Actor: Thank you.

"Incense!"

"Toast tea!"

"Respect heaven and earth!"

Inside the Ip Man Hall in Foshan.

All the crew members of "Ip Man" are here to prepare for the launch conference.

In fact, the main filming location for the crew is Shengqiang Film and Television Base in Shanghai.

This is the place where the movie "Huo Yuanjia" was filmed.

You can shoot street scenes from the Republic of China period there without any setup, you can use it directly.

Especially when filming "Huo Yuanjia", a "Guangdong Street" was specially built and has never been demolished.

Just a slight modification was enough, which saved the crew a lot of costs.

But filming is filming, and publicity is publicity.

The clan atmosphere in Guangdong Province is not as strong as that of the Fujianese who are fed by them as food.

But there are still some, and they are much heavier than in the northern regions.

Furthermore, the Chinese film industry's custom of covering the machine with red cloth, burning yellow paper, and offering pig heads as sacrifices when starting the film also came from Hong Kong.

There are even many bad habits in the crew that were passed down from them.

For example, the most common one is that women are not allowed to sit on prop boxes.

The prop boxes used on the set are very sturdy, and many people lean against them to rest.

Some even use it as a temporary table and chair.

If the props guy doesn't let us sit because he's afraid of damaging the box or destroying the things inside the box, then that's understandable.

But the rule in Hong Kong is that women are not allowed to sit.

No matter whether it was the tea-serving lady or the heroine in the movie, as long as they were women, no matter their age or wealth, they would not be allowed to sit.

Saying that women are dirty and have a strong yin energy.

Especially the boxes containing weapons and props, they are not allowed to be touched at all!
Until 10 years ago, many Hong Kong film crews that came to the mainland to film often had unpleasant experiences with mainland actresses because of this rule.

Here, women hold up half the sky.

When the People's Republic of China was founded, it underwent a thorough social transformation and had long since abandoned the idea of ​​favoring boys over girls.

However, the idea of ​​male superiority and female inferiority still exists in various parts of the south.

Especially in Hong Kong, they don't let women sit in suitcases because they are afraid that the suitcases will be stained with women's menstrual blood.

There is a kind of "Kung Fu" in the South called "Shen Da".

It is similar to a superstitious kung fu that combines the Golden Bell Cover and the practice of summoning gods to possess one's body.

The Boxers claimed that they were invulnerable to swords and guns. This is what they practiced.

It is said that after practicing the magical fighting skills, even if one is chopped by a knife or an axe, only a white mark will be left on the body.

The way to break this magical skill is to smear black dog blood on the blade, and hit the target accurately with every cut.

Women's menstrual blood is even more dangerous than black dog blood. It is the dirtiest and most sinister thing.

Once touched, your magical power will be broken!
It's pure superstition.

This is also the reason why women are not allowed to sit on weapon boxes, especially.

Fearing bad luck, an accident occurred on the set during the filming of a fight scene.

When the Hong Kong film industry gradually weakened and the mainland film industry slowly rose, the Chinese people who were born under the red flag and grew up in the spring breeze abandoned these bad habits.

Can I prepare some more stools?
Why do you have to sit on the prop box?

Hong Kong people like to create class differences, and they deliberately only prepared chairs for a few leading actors.

Even the chairs for the leading actors are divided into grades and sizes.

Zhang Yuan also looked down on these pedantic ideas, but he had to adapt to the local customs.

The crew of "Ip Man" is almost entirely composed of Hong Kong people.

Even though he is the leading actor and investor, he still has to take into account the ideas of the majority of other members.

Zhang Yuan’s principle of doing things is very simple. As long as you can make money for me and it is not illegal, you can do whatever you want.

Come on!

Burn incense, offer fruits, worship and kowtow.

Everyone put in a lot of effort in front of the statue of Ip Man.

Especially Zhang Yuan, after all, he has to play the role of an old man, so we have to respect him.

You have to show it off and let the media take pictures.

Many members of the Ye family have come, so we have to do it for them to see.

"I am very grateful to Mr. Ye Zhun for trusting me."

"It is my honor to play the role of Mr. Ip Man, the martial arts master."

"I am very young and my knowledge of martial arts is still superficial."

Ye Zhun curled his lips as he listened.

It only takes one or two weeks to practice Wing Chun to the level of standing meditation. If you are superficial, then others should not do it.

"Fortunately, Mr. Ip Man's eldest son, Mr. Ip Chun, will participate in the filming of the movie as a consultant."

“Give us guidance.”

"I hope that through this film, I can promote Chinese Kung Fu to the world."

Ye Zhun nodded, his words were still nice.

This is considered to give our Ye family enough face.

"Well said."

“Foshan is the hometown of martial arts, and it gave birth to martial arts masters such as Huang Feihong, Liang Zan, Ip Man, and Bruce Lee.”

"We also hope that the film 'Ip Man' can promote our Foshan martial arts."

After Zhang Yuan finished speaking, a person in charge of the local cultural bureau came forward to speak.

