Chapter 19 Shooting

Chapter 19 Shooting

Chapter 19 Shooting
The first scene after the official start of filming was the scene where Shala and his companions entered the cave. As the advocate, Juno was the first to enter the cave to check the situation.

In the original book, this scene was shot both on location and with green screen.

The close-up shots were real shots, while the long-distance shots were shot with a green screen, which also became one of the most exciting posters of this movie.

Due to budget and censorship reasons, Zhang Chen cut many shots, but he kept this scene.

The first thing to do is close-up shooting.

The entire cave entrance is built in the form of a set, with rocks around, moss on the ground, stream water flowing down the cave entrance, and sunlight pouring in...

A rope was lowered, and Zeng Li controlled the descender on the climbing rope and descended little by little, her two long legs shaking.

After three days of training, they looked like real mountaineering experts.

Zeng Li landed and looked around. She seemed to have seen some beautiful scenery and a smile appeared on her face. Then she shouted upwards: "Sisters, this place is beautiful."

"Click, passed."

The first scene went smoothly and Zeng Li's performance was also very good.

After filming several other people descending, I switched to green screen shooting.

Zeng Li descended again, but the background and the ground were all turned into green screens. Later, these green screens will be replaced by real scenes in the cave using special effects technology, becoming one of the most outstanding stills in the whole film.

Green screen technology has already appeared in China at this time. Of course, large-scale application will have to wait until the second half of this year's "A World Without Thieves".

The most difficult part of this technology is lighting. First, you must use light to illuminate the green screen. The light must be uniform and the brightness must be appropriate, otherwise the image will not be cut out cleanly in the later stage.

At the same time, we have to simulate the natural environment to light the actors. The light shining on the actors must match the background that will be replaced in the future. The direction of the light must be consistent, and the brightness must be consistent, otherwise it will look uncoordinated.

As long as the preliminary work is done well, the later replacement is not difficult. Zhang Chen did not plan to find a professional special effects company to do it. Their animation school of Beijing Film Academy can handle these. When the time comes, find a few seniors from the animation school and give them some money to help them.

The green screen shot is completed, and then the next shot is the shot of Shayla discovering the bloody handprint, which is also the first hint of their dangerous situation.

There are several more shots like this, which are equivalent to side descriptions. They do not directly capture the appearance of the monster, but they constantly imply that there is some kind of dangerous unknown creature here. This is also a common routine in horror movies.

The horror atmosphere is created bit by bit, slowly building up the audience's anticipation. If the monster appears right at the beginning, the film would be inferior and would definitely not become a classic.

This shot was not difficult and Che Xiao did a great job.

Now it’s time for the shot of digging a hole in the ground.

The group found that there was no road ahead, and then Xiala found a pit. Everyone climbed through the pit one by one. Xiala was the last one. When he was climbing, the pit collapsed and he was almost buried alive.

The performance here is a little difficult. Che Xiao went from being calm at the beginning to being panicked after finding herself stuck.

Then Yang Xiaoyue came to pick her up, but the pit showed signs of collapse, and Che Xiao was forced to escape.

The actor who plays Yang Xiaoyue is from the Central Academy of Drama, named Chen Xi, and was also introduced by Zeng Li. His acting skills are excellent, but Che Xiao was NGed several times because her emotional expression was not very accurate.

This scene was shot with special props, and it looks like the tunnel is an enclosed space, giving off a very oppressive feeling.

But in fact, it is a rectangular box made of wooden boards, and then filled with rock models to simulate the appearance of a tunnel. The actors crawl in the tunnel while the cameraman shoots from one end.

In order to simulate the oppressive feeling in the dark tunnel, Zhang Chen requested to use real lights as much as possible, that is, the headlights of the helmets.

This places high demands on lighting.

If the fill light is too strong, it will look fake, but if it is too real, it will appear pitch black, which will greatly affect the viewing experience.

Fortunately, I had practiced several lighting plans in advance, so when it came to the actual shooting, I didn't waste time on this.

Next is the cliff scene, where the people in the dark threw out burning sticks and found themselves on a cliff. It was only five meters away, but there was a natural chasm in the middle.

