Japanese Entertainment: From special effects actor to action superstar

Chapter 552 NC17 Level, Onimusha

On set, everything is ready to go.

After the press conference, everything was ready and filming officially began.

Gu Ming had already changed into a set of armor.

This isn't a traditional Japanese samurai armor set; of course, as a fantasy film, some adaptations are permissible.

For example, the clothing in the classic Lord of the Rings trilogy of fantasy films is not very realistic.

This red samurai armor naturally signifies Akechi Samanosuke Hidemitsu's identity.

A warrior who has been through countless battles!
The other actors had also changed their clothes. It's embarrassing to admit, but their costumes were all made of paper, just to make them look like foot soldiers.

If the bamboo armor of the foot soldiers were to be produced on a large scale, the film's cost would be incredibly high.

There was only one thing Gu Ming didn't understand.

"No, what do you do all day long?"

Gu Ming looked at Kadokawa Haruki, who was standing with him on the fire ladder, his eyes filled with confusion.

Haruki Kadokawa spread his hands.

"I'll also learn how to make movies; maybe I'll be the director of my next film."

Gu Mingxin thought to himself, "Who knows when that will be?"

Haruki Kadokawa has actually worked as a director.

"Heaven and Earth" was directed by Haruki Kadokawa himself, with the aim of challenging Akira Kurosawa and proving that he could also make a good sword-fighting film.

It turns out...

Can't win.

The visuals of "Heaven and Earth" are beautiful, the scale is grand, and the box office is good, but it still lacks a certain artistic conception.

Haruki Kadokawa's use of color can never reach the level of Akira Kurosawa.

But for an amateur director like him, this is already an honor he can boast about for a lifetime.

Gu Ming didn't ask any more questions, but first adjusted his emotions.

He had a recurve bow on his side. Because of the lack of suitable materials in Japan, Japanese bows are often made of bamboo, which makes the bow long, but the actual performance is very poor.

The original script used a Japanese bow, but Gu Ming said at the time, since Akechi Samanosuke was set to have traveled overseas, why use a Japanese bow? Didn't he know that the Japanese bow was inferior in performance?

Therefore, the prop was ultimately changed to a recurve bow.

When the time comes, we'll use this to shoot Oda Nobunaga through the throat.

……

……

The actors were all in position. Daisuke Ryu was wearing a Japanese manicure with Western elements, and a striking cape was on his back.

This is considered a standard setup for Oda Nobunaga in fantasy works.

Ryudaisuke had learned horseback riding, so although he couldn't go horse racing, it was enough for taking photos.

The horse was a tall, large horse that was specially chosen for the time, as it was very photogenic. Even with Daisuke Ryu's height, he did not appear short when riding on horseback.

Ryudaisuke was surrounded by extras, all of them foot soldiers wearing paper armor, with only the cavalry behind him being elite followers.

The site was ready, and then a clapperboard was struck.

ACTION.

With a loud splash, the rain poured down, and the sky darkened.

On the battlefield of Okehazama, amidst the wild grass, lay a corpse with an arrow stuck in its body; at that moment, heaven and earth seemed to be upside down.

The camera suddenly flips back to normal, showing several cavalrymen galloping through the rain.

"Give me the first speed!" Ryudaisuke waved his array fan forward.

Army attack!

Under the dark rain, the two armies engaged in a life-or-death battle. Dozens of foot soldiers charged down from the mountain hollows on both sides of the canyon and fought fiercely with the foot soldiers inside the canyon.

Imagawa foot soldier had just cut down an enemy soldier when he was knocked to the ground by three or four Oda foot soldiers wielding bamboo spears. The three spears pierced his blood sac, and blood flowed everywhere.

The photographer, holding a handheld camera, glided across the designated area on roller skates, quickly passing through the battle formations.

The camera eventually ascended along the zipline, moving to a nearby hilltop. A figure in red armor, with a stern expression.

This is the protagonist, Akechi Samanosuke.

Facing the Oda foot soldiers who surrounded him, Akechi Samanosuke lowered his posture slightly and gripped the hilt of his sword at his waist.

Brush and pull!

With a clean and decisive reverse slash, Oda's foot soldier's arm fell to the ground instantly, blood gushing out.

Brush and pull!

Another slash, and the head fell to the ground, blood gushing out like a fountain.

In the blink of an eye, the troublesome foot soldiers were killed one after another.

At this moment, the outcome of the battle at Okehazama was decided. Upon learning of the destruction of Imagawa's main camp, Oda Nobunaga stood up and laughed loudly.

Just when he was at his most triumphant, an arrow pierced through the air and struck his neck.

Filled with resentment, Oda Nobunaga, known as the "Sixth Heaven Demon King," fell into the muddy main camp.

On a distant hill, the figure of Akechi Samanosuke flashed by.

……

Although it's just a very short shot, only three minutes long, it took four whole days to film.

Military formations are not so easy to demonstrate, and it is not so easy to demonstrate the effect of chaos.

Moreover, there are different versions of some close-up shots in the film, one with blood splattering and the other without.

The blood-splattered version will be used for overseas distribution and videotapes, while the non-blood-splattered version is the normal version shown in theaters.

Even so, Gu Ming guessed that the film would probably still be rated 17 or higher overseas, meaning it could only be watched by people aged 17 and older.

Well, it's not 18... it's NC17, a rating in the US film rating system, specifically referring to films with a lot of gore.

Because there are many teenage viewers in the United States, movies that are rated NC17 will lose a portion of their box office revenue.

However, this was not a big problem, and Gu Ming insisted on preserving the killing effect.

The defining characteristic of Onimusha is "Issen," which means launching an attack the instant the enemy raises their hand, instantly killing the opponent.

This is actually quite easy to see in the film, which is the 'Li Yuanfang style' of fighting.

Li Yuanfang doesn't actually have many detailed fight scenes; only a very few scenes require a martial arts director.

Most of the time, it's just that Yuanfang raises his hand, makes a fighting gesture, and then the camera cuts to find everyone dead.

If edited well, this effect can be effectively showcased.

Therefore, in the film, Gu Ming would use this method to film when facing ordinary soldiers, while only during elite battles would there be actual fighting scenes.

It's so boring for a dignified Onimusha to have to spend so much time killing a mere soldier!

When the scene was finally filmed, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Because this means that the most difficult part of the whole film has been completed!

Horses, actors, costumes, props—everything is geared towards the massive battle scene in the opening three minutes.

Subsequent advances were no longer so difficult.

"call……"

Kinji Fukasaku, who was over fifty years old, took off his brown sunglasses and let out a long sigh.

oO
"Although I don't need to worry much about these shots, it's still quite amazing that they were filmed so successfully!"

In just three minutes of footage, over ten million yen was burned. That aerial shot, which pulled up and down, was filmed using a fire ladder that was purchased and the cameraman used a handheld camera suspended from it.

In future generations, using drones for filming would be very simple, but drones don't exist now.

Gu Ming stood beside Fukasaku Kinji with his arms crossed.

"If it weren't for Mr. Fukasaku's skill, it would have been impossible to shoot such a scene."

"Mr. Furuya is joking. I was only in charge of directing the camera; you were in charge of directing the personnel. Speaking of which, this shot is also indispensable."

Haruki Kadokawa looked to the left, then to the right.

Yeah, Old Harden and Little Harden are praising each other's tactics!
(End of this chapter)