There are actually not many movies about the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, and most of them are from a long time ago, even movies from the 1950s and 1960s. Many people have never seen them now.
However, this does not hinder the public's understanding of the war in any way.
The ice and snow, the biting cold, are undoubtedly one of its distinctive features.
As we all know, temperature is related to latitude. Borealis and Northeast China have similar climates at the same latitude.
The volunteers joined the war at the end of October and the beginning of November. For a climate like the Northeast, it was already winter.
The crew of "Return to Youth" filmed the scenes of fighting against the Japanese and aiding Korea in the Northeast in winter. The climate was particularly in line with the times and in line with public perception.
As a native southerner, even though he has lived in the capital for several years, Li Qian still feels that the Northeast is really cold.
Especially filming in the wild is not so easy to adapt to.
The first scene is when the troops are renovating at the station. Before entering the battlefield, they have a target practice, which can be regarded as training for the new recruits and livening up the atmosphere.
The male protagonist, who successfully stayed and worked as a hygienist in the health team, also stood in the queue, watching the recruits practice target with curiosity.
Duan Yihong, who played the company commander Dai Ruyi, stared at the recruits practicing target one by one. From the corner of his eye, he caught sight of Chen Kun in the team. This gray-haired old man had only curiosity in his eyes, without a trace of fear.
He picked up a Mosin-Nagel rifle, walked up to the old-looking Chen Kun, and said, "Go and shoot three times!"
"Me?" Chen Kun pointed at himself in astonishment, confused, "Am I not a hygienist?"
Duan Yihong snorted, "Healthmen are also soldiers. There are no soldiers in the third company who can't shoot!"
"...Oh" Chen Kun took the rifle belatedly and walked slowly to the target shooting position.
The instructor patiently taught him how to shoot, while the other soldiers in the company stared curiously at the old man Chen Kun.
But none of them were watching the joke, because Chen Kun was a health worker, someone who could save their lives on the battlefield at critical moments, even though Chen Kun was already so old.
Chen Kun clumsily followed the steps, put his shoulders to his cheeks, took aim, stared at the target closely, couldn't help but close his eyes, and fired three shots in succession.
"boom!"
"boom!"
"boom!"
The huge recoil made Chen Kun almost choke, and he looked at the target in front of him with hope.
"One shot hit the edge of the target, and two shots missed." The instructor reported the target helplessly from the side.
As everyone expected, no one laughed, and at least one bullet hit the target.
"Next, Zhang Xiaofang."
Chen Kun stepped back with some embarrassment and handed the rifle back to Duan Yihong, but he did not take it.
"A soldier cannot be without a gun." Duan Yihong motioned to Chen Kun to keep it.
Chen Kun tightened his grip on the cold rifle and stood back to his original position. He saw another young soldier, Zhang Yi, holding his head high and walking to where he was standing before. His hand movements were extremely skillful and he was full of confidence.
Bang bang bang" three shots were fired in a row.
This confidence radiating from the inside out made Chen Kun widen his eyes and try to find the bullet holes in the target with his cloudy eyes.
Duan Yihong also showed his face and walked forward.
But.
"All three shots missed the target."
The instructor's surprised voice made Duan Yihong stop abruptly. Chen Kun and everyone were stunned.
Every move Zhang Yi made was so skillful, but all of them missed the target.
It's like in the ring, a muscular bully with a fierce appearance punches his chest twice like a gorilla, roars on the stage, only to be knocked to the ground by the opponent's punch and never get up again.
.
"puff..."
No one laughed at the old man Chen Kun when he shot a gun before, but this time some people couldn't help laughing.
Duan Yihong's face also darkened. He walked up to Zhang Yi, who was still staring blankly at the rifle in his hand. He didn't understand what was going on.
"I ate three big sesame cakes as soon as I came here. You report to the cooking class!" Duan Yihong said angrily.
