The crew is stationed in a village at the foot of a mountain. It is a standard backcountry with no beautiful scenery and poor soil quality. The fields look badly abandoned and there are not many traces of living people along the way. It looks like a three-dimensional place.
Like "**".
It really looks like "**". There are so many scarecrows outside the village. Along the road, you can see them sitting in groups on the roadside, standing in the abandoned fields, and even looking at the entrance of the village from a distance. It's inexplicably scary.
It feels a bit eerie.
When they arrived at the entrance of the village, the jeep stopped. Chihara Rinto jumped out of the car and turned around to wave. Kameda Kanta also stopped the car and followed with his wife. Chihara Rinto smiled and said: "The roads in the village are not very good."
Okay, it’s hard to get the car in, let’s go in.”
Kameda and his wife naturally had no objection, but Kameda Yuka felt that the silence around them was a bit too much. She also looked at the few scarecrows not far away who seemed to have a hint of gloom, as if they were observing themselves, and couldn't help but whisper.
: "Husband, what's going on with these scarecrows? They're a bit scary..."
She was actually asking Chihara Rinto, but she was too embarrassed to ask him directly so she took a roundabout way.
Qianyuan Rinto reacted quickly and smiled: "These scarecrows...how should I put it? They can be regarded as residents here!"
"resident?"
"Yes, there are fewer and fewer people in the village, so an old man made these scarecrows. Every time someone left or died, he would make a scarecrow. It seems that he made more than four hundred... There are more in the village.
There are so many, some of them are kept in the house.”
"Fewer and less? Why?"
"Ageing society." Chihara Rinto was also shocked when he first arrived. There were piles of scarecrows everywhere. He silently watched everything. He felt that it was more suitable to shoot a horror movie here.
As he walked towards the village, he explained to them casually.
Japan entered an "aging society" in the 1970s, that is, the population over 65 years old accounted for more than 7% of the total population. In 1994, when Chihara Rinto was struck by lightning, the "aging society"
Further escalation, the population over 65 years old has exceeded 14% of the total population, officially entering the "aging society", but it is a harbinger of the decline of a country, with a serious shortage of labor force and a decline in the number of backbone consumer groups, which may also be said
One of the reasons for the collapse of this bubble economy.
And Japan is an industrial country. At its peak, industrial output accounted for more than 80% of GDP, and it currently remains at around 50%. However, too many elderly people means that there are not enough young adults, and industrial production requires a sufficiently intensive labor force. Naturally,
Doubling down on attracting young people from rural areas has created a large number of "prostitutes".
The young people all left and went to the three industrial circles of Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka. As a result, only the old people were left in the village. Every one died and one was missing. Looking up, it was desolate. I had to build scarecrows to make up for it.
In the end, it slowly turned into this ghostly appearance.
After Chihara Rinto finished explaining, Kameda Arika, a young woman who grew up in Tokyo, finally understood. Looking at the overgrown mountain village with a strong atmosphere of decay, he hesitated and asked: "The old gentleman who built the scarecrow...
…still there?"
It sounds so miserable...
"He died and was buried in the cemetery on the mountainside. He was the last active resident in this village." Qianyuan Rinto pointed to them and said: "He died probably five or six years ago.
This village is now abandoned, and the Oulu Region has agreed that we can use it as we please, even if it is burned down."
Kameda Yuka nodded repeatedly: "I see, I understand." Then she looked around and sighed, "The village looks pretty good. It's a pity to abandon it, but it's good to keep the image in the film.
"
Qianhara Rinto smiled and said nothing more. It's a nice place. Water, electricity, transportation, shopping, and education are all inconvenient. Maybe if you experience men farming and women weaving here for a month or two, you can say it's good, but you have to live there for ten or eight years.
In the 1990s, 99% of people wanted to run away, and only women in such big cities could say such things.
Kameda Arika didn't ask any more questions. She was quite emotional and started taking pictures while walking with her camera, mainly taking pictures of the scarecrows. Although these scarecrows had experienced wind and rain, their clothes and even their bodies were relatively damaged, but
It can be seen that it was done very carefully at the beginning.
