Japanese Entertainment: From special effects actor to action superstar

Chapter 607 First-person fighting scene
The term "handheld camera" certainly doesn't mean carrying the camera on your body.

That's not called handheld; it's just replacing the camera bracket with human hands.

A handheld camera is a device specifically designed to create a particular perspective and is carried by the photographer. It's a common example of a handheld camera used for filming wedding videos, albeit a slightly less expensive one.

The handheld device used in the movie has better performance.

Takeshi Kitano looks fierce and is physically strong. Holding a camera, he looks like a gunner carrying a weapon ready to assassinate Taiko at any time.

When Gu Ming looked back at him, he was always worried that Kitano Takeshi might blow him up with a single shot.

Gu Ming asked, "Are you ready?"

Takeshi Kitano responded by giving an OK sign.

"Exen!"

Several cameras, both inside and outside the venue, started operating simultaneously, and the numerous actors on the scene began fighting according to the pre-arranged plan.

It's not a real fight, but a fake fight where various moves are rehearsed.

The two sides were clearly aligned; one side wore black suits, while the other wore temporary costumes from the film set, making it easy to tell which side was which.

Meanwhile, Takeshi Kitano closely followed Akira Utani.

The two approached from a distance, opened the sliding door, and filmed Gu Ming rushing into the venue from behind.

The knife in his hand wasn't sharpened, but it was still a real weapon. A single strike would feel like a metal bar hitting someone, and they would cry out in pain.

The assassin closest to Gu Ming had blood packs on his body. Now, as the iron bar struck him, the blood packs ruptured immediately, and he fell to the ground.

The killing array master lying on the ground remained motionless, but a moment of surprise crossed his mind.

The blood pack burst, but he didn't feel any pain; he simply collapsed as rehearsed.

so……

How exactly did they manage to control this power?

He didn't know, and of course, he had no way of knowing. As an actor, the only thing he could do at that moment was to lie obediently on the ground, be professional, not move, not blink, even if the camera wasn't actually filming him.

Takeshi Kitano carried a handheld camera, remained silent, and followed closely behind Gu Ming.

Just as the two completed a zigzag maneuver, a thug from the opposing gang rushed out from the corner and swung a knife at Takeshi Kitano, who fell to the ground with a thud, causing the camera angle to tilt as well.

……

……

"How's it going? Is it okay?"

"It's alright." Takeshi Kitano sat on a small stool so that the person behind him could apply the medicine.

The person applying the medicine was not Gu Ming, but just another actor in the killing formation.

Seeing that everyone else around him seemed to be in good health, Takeshi Kitano wondered, "Are you guys used to it? How come you don't need to apply any medicine after getting hit so many times?"

"Because I wasn't injured at all."

Everyone shrugged in unison: "Only the blood pack broke, the person is fine. The action of lying on the ground to cushion the impact caused no harm at all, we're used to it."

Just as Takeshi Kitano was about to speak, a sharp pain shot through his shoulder, causing him to grimace again.

It feels numb when I pinch it! It hurts so much!
In the end, was he the only one who actually got beaten up?
After applying the medicine, the first thing Takeshi Kitano did was to take out the lens strap from the handheld camera he was shooting with.

He desperately needed to know if the shot was good or not.

As mentioned earlier, there are no real-time monitors at present, so the quality of a shot depends on the director's experience, and even bloopers can only be seen afterward.

Takeshi Kitano pushed the camera into the camcorder, sat cross-legged on the ground, and watched the footage he had personally filmed—a one-shot, handheld camera perspective.

At first, the camera was stable, but as time went on, the camera began to shake noticeably—he couldn't hold it up any longer, since he had to walk around while filming.

Moreover, you could clearly hear his heavy breathing as a photographer.

Until the very end, the camera tilts to a skewed angle, revealing Gu Ming cutting down the enemy and leaving without looking back. However, from this angle, only his legs are visible; the rest of the person is not.

"Wasn't all that filming for nothing?!"

Kitano Taketo sighed.

The shouts of battle were important, but now, the camera is filled with his heavy, exhausted breathing.

"Why reshoot? Just release it as is."

Kitano Takeshi suddenly looked up and saw Tani Akira walking over behind him.

"Brother Gugu, um...aren't we reshooting?"

"Of course not. Don't forget this is a scene from a movie shoot. It's just a coincidence that we encountered an attack by a rival gang. You're a director, but you're only a director, so you've never seen such brutality before. You shouldn't have joined the fight, but for the sake of filming, you personally took over carrying the camera in place of the cinematographer."

Gu Ming shrugged: "So in this situation, as a photographer, it's not unusual for you to sound exhausted and end up being chopped down."

"In short, this shot was not filmed casually. On the one hand, it needed to show the close-up shooting and the clean and efficient style of slashing. On the other hand, it also needed to reflect the mindset of Team Leader Muto at this moment."

"Making movies? He didn't really care what kind of movies he made; he cared about whether he could fulfill his wish. So it didn't matter if the cinematographer died; he cared more about whether the film set was damaged."

Takeshi Kitano nodded repeatedly.

This was pretty much what he had in mind.

The camera work reveals the character's personality. Given Muto's coldness, it would be very strange if he suddenly turned around, looked down at him, and shouted something like "Don't die."

However, Takeshi Kitano still had some reservations about the photographer's own voice being mixed into the shots.

This is a very unprofessional approach.

"Don't think so much."

Gu Ming spread his hands: "Get some rest. I have to leave at the end of this month. I need to go to the United States to finish the second half of the film before it can be considered a domestic film. This movie has to be completed before the end of the month."

Kitano Takeshi then became serious and solemn.

It seems the filming schedule needs to be accelerated even further.

……

……

Although Gu Ming was involved in both films, the problem wasn't actually that serious. After all, he wasn't the lead actor in either, or to put it another way, he wasn't the main character. On one side, he was an investor and a supporting actor; on the other, he was simply hired to repay favors.

Just as the crew was filming their second large-scale fight scene, two uninvited guests arrived on set.

“Brother Gugu.” Tanaka said succinctly, “They are two locals from Hong Kong. They seem to be directors. They heard that you are filming here, so they came to visit.”

"A Hong Kong director? I don't think I've ever worked with any Hong Kong directors." Gu Ming initially wanted to refuse, but then changed his question to, "Did they say what their names are?"

"One said his name was John Wu, and the other said his name was Hack Xu."

Gu Ming's head was buzzing, and he couldn't remember who it was for a long time.

These two names, combined with Tanaka's distinctive Japanese-accented English, make it really hard to process.

"Never mind... we've just finished filming here for now, let's say hello."

With an indifferent attitude, Gu Ming met the two Hong Kong directors who had come to visit him in the reception room.

The moment Gu Ming saw these two people, he only wanted to do two things.

First, strangle Tanaka so that his English pronunciation becomes non-standard.

second.

He pressed the two old men in front of him for answers.

Why? Why do I have to give my English name instead of my real name?
One was Wu Yusen, and the other was Xu Ke. Gu Ming wouldn't have recognized them at all if he hadn't met them in person!
(End of this chapter)