Hong Kong Entertainment: The King of Kung Fu

Chapter 160 This is just the beginning

The film version of "The Swordsman" has made a drastic adaptation of the original work, adding Hu Jinquan's story of a Dongchang eunuch framing Zhongliang, while also incorporating Tsui Hark's cynical political criticism.

In terms of action design, Cheng Xiaodong went against the realistic style of previous martial arts films that involved punches and fists. The Dugu Nine Swords he designed is cool and sharp, which makes people dazzled.

After "The Swordsman", almost all martial arts films from Hong Kong and Taiwan have become this style of flying all over the world. It can be said that it has single-handedly changed the pattern of martial arts films.

Later, Hong Kong people got tired of this routine and returned to the realistic style, but it was inherited by Singapore and mainland China, and it continues to fly everywhere!

In terms of character, Linghu Chong is also different from the hard-working character in the original work. In the movie, he plays the piano, gets into fights, plays tricks on his junior sister, teases Lan Fenghuang, and teaches his father how to be a good person. He is very free and uninhibited.

Because this tampering was too deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, it led to later remakes of "The Swordsman". The person who played Linghu Chong had no choice but to abandon the original work and play the role as chic, otherwise, he would be scolded by the audience.

When filming the first film, Jin Yong still approved of it. When it came to the second film "The Invincibles of the East", Xu Ke completely subverted it and changed the role of "The Invincibles of the East" to a woman and let Lin Qingxia star.

Good guy, from now on, Dongfang Invincible will be played by women, and they must have a look similar to Lin Qingxia's, and they must have emotional scenes with Linghu Chong, otherwise they will be criticized.

Xu Ke single-handedly changed Jin Yong's original work beyond recognition, and the audience actually accepted it. No wonder Jin Yong was so angry that Xu Ke was not allowed to touch his novels again.

……

This version of "The Swordsman" takes the theft of the "Sunflower Book" from the transportation warehouse in the East Factory as an introduction, and triggers a period of grievances around the true and false book.

The first scene we started filming today was the theft of "The Sunflower Book".

In the original time and space, the director of this version of "The Swordsman" was Hu Jinquan. Everyone originally thought that the collaboration between Hu Jinquan and Xu Ke would be a good story.

However, Xu Ke continued to interfere with Hu Jinquan's filming work as a producer, causing Hu Jinquan to quit in anger.

After learning that his mentor had been bullied by Xu Ke, investor Xu Feng angrily ran to Hong Kong to settle the score with Xu Ke.

Xu Feng not only withdrew his capital, but also took away the two leading ladies, Michelle Yeh and Maggie Cheung.

Now both sides suffer losses, and Xu Ke can no longer use any of the material Hu Jinquan shot.

Xu Ke had no choice but to sign other actors, using Ye Tong to replace Ye Qianwen as Yue Lingshan, and Zhang Min to replace Maggie Cheung as Ren Yingying.

I wonder if Xu Ke has obsessive-compulsive disorder, but the two actors who were replaced actually have the same surname as the previous ones.

The team members were changed at the last moment, and more than half of the investment was consumed. Xu Ke could only be divided into three groups with Cheng Xiaodong and Li Huimin to shoot at the same time, desperately trying to catch up with the schedule.

This in turn resulted in the film's lighting, composition, and photography being very rough.

Moreover, in order to save time and save money, a large number of night shots were used to cover up the shortcomings of special effects. Several key battles were dark, which greatly affected the look and feel of the movie.

Even so, because of its innovative plot and martial arts effects, it received rave reviews after its release. It earned 1600 million yuan at the box office and became the first of Hong Kong's new martial arts movies.

Now, "Swordsman" is controlled by Yang Ye, and all the messy things in the original time and space no longer exist.

The lighting, composition, art, photography, and scenes are all strived for excellence, and the fights are also changed to daytime as much as possible to make the audience happy.

……

In the studio, Han Yingjie patted Zhang Xueyou on the shoulder and said: "Within the Forbidden Palace, there are only one soldier every ten steps, and the fighting is very strict. How can outsiders get in? Check to see if any Jin Yiwei has resigned and asked for leave recently. Don’t involve too many outsiders in this storm.”

Zhang Xueyou said: "I understand!"

Then he said with a sinister look: "Avoid complications, absolutely no outsiders."

The two nodded to each other, and the camera switched to an old eunuch kneeling on the ground.

He was the person guarding the inner transport warehouse. When he heard this, he raised his head in horror.

"OK! This one is passed."

Then, the camera focused on a screen embroidered with a picture of butterflies playing with peonies, and a cloud of blood made of food coloring was sprinkled on it, indicating that the old eunuch had been murdered.

Yang Ye announced: "That's all for today. Let's go back and pack our luggage. We will gather at Kai Tak Airport at eight o'clock tomorrow morning."

