Shadow of Chinese Entertainment

Chapter 195 Finishing

In the TV series "The Return of the Condor Heroes", the Battle of Xiangyang is of paramount importance.

This is not only the most spectacular, dramatic, and conflict-ridden segment of the entire series, but also the grand finale of the show.

At this point, two days had passed since An Xiaoqian finished filming her scenes in the ancient tomb. The crew had experienced twists and turns, such as Yu Minjie falling ill and the reassignment of filming tasks, before finally ushering in this crucial scene.

This part of the story tells of how Guo Jing and his wife gritted their teeth and defended Xiangyang City. Facing the siege of 100,000 Mongol troops, they led their soldiers in a brave battle.

Huang Yaoshi, Zhou Botong, Master Yideng, and others also rushed back to help in the battle.

The Golden Wheel Monk tied Guo Xiang to the tall frame of a chariot, attempting to coerce Guo Jing into surrendering.

Guo Jing looked at his daughter, suppressing his inner worries, and comforted Huang Rong, telling her to put the country first.

Just when everyone thought Guo Xiang was about to be burned to death and Xiangyang was about to fall, Yang Guo and Xiaolongnu arrived just in time.

Yang Guo used his superb martial arts skills to rescue Guo Xiang, and then took the life of the Mongol emperor amidst a vast army. The Mongol army collapsed instantly, and the siege of Xiangyang was lifted.

Such a compelling and crucial plot naturally presented a challenge for the production team during filming.

The bearded man attached great importance to this scene, and began meticulous preparations well in advance, starting with all aspects from set design and imaging technology to computer special effects.

Given the previous financial constraints and the various circumstances that affected the filming schedule, preparing for this scene was exceptionally difficult.

Nevertheless, the crew worked with great enthusiasm and adopted efficient and highly creative methods in filming.

During filming, three film crews simultaneously filmed three scenes: "Guo Xiang being held aloft on a high platform," "Guo Jing leading his troops to defend the city," and "The Mongol army attacking the city."

Hu Xiaobei stood calmly on a high place, holding a megaphone and directing the scene with composure, constantly adjusting the shooting angle and the actors' positions.

One scene, starting with a close-up of Guo Jing's face, is a continuous shot of the ironclad formation and the panicked crowds running through the city, making it arguably the most magnificent scene in the entire series.

To capture this shot perfectly, Hu Xiaobei activated his spiritual perception to find the best shooting method and communicated with the photographer and actors in advance to achieve the desired effect.

In addition to the meticulous work on the camerawork, the props in the drama are also very exquisite.

For example, the "battle chariot" used in the film: a wooden structure, six or seven meters high, stacked in three layers, each layer being 60 square meters, requiring about twenty people to stand on each layer during filming.

The first floor was the command post of the Mongol emperor Möngke. The second floor was equipped with several powerful cannons. The third floor was an observation tower. It was here that Guo Xiang was taken hostage by the Golden Wheel Monk, who forced Guo Jing to surrender.

It took 7 or 8 tons of wood to build this vehicle. The prop team had to go to several places to find suitable wood before they could gather the materials.

With meticulously crafted props, a large number of people were needed to recreate the grand war scenes. This filming involved about four to five hundred extras.

Most of these extras were recruited locally, and there were also more than a hundred students from martial arts schools.

The production team also provided 50 fine horses, which ran around the battlefield, creating a scene filled with dust and shouts of battle, in order to create the effect of a massive army.

Sixty gunpowder detonators were placed on the city walls, moat, and ground outside Xiangyang to create a scene of intense fire and flames during a cannon battle.

The ancient battlefield was surrounded by blue cloth as a backdrop, and the visual background was created using computers.

Through computer special effects, four or five hundred extras were replicated into an army of 5, one "battle chariot" was replicated into five, and several cannons were made to look like more than twenty firing simultaneously.

The scene of Xiangyang City being blasted open by cannon fire and the city walls engulfed in flames also needed to be filmed separately.

The film will also use computer-generated special effects to depict the Battle of Xiangyang, a battle involving 20 troops, a feat unprecedented in domestic film and television production.

