China Entertainment 1997.

Chapter 508 Chibi Finalization and New Movie

Cao Xuan didn't care about the swords and swords of the east and west palace parties inside the stars.

After rejoining the group at the end of August, he devoted himself to filming "Three Kingdoms: Red Cliff". Except for going home a few times a week to see his daughter + paying public rations to the East and West Ergong, he basically stayed on the set to film.

In mid-September, the filming of "Three Kingdoms: Red Cliff" was almost finished, and the rest of the time was focused on filming the final battle.

The crew also moved from Fanxing Film and Television City to Taihu Lake near Miyun Reservoir and Xinwu Film and Television City.

Of course, Taihu Lake is actually mainly based on location, and there are not many actual shooting shots. The real highlight is still in the Miyun Reservoir.

As early as last year, the crew has built many warships, even large ones, which are now on display in Miyun Reservoir for filming the decisive battle of Chibi.

The night was as dark as ink, and a row of battleships were ready to go, and the largest one of them was brightly lit.

Cao Xuan was wearing a brocade robe, a dark gold armor, and a white cloak on the back. The white tassels on the handsome helmet were blown high by the wind. He had a handsome face and an extraordinary temperament. .

Holding on to the railing, he looked around the deck and the generals and soldiers of the nearby warships, shouting loudly.

"God bless Jiangdong, help me with the east wind, Cao thief will be killed and defeated today."

After finishing speaking, Cao Xuan drew out the sword in his waist, and said with a murderous look, "Give me the commander's order, fly forward, and send troops to Chibi."

Boom boom boom!
woo~
The drums shook the sky, and the horns were loud.

Several flag bearers climbed to the bow and stern of the ship and issued orders. The fleet climbed up and moved forward slowly. Cao Xuan stood with his sword, and a big [Zhou] flag sounded behind him.

……

"Card."

Lao Mouzi's voice came from one of the boats, and Cao Xuan returned to his original state, and picked up the walkie-talkie handed over by the staff next to him.

"Director Zhang, how about it, do you want to walk again?"

"No need, the close-up and long-range shots are very good. It's almost five o'clock, and the sky is dawning. Let's go here."

"Row."

The staff announced the end of the work, and there were not many people cheering. The backstage filming started at 7:[-] pm, and everyone was very tired after a long night of tossing.

The production director and the production manager greeted everyone to pack up, and the crew provided free breakfast.

A bag of milk or soy milk, two meat buns, a steamed bun, and an egg.

It's not rich, but for the breakfast after the evening shift, unless you have a big belly, you can basically fill your stomach without losing nutrition.

According to the general prices in 2007, ordinary bags of milk and soy milk are about 1 to 1.5 yuan, two meat buns are about 0.8 to 1 yuan, steamed buns range from 1 to 3 per yuan, and boiled tea eggs are about 5 cents. one.

Of course, this price must fluctuate according to the regional economy, and there must be a gap between retail and wholesale.

But in any case, a breakfast is about 3 yuan, which is not very generous, but it is more than most of the crew.

These days the production crews are stingy, except for the lunch box at noon, even if they work overtime, the afternoon dinner and the breakfast for the night show are not given in many cases.

Even if it is provided, it is basically two steamed buns or one steamed bun + one steamed bun, with milk + eggs, which is really rare.

Originally filmed a big night scene, and there were some dissatisfied extras, but after seeing this breakfast, the depression in my heart dissipated a lot.

Tired is a bit tired, and there are many requirements, but in terms of salary and logistics support, it is indeed the industry's ceiling.

Breakfast is provided uniformly for the crew, whether it is a group performer or an actor, and Cao Xuan is no exception.
Of course, if you don't want to eat, you can spend your own money to open a small stove outside, and the crew will not stop you.

After filming all night, Cao Xuan was also hungry. When he heard that work was over, he went to the close-up monitor on the deck to see the effect without changing his clothes. Express views.

"Why is it stuffed with radish again? You can also change the taste, get pure meat, beans, and cabbage."

"Fennel is fine too."

A staff member made fun of it, Cao Xuan curled his lips: "No, I don't like to eat."

"..."

Many children think that adults are not picky eaters and will eat anything. In fact, the real situation is that adults will not buy food that they don’t like.

For the same reason, Cao Xuan is often very close to the people in the canteen of the crew, no matter what kind of food he eats when he eats box lunch, he will eat it clean.

