Hong Kong Entertainment: The King of Kung Fu

After completing the highway chase, "Terminator 2" began shooting the last scene, the most important battle at the steel plant!

Shea helped Yang Ye find an abandoned steel mill in Northern California and then rebuilt it to make it appear to be functioning properly.

The most critical part was the molten steel pool. The props team welded a large iron barrel and filled it with water, oil and powder to create the illusion of molten steel.

More than three hundred light bulbs were installed on the bottom and around the barrel, and warm-colored gel was applied to all of them.

Coupled with auxiliary equipment such as reflectors and soft light films, the overall environment presents an orange atmosphere.

……

Yang Ye, John Woo, Ching-Hsia Lam and others were standing on a high place discussing filming matters when a slightly wretched-looking man walked into the filming site with a little beauty.

It was sunny and pleasant outside, but as soon as he entered the set, he was hit by a heat wave that almost suffocated him.

"Fuck, it's hot!"

Yang Ye glanced down and waved, "Uncle Chan, what brings you here?"

James Wong laughed and said, "You guys are making such a big fuss in Hollywood. I know about it even though I'm far away in Hong Kong. Naturally I have to come over to see it for myself."

Yang Ye asked, "You didn't come all the way from Hong Kong, did you?"

Huang Zhan said as a matter of course: "That's right!"

Yang Ye looked at the beautiful girl beside him and said clearly, "I understand. When Miss Lin asks me about it, I will say that you discussed film art with me in California!"

James Huang gave a thumbs up: "What a good friend!"

Needless to say, this guy's visit to the United States to visit Yang Ye was fake, and he really brought his girlfriend to the United States to travel and have an affair.

As Huang Zhan was talking, he walked towards the crowd and was startled when he saw Yang Ye.

It turned out that Yang Ye had makeup on his face. I didn't notice it when I was far away, but when I got closer, I saw that his skin was broken, revealing the metal skeleton inside. It looked very scary!
Yang Ye smiled and said, "It's just makeup, don't be nervous!"

Huang Zhan stared at Yang Ye's face and looked at it carefully: "This is too realistic!"

Yang Ye shook his head: "It's not that real, but it's not easy to tell if it's a movie."

Huang Zhan nodded and greeted Lin Qingxia, John Woo and others with a smile. They were all old friends and they chatted with each other in a very cordial manner!
Huang Zhan wiped his sweat and said, "Isn't it too hot here?"

Yang Ye said: "There is no other way. We have to simulate the environment of a steel plant."

As soon as he finished speaking, the lights on the set suddenly went out, leaving only a few lights on.

The group of people were suddenly plunged into a dark environment. Yang Ye and Huang Zhan were only a few meters away and could only see each other's shadows.

Huang Zhan was surprised and asked, "What's wrong with this?"

Yang Ye said: "The environment on site must be controlled at 110 degrees. It cannot be overheated, otherwise the props will melt and people will not be able to bear it. So every half an hour, the lights must be turned off for five minutes!"

Hong Kong is a British colony and they like to use imperial units. There are many Americans in the crew now, so Yang Ye said Fahrenheit, which is about 43 degrees Celsius.

In fact... even the fucking British themselves don't use these rotten units.

"Damn, no wonder it's so hot!"

Huang Zhan said this, and suddenly slapped his thigh: "Oh, I shouldn't have come!"

Yang Ye asked in confusion: "What's wrong?"

James Wong said gloomily: "The character you played died in the first film. I have been wondering how you were going to revive him. Now I understand, it turns out that you were going to turn him into a robot.

This should be revealed during the movie to be more interesting. Now that I know it in advance, the fun is half gone. I’m leaving now!”

Huang Zhan said this, taking the beautiful girl's hand and walking away.

Yang Ye shouted from behind, "We'll be filming it later, it's very exciting, are you sure you don't want to watch it?"

"No, no, I'm leaving." Huang Zhan didn't even turn his head, as if turning back would reduce his future enjoyment of watching movies.

"Then we'll treat you to a drink tonight to welcome you back!"

"Ok!"

When the crowd saw Huang Zhan running so fast, they couldn't help but burst into laughter.

Lin Qingxia said: "I think he should not be called Huang Lao Xie, he should be called Old Naughty Boy!"

Yang Ye clapped his hands and said, "All departments, get ready, start filming!"

……

What is being filmed now is the scene where T1000 knocks Yang Lisha's gun away, and then his fingers turn into spikes, nailing her to the wall.

This scene lasts less than a minute, but it is extremely exciting and extremely difficult to shoot!

Yang Ye was deliberately cultivating talents, so he would often call Zhang Yimou and John Woo over a few days before the filming of a scene.

There were also his personal martial arts director Yuan Bin, and people from the stunt team such as Ke Shouliang and Luo Lixian. They all sat together to discuss the shooting plan.

Yang Ye would let everyone speak freely, and then Zhang Yimou would say how it should be shot if he were the director, how the dialogue should be changed, and whether there should be more emotion in the play.

