Hong Kong Entertainment: The King of Kung Fu

"Terminator 2" is a milestone in the history of world cinema and a key leader in Hollywood's global dominance.

Cameron challenged the limits of filmmaking and successfully ushered in the era of blockbusters.

It was his vision and the success of his films that would lead to the effects that would follow in the Jurassic Park and Lord of the Rings trilogies.

Prior to this, the ratio of domestic box office to overseas box office for Hollywood movies was about 6:4, with the local market being the largest market.

After the blockbuster era began, it reversed to 4:6, with overseas box office taking the lead!
However, this can be achieved mainly because the North American domestic market is strong enough, allowing Hollywood production companies to dare to burn money and constantly innovate technology.

The production cost of "Terminator 2" was US$1 million, which was unimaginable in any other market in the s.

This kind of money is enough to make a hundred movies in Hong Kong, so Hong Kong movies are not unjust.

This is actually a crime other than war. People are already using Star Destroyers, but you still use rifles.

This is one of the reasons why Yang Ye must try his best to help the mainland rise, even if he doesn't hesitate to use his own plug-ins.

Overseas markets are unreliable and there are too many variables.

Yang Ye needs a strong local market to support his entertainment career.

Otherwise, despite the fierce commotion now, after Hollywood is completely formed, it will be nothing more than a chicken and a tile dog!
……

Yang Ye's version of "Terminator 2" was launched in the United States. There was no press conference, but it attracted some colleagues to watch, including James Cameron and Yang Ye's old friend Ridley Scott. .

Both of them are technology geeks. When they heard that Yang Ye's movie would use the latest technology, they couldn't sit still.

Especially Cameron, after watching "Terminator", he felt empty in his heart, as if something important was missing in his life.

This time "Terminator 2" started filming, so I couldn't wait to come and find out.

As usual, Yang Ye led a group of people to worship God. When he was done, he took off the red cloth and officially announced the start-up.

This time, Yang Ye shot "Terminator 2" in the order of scene by scene.

There are four main sub-scenes: mental hospital, Skynet Company, highway and scrap steel factory. These four sub-scenes involve many big scenes and are very difficult to shoot.

Once these four major points are taken care of, everything else is out of the question.

The first location that Yang Ye's team filmed was the mental hospital.

This scene is very important. The three main protagonists gather here and the various magical abilities of T1000 are fully demonstrated here.

It is impossible and unnecessary for the crew of "Terminator 2" to go to a real mental hospital to shoot. The crew only needs to scan the exterior scene at the entrance of the hospital.

The interior of the mental hospital was built on Paramount's set.

United Artists is one of the eight major companies. It is actually the largest independent film company. It does not have its own studios and usually rents other people's studios for filming.

After Yang Ye and Shea took over United Artists, their performance was good. However, they were still in the stage of accumulating strength. They had been strictly controlling production and did not expand blindly.

Since the output is not high, there is no need to build a studio, so to this day, we are still fighting guerrilla.

In addition to being used for their own use, the studios and office buildings of the eight major companies are actually a rental business.

The North American film industry is extremely prosperous and there are so many film companies. If they want to make films, the easiest way is to rent the studios and office buildings of the eight major companies.

Well, although United Artists does not have a studio, it still has an office building.

In Hollywood, if you want to make a movie, you just need to show your script to the eight major companies, and after they agree, you can move in.

You don’t need to bring anything except money!
Offices, studios, photography equipment, performance props, actors, behind-the-scenes talents... everything can be rented to you.

We also have specially equipped secretaries to provide services for you!

As soon as the scenes are divided, the timetable must be proposed. How many scenes will be shot in a day and how long it will take to complete the shooting. Charges will be based on this.

If you don’t finish shooting when the time is up, you will be delayed for up to one day, and then the charge will start to double.

If you finally can't stand it any longer, they will buy your movie at a bargain price. Control it yourself!

Looks shameless? But in business, the studios and office buildings of the eight major companies cannot be left empty.

You leave, and other crew members will come in immediately.

If you don't leave when the time comes, it will delay others' business.

……

In an aisle, Zhang Yimou had already set up a camera seat.

He added blue color temperature paper to the lamp and used cold light to illuminate the Terminator, making it look less human.

Zhang Yimou is a true master in the use of color, light and shadow. Looking around the world, there are not many who are better than him.

Among his counterparts in the mainland, only Brother Kaizi could barely compete with Lao Mouzi.

The difference is that Lao Mouzi has an oriental aesthetics and is good at using the freehand style of traditional Chinese painting to create the artistic conception of the picture.

