CH 175 Practicing Lines

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The entire crew knew that Tao Mu was very good at leading and immersing people into the scene, and while it might be a bit exaggerated to describe him as being able to lead you to sink into your role in a matter of minutes.
But so long as one’s acting skills were up to the usual standard, and was well prepared before filming, their emotions were indeed more easily catalyzed when acting a scene with Tao Mu.

Unfortunately, no matter how powerful the king was, even he couldn’t do anything for a hopeless case.
With Shen Yu’s current acting skills, even if Tao Mu wanted to lead him, it also depended on whether Shen Yu himself was up for the challenge.
After all, Tao Mu was just an actor, not a kangaroo.

What was more, although Shen Yu really wanted Tao Mu to take him flying, there was only one scene left involving the two of them——the chaotic battle scene at the dock which takes place at the end of the film.

Yan Sheng’s undercover identity was exposed, and he led the police to the wharf to encircle and suppress the gangsters who wanted to abscond to Southeast Asia.
During the shootout, Yan Yu blocked the bullet meant for Zhou Yuanting, and after leaving a last word, Zhou Yuanting abandoned the body and fled, leaving with the mafia boss.

Of course, in the mainland version, because this kind of ending with the death of the good positive characters, while the evil underworld forces got away was frowned upon, the crew was forced to add another scene to the film, that is, the mafia boss and Zhou Yuanting who wanted to abscond ended up being caught and sent to prison anyway.
However, Director Xu thought that this change was not in line with the gist of the script and the deeper meaning of the film, and did not agree with this change.
So the two sides were deadlocked and it wasn’t until a year later that the crew finally compromised.

However, pirated DVDs of “Black and White” have been rampant in the mainland.
In the end, after the film was released in the mainland, the box office did not even exceed 10 million yuan.

This was also an important reason why when Director Xu invited Tao Mu to invest money into the crew, but Tao Mu politely declined.

Pier.

For the classic scene that appeared in many Hong Kong gangster movies, the props team and lighting/cameras were busy arranging the set.

Tao Mu and several bigwigs were sitting in the dressing room, getting makeup applied while waiting for the show.

Because it was going to be a gun fight scene, and it was the climax of the finale, everyone’s image was very cool.
The mafia were all in black suits and black shirts, and the police were all in the special uniforms of the Flying Tigers.

As one of the main characters of this scene, Zhou Yuanting used a Glock 17 pistol, caliber 9 mm.
The main features of this gun were the extensive use of plastic parts, small mass, reliable mechanism action, and large capacity.

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However, it was basically unnecessary to consider this problem when filming a movie.
As we all know, when filming gun fight scenes, even if the protagonist was holding a pistol that could only hold six bullets, it was a common occurrence that so long as the plot required it, the protagonist’s gun would always have bullets in it.

Those who come up short with bullets in their gun could only be in supporting roles.

For example, Tao Mu.
When filming this scene, there would be a lot of shots of him one-handedly changing his handgun magazine.
Tao Mu’s movements were very skilled and on point because he had been trained in the police academy for several months.
Unlike the special forces instructors with rich practical experience invited by the crew, Tao Mu also had to consider the camera angle and character temperament when performing his movements.
When he was training at the police academy, he designed a lot of tactical moves for Zhou Yuanting in combination with the plot.
After a few months of silent training, now that he was in front of the camera, he couldn’t be anymore handsome.

To use film queen Fang’s teasing comment about Tao Mu to describe it, that is, Mr.
Tao’s handsomeness was definitely at a professional level.
So much so that even Zhou Yanqing and several other bigwigs couldn’t help but come over to ask Tao Mu for advice on various tricks in changing magazines and posing at the most attractive angle.

The filming location chosen by the crew was an abandoned pier.
Considering that this shootout was the last climax of the entire film, the scene was very grand, involving more than 200 actors, and the scene scheduling was very complicated.
So Director Xu decided to shoot in several parts.
First the speaking parts, then the close-up parts of the single-person fighting scene, and finally the group fight part.

Because it was an on-location shoot, it took more than an hour just for lighting and sound.

Director Xu learned from the previous lessons and finished filming the scenes of Zhou Yanqing, Yan Sheng, Wang Jinsheng, Fang Ruoti and several other actors.
It was only until the end that the filming of Tao Mu and Shen Yu’s scene began.

After the police and the Flying Tigers entered the dock, Yan Yu frantically searched for Zhou Yuanting, and finally found Zhou Yuanting behind a container.
It was a scene where the two confronted each other with guns.

“Ah Ting!”

Zhou Yuanting turned his head and pointed his gun at Yan Yu.
Tao Mu’s movements were very standard.
He raised his gun to point between Shen Yu’s eyebrows, his arm was straight and motionless, and his finger was on the trigger.

Shen Yu did the same with him.
It was just that Shen Yu’s physical fitness was not very good.
He was holding the gun in both hands, and his arms still wavered.
Subconsciously, his shoulders were also a little hunched, and his posture was simply very bad.
The most important thing was that Shen Yu’s finger also hooked into the trigger, whether it was because of nervousness or other reasons.

Tao Mu noticed this scene and frowned unconsciously.

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“Cut!” Director Xu stuck his head out from behind the monitor and asked Tao Mu, “What’s wrong?”

“The posture is wrong.” Tao Mu rotated the gun in his hand.
The action was so crisp and neat it brightened people’s eyes.
This dude was definitely used to amping up the handsomeness on the set.

“You have to put your index finger straight next to the trigger guard, and keep the muzzle down.
Because in the script setting, Yan Yu doesn’t want to kill Zhou Yuanting.” When they were training at the police academy, the instructor repeatedly told them that they must never put their finger in the trigger guard before firing a shot.

