Chinese Entertainment: Academic Director

Chapter 144 The Real Grand Scene
Cao Yang ignored the commotion outside and focused on filming the war scenes in Zhenbeibao.

Today is the twelfth day of filming. It took eight days, and we just finished filming the annihilation battle against the sand bandits yesterday.

However, this does not mean that the filming of this scene has been completed, because it was not shot in the order of the script.

Large-scale melee scenes are the most difficult to shoot and are also most likely to result in casualties, so everything must be done with extreme caution.

It all depended on the soldiers of the army, who advanced and retreated in an orderly manner and obeyed orders. With them leading the extras, they also played a good role in regulation. There was no chaos or injuries, which made the entire crew feel relieved.

The main reason was that these 800 cavalrymen, with 2,000 extras, were almost one leading two, and were able to make the extras obey orders very well, avoiding chaos.

If there were no cavalry troops and only the two thousand extras, it would be difficult to command them, and there was a possibility that people would get injured if chaos broke out.

This is the good thing about big directors these days. As long as they have to shoot large-scale scenes, many of them can borrow troops to help, which saves them a lot of trouble compared to acting as extras.

What we are going to shoot today is relatively simple. We are going to shoot the scene where Wang Sheng’s cavalry charges at the bandit’s lair.

Only two battalions of cavalry are needed for the charge.

But before the charge, in order to create momentum for the grand scene, the crew rented another 600 horses and asked extras to join in. At first glance, they were all cavalry.

Dozens of related personnel were hired for these 600 horses.

These extras on horseback were just there to make up the numbers, to make it seem like Wang Sheng's cavalry were large and powerful, and they didn't need to follow the charge.

Otherwise, how can it be called a grand scene?

When the press release is sent out, coupled with a sea of ​​black pictures, it can be boasted that the crew used three thousand horses and five thousand extras to achieve the effect!
It's just doubling the amount, which is a common method. There are many more severe ones than this.

The purpose is to let the audience know how much cost and effort we spent for these ten minutes of drama. The ticket price is worth it just to watch these big scenes.

There were nearly 1,400 people on horseback, and the crew spent a lot of money to customize the Tang army armor.

"The Book of Tang Dynasty: Biography of Ma Sui" records that the cavalry armor of the Tang army was divided into three sizes: large, medium and small, which were worn by tall, medium and short soldiers respectively.

According to the Taibai Yinjing Military Equipment Chapter, the Tang cavalry had 60 men, including armored soldiers, with an armor rate of %.

But Cao Yang put armor on all these people. Otherwise, when the audience found out that there were people without armor mixed in, they would think that the crew was fooling around.

"The Six Codes of Tang Dynasty" says that there are thirteen kinds of armor for the Tang army, namely: Mingguang armor, Guangyao armor, Xilin armor, Shanwen armor, Wuzhu armor, Baibu armor, Fujuan armor, cloth back armor, infantry armor, leather armor, wooden armor, chain mail, and horse armor.

In fact, there are very few Tang Dynasty armor unearthed in China, only a few armor plates and a helmet.

The crew combined the consultants' opinions and customized the Ming Guang Armor based on the pictures recorded in the book.

Wang Sheng wore silver Ming Guang armor, important generals wore black Wu Zhu armor, and soldiers wore a simplified version of the unified Ming Guang armor.

According to the "Book of Sui Dynasty·Rituals and Etiquette", in the seventh year of Daye, among the four legions of the Sui army when they conquered Liaodong, two legions wore Ming Guang armor and the other two wore rhinoceros armor.

These are all recorded in history. Cao Yang will do his best to restore the costumes and props and set an example for other crews in the future.

With the help of his assistant and makeup artist, Chen Kun once again put on the specially customized silver armor - always trying to highlight the protagonist.

According to the plan, the 1,400 men had formed a larger formation. Chen Kun walked to a position slightly closer to the center and mounted his horse with the help of his assistant.

A large panorama will be used here to capture the entire formation.

"Teacher Gu, you are old. It would be very dangerous if you have high blood pressure or something like that. How about I take over later?" Ning Hao came to Gu Changwei with a grin and joked.

