Huayu: Hard fight against Zhang Weiping at the beginning

Chapter 511: Domestic reaction, filming begins

Today's Hollywood mainly exports blockbuster films, and the means of mixing in ideology are very covert. It has not reached the level of later generations, where people are so crazy as to want to export even aesthetics.

At this time, the movies that could enter the mainland were generally very popular, with each one earning over 100 million at the box office, especially "Transformers", which actually broke 200 million.

This has put pressure on domestic film and television companies - 'the wolf is coming'.

Nowadays in China, if you can break 100 million, you can brag about it, let alone 200 million.

Some people had evil intentions and started reporting the movie for being bloody and violent, and promoting pornography...

Calling for a ban on "Transformers".

How can it be?

China Film Corporation has just been complained about at the WTO, and it wants to be complained about again?

Moreover, next year is the Olympic year. If you ban "Transformers" for no reason, isn't that giving them an excuse to attack you?
But the Film Bureau has its own red lines:
First, the annual movie box office must be growing positively;

Second, domestic films must account for more than 50% of the total box office each year;

In 04, due to the poor performance of “The Promise”, the first line was almost not completed. China Film Corporation urgently released “King Kong” to complete the task.

This year, the second factor has become an uncertainty again.

Despite repeated assurances from China Film Group that the task would be completed, the Film Bureau was still worried.

China Film Group is confident, as it still has "The Warlords", "Assembly" and "Pacific Rim" to be released in the second half of the year, each of which will have a box office of at least 100 million yuan.

But the Film Bureau also has its own concerns. Don't forget that there will be imported films such as "Harry Potter 5", "Jason Bourne" and "Die Hard 3" in the second half of the year.

All are sequels to hit series.

What if another movie that breaks 200 million pops up here? How will our Film Bureau complete its mission?

We must ensure that nothing goes wrong.

Then, things went badly for "Harry Potter 5". The originally scheduled premiere was cancelled, and the main creators' promotional activities in China were also cancelled.

The number of copies released in mainland China was reduced from more than 500 at the beginning to 400, a 20% reduction from the original plan.

You should know that during the same period, "Transformers" released 550 copies, "Spider-Man 3" released 520 copies, and "Pirates of the Caribbean 3" released 530 copies.

Even more unfortunate are "Die Hard 4" and "Jason Bourne", which have almost no promotion for the films and are concentrated in their release in September.

The negotiations for "I Am Legend" and "Rush Hour 3" have also been suspended.

As for when to continue the talks and whether we can enter the domestic market, no one knows.

Huayi, the Wang brothers are celebrating secretly.

“I didn’t expect that reporting would be so effective. We just asked the Internet trolls to hype it up a bit, but I didn’t expect the Film Bureau to react so strongly…”

"The crying child gets the milk. Looks like I'll have to make a fuss in the future..."

But, the pride only lasts for three seconds.

Not long after, Huayi received a call from China Film Group, requiring that the release date of "Assembly" be advanced to August, September, October, or November, but not December.

The Wang brothers were dumbfounded. What was going on?
Isn't it aimed at imported films? How come even our "Assembly" is affected?

Feng Xiaogang is indignant. What’s going on?
Can't you see that?
To make room for Pacific Rim!
Han Sanping did exactly that.

He promised to clear the obstacles for "Pacific Rim", and he will definitely clear the obstacles.

It's like wanting the horse to run, but not wanting it to eat grass. Han Sanping can't do such a thing.

He hopes that Rim of the Pacific can break the record for large ships, so he will create the best environment.

Otherwise, with so many blockbusters taking away traffic from it, how can the record be broken?

What? Huayi doesn't want to?
Can we let him do what he wants?
I'm giving you face by notifying you.

What? Unfair?
What's unfair?
Wasn’t the release date of our own “The Warlords” also advanced?
Immediately afterwards, China Film announced that "The Warlords" would be moved up to October.

Huayi has no way to express its suffering.

……

While Han Sanping was clearing obstacles for "Pacific Rim" in China, Zhang Chen, far away in the United States, had already started his preparation journey for "2012".

The role was determined as quickly as possible.

The male lead is Cheng Long, the female lead is Fan Xiaopang, and the female lead’s husband is Jason Statham. This was decided early on.

The rest of the actors were selected by Warner Bros., and Zhang Chen was the last to audition.

