The Best Director

"Ho, da..."

"Heath, your steps should be more steady, now go directly to Jiang Ye, grab his shoulder with your left hand, punch him in the face with your right hand, and then grab him."

In the huge motion capture stage room of Huoyan Electric Studio, the crew of "Firefly" is in full swing for the martial arts episode I, which has been in progress for many days, and the martial arts action team is also designing test shots. At this time, the team members and nearly three times the lead double actors are either slowly and leisurely designing actions, or performing a scene rehearsal in a smooth and fast manner. In fact, this work has started long before the set of blades. It's been a long time.

There will be many action scenes in "Firefly", huge and indoor, including gun battles, spaceship battles, and close combat, that is, martial arts scenes. Robert Downey Jr., Wu Yanzu, Heath-Ledger, Gina Torres, Jessica... Alba and other leading actors in martial arts scenes must undergo special kung fu training. According to the basic situation of fighting, formulate different training content and different training intensity.

The series of martial arts scenes in the script include Captain Marr, Janey, Zoe and others Vs Riva: Blue Gloves Vs Civilians, Blue Gloves Vs Covenant Police Officers, Blue Gloves Vs Predators, Blue Gloves Vs Mal; Reeva Vs Commoners, Reeva Vs Blue Gloves, Reeva Vs Predators, etc...

In terms of character combat power, Reva ranks first, and Blue Gloves ranks second, and because of the role setting, the "Blue Gloves" equipment has huge power, melting functions, etc. When fighting against the "monster group", Heath and Ledger are both Relatively easy and freehand: only when there is no gloves and other equipment in the end, the fights with Mal and Reva are real, so relatively speaking, Heath...Ledger's special I task is not onerous.

If "Dark Empire" is Keanu-Reeves, "Underworld" is Kate-Beckinsale, then "Firefly" will be Jessica...Alba, the focus of the film's gunfight is not her, but the martial arts scene It's Riva. So naturally, although Jessica has a first-class dance level and a good kung fu foundation among non-martial arts actors, she is still the one who trains the hardest, at least 7 hours a day, so tired that she just lays down and sleeps at night. Newlywed life came to an abrupt end.

At this time, Jessica was also training punching speed not far away, sweating all over her face, and yelled to vent from time to time: Not long ago, she practiced hanging steel wires in mid-air. It is very difficult to maintain body balance in the air, and then control the movement of limbs, such as kicking and punching, which requires sufficient strength and balance to do so.

"It's getting more and more terrifying..." Joshua, who was watching her as an assistant, gritted his teeth when he saw her showing fierceness. Her fighting power rose sharply, which was not a good thing for him.

And Robert Downey Jr., Wu Yanzu and others also immersed themselves in training under the guidance of the martial arts assistants; Heath... Ledger is cooperating with director Wang Yang and action director Donnie Yen to practice some storyboard shots.

The action director of "Firefly" finally found Donnie Yen. The 20-year-old Donnie Yen learned a variety of fighting skills since he was a child. The important members of the home class soon came out of the self-organized team. In addition to acting career, he also directed films such as "Wolf Warrior Tangshan Brother"; It means that it has gradually become famous all over the world.

Wang Yang didn't look for Yuan Heping, who is well-known and has a good cooperation with Ang Lee, Quentin-Tarantino, and the Zhuozowski brothers, and he didn't look for Cheng Xiaodong, who is also well-known. Instead, he looked for Donnie Yen, not because he wanted to be different. It's just that Cheng Xiaodong is too elegant and beautiful, and Yuan Heping's fierceness is not his ideal style; moreover, he is not a director who can't fight, Yuan Heping's style will too much affect his first martial arts test, and even in the future, he needs more leadership Right, more suitable for feel and style.

But he didn't want the kind of coldness of "Blade Warrior 2", or the similar "Biohazard Kill Bill"...

"I want to fight very explosively. It has nothing to do with the scene, props, or special effects. It's just that it's very violent, rough, and that kind of explosive feeling! It's very heavy, fast, and powerful, but Sometimes it can be a very soft move, with skill. Rewa should be like Tai Chi, vigorous and a little elegant, but not too much, and have the impact of Bajiquan; the blue gloves are more clean and neat, Specializes in hitting the deadliest point, when there are gloves, it is infinitely powerful, and when it is not, it is as fast and fierce as Muay Thai; Mal is more thrilling, and Janey pays more attention to strength and crazy expressions..."

Of course, this is not "Wing Chun" or "Ip Man". The design of action shots does not care whether it is Tai Chi, Ba Chi or Muay Thai. It is a fusion of "Kung Fu", or free fighting, and actual combat. Similarly, there is no fixed routine for fighting, you can use it as you like, and you can fight as you look good.

In actual combat, if you cling to the moves and routines, you will die a miserable death. You can fight as you like. Maybe the same move, different genres have different folding methods and different move names, but in the end, it is often the same. of. Although integration is the right way, genres still have different styles, especially the styles on the screen. How to achieve this integration and achieve a smooth and unified style is a problem that the director and Wu Zhi have to solve.

