Short video丨Compound talents, Keruo
Written by丨Koruo
"What is the biggest secret of China's atomic bomb? It can be made. "I believe that airplanes are the same, whether they are engines or stealth fighters, they can be built."
In the movie "King of the Long Sky", Zhang Ting played by Hu Jun and Lei Yu played by Wang Yibo said these words, which interpret the firm and victorious belief of generations of Chinese aviation personnel to forge a great power and heavy weapon.
The film creates the heroic and enthusiastic image of a new generation of Chinese Air Force test pilots through Wang Yibo, Hu Jun, Yu Shi and other starring actors, and reveals the history behind the difficult birth of a new mainland fighter.
After the release of "The King of the Long Sky", it handed over a brilliant report card: in four days of release, the cumulative box office exceeded 300 million, and it has ranked the box office champion of May 1st so far. Taoqiao ticket 9.7, Maoyan 9.6, Douban 7.0, comprehensive reputation ranked first in the May 1st file, popcorn index 97%, IMDb 8 points, domestic and foreign hot comment.
So, how was "The King of the Long Sky" "created" as a movie? 1905 Film Network interviewed Liu Xiaoshi, director of "The King of the Long Sky", to listen to him decrypt the behind-the-scenes story of the film from multiple angles.
It is both a film project and a scientific research project
Director Liu Xiaoshi is an aviation fan, when he was studying in the directing department of the Beijing Film Academy, he shot documentaries for the aviation industry group, and after graduation, he also worked in the aviation industry for 15 years.
Liu Xiaoshi knows the group of test pilots and the story of the test flight process very well, he participated in the riveting ceremony of the first screw produced by the J-20, and has been in contact with the J-20 fighter many times, and Li Gang, the chief test pilot of the J-20, is also his good friend.
"What happened to the test pilots touched me personally, and it was necessary to make a film about test pilots, so that more people would know such a group and how difficult it is for the progress of aviation equipment in our country."
"King of the Long Sky" director Liu Xiaoshi
The first draft of the script of "King of the Long Sky" came out in 2019, and he and the screenwriter Guan Guan spent more than three years repeatedly revising and polishing, "There are about forty drafts of numbered scripts, and about one or two hundred drafts of unnumbered scripts." ”
Liu Xiaoshi said that this script has a lot of very rigorous aviation science logic, which requires repeated arguments with relevant engineers and scientists, and it is a very big challenge and topic to write the story completely and the characters to be flesh and blood.
Due to his work reasons to shoot a lot of airplanes, but also accumulated some failure experience and lessons, Liu Xiaoshi did not want to make mistakes in this movie, so he spent nearly a year exploring the early technology. "I really want to make a leap forward and improve in my shooting technique. For example, we used virtual shooting to control the linkage between the background image and the mechanical device in a programmed way. ”
The crew also prepared for production a year and a half in advance, and each aerial scene will not prepare only one shooting plan, "It's really like scientific research, there are several ABC schemes." We did tests in Beijing, Fuzhou, Xiangshan and other places, and the plans were very rich and sufficient. ”
In the view of director Liu Xiaoshi, the filming and production of "The King of the Long Sky" is "both a film project and a scientific research project." ”
Aviation equipment is growing, people are growing
"The King of the Long Sky" is both a passionate Chinese-style air force blockbuster and a movie about growing up. "The movie is about the growth of a generation of young test pilots, and at the same time driving the progress of a generation of equipment. Equipment is growing, people are growing. ”
Liu Xiaoshi said that Zhang Ting, the captain played by Hu Jun, is a role model for the test flight team, "Zhang Ting took the initiative to give the chief to others, which was a very big touch for Lei Yu and Deng Fang." Everyone thinks it's important, but Zhang Ting doesn't care at all, because he wants to motivate everyone to compete and improve their abilities. Only by experiencing these can Lei Yu and them truly grow.
Including the sacrifice of Zhang Brigade. He and Lei Yu talked about who skydived first, and Team Zhang lied to him. Because someone must drive the plane out of the city and into no man's land in order to completely parachute. This is all the influence of a person's heart, allowing Lei Yu to complete his growth. ”
In the film, Lei Yu and Deng Fang go from competitors who look down on each other to join hands with each other to complete difficult tasks and become real comrades-in-arms. The formation of this friendship is also very moving in Liu Xiaoshi's opinion.
Trials and transformations again and again have allowed Lei Yu to have a complete growth line. Among them, the episode where he is sent to wrap an umbrella after making a mistake is rare in similar Air Force movies, which stems from the advice provided by Air Force leaders. Before the filming began, Liu Xiaoshi led the creative team to visit the umbrella room, and saw the umbrella bag worker like a skilled craftsman, carefully filling a mess of rope into the umbrella barrel, which inspired him.
"Once a parachute charterer is negligent in the parachute charter process, it can have a particularly large impact on the landing and safety of the aircraft. At that time, we felt that this was very important for the growth of the characters, so we wrote it in the story. Learning the process of umbrella wrapping made Lei Yu more aware of his mission and inspired him to devise ideas to alleviate the problem of aircraft tail rotation.
As a newcomer actor, Lei Yu, played by Wang Yibo, brought many surprises to director Liu Xiaoshi. "Now Lei Yu, Wang Yibo is very suitable, he should play such a person. Yibo is a very polite and thoughtful person, and so is Lei Yu. ”
"He's a very sensual actor who gets into situations very quickly. When he performed many scenes for the first time, I was quite surprised, and many details were completely his own play. "For example, the first scene in the filming of the movie is Lei Yu falling into the sheepfold," he pulled out from under the umbrella, he looked at the sky. At this look, I think he can put himself completely into the situation after a pilot falls into a sheepfold. ”
"In the more than 100 days we filmed, he never was late once, and every day was very dedicated, whether it was dangerous or sinful episodes, he did not compromise to execute the completion." Liu Xiaoshi recalled.
Write Chinese stories and do not blindly imitate Western films
Test pilots are dancers on the tip of a knife and warriors in the blue sky. They broke through the limit again and again to test the limits of new aircraft and explore new fighters that roared into the sky.
"The biggest difference between test pilots and front-line combatants is that one has to overcome himself and the other has to defeat his opponent. The target of front-line combatants is the enemy, and test pilots need to improve their flight ability, aviation theoretical knowledge, and overcome fear. There's a line in the movie that says, "The new generation of test pilots are designers and engineers who can fly." "They have to know not only practice and theory, but also design technology.
Liu Xiaoshi believes that it is necessary to approach the current group of test pilots, to feel, see, and observe, in order to write their stories well. "We must write our own stories Chinese, we cannot blindly imitate Western films. They ride motorcycles, we also ride motorcycles in the movie, Chinese soldiers are not like that; They go to bars, we go too, our troops do not do so. ”
The film has a hopeful ending, Lei Yu replaces the captain Zhang Ting, driving the plane across the football field, fulfilling Zhang Ting's son's wish. The growth story of Lei Yu and the younger generation and their dreams of flying continue, and Liu Xiaoshi revealed that "King of the Long Sky" does not rule out plans to make a sequel.
He hopes that the audience can understand the spiritual outlook of contemporary young test pilots and soldiers through "King of the Long Sky", so that more and more people can understand the difficulties behind the development of Continental Airlines, and inspire the next generation to embrace the beautiful ideal of loving flight.
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