Huayu: Hard fight against Zhang Weiping at the beginning

Chapter 513 How to Shoot a Disaster Film

What we are going to shoot today are the last two special effects scenes in China. After these two scenes, the crew will move to Canada.

Inside the huge studio, sets built on hydraulic devices can be seen everywhere - houses, lawns, trees, streets, and even a car.

The props like trees and streets are lifelike, and the cars are completely real.

But the houses are very simple, only a rough outline is built, and the rest is surrounded by blue curtains.

The background in the distance is also all blue curtains.

In later stages, these blue screens will be replaced with real houses and backgrounds using green screen technology.

The first scene today is where Cheng Long comes to pick up his ex-wife's family and they happen to encounter an earthquake.

"All departments are in place~"

"Action~"

After the script supervisor announced the scenes, the filming officially began.

The staff pressed the switch, the hydraulic press started working, and the ground where everyone was standing suddenly shook.

At the door, the panicked Cheng Long and his ex-wife's family appeared, and then staggered towards Lincoln not far away in the shock.

In this movie, Warner has taken advertising placement to the extreme.

The three car sponsors alone include Lincoln, Mercedes-Benz and Bentley.

Lincoln was given a lot of shots as a tool for early escape, and the manufacturer spent a lot of money on it.

Mercedes-Benz also got a lot of shots as the car of the rich.

The Bentley was the car they drove out of the plane when they arrived at XZ.

The background setting is the favorite of the wealthy. Although it is only a short shot, it has the best advertising effect. Because it specially arranges the voice-activated function display, the sponsorship fee is higher than the other two combined.

Other RVs, motorcycles, small planes, Coca-Cola billboards, and a giant Burger King model...

These are all product placements.

There are also Aeroflot, Sony Computer...

Warner is indeed experienced in advertising placement and can even scrape a layer of oil off the ground.

The world's largest transport aircraft, the former Soviet Union's An-225, also appeared in the movie. Unfortunately, there is only one in the world, and I don't know who to ask for sponsorship fees.

Back to shooting
The ground was shaking more and more violently, and the trees and houses were swaying left and right, looking on the verge of collapse.

The group swayed left and right as they ran on the bumpy road.

The good thing about simulating earthquakes with a hydraulic press is that it requires no acting at all, and what the actors show is the most realistic.

Everyone got in the car, started it, and the Lincoln drove away in a bumpy ride.

"Click~"

This shot ends here.

Zhang Chen and the special effects director sat together to watch the playback and discuss every detail.

When it comes to shots involving special effects, it’s not enough for the director to nod alone. The special effects director must also nod for the shot to be considered qualified.

Later, a domestic special effects director complained in an interview that domestic directors had no idea how to shoot special effects movies because they had never been exposed to special effects.

Many times, special effects companies are not hired to take over until after filming is completed.

The quality of such a film is certainly not guaranteed.

The correct approach is to involve the special effects director during the film preparation stage.

For all the special effects shots in the movie, the special effects supervisor will discuss with the director and cameraman to come up with a suitable shooting plan.

"Okay, this shot has passed~"

After a few minutes of discussion, good news finally came, which proved that this shot was recognized by both the director and the special effects supervisor.

Everyone started to change the scene. The next one was an outdoor scene, which had already been prepared and was just waiting for them to start filming.

The props team will leave some people to dismantle the scenes here.

This is where making a movie is expensive. Props are disposable and will be useless after filming.

Moreover, earthquake shots like this are even more troublesome. If they fail to pass in one take, the props team will have to set up the scene again.

Because of the way the hydraulic presses work, the sets can hardly be reused.

Each time the scenery is set up, it not only takes time but also costs a lot of money.

Sometimes a set costs $100,000.

If we fail to shoot again and again, not only the actors will feel pressured, but everyone will feel pressured.

Therefore, before shooting similar scenes, the actors will rehearse repeatedly, rehearsing the emotions, movements and so on, and try to get it right in one go.

Now there is only one scene left. In this scene, Cheng Long is driving a Lincoln on the road to escape. Cars keep falling from the sky on both sides because of collapsed buildings.

This shot was a little "dangerous" to shoot because the cars falling on both sides were not made with special effects, but real cars that were sprayed out through air cannons.

Directly in front of the camera is a huge blue curtain, which will be replaced with the appearance of the end of the world.

Cheng Long drove Lincoln on the road, avoiding obstacles from time to time.

On one side of the field, outside the camera, stood several air cannons.

A Lincoln drove by, and according to the pre-set time points, the air cannons started one by one, blowing the car out of the cannon.

The scene captured by the camera was Lincoln moving in a zigzag manner on the road, and cars kept falling near him.

With the help of special effects in post-production, the collapsed building and the collapsed ground, this shot will be very shocking.

"Click~"

Zhang Chen and Edlan gathered in front of the player again, and Cheng Long, who had finished filming, also came over.

