Huayu: Starting with Xiang Yu, the Hegemon of Western Chu

The flames were extinguished by the pyrotechnics team within thirty seconds.

Chen Mo dismounted.

He stood amidst the still-smoking ruins of the grain camp.

His face was blackened by smoke, his helmet was crooked by half an inch, and there were small black spots on his night armor from being burned by sparks.

The three hundred cavalrymen behind him dismounted one after another.

Someone couldn't hold back any longer.

"Holy crap! That fire! It was fucking awesome!"

"That technique Teacher Chen used just now was really powerful!"

One of the extras tugged at the sleeve of the guy next to him and lowered his voice.

"Did you see him just now? When he passed through the firelight, that fleeting turn of his face..."

"I saw it."

"That doesn't look like an actor at all."

Martial arts director Zhao walked over and saw Chen Mo standing motionless in the ruins from a distance. He shouted at the group of extras next to him.

"Stop howling! Disarm!"

The extras immediately fell silent and bowed their heads to remove their armor.

Martial arts director Zhao walked to Chen Mo's side. He didn't say anything, but just looked at the small black spots on Chen Mo's body caused by the sparks.

He sighed deeply.

There was lingering fear in his voice, but also something else entirely.

He himself couldn't explain what it was.

Chen Mo did not leave immediately.

He stood in the ruins where the fire had died down for about a minute.

He looked down at the burned ground beneath his feet.

He memorized his entire night, including the night raid of the three hundred cavalrymen and the smoke of battle.

This was one night when Zhu Zhanji was fifteen years old.

Chen Mo kept it.

......

This take was actually just the first part of the night raid scene.

The complete night raid scene is divided into three parts.

The first section describes a swift forty-mile journey with a gag in the mouth.

The three hundred cavalrymen marched from the starting point to the rear of the Oirat grain camp. The key part of this scene is their march in the dark of night.

The second part is the charge into the grain camp.

Fire breaks out, the felt tents catch fire, the grain carts catch fire, the hitching posts catch fire; the key element of this scene is fire.

The third paragraph is a retrospective.

After the three hundred riders charged past the grain camp, they retreated, reined in their horses at the edge of the slope, and looked back at the still-burning grain camp. The key moment in this scene is that look back.

Luo Yifeng arranged the shooting order of these three segments in reverse order.

Shoot the third segment first.

Film the first segment again.

Finally, film the second segment.

The assistant director explained the order to Chen Mo the night before.

"Teacher Chen, the third scene is Zhu Zhanji's first turn after leading his troops. The emotion in this turn is the core of the entire play. We need to establish this emotion first."

"The first section is about marching, so the mood is calm, but there needs to be something under pressure. This can be filmed after the third section sets the tone."

"The second part is the charge, which is the biggest and most tiring scene. We'll shoot it last, and then we'll call it a day."

Chen Mo nodded.

"I understand."

"But there's a problem," the assistant director said. "In the third segment, we need to film Teacher Chen looking back at the fire. At this point, the fire hasn't actually been filmed yet. We're having the pyrotechnics team set up the campsite in front of the camera position where Teacher Chen is looking back. We'll do it once, and after Teacher Chen finishes filming and looks back, the pyrotechnics team will put out the fire. Then, we'll do it again during the second segment when we charge into battle."

"Burn it twice," Chen Mo said.

"Yes," the assistant director said. "The cost will be higher, but Director Luo needs to set the mood first."

Chen Mo didn't ask any more questions.

He knew what Luo Yifeng's arrangement meant.

The first take he's going to shoot today is the one with the most intense emotions in the entire night raid scene.

He only has one chance.

On set, at 10:40 PM.

Chen Mo was riding his chestnut horse. At this moment, he was not on the marching route, but on a slope 150 meters southwest of the grain camp.

At the Oirat grain camp below the slope, felt tents, grain carts, and hitching posts were already in place.

The pyrotechnics team members were scattered around a dozen or so ignition points, each holding an igniter.

Luo Yifeng's voice came through the assistant director's walkie-talkie.

"Fireworks team, light them all within two minutes."

"Camera crew, cameras in position."

"Teacher Chen, get ready."

Chen Mo nodded from his horse.

There were no traces of smoke on his face, and his nails were clean.

Today, he hasn't entered the supply camp yet; his physical condition is that of someone who "hasn't yet charged into battle."

