Huayu: From charlatan to great entertainer

Chapter 197: Foreign Land Promotion Conference
Liu Yifei and the gangsters were fighting fiercely in the car. You could almost hear the sound of air tearing between fists and feet. Here, Lu Kuan made many clever designs to serve the character image.

As expected, the vehicle had an accident. The huge impact force caused Liu Yifei to give the robber a fatal blow and was then thrown hard onto the top of the car.

The little girl was suddenly pulled away by a special pulley device and hit the roof of the car with a loud bang. Liu Xiaoli, who was watching from the sidelines, felt both regretful and distressed.

The flames licked the car body, making a terrifying crackling sound, and also woke up Liu Yifei, who had temporarily fainted.

With her last bit of survival instinct, she kicked her legs backwards to break through the window, ran away to avoid danger, and barely escaped.

The whole process was done in one go. The martial arts moves designed by Yuan Heping were perfectly implemented by Liu Yifei. Her ability to control her body has grown to a new stage.

It is no exaggeration to say that compared to Zhang Ziyi, whose previous martial arts moves seemed delicate, Liu Yifei's performance basically reached a new height.

This is due to her persistent training in the past two years. The movements that Professor Yuan Heping gave her are just techniques, so what is the mental method?

The Xinfa is Grotowski's extremely rigorous and almost perverted physical training, which is a hybrid course combining Indian yoga, Japanese Noh, Chinese Peking Opera and Western drama.

This was a very unique opportunity for Liu Yifei, who was only fifteen years old when she first came into contact with him.

Her still-developing body gradually adapted to this level of exercise, laying an extremely solid foundation for improving her acting skills as she grew up.

The time had come, and Lu Kuan quickly picked up the microphone and ordered: "Kevin, detonate!"

A loud explosion accompanied by raging flames rushed towards Concubine Liu Yi. The last telephoto shot gave her staggering and heroic back.

"Click! Perfect!"

Boss Lu excitedly applauded first, thanking the team members for their tacit cooperation, and being able to get such a difficult scene done in one go.

Kevin laughed into the intercom and said, "I have to say, Lu, your compatriot is amazing. She doesn't look like a teenage girl at all."

Yuan Heping also nodded happily. He had never seen an actress of this age who had such an understanding of action scenes.

Of course she can't compare to some famous female martial arts actresses or those who have practiced for more than ten years, but that's also unfair, right?
After all, he only assigned Liu Yifei the routine moves during the audition in September, and after practicing for a month, she became more awesome than Zhang Ziyi who had undergone closed training.

The potential and perseverance demonstrated in this process are the most valuable qualities.

Lu Kuan waved to Liu Yifei and Liu Xiaoli to go to the DIT workstation screen to watch the replay.

"Xiao Liu, you did a great job! You're such a hard worker!"

There was still some black dirt on Liu Yifei's face, and she watched her performance without blinking.

As a stand-in, of course the front face cannot be used when it actually appears in the movie.

But in order to shoot this car chase scene from three angles, the crew set up multiple lenses at different angles, and Boss Lu gave her a set of front and side shots.

The little girl seemed as excited as if she was reviewing her perfect test paper. When she saw the key points, she kept talking about her thoughts.

"Lu Kuan, look here! The robber gave me a hook punch, and I subconsciously used the Yuan Dao Bajiquan's supporting hammer!"

Yuan Heping chuckled and said, "This sledgehammer is really good. It really captures the feeling of a punch hitting flesh. The robber's face was frozen by your blow. This shot is fantastic."

Leonardo also came over and couldn't stop praising her in English: "Liu, you are the most beautiful Chinese girl I have ever seen fighting. It's amazing!"

Only Zhang Ziyi stood behind the crowd, her expression gloomy and unclear.

The little girl raised her eyebrows proudly at Lu Kuan.

But then he thought about how his desperate and almost perfect performance would only appear in the movie from the back, and he couldn't help but fall silent.

After such a pause in her emotions, the adrenaline secreted by her body during the fight scene just subsided, and Liu Yifei stumbled and fell on Lu Kuan.

