"Alright, here it comes." "There." "Time gives meaning to life." "Where you put your time... ls how your life will be..." "Back up a little." "Like half a parking space." "Set it up at this angle." "Have these two sides blocked." "Shouldn't take much time." "Oh, it's you!" "What movie are you shooting today?" "A 3-minute short film to celebrate..." "Cannes Film Festival's 60th anniversary." "The theme is about cinema halls." "Folks don't come to shoot in Madou." "We're giving the facade a facelift," "To make it looks like a cinema from way back." "I'm touched." "You need a lot of minutes..." "To make one minute of cinema." "While creating every one of these one-minutes," "We have unwittingly..." "Given them our life." "I still find cinema fascinating and captivating." "It can really make an impact, when and where you least expect it." "I'd met people coming over to thank us..." "A guy saying how as a young man." "Seeing Dust in the Wind and "A Time to Live", "A Time to Die"..." "Changed his life." "He said as a country boy, he didn't think he had a future." "But after seeing those films..." "He became a lot more confident, he felt those films so important to his life..." "That he came over to thank me." "After some many years, a total stranger told you his story." "That's powerful stuff." "And a kind of support for the work..." "You've been doing all those years." "Right." "This side." "Use this to hide it's tail." "Don't let the camera see them." "The box office is open." "The process itself..." "Becomes a piece of invisible history." "And every film becomes the imprint..." "To this piece of history." "When I was a kid," "Every day after school," "I'd catch my mom get busy, run off..." "To the cinema near our home," "Hide behind an adult's ass and sneak inside." "Every time I got home," "Mom would get furious." "Where have you disappeared to?" "For punishment she made me kneel before father's memorial tablet." "Slate" "Cinema is fantasy." "As a child I had nothing," "So I was always dreaming," "And going to the movies for comfort." "Careful." "I first started with Central Motion Pictures(CMPC)" "I didn't know I have to be far away from home." "If I had known" "I might not have taken the job." "I left home at an early age, so I missed the warmth of a home." "If I could have a choice..." "I'd rather not leave home." "There were 2-3,000 people" "Competing for the CMPC positions." "I'm a big believer in fate." "Can you imagine?" "A bum like me getting recruited" "I was on the waiting list." "Some guy must have gotten out for me to get in." "It got to be fate." "When I first started," "You walked into the studio and it's a million watts of light." "One million watts." "There were lights everywhere," "The lighting technicians were all mouthfuls of ratios, figures, strengths, whatever." "But no one ever asked why." "Those were taken for granted as rules." "Then one day I discovered that they weren't necessarily so." "It's not just technologies, everything back then were sealed off." "Backward in information flow, and there wasn't the internet." "So we looked for any opportunity..." "To get a glimpse of new technologies." "Whenever we got a chance," "We'd ask someone coming back from studying abroad." "Or when foreigners in Taiwan, we went to watch them work." "To look at their equipments, find out their brands and models." "All those things..." "We knew nothing about." "The technical parts weren't easy." "People just didn't talk about them." "Except for this one cinematographer." "I worked with him a lot, he's willing to communicate." "When I went to him with a question," "He'd tell me what he thought." "This Mark Lee..." "Guy with a big beard." "Mostly he worked on my films." "He's with me on most of my shoots." "Like "Unrequited Love"." "Big beard, big beard." "People like Lin San were great." "There were several old-timers" "Who were nice and helpful." "There're still such people at the CMPC," "Also in the lighting department." "You have a good old master on the set." "You look at him and you know..." "He's that kind of an upright guy whose presence alone..." "Was already one big stabilizing force." "There were such people." "They also served as our role models," "So that later on," "When it's our turn to make a presence," "You have to let the people around you feel that..." "You are a stabilizing force." "Mark is that kind of a guy." "Until 1984," "He and Yang Wei-han." "Together they worked on "Run Away"," "A CMPC film." "He won the "Best Cinematography" award in Japan" "At the Asia Pacific Film Festival." "People began to take notice of him." "Hou Hsiao-hsien was starting "A Time to Live"," "From then on Mark became a cinematographer." "He's no longer an assistant." "To become a cinematographer," "The first thing to understand is lighting." "You don't pay attention to light and shadow," "You'll never get a grip on good light