Dreams of the Fragrant River

More than 30 kilometers east of Rome, on the banks of the River Agniene, lies the picturesque town of Tivoli. [;Starting]

As early as the 2nd century BC, Tivoli was a holiday resort for the ancient Romans, and it attracted many emperors and nobles to build villas and palaces here. Until now, the town of Tivoli still retains villas and monasteries left in the Renaissance, attracting many tourists.

Tivoli, with a resident population of less than 50,000, welcomed the Hong Kong crew in October. The crew consisted of half the members of Jiahe and DreamWorks, plus local Italian actors and translators, as well as a stunt team and martial arts class brought by Kang Jianfei, with a scale of more than 90 people.

Among the best hotels in town, Kang Jianfei, Wu Yusen, Lin Qingxia, Cheng Long, Cai Yongchang, Wu Chenggang and others gathered around a table. Kang Jianfei pointed to the map of the town and said, "We have been in the town for a day, and we are familiar with all the places. Jack Chen, a retired Flying Tiger player played by Cheng Long, lives on this street in the east of the town. Then he went west out of the city from this route, and was going to deliver Qingxia to Rome as a courier. When he drove here, he opened the package he delivered and found that the goods were personal, and immediately took Qingxia back to his residence. So they were attacked and fled there. Now we have to choose where to shoot that chase and fight scene in Tivoli.”

Wu Yusen suggested: "Fight scenes can be shot at Villa Este, which is the most beautiful place in Tivoli. Moreover, the ancient buildings, fountains, gardens and other scenes inside can be used to design action scenes. We It can be shot like this, Cheng Long and Qingxia are chased by unknown villains, flee into Villa Esther in a panic, and then escape from Tivoli town overnight after defeating the villains."

Although the script has already been completed, the specific location for the filming cannot be predicted, so the details of the action scenes can only be determined temporarily. When Kang Jianfei was in Hong Kong, he talked with Cheng Long about motion design, but he was just talking about some general directions. How to actually shoot the fight has to be discussed on the spot. Because Cheng Long's action scenes are not like others, he can make perfect use of on-site props to achieve unexpected laughs.

"Mr. Zhang, can I apply for filming in Villa Esther?" Kang Jianfei asked an Asian behind him.

This person is called Zhang Xiongguang. He is a tour guide of a Hong Kong travel agency in Italy. This time, he was hired by Kang Jianfei as a translator and consultant.

Zhang Xiongguang said: "It's no problem to film in the Colosseum in Rome. Villa Este is a tourist attraction. All you need to do is apply to the town. It can be done in half a day."

Kang Jianfei said with a smile: "Then I will trouble Mr. Zhang, we are not familiar with this place."

Zhang Xiongguang assured: "No problem, I will go to the mayor early tomorrow morning, and I should be able to shoot in the afternoon."

"Don't worry. That fight scene will take two days to shoot." Kang Jianfei began to order, "Tomorrow morning, it will officially start, Yu Sen, you need to get the extras."

"No problem." Wu Yusen nodded. He was hidden by Jiahe Snow for nearly half a year. This time, being asked by Kang Jianfei to be the assistant director was extraordinarily hard work.

Kang Jianfei asked Wu Chenggang again, "Cousin, have the Mitsubishi cars arrived?"

"Only Aaron's special Mitsubishi truck has arrived, and the other cars may take two days." Although Wu Chenggang occasionally does lighting guidance, as long as Kang Jianfei is filming, he will come to Kang Jianfei as a producer and director of field affairs. , To put it bluntly, a full-time nanny is responsible for logistics and crew management.

There are two supervisors, in addition to Wu Chenggang. There is also Cai Yongchang from Jiahe.

Cai Yongchang was originally a staff member of the publicity department of Shaw Brothers. He Guanchang was a confidant of He Guanchang when he was the director of the publicity department of Shaw Brothers. Later, he left Shaw Brothers with He Guanchang and Zou Wenhuai to found Golden Harvest. He is a veteran of Golden Harvest Pictures.

Cai Yongchang used to be a relatively capable middle-level employee at Shaw Brothers, but now he has become a powerful figure in Golden Harvest Films. For example, if a director wants to find Golden Harvest to invest in making a movie, then he directly asks Cai Yongchang. As long as the person agrees, he can basically get the funds.

However, what satisfied Kang Jianfei most was that after Cai Yongchang joined the production crew as a producer, he did not dictate anything about the filming affairs. He just calculated the cost of the production crew with Wu Chenggang every day, and sorted out each budget clearly.

To put it bluntly, Cai Yongchang is very clear. He is here to supervise the use of the film's budget. At most, he urges the shooting progress at critical times, or when the crew is in difficulty, he helps solve it.

Cai Yongchang said: "Mitsubishi's car should be able to arrive the day after tomorrow, I'll make a call later to urge it."

Like Kang Jianfei, Cheng Long's car sponsor is also Mitsubishi, so there is no need to worry about sponsorship contract disputes.

