Chapter 1021 1016 Sense of Space
Chapter 1021 1016. Sense of space
In Guo Fan's silence, Xu Xin's tone was quite relaxed.
It was as if those three heart-wrenching questions didn't come out of his mouth.
Moreover, as if he didn't think these three problems were "strong" enough, he just reached level 6 and activated his ultimate move:
"If I remember correctly, Yang Mi just gave your wife a few boxes of fish maw and bird's nest last week, right?... How many months has it been?"
"..."
At this time, the muscles on Guo Fan's face became completely "stiff".
Said in a low voice:
"5 months."
His wife Sun Ran is five months pregnant.
February next year is the due date.
"Is the five million in your pocket enough to support your children and pay off your mortgage?"
"..."
Now, he really didn't know what to say.
Xu Xin stopped pursuing this pursuit and just said to himself:
"For men, starting a family and starting a business is easy to say, but actually difficult to do. But starting a family and starting a career have something in common, that is, they both require a sense of responsibility on men's shoulders. This sense of responsibility can be given by money or by companionship. Created with communication... can change In the end, everything depends on money, rice, oil and salt. I don’t believe that a director whose first film has a box office of 700 million is a fool. Even if you are a hero created by the times, what if you come to the United States? What about your wife? "
"My mother...and my father-in-law and mother-in-law."
"Hmm."
Hearing this, as a person who has experienced this, Xu Xin couldn't help but say:
"Let me give you a suggestion. I can help you find a house with a nice environment here. You'd better bring your wife over to stay with her... If your wife is pregnant and you're not around, this kind of thing can be easy to say or hard to hear. My daughter-in-law is pregnant. Isn’t it appropriate for you to abandon your family and work and come to the United States to escape?”
"It's not that I'm hiding from Qingjing. The main thing is... I don't want to make youth movies anymore. I'm actually quite interested in science fiction movies and I want to study..."
"But the problem is that your wife is pregnant."
Xu Xin was speechless.
I made it clear to myself that I am just a director.
The result... is the same as the director of the subdistrict office.
Do you still have to worry about other people’s daily lives?
Just like a big parent.
"Originally, it was quite sudden that you came to see me this time. During that time, I was busy with "Broken Silence" and didn't think much about it... When I think about it today, it's really not appropriate. Either you go back to China to accompany your wife, Or you can bring her over and help you raise the fetus.
After I finish filming this movie, you still have to study for a month. It will be the end of December when you go back. My wife is pregnant, how many months will you stay away from home? Doesn’t that make him a scumbag? "
"Well……"
Guo Fan seemed to want to say something.
But I don’t know what to say…
On the one hand, it is touching, but on the other hand, it is absurd.
I feel that Director Xu’s concern is too broad...
Seeing that he didn't speak, Xu Xin decided directly:
"Let's put it this way. I'll find a house for you. I still have a few friends here in Los Angeles. You bring people over. The climate here and other things are also suitable for vacation and raising babies. There won't be a fire in your backyard. Only then. Just follow me and work steadily. As for whether to make a youth film or not...it's up to you to decide. My suggestion is that we can continue to make another film, and we should pay a higher share and choose a solid script, even if it is not outstanding... But if one movie can earn at least 1,000 to 8 million, it can be regarded as a small-scale wealth and freedom. This is my opinion when I take care of my wife and have no worries at home.
He gave the final verdict.
Guo Fan thought he had a chance to appeal and said:
"Then I'll think about it..."
"Don't think about the former, this matter is settled. Either you go back to accompany your wife, or you take her over. As for the movie... you think about it slowly. That's it... Mengmeng, if he takes Sun Ran over Come here, tell Sister Mo to find some nannies, assistants, etc. who can take care of people."
"I know, Brother Xu."
Su Meng, whose mouth smelled like lemon, responded crisply.
Although intellectually speaking, Brother Xu is a little worried...
What's more, whether it's a house, a nanny, an assistant, etc., it costs a lot of money.
But for Brother Xu...it's drizzle.
To exaggerate a bit, the money was already earned within a few breaths.
Tsk…
My damn handsome, rich, kind-hearted and nosy dog boss...
She complained in her mind.
Except sometimes they are dogs, not people.
Sometimes I am still a human being.
…
September 7th.
9am.
Including Liu Yifei and Keanu Reeves, all the crew members from the first stage of filming, a total of more than 70 people, came to the suburbs of San Fernando next to Los Angeles.
Paramount's own film factory is located here.
In the corner, a villa was already crowded with people.