On the one hand, Cao Xuan really didn't like waste. On the other hand, if the person in charge of logistics and ordering didn't know what dishes the boss hated, he wouldn't be able to work on the set.

The crew of "Three Kingdoms: Red Cliff" has been in operation for more than half a year, and there are hundreds of menus, large and small.

But there has never been a vegetable-based dish such as celery, broccoli, loofah, coriander, etc. If there are people who know Cao Xuan's eating tastes, they may be able to figure out something.

After stuffing two steamed buns, after watching the close-up shots, Cao Xuan got off the boat with milk in his mouth, and joined the old Mouzi commanded by Yuanjing.

It was less than a year before the Beijing Olympic Games, and Lao Mouzi was also very busy. He had just directed a large party to practice his hands, and when he learned that the crew was filming the Battle of Chibi, he ran over.

He is one of the directors of the crew, so it's normal for him to supervise and guide such an important scene.

In addition, he also wanted to get started and practice his command and coordination skills in big scenes, which is also considered as training for the Beijing Olympics.

Cao Xuan was naturally happy, Chen Kexin, Chen Xiaodong.They have good abilities and each has their own strengths, but Lao Mouzi is the one who takes charge of the overall situation and has the highest comprehensive qualifications.

The most important decisive battle in the entire movie "Three Kingdoms: Red Cliff" has Lao Mouzi in charge, so he feels at ease.

There is one thing to say, Cao Xuan admires Lao Mouzi's energy very much.

Because the shooting of this scene is relatively complicated, it takes nearly 30 minutes to appear in the movie, and the shooting cycle is also very long. It is impossible for Lao Mouzi to stay here all the time. When it is not important, he will go to the Olympics.

Lao Mouzi, who was born in 1950, is 57 years old this year. He has been running for six days, running back and forth between two heavy jobs, without feeling tired at all, and full of energy.

Cao Xuan couldn't help being envious, no wonder his family is over 50 and can have several children, so he must have this talent.

The second east-west palace must at least be extended to the [fourth palace, east, west, north, south], if there is room to spare, adding four more [southeast, southwest, northeast, northwest] is also possible.

After chatting with Lao Mouzi, Cao Xuan hurried back to the hotel to sleep. He was also tired after a busy night.

Back at the hotel, took a shower, and watched the news on his mobile phone. It seemed that there was a Manchester United game, but he didn’t watch it either. Otherwise, if he was unlucky and Manchester United was beaten 4-0, he wouldn’t be able to sleep at night. asleep.

Cao Xuan woke up at 4 o'clock in the afternoon the next day, tidied up a bit, ate a meal at an unknown time, and rushed to the scene to put on makeup and get ready for the show.

From early September to mid-October, Cao Xuan filmed night scenes for more than a month before he finally finished shooting all his shots.

But this does not mean that the shooting of the Battle of Chibi is over.

In other words, if you want to restore the real large-scale battles and all kinds of burning ships, it is difficult to do it all by relying on real scenes.

In this decisive battle, many scenes were shot in real scenes + special effects shots + models, and the shooting was completed in many aspects.

For example, the entire Cao Jun fleet was attacked by yellow-covered fireboats, the formation was in chaos, and it turned into a sea of ​​flames. In such a large-scale war scene, real shots can only be medium and close shots, and long-term shots are difficult. Let alone the cost of coordination and command alone. question.

Therefore, the crew scaled down, made models, simulated the burning of fireships, supplemented by special effects, and finally formed a picture.

There is a similar technology in Hollywood. In many Hollywood movies, buildings collapsed, planes crashed, etc., in order to pursue good effects, they are all done with reduced models + special effects.

Shooting in this way is definitely cheaper than real-time shooting, but a good modeler is not cheap, and with special effects rendering, the price is enough to make Cao Xuan's eyelids twitch wildly.

Moreover, in addition to the models, several of those physical ships were actually burned. In addition to the ships, there were also ship building scenes built on land.

Anyway, it was miscellaneous, and a fire not only destroyed Cao Jun, but also burned tens of millions of props and scenes.

Even the old Mouzi who has always been a "prodigal" can't help grinding his teeth silently, admiring Cao Xuan's courage.

You should know that although the scenes, props, and costumes in many parts of the blockbuster film cost money, they can be rented, sold, and sometimes reused, and part of the cost can be paid back more or less.

However, the scene props in "Three Kingdoms: Red Cliff" are really burned, and if they are burned, they are really gone, and they have to pay another sum of money for cleaning + recycling garbage.

