Chapter 270: Finally Finished Filming

Regarding Li Qiankuan's words, Cao Yang thought about it and felt it was feasible, and there was really no need to refuse.

Li Qiankuan is a classmate and good friend of Teacher Situ. People and Old Hou are running around for your awards in the front. Even if you don't look down on these awards, you can't chill everyone's heart.

Then record it.

Since he is still in the country now, it is convenient to hand it over to Old Hou after recording. It will be much more troublesome to record after going abroad.

It just so happens that Depp, Little Li Zi, and Mark Ruffalo are all here.

Depp is a two-time Oscar-winning actor, Little Li Zi is a superstar with huge influence all over the world, and Mark Ruffalo is also an Oscar Best Supporting Actor.

These three people plus a Hollywood actress who became famous at a young age like Claire Danes, and Tom Hardy who is still somewhat famous.

As long as the five Hollywood stars say a few words like "wish the Golden Rooster Awards get better and better" in Chinese, even if it is a clumsy Chinese word by word, it is enough to make the Golden Rooster Awards judges and organizing committee excited.

When Cao Yang wins the award and plays it on the big screen, everyone is happy!

Of course, Cao Yang definitely also needs to record some acceptance speeches and blessings.

Later, Cao Yang thought about it again. Since this matter is to be done, give Li Qiankuan enough face.

Cao Yang still knows a little about people of this age.

For example, Old Situ, don't look at his usual detached attitude, but as long as Cao Yang wins an international award, the old man will always try every means to "unintentionally" sigh to a few other old guys.

For people of this age, it is unrealistic to say what other pursuits they have, but face is what they value most.

After filming today's scenes, Cao Yang beckoned Ning Hao to come over.

Ning Hao ran over with a trot, and asked with a cheeky face: "Little... cough, Cao Dao, what are your instructions?"

"You already know, right? Although *Crazy Stone* received nominations for Golden Rooster Awards Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Screenplay, because the box office is too high and the commercial nature is too strong, it is impossible to give you an award."

There was no disappointed expression on Ning Hao's face. His current goal is international, Hollywood, and learning from Cheng Jianye. Domestic... he is already a bit looking down on it.

However, he still secretly asked in a low voice: "Little Uncle, isn't *Crazy Stone* always claimed to be an experimental film? Why do they still say the commercial nature is too strong?"

Cao Yang glared at him, "The box office of *Crazy Stone* is so high. If you are not classified as a commercial film, what do you want those movies with only a few million or even hundreds of thousands of box office to do? How can they still be given awards?"

"Hmm, hmm."

Ning Hao nodded to show he understood, and then laughed again, whispering to Cao Yang: "Little Uncle, I remember the box office of *Nine-Tailed Fox* exceeded 200 million. Why don't they say your box office is too high?"

Cao Yang raised his foot to kick him.

Ning Hao cheekily put the director's chair in place, and wiped it twice with his hand very dog-leggedly.

"Little Uncle, sit, sit, just said it casually, I just said it casually."

Cao Yang sat down and said with a smile:

"*Crazy Stone* if it could win a Best Director at the three major European festivals, they definitely wouldn't care about the box office. Or, if you had the fame and influence of Cheng Long, they wouldn't pull the box office either."

"Understand, I understand."

Ning Hao said thoughtfully: "Just like Little Uncle, who can win awards and has huge influence globally, they will selectively ignore the box office."

Afterwards, Ning Hao thought of Cao Yang's words just now, and asked with some disbelief:

"Little Uncle, what you meant just now, Cheng Long can win an award? Him? Just his *New Police Story*? Impossible, right? This is the Golden Rooster Awards. He is in the College Student Film Festival kind of..."

He originally wanted to belittle the College Student Film Festival, but he stopped in time.

"The College Student Film Festival doesn't give him an award, will the Golden Rooster Awards give him an award? His movie is a pure commercial film."

Cao Yang glanced at Ning Hao. He didn't want to say so much originally, but after thinking about it, Ning Hao had been completely labeled with his label. Everyone knew he was promoted by him, so let's tell him.

"What is the general trend of the domestic film industry now? The collective northward movement of Hong Kong and Taiwan filmmakers."

They have already seen the potential of the domestic market, and the movies in those two small places have long been not working, which forced them to move north. This is the general trend.

The Golden Rooster Awards want to expand their influence, and it just so happens that some people also want to integrate into it completely. It is a matter of hitting it off, so his winning an award is also the general trend.

"Can he really win an award?"

Ning Hao still didn't believe it. My *Crazy Stone* box office exceeded 150 million. You said this is a commercial film and didn't give an award, but I am now red and upright. Even if I didn't give an award, I was given several good nominations.

But *New Police Story*? That is a pure commercial movie, okay?

Giving this movie an award, doesn't it mention that this is a commercial film?