Zhang Yuan was laughing and clapping beside them, but he couldn't laugh in his heart.

“The competition among your local governments is really fierce.”

When Zhang Yuan talks about films, he always mentions promoting "Chinese Kung Fu".

In his mouth, it became "Foshan Kung Fu".

And Huang Feihong...his background is actually somewhat controversial.

Some say Nanhai County, which is now Nanhai District of Foshan.

Some also say it is Panyu County.

Some also say it’s from Shunde…the place where they eat sashimi.

Because Huang Feihong’s famous skill is not actually the shadowless kick.

That was shot in the movie.

His earliest unique skill was the fishing stick technique.

It is in line with the local habits of Shunde.

In order to eat sashimi, I also practiced martial arts.

In recent years, the battle for celebrities has intensified.

Yanggu and Beizhou fought bloody battles for the title of "Pan Jinlian's hometown".

Because any celebrity can boost local tourism.

They can also use this as an excuse to apply for many subsidies and attract investment.

No wonder when this person mentioned celebrities, he always talked about Foshan instead of Guangdong Province.

When Zhang Yuan heard him talk like that, he thought he was from Jiangsu, as the divisions were so detailed.

In fact, this Ip Man Hall is not Ip Man’s former residence, but was specially built by the Foshan Ancestral Temple Museum.

You can visit the museum by buying a ticket, which adds a selling point to the park.

So we are here to hold the press conference today, not only for the crew to trace the origins, but also because of the invitation from the local government.

They hope to create another national Kung Fu IP similar to Wong Fei-hung.

They really made the right bet.

After the press conference, we had dinner together.

The person from the Cultural Bureau was also present at the dinner.

It is also said that Foshan plans to follow the example of other cities and build a film and television city.

This plan already exists.

He very politely invited the crew to come and support the filming if they have the chance.

After hearing this, Zhang Yuan really became interested.

I specially brought the wine to toast them.

"If 'Ip Man' films a sequel, we can consider cooperation," Zhang Yuan said directly.

"Okay, you're welcome."

"We can even invest in scenic spots together and develop together."

Zhang Yuan thought of the routine used by Big Beard and Poet Chen.

They shoot and build wherever they want, cashing in their works and fame in exchange for shares in the scenic area.

"Ip Man" is indeed the country's largest Kung Fu IP after "Huang Feihong" and "Fong Sai-yuk".

The appeal is definitely enough to support a film and television base.

"We'll discuss this together when we have a chance."

The other party said yes but did not take any further action.

Zhang Yuan thought about it and understood.

Your movie hasn’t been released yet, so you don’t know how it’s going to perform. What if it flop?
The results will speak for themselves. As long as the film is popular, there are many film and television studios willing to cooperate.

After dinner, I found a teahouse to have preliminary discussions with the main creators.

Directed by Ye Weixing, screenwriter Huang Ziheng.

Also present were the chief martial arts choreographer Sammo Hung, and the leading actors Simon Yam, Lynn Hung, Lam Chia Dong, and Louis Fan.

Wu Jing also came to the crew as agreed.

Zhang Yuan specifically went to the director and asked for a relatively important role for him, the martial arts fanatic Lin.

This character has highlights and died heroically.

At the same time, Zhang Yuan was also thinking that most of the roles played by Wu Jing in recent years were somewhat evil.

It can be considered as helping him get back on the "right path".

The film's cost was not high, but it was still of high quality, and the Japanese Kenji Kawai was invited to compose the music.

This guy has composed the soundtracks for "The Ring" and "Gundam 00", and also for Tsui Hark's "Seven Swords". His level is impeccable.

In addition to the soundtrack, there are also Japanese people in the leading cast.

This was Hiroyuki Ikeuchi's first time returning to mainland China to film a movie, in which he played a Japanese soldier.

When Zhang Yuan saw him, he quickly taught him to speak Chinese.

"He who knows the current affairs is a hero."

Anyway, whenever I meet friends from the island countries, I have to teach them this sentence.

The taste is right.

As everyone looked at the script, director Ye Weixing explained his ideas in detail.

But Zhang Yuan had done his homework before and read it many times.

He had already understood the key to the story.

In fact, the story content is very "old".

Ip Man was invincible in all of Foshan.

When the Anti-Japanese War broke out, Ip Man fought against the island country's officers for the sake of national justice.

Although he won the game in the end, he was shot by the imperial army and almost died.

Isn’t this just a remake of “Huo Yuanjia”?

Huo Yuanjia fought all over Guangzhou, challenged foreigners and took the stage for national justice, but was ultimately ambushed.

Although he won the game, he was poisoned to death.

The outline of the story is almost exactly the same.

It can be said that the skeleton is similar.

So when Ye Weixing said that he wanted to innovate, Zhang Yuan didn't bother to listen to a word.

Same old routine.

All Sammo Hung can do is to make the action designs more neat and good-looking.

Still the same old routine.

So there is actually only one key point in the content of this film.

"I want to say a few words."

Seeing that the director had almost finished speaking, Zhang Yuan raised his hand to speak.

