Chapter 143

Although Zhenbeibao belongs to Ning Province, it is very close to Inner Mongolia and leans against the Helan Mountain National Forest Park to the north, making it very suitable for filming large-scale ancient war scenes.

Cao Yang finally received quite a bit of support for filming this movie.

The film begins with a scene of wiping out sand bandits; Wang Sheng "rescues" Xiao Wei in the sand bandit den.

The large-scale scene Cao Yang wants to film is this big battle to wipe out the sand bandits.

One of the supports given from above was the dispatch of a small remaining cavalry unit from Inner Mongolia, which would have about two battalions—not full strength, said to be about 800 people.

This is already considered a big move.

You have to know that there are not many cavalry units left in the country; only Inner Mongolia and the Western Frontier still have some.

An 800-man cavalry unit, if they charge, would be all over the mountains and plains, with magnificent momentum.

This scene of wiping out the sand bandits was a sneak attack in the original film, with a very small scene and not many people.

And, Wang Sheng led a cavalry unit, waiting for it to get dark, then running over to sneak attack...

Is this still a cavalry unit? Well, maybe there were too few people, and filming a charge scene wouldn't look very good.

Cavalry emphasizes coming and going like the wind, charging collectively on horseback, which is the only way to exert maximum combat power. When the enemy sees the cavalry rumbling over, filling the mountains and plains, they would be intimidated before the battle even started; how could they dare to block a cavalry charge?

Cao Yang changed the script. The reason Wang Sheng brought the cavalry over was because he received news that the largest and most ferocious group of sand bandits was hiding here.

He was specifically here to wipe out this group of sand bandits.

At that time, there would be a large-scale cavalry charge, completely following the equipment of Tang cavalry in history, with soldiers carrying horse crossbows, bows and arrows, horse lances, and Tang swords.

According to historical records, when the cavalry was 200 paces away, they would shoot with horse crossbows first, then shoot with bows and arrows at 60 paces. When they reached close range, the warriors would use horse lances, and the soldiers would use Tang swords held with both hands to kill the enemy.

Sand bandits who hurriedly mounted their horses to fight back, cavalry colliding, charging, trampling, killing enemies, encircling and suppressing...

Cao Yang also had the director team reserve 2,000 extras. He wanted to use this 800-man unit and 2,000 extras to create a large-scale scene of thousands of troops and horses.

What he wanted was the sound of iron hooves shattering the mountains and rivers, the neighing of warhorses piercing the sky, the momentum of iron cavalry like a tide, and the sound shaking in all directions.

The two cavalry battalions had been there for quite a while. Except for the first day of rest, they had been rehearsing under the coordination of the director team and the action guidance team the rest of the time.

Cao Yang certainly couldn't film the large-scale cavalry charge scene at the beginning; he wanted to leave a few more days for the cavalry unit and extras to rehearse.

When the time comes for the large-scale scene with thousands of people, he would try his best to make it orderly and not chaotic, and do his best to ensure that no casualties would be caused.

To this end, the crew not only contacted the local government to coordinate a dozen ambulances and fire trucks to stand by, but also temporarily expanded Yu Yu Chenghui's action guidance team to 60 people, including military instructors, horse trainers, and relevant people in the industry.

The scene of Xiao Wei in the sand bandit den can be filmed on the indoor set built at the Film Studio.

However, there is another set of shots here. Cao Yang wants to film a wide shot of the Gobi desert with yellow sand everywhere, where Xiao Wei walks from afar, is discovered by the sand bandit sentry, and is snatched into the sand bandit den.

Cao Yang wants to use this set of shots as the first shot of the film because it is simple enough to reduce the number of NGs and get a good omen.

He signaled for Gao Gao Yuanyuan to come over.

Gao Gao Yuanyuan was wearing a ru-skirt, with a "half-arm" jacket over the ru-top, and decorated with a shawl; this is typical Tang Dynasty women's clothing.

