BRILLIANCE ON A BUDGET出色的小本製作
These creative low- cost films are giving the blockbusters a run for their money在創意與概念上均勝過大製作的低成本電影
Making a lm can be an expensive proposition, with millions of dollars going into visuals that dazzle and entertain viewers. However, two lowbudget box o ce sensations onboard this month show that a good concept and a smart script are far more important than high funding.
Searching begins with a 10-minute montage showing the evolution of a family entirely through photos, videos, internet browser windows and digital calendars. Without using even a single line of dialogue, it’s one of the most moving – and economical – opening sequences since Pixar’s animated lm Up.
But director Aneesh Chaganty doesn’t move to a conventional storytelling format. The plot unfolds through digital interfaces. We rst see single father David (John Cho) communicating with his teenage daughter, Margot, through text messages and video chats. When Margot goes missing, David’s only hope of nding her is by following her digital footprint.
Setting an entire lm on social media sites, video chats and news footage helped keep the budget down. But Chaganty, who developed and directed ads at Google Creative Lab, also portrays our inseparable relationship with these technologies. The tale plays out like a traditional mystery, but the inventive medium of the storytelling heightens the suspense and grounds the story in reality because the tools of David’s investigation are the same ones available at our own ngertips.
Meanwhile, made for only three million yen (HK$208,000), One Cut of the Dead was developed by writer-director Shinichiro Ueda with 12 aspiring actors at a drama school workshop. Like so many other lowbudget Japanese indie lms, it seemed destined to play at small arthouse cinemas before falling into obscurity.
Instead, it won over audiences at lm festivals worldwide. Celebrities took to social media to praise the lm. It went from showing in two small cinemas in Tokyo to hundreds of screens nationwide. Bringing in 2.7 billion yen (HK$191 million) in Japan, it’s become one of the most pro table lms ever made.
One Cut starts as a fairly conventional zombie thriller, shot in a single 37-minute take that moves through an abandoned water treatment plant. Even if the audacious but sometimes shoddily conceived opening turns you o , be sure to sit through the rst set of credits to see the real lm.
You’ll nd that One Cut isn’t actually a zombie thriller. It’s a comedy about how this ultra low-budget zombie lm was put together by a desperate but passionate lm crew. Ueda may have been forced to cut corners during production, but his ode to indie lmmaking is so clever, hilarious and ultimately moving that you’ll want to rewatch the lm again immediately after the real end credits roll. 拍 電影可以是一件非常昂貴的活動，要拍出令觀眾歎為觀止的視覺效果，往往要花上數百萬元。可是，本月機上放映的電影中，有兩部低成本製作，憑著出色的意念與精采的劇本而成為賣座電影，可見創意比雄厚的資金更重要。
《人肉搜尋》開頭是一段長十分鐘的蒙太奇，運用照片、影片、瀏覽器視窗及數字日曆，交待一個家庭的生活變化。整個段落一句對白也沒有，這是自彼思動畫出品的電影《沖天救兵》以來最動人、手法最簡潔俐落的開場片段。
導演 Aneesh Chaganty 並沒有運用傳統的敘事手法，而是透過不同的數碼介面來展開劇情。我們首先見到單親爸爸David（John Cho 飾）透過文字訊息及視像對話與十多歲的女兒Margot 溝通。之後Margot 失蹤， David 唯有透過她在網上各種活動留下的痕跡來找尋她的下落。
整部影片由社交媒體網站、視像對話視窗及新聞片段組成，以便降低製作成本。Chaganty 曾為 Google Creative Lab 創意實驗室構思及執導廣告，他在本片中指出，我們與上述各種科技的關係密不可分。本片可說是一般常見的推理故事，但是新穎的說故事方式卻加強了懸疑氣氛；而David搜尋女兒的工具是我們隨時隨地都在使用的東西，令故事極具真實感。
另一方面，日本編劇兼導演上田慎一郎在一個戲劇學校舉辦的工作坊內，找來12個有志從影的演員，自任編導，以300 萬日元（ 20.8萬港元）製作費拍成《屍殺片場》。日本有不少低成本獨立電影，完成後只在小型藝術電影院內上映，然後被人遺忘，這部電影似乎亦會遭受同一命運。
可是，《屍殺片場》卻在全球各地的電影節內贏得觀眾擊節讚賞，不少名人亦在社交媒體上對本片大加讚揚。電影最初只在東京兩家小型電影院內公映，後來變成在全國各地數以百計的銀幕上放映，在日本獲得27億日元（ 1.91億港元）的票房，成為歷來其中一部最賺錢的電影。
《屍殺片場》開始時看似一部普通的驚慄喪屍片，大膽地以一個長37分鐘一鏡到底的鏡頭，拍攝在一座廢棄的濾水廠內到處追逐的場面，有些地方甚至拍得甚為粗糙，這時你可能覺得這是一部毫不足觀的電影。不過請務必忍耐，因為銀幕上首次打出演職員名單之後，電影才正式開始。
這時觀眾才發現，《屍殺片場》其實不是驚慄喪屍片，而是一部喜劇。原來剛才出現的超低成本喪屍片，是由一群對電影充滿熱誠的製作人員不顧一切拍出來的作品。上田慎一郎在拍攝時可能為了節省開支而在製作上不得不因陋就簡，但是他以這種高明、惹笑而最後感動人心的方式來頌揚獨立電影，會驅使你在真正的演職員表放映完畢後，想立即再重看一遍。