than one million Hong Kong dollars.

In addition to the camera, there is also film. A film costs more than 1,000 Hong Kong dollars and can only be shot for 4 minutes. If you shoot a 10-minute material lens, 1 minute will be available in the end, that is, a 1:10 film ratio is calculated, and film alone will cost more than 200,000 yuan.

No wonder some people say that in the film era, whenever the camera is turned on, it will burn all the money.

So in Hong Kong, if a film director has a film ratio of more than 1:5, he will basically not be able to find an investment... (Note 1)

Chen Chong filmed "Burning Live" in one scene, and the equipment requirements are relatively simple. Weng Weiquan wanted to shoot a documentary-style movie and filmed in the downtown city. It was very difficult and there were a lot of equipment needed.

In addition to cameras and films, there are also lighting and lighting equipment, recording and audio equipment, power equipment, camera control equipment and other a lot of equipment. They followed behind and gained a lot of knowledge.

Especially Wang Changzhi, the boss of Salon Film Company, is very familiar with all aspects of film equipment. He comes to the manufacturer, model, power and other parameters. He will never be vague, which makes Chen Chong admire him. (Note 2)

"Mr. Wang, in addition to Aaton from Germany, Aaton from France and Panavishen from the United States." Chen Chong stood aside, watching Weng Weiquan select equipment while chatting with Wang Changzhi: "What are the other famous camera manufacturers now?"

"There are mainly these three manufacturers of cameras. Alai and Panavishen are mainstream. Aston mainly uses documentaries and films, but they use fewer movies." Wang Changzhi thought for a while and said, "But the last time I went to Germany, I heard that there was a small company in Austria. The cameras produced are very distinctive and have a good reputation in Europe, but the output is very small, so I need to place an order first."

"Oh?" Chen Chong was very interested in this information and asked quickly: "What is the name of this company?"

"Moviecam." Wang Changzhi said: "If Mr. Chen needs it, I can find friends from Europe to help place an order."

"Then you don't have to bother Mr. Wang." Chen Chong smiled and said, "Can you give me a contact information for this company? I'm going to visit Europe after a while and have a look and see it."

...

After getting the equipment done, the crew members need to be dealt with.

Weng Weiquan was going to film "The Rules of Industry", and the photographer had to find someone else. Chen Chong touched his golden finger this time and directly searched for a celebrity from his memory - Huang Yuetai.

Huang Yuetai was born into a film family and his father was also a famous photographer. He is one of the most accomplished photographers in the Hong Kong film industry. He has won the Best Photography Award for the Academy Awards nine times, including two three consecutive championships, and his record is unprecedented.

Chen Chong admired him very much, not only because of his photography skills, but also because he founded the Hong Kong Institute of Professional Cinematographers (HKSC), the first officially registered non-profit independent professional organization in the Hong Kong film industry. It also allows this organization to remain vital and professional. Unlike other performing arts organizations in Hong Kong, they are just a fictional reputation and everyone can join.

Huang Yuetai's style is varied and unconventional. He can adapt to the plot of the movie and adapt to the situation. This is also the reason why Chen Chong gave up Du Kefeng and went to find him.

Du Kefeng, who is known as the "No. 1 photographer in Asia" in the future, has seen Shen Chong at the Gengxin Experimental Theater. He was originally a crew member, but the boat left and the people stayed. So he hangs out in Taipei, doing art work such as sets in the small theater. (Note 3)

Du Kefeng had no photography experience at this time, and his extremely personal photography style was not very consistent with "Burning Live", so Chen Chong did not bring him from Taipei, but signed him to the Taiwan branch under Zhang Aijia to serve as a photography director for Hou Hsiao-hsien's first film.

Huang Yuetai is now a contracted photographer for Shaw Brothers. He followed Liu Jialiang to film several movies such as "The Thirty-Six Rooms in Shaolin", "The Chinese Husband", and "The Crazy Monkey". He is quite famous, but in the Shaw Brothers indoor sets and assembly line production mode, the photographer is just a blue-collar worker and is not valued.

So when Chen Chong came to the door and said that Shaw soon agreed to borrow the loan.

With the photographer and the starring actors, I will find a few handymen to do the drama business, and the Shen Chong's straw troupe will be built. After Jin Shijie finishes the script, filming will start.

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Note 1: Equipment and film data. According to the price inference in the past decade, the prices of professional equipment have always been stable... If any readers have more accurate data, please leave a message.

Note 2: Wang Changzhi won the Professional Spirit Award in the Academy Awards in 2007 and is now dead.
Chapter completed!