and shadow." "This is how I feel about these things:" "You don't care about them, and they'll never become yours." "It's like the skills of a craftsman." "You ask him about his skills." "He can't explain them." "But he's totally nimble, able and effortless doing it." "And he doesn't even need to think about it." "He just expresses it in a natural way." "How I look at a lot of things, and my passion in light and color..." "Came from many other interests." "Say in olden days a craftsman working on hand-drawn vases." "He did it stroke by stroke," "He made the same vases." "But every vase was different." "You can say the same things..." "About light and color." "Every day light enters different rooms..." "From a different angle," "Every room has its own distinctive smell." "But every time we shoot in a room," "We set up lights here and there, when several lights are done," "The room disappears." "The room becomes completely fake." "I just looked at it." "It's not bad." "We can negotiate on the price." "That's a famous Japanese porcelain brand." "Look at it here, and feel the inside." "It's rather rough." "Feel it?" "I was never his assistant," "So how come I call him my teacher?" "Because he's so different..." "From other directors of photography (DP)." "Other DPs don't answer questions." "You ask him, sir," "How did you plan that particular shoot?" "You're dead." "How dare you?" "Mind your own business!" "But Mark is different." "He answers your questions, no matter what." "Techniques, his vision." "Anything." "He's just happy to talk about them." "He really into pottery." "He's learned a lot about color from pottery." "He'd get something..." "That's all old and muddy," "Clean it up, meticulously," "To reveal its original form." "That I find it quite close to photography." "Craftsmanship, techniques, production equipments," "And concepts have gone through so much change." "But I think there's something missing." "Humanity." "The human dimension's gone." "What I try to do... ls to integrate real light and color with people." "There's in fact a certain taste..." "That you often come across in daily life." "I'm hoping to bring back..." "The light and color that I know and lam familiar with..." "To as many different scenes as possible in my films." "I became a cinematographer..." "When New Taiwan Cinema was just happening." "Back then we had more space." "It was a new beginning." "And people started noticing a new director." "The film is about some of my childhood memories." "When I was in Grade 1," "My family moved to Fengshan for reasons of my father's health." "My grandma was especially fond of me..." "Because a fortuneteller once said..." "Some day I'd become a big official." "My nickname in Fengshan was A Ha," "Grandma would come looking for me..." "A Ha." "I'm 7 or 8 years younger than Hou," "But his story was close to my experience." "So I thought," "Maybe I should show..." "The actual light and colors in a natural manner." "So I used a lot of household lighting on the sets." "I see lots of weak lights and colors," "And I always try to keep them in my films." "You can't set up those lights and colors" "You can't make them." "If you have lots of lights, they just disappear." "They get eaten up." "When you're shooting an image or a film," "The climate, geography and people have to come together" "To have decent results." "But that's not happiness," "You must go with the flow when you're on the set." "Working with Hou Hsiao-hsien," "I learned so much about working with nature." "You arrive on location with your crew and there's a typhoon." "If you insist on sunshine," "Then you go home and wait for a few days." "Hou does exactly the opposite." "He can make adjustments to anything." "To him, truth is making adjustments." "Why must we have sunshine?" "We ran into a typhoon shooting "A Time to Live"," "It was supposed to be a sunny afternoon." "But we thought the wind had great emotional strength." "A 100-year-old tree swaying in the wind." "And we shot the wind." "When I'm with Hou Hsiao-hsien," "Every day's a fine day." "All ten people have got on the van." "Today's my birthday." "But most times I'm working." "Last year I was in Hualian" "On my 30th birthday," "I was shooting "Run Away"." "This year I'm in Japan." "Basically I'm never home." "Be it my own home with my wife," "Or my mother's home." "I was hardly ever home for my birthdays." "When I started in Taiwan, I thought..." "No matter what I'd work in Taiwan." "Now the world gets smaller but home's far away." "I try to pass through Taipei a lot..." "Because my mother lives there." "I find excuses to pass through so I can see her." "This is too heavy." "You get that one and I get this" "Pull the handle." "Okay." "Okay." "Okay." "Call me." "Mom, I'm going..." "Bye." "And happy Mother's Day." "She asked when I'd back." "I said it might be a while..." "Maybe after October." "I