Here Zhang Chen used the shooting technique of the original work, without using any external light source, and all the light came from burning sticks.

The red burning stick has a limited lighting range, making the darkness outside the range appear more depressing. This is also an invisible stacking terror buff.

Of course, only one burner stick was used in the movie, but in reality there were many, otherwise the brightness would not have met the shooting requirements.

Zhang Chen made some changes here, changing the first person to Juno played by Zeng Li, which was a disguised way of giving Zeng Li more roles. It was not a special favor, but selfishly, Zhang Chen wanted to make this film a double-female lead drama, so that the sequel would not seem abrupt.

Zeng Li climbed the rock with her bare hands, inserted rock plugs, and hung up ropes. Her two long legs swayed in the air, showing the beauty of strength.

But they are not professional rock climbers after all, and they don’t have the strength to stay suspended in the air for a long time, so this shot can only be taken apart.

However, Zeng Li performed well. Her movements looked very professional and it was obvious that her previous training was not in vain.

On the way, we discovered ancient rock plugs left by our predecessors, including an old mountaineering helmet we found later. The bloody handprint at the beginning actually hinted to people that someone had been here before, but they had been killed.

Gloomy emotions continue to accumulate, and terrifying buffs are quietly stacked.

Don’t underestimate these details, the sense of anticipation is gradually built up in such small details.

Film shooting is never smooth at the beginning because the crew needs to get used to each other. The actors, lighting, director, and cameraman are all working together for the first time and need to get familiar with each other's style and rhythm.

But the more we shoot, the smoother it gets.

At the beginning, we could only shoot a few shots a day, but gradually, everyone got along better and better, and the shooting speed became faster and faster.

Today we are finally going to shoot the scene where the monster appears for the first time.

The protagonist took a DV and turned on the night vision mode, then saw human and animal skeletons all over the ground. He was so surprised that some people couldn't help but scream in fear.

Then the DV captured the monster appearing behind his companion.

The monster attacked, the companion was knocked down, and the DV fell to the ground, but it faithfully recorded the entire process of the monster killing.

The third-person perspective simulated by DV is cold and without any emotion, but it is precisely this perspective that makes people feel even more terrified.

From then on, the movie enters the chase mode and the pace becomes faster.

Zeng Li's Juno shows a courageous side.

She was the first to kill a monster with her own hands, and made the audience realize that monsters are not invincible.

As long as you are not afraid, the monster's fighting power is even worse than that of an ordinary person.

Zeng Li was knocked down by the monster played by Cao Bingkun. They fought, and then Zeng Li raised the mountaineering pick in her hand high.

"Cut, passed, change props."

Zhang Chen gave an order, Cao Bingkun left, and the props team brought up a fake monster model.

The filming continued again, and Zeng Li's mountaineering pickaxe fell heavily and accurately pierced into the monster's head.

The pre-arranged artificial plasma splashed out and splashed all over her face.

Artificial plasma is actually made from corn syrup plus some other things. It is sticky and looks similar to blood.

These shots would definitely not pass review in China, but Zhang Chen shot them anyway, as he plans to include them in the foreign version.

After all, he was planning to gain some international fame with this film, and if all the bloody scenes were cut, the quality of the film would be greatly reduced.

There was a noise behind her. Zeng Li, who had just experienced a life-and-death battle, turned around subconsciously and picked up a pickaxe, but she didn't expect that the person behind her was Yang Xiaoyue.

Yang Xiaoyue's neck was pierced by a mountaineering pick. Her face was full of disbelief, blood spurted out, and she was obviously dying.

Zeng Li's face was filled with shock, guilt, and confusion, with all kinds of expressions changing alternately...

This is a very important scene, the beginning of the conflict between the characters, and it is also very difficult to perform.

Zeng Li failed several times and finally met Zhang Chen's requirements: "Cut, passed, prepare for the next scene."

At this time, the benefits of Zhang Chen shooting according to the order of the script became apparent.

Because the filming is done in the order of the script, the actors' emotions can easily develop along with the development of the plot, which greatly reduces the difficulty of the performance.

(End of this chapter)