This director needs to apologize

Chapter 229 True reaction

After taking a short break after lunch, Wu Yuanrong rushed to the set and stood outside the school grounds to personally direct the martial arts scene of the group fight.

This scene is Mulan's first battle after joining the army, and from the audience's perspective, this battle is the second battle in the movie. The previous scene was an elite showdown between Mulan's father and DTZ Jieli Khan.

In the first version of the script, Chen Yiming set up many scenes to pave the way for the inheritance between Mulan's father and Mulan.

For example, in Wubao, there is a scene where little Mulan and her friends "ride horses and fight", there is a scene where Mulan's father teaches Mulan the art of war and martial arts, and Chen Yiming even imagined the plot of Big Mulan commanding fellow villagers to hunt.

But just as Gu Yuehe suggested at the beginning of the planning of this project, if there are too many foreshadowing scenes, the pace of the movie will be slowed down.

With the time limit limited, Chen Yiming had only one choice: to compress the subplots as much as possible and preserve the exciting highlight plot and grand martial arts scenes.

Finally, after consulting Mr. Wu for his opinion, Chen Yiming chose the arrangement method of integrating literary opera into martial arts.

In other words, through the way the government troops formed up to fight in groups in the first two martial arts scenes, it illustrates Mulan's inheritance of the art of war.

At the same time, the "catch and fight" between Nie Yuan and Mulan was designed to illustrate Mulan's martial arts level.

The first thing to start shooting in the afternoon was the 5 versus 6 group battle scene.

Of course, the two opposing sides are essentially friendly forces. They cannot start fighting right away. They must go through a process in advance to call the shots. The effect is similar to "what are you looking at" and "what are you looking at?"

After all the actors were in place, starting with the medium shot, Lin Geng used the hilt of his knife to "strike away" Wang Chuanjun, which in the eyes of the veteran was tantamount to an extremely serious provocation.

So the other five martial artists around Nie Yuan didn't say much, and immediately swarmed up and surrounded Lin Geng.

At the same time, Mulan's companions would not sit back and watch Lin Geng alone. The four of them rushed towards Wang Chuanjun under the leadership of Lin Feng.

The effect shown in the camera is that a row of sunflowers "grows" around the lucky Lin Geng and Wang Chuanjun, and the confrontation between the two people instantly turns into a confrontation between two groups.

The storyboard showed a very simple move, but Chen Yiming changed the scene and asked the actors to film it more than a dozen times.

Except for a few times when the martial arts was not neat and the film was scrapped, Chen Yiming's main consideration was the change in the level of camera movement.

The most conventional method is naturally to start with the mid-shot of the confrontation between King Lin, one cut to Nie Yuan's martial arts, another to the martial arts led by Lin Feng, and finally cut back to the mid-shot to end the confrontation between the two groups.

Nothing special, but the best is safety.

Cui Fang's suggestion is to take the whole shot in one shot. It is also Lin Wang's mid-shot shot, first swinging it to the left, then to the right, and finally swinging it back to the center, and then inserting a high camera position to shoot the face or a low camera position to shoot the feet. close-up.

This is the so-called "sharp" camera movement. In fact, it is to strengthen the freeze-frame by shaking the camera, and to compensate for the movement through close-ups.

Then there is Wu Yuanrong's idea. The first half is the same as Cui Fang. After the final ending, it returns to the middle shot, and then uses a zoom lens to turn it into a large panoramic view from a high camera position, and then rotates 360 degrees to pull the camera up.

Chen Yiming did his best and shot all three shooting methods several times.

In his opinion, the first priority in commercial films is the story, and the second is the scene. The importance of lens language is actually not very important.

However, the style of lens language must be consistent and cannot be a hodgepodge of things.

Chen Yiming defines "Mulan" as a plot-oriented commercial film with clear literary and dramatic narratives and wide-ranging martial arts scenes. This is the tone of the entire film.

On this basis, more attempts can be made in camera operation and editing. This is why he strongly invited Wu Yuanrong to take on another role as a motion director in addition to the acting director.

Don’t worry about whether it’s useful or not, just shoot all the materials first. As you continue shooting, you’ll get new inspirations, and you’ll use the materials that didn’t fit the style before.

For the participating actors, the filming of this section was like sprinting non-stop, and the camera was swung over to capture a dynamic and beautiful scene.