want to come back for her 80th birthday." "But right now it doesn't look likely." "She said that's okay." "She has her birthday every year and it's no big deal." "He's busy." "He gets busier coming back." "He'll call me when he's away but..." "When he's back he has no time to talk." "He started with the CMPC." "Then they loaned him out." "The shoot wasn't finished and he couldn't just leave." "But they said his term's up," "And ordered him back." "That's more or less what happened." "He told them the film hadn't wrapped." "That's what he said to them." "When he got back they fired him." "Then he went to Hong Kong." "That's how he went to Hong Kong." "When I first got to Hong Kong," "A director said that I didn't have style." "You shoot anything, the worst projects." "You're not a cinematographer," "One must have his own sense." "I first started shooting in Hong Kong," "Mostly with hand-held camera," "Something one never did in Taiwan." "One time I was standing behind an iron door." "Andy Lau would charge inside," "And I'd be by the door with the camera," "He'd charge inside and I'd move quickly with him," "Follow his movements onto the people inside the room." "But several times the door just hit my hand," "Because I wasn't fast enough." "The door hit my hand and pushed away my camera." "That was painful." "In those days they were mostly martial arts or action films." "For action films the main thing is speed." "Especially with fight scenes." "You do a quick pan with precise focusing." "I think Mark did a lot of that." "More than anything else." "But to him personally," "They're not what he really wanted to do." "So I think that in his early years..." "Other than learning about speed and precision," "The rest was rather frustrating." "I was so afraid of getting fired." "That would be a big blow to my confidence." "Face just wasn't an issue." "I'd feel disappointed with myself," "And that I'd letdown the people who trusted me." "If that angle is too far out bring it back a little" "Later on we can add a filter gel or something." "All these years working in Hong Kong..." "You can't go to work on a full stomach, or you'll stop thinking." "If we don't have this, use the other." "Or you put two people here," "And we two go up there." "Or we stay here, and break up later." "In Hong Kong people get paid by the hour," "So you can't afford to stuff yourself sick." "You go away for 15 minutes, the entire crew waits there." "How much it'll cost?" "It's frightening." "It's from working in Hong Kong that..." "I'd learned to stop going to the restroom." "It's just too expensive." "Every day he arrives on the set" "He's ready and intense," "Like he's going into battle." "You see how he dresses?" "Like a soldier." "With all those light meters on his belt." "No one dares to make a fuss." "He's very disciplined." "To make a comparison," "If Chris Doyle is a sailor" "Then Mark Lee is a soldier." "He'll do whatever you ask him to." "Many cinematographers are show-offs" "But Mark Lee is very quiet." "He never says much on the set," "Only what needs to be said." "I always tell him what I think about the story." "And I think I can get to him." "Like what we were just talking about," "Ankor Wat." "When I got there he was telling me:" "The secret is hidden inside the cave." "And I said, there're many caves here," "And every one of them is a secret." "Here's a world that can touch him to the deep." "He blooms when he gets to an open space." "We're already at the end of the story." "What's left for the camera to do..." "But to create a certain mood." "He asked if I could be more daring." "What did he mean "more daring"?" "We don't have time." "The sun is setting." "And he's not telling you..." "What he wanted with the framing." "The only thing that I can do now... ls to look at this character" "Like someone on the edge." "So I cut the character's body into the lines on the plane," "And Wong Kar-wai rolled the camera." "If there's an extra ticket..." "Would you go with me?" "The winner of Best Cinematography..." "For the 37th Golden Horse Awards..." ""In The Mood For Love"." ""In The Mood For Love" reminds me of one thing." "I lost my father when I was still small." "My mother was still young," "But to raise myself and my siblings," "She has never remarried." "I'm now 47," "And my mother has grown old." "I want to dedicate this award," "This "In The Mood For Love" award to my mother." "I'm very happy," "And most grateful to the organizers for giving me the opportunity" "To express my gratitude..." "To my mother." "This is the 4th award from Taiwan." "He only tells me good news," "But never his worries" "That'll only make it worse" "You shouldn't be bothered." "So he never tells me" "No matter how old he gets, as a parent I'll always worry." "And he says," "Do you know how old I am?" "I say of course I know, I'm just telling you how I feel." "Can't help