Huayu: Director started with art films

On February 2st, it suddenly snowed heavily in Hengdian!

This caught Li Yishu and the crew off guard. Snowflakes were falling all over the sky and it looked like they wouldn't stop falling in the short term. They called the local meteorological bureau and learned that there was a possibility of snowfall in the next few days.

Some of the originally scheduled scenes had to be postponed. At the same time, Li Yishu discussed with directors such as Xie Jin and decided to add a scene, or a movie easter egg, as it was a rare snowfall in Hengdian.

The Battle of Red Cliffs itself took place in the winter of December. Although the historical book "Records of the Three Kingdoms" does not specify whether it snowed or not, considering that a large army was involved in the battle, it should not have snowed.

So this easter egg is mainly for the future filming of sequels.

If the box office of "Red Cliff" is ideal, Lee Yi-su naturally wouldn't mind filming a sequel or a prequel to complete the Three Kingdoms series.

After all, the country currently does not have the soil for science fiction films. It’s not that they cannot be made, but it requires a lot of money to hire a Hollywood special effects company to produce it, and the cost is enormous.

Instead of doing this, it would be better to just shoot historical blockbusters first, consolidate the experience of making blockbusters, and then cultivate a group of special effects seeds, and then slowly develop science fiction movies.

If we are going to shoot Easter eggs, they must be related to the subsequent historical events of the Battle of Red Cliffs.

In the history of the Three Kingdoms, the battles that truly involved large-scale military operations should be the Battle of Guandu, the Battle of Chibi, and the Battle of Yiling.

The prequel can be about the princes' fight against Dong Zhuo, the Battle of Hulao Pass, and the Battle of Guandu.
The sequel could include Liu Bei entering Sichuan, Zhuge Liang's six expeditions to Qishan, and his death at Wuzhangyuan.

All of them can be divided into two parts, incorporating some major events from "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" into them.

After that, there is no need to shoot anymore.

Anyone who has read Romance of the Three Kingdoms will not be very interested in the following contents after seeing Zhuge Liang die at Wuzhangyuan.

Even with the last glory of Jiang Wei, the leader of the Shu Han Dynasty who conquered the Central Plains five times and finally said "this plan failed is destiny", it was unable to attract audiences to go to the cinema.

So in order to shoot the content of the Easter egg, Li Yishu discussed with several directors and several screenwriters on the crew, and they came up with a roughly one-minute Easter egg plot.

The general content is: Cao Cao fled back to the north and spent several years stabilizing the impact of the Battle of Chibi and consolidating his regime in the north.

After settling the rebellion in the Central Plains, Cao Cao hosted a banquet at the Bronze Sparrow Tower to entertain civil and military officials.

At this time, scouts came to report that Huang Zhong, a general in Liu Bei's army, had killed Xiahou Yuan in the Dingjun Mountain formation. Cao Cao was shocked and personally led his troops to Hanzhong for support.

Then the camera changes, and Guan Yu, who is guarding Jingzhou, receives an imperial edict from his elder brother Liu Bei, conferring the title of King of Hanzhong and appointing himself as one of the Five Tiger Generals. After that, Guan Yu laughs and orders Guan Ping to mobilize the army to prepare for the Northern Expedition from Jingzhou.

Then a huge flood came down from the sky, drowning countless Cao's soldiers. Guan Yu held a sword on the deck of the ship, gazing into the distance.

This easter egg is quite standard, and is basically filmed according to the subsequent plot of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms".

However, some highlight shots were captured, such as Huang Zhong defeating Xiahou Yuan and Guan Yu flooding seven armies, which shocked the whole of China.

People in the Greater China cultural region who have watched "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" basically know what it is about, and the highlight shots are naturally attractive.

In Europe and the United States, with this Easter egg, whether it is filmed in the future or not, it can tell the audience that there will be a follow-up, and that is enough.

This morning.

Inside the Weiyang Palace in Changle.

It was snowing heavily outside, but it was warm inside the palace because there were many charcoal stoves.

Li Yishu was discussing the next scene with Bao Guoan when a stagehand suddenly ran over and said, "Director, someone from the Wuhan Song and Dance Theater is here."

"How many people are here?" Li Yishu glanced at him.

"More than 20 people came, and they said that there seemed to be a deputy head of the group as well."

"Go call Director Xie over. I'll go pick them up first."

"Okay, Director."

Li Yishu said something to Bao Guoan, then strode out of the palace. He saw a large group of people walking slowly on the snow ahead, led by a man and a woman. He didn't recognize the man, but he was very familiar with the woman.

Li Yishu walked over with big strides and a big smile on her face, "Captain Liu, long time no see."

"Director Li, long time no see." Liu Xiaoli smiled and introduced the man next to her: "Director Li, let me introduce you, this is Zhang Jie, the deputy director of our song and dance troupe."

