China Entertainment 1997

Cao Xuan didn't care about the swords and shadows of the East and West palace parties inside the stars.

After rejoining the cast at the end of August, he devoted himself wholeheartedly to filming "Three Kingdoms·Red Cliff". Except for going home to see his daughter a few times a week and paying public food to Dongxi and Ergong, he basically stayed on the set filming.

In mid-September, the filming of "Three Kingdoms: Red Cliff" was almost completed, and the remaining time was focused on filming the final battle.

The crew also moved from Fanxing Film and Television City to Miyun Reservoir and Taihu Lake near Xinwu Film and Television City.

Of course, Taihu Lake is mainly based on exterior scenes, and there are not many actual shots. The real highlight is the Miyun Reservoir.

As early as last year, the crew built many warships, even some large ships, which are now displayed in Miyun Reservoir for the filming of the decisive battle in Chibi.

The night was dark, and a row of battleships were ready to go. The largest ship among them was brightly lit.

Cao Xuan is wearing a brocade robe, dark gold armor, and a white cloak on the back. The white tassel on his handsome helmet is blown high by the wind. His face is handsome and his temperament is extraordinary. People can't help but secretly admire the heroic Zhou Gongjin. .

The generals and soldiers holding the railings, looking around the deck and the warships next to them, shouted loudly.

"God bless Jiangdong and help me with the east wind. Cao Cao's thieves will be killed and defeated today."

After saying that, Cao Xuan drew out the sword from his waist and said with murderous intent: "Send my command, fly forward, and send troops to Chibi."

Boom, boom, boom!

Woo~

The drums beat loudly and the horns sound loud.

Several flag bearers climbed to the bow and stern of the ship and issued orders. The fleet climbed up and moved forward slowly. Cao Xuan stood with his sword in hand, and a big [Zhou] flag sounded behind him.

…

"Card."

Lao Mouzi's voice came from one of the ships. Cao Xuan recovered and picked up the walkie-talkie handed over by the staff next to him.

"Director Zhang, what do you think? Do you want to go through it again?"

"No need, the close-up and long-range shots are very good. It's almost five o'clock and the sky is getting bright. Let's stop here."

"OK."

The staff announced the end of work, but not many people cheered. We started shooting in the backfield at 7 pm, and everyone was very tired after a long night of work.

The production director and stage manager asked everyone to pack their things, and the crew was provided with free breakfast.

A bag of milk or soy milk, two meat buns, a steamed bun, and an egg.

It can’t be said to be rich, but for breakfast after the late shift, unless you have a big belly, it can basically fill your stomach without losing nutrition.

According to the approximate prices in 2007, ordinary bags of milk and soy milk are about 1 to 1.5 yuan, two meat buns are about 0.8 to 1 yuan, steamed buns range from 1 to 3 yuan per size, and boiled tea eggs are about 5 cents. one.

Of course, this price will definitely fluctuate according to the regional economy, and there will definitely be a gap between retail and wholesale.

But no matter what, a breakfast costs about 3 yuan, which is not very generous, but it is more than most of the crew.

These days, film crews are very stingy. In addition to lunch boxes, many times, even if they work overtime, they are not provided with afternoon dinner and breakfast for night scenes.

Even if it is provided, it is basically two steamed buns or one steamed bun + one steamed bun, with milk + eggs, which is really rare.

Originally, there was a big night scene, and there were some dissatisfied extras. Seeing this breakfast, the depression in my heart dissipated a lot.

It's a bit tiring, and the requirements are many, but in terms of salary and logistical support, it is indeed the ceiling in the industry.

Breakfast is provided to the crew, both for extras and actors, and Cao Xuan is no exception.

Of course, if you don’t want to eat, you can spend your own money to open a small stove outside, and the crew won’t stop you.

After a night of filming, Cao Xuan was also hungry. As soon as he heard that the work was over, he went to the close-up monitor on the deck to see the effect without changing. He kept stuffing the buns into his mouth, and at the same time he did not forget to prepare the food for the masses. Express views.

"Why is it stuffed with radish again? You guys should also change the taste and make it pure meat, beans, and cabbage."

"Fennel ones will do, too."

A staff member made fun of it, and Cao Xuan curled his lips: "No, I don't like it."

"..."

Many children think that adults are not picky eaters and will eat everything. In fact, the real situation is that adults will not buy home anything they don’t like.