The bearded man publicly stated that the overall visual effects are expected to be close to 80% of those in major Western films such as "King Arthur," "The Lord of the Rings," and "Troy"...

However, the special effects still need to be produced in post-production, and no one knows what the final result will be.

Hu Xiaobei had a plan, but he couldn't say it out loud and lest he undermine Shen Diao.

In the original timeline, the filming of this scene encountered numerous problems: Huang Rong was frightened to tears, Guo Xiang was forgotten, and Master Yideng fell from his horse. These were just the actors whose names were known; many more nameless extras and crew members were injured and bled, and no one knew about it.

Now that Hu Xiaobei is coordinating and planning the filming methods in advance, many people have been passively affected.

Not only did Yang Mi miss out on an unforgettable experience, but there were also no fights or injuries on set.

During Hu Xiaobei's filming of the war, Yu Minjie, despite being ill, rushed to the scene.

He wanted to gain some experience, and he didn't want to miss the opportunity to film large-scale war scenes.

In his spare time, Yu Minjie humbly sought advice from Hu Xiaobei, who generously shared his experience without reservation.

Perhaps due to her love for film and television, Yu Minjie had almost fully recovered in just three days.

In light of this, Hu Xiaobei simply handed over the subsequent filming to Yu Minjie.

Knowing that his overall coordination skills were lacking, Yu Minjie insisted on keeping Hu Xiaobei for another day, and only let him leave when he felt that he had taken over enough.

Fortunately, all the scenes involving Little Dragon Girl in The Return of the Condor Heroes have already been filmed.

In the original timeline, the production team also went to Peach Blossom Island in Zhoushan to film scenes such as Wu San Niang leading the two Wu brothers to find Wu San Tong, who was suffering from severe poison, and Xiao Guo Fu and the Wu brothers bullying Xiao Yang Guo.

In addition, there are scenes of Yang Guo and Zhou Botong fighting with the Ecstasy Palm and the Ambidextrous Fighting Technique, and exploring the writing on bee wings.

Since An Xiaoqian did not have any filming duties on Peach Blossom Island at the time, and in order to satisfy the demands of her fans.

On April 16, Taohua Town specially invited the main creators of The Condor Heroes, including Big Beard, Huang Xiaoming, and An Xiaoqian, to appear at the opening ceremony.

They even specially arranged for An Xiaoqian to hold a fan meeting at the Anqi Peak Scenic Area on Peach Blossom Island.

On the day of the event, more than 4,000 movie fans and tourists rushed to the scene after hearing the news.

An Xiaoqian signed autographs for fans non-stop, signing over a thousand copies.

The meet-and-greet, originally scheduled for half an hour, was extended to more than an hour due to the enthusiastic atmosphere and the fans' passionate interaction.

It's only February 21st now, and An Xiaoqian has already finished filming all her scenes. There's no need for her to stay on set any longer, so she won't be going to Peach Blossom Island anymore.

The thought of Peach Blossom Island inexplicably made Hu Xiaobei feel a sense of urgency.

This is because he had seen a video of An Xiaoqian and her daughter, Cheng Jinfei, and people from Peach Blossom Island having a meal together, during which they discussed malicious news.

However, this video was only discovered by the person who filmed it twenty years after it was made.

Since An Xiaoqian debuted, all sorts of fake news about her have emerged one after another.

During the filming of Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, Chinese Paladin, and The Return of the Condor Heroes, fake news was rampant.

Some journalists, in pursuit of sensational news, go so far as to cite various fake news stories and fabricate entirely unfounded accusations.

Reporters even went to Jiangcheng to verify the information, and even the primary school that An Xiaoqian attended was dug up to determine whether her age was fake.

An Xiaoqian has always been reluctant to expose the details of her family to the media because she knows very well that once this information is exposed, it will bring a lot of trouble to the lives of her relatives and friends.

However, the reporters pressed on relentlessly, peeling back layers of the truth bit by bit, until, though she was unwilling, she could no longer hide it.

Fortunately, the An and Liu families still had some connections and influence in the local area, so they were not greatly affected, but various disturbances were still unavoidable.

However, these were merely minor incidents; the subsequent fake news about gender reassignment and abortion were the real storms that stirred up a storm.

(End of this chapter)