Extracting skills from movies

Chapter 723 Wanted Order

"..."

The duel lasted for half an hour and ended with Ip Man's defeat.

This is not a made-up script, it is based on real facts!
Because in reality, Wing Chun is indeed at a great disadvantage when facing the close combat style of Northern style boxers.

Especially in a head-on confrontation.

After filming this segment, Du Sheng arranged the next shot:
“Okay, now let’s film the scene where Hu Wei wins and goes to challenge Li Shuwen.

Ah Jin, your expression should be more arrogant, your eyes should be fierce, and your walk should be more powerful!"

He also demonstrated it himself, his movements were clean and neat, and his aura was fully displayed.

"Wow! Brother Sheng is so cool!"

"This momentum is like a real victory!"

"Director Du, I love you!"

The last sentence was shouted by Tang Yan, who was standing aside with Liu Shishi and watching with a smile.

Du Sheng smiled and shook his head, then returned to the monitor and began to review the footage.

It only took two takes for Zhang Jin to appear in the scene.

The morning shooting task was completed smoothly and the crew prepared to eat and rest.

The afternoon is the real highlight -

Li Shuwen versus Hu Wei!
This is the most crucial battle in the entire movie, and its importance is no less than the final Rakshasa Boxing Champion’s ultimate showdown.

As for whether Li Shuwen and Ip Man fought each other?
Uh... I guess the audience wouldn't like to watch a one-sided 'bullshit game', so I won't film it.

……

In the afternoon, the showdown between Hu Wei and Li Shuwen officially began filming.

A lot of effort went into this scene, from the set to the action design; even the lighting and camera angles were repeatedly adjusted.

The shoot went smoothly and the atmosphere was very lively, except that more than a dozen chairs were broken and Zhang Jin got a few bruises.

But he is indeed very cruel to himself, and he will do whatever it takes to make himself 'scrapped'.

After all, it is very rare to get this role, and I don’t want to waste such a great opportunity.

Over the next few days, the crew continued to operate efficiently, and more than half of the film was completed.

The reason why it was so fast was entirely because Du Sheng made sufficient preparations in advance.

He had conceived all the scenes and shot storyboards long before filming began.

He even rehearsed every punch and every step in his mind countless times.

You and your opponent just need to execute according to the plan, unlike some directors who make changes and improvisations while filming.

This not only saves time, but also gives the entire team a better sense of direction.

……

At noon on March 3, Du Sheng was taking a nap in the crew lounge.

At this time, Zhang Jigang and Zhou Huajian came to visit together.

Seeing that Du Sheng was accompanied by a beautiful woman and even cooked for him personally, Zhou Huajian couldn't help but give him a thumbs up and joked:

"You are really amazing. You can enjoy such treatment in the crew. It's really enviable."

As permanent mentors of "Eastern Star", Zhou Huajian and Du Sheng have a close personal relationship. In addition, both of them were singers at the Olympic Opening Ceremony, so it is common for them to joke with each other.

After a few jokes, Zhang Jigang got to the point:

"Ah Sheng, your new English album "Endless Joy" is scheduled to be released worldwide in May, right?"

"Yes."

Du Sheng nodded in confirmation.

During this period, apart from filming, he was also working on his new album.

Sony had already sent people over to discuss the release, and given the successful experience the first time, this time it was naturally much easier.

Zhang Jigang continued:
"We have already submitted the Olympic promotional song "We Are Ready" to the higher authorities for review.

They think that you are very popular overseas, can you make this song one of the main hits..."

"We Are Ready" is a promotional song created by Du Sheng specifically for the Olympic Games, and he also participated in the production of the MV.

In view of Du Sheng's recent international fame due to Bajiquan and the "Du's Disciples" incident, the Olympic Committee felt that this was a good opportunity to expand publicity.

Of course, the expenses are definitely paid by the Olympic Committee.

Du Sheng thought for a moment and responded:

"I will speed up the filming of this part and it is expected to be completed on April 4.

We will discuss this with Sony and try to secure more promotion channels.”

In fact, Du Sheng’s part in “The Grandmaster” has been almost filmed.

Ye Weixin knew that Du Sheng’s time was precious, so he made special arrangements to shoot his scenes first, so that the work of the entire crew revolved around him.

The rest of the time was spent by other actors completing their respective shots.

After hearing Du Sheng's plan, Zhang Jigang agreed:
"That's fine. I'll apply for additional funding from above, so that at least your work won't be in vain."

After discussing work matters, everyone relaxed and chatted about some light topics while eating.

Zhou Huajian suddenly asked casually:
"Ah Sheng, you and Girls' Generation don't plan to release a new album in June this year, right?"

Du Sheng was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said:

“There is no such plan at the moment.