The audition went well.

Hollywood is so convenient in this regard.

This is the world's film and television center, and countless outstanding actors come here to try their luck.

It is really easy to find actors with good acting skills and suitable acting skills.

Black actors, Indian actors, Russian actors, everything.
The role of the scientist, the role of the president, the role of the geologist, Yuri, and a series of important supporting roles have been confirmed one after another, and the start time of the film has also been confirmed.

"2012" started filming on July 7th, North American time, without any ceremony.

This is also what Warner meant. If "2012" wants to engage in mysterious marketing, it needs to use the Mayan prophecy. The best way is to prevent the audience from associating the doomsday prophecy with the movie.

Before Cheng Long joined the crew, Zhang Chen started shooting other shots.

"2012" was filmed in many places around the world, including Los Angeles, California, Las Vegas, Nevada, Yellowstone Park, Wyoming, and Honolulu, Hawaii...

There are also Canada, the Vatican and China.

The original version of "2012" was 2 hours and 38 minutes long, which Zhang Chen felt was too long.

The film spent too much time laying the groundwork for the changes happening inside the earth and the countries secretly preparing for Noah's Ark; the first climax only occurs 36 minutes into the film.

Zhang Chen took off all of these. He wanted to ensure that the duration was within 2 hours.

For the preliminary preparation, Zhang Chen only prepared two shots.

One is the scene where black scientists and Indian scientists discuss the cause of the disaster.

Another scene is when the male protagonist takes his daughter to Yellowstone Park and discovers that the lake has dried up.

After two acts of preparation, the first small climax begins immediately. The overall rhythm is controlled at 15 minutes, which makes it easier for the audience to get into the play.

What we are going to shoot today is the first scene at the beginning, where the black scientists and Indian scientists discuss the changes in the earth's crust.

"After that solar flare, neutrinos all over the world changed. Do you see what that is?"

The Indian scientist pointed at the image on the instrument. The black scientist opened his mouth in surprise: "They are heating the core of the earth?"

"Yes, just like the principle of a microwave oven..."

As the Indian actor finished speaking, the cover of a well was opened. After the mist dissipated, bubbling underground water was revealed, as if it was boiling.

"Oh my god, we are in trouble. I have to inform the president about this..."

"Click, it's over~"

Zhang Chen watched the replay and was very satisfied.

Although this is only the first act, it is very important and explains the reasons for the sudden changes on Earth from a scientific perspective.

Roland Emmerich's works do this very well.

The explanations in the film must be understandable to the general audience, but not too profound.

"The Day After Tomorrow" was caused by the reversal of the North and South Poles, and "2012" was caused by neutrinos heating the earth's core.

Simple, clear and easy to understand.

As to whether this theory is feasible, this was of course consulted with the crew's scientific advisory group.

That's right, it's a group, composed of many scientists, about geology, environment, ocean...

All the shots in the movie had to be approved by them.

Is crustal displacement possible? Are tsunamis caused by crustal displacement like what is described in the movies?

The scientific advisory panel must ensure that the scenes in the film do not contradict science.

Zhang Chen applauded, and the first shot was completed successfully.

The American stills are just as superstitious as the Chinese crew.

The first shot is seen as a symbol of good luck.

But Zhang Chen was more impressed by the abundant actor resources in Hollywood. To be honest, these grassroots actors are really very useful.

They are very good, and their acting skills are great, but they can only get small roles in Hollywood for years.

These people are just working hard, hoping that some small supporting role will suddenly become famous, and that day is when their luck turns.

In contrast, a slutty bitch like Megan Fox easily got the leading female role. Is this world fair?
Of course, it’s not necessarily easy.

It is said that the Exploding Shell is not light in weight.

For the next ten days, Zhang Chen shot some less difficult actions, mainly to get the team to work together.

After more than ten days, it was almost done.

Zhang Chen took his team to various parts of the world to shoot location shots.

Vatican City, Hawaii, Cape Comorin in India...

Their footprints can be found in many places.

This brings us to Warner.

Compared to "Pacific Rim", this time they have a deeper cooperation with Warner for "2012".

The advantage of working with Warner is that they have rich experience in filming, especially blockbuster films.

Many things were done in advance without Zhang Chen's instructions.