Kai Zige, on the other hand, has a Western aesthetic and is good at using highly saturated colors to create an oil painting-like texture.

Zhang Yimou was very uncomfortable with Yang Ye at first because Yang Ye's movies have a lot of action scenes.

When a character moves quickly, it is easy for the photographer to lose focus if he cannot keep up with the rhythm.

Yang Ye's previous photographers were all hard-working. They have developed good skills by shooting Kung Fu movies all year round and can run with the characters.

Zhang Yimou's solution is simple: increase the aperture of the camera to create a deeper depth of field.

This makes it easy for him to stay focused even when faced with fast-moving scenes!

Before the shooting of "Terminator 2" started, Yang Ye discussed the shooting method of the movie with Zhang Yimou. Zhang Yimou quickly came up with a shooting plan based on the direction of the plot.

I started with blue and cyan filters, and used overhead lighting to illuminate the Terminator, intensifying the shadows on the face to highlight the Terminator's ruthlessness.

As the plot progresses, the Terminator gradually develops "emotions" while getting along with the mother and son. He becomes less like a machine and more like a human being.

At this time, the lighting theme will change from cool blue to warm orange.

In the final steel factory battle, the color saturation will be fully maximized.

Yang Ye was very satisfied with Zhang Yimou's plan. He didn't need to say anything, he had already figured it out by himself, so he didn't have to worry.

Some people may question, Zhang Yimou has just come out of school, is he so awesome?

That’s because... Before Zhang Yimou went to college, he worked as a worker for eight years. During this period, he taught himself and became a well-known photographer.

After the college entrance examination was resumed, Zhang Yimou was admitted because he was too old and exceeded Nortel's enrollment age limit. In the end, he was admitted under the exception because his photography work was so awesome.

Zhang Yimou's first job after graduation was as a photographer in "Yellow Earth", and he won the Golden Rooster Award for Best Cinematography. He also won the Best Cinematography at two small film festivals in France and the United States.

……

Now this shot captures the amazing scene of the T1000 crossing the fence.

Yang Ye drew two circles on the ground in front of a fence and said to Zunlong: "Guoliang, when you come over later, the location will be here. After crossing the fence, the location will be here. Don't go wrong."

How to call Zunlong is a troublesome matter. It is not kind to call Zunlong directly.

Called Aaron or Brother Long... Yang Ye respected Di Long's age, so he called him Brother Long, but when he called Chen Long Aaron, he obviously couldn't call him Zunlong.

Their English names... John Lone and John Woo are both called John, and they are still on the same crew, so it's easy to get them confused.

Therefore, Yang Ye simply called him by his real name.

Zunlong nodded. He thought it was very interesting. He had never made a movie like this before. A set of actions had to be shot several times.

When the shooting officially started, Zhang Yimou first scanned a distant view. After Zunlong reached the pointed location, the staff immediately removed the fence.

Zunlong needs to perform a performance of crossing the fence without a real object. Of course, this is nonsense, and he can't get through it even with a real object.

Since he has no experience in this area, Zunlong's movements are a bit stiff, but stiffness is the right thing, and that's what he wants.

After "passing" through, the staff immediately pushed the fence back.

A detail is added here, Zunlong’s hand holding the gun is caught by the fence. He looked back expressionlessly, changed his angle, and took out his hand.

Yang Ye imagined the scene in the later stage, clapped his hands and said: "OK, the acting is very good, this is a good one."

Lin Qingxia, who was sitting aside and watching the excitement, asked curiously: "Is this okay?"

Yang Ye nodded and said, “When the time comes, we can combine the two images and use CGI technology to create the spectacle of a human body passing through the fence!”

Lin Qingxia looked forward to it and said, "When can we see it?"

Yang Ye said: "They have to render the layers, which will take about half a month. It's our turn, get ready!"

Lin Qingxia nodded and shouted: "Ajing, come here!"

……

After Yang Ye, Lin Qingxia, and Wu Jing were in place, John Woo took on the responsibility of director.

After the recorder took the board, Yang Ye shouted expressionlessly: "GO!"

Since the background of the story is set after the end of the first film, Lisa Yang came to the United States, and Yang Han was a child who grew up in the United States, so most of the dialogue in the movie is in English.

Only when "a family of three" talks, there will be some Chinese.

For this reason, when filming "Boxing Fighter", Yang Ye told Xiao Wu Jing to practice English hard after returning home.

Yang Ye said, aiming at Zunlong with a shot. Lin Qingxia behind him immediately pulled Wu Jing and ran away.

When Yang Ye fired, Zunlong immediately made a gesture as if he had been shot and jerked his body back.

