Reborn Action Star: Starting in Hollywood

Chapter 557: Elephant Taming, Filming Preparation
"According to the film's plot, after defeating the anaconda Amanda, Udi becomes the new king of the forest, but he must also face the threat of the tiger king Rajah," the veteran director explained. "But before Rajah could strike, Udi encountered the aggressive bull elephant Sulu."

"In the plot, Woody was sitting on a tree, but the whole tree was uprooted by Sulu. Sulu was not satisfied with uprooting the tree, he also wanted to uproot an entire grove of newly planted groves by the chimpanzee tribe. Therefore, a confrontation broke out between Woody and the elephant Sulu," Meng Tao continued.

"Elephants pulling up trees? In the fairy tales I read as a child, weren't elephants the guardians of the jungle?" GAKKI asked curiously.

After hearing what GAKKI-chan said, Lin Yuan was quite helpless.

In Western cultural works, elephants often appear as loyal, just and kind characters, and are always positive characters. They rarely have the opportunity to play villains.

In the animated film "The Jungle Book" produced by Disney a few years ago, the elephant was portrayed as the god of the jungle, nurturing and protecting the entire jungle, and all animals had the most devout worship for the elephant.

In the end, the forest fire caused by the protagonist was even extinguished by spraying water and rain from the elephant's trunk, which is quite outrageous.

In fact, in nature, male elephants often act like grumpy brothers who bully anyone they see.

The other animals were unable to resist the crushing power of the bull elephant and could only choose to endure silently.

If rhinos and hippos, who are often raped, knew that elephants were glorified by humans in this way, they would definitely complain with tears in their eyes.

Lin Yuan smiled and explained to GAKKI: "The main food of jungle elephants is shrubs, grass and low leaves. If the trees grow too tall and too dense, the sunlight will not be able to penetrate, and the elephants will have no food.

So elephants will proactively pull up small trees that haven't grown yet, and they'll also try to knock down some large trees to ensure that there aren't too many trees in the forest."

After hearing Lin Yuan's explanation, GAKKI nodded and said, "Now I understand why the elephant pulled out the tree. The protagonist Udi and the elephant Sulu meeting in this way is completely reasonable in terms of the plot.

But why plant trees? Aren't there trees everywhere in the jungle?

Meng Tao smiled and said, "Let me explain. You also know how powerful environmental protection organizations in Europe and the United States have been in recent years.

If someone revealed that we destroyed a large area of ​​pristine rainforest while filming a movie, how much pressure would we face? We might even face a boycott.

So we chose to transplant the trees so as not to leave any room for suspicion."

Meng Tao continued, "In addition to this reason, there is another reason, which is that the effect of using trees from the original rainforest for filming is not good enough."

"The effect is not good?" Gakki-chan was a little puzzled: "There are so many big trees in the primeval forest, how can the effect not be good?"

"That requires elephants to be able to push it down. After all, they are not cranes." Meng Tao said: "Under normal circumstances, elephants can push down trees with a diameter of one meter and a height of more than ten meters. You can see how big those trees in the jungle are..."

GAKKI's mind immediately flashed with images of the huge trees in the rainforest that were too big for two people to hug, and she immediately understood what Meng Tao meant:
To get the best shot of elephants destroying a forest, it's best to plant a small forest.

This allows the setting to be tailored to the needs of the shoot, and on the other hand, it allows the elephant to better demonstrate its destructive power.

After all, the roots of newly transplanted trees have not yet taken root, so it is not impossible for the elephant to handle a tree with a diameter of 2 meters at this time, which can better increase the visual impact.

"No wonder the cost budget for this scene is so high. It took a lot of effort to transplant a small forest and replicate the appropriate scene." said GAKKI.

"The one who really has to worry is Lin Yuan. We just need to spend money. And Lin Yuan needs to deal directly with the male elephant Sulu. Even though Lin Yuan has dealt with anacondas and tigers before, these two animals are not even in the same league in front of elephants. They are several levels apart." Meng Tao said.

After saying that, Meng Tao handed a set of materials to Betty and GAKKI-chan.

"Weight: 6.3 tons, shoulder height: 3.8 meters, tusk length: 1.93 meters. I understand these three statistics. I know that for an adult male elephant, these are close to the limit, which means Sulu is a real giant." Betty asked:
"But what's the point of these two statistics, which are 153 kilograms in trunk weight and 33% in brain mass at birth to adulthood?"

"Do you know what the elephant's trunk is used for?" Meng Tao asked.

"I know that there are two main functions. The first is to grasp like a human hand. Elephants can even use their trunks to pick up a piece of grass and feed it into their mouths.

The second function is to help with drinking. Elephants can't drink directly from their trunks; they suck up water and spray it into their mouths," Betty replied.

"Yes, you are absolutely right. But if the elephant only uses its trunk in this way, the movie will not look good," Meng Tao replied.

