Huayu Zhihao

Chapter 228 Shooting in Africa
"Director Chen, are you ready?"

"OK, let's start!" Chen Hao took a deep breath and nodded.

Today, I want to shoot a panoramic view of the entire "Ninth District" and need to shoot from above, so Chen Hao had to board the helicopter to follow the shooting.

In fact, Chen Hao found himself a little afraid of heights, which he discovered when he went to the playground with Dameitang, but for the filming, he had no choice but to fight hard.

"District [-]" was actually filmed in one of the slums in Johannesburg. Although South Africa is the only developed country in Africa, there are such slums in every city in the entire country.

And the slums here are the same as those around the world. Poverty, backwardness, and filth are obvious, and gangs and crime naturally follow.

The slum chosen by "District 10" is considered to be a relatively safe one in Johannesburg, but just in case, Chen Hao except the [-] security guards he brought.

The crew also brought security teams from the United States, and the crew also "hired" local security organizations to ensure the safety of the entire crew.

Even so, everyone on the crew was told to "stay in the hotel if you have nothing to do", "don't go out alone", "it's best to stay only in the crew and hotel before leaving"!
Everyone has listened to these warnings. After all, it is a matter of personal safety, and no one dares to take risks easily.

"Take off!"

With an order, the helicopter began to climb slowly. Chen Hao touched the seat belt and felt relieved, then took a deep breath and looked down the helicopter.

The entire slum can be seen at a glance, all of which are simple iron houses, row upon row, and the slum is surrounded by barbed wire, which is obviously isolated.

"Lower the height a little bit." Chen Hao shouted after looking at the viewfinder.

After the driver gave an OK gesture, he began to lower the altitude slowly.

"Okay!" Chen Hao shouted, "fly around this area."

Chen Hao planned to go around the slums to take pictures, so that he could edit later.

After 10 minutes, Chen Hao felt that the material was enough, and he was ready to start the formal shooting.

Chen Hao shouted through the walkie-talkie, "I'm going to shoot the scene where MNU enters District [-], are you ready?"

"It's ready, ready to start!" Assistant Director Chris replied.

Chen Hao shouted to the driver, "Fly to the top of the vehicle and prepare for the official shooting!"

Soon, the helicopter flew over more than 20 rented armed vehicles. Chen Hao looked at the viewfinder and shouted, "Fly a little more to the right."

After Chen Hao felt that the angle met the requirements, he shouted, "Okay!"

Below the helicopter is an entrance to the slums. The ground is still a dirt road, and it is rough. At the same time, there are more than 20 armed vehicles lined up in a long line, all of which are on standby.

The shots that are about to be shot are mainly transition scenes, that is, the armored convoy entering the ninth sector, the air units passing in the sky, and so on.

In order to shoot these shots well, and save time and effort, the crew has already prepared well and practiced moving positions during rehearsal.

Four cameras are also used to shoot in all directions, both in the air and on the ground.

In front of the convoy, behind the convoy, in front of the long-range view, and close-up at high altitude, we strive to capture rich materials from different angles.

"Okay, are you all ready?" Chen Hao asked.

"All right!"

"OK!"

"no problem!"

After confirming that all departments are ready, Chen Hao shouted, "Start!"

Immediately, more than 20 armed vehicles on the ground moved towards the ninth district, and Chen Hao's helicopter was also slowly following up to take pictures.

Armed vehicles drove into the slums within the wall one by one, and the other five helicopters also flew according to the predetermined trajectory.

When the convoy came to a slow stop, every white armored vehicle immediately jumped out of the MNU agents and the management personnel of the Ninth District, and walked towards the dilapidated iron houses around them.

There are no close-up shots of the actors here, it is all a distant view, and everyone is moving forward according to the established route, so the actors are not a big problem, the key is whether the four photographers can shoot well.

"Crack! How is it?" Chen Hao shouted.

"No problem!"*3
After getting an affirmative answer, Chen Hao nodded with a smile, and then began to take pictures of the helicopter passing by at high altitude.

Of the 6 rented helicopters, three of them were used for filming, and the remaining three were used as armed helicopters for various air performances, which is convenient for collecting materials.

After the aerial work was over, Chen Hao breathed a sigh of relief. After returning to the ground, Chen Hao felt down-to-earth, and finally he didn't have to float in the sky anymore!
"Take a rest for 10 minutes, and then continue shooting!" Chen Hao said.

Everyone relaxed after hearing this.

Chen Hao looked at the footage he had just shot again to make sure there was enough material for his later editing.

After watching it and making sure it was correct, Chen Hao went to the special effects team again.

Next, the crew will shoot a group of explosion shots, and there will be mushroom clouds. Of course, these are post-production special effects, so he has to explain the desired effects to the special effects team.

Then the special effects team and the blasting team will complete it together, but all these need to be prepared and arranged in advance, and many experiments have to be done. Chen Hao will not start shooting until the effect is ensured and it is safe.

While the special effects team was preparing for the early stage, Chen Hao could shoot other shots first.

"The 221th scene of "The Ninth District", the 1st scene of the 1st scene, pop!"

This time it was filming the battle scene between the MNU army and the transformed Downey.

In the camera, in the open space in front of the metal houses, [-] actors playing MNU soldiers are either lying or standing, and they are hiding behind the surrounding garbage dumps.

After hearing the "snap", they immediately pretended to aim and began to frantically pull the triggers of their guns.

And the muzzles of these soldiers also started to emit sparks, and there was a rapid "da da da" gunshot, and bullet casings were thrown everywhere, making the exchange of fire very intense.

These scenes are no different from real battles, but in fact, the guns in the hands of the actors are prop guns, and the bullets fired are naturally empty bullets with sparks, but they do not have any lethality.

Although they are all prop guns, they do have the sound and light effects of real bullets, which is the credit of the prop group.

Soon, some of the soldiers stopped suddenly, some rolled around and screamed in agony, some straightened up, and then fell straight down.

After the special effects were produced in the later stage, these soldiers were either directly beaten into a pool of flesh and blood by the mechs, or only half of their bodies remained.

These are naturally very bloody and violent scenes in the finished film, but on the shooting scene, they look very funny.

However, everyone is very professional, no one laughs!
"Okay, it's over!"

(End of this chapter)