For example, in Li Kangsheng's movie "Missing", the grandmother lost her grandson and asked someone on the overpass, the camera followed the pedestrian from left to right, and then the pedestrian shook his head and didn't know, and the camera followed another pedestrian back from right to left, and went back and forth several times like a see-saw, which is a see-saw long shot.

The reason why Zhang Yimou was shocked was because this was a large-scale war scene, and it was relatively rare to use a see-saw pan long shot.

In fact, epic movies especially like to use panning or panning shots of large vistas, which can reflect the vastness of the scene and maximize the grandeur of the scene. Among them, the pan lens is used more, the panning lens is relatively simple, you only need to shake the lens, and the traversal must lay a guide rail, which is more troublesome. For example, the work "Yellow Earth", which marks the real rise of the fifth generation of directors, opens with a panning lens, which presents a loess plateau with endless ravines and mounds, and great ups and downs after years of erosion, conveying a feeling of heaviness and depression.

The advantage of using a see-saw horizontal long lens in war scenes is that with the camera moving back and forth, the audience can see more content, and the magnificence of the war scenes can be expressed to the greatest extent, making the movie an epic temperament. However, there are a lot of actors in this kind of shot, involving the scheduling of thousands of people, and countless explosive points, and every link must be well coordinated. It is a huge test for the director, for the actors, and for the entire crew. For example, in the movie "Armageddon", most of the macro scