Chapter 144: A Truly Grand Scene

Cao Yang ignored the chaos outside and focused on filming the grand war scenes at Zhenbeibao.

Today was the twelfth day of filming; it had taken eight days, and only yesterday had they finished shooting the annihilation of the sand bandits.

However, this did not mean this plot segment was finished, as they were not filming in the order of the script.

Large-scale chaotic battles were the hardest to film and the most prone to causing casualties, so everything had to be handled with extreme caution.

It was said that one must rely on army soldiers; they moved in orderly fashion and followed commands. With them leading the extras, they achieved excellent coordination, preventing chaos and injuries, which allowed the entire crew to breathe a sigh of relief.

This was mainly because the eight hundred cavalrymen, leading two thousand extras—a ratio of nearly one to two—could effectively ensure the extras followed orders, preventing any disorder.

If they hadn't had the cavalry and had only used those two thousand extras, commanding them would have been difficult, and it's likely that once things turned chaotic, there would have been injuries.

In this era, that was the one good thing about being a big-name director: whenever filming grand scenes, many could borrow troops for help, which saved ten thousand times more worry than using extras.

What they had to film today was relatively much simpler: the scene where Wang Sheng's cavalry launched a charge against the sand bandits' lair.

Only two cavalry battalions were needed for the charge.

But before the charge, to build hype for the grand scene, the crew rented another six hundred horses and had the extras join in, so that at a glance, it looked like nothing but cavalry.

For these six hundred horses, they hired dozens of additional personnel.

These extras on horseback were just for show, used to pad the numbers to make Wang Sheng's cavalry look numerous and the formation grand; they didn't need to follow the charge.

Why else would it be called a "grand scene"?

When the press release went out, accompanied by a dark, dense photo, they could brag that the crew had utilized three thousand horses and five thousand extras to achieve the effect!

It was just doubling the numbers for hype; this was standard practice, and there were plenty of people who bragged much harder than this.

The goal was to let the audience know what a high price they had paid and how much energy they had expended for these ten minutes of footage, so that just by watching these grand scenes, the ticket price would be worth it.

There were nearly fourteen hundred people on horseback, and the crew had spent a large sum of money to custom-make Tang Army armor.

The *Old Book of Tang: Biography of Ma Sui* records that Tang Army cavalry armor came in three sizes—large, medium, and small—worn by soldiers of tall, medium, and short stature, respectively.

The *Taibai Yinjing: Ordnance Chapter* records that one Tang cavalry army consisted of 12,500 men, equipped with 7,500 sets of armor, reaching an armor-wearing rate of 60%.

But Cao Yang had everyone wear armor; otherwise, if the audience noticed people mixed in without armor, they would think the crew was cutting corners.

The *Six Codes of the Tang Dynasty* states that there were thirteen types of Tang armor: Bright Light Armor, Light Waist Armor, Fine Scale Armor, Mountain Pattern Armor, Black Hammer Armor, White Cloth Armor, Fu Silk Armor, Cloth Back Armor, Infantry Armor, Leather Armor, Wood Armor, Chainmail, and Horse Armor.

In reality, very few physical artifacts of Tang-era armor have been unearthed domestically, only a few armor plates and one helmet.

Combining the opinions of consultants and based on the illustrations recorded in books, the crew custom-made Bright Light Armor.

Wang Sheng wore silver Bright Light Armor, important generals wore black Black Hammer Armor, and soldiers wore a simplified, unified version of Bright Light Armor.

The *Book of Sui: Rites and Ceremonies* records that in the seventh year of the Daye era, among the four army corps when the Sui army campaigned in Liaodong, two corps wore Bright Light Armor, and the other two wore Rhinoceros Armor.

These were all historically recorded; Cao Yang wanted to restore the costumes, props, and sets as much as possible to set an example for other crews in the future.

With the help of assistants and makeup artists, Chen Kun changed once again into the custom-made silver Bright Light Armor—one always had to highlight the protagonist.

According to the established plan, the entire group of fourteen hundred had already formed a formation that looked even "grander." Chen Kun walked to a position slightly closer to the center and, with the assistant's help, mounted his horse.

A wide shot would be used here to capture the entire formation.

"Mr. Gu, you're getting on in years; what if you get high blood pressure or something? How dangerous! Why don't I go up instead?" Ning Hao came to Gu Changwei's side with a cheeky grin, joking.