it." "As a parent I just can't help it." "In my life," "Hong Kong is important to me." "I spent 10 years of my youth and middle age there." "That's...heavy," "A weighty chunk of time in one's life." "So, there's an emotion that's deep inside." "Because I'd spent so much time here." "Regarding my understanding of cinema," "There's a kind of metamorphosis." "It's only after I've grown up," "And given it a lot of thoughts," "That I can now have the freedom," "To be open Tand to accept things as they are." "All those years Mark was in Hong Kong," "Making films and building his career," "He was getting ready to bring" "Some colors to Taiwan cinema." "When I was working on "The Puppermaster"," "I said I didn't want make another color BAN film..." "Like "A Time to Live" or "Dust in the Wind"." "The light and color would not be right." "And he set up a film test," "He brought actors to the studio." "Like Lin Qiong and Yi Neng-jing," "And I made some experiments with light and filters." "Mark's peculiar handwriting." "I just open to any page..." "Mark made a point about..." "Looking for layers..." "And the lushness of red colors." "I started searching." "What colors do I want to bring to the film?" "How to add colors to it?" "How to make the colors work for the story?" "How to change colors, so that the colors won't be dull?" "For "The Puppetmaster"..." "That traditional Fujian architecture..." "With a glass sunroof over the house." "That's where the light comes in," "I wanted that as the main light source." "I remember telling him," "Not so bright." "Make it darker." "He said film can't expose." "But I said no, darker." "So he add little light behind my back." "He did it on the sly, to avoid underexposure." "I added some soft focus filters." "I didn't want any its rough textures to appear on screen." "And I was afraid that he'd find out, he might not understand." "Soft focus in my film?" "That's not acceptable." "So I spoke with my assistants" "In codes," "What filter to add or remove." "I was cheating..." "But with the best intentions." "I didn't want to add to his worries." "I wanted that dull red color," "Like this old-fashioned sitting room." "Sometimes there's an old man sitting there, smoking a water pipe." "Sometimes he'd put in a tobacco color filter," "When there really wasn't any sunset color." "The overall tone was held up with filters." "Since then Taiwan cinem has a little more color." "Or better say" "Hou's films has a little more color" "Actors don't get to..." "Communicate with DPs much." "Usually they speak more with directors." "One time during "Millennium Mambo"," "We were doing a bar scene," "And I was eating popcorns." "Suddenly someone came up to me..." "And spoke to my ear:" "Could you go easy on those popcorns?" "I asked why." "That was Mark, and I asked why?" "He said they were lighting setup." "I remember how Mark made use of those plastic bags." "There're lots of things on the set." "He'd set a light on one of the blue plastic bags." "The light got reflected onto the furniture..." "And created a unique ambiance." "Who would have thought..." "That a plastic bag was the essence of this scene?" "There's another important thing about his work:" "His concern for the intrinsic quality of things..." "And how they interact with one another." "He's like the wind, and the reed.." "He's not an unbending tree" "He bends with the wind." "Very supple." "For me that's the spirit of Chinese culture." "He always suggests actors to move..." "As how they feel." "It's not a problem for him if they move left or right." "He never puts his framing in the first place," "But rather gives the actors maximum freedom." "So when the actor moves Mark follows." "He's always moving along with the actors," "And that gives the actors a very strong feeling of trust." "Other cinematographers make demands on you." "Like more to the light," "Or turn left a little..." "They make request on you..." "But not Mark, never." "He just looks for solutions on his own turf." "I think I can feel it." "I'm not saying he lets you do whatever you want." "Sure he gives you little pointers." "But he does it in such a restrained way," "That really makes the actors feel relaxed." "I feel that Mark is literally standing next to me," "And helping me to hold it together." "If he's not there," "I'd feel I have problems..." "Handling such a big scene." "His being there has given me enormous support." "Alright." "That's fine." "Young lady, easy on the emotions during rehearsal." "Save them for the real thing." "This is good." "From nothing to something..." "I'm always behind the camera," "So lighting hardly moves me." "I do the lights, right?" "More often it's after the lights are set..." "That I'm touched by the actors' performances." "I set the light and my work is done." "It's the actors' movements that create changes in the light and shadow." "And that gives