Except for Liu Momo and Georgia, the other foreigners looked at Xu Xin who was burning incense and praying in front of the camera, their eyes full of curiosity about Eastern witchcraft.
There are no opening ceremonies in Hollywood.
Although they also have some folk taboos, such as the number 666 and lucky rabbit's feet, they have not formed a particularly specific system.
Usually, the opening ceremony is more like a kind of publicity.
For example, early this morning, thanks to the marketing of Paramount, the news appeared in the news that "Perfect Strangers" director Goethe Hsu and Keanu Reeves have started filming.
This is external.
Internally, it was very simple. The director gave some opening speeches and then clapped his hands to signal everyone to start filming.
Seems pretty simple.
They had never seen Xu Xin's mysterious oriental ritual before.
But it looks quite fresh.
It seems that as long as it is linked to some kind of voodoo or witchcraft and is rendered mysterious, everyone is more interested.
Of course, then again.
In Xu Xin's eyes, the so-called American horror is actually bloody in addition to being bloody. The so-called voodoo spells, witches and wizards, etc. are even more ridiculous.
Just kidding... He would rather have a pale vampire knock on the door in the middle of the night than have no one at the door, just a pair of embroidered shoes on the floor.
The former will suffer the most.
The latter is torture both mentally and physically.
But no matter what, as the director of photography and others put the incense into the incense burner with some novelty, Xu Xin personally unveiled the red cover of the camera, and the filming of "John Wick" officially started.
The first scene is the daily routine of John Wick waking up in bed with the dog named "Daisy".
This 8-month-old beagle has no special training.
In the first scene, it shows him licking Keanu's face to wake him up.
Frankly speaking, this play is not difficult for humans.
Xu Xin would not let Brother Ji fight with his old arms and legs on the first day.
The filming of the movie has just started, so it’s just a warm-up.
But it is still difficult for a dog, especially an untrained dog, to accurately lick Brother Ji's face.
The design at the beginning of this scene was for a long shot.
The dog jumped from under the bed to the bed and licked Brother Ji's face. With the sound of the alarm clock, retired killer MR. Wick's ordinary day began.
But...the dog trainer and assistant director apparently overestimated the beagle's jumping ability.
It couldn't jump onto the bed at all.
"CUT, adjust, Jonathan, let's just put the dog on the bed and let him walk in from off camera."
Following Xu Xin's words, photographer Jonathan Serra nodded, and several stage managers hurriedly readjusted the angle.
And in just a short while, Brother Ji was already holding the puppy and started to masturbate it wildly.
He does like dogs too.
And the puppy, whose real name is "Andy," is adorable, too.
But... Xu Xin really couldn't accept the pet licking its owner's face.
It's like a dog with a bad mouth.
However, foreigners like to use this way to express the intimacy between people and pets... and it's not too dirty.
Soon, Jonathan re-set up the camera, and Brother Ji, who had petted the dog for a few minutes, watched little Andy return to the dog trainer's arms, and reluctantly lay down again.
The stage manager also readjusted the alarm clock to the number 5:59.
Xu Xin started counting down again.
"3, 2, 1, ACTION!"
The crew was quiet.
Until the alarm clock beeps again.
The dog trainer put Andy on the bed, meaning that the little guy who earned $700 an hour would quickly cooperate and lick MR Wick's face.
As a result...the 8-month-old little guy seems to be a little greedy for the dog trainer's arms.
As soon as he was put down, he started to stand and pull at the dog trainer's clothes, hoping to get him to hug him again.
"Click."
The crew was called off for the second time because of the uncertainty about the animals.
Afterwards, Xu Xin turned to assistant director John Sanders and said:
"John, have someone go to the cafeteria and bring you a piece of bacon."
Although it’s not a box lunch here in Hollywood, usually the crew will have a food truck following them outside. But this is Paramount's movie factory, complete with its own cafeteria.
John immediately ordered a field attendant to run errands, while Xu Xin got up to check the camera lens preparations for the next scene.
After making sure it was consistent with the tone in the room, the steward over there also ran back with a strip of bacon.
"Put it on Keanu's face and leave a taste. Jonathan, push it a little harder this time. Give Keanu a close-up. Don't let Andy delay us too long."
As a result, the shot in the screen changed to a close-up of Keanu "sleeping".
After smearing bacon on his face, the makeup artist carefully wiped off the oil stains with a paper towel and reapplied his makeup.
