The literary era since 1979

September 9, Songjiang.

At this time in Chedun, construction was underway everywhere. The construction workers were working in full swing and were having a great time. After all, the wages they were getting were higher than ever before.

Different from the "Old Shanghai style" of the previous life, there is neither Mahler Villa nor Shikumen alleys here, but a uniform appearance of old streets in eastern Guangdong, with various signs hanging on the shops on both sides, such as "Da Sanyuan Restaurant".

Baozhilin Hall is located among the exquisitely simulated buildings.

Fangyan led Gong Xing, Suzuki Yoko, Zhao Jing and others walking on the street. They could no longer tell whether they were in Shanghai or eastern Guangdong.

Moving forward, they came to a warehouse where the scenery was being set up. Xu Ke and Shi Nansheng were standing at the door, having obviously been waiting for a long time.

"Teacher Fang!"

"Director Xu! Ms. Shi!"

Fangyan greeted them and then introduced Suzuki Yoko and others one by one, especially Zhao Jing and Zhang Yu.

Xu Ke and his companions understood what he meant and prepared to arrange a supporting role for him in "Once Upon a Time in China II".

"Gong Xing."

Shi Nansheng volunteered to be your guide, "I'll take you around. There are so many places worth seeing in this film and television city."

Seeing her send the person away so casually, Fang Yan showed a satisfied smile, "Ms. Shi is really a good wife."

Xu Ke couldn't help but sigh: "It's all thanks to her help, otherwise, this film and television city might not be built so smoothly."

Fang Yan turned around and looked, "Is this the warehouse where the final battle took place?"

"That's right, Huang Feihong and Yan Zhendong are here, fighting on the bamboo ladder."

Xu Ke raised his hand and made a "please" gesture.

Fangyan walked in and looked around. The scene was not much different from what he remembered.

Xu Ke complained as he walked, because this kind of fighting design was unprecedented and no one in the Hong Kong martial arts industry had ever done it before, so they could only discuss it constantly and design it over and over again. For example, the ladder had to be suspended with steel wire so that the speed could be better controlled.

And this is just the basics. The difficulty lies in how to move on the ladder and how to fight in a way that is both exciting and beautiful.

Just at this most critical moment, Liu Jialiang, who was originally invited to serve as the martial arts instructor, quit.

"Why is this?"

Dialects are very curious.

“It should be said that there is a conflict of ideas.”

Xu Ke said that in the decades of history of Hong Kong Kung Fu and martial arts films, many martial arts troupes of all sizes have emerged.

There are Cheng Long's "Cheng Clan", Sammo Hung's "Hung Clan", Yuen Woo-ping's "Yuen Clan", and of course Liu Jialiang's "Liu Clan", but unlike the other leaders who are all from the northern school and whose martial arts skills are inherited from the opera stage, the Liu Clan comes from the authentic southern school.

Liu Jialiang's father, Liu Zhan, learned from Lin Shirong, a disciple of Huang Feihong, and can be said to be a true master of Hung Gar.

Therefore, in the 1950s and 1960s, the "Huang Feihong" series was popular in Hong Kong, and dozens of films were shot over the past decade. Liu Zhan, as a direct descendant of Huang Feihong, participated in all of them and was considered a half-martial arts instructor. It was also for this reason that Xu Ke invited the Liu Clan to design the action.

Who would have thought that Liu Jialiang was so rigid and stubborn, insisting on sticking to the hard-core and authentic Hung Gar style. He sneered at the concept of the new martial arts style proposed by Fang Yan and Xu Ke, and was quite resistant to it, believing it to be "heresy" and "nonsense".

Especially the "Foshan Shadowless Kick" that kicked seven or eight times in the air, he felt that it was an insult to the founder Huang Feihong, so he resigned immediately.

"It's better to leave. We have different paths and cannot make plans together."

Fangyan curled his lips. No wonder the Liu Clan was the first of the four major martial arts troupes in Hong Kong to decline. They were completely unable to keep up with the times.

"Yes, then I found Yuan Xiangren and Yuan Xinyi..."

Xu Ke smiled bitterly. Cinema City and Golden Harvest were sworn enemies. It was naturally impossible for Golden Harvest's two generals, the Cheng Clan and the Hong Clan, to assist the enemy. Unfortunately, the other few did not meet Xu Ke's requirements. After picking and choosing, he had to ask Yuan Heping to save the situation.

"Is this Yuan Heping the martial arts instructor of "Drunken Master"?"

Dialects pretend to be ignorant even though they know the truth.

Xu Ke nodded, "I also decided to hire him because of his action design in Drunken Master."

