The Key Figure

Chapter 111 The Key Figure

It is said that some studies have shown that the better the defendant's appearance, the lower the probability of a guilty verdict by the jury. This is a concrete manifestation of the idea that "appearance equals justice."

After asking the three questions, the conversation between the two was almost over.

"Your character is the soul of the film, right?"

"What?" David said, somewhat exasperated. "Did you have to ask this kind of question now, Cathy?"

"Hmm, isn't this the way you wanted it to be?"

Catherine teased, "Besides, your mouth isn't gagged. Is it that hard to answer a question?"

After David returned to his hotel room today, he suddenly had the idea to cosplay that classic scene from "The Wolf of Wall Street" with Catherine.

Yes, it's the scene where Harley Quinn is sitting on the ground, pressing a high heel against Leonardo DiCaprio's face.

However, David felt that the high heels were too hard, uncomfortable against his face, and the heels were too sharp, making it easy to poke his chin. So he didn't let her wear high heels, but only a pair of flesh-colored sheer stockings.

Catherine leaned back on the sofa and repeated her question: "I'll ask again, your character is the soul of the film, right?"

"Why would you have such a thought?" David had to control his eyes from wandering around and answer with a multitasking mind, "Isn't this a story with three male leads?"

"He was the first one to appear."

Catherine added, "He also has the most screen time. Don't ask me how I know; I've counted his lines line by line."

""

"Okay, okay."

David had no choice but to say, "Yes, you guessed right, Bud is indeed the most crucial of the three main characters."

"A key figure?"

"You can understand it that way, but it's not the absolute protagonist in the traditional sense."

"Didn't you just say this was a story with three male leads? How come you've added another central character among the three main characters?"

What do you know? This is called the natural necessity of ensemble narrative, you know?

The viewing mindset of most ordinary viewers is naturally more inclined to follow the perspective of a central protagonist and project their emotions onto the film.

Bud's motivation is the most straightforward and pure: to avenge his mother and protect the weak. He has neither Ed's utilitarian calculations nor Jack's worldly sophistication.

Viewers don't need to spend time deciphering the complex psychology of the characters to quickly empathize and naturally immerse themselves in the story of the dark police force from the viewer's perspective.

The characters' motivations are straightforward and pure, which is very important for movies, as it can greatly enhance the audience's sense of immersion while watching.

The reason why "The Wolf of Wall Street" became Martin Scorsese's first film to gross over $3 million worldwide is largely because the protagonist, Jordan, is a purely ordinary person.

Leonardo DiCaprio plays a greedy and lustful stockbroker whose desires are the instinctive needs that most ordinary people have in their subconscious.

Viewers can experience the thrill of breaking rules and fulfill desires they wouldn't dare to have in their daily lives without feeling overwhelmed by moral guilt.

So even though it looks like a pure "rags-to-riches" movie, it can still provide viewers with a very enjoyable viewing experience.

What does it mean that there is an inherent need for ensemble narratives?

Catherine adjusted her strength and asked.

This is still a bit hard to understand. The storylines of the three male protagonists and the case clues are all developing in parallel, resulting in a very high information density. Without a relatively core anchor point, the audience can easily get confused in the frequently switching perspectives and not find the main path for emotional engagement.

Using Bard as the narrative anchor, the audience can naturally connect the behavioral logic of the other two male protagonists by following his storyline, without having to repeatedly switch between three completely different character perspectives to adapt, which greatly reduces the understanding threshold of multi-line narrative.

Not designing it this way would not destroy the expressive advantage of the ensemble cast. Anchoring on a single core would not diminish the narrative value of the other two male protagonists at all. On the contrary, it could form a complementary structure of "one main character and two supporting characters".

"That's true, the characters you play are indeed more easily accepted by the audience."

Ordinary viewers naturally expect direct action and confrontation scenes when watching crime films. Bud's tough guy persona comes with a lot of visceral fights and gun battles, which can match the public's sensory expectations of crime films. You can get a direct viewing experience without having to rely on brain-teasing reasoning, which suits the daily viewing preferences of most people.

Most viewers have certain expectations before going to the cinema. If the final product does not meet their expectations, even if the film is well-made, they may still be criticized.

During the marketing campaign for Blade Runner, the film deliberately emphasized Harrison Fugan's action hero persona, which he had created with Indiana Jones, and featured a high-conflict setting of "police chasing criminals".

The film's philosophical core is completely obscured; the trailer is filled with action sequences like car chases and gunfights, which occupy only a small portion of the film. The promotional posters emphasize the cool visual impact of the futuristic city, with almost no mention of the film's somber themes.

A slow-paced, artistic temperament.

Even more incredibly, this movie was deliberately chosen for a summer release, competing with "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" and "Star Trek 2".

There's a surge of family-friendly, adventure-style sci-fi films like this.

This has led to 99.9% of moviegoers assuming this is a film similar to "Star Wars" or "Indiana Jones."

A similar type of exhilarating sci-fi action film.

The final result was naturally a box office and critical flop. With a production cost of $2800 million, it grossed $4100 million worldwide, and it is estimated that it lost a lot of money.

It is said that Run Run Shaw was also one of the main investors in this film, and this was the first Hollywood blockbuster he invested in, and then nothing more.

After all, US dollars were very valuable back then, far more valuable than Hong Kong dollars. Old Shao put in 750.

Tens of thousands of dollars, converted to Hong Kong dollars, would be enough for Jackie Chan to make ten "Project A" movies, which is quite a painful expense.

Later, Mr. Shao basically stopped investing in Hollywood films and gradually shifted his focus to the television business.

However, despite the large investment, traces of the East are still present. In Blade Runner, director Ridley Scott designed numerous street scenes, Chinese signs, and Asian characters, showcasing a significant amount of Eastern elements.

David was quite puzzled when he watched it. Why would a Hollywood sci-fi film from 82 have so many elements from the East China region, and not the negative kind, since there was no market demand for it in 92 or 02.

"Stop talking about me," David changed the subject, "Tomorrow is your turn to film your scene. How's it going? Ready?"

"Is it that important?"

"Of course, although I've always believed that every shot in a film is important,"

David explained, "But the scene where you appear is indeed a very important part of the whole movie."

While this scene featuring the female lead in the original film didn't play a particularly significant role in advancing the plot, the director used exquisite cinematography and lighting techniques to create a breathtaking beauty, making it a fitting element of *L.A. Confidential*.

One of the more memorable points is this.

It's worth noting that Kim Basinger was already 44 years old when she starred in this movie, and the wrinkles on her face that she inadvertently revealed in later episodes show that she wasn't the kind of ageless goddess.

I was already showing signs of aging when I was filming this movie, but thanks to the director's skillful use of light and shadow during filming, it was completely unnoticeable.

David recalled that the method the other party used when filming this scene seemed to be to use a soft, warm light from the side as the main light source, deliberately avoiding hard light from the front, creating shadows of varying brightness on both sides of her cheeks to soften her facial features.

They also used touches of cool-toned auxiliary light to illuminate the edges of the actors' blonde hair, creating a very faint rim light. The final effect in the film was like having a beauty filter applied when taking a photo.