"Company Commander, our cooking squad doesn't have that many sesame seed cakes for him to eat. At least one of his shots, Old Li Tou, hit the target. I think we should let him follow Old Li Tou." The squad leader of the cooking squad was unhappy.
Li Tou is the male protagonist, his surname is Li, he is an old man, everyone calls him Lao Li Tou.
The health workers sent by superiors haven't arrived yet, and there is only Lao Litou in the company's health team. Duan Yihong also nodded, "Then you go to the health team."
Zhang Yi, who had been in confusion, realized at this time that the company commander was swearing, and he was demoted from the combat unit.
Moreover, even the cooking class looks down upon themselves.
When I turned around and looked at Chen Kun in the distance, I saw that even an old man like him had a shot on the target. He was not as good as an old man.
Zhang Yi's stubborn face was anxious and angry. The weather was cold, and his face became even redder.
"Then my gun..."
Duan Yihong's face darkened again, "Take it!"
"Okay, click!"
After filming a complete scene, Li Qian immediately called a stop and called the three of them over. He played the previous scene again on the monitor and talked while playing it.
"Basically it's the same problem, and it doesn't get into the characters."
Li Qian looked at the three of them and shook his head, "Acting is not limited to a certain scene. You are playing a person, not just a person doing a certain thing. When will there be any movements or changes?"
Let’s talk about Zhang Yi first. In this part, you played a role of shooting with confidence, but you didn’t pay attention to a prerequisite. Zhang Xiaofang’s character prototype is Zhang Taofang. This prerequisite is that Zhang Xiaofang shot with confidence, and all three shots missed. You
Didn't pay attention to character traits.
Lao Duan is slightly better. The company commander is set up as a cold-faced tiger, but when he faced two special soldiers, Chen Kun and Zhang Yi, his expression became too obvious. Such a character is usually not good at expressions.
Management is about to face a war again, and there should not be a big change in expressions in a short period of time at this time."
Duan Yihong hesitated for a while, then explained, "Director Li, my role doesn't have many roles, but it is also one of the core characters in this plot. I am afraid that the character will be too flat."
Li Qian said to Duan Yihong and Zhang Yi, "You two are considered the two most important supporting characters in the story of resisting the US and aiding Korea. However, there are not many scenes in this part, so it is impossible to give too much time to the two supporting characters."
Drama.
Zhang Yi's character is a superhero, a sniper who kills more than 200 American soldiers in a month. He is a special type. The third company commander will not have too much emphasis on his performance, because he is the epitome of all the grassroots commanders and fighters of the Volunteer Army.
It’s a universal type.”
"Then should I be more "ordinary"?" Duan Yihong said, the character is not outstanding, he has no objection, he just wants to play this role well.
"That's not necessary."
Li Qian shook his head and said with a smile, "Although you are just a microcosm of the grassroots commanders and fighters of the Volunteer Army. There are thousands of such people, but you and the people you represent are also a hero. Everyone is a hero. Among them
Just keep it to a certain degree."
The fewer roles a character has, the harder it is to act. Not having enough roles means there is no room for performance, and there is no time for a complete character transformation process.
Of course, this is excluding some special occupations.
In the scenes of fighting against the Japanese and aiding Korea, the protagonist is still the protagonist. These two important supporting roles can only be expressed in the scenes that appear together with the protagonist, or in details.
For example, in Li Qian's script, Duan Yihong would not give up any of the wounded on the battlefield. Even if his intestines were blown out, he would order Chen Kun to explode the seriously wounded who were dying.
But in the tragic Battle of Songgu Peak, before Duan Yihong died, he did not let Chen Kun waste precious time and medicine on himself, a dying man, and ordered him with his last breath to rescue other wounded people.
Two very simple shots, one for comparison, will not take up any additional space, and are perfectly integrated with the plot of the protagonist.
After talking about the scene for a while, we continued filming.
In fact, half of this scene is a true historical event.
