Boom Boom -- In the clear blue sky, more than a dozen ordinary white helicopters with the MNU logo and five armed helicopters painted with camouflage were hovering in their respective positions. On an ordinary helicopter, Wang Yang, who was fastened with his seat belt, stood at the hatch, listening to the loud roar of the propeller turning, and he looked through the viewfinder in his hand at the slums of Soweto below.

Located south of Johannesburg's city centre, the Soweto Slum is the largest slum in Africa, now covering an area of 120 square kilometres, including 33 towns and nine black tribes, including Xhosa and Zulu. Unlike other slums, it also has some brick houses, even beautiful big houses built by rich black people, but the area below the helicopter is full of dilapidated tin huts, and the roofs are full of bricks, rags and other debris.

"Please fly to the right and try thirty meters first!" Wang Yang shouted to the driver's seat, and Brandon, the pilot controlling the helicopter, gave a thumbs up and said, "Roger!" There was also a flight worker on the helicopter, and several members of the film crew such as Harry George and the gaffer holding the camera.

After Wang Yang gave the order, the helicopter immediately rumbled to the right, the wind was blowing in his face, blowing his hair flying, and his cheeks were a little painful, he kept paying attention to the picture in the viewfinder, and when he saw that it was adjusted to a suitable lens direction, he shouted: "Stop!"

At the entrance to the slum below, on the potholed dirt road, there were more than 30 white mine-protected armored vehicles, as well as a few camouflage armed combat vehicles, all on standby. The shots that will be taken are mainly connected images, such as the murderous driving of the armored convoy into the ninth district, the air force skimming through the sky, and so on.

In order to shoot these shots well, and to shoot them quickly and time-saving and labor-saving, the crew had already prepared and practiced moving during the rehearsals; there were also eight cameras shooting in all directions, three in the air, commanded by Wang Yang, and five on the ground, with Valay Pfister in charge, in front of the convoy, behind the convoy, and in front of the foreground...... Each machine has an assistant director or camera assistant in charge to capture a wide range of footage from different angles.

"Well, good location. Wang Yang put down the viewfinder around his neck, picked up the walkie-talkie on his waist, and said, "Varley, Varley, this is Yang." Are you all ready?over. Immediately, the intercom sounded Vary's somewhat hoarse voice: "Everything is ready, over." Wang Yang snorted and said, "Entering the final inspection stage, the 'lightning operation' will officially start in five minutes, over." ”

He put down the walkie-talkie with a smile, looked back, and said, "Hey, fat guy, what are you doing standing there?"

I saw Harry George, who was holding the camera, moving over slowly, his fat face was full of nervousness, and his voice trembled: "Dude, I think I seem to be a person who is afraid of heights, so scared ......" Wang Yang laughed, held the hatch and stretched out his feet to kick the fat man, and scolded with a smile: "Damn fatty, who are you fooling! If you say another word, I will kick you down!"

In the rumble, everyone on the helicopter suddenly laughed, and Harry George also swept away his nervousness, resolutely raised his head, raised the camera and said, "Okay, I'm a warrior!"

"Fat guy, remember?" Wang Yang looked at Harry with a beard, and suddenly remembered something, as if it was a long, long time ago, and as if it was a few days ago, he smiled and said, "Donald and Heaton." A trace of doubt flashed on Harry's fat face, he thought about it with a frown, and suddenly laughed: "Ah! "Donald and Heaton", a panoramic overhead shot!"

Wang Yang smiled and nodded, as they pointed at the TV at McDonald's and discussed how a set of crossover montages of "Donald and Heaton" should be filmed...... He looked at the blue sky and white clouds outside and the miniature slum below, spread his hands and said, "Boom, this is the helicopter." Harry looked under the helicopter, his eyes were full of flying energy, and he took a deep breath: "This is the panoramic overhead shot!"

"Okay, let's take our places!" Wang Yang slapped his palms a few times, everyone answered and picked up their equipment, he said to the walkie-talkie: "This is Yang, everyone listen, when you are ready, you should respond, over." The other seven cameras replied, "Ready," and "All set...... Wang Yang took a deep breath, looked at the convoy on the ground and the helicopter group around him in the distance, and shouted: "Guys, lightning action, action!"