"Have you designed any outrageous shooting plans again?" Betty asked curiously.

"It was designed by Lin Yuan, not me." Meng Tao said, "I don't know to what extent Lin Yuan can tame the elephant, so how did he design it?"

"Lin Yuan wanted the elephant to use its trunk as a weapon to whip it, and also wanted the elephant to use its trunk to spray water cannon to attack him," said Meng Tao.

After hearing Meng Tao's explanation, Betty immediately understood why there was data on the weight of the elephant's trunk.

Under normal circumstances, the trunk of an African elephant is composed of 4 muscles and weighs between 135 and 145 kilograms.

Sulu's trunk was obviously a gift, far superior to that of its peers.

Even though elephants usually only use their trunks for eating and drinking, it is, after all, a super "meat stick" weighing 153 kilograms and nearly 2 meters long!
If you were to be whipped violently...

Even the tiger Raja would have his spine broken in an instant and become a dead tiger.

The reason why elephants do not use their trunks as weapons is because they have a series of more useful means such as ivory and trampling, but it does not mean that the lethality of the trunk is not amazing.

If Lin Yuan wants to make the fight more exciting, he must let the elephant use its trunk.

Then naturally we need data related to the nose.

As for how Lin Yuan can make Sulu cooperate with him and use his nose to have a wonderful fight, it all depends on his taming skills.

"So what's the 33% birth-to-adult ratio of brain mass?" Betty asked the second question.

"It's the ratio of an animal's brain mass at birth to its adult brain mass. The higher the ratio, the greater the proportion of the animal's innate instinctive behavior, and the lower the ratio, the stronger its acquired learning ability," Meng Tao replied.

Betty nodded. This was easy to understand: the more an animal's brain develops after birth, the lower its natural ratio will become.

"What does the 33% ratio of this male elephant Sulu mean?" Betty asked.

"Let me give you some examples of the distances between some animals that are generally considered to be highly intelligent. This will give you a clearer picture." Meng Tao continued:
"Chimpanzees are 54%, bottlenose dolphins are 42%, and pigs are 59%." Meng Tao paused and said, "The average for humans is 28%, and for elephants it's 35%."

After hearing this data, Betty immediately understood:
Although the intelligence of an animal cannot be judged solely by the ratio of brain mass at birth to adulthood, it can be seen from the side that the intelligence of elephants is quite high.

And Sulu is a genius among elephants, with an IQ far exceeding that of his peers.

"Sulu was specially selected by us. It took us a lot of time to find such an elephant with a strong body and a smart enough mind," said Meng Tao.

Betty finally understood why Meng Tao arrived in Xiala Village so much later than the old director.

It was not only because the journey was long, but also because he carefully selected the most suitable elephant actors instead of just picking a few elephants at random.

"I want to ask an extra question," Betty asked suddenly.

"Of course, go ahead." Meng Tao replied.

"What's the birth-to-adult brain mass ratio for cats and dogs?" Betty asked.

Cats and dogs are humans' closest pet companions, so Betty certainly wants to know more about them.

"Cats are 68% and dogs are 63%." Meng Tao replied.

"Dogs are smarter than cats, aren't they?" Betty said.

She was not surprised by this answer.

Pigs are much smarter than dogs, which has been a consensus for years, but dogs are smarter than cats, and this conclusion is enough to make the cat-dog faction fight.

Meng Tao smiled and said, "Like I said, this is just a reference data. We can't draw conclusions based on this data alone. And it's not the case that the smarter an animal is, the more emotional it is. Pigs are smart, but their ability to support human emotions is clearly weaker than that of cats and dogs."

"I'm just asking, haha, you don't need to explain so much." Betty said with a smile.

"Well, let's get back to work. Lin Yuan, Sulu is smarter than you expected. Do you have the confidence to handle it?" Meng Tao asked.

"An elephant never forgets." Lin Yuan said.

(An elephant never forgets.)
This is a European and American proverb, which means that elephants have a very good memory.

If you are smart enough and have a good memory, then why are you afraid of not being able to handle it?
Lin Yuan knew that he had the help of legendary talents, but what he feared most was that the animals were too stupid and lacked advanced emotions. This would prevent him from carrying out complex cooperation even if he tamed the animals.

For example, the anaconda before could only control the strength when binding itself.

When it comes to working with Tiger Raja, they can carry out a lot of exquisite cooperation, and even let Raja cooperate with the old director to perform many thrilling action scenes.

Now it was the turn of the much smarter elephant Sulu, and Lin Yuan was naturally full of curiosity and anticipation.

Speaking of curiosity and anticipation, Lin Yuan suddenly asked, "Is elephant delicious?"

"Elephants are protected animals! No matter which country, elephants are the highest level of protected animals! Not to mention eating elephant meat, even buying ivory products is illegal!" Meng Tao answered righteously.

