Hong Kong Entertainment: The King of Kung Fu

Chapter 354 New Photographer

Since the launch of "Food Truck" in 1978, this emerging sport has gradually spread around the world as Yang Ye, Chen Long and others have continued to show off their "light kung fu" in various kung fu movies.

Young men in many cities started by imitating the moves in movies, then gradually learned some experience and gradually fell in love with this sport.

They often gather in various corners of the city to communicate and discuss together, gradually forming a unique cultural circle.

"Qinggong" has become a kind of street culture like "street dance". It also has a formal English word "chongKung", which has been included in the Oxford Dictionary.

Yang Ye and his friends have been consciously guiding this culture, so that every time they release a new movie, they show off a "light kung fu" based on local conditions.

In particular, Yang Ye successively released two movies, "Violent Street" and "Boxing Fighter", which fully demonstrated "Qing Gong" and greatly promoted this trend.

Due to the expansion of the circle, some newcomers who do not know whether to live or die blindly blend in in order to chase the trend. Various incidents of being injured or even losing their lives due to suicide often occur.

Under this circumstance, Yang Ye made the decision to launch a documentary about "Qing Gong".

Now, "City Rush: The Secret of Qing Gong" has finally come out and was quietly launched in North America a week before Halloween.

60% of the content of this documentary is clips of Yang Ye, Chen Long, Yuan Biao, Jet Li, Donnie Yen... and many other dragon and tiger martial arts masters while filming the movie.

The other 40% of the content is their interviews with these people.

It includes explanations on how to complete some cool moves, as well as some individual "Qing Kung" demonstrations.

Of course, in addition to those cool show-off moves, there are also many negative cases where show-off failed and resulted in a bloody head injury.

Moreover, every time you pretend to be cool, regardless of success or failure, there will be a warning that non-professionals should not imitate dangerous actions.

In the documentary, Yang Ye talked about ancient Chinese martial arts and opera culture, calling them the "origins" of Qing Gong.

As for the "qinggong" they promoted in the movie, it was created for the purpose of making movies, combining opera, martial arts, track and field, gymnastics, rock climbing and other sports.

There is no doubt that Yang Ye is the founder of "Qing Gong" and a great master.

And Chen Long, Jet Li, Yuen Biao, Donnie Yen, Hui Yinghong, Li Saifeng, Binnie, Tom Cruise, Isabelle Adjani... are his followers!
Hmm... It's a bit like the thirteen disciples of Jesus and the seventy-two disciples of Confucius.

……

As soon as "City Run: The Secret of Qing Gong" was released in theaters in North America, countless hip-hop youths who love "Qing Gong" made a pilgrimage to the cinema.

One week after its release, it recorded a box office of US$518 million, which is very impressive for a documentary.

Shay sighed: "I didn't expect that a documentary could sell for so much money! If it keeps going like this, it might break 10 million. Nick, you are really amazing."

Yang Ye smiled calmly and said: "This shows that the sport of 'Qing Gong' has a very broad foundation among the people. There are many introductions about Qing Gong movements in this documentary. They will naturally go to the cinema to find out."

Xie Yi said: "If your 'Qing Kung' continues to develop like this, won't it become a popular culture like 'Hip-hop'?"

Yang Ye said: "'Qinggong' is cooler than 'Hip-hop', but the entry threshold is also higher. I think its mass base may not be as good as 'Hip-hop'.

However, 'hip-hop' is a spontaneous group creation, while 'qinggong' was invented by me for the purpose of making a movie, and was promoted by me, Jack, and my disciples.

What will happen in the future is hard to say now. However, there is some overlap between these two groups. Often hip-hop masters are also Qing Kung enthusiasts. I think they may coexist! "

Yang Ye did not say anything about his follow-up plan. In fact, Yang Ye’s plan is:
When "Qing Gong" becomes popular to a certain extent, a sum of money will be used to fund "Qing Gong" competitions around the world!
In the end, just like hip-hop, world-wide institutions were established, such as organizations such as the "World Qing Gong Federation".

All in all, it is to contribute money and effort to promote the globalization of the "Qing Gong" movement.

In the era when Yang Ye originally lived, "parkour" became popular in the UK in 2002. It developed rapidly and was favored by young people. In just two decades, it has become popular in many countries and regions around the world.

Yang Ye started it decades in advance and promoted it consciously. He is really looking forward to how big this sport will develop in his lifetime.

……

The plane landed at Los Angeles International Airport, and a lean Chinese man walked down the ladder in an excited mood.

