Chapter 19 Shooting
The first scene after the official start of filming was the scene where Shara and others entered the cave entrance. As an advocate, Juno was the first to enter the cave entrance to check the situation.
In the original work, this scene had both real shooting and green screen.
The close-up shots were taken using real shots, while the long-shot shots were taken with a green screen. The green screen shot has also become one of the most exciting posters of this movie.
Due to budget and censorship reasons, Zhang Chen cut many scenes, but he retained this scene.
The first step was to take close-up shots.
The entire entrance of the cave is built with scenery, the surrounding rocks, the moss on the ground, the stream flowing from the entrance of the cave and the sunlight shining in...
A rope hangs down, and Zeng Li controls it Holding on to the descender on the climbing rope, I descended little by little, my two long legs shaking.
After three days of training, they already look like real mountain masters.
Zeng Li landed and looked around, as if she had seen some beautiful scenery, with a smile on her face, and then shouted at the top: "Sisters, this place is beautiful."
"Ka, passed."
The first scene went very smoothly, and Zeng Li's performance was also very good.
After taking pictures of several other people descending one after another, they switched to green screen shooting.
Zeng Li descended again, but the background and ground turned into green screens. Later, these green screens would be replaced with real scenes in the cave using special effects technology, becoming one of the most outstanding stills in the entire film.
Green screen technology has already appeared in China at this time. Of course, large-scale application will have to wait for "A World Without Thieves" in the second half of this year.
The most difficult part of this technique is lighting. First, the green screen must be brightened with light. The light must be uniform and the brightness must be appropriate, otherwise the cutout will not be clean in the later stage.
At the same time, the natural environment must be simulated to light the actors. The light hitting the actors must match the background that will be replaced in the future. The direction of the light must be consistent and the brightness must be consistent, otherwise it will look uncoordinated.
As long as the preliminary work is done well, later replacement is actually not difficult. Zhang Chen didn't plan to find a professional special effects company to do it. Their Animation School of Nortel could handle it. Then he would find a few seniors from the Animation School and give them some money to help with it. That would be it.
The green screen shot was completed, and the next shot was of Shayla discovering the bloody handprints, which was also the first hint of their dangerous situation.
There are several more shots like this one after another, which are equivalent to profile descriptions. They will not directly capture the appearance of the monster, but they will constantly imply that there is some kind of dangerous unknown creature here. This is also a common routine in horror movies. .
The scary atmosphere is rendered bit by bit, slowly raising the audience's expectations. If the monster appears as soon as it is introduced, it will be inferior and the film will definitely not become a classic.
This shot is not difficult, Che Xiao did a great job.
Now it’s the turn of the shot of drilling into the ground.
The group of people found that there was no road ahead, and then Xia La found a pothole. Everyone crawled through the pothole one by one. Xia La was the last one. When climbing, the pothole collapsed and she was almost buried alive.
The performance here is slightly difficult. Che Xiao went from being calm at the beginning to panicking when she found herself stuck.
Then Yang Xiaoyue came to pick her up, but the pothole showed signs of collapse, and Che Xiao was forced to run for her life.
The actor who plays Yang Xiaoyue is from the Chinese Opera, named Chen Xi, who was also introduced by Zeng Li. His acting skills are online, but Che Xiao was criticized several times because his emotional expression was not accurate.
Special props were used to shoot this scene. It seems that this tunnel is a confined space, which is full of oppression.
But it is actually a rectangular box made of wooden boards, which is then filled with rock models to simulate the appearance of a tunnel. The actors crawl in the tunnel, and the cameraman shoots at one end.
In order to simulate the sense of oppression in the dark tunnel, Zhang Chen requested that real lights be used as much as possible, that is, the headlight of a helmet.
This requires very high lighting.
If the fill light is too strong, it will look fake, but if it is too real, it will be dark, which will seriously affect the viewing experience.
But fortunately, I had rehearsed several lighting schemes in advance, so when it came time to actually shoot, I didn’t waste time on this aspect.
Then there was the scene on the cliff. Everyone in the darkness threw burning sticks and found that they were on a cliff. There was only a distance of five meters, but there was a natural chasm in the middle.