life to the light." "When we perform," "The light keeps us company." "The lenses listen to us." "They are our driving force," "Capturing the emotional currents..." "Of this very moment." "I don't know how he does it." "His movements are imperceptible;" "they're so subtle." "My movements are unintentional." "And unconscious" "I told the dollyman, just put it there," "And slowly push me along..." "Like the wind." "He smiled and asked, like the wind?" "What I mean was...," "Like without purpose, unplanned." "I don't like to preconceive ideas for framing," "I prefer the uncertain movements..." "During the process of filming." "That, to me... ls a kind of life." "It's unusual to see that many leaves..." "They're all togethermexcited." "This is too much." "The Chinese character "Dao"" "The 2 dots symbolize yin and yang." "All plants are bifarious;" "Never trifarious." "This guy doesn't know we're filming it," "And it's dancing like mad." "It's really excited." "Because of my work," "I often have to build tracks." "But I try not to cut the grass" "Or trample on anything." "After a while," "I started noticing the movements of these leaves" "They just won't stop." "This is too much." "Now it's stopped." "It was so happy;" "it was dancing." "You stop because I'm now next to you." "Go on, dance." "So you only speak on the sly?" "And stop when there are people around?" "It was amazing." "We had a wind that day." "We incorporated the wind into our shoot," "Which brought the scene to life," "And created a very special ambience." "We were in Hanoi." "We were shooting in an apartment." "Suddenly a moment of grace happened" "Tran and I just looked on;" "we didn't dare make a sound..." "It was truly amazing." "You can actually see that moment in the film." "We didn't use an electric fan." "That moment was a gift from God." "It was like nature saying, "Don't do anything."" ""Leave it to me."" ""I can do it better."" "There's the natural wind." "It's amazing!" "It's all about feelings." "If you feel there's a wind coming," "You get ready for it." "And the wind comes to you." "Sometimes you think, it'd be great to have wind, then the wind appears." "The heavens are generous." "I always say," "A film already has its ending before shooting." "All these endings are waiting for you everywhere." "Accidents may happen and change the endings, but..." "They're all there." "Maybe you weren't looking." "There're nice things over there," "Great light over here," "And that's a wonderful position." "They're there waiting..." "For you to use." "But if you weren't looking, they're wasted." "We ran into a snowstorm..." "Shooting in Jiuchuan." "Everyone panicked, including Jiang Wen." "What should we do?" "Do we stop and wait or what?" "We had so little time." "The weather's changing." "It'd get colder and make our life hell..." "It's not what we wanted..." "And he was so worried." "Another 4 or 5 days mean days of expenses..." "That's a large sum for the entire crew." "What should we do?" "He asked me." "I said:" "This is a godsend." "It's not anything that money can buy." "Mark's the real godsend." "He said it's so rare..." "To run into a snowstorm in a desert." "We asked the locals, and..." "They confirmed that, it hadn't snowed for years." "Mark said:" "now that's exceptional." "I told everyone and we all became more relaxed." "What the heck!" "Let's go for it." "Yep." "And we got ourselves a film." "So I came over and worked for a few days," "Which turned out be quite eventful." "From bright summer sunshine to snow and rain..." "And then back to summer." "The snowstorm left an impression on everyone." "If Mark had said the opposite," "Like this scene should be sunshine." "I would have felt awful." "Because I wanted sunshine but couldn't get it." "Thank you and goodbye!" "At that time I found his sensitivity on alt..." "Really made an impact on me," "And also gave me confidence." "His talents for providing stability to the group..." "He has charisma." "He may seem unkempt and unshaven," "But he's extremely thorough." "She'll come inside..." "And stops there." "When she stops you move, slowly." "Twice I worked with him he came alone." "I asked where's your crew?" "He said he didn't have any;" "Everywhere I go I do things on my own." "So I send him a few assistants." "Within two days..." "They'd all become his loyal vassals." "I used not to care about the people around me." "It's not that I didn't want to, but I just forgot." "I got too hung up on one thing." "I didn't think that's right." "It's alright not to care about yourself," "But you can't do that to others." "I'd known Mark for so many years," "His strengths did have an influence on me." "I can't be as good as he is," "But he's certainly influenced me." "A director doesn't shout at people, or run people." "He cares for them." "And may even in some ways," "He understand them..." "Better than themselves." "He