This director needs to apologize

Chapter 255 The prelude to the prelude

After the most difficult scene was finished filming, everyone on the crew breathed a sigh of relief.

Then everyone moved to the north side and filmed the "siege" scene on the cliff.

Siege can be said to be a unique fighting form of ancient cold weapon warfare. Previous Chinese costume blockbusters have a rich accumulation in this aspect. Cui Fang, as the director of photography, has photographed it more than once.

In addition, the setting of this divided battlefield in the script is a feint attack, and both the offensive and defensive sides are deliberately sparing their efforts. Therefore, although the scene is full of flying arrows, the actual losses of both sides are not large.

Chen Yiming's storyboard draft followed Cui Fang's suggestion and played some tricks in the camera movement.

Unlike the main battlefield on the east and west sides, which combines far, middle and close shots, the shooting of the cliffs on the north side is a bit more complicated.

Cui Fang stepped on the Steadicam and took a close-up shot of the Western Turkic soldiers in the wall-climbing battle.

That's right, here Chen Yiming used the only subjective perspective in the entire film.

It still takes the enemy's front-line soldiers as the protagonist.

A "protagonist" who showed his face only once after his death.

It's not very long, just over 2 minutes in total.

It starts with the Western Turkic detachment in front of them moving down the cliff, and ends with the death of the soldier who was used as a reference for photography.

The reason for adopting this approach is mainly due to considerations of film rhythm and viewing experience.

This fortress attack and defense battle is generally a back-up scene for the protagonist Mulan, and its main role is to exaggerate and highlight the Gao Dynasty scene in which Mulan leads the cavalry to attack.

So there is a question of heat.

It needs to heat up the scene, but not so much that it steals the spotlight from the protagonist.

Just like the back-up match before a boxing championship fight, the players and events are often one or two levels lighter than the main match.

In this way, when the main match begins, the audience can feel a sharp contrast just in the momentum and size of the boxers.

For the three battlefields, Chen Yiming chose three different forms of expression, striving to allow the audience to clearly understand the relationship between the overall and local aspects of the battlefield.

During the actual shooting, Chen Yiming strictly limited the duration and number of shots, and only captured key clips to avoid overshadowing the scene.

The battlefield on the east side that has been photographed is a short and fast hand-to-hand battle. Above is a forest of guns exchanging blows, below is a hand-to-hand encounter, and at the rear are bows and arrows like locusts. One stands out and fights hard to stand firm.

The battlefield on the north side is the last glimpse of the life of a grassland herdsman before his death.

Panic, powerlessness, fear, madness, until sudden and silent death.

It shows the helplessness and sadness of ordinary soldiers during the war.

Of course, as the opposite of the "protagonist" in this scene, Tang Jun on the top of the cliff is synonymous with ruthlessness.

They have sophisticated equipment and superior terrain, and they can defend the position effortlessly. However, the Western Turks can only climb the long ladder with their swords and shields, and they are extinguished like moths fluttering into the flame.

When the main creators were discussing the storyboard draft, Lin Xiao and Qi Yu didn't quite agree with Cui Fang's handling method.

The clip from the enemy's main perspective on the north side is obviously different from the other two directions. When editing later, not only is it easy to mess up the rhythm, but it will also cause unnecessary confusion to the audience's sense of substitution.

In the previous shot, we were on the side of the Tang Army "raging" against the Western Turk Army. In the next shot, we were on the side of the Western Turk Army and "attacking" the Tang Army. Although the content is actually about the Western Turk soldiers being beaten unilaterally, this kind of jump in perspective It's still very risky.

Lin Xiao said that since "Mulan" was defined as a mainstream commercial film at the beginning of the project, the storytelling should be concise and straightforward, and unnecessary unnecessary work should be avoided as much as possible.

However, after repeated consideration, Chen Yiming still sided with Cui Fang, who was in the minority.

Chen Yiming actually agreed with Lin Xiao's opinion, but he thought it would not be a big problem if some of the clips were slightly out of line.

In the scene of the camp, the battle process is relatively complicated, and three lines of mixed editing are required during post-editing.

If you add in the shots of Zhang Yi and Guyuehe, the commanders of both warring parties, there are not just three lines, but five lines!

In this case, if you want to achieve a clear narrative effect, you can't just focus on shooting and editing. Narrative skills are also a top priority.

The feint battle on the cliff on the north side can be regarded as a prelude to the prelude.

In other words, it’s okay to take risks.

Narrating from the main perspective of an enemy cannon fodder is not only clearly differentiated and easy for the audience to understand, but it also creates a tragic anti-war atmosphere from the side.

You must know that in war movies, worthless death and sacrifice on the eve of victory have always been the two major "anti-war" elements in parallel.

Compared with convincing the main creator, the filming itself was not difficult.

Since it is a subjective perspective, naturally it can only focus on one part of the battlefield, the steep cliff.

This cliff was transformed by the Tang Army based on terrain excavation. It is not a straight horizontal line, but has multiple corners, a design close to that of a medieval European bastion.

The corners can cover each other, and they can attack the blind spots under the cliff, which creates a greater obstacle for the party climbing the wall to attack. The "protagonist" was very unlucky. The area he was assigned to attack was a depression in the middle of the cliff.

