Huayu: Hard fight against Zhang Weiping at the beginning

Chapter 371: How to shoot a pseudo long shot

In the evening, Cheng Long asked Zhang Chen to have a drink.

Since people come to visit his set at his invitation, he should at least treat them well.

Fearing that it might not be lively enough, Jackie Chan also invited Sam Hui, Benny Chan, Cherrie Ying and Gao Yuanyuan to join in the fun.

"I originally called him Heigu, but Heigu is a shy person. You are not familiar with him, so he would be embarrassed..."

Heigu is Gutianle.

Cheng Long explained for Heigu, and Zhang Chen naturally didn't care.

"I've heard of Director Zhang's name for a long time. I'm lucky today to meet him in person. I'll pour him a glass of wine~" The speaker was Ying Caier.

Ying Caier, whose ancestral home is in Shandong, was born in Taiwan, grew up in the United States, and made her debut in Hong Kong.

She has a rather carefree personality, unlike Gao Yuanyuan who is beside Zhang Chen and just quietly acts as a vase.

"Our Cai'er is really good at talking." Michael Hui praised from the side, and it can be seen that they have a good relationship.

During this time, Gao Yuanyuan remained silent, and even Zhang Chen could feel that she was out of place here.

The atmosphere is always more relaxed when a woman is around.

Ying Caier is very talkative. She was also surrounded by negative news in her early years and was once one of the protagonists in the "gate" incident. Fortunately, she survived it and later had a good life and married for love.

Zhang Chen didn't have any bad feelings towards this person.

"Come on, everyone, raise your glasses and thank Director Zhang for coming to visit the set..."

Cheng Long proposed and everyone raised their glasses.

Zhang Chen quickly raised his glass as well: "As long as I didn't cause any trouble to the crew."

"How can it be a bother? You came to visit the set to bring up topics for the crew. We can't thank you enough. If Director Zhang can help direct a few more shots, it will be even more of a gimmick..."

Chen Musheng is quite good at seizing opportunities, and he set his sights on Zhang Chen.

But Zhang Chen didn't care. It was very common for people in the circle to help each other. You help me and I help you. Besides, this was Jackie Chan's crew, so it wasn't shabby.

"Brother Zhang Chen~"

While speaking, Cheng Long gestured to Ying Caier to fill Zhang Chen's glass, but this time, before Ying Caier could do anything, Gao Yuanyuan picked up the bottle and filled Zhang Chen's glass first.

Seeing this, Cheng Long smiled and said, "This is the first time Yuanyuan has filled someone's glass. Usually when we eat together, she never takes the initiative."

Zhang Chen thought Cheng Long's words had a double meaning, and remembered that Gao Yuanyuan had asked him to come to the crew. He guessed that Cheng Long might have some ideas, but was rejected by Gao Yuanyuan.

I vaguely remember that Cheng Long was too aggressive towards Da Meiyuan during the promotion of "Baby Project" in the previous life. Comparing his attitude towards Kim Hee Sun during "Myth", I guess he didn't succeed.

Thinking of this, Zhang Chen simply said: "Well, Yuanyuan and I are friends, and I recommended her last play."

Silently declared sovereignty.

There is no clue in Cheng Long's expression, and he probably doesn't care too much about it.

Seeing that Zhang Chen's wine was full, he raised his glass and said, "Brother Zhang Chen, I want to toast you alone. I should have gone to find you, but as you can see, I really can't leave here, so I had to ask you to come here..."

Zhang Chen smiled and replied: "It's okay. I've never been to Guangxi before, so I'll just treat it as a trip."

The two drank it all in one gulp, and Cheng Long then said, "Can you tell me more about the parkour movie you told me about last time~"

Zhang Chen was not pretentious. He told the story of "District 2" and said frankly: "The biggest highlight of this film is parkour. So far, this is a track that no one has developed. But the fact that no one has developed it also means there are risks. To be honest, I am not sure whether the audience will accept it..."

