Recently, a standard Hollywood popcorn movie was released in theaters.
It's called "Tornado".
A remake of the 1996 film of the same name.
It has played the name of "the latest masterpiece of the production team of "Jurassic World".
There is quite a posture to set a new benchmark for disaster films.
But after I looked at it, there were only eight words in my mind:
Decent and lackluster.
Some netizens accurately commented:
"Finding a 2-minute tornado video on the Internet is much more shocking than wasting 2 hours watching it."
When it comes to tornado-themed disaster films, people can't help but recall "Not Afraid of the Storm", which was also released in the mainland in 2014.
Looking back today, it's still the ceiling of the tornado theme.
A pseudo-documentary with a strong sense of lens substitution, and all the tornado genres.
Waterspouts, firespouts, double tornadoes, or even triple tornadoes......
So today, let's review this tornado-themed ceiling work together-
"Fearless of the Storm"
Into the Storm
2014.9.12
This storm is not small
The director of "Not Afraid of the Storm" is called Steven · Querry, who is not a top director and is not famous.
However, looking through his resume, I found that this person is not simple.
Since 1989, he has been appointed by "Card God" James · Cameron, serving as the editor, assistant director, visual effects and other positions of many of his films.
I have worked with "Card God" for many years, and I have a lot of experience in controlling this kind of VFX blockbuster.
And these experiences also gave Steven · Querrey the ability to direct "Not Afraid of the Storm".
The director has a lot of background, and he naturally spares no effort in creating.
Since you want to shoot a tornado, you have to shoot the most extreme tornado.
We know that tornadoes are graded.
The highest level is level five.
How ferocious can a level 5 tornado be?
Let's take a look at the professional explanation:
- EF5 winds exceed 200 miles per hour, or more than 322 kilometers per hour, and houses are completely blown away, cars are completely blown off, asphalt is scraped off the road, and trucks, trains, and trains are all lifted off the ground. (Very low chance of occurrence, less than 1%)
Let's take a look at how terrifying a level 5 tornado is in reality:
No color grading and no filters, this is a real tornado that takes place in the United States, like the end of the world.
United States is nicknamed the "home of tornadoes" because of its special geographical and climatic environment.
Just recently, in May, six states in the United States were hit by 26 tornadoes in a single day, 21 of which occurred in Iowa.
Art comes from reality, and "Fearless of the Storm" is set in a small town in the United States, where a tornado will occur.
For this reason, a team of wind chasers rushed to shoot when they heard the news.
But they find that something even worse is about to happen here.
Then, in just half a day, the town was swept away by multiple tornadoes that were unprecedented in history, and it suffered a catastrophe.
Among them is the huge, terrifying Category 5 tornado.
The film unfolds three clues that show the attitudes of different people in the face of tornadoes.
There is a professional team of wind chasers.
There are combinations of "fools" who want to get network traffic by shooting tornadoes.
There are also the Gary family of the male protagonist who are worried about the arrival of the tornado.
Some of them are full of anticipation, some are just joining in the fun, and some are terrified.
But no one is immune to a catastrophe of great nature.
Although the film lays out three clues, it is not redundant.
Less than 90 minutes long, no mud and water, accurate, effective, simple and bright.
The opening chapter sets the tone with several young people witnessing a terrifying tornado.
It is both to point out the theme and to "warm up" for a real disaster.
And the presentation of tornadoes is the highlight of this film.
Its visual effects can also be called first-class in the genre of disaster movies.
It's complicated and intimidating, but it doesn't feel like it's being shown.
This is thanks to its layered presentation technique.
Tornado Awards
The most commendable thing about this film is that it uses the pseudo-documentary shooting mode.
The so-called pseudo-documentary, although presented in the form of a documentary, is a choreographed shot throughout the process.
To put it simply, it is a "fake documentary" (such as "Kunchi Rock", "Ghost Record", "Deadly Videotape", etc.).
It is characterized by a fake "realism" and a lot of handheld shots.
Although the picture is shaky, the lens is coherent and the sense of substitution is very strong.
For example, the camera focuses from the hand-held camera in the car to the outside window, and the tornado is close at hand:
Another example is the team of professional photographers, who directly captured the tornado formation process:
There are also shots shot from the perspective of the characters in the film.
For example, the Wind Chaser team noticed hail in the sky, and they saw the hail from the second floor where the room was located and rushed downstairs to enter the car.
A hand-held long shot of nearly 40 seconds, coupled with the sound design of hail hitting the ground, has a strong sense of presence.
Cleverly, the director also neutralized the vertigo caused by this type of shooting:
When you enter the car, you can immediately adjust from a shaky follow-up camera to a smooth front and back shot.
If you substitute for it, you will be attracted by the "tornado layout" of the film.
It started with the Storm Chaser team spotting a relatively small tornado.
They were getting ready for the shoot, but the tornado passed them.