When there are more people in the viewfinder, there will always be some who are in good condition and others who are in bad condition. There is only one solution, repeat.

After filming back and forth for more than an hour, Chen Yiming estimated that there was enough material to edit, so Wang Wei shouted.

Next, get down to business. The one who spoke first was still the yawning Wang Chuanjun. He put away the slight smile that had been hanging on his face and straightened his face. After freezing for 2 seconds, he suddenly raised the corners of his mouth and grinned a fake smile.

He stretched out his right hand and put it on Lin Geng's chest, patted it a few times, and said word by word, "Don't be nervous, I just want to kiss the newly arrived Shangguan."

The word "Shangguan", with a deliberate pause, reveals malicious ridicule and sarcasm.

Then he took half a step forward, turned his face to Lin Geng's ear, and pretended to whisper, but the volume was high enough for everyone to hear.

"Such a delicate little rabbit is very rare for me."

Lin Geng had always pursed his lips and had a sullen face. As soon as Wang Chuanjun came closer, he tilted his head back with a look of discomfort and distanced himself from Wang Chuanjun.

As soon as Wang Chuanjun said the word "little rabbit", Lin Geng's expression changed immediately. Before he finished the second half of the sentence "very rare", the final modal particle was still in Wang Chuanjun's mouth, and Lin Geng had already hit it.

The camera now shows a close-up of the two people's heads and faces, and the angle is a 90-degree view of Lin Geng's complete profile, covering most of Wang Chuanjun's head.

Lin Geng's headbutt seemed to directly hit Wang Chuanjun, but in fact it had a borrowing effect. It just brushed Wang Chuanjun's forehead instead of actually hitting his head.

Wang Chuanjun was caught off guard and staggered by the hammer. He took a few steps back and almost fell to the ground.

Wang Wei immediately said "click"!

Lin Geng quickly stepped forward to help Wang Chuanjun. They both graduated from the magic performance class, and the latter was the former's senior student.

There is no big or small thing in the play, and there are rules outside the play. Lin Geng "has to say hello to his seniors both emotionally and rationally."

Wu Yuanrong watched the replay and shook his head, obviously not satisfied with the effect.

In the case of high-definition close-ups, the borrowed position shooting can only be slightly disguised. Unless Lin Geng directly cuts away the angle of view after the attack, no matter how realistic Wang Chuanjun's acting is, there is still a lack of realism in the sample film.

Mr. Wu was in a bit of a dilemma. If it were his crew, they would have changed it to a medium shot without saying a word and Wu Xing would be the stand-in.

But now we are not filming Hong Kong style kung fu movies, and the action director does not have that big a say. After all, the camera movement still depends on the director and the director of photography.

Chen Yiming was also pulling the footage over and over again in the prison cell. After thinking for a moment, he picked up the walkie-talkie and put it to his mouth. His lips moved and then put it down. He stood up and walked out of the prison cell to the shooting scene.

Calling Wang Chuanjun and Lin Geng to him, Chen Yiming said, "I need you two to give me your true reactions for this shot."

The two actors looked at each other and immediately understood what Chen Yiming meant.

The so-called real reaction is to really fight.

Wang Chuanjun, who was "beaten", nodded without hesitation, "Director, I have no problem."

Lin Geng first said "I can" to Chen Yiming, then turned to Wang Chuanjun and said, "Brother, I'm sorry."

Wang Chuanjun replied with a smile, "If you want to hit, just hit it in one step. If you don't have enough strength, you will NG repeatedly. I'm really sorry for you."

Chen Yiming walked towards Wu Yuanrong and said, "Teacher Wu, I have to trouble you to point out the two actors."

Wu Yuanrong agreed immediately. The main job of a martial artist is actually to receive a beating. All experienced martial artists know how to be effective without causing serious injuries.

Wang Wei announced a 15-minute break, and Mr. Wu called Lin and Wang to discuss the matter face to face.

There is a lot of knowledge involved in how to hit a headbutt. Which part of the face should not be touched, which part of the headbutt looks painful, and how to cooperate between two people all need guidance and practice.

This scene is actually not very difficult, because Wang Chuan is in a still state, and Lin Geng can achieve the desired effect as long as his movements are precise.

Under Wu Yuanrong's demonstration and guidance, Lin and Wang practiced for ten minutes and basically mastered the key points of this scene.

Next, is the actual shooting.

(End of this chapter)