China Entertainment’s rescue plan is hard to come by

Chapter 671: Visiting the Desert and the Coincidence of Fate [Two in One]

Starting from Beijing, head northwest, first take the Beijing-Tibet Expressway, and after leaving Beijing, you will arrive in Huailai, Hebei.

Here in Huailai County, there is Tianmo Film and Television City.

Tianmo is a magical place. It is only 70 kilometers away from the capital, but it is like the northwest desert.

Two golden rays of light stretch between the mountains and rivers.

Among them, the East Sand Dune is more than 300 meters long from north to south, and the West Sand Dune is nearly 30 meters long from north to south. The width of both is more than meters. The highest point of the sand dune is more than meters, which looks very spectacular.

The golden sands that suddenly appear in the grasslands and Gobi Desert, together with the mountains, deserts, lakes and other landforms, depict a colorful picture of "lonely smoke rising in the desert, and the setting sun on the long river".

There is no source of sand within hundreds of kilometers around Tianmo, so its cause remains an unsolved mystery. A more reliable theory is that the strong northwest airflow carried sand and dust from the Mongolian Plateau and was blocked by Jundu Mountain, and the sand and dust gradually formed after falling.

However, this explanation cannot explain why Tianmo has maintained its current size over the years, neither expanding nor shrinking.

Sun Yi is not from the Discovery Channel, so he didn’t delve into this.

When they just arrived at Tianmo, Liu Yifei was stunned by the scene before her.

"Wow, brother, there really is a desert!" "I thought it was just a man-made hill."

Sun Yi smiled and shook his head.

In fact, this was his first time here too.

However, the necessary depth is still necessary.

One cannot help but sigh that the majestic and beautiful natural scenery here is unique in the entire capital.

Of course, the natural yellow sand desert so close to the capital has naturally become one of the best filming locations for major domestic and foreign film and television dramas to select western scenery.

More than 3 film and television works, including "The Great Battle", "The Mummy 300", "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", "Journey to the West", "My Fair Princess", "The World's Granary" and "Moment in Peking", were filmed here.

And now, it is also one of the important filming locations for the movie "Flying Daggers of Dragon Gate".

"After climbing over the two small sand dunes ahead, we'll find the crew of Flying Daggers of Dragon Gate. Let's just go over there and don't bother anyone to pick us up."

"Flying Swords of Dragon Gate" has director Tsui Hark and a number of big-name stars including Jet Li and Zhou Xun, and its crew is one of the best in the entire film and television city.

Sun Yi only asked the staff briefly and found out the filming location of the "Dragon Gate Flying Daggers" crew. He planned to drive directly there with Liu Yifei, because today they just wanted to take a look at the working status of the company's 3D filming team, so they didn't want to make too much of a fuss, in case they disturbed the crew's filming progress.

"Can we drive directly over there?" Liu Yifei leaned on the car window to look at the scenery outside, her eyes sparkling, and turned her head to ask excitedly.

Sun Yi pulled down his sunglasses and replied arrogantly: "It's definitely not possible for ordinary tourists, but who am I? I can use facial recognition."

Liu Yifei chuckled, suddenly leaned over and whispered something in Sun Yi's ear, then stared at Sun Yi with her big, Caroline-like eyes, expectantly.

"That's not good. It's an exception for us to drive over there."

When Sun Yi heard Liu Yifei's request, he seemed a little embarrassed.

"Hmm~"

Liu Yifei pouted and grumbled in disappointment.

Sun Yi couldn't stand this. His bones felt half soft. He sighed helplessly and switched the car to four-wheel drive mode.

"Sit down."

"Oh yeah!"

"Let's go~"

Sun Yi shouted loudly, then stepped on the accelerator and rushed out.

The wheels kicked up gusts of yellow sand and carried the car straight down the sand dunes.

“Wa ...

Liu Yifei screamed with joy, and later even opened the skylight and leaned half of her body out.

In the blue sky, a scorching sun hangs high, the sand under the sunlight sparkles with dazzling light, under your feet is a vast golden ocean, and by your side are your beloved ones.

