Chapter 341: Learning from Experience
Beijing.
After Zhao Liying hung up the phone, the smile on her face suddenly fell. She had originally planned to visit Director Xu after finishing filming "Golden Wedding", but who knew that Director Xu actually went to Northeast China to film "Assembly".
This can only be blamed on her for being too isolated from the news. Anyone with a little connection in the circle would have been able to find out the news that "Assembly" had started filming in Shenyang.
To be honest, Xiao Zhao is quite confused now.
Joining the crew of "Golden Wedding" made her realize more and more the gap between herself and professional or talented actors.
Sometimes during the shoot, she felt like an outcast.
If it weren't for Huayi's relationship, she felt that it would be almost impossible for her to get this role based on her own abilities.
But after this poor performance, will Huayi give himself more opportunities?
The strong sense of crisis made Xiao Zhao more and more eager to find "someone above" - she had finally passed the talent show and entered the entertainment industry, not to experience life in the first round!
However, it was such a coincidence that I missed the opportunity that I had finally grasped.
How about going to Northeast China to visit the set yourself?
But Director Xu didn't say anything. Wouldn't it be too cheap and unreserved for me to travel thousands of miles to deliver it?
…………
Shenyang.
The next day, several leading actors and the guest actor who was destined to die today arrived at the shooting site early in the morning.
The fertilizer has been evenly spread among the ruins that were gray yesterday, and the pungent smell is everywhere. Although it is not to the point where people cannot stand it, it is still unbearable if you lie on it.
“This tastes really…”
Ren Yan covered his nose with a look of disgust. He played the former instructor of the 9th Company, the radical who was blown into two pieces in the movie.
Hearing this, Xu Kun advised, "Be patient. Director Feng is almost sick from waiting for the snow."
He seemed to be very adaptable. When he and Baoqiang were extras, they had seen much worse environments than this.
As he was talking, he came to the sandbag shelter in the first scene of the shot and saw assistant director Guo Xiaojun with several extras who were playing corpses. Xu Kun habitually used his hand to make a frame in front of his eyes.
Extending the line of sight from the "frame", it was discovered that the "corpses" were concentrated on both sides of the barricade, half lying prone and half lying supinely. Those lying prone were facing forwards and backwards, while those lying supinely were basically facing the sandbag shelters.
It seems that these people should be relatives among the extras.
Xu Kun looked at it for a while, then suddenly he pushed himself over the sandbag, walked up to Guo Xiaojun, and whispered, "Brother Guo, this road is too clean, isn't it?"
As he spoke, he stretched out his hand and moved all the way from the sandbag shelter to the local position at the end.
"Isn't this because you're afraid of tripping or stepping on someone?"
Guo Xiaojun held the script in his hand and said, "It's written in the script that a row of Chang Jiao Dapeng led the team to quickly pass through the sandbag bunker. Halfway through, they found that the situation was different, so they stopped and stood guard. If the road is too messy, how can they pass quickly?"
"I know the script, but this route is so clean that it seems a bit deliberate - why don't you ask first if there are any extras willing to volunteer if there are any close-up shots showing faces."
After Xu Kun finished speaking, he didn't care whether Guo Xiaojun agreed or not, and went to find Feng Xiaogang to give suggestions.
Seeing this, Guo Xiaojun had no choice but to do as he was told. After all, Xu Kun was also the first assistant director, so doing so would not be considered as overstepping one's authority.
After finding Feng Xiaogang, Xu Kun told him his idea and added: "Here's what I think. When a platoon leader leads his men to charge forward, we can first use an upward-angle shot to let Lao Zhang lead his men to jump over the camera.
Wait for the last two and change to an overhead shot to capture them stepping over the corpses.
This will not only prevent the road from looking too ‘empty and clean’, but will also help to show the cruelty of war earlier - Uncle Feng, do you think this is feasible?"
Feng Xiaogang transformed Xu Kun's description into a picture in his mind and quickly agreed. He was still prepared to give Xu Kun a certain degree of freedom. After all, he was the fifth person to break the 100 million yuan box office, and he was also a relatively close junior. Of course, it was only a certain degree of freedom. He would not allow others to control him like Lu Chuan did.
Of course, Xu Kun still lacks some skills if he wants to overthrow Tian Gang in his crew.
Xu Kun did this not only because he felt that this change was more appropriate, but also to take the opportunity to declare his status in the crew - he has been the only one in the crew for 30 years, and not everyone in the crew is convinced by this.
The two returned to the sandbag shelter together.
Feng Xiaogang called Zhang Hanyu and several commandos, and began to rearrange the shot actions, and asked them to try running back and forth several times to determine the shooting position.
Xu Kun followed him throughout the whole process, silently recording Feng Xiaogang's every move in his heart.
He also tried this kind of multi-camera coordinated shooting method when filming "The Legend of the Condor Heroes", but compared with the scale of "Assembly", it was nothing.
If you want to shoot the new movie you envision, multi-camera collaboration is definitely a hurdle that you cannot avoid.
When the decoration was almost done, Feng Xiaogang, who was wearing old cotton shoes, stamped his feet and muttered, "Damn, it's so cold and it's not snowing!"
Then he gave another instruction to Guo Xiaojun, who immediately picked up the loud speaker and shouted, "All departments, hurry up and prepare. The test shoot will begin in fifteen minutes!"
"receive."
"Get it!"
"Received~"
This drama has six assistant directors alone—including Xu Kun—and six cameramen, plus various assistants, script supervisors, production managers, and sound recorders...
This huge momentum made Xu Kun feel the difference between blockbuster and low-budget films before filming officially started.
After returning to the sandbag shelter, Xu Kun lay down in the center position, rehearsed his lines with Ren Jian, and then waited quietly for the board to be hit.
Following Feng Xiaogang's order, Xu Kun immediately put his mouth close to the loud speaker and said, "Ahem, ahem, brothers from the 168th Division of the Chiang Kai-shek Army, the commander of the 139th Company, 3rd Battalion, 9th Regiment, nd Independent Division of the Central Plains Field Army, Guzidi..."
As his slightly hoarse but powerful voice began, the camera slowly moved down from the war-torn streets, then switched to a close-up of him shouting, and then swept across the soldiers of the Ninth Company who were ready for battle behind him.
The rows of long-focus Dapengs who are chewing the big cake are undoubtedly the most eye-catching ones among them.
Then the camera switched back to Xu Kun, who was about to unscrew the kettle when he was poked by Ren Yan behind him, who urged him, "Old Gu, don't argue with that bastard... cough, cough, cough, cough!"
While talking, Ren Yan accidentally inhaled some fertilizer that was blown down by the wind and immediately started to choke and cough.
Xu Kun hurriedly handed over the kettle. He raised his head and took a sip, rinsed his mouth, stood up and vomited in a place where no one was around. Then he bowed to everyone and said, "Sorry, sorry."
Feng Xiaogang did not say anything, but watched the playback first. He found that there was nothing wrong with the previous shot of the street, but the shot of the soldiers seemed to be a little too fast.
So he ordered: "Start from the close-up of the millet field and do it again."
Upon hearing this, Ren Yan quickly lay back beside Xu Kun.
After that, similar accidents happened several times to different people, which made Feng Xiaogang quite unhappy.
But he couldn't blame the actor. After all, that stuff was pungent to begin with, and it would be unbearable if it was inhaled into the mouth.
In addition, with more people around, the chances of something going wrong were greater, so there wasn't much progress in the morning. We just finished filming the scene where Zhang Hanyu led the commandos into the yard and engaged in a fight with the enemy.
(End of this chapter)