"Don't be so serious. I'm just discussing whether elephant meat is delicious from an 'academic' perspective. I don't really want to eat it," said Lin Yuan.

"What I mean is, since it is a protected animal, how could we have eaten it? I can't answer your question." Meng Tao said.

"Elephant meat tastes terrible. It's fishy, ​​hard, and a bit sour." Saragama at the door suddenly spoke up.

Hearing his words, everyone in the thatched hut was stunned.

Everyone suddenly realized: How dare we forget the existence of this great god.

I didn't expect that he actually ate it?

Considering his previous description of the deliciousness of hippopotamus and okapi meat, Lin Yuan didn't even know if there was any protected African animal that this macho man hadn't eaten?
"Elephant is indeed not tasty, but it's not surprising, it doesn't look tasty." Lin Yuan said.

“But the elephant’s trunk is delicious,” Saragama replied immediately.

"Huh?" Lin Yuan suddenly remembered that the "elephant trunk" in the Manchu-Han banquet was the elephant's trunk. It turned out that our ancestors would not let go of any precious ingredients.

In response to Lin Yuan's question, Saragama continued:

“When elephant trunk is cooked a little longer, it becomes very soft and glutinous, melts in your mouth, and has a unique aftertaste that is hard to describe, but once you eat it, you will definitely remember it for a lifetime.

If you control the heat well, the elephant trunk tastes a bit like ox tongue, very chewy and very fragrant.

! ! ! !
Lin Yuan's heart was filled with alarm!

"How many elephants have you eaten? This is too cruel!" Lin Yuan complained.

After Saragama finished showing off, he scratched his head with a silly smile and sat back at the door.

"Sulu's trunk weighs 153 kilograms, chuckle~"

"Lin Yuan! What do you want to do!"

"Hahaha, just a joke!"

Betty and GAKKI-chan, along with the old director, started laughing, and the room was filled with a happy atmosphere.

The work discussions went quite smoothly in a pleasant atmosphere.

Finally, before three o'clock in the morning, all the matters awaiting confirmation were effectively communicated.

Only then did everyone feel a strong sense of fatigue coming over them, and they said goodbye to each other and returned to their residences to rest.

It was so late and the two women were already exhausted, so Lin Yuan didn't do anything fancy. He just hugged them and fell asleep quickly.

Silent all night.

……

……

When Lin Yuan opened his eyes again, it was almost noon the next day.

He was still a little dazed after just waking up, and Betty, who was in his arms, also woke up from her deep sleep.

Lin Yuan got up from his bed and looked at the watch beside his pillow: "It's already 11:20. I slept for a long time."

Betty looked particularly cute with her sleepy eyes. She muttered, "It seems that your energy is not endless. There are times when you can't sleep."

Lin Yuan looked at Betty with a smile. Betty, who always looked heroic and elite, was now without makeup, but she had an extraordinarily fresh feeling, which Lin Yuan found so adorable.

So he leaned forward and kissed Betty lightly on the lips.

"Oh! I haven't brushed my teeth yet!" Betty said helplessly.

"It's nothing. I drank the health potion and I didn't have any breath when I got up." Lin Yuan said.

"I still can't accept it. Let me brush my teeth first. Then you can kiss me however you want." Betty said with a smile.

"Can I kiss either lip?"

"Hey!"

"Hahaha, it was you who said you could kiss me however you wanted."

The two got up while playing and fighting.

"Are you awake? Wash up and have dinner." Hearing the noise, GAKKI opened the door and said with a smile, "The elephants have arrived. The director and Coach Meng have already gone over. I'll take you there later."

At this time, I didn’t know whether to say it was breakfast or lunch, so GAKKI-chan vaguely said “eat”.

No matter how late she sleeps, GAKKI-chan always gets up early and finishes all the chores in life, which makes Lin Yuan feel very comfortable.

Looking at GAKKI's appearance, Lin Yuan guessed that she must have gone to the elephant enclosure with the director and others.

"So fast?" It was a little earlier than expected, Lin Yuan was a little surprised.

He had long been accustomed to the customs in Africa, where there were always unexpected things and delays were commonplace.

It's good enough that you're not late, but you actually arrived early?
"Yes, there really are thirteen elephants. It's the first time I've seen so many elephants. Each one is more than one story high. When they stand together in a large group, it feels like a wall blocking my entire view." GAKKI said.

As she spoke, she placed beef and egg porridge, two split salted eggs, a small plate of grilled mackerel, an egg and bacon sandwich, and several glasses of milk on the table.

Although it was almost noon, Lin Yuan and Betty had just woken up, and their stomachs would not be able to adapt to eating so much meat and fish all at once, so the GAKKI sauce was prepared according to the standards for breakfast.