He has a horse face with deep wrinkles, just like the yellow land where he was born and raised.

After following the crowd through the checkpoint, his triangular eyes searched the crowd who came to pick him up.

Soon, he saw a beautiful woman holding a sign with his name written on it: Zhang Yimou.

Zhang Yimou walked over quickly and said to the beautiful woman holding a sign and wearing sunglasses: "Hello, I am Zhang Yimou!"

Hu Yinmeng took off his sunglasses and looked curiously at this man who looked like an old farmer.

Zhang Yimou's outfit is really weird, a gray suit, a white shirt, a slightly crooked tie, black pants, and brown leather shoes, all nondescript.

Hu Yinmeng didn't know that this outfit was borrowed by Zhang Yimou with great difficulty. It was his first time going abroad and he couldn't be embarrassed.

However, Zhang Yimou was Yang Ye's designated photographer for his new film, and Yang Ye's designated candidate naturally had two brushes, so Hu Yinmeng did not despise him because of this, and stretched out his delicate hand and said: "Hello, Mr. Zhang! "

Zhang Yimou shook hands with Hu Yinmeng politely and said, "Hello, what is your surname?"

"Your surname is Hu, I am Mr. Yang's secretary."

Zhang Yimou said solemnly: "Hello, Secretary Hu!"

Hu Yinmeng nodded and said, "Let's go!"

Zhang Yimou followed Hu Yinmeng out of the airport and got into a BMW.

After driving for a while, the bustling urban atmosphere of Los Angeles hit your face.

Zhang Yimou looked at the endless stream of cars and endless high-rise buildings outside the window, and felt extremely shocked.

"This...is America!" Zhang Yimou said in his heart.

For many Chinese in this era, the United States is a serious beacon of humanity.

After Zhang Yimou arrived in the United States, his mentality of "Grandma Liu enters the Grand View Garden" is understandable.

The car soon arrived in Hollywood, and Hu Yinmeng arranged for Zhang Yimou to be sent to a hotel.

As soon as I went upstairs, I met a man who was also very lean and walked towards me. The man smiled and said: "Miss Hu, we have brought you back!"

Hu Yinmeng nodded with a smile and said, "Master Eight, where are you going?"

This person is naturally Yuan Heping, he is the action director of "Kill Bill".

Yuan Heping is known as "Eighth Master", not because he is the eighth, but actually the eldest in his family.

In many industries in Hong Kong, people who have just started out are usually called Zai, such as "Star Zai". When you have status, you can call him brother, just like "Brother Xing"!
When you become a leader in the industry, you will be called "Master", such as "Master Xing"!
Yuan Heping was highly respected in the martial arts world, and he was the eldest. The eldest brother was his uncle, so everyone respectfully called him "Uncle".

Because of the homophonic relationship, it became "Eighth Master" through false rumors.

People who are close to him, such as Yang Ye, Chen Long, etc., jokingly call him "Big Eyes"!
Yuan Heping said: "Young Master Yang invites us to dinner, let's go together!"

Hu Yinmeng said: "Okay, wait a moment. Oh, by the way, this is photographer Zhang from the mainland."

Yuan Heping shook hands with Zhang Yimou curiously. He was a little confused as to why Yang Ye wanted to use a photographer from the mainland this time.

To be honest, the mainland's film industry is very backward, and the so-called fifth-generation directors have not yet emerged. As leaders in Asia, people in the Hong Kong film industry look down on these locals.

However, Yuan Heping did not dare to look down on the people Yang Ye found, and politely exchanged a few words with Zhang Yimou.

Zhang Yimou put his luggage in the room and followed Hu Yinmeng and Yuan Heping to the restaurant.

……

This was the second time Zhang Yimou met Yang Ye.

The first time was four years ago, when Yang Ye gave a speech at the Beijing Film Academy and brought a film called "Terminator" that shocked him to this day.

A month ago, he received a notice from the factory asking him to go to the United States to serve as the photographer for Yang Ye's new film.

Zhang Yimou was confused. He didn't understand why Yang Ye chose him, a newcomer who had just graduated from the film school two years ago.

What follows is a huge sense of excitement. As a young man with artistic pursuits, being able to become the photographer of a major international director, that feeling is indescribable.

Although they are in the United States, the people in Yang Ye's team eat Chinese food. There were a lot of people gathered around three large round tables, chatting while eating, and the atmosphere was very lively.