Liu Yifei raised her hands high, and the pink scarf tied around her neck danced in the wind. She shouted excitedly, perfectly interpreting what it meant to be unworldly.

Speaking of which, it's not like she hasn't been to the desert before. When she was filming "The Forbidden Kingdom", there was a scene with a similar desert terrain, but that scene was built, and it couldn't be compared with the real desert covering more than 2000 acres in front of her. What's more, the people around her were different, so of course she was extremely happy.

On today's visit to the set, she didn't even bring her caring assistant Zhang Xin. She just treated it as a two-person road trip with her brother. She was so happy.

Unfortunately, Tianmo is not a real desert after all, and its area is limited. After only ten minutes, after crossing two sand dunes, a seemingly desolate inn appeared in front of the two.

A huge flag was fluttering in the vast desert, with the four big characters "Longmen Inn" written on it.

The two parked the car aside and came to the fence of the inn. A few camels chewing licorice caught Liu Yifei's attention again, and she pulled Sun Yi to watch excitedly.

Sun Yi was a little helpless, as if there was nothing that his master disliked as long as the creature was bigger than a palm.

"Look, it looks a lot like you."

"What? How are they similar?"

Liu Yifei looked at the camel with a puzzled look.

The camel also raised its head and looked at her innocently, its mouth movements not slowing down at all, moving left and right in a very rhythmic manner, looking very relaxed.

"Look at its teeth. They are showing, too. And the spots on its teeth are just like when you smile."

"Oh, go to hell!"

Sun Yi got kicked like this.

But it was purely his own fault.

Fortunately, there were not many people outside the inn, otherwise the reputation of this great director would have completely collapsed.

The security of the crew was handed over to the local film and television studio. Although Sun Yi and Liu Yifei did not have work permits issued by the crew, in today's China, if there are people who may not know Sun Yi, there are really few people who don't know Liu Yifei.

This time it was Liu Yifei's turn to show her face.

The two men walked into the fence and could hear some noise coming from inside. It seemed that a scene had just been finished and a group of people were carrying various equipment and walking out.

It seemed that they were moving to a new location. Seeing this, Sun Yi pulled Liu Yifei and did not go in. He just stood at the edge of the yard waiting.

First, a girl with sharp eyebrows and bright eyes, wearing a coarse linen dress and a knight's hairpin came out with a script in her hand.

This is Chun Ge, no, Li Yuchun, right?
Sun Yi was just thinking about it, and then Zhou Xun, dressed in men's clothes, and Chen Kun, with a feminine look, walked out together.

The two of them were walking and talking and laughing, and it was unknown what they were communicating about, when they happened to pass by Sun Yi and Liu Yifei.

Sun Yi was wearing a pair of sunglasses at this time, and so was Liu Yifei, with an extra scarf covering their faces. It didn't look like anything special, and the two were chatting animatedly, so no one noticed.

It was Zhou Xun's assistant who first recognized the two people.

"Ah~ Mr. Sun, Fei, Sister Fei"

"Ok?"

Zhou Xun stopped, turned his head, and immediately laughed.

"Hey, what brings the boss and his wife here?"

Because the filming task here had not been completed yet, Zhou Xun only attended the premiere of "Let the Bullets Fly" and then immediately returned to the crew.

Starry Sky had already made contact with director Jiang Wen on her behalf. With three movie kings around, she wouldn't be too short of a weekly newsletter for publicity, so Jiang Wen generously gave Sun Yi this favor.

Sun Yi pursed his lips and smiled, "Northwest Wind"

When they heard Zhou Xun's address, the staff at the scene also reacted.

Everyone looked at Sun Yi with surprise.

"This is the most powerful and sharpest commercial film director in the mainland in the past two years!"

"Wow, he's so young and so handsome~"

"The one next to you is Fairy Sister Liu Yifei, she's so pretty in person, just like a golden boy and a jade girl." At this time, several staff members wearing uniform vests with the Starry Sky Image logo printed on them came out in groups of two, carrying two cameras. After seeing Sun Yi and Liu Yifei, they quickly put the cameras away and walked over quickly.