Boss Lu quickly put his arm around her shoulders and asked, "Are you okay?"

Liu Xiaoli rushed over and hugged her daughter: "Xixi, what's wrong?"

Concubine Liu Yi wiped the black dust off her face a little embarrassedly: "I was too immersed in it just now, and I feel a little dizzy now."

Yuan Heping was of course an experienced man. He asked his apprentice to get some cooling oil and gently apply it on both sides of the girl's temples with the pads of his thumbs.

"how do you feel?"

"Much better, thank you, Grandpa Yuan!"

Yuan Heping looked at her with a sense of excitement, as if the founder of a sect had met his last disciple.

But he can only teach martial arts, and an actress with such conditions cannot develop only in this area.

"Take a break. I was too involved just now. I'm a little exhausted now. I'll recover in a while."

Boss Lu picked up the intercom and said, "The fireworks team has finished extinguishing the fire. Please ask the ground staff to clean up the scene. We will prepare for the next one."

The cast and crew surrounding the DIT all went about their duties.

Lu Kuan helped Liu Xiaoli put the little girl in his director's chair, and then put the director's standard vest on her legs.

Liu Xiaoli said embarrassedly, "Director Lu, should I take Xixi to the side? Will it affect you if she stays here..."

Lu Kuan smiled and said, "It's okay. Xiao Liu's legs are weak now. I just bumped into her and she's a little shaky. She's just a little overexcited."

"Sit here for ten minutes before you leave."

Liu Yifei was naturally delighted that he rarely showed his gentle side to her. She pursed her lips and said nothing, just staring at him with her big eyes as he directed the crew.

Liu Xiaoli, who was clear-eyed and smart, watched the scene with a sad face and sighed secretly in her heart.

What a bad fate!
October 2003, 10, Pacific Time, Mulholland Drive, Beverly Hills, Los Angeles.

Tom Cruise has a European-style mansion here, covering an area of ​​2.5 acres and equipped with a luxurious movie theater.

Therefore, it was also used as the venue for the "Alien Land" film screening and promotion meeting, and was even turned into a party by Tom Cruise.

Party culture is one of the hallmarks of American social culture. Whether it's business or personal matters, the success rate of business negotiations is always high in such an entertaining and relaxing atmosphere.

Of course, there are also dirty deeds under the table.

Zhang Ziyi took leave to return to China, and Liu Yifei is Boss Lu’s female companion today.

As soon as you enter the door, you will see the ultimate luxury of flowers in clusters, which looks a bit like a riot of flowers that are so numerous that they are dazzling.

However, Lu Kuan and Liu Yifei were not the type to indulge in pleasure or worship money. They just paid a little attention and inquired curiously, then followed Tom Cruise to meet with major distribution companies.

They had already chatted with Jason from Lionsgate for a long time.

"Lu, this is Mr. Irving from Disney."

"Lu, this is Mr. Bob Dean from New Line."

"Mr. Edmundo of Colombia."

“This is…”

Jewish An Lushan had a flattering fake smile on his fat face: "I don't need to introduce myself, Lu and I have done several business deals."

Then he pretended to be angry, blaming me: "It's just that I'm the one who suffers every time!"

Tom Cruise laughed: "Is there anyone in Hollywood who can make you, Weinstein, suffer? I'm really curious."

Concubine Liu Yi on the side sneered in her heart. She had never seen many people who could take advantage of him.

Boss Lu also frowned. "Harvey, you're not right. A production assistant from the 'Outlander' crew told me the other day that your 'Fahrenheit 911/600' only cost $950 million! And I paid you a full $ million!"

"Some time ago, I was in China negotiating with the authorities about the filing and approval of 'Fahrenheit 911/'. Unfortunately, I was told that it was strictly forbidden to be shown in theaters because it would affect the currently stable relationship between China and Moxy."

Harvey couldn't hold back his laughter any longer. He was truly proud of this deal. He had originally bought it for political speculation, but ended up getting scolded by Disney's president, Eisner, and it nearly cost him his money.

Fortunately, thanks to his eloquence and keen business sense, he was able to sell it in time and find a buyer.