For example, when it comes to filming locations, Hollywood is accustomed to filming locations all over the world, and is familiar with the related coordination work.

The fact that he can distribute his products globally proves that he has partners all over the world.

The crew shot in these places one after another and obtained enough materials.

The last stop is China.

It will take some time before Cheng Long can join the crew, so they will shoot some special effects shots for other people first.

The earthquake is undoubtedly the most visually shocking disaster in "2012", and its pleasing effect is even greater than the tsunami.

All special effects shooting took place in a large studio in Hengdian.

The models for shooting have already been prepared here.

This time we entered the village completely quietly, without firing any guns.

Everyone in the crew, including the staff in Hengdian, signed a confidentiality agreement.

Before the movie is released, anyone who dares to reveal a single word about the movie will face a huge fine.

So, not many people visited the set.

In the past, the media visiting the set would have already broken down the door.

The scene to be filmed today is an earthquake scene - Fan Xiaopang and her current husband are shopping in a supermarket and encounter an earthquake, with a crack separating the two sides.

It looks extremely thrilling in the movie, but it was actually very simple to shoot in real life.

First, there’s green screen all around.

But this time they used a blue screen instead of a green screen.

In fact, green screen technology is just a name. You can use any color of screen as long as the color is uniform, which will make it easier for post-production staff to cut out the pictures.

In the drama "2012", almost all earthquake scenes were shot using hydraulic devices.

Roland Emmerich believes that similar scenes must be combined with real scenes and special effects to achieve the most realistic effect.

Coincidentally, Zhang Chen also thought so.

To shoot this kind of ground cracking scene, two people stood on a hydraulic device.

The device has pillars and shelves that simulate a supermarket, and then the hydraulic press works to simulate ground vibrations.

Then the floor between the two of them separated, simulating a crack in the ground.

The scene looks really low-end, but when post-production is done, the green screens will be replaced with scenes from the supermarket.

There will also be a special effect of the ground cracking between the two people, and when combined with the two people’s wonderful performances, the effect will come out.

Then there's the White House earthquake footage.

This one is different from the previous supermarket ground crack.

The supermarket ground crack relied more on special effects, while the White House earthquake relied more on on-site models.

Also on a huge hydraulic device, the crew built a large number of sets, including cars, buildings, and sundries...

A hydraulic press simulates an earthquake and the actors begin their performance.

The photographer's job is to capture every shot as comprehensively as possible, because these sets are one-offs and cost $10 to build each time.

Then there is the scene of the Los Angeles plate falling into the sea.

This shot is one of the most shocking shots in the whole film and was later used on the poster.

Many people think that this shot must have been made with CG, but it is not.

For this shot, the crew spent two months replicating a 1:400 model of Los Angeles.

The model is mounted on a hydraulic device and raised using hydraulic pressure, creating the illusion that the model is gradually sliding into the sea, which is actually a pool of water.

If special effects are added later, the effect will be very shocking.

Just when Zhang Chen was considering whether to shoot some XZ scenes first, good news finally came that Cheng Long joined the crew.

Cheng Long joined the group suddenly without any notice.

"Is the filming over there finished?"

"Well, I asked them to speed up the process, and finally finished it ahead of schedule. I hope I didn't keep you waiting for too long..."

Cheng Long is also a workaholic. Not only does he work so hard, he doesn't even leave himself time to rest.

After "Rush Hour 3", he joined "The Forbidden Kingdom", and after "The Forbidden Kingdom", he joined "2012". He is simply the king of returns.

"Brothers, Brother Cheng Long, please have some water..."

At this time, the script supervisor came in with a few people, carrying several large boxes, and distributed water to everyone.

After receiving it, everyone would say, "Thank you, Brother Cheng Long."

This is the rule of the crew. When a star joins the crew, he or she has to treat everyone in the crew to water, especially those who join the crew midway like Jackie Chan.

So how do we tell each person’s status?
It's simple, just look at the water you drink.

Big stars would treat everyone to better drinks, or treat them for several days in a row.

Little celebrities don’t need to care so much, just buy something.

This rule is equivalent to notifying everyone in the crew, "I'm here, please take care of me in the future."

Of course, the crew members generally give face.

"It's great that you're here. How about taking a break?"

"No, I can't wait..."

"Well, let's shoot a big scene..."

(End of this chapter)