Chinese Entertainment: Academic Director

Chapter 143 Let’s shoot a big scene first
Although Zhenbeibao belongs to Ning Province, it is very close to Inner Mongolia and is adjacent to the Helan Mountain National Forest Park to the north, making it very suitable for photographing large scenes of ancient wars.

Cao Yang received a lot of support in making this movie.

There is a scene of annihilating the sand bandits at the beginning of the movie, and Wang Sheng "rescues" Xiao Wei from the bandits' lair.

The big scene that Cao Yang wanted to shoot was the drama of wiping out the sand bandits.

One of the supports given from above is to send a small number of cavalry troops from Inner Mongolia. There will be about two battalions, not full, and it is said that there are about 800 people.

This is already a big deal.

You should know that there are not many cavalry units left in the country, only some in Inner Mongolia and Western Xinjiang.

If a cavalry unit of 800 people charges, they will be all over the mountains and plains, with great momentum.

This scene of wiping out the sand bandits was a sneak attack in the original film, with a small scene and not many people.

Moreover, Wang Sheng led a cavalry unit, waiting for darkness, and then running over to launch a surprise attack...

Is this still a cavalry unit? Well, maybe there are too few people, so the charging scene doesn't look good.

Cavalry is about moving like the wind, charging en masse on horseback, so that they can exert their maximum combat power. When the enemy sees the cavalry rumbling over the mountains and plains, they become timid before the battle and dare not stop the cavalry's charge.

Cao Yang changed the script. The reason why Wang Sheng brought the cavalry here was because he received news that the largest and most brutal group of sand bandits were hiding here.

He came here specifically to eliminate this group of sand bandits.

At that time, there will be a large-scale cavalry charge, equipped exactly as the historical Tang cavalry had been, with soldiers carrying horse crossbows, bows and arrows, horse lances and Tang swords.

According to historical records, the cavalry would first shoot with horse crossbows when the cavalry was 200 steps away, and then shoot with bows and arrows when the cavalry was 60 steps away. When they rushed to the front, the warriors would use horse lances while the soldiers would use Tang swords held in both hands to kill the enemy.

The cavalry rushed to fight the bandits, ramming, charging, trampling, killing, and encircling them...

Cao Yang also asked the director team to book an extra of 2,000 people. He wanted to use this 800-man army and 2,000 extras to create a grand scene of a huge army.

What we want is the iron hooves crushing the mountains and rivers, the neighing of war horses breaking the sky; what we want is the iron cavalry like a tide, majestic and powerful, with the sound shaking all directions.

The two cavalry battalions have been here for quite some time. Except for the rest on the first day, they have been conducting relevant rehearsals under the coordination of the director team and the action director team.

Cao Yang certainly couldn't shoot the large scene of the cavalry charge at the beginning, so he had to give the cavalry troops and extras a few more days to rehearse.

When the time comes, there will be a large scene with thousands of people, and we must try our best to maintain order and avoid chaos, and do our best to ensure that no casualties occur.

To this end, the crew not only contacted the local government and deployed a dozen ambulances and fire trucks on standby, but also temporarily expanded Yu Chenghui's action guidance team to 60 people, including military instructors, horse trainers and relevant industry personnel.

Xiao Wei's scenes in the bandit's lair could be shot on location inside Qingying Studio.

But there is another set of shots here. Cao Yang wanted to take a panoramic view of the endless yellow sand of the Gobi Desert. Xiao Wei was walking from a distance and was discovered by the bandits on guard and rushed into the bandits' lair.

Cao Yang wanted to use this set of shots as the first shot, because it was simple enough and could reduce the number of NGs, which was a good sign.

Signaled Gao Yuanyuan to come over.

Gao Yuanyuan wore a ruqun with a "half-sleeve" over the top of the ruqun, and also decorated with a shawl, which was a typical dress for women in the Tang Dynasty.

However, in order to make the character appear more three-dimensional and prominent, Gao Yuanyuan's clothes are white in theme and the shawl is bright red in color on the Gobi Desert.

In addition, the white color is used to show the ignorance of Xiao Wei, the little fox who just came down from the mountain, and the bright red color represents her indifference to human life and her digging people's hearts in order to maintain the effectiveness of the Painted Skin.

Cao Yang took a look at Gao Yuanyuan and thought that this look was quite suitable for her, pure and bright.

Cao Yang instructed again: "Come over here later, be a little curious, don't look around so exaggeratedly. In a word, before you fell in love with Wang Sheng, you didn't care about anything, just showing a little curiosity was enough." Gao Yuanyuan nodded, and when she saw that no one was paying attention, she asked again, "Director, when did I fall in love with Wang Sheng?"

You did it on purpose, right?
I have told you many stories about plays in your home.

Cao Yang stared at Gao Yuanyuan without saying anything. Gao Yuanyuan stuck out her tongue, then quickly turned around and ran away.

"Attention all departments, check and confirm again, and start filming in ten minutes."

The script supervisor claps the cue and the first shot begins.

Gao Yuanyuan walked slowly from a distance, passed in front of the camera, and then walked away.

"Click."

Cao Yang shouted, and then added, "Not bad."

Gao Yuanyuan's acting skills have changed a lot. Although this is just a walking shot, in the past, she might have expressed her curiosity by looking around.

But now, people no longer use such basic performance skills.

Her way was to express the curiosity of the ignorant Xiao Wei with an unintentional smile and her eyes fixed on a certain place for a few seconds.

The next scene to be filmed is that the bandit's secret sentry discovers Xiao Wei, rides over on horseback from a distance, picks Xiao Wei up by the waist, puts her on the horse's back, and robs her into the bandit's lair.

This shot requires a stand-in.

It's a male stuntman who has practiced Kung Fu. When the time comes, he can be put on the horse's back and run without getting panicked or injured.

If a female actress or a female stunt double is placed on the back of a running horse, it is easy for them to get nervous and the risk is relatively high.

The male stand-in wore the same clothes and had the same hairstyle as Gao Yuanyuan.

This shot was also filmed smoothly. Both the actor playing the bandit and the stunt double had practiced it specially.

There were no difficult shots today. For the scene of siege of the sand bandits, apart from the big war scene, there were not many other scenes. The test will begin tomorrow.

The next day, the filming of the siege of the sand bandits officially began.

However, what we are going to shoot today is the literary drama, from the scouts discovering the bandits' lair to the preparations before the war.

At the same time, the media began to make efforts, and a lot of news was about Cao Yang and his new movie.

"Director Cao Yang's new play "Nine-Tailed Fox" features two film queens acting together on the same stage."

"Director Cao Yang gave up the art films he was good at and followed Zhang Yi's footsteps to enter the commercial film industry."

"Director Cao Yang's latest film, Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, has an investment scale of hundreds of millions of yuan, and Berlin Film Festival winner Li Xiaoran and Cannes Film Festival winner Gao Yuanyuan have joined the cast. It is the most anticipated commercial blockbuster next year."

"Director Cao Yang's fantasy film "Nine-Tailed Demon Fox" has two movie queens joining at the same time, with Pang Bing starring in a special role. It seems to be another female lead drama that Cao Yang is good at, and it is worth looking forward to."

"Caoyang hired historians as consultants to completely restore the military appearance of the Tang Dynasty. Is this a war drama?" The newspaper published a photo of Chen Kun wearing Ming Guang armor.

……

Of course, there are also critical media, saying that Cao Yang has also begun to "degenerate". Instead of making good art films, he follows the "degenerate" Zhang Yi to make commercial films. This is a step backwards and a step in the opposite direction.

But no matter what, there is heated discussion, it just depends on how long it can last.

(End of this chapter)