Just as the filming was about to start, I heard Xu Xin say:
"Rick, put Andy in front of Keanu's face, let him smell the bacon, and then carry him back to where he was before."
The dog trainer Rick nodded knowingly after hearing this, and came to Keanu with Andy in his arms.
Sure enough, the aroma of bacon quickly attracted the attention of the beagle Andy. He stretched his neck and kept sniffing, trying to lick the other person's face.
But it couldn't be reached in the owner's arms, and he whimpered anxiously.
"OK, all departments are ready."
Following the director's words and the notes, the third filming officially started.
Sure enough.
In the close-up shot, after Andy came from the owner's arms to the bed, he went straight to Brother Ji's face.
At the "tick" sound of the alarm clock, Brother Ji woke up from his sleep...
…
aside.
Liu Yifei stands with Georgia, the first producer of "John Wick".
After meeting him on the set of "Perfect", she had a good impression of Lao Qian.
He was elegant and gentlemanly.
Before filming, the two had been chatting.
They talked about things in Hollywood.
She had learned about Lao Qian's chatting style from Xu Xin. He was the type who liked to show you his strength from the side.
He was relatively easy to communicate with.
But when the crew started filming, both of them chose to shut up at the same time.
On the set, whether it was actors or staff, they did not disturb the work. This was the iron rule of the film industry worldwide.
The two stood under a tent used for sunshade and watched the three scenes shot by Xu Xin.
From the first step to the state, to the second step to the third step...
After the bed scene was finished, the crew moved to the second group to prepare the shots in the bathroom, and Lao Qian spoke again:
"Xu is a director who is very good at scheduling and adjustment. I like his straightforward guidance style, no procrastination, no confusion, and he knows very clearly how to express a scene and how to adjust it, instead of being like some other directors, who only have that scene in their minds and ignore all the possibilities of colliding with more wonderful sparks."
"Yes, this is one of the things he is best at."
Liu Yifei nodded slightly and whispered:
"And this is only one thousandth of his directorial characteristics... mobilization, adjustment, coordination, and command. George, you have to know that he has managed tens of thousands of people. And he can manage them in an orderly manner."
"Oh?"
Georgia asked with great interest:
"Is it the Olympics?"
"Yes, the Olympics. At that time, he was the only channel for the opening ceremony director group to communicate with the outside world. On the one hand, he was responsible for conveying all the orders issued by the director group, all The orders were gathered to him, and he was responsible for accurately conveying them. And any problems that arose in various departments would also be gathered here. And his job was to try not to disturb the director team as much as possible, and to handle all the things that could be handled. The director team only needed to sign their names on the documents. So, at that time, he was recognized as the only close minister. Without him, the efficiency of the opening ceremony team would plummet. "
"Wow."
Georgia looked at Xu Xin, who was standing next to the director of photography Jonathan and communicating with the camera lens, with amazement, and smiled:
"I thought that the identity of the Olympic torch designer was enough to represent his excellence."
"It's far from it. His real talent is in the movie. Including me, George, everyone who has worked with him has given this comment. And these coordination abilities are not worth mentioning compared to this talent."
When she said this, she was a problem student sitting on a leather sofa in front of Xu Xin, but at this moment her eyes were full of appreciation and sighs.
She used the most sincere words to express the truth of her emotions.
"..."
Georgia turned her eyes to her.
After staring at her for two seconds, her eyes fell on Xu Xin again.
He waited and saw.
...
Xu Xin didn't know what the two of them were talking about behind his back. He just followed his own pace and followed the routine.
On the first day, he habitually chose simple shots, so that the actors could have a process of getting into the state.
To be honest, Ji Ge's performance state is definitely beyond doubt.
Even if he played some bad movies, others would at most say that the movies were bad, but they never questioned Ji Ge's acting skills.
After going around for a whole morning and shooting a few shots, it was more than 11 o'clock and the crew got off work on time.
Before filming, Georgia also specifically told him about the overtime rules in Hollywood. A maximum of a few hours a week, if it exceeds the limit, there will be a heavy penalty.
So Xu Xin must not rush the work.
Xu Xin almost shed tears after hearing this request.
What a kind black-hearted capitalist.
But he was not in a hurry, because he had to leave the afternoon time for Keanu and the team to cooperate with the shooting of the gunfight scene.
At this stage, everyone rested and did not work.
Working hours were counted until the evening.
If he had any deepest feelings on the first day of shooting, it might be this.
8 hours on time, no one would work overtime even if the king came...
But for Brother Ji, this kind of overtime is definitely necessary.