Zhang Taofang's family has a shotgun passed down from his grandfather. He had shot it before he joined the army. He also used a 38-inch gun during recruit training. He was born with farsightedness and was very accurate in shooting.
Therefore, when he appeared on the stage, he was full of confidence in the script. After all, he was a young man in his early twenties and his shooting skills were excellent.
It is also true that all three shots missed the target. At that time, Zhang Taofang's regiment, in order to strengthen the training and active atmosphere of the new recruits, specially organized a target shooting competition for the entire regiment. Zhang Taofang confidently picked up the gun and fired three shots in a row, but all of them missed the target.
I was sent to the cooking class as a punishment by the company commander.
Here Li Qian is changed to go to the health team, which is quite reasonable. The health team now only has an old man as the male protagonist, so he will definitely need help.
The scene where Zhang Yi appeared also took a long time to shoot, from 9 a.m. to nearly 4 p.m.
Fragmented plots, in addition to relying on the connections between plots and editing skills, also have higher quality requirements for each plot.
It's even so high that if you show each short plot to the audience individually, you can almost understand the cause and effect.
For example, in a scene where a couple is quarreling, there is no cause or effect, but the audience must understand from the quarrel whether it is the first time they quarreled, a regular quarrel, or a common occurrence.
How is the relationship between husband and wife, and how do they feel about each other? Is it because of a big conflict, or is it because they have long disliked each other and started quarreling over a small matter.
He still loves her, and she still loves him.
It's still that he loves her and she doesn't love her.
Or maybe he doesn't love her, but she still loves him.
Or maybe they don’t love each other anymore.
There is also a degree of love and dislike. If you love something, you will love it more. If you don't love it, you will dislike it, or even feel disgusted or disgusted.
In fact, many film and television dramas show a single plot. Audiences who have not watched the original drama probably don’t know what it is about, nor the status and relationships of the characters.
"Returning to Youth" must be able to understand the background, character status and relationships, events, causes and consequences of any single plot.
Because without context, it not only tests the audience's thinking, but also tests the content of each plot.
For example, in the scene just now, after rescuing the male protagonist, it was discovered that he knew how to bandage and provide first aid, so the company commander left him behind, and then the scene switched to them training at the station.
Earlier it was only mentioned that the male protagonist would be retained, but not how to arrange it. In the latter scene, Zhang Yi was asked to go to the health team to follow the male protagonist.
There is a little jump, but I hope the audience can clearly see it at a glance and not be surprised.
...
The scene was filmed at four o'clock. It gets dark late in winter, so there was only one daytime scene at the station, and then came the night scene.
"Scene 36, one shot at a time!"
"start!"
This was the scene between Chen Kun and Zhang Yi in the evening. As he got older, Chen Kun went to the kang early, while Zhang Yi was still sitting on the kang, holding a gun and worrying.
It's really puzzling that he missed the target even though his marksmanship was outstanding.
Chen Kun poked his head out of the bed and asked softly, "Aren't you still asleep?"
"snort!"
The stubborn Zhang Yi ignored him. He missed the target three times today, which was embarrassing enough. The most important thing was that even this old man had a bullet hit the target, so he was sent to his grandma's house in disgrace.
Chen Kun, who had a mental age of only five years old, did not dare to say anything. He shrank back into bed and breathed out heavily.
it's too cold.
The room was quiet for a while, and suddenly Zhang Yi shouted excitedly.
"I understand!"
scare!
Chen Kun was shocked and asked quickly, "What's wrong with you?"
"I see!"
Zhang Yi jumped off the gun suddenly and muttered with excitement and annoyance, "I used to use a 38 gun with a small caliber bullet and low recoil. This gun has a larger bullet caliber, greater power, and greater recoil.
That’s why I missed the target!”
"The recoil was so great that I almost couldn't hold it steady," Chen Kun said in agreement.
"cut!"