Harvey always treated the talented directors he admired with kindness: "Lu, to make up for our friend's loss, I hope you can let me handle the North American distribution of 'Alien Land'. I'll give you a discount in distribution points!"

Boss Lu glanced at Tom Cruise calmly, his alertness growing stronger.

During the break of the business party, Lu Kuan got a glass of lemonade for Liu Yifei. The two of them took a rest at the railing, waiting for the dinner to begin.

"Xiao Liu, do me a favor later."

"Ok?"

Lu Kuan said in Chinese, "I suspect there's something fishy going on with those two people just now."

"I'll be on stage introducing the film later. Can you stay nearby and help me listen to what they say?"

Liu Yifei was surprised and said, "Are you asking me to be a secret agent? Just like in the movies!"

Boss Lu smiled and said, "That's right. The time has come when the Party and the people need you. Let's see how good your hidden abilities are."

"They should be more cautious and try to make a play regardless of whether there is a chance or not."

After thinking for a moment, he reminded her: "Be careful of An Lushan, he's not a good person."

"Just like you?"

Boss Lu's face turned cold: "Let's communicate in a civilized manner. Personal attacks are prohibited."

"Dang Dang Dang!"

Tom Cruise tapped his wine glass with his fork and walked over to the party table.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome."

"Before we start watching the film, we would like to invite Lu!, the Asian Golden Lion Award-winning director and Cannes Best Director winner, to give us a brief overview of the film."

There were sporadic applause. The buyers from the six major Hollywood and independent film companies were able to come today mainly because of Tom Cruise's reputation.

This is also the key reason why Lu Kuan asked him to be the producer.

In the eyes of these buyers, Lu Kuan is just a tool director found by Tom Cruise for his project.

It was just to prepare and shoot such a blockbuster to increase the bargaining chips in the confrontation with Paramount. Only Harvey and Jason from Lionsgate, who had worked with Lu Kuan before, knew some of the inside story.

Boss Lu walked onto the stage facing the disdainful looks of the arrogant Hollywood celebrities.

He first gave a routine self-introduction, and then introduced the source of the film's script, cultural connotations, and main selling points.

Including the powerful production team behind the film:
Williams’ pyrotechnics team, Beast Logic’s special effects department;
Because of James's Oscar-winning soundtrack for "Titanic", and so on.

The buyers from the distribution companies on site were all very skilled people. Such a lineup and production team could be considered luxurious even in Hollywood.

It’s just that everyone is here to buy a movie today. If you are too reluctant to give applause, you will lose the initiative in the bargaining that may arise later.

The atmosphere at the scene was still relatively quiet. Liu Yifei had been led by Lu Kuan to sit next to Tom Cruise and Harvey, and the 15-minute pre-sale film officially began.

A line of subtitles floated up at the beginning of the film, accompanied by James' solemn and magnificent music, and began to introduce the background of the story.

In 2077 AD, the Earth's population expanded. To address the growing food crisis, humans threw off the shackles of skin color and nationality and formed the Earth Federation.

Dr. Ximai, a genius scientist from the Earth Federation, developed a farm that could deliver produce to the outside world every ten minutes. He named it Ximai Farm, and the story begins here...

The beginning is that thrilling car chase scene.

When all the "professional audiences" in Hollywood saw this somewhat bland beginning and were ready to accept this mediocre car chase scene, they suddenly realized that they were wrong.

Why is Zhang Ziyi’s fighting style so different from that in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon?
This set of movements seems to be more sharp and direct, giving people the feeling of punching into flesh and breaking the wind!
Zhang Ziyi, dressed in casual clothes, broke into the robber's car through the window. The camera angle from the side and rear clearly showed how she used various powerful boxing moves and almost folding body movements.

This is a refreshing design for Hollywood, which is used to seeing traditional kung fu movies.

Here we have to mention Yuen Woo He's innovation and progress in kung fu films.

For example, in Keanu Reeves' classic "iron bridge-like" move in "The Matrix" two years ago, he spent four months teaching Keanu authentic Chinese Kung Fu, combining technical moves such as iron bridge with Hollywood's advanced special effects technology.

