director of the millennium

Thanks to the careful filming of his beautiful wife, the shooting of "Mulan" at Jiaozuo Film and Television City was finally completed on the 18th day, and it did not take more than days as Wu Yuan had imagined.

The main reason is that the progress was caught up in the next few days. Both Liu Yifei and Wu Yuan adapted to the shooting rhythm.

Well, it was mainly Wu Yuan. After shooting for more than ten days, he got some experience in shooting costume films. The number of takes for each scene was reduced a lot, so the speed naturally increased.

So, at the end of November, the crew of "Mulan" moved from Jiaozuo to the Hulunbuir grassland that the entire crew had been longing for.

In fact, it is not suitable to come to the grassland in this season.

Winter is the snow season on Hulunbuir Prairie. At this time, the prairie is covered with white snow, and the scenery is picturesque.

The snowy prairie seems like a pure world, bringing people a feeling of tranquility and peace.

However, the grassland is covered with snow in winter, and it does not have the endless green grassland and the scene of cattle and sheep visible when the wind blows the grass as people imagine.

So the shooting in Hulunbuir this time was divided into two seasons. First, normal shooting in winter, then finishing around the New Year, and then another month of shooting in early spring to early summer of the following year before officially finishing.

It’s not that I’m afraid of trouble, but the story of "Mulan" itself should have this kind of four-season span.

Mulan served in the army for twelve years. Although she did not go to the grassland to fight every year, for a movie, using the four seasons to indirectly describe Mulan's years in the army is a very normal and appropriate filming technique.

Otherwise, the background is all in summer, and after a few battles, there is a subtitle "Twelve Years Later", and then Mulan returns home?
A third-rate director would be so unreliable to shoot like this. Wu Yuan would definitely not do such a thing.

So they had to shoot in Hulunbuir in winter, spring and summer to have a smooth enough sense of time transition.

And Hulunbuir is really beautiful in winter.

When Wu Yuan brought the crew here, what they saw was a vast snowy prairie and woods dotted with snowflakes.

There are patches of woods scattered on the prairie. The woods in winter are dotted with white snow, forming beautiful pictures.

The trees in the woods are surrounded by snow, like elves wrapped in silver, giving people a mysterious feeling.

In such scenery, people seem to be able to merge with nature and feel its beauty and power.

Whether it was Wu Yuan or Liu Yifei, or Cheng Long, Gong Li and others who came to join the crew, they were all shocked by the beauty of nature when they arrived here by car.

"Hulunbuir is so beautiful." Cheng Long exclaimed as he looked at the white grassland that stretched all the way to the sky in the distance.

The guide who brought them here smiled and said in not very standard Mandarin: "You came at the right time. It snowed heavily just two days ago, which is why it is so beautiful."

Hulunbuir is located in a similar location to the Northeast. It snows very early every year, starting in mid-to-late November.

However, in recent years, due to global warming, there have been times when it has no snow in Hulunbuir throughout the entire winter. At least there is not as much heavy snow as before.

Just like Wu Yuan, he rarely saw heavy snow in the capital during the years he was in the capital. It was unlike his memory when he was a child and the capital would be covered with snow at any time.

But this year we are lucky. There was a heavy snowfall in Hulunbuir, and it will snow frequently in the future, as if to welcome the crew of "Mulan".

Wrapped in a thick down jacket, Wu Yuan put his hands on his waist, breathed out, and murmured: "I left the Yellow River in the morning and arrived at the Black Mountain in the evening. I don't hear my parents calling me, but I hear the cries of the Hu cavalry in Yanshan." "Unfortunately, this is not Yanshan, and it doesn't snow much at the foot of Yanshan in recent years."

The Yanshan Mountains are located just north of Beijing. The climate differences between the north and south of the Yanshan Mountains once shaped different social and cultural patterns. To the north of the mountains, the plateau is bitterly cold, dry and rainless, and nomadic peoples live by following water and grass, migrating constantly.

For thousands of years, smoke from cooking fires and beacon fires have alternately risen in this mountain range, and the competition over Yanshan has run through Chinese history.

South of the mountains, the farming society is rooted in the land, and grains and fruits grow in the fertile mountains, forests and plains.

The social forces on the north side of the mountain always have the motivation to cross the Yanshan Mountains and conquer the lands on the south side.

Defending homeland and resisting invasion is a long-term challenge faced by the regime south of the mountain.

During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the Northern Qi Dynasty abandoned the northern part of Yanshan Mountain and moved the Great Wall line to the south of the mountain. "The Ballad of Mulan" also tells the story of the Northern Dynasty, located south of the mountain, resisting the invasion of nomadic peoples.

Mulan came to the foot of Yanshan Mountain and became a soldier guarding the border. The general died in a hundred battles, and the warrior returned after ten years.

The authenticity of the story itself is questionable. After all, it happened too long ago, and Hua Mulan herself is not a figure recorded in history books. It is just a story in Northern folk songs.

But Mulan embodies the epitome of the thousands of soldiers guarding the frontiers of that era.

In fact, Wu Yuan had really planned to find a place to shoot in the Yanshan Mountains, but to be honest, after he went to scout the location, he still felt that Hulunbuir was more suitable.

After all, filming is about pursuing beautiful pictures. Although the Yanshan Mountains are very famous, to be honest, it is not a place with very beautiful scenery, and it is not a tourist destination to this day. It can be seen that it is just a very ordinary mountain range, but its location happens to be on the dividing line between nomadic and farming cultures.

Moreover, there is a Great Wall built along the ridge of Yanshan Mountain. The Ming Dynasty used the old foundation of the Northern Qi Great Wall, and the towering Great Wall that was built still lies on Yanshan Mountain. It would be quite dramatic if it were really filmed there, after all, the existing Great Wall is the restored Ming Great Wall, which is too far away from the Southern and Northern Dynasties.

If you want to pursue the aesthetics of the picture, then the vast grasslands like Hulunbuir are definitely beautiful enough. There are also undulating mountains in the distance, which is suitable for shooting large-scale war scenes.

"For the next period of time, we will stay here to film."

"It just so happens that we can also experience the yurts of our herdsmen brothers and eat some grassland-specific beef and mutton delicacies."

After coming back to his senses, Wu Yuan returned to the topic and said to Cheng Long who had just arrived with a smile: "Hulunbuir is very cold in winter. Thank you, brother, for overcoming the difficulties."

"That's nothing." Cheng Long smiled and patted Wu Yuan's shoulder without caring: "What kind of suffering have I not experienced?"

"It's just that I'm really old now, so you have to heat the kang a little bit warmer for me at night, otherwise I won't be able to sleep."

"Hey." Wu Yuan was happy. "Brother, you are really professional. You even know that we have a kang here at night!"

"Don't worry, I promise to keep it warm for you." Wu Yuan promised, patting his chest.

For the next period of time, they all have to live in yurts on the grassland. In fact, modern yurts are quite comfortable to live in, at least they are very warm. The internal temperature can reach 20 to 30 degrees, and it will be hot even if you wear light clothes. However, there are indeed many things that are not adaptable in life.

But we can overcome it! (End of this chapter)