A movie to be screened on Douban that only 336 people want to see, has not entered the publicity period, but the extras were stunned to first bring the movie on social media.
Not long ago, a group of college students participated in the filming of the movie "The Great Breakout". They never studied professional acting, but just for fun, they joined the crew.
While acting as a group, college students shot short videos to record life, and also acted as the "atmosphere group" of the crew, and even made a wave of free publicity for the movie in advance.
When this group of college students first came, they were so naughty that they made people angry and did not make trouble for the crew. But when they became serious, their faces were smeared with black ash smoke and artificial blood, they involuntarily integrated into the characters, as if they had read cruel history.
"The Great Breakout" drama group photo/provided by the interviewee
The crew "group performance is famine" and tens of thousands of college students signed up
The movie "The Great Breakthrough" tells the story of the Anti-Japanese War, in November 1941, Su Fan, a 17-year-old new student of the First Branch of the Anti-Japanese University, traveled thousands of miles from Longyan, Fujian Province to the school station in the hinterland of Yimeng Mountain to report. The day after registration, the school was raided by tens of thousands of Japanese troops. The film tells the story of Su Fan's growth through the baptism of breakthrough battle, and also shows the fearlessness of enthusiastic young people who bravely resisted the Japanese invaders and sacrificed their lives for the country.
The film uses college student group acting, which is a "yin and yang" decision.
The filming of "The Great Breakthrough" was released on January 29 this year, and it was filmed in Fei County and Pingyi County in the Yimeng Mountain District of Shandong Province. Wang Yukun, the film's assistant director, told China Newsweek: "At that time, the time was just in time for the New Year, and local extras were not easy to find. Later, our director team discussed and sent a group performance recruitment notice on the local part-time group, and many of the applicants were college students who were at home on vacation. ”
"In fact, our play tells the story of a group of students during the war years." Wang Yukun said that the director team pondered that it was really suitable to find students.
The director team estimates that it will use about 400 to 500 people a day. Wang Yukun said: "Students are at home during the holidays and want to find something to do, and it is good to come to the crew to 'run a trick'. We pulled people from car to car to the filming site, and incomplete statistics, and finally more than 10,000 college students (people) came to the crew. ”
When the college students learned that the crew of "The Great Breakthrough" managed three meals a day, managed the transfer, and could also receive 80 yuan a day for group performance labor fees, and paid to experience the "immersive script killing experience", it was simply an unattainable experience.
In fact, college student group performances are not "cheap labor" for the crew. Wang Yukun revealed: "Now, professional extras are paid 108 yuan for 10 hours, college students are paid 80 yuan for 8 hours, and they need to rent a bus to pick them up. In fact, college student group performances are not as cheap as they say on the Internet. ”
College student group makeup is painted with "artificial blood stains" Picture/video screenshot
Wang Tianyang, a sophomore accounting student at Jinan Engineering Vocational and Technical College, was introduced by a friend to participate in two group performances. He revealed to China Newsweek: "For our group performance, the crew did not have an audition session, and it was clearly written in the announcement of the part-time group, not too fat, not to dye hair." On the one hand, because the costumes in the crew are all size average, too fat to wear in, and the other is that the movie was filmed during the war years, when the conditions were difficult and the body was too fat was 'fake at a glance'. ”
Xu Yihang, a first-year student majoring in cultural industry management at Shandong University of Arts, was also recruited into the group performance. Xu Yihang recalled that he stayed at home for a month because of the school exam holiday, and his body was "growing grass". Seeing the recruitment information, saying that there was a subsidy of 80 yuan a day, I did not hesitate to sign up.
"At first, I didn't know what to play, nor what the title of the play was, but when I arrived on the set, I knew that I was arranged to play a Japanese soldier first." Xu Yihang said, "When I started wearing Japanese military uniforms, I still felt a little strange. However, the crew life is very new to me, after all, it is acting, and the director can act as he arranges. I also pondered how to play Japanese soldiers as realistically as possible, like a little. ”
Zhu Tianlin, a finance student at Shandong Water Conservancy Vocational College, has also played many group roles such as Japanese soldiers and the Eighth Route Army: "In fact, more group performances want to play the eighth road, I have always had a heavy patriotic complex since I was a child, and when I put on the uniform of the Eighth Route Army, I unconsciously brought in that role, and then walked with great momentum in all aspects, feeling that I raised my head and chest, and walked with the wind." ”
Happy students, "Driving Mad" director team
After the college student group evolved into the crew, as soon as the freshness came up, the directors of the crew began to have a headache.
