Reshaping the landscape of the Chinese entertainment industry

Dunhuang Dangjinshan on August 25, 2001.

It's very windy.

He stood on the Gobi Desert, his mouth, eyes, nostrils, and ears filled with sand.

He squinted at the dark mass of cavalry in the distance, with only one thought in his mind: putting everything else aside, when Zhang Yimou goes crazy, he really is fucking insane.

Three thousand horses.

Three thousand cavalrymen.

On this desolate Gobi Desert, a Qin Dynasty was actually filmed.

"Hey! Where have you been?!"

Liu Guonan's voice boomed from the walkie-talkie. He quickly spat out the sand in his mouth and grabbed the walkie-talkie: "Senior brother, we're here!"

"Hurry up, Group B needs someone to keep the camera. Go fill in quickly, don't embarrass Teacher Mu!"

"Alright! It's just being a cameraman, senior brother, just you wait and see!"

He pulled the mask up over his face, ignored everyone, and dashed off towards Group B.

Even against the wind, he runs faster than everyone else.

It's true that you have to be young.

If he were thirty-seven or thirty-eight years old in his previous life, with his body constantly socializing, he probably wouldn't be able to run more than a few steps before he was out of breath.

What's that saying again? When you're young, you can pee three feet deep against the wind; now you're sailing with the wind...

Having lived a second life, he is only seventeen this year and will turn eighteen next year, which is the time when a man's vitality is at its peak.

At the same time, he was at the lowest level, and he had to call everyone in the film crew who he could name "senior brother".

The reason why the seventeen-year-old henchman could appear in the "Hero" crew was, of course, related to his identity as a freshman about to enroll in the Cinematography Department of Beijing Film Academy.

He was also Mu Deyuan's favorite disciple.

It's very likely that there is no other way.

Mu Deyuan recommending his prized disciple to his fellow disciples' place to learn and gain experience is no problem.

As for why He Ye is so certain that he is Mu Deyuan's favorite, it's probably because Mu Deyuan currently only has him as a disciple...

Therefore, Liu Guonan often jokingly referred to him as his closed-door disciple with envy.

He politely declined the title.

What if Old Mu were to take in another disciple who locks his gates? Wouldn't that be awkward for him?

Let's just hope it doesn't turn into the Legend of Luo Xiaohei!

However, as his "closed-door" disciple, Mu Deyuan was actually quite good to him.

He Ye was sent to his father He Changlin's residence at the age of fifteen to learn photography and directing from Mu Deyuan.

Although the term "closed-door disciple" was just a joke, the relationship between the master and disciple is indeed a traditional and genuine master-disciple bond.

The only downside is that He Ye started receiving professional beatings three years earlier than his classmates.

After three years of brutal beatings, he barely managed to meet Mu Deyuan's requirements.

Just before the start of the school term, Mu Deyuan heard that Zhang Yimou was filming "Hero" in Dangjinshan, so he made a phone call and sent him over.

They ostensibly wanted to let He Ye come to the film crew and broaden his horizons.

At that time, Zhang Yimou was overwhelmed by the challenges of making "Hero," and he did not refuse the recommendations from his old classmates, friends, and fellow students.

He might even think that He was just there to gain experience and that it didn't matter what he did.

Come on over, it's just a matter of having one more person and one more pair of chopsticks.

Then He arrived.

I've been here for half a month, and I've been eating sand for half a month.

To be honest, the film "Hero" has received very polarized reviews in later generations.

Some say it's the pioneering work of Chinese commercial blockbusters, while others say it's his pledge of allegiance to power.

There are various opinions, but the majority of them are criticizing it.

By 2026, the Chinese people, having witnessed the division and chaos in various countries around the world due to various issues, will have a significantly changed view of Qin Shi Huang.

But things were different at the beginning of the century.

At the beginning of the century, and even in all dynasties before the founding of the People's Republic of China, the First Emperor was criticized.

However, this trend has never been completely reversed.

He clearly remembers that after "Hero" was released, Zhang Yimou would be criticized.

He said he was whitewashing a tyrant.

That's a bit of a tangent, let's get back to the movie itself.

Regardless of anything else, there's one thing everyone agrees on: the scale of this movie is absolutely massive.