This is truly a breakfast that combines Chinese, Japanese and American elements. GAKKI has carefully considered their eating habits.

Lin Yuan and Betty both felt GAKKI's care. After expressing their gratitude, they began to taste the breakfast prepared by GAKKI.

"Are you going to tame the bull elephant Sulu today? I just saw him, he is taller and bigger than I imagined. Will he be difficult to handle?" GAKKI asked while watching Lin Yuan eating.

"It's not difficult to tame Sulu. The difficult part is to make him convinced and willing to cooperate with me to complete the tedious and detailed actions during the filming." Lin Yuan replied.

"Isn't it difficult? Isn't it difficult to tame such a big bull elephant?" Betty interrupted and asked.

"Well, you have to understand that Sulu isn't a wild elephant, but one that's been tamed by humans." Lin Yuan explained, "Sulu has already been tamed by an elephant trainer. He has experience obeying humans. Now I'm just asking him to obey me, not starting from scratch."

Elephants are social animals, and as long as they are social animals, there is a concept of hierarchy and obedience.

Compared with tigers, which are solitary wolves and often suffer from social anxiety, elephants are indeed much easier to deal with.

Therefore, even if starting from scratch, taming an elephant is much easier than taming the tiger Raja.

What's more, Sulu is a tamed elephant.

"Then why do you say that it's difficult to convince Sulu? Isn't the goal achieved after taming Sulu?" GAKKI asked.

"You have also been an employee. When your boss pays you, you will follow his instructions. But do you obey him from the bottom of your heart? Do you have absolute autonomy, treat the company's affairs as your own, and try your best to do your best even if you have to redo the work ten times?" Lin Yuan asked.

"Of course not, how is that possible?" GAKKI immediately shook her head.

Lin Yuan smiled and said, "Then you know why I said it's difficult, right? Especially the smarter the animal, the harder it is to prevent it from playing tricks."

At this point, Lin Yuan sighed again: "I don't know what method the previous animal trainers used to train elephants. If they use traditional methods, it would be even more difficult."

"Traditional way? Are there different ways to tame elephants?" Betty also asked.

Lin Yuan nodded. "Of course. The traditional method is what elephant trainers used in the past. It mainly involves torturing elephants in various cruel ways, making them feel fear and terror, and gradually getting used to being controlled and obeying."

Generally speaking, the way to tame animals is nothing more than carrot and stick, and even humans can be tamed in this way.

However, the traditional method of elephant training does not even have carrots, it is purely sticks.

This is mainly because there is a huge difference in size between elephants and humans, so elephants are naturally not very afraid of humans.

At this time, the carrot is unlikely to have the effect of winning over the elephant. Instead, the frequency of using the stick must be increased, using greater pain and fear to force the elephant to surrender.

"But if humans torture elephants, won't the elephants go crazy and lose control during the taming process?" Betty found it hard to imagine. It was not difficult for humans to kill an elephant, but it was too difficult to subdue an elephant without the help of machinery.

"Do you know what an elephant hook is? And what about an elephant nail?" Lin Yuan asked.

"That sounds pretty cruel, a tool designed specifically for elephants?" Betty asked.

"Yes, that's right. The elephant hook is a one-meter-long stick with a sharp barb on the top. Once the elephant is disobedient, the trainer will use the elephant hook to hook the delicate parts under the elephant's neck or behind the ears. The severe pain will force the elephant to surrender.

As for the elephant spike, it's a torture device specifically designed to nail an elephant's feet to the ground, preventing them from moving or sleeping. It can also torment an elephant to the point of wanting to die, forcing them to obey. "Lin Yuan said.

"Won't the elephants get hurt or die if it's so cruel?" Betty asked.

"Of course. As far as I know, the mortality rate using traditional elephant training methods is about 10%. Many elephants die from mental illnesses such as madness and depression, or from wound infections," said Lin Yuan.

"I hope they don't tame the elephant using the traditional method, otherwise it will be several levels more difficult for me to open Sulu's heart," said Lin Yuan.

At this point, there was no need for Lin Yuan to explain any further. Betty and GAKKI easily understood the whole story.

Elephants are animals with high intelligence, rich emotions, and excellent memory, and their feelings can be completely compared to those of humans.

If a person is forced to work for many years by his boss using various torture instruments, he may appear obedient on the surface, but he must be full of resentment in his heart.

Maybe he doesn't dare to resist, but if you want him to be sufficiently motivated first, that's simply wishful thinking!

At this time, he must have closed his heart, and the difficulty of communicating with him will increase exponentially.

Then the question comes:

How did Sulu's trainer tame him?

GAKKI-chan said helplessly: "No need to guess, I just saw the elephant hook that Lin Yuan mentioned."

"I knew that these African black guys only knew how to train elephants in this way!" Lin Yuan complained helplessly.

(End of this chapter)