In this collaboration with "Foreign Land", Boss Lu also gave him a very clear design outline:
We should attach importance to the effectiveness of martial arts movements in promoting the plot. We would rather give up some seemingly beautiful movements to better demonstrate the relationship between characters, convey the characters' emotions, and truly serve the story.

Just like Zhang Ziyi (Liu Yifei) in this clip, this extremely fierce boxing technique is a mixture of Baji, Wing Chun and even the underground boxer Ah Fei.

A northern martial artist studying southern boxing is a clear proof of learning from others' strengths and breaking down technical barriers.

The buyers from Hollywood film companies were all amazed and began to whisper to each other.

"Zhang Ziyi plays so beautifully. I wonder how she has changed her style so quickly in the past two years!"

"Even the desperate fight in the car alone is enough to attract the audience to watch the next half hour."

Liu Yifei listened to the whispers of the crowd. Although they were praising Zhang Ziyi, she felt particularly satisfied.

What also gave them a visual shock was undoubtedly this carefully designed car-racing special effects shot.

First of all, there are realistic visual effects. The collaboration of various top teams allows all the details to be displayed vividly in front of the high-definition lens of the camera.

Even the color changes, dynamic shapes, smoke concentration and flow direction of the flames were roughly calculated to match the director's arrangement of shots and composition!
These realistic visual effects allow the audience to instantly treat the sudden visual impact as a real threat, which is thrilling and exciting!

The second is the use of high-speed dynamic shots.

Audiences who have seen "The Fifth Element" will definitely be impressed by the clichéd car chase scene in it.

At that time, Luc Besson's idea was to immerse the audience in slow-motion special effects shots and present them with more interesting details.

However, Lu Kuan, who had experienced countless car chase scenes in later generations, decisively instructed the special effects team to adopt a high-speed and dynamic lens design.

This high-speed dynamic is not a short, instantaneous climax, but a combination of high-speed photography and slow-motion playback.

This is a reference to the car chase scene in "The Fast and the Furious", using high-speed photography to capture the moment when the vehicle is speeding past. The splashes of water from the wheels, the reflections of the car body and other details are clearly visible.

The on-site feedback for this part was even more enthusiastic than that for the kung fu scenes!
Because in the minds of all Hollywood filmmakers, no matter how amazing these action scenes are, they are nothing more than technical innovations of Chinese action stars and the team themselves.

Their film culture characteristics in this field are superior to those of other regions, just like the Japanese samurai movies and animations.

But special effects technology has always been a patent that Hollywood is proud of!
They have been monopolizing the top technology and scheduling plans for movie special effects scenes since "Star Wars". How come a Chinese director is now able to bring them such shocking special effects scenes?
There were even some technically savvy buyers at the scene who were ready to ask Lu Kuan to replay certain clips later. They wanted to study why the effects produced by the same Beast Logic system could have such significant sensory differences.
Generally speaking, the effects of film directors with high artistic and aesthetic attainments and film special effects technology are mutual.

A world-leading team in technology can bring more possibilities to their creations, but without the image structure designed by these talented directors, technology will be useless.

Just like the liquid metal robot image created by Cameron using digital synthesis technology in "Terminator 2";

In Titanic, he used computer special effects technology to recreate the sinking process of the Titanic;

In "Avatar", Cameron has brought 3D technology and motion capture technology to the extreme, bringing an immersive viewing experience to the audience.

These images, characters and scene designs are not generated by technology itself, but are completed under the guidance of film directors and special effects directors.

James Cameron may not understand technology, but he can come up with excellent solutions for the technical team to overcome.

Back to this car chase scene in "Alien Land", why do the movie buyers who watch a large number of films on site have the doubt in their hearts that "oranges grown in the south of the Huai River will not grow well in the north of the Huai River"?

It is because Lu Kuan used his hacking skills to artistically integrate and create (plagiarize) countless exciting car racing movies in later generations, and put into practice those special effects designs that have been tested by box office and audience feedback.

How can it not attract attention?
(End of this chapter)