Yang Ye didn't say anything special about Zhang Yimou's arrival. He just nodded to him with a smile, asked him to sit at the same table with him, and then turned to chat with Hu Yinmeng.

However, Zhang Yimou could tell that Yang Ye had no airs about him, and he enjoyed chatting with everyone while eating. Very approachable.

But they were all in Cantonese, and Zhang Yimou couldn't understand a word.

Since he didn't know the person well and couldn't understand what he was saying, Zhang Yimou simply immersed himself in his work.

It's a pity that although it is a table of delicious food, Zhang Yimou is not used to it.

He likes to eat noodles, with spicy food and pickles, it’s delicious!

Zhang Yimou saw that everyone was eating the chicken on the table and they were enjoying it very much.

It was a whole chicken that had been cut up and placed on a plate. The chicken skin was orange and the color was attractive, and it looked delicious.

So I picked up a piece, dipped it in some sauce, and after taking a bite, I almost vomited.

"Damn it, what a broken chicken, it's still bloody."

Zhang Yimou cursed in his heart and quickly drank a sip of tea, trying not to vomit.

Yang Ye suddenly said to him: "Mr. Zhang, I have watched the two movies that I was a photographer, "One and Eight" and "Yellow Earth", and they were very interesting.

I am friends with Wang Yang, the director of Beijing Film Studio. I called him and hoped that he could help contact Wu Tianming, director of your West Film Studio, and lend you to help me make this movie. "

Zhang Yimou said humbly: "Director Yang, you can just call me Xiaomou. I feel very honored to be the cinematographer in your movie."

Xiaomou? Why does it sound so doting? Worri, so disgusting!
Yang Ye said: "You are older than me, so it is inappropriate to call you that. When I went to the capital before, I heard that people there always have the character "子" after their names. Why don't I just call you Mouzi!"

Zhang Yimou nodded quickly and said, "Alright!"

Well, now he is called Mouzi. This guy is old, so he will probably be called Lao Mouzi next.

……

After several months of preparations, various people gathered in Los Angeles. On November 11, Yang Ye led the filming team to the Nevada desert to officially worship God and start filming!
After leading everyone to pay homage to the second master, Yang Ye officially lifted the red cloth covering the camera and said: "I announce that "Kill Bill" has officially started shooting!"

Everyone shouted together: "Good luck!"

The movie "Kill Bill" has a large number of Asian scenes. When Quentin was initially planning the film, he originally planned to complete the filming in Tokyo, Japan.

But after calculating the cost, they found it was too expensive, so they found an alternative: China.

Finally, all the interior scenes in Tokyo were filmed and set up at the Beijing Film Studio, while a smaller number of exterior scenes were taken from the Tokyo locations.

Yang Ye does the same thing... This can really save a lot of money.

Before planning to shoot "Kill Bill", Yang Ye called Wang Yang, director of Beijing Film Studio, hoping to jointly shoot the film with Beijing Film Studio.

This was a good thing. Wang Yang quickly agreed after reporting it to his superiors.

The final shooting plan was that the scenes in North America only took fifteen working days, but it would take three months to shoot in China.

The first scene shot in North America was the church massacre.

The plot of this paragraph is: A member of the "Venom Assassination Team", codenamed "Black Mamba", which is the protagonist Adjani, discovers that she is pregnant, and she is pregnant with the child of Bill, the leader of the assassination team.

So, she left the assassination team, found an honest man to marry, and planned to give birth to a child and live a peaceful life.

Bill could not tolerate his woman betraying him and the organization.

So, with the other four members of the assassination team, they bloodbathed the church.

This scene was very simple to shoot. The bride and the honest man she had found were rehearsing their wedding, and Bill suddenly came to the door.

The two sides had a conversation, and then the four killers broke into the church with guns and killed all the people in the church.

……

The makeup artist put a plasma makeup on Adjani. She was wearing bridal makeup, covered in blood, lying on the ground, looking very scary.

After getting ready, the recorder called out: "The first shot of the first scene of 'Kill Bill', the first shooting, Action!"

Zhang Yimou held the camera and pointed it at Adjani to take a close-up.

Another camera simultaneously filmed Bill slowly entering from outside the church.

Adjani started to perform, her chest kept rising and falling, she was panting rapidly, big beads of sweat appeared on her forehead, and her expression was very painful.

Zhang Yimou was shocked. This actor's acting skills are so awesome. He really deserves to be the Best Actress at Cannes!
(End of this chapter)