Volume 1: A sound on Wall Street, Xinxiang City is busy copying books Chapter 249: Three Unities
Subtitle of this chapter: There are really many movies with the three unities, for example...
The time goes back to the night of December 12, 1920, the location is still the two-story building in Brooklyn, and all the characters have appeared.
But when everything has arrived, it is time to leave.
As in most social occasions, the bigwigs always arrive last and leave first. The bigwigs at this party are naturally Mr. Brown, president of New York University Press, and Mr. Pulitzer, editor-in-chief of Le Monde.
To be honest, given their status, if it weren't for the sake of their two beloved little daughters, it would have been a loss of face for them to attend the opening ceremony of such a makeshift magazine.
Since they had already shown up, they briefly entertained a few acquaintances and then prepared to say goodbye to their host and leave.
At this moment, they heard a commotion at the sidelines. Two men started arguing loudly:
"Mr. Yuan, I really cannot agree with your opinion. Movies are not dramas. How can the screenwriter be more important than the director?"
"No, Mr. Fleming, please don't misunderstand me. I mean that for some films, the screenwriter is more important than the director."
"Mr. Yuan, then may I ask, in what kind of movie would the screenwriter be more important than the director?"
"Mr. Fleming, this question..."
Our Master Yuan is not actually the protagonist of this cocktail party. On the surface, "Women of the World" and "Window of the World" have nothing to do with him. And "SCP" is under the name of Master Ai Shouyi. So, in theory, he is just an important guest.
He also knew how to avoid making a big splash, neither going up on stage to give a grand speech nor picking fights with anyone he disliked. He adjusted his charm to 16 points and focused his energy on building relationships with important people.
But how could a man as cool as Yuan Yanshu not have any limelight?
The colleagues in the film and television industry brought by Miss Lillian Gish had long known from the big stars that Mr. Griffith and Yuan Yanshu were about to work together to shoot a talkie. This naturally aroused great interest among these people in the circle, so they enthusiastically discussed the shooting techniques of talkies with our Master Yuan.
Yuan Yanshu took this opportunity to promote his "director-screenwriter binary system", which was not heard of by many people in his timeline, let alone in this timeline, so it was immediately questioned by others. The biggest questioner was a new director named Victor Fleming.
In fact, this guy later became quite famous, and his most famous works are " The Wizard of Oz " and... "Gone with the Wind". But Mr. Fleming is still just a young director who has just switched from being a photographer.
In fact, he is now a little famous as a photographer. In 1911, he was a full-time photographer for the Intelligence Bureau during World War I and accompanied the president to Europe as the chief photographer. The reason why he was in New York was to discuss the publication of his album "President Wilson's European Trip" with the publisher.
This man became Griffith's photographer last year and met Miss Lillian Gish.
Later, Mr. Victor Fleming's status in Hollywood was not low. He would definitely be mentioned when mentioning the "Golden Age of Hollywood". After all, he shot the classic masterpiece "Gone with the Wind". The so-called golden age refers to the period after the Great Depression when the film industry prospered against the trend. "Gone with the Wind" was shot in 1939 and is considered a classic of the golden age.
But he is called "Hollywood super craftsman", which is not really a compliment for an artist.
There is only a wrong name, not a wrong nickname. Now this "Hollywood super craftsman" is not so SUPER but has begun to look a bit crafty.
In fact, there are many directors who started out as photographers, and all of them have a bit of craftsmanship. Film is also known as the "art of light and shadow", and as photographers, they naturally pay more attention to the picture, and intentionally or unintentionally ignore the story and theme, so their works are gorgeous in appearance but empty in content.
Of course, if it is a commercial film, then a director like Mr. Victor Fleming is definitely more than enough. However, in addition to establishing the "director-screenwriter binary system", our Master Yuan also has the ambition to open up the aesthetic school of "intellectual film".
But it’s too early to say this now. Yuan Yanshu first needs to convince everyone present.
He habitually lit a cigar... One of the great things about the 1920s was that you could smoke in public anytime and anywhere.
"Mr. Fleming, this question..." Our Master Yuan took a puff of his cigarette, then said calmly, "It's very simple. As long as it is a movie that conforms to the three unities, then the screenwriter is definitely more important than the director."
"Three Unities?"
"Yes, the Three Unities."
Well, if the people in the film and television industry here don’t know the three unities, they can really die.
The three unities were first proposed by Aristotle, who summarized the characteristics of ancient Greek drama into three unities, namely the so-called unity of time, unity of place and unity of plot. Therefore, the three unities are the earliest drama structure theory in the West.
In the 17th century, the French classical drama theorist Boileau explained it as "to keep the stage full from the beginning to the end with a story completed in one place and one day." This rule was the golden rule for classical drama creation at that time.
However, in the 18th century, this drama theory was impacted by "Romanticism" represented by the famous French writer Victor Hugo, and thus lost its dominant position, and the drama situation became more colorful.
Director Fleming looked at his companions and said suspiciously, "Aren't there many movies that conform to the three unities mentioned by Mr. Yuan? Could it be that..."
Yuan Yanshu interrupted him rudely this time: "No, no, no, Mr. Fleming, what you are talking about are either poor imitations of stage plays or simply stupid farces. I am talking about real 'movie' scripts that conform to the three unities and are full of dramatic tension."
He continued, "I don't look down on you directors. On the contrary, I admire you artists who turn 'light and shadow' into works of art. But I think there are some scripts that only need someone who has a little understanding of the directing profession..."
Our Master Yuan suddenly pointed to the female star next to him and said, "For example, Miss Lillian Gish can also make a very good film."
"I?"
Ms. Lover opened her beautiful eyes wide and pointed at herself in disbelief.