When Cheng Long called him, he really had a flash of inspiration and thought of "District 2".

But after thinking about it carefully, he felt that "District 2" was still too thin. Parkour is a niche after all. It was indeed a good attempt for Jackie Chan to shoot this, but he was not sure whether it could make over 100 million yuan.

After all, the box office of the original "District 2" was not that amazing, it could only be considered a small profit.

Cheng Long could not hide his disappointment on his face. He called Zhang Chen over this time just to have a good chat about the new movie, and it would be best if it could be finalized as soon as possible.

But after listening to Zhang Chen’s detailed analysis just now, I feel a little nervous.

He has indeed learned a little about parkour recently, and just like Zhang Chen said, it is too niche.

It's nice to absorb its elements and integrate them into your own action style, but as a selling point for a movie, it's a bit lacking.

"So, is it possible for us to work together on Taken 2?"

Cheng Long was still unwilling to give in and had to settle for the next best option.

"Taken" is a global hit. As long as Zhang Chen is not stupid, he will definitely make a sequel.

Zhang Chen shook his head. "The Hurricane series is an entire universe. I have designed all the characters that interact with each other in advance. If I add a character rashly, it may cause a chain reaction. It's not that I can't add it, but I have to think about it carefully..."

Zhang Chen was not very willing to let Cheng Long get involved in the "Taken" series as the styles were quite different.

"By the way, when I met Pete a few years ago, he said that New Line was interested in rebooting the Rush Hour series. Didn't they contact you?"

Cheng Long shook his head: "No, maybe he contacted me but I don't know, I'll ask Gillian later~"

Gillian is Lin Fengjiao, Mrs. Cheng, and also Jacky Cheung's agent.

The air fell into a brief silence, and the people around were stunned.

Zhang Chen rejected Cheng Long twice in a row?

They have always known that Zhang Chen is a big director and that his movies have good box office performance, breaking the local box office record in Hong Kong.

But it was not until now that I truly understood Zhang Chen's status.

Even Cheng Long had to beg him.

Gao Yuanyuan was especially shocked. She stared at the man in front of her with her beautiful eyes, as if she was meeting him for the first time.

"Director Zhang is going to stay for a few days this time. Do you have time to help me shoot a few scenes? I've watched Taken, and the action scenes are really great..."

Seeing that the atmosphere was a bit awkward, Chen Musheng took the initiative to change the subject.

Sam Hui and Cherrie Ying next to them also echoed the sentiment.

"Of course no problem." Zhang Chen agreed.

He is the director, and it is normal for him to visit the set and shoot a few shots.

Chen Musheng was just joking, but unexpectedly Jackie Chan had other ideas. Maybe it really works.

"Taken" relied on action scenes to carry its box office.

It just so happened that I was never very satisfied with the action scenes in "Baby Project", so I went to Zhang Chen for advice.

Thinking of this, he put down his glass and said, "For example, the scene this afternoon, I was really anxious to shoot it..."

Zhang Chen comforted him: "Don't worry, Uncle Long. This is normal. When making a movie, it is common to spend a day or two to polish a shot."

"No, I was anxious because I knew the scene wasn't good enough, but I didn't know how to make it better..."

I am not afraid of you having too many ideas, I am afraid of you having no ideas.

This is the state Cheng Long is in now.

Speaking of this, the people around couldn't help.

Sam Hui has never filmed action scenes, so he cannot offer any advice in this regard.

Chen Musheng is very familiar with Jackie Chan. They have collaborated on three consecutive dramas, "Who Am I", "New Police Story" and "The Baby Project". Jackie Chan is familiar with all the things that Chen Musheng is familiar with.

Ying Caier and Gao Yuanyuan can be ignored.

Zhang Chen immediately grasped the key point of Cheng Long's words, pondered for a moment, and asked tentatively: "Do you think that the scene this afternoon was dangerous, but not amazing enough?"