"Hello, Captain Zhang." Li Yishu extended his hand enthusiastically and shook hands with the other party. "Thank you comrades from the Wuhan Song and Dance Theater for coming all the way from Wuhan to help despite the severe cold and snow. Thank you so much."

"Director Li is too polite."

Zhang Jie didn't expect Li Yishu to be so polite, and immediately said modestly: "There are so many song and dance theaters in the country, but Director Li only thought of our Wuhan Song and Dance Theater. It is an honor for our song and dance theater. Moreover, it is an honor for our entire troupe to be able to participate in such a large-scale film shooting."

"..."

The two sides exchanged greetings, and Xie Jin strode over. With Li Yishu's introduction, Xie Jin warmly invited Deputy Captain Zhang to visit the palace.

Li Yishu also asked the staff to arrange a few people to take these female comrades who came to help to warm themselves by the fire in the palace.

The winter in the south is already quite cold, and with the heavy snow, the weather becomes even colder.

Li Yishu and Liu Xiaoli fell behind, and he stretched out his hand and said, "Captain Liu, I'm going to cooperate with you again this time."

"Director Li, you're so polite. It's my honor."

Liu Xiaoli smiled slightly, and then remembered something, and couldn't help asking, "Director Li, didn't you come to shoot once last year? Are you going to reshoot the previous scene?"

At the end of last year, Liu Xiaoli brought a team to Hengdian and filmed several scenes of Sun Quan's side and Cao Cao's side entertaining guests and having dancers dance.

"No, those shots are all great. I invited you here this time because I'm going to shoot an Easter egg."

"Easter eggs?"

"It's about shooting a one-minute plot at the end of the movie to lead to the sequel."

"Is there a sequel?"

Liu Xiaoli looked at Li Yishu in surprise. She had worked as a dancer in the crew for a few days, and after returning, she also checked a lot of news about the "Three Kingdoms: Red Cliff" crew.

I know that this movie is divided into two parts, but Lee Yi-su just said that this is the ending of the movie, and they shot a one-minute plot to lead to the sequel. Doesn’t that mean there will be a next part?
"Whether this will happen depends on the market response. If the box office of our Three Kingdoms Red Cliff crew is high enough, we will definitely consider filming subsequent Three Kingdoms plots..."

Not to mention that Liu Xiaoli and others led a team to Hengdian to help, just the other person's face was enough for Li Yishu to chat with her for a few more sentences.

To be honest, Liu Xiaoli seems to be more beautiful than Liu Tianxian, and her facial features are more delicate.

No wonder Liu Tianxian later revealed in the media that she was the ugliest among the women in her family. At this point, Li Yishu suddenly said, "By the way, Captain Liu, this year's Spring Festival Gala will broadcast some of the dance footage you filmed last year. Captain Liu can watch it with his family then."

The publicity work for "Red Cliff of the Three Kingdoms" had already begun when the filming started last year. The crew cooperated with "Popular Movies" in Yanjing and "Film Weekly" in Shanghai.

Every month, I would give some photos, behind-the-scenes footage shot with the crew, and interviews with the actors to the two magazines.

The simultaneous performance of the Four Heavenly Kings, as well as behind-the-scenes interviews with various celebrities and actors, have made the film a huge topic.

Moreover, promoting it once a month will not make the audience bored, but will arouse their curiosity about who the next actor or celebrity will be interviewed.

This year's opening promotion is to play a 90-second promotional video on the stage of the CCTV Spring Festival Gala. It is not easy to find 90 seconds in the crowded Spring Festival Gala.

Li Yishu spent a lot of money, communicating with CCTV leaders and the Spring Festival Gala program team.
In the end, some of the programs and the host's lines were cut down to create 90 seconds to play the promotional video of "Red Cliff of the Three Kingdoms".

This promotional video was edited by Li Yishu himself. It adopted the style of later promotional blockbusters, with highlight shots, fast editing, music at key moments, and lines from Cao Cao, Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Zhuge Liang and others interspersed throughout.

With Lee Yi-su's later experience, combined with the large-scale shots during the filming, the visual sense was definitely maximized.

At that time, there were no promotional videos either at home or abroad, only movie trailers, and most of them were only two or three minutes long.

For example, the trailer for the first domestic blockbuster "Hero" was 2 minutes and 20 seconds long, but the editing was like the millennium commercial, without any blockbuster flavor.

The blockbuster produced by Li Yishu is a fast-editing style that has been popular with everyone after being baptized by the times. Combined with BUGs and released on the stage of the Spring Festival Gala, the publicity effect is absolutely explosive.

