novelraw Chapter 40 I'm going to start pretending.
Chapter 40 I'm going to start pretending.
Shen Qing took Wang Damin to Shanghai, where they met Hong Jinbao, who had arrived two days earlier, in their hotel room.
A movie needs dozens of stuntmen, and the quality of these stuntmen varies greatly. Having a leader who can keep things under control can save a lot of trouble.
Sammo Hung has been officially hired as the action director for the movie "Ip Man", along with about thirty stuntmen, for a package price of 100 million.
The money was transferred to Sammo Hung, and how it was distributed was none of the production team's business.
In addition, the crew also included more than a dozen stuntmen from mainland China, and there was an assistant martial arts instructor above them.
The storyboards for several fight scenes have already been shown to Sammo Hung. This meeting was mainly to discuss the overall style of the film and the general tone of the action scenes.
We've already discussed these things a few times over the phone, but some things still need to be talked about face-to-face.
"The storyboard is very detailed, which is completely different from the way Hong Kong film crews work. In Hong Kong, a group of stuntmen work together to refine the action bit by bit. You say this way, I say that way, so let's try them all. The director's storyboard has already designed most of the action."
Sammo Hung was a senior figure, and even Jackie Chan would respectfully call him "Big Brother," but he showed absolutely no arrogance in front of Shen Qing.
Shen Qing respected him greatly. As the saying goes, "Many people carry a sedan chair for a flowery sedan chair," so naturally he respected Shen Qing in return. Moreover, Shen Qing possessed genuine skills. Others might be skeptical, but Hong Jinbao was absolutely certain of it. People with real skills are more likely to earn respect wherever they go.
He had seen Shen Qing's boxing during the movie promotion and had also studied the sparring between Shen Qing and Jackie Chan at the premiere of "The Myth". His feeling was that Shen Qing might not be weaker than himself.
The action scene storyboard I recently received further confirms these ideas. The action sequences for several important fight scenes have been designed quite completely. These were originally his job, but the director not only did them well, but at an extremely high level. He would design about 70-80% of the content in this way, and another 20-30% made him want to applaud.
"We'll follow the overall design in the storyboard. If we have any good ideas, we can discuss whether we can add them in. Ip Man's movements are mainly based on Wing Chun, but we don't have to be completely bound by it. As long as it's roughly the same, that's fine. Wing Chun isn't static either. As far as I know, many Wing Chun schools have evolved into more practical and combative fighting styles, which are very different from the traditional Wing Chun style of one move at a time."
Sammo Hung largely agreed with Shen Qing's assessment, saying, "I'll have the brothers work out the action sequences first. When designing the action sequences, how do we control the difficulty? You're the lead actor, will you be using a stunt double? For the close-ups where stunt doubles aren't possible, should we still design challenging action sequences?"
"I will use a stunt double when necessary. I don't claim that I don't use stunt doubles. As for controlling the difficulty, you are very familiar with Jackie Chan, so just follow Jackie Chan's standards. If you think that Jackie Chan can complete the action design, then I can probably give it a try as well."
The words sounded a bit pretentious, but the purpose wasn't to show off; it was simply to convey the meaning as accurately as possible. Shen Qing's abilities were probably 99% of Jackie Chan's at his peak; he could indeed perform most of the moves that Jackie Chan could.
Hung Kam-po understands Jackie Chan, and designing choreography for Shen Qing in the same way he designed choreography for Jackie Chan is the most intuitive and quantifiable benchmark of difficulty.
……
Filming is scheduled to begin on October 15th at the Shengqiang Film and Television Base in Shanghai.
Morning, on set.
Han Sanping, along with leaders from Shanghai Film Studio and Zhejiang Film Studio, all came.
There is also Ip Chun, a descendant of Ip Man.
In addition, all the main actors were present.
The female lead is Yan Danchen, and the supporting actors include Hou Yong, Yu Hewei, Dong Zhihua, Chen Zhihui, and Wu Yue.
Shen Qing had just finished talking with several producers, then chatted briefly with the cinematographer, followed by martial arts director Hung Kam-po, the art director, prop master, makeup artist, and others.
After a round of communication, he saw the wooden dummy already set up in the hall and suddenly stopped, just looking at it quietly.