Zhang Yi smiled contemptuously, and then said excitedly, "Tomorrow I will go find the company commander and fight again!"
Chen Kun thought for a moment and asked, "Since the recoil is so strong, can you guarantee that you can hit accurately tomorrow?"
"Why can't I hit it accurately?"
Zhang Yi frowned and retorted. He looked young and even had a sense of youth. It was indeed very suitable for him to play a stubborn young man.
However, thinking about the target practice during the day, Zhang Yi felt a little discouraged again, "Then I'll just stay here for a few more days. When I get familiar with this gun, I will definitely ask the company commander to transfer me back!"
"I have read a book before, it should be able to help you." Chen Kun suddenly said.
"Can you help me? Pull him down." Zhang Yi curled his lips, lifted the quilt and was about to go to sleep.
Chen Kun was not angry, and explained to himself, "The reason for the strong recoil is that your arm strength is not strong enough. If the strength is strong enough, the recoil will be adapted to it, and the shooting will be more stable.
I have read in books that by tying sandbags on your hands and feet, you can train your running speed and arm strength. If you can adapt to the more than ten kilograms of sandbags on your hands, you can also adapt to the recoil of shooting."
Zhang Yi had already sat up, looked at his arms, and asked suspiciously, "Really?"
"I also read it in the book." Chen Kun replied honestly.
"Since it's in the book, it shouldn't be a lie. What else is written in the book?"
"There is a martial arts book. When others practice darts, they aim at candles."
"Why the candle?"
"Because the flame of the candle will move as long as there is a little wind, maybe it is to practice your eyesight."
"That's it."
Zhang Yi immediately got up from the bed and fumbled to light the only oil lamp in the room.
Chen Kun asked in confusion, "What are you doing?"
"Practice!" Zhang Yixing held the gun excitedly, squatting and aiming the gun at the flickering flame of the oil lamp, motionless.
Seeing his behavior, Chen Kun was a little shocked, but he didn't bother him and just stared at him.
In the cold house, the cold wind blew in through the cracks in the windows, causing the flames of the oil lamps to dance in the wind.
In front of him was a thin young man holding a gun, motionless in the dark night, like a statue. Another old man on the bed was also looking at him motionless.
...
Photographing in winter is always boring, and the environment is like this, which will also affect people's mentality.
Therefore, Li Qian planned to film a major drama with not many scenes first.
Ice and snow Changjin Lake.
The reason why it is the highlight but there are not many scenes is because there is not enough time to shoot this battle. I want to shoot a large panoramic view of an ambush battle against 100,000 enemy troops, and then add a ten-second shot of the protagonist's third company participating in the battle.
Clock shot.
The main battle scene is the blocking battle at Songgu Peak at the back.
However, even if we don’t shoot the battle scenes of the Battle of Changjin Lake, the shock is not as shocking as the tragic Songgu Peak.
The protagonist of this scene is not Chen Kun, Zhang Yi, or Duan Yihong, but more than 120 soldiers from the Northeast Military Region who made guest appearances.
The 120 soldiers, who arrived here at 8 a.m., have been wearing thin old-fashioned military uniforms and white sheets. They have maintained an ambush posture, holding the guns in their hands tightly, lying motionless in the vast white snow.
Let the makeup artists work on their heads, faces, and bodies.
More than two hundred makeup artists, stylists, prop artists, and special effects artists spent three hours dressing up these 120 soldiers into dead people who were frozen into ice sculptures.
Seeing these soldiers not moving for three hours, wearing very little and dressing up in such miserable conditions, Su Lun, as a woman, couldn't help but said to Li Qian, "Boss, okay, let's start filming."
"Ice and Snow Changjin Lake... No, it should be Ice-Blooded Changjin Lake."
Even though he knew it was false, looking at the miserable condition of these soldiers, Li Qian seemed to have returned to the era of heavy artillery fire and saw more than 4,000 compatriots who froze to death in the Battle of Changjin Lake.