For an afternoon, Xu Xin and Guo Fan and several other management personnel watched Brother Ji practice the fight scene tomorrow night in the villa covered with cushions.
The fighting scenes of the entire "John Wick" were defined by Xu Xin into the framework of "modern fighting skills".
Guns, hand-to-hand combat, sambo, wrestling, and Yayan's martial arts school "Bancasula" were integrated together.
As for the set of moves, Chen Hu's Yuanjiaban was responsible for it.
This team includes former Russian professional sambo athletes, wrestlers, retired SEAL instructors, and presidential bodyguards... Let alone other things, the security force of the crew alone is enough to scare people to death.
This team will focus on the fast and sharp moves of the bancasura, and use firearms and fighting in different occasions and scenes.
Xu Xin sets the scene and the order of the number of people fighting with the protagonist.
Chen Hu is responsible for arranging the staggered use of the sense of fighting space.
The final set of moves is handed over to these professional action directors.
It sounds troublesome, but it is actually not simple at all.
For example, the villa raid that Keanu is practicing now.
There are 12 killers in total to deal with John Wick. In this raid, there will be R Wick's pistol, and among these 9 people, three of them were killed by headshots in the dark.
Two were killed by Mozambique shooting, three were shot to death in the fight, and one became John Wick's shield and was shot to death by his own people.
The remaining three were killed in close combat. At the same time, one was attacked by John Wick with a sharp bancasura, and the other was suddenly encountered. When Wick was captured, he subdued the opponent with a standard Russian sambo throw, and completed the replacement of the enemy's locked weapon magazine-headshot, and the last person was finished with a dagger at the door.
It's just a scene.
It shows the extraordinary characteristics of MR Wick.
But it was directly refined into this look by Xu Xin.
To be honest, let’s not talk about how other people reacted… Chen Hu and his team were a little confused when they first saw Director Xu’s plan during the film preparation period.
Because this is not just a simple set of moves, a villain fighting with the protagonist, and other people just wandering around to “watch the fun”.
Xu Xin’s requirements are:
“MR. Wick can make any environment his home court. He is good at using everything around him to kill the enemy. What I want is not traditional moves, but to use walls, environment, home furnishings, and even light and shadow as cover to highlight its sense of space and layering.”
When Chen Hu first heard these requirements, he was a little confused.
Even in order to shoot this scene, Director Xu even specially chose the most expensive set for the villa… so that this villa with a height difference can maximize the sense of space he wants.
And with the sense of space, the next step is his job.
He is responsible for designing the fighting scenes, and after setting up the scenes, he will hand them over to the action directors to complete the action docking.
For Chen Hu, as soon as Director Xu opened his mouth, he realized that… this action movie might be different from the past.
In other words, it is different from any movie he has experienced before.
Because throughout his career, whether it is "The Matrix" or "Man of Tai Chi"... the routines of these films are actually [seemingly everyone is rushing together], but in fact everyone has already set the order.
Who to hit first, who to turn around and hit next, these are all designed.
From a God's perspective, in fact, as long as you pay attention to the details, the audience can live with this set of one person fighting, a group of people watching routines.
But this time is different, Director Xu requires a sense of space.
He must integrate the fighting scene this time with the space.
It's like a 2D game suddenly becomes 3D.
This kind of action scene has been requested before, but... just like Liu Yifei and Georgia said. It's the same movie, and it also requires the "sense of space" of action movies.
But under this general direction, Xu Xin's control of details... and the conception of some shots are really hard for ordinary people to think of.
As an old martial arts director who has been immersed in the dynamic director industry for many years. The so-called expert knows whether it is good or not as soon as he makes a move.
As Director Xu unfolded his ideas to them bit by bit... it was still unknown what the film would look like.
But just talking about these action designs... he could only describe it in four words:
"Not easy."
Fortunately, although Chen Hu's acting skills were average, his talent as an action director was indeed amazing.
After three days of research in the villa with Xu Xin, they came up with a plan that everyone was satisfied with.
And today's scene was a small test of the whole film that was different from the general action films on the market.
It was called a small test, but Keanu Reeves had been preparing for it for nearly a week.
The running-in of these 13 people could only be said to have just caught Xu Xin's eye.
The afternoon was quickly spent in the interweaving of muscles and sweat of a group of men.
At about 4:30 in the evening, all the crew members went to work, including Keanu Reeves and Fei Xianer who had taken a shower and re-made up.
A group of people went to the first set.
The hospital set room set up in the Paramount factory.