Wang Yang had a lot of martial arts ideas since he was a child, and he often designed some fighting scenes without plots; and in the many communications, Donnie Yen understood his intentions very well, and his sharp style was also suitable for the style, so Ni Yizhen took it away. He won the title of "Firefly" action director.

Heath Ledger, who was standing on a large piece of blue cloth, responded to the director's order, and walked slowly and calmly towards the male martial artist a few steps ahead. Pounced on him, Heath Ledger turned sideways to dodge, grabbed the shoulder of the male martial artist with his blue gloved left hand, punched him in the face with his right hand swiftly and effortlessly, and pulled him away He seemed to be hugging, and said softly: "Thank you."

This is a very important line of Blue Gloves in the script. His language style is very concise and direct. Often there are only a few words in a sentence, almost all of which are everyday expressions. His actions do not require explanation or nonsense, except for a few scenes: and The Blue Gloves say "thank you" after every kill, whether it's a marauder, an innocent civilian, a Covenant official, a mobster, anyone.

Heath Ledger is still trying to figure out what tone and tone should be used to say "thank you". In the whole script, blue gloves kill countless people. Is there any difference between each "thank you"?

"Very good!" Wang Yang clapped his hands and praised it. The resulting effect feels good. If the script and storyboard are followed, the entire Predator will explode and melt into a puddle of water. This is the result of "Blue Gloves". ability.

St...Ledger continued to practice. After getting along these days, he found that this year's young director seems to like to say "very good", and he will encourage and praise everything. Compared with the set of "Brokeback Mountain", this place is simply "beautiful Taobao Online women's clothing Tmall Taobao mall Taobao.com women's winter clothing jacket m New World", "Brokeback Mountain" and other film sets "well done" and "very good" are so rare, it lifts your spirits when you hear it, but now...he Some nerves are numb.

But this feeling is really good! I hope that this big director will not turn his face as soon as the filming starts like Ang Lee. Heath...Ledger had these thoughts flashing through his mind, and he thought he was kind of ridiculous again... he was only happy when people praised him and gave him sweet candy, but he admitted it.

"I'll take a look over there." Wang Yang patted Donnie Yen on the shoulder and let him continue to be in charge of Heath-Ledger's action design, then walked towards the other leading actors: "Robert, you have some muscles, but you don't have muscles. Strength, you can’t punch fast, practice how hard you are!” The sweaty Donnie yelled: “I don’t have strength? Wrestle with me!” Wang Yang turned and left mockingly: “Why should I fight with my subordinates? Defeat? What a fool. Hey Susan! What's up?"

"This is a challenge!" Donnie stopped in the middle of his roar, and when he saw the brown woman in front of him, one of the long names of the producers of "Firefly", Susan-Levin, his old face suddenly changed. She took a look, and greeted cheerfully: "Hi, Susan!" Susan responded with a smile: "Hi."

Looking at Wang Yang and Susan... Levin was talking about the management of the stand-in actor and walked away until he couldn't even hear the slightest sound. Then Downey recovered and continued to practice. Could it be that he ended his single life? Is the day coming?

"Daniel, your fist is heavier, and it hits like a hammer! Then your feet, like this!", "Come on, come on! Very good!", "Jessica, you slide over like a split horse Ye, you don’t need to do a straight split, and then turn sideways and give the predator on the left a few quick punches, his chest, neck, and face!”…

Wang Yang walked up and down in the motion capture stage room, galloping all over the stage, demonstrating movements for the leading actors, discussing camera design with Donnie Yen, watching everyone punching and kicking, sweating like rain, he felt more and more Itchy, I really want to fight! Recently, there are no physical entertainment activities at night, and I fell from the peak to the bottom all of a sudden. I am really going crazy! He couldn't disturb the memory of the leading actors, he rubbed his chin and looked at Donnie Yen next to him, it was not enough, uh...

"I want to fight ten!" On the blue padded stage, Wang Yangpeng swayed into a stance, looking at the surprised faces of the martial arts members of the surrounding action team, he clasped his fists and said: "Come here Go! I need to experiment with some shots myself."

"Huh, wow..."

After spending the morning in the flame studio, like the tracks of the previous few days, Wang Yang came to the image engine headquarters on Fifth Avenue in West Vancouver in the afternoon. What does it mean for a special effects company to have funds, talents, and technology? Today, the image engine is already one of the top special effects companies in the industry. It is not as good as the leading brother Industrial Light and Magic, but it is not inferior to Weta Studio of "Lord of the Rings 3". It is even better in terms of animals, motion capture, explosions, etc. Start with some leading technologies.

In addition to doing special effects for the flame group's "Furious Speed" and other film and television works, the image engine is not idle, it has participated in the production of special effects for many blockbuster movies, and just took over part of the CG rendering business for "Sin City" . Now every animator and member of the image engine knows that the 200 million-invested Serenity will carry them to the Oscars for Best Visual Effects.

