1990My Entertainment System

Chapter 116 "The Legend of Fist of Fury"

The drama "Fist of Legend" is not weak in terms of dialogue, but the action scenes are even more important!

If you don't play well, everything else is for nothing!

For this reason, Xia Tian invited Yuan Heping's Yuan Family Troupe.

There are many stunt teams in Hong Kong, the most famous being the Jackie Chan Stunt Team, the Sammo Hung Stunt Team, and the Lau Stunt Team.

Personally, I admire Mr. Yuan Heping's action design more.

His designed movements are graceful, elegant, and beautiful, yet realistic.

The former is even more important than the latter.

Because this is, after all, making a movie, if we pursue realism too much, we lose the aesthetic appeal.

If we're talking about authenticity, summer is all about it, so what's the point of filming?

A negative example is the Liu family troupe. Mr. Liu Jialiang is considered a successor of Wong Fei-hung—his father was a disciple of "Pork Wing".

However, his reputation is not good.

He had a falling out with Big Nose Dragon before because of "Drunken Master II", but after the movie became popular, they filmed "Drunken Master III".

Oh, and they even made a movie called "Drunken Monkey" to follow the trend?
He was even mocked by Big Nose Dragon in an interview, who said, "Ever since we became famous for filming 'Drunken Master,' all sorts of drunkards and drunk dogs have appeared!"

He also had a conflict with Fatty Hong, which made Li Lianjie quite critical of him.

—When we were filming "Shaolin Temple 2: The North and South", we told the actors from the mainland that we needed to film the sunrise and asked them to arrive at 3 o'clock. But they arrived at 10 o'clock, making us wait for seven hours for nothing! Then they said the lighting was not good and we would film it tomorrow!

To be honest, they're acting a bit like they're relying on their seniority. They think they're the rightful heirs and put on airs in all sorts of ways.

If we were to invite someone like that over, it would be a disaster.

……

When Xia Tian was working with director Gordon Chan to determine the film's style, they clearly defined their goal: to film as realistic a fight scene as possible!
The scene of something being smashed on a table and breaking is now outdated.

After several attempts, it was finally decided that the crew would no longer deliberately damage the props so that they would make a mess during fight scenes. The goal was to create a sense of realism!
A table is a table; it's as hard in real life as it is in the movie.

Then they make it look like a real impact...

Furthermore, in order to create a more realistic fighting effect, it was decided to avoid using wire work as much as possible in the film.

This film needs to make the fighting realistic and exciting!
However, this will be tough on the actors.
Because Chen Zhen in "Fist of Legend" went to Japan to study, he learned from various styles, so many modern fighting techniques such as karate, Muay Thai, and boxing were incorporated into the design.

These things all need to be discussed with Yuan Heping in the summer, and then tested one by one to see the effect.

The good thing is that as long as the opponent can devise a plan, it can be played in the summer.

However, some moves just won't work—either they're too flashy or they defy common sense.

(You can refer to the movie "The Master", where two short swords blocked the slashes of a three-pointed double-edged sword.)

It involves filtering through a collision of wildly imaginative ideas.

Apart from that, the rest of the preparations went very smoothly.

Given Summer's current status in Hong Kong, coupled with his generous spending, he basically hires both actors and behind-the-scenes staff at 20% above market rates, and everyone loves making his films.

Moreover, it's now widely known that the atmosphere on Brother Tian'er's set is excellent, relaxed and carefree, and there are many perks and benefits.

They'll even give you a big red envelope (lucky money packet) when filming wraps up!
So when many people heard that Sunshine Pictures was inviting them to participate in a project produced and starring Xia Tian, ​​they immediately agreed.

Summer's reputation here is quite high now; his reputation in Hong Kong is over 58000, making him a figure of great renown.

The benefits in various aspects have already become apparent.

……

They prayed to the gods before filming began.

Many behind-the-scenes staff who had worked with Xia Tian once again found that feeling of things going smoothly!
It's incredibly convenient to take photos, just like the comforting feeling of having a glass of water right next to you on your bedside table when you're thirsty in bed.

—Otherwise, you'll have to get up and get some water. It's this sense of ease that appears in many small details, making many things unexpectedly smooth.

The progress is very fast!
Everyone felt like they hadn't done anything, and it seemed like their task for the day was already completed?
Three shots were scheduled for the first day, but they were all filmed in less than half the time!

