Chapter 20 Photography ClassAfter drinking, I spoke my mind and got up early the next morning. Chen An just felt good and passed out after drinking until a little after ten o'clock in the evening. I packed my things and lay down on the bed, sleeping until morning. I felt much more energetic. After washing up, Chen An carried yesterday's garbage downstairs, threw it into the trash can, and went to class. Today we had a practical class, and Teacher Mu walked into the classroom and brought in a few cameras. Check the teaching results. "Chen An, come up and take them. Today is an outdoor class. You come and help me hold these cameras. Everyone follow me. We will take a car to the wild later. Each person will take three photos. We will develop them and use them for the class tomorrow." Teacher Mu, who was standing on the podium, called Chen An upstairs and stuffed three cameras into his hands. Then he led the team out of the classroom, and everyone else followed him. When I walked to the school gate, I saw two vans parked there, just like the ones that gangsters often drive in movies. They were parked at the school gate, and if you didn’t know, you would think they were here to cause trouble.
There aren’t many people in the photography department, so two cars can accommodate them without being crowded. Teacher Mu directed everyone to get on the bus. Chen An was the last one to get on, following Teacher Mu into the first van. The car started and slowly drove towards the suburbs. Finally, the car stopped in front of an old alley. The street was not very clean, but it had a lot of life in it. There were also many elderly people walking around. The house was very old, and there were many cracks on the wooden door, with sawdust on the cracks. Chen An had never been to this place. He was used to seeing tall buildings. This was the first time Chen An, who had been in Beijing for almost two years, had seen a city like this. In his impression, this place is always developing and there are construction sites everywhere. It was only the 1990s, but the scene in the capital had already overturned his worldview from his previous life. In fact, at this time several big cities had developed well, no worse than the small counties in the previous life, and some buildings were even taller. It was not the yellow earth all over the ground, the old courtyard houses, and the simple clothing; these were all what he had seen in movies in his previous life, from the perspective of those directors. 1996 was two years before Chen An was born in his previous life. He did not belong to this era and his original incarnation was a country boy from a small county town. So after coming to Beijing for almost two years, he thought he had almost gotten to know this city. But when Chen An saw this familiar scene again, this image he had seen in the movie, Chen An felt that he still didn't understand this city. It was the same in the past and it is the same now. The arrival of teachers and students from Beijing Film Academy did not have any impact, and people here continued with their lives. Teacher Mu began to distribute cameras to everyone. Since there were only three, they came in groups of three. Assign three photos to each student according to the student number, and set serial numbers on the camera so that you can tell who took the photo later. Chen An was in the first batch and was the first to get a camera. He did not go with others and went into the alley alone. Chen An first touched the old walls with his hand, and it felt a little painful when his fingers rubbed against the rough walls. While exploring the route, I was also thinking about what to photograph.
Unlike the movies in his mind, which he could use as a reference, this time Chen An wanted to shoot something he wanted to shoot. Walking in the place loved by the sixth-generation directors, Chen An could not empathize with them. He still likes the tall buildings in the city, the river in his hometown, the green cauliflower with a hint of yellow by the river, the Jiuzhaigou Valley where he had been in his previous life, the Wugong Mountain where he was deceived by watching a certain audio app, and the Laojun Mountain where he had always wanted to go. It is the crystal clear lakes reflecting the starry sky at night, it is standing on the top of the mountain and watching the golden light of the rising sun shining through the clouds, or it is climbing up to the fairy-like attic on the top of the mountain when snowflakes are flying and the sky is getting dark. So Chen An didn't like it, and besides, most of the photos he took recently were in the shadows, with the sun shining obliquely, and the children hiding in the shadows staring blankly at the sky. An old man, leaning on a cane, with a wrinkled face and cloudy eyes, hunched his back and slowly walked into the alley where the sun could not reach. The road ahead was out of focus and blurry in front of the camera. These photos seem to reflect Chen An's sorrowful mood, until he saw a mother holding her child sitting in the yard. In the camera, the mother holds the child in her arms, looking down at the murmur of the child. The little sunlight blocked by the yard shines on the mother's face filled with a happy smile. The