Everyone agreed and left. Yang Ye shouted: "Ayou!"

Zhang Xueyou ran over quickly: "Young Master Yang, did you call me?"

Yang Ye smiled and said: "You performed well today. You don't look like a newbie. You have been practicing at home for a long time, right?"

Zhang Xueyou scratched his head and said, "Young Master Yang, give me a chance, I can't embarrass you."

Yang Ye patted him on the shoulder: "Do a good job!"

After saying that, he went out with his hands behind his back. On the first day of work, Zhang Xueyou was praised by the director. He felt excited, but at the same time, he secretly warned himself, hold on, you must hold on!

……

The production of "The Swordsman" took six months, including four months of filming and two months of post-production. It was planned to be released in the summer of 1979.

Today is mainly for the launch press conference. This part I took after the launch is just for fun.

Tomorrow we will go to Taiwan to shoot the exterior scenes, because we have to finish filming the exterior scenes before winter, otherwise the grass will wither and the leaves will fall, and the film will not look good.

Yang Ye's filmmaking is different from others, and the cycle is often very long.

Strict requirements are only one aspect. It often takes a long time to edit a shot.

The main reason is that he hardly works overtime. During the filming period, all employees come to and from get off work on time. If they have to shoot a night scene, they will have a day off the next day.

Since he mostly shoots action scenes, he pays great attention to safety and tries to avoid actions that may cause serious injury or even death.

In fact, although the early Hong Kong action movies were awesome, they all relied on force and death.

They did not have post-production. In order to prevent the audience from seeing Wia, they used very thin steel wires. After a person is lifted into the air, the steel wires will creak and there is a risk of breaking at any time.

Sometimes, we just skip the wire and jump directly. Forget about two floors on the first floor, or jump directly on the horse on the third floor. One careless move can lead to death or injury.

Among the several front-line action directors, the one with the highest casualty rate was Hong Jingbao. When the martial arts actors at that time heard that it was Hong Jingbao's play, they shook their heads and did not dare to go.

In the early days of Hong Kong, there were several strikes by the Dragon and Tiger martial arts divisions, because the casualty rate was too high. Life was used to make money, but life was not spent.

All this has changed with the arrival of Yang Ye. Yang Ye believes that making a movie does not have to be desperate. It is technology to make fakes come true and shock the audience.

Moreover, he also unlocked the cutout technology in advance. During filming, he can use thicker steel wires and then cut them out later, which greatly improves the safety of the martial artist.

The world's first P-picture software appeared in 1982. Although Yang Ye's "Meitu" was born several years in advance, the effect was not very good due to hardware constraints.

The operation is also very complicated. It uses a 470V/6 large-scale integrated circuit computer developed by the American Amul Company, which is very expensive.

Therefore, it is impossible to hang wires as unscrupulously as in later generations. Most of the time, we still have to use light to avoid them as much as possible.

"Meitu" is also open to the outside world, but the price is relatively high. Small crews outside can't afford it, and large companies often rarely use it in order to save money.

Only Baiyang Pictures has been using it. If you don’t use it, it’s useless.

It is most comfortable for the Dragon and Tiger martial artists in Hong Kong to film with Yang Ye. The work is open for a long time, the salary is high, and the safety is guaranteed. Yang Ye is also a martial artist himself, so he has become the spiritual leader of this group of people invisibly.

……

Yang Ye finished his work and was about to leave, but Chen Yulian came over unexpectedly and said nervously: "Hello, Mr. Yang!"

Yang Ye smiled: "Alian, do you have anything to do with me?"

Chen Yulian shook her head and said shyly: "No, I..."

She suddenly bowed to Yang Ye and said, "Thank you for giving me the opportunity to play Ren Yingying."

Yang Ye smiled and said: "You're welcome, that's because your temperament is more in line with Ren Yingying's. I only choose actors based on whether they are suitable. However, even if the image is suitable, they must perform well!"

Chen Yulian nodded vigorously: "I will," Yang Ye said with a smile, "That's it, I have something else to do, so I'll leave first."

"Goodbye, Mr. Yang!"

"goodbye!"

Yang Ye waved his hand and just took two steps when a girl rushed over unexpectedly, hugged his arm and said delicately: "Brother Ye, can we have dinner together tonight?"

Yang Ye said helplessly: "Jiahui, forget it for today. You go home, pack your luggage, and get some rest early. We will fly at eight o'clock tomorrow morning."

"Tch, how long will it take to pack?"

"You're done just taking care of your own? What about your father's? You have to be a filial girl!"

Because Guan Shan went around playing with women, his wife got angry and ran away to the United States with her son. Now they are the only father and daughter in Hong Kong.

"I'm very filial. If you don't believe me, ask me!"

Guan Shan coughed behind him and said, "Jiahui, Aye has something to do, so don't pester him!"