"Mr. Sun, Sister Fei."

"Okay, okay, thank you for your hard work."

Sun Yi nodded, patted a few people on the shoulders, and then motioned for them to continue, leaving only the team leader Wang Xiaojun.

This is the eldest apprentice of his personal photographer Liu Jun, and he is also the on-site person in charge who came to support the 3D shooting of "Longmen Plane".

"Xiaojun, how was the shooting? Did it go well?"

"It's OK. Although we have never made a professional 3D action movie, we managed to overcome the difficulties and make it in the end."

"The main reason is that the adjustment of the camera position is very cumbersome. Because the actors' movements need to be good-looking, there are strict requirements for the lens angle and depth of field. At first, it was very inconvenient for us to have two cameras. Later, we asked the company's props department to re-customize a 360-degree bracket with a motor, which can achieve a certain degree of intelligent shooting."

"It's much more convenient with this, and Director Xu Ke is also satisfied with the visual effects."

3D shooting actually uses two cameras to simulate human eyes, taking pictures of the left eye and the right eye, and then through post-processing, the two pictures are processed together to simulate the 3D effect of real human eyes.

Currently, there are two ways to arrange the two cameras, one is horizontally side by side, and the other is vertically up and down.

This was the case when Sun Yi was filming "Pacific Rim", but it is completely not enough for the current "Gantry".

Because it is an action movie, the main thing to watch is the actors' movements, which have to be graceful, powerful and look intense.

This is a big difficulty in scheduling shots during filming.

The aesthetics and composition of 3D shots are vastly different from those of 2D movies, and the actors’ movements are so varied that the camera simply cannot achieve such flexibility.

Take fighting scenes as an example. Some foregrounds are too close which makes people uncomfortable, while some backgrounds are too far away which makes people feel empty.

Operating a camera at one angle is already a very delicate job, let alone setting up two at the same time.

Fortunately, the people at Starry Sky are very creative and directly built two servo brackets. Through prior arrangement, they can achieve intelligent shooting.

This creativity is unique in today's film industry.

Sun Yi was very satisfied with the team's work results. He nodded to Wang Xiaojun and said:
"That's good. You must also raise your standards outside and not be careless. You must know that you now represent the overall level of Starry Sky."

"Yes, I know, Director Sun."

"Okay, get busy."

Sun Yi attaches great importance to this cooperation, because this is the first time that Starry Sky's technology has been exported after it matured. He is willing to spend a lot of money to let his competitors see Starry Sky's production strength, so his requirements are quite strict.

Moreover, it must be admitted that this is also a way to indirectly improve the experience of starry sky photography by utilizing other crews.

At this time, Xu Ke and Li Lianjie, who heard the noise in the yard, walked out together.

He stretched out his arms from a distance.

"Oh, Director Sun, why didn't you tell me in advance that you were coming so that I could go and greet you."

Sun Yi held Xu Ke's hand and smiled, "Director Xu, I'm just afraid of causing too much trouble and disrupting your work progress."

"Of course not. Your coming here is the icing on the cake."

"Haha, then just think of it as me giving you a surprise."

"Hahaha, I'm surprised, but also happy."

After exchanging a few pleasantries with Xu Ke, Sun Yi extended his hand to Li Lianjie: "Hello, Mr. Lianjie, I am Sun Yi, nice to meet you."

There are actually not many people who Sun Yi can greet actively now, but the person in front of him is obviously one of them.

If nothing else, just the contribution he made to Chinese-language films going abroad is worthy of Sun Yi's efforts.

Not to mention, when they were on the set of "The Forbidden Kingdom", his little girl had some friendship with him and she was taken care of to some extent.

To be honest, at that time, Sun Yi had no qualifications to establish a relationship with others, and it was just a coincidence that he met Brother Cheng Long. But now, he is definitely qualified.

When Jet Li heard Sun Yi's self-introduction, he immediately laughed, "Haha, hello, Director Sun."