warm orange sunlight becomes warm and happy. This is the shot that Chen An is most satisfied with. The scene in front of him makes him feel happy unconsciously. After taking the shot, he looked at the scene in front of him for a while and walked silently towards where he came from. After returning to the car, Chen An handed the camera to the next person, then squatted beside the car and observed the scene in front of him. Not far away, across a wide road, is a neighborhood that has begun to be modernized. The old alley in front of me and the block across the street are like two completely different worlds. A road is like a dividing line between the world and the two sides. One class took a whole morning. The filming was not finished until noon, and we got on the van again and returned to school. Today's classes were over. In the afternoon, Chen Anzhao went to the directing department to attend classes. He walked into the desk at the back of the classroom with ease. Teacher Xie, who was teaching at the podium, was used to it and didn't say much. He continued to talk about the topic, and when he was done he closed the doors and windows and drew the curtains. The movie started playing. It was the movie that Chen An was familiar with, "Red Sorghum". After the show was over, Teacher Xie turned on the lights in the classroom and told the students: "This is today's homework. Everyone will hand in a report in three days, including your feelings about the film, the contrast between light and shadow, and the language and intention of the shots." After saying that, he glanced at Chen An. Chen An also understood that he was asked to submit one as well. After class, Chen An was the first to slip out of the classroom. After all, they were not in the same class, and there was nothing to talk about after class. After two classes, the sky gradually darkened and Chen An prepared to go directly back to the dormitory. Yesterday’s clothes haven’t been washed yet, so I’ll take this time to wash them.
When Chen An returned to the dormitory, he did not see his roommate. I picked up yesterday's dirty clothes and the clothes that hadn't been washed in the past few days and brought them into the bathroom. There were quite a few people taking showers behind me, making a lot of noise. Chen An also went in, took a shower and washed his clothes. Then I started writing the homework for today’s directing class. The days passed by. Just when Chen An was about to forget that he had ever made a movie. Chen An, who was attending class, was holding his cell phone close to his body. Normally, he would use it like a brick, but today it started to make a dinging sound. It immediately attracted the attention of the whole class. This made Chen An feel embarrassed and he looked at Teacher Mu on the podium. Teacher Mu nodded helplessly: "Answer it quickly, and remember to turn off your phone next time." "it is good." Chen An nodded quickly and answered the phone. "Jiliguala. Aba Aba" There was a lot of chatter on the other end of the phone, which Chen An couldn't understand. It sounded a bit like French but also like English. "." Chen An didn't know how to start the conversation, and the other party hung up the phone, leaving him completely confused. However, Chen An did not think much about it. He sat down and adjusted his phone to see if it had a vibrate mode. After searching for a long time without finding it, I decided to just turn off the computer. Just when he was about to turn off his phone, it started ringing again. Chen An "." This is a piece of shit that can't be washed out. "Didn't I tell you to turn off your phone? Hurry up and answer it. If you answer it and then turn it off, you can't attend this class!" Teacher Mu was interrupted again and again while giving a lecture, and he seriously suspected that Chen An was going to rebel. Chen An answered the phone immediately. Just as he was about to speak, a familiar voice came from the other end: "Hey~Brother Chen, I, Han Sanping, you need to learn more foreign languages. The Cannes Film Festival invited you to attend the festival, but you ignored them even when they spoke French and English. You don't want to go, do you? Hahahaha" The mobile phone has a good voice transmission function, Han Sanping's voice is not small, and his laughter can be heard throughout the classroom! Chen An was so excited that he was speechless. He felt his adrenaline rushing through his body. His classmates in the classroom also felt as if they were hallucinating in their ears. Chen An, who was in the same classroom with me, was shortlisted for the Cannes Film Festival?!
in or out? Cheating, right? ps: (In theory, Cannes is a transliteration. Director Chen Da also thanked the Cannes Film Festival in his thank-you speech at the film festival when he won the Palme d'Or. However, for the convenience of writing here, and everyone is more familiar with the name Cannes, I will just call it Cannes.) I wanted to give the protagonist some growth, rather than just filming something based on the movies I've seen, so I wrote so many chapters. It's about a person who has a cheat, but needs to learn to use it. The more I write, the more literary it becomes, and I want to say swear words!
(End of this chapter)