The people who put up these scarecrows at that time watched the village decline day by day, and they didn’t know how they felt...
They walked all the way through the village and approached the side of the mountain. Gradually they began to hear people's voices, and slowly began to see the crew renovating the house, moving or organizing equipment.
Kameda Arika was just watching out of curiosity, while Kameda Kanta knew a little bit about photography due to work reasons, but he looked carefully. The trees made of rubber were very realistic. They were probably used to supplement the background and facilitate the composition; there were a large number of simple tracks prepared for moving the camera.
They are neatly grouped together, as if they want to shoot a relatively large area; there are also many staff working around several wooden buildings, and they seem to be preparing to remove the roofs and replace them with thatch.
Not far away, there were also people making props and wooden walls, building watchtowers, and even horse-walking or trial riding.
This is to shoot a battlefield scene, so the preparations are very thorough...
Kanta Kameda became more and more fascinated as he watched. He had never been to a filming set many times and had not seen much of the preparations. After all, drama critics are similar to gourmets. They only need to know how to eat. At most, they know cooking skills. It doesn’t matter how the chef kills the chicken.
Plucking hair and bleeding.
But when he looked at it, he found something he didn't recognize, which looked a bit like a cannon. After thinking about it, the movie "Oji" shouldn't have cannons, so he couldn't help but ask: "Teacher Qianhara, this is..."
Qianhara Rinto took a look and said with a smile: "I invented the air cannon."
"Air cannon?"
"Yes, auxiliary props used during filming." Chihara Rinto smiled and said: "Does Kameda-san feel that the war scenes shot in the past were all fake?"
Kameda and his wife nodded together, indicating that this was the case, but they were not sure what this had to do with the cannon.
This is a stubborn problem in the early days of film and television. At that time, the filming crew was inexperienced. For example, in explosion scenes, props "fireworks" were set off, with flames rising into the sky and thick smoke billowing, but there were no shrapnel, gravel, or splashing soil. The whole thing looked fake.
In order to ensure the safety of the actors, you can't really kill or injure people when filming a scene, so the actors are usually far away from the explosion point, and the camera is further away. When the audience sees it after the filming, they can only feel that it is more fake than fake.
, it can’t be more fake, it’s just to coax children.
Fortunately, the audience was generally not very demanding at that time, and I was very happy to be able to "set off fireworks". Even more advanced, such as shooting the Ronin Swordsman Ninja's extraordinary light skills and flying up the wall with a "whoosh", etc., usually
It was to film actors jumping off the wall, and then play it upside down, without even using wires. The audience didn't care about what happened in the early days. If we do it now, the director will be strangled to death by the producer before the audience can beat him to death.
.
By the mid-1990s, the shooting quality was getting better, but not by much. The ancient war scenes were shot like farmers performing exercises, scurrying around like chickens, without any tension, and the modern war scenes were even more so.
It's like a fireworks show, so fake that it's unbearable.
These are very common, but as the audience watches more and their appreciation level gradually increases, they naturally become more and more dissatisfied.
This situation needs to be improved. Chihara Rinto wanted to pursue the best ratings and naturally needed to satisfy the audience in these aspects. Then he copied some of the shooting experience and auxiliary props of later generations, such as this "air cannon".
This thing seems to have been invented by Spielberg when filming "Saving Private Ryan". Compressed air is used to spray soil into the sky to simulate the explosion of artillery shells. The post-production sound effects are very realistic, and the actors can be close, and the camera is not
The problem is that it can be shot directly in the face, giving the audience a sense of immersive tension. The shooting effect is not very good, which made "Saving Private Ryan" very popular at the time. This thing can not only be used
It is used to simulate the explosion of artillery shells, such as lifting up soil, building momentum when buildings collapse, etc. It is widely used.