Selective forgetting?

At this moment, Ning Hao was really a bit disappointed.

This is the Golden Rooster Awards, really good.

"Alright, stop being sentimental and self-pitying, I have a task for you."

Ning Hao's face-changing speed was very fast, and he immediately changed to a smiling face. He couldn't see the disappointed expression just now.

"What's the matter?"

"Film a small video. Depp, Little Li Zi, and the others will say some auspicious words for the Golden Rooster Awards. You film it, let them say it in Chinese, even if it is word by word, it must be in Chinese. I have already greeted them.

In addition, film one for Old Gu too. He won the Oscar for Best Cinematography, which counts as having face.

Cheng Jianye

"And you, kid, say a few words too; you are, after all, one of the few famous directors whose box office can exceed one hundred million."

"And Wu Qihua and Fatty, both of you say a few words of blessing."

Cao Yang gave these instructions in a leisurely manner; he had already greeted these people and just needed Ning Hao to go and film them.

Ning Hao's face fell, and he muttered somewhat reluctantly: "Isn't this thinking too highly of the Golden Rooster? Why give it such great face?"

"Where do you get so much nonsense? Are you doing it or not? If not, I'll change people; Li Mingyi is also due for a promotion..."

Cao Yang made a gesture as if to call Li Mingyi, and Ning Hao immediately became humble and submissive.

"Cao Dao, you can rest assured if you leave it to me; I guarantee it will be done beautifully and will never let you down."

Watching Ning Hao leave with a spring in his step, Cao Yang shook his head. Some people have talent but no opportunity, while others succeed; this has to do with both opportunity and personality.

Just like Ning Hao, he is very good at joking around; to put it colloquially, he is a bit shameless and quick to get familiar with others. As long as such a person has real ability, or even if they don't have much ability, it is very easy for them to get along well.

Ning Hao belongs to the category of people with real ability, and coupled with this personality, it is easier for him to succeed.

There is one week left until the Golden Rooster Awards ceremony, and the members of the Golden Rooster Awards selection committee have been meeting and arguing endlessly every day during this period.

Art is, after all, not like Liu Xiang running 12.88 or 13.1 seconds, where there is concrete data to rely on. Art is very subjective; you think it's good, but I think it's not profound enough and should be explored further along a certain line...

Therefore, awarding prizes leads to endless arguments.

Of course, this is the ostensible reason.

Everyone only needs to use the ostensible reasons to attack each other; as for the underlying reasons, they are diverse.

Just like the three major European film festivals, the 23 members of the selection committee, including the director of the selection committee, must at least have a few who implement the official will of the Golden Rooster Awards; certain awards are decided long in advance.

Just like Cao Yang's "Nine-Tailed Fox," as long as he participates in the Golden Rooster Awards, at least one Best Director award can be guaranteed.

This is also a helpless matter. Looking at the entire Golden Rooster Awards ceremony, as long as it is a director or film that has won an award at the three major European film festivals, they will definitely have corresponding gains at the Golden Rooster Awards.

At least so far, this is still the case.

The three major European film festivals are the recognized world halls of art, and the Golden Rooster Awards still follow certain rules of the game; denying the three major European film festivals is equivalent to denying oneself.

Since receiving the short video brought by Hou Ke Ming yesterday, Li Qiankuan felt completely relieved after watching it, especially when Depp in it said in fairly good Chinese: "Golden Rooster Awards, China's Oscars..."

It's done!

This was the first thought that surfaced in Li Qiankuan's mind.

Just think about it, that is Depp, a two-time Oscar Best Actor and a world-class superstar. Being able to say such "mushy" words, everyone knows whose face he is saying it for.

Immediately, Li Qiankuan handed this video to the organizing committee. He knew that among the few major awards that were currently the most difficult to produce, Cao Yang had basically locked in one, or even several.

Subsequently, Li Qiankuan felt that he had a lot of face. This kid Cao Yang is capable; even as a world-class director, he is still so humble, still so respectful to his teachers, and hasn't gotten carried away at all.

Old Situ, that old guy, really got lucky!

If he had known, he would have stayed at the school to teach back then too.

Why do all the good things fall to this old guy? First there was Chen Kaige and Tian Zhuangzhuang, and later there was Cao Yang, plus famous directors like Hu Mei, Li Shaohong, and Wu Ziniu.

If he had stayed at the school like Old Situ back then, he might have become the head teacher of the 78-class cinematography department. That class produced Old Mouzi, Gu Changwei, Hou Yong, Zhao Fei, Zhang Li, and others.

Thinking of these people, Li Qiankuan felt as if he had lost something important. No, he would call Old Situ later and deliberately find fault to scold him to vent his anger.

After handing the filmed video to Hou Ke Ming and filming for another day, all the scenes to be filmed domestically were completed.