As he spoke, he looked Sun Yi up and down very seriously, and then nodded with great approval: "I have heard that Director Sun is very talented. Now I see that he is indeed a promising young man."

"Haha, you're too kind."

Sun Yi quickly said something polite.

"Brother Lianjie."

At this time, Liu Yifei also came forward and greeted with a smile.

Jet Li smiled and replied, "Hey, Xiao Fei, I haven't seen you for a few years. You have grown into a big girl. But you are still as beautiful as ever."

"Hee hee~"

Jet Li is not young anymore, and he suffered a lot of injuries when he was young. He had just finished shooting an action scene and needed a rest, so after a few pleasantries, he politely said goodbye.

The crew's next scene is still an action scene, but it's outside the inn, taking advantage of the crew's change of location.

Liu Yifei and Zhou Xun sat down and started reminiscing about the past like sisters. Occasionally, Zhou Xun could be heard asking Liu Yifei for advice on how to shoot action scenes, which made the little girl feel very vain. She kept talking like a rabbit and couldn't stop.

Seeing this, Sun Yi did not get involved and just started chatting with Xu Ke.

"I really didn't expect that there would be a place around Beijing that is so similar to the Yellow Sand Gobi Desert in the northwest. If I had known this, I would have come here to shoot the film "Detective Dee" last year."

The "Detective Dee" that Xu Ke mentioned is the "Detective Dee: The Mystery of the Phantom Flame" which was released just a few months ago. It cost 1.1 million yuan to produce and grossed 3.1 million yuan at the box office.

The film almost recovered its cost at the box office alone, and relying on the reputation Xu Ke had built throughout Southeast Asia over the years, he made a fortune in copyright transactions. It was with this money that he came up with the idea of ​​making a 3D martial arts movie.

Mr. Xu is very courageous and likes to try new things. He can be said to be the James Cameron of the Chinese film industry.

When domestic film special effects technology was still very immature, he boldly tried some film special effects and made "The Legend of Zu", the ancestor of domestic modern fantasy films.

Before "The Legend of Zu" was completed, Stephen Chow's "Shaolin Soccer" was said to have used more than 400 special effects shots, making it the most in Hong Kong films.

Compared with "The Legend of Shushan", "Shaolin Football" is obviously nothing compared to "The Legend of Shushan". Xu Laoguai's "The Legend of Shushan" uses a total of more than 1600 special effects shots, which can definitely be called "the best" among Hong Kong films. Unprecedented”.

"I didn't know about this place either. It was someone from China Film Academy who told me about it. Otherwise, I really wouldn't have known that there was such a place right at the foot of the capital."

"Our motherland is still vast and rich in resources. Almost all ancient-themed TV dramas and movies can be shot here. It's great. The future of Hong Kong films still depends on the mainland."

Xu Ke was just feeling inspired when a Mercedes-Benz drove over from a distance and stopped right next to Sun Yi's Audi.

A woman with short hair and a capable look ran straight to the yard as soon as she got out of the car.

It can be seen that he has obviously received some news.

The man came over with a smile on his face.

"Mr. Sun, hello, Miss Liu, hello."

Seeing someone coming, Liu Yifei quickly stood up and nodded to greet them.

"Hello, Ms. Shi."

"Don't be polite, come, sit down, everyone."

In fact, everyone knew her. The person who came was the producer of the crew, Xu Ke’s ex-wife, and a famous film and television producer in the Hong Kong circle, Shi Nansheng.

Xu Ke acted as the host and invited Sun Yi and Liu Yifei to sit in the rest area nearby.

"Master, do you think Miss Liu is suitable for that project?"

As soon as they sat down, Shi Nansheng suddenly asked Xu Ke a question, and the latter looked at Liu Yifei, his eyes lit up, and nodded continuously, which made Sun Yi and Liu Yifei a little puzzled.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Sun, when I saw how beautiful Miss Liu was in person, I couldn't help but think of the movie character."

Liu Yifei and Sun Yi looked at each other and couldn't help asking:
"Ms. Shi, what role is it?"

"Xiaoqian!"

Damn, are you two targeting my Sissi??!!
(End of this chapter)