At the same time, the staff squatting outside the screen immediately pressed a switch device, and a small mechanism installed in Zunlong's clothes suddenly appeared.

……

In the movie "Terminator 2", the various dented metal bullet marks on the T1000's body when it was shot were not made with special effects, but were shot with props.

The costume team and the demolition team worked together to create a special costume for Zunlong.

The costume is equipped with large and small cake cups coated with aluminum foil. Each cake cup is actually a fried spot.

These explosion points are all electronically controlled. When necessary, Luo Lixian presses the switch, and a cake cup immediately explodes and pops out of his clothes, causing the effect of being shot.

He only needs to choose the cake cup of the right size according to the firearm used, and he can create a shocking visual effect.

In later Terminator movies, the bullet wounds on the liquid robots healed at any time.

But in "Terminator 2", T1000 couldn't do this. He was shot multiple times and then healed as a whole.

It's also easy to film healing, just shoot the same shot twice.

First, film T1000 falling to the ground after being shot, then put him in some good clothes, lie down in the same place and film him again.

Then combine them together, add two seconds of special effects in between, and done!

……

This sounds simple to say, but it is very troublesome to shoot, especially for Zunlong.

Not to mention that his whole body was covered in explosive spots, he also had to put on a weird posture where he was thrown backward by the impact of the bullet after being shot.

Since the gun models are different, the strength of the bullets is naturally different, so the posture of Zunlong when he is shot must also be different.

Once Yang Ye feels something is wrong, he will ask to do it again.

It doesn't matter if you start over, the key clothes are already rotten, so you have to change clothes and get bombed again.

Although Luo Lixian's medication was very precise and there was no danger, it was still a little painful since he was being bombed close to his body.

Zunlong is too difficult!
……

Relatively speaking, Yang Ye's performance is very simple.

All he needs to do is wear sunglasses and act expressionless.

Yang Lisa ran into the elevator with Yang Han. Yang Han pressed the elevator button fiercely, while Yang Lisa hugged her son and looked at the situation in front of her in confusion.

The appearance of T1000 was beyond her knowledge, and she didn’t know what it was.

The T800 acted as a human shield to block the bullets fired by the T1000, and ran all the way into the elevator.

The elevator door closes at the critical moment. If it is the first time to watch the movie, you will probably be relieved to see this.

However, the next second, T1000's arm turned into a sharp blade, and with a "swipe" sound, it inserted through the crack of the door.

This is so sudden that the audience's worries, which they had just put down, will probably rise to their throats in an instant.

Then the sharp blade turned into two hooks and opened the elevator door. T800 took a shotgun and aimed it at T1000's head.

T1000's head was immediately blasted into two pieces.

The two heads twisted and twisted before returning to a human form.

This scene will probably shock audiences of this generation for a whole year!

……

Still shoot it twice!
Let Zunlong stand first. After the shooting is completed, change to a cyborg of equal proportions and continue shooting.

The cyborg's head is made of latex, coated with aluminum foil and equipped with explosive spots.

Luo Lixian pressed the switch, and with a "boom", his head exploded into two pieces.

In order to avoid confusion, montage editing was used when filming this scene.

The first shot shows Yang Ye shooting outside the elevator door.

The second shot shows the cyborg being blown apart from behind.

The third shot cuts back to the front of the T1000.

The mechanism installed in the cyborg allows it to swing slightly, because the head is now divided into two parts, so even if the movement is very stiff, the audience will not think there is any problem, and even think it is very real.

Then, Zunlong returned to his position and photographed the T1000 after recovery.

As for the brain restoration process, of course it can only rely on CGI technology.

In an era when computer special effects were not yet well developed, Cameron and his team used all kinds of creative ideas to bring people a visual feast, which was really amazing!

The next shot can be described as simple and crude.

……

Inside the hospital, a security guard stood in front of a vending machine to buy coffee.

He shouted to his colleagues in the distance: "Glen, do you want coffee?"

"No, thank you! Let's have a beer!"

"Ok!"

While the security guard was buying coffee, a human figure suddenly appeared on the floor. He slowly stood up and turned into a security guard!

When the security guard turned around and saw an identical version of himself, he was instantly stunned.

The later security guard was naturally transformed into T1000. He could transform into anything that came into contact with him and was similar in size.

If you lie down on the ground, you are the floor; if you stand up, you are the security guard.

The next second, T1000 stretched out a finger, a sharp blade suddenly came out, and stabbed the security guard to death.

So... how do you take a picture of two identical people, and then one of them stabs the other to death?

Just find a pair of twins to act! (End of chapter)