Here Zhang Chen followed the original shooting technique and did not use any external light source. All the light came from the burning rod.
The red burning rod has a limited lighting range, which will make the darkness outside the range appear more depressing. This is also an invisible superimposed terror buff.
Of course, only one burning rod was used in the movie, but in fact there were many, otherwise the brightness would not meet the shooting requirements.
Here Zhang Chen made some changes, changing the first person to explore the path to Juno played by Zeng Li, which was a disguised role for Zeng Li. It's not a special favor, but selfishly, Zhang Chen wanted to make this film into a two-female lead role, so that the sequel would not seem too abrupt.
Zeng Li climbed the rock with her bare hands, inserted the rock plug, hung the rope, and swayed her two long legs in the air, showing the beauty of her strength.
But after all, they are not professional rock climbers. They are not strong enough to hang in the air for a long time. This shot can only be taken apart.
However, Zeng Li did well. Her movements looked very professional. It was obvious that the previous training was not in vain.
On the way, we discovered ancient rock plugs left by our predecessors, including the ancient mountaineering helmets we later picked up, and the first bloody handprints, which actually hinted to people that someone had been here before, but they had been killed. .
The gloomy mood continues to accumulate, and the horror buff quietly accumulates.
Don’t underestimate these details, the sense of expectation is gradually filled up in such small details one by one.
Film shooting is always not smooth at the beginning, because the crew needs to get used to it. The actors, lighting, director, and cameramen are all working together for the first time and need to be familiar with each other's styles and rhythms.
But the more we shoot, the smoother it becomes.
In the beginning, we couldn't shoot more than a few shots a day, but gradually, everyone became more and more understanding and the shooting speed became faster and faster.
Today we finally have to shoot the scene where the monster appears for the first time.
The protagonist took the DV and turned on the night vision mode, and then saw human and animal skeletons all over the ground. He was so surprised that some people couldn't help shouting in fear.
Then DV captured the monster appearing behind his companion.
The monster attacked, his companion was knocked down, and the DV fell to the ground, but it faithfully recorded the entire process of the monster killing.
The third-person perspective simulated by DV is cold and emotionless, but it is precisely this perspective that makes people feel even more terrifying.
The movie has since entered the chase mode, and the pace has become faster.
Juno, played by Zeng Li, shows a courageous side.
She was the first to kill a monster with her own hands, which also made the audience realize that monsters are not invincible.
As long as there is no fear, the monster's combat effectiveness is not even as good as that of an ordinary person.
Zeng Li was knocked down by the monster played by Cao Bingkun and fought. Then Zeng Li raised the mountaineering pickaxe in her hand.
"Stuck, passed, change props."
Zhang Chen gave an order, Cao Bingkun left, and the prop team brought up a fake monster model.
The filming continued again, and the mountaineering pickaxe in Zeng Li's hand fell hard and was inserted into the monster's head accurately.
The prearranged artificial plasma splashed out and splashed all over her face.
Artificial plasma is actually made from corn syrup and some other things. It is sticky and looks similar to blood.
These scenes would definitely not have been reviewed in China, but Zhang Chen shot them anyway, and he planned to put them into foreign versions.
After all, he is planning to gain some international fame with this film. If all the bloody scenes are cut out, the quality of the finished film will be greatly reduced.
There was a noise behind her. Zeng Li, who had just experienced a life-and-death battle, subconsciously turned around and saw a pickaxe. Unexpectedly, the person behind her was Yang Xiaoyue.
Yang Xiaoyue’s neck was pierced by a mountaineering pickaxe. Her face was full of disbelief. Blood spurted out and she was dead.
Zeng Li’s face was shocked, guilty, and overwhelmed, with various expressions alternating...
This is a very important scene. It is the beginning of the character conflict, and it is also very interesting to perform. There is difficulty.
Zeng Li tried NG several times and finally met Zhang Chen's requirements: "It's stuck. It's passed. Prepare for the next scene."
At this time, Zhang Chen's advantage in shooting in the order of the script became apparent.
Because it is filmed in accordance with the order of the script, the actors' emotions can easily develop with the development of the plot, which is equivalent to greatly reducing the difficulty of performance.
(End of this chapter)