makes the people working with him..." "Feel warm and comfortable inside." "I think that may be it." "It's an art, or a state of being." "Wei-han..." "And I were the two assistants who went through most hell." "When I started at the CMPC..." "I knew nothing." "I had stupid questions that I didn't have anybody to ask." "You couldn't ask those old-timer cinematographers." "They wouldn't answer you." "A lot of things we learned from seniors, and colleagues." "Wei-han and I got on particularly well." "He taught me a lot about the fundamental concepts." "The beginning parts." "I don't remember that." "Back then when we were assistants," "Wei-han and I talked about our vision." "Hai-sen was there too, right?" "We must persist," "For the future of cinematography belongs to us!" "Really, we talked about that." "What're you two laughing about?" "Every time we went drinking," "Even when you weren't here," "We always talked about you" "Time and space work in mysterious ways." "It's like were always together" "On day I went to your home..." "It was like, 15 years ago..." "In retrospect," "Taiwan cinema in the early '80s," "When a generation of film people came into being," "Was a time of mystery." "When New Taiwan Cinema was just starting," "The new Taiwanese directors" "Mobilized people who love cinema..." "To contribute to this wave," "To work towards some common good." "Then the wave subsided." "Some went back to the sea," "Others stayed on the beach." "Those in the sea kept making waves," "People like Hou Hsiao-hsien," "Tu Duu-chih and Mark Lee." "That's when a hundred flowers bloomed." "But that time is now history." "Today everything seems to be collapsing." "Someone with a singular spirit," "Vision and energy," "Would still be able to," "Even in the remotest corner," "Stand tall..." "And blossom..." "As a most unique flower." "As a cinematographer who grew up in Taiwan," "I'd like to bring a Taiwanese perspective..." "To the works of filmmakers from other countries." "More and more I come into contact with directors..." "From different countries." "There're cultural clashes..." "And there's also harmony." "Our methods, ideas are mostly accepted," "Sometimes they get challenged, but mostly they are appreciated." "He's always the same, since the beginning." "Work, and work..." "Sometimes he talks to me at work and says," "I'd been away too long," "My wife's started to complain." "He didn't go home..." "Because he's involved" "He enjoys getting involved." "And only later realizes how exhausted we are." "He may die of thirst on the set," "Or ruin his mouth chewing beetlenuts." "When he's thinking..." "he becomes numb." "He forgets beetlenuts in his mouth." "The next day his mouth is a mess." "And he doesn't drink water." "Sometimes he'll tell me at work," "Oh no, today's my wife's birthday." "Then he goes to work and forgets all about it." "The next day he says, Oh no, I forgot it again." "So every work experience turns into..." "A kind of pain intensified over a long period." "It feels very lonely." "There are lots of things..." "That I can't speak to anyone." "Or can't make clear to anyone." "I always think to myself." "I'd visited all these places." "But only for work, and only in pain." "But all that pain..." "Was really worth it." "Because I'd left behind some films, some scenes." "It's like memory." "It lets you realize things at that time." "I want to shoot something like" "The changes in life." "How life takes things one at a time," "Following all it's change..." "You're wandering at crossroads." "You don't know where you're heading." "You keep watching." "Sometimes good things passed you by," "But the train can't stop or turn back." "Certain things in life are like..." "The days in your life." "When they're over, they're over." "So very often you got to seize the moment." "Enter right into that instant," "Into the emotional state of the acting," "Move with the flow of the camera." "And slowly reveal the railway tracks." "The passage of time." "What I wanted to express was" "How time passes," "The sceneries remain," "How all human affairs come to pass..." "But there's still hope." "A glimmer of light..." "How was the trip?" "It was okay." "When I got the invitation from Norway," "It came to my mind at once that..." "I wanted to go with my mother." "But my mother's already 80." "When I asked her, she agreed right away." "Our first time traveling together, right?" " Can you count this traveling?" " No, it's not." "Did we ever travel together?" "No" "Except that time to China." "I think that's it." "How do you get the time to travel?" "I didn't even have the time to come home," "Have some of this." "Try some." "It's quite good." "The rainy atmosphere is just right." "Heaven contrives to make the guest stay." "I spend my whole life out there." "My whole life out there." "The last space of freedom on earth is this basement." "Yeah, he