We just finished lunch not long ago!
Oh, and lunch was delicious too!

Tian'er's crew has the best food in Hong Kong compared to any other film crew! They even have fruit after meals!
They can't just leave work like this, can they? Even the staff themselves felt it was going too far.

So everyone got together and filmed another shot from tomorrow's shooting schedule.

Then Xia Tian called a halt: "We just started filming today, everything is going smoothly, there's no need to rush. Everyone, go home!"

……

When the crew was filming, Xia Tian's friends would visit the set from time to time, not to mention Ah Rong, Anita Mui, and Ye Qianwen.

Other friends I've worked with in the past have also come to visit the set!
For example, Stephen Chow!

After he left, the crew members all remarked, "Even Stephen Chow came to visit the set. Brother Tian'er is really influential..."

What he really meant was that Stephen Chow rarely visits other people's sets!

Of course, he might also be busy, after all, he releases several films a year and has a tight schedule.

Fortunately, he didn't offer to make a cameo appearance—considering what happened to Feng Kuzi in the original timeline, Xia Tian really didn't want him to make a cameo.

……

Soon, most of the simple dialogue scenes were filmed—the production team chose to start with the easier ones and work their way up to the more difficult ones.

The rest of the film consists mostly of action scenes.

For example, these scenes we're shooting today—at the beginning of the film, Chen Zhen is studying in Japan, fighting off a group of spirited young men from the Black Dragon Society.
It has to be said that Japanese actresses are truly talented. Shinobu Nakayama isn't actually very famous in Japan. Although she has acted in a few TV dramas and held concerts, she is mostly regarded as "Mie Nakayama's younger sister".

But at this moment, she was wearing a red and white striped kimono in the camera, turning around and waving to everyone with a charming smile. She looked youthful and beautiful, and her eyes were also very bright.

Back then, there were no young heartthrobs or idol stars; if you weren't a good actor, you really couldn't make a living in this industry.

Soon in the footage, the students started hurling insults, pushing the teacher aside, and demanding that Chen Zhen, the international student, get out.

When Guangzi stepped forward to argue, the other party actually tried to hit the woman, but Xia Tian blocked her from behind. —This part has been slightly modified, changing it so that Xiao Rizi was about to slap Guangzi, but Xia Tian grabbed her wrist.

However, in the end, he simply shook off the other person's hand without retaliating. He still harbored the idea of ​​settling things peacefully.

It's also about building up emotions, using a technique of first suppressing the anger to make the audience feel a bit agitated before the fight becomes more justified and cathartic!

Summer is 183 cm tall, and when standing in front of Nakayama Shinobu, he is almost a head taller than her. Nakayama Shinobu is holding Summer's shoulders and making faces at Summer from behind. The scene is very harmonious!
Behind the monitor, director Gordon Chan nodded and wondered: How did Summer know about Nakayama Shinobu? Pure and innocent, affectionate and full of energy, he was surprisingly a good fit!
If we were to cast a Hong Kong actress... I really can't think of anyone who could do it. They just wouldn't capture the essence!
Summer has a much better figure than Li Lianjie, who is only 169 cm tall.

In the summer, her legs alone are 10 centimeters longer than his!
Because of his short stature, Li's appearance in a Zhongshan suit made him look even shorter, so many shots only showed his upper body.

In summer, there's no such worry; you don't need to consider any body flaws, and you'll look good on camera!
Next came the action. Xiao Ri had to count to three, and Xia Tian's expression was one of "I can't take it anymore." The moment the other party said "three," she struck first, striking the leader's jaw with her hand behind her back, knocking him unconscious.

Then come joint locks, Bajiquan Iron Mountain Lean, Tan Tui...

Basically, they all used one move to defeat the enemy, rendering them unable to fight, but without killing them—after all, they were studying on someone else's turf...

The filming went smoothly overall, but a few of the extras had some flaws and needed additional shots.

Then Funakoshi Fumio appeared.

This old Japanese man has a very nice face; he doesn't have that annoying look.

Moreover, his image in the film is very good; he doesn't start fighting indiscriminately right from the start.

A few lines of dialogue showcase Mitsuko's energetic personality and her uncle-nephew relationship with Funakoshi Fumio, while also defining Funakoshi Fumio's character.

Immediately afterwards, Funakoshi Fumio informed Chen Zhen of Huo Yuanjia's death...

The pace is still quite fast.

(End of this chapter)