Xu Yihang told China Newsweek that when the crew was free, he took a lot of photos and videos of himself, "showing off" his crew life with friends, and received many "very similar" praises. "Then I tried to post a short video platform, but I didn't expect to be followed by a lot of people."
Zhu Tianlin also said that in fact, the crew initially asked for secrecy. "Although there is no need to sign a confidentiality agreement, before filming begins, the crew will tell us that we cannot shoot with our mobile phones and cannot disclose the plot when filming."
Wang Yukun said that the director team did not expect this group of students to shoot short videos so vigorously: "When we first asked for a ban on short videos, some students hid and locked up, and we couldn't collect our mobile phones, and then the crew found that some videos were circulated on social media." So many students came, all sending short videos, it is indeed not easy to manage, after all, mobile phones belong to their personal belongings. ”
When the short video taken by several students was hotly searched on major platforms, the crew also defaulted to "herding sheep".
"We also wanted to open it later, and the students recorded the life of their crews out of curiosity, most of which were also sent to their parents and friends, so let's shoot with them." Later, Wang Yukun and the students "about three chapters": "The real filming scene, the part with star actors must not be filmed, but in addition to the shooting outside the set, because it does not involve the plot, so it doesn't matter." ”
What caused the director team a headache was the filming link, and the director found that the group performance of college students was really "not talking about martial virtue".
Some scenes have explosions, and there are scenes of aircraft cannons "bombing" the ground, and college students see the explosion and are so frightened that their mouths are closed by the recording; Some college students forgot to take off their glasses after filming, and their pants or shoes fell during the escape; Some college students held up explosive packs to add lines to themselves, and some college students were shot and "died" according to the design of the live script, and then got up again to continue fighting...
Xu Yihang recalled that when he first played Japanese soldiers, there was a scene in which a large number of Japanese soldiers surrounded the Eighth Route Army in the mountains. The director began to talk bitterly, making everyone look serious and not allowed to laugh, but there were still people who rushed down with laughter. The director was so angry that NG (remaked) several times. ”
College students experience "blasting scene" picture/video screenshot
"We're not professionals, so we can't control it." Xu Yihang adopted the image of a Japanese soldier played by actor Pan Changjiang in "Hands Up", "In our spare time, some of our group performances playing Japanese soldiers imitate the 'duck step' when the ghost sweeps, I am afraid that some scenes need to be used." We also keep imagining the scene of being shot and falling to the ground, which is more similar and worse than who played the death scene. ”
"Later once I acted in the eighth road, a scene where the director made us rush, but asked to shout 'Down!' When we arrived, we had to hurry up and 'play dead'. I found that the director was making us fall too quickly, and it wasn't interesting at all, so I thought about trying it (to add drama to myself). Xu Yihang made his own assertion, added a line to himself, and shouted: "My life is up to me!" "Anyway, I'm a group performer, and I don't want to 'die' so early."
Later, it was Wang Yukun who came up with a way to manage with experienced "group head" actors, each responsible for about 20 college students, doing demonstration and demonstration actions, giving unified explanations, and finally quickly correcting the "moths" of the college students to ensure the shooting progress. "College students have no experience in group performance, and their ideas are varied, which is normal. Under normal circumstances, if it is not possible to say once or twice, generally by the third time, they will basically take it seriously. ”
College students who entered the state have greatly improved their acting skills. For example, the "pain" and "respite" shown by marching and fighting are very capable of reflecting the cruelty of the war years and were praised by the director team.
Chief director Yang Zhen said in an interview: "After a play, they returned to their playful nature, and when I shouted the start, they immediately returned to a serious state, very cute, very persistent, very serious." Many students go home to take a bath and wash three times because their faces and bodies are smeared with soot, and usually everyone loves beauty, but there is no complaint at this moment, because they really regard themselves as warriors when filming. ”
College students want to enter the entertainment industry? Unrealistic
Wang Yukun revealed to China Newsweek that the crew has left the Yimeng Mountain Area and came to Qingdao. The filming of the film has not yet been completed but has reached the end, depending on the post-production situation, some shots may have to be retaken, and it is expected to be released on National Day this year.