"Yes, yes, yes~" Cheng Long nodded continuously.

"I feel like the action scenes in "Baby Project" are not very memorable. For example, when people talk about "Who Am I", they will think of the rooftop of the Rotterdam building, and when they talk about "Rumble in the Bronx", they will think of the jump in the parking lot?"

"Yes, yes, that's it~"

Cheng Long felt that every word Zhang Chen said touched his heart, and at the same time he became more looking forward to him.

"Do you have any good ideas to make the action scenes more exciting~"

Zhang Chen shook his head. "If you want me to design more dangerous actions for you, then no. If you just want to deepen the audience's memory, then I can think of a way~"

The original Sky, Cheng Family Stunt Team and Hong Family Stunt Team are like this, you do a dangerous move, I do a more dangerous one, and we succeed by constantly raising the upper limit of the audience.

It was quite effective at the beginning, but gradually I found that it not only killed my opponents, but also killed myself.

Cheng Long's action scenes are like this, becoming more and more dangerous, with him getting injured all the time and almost losing his life several times.

After hearing Zhang Chen's answer, Cheng Long was a little disappointed at first, but when he heard the second sentence, hope was rekindled.

"What do you mean by deepening the memory points? Tell me more about it~"

Not only Cheng Long, but several others also looked over curiously.

Seeing that he had become the focus, Zhang Chen did not keep the audience in suspense and spoke directly: "You have all seen Taken, right?"

The people opposite nodded in a coquettish manner.

"Do you still remember the six-and-a-half-minute long shot in the movie? That's what I'm talking about~"

long shoot?
Several people didn't know why.

Zhang Chen continued: "Your previous action style focused on depicting a scene, constantly increasing the degree of danger to strengthen the audience's memory point, but after reaching a certain level, you found that you couldn't continue, because when manpower is limited, you are just not afraid of death, not really looking for death."

Cheng Long nodded when he heard this. He had indeed reached a bottleneck in the past two years.

Zhang Chen continued: "So I suggest you change your approach. Take the scene you performed this afternoon as an example. You jumped onto the air conditioner. The shot was only ten seconds long at most. When the audience saw you jumping onto the air conditioner, their emotions just started to rise, and then the shot ended. The emotions could not be passed on.

If we use a long shot, for example, we redesign the previous chase, fight, escape, and jump from the building, and use editing to merge them into one long shot, the audience's emotions will continue to progress, isn't this a memorable point?"

After Zhang Chen finished speaking, the scene suddenly fell silent.

Zhang Chen knew that they needed a digestion process.

Chen Musheng is the director and knows more about the camera. He kept simulating the feasibility of everything Zhang Chen said in his mind, but after thinking for a long time, he still couldn't figure out what to do.

Zhang Chen said that he wanted to integrate several scenes together. Which scenes are they?
How to blend together?
He knew that the long shot in "Taken" was a pseudo-long shot. In fact, it was many shots spliced ​​together through editing and transitions, making it visually feel like a complete shot.

But I couldn't figure out how to do it specifically.

While he was still thinking hard, Cheng Long on the other side suddenly made the decision: "Okay, let's do as you say. You will be the one taking the photo tomorrow. We will follow your instructions on how to shoot..."

Now that things have come to this, Zhang Chen naturally wouldn't refuse.

"Then let's go home early today. I need to look at today's material, and the scenes I mentioned, all need to be redesigned..."

Although a pseudo-telephoto lens does not have to be as accurate as a real telephoto lens when shooting, it still takes some effort to achieve a complete conversion between the two.

He only shot the long shot of "Taken" for six and a half minutes, but it took him several days to plan. During the shooting, there were hundreds of people off the set cooperating with him.

The long shots of "Baby Project" are definitely not that complicated. At most, they can be shot to the level of the group fight scene where Hu Bayi fights in "Ghost Blows Out the Light: The Cave of Dragon Ridge" in the original time and space.

(End of this chapter)