In the same way, Cao Xuan is often very friendly to the people in the crew canteen, and will eat all the dishes no matter what the lunch box is.

On the one hand, Cao Xuan really doesn't like waste. On the other hand, if the person in charge of logistics and food ordering doesn't know what dishes the boss hates, then there is no way he can join the crew.

The crew of "Three Kingdoms: Red Cliff" has been in production for more than half a year, and the menus add up to hundreds of items.

However, there have never been dishes based on vegetables such as celery, broccoli, loofah, and coriander. If you know Cao Xuan's taste preferences, you may be able to figure out some clues.

After stuffing two steamed buns and watching the close-up shots, Cao Xuan got off the boat with milk in his mouth and joined Lao Mouzi, who was commanding from afar.

It was less than a year before the Beijing Olympics, and Lao Mouzi was also very busy. He had just directed a large-scale party for practice. When he learned that the crew was filming Red Cliff Showdown, he ran over.

He is one of the directors of the crew, so it is normal for him to come over to supervise and guide such an important scene.

In addition, he also wants to get started and practice his command and coordination skills in big scenes, which can also be regarded as training for the Beijing Olympics.

Cao Xuan was naturally happy to meet Chen Kexin and Chen Xiaodong. They have good abilities and each have their own strengths, but the one who takes charge of the overall situation and has the best overall conditions must be Lao Mouzi.

The most important decisive battle in the entire movie of "Three Kingdoms·Red Cliff" was played by Lao Mouzi, who felt much more at ease.

There is a saying that Cao Xuan admires Lao Mouzi's energy.

Because the filming of this scene is relatively complicated, it only takes nearly 30 minutes to appear in the movie, and the shooting period is also very long. It is impossible for Lao Mouzi to stay here forever and work on the Olympics when it is not an important part.

Lao Mouzi, who was born in 1950, is 57 years old this year. He is busy running six jobs. He is running back and forth between two arduous tasks without feeling tired at all and is full of energy.

Cao Xuan couldn't help but be envious. No wonder someone in his fifties could have several children. He must have such a talent.

The two east and west palaces must at least be expanded to the [fourth palaces of east, west, south and north]. If there is still room for improvement, it is not a bad idea to add four more [southeast, southwest, northeast and northwest].

After chatting with Lao Mouzi for a while, Cao Xuan hurried back to the hotel to sleep. He was tired after a busy night.

Back at the hotel, he took a shower and watched the news on his mobile phone. There seemed to be a Manchester United game, but he didn't watch it either. Otherwise, if he was unlucky and someone beat Manchester United to 4:0, he wouldn't be able to sleep at night. Fell asleep.

At 4 o'clock in the afternoon the next day, Cao Xuan woke up, tidied up, ate lunch for who knows what time, and hurried to the scene to put on makeup and prepare for the show.

Starting from early September to mid-October, Cao Xuan filmed night scenes for more than a month before finally finishing all his scenes.

But this does not mean the filming of Battle of Red Cliff is over.

That said, if you want to restore a real large-scale battle with all kinds of burning ships and fighting, it will be difficult to do it all with real scenes.

In this decisive battle, many scenes were shot in real scenes + special effects shots + models, and were shot in many aspects.

For example, when the entire Cao Jun fleet was attacked by Huang Gai fireships, the formation was in chaos, and turned into a sea of ​​​​fire. The actual shooting can only be a medium and close shot, and the long shot is difficult. Not to mention that the cost of investment is very high just for coordination and command. question.

Therefore, the crew scaled down the scale, made models, simulated the burning of the fire ship, and then added special effects to finally form the picture.

This is a similar technology in Hollywood. In many Hollywood movies, scenes such as buildings collapsing and planes crashing are all completed with reduced models + special effects in order to pursue good effects.

The cost of shooting like this is definitely lower than that of real-life shooting, but good model makers are not cheap either. Coupled with special effects rendering, the price is enough to make Cao Xuan's eyelids twitch wildly.

Moreover, in addition to the models, several of the physical ships were actually burned. In addition to the ships, there were also shipbuilding scenes built on land.

Anyway, it was all miscellaneous, and a fire not only destroyed Cao Jun's army, but also destroyed tens of millions of props and scenes.

Even Lao Mouzi, who has always been a "prodigal", could not help but grind his teeth silently and admire Cao Xuan's courage.

You know, although the scenes, props, and costumes in many parts of a blockbuster cost money, they can be rented, sold, and sometimes reused, and more or less part of the cost can be recovered.

