hollywood melon man

Chapter 224: Mysterious Elements

"1, 2, 3, start..."

Following Yuan Heping's order, Keanu Reeves on the set began to move. He leaned back and made the prescribed movements for filming.

According to the lens design, the camera needs to circle around to shoot, but during actual shooting, it was found that a handheld camera could not do this and provide a stable lens.

Similarly, the use of robotic arms to achieve precise control is not yet realistic, and robotic arms have not yet developed to this point.

So after the initial live shooting, Gilbert Jr. and director of photography John Schwartzman discussed a solution.

One hundred and twenty SLR cameras are lined up on the curve where Keanu Reeves is leaning back. In one second, these one hundred and twenty SLR cameras take pictures one after another.

Then combine the photos of each frame, twenty-four frames per second, to get a five-second picture.

This shot is the famous bullet time. The shooting was completed in a studio, and the bullet special effects ripples were added during post-production special effects.

Catherine Zeta-Jones watched the filming of this scene curiously, feeling quite special.

Use a DSLR camera to shoot movies? She had never seen this in England.

He is worthy of being a talented Hollywood director. People say that George Lucas values ​​technology, while Spielberg focuses on the core of the film. Gilbert Jr. is a combination of the two.

In terms of technology, he can make special effects films like "The Iron Fist", and in terms of core, he can also make "Saving Private Ryan" and "The Sixth Sense."

He is simply a jack of all trades, an all-rounder.

The most important thing is that little Gilbert is not only versatile, but also successful, and his business achievements are obvious to all. The awards are not bad either, it won many awards and was nominated for an Oscar.

Look at this, it's only a matter of time before little Gilbert gets an Oscar.

After the filming of this scene was completed, Keanu Reeves came down to discuss the script with Gilbert Jr.

Catherine leaned forward and asked, "Can I listen?"

It didn't matter. Little Gilbert didn't refuse, he just nodded lightly.

Catherine wisely shut up and did not speak, but listened to the conversation between little Gilbert and Keanu Reeves.

"Director, I bought books on philosophy and Zen Buddhism, but I don't understand what they mean." Keanu Reeves expressed his doubts.

Little Gilbert said: "Keanu, don't think so much. There are only two things you have to do, pretend to be handsome and act cool. I am responsible for the rest."

In fact, Charlize Theron also said that she didn't understand the meaning of the film, and she couldn't even understand what the script was telling.

This is normal. Many Hollywood stars do not have high academic qualifications. They entered the industry very early to work hard and have not read any books. Those beautiful images outside are the work of the public relations team.

If the script is a little more complicated, you might not be able to understand it.

But when it comes to the script of "The Matrix", it's normal not to be able to understand it, because it was filmed based on the inability to understand it.

The film was a great success in its previous life, not because it showed off its profound philosophical and religious implications. Instead, it relies on dazzling special effects and exciting action scenes to achieve great success.

The second and third films of "The Matrix" are proof of this. Based on the first film, the Wachowski brothers (brother/sister) listened to the deception of film critics and made the film more and more obscure.

While overall the trilogy was a successful franchise, The Matrix could have done better.

After explaining it to Keanu Reeves, it happened to be lunch time.

Little Gilbert said smoothly: "Miss Jones, let's have lunch together!"

Catherine was still thinking of some way to survive, so little Gilbert sent out an invitation.

She readily agreed: "Okay..."

During lunch, Catherine wisely kept her mouth shut. Gilbert Jr. discussed the afternoon shooting plan with John Schwartzman, Yuan Ping and Chen Hu.

The literary and dramatic aspects of this drama are actually pretty good. Keanu Reeves' acting skills can't be said to be very good, only average. Charlize Theron is slightly stronger, but has not yet evolved into the movie queen form.

What is really important is the design of some special effects scenes and action scenes.

After dinner and going to the set, Catherine asked little Gilbert: "Is this a story about hackers?"

"In a sense, yes." Little Gilbert nodded.

The Internet is developing very rapidly now, and it is no secret that there are hackers, and it is not unusual for Catherine to know about it. But this movie is not just a story about hackers, the background of the story is quite complex.

During the filming in the afternoon, Charlize Theron came, glanced at Catherine, and then whispered in little Gilbert's ear: "She has a wild beauty, and her performance must be very wild."

This woman really dared to say anything, but luckily no one heard her.

Little Gilbert said, "Sally, you're going to suffer a lot later during the filming."

"You're not going to torture me, are you?" Charlize Theron looked scared, then returned to her adorable state, blowing on little Gilbert's ears and saying: "Come on, you know, I won't refuse you .”

"Go get ready," little Gilbert patted Charlize Theron's butt and told her to get ready.

Catherine looked at Charlize Theron in a black tights and felt a little envious. This is the female lead in a commercial blockbuster.

The dream of many people who come to Hollywood is to star in a movie, become a female lead, and then become a Hollywood superstar. But the dream is a dream, but it is out of reach.

Hollywood resources are so tight, and hundreds of people may even compete for an important supporting role. How can you make the role your own?

The answer is to be appreciated by big people, such as little Gilbert.