In the same company, "Firefly" naturally follows the special effects team of "The Ninth District". Visual effects director: Sean Walsh, Richard Kidd: Sean Walsh also shoulders the computer production director, The important position of the special effects team leader: Steve Nicholas is the animation director, modeler Brian...Mike, etc. This team has hundreds of people, CG masters and special effects talents from all over the world, enough to make any A director's unconstrained style is realized.

"Yang, are you okay? What's the problem?" In the office, the round table is full of blueprints, and the computer screen shows a rotating 3D firefly spaceship. Sean looked at Wang Yang suspiciously. The young director bared his teeth, is there any dissatisfaction?

We have been working together for a long time, and Sean knows that Wang Yang’s ideas are always novel and amazing, and his requirements are always demanding. He pursues perfection. Even the multi-pixel shrimp and insects said, “Can it be more realistic?” Now these spaceships, sci-fi cities, etc. Shrimp and insects are comparable. Fortunately, the technology is the same and advanced, clay sculpture modeling, 3D scanning, topological skeletalization... The prototype of the Serenity is "very smooth and soft", and the magic calls for "texture".

Of course, Tranquility has not yet carried out formal texture mapping. This is the strength of the image engine, which is similar to the principle of shrimp and insects. Just add textures one by one to make the pixels as high as . None so delicate. It’s just that the materials needed for those textures still need to be made with a lot of effort; various parameters need to be adjusted slowly... Special effects production has always been a boring job that requires patience.

"No, I'm fine." Wang Yang shrugged, and squeezed his right shoulder with his left hand vigorously a few times. It was fun, but he was beaten badly. He had to wipe some medicinal wine when he went back to the apartment at night.

He glanced at Sean at the table...Walsh, Walley Pfister, art director Kevin Kavanaugh and others, and continued: "I hope that our special effects can be more reflected in the details of some scenes." In other words, create the feel of a sci-fi world."

Wang Yang picked up a blueprint on the table, and everyone saw the bustling urban streets on the paper. He said again: "Because this is a desolate and backward galaxy edge, just like the clean science fiction in the west without the center of the galaxy. But some details are definitely different from those in 4 years. How about the traffic lights in the future? Then another topic today is about the special effects and shooting of martial arts scenes. We know that we must use a high camera to shoot some slow motion because I like slow motion. lens."

"Hehe!" Everyone chuckled, slow motion is indeed one of Miracle Yang's favorites, it seems that there are quite a few in every movie.

"Since bullet time came out in The Matrix, it seems like the high camera went from pRada to neteR overnight, from Cannes to Hollywood, everyone is using it! But so what? I'm sure there's a lot more to the high camera , A lot of charm, not just bullet time, we can find some novel and suitable effects. In fact, I tried to use a high camera to shoot a punch in the cheek, it is very beautiful! Those facial muscles and the whole head will tremble like water waves distortion……"

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..."

In Vancouver at night, in the spacious living room, Danny wagged his tail uneasily and walked around the sand anxiously when he heard the cries of pain and pleasure. On the sand, Jessica frowned tightly, gritted her silver teeth, and put her slender left leg on Wang Yang's lap. He put some medicinal wine on his hand, rubbed it vigorously around her left ankle, and asked Said: "How do you feel?" Jessica sighed with enjoyment: "Oh d..."

Wang Yang continued to rub and massage with a smile. Looking at this delicate foot and naked calf, he couldn't help muttering: "But I don't want to!" She didn't sprain her ankle. Just fatigue. However, the high-intensity market training these days has also caused her to suffer a lot, and there will only be more after the filming starts. Looking up at her, he asked, "Is it hard?"

It's only been a little over a week now, can her body support this kind of intense Kung Fu training? He was really worried that people would get sick easily if they were tired for a long time, especially someone like her with congenitally deficient immune system... Is it really impossible to write or write?

"It's hard work, but I'm fine! I enjoy it very much." Jessica grinned. Although returning to work is not as happy as a honeymoon, this week is indeed very fulfilling. She knows that the more she sweats, the more "Firefly" will be. The better. "Please!" Seeing the worry on his face, how could he not know what he was thinking? How annoying! Jessica got a little angry: "Sometimes I really want to beat you up, don't think I'm a vase! It's just beautiful, and it will break when you touch it." Wang Yang said repeatedly: "What are you talking about, I don't have one."

She kicked him with her left foot and said seriously: "I know you haven't, but you take good care of me too much. I know Kung Fu, I know yoga, I know hip-hop... No matter what hardships I have, as long as I don't get naked or kiss, I can do it!" she cried, "Jessica—you can do it! I can do it!"

"Of course!" Hearing her loud shout and the echo in the room, Wang Yang nodded and put aside those worries, just like she believed in him, he also chose to believe her and support her unconditionally, and said solemnly: "You can do it!!"

"Yes! Let's continue." Jessica leaned against the sand again and silently made up her mind. She must practice hard and use her best strength to play Rewa well! What a "Wonderful Yankee", what a "Barbie doll"... to hell with it all! Just thinking about this, she suddenly couldn't help shouting again: "Oh... oh d..."! ~!