Japanese Entertainment: From special effects actor to action superstar

Chapter 424 The Home Environment Created by Lighting

Danga district, a suburb of Tokyo.

Tuandilou, generally speaking, belongs to the category of high-standard low-rent housing, similar in nature to the early "Xiaofulou" in China, both of which are buildings that solve the housing problem at a relatively low cost.

Generally speaking, families living in apartment buildings tend to have lower incomes, average living environments, and naturally, less desirable surrounding facilities.

Although it's the kind of house where neighbors get along well, other aspects are correspondingly less developed.

This has also spawned a unique genre of films, where the husband goes to work during the day, the wife is home alone, and the neighbor is a blond-haired housewife...

However, Gu Ming is not filming the scenes of the communal house wife today. The filming team is filming the scenes from the very beginning of the movie.

At the very beginning, "Léon: The Professional" uses a scene to show Mathilda's cold family environment and the only warmth in this family before she crosses paths with the hitman Léon.

For a girl from a cold family, there is probably nothing more interesting than the mysterious uncle living next door.

—As for Leon, such an oddball, who wears a trench coat and carries a pot of flowers every day, why would such a flamboyant person be an assassin?

It does not matter!

Just be handsome and that’s it!
Who watches this movie if not to admire the weathered face of Jean Reno and the youthful beauty of Natalie Portman?

However, some changes are necessary in this movie.

The protagonist of the first scene is not Tani Akira, but Yakushimaru Hiroko.

A girl in a sailor uniform leaned against the railing of the apartment building, her handbag containing books resting at her feet. A key to her home hung around her neck, and in stark contrast to the lit homes around her, the house behind her was shrouded in darkness.

Akio Jissoji wanted to use this kind of shot to show the cold family environment behind high school student Hoshisen.

Her parents cared more about the boy and neglected her. Even though she had the key to the house, she preferred the hallway to the cold home.

Here, Akio Jisōji will zoom in and out to highlight the key points.

Behind Hiroko Yakushimaru, Akira Tani, dressed in a black suit, will come out from next door and walk down the stairs. The camera will continue to follow Tani down until Tani brushes past Hiroko Yakushimaru's family.

The shot of going up the stairs will change the scene, from outdoors to indoors.

Of course, it was still as cold as ever.

……

"Can you hurry up?"

"Don't rush me! It'll be ready soon!"

In the temporarily borrowed room, two stagehands were looking up and twisting light bulbs.

Gu Ming, who was standing outside the door, asked one more question: "Why are you changing the light bulb?"

"Ah... I see, it's Director Jissoji's request."

Why are you asking for this?

Akio Jissoji stepped out from behind Akira Tani and made a selection gesture with his hand.

“Imagine we set up our camera equipment here, but the lighting is cool-toned. Cool-toned lighting can highlight the cold environment of this family through a different kind of visual language. The parents are eating at the table, the little brother is next to his mother, and Xingquan is in the lower right corner of the composition, almost obscured by the foreground.”

"You can tell her status in the family just by looking at her from behind."

Gu Ming crossed his arms and said, "But in the end, she will still choose to avenge her dead family members."

"Yes, Xingquan always wanted to escape this family environment, but when that day really came, and her parents were killed by Yakuza, and her younger brother was also dragged out and killed, she felt an unprecedented panic."

"She wanted to escape her family, but she didn't want to lose her parents. Even though they treated her so badly, they were still her parents."

Gu Ming responded. That's not bad.

"You'll sit next door in a bit. The room is very simple. You'll be all alone there, going through the whole ritual of eating instant noodles. Your potted plant will be next to you, and the TV will be connected to that... what was it again?"

Gu Ming said, "Game console."

"Yes, that Nintendo. Compared to the seemingly lively but actually cold environment next door, although you only have one person here, the environment is very lively, with plants, desktops, instant noodles quietly emitting heat, and games in full swing."

Gu Ming said, "But I'm still alone."

Jissōji Akio was silent for a moment, then nodded: "Yes, but you are still alone."

She was lonely, but she was still quite lively, while Gu Ming was lively, but he was still lonely.

This is the visual effect that Akio Jissoji wanted to achieve.

Instead of using dialogue, the camera work creates contrast.

Both families have already moved away. We had already discussed the matter of demolishing the wall with them beforehand, and they said it was no problem.

Now, Tani Akira and Yakushimaru Hiroko are each sitting on one side.

Just as Akio Jisōji said, Hoshisen's loneliness was a family's celebration. But Otani's celebration was his own loneliness.

Gu Ming opened the instant noodle packaging, poured in hot water, lowered his eyes and looked at the water line, then put his hands together and carefully pressed the chopsticks on the instant noodle lid, completing a major ritual.

"Shouldn't we also ask Nissin for advertising fees?"

At this moment, this thought still surfaced in Gu Ming's mind.

However, he maintained his indifferent expression, pressed the instant noodles, turned around, and started playing games in front of the TV.

The instant noodles in the video are steaming, but in reality, there's a steaming cake behind the noodles, which Gu Ming placed there to conceal the camera lens while making the noodles.

This method is used to create visible steam from instant noodles.

Gu Ming was engrossed in playing the game, but out of the corner of his eye he saw Tanaka's assistant come upstairs and stand guard outside the game.

But Gu Ming didn't move; he just focused on filming this scene.

It wasn't until Akio Jisōji raised his hand to signal a halt that Akira Tani stood up.

"Tell me, what happened?"

"...The people from Wan Gu have left."

Tanaka's assistant succinctly stated: "Some of the Wan Gu employees who were previously dismissed have been brought into another newly established film and television company. I have asked a friend to inquire about it. This company is registered with Thai capital and belongs to a person named Xin Bote. The company is called Xin Bote Film and Television Company. In addition to him, I also saw Wan Gu Ao there."

"Several trains entered their area, and they looked like they were all filming equipment."

Gu Ming raised an eyebrow slightly: "They haven't given up yet. What are they planning to do?"

"I guess they want to make new films."

Without hesitation, Gu Ming shook his head: "If it's going to rain... I mean, if it's going to snow in Hokkaido, let them be. Anyway, those who were fired were all seriously corrupt guys within Wan Gu. Even if some of them were exceptionally talented, their personalities make them unusable. Maybe if they all mixed together, they could create some kind of miracle."

Tanaka's assistant could only respond.

To create a miracle?

However, to be honest, he never imagined that a bunch of rotten apples and rotten apples coming together would create any miracles.

(End of this chapter)