got the license for wine, cheese and smoking." "Do what you want here." "So the first time you came here who was in?" "2000 8 years, yeah." "Wow, God." "From1987, this one is very good" "It's a good year, my daughter's year." "Good." "I married same year, 1987." "He's a perfect American dream, you can't imagine." "1 house, 1 swimming pool, 2 cars, 2 beautiful kids..." "American woman, it's American dreams." "I'm always working somewhere" "Don't be like the guy" "And you know when you call at home in L.A." "Justin'll say, I don't know." "Always I'll say, Justin, Gilles..." "Tell me where your father is." "You know he's very professional..." "He'll say, I don't know." "I've one memory of when we're still lived in Hong Kong..." "I think I was very little, either 4 or 5, and we're watching the Golden Horse Awards," "I think my dad did win one, and he's going up to get the award and give a speech, and I ran up in front of the TV and then turned it off, because I didn't want it When I am watching," "'cos I was so sad That he wasn't at home." "And I remember that, I have a memory of that." "But now I'm older I understand that," "It's his work, he has to go." "And it's a part of life, everyone has to work," "So I'm more understanding." "A wildfire fanned by high winds..." "Wrecking havoc in southern California," "Reducing the rich and the poor..." "To an equal status in this disaster." "Fleeing their homes, penniless..." "I don't know where they are staying." "I'll call them when I land." "The news said more than 1,000 homes burned down." "They are on their own for evacuation." "What I really worried about is my mother here." "She's old." "Our house and our family were still safe, but the mountains around our house were all pretty badly burned." "And my dad wasn't home that time either, it's only my mom and my sister" "So he's really nervous too, so everyday we both were calling our house asking how everything was." "Of course I don't spend enough time..." "With my family, my wife and children." "But that's life." "If I wanted to be with lmy family every day," "Spending time with my children," "Then I can't do the work that I like." "Maybe I could get another job or what," "But I might not be happy all my life." "Now my work may make my family unhappy." "But I didn't get to make those choices." "Before I got married," "I entered into a world I liked." "And traveled the paths I wanted." "But these paths also took over a lot of things." "The thinking behind "Flowers of Shanghai" was..." "To have the light carried by the characters." "Like in the Tang dynasty." "You need a candle, an oil lamp for lighting." "It's soft and diffuse in the middle." "The clothes are made of silk." "Like in the old days, they're all silk." "Which, under the reflection of dim light, looks pretty charming." "I know these oil lamps." "If we shoot it using the old realist way," "We won't get those colors and textures." "So I designed some lights..." "To create oil lamp effect." "Then half way thorough the shoot," "One day he turned off the lights." "He said, Mark, realism should be like this." "Shadows moving everywhere." "Back then the Peking Opera was for listening ," "Not for watching." "It's dim, for they only had oil lamps." "Can't help it, Can't start from scratch again." "And I said if that's the way you wanted it," "Then we're going back to B?" "W color movies," "That we did before." "The things you want are contradictory." "And he said, your lighting is too pretty." "I said it's luxurious realism." "But it's still realism." "You find me a light that isn't real." "The light is real." "I just have it amplified," "Enriched, made luxurious." "What you wanted at the beginning," "Could only be achieved with this method." "In the end he gave in." "But during print making," "He kept saying making it darker, darker." "For Mark, "Flowers of Shanghai"'s difference... ls the single long take..." "One long take for an entire scene." "The novelist was a guy from late Qing dynasty." "The way he writes makes you feel..." "There's always someone watching from the side." "His gaze." "That in fact was his point-of-view," "To me the camera is his gaze." "So I have the camera staying next to them," "Tracking, following the characters," "As if we were listening on their conversations." "From "A Time to Live" to "Flowers of Shanghai"," "That's from 1985 to 98, 14 years." "14 years of a cautious and guarded working relationship," "After "Flowers of Shanghai", We were set free." "I see a balloon..." "A director builds a structure," "Goes where his fancy takes him." "A cinematographer is to understand that structure." "How do you get inside his head?" "To think what he is thinking?" "This is very hard." "It moves a little over there." "Suddenly it appears from there, and goes away." "After a little chasing, it swings back here," "Comes hither, stops..." "And comes back