"Very good, another pass~"

Today's shoot went very smoothly.

In this shot, more than a dozen cars crashed.

If you shoot a few more times, the money will flow out like water.

When I looked up, I saw Cheng Long's smiling face.

"Brother Long, are you not hurt?"

Cheng Long patted the non-existent dust on his body and said, "No, these are just trivial matters. Speaking of which, although special effects films have grand scenes, they are not really dangerous to shoot..."

Edlan's face was frozen with laughter. You call this not dangerous?

If one of those air cannons had an accident and the ejection distance was not enough, it would probably cause an accident.

You call this not dangerous?

Didn’t you see that the safety officer was right next to you and your heart was about to jump out of your chest?

Well, you are Jack Cheng, if you say it is not dangerous, then it is not dangerous.

Of course, Cheng Long thinks these are small scenes. He is a man who risks his life to make movies, and these are really nothing to him.

"Okay, everyone, pack up and move to Canada tomorrow..."

For this shoot, Zhang Chen deliberately filmed many special effects shots in China.

Warner's explanation was that this was a co-production, which had requirements for the Chinese side's shooting time, location, and personnel ratio.

In order to meet the requirements, he had no choice but to do this.

But in reality, co-productions are not that strict.

It’s more about Zhang Chen’s selfishness.

He hopes to use Hollywood projects to train his team.

Even if you do nothing, you can learn a lot just by standing by and watching.

What are you doing in middle school?
In the blink of an eye, it was September and only the last shot of "2012" remained - the eruption of the Yellowstone Park volcano.

When it comes to disaster movies, why is "2012" considered the benchmark? Because other disaster movies are all about a single disaster, such as floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, extreme cold weather, volcanic eruptions...

Only "2012" is a complex disaster, which presents floods, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions in one movie.

Therefore, even in 2009, no film can surpass this 2025 movie.

Yellowstone Park is a play about a volcanic eruption.

Here, Zhang Chen used the same shooting technique as Emmerich - a combination of real-life shooting and special effects.

The advantage is that it is more realistic, but the disadvantage is that it is time-consuming, laborious and risky.

The crew filmed the scene in Canada and built a 10-acre crater model.

Nearly 20 tons of explosives were prepared for the explosion scene, and the cost of this scene alone exceeded tens of millions of dollars.

Crazy!

Really crazy~!

But Zhang Chen thinks it's worth it.

This is a major scene, and if it is filmed well, it will go down in history.

The crew spent ten days preparing for this scene, and conducted more than a hundred inspections.

No matter how cautious you are, it is understandable because you have to succeed the first time and there is no second chance.

If it fails, he doesn't have the budget to reshoot it.

"This is the final safety check. All explosion points must be guaranteed to be foolproof..." Zhang Chen gave final instructions while listening to the intercom.

This scene is about a group of people coming to Yellowstone Park to find that weird guy and want to get the map of the Ark.

In the original drama, the male protagonist drove an RV to the top of the mountain to find a strange man, and encountered a volcanic eruption when going down the mountain.

Zhang Chen made some changes here. After Cheng Long reached the top of the mountain, he got the Ark map. Facing the volcanic eruption, the monster decided to stay here.

Cheng Long escaped on his motorcycle.

This scene is a real shot.

"Attention all departments~"

"Action~"

Boot up

Cheng Long twisted the accelerator, and with the roar of the motor, the off-road motorcycle rushed down from the top of the mountain, and the tires dragged a long trail of dust on the mountain.

Zhang Chen originally wanted to use a body double for this shot, but Brother Long decisively refused.

joke?

You want me to use a body double for such a simple shot?
I, Cheng Long, will be laughed at to death.

Zhang Chen thought the insurance company would not agree, but he didn't expect them to agree.

This is different from what he had learned before. Didn't it say that insurance companies strictly prohibit the protagonist from taking any dangerous actions?

After asking, I found out that the insurance company made an exception and agreed to it because of Jackie Chan's rich experience in stunts.

Another reason is that although the scene seems dangerous, the danger level is actually not high.

The explosions along the motorcycle's route seemed to be very close, but in fact they were all strictly calculated.

In the camera, the motorcycle sped along, as if it had turned into a Hot Wheels, speeding down from the top of the mountain.

When they reached halfway up the mountain, explosions simulating volcanic eruptions were detonated one after another.

The detonation sequence of all explosion points is controlled by computer. When the motorcycle triggers the sensor buried in the weeds, the corresponding explosion point will be detonated.

Hollywood is still very mature in this regard, and everything is controlled by computers, not people.

People are the most uncontrollable factor.

Zhang Chen doesn't want Yu Haoming's tragedy to happen again to Cheng Long.

Of course, the last line of defense is people, safety officers who can manually intervene in the detonation process.

This is really the last line of defense.

If Cheng Long follows the planned route, he will not be injured even if the explosion point is very close to him.