And the structure is simple, just an air compression device and a barrel to ensure directional eruption, the cost is not too high, and it can be reused, so Chihara Rinto copied it directly, claiming to be his own invention of Spielberg
I also copied it from the circus. The circus often uses this thing to make clowns shoot candies or ribbons, so everyone copies it from each other. You're welcome. There's no patent anyway.
Of course, it was a flash of inspiration from a top director like Spielberg that the circus could be used in filming. It directly made Modern Warfare shoot farewell to fireworks, which raised the shooting level and the audience's perception to a very big level.
This should still be respected.
Chihara Rinto briefly explained the function of the "air cannon" to Kameda and his wife. Although he did not need to simulate the explosion of cannonballs, this thing was also useful for filming ancient wars.
He pointed directly at the buildings being renovated and said with a smile: "These buildings will catch fire during the attack, and then one building will fall onto the other. The building that was hit will have this kind of prop inside.
A certain amount of broken wood, dust and sparks will be ejected when the house collapses, making the scene look more natural and spectacular..."
"Also, the watchtower will also be pushed down by the attacker. When the tower tilts to a certain angle, the stuntmen on it will be pushed out by the compressed air, simulating the natural effect of being thrown away... Don't worry,
We hired the stuntmen from the circus. They often use cannons to shoot people into the sky. They are all skilled workers."
This has yet to be tried, but Chihara Rinto feels it is better than having the actors jump down with their arms fluttering.
In addition, some close shots or close-ups are also useful. For example, when shooting an actor rolling out and falling to the ground before a building collapses, the compressed air can be used to spray wood, sparks and dust behind the actor, so that the shooting effect is more natural and more natural.
Being real can also make the audience feel more nervous. Because if it is real, it will not cause drama and will make you nervous. If it is too fake, the audience may not be able to laugh.
The "air cannon" is just one of the shooting aids "invented" by Chihara Rinto. In order to film this drama well, and also to practice his skills, he summarized a large number of shooting techniques, experiences and tools in the 21st century.
I have used them all, "invented" a lot of things in succession, and compiled more than a dozen new routines. The only purpose is to shoot different "war scenes" and strive to be realistic so that the audience can be immersed in the scene and feel nervous.
and excitement, all of them had to sit in front of the TV with their mouths agape. They were not even allowed to go to the toilet, and they were not allowed to change the channel if they thought about it!
As he walked, he casually introduced to Kameda and his wife that some of the props were very funny, such as the "horse" modified from an agricultural tricycle. After starting the machine, a saddle is put on the back bucket and raised and lowered, allowing the actor to simulate a horse running wildly. The effect is good and safe;
Another example is the pop-up arrow-centering device, which is similar to the blindfolded throwing knife trick in the circus. That one does not actually throw the throwing knife, but the handle of the knife flicks out from the target. It just uses the illusion of the human eye. The arrow-centering device he built is the same.
, it can ensure that the person will fall down naturally after being hit by the arrow without switching the camera, and there is no need for the actor to cover the arrow with his hand to prevent it from falling, which will look more real and believable.
In short, there are quite a lot of novel devices, some of which existed before and he made certain improvements, and some of which are simply his "new inventions".
Kameda and his wife listened to the explanation all the way, thinking about the shooting effects. The soldier was shot down by an arrow, and the nearby building burned to the point of collapse. There was a large amount of heat coming in, accompanied by a lot of sparks and burning wood. It felt like the effect of the movie was just like this.
It's even better than ordinary "Bang paintings". I can't help but admire it.
They really didn’t expect that someone would put so much thought behind the few seconds they watched, not to mention an ignorant young woman like Kameda Arika, and even Kameda Kanta, the drama critic, had a look of admiration on his face.
He said sincerely: "As expected of Teacher Qianyuan, I look forward to the results you will produce. It will definitely be very exciting."
Chihara Rinto was not too modest, and said with a smile: "I spent so much money to shoot a big scene, and I can't accept it if it's not exciting."
This plot is a scene when the Rokuha girl's family was destroyed. The Rokuha girl's family was completely besieged and suffered heavy casualties. In the end, only a small number of remnants made it out of the siege, but Ryoko's family was basically killed, which can be regarded as Ryoko's transformation into Ryohime.
