Japanese Entertainment: From special effects actor to action superstar

Chapter 375: Sunset, Sightseeing the Abandoned House

It was the first time for Tetsuo Hara to travel far away by himself.

Last time I went to the United States to collect materials with my teacher, but this time I went on a long journey alone. Fortunately, the destination was not too far away, just Ikoma City, Nara Prefecture.

Holding the copied address tightly in his hand and carrying a bag of calligraphy and painting tools, Hara Tetsuo walked and asked along the way, and finally arrived at his destination, Yanagidani Village, Ikoma City.

"We've arrived at Yanagiya Village." The simple villager took off his straw hat, grasped his sickle, and grinned: "A sincere discount of 10,000 yen."

Tetsuo Hara: ...?
How can it be so expensive!

"But the train ticket from Tokyo to Nara isn't that expensive..."

The villager spread his hands and said, "Brother, you know, Tokyo is Tokyo and Nara is Nara. If you always say Tokyo, why don't you live in Tokyo all your life?"

Yuan Zhefu hesitated to speak.

Thinking about his frail body, and then looking at the villagers in front of him who seemed very strong and had weapons in their hands, Hara Tetsuo silently took out his wallet and gave them the travel expenses.

I heard that Gu Gu Ming would pay him a reward, but I don’t know if it’s enough for the return trip.

Feeling uneasy, Tetsuo Hara refused the villager's invitation to continue leading the way and went to find the set on his own.

Fortunately, there are various equipment built on the set, so they are easy to find.

It was afternoon when Tetsuo Hara arrived. It was a cloudy day and the shadows of the buildings mixed with the mud, making it impossible to distinguish one from the other.

"Hello, may I ask where this is..."

"Hey!!"

Before Hara Tetsuo could finish, he heard a loud shout: "Over there, move aside! You're interrupting our filming!"

"I'm so sorry!"

Hara Tetsuo hurriedly moved aside and hid to the other side.

After a long while, Hara Zhefu saw a guy with a face full of flesh, who looked difficult to deal with, walking towards him.

This is Jissoji Akio's assistant director, who is mainly responsible for some location shooting, empty shots, and less important photography work.

"Hey, what are you doing here? This is a film set, and casual visitors are not welcome!"

"Hello, my name is Tetsuo Hara. I'm a manga apprentice. I received a call and came here to do storyboard drawing work. May I ask where Mr. Furuya Akira is?"

The assistant director just said with a long "Oh..." "Oh... Brother Gugu has gone to scout the location. If you want to see him, please wait. There are chairs over there for you to sit."

Hara Tetsuo responded.

The chair can be sat on, win.

Just as Tetsuo Hara was about to leave, the assistant director suddenly turned back and stared at him with a pair of big eyes, which made Tetsuo Hara feel a little nervous.

"Are you allergic to radishes?"

"Huh? No, I'm not allergic. What's wrong?"

"As long as you're not allergic, I'll serve the rice later. There's also radish miso soup. If you can eat it, go get it yourself."

Tetsuo Hara responded in a daze, then realized that the set actually provided food. Then he thought again.

It’s already three or four o’clock in the afternoon, and you’re just eating?

So, is it lunch or dinner?

……

……

Gu Ming knew that Hara Tetsuo was coming, but since Hara was too old to get lost, Gu Ming was not worried.

Tetsuo Hara is not some beautiful young writer, so he can't be easily dismissed.

——It’s not Takeuchi Naoko, don’t worry.

Given Hara Tetsuo's physique, even sending him to northern Myanmar would likely kill him. "By the way, what's Takeuchi Naoko doing now? She probably hasn't started with Togashi Yoshihiro yet, has she?"

Gu Ming was thinking about it when he heard Nijiaben Tatsumi calling him over there: "Brother Furuya, can I come this way?"

"Don't worry, let me take a look."

Gu Ming responded and went over to take a closer look.

This is probably an abandoned house. The surroundings are a bit dirty and full of garbage and feces. A few green-headed bees can be seen flying around. There are also dry branches on one side, with a few branches with bared fangs and claws hanging above the house.

If it happened in the evening, it would be a really scary scene.

"That's possible, but this house is too dilapidated. If you hang a wire rope here, it's easy to get into an accident. Hey, can you go around and see if there's enough space at the back? Can you break through the roof and build a frame from the back?"

An employee of the office responded immediately and walked around to the back, but judging from his expression, he obviously couldn't accept the dirtiness here.

Gu Ming crossed his arms and said casually, "It seems that the quality of the Japanese still needs to be improved."

"Indeed." Nijiamoto Tatsumi covered his nose and said, "The quality of the Japanese people is really too poor!"

Gu Ming said, "Speaking of which, when Mr. Sakai Masaaki and his team went to film in Zhou Country, they came back and told me something. The people of Zhou Country are very well-educated. In Baijing, the people of Zhou Country line up spontaneously and never litter. Every year during summer camp, their elementary school students can run ten kilometers cross-country with backpacks weighing dozens of kilograms. Look at our students, and they really are getting worse with each passing year."

Nijiamoto Tatsumi couldn't help but sigh.

This is the bad nature of us Japanese! It really won’t work!
After Gu Ming casually told a little story about Yilin, he walked into the dilapidated house in front of him, carefully avoiding the garbage and feces around it.

Some weeds could be seen growing through the ground in the house, and the walls were covered with cracks, but this was the effect of a dilapidated house that Gu Ming wanted.

The cost of making a new house look old is much higher than simply finding a dilapidated house and cleaning it out.

Gu Ming gestured at the space himself and felt that it should be about the same.

"Er Jiaben, see if you can do a somersault over there."

Niemoto Tatsumi responded and walked to the main room to try it out.

This place probably used to be covered with tatami mats, but now it is in a terrible state. He took a deep breath and did a backflip on the spot.

"It's okay! But it hits the ceiling easily."

"That's easy. We can tear it all down and cover it with a shed to expand the space. No one lives here anyway."

Gu Ming compared the space again and felt that if the camera extended from the yard, it should be able to capture what was inside.

Or you could just smash the window open.

Location scouting is still a very important part of filming, especially for films that require action design.

What kind of venue is suitable for what kind of action design.

For example, when Jackie Chan was jumping in Rumble in the Bronx, the action designer said that he jumped over two buildings. Jackie Chan thought, it’s just the distance between two buildings, I often jump in Hong Kong.

Finally, I arrived at the scene and took a look.

I'll jump! It's so far! The distance between the two buildings can fit a building in Xiangjiang!
Of course he jumped over it later.

With one jump from the Rumble in the Bronx, he directly blew away Hollywood and became a quasi-first-line star in Hollywood.

He is not a true first-line star because several of Jackie Chan's movies failed in succession and he lost his chance in Hollywood, so he only received 1500 million US dollars in salary and more than 3000 million in dividends for a single movie.

Gu Ming didn't plan to jump. Right now, location scouting was more important.

This kind of work can usually be done by subordinates, but Gu Ming was a little worried, so he came in person.

"It's almost time." Gu Ming checked his watch, dodged the garbage and left the dilapidated house, clapping his hands. "Er Jiaben, go find the village chief tonight and ask if this house has an owner. If not, give him a small amount to cover the filming costs. If so, contact the owner so that no one suddenly shows up in the middle of filming and delays everything."

Niiemoto Tatsumi responded: "Don't worry, if the village chief doesn't agree, I will bring people to beat him until he agrees."

Gu Ming was shocked.

Be rational!
We're action actors filming a movie, not Yakuza gangsters! Just hit them twice, don't sink Tokyo Bay!

(End of this chapter)