But now it seems that this big shot has a lot of people to take care of. I wonder if he has time to take care of himself.

The main focus of the afternoon was the action scenes of Tritini, played by Charlize Theron. This woman is quite addicted to shooting action scenes. She was still not satisfied after filming more than 30 scenes and kept asking to do it again.

She also made excuses: "Well, I think I made a bad move just now. Let's do it again."

Little Gilbert can look at the monitor and thinks there is no problem!

So he asked Yuan Heping: "What do you think?"

Yuan Heping also said: "No problem, it's very good and elegant."

Little Gilbert turned around and persuaded Charlize Theron: "There are still a lot of action scenes, Trittiny, don't be so anxious, this one is fine."

"Huh?" Charlize Theron looked disappointed: "It's so boring. I could have been cooler."

Little Gilbert didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Other actors, including Keanu Reeves, complained endlessly when filming action scenes, but Charlize Theron was very addicted and wanted to do action scenes every day.

The strangest thing is that other actors were very careful in filming action scenes for fear of getting hurt. When Keanu Reeves and Hugo Weaving were filming a fight scene two days ago, Hugo Weaving broke two ribs.

On the contrary, Charlize Theron not only loves to shoot action scenes, but she has never been injured.

She even asked Little Gilbert to do all the action scenes by herself, without the need for a substitute, but Little Gilbert sternly refused.

This woman felt curious and amused, but little Gilbert couldn't let Charlize Theron mess around just because it was fun. He still has to feel bad for his woman, and it wouldn't be good if she got hurt.

Moreover, being injured will also delay the crew's filming work.

The filming work ended in the afternoon, and there were no night scenes in the evening. After the work was completed, Little Gilbert, Yuan Heping, and Chen Laohu left in a car.

Charlize Theron invites Catherine: "Come to dinner with us!"

Catherine hesitated for a while, but finally nodded in agreement.

"Mr. Yuan, thank you for your work these past few months and helping us complete the filming of the film." In the car, through Chen Laohu's translation, little Gilbert and Yuan Heping chatted.

Yuan Heping said politely: "Thank you for giving me this opportunity to participate in this project. Now it seems that my participation in this project is a correct decision."

Yuan Heping told the truth. In the beginning, he still disliked Gui Lao's project. In order to refuse, he deliberately raised the salary. But I didn't expect Gui Lao Gui to be very thoughtful, so he finally agreed to the invitation.

When he first picked it up, Yuan Heping thought that the ghost guy didn't know what kung fu was, so he thought he could just fool him.

But I didn't expect that the ghost director, little Gilbert, who was said to be a genius, actually knew something about kung fu. It was obvious at a glance that he was fooling him and asking for something real. So Yuan Heping had to work hard and complete his work seriously.

He made a request to little Gilbert, requiring that all action scenes be designed and directed by himself, and that he decide on the final effect.

Little Gilbert agreed without thinking, and directly delegated power to Yuen Woo-Ping, who took charge of the shooting of all the action scenes in the film.

This actually made Yuan Heping look at this ghost director with admiration. Among other things, little Gilbert's principle of respecting professionals and not interfering is much better than most directors.

However, this is actually a very normal choice for little Gilbert.

He believes that professional people should do professional things. He will not act arbitrarily on crew matters or filming matters, but will fully listen to the opinions of professionals.

If it works and works well, he will do it.

Although he also filmed martial arts-like web dramas in his previous life, to be honest, the martial arts web dramas of that era had lost the essence of kung fu movies, and he really only knew a little bit about them.

So with Yuan Heping on the crew, he didn't have to pretend to be a big-tailed wolf, he could just leave it to Yuan Heping.

However, facing his compatriots, little Gilbert did not appear very enthusiastic. He wears this skin, and if he is too enthusiastic, he will be suspected, which is actually very detrimental to him.

On the contrary, such a business-like attitude can make everyone feel at ease.

The staff from Hong Kong Island soon learned that little Gilbert was a China expert, proficient in Chinese and knowledgeable about Chinese culture.

After learning about the brilliant achievements made by this director, everyone expressed their admiration for little Gilbert. It’s rare to see many directors become world-famous at this age.

After getting used to it, these staff members from Hong Kong gradually became harmonious with the crew, and the shooting process went smoothly.

Although there will inevitably be some conflicts, they are all within control.
Little Gilbert talked about Cheng Long: "Jack starring in "Rush Hour" has entered the post-production stage. We will be able to see the movie in theaters next year."

Yuan Heping expressed his doubts: "Can a Chinese actor succeed in Hollywood?"

Gilbert Jr. said: “If there is a time when we can succeed, now is undoubtedly the best opportunity.

Jack's style is something that has never been seen in Hollywood. Now is also a period when there is a craze for Chinese kung fu, so the chance of success is great. "

"So is this why you added kung fu elements to The Matrix?"

"That's right..."

In fact, the film not only contains kung fu elements, but also some Buddhist and Taoist views, as well as a lot of philosophical discussions.

In fact, in the eyes of little Gilbert, these elements are just mysteries. To put it bluntly, this is just a superficial introduction and will not go into depth. A little bit is enough.