An important incentive is very important to the entire drama. It is also the largest war scene recorded in the history books. This was a battle involving more than 800 people.
It sounds a bit funny, but in the early Warring States Period in Japan, eight hundred people fighting together was really considered a big battle.
For this reason, Chihara Rinto made a lot of preparations and burned a lot of money. He mobilized a total of 23 horses and more than 70 people in group performances, striving to make the "Epic Battle of Eight Hundred People" look like "Eight Hundred People".
The effect of "Legendary Battle of Thousands".
Arson, knocking down houses, firing arrows, standing dead (that is, standing and dying after being hit by an arrow), hand-to-hand combat in dark alleys and indoors, be sure to capture it in a fast-paced and beautiful way. It is basically impossible to capture this level of shooting in NHK.
Yes, the NHK base will not allow him to set fires everywhere and knock down houses like this.
If he could, he wouldn't have come to the Oulu region. It would have cost a lot of money to transport people here.
Chihara Rinto is full of confidence, but Japanese people are naturally very fond of this. The confidence of a big man is called magnanimity. Kameda Kanta feels that he admires Chihara Rinto more and more, and tentatively asked if he could write these experiences into the book.
In the column, Chihara Rinto didn’t pay attention, and agreed with a smile that those props cannot be kept secret, not to mention that Kanta Kameda only knows a little bit about it. In fact, the most important thing is the shooting concept of future generations.
Kanta Kameda was naturally overjoyed. He dared to publish three columns in a row just because of the title "Information from the crew of "Oki"". He thought readers would like him even more. It's not for nothing that he has been supporting him. He is such a good person!
As they talked, they arrived at the temporary office space of the crew, which was a small open space surrounded by trailers. Kameda Yuka looked around and found several famous actors, but they were basically all male. She didn't know much about it.
I had the nerve to lean over and asked after hesitation: "Teacher Qianhara, can I ask Miss Ueki to take a photo with me?"
Safuko is the most popular actress this year and a new generation of "national beauty". Kameda Yuka hopes to take a photo with her. I feel that Safuko will have a bright future in the future and will most likely become a superstar.
Now being able to take a photo together must be of collectible value. It would be a shame if they didn't get along, but Qianhara Rinto turned to her and smiled gently: "I'm afraid it won't work, she's not here."
Filming started on both sides, and Safiko stayed at the NHK filming base to continue filming her parts. If necessary, they would be edited together.
Kameda Arika was a little regretful, but looking at Chihara Rinto's gentle expression, she quickly said: "I was presumptuous. It's really rude."
Chihara Rinto was just about to say "nothing", but executive director Miyawaki Yohito came up to him: "Specialist, I still don't quite understand some of the 'aesthetics of violence' you mentioned before. Can you take a look at our design?"
Action? I don’t know if it has met your requirements.”
In this part of the plot, Ryoko's fiancé fights back and fights his way out of the siege. There are a lot of sword fighting scenes. It needs to be a thrilling and exciting scene, and the audience must be able to see the adrenaline surge. Chihara Rinto is very excited about this.
He also attached great importance to it and immediately said "ok". He hired more than thirty dojo disciples with solid sword skills to act as extras. The money could not be wasted.
He said to Kameda and his wife slightly apologetically: "Sorry, I need to deal with some things first, please wait a moment."
Naturally Kameda Kanta had no objection and immediately said hello, and then sat down with his wife to drink tea. By the way, he overheard Chihara Rin and Miyawaki Yohito discussing how to shoot. He felt that they would be good talking points in the future, and Kameda Arika
This young woman gradually became a little crazy as she watched Chihara Rinto frown and think, and give orders confidently and forcefully. She didn't know why, but she felt very masculine and attractive!
Sure enough, there is no falsehood in the reputation. It is not just luck that he has gained such a big reputation in the industry and is loved by the audience in just two and a half years. He is really serious about filming!