The previous shooting experience in Yimeng Mountain District made Wang Yukun unforgettable. He lamented to China Newsweek: "Seeing the state of this group of college students, they are full of curiosity about everything in the entertainment industry, I really like it, and I think of myself when I just entered the industry." ”
"I went to Beijing in 2011, and after going to Beijing, I remember that I was 'lying down' in front of Bayi Film Studio for a long time, and sometimes I couldn't get a play after waiting for a week. At that time, I could still earn 80 yuan a day by handing out flyers on the street, and only 40 yuan a day as a group performer, but in order to adhere to my film and television dreams, I still insisted on finding opportunities to join the crew. ”
"When I was in Beijing, I had no place to live, so I lived in the basement. I remember that at that time, the Beijing subway ticket was 2 yuan to sit casually, I got up very early every morning, almost took the earliest subway to enter the group, and then filmed late at night, there was no return bus and subway, I simply slept directly in the fast food restaurant for one night, and continued to work in the group the next day, and this is how the days came. Wang Yukun sighed, now these college students are actually very comfortable.
As for the "moth" provoked by the college students in a group this time, in Wang Yukun's opinion, it is not a thing. "I remember that when I first entered the industry as a group actor, I was indeed trained by the director many times. The most serious mistakes I made were always blocking the camera when some scenes were out of position, which is quite similar to the story of Stephen Chow's "King of Comedy" about his own trick period. ”
"Later, I went to the Beijing Film Academy for further training in directing. Gradually, there were more opportunities to enter the crew. Later, I worked with the crew of "Snow Leopard" directed by Chen Haowei, the crew of "Mother's Three Kingdoms Era" starring Cai Ming, and also served in the crew of Feng Xiaogang's "Private Order". ”
"So, watching this group of college students perform, they enter the crew, even if they make mistakes, I basically don't train them. Mainly when I was young, I was in the crew, and I came over like this. Wang Yukun said, "However, I really want to dissuade them from wanting to become actors and enter the entertainment industry." ”
Xu Yihang and Yang Zhen, chief director of "The Great Breakthrough" Photo/Provided by the interviewee
"College students have a variety of ideas for group performances, and some people expressed their willingness to give up the group performance salary of 80 yuan a day, and voluntarily post 100 yuan in exchange for a chance to carry a machine gun performance. Of course, I all returned it, and the crew definitely didn't charge money. Some people seriously asked me about entering the crew and the entertainment industry. I seriously persuade them that they can regard group performance as a hobby, and it is okay to do it part-time if they are interested, but if they really take this as a living, they may really be unable to make ends meet, and their economic situation will be affected, because the salary of the group performance itself is not much. Therefore, I still advise college students to learn their own major well and find the industry and position that suits them. ”
There are tens of thousands of group performances across the country, but there is no group performance like Wang Baoqiang and Zhao Liying who later became actors and stars. "On the one hand, group actors must really have acting skills when they become actors in the end, and secondly, they must also catch up with good films, as well as the right time and place. It can be said that like Wang Baoqiang, maybe 10 or 20 years may appear one. So, college students should not go up. Wang Yukun said, "If you have a holiday and want to come to the crew to experience, I welcome it with open arms." ”
The participating college students also have a better perception of the life of the actor. Zhu Tianlin said: "One of the things I remember most in the crew is that on the top of the mountain, I only wore a thin Japanese military uniform to shoot at minus ten degrees, and I didn't wear a down jacket, which was really cold." When eating at noon, my hands are unconscious, and I can't hold things with chopsticks. This is also a real experience of the difficulty of actors, always see them on stage glamorous, did not expect that there are so many difficulties behind them. ”
Xu Yihang also said: "After following the crew for a period of time, I found that this history is quite tragic. We were walking through some special 'explosives', there was no danger, but the revolutionary ancestors ran in an environment with real guns and live ammunition. Although this film is popular because of our college student group, I still hope that more people can know this history. ”
Author: Ye Zhufeng