The scene props in "Three Kingdoms·Red Cliff" are really burned. Once they are burned, they are really gone. You have to spend an additional amount of money to clean them up and recycle the garbage.

Wasted?

From a practical point of view, it is definitely a waste, but considering the results, it cannot be said that the money is not worth it.

At least in the movie shots, the raging fire devouring the warship is more real and shocking than the special effects...

To sum up, the actual shooting of the Battle of Red Cliff has been completed, and there are still miscellaneous other shootings, which are guaranteed to be completed in two weeks.

But this has nothing to do with Cao Xuan.

The C position of "Three Kingdoms·Red Cliff" is Zhou Yu, so that's it. After the Battle of Red Cliff, Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang reached a tacit agreement of alliance, said goodbye reluctantly, and then prepared to lead troops to attack Jingzhou.

As for Prime Minister Cao, he was officially dismissed when he was defeated. The scene where Huarong Dao smiled three times and slapped his face was not filmed.

This also means that after filming the last few scenes of Cao Xuan, filming can be officially completed.

…

At the ferry, there is no pretentious scene like the one in "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" in which Zhao Yun scares off Xu Sheng and Ding Feng with one arrow.

Only Lu Su said goodbye. After saying goodbye, the boat slowly left. Zhuge Liang stood on the bow of the boat, waving his fan in greeting, and Zhao Yun stood beside him holding his sword.

Lu Su turned around and saw another group of people at the corner of the ferry. The leader was Zhou Yu. Lu Su was not surprised when he saw this and just asked.

"Since the Governor is here, why not send Kong Ming off."

"We've already said goodbye before, so why say it again."

As he spoke, Zhou Yu looked at Zhuge Liang who was walking away, his expression slightly changed, and Lu Su asked tentatively.

"The governor is here, maybe he wants to intercept and kill Zhuge Liang."

Zhou Yu was silent for a moment and then said with emotion: "Cao Cao is powerful. Although he is newly defeated, his foundation has not been lost. We in Jiangdong still need Liu Bei as an ally to act as horns to fight against Cao Cao.

It's just... Zhuge Liang is as smart as a monster and has outstanding strategies. If he is an ally, he can be a strong support. But if one day in the future, Jiangdong and Liu Bei become enemies, it will definitely be a serious problem for our army. "

Lu Su laughed, half persuading and half comforting: "The famous general Cao Meng Deshi was defeated in Chibi. I have the governor of Jiangdong here, so why should I be afraid of Zhuge Kongming?"

"Cao Cao is not necessarily as difficult as Zhuge Liang."

Zhou Yu meant something, but the words were true. These words really made him give up the idea of ​​killing Zhuge Liang.

But as mentioned just now, it is more helpful to keep Zhuge Liang. As for the day when friends will turn into enemies and they will just have another fight, Zhou Gongjin, who is high-spirited, does not think that he will lose to Zhuge Liang.

In fact, putting aside the random fabrication of "Three Qi Zhou Yu" in "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", Zhou Yu won two major battles in Chibi and Nanjun in the official history, and many famous generals such as Cao Cao, Cao Ren, and Xu Huang were defeated by him.

If he hadn't died early, he would have attacked Bashu next, and the Shu Han might even have ceased to exist.

"Three Kingdoms: Red Cliff" gave Zhou Yu a perfect ending, stopping the story at the point where he sent his troops to attack Nanjun, leaving everyone with a majestic Mizhouro.

Zhou Yu and Lu Su returned to the camp to prepare for war. The movie ended with a super high-angle shot of Governor Zhou returning on his flying horse.

Of course, I am still hesitating now whether to add a subtitle to explain the ending of Zhou Yu's character.

[After the Battle of Chibi, Zhou Yu led troops to attack Jingzhou, but was stubbornly blocked by General Cao Ren. The two sides fought for a year, and Cao Ren suffered heavy losses. Nanjun was captured by Zhou Yu, and Zhou Yu himself was worshiped as the governor of Nanjun by Sun Quan.

In the fifteenth year of Jian'an (AD 210), Sun Quan approved Zhou Yu's strategic plan to capture Yizhou. Zhou Yu returned to his base in Jiangling and traveled to Baqiu. He contracted an illness on the road and unfortunately died at the age of thirty-six.