After Zhang Yimou finished speaking, Yang Ye asked John Woo to talk about how he was going to design and shoot...

After everyone expressed their opinions, Yang Ye gave a summary speech.

Yang Ye might say: Mou Zi, the filming plan you just proposed is very good, and Lao Wu, the logic problem of the plot you raised is also good...

Finally, come up with your own plan, compare it with each other, and evaluate the pros and cons.

All in all, when everyone got together, it was like they were putting on a play on the spot.

When it comes to European and American action movies, Yang Ye will not copy the originals completely.

On the one hand, the story background has to be changed, and logical problems may arise accidentally. At this time, having someone to discuss with is a good way to make up for it.

On the one hand, the action scenes in early European and American action movies were too lame and often needed to be redesigned.

Of course, for a science fiction movie like "Terminator 2", the action design should not be too fancy. It only needs slight improvements during the hand-to-hand combat to add icing on the cake.

Logically speaking, since it is a high-performance robot, it must know fighting skills.

It’s just that Hollywood didn’t know how to shoot this back then, so there was nothing they could do. Starting from “Terminator 3”, the action scenes have clearly been elevated to a higher level.

Speaking of which, the time interval between each film in the Terminator series of the original time and space is too long, from the first film in 1984 to the sixth film in 2019, spanning nearly half a century.

Due to the long time span and lack of overall planning, the actors kept changing. John Connor alone had four different actors. In the sixth film, Connor was simply eliminated.

The time span is long, and the originally stunning settings are not surprising at all in later generations.

The fans are all getting damn old, and their passion for watching movies has been completely lost.

The protagonist keeps changing, and there is no sense of immersion.

The superposition of various elements has wasted a classic series.

In today's time and space, we need to plan well!

……

Since Lin Qingxia couldn't fight, many shots couldn't be filmed directly, so we had to find a way.

Yang Ye said: "For example, the shot where Zun Long knocks away Qing Xia's gun. If it were shot normally, it would definitely be a close-up shot of the action of knocking the gun away!

But this won't work. Where we are standing now, this shot requires Qingxia to throw the gun at just the right moment, otherwise the shot will look fake.

If Zun Long used force to knock Qingxia's gun away, the movement would be too large and it would not be possible to smoothly connect to the next shot!

So how should we shoot it? We don’t shoot a close-up of the gun being knocked down, but use other actions to achieve this scene, so that the audience has the illusion that the gun has been knocked down.”

Although Yuan Bin is a martial arts instructor, when he is with Yang Ye, he actually listens to Yang Ye and is just an executor.

Yang Ye’s words made him wonder: If he didn’t film the gun being knocked down, why did he make the audience think that the gun was being knocked down?
He has doubts, and others are even more confused!

Yang Ye didn't care and started to do it right away. Because they wanted to shoot Yang Lisha being nailed to the wall by T1000, the makeup artist had to weld a sharp spike on the wall and Lin Qingxia's clothes.

From a visual effect, the audience feels that the sharp thorn has penetrated Yang Lisha's arm! Because it is impossible to really use a sharp thorn to penetrate during filming.

Yang Ye said to Zun Long: "Guoliang, when you poke later, do it like this!"

There was a sharp thorn on Yang Ye's finger, which he poked out suddenly, but it seemed that he was exerting force forward, but in fact he was moving it downward.

Zunlong nodded, and Yang Ye said to Zhang Yimou: "Mouzi, you have to pay attention to cooperation and grasp the timing. When Guoliang pokes forward, your camera should be raised at the right time."

In short, the sharp spike was fixed on Lin Qingxia's shoulder, but it had to be hidden under the camera in advance, and it would be revealed just right when the sharp spike in Zun Long's hand attacked.

The photographer and the actors must cooperate properly, otherwise, if it’s too early or too late, it will be exposed!

John Woo was impressed by Yang Ye's careful design and ingenious calculations.

When filming "A Better Tomorrow" before, Yang Ye came up with the brilliant idea of ​​lighting a cigarette with US dollar bills.

While filming "Terminator 2", John Woo discovered that behind a simple shot, Yang Ye's extremely sophisticated shooting skills are often reflected.

For example, they previously filmed Yang Han trying to stop the Terminator from killing people and pushing away the Terminator's gun, but the Terminator ended up firing a shot into the empty space behind the car.

To enhance the visual effect, the shot should be accompanied by a flash of fire.

Wu Yusen was thinking about adding some device to the gun, but Yang Ye said, "Behind the car, just flash the light and use a frame of white grid to represent it."

The solution to the problem is that simple.

John Woo thought that the arm piercing shot that was being filmed now would require the help of computer special effects.

Because the previous process of turning the T-1000's fingers into long, thin metal spikes relied on a combination of traditional models and computer special effects.

The entire animation process actually has three "key frames". Ziqi Company produced three metal fingertip models, with shapes ranging from short to medium and then long, and asked the actors to wear them in turn for filming.