Is it a waste?
From a practical point of view, it is definitely a waste, but considering the effect of the shooting, it cannot be said that the money is not worth the money.

At least in the movie footage, the raging fire engulfed the warship, but the bit effects are more real and shocking...

To sum up, the actual shooting of the Battle of Chibi is finished, and there are miscellaneous other shootings, and there are still two weeks to finish the guarantee.

But this has nothing to do with Cao Xuan.

The C position in "Three Kingdoms: Red Cliff" is Zhou Yu, so it ends. After the Battle of Chibi, it was Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang who reached a tacit alliance and bid farewell, and then prepared to lead the army to attack Jingzhou.

As for Prime Minister Cao, he will officially end when he loses, and the scene where Hua Rongdao slapped his face with three smiles was not filmed.

This also means that after the last few scenes of Cao Xuan have been filmed, it can be officially completed.

……

At the ferry, there is no such thing as Zhao Yun scaring Xu Sheng and Ding Feng away with an arrow in "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms".

Only Lu Su bid farewell. After saying goodbye, the light boat left slowly. Zhuge Liang stood on the bow, waving a fan in greeting, and Zhao Yun waited beside him holding his sword.

Lu Su turned around, and there was another group of people at the corner of the ferry. The leader was Zhou Yu. Lu Su was not surprised when he saw this, but just asked.

"Since the governor is here, why don't you send Kong Ming off."

"I've already said goodbye before, so why say it again."

Said, Zhou Yu looked at Zhuge Liang who was going away, his expression changed slightly, Lu Su asked tentatively.

"The governor came here to intercept and kill Zhuge Liang."

Zhou Yu was silent for a moment, before he said with emotion: "Cao Cao is powerful, although he has been defeated recently, but his foundation has not been lost, Jiangdong still needs Liu Bei as an alliance, each other's horns, and join forces to fight against Cao.

It's just... Zhuge Liang is as clever as a monster, and has outstanding strategies. If he is an ally, he can be a strong support, but if one day in the future, Jiangdong and Liu Bei are enemies, it will definitely be a serious problem for our army. "

Lu Su laughed, half persuading and half comforting: "Cao Mengde, a famous general in the world, even suffered a disastrous defeat in Chibi. I have a great governor in Jiangdong, so why be afraid of Zhuge Kongming."

"Cao Cao is not necessarily as difficult as Zhuge Liang."

Zhou Yu pointed out something, but the words were so, these words really made him dispel the idea of ​​robbing and killing Zhuge Liang.

But as I said just now, it is more helpful to keep Zhuge Liang. As for one day turning friends into enemies, Zhou Gongjin, who is in high spirits, does not think that he will lose to Zhuge Liang.

In fact, despite the random fabrications of "Three Qi Zhou Yu" in "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", Zhou Yu won the two major battles of Chibi and Nanjun in a row in the official history, and Cao Cao, Cao Ren, Xu Huang and many other famous generals were defeated by him.

If he hadn't died early, the next step would be to attack Bashu, and even Shuhan might cease to exist.

"Three Kingdoms: Red Cliff" gave Zhou Yu a perfect ending, stopping the story at the point where he sent his troops to attack Nanjun, leaving everyone with a majestic Mei Zhoulang.

Zhou Yu and Lu Su turned back to the camp to prepare the army for war, and the movie ended with the super high-end shot of Zhou Dadu's Pegasus returning.

Of course, I am still hesitating now, whether to add a subtitle later, explaining the ending of Zhou Yu's role.

[After the Battle of Chibi, Zhou Yu led the army to attack Jingzhou, but was stubbornly blocked by Cao Ren, the general of the Cao army. The two sides fought for a year, Cao Ren suffered heavy losses, Nanjun was captured by Zhou Yu, and Zhou Yu himself was worshiped by Sun Quan as the governor of Nanjun.

In the 15th year of Jian'an, that is, in 210 A.D., Sun Quan approved Zhou Yu's strategic plan to capture Yizhou. Zhou Yu returned to Jiangling, where he was stationed, and traveled to Baqiu. He contracted a disease on the road and unfortunately died at the age of 36.

At the end of his life, Zhou Yu expressed his respect to Sun Quan: "Life is mortal, and the length is determined by fate. I really regret it. I only regret that the ambition in my chest has not been fulfilled. In this life, I will no longer be able to serve Soochow..."

