《Four Quarters》Won the honor of Pingyao, the pilot film reveals the secret of four machines on the same frequency

—Four out of four--After receiving the “Fei Mu Honor and Special Commendation” at the 10th Pingyao International Film Festival, the pilot film "Four Acts of the World" was released.This film, written and directed by Cai Chengjie and produced by Huang Bo, further demonstrates the creative method of juxtaposing four vertical screens.The new materials bring characters, space and the technical requirements of simultaneous shooting to the audience, giving a more intuitive entrance to the four-screen discussion triggered by the previous screening.

Cai Chengjie said at the award ceremony that taking risks is also another sense of perseverance. The team raised questions by constantly asking the boundaries of the film, and believed that there would be companions on the journey of exploration.This time, the honor and the new pilot film were released at the same time, making the film's format try to move from premiere communication to material that can be watched by more audiences.

The movie puts four strangers at different life stages into the same time and space, and their respective lives are intertwined and advanced.The four periods of life coincide with the spring, summer, autumn and winter. The characters seem to be unrelated at first, but then intersect through chance of fate.The screen facing the audience thus accommodates multiple unfolding threads of life at the same moment.

In traditional viewing, editing often determines who should be watching at the moment, while the four-screen structure leaves more choices to the audience.The characters in one frame are acting, while others continue to exist, and the eye needs to move between them.The audience may focus on one story, or may be diverted to another part due to nearby sounds or actions.

When Cai Chengjie talked about the origin of his creation, he noticed the viewing habits in the multi-window era.People today often switch between multiple images and information portals. Movies bring this experience to the wide screen, but still need to establish their own rhythm.How the four screens work together determines whether the audience can follow the story and characters.

The visual design is inspired by oriental screens and scrolls.Four vertical screens are arranged side by side horizontally to form a wide screen space, which separates and forms connections at the same time.Each side of the screen can be unfolded separately, and the long scroll allows the eye to move along the screen. These traditional visual experiences provide the film with a reference for organizing space.

The pilot film further introduces the shooting of four cameras at the same frequency.The team stated that in order to ensure that the four-dimensional space-time images can be presented simultaneously, the production achieved millisecond-level precise synchronization.This is important technical information provided by this new material, which shows that the simultaneous scenes on the screen require strict coordination of time.

Synchronization requirements pose problems that go beyond whether a single shot holds up.The four images share the viewer's attention, and actions on one side may change the way the other side is viewed.Both photography and storytelling need to consider the overall composition, deciding which information should be present at the same moment, and which details can wait to be discovered after the eye turns away.

Before the official launch, the team spent 15 days completing trial shooting of the entire film on mobile phones, repeatedly deducing the four-screen effect.This preparation process provided a practical guide for positioning, scene length, and parallel stories.Compared with just discussing the form on paper, test shooting allows the creator to see in advance the problems when the four frames appear together.

Photography director Ojiang believes that the four vertical screens enrich the artistic conception and emotional expression of the picture.The theater environment allows the audience to see more juxtaposed details and retain a more complete relationship between sound and picture.The pilot film provides a starting point for understanding the form on the small screen. The scale and attention allocation when fully viewed will form a further experience.

In the exchange after the screening in Pingyao, the audience talked about how to focus on moving forward in Yu Guangli.This statement corresponds to the actual experience of watching four screens: when the eyes are focused on one place, other pictures are still flowing in the peripheral vision. People cannot grasp every corner at the same time, but they can continue to supplement the relationship during the viewing process.

The film has therefore been called a work that allows for distraction.Distraction becomes a viewing condition here, allowing the viewer to choose which character to follow in the moment and then re-establish overall understanding through the plots that follow.Different audiences may remember different details, and they can exchange what they noticed during the discussion.

The cast includes Wang Ziming, Du Luotong, Xiao Dingchen, Wang Jiayi, Huang Bo, Shen Jiani, Chen Youwang and Ge Zhaomei, with friendly appearances by Wang Xun and Pan Zhilin.The four character lines need to establish a relationship between the performance and the picture. The formal design ultimately still allows the audience to feel loneliness, concern, gathering and separation, and mutual care.

This new development includes the simultaneous shooting introduction of Pingyao Honor and the pilot film.The film was previously shortlisted for the main competition of the 42nd Warsaw International Film Festival, but the current news does not give a release date in mainland China.How four screens organize time and how technology serves four periods of life have evolved from creative ideas to observable images and behind-the-scenes details.