Brother Jian, are you preparing to enter Southeast Asia?
Write a few more good songs, and let’s conquer the market together!”

Zhou Huajian smiled bitterly and said modestly:

"How dare I compete with you? I'm planning to release an EP called NOW in June and I don't want to clash with you."

The past few years have been the peak of Zhou Huajian's creative career, and with the popularity of "Voice of the East", his popularity has remained good.
However, facing strong competitors such as Du Sheng and Girls' Generation, sales were still greatly affected.

In particular, the overall shrinkage of the record market made his situation even worse.

Last year, he deliberately avoided direct competition between the two sides and chose to release his new album "Rain Man" in March. As a result, he was attacked by the contestants' apprentices, which was really laughable.

Relying on the popularity accumulated from the program and the support of Du Sheng as the nominal producer, they were able to snatch a lot of market share from him as a mentor.

Although the album "Rain Man" also won awards, its sales volume failed to break one million compared with previous years.

Du Sheng smiled and waved his hand:
"Singing is just a side job for me. After I release my English album this year, that's basically it."

Zhou Huajian and Zhang Jigang were speechless after hearing this.

Others may not be able to achieve your side job in their entire lives.

Liu Shishi interjected:

"Brother Sheng, didn't you just finish writing a promotional song for The Grandmaster called "The Grandmaster" last night?"

Tang Yan added:
"And it took less than one night to complete. It was like playing."

Looking at the lively crew, Zhou Huajian suddenly felt that he was a bit out of place...

He stood up and said to Du Sheng:

"When we're done, I'll invite you to play ball some other day."

After saying this, he left with Zhang Jigang.

In fact, Zhou Huajian had never seen Du Sheng play basketball, but he was thinking about finding a few friends with good basketball skills, and maybe he could win back a game on the court.

Du Sheng was naturally unaware of his psychological ups and downs, and after finishing his meal he went back to the set to continue.

He greeted Ye Weixin:

"Old Ye, please speed up the pace from now on. The faster the better!"

As soon as Ye Weixin heard it, he knew that this was the time to "sprint to the final stage".

To put it bluntly, the movie "The Grandmaster" is a medley of kung fu performances.

There are no big special effects, no big explosions, no big scenes; the plot is entirely supported by characters and actions.

So all you have to do is shoot each small scene and then stitch them together.

Once the pace is picked up, efficiency will naturally increase.

A few days later, the crew welcomed the highlight. Li Shuwen fought against the Russian boxing champion Malotov!
This character is the final boss in the movie and also the ultimate goal that Li Shuwen has been challenging along the way.

Malotov was a martial arts master from Eastern Europe. He was extremely strong and skilled in wrestling and joint techniques. He was known as the "Iron-Armed Bear King".

This scene took a long time to shoot because Du Sheng followed the movie principle that the BOSS cannot be knocked down with one punch, so he established the opponent's strength.

It contains five or six fights of different styles:
From fists and feet to weapons, from indoors to outdoors, there are even close combats between two people with bare hands.

It took three full days to complete this climax scene.

After filming the last scene, Ye Weixin shouted happily:
"Crack!"

Everyone knows that "The Grandmaster" has officially wrapped up!
From the start of filming to its completion, it took less than 42 days in total.

A blockbuster action movie was completed so quickly.

The media reporters present were all dumbfounded:
"Really? We just came to attend the opening ceremony not long ago, and we finished filming today?"

"Is this speed too fast? Is this too hasty?"

"Isn't it just a random shot to fool the audience?"

If it were any other domestic director or supervisor, they would have been criticized to pieces long ago.

But if it was Du Sheng, no one dared to question it.

Because his name is synonymous with quality.

In fact, this shooting speed is not uncommon in the industry.

In the early years, shooting an action movie in Hong Kong could be completed in a week at the fastest and ten days to half a month at the slowest.

In comparison, Du Sheng's filming this time took more than a month to complete, which can be considered a "meticulous work".

But if you compare him with some mainland directors, he is simply possessed by the Flash.

Many mainland directors take a long time to film.

Clearly a scene could be completed in ten minutes, but it took ages and involved various meetings, discussions, and adjustments to camera positions.

For example, in Zhang Guoshi's later film "Man Jiang Hong", the entire film basically just walked back and forth in the courtyard, with only a few scenes, and it took three months to shoot.

It is said that most of the time was spent figuring out how to shoot the whole thing in one shot...

And there are internal reasons why the shooting is so slow.

On the one hand, it is to spend the investors' money.

If you really save the budget, won’t the investors ask you for it back?
That definitely won’t work!

There is a rule in the director circle:

'You must spend all your money, and it would be best if you could add some more.'

On the other hand, many directors do not make adequate preparations in advance.

The script was not finalized, the storyboards were not done, and the actors had not rehearsed. When they arrived on the set, they had to temporarily change the words, shots, and scheduling, so the efficiency was naturally low.