Liu Yifei's makeup looked like a dead person. When she walked out of the dressing room, her eyes began to emit laser rays, which were about to burn Xu Xin.
Xu Xin, feeling guilty, kept pulling Guo Fan to chat, and didn't dare to look over there.
Guo Fan, who knew the whole story, also had a strange expression on his face.
To be honest, Director Xu was quite mean.
When he came yesterday, he didn't understand what "The Little Widow Goes to the Grave" was. As a result, he got the shooting plan today and asked Su Meng to translate it for him, and he finally understood it.
There are three scenes of the fairy sister.
One at the beach, one at the river, and one in the hospital.
At the beach, Wick and his wife were very sweet.
At the river, Wick's wife fell ill and fainted in his arms.
The scene in the hospital was even more amazing... It was just one shot.
She died.
Mr. Wick sadly put his head against his dead wife.
The three scenes together may not exceed one minute... But she was given the name of "heroine" and was fooled to the United States.
This is just like a scam.
Soon, in the hospital setting, the fairy sister, wearing a hospital gown, with medical tape on her arm and a bracelet on her wrist, lay on the bed.
A bald extra acting as a doctor stood in the blurred background, and Ji Ge, wearing a leather jacket, stood in front of the bed with a tense expression.
He was having a hard time holding it in.
Because he heard the other person mumbling.
It seemed that Liu had deliberately let him hear it, and he used English:
"You bastard, wait, I will definitely kick your ass hard in a while!"
"..."
The corner of his mouth twitched.
The shooting was about to start, and his emotions were brewing with great effort, but he was almost ruined by this sentence.
Outside the set room.
With the director's order, three, two, one, start shooting.
Brother Ji came to the bed affectionately, and in the blurred background behind him, all the values of the vital signs detector returned to zero.
He put his hand on Fei Xian'er's hair, gently comforted her, bent down... and finally put his head against the other person's head.
"OK, it's done."
Five minutes of preparation, two seconds of shooting.
When Xu Xin's words rang out, Keanu Reeves saw Liu Mengran on the bed suddenly resurrected, opened his eyes, turned over, and looked at the director outside the set room fiercely...
"Swoosh~"
Xu Xin whistled and patted Guo Fan on the shoulder:
"Check it out, I'm going out to smoke a cigarette."
After that, he walked out without looking back.
Guo Fan also held back his smile and nodded slightly. After checking and confirming that everything was correct, everyone set off and walked towards the private beach of Paramount's hotel group.
...
At around 5 pm, we arrived at the beach under the setting sun.
This time the shooting was simpler.
Xu Xin took Keanu's IPHONE, gestured to him the shooting route, and then handed the rest of the work to him.
This video is stored in Wick's mobile phone. Naturally, no matter the picture quality or the shooting method, it cannot be too professional, otherwise it will be a bit artificial.
Then, Ji Ge and Liu, who had changed into a windbreaker and a scarf and looked like winter, checked the route. Without anyone intervening, they took their phones and started shooting.
I have to say that Ji Ge's photography talent is not bad.
After shooting the beach scene twice, Xu Xin looked at it and nodded directly.
The second scene, CUT.
Then the whole crew turned back to Los Angeles.
Crossing the entire city, when they came to the riverbank next to the "QUEEN WAYS" bridge on the Long Beach side, it was already nightfall and the evening rush hour began.
The crew came in a low-key manner. After driving away a few homeless people, soon, around 8 o'clock, in the evening breeze, Sister Fairy fell into Ji Ge's arms.
So far.
The first actor who finished shooting in "John Wick" appeared.
As usual, when an actor finished shooting, the crew members would applaud and send their blessings.
As the heroine, Fei Xian'er was treated the same way.
But...
The people who applauded were embarrassed.
After all, we have only been together for one day, and there is no relationship to speak of. It is purely politeness.
The person who received the applause was also embarrassed.
There was only one thought in my mind.
I will wear my current high heels and kick that bastard's ass hard... Eh? Where is that bastard?
Seeing that only Guo Fan, who was also applauding, was left in front of the monitor, Liu Yifei was stunned and subconsciously looked around.
Unfortunately, it was too dark nearby. The lighting was too bright, and under the contrast of light, she really couldn't see anything.
Under a lighting rack.
Xu Xin, who was dark under the light, lit a cigarette.
Looking at the fairy sister bowing to thank everyone, she blew out a proud smoke.
The heroine of "JOHN WICK" was successfully completed.
Applause to encourage!
Hey~