Ziqi Company then added the change process between the three states in the computer.

Unexpectedly, Yang Ye used the real shooting method to achieve this most exciting and thrilling shot.

……

Yang Lisha was nailed to the wall by T1000. She showed a painful expression with twisted features, but she endured it without saying a word.

T1000 said expressionlessly: "Call Yang Han out!"

Yang Lisha just gasped for breath but never cried out in pain, because if she did, her son might turn back.

"It hurts, right? Call Yang Han out!"

……

"OK, pause!"

The next shot is that T1000's fingers slowly grow longer and aim at Yang Lisha's eyes, which requires the use of special effects.

"Hands fixed, don't move!"

The staff stepped forward to fix Zun Long's hands, and then changed his finger gloves. They changed three types of finger gloves: short, medium and long. They filmed them all before they were done!

……

In the next shot, T1000 pointed a sharp spike at Yang Lisha's eyes: "Call Yang Han back!"

Yang Lisha said coldly: "Dream on!"

……

"OK, change equipment, Qingxia, don't move yet!"

The staff immediately stepped forward, first took off Zun Long's clothes, then tied up his left hand, and then put on a special prop costume.

"OK, Young Master Yang, come on stage, continue filming!"

……

T800 raised an iron rod and smashed it down, instantly cutting T1000 into two halves.

T1000 leaned back, struggled for a few times, grabbed the iron rod, and kicked T800 away.

The staff immediately came forward to take off the prop clothes and put on a new one.

This prop clothing is in a state of being healed but not completely healed!
Then T1000 and T800 started fighting and changed their clothes again.

In order to avoid being exposed, the crew of "Terminator 2" worked on the details bit by bit.

Moreover, in order to maintain the environment of the steel plant, the shooting site was always hot.

They can't shoot for long and have to take a break, otherwise no one can stand it.

All of this made the filming progress very slow.

……

In the evening, Yang Ye and John Woo invited James Huang to drink.

Lin Qingxia was very familiar with Huang Zhan, but she was too tired from filming during the day, so she just came over to say hello and went to rest.

Before leaving, he kissed Yang Ye on the face and told him, "Don't be too late!"

After Lin Qingxia left gracefully, Huang Zhan said with a lewd look on his face: "Being able to win the beautiful Lin is truly a role model for our generation!"

Yang Ye complimented, "You also have a beautiful lady named Lin in your family, a talented lady from Hong Kong, so enviable!"

John Woo said self-deprecatingly: "One of you is dating a beautiful woman, and the other is dating a talented woman. I'm just envious!"

Wu Yusen's wife Niu Chunlong was originally a script supervisor for Chang Cheh's crew. She was of average appearance. Wu Yusen was Chang Cheh's assistant director at that time, and the two developed a relationship during their working relationship.

Huang Zhan patted Wu Yusen on the shoulder and said, "Brother, you are still able to respect your wife and you are a role model for men. I can't do it, Ah Ye, can you do it?"

Yang Ye quickly shook his head: "I can't do it!"

"Hahaha!" They both laughed and drank a glass!
John Woo said helplessly: "Just make fun of me!"

After talking nonsense for a while, Huang Zhan said seriously: "Aye, actually I am here to be a lobbyist!"

Yang Ye said, "Who are you talking about?"

Huang Zhan said: "Ms. Teresa Teng!"

Yang Ye frowned and said, "Can you say it again?"

"Fuck, this isn't the same thing as sleeping, please don't interrupt me."

"Okay, what kind of lobbying? Lobbying Deng Lijun not to go to the mainland to participate in the CCTV Spring Festival Gala?"

Huang Zhan was stunned when he heard this and asked, "Miss Deng is going to the mainland to participate in the Spring Festival Gala?"

"The mainland has sent an invitation, and she wants to go, but there are many difficulties. Isn't that why you are here?"

"No, I didn't even know she was going to the mainland to participate in the Spring Festival Gala. Besides, this has nothing to do with me!"

"Then why did you come?"

"I am entrusted by the Golden Melody Awards Organizing Committee to lobby Ms. Teresa Teng to accept the Golden Needle Award!"

"Oh!" Yang Ye nodded and said, "The Golden Melody Awards should have given the Golden Needle Award to Li Jun a long time ago. Is it possible that Li Jun is unwilling to accept it?"

Huang Zhan nodded and said, "The Golden Melody Awards organizing committee contacted her several times, but she declined all of them. Finally, the organizing committee sent me here."

"Did you go to San Francisco to meet Lijun?"

"Yes, I asked her to meet me at a cafe and talked about the Golden Needle Award. She rolled up her sleeves to show me her muscles and said her arms were not thick enough, and then she left!"

Yang Ye smiled and said, "That's her style, so you came to me?"

"I think, except you, no one can persuade her!"

Yang Ye thought about it and said, "Let me try!" (End of this chapter)