"Journey to the West: Havoc in Heaven" was released today. The filming and production of this film took three years and 500 million yuan. How did this film be filmed? Zheng Baorui remembered These three years are all vivid in my mind.
"If there are any difficulties... we face difficulties every day." Recalling the stumbling years of the past three years, Zheng Baorui squinted his eyes and looked into the distance in ecstasy. "As an example, let's talk about two 'tails'. One is Nuwa's tail. Eastern and Western people understand it differently. When I saw the tail made by a foreign special effects company, I found it more like a wisp of smoke. That It was their imagination, so I said no, it needs to be more realistic. They said it couldn't be changed by just adjusting the software. They were all real photos pasted on the model. The existing software couldn't achieve the effect I wanted. You have to hire someone else to do it, which takes a long time.”
“Then there are many companies involved in Sun Wukong, and each company uses different software, because the software has Second, it is very expensive. Some companies use 500,000 hairs to make a tail, and some only use 300,000 hairs, because the thickness of each hair is different, and the texture will be different when the wind blows, and you have to spend money to adjust it. "
The entire "Havoc in Heaven" is built brick by brick in this way. The parts come from all over the world and are shipped to China for assembly. "Some companies are good at making waves, and some are good at tigers. A Korean company is good at making non-existent creatures, and can make giant dragons. Producer Forrest Gump is familiar with Hollywood special effects artists, and some of them know how to shoot on location. Some of them knew actors and actresses, and some knew special effects makeup. We sent emails to them one by one. They heard that we were going to make a blockbuster film called Monkey King, and they were very interested. For example, our special effects makeup director flew a team of 50 people. Come here."
According to Zheng Baorui, there are about 3,000 people in the film crew, 1,900 of whom are responsible for special effects. The special effects companies are located in five countries including the United States, South Korea, and Japan. They communicated by sending text and schematics via email and skype video conferencing. They flew over immediately if they couldn't explain clearly.
"There was even a person who specially came to put on contact lenses for the actors. The contact lenses were very big, and the eyes are organs that need to be protected. There were also people who did nails and teeth, and they flew back after they were done. In the special effects makeup team, there are more than 60 people in each type of work, including sculpting and molding. They are dedicated to making monkey hair for Monkey King every day.”
Such a huge battle. , one move affects the whole body, and coordination becomes the biggest problem. Sometimes one special effects company has to wait for a semi-finished product from another special effects company for a month or two; sometimes both companies do beautiful work, but when combined, the light and atmosphere just don't look right. The reason why it is so time-consuming and labor-intensive is that it is a painful process that requires continuous trials and corrections. "Twenty or so artists worked for three years, and they were still painting until the release was close. Each scene was changed hundreds of times."
Each shot cost $15,000 to render for a week
Wia is imported from the United States, and she does five hours of makeup every day
"Havoc in Heaven" premiered during the Spring Festival, and Donnie Yen's version of the Monkey King attracted much attention. Sina Entertainment exclusively spoke with the film production team to reveal the magical makeup "magic" behind the lifelike "The Birth of the Monkey King". Full-body cast
Ever since he decided to direct this movie, Paul Cheng has been leaning toward IMAX. It's not that he wants to follow fashion or sell more tickets, he has his own reasons. "IMAX can show more picture details. When Sun Wukong is flying, we will pull the camera away a little, so that we can not only show his movements, but also show his relationship with the surrounding environment. There are many 3D cinema light bulbs in China. It was too dark, so we had to brighten the picture a little bit, and IMAX has special adjustments, so the color is closest to our original setting."
For this reason, the production cost of the movie is higher than that of the original one. Ordinary 2D movies are much higher. Especially in the scene where Sun Wukong "turns his hair into an army", there are countless monkeys on the screen, some of which were shot in real life, and some of which were computer-generated. They are not careless in the IMAX screen. Especially in 3D, there is a problem of three-dimensionality in the picture frame. Each monkey has a different perspective ratio. If you take a picture and place it directly in the corner of the picture, it will look a bit misshapen.
Each monkey's hair and movements are very detailed. In the end, this scene alone took a full week to render.