again." "Think about dragonflies." "One flies over," "The other flies away and comes back later." "A structure builder can't be pinned down." "The other side tries to understand, but is trapped." "You understand but how to do it?" "What you just said to me, are you serious?" "What coming hither and thither, stop and go?" "Hou only tells his stories." "And trusts you to make good." "Give it to him and he will deliver." "Every time it's crisis on the edge," "You guys line up here." "They both stand on the precipice." "Giving each of you a kick in the butt." "You find your way to land." "How do you catch it?" "Mark can do it." "It's all personality." "He fights with Hou." "And Hou always fights with him." "Creating is not working with a finished script." "That's Hitchcock." "We can't work like Hitchcock." "Not many people get to suffer, but I'm one of them." "He always comes up with something." "He may need some design..." "Yet what he delivers..." "Never let you down." "Where does that leave me?" "It dares me to take more risks." "Dares me to take more risks." "And it allows me to concentrate on..." "The people, the characters." "I need to feel the characters are alive." "Being alive is the most important of all." "When I first started with Hou," "The first thing I felt was feeling." "I never have any feelings," "I was just shooting things." "I was just shooting an image," "Or some action, whatever." "But I never thought about feeling." "Feelings are there every day," "But you don't know how to put it into your camera." "It's only from working with Hou" "That I got in touch with this level of sensitivity." "Without him I might have gotten..." "Or I might have just started to understand that." "Hurry up!" "I want to shoot it, the shadow on the ground." "The shadow was great." "Wait." "Let him set it higher up." "Higher up than it is now." "A little higher, more." "Good." "Okay." "Let's do it." "Set the balloon." "Okay, the clapboard." "Interesting!" "It just caught the right reflection." "I thought I didn't know how to put the stone to good use." "Takes years of training, right?" "You just take what nature provides," "And work with the environment" "The first time I saw "A Time to Live" I loved it." "My father was born and grew up in Taiwan." "He spent his childhood in Kaohsiung." "From my father's description of Taiwan," "I'd paint images of Taiwan in my head," "And see him living in those images." "I was so moved." "After watching "A Time to Live"," "I wanted to become a director," "And make beautiful films like that." "It'd be so great to make such films." "I'd had some hard times..." "Working as assistant director." "Every time I was about to give up my dream," "I'd watch Hou's films to encourage myself," "That I'll become a director and make good films." "An image is a direct representation." "The reality that it represents" "I think, is..." "On equal par with our so-called reality." "A scene of someone's state of being... ls as good as real." "It can exist." "It's not a scene in a drama." "It's not a scene in a movie." "It's equal to..." "Creating a reality." "People who make films," "And people who watch films..." "Are both on a journey." "One on a homeward journey," "The other just starting out." "The beam of light shooting above the audience's head..." "The flickering light... ls an unstoppable journey," "A fragment lost in the course of life." "September. 2008" "Mark received the National Literary Award," "Taiwan's highest honor for an artist." "Mark wrote in his acceptance speech:" "That day I was in the dessert of Xinjiang..." "Shooting a new director's film." "When we were taking a break," "I found some 20 unanswered calls in my mobile." "I held it in my hand." "I started to worry..." "Bad news." "I started praying." "Please don't let anything happen to my family." "But what else could that be?" "More than 20 unanswered calls within a few minutes..." "It'd never happened before." "I started to panic." "I checked my mobile, pale like a ghost." "All the numbers were in codes." "I didn't know who called or where the calls came from." "My hand started to shake." "At the end... the panic ended and peace was restored." "From a friend's text message," "I learned that I'd won the National Literary Award." "Rising from the depths of emotional agonies..." "To meet the highest honor of the National Literary Award," "I had not the strength to shout, or anyone to embrace, or anyone to show off the glory to." "All this I quietly kept inside my heart." "At that instant," "I saw more clearly a truth:" "The things we care most is the safety..." "Of our loved ones." "It's so easy to take our family's for granted." "The family is always there," "But I've always neglected it." "Oh my family!" "This is yet another gift that" "The National Literary Award has bestowed on me." "This film is dedicated to all filmmakers, and their families."