Adding this subtitle can be regarded as an explanation for the ending of the character Zhou Yu.

But if you don't add it, let the movie form a blank space and leave it to the audience's imagination, and it will have a different flavor.

Whether to add it or not will be discussed later in the post-editing period, but no matter what, Cao Xuan finally finished it.

Joined the group in late March, finished filming in late October, and asked for a month off in between, but cumulatively, Cao Xuan also filmed for almost half a year.

Moreover, because of his leave of absence for the past six months, the filming tasks are relatively tight. It can be said that Cao Xuan has filmed the longest and most tiring scene since he started filming.

This time, the successful completion can be regarded as a breath of relief for him.

The next stage of the concert will be from the end of November to the beginning of December. Cao Xuan is not in a hurry. He can rest comfortably for a month to make up for the hard work of the past half a year.

Beijing, Changping Villa

Hu Jing hugged Xiao Cao Li and coaxed him to play. Zeng Li was in a good mood today, so he took over the nanny's job and was cooking stuffing in the kitchen, planning to make wontons.

"Call Mom, Mom~Mom~"

Last month when Zeng's mother went back to her hometown, Hu Jing started to chatter, frequently going in and out of the Changping villa, sometimes even staying here directly, she couldn't put it down even more for little Cao Li, even more enthusiastic about him than Zeng Li, Cao Xuan was sometimes in a daze. Who gave birth to the girl.

In the past few days, Hu Jing started teasing little Cao Li to call her mother again, clamoring to snatch Zeng Li's daughter.

Zeng Li didn't bother to talk to her at all, the little kid who was less than 5 months old couldn't even sit still, couldn't learn a word at all, if he teased her forcibly, he would only get spit all over his face.

Well, guess how she knew...

The two were busy on their own until Cao Xuan went home. Although the film crew had finished, Cao Xuan was not without work at all, and had to go to the company every two days for a tour.

"Go out so early today, what's the matter?"

Stuffing the child into Cao Xuan's arms, Hu Jing asked curiously, Cao Xuan hugged and coaxed her daughter, and then flung out a sentence calmly.

"It's nothing, just take a picture to cooperate with the publicity."

"What picture?"

"The sales volume of "Human World" has exceeded 400 million. The International Phonographic Association sent several certification certificates for platinum records. I will take a photo and the company will promote it."

"400 million? Your album was only released in July, and it's sold so well."

Hu Jing is not calm anymore. In the past two years, domestic album sales have been getting lower and lower.

Although there were very few albums with a sales volume of 200 to 300 million in the previous year, a few albums were still released every one or two years.

Nowadays, basically, those with sales of more than 100 million are considered explosive models.

Except for a few top-tier singers like Jay Chou, it is difficult to break through this boundary. Even if they are top-tier singers, sometimes their new albums may not be able to sell 100 million copies.

Physical albums are declining more and more, and now they are all downloaded through ring tones, or broadcast on the Internet, and then commercialized to make money.

Although it is far from hopeless, the overall environment is constantly declining, and the music industry is ushering in the painful period of market transformation from physical records to digital music.

In such a big environment, Cao Xuan cut sales of 400 million copies in just over three months, even if Hu Jing is his own wife, he couldn't help being shocked.

"These 400 million copies are global sales."

Cao Xuan explained: "The domestic sales volume is probably less than 200 million. In Singapore, Japan, South Korea and other Asian regions, there are almost 100 million copies. The remaining 100 million copies are basically divided by countries such as Europe, America and Australia."

As I said before, Cao Xuan is now popular all over the world, even if it is a Chinese album, overseas fans are willing to support and buy it.

In particular, Cao Xuan's previous concerts in Europe and Australia gave him a lot of exposure and popularity in the local area, and brought a wave of goods to a certain extent.

But after all, it is a Chinese album, and it can be listened to on the Internet, unless it is a hardcore ordinary fan who buys it for collection, and ordinary fans have limited desire to buy.

The combined sales of Asia and other continents exceeded 200 million copies. Even if it is not saturated, it is not far behind.

On the contrary, in China, although the general environment has declined, Cao Xuan's popularity and fan base are here, so he still has stamina.

I dare not say too much, it is not difficult to rush to 300-350 million copies within a year...

Compared with Cao Xuan's other Chinese albums, "Human World" can be said to be Cao Xuan's worst-selling album in China, but compared to other singers, it is still the pinnacle that most singers can't hope to reach.