And Du Sheng also serves as the director this time, which is of course different.

Before filming, he designed all the shots with the help of "Directing Control Ability LV3/Blue: (68000/256000)".

Even every move was rehearsed several times.

Once you arrive at the site, you just need to follow the plan and there is no need to improvise.

This is true professionalism.

……

At the wrap party, the media came out en masse, and the news they wrote was more exaggerated than the last:
[“The Grandmaster” was completed in 41 days, setting a new record for domestic film shooting! ]

[Du Sheng creates another miracle! Foreign fans' expectations are off the charts,]

[Li Shuwen's look was revealed, and netizens exclaimed: This aura is amazing! ]

[Du Sheng responded to the implicit criticism of Ip Man in the movie: That is respect, not smearing]]

Especially the overseas 'Baji Association' and 'Du's Disciples' saw the behind-the-scenes promotional footage and were immediately blown away.

The topic, which had previously declined, has once again dominated the social media platforms.

"Fuck, this is real kung fu!"

"As expected of a boxing champion, he is extremely charming in his role as the Kung Fu Grandmaster!"

"I declare that I am now a die-hard fan of Du Sheng!"

Many passers-by who were originally indifferent to Du Sheng also became interested in him.

After all, he is truly the world boxing champion, so his performance as the Grandmaster will definitely be something to watch.

Especially those female fans from abroad, once they like someone, their circle of friends, YouTube, etc. will spread the news crazily.

And this is exactly what guarantees box office success.

Movies are not afraid of no one watching them, but they are afraid of no one talking about them.

Even though "The Grandmaster" hasn't been released yet, it has already become a hot topic and the box office is as stable as an old dog.

In one word, it is worth ten publicity teams.

After the wrap party, everyone returned to the hotel and no one went to sleep.

A group of people gathered in the conference room with great interest and started playing mahjong.

Liu Shishi didn't know how to play, so she sat next to Du Sheng, eating melon seeds and watching him play cards, like a caring little wife.

Tang Yan kept handing Du Sheng water and tissues, and secretly fed him some snacks.

We played until about one in the morning, and then everyone dispersed and went back to their rooms to rest.

Everyone will be able to go home tomorrow, but Du Sheng can't sit still.

After all, there are several important things waiting to be dealt with next.

First, the movie "Wanted" will be released soon and will soon start global promotion.

Second, the upcoming English album, Endless Joy, also needs to be accompanied by promotions.

In particular, three of the title songs, "Party Rock Anthem", "Moves Like Jagger" and "We Are Ready", will begin to chart in dozens of countries and regions around the world.

Along with this ranking, there are also some MVs related to the 08 Olympic Games that will be pushed for playback.

However, Du Sheng owns Phoenix TV and two major streaming media platforms, as well as resources from international giants such as Hearst and Samsung. Now he no longer needs to work hard at the radio station.

The third is to participate in the Cannes Film Festival and continue to enhance its international status.

Fourth, more than a dozen international "Baji Associations" and "Du's disciples" leaders got together and invited him to participate in the "Baji Symposium".

.........

After returning to the bedroom, Du Sheng heard a crisp reminder sound as he wished.

[It has been detected that the filming of "The Grandmaster" has ended. Should we proceed with the lottery? 】

Although he had known for a long time that this film would not go beyond the scope of superpower rules, Du Sheng still did not have much hope before.

After all, this film was drastically adapted from the "Ip Man" script that was won in a lottery, which doesn't quite fit the "script from the previous life" clause.

Now it seems that all the hard work has paid off by adapting it based on the original.

Considering that the previous movie "Taken" did not become a hit, there is probably some hope this time.

But there are still many good things worth looking forward to about Li Shuwen.

At the very least, Du Sheng felt that his performance was not bad.

Sure enough, as the idea came to fruition, the ratings were surprisingly good.

[Statistics in progress... Host role compatibility 92.2%, role proportion 31.8%, completion 91.9%... Reward pool updated...]

[Settlement completed. Grandmaster’s performance rating is: Excellent+
The host's current comprehensive evaluation is C-, and the number of draws available is 1/12. Do you want to participate in the draw? 】

The character's compatibility has never exceeded 92 before. This time it seems to be due to the bonus of his own Baji and seniority and his deep connection with Li Shuwen.

Du Sheng’s mind flashed through Li Shuwen’s more useful items and skills, and he silently recited the lottery in his mind.

As the thought came to mind, seven cards popped out and exploded like flowing light.

"Hey! It's purple, and it's a purple title?"

Du Sheng ignored the one hundred dollars, the martial arts uniform, the Baji Grandmaster medal, etc., and his eyes fell on the plaque that was flashing purple light.

.........

(End of this chapter)