When he was dying, Zhou Yu wrote to Sun Quan: "Life is subject to death, and the length of life is determined by fate. I don't regret sincerity. I only regret that my ambitions and ambitions have not yet been realized. In this life, I can no longer serve Soochow..."

With the addition of this subtitle, it can be regarded as an explanation of the ending of the character Zhou Yu.

But if you don't add it, leaving the movie blank and leaving it to the audience's imagination, it will have a different flavor.

Whether to add it or not will be discussed later in the editing process, but no matter what, Cao Xuan finally finished it.

I joined the team in late March and finished filming in late October. I took a month off in between, but cumulatively, Cao Xuan also filmed for almost half a year.

Moreover, because he took leave in the past six months, the filming task was relatively tight. It can be said that this is the longest and most tiring film that Cao Xuan has shot since he started acting.

The successful completion this time gave him a break.

The next stage of the concert is from the end of November to the beginning of December. Cao Xuan is not in a hurry and can rest comfortably for a month to make up for the hard work of the past six months.

Beijing, Changping Villa

Hu Jing hugged little Cao Li and coaxed her to play. Zeng Li was in a good mood today and stole the nanny's job. He was cooking in the kitchen, mixing stuffing, and planning to make wontons.

"Call mom, mom~ mom~"

Last month when Zeng's mother returned to her hometown, Hu Jing began to chatter, frequently going in and out of the Changping villa, and sometimes even staying here directly. She couldn't put it down for little Cao Li, and was even more enthusiastic about her than Zeng Li. Cao Xuan sometimes felt in a trance. Who gave birth to my daughter?

In the past few days, Hu Jing began teasing little Cao Li to call her mother again, and clamored to steal Zeng Li's daughter.

Zeng Li didn't bother to pay attention to her at all. The little kid, less than 5 months old, couldn't sit still and couldn't learn to speak at all. If he teased her forcibly, he would only get spit on her face.

Well, guess how she knew...

The two of them were busy with their own affairs until Cao Xuan returned home. Although the filming was completed, Cao Xuan was not without work at all. He had to go to the company every two days.

"If you go out so early today, what's the matter?"

Putting the child into Cao Xuan's arms, Hu Jing asked curiously. Cao Xuan hugged his daughter and coaxed her to play with her, and then said something calmly.

"It's nothing. Let's cooperate with the publicity and take a photo."

"What picture?"

"The sales of "Human World" exceeded 4 million. The International Phonographic Association sent several platinum album certification certificates. I took a photo and the company promoted it."

"Four million? You just released the album in July, and it's selling so well."

Hu Jing is no longer calm. In the past two years, domestic album sales have been getting lower and lower.

Although there were very few albums with sales of 2 to 3 million the previous year, a few were still released every one or two years.

Nowadays, basically anything with a sales volume of more than 1 million is considered a hit.

Except for a few top singers such as Jay Chou, it is difficult to break this boundary. Even for top singers like them, sometimes new albums may not be able to sell 1 million copies.

Physical albums are becoming more and more in decline. Nowadays, people download ring tones or disseminate them on the Internet, and then perform commercial performances to make money.

Although it is far from despair, the overall environment is constantly declining, and the music industry is facing the painful period of market transformation from physical records to digital music.

In such an environment, Cao Xuan has sold 4 million copies in just over three months. Even if Hu Jing is his own wife, she can't help but be shocked.

"These 4 million copies are global sales."

Cao Xuan explained: "Domestic sales are probably less than 2 million. In Asia, such as Singapore, Japan and South Korea, the sales are almost over 1 million. The remaining 1 million are basically divided by countries in Europe, America, Australia and other places."

As I said before, Cao Xuan is now very popular around the world. Even if it is a Chinese album, overseas fans are willing to support it and buy it.

In particular, Cao Xuan's previous concerts in Europe and Australia gave him a lot of local exposure and popularity, and to some extent also brought a wave of goods.

But after all, it is a Chinese album, and it can also be listened to on the Internet. Unless it is a hardcore ordinary fan who buys it for collection, ordinary fans have limited desire to buy it.

The sales volume in Asia and other continents exceeds 2 million. Even if it is not saturated, it is not far behind.

On the contrary, in China, although the general environment is declining, Cao Xuan's popularity and fan base are here, and he still has stamina.

I dare not say that there are too many, but it is not difficult to reach 3 to 3.5 million in a year...

Compared with Cao Xuan's other Chinese albums, "Human World" can be said to be Cao Xuan's worst-selling album in China, but compared with other singers, it is still a peak that most singers can't reach.