With a start, the armored convoy suddenly started, one by one into the slum within the wall, the helicopter group in the air also flew according to the predetermined track, when the convoy slowly stopped, each white armored car immediately jumped out of a group of MNU security guards, the site manager of the ninth district and others, each of them walked to the dilapidated tin houses on the four sides around.

"cut!" Seeing that the performance process of this shot was finished, Wang Yang shouted to stop, and asked Vary-Slant and the others through the machine: "How is it?"

There are no actors performing in this kind of shot, and there are no stunt problems with it, so the key is whether the photographers can do their job well. Harry George gave a thumbs up and smiled, "Director, I don't have a problem here!" The voices of Varley and others also came from the machine one by one: "Very well shot!" and "Perfect performance." ”…… Wang Yang hummed happily and shouted, "Then guys, let's prepare the next set of shots!

Today is the 10th day of the crew of "District 9" in South Africa, and as early as the filming stage in Vancouver, producer Stephen McCormi came to Johannesburg to arrange things, including finding suitable slum areas, dealing with local governments, security companies, and renting these helicopters and armored vehicles...... As soon as the crew arrived in Joburg, Wang Yang identified several scenes in Soweto on the first day, and started filming on the second day, everyone's efficiency and enthusiasm were very high, hoping to finish filming early and go home early for Christmas.

Less than three months have passed since 911, and at this moment when everyone is a frightened bird, almost all the crews have canceled the filming plan, or Australia, Hong Kong and other places, and the whole of Hollywood is unwilling to leave the United States, "District 9" went to South Africa, and it is still a slum full of dangers. The media called it "If you want a movie, don't die", fans and fans also sent their blessings, hoping that Magic Young and the entire crew can return safely.

In fact, Soweto is not as dangerous as imagined, the most dangerous slum in South Africa is Durban's "homicide capital" Kawa-Mashu (kwa-mashu), of course, Soweto is not a utopia, in addition to hiring more than a dozen professional bodyguards in the Israeli Army expert security company in the United States, and also signed a contract with the local nicholls-steyn &associates company in Joburg, responsible for the whole security work. In terms of security, the crew spent at least $3 million before and after.

Don't drive around, lock the doors when driving, don't park for strangers, bring your own change, and don't resist when robbed...... However, these hidden dangers are not high for the crew, because everyone is either under heavy protection and driving to Soweto in armored vehicles, or they stay quietly in a hotel in the center of Joburg, and no one is here for tourism.

The filming work in Soweto went smoothly, basically within expectations, and the crew did not have any conflicts with the locals, and before leaving, Wang Yang instructed every member of the team to respect each other with the locals! After arriving in the slum to determine the filming location, the crew sent a lot of gifts to the local children, including chocolates, Coca-Cola and other food, as well as sports goods such as football, basketball, and rugby, and some toys; in addition, they also had to fund the construction of more than a dozen basketball hoops.

These actions changed the attitude of the locals towards them from "hostility" to "suspicion", and they agreed to their framing, and some of the people who were ready to make a move, in the face of the bodyguards with loaded guns, did not dare to make any rash moves.

"No. 13, please move about ten meters to the left!" Wang Yang looked at the sky outside through the viewfinder and ordered the communicator to adjust the position of the helicopters. The helicopter carrying them hovered sideways, with a swarm of helicopters directly in front of the hatch, and the next shot was to be shot of them flying in unison towards the alien spacecraft, and now in formation.

With his words, a helicopter on the left suddenly moved. Looking at the roar of nearly twenty helicopters and setting up their positions, Wang Yang nodded and said to Harry George next to him: "Man, get ready." Harry gasped and crouched down, pointing the camera forward. Wang Yang looked back at the driver's seat and shouted, "Blanton, when I shout to start, you can control it to rise slowly, ok?"

"Roger!" Blanton replied loudly. Wang Yang used the viewfinder to confirm it again, then picked up the communicator and shouted, "Everyone is ready!" After a while, he shouted again: "3, 2, 1, action!"

Boom boom - in the blue sky, under the scorching sun, a huge group of helicopters flew ahead, where there were no alien spaceships, only a blue sky, and the slums below, and Johannesburg in the distance.

"Mom, come out and see, there are so many planes!" At the door of the rusty tin house, a black child sitting on the ground playing with mud suddenly jumped up excitedly, looked up at the helicopter group flying overhead, and shouted excitedly while jumping in the roar of "rumbling"......: "There are so many planes!"

(To be continued)