At this time, they did not realize the seriousness of the problem.
Meteorologists spotted a tornado heading in the direction of the town's school.
The tornado that hit the school intensified, even sweeping away individual students.
As the rage over the school ends, the tornado continues in the direction of the town's abandoned factory.
And Gary's son, Donnie, is helping his classmate Caitlin shoot his homework in this abandoned factory.
Before the two of them could react, the tornado tore the factory apart, and the two were crushed underneath the broken beams.
The first tornado to "appear" connects several important groups of characters, and at the same time allows people to see how destructive it is.
But that's just the beginning.
"Not Afraid of the Storm" not only avoids the shortcomings of the pseudo-documentary lens that is too shaky, but also the special effects are very conscientious.
Even if you pause to watch a single frame, there is no sense of disobedience.
On the contrary, I can feel the sense of fear and oppression brought by the tornado even more.
The unthinkable phenomenon of multiple tornadoes appearing at the same time made everyone realize that a new wave of danger was coming.
At this point, the director's skills and the level of the special effects team are vividly displayed.
Multiple tornadoes struck, and everywhere they went.
The realism of the graphics is amazing.
For example, the following shot:
Due to the explosion and fire of the car, the tornado blew over and quickly formed a fire tornado, which is a hellish sight.
It can be seen that the director is afraid that the audience will have visual fatigue, and he must always catch the audience's attention and attention.
After a short literary drama, the climactic scene begins.
Two giant tornadoes merge into one super giant tornado.
The moment this giant tornado appeared, I am sure that all the audience will have their eyes wide open.
It can be said to be an epic visual spectacle of disaster.
The layering of tornadoes of different sizes and shapes mobilizes the audience's psychology, and the characters in the film become more and more nervous and fearful.
At the same time, it will also cause the most direct refreshing feeling.
There are a large number of shots in the film that can make the audience feel visual refreshment + spiritual refreshment.
Here are two examples.
The first was when a giant tornado swept across the airport's tarmac and the plane was swept into the sky, achieving another way of "taking off".
This shot is both stunning and illustrates the power of a super-giant tornado.
The second is that Peter of the Wind Chaser team was swept into the center of the storm and kept rising.
The moment he was swept out of the eye of the storm, he saw golden clouds, and then quickly fell into the dark storm.
It is such a moment that the director allows us to see the magnificence of nature and the cruelty of nature at the same time.
But the audience doesn't have to go through such a disaster, they just need to see how the characters in the film are abused and how they join forces to resist the storm.
At the same time, you can also learn about the deadly danger of tornadoes.
This is the lowest logic that the film can bring to the audience.
The team behind "Fearless of the Storm" created a variety of tornado scenes based on realistic data and professional knowledge.
Therefore, the ceiling of tornado-themed movies is really not in vain.
Disaster movie textbooks
Of course, "Fearless of the Storm" is not without its drawbacks.
It also has routines and bugs.
There are also shortcomings in the creation of supporting characters, so it only has a score of 6.8 on Douban, and it even fails on IMDb.
But as a genre film of natural disasters, "Not Afraid of the Storm" meets the standards and has outstanding features.
In particular, the visuals mentioned earlier are very good and obvious to all.
Coupled with the director's diverse lens scheduling techniques and unbridled imagination.
Therefore, it is not an exaggeration to say that this film is a disaster movie.
Moreover, "Fearless of the Storm" does not appear to defy common sense of personal heroism.
After several groups of people gathered, some people were responsible for leading and some people making sacrifices, but on the whole, ordinary people helped each other.
Even a team of professional wind chasers is powerless to resist a mega-tornado and has to find a way to avoid the disaster.
Therefore, its humanistic care is also very reasonable.
From the beginning of the film, the family conflict between the father and son of Gary's family, and the conceptual gap between the members of the Wind Chaser team.
The emotional power that erupts when they help each other in the middle of the film.
to the mutual understanding and appeasement at the end of the film.
The characters have arcs, and the emotions have development.
It's clichéd, but it's true.
The different narrative lines include family, friendship, and love, but there is no deliberate sensationalism.
All emotions flow naturally, and the audience naturally understands and accepts them naturally.
For example, when Donnie wakes up after being rescued by his father, his first instinct is to ask Caitlyn how she is.
A knee-jerk call illustrates Donnie's care and love for Caitlyn.
At the end of the film, people who need to rebuild their homes face the interview camera.
There is no deliberate value and empty reasoning.
It's about telling your inner feelings.
In particular, the words of an old man are simple and moving.
In the category of disaster films, "Not Afraid of the Storm" is not a masterpiece.
But with its gorgeous and dazzling visual effects, professional and complex scene scheduling, subjective perspective lens design, and delicate and simple emotional expression.
It's definitely unique in the tornado-themed field.
Even, in the future.
It's hard for anyone to match it.