In an era when Chinese science fiction had not yet taken off and art films were prevalent, there was probably no movie with a larger scale than "The Great Battle".

Three thousand horses, thirty thousand arrows, one hundred thousand props, and a crew of over a thousand people.

These expenses alone amount to enough money burned every day for an average family to live on for a lifetime.

When He Ye first saw those three thousand horses lined up, he was completely dumbfounded.

He had seen grand scenes in his past life, but those were usually scenes seen from a movie perspective or in mobile phone videos.

In particular, the so-called scenes of thousands of horses galloping in short videos are actually only a few hundred or a thousand horses at most.

To truly depict a stampede of ten thousand horses, one would need an immeasurable expanse.

The real, large-scale scenes observed with the naked eye are something that no movie special effects can provide.

When He arrived at Group B, the coordination between the various departments had already been completed.

He wasn't shy at all; after all, he'd been doing odd jobs everywhere for the past month, so he could get right to work.

As the camera work began, He Ye, who was temporarily in charge of the camera, felt the impact of this large-scale scene even more deeply.

Horse hooves pounded on the Gobi Desert, raising dust that blotted out the sky.

The cavalrymen's battle cries were deafening.

Sunlight streamed through the gaps in the sand and dust, turning the entire Gobi Desert golden.

Accompanied by shouts of "Wind! Wind! Strong wind!"

At this moment, He also felt that he was not on a film set, but on a battlefield two thousand years ago.

……

After five takes, this single shot was finally completed perfectly.

"So, how was it? Wasn't this scene, which you filmed yourself, still amazing?"

Liu Guonan appeared behind him at some point and handed him a bottle of water.

He took the water and found it was unopened. He then unscrewed it, took a sip, rinsed his mouth, spat out the sand, and then took another big gulp.

"It was indeed stunning, but unfortunately, that's about it."

Upon hearing this, Liu Guonan looked at his junior brother with surprise: "Is that all? You've got quite the big mouth."

"You should still have dreams; what if they come true?"

Having become completely familiar with Liu Guonan, He Ye had nothing to hide from his senior brother: "Senior brother, when will we be able to pull our own film crew and shoot a blockbuster like this? That would be truly exhilarating."

Liu Guonan was Zhang Yimou's first assistant director and also a student of Mu Deyuan.

He was considered He Ye's senior brother.

For the past two weeks, he has been training He Ye, starting from the most basic production assistant and now working as the B-team cameraman. It seems that he wants He Ye to do every job in the crew.

The reason for this was entirely because He Ye told him on the very first day that he wanted to make movies himself in the future.

Since that's what he said, Liu Guonan will definitely give him more responsibilities.

This also helped him gain a complete and systematic understanding of the filmmaking process and learn what is truly important.

He was fully aware of this, so he had no complaints.

Hearing He Ye say the same thing again, Liu Guonan didn't discourage him. Instead, he continued to encourage him, saying, "Okay, I'll wait for that day! I'll wait for you to make a movie."

He was somewhat speechless: "Senior brother, you don't need to talk to me like that every time..."

He's not stupid; how could he not sense that he wasn't taking it seriously?

Feeling underestimated, He Ye responded like a hot-blooded youth who had been provoked: "It's just making a movie, right? Senior brother, I won't beat around the bush. Once we're done with this, we'll get right to it. I've already prepared the script."

"real?"

"certainly!"

Their discussion reached the ears of others around them.

Not everyone in the crew was familiar with He Ye. Some people, unaware of the truth, made the audacity to claim he was making a movie at such a young age.

Some were unconvinced, while others secretly scoffed.

Some, however, were simply intimidated.

"Did you hear what that kid said?"

"Thank you, I'm not hard of hearing!"

"Hey, do you think he's just bragging or if he really wants to make a movie?"

"Who cares?"

"If they're not bragging, someone who can make such a guarantee can't just be another child of a privileged family or a second-generation rich kid, can they?"

"Maybe, but you never know. What if they're just dabbling in something from another circle?"

"Just dabbling? Who is he, then?"

"I'm not sure, but a lot of people call him Master He!"

"Master He? Calling someone so young 'Master'... could he really be from the capital..."

"Shh~ Just know that!"

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