If it were made into a deeply probing film, critics might be excited, but audiences would definitely be blown away.

The success of "The Matrix" in its previous life was not because of its discussion of religion and philosophy, but because of its cool action scenes and special effects.

Scenes such as bullet time and flying over walls have become the objects of imitation in later films.

Those deeply discussed religious and philosophical contents are just the icing on the cake, not the main reason for the film's success.

However, little Gilbert did not tell the actors this during filming. Once these are mentioned, the sense of mystery and reverence for the film in the actors' hearts will disappear, which will instead affect the filming of the film.

After dinner, Catherine took her leave. Her purpose was achieved, at least little Gilbert remembered that there was such a person as her.

After dinner, Laurence Fishburne, who plays Morpheus, came over and talked to little Gilbert: "Director, I still don't understand the script. Can you explain it to us again?"

Seeing Keanu Reeves and Charlize Theron, Hugo Weaving came over and seemed to want to listen.

Little Gilbert had no choice but to put down the tea ceremony in his hand: "Okay, then I will tell you, Lawrence, do you have any questions?"

"I have a lot of questions. What I want to ask is, how to determine the difference between reality and virtuality, and how to tell whether you are living in a virtual world?"

Lawrence's acting became more and more confused, so much so that he couldn't figure out whether he was real as a captain, or whether Morpheus in the matrix world was his real self.

"Lawrence, do you think we live in the real world or the virtual world now?" Little Gilbert asked.

"Of course it's the real world." Lawrence said firmly.

"Really?" Little Gilbert expressed doubt: "What we think of as reality is nothing more than electrical signals processed by the brain of what people see, hear, and feel.

So as long as this electrical signal is simulated, it can create a real illusion for the brain. "

Keanu Reeves suddenly realized: "Sometimes when I dream, I feel like I am living in the real world. But when I wake up, I realize how ridiculous everything that happened in the dream is.

This is probably because the brain produces a real illusion signal when dreaming. "

Little Gilbert expressed his admiration: "Neo, you are truly worthy of being the savior."

Keanu Reeves rubbed his head in embarrassment and said: "When I took drugs before, I was also pursuing a similar feeling, but..."

The rest of the words were not spoken, but everyone knew what he wanted to say.

It was nothing more than the death of his friend River Phoenix, which hit him hard. Keanu Reeves's failure in recent years has something to do with the death of his good friend.

In fact, according to little Gilbert's words, you deserve to die from taking drugs.

But after all, everyone is dead, and the dead are the most important, so I won’t say those words.

The next day, Doug Walter, director of Warner Pictures' distribution department, came to visit the cast and watched several scenes of Cloud Mountain and the Riddler.

After watching it, Doug Walter expressed that it was very confusing: "Oh my god, little Gilbert, I can't understand what the movie is about?"

In this way, he gently reminded little Gilbert not to make things too brain-intensive, as the audience would not like it.

Little Gilbert smiled and said: "Doug, it seems you lack a philosophical thinking.

But this is only part of the film. This film also has a lot of action scenes and a lot of big scenes, which are very intense. "

After hearing about the big scenes and action scenes, Doug Walter was reassured that the film would still comply with the principles of mainstream commercial films.

If you spend 80 million US dollars to make a killer movie, even though the director is Gilbert Jr., it may not necessarily be successful.

Because the scenes were shot in jumps, the story inside the matrix was shot first, and the real part needed to be shot last.

So in terms of filming, some scenes were very inconsistent.

This depends very much on little Gilbert's training ability. He has to inspire the actor's state in every scene.

But fortunately, the difficulty of acting in "The Matrix" is not very high. It's more about pretending to be cool. Especially Morpheus, played by Lawrence, is cool to the core.

Wearing a fur coat and sunglasses, I feel that this person is obviously not handsome, but he is very imposing and cool.

Seeing his appearance, little Gilbert sometimes wondered whether Yan Shuangying was imitating the appearance in "The Matrix", and the style seemed to be the same.

Of course, in terms of appearance, the most attractive one is undoubtedly Charlize Theron.

Compared to the original Carrie-Anne Moss, Charlize Theron is taller and has longer legs, with a cold and delicate face. The black tights worn on her body perfectly reflect her advantages.

Looking at Charlize Theron's look, little Gilbert has already considered the movie peripherals, and the Trittiny doll will definitely be a big seller.

Later, Black Widow, starring Scarlett Johansson, set a sales record for character dolls.

In the same black tights look, there is no doubt that Charlize Theron is better. After all, Scarlett's stature is indeed a flaw, a bit short.

But these things will have to be discussed after the film is released. A very crucial scene is being filmed on the set now, where Neo meets Morpheus for the first time.

Morpheus believes that Neo is the savior he is looking for, but Neo still doesn't understand that he has just glimpsed a glimpse of the truth of this world.

He originally thought he was living in a peaceful year in 1998, but found that it was not the case. It turned out that there was an unknown side to the world.

This makes Neo a bit at a loss. He is just a programmer, and at most he is a hacker.

(End of this chapter)