"It's really good."

Fang Yan said that the deconstruction of the Drunken Eight Immortals and their redesign into such a humorous and witty martial arts style is enough to show Yuan Heping's level of attainments and innovative strength. Since he wanted to create a new martial arts style, change the audience's aesthetic taste, and break through the traditional martial arts film's one-step format, the martial arts instructor for "Once Upon a Time in China" must probably be the "Yuen Clan".

"I think so too!"

Xu Ke readily agreed, and then agreed to Fang Yan's suggestion to let Liang Jiahui play "Ya Ca Su".

Yu Gong, Liang Jiahui, the youngest winner of the Academy Awards, has acting skills that are obvious to all and is capable of handling the minor supporting role of "Ya Ca Su".

Personally, I just treat it as a face for Mr. Fang. Besides, I also sympathize with Liang Jiahui who is in the dilemma of being banned.

"Then I would like to thank Director Xu on behalf of Liang Jiahui."

Fangyan smiled knowingly.

"Teacher Fang, you don't have to be so polite."

Xu Ke said, "I heard from Huang Zhan that you two met in Hong Kong and co-wrote a song for the movie?"

Fangyan nodded and said, "It's called 'A Man Should Be Self-reliant'."

"Huang Zhan said that the music score was adapted from the ancient song "General's Order" and then Mr. Fang added new lyrics."

Xu Ke was very interested. "I wonder if Teacher Fang could sing a few simple lines?"

Fangyan said calmly, "Do you want the Cantonese version or the Mandarin version?"

"There are two more versions?"

"Of course. For a co-production, we have to cater to both the mainland and Hong Kong audiences."

"Then let's listen to the Cantonese version first." Xu Ke said in surprise and doubt.

Fangyan stood still and cleared his throat, "My pride laughs at the waves, and my blood is hotter than the red sun..."

"Teacher Fang, what if it's in Mandarin?"

Xu Ke clapped his hands in joy. The sudden applause instantly attracted the attention of everyone around.

"It will be fine with a few minor modifications."

The dialect says: "Arrogance faces the waves, blood is like the red sunlight, courage is like iron, bones are like steel..."

"Great talent! Teacher Fang is indeed a great talent!"

There was a gleam in Xu Ke's eyes, and just listening to the a cappella singing made his blood boil.

In my mind, I can't help but imagine the scene of Yan Zhendong and Huang Feihong fighting to the sound of such heroic singing.

"I think only music like this is worthy of the masterly style of Huang Feihong."

A smile appeared on Fangyan's lips. After all, no one could beat Cheng Long in a toy store.

Likewise, no one can defeat Master Huang in the invincible BGM! …………

Time passed by minute by minute, and by the time we finished visiting the Chedun Film and Television Base under construction, it was already evening.

Fortunately, the premiere of "The Ring" was in the evening, so everyone had plenty of time to go to the cinema after dinner.

Looking around, there were long queues of people buying tickets at the ticket office and ticket gate, creating a spectacular scene.

Fangyan did not buy the pre-sale tickets in advance. He went directly to the ticket scalper despite his wealth:
"Dude, what's the price?"

"That depends on which seat you want!"

The young man grinned, revealing a row of big front teeth. "Look, the seats are different in position, so the prices are naturally different. Tickets for the front rows are 10 yuan each, while tickets for the back rows are cheaper, 5 yuan, 3 yuan, 2 yuan..."

Fang Yan chuckled and said, "You're exaggerating. The ticket for The Ring is only a few cents, but it's 2 yuan when it comes to you."

"Hey, these are tickets for The Ring! Does The Ring know about this?"

"Look at the line at the ticket gate. They're all here for The Ring. If you don't buy it, there are plenty of people who will!"

Listening to the young man's nonsense, boasting about himself and speaking in dialect, it's no wonder that they say "flattery never wears out, no matter how many holes there are."

The young man boasted: "Tell me, for such a writer and such a work, I only charge you two dollars for a ticket. Is that expensive?"

“Not expensive!”

Fang Yan suppressed his smile and nodded, "If I were you, I would probably sell it for 5 yuan."

The young man said happily, "How about two?"

"Two is not enough."

Fangyan bought 8 movie tickets, then walked into the cinema with Xu Ke and others and queued up to wait for tickets.

Out of the corner of my eye, I inadvertently noticed the hand-painted poster of "The Ring" on the wall, and subconsciously said:

"There should be a 'not for the faint of heart' or something like that added here."

"why?"

Gong Xing blinked.

“Because of reverse psychology.”