The amount of explosives and the explosion radius have been strictly calculated and tested.

But I’m afraid of accidents. If Cheng Long deviates from the established route, then it will be hard to say.

This is when the safety officer intervenes.

The switch in his hand can cut off the passage, so that even if the motorcycle triggers the sensor, the explosion point will not explode again.

Of course, the previous shots will be wasted and need to be re-shot.

But compared with the risk of injuries, the cost of reshoots is too small.

Cheng Long was driving his off-road motorcycle at full speed, and bombs kept exploding near him.

Front, back, left, right...

Cheng Long seemed to be chased by the god of death, but also blessed by the goddess of luck.

More than 200 explosion points were detonated one by one according to the procedure. The scene was filled with smoke, obscuring the silhouette of the motorcycle.

Two seconds later, a motorcycle rushed out of the smoke and whizzed past the camera.

"Click~"

Zhang Chen waved his arms excitedly, and then thunderous applause broke out.

The motorcycle circled and finally stopped in front of Zhang Chen.

Fortunately, Cheng Long did not deviate from the planned route and the computer program did not make any mistakes.

Cheng Long waved his hands and shook his head to shake off the sand on his head. He finally felt that the movie was interesting.

"Is that ok? Can we continue shooting..."

"No big deal~" Cheng Long didn't care at all.

The crew adjusted the camera position and Cheng Long also began to make preparations.

The next shot is an extension of the previous shot.

When the ground began to collapse, the plane could only slide slowly while waiting for Cheng Long to catch up. Cheng Long chased after it on a motorcycle, and the collapsed ground chased after them.

The collapse was getting closer and closer, and at the critical moment, Cheng Long jumped off the motorcycle and grabbed the plane.

The motorcycle under him was swallowed by the abyss, while Cheng Long was hanging on the plane and flew into the sky together.

This shot was specially designed by Zhang Chen for Cheng Long, copying the scene where Tom Cruise hijacks the plane in Mission: Impossible 5.

Very visually impactful.

He originally designed this scene for the closing ceremony of the Olympics and wanted Cheng Long to have a signature move.

But now it seems obviously too late.

However, the scene was preserved.

The main thing is that Zhang Chen’s change is at least more visually impactful than the original male protagonist chasing the plane with his legs, and it will probably become another famous scene in this movie.

In "Mission Impossible 5", Tom Cruise used real shots.

But Zhang Chen didn't intend to do that.

Of course he believes in Jackie Chan's ability. Whatever Tom Cruise can do, Jackie Chan can definitely do.

It's just not necessary.

The part about chasing the plane was shot live, while the part about jumping out of the plane was synthesized with green screen.

If it can be done simply, there is no need to make it so complicated.

This is something Cheng Long doesn't seem to think.

When the crew was getting ready, Cheng Long suddenly found Zhang Chen.

"Achen, I want to film the next scene of stealing the plane..."

Zhang Chen looked at the other party in disbelief: "No, we have already discussed this issue..."

"I know that it was done for safety reasons at the time, but in fact, such an action is not dangerous at all..."

Zhang Chen was almost amused by him, pointing at his head: "Do you think I'm stupid? This kind of shot is not dangerous, so why did you rush to take a real shot?"

Cheng Long was not embarrassed or annoyed after being exposed: "How about this, we shoot once for real, and then combine it with green screen, and then we'll see which one works better?"

"Don't play word games with me. I said it's not possible because of the shooting effect, not because of safety issues~"

No matter what Cheng Long said, it just wouldn't work.

At this time, the insurance security officer who received the news also rushed over and said righteously: "No, absolutely not, it's too dangerous, this is not covered by our insurance..."

Zhang Chen shrugged: "You see, I'm not the only one who disagrees..."

This kind of thing definitely cannot be agreed to.

That shot of Tom Cruise looks good, but it requires a lot of effort behind the scenes.

Don’t be fooled by the joke he made on the show that the insurance agent disagreed at first, so he fired the agent and replaced him with someone who was more obedient.

That's purely for show.

The truth is, the scene where Tom Cruise steals the plane is rated as "Level 1 risk" by the insurance company, which is the highest level.

The premium alone was $2000 million.

In addition, a lot of preparation work was done secretly for this shot.

First of all, the door frame of the aircraft has been specially reinforced and secondarily insured.

In addition, there are hidden buttons on the side of Tom Cruise's body that is attached to the gilded bulkhead to ensure that he will not be blown off by the wind.

He also had two hidden safety ropes tied to his body. The main safety rope could bear three tons, and the secondary safety rope could bear two tons.

The plane is then equipped with a small ICU center staffed by two emergency doctors.

In addition, off-camera, there was an ambulance helicopter on standby.

Zhang Chen believed in Cheng Long's ability, but after going through this process, it would take at least a month for the opportunity to be lost.

So, there is no room for negotiation.

(End of this chapter)