But this shot is about looking back "after they've already charged through the enemy lines".

This is the reverse calculation method.

Show the result first, then show the process.

This acting style places very special demands on the actors.

Actors are not acting out "what I just did".

The actor is acting out "What I'm about to do, but I already know the outcome."

Chen Mo closed his eyes.

He waited quietly on his horse for about a minute.

When he opened his eyes, he saw the Oirat grain camp below the slope.

There's a fire.

The first fire started in a felt tent in the southeast corner. Smoke rose from the top of the tent first, and then the entire tent collapsed.

The second fire started at a row of grain carts on the north side. The straw piled on the carts caught fire first, and flames shot up from the straw.

The third, fourth, and fifth fire points.

Pieces upon pieces.

The firelight climbed up from the depression at the bottom of the slope. The wind was strong on the dam at night, blowing from the north, and the firelight was blown to the south.

Chen Mo sat on his horse.

His horse was on the slope, southwest of the grain camp.

He turned his back to the direction the horse had originally been marching.

His face was turned toward the campsite that was burning down the slope.

The wind cast the orange glow of the firelight onto half of his face, while the other half remained in darkness.

Luo Yifeng was on the walkie-talkie.

"Action!"

Chen Mo did not move.

He sat on his horse, watching the fire below the slope.

The main camera directly in front of him is filming his upper body.

The camera on the right is shooting a close-up of his face.

Chen Mo's face remained expressionless.

But it's not the same kind of "emptiness" as yesterday.

It's something else entirely.

There was a light in his eyes, the light of the fire shining into them, but what was in his eyes was not surprise, not pride, not fear.

It is a deep tranquility.

It's a kind of calm where a person sees what they've done and their body doesn't react at all.

This kind of tranquility is only found in one type of person.

A person who has become accustomed to seeing this kind of scene.

But Chen Mo plays a fifteen-year-old boy.

A fifteen-year-old boy seeing the grain camp he led his troops to burn for the first time should not have been able to remain calm.

He should be shocked, he should be excited, he should feel a little nauseous.

But Chen Mo didn't act out those scenes.

He portrayed that kind of calmness.

Where does that peace come from?

Only Luo Yifeng, who was behind the monitor, understood it.

Luo Yifeng sat behind the screen, watching the slight calm on Chen Mo's face.

He suddenly remembered something.

He recalled the scene from before.

When Zhu Zhanji was thirteen years old, he followed his grandfather into Nanjing, which had just been captured.

At the end of that scene, Zhu Zhanji smiled on the official road.

The meaning behind that smile is this: Grandpa, you're amazing! Grandpa, I've got it! Grandpa, I can do it too someday.

Two years have passed now.

The fifteen-year-old boy stood on the slope, looking at the camp he had led his troops to set on fire.

The smile on his face was no longer the one he had when he was thirteen.

The look on his face changed.

It has become something called tranquility.

This tranquility was not his own.

It belongs to his grandfather.

He remembered the calmness in his heart when he watched his grandfather kill someone when he was thirteen.

Now that he's fifteen, it's finally his turn to do it himself.

The calmness on his face was something he had learned from his grandfather.

At that moment, he became his grandfather.

It wasn't acted.

It was from those years before he was fifteen that he had seen Zhu Di's face every time he looked at it and remembered the face Zhu Di had when he did everything; now all of that had become part of his own face.

Luo Yifeng looked at the screen.

The walkie-talkie was lying next to him, but he didn't press it.

He lingered that close-up for a few more seconds.

ten seconds.

Fifteen seconds.

Twenty seconds.

Chen Mo remained calm on the slope for a full twenty seconds.

Then he moved.

He did not pull the reins.

He didn't raise his hand either.

He very slowly turned his gaze away from the fire at the grain camp.

After looking away, he lowered his head.

When he lowered his head, there was a very subtle movement in his neck.

It looked like it had swallowed something.

A fifteen-year-old boy, after seeing the camp he had led his troops to burn down, swallowed something.

He didn't spit out that stuff.

He swallowed it.

After swallowing it, his face looked even more like his grandfather's.

The main camera directly in front captured Chen Mo on his horse, head down, with the firelight shining from behind him, casting half of his body as a silhouette.

Luo Yifeng finally pressed the intercom.

"Pass!"