As soon as Hu Jing heard this Versailles talk, she immediately ran away, so as not to show her face.

This made Cao Xuan pretend halfway through, not getting up or down, wondering if he should make a phone call with his good friends and tell about his "depression" about his declining grades.

Before he could stop being a human being, Zeng Li made wontons over there, and served a bowl for each person, accompanied by a few prepared side dishes, it was delicious to eat.

"Hey, I got a good book, I really want to act, you guys help me analyze it."

While eating, Hu Jing suddenly opened up and introduced the movie script to Cao Xuan and Zeng Li
"It was written by a Xiangjiang screenwriter. He came to our company to attract investment. I saw it and discovered it. It's pretty good. It's about a man cheating on two boats. When his wife finds out, she finds a mistress and pretends to be a cooking teacher." In name, using the principle of mutual restraint of food, to poison her husband to death..."

"Cough cough."

Cao Xuan coughed twice unnaturally, looking at the wonton in the bowl, he suddenly felt a little hard to swallow.

Seeing this, Zeng Li was amused: "Are you connoting someone, but I can declare that the wontons are not poisoned, and my daughter is still young and needs father's love."

"What a broken book, yin and yang weirdness."

Cao Xuan complained, expressing great resistance and dislike to this plot, but Hu Jing ignored him and expressed interest instead.

"I think the book is very interesting. It has practical significance and also has a bit of suspense. If the three of us fight together, I will suffer a bit and play the role of the mistress."

"I won't act. This kind of film is unlucky. If you want to act, you can play by yourself. Don't drag me."

Cao Xuan resisted very much, the original subject matter was scary enough, and if the East and West Ergong acted together, he would have nightmares at night.

Zeng Li is also not very interested, she is busy looking after the children now, at least until Cao Li is weaned, it is estimated that she will not participate in work.

It's a pity for Hu Jing, the quality of this book is actually not particularly outstanding, but she just felt that it was inexplicably compatible, so she was interested, but the two of them didn't cooperate, which wasted all her hard work.

Seeing this, Zeng Li quickly changed the subject: "Next year, do you plan to release an album or film a movie."

"Filming."

Cao Xuan ate a mouthful of wontons: "Next year's Olympic theme song + promotional song, I plan to release another English song to help promote the Olympic Games, there are many new songs, there is no need to release another album.

I have been tired of making blockbuster films in the past two years, and if this continues, the commercial nature is too heavy, so I want to make one or two interesting films, without too much consideration for the box office, just to simply enjoy the performance. "

Cao Xuan prefers acting, and he must be pursued by an actor, otherwise it is enough for him to seek fame in the music scene, and there is no need to be an actor, he really likes acting.

In the past, Cao Xuan pursued the box office too much for the sake of stars and even the overall situation of mainland movies. No matter what he thought in his heart, he never stopped making blockbusters.

But now, Fanxing has become the overlord, with a stable position, and there are two blockbuster films "Three Kingdoms: Chibi" behind him. In a short period of time, Cao Xuan doesn't have to worry about the box office, so he can be a bit willful.

"You want to act in a literary film?"

"Eh... it's not a literary film. I prefer drama films. Whether it is commercial or literary, the book must tell the story well."

Everyone or every actor has his own preference, and Cao Xuan prefers feature films.

Movies with outstanding style like Wang Sunglasses may be considered awesome by many people, but he is not particularly cold. With so many masterpieces, he thinks "The Grandmaster" is good.

These domestic directors put aside their character and only talk about style. Cao Xuan prefers the works of Feng Xiaogang, Lou Ye, and Ning Hao, at least the story is clear.

Ang Lee's movies are more complicated, depending on fate, some like it, and some even if they are well shot, he thinks the impression is mediocre.

If Jiang Wen doesn't make troubles, there will be fewer metaphors for private goods, and he is also a director that Cao Xuan particularly likes.

Lao Mouzi can actually tell stories, and is even very good at telling stories, but often the stories are too bad.

As for Director Chen, no comment is made.

For feature films, the most important thing is not only the director, but also the script.

Zeng Li asked, "Do you have a good book?"

Cao Xuan recalled the previous script: "There is, but whether it can be used or not depends on the consent of the parties involved."

"Participant, adapted from a true story?"

"Well, do you know that the Wu Ruofu kidnapping case in 2004 was based on this case..."

(End of this chapter)