"Havoc in Heaven" was originally planned to be produced for one to one and a half years, but unexpectedly the special effects took two and a half years. During this period, "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons", which was launched later than it, was released in the Lunar New Year period a year ago. "I am very grateful to the investors who did not ask me to release it before "Journey to the West"," Zheng Baorui said.
What the director sees is a lot of time, but as a producer, you have to silently convert time into money. Forrest Gump did some calculations: There were 2,400 special effects shots in the film. Because it was 3D, it can be understood as 4,800. On average, each lens costs $15,000. As small as the black smoke lingering around the Bull Demon King, it should be alive and flowing on its own, not just emerging slowly; the huge waves of the East China Sea crashing on the shore, not only must there be waves, but also foam... You have to hire someone to develop new software scripts. "The director and I are like the two wings of an airplane, both are indispensable," A-Gump said. During the filming process, Zheng Baorui was mainly responsible for camera scheduling and actor guidance, while Forrest Gump was mainly responsible for team formation and special effects supervision. The two had a clear division of labor and a tacit cooperation.
In addition to the tedious post-production, the pre-production process also costs a lot of money. What Donnie Yen and Aaron Kwok talked about the most was the trendy "Network Switch". Aaron Kwok said it was so fun that he didn't want to get down even while hanging on it. Traditional wires are very thin, painful to strangle, and inconvenient for movement. It requires at least three wires to barely complete three-dimensional movements. The transfer wire only requires a steel cable with a ring on it. When performing aerial flight, it no longer has to be like standing up like a corpse, but can be flashed and moved gracefully. With this ring, the Bull Demon King can hide from the gravel and rubble much more easily and handsomely.
"This wire is patented by an American company. They originally only rented it and did not sell it, but because we needed to use it for too long, they agreed to sell it. They sent three teachers to China I took the class and taught it for two weeks, making sure we knew how to use it before leaving," Zheng Baorui said. Of course, the equipment is good and the price is good. The crew of "Havoc in Heaven" bought two sets of transfer wires, each worth about 300,000 US dollars.
"Donnie Yen spends five hours doing makeup every day, and I can shoot for another six hours. But in the end, the clothes have to be waxed to add fake muscles, and then sculpted and molded to make the clothes look like It's very tight. It's not breathable. You can only shoot for two or three hours a day. If there are more people, the skin and pores can't bear it, and Donnie Yen might faint. "The Monkey King's outfit is particularly difficult, with three sets. The complex clothes and hair cost 800,000 yuan. His Huaguo Mountain was also made by the art team who went to Guizhou to collect rock samples, turned them into models, and then built them piece by piece.
Subvert the image of Sun Wukong so that foreign audiences can understand it
If you want to see the original story, it is better to go to the TV series
What is "Havoc in Heaven" about? To sum it up in one word is resistance. However, when it comes to Zheng Baorui, the story completely changes. Sun Wukong accepts everything and becomes more like a kind-hearted super hero. There is no need for the original author to stand up and correct the mistakes carefully. If you think about it, you know that many ordinary viewers will have doubts.
"There will definitely be doubts. Even if I don't change the original work at all, the audience will say, how could it be filmed like this?" Zheng Baorui said calmly. "As a director, I must express my views and feelings about the film without reservation. If I had any hesitation, I should not be the director."
""Journey to the West" " had unique social significance in the past era, but now in my opinion, it is more like a story about growing up. Monkey King has gone from being ignorant to being responsible. It may be related to the environment in which I grew up. I am familiar with Hong Kong genre films. The story must have a continuation and transition, and each character must have a motivation. The Bull Demon King, Iron Fan Princess, and the Little Fox all have motivations, and the Jade Emperor must know that Sun Wukong is coming. Why not stop him? Because the Jade Emperor is like his father, and he has gone through some disasters. Only by overcoming these obstacles can Sun Wukong be able to undertake all the things such as learning scriptures. ”
According to the film crew, "Havoc in Heaven" made such a bold subversion in the plot because it also took into consideration the overseas market.
After all, foreign audiences are not as familiar with the story background of the Monkey King as Chinese people. Now such a story is more accessible and in line with the general rules of commercial blockbusters.