Suddenly, I had an urge to give it a try. Jackie Chan had studied Wing Chun and had practiced on a wooden dummy in many films and television dramas. Practicing on a wooden dummy does not necessarily mean Wing Chun, but Jackie Chan would definitely practice on a Wing Chun wooden dummy.
Hung Kam-po was the first to notice Shen Qing standing in front of the wooden dummy. He took a few steps forward and his gaze fell on Shen Qing. The dozens of martial arts instructors he brought with him also looked at Shen Qing.
Upon seeing this, Wu Yue stepped forward a few steps, followed by Hou Yong and Yu Hewei, who were chatting with Wu Yue. Han Sanping and several other producers also gathered around.
Yan Danchen and the makeup artist from the crew were chatting when they saw this and went over to watch. When the rest of the crew saw that there was something interesting to see, they all swarmed over.
Shen Qing originally wanted to practice on the wooden dummy, but when he realized that almost half of the crew had surrounded it, he gave up. But then he thought that the movie was an action movie, and he was the male lead.
Many people practice martial arts for years but never get the chance, but he became a sensation because of "Taken", showing the potential to become a new generation of kung fu superstar after Jackie Chan and Lee Chung-ying. Will others really be convinced?
Wu Yue is a Wuying-level martial arts athlete, with top-notch martial arts skills and the best acting skills at the Central Academy of Drama. If a new action superstar can emerge after Jackie Chan and Lee Chang-ho join forces, why can't it be him? Isn't he the most qualified?
Sammo Hung, a veteran with decades of experience in the industry, is a big brother figure. However, his later films all flopped, and the gap between him and Jackie Chan widened. Now, another Jackie Chan fan has emerged, whose movies are doing so well at the North American box office, and now he's also helping out.
Dong Zhihua and Chen Zhihui are both skilled actors and martial artists, but they have always been able to play supporting roles. Now, Shen Qing, a junior, has suddenly risen to prominence. What is his real martial arts skill like?
Showing off his true abilities as the male lead to the production crew will make the rest of the work much easier.
Having realized this, Shen Qing, who had already given up, looked at the wooden dummy in front of him again.
Then Shen Qing stepped forward, assuming a "two-character clamp sheep stance," followed by stances, a left turn stance with a left palm strike, a right turn stance with a left shoulder strike, a standing stance with a left palm strike, a left triangle step with a left pat and a right strike...
Shen Qing started off slowly, seemingly not very familiar with the Wing Chun wooden dummy. But after a few moves, his pace noticeably quickened, and his power gradually increased.
After a dozen or so moves, Shen Qing was already hitting the wooden dummy fast and hard, as if every movement was muscle memory, as natural as walking and eating.
After thirty or fifty moves, Shen Qing even entered a state of self-forgetfulness, getting more and more excited and feeling more and more comfortable. His Wing Chun moves struck the wooden dummy like a storm, occasionally interspersed with a few moves of Choy Li Fut, Hung Gar, or White Eyebrow Fist. In the end, Shen Qing himself couldn't tell which style of boxing he was using. He just did whatever was convenient for him.
He continued practicing like this for over ten minutes before finally stopping. As he slowly finished, he turned to look at the group of people surrounding him. Seeing them all staring blankly at him, he asked, "What's wrong?"
Han Sanping asked, "What you're practicing is... Wing Chun?"
Shen Qing nodded and said, "It's mainly Wing Chun, but it also incorporates some moves from other boxing styles."
Han Sanping asked, "This doesn't look like a skill that can be learned in a short time. You really know Wing Chun!"
Shen Qing laughed and said, "Of course I really know how, otherwise why would I think of 'Ip Man'?"
Upon hearing this, Han Sanping unconsciously gained even more confidence in the project.
Wu Yue was very surprised to finally see Shen Qing practice boxing. He didn't understand Wing Chun, but he could tell from his intuition that Shen Qing's boxing skills must be extremely high. The surprised expression on Hong Jinbao's face and his secret nodding also confirmed Wu Yue's thoughts.
The stuntmen brought by Sammo Hung were convinced. It's better to become a kung fu superstar by being a truly skilled actor than by simply being handsome.
Yan Danchen walked over to Shen Qing and complained to him like a wife, "Why did you have to hit your arm on the wood? Don't you feel pain?!"
Shen Qing smiled upon hearing this.
From the moment she officially got the role, Yan Danchen had already put herself into the role of "wife." Whether she was rehearsing or not, she would occasionally speak to Shen Qing in a wifely tone.