these days i'm reading the book CATCHING THE BIG FISH which wrote by David Lynch.He is so honest in the book,and shared a lot of his experiences in the book.And i saw a lot of ppl here who interested in him,so i think i should share some my memories of working with David during the beginning of this month,for Dior shanghai blue,commercial.Starring Marion Cotillard.
when i got my frd's message,i was in a very high building where is no reception at all.My phone like totally dead.When i went downstairs and tried to find the bathroom,i saw the message."i have a really cool job for you,call me ASAP" And i dialed the number back.You know that feeling,i can't believe when that name came out from his mouth,David Lynch,i thought this was a joke.And he became so serious,"mate,u gonna do it,we'll have a lot of fun"
so i went to the hotel where they lived before the first shooting day.Me and my frd sat in the lobby and had a couple of coffee.Then David came too,same hair style,with even the same coat and shirt just like what u always seen him on TV."Good to see you",very warm and u can feel that he is so honest person,and i have to say,he is the nicest and most talented director i've ever met in my career.Then he sat there too and started drinking wine,and watched casting.He smokes a lot......
in the first shooting day,when i got the location,already so many crews there.Met so many frds,i believe they gathered the best crew in shanghai for David to use and make sure everything goes smooth and peace.And everyone just took really a small part in the team.I'm so lucky because i was the boom operator,and David was also shooting by himself,i guess half the shot were done by himself.So i stood just next to him in the two shooting days,40hours! Watching him doing the directing,i must to say,that's the most wonderful thing on the planet.He paid attention on every single details,and every movements the actors made.He told them what to do what to say and how to do it.
there is one thing i want to mention about,it was we shot the whole film were using two Sony EX1 small camera.I thought WTF..why we have to use this shitty camera,we got David Lynch and Marion Cotillard here,and we're using EX1 for shooting ???!!! I think everyone were curious about that, too.
but when i read the book,CATCHING THE BIG FISH.David wrote several topics for the small dv camera and young filmmakers.So i suddenly realized that,for a director like him,it's already no matter what camera to use,the most important thing is always how to tell the audience the STORY,and how to keep those actors IN the character,u don't have to wait for 10 minutes for changing rolls,u don't have to tell them again what u said before,u can just keep rolling the camera and capture the moment.
I saw a lot of ppl love him and some filmmakers here too,so i post this here,if u really like him,and maybe u can try to find the book on ebay or amazon,just 20 usd,but worth the price it is.
And btw,the reason that Dior want to make this commercial,just because Channel is having a big show in shanghai too.And our first shooting location was just facing to the Channel show place......And John Goliano is a very nice person,too.