Everyone discussed the scenes to be filmed tomorrow, and after seeing that the time was almost up, they went back to their rooms to rest.

Kang Jianfei unabashedly lived in the same room as Lin Qingxia, and the rest of the crew had already taken it easy, and only regarded them as a couple.

Cheng Long watched the two of them walk into the room holding hands and shook his head secretly. He thought of Qin Xianglin who was robbed of love by Kang Jianfei. At the beginning, because of Qin Xianglin's relationship, Cheng Long hated Kang Jianfei for a while, but now that everyone cooperates, there is no need to mention that.

Cheng Long chased Teresa Teng madly some time ago, and the two also dated for more than a month, but then it was over, mainly because their personalities and aesthetic tastes were too different.

Now that Cheng Long has returned to being a single nobleman, he is quite envious of Kang Jianfei's Yan Fu, but he was able to chase after Lin Qingxia, a great beauty. If it wasn't for Lin Qingxia's famous flower owner, Cheng Long would probably take this opportunity of cooperation to launch a strong pursuit of Lin Qingxia.

Of course, these are all random thoughts. After Cheng Long walked through Kang Jianfei's room, he went directly into Cai Yongchang's room next to him.

"Uncle Chang, it's going to start tomorrow, do you have anything else to tell?" Cheng Long asked respectfully. Cheng Long is He Guanchang's godson, and Cai Yongchang is He Guanchang's henchman for decades, so the relationship between Cheng Long and Cai Yongchang is also very good.

Cai Yongchang used to be very high-profile in publicity. At the beginning of its establishment, Golden Harvest cooperated with Japanese filmmakers to plan the "China-Japan War" stunt. This coup came from Cai Yongchang's hand.

But Cai Yongchang, who is a high-profile person, is very low-key. He is not very greedy for power, and he is not very greedy. He said with a smile: "I'm here to help you beat the drums. What can you tell me? But ah, Aaron, you made a kung fu film in the early Republic of China. Very good, but this time it is a fashion kung fu comedy, so I need to summarize and learn from my experience. Mr. Kang from DreamWorks. He is very good at making fashion kung fu films. It will be a great experience for you to cooperate with him. Great opportunity."

"I know, thank you Uncle Chang for reminding me." Although Cheng Long is a rough man, his learning ability is super strong. The one that tried to break into the Western market failed. But Cheng Long has been filming with the Hollywood team for a few months, and what he has learned has been very useful to him.

Cai Yongchang asked again, "What do you think about this drama?"

Cheng Long thought for a while and said, "I chatted with Mr. Kang a few days ago about fashion action comedy. I thought carefully about the winning elements he proposed. I found that what he said was very reasonable."

"Oh, what winning element?" Cai Yongchang suddenly became interested.

Cheng Long's memory is not good, and Kang Jianfei almost forgot what he said to him one day. Quickly took out the small book that was with him. According to the above recite: "These winning elements are: superb skills, grassroots heroes, social justice, kindness, humorous kung fu, props venue, high-risk moves, never give up, fist to gun. Mr. Kang said, as long as you can With half of that, a fashion action comedy can do well at the box office."

Cai Yongchang asked, "How to solve it?"

Cheng Long looked at the annotations on the small notebook, and gradually recalled what Kang Jianfei was talking about at that time——

"The so-called 'superb skills' is the key to becoming an action star. Although Qingxia is famous in the West and Japan with her image, she is not a real action star, because many of Qingxia's action scenes use substitute.

'Grassroots hero' means to say. The screen image of the protagonist should be civilian-like, and there is only one martial **** like Bruce Lee who can never be defeated. What is the most lovable protagonist in the audience? It's the kind of grassroots hero who hurts his face when his fist hits the face, and runs away when he sees the villain pulling a gun. This will not only increase the comedy effect of the film, but also be closer to the audience.

"Social justice" is the protagonist's words and deeds, which must conform to mainstream moral concepts and represent justice. Good people fight bad people, heroes fight robbers, this will never go out of style. To attract audiences with violence and ferocity can only be successful for a while, not stable for a long time. Moreover, when filming a drama, it is best to arrange for the protagonist to be beaten by the villain first, after showing the villain's viciousness and ugliness, so that the protagonist's action is a legitimate counterattack, and it will also make the audience seem to have the same hatred.

The "heart of kindness" is similar to social justice. The so-called benevolent is invincible. Zhang Che's kind of martial arts films, which are bitter and vengeful, and kill the enemy, have been popular for many years, but because they are too violent, they also drive away some women and older audiences. For example, when the protagonist and the villain are fighting, the villain suddenly falls off a cliff and falls to his death. The protagonist rescues him out of the kindness of human nature. Is this more acceptable to the audience? As for the villain being rescued, whether it is the protagonist's defeat by the protagonist, or the gratitude to the protagonist of Dade's anti-gang, this is a very interesting plot.

There is no need to mention the point of 'humorous kung fu', your movies, etc., have already mastered the use of this element.