Shi Nansheng explained that just like banned films and books, the more the authorities ban them, the higher the sales will be. Similarly, the more they imply that the audience is timid and should not watch it, the more it will arouse the audience's desire to watch it, wanting to see how terrifying it is, or wanting to test their own courage.

"major!"

Fangyan was full of praise and complimented her business acumen.

"Thank you for the compliment, but I have one question."

Shi Nansheng couldn't understand why "The Ring", which is clearly a science fiction horror novel, was adapted into a pure horror movie?
Spiritual realm, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, there are so many fantastic science fiction concepts. It would be too extravagant to just say no to them!
"This is the result we came to after considering all aspects such as technology and cost."

Fangyan waved his hand and said that the state-owned film studios had not even figured out the concept of entertainment films, so there was no point in trying to make science fiction films.

Otherwise, it would not be "The Wandering Earth" but instead become "Shanghai Fortress" which closed the door to science fiction movies, which would be a joke.

"The director of 'The Ring', I heard he was the cinematographer of 'The Mountain, the Man and the Dog'?"

Xu Ke has a strong interest in Zhang Yimou, especially his unique skills in pictures and colors.

"Yes."

Gong Xing said that during the filming of the movie, Fang Yan and Zhang Yimou would occasionally discuss on the phone how to redefine Eastern horror films.

Xu Ke, Shi Nansheng and others looked at each other and realized that they had never seen a horror movie from the mainland.

In fact, it can be said that "The Ring" is, strictly speaking, the first horror film in mainland China.

In comparison, whether in Japan or Hong Kong, horror films have become a very mature genre in the market.

Japanese horror movies are mainly strange stories, and the stories are often based on the hundreds of demons in Japanese mythology, such as "Onmyoji".

Hong Kong films, starting with the erotic films of the Shaw Brothers era, have had a large number of themes with female ghosts, and in recent years have seen the emergence of supernatural martial arts films such as "Ghost Fighting Ghost" and "Human Scares Human", as well as next year's originator of zombie films, "Mr. Vampire", which combines Maoshan Taoism with ghost stories.

Therefore, Yoko Suzuki, Xu Ke and others were extremely curious about this first horror film in mainland China.

“It’s a play to Yimou’s strengths, using images and colors, camera movements and sound effects to create an atmosphere of horror and suspense.”

Fang Yan smiled and said, "That's all I can say. If I continue, this movie will become boring."

This statement actually aroused everyone's interest, and like everyone else in the theater, they were eagerly looking forward to the movie officially starting.

The story of the movie takes place in the future 90s. After all, the number of television users in the country is increasing rapidly every year, but it has not yet reached the point of full popularization, not to mention the more expensive and rare VCRs and videotapes.

The plot is not complicated at all, and even up to now, there are not many scenes that directly show horror scenes.

Horror movies actually create an atmosphere, a dangerous situation that makes the characters and the audience feel unable to escape but powerless.

Zhang Yimou coordinated the film's color, tone, light and other elements with the pictures, making the entire environment always lack light and shrouded in a gloomy atmosphere, as if it was wrapped in the resentment of a ghost. Under the constant psychological suggestion, the audience became restless.

The timid ones have lowered their heads and dare not look directly.

Even those who considered themselves brave swallowed their saliva and dared not breathe loudly.

Everyone was like a tomb robber, holding torches and walking in the dark and deep passage, with gusts of cold wind.

The most creepy thing is that the speakers in the theater occasionally broadcast harsh and rapid sounds, as if a female ghost was laughing miserably.

"what!"

As the tense plot unfolds and the depressing and weird atmosphere gradually accumulates, the audience begins to get a little restless.

With the sudden narrowing of the field of vision and the sudden sharp sound that appeared without warning, the TV, which was originally functioning normally, began to flash with snow.

Suddenly, several female viewers screamed because Sadako crawled out of the TV with her limbs twisted.

The audience's nervousness reached a peak. Some held the handrails tightly, some closed their eyes, some screamed, some hugged each other...

Screams rang out one after another, fear spread in the dark environment, and signs of human-to-human transmission began to appear.

Just like the defeated side fleeing in panic, emotions collapsed, defenses were completely broken, and the entire theater became a mess.

"I understand."

Halfway through the film, Xu Ke's eyes lit up, "I kind of understand what you meant by 'using atmosphere to scare people'!"

Suzuki Yoko felt the same way. She looked at Fangyan and saw him grinning playfully amidst his screams:

“Making a horror movie doesn’t necessarily require bloody and violent scenes, weird and strange props, and wild and rare special effects.”

"Those are all sensory stimulations, but my film, The Ring, is about psychological fear and heartbeats!" (End of this chapter)