The next day, the group set off, first going to Paris, France, for location shooting, first filming at the Bir-Hakeim Bridge, and then filming at the Eiffel Tower.

Cao Yang had a very deep impression of the Bir-Hakeim Bridge. Under these steel arches in Paris, looking at it at a glance, it was layered and stacked, as if one were in layers of dreams, which was a perfect match for this film.

Many scenes in the film could be replaced, such as University College London, the University of California, San Diego, or Lombard Street in San Francisco; these could all find substitutes.

Only the Bir-Hakeim Bridge, Cao Yang believed, had to be filmed into the movie, so he also took the opportunity to film the Eiffel Tower nearby.

For public buildings like this, especially famous landmarks and those currently in use, filming is very troublesome.

First, one must apply to the city hall and go through a series of procedures. Even if the application is approved, one must film at a fixed time, and the time given is limited.

Therefore, this few location shoots in Paris took five days to complete.

Relatively speaking, the explosion scene in the cafe was even harder to film.

The male lead played by Depp and the dream architect Adrian played by Fatty have a crucial conversation in a roadside cafe, and finally, this place will be blown to pieces.

In previous communications, the Paris government did not allow the crew to use explosives, so the special effects director decided to use high-pressure nitrogen to complete the explosion effect.

After Cao Yang officially started filming on Ludao Island, the special effects director took the relevant technical personnel to continuously experiment with the explosion effect. By the time Cao Yang arrived in Paris, they had already completed the relevant experiments and could control the explosion range very well.

You know, without using CG special effects, the two leads are located in the center of the explosion, but they are not affected at all during filming, and even the paper cups on the table are required to remain motionless; this is a very difficult thing.

For this shoot, Cao Yang used six cameras to film from different angles.

Fortunately, since the "Matrix" crew developed bullet time, this kind of multi-camera coordination to capture slow-motion close-ups has become quite mature in Hollywood.

Through the slow-motion shots displayed by six cameras from different angles, the explosion debris floated in the air like suspended objects, creating an extremely shocking visual impact.

And the two leads, located at the center of the explosion, chatted naturally without being affected. Such shots, when released in the film, will definitely be very shocking to the heart.

After finishing in Paris, the crew moved to Canada for filming. A great many important scenes were filmed in Canada, which were also not easy to film.

The weightless fight in the rotating hotel was built in an abandoned aircraft hangar in Quebec, Canada. For this, the crew specially built a hotel corridor that could rotate 360 degrees in all directions to complete the filming of the relevant shots.

For the fight scene here, Cao Yang originally wanted to find a stunt double, but in this way, many close-up shots of the fight could not be filmed, and only long shots and close-ups could be filmed.

After considering it, Mark Ruffalo decided to go on himself.

After all, it is a film with such a large investment, and its influence will definitely be very great. This fight is also considered a very classic scene in the whole film, and Mark Ruffalo did not want to miss this kind of opportunity.

For this reason, while filming the snow fortress plot, Cao Yang specially found someone to give Mark Ruffalo special training. Cao Yang also did not want such a wonderful fight to be limited by the camera shooting.

It wouldn't work without training. Even if Mark Ruffalo added the experience of getting into the role, he might be very "familiar" in this fight.

However, for people who haven't been trained, even if the brain knows how to do it and gives instructions to the body, the body may not necessarily be able to keep up.

Mark Ruffalo trained for two weeks before Cao Yang started filming this scene.

Fortunately, there were slight twists and turns in the middle, no casualties, and after many NGs, the effect produced still made Cao Yang very satisfied.

Fearing fight scenes, especially this kind of "whimsical" fight scene, because there are special devices and requirements, the most feared thing is casualties.

After finishing the weightless fight in the rotating hotel, the work in Canada was basically completed, leaving only a scene of exotic chase in Tangier, Morocco.

Tangier is not at its hottest time of the year now, so filming the chase scene is not so bitter.

A "Cobb flying to escape for his life" chase scene was completed in the narrow streets and alleys of a local open-air market.

In order to capture the essence of the chase scene, the cinematographer also used various filming methods such as handheld cameras, Steadicams, wide-angle shots, and walking shots.

Because there were a great many extras, this chase scene took four days to complete. Depp tried his best to "escape for his life" seven or eight times before it met Cao Yang's requirements.

There is no way, many problems arise from the extras. With so many people, there will always be this or that problem. As long as one person has a problem, it must be refilmed.

It is also fortunate that it is not the hottest time of the year now, otherwise, Depp and the cinematographers would definitely have had to suffer.

At this point, all the shots for "Inception" have been filmed, and the next step is to do the CG special effects.

Most of the scenes in "Inception" were built in studios, using live-action filming. Although there are still quite a few that need CG special effects, compared to this kind of large-scale sci-fi film, the post-production special effects are considered very few.

This will save a lot of time.

(End of chapter)