The 'prop site' is extremely important. Most of the current movies are shot on location, such as stairs, gates, containers, telephone poles, billboards, etc. These things are already there, if they can be perfectly used in fight scenes , the action will be smoother and more dramatic.

Literally speaking, "high-risk action" refers to what people can and cannot do, such as falling from a three-story building, such as slipping off a rope from a skyscraper. This kind of shot is very easy to hurt, but once it is shot, it definitely attracts the attention of the audience.

"Never say never" means in a spiritual sense, just like you are in Zhongzhong, you won't surrender after being beaten by the villain for more than ten minutes. At this time, the mood of the audience was very depressed, and they were looking forward to the protagonist being able to fight back.

'Fist to gun' is the most important part of fashion kung fu movies, and that is what to do with fists against modern weapons? The best way to deal with it is to get rid of the opponent's gun, or use words to provoke the opponent's fist..."

Cai Yongchang listened to Cheng Long's one-by-one retelling, and a suddenly bright expression appeared on his face. He used to be in charge of the propaganda department at Golden Harvest, but in the last two years he has gradually turned to production, and has studied countless films. But no one has ever summed up the elements of a genre film so clearly.

In particular, Hong Kong's fashion kung fu comedy is still in the groping stage. Only Hong Jinbao's has achieved great success this year.

And Kang Jianfei actually said the important elements of this type of film like a lot, for professionals like Cai Yongchang and Cheng Long. Its meaning is simply to listen to your words and read ten years of books.

Regardless of whether it is He Guanchang or Cheng Long, they already have experience in kung fu comedy routines, but most of them think that the audience will buy it in this way, but there is no theoretical thing. What Kang Jianfei said can be a guiding principle.

Cai Yongchang looked at what Cheng Long recorded in the notebook over and over again, and finally couldn't help sighing and said, "Mr. Kang is really a strange person. The most rare thing is that he doesn't hide his secrets."

Because of Qin Xianglin's relationship, Cheng Long heard a lot about Kang Jianfei's "evil deeds". For example, Kang Jianfei invited prostitutes to frame and smear Qin Xianglin. Cheng Long knew the twists and turns very well, so he still despised Kang Jianfei's character.

But this does not affect Cheng Long's admiration for Kang Jianfei, a person has status and ability. Then its character can be ignored to some extent.

not to mention. Cheng Long is now in a very embarrassing stage, and the hot sales of his companions cannot hide the decline of kung fu films in the early Republic of China. Coupled with Hong Jinbao's success, Cheng Long was eager to make a fashion kung fu comedy, but he never made up his mind.

Why can't you make up your mind to transform?

Because Cheng Long is a signboard of Jiahe, he cannot and must not fail. In case the filming of a fashion action comedy fails, Jiahe will lose more than just the box office. There is also the popularity that Cheng Long has accumulated over the years.

This is also the major premise that Jiahe asked Kang Jianfei to direct.

First of all, Kang Jianfei's grasp of the box office is obvious to all, and he has successfully directed this kind of fashion kung fu film, and he also has a certain influence in the European and American markets.

Then, Lin Qingxia was found to be the heroine, and some other well-known European and American movie stars joined, thus minimizing the possibility of the film's failure.

From another point of view, even if the film hits the street, Jiahe can put the cause of the failure on the director Kang Jianfei, but Cheng Long is the victim of Kang Jianfei's involvement, just like Jiahe hit the street a few years ago. The same reason is pushed to Hollywood collaborators.

It can be said that in order to make Cheng Long's transition smoothly, and to allow Cheng Long to enter the Western market, Jiahe has worked very hard and exhausted.

However, Kang Jianfei is not a fool. When negotiating with Jiahe, he also won three film contracts from Cheng Long. Although Zou Wenhuai requested that the three films must be co-produced by Jiahe, the copyright owner is undoubtedly DreamWorks.

He Guanchang naturally told Cheng Long about Jiahe's calculations, so Cheng Long kept his attitude very low in this cooperation. Kang Jianfei was the leader everywhere, and he also patted Kang Jianfei's **** from time to time.

Kang Jianfei summed up the winning elements of these fashion kung fu comedies~www.wuxiaspot.com~ Although Cheng Long has not fully understood its subtlety, he already has a relatively clear idea on how to start this kind of film.

Therefore, Cheng Long despised Kang Jianfei's character, but in this matter, he not only admired Kang Jianfei, but also felt grateful.

"But, why did Mr. Kang tell me this?" Cheng Long pointed to the small notebook and asked in confusion, "The less people know about this kind of good stuff, the better, so as not to teach the apprentice to starve the master to death."

Cai Yongchang didn't know why Kang Jianfei was so kind, but these theories could not be faked. His impression of Kang Jianfei was getting better and better.

"You didn't show this to your godfather?" Cai Yongchang asked.

Cheng Long shook his head and said, "Not yet, I want to wait until the filming is over, so I can confirm it while filming."

Cai Yongchang said, "Leave this book with me first, and I will copy it and send it back to Mr. Zou and Manager He."