So much so that as soon as Hu Jing heard such Versailles remarks, she immediately ran away to avoid being shown off.

As a result, Cao Xuan was half-pretending, neither getting better nor worse. He was wondering whether he should make a phone call to his good friends to share his "depression" about his declining performance.

Before he could stop being a human being, Zeng Li made wontons over there, and each person served a bowl with a few prepared side dishes, which was also delicious.

"Hey, I got a pretty good script that I really want to act in. You guys can help me analyze it."

While eating, Hu Jing suddenly started chatting and introduced the movie script to Cao Xuan and Zeng Li.

"It was written by a Xiangjiang screenwriter who came to our company to attract investment. I saw it and discovered it. It was pretty good. It was about a man who had an affair and had two things. When his wife found out, he found a mistress and pretended to teach cooking. In the name of using the principle of mutual restraint of food, I poisoned my husband to death..."

"Ahem."

Cao Xuan coughed unnaturally. Looking at the wontons in the bowl, he suddenly felt a little hard to swallow.

Zeng Li was amused when he saw this: "Are you implying someone, but I can declare that the wontons are not poisoned. My daughter is still young and needs father's love."

"What a broken book, so weird."

Cao Xuan complained and expressed great resistance and disgust towards the plot, but Hu Jing ignored him and expressed interest.

"I think the book is quite interesting. It has both practical significance and a bit of suspense. If the three of us join forces, I will suffer a bit and play the mistress."

"I won't act. This kind of film is unlucky. If you want to act, just do it by yourself. Don't hold me back."

Cao Xuan was very resistant. The original subject matter was scary enough, and if the two palaces were to play together, he would have nightmares when he slept at night.

Zeng Li is also not very interested. She is busy taking care of the children now. At least until Cao Li is weaned, she probably won't work.

It was a pity for Hu Jing that the quality of this book was not particularly outstanding, but she just felt that it fit in well, so she was interested. However, the two of them failed to cooperate, and all her hard work was wasted.

Seeing this, Zeng Li quickly changed the subject: "Next year, do you plan to release an album or film a movie."

"Filming."

Cao Xuan took a bite of wontons: "Next year's Olympic Games theme song + promotional song, I plan to release another English song to help promote the Olympics. There are many new songs, there is no need to release another album.

I have been tired of making blockbusters in the past two years. If this continues, the commercial nature will be too heavy, so I want to make one or two movies that I am interested in. I don’t have to worry too much about the box office and just enjoy the performance. "

Cao Xuan prefers acting, and he must be pursued by actors. Otherwise, it would be enough for him to seek fame in the music industry. There is no need to act as an actor. He really likes acting.

In the past, Cao Xuan pursued box office too much for the sake of Fanxing and even the overall situation of mainland movies. No matter what he thought in his heart, he never stopped making blockbusters.

But now, Fanxing has become the overlord of one side, with a stable position, and is supported by the two blockbusters "Three Kingdoms: Red Cliff". In a short period of time, Cao Xuan does not have to worry about box office issues, so he can be more willful.

"You want to act in an art film?"

"Well...it's not a literary film. I prefer drama films. Whether it's commercial or literary, the book has to tell the story well."

Everyone or every actor has his or her own preferences, and Cao Xuan prefers dramas.

Movies with outstanding styles like Wang Sunglasses may be awesome in the eyes of many people, but he is not particularly interested in it. With so many masterpieces, he thinks "The Grandmaster" is good.

Among these domestic directors, regardless of character, they only talk about style. Cao Xuan prefers the works of Feng Xiaogang, Lou Ye, and Ning Hao. At least the stories are explained clearly.

Ang Lee's movies are more complicated. It depends on fate. Some of them he likes, while others, even if they are well shot, are just average to him.

If Jiang Wen doesn't cause trouble, he will have fewer private goods metaphors, and he is also a director that Cao Xuan particularly likes.

Lao Mouzi can actually tell stories, and is even very good at telling stories, but his stories are often too bad.

As for Director Chen, I won’t comment.

As for feature films, the most important thing is not only the director, but also the script.

Zeng Li asked: "Do you have a good book?"

Cao Xuan thought back to the previous script: "Yes, yes, but whether it can be used requires the consent of the parties involved."

"Party involved, adapted from a true story?"

"Well, do you know that the Wu Ruofu kidnapping case in 2004 was the prototype of the script..."