"Ah? I want to be on the Spring Festival Gala!" Liu Xiaoli's eyes lit up. Since its inception, the Spring Festival Gala has held an extraordinary status in the minds of the Chinese people.

Nowadays, anyone who can perform on the Spring Festival Gala is an absolute celebrity. Ever since "A Fire in Winter" made Fei Xiang famous, everyone working in the cultural and sports industry has dreamed of performing on this big stage.

No one can resist the temptation of fame.

Li Yishu didn't expect Liu Xiaoli to react so strongly. Her screams were so loud that he felt his eardrums were about to burst.

But think about it, the Spring Festival Gala these days is more attractive than that 20 years later, so it’s no wonder that the other party is shouting so loudly.

Li Yishu chuckled: "Haha, if you say so, it is true, but there may not be many shots, but you have a close-up."

"Thank you, Director Li." Liu Xiaoli was extremely surprised. There were not many shots for the first half of the sentence, which made her a little discouraged. The second sentence had a close-up, which made her immediately ecstatic.

Although this way of performing on the Spring Festival Gala is a bit special, no matter what, she did perform on the Spring Festival Gala stage in an alternative way and showed her face in front of hundreds of millions of viewers across the country.

"You're welcome. It's mainly because you guys dance well."

Li Yishu smiled and said, "We will only show some promotional videos this year. Next year, we will bring the main creative team to the Spring Festival Gala in person. If Captain Liu is free, he can lead the team to participate."

"No problem, I have time!" Liu Xiaoli nodded excitedly. If she could really go to the Spring Festival Gala stage, it would definitely be the pinnacle of her life.

Looking at the excited Liu Xiaoli, Li Yishu smiled. He could understand her feelings.

This was like his first appearance on the News Network, and it was a one-minute long report. At that moment, Li Yishu felt that his life had no regrets.

You showed your face in front of the national audience, and the footage was as long as one minute. You can imagine how many people will remember you.

after an hour.

As Liu Xiaoli and other dancers changed into their dance costumes, the easter egg plot officially began filming.

The court was filled with civil and military officials, as well as more than twenty dancers, and live music, which immediately boosted the atmosphere.

Li Yishu sat in front of the monitor and picked up the intercom: "All departments are in place, the camera crew is turned on, and the music and dancing begin!"

In an instant, the actors on the scene toasted each other, chatted with each other, and with the help of the dancers in the center of the hall, the scene of Cao Cao entertaining all officials officially began.

"Report!"

A soldier in armor strode into the field.

Cao Cao, played by Bao Guoan, frowned and waved his left hand, and all the dancers stepped aside.

The soldier began to recite the lines: "Prime Minister, Liu Bei..."

Filming is still going on in Changle Palace.

Outside the Changle Palace, three men in down jackets huddled at the city gate, watching the staff coming and going in the city.

One of them looked at the busy crew members in the city, then looked at the heavy snow drifting in the sky, gritted his teeth, and said, "Go back to Hong Kong! Don't tie up Li Yishu anymore!"

"Ah? Brother Qiang, you're not going to kidnap him anymore?" Someone beside him said in surprise, "Li Yishu is so rich, he can easily extort hundreds of millions of dollars, and there are so many people coming and going here, wouldn't it be easier to kidnap him than those rich people?"

Zhang Ziqiang shook his head. "Li Yishu is rich, but I saw that he has a lot of bodyguards around him. If we don't use guns, it won't work. And it won't be easy to take him away if we tie him up."

He had thought of kidnapping Li Yishu before, but after arriving at Hengdian Film and Television City, he realized it was not that simple. First of all, this place is crowded with people, and any slight movement would easily attract other people's attention.

Secondly, Li Yishu was not alone as Zhang Ziqiang imagined. He followed her secretly these days and found that every time she finished filming, she was followed by eight strong men, who looked like bodyguards.

Without pulling out his gun, Zhang Ziqiang was not sure if he could kidnap the person. Moreover, even if he did, if he didn't kill the eight bodyguards around him, he might be greeted by the armed police.

Moreover, the only ways to leave Hengdian are by car, train or plane.

It's easy to get checked when driving, not to mention taking trains and planes.

So I decided to give up kidnapping Li Yishu.

The subordinate asked: "Who should we kidnap then?"

"Whoever has money can be kidnapped!"

"Then who has money?"

"Li Jiacheng!"

Zhang Ziqiang's eyes flickered. Before he decided to kidnap the rich man, he had selected several people in advance. Among them, Li Yishu was the one he felt was the easiest.

Because he is a director and is often on the crew, which is a place where all kinds of people gather, it is very suitable for taking action.

But after a trip to Hengdian, Zhang Ziqiang realized that he had underestimated Li Yishu, the wealthy director.

Now it seems that the only option is to try to kidnap Li Jiacheng. (End of this chapter)