Since Yan Yu didn’t want to shoot at Zhou Yuanting, and he was a proper police officer, so he naturally wouldn’t make such a mistake.

Don’t think that small details don’t matter, Tao Mu liked to use various details to reflect the character’s inner workings when interpreting the character.
Especially this kind of micro action.
And the advantage of these small detail designs was that it could also allow the audience to have a more intuitive understanding of the character’s inner portrayal when watching the movie.
The most important thing was that it had nothing to do with the actor’s acting skills——it did not test one’s acting skills, it just required one to experience the role sincerely.
To a certain extent, it was a particular shrewd way of acting.

If the acting skills were not enough, you could use such small details to make up.
Just try to avoid close-ups of faces though.

When Tao Mu got the script and designed the biography of the character Zhou Yuanting, he proposed using differing fighting techniques to reflect the changes in the character’s inner level.
It greatly inspired Director Xu.
But at that time Tao Mu was trying to make Zhou Yuanting’s character more profound and three-dimensional.

Now Tao Mu was designing moves for Shen Yu.
Although there was some suspicion of overstepping, everyone knew that Tao Mu really disliked Shen Yu’s poor acting skills that dragged down the crew.
This kind of proposal was definitely meant to take advantage of strengths and avoid weaknesses.

Shen Yu looked sheepish and couldn’t help defending himself: “But this scene is going to be a shootout at the pier.
If I don’t hook my finger in, doesn’t it not fit with the overall background?”

Tao Mu did not say anymore.
He had already given the suggestion.
Whether Shen Yu was willing to listen or not was his own problem.

Seeing Tao Mu ignore him, Shen Yu couldn’t help feeling a little embarrassed.
He asked pitifully: “Are you angry? Because I didn’t listen to your advice? I just think that my idea is also reasonable.”

Director Xu frowned and replayed the scene just now twice.
He fixed his eyes on the close-up of Shen Yu’s face, pondered for a moment, and said, “Shen Yu, do as Tao Mu suggested.”

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Obviously, instead of taking a close-up of Shen Yu’s face, he would rather zoom in on his hands.
At least that way it could fully express Yan Yu’s mood at the moment.

In one shot, two gun-wielding hands faced each other.
One had a finger hooked on the trigger, one didn’t.
The visual impact and the inner conflict of the characters were instantly conveyed.

Shen Yu pursed his lips, a little unwilling.
Recently, he had indeed rehearsed his parts well.
Every night he practiced his lines until late at night, and he felt that he had made great progress.
However, the director and the rest of the crew still prefered to trust Tao Mu.

Even big brother Yan, when practicing with him, kept telling him that he didn’t have to think too much when filming the last scene, just follow Tao Mu’s lead.

Even if it’s just for the sake of the camera effect, Tao Mu would not ignore him.

Before, Shen Yu was worried that Tao Mu would not lead him when he was filming, and he was always worried and afraid of not doing well.
But now that Tao Mu really took the lead, Shen Yu was a little unwilling.
He thought of the rumors circulating in the crew that Tao Mu was especially talented at immersing people into the scene.
And had always worried that if he did well in this scene, others would put all the credit on Tao Mu, thereby obliterating his own efforts.

Shen Yu pursed his lips, feeling a little aggrieved for some reason.

However, on the opposite side, Tao Mu did not pay him any attention.
He focused on adjusting his own emotions, waited for the clapper loader to call “action”, and immediately raised his gun.

Because there was a trace of hesitation and dissatisfaction in his heart, Shen Yu’s movements were half a beat slower than Tao Mu’s.
On the monitor, it was sloppy and obvious to the naked eye.

“Cut!” Director Xu shouted unhappily, not understanding what was wrong with Shen Yu.

“Concentrate on filming.” Director Xu instructed and started again.

This time, Shen Yu had no problem.
However, his movements were weak, and when he lifted up the gun the movement was too large, and he had to adjust the angle after raising it before pointing it at Tao Mu.
The arms were even shaking slightly.
Because the sun was too glaring, he also blinked subconsciously.

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Compared with Tao Mu’s steady and resolute gun-raising action on the opposite side, it was obviously a big difference.
It could only show that Zhou Yuanting was the one who came from the police academy.

Director Xu frowned, his perfectionist self breaking out again.

In the following, Tao Mu had to accompany Shen Yu for more than half an hour in the act of simply raising a gun.
Fortunately, when Tao Mu was training at the police academy, he performed exceptionally well.
Like the best police officer trainees, when he practiced raising his gun, he would hang a brick from the muzzle.
So even if half an hour had passed, Tao Mu’s gun-raising movements were still standard and steady.

But Shen Yu couldn’t do it.
His arms were already wobbling with a magnitude that was particularly large.

Director Xu could only shout “cut” and let everyone rest for ten minutes.

The makeup artist immediately stepped forward to touch up Tao Mu’s makeup.
Hot weather, hot sun.
Although Tao Mu’s movements were standard, his makeup did not hold up as well.

Director Xu looked at Shen Yu whose arms were sore and trembling slightly, and complained to the stunt coordinator who was sitting beside him with special regret: “Why didn’t I agree with Shen Yu’s use of a body double back then!”

It was just simply making trouble for himself, as well as for the crew.

The stunt coordinator sat on the little stool and laughed.
He leaned into Director Xu’s ear and whispered a few words.

After ten minutes, filming resumed.

This time, Director Xu asked the cameraman to find the right angle and directly shot a close-up of the hands.
He also asked the prop master to hang a wire for Shen Yu to pose for a shot.
Only then was the scene finally over.
And it even turned out quite successfully.

Director Xu happily shouted “Okay”, resolutely not shouting “once more”, but tilted his head out from the monitor, and said to Tao Mu: “Come on, Tingzi, next up is your time to look handsome.”

“Don’t be courteous with me, please!”