If it weren't for the power of the script, his life would obviously not be enough to last a full 2 ​​minutes of the scene.

What the audience saw in the movie was long ladders erected on the cliff, with soldiers hanging on them. Arrows were weaving with stones like rain. Occasionally, long ladders were burned by fire or toppled by push rods. The soldiers screamed and fell down.

In short, hundreds of thousands of Western Turkic soldiers died in vain at the foot of the cliff.

However, all this is just a reasonable extension of the audience's imagination, a product of atmosphere and mood.

In the actual shooting, the so-called "climbing the wall" is only a small part of the area covered by Cui Fang's viewfinder. Wherever the camera turns, or where the "protagonist" looks, that's where the battlefield is.

This method of filming is more cost-effective and labor-saving, but it requires very high pre-preparation requirements and a very high level of group performance. If you are not careful, you will be betrayed.

Film crews who are not short of money prefer to shoot the entire scene for real, and then the Steadicam camera crew "captures" it according to the pre-rehearsed route.

After shooting three or five times, the accumulated material will be enough for editing.

The current shooting method of "Mulan" seems to save money, but the rework rate is astonishing. It is difficult to say whether it is a loss or a profit in total.

Of course, Chen Yiming also had the confidence to do this, which stemmed from the experience gained during the filming of "1951".

It is no exaggeration to say that "1951" established Chen Yiming's status as a master in the field of subjective shots.

Given the magnitude of the cliff scene, other crews may have to shoot it a dozen or even dozens of times, but Chen Yiming's crew can definitely finish it within five takes.

Not to mention, this clip only lasts for 2 minutes, not even one shot.

The "protagonist" who was selected to show his face was a close disciple of Wu Yuanrong. He was only 17 years old. He looked like he was 37 with an unshaven beard and a wrinkled face.

Because he was the latest to get started and had the shortest time to learn skills, Mr. Wu brought him here this time more for the purpose of gaining experience, so he had appeared very rarely in the past.

But this is a mistake. The scene itself does not require him to be very good. He can just run, jump, climb, climb according to the pre-rehearsed rehearsal, and finally fall off the ladder and lie down on his back with his face exposed. Work together.

Not only can your name be included in the staff list, but you can also receive an extra red envelope, which is a good thing in another sense.

The crew spent two days to successfully complete the scene and then moved to the west side to start filming the battle scene between the two sides.

This is the only large-scale infantry battle in the movie "Mulan", which is equivalent to an extremely enlarged version of the battle between Mulan's father and Jieli Khan's guards in the previous opening scene.

The Tang army formed an array behind a low wall on a gentle slope, occupying a commanding position.

The Western Turkic Army was divided into three square formations. They pressed forward in a horizontal formation from the front, and a small square formation on the left and right circled the wall.

Behind the two armies are the crossbowmen responsible for long-range cover.

The Tang army also had the advantage of equipment, deploying multiple crossbows and small catapults.

Chen Yiming did not do any tricks in this scene. He first panoramic and then close-up, first long-range and then close-up, and slowly advanced shot by shot according to the order of combat.

Perhaps the only special thing is that Chen Yiming has strengthened the description of the sending and receiving of orders and formation changes in the command links of both sides.

The Western Turks use horns to convey orders. For this reason, Chen Yiming specially commissioned Mr. Ge Jiming to create a set of short and distinctive order scores, which were added during post-production of sound effects.

The Tang army used flags to convey orders. A set of triangular order flags of various colors were hung on the order tower in the camp on the top of the mountain. Next to the front-line commander, there were also order flags held up high to order subordinates. .

Of course, the transmission of orders in real wars cannot be so simple. Multiple methods such as cavalry, bugles, gongs and drums, flags, and arrows are often used together, and the actual effect will be greatly reduced.

There is no need to recreate it one-to-one in the movie. First, the commander gives the order, then a close-up of the messenger, and then a shot of change, so the audience can roughly understand it.

As long as the opposing teams are still in an organized formation in appearance, the interspersed passing shots are effective in the minds of the audience.

The actual shooting was actually about the extras lining up to perform "broadcast gymnastics". Three young and strong assistant directors took turns serving as "instructors", giving instructions to the extras according to the shooting plan, and then the extras changed formations according to the instructions.

When they advance under the low wall, the real battle between the two armies will begin.

The battle on the west side of the battlefield was fought in an orderly manner, and the speed and number of lives exchanged were far inferior to those in the gap in the wall on the east side.

Under the thrust of the spear array, the soldiers in the array fell down in twos and threes, and were quickly filled by soldiers from the back row.

As the Tang army continued to reduce its numbers, the flag was raised, and the gun array began to slowly retreat toward the second low wall in the rear.

The Western Turks continued to send fresh troops until they reached the third low wall and approached the fortress wall.

During this period, the attacker has to endure multiple levels of long-range fire coverage from the defender.

Then there was nothing more, because the main force of Tang Cavalry led by Mulan arrived.

　I'm out and about, so I'll continue to update, sorry.

　　

　

(End of this chapter)