"Get out of here, kid. I've already taken a tour up there yesterday and I'm very used to taking aerial photos. Stop trying to do anything tricky."

Gu Changwei laughed and scolded. He knew Ning Hao was joking, but who wouldn't want to try to shoot in the air? This was a rare grand scene.

Ning Hao was really envious, he also wanted to go for a ride... no, to take the photo.

After confirming that everything was ready, Cao Yang shouted, "Begin," and the real big scene began filming.

Gu Changwei has a set of cameras in the sky and another two sets of cameras on the ground, shooting from different angles at the same time.

For this scene, Cao Yang used a helicopter to assist in the filming. This was also necessary support, and it was dispatched from the nearest base.

There is no way. It is not as convenient as it is in later generations. There are no drones for filming. If you want to take aerial photos of large scenes, you can only use helicopters.

After this shot was taken, the 600 rented horses had completed their mission.

Big scenes require big expenses, money is spent like water, and funds are burned.

Next comes the charge.

The extras and six hundred horses went down, leaving only two cavalry battalions of the troops, which took an hour to get ready.

Chen Kun drew out his Tang sword, looked ahead without saying a word, and pointed the sword forward.

The 800-man cavalry unit received the order, took out their prop horse crossbows one by one, and rode their horses to attack on all fronts.

In the sunshine, the horses' hooves make the wind, their manes flutter, and the riders' shouts and the sound of galloping horses resound throughout the earth, making people's blood boil.

This time, there were three camera groups shooting together, one group on a helicopter in the sky, and two groups on the ground at different angles.

Ning Hao ultimately failed to realize his wish, which made him sigh. If he had known earlier that he would join the camera crew, he might have been able to take a helicopter ride with Gu Changwei.

The director is so awesome. With the cavalry troops and the helicopters, this movie is so cool. If I could have the same ability as Director Cao, I would wake up laughing in my sleep.

After shooting this set of shots, another set of charge shots will be shot, and at that time the prop Tang sword will be replaced to indicate that the arrows have been shot and hand-to-hand combat is about to begin.

The filming of this kind of large-scale scene tests the director's scheduling and coordination skills the most. Only when all departments of the crew cooperate with each other can the film be stable and not chaotic.

At first, even though he had rehearsed it many times in his mind, Cao Yang was still a little flustered when he actually started. There were too many things to consider in such a large scene, and the slightest negligence could lead to major mistakes.

Fortunately, the first time the commanders were in charge, the military instructors were able to respond in time even if some of the considerations were not in place, and the soldiers would not panic.

Large-scale scenes are very challenging. Cao Yang feels that he should be able to handle large-scale movies more calmly in the future.

It took a total of more than twenty days before this large-scale campaign to encircle and suppress the sand bandits was finally concluded.

The crew spent nearly one-fifth of the filming budget on a total of ten minutes of plot, and this was with the help of the army, otherwise the cost would have been even higher.

Money is secondary. The main reason is that there are too many potential dangers in shooting large scenes. If you are not careful, people may get injured and a lot of trouble may arise.

The cost-effectiveness of shooting such large scenes is too low, and it has only been possible so easily in recent years.

After finishing the filming here, we will go to Hengdian for filming next.

The interior scenes had already been set up there, and most of the subsequent scenes were filmed there.

There is also a short scene at the beginning of the movie where Xiao Wei did not go down the mountain. It mainly focused on the interaction between her and her grandmother. These were shot on set, and the actors did not need to go to the mountain in person.

However, Cao Yang arranged for Ning Hao to go to Hunan Province in order to shoot the beautiful scenery in the Zhangjiajie and Yuanjiajie scenic areas, which will be put at the beginning of the movie.

This guy originally studied photography and is now an assistant director. Cao Yang told him that he must capture the artistic conception and the fairyland mountain surrounded by clouds and mist.

Cao Yang gave Ning Hao a message, "The sky is close at the top of the ladder, and you can meet fairies in the scenic spot. If you can't capture this feeling, don't come back."

Ning Hao suddenly felt under tremendous pressure.

(End of this chapter)