However, in order to make the character's appearance appear more three-dimensional and prominent, in this Gobi desert with yellow sand everywhere, Gao Gao Yuanyuan's clothes were themed in white, while the shawl used bright red.

In addition, white is to express the ignorance of Xiao Wei, the little fox who just came down the mountain, and bright red is her disregard for human life, digging out human hearts to maintain the efficacy of the painted skin.

Cao Yang looked at Gao Gao Yuanyuan; this look was still quite suitable for her, pure and bright.

Cao Yang exhorted again, "You walk over later, with a little bit of curiosity, don't look around so exaggeratedly. In short, before you fall in love with Wang Sheng, you don't care about anything, you just need to show a slightly curious expression." Gao Gao Yuanyuan nodded, and seeing that no one was paying attention, she asked again, "Director, when do I fall in love with Wang Sheng?"

You're doing this on purpose, right?

At your place, I didn't give you less guidance on the acting.

Cao Yang stared at Gao Gao Yuanyuan without saying a word. Gao Gao Yuanyuan stuck out her tongue and hurriedly turned around to slip away.

"All departments pay attention, check and confirm again, official filming in ten minutes."

The clapperboard clapped, and the first shot started filming.

Gao Gao Yuanyuan walked slowly from afar, passed in front of the camera, and walked away.

"Cut."

Cao Yang shouted, and then added, "Not bad."

Gao Gao Yuanyuan's acting skills have changed significantly. Don't look at this as just a walking shot; in the past, maybe she would have used looking around to express curiosity.

But now, she no longer uses these primary acting techniques.

Her method is to use a casual slight smile, with her eyes fixed on a certain place for a few seconds, to express the curiosity of the ignorant Xiao Wei.

!

The next thing to film is the sand bandit sentry discovering Xiao Wei, riding over from afar, picking up Xiao Wei, putting her on the horse's back, and looting her into the sand bandit's den.

This shot will require a stunt double.

It's a male stunt double who has practiced martial arts, so he won't be panicked or injured when running on the horse's back.

If it were a female actor or a female stunt double, it would be easy to get nervous when placed on a running horse's back, and the danger level would be relatively high.

The male stunt double wore the same clothes and the same hairstyle as Gao Gao Yuanyuan.

This shot was also filmed very smoothly; both the actor playing the sand bandit and the stunt double had practiced specifically.

There were no difficult shots today. For this scene of besieging the sand bandits, except for the large-scale war scenes, there were not many other scenes. Tomorrow is the beginning of the test.

The next day, the scene of besieging the sand bandits officially started filming.

However, what was to be filmed today were the dramatic scenes, from the scouts discovering the sand bandit den to the preparations before the war.

At the same time, the media began to exert force, and many were news about Cao Yang and the new film.

"Director Cao Yang's new film 'Nine-Tailed Fox', two best actresses acting on the same stage."

"Director Cao Yang gives up the art-house films he is good at and, following the footsteps of Zhang Zhang Yimou, begins to march into commercial films."

"Director Cao Yang's latest film 'Nine-Tailed Fox', with an investment scale of over 100 million, Berlin Best Actress Li Li Xiaoran and Cannes Best Actress Gao Gao Yuanyuan join at the same time, it is the most anticipated commercial blockbuster next year."

"Director Cao Yang's fantasy film 'Nine-Tailed Fox', two best actresses join at the same time, Pang Bing as a special lead, it seems to be another female-led drama that Cao Yang is good at, worth looking forward to."

"Director Cao Yang hires historians as consultants to completely restore the Tang army's appearance. Is this a war drama?" The newspaper published a photo of Chen Kun wearing Ming-style armor.

Of course, there were also critical media, saying that Cao Yang had also begun to "degenerate", not filming good art-house films, but following the "degenerate" Zhang Zhang Yimou to film some commercial movies. This is regression, this is going backwards.

But no matter what, the heated discussion was there; it just depends on how long it can be maintained.

(End of chapter)