"Get lost, you brat. I already circled up there yesterday; I'm very accustomed to aerial filming. Stop playing your little tricks."

Gu Changwei laughed and scolded him. He knew Ning Hao was joking, but who wouldn't want to try operating the camera from the air? This was a rare, grand scene.

Ning Hao was truly envious; he also wanted to go up for a ride... no, he meant to operate the camera.

After confirming multiple times that all aspects were ready, Cao Yang shouted, "Action!" and the truly grand scene began filming. The clapperboard clapped.

Gu Changwei was in the sky with one camera crew, while two other camera crews were on the ground, all filming simultaneously from different angles.

For this scene, Cao Yang utilized a helicopter to assist in filming; this was also support he had requested, dispatched by the higher-ups from the nearest base.

There was no help for it; it wasn't as convenient as later generations, and there were no drones for filming. If one wanted to film grand scenes from above, one could only use a helicopter.

Once this shot was finished, the six hundred rented horses had completed their mission.

Grand scenes meant grand expenses; money flowed like water, and the budget was burning.

Next was the charge.

The extras and the six hundred horses were cleared out, leaving only the two cavalry battalions. It took an hour to get ready.

Chen Kun drew his Tang saber, said nothing, looked ahead, and pointed the blade forward.

The eight hundred cavalrymen received the order, each took out their prop horse crossbows, and spurred their warhorses to charge across the line.

!

Under the sunlight, horse hooves kicked up wind, manes flew, and the riders' war cries and the sound of galloping hooves echoed across the land, making one's blood boil.

This time, three camera crews were filming together again: one on the helicopter in the sky, and two on the ground from different angles.

Ning Hao ultimately didn't realize his wish to go up in the sky, which made him sigh. If he had known, he would have gone to the camera crew; perhaps he could have sat in the helicopter with Gu Changwei.

A big-name director is truly awesome; with cavalry troops and helicopters, filming this movie was simply too exhilarating. If he could have Cao Dao's ability, he would wake up laughing even in his sleep.

After filming this set of shots, another set of charge shots would be filmed. At that time, they would switch to prop Tang sabers to indicate that the arrows had been shot and they were about to engage in close-quarters combat.

Filming such grand scenes tested a director's ability to coordinate and manage; only when all departments of the crew cooperated could things remain stable and orderly.

Initially, even though he had rehearsed many times in his mind, when it came to the real thing, Cao Yang was still a bit flustered. There were too many things to consider for such a grand scene; even the slightest oversight could lead to a major mistake.

Fortunately, this first time he was commanding army officers and soldiers; even if some things weren't considered, the army instructors could respond in time, and the soldiers wouldn't panic.

Grand scenes were very good for training people; Cao Yang felt that in the future, when filming grand-scene movies, he should be able to handle them with more composure.

It took a total of twenty-some days for this grand scene of encircling the sand bandits to finally wrap up.

For a total of ten minutes of plot, the crew spent nearly one-fifth of the filming budget, and this was with the army's help; otherwise, the costs would have been even higher.

Money was secondary; the main thing was that there were too many potential dangers in filming grand scenes. One moment of carelessness could lead to injuries, causing a lot of troublesome issues.

The cost-effectiveness of filming such grand scenes was too low, and it was only in these few years that it could be realized so easily.

With the plot here finished, the next step was to go to Hengdian to film.

Interior sets had already been built there to film the majority of the subsequent plot.

There was also the small segment of the plot at the very beginning of the movie where Xiao Wei hadn't yet descended the mountain, mainly her interactions with her grandmother. These would be filmed on the interior sets, so the actors didn't need to go up the mountain themselves.

However, Cao Yang arranged for Ning Hao to go to Hunan Province to film the beautiful scenery in the Zhangjiajie Yuanjiajie Scenic Area, which would be placed at the beginning of the movie.

This guy was originally a photography major and was now an assistant director. Cao Yang told him he must capture the artistic conception and the otherworldly immortal mountain shrouded in clouds and mist.

Cao Yang gave Ning Hao a line: "The heavenly ladder is close to the clouds, and one can meet immortals while traveling in the scenic spot. If you can't capture this feeling, don't come back."

Ning Hao immediately felt the pressure was immense.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 145 =====