Since August, landscape architect Mike Devins has been working in an abandoned resort in Calgaril, Alberta, Canada.
His mission is to build a snow-capped castle from scratch to provide shooting.
At the beginning, producer Charles Rowan suggested: "Gibert Jr., can we shoot with green screen and miniature models? This is more convenient."
But Gilbert Jr. said no, "Charles, we should stick to our own characteristics and go to the field to shoot.
What's more, we have a sufficient budget, and the way to shoot real photos is not more expensive than using green screen. ”
Charles Rowan shrugged: "Well, as you wish, Jibert Jr."
In this way, Mike Devins received the task of spending three months building a snow-mounted castle here before November.
In advance art director Serena Hefei brought several architectural designers to visit here with him and designed the drawings of the Snow Mountain Castle based on the terrain.
The designers drew inspiration from European castles and combined with the simple style of modern architecture to design a building that is both classical and modern.
The entire building is composed of gray-white lightweight bricks. If it is snowing, from a distance, it seems to be integrated with the surrounding snow-capped mountains, which is extremely spectacular.
However, Mike Devins has received the task of leaving holes to lay down explosives during the construction process so that the castle will be blown up at the end of the shooting.
Because there was only one chance to explode, Mike Devins and Visual Effects Summary Chris Cobbard used computer 3D to simulate the entire explosion process in advance.
Then use a miniature model to conduct on-site drills, and finally determine the hole position of the explosives and how much is used to ensure that the explosion can achieve the pre-effect.
Hard work pays off. Finally, before November, this snow-capped castle was built.
Jibert Jr. was very satisfied with the layout. He praised Mike Devins' work vigorously: "Mac, you did a great job and did exactly what I wanted."
Mike Devins did not take credit for himself: "This is all the cooperation of various departments, and the hard-working workers, they are the hardest."
When the crew came to Calgaril, a heavy snow was falling, covering the entire earth and covering the snow-mounted castle with a layer of silver.
"This snow comes at the right time." Jibert Jr. told the crew: "Be prepared, we have to face a big test."
The weather was particularly cold when it was filmed on the first day. The actors dressed in heavy costumes and skied between the snow and the woods.
The scenes of gunfighting are also particularly difficult because they are in the snow. For each shot, the actors have to spend a lot of time restoring their energy.
Jibert Jr. handed Tony Leung a cup of ginger soup Coke. Considering the cold weather and the shooting is prone to problems, the crew's logistics specially prepared ginger soup Coke to drive away the cold.
"How is it like shooting here?" Gilbert asked.
Leung Ka Fai took the ginger soup and took a sip, and suddenly felt that the chill on his body was removed.
He smiled and said, "It's amazing, this is my evaluation. I've been making movies for twenty or thirty years now. To be honest, this is the first time I have such a magical experience.
The combination of technology and film shooting, coupled with the genius artistic creation, everything complements each other so well. ”
Jibert Jr. said after hearing this: "In fact, Chinese movies are not without such a large scale, but most of them are achieved by manpower.
A movie is not only determined by the director, screenwriter and actors, it involves all aspects, such as engineering, architecture, cutting-edge computer informatics, etc.
I think the loneliness of Hong Kong movies has a lot to do with too much attention to personal centering. ”
The biggest relationship is that the Hong Kong film market is not like the North American film market, which can become the basic platform of Hong Kong films. Countless facts have proved that a strong local market is the key to Hollywood's domination of the world. This is also one of the reasons why many Chinese-language filmmakers are so bad nowadays, but Jibert Jr. still believes that Chinese-language films can eventually come out.
Now that these old and young people have almost finished crawling, Chinese film directors and creators led by Guo Fan have grown up, Chinese films will usher in a new chapter.
Of course, behind this is the continuous increase in China's strength. You should know that as a cultural business card, movies are never just movies themselves.
This trip to Hollywood also touched Tony Leung, and he also communicated with the young director Guo Fan from the mainland.
To be honest, he has never seen anyone who can have clear logic, clear self-awareness, a spirit of hard work and vigorous energy at the age of Guo Fan.
Maybe director Jibert in front of him is one, but Jibert's experience cannot be copied.
Leung Ka-hui agrees with Wang Jing's words very much. Wang Jing said in an interview with a reporter:
"He can't grow up whether you are in Hong Kong or in the mainland. Only in the Hollywood environment can he be given the opportunity to maximize his talents.
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The lack of attention to talents is also the reason why we cannot give birth to geniuses. ”
Of course, Wang Jing was scolded by netizens later, but what he said was indeed very reasonable.
Just like Guo Fan, would he stand out so quickly without the experience of Hollywood?
After a brief adaptation, the scene of Snow Mountain Castle enters the fast lane. Although the weather was cold, the crew did not complain at all.
No mistakes, one song, one content, one in 6, one book, one bar, one reading!
The first is that the salary is quite high, and everyone is also used to shooting in various harsh environments.
Their director, unlike other Hollywood directors, is keen on real-life shooting and likes big scenes, including blowing up the built snow-mounted castle.
Alan Page knew that the Snow Mountain Castle was going to be blown up, but she thought it was a miniature model, but she didn't expect that the one that was blown up was built.
Looking at Alan Paige's surprised look, Little Lizi couldn't help but smile and said, "What's this? The hospital that the clown exploded in "The Dark Knight" is a real hospital.
This guy has always been so crazy and so incredible. ”
Before shooting, Gilbert Jr. asked for the addition of eight high-speed cameras.
"I want to see the flight trajectory of each brick." He poked the storyboard and discussed with photography director John Schwartzman.
"Starting from the northeast corner, the shock wave will overturn the castle dome on the west wing, and finally the main tower will be crushed and disintegrated like a giant."
John Schwartzman said he knew that he had found someone to set up the camera.
Jibert Jr. also called the security officer and meteorological expert: "Is it possible for us to blast to cause an avalanche?"
Meteorological experts said: "Don't worry, Calgaril is not a high-incidence area for avalanches, and the blasting scene should not cause an avalanche."
Jibert touched his chin and thought, "If I want to cause an avalanche, but it can't be too dangerous!"
The meteorological expert was stunned: "What do you mean?"
"That's it," Gilbert clapped his hands and said to the safety officer, "Look at which area is safe and suitable for shooting, we artificially create an avalanche."
"It's crazy, it's really crazy." The meteorological expert murmured to himself.
Thanks to the film industry, I put all Jibert's desire to destroy Jibert in the film industry, otherwise he would have been a destructive maniac who endangers society. (This chapter ends)