Guan Zhilin was scolded by Guan Shan and had to let go. Yang Ye smiled and said, "I really have something to do today. I'll treat you to dinner when I get to Taiwan."

"That's done!"

"A word is settled!"

Yang Ye agreed, said goodbye to the Guan family and his daughter, got on his motorcycle and ran away.

……

There was a traffic jam at night, so it was most convenient to ride a motorcycle. Yang Ye quickly arrived at Wutai Mountain and stopped in front of an apartment building.

He locked the car, took out a bottle of wine from the trunk, walked into the apartment, found the right house number and rang the doorbell.

Zhang Minyi opened the door, saw Yang Ye, and smiled: "Here he comes, come in quickly!"

Yang Ye's nose moved: "It smells so good!"

Zhang Minyi smiled and said: "Chicken soup."

"Bring me a bowl."

Yang Ye said unceremoniously, changed his shoes and walked into the living room.

"Wait a moment!" Zhang Minyi walked into the kitchen and soon came out with a bowl of chicken soup.

Yang Ye took it and asked, knowingly: "Are there no other guests?"

Zhang Minyi said: "Last time I celebrated with some friends, but you didn't come."

Yang Ye apologized: "I really didn't have time last time."

Then he said: "I brought a bottle of wine to congratulate you on your promotion to director."

Zhang Minyi smiled and said: "Thank you, let's drink this bottle of wine today. I'll sober up the wine first. Dinner will be ready soon!"

Then he brought another newspaper over and said, "Read the newspaper for a while!"

Yang Ye drank chicken soup and flipped through the newspapers. The current affairs section of "Ming Pao" would report domestic news.

There have been three main events recently. The first is that the Sino-Japanese Treaty of Peace and Friendship was signed in Beijing and came into effect.

The second is to reduce the scope of people going to the mountains and countryside. Cities with resettlement conditions will no longer mobilize people to go to the countryside.

Third, starting from 1979, the country will shift its focus to socialist modernization.

"It needs to be changed!" Yang Yexin said.

He couldn't help humming a few words: "In 1979, it was a spring. An old man drew a circle on the South China Sea, and cities rose up like myths, and mountains of gold miraculously gathered..."

"What are you singing?"

Zhang Minyi came out with a plate of dishes and asked.

"Oh, I suddenly thought of a tune, so I hummed a few lines to see if I could write a song."

Yang Ye's humming was not loud, and Zhang Minyi didn't hear clearly what he was singing. She smiled and said, "It sounds so good. I got the inspiration at my house. I wrote it and sang it to me."

"That's for sure."

"Let's eat!"

Zhang Minyi poured two glasses of wine, and the two sat down and clinked their glasses.

Yang Ye said: "Sister Minyi, congratulations!"

"Thank you!"

Yang Ye took a sip of wine, picked up a piece of beef with chopsticks, put it into his mouth and chewed it.

"Well, this beef stew is very good. I didn't expect your cooking skills to be so good!"

Zhang Minyi was very happy and said: "I live alone, and when I have nothing to do, I just follow the recipes and cook."

Yang Ye shook his head and said, "I don't understand. You are so beautiful, capable, and good at cooking. How come you don't have a boyfriend? Are those men blind?"

Zhang Minyi touched her face and said mockingly: "Stop making fun of me, those female stars around you are the most beautiful."

Yang Ye raised his wine glass, clinked it with her, took a big sip, and said, "That's different. You have an intellectual beauty that others don't have."

Zhang Minyi poured the wine for him and said with a smile: "Stop talking about me, can you tell me? Among the female celebrities around you, who is your girlfriend?"

Yang Ye said nonchalantly: "They and I are just cooperating and have a relationship of colleagues."

Zhang Minyi rolled her eyes: "Do you think I believe it?"

Yang Ye smiled and said: "Then I say... they are all my girlfriends, do you believe it?"

"I believe it!"

"You believe that too?"

"Believe me, you are handsome, versatile, and good at both civil and military affairs. Which girl can escape your clutches? Even if you are flirtatious, I'm afraid they will be happy with you."

"What about you? Do you like me too?"

"I do not have!"

"Didn't you say that no girl can escape my clutches? Are you not a girl?"

"That's different!"

"Oh, drink!" Yang Ye clinked glasses with her, stopped mentioning the topic, and asked, "How did your top ten Chinese song award show go?"

"We are currently discussing with organizations such as the Hong Kong Composers and Lyricists Association, International Federation of Phonographic Association Hong Kong, and the Hong Kong Record Merchants Association. By the way, why didn't Baiyang Records join the Record Merchants Association?"

"It's not too late, haven't we just been established? These things are done by the Eastern Han Dynasty."

"But you were extraordinary as soon as you released it. With "A Touch of Love", it outshone other record companies in Hong Kong."

Yang Ye chuckled and said without humility: "This is just the beginning!"

(End of this chapter)