"please say."

"As for this movie, in my understanding, it is not actually a kung fu movie."

Zhang Yuan's remarks made everyone raise their heads.

Not a kung fu movie?
Hong Jinbao opened his eyes wide and looked at this junior. What am I doing here?
"Everyone, don't be nervous. Just listen to me first."

"I think the positioning of this drama should be an anti-Japanese drama disguised as a kung fu drama!"

The advantage of "Ip Man" over "Huo Yuanjia" is that.

The opponents in "Huo Yuanjia" are foreigners and the great powers.

have grudges.

Everyone remembers the burning of the Old Summer Palace.

But the villain in "Ip Man" is the devil!
There is a blood feud.

It is a blood feud at the level of the common painful memory of the Chinese nation.

If the Chinese government launches a war against any country in the world, there will be opposition at home.

But as long as they heard about the fight against the Japanese, everyone, from an eight-year-old boy to an eighty-year-old woman, would talk about it.

Even old men and women on crutches had to stand up and shout to cheer.

Whoever opposes is a traitor. Death comes first and investigation comes later. There will be no unjust, false or wrongful convictions.

The main target of the Eight-Nation Alliance was the high-ranking officials of the Qing Dynasty.

When the Old Summer Palace was burned down, many people from the imperial capital led the way and "picked up bargains" along the way.

Those who were burned and killed were the rich and powerful, the dukes and the nobles. What does it have to do with me?

The treasures of the Old Summer Palace will not belong to me unless they are snatched away by foreigners.

I love my country, but who the hell loves me?

We are not on the same level as our common enemy, the Japanese.

The reason why the first "Ip Man" was such a huge success is actually similar to "Wolf Warrior", both of which are action films but with patriotic themes.

This is also in line with the growing national confidence after the Olympics.

Only when you are confident can you feel proud and be truly patriotic.

Those people who hate the country are actually people who lack confidence and even have low self-esteem.

In fact, "Huang Feihong" and "Fang Shiyu" also have plots about fighting against foreign enemies, which exaggerate the national justice.

But the sense of immersion is far less than that of Ip Man fighting the Japanese.

It's so satisfying just looking at it.

As long as the work touches the simple emotions of the people, they are actually willing to pay for it.

Otherwise, TV dramas like "Tearing the Devils Apart with Bare Hands" wouldn't have been popular for so many years.

“So we have to strengthen the description of the cruelty of the islanders in the second half.”

“It focuses on creating a sense of opposition.”

"I'll leave this to Director Ye and Big Brother." Zhang Yuan clasped his hands in thanks.

"There's one more thing I'll go for."

“Try to have the film released during the summer next year, preferably on August 8 or September 15.”

"If all else fails, then National Day."

"Why these few days?" Ye Weixing pushed his glasses and asked back.

"August 8 is the day when the island nation surrendered and accepted the Potsdam Declaration."

"September 9 is the Victory Day of the Anti-Japanese War."

“If you want to do it, do it to the extreme.”

"When promoting, we should also focus on patriotism and fighting the Japanese invaders."

"The next choice is the topic of Bruce Lee's mentor."

Bruce Lee is useful in promoting in foreign countries, especially in Europe and America.

But in most parts of Asia, including Southeast Asia and South Korea, it is effective in fighting the Japanese.

Who made the Japanese so inhumane?

Fortunately, Hiroyuki Ikeuchi didn't understand Chinese very well, otherwise the Japanese's face would have turned pale if they had heard what he said.

"Okay!" After hearing this, Ye Weixing looked at Hong Jinbao and then answered firmly.

That makes sense.

As expected, he is very good at publicity and can keenly grasp the selling points.

Zhang Yuan was very pleased to see that they agreed readily.

Hong Kong has many bad habits, but there is one good thing.

Although he is pro-British, he is not pro-Japanese.

Because Hong Kong was a British colony at the time, British soldiers had resisted during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.

So after capturing Hong Kong, the Japanese carried out the massacre as usual.

What is particularly inhumane is that they specifically massacred field doctors and nurses.

Hong Kong had a population of over 160 million at its peak, but when the Japanese withdrew, only 60 people were left.

Therefore, Hong Kong people have never been in a good mood when filming Japanese people.

It has always been relatively restored.

Unlike Formosa, there is a clear pro-Japanese trend.

So when Zhang Yuan asked to add some scenes that were as tragic as possible within the scope of the review, the other party agreed very readily.

No psychological pressure.

Although Ip Man's private life was rather... it was all about "eating, drinking, gambling, smoking, cheating, and stealing", he was an all-rounder.

He kept a mistress, smoked opium, and collected prostitutes.

But in the movie, he must be portrayed as a martial arts master and a national hero.

Art is art, historical facts are historical facts, and they must be viewed separately.

Moreover, history is often a "little girl who can be dressed up by anyone".

After deciding on the shooting and publicity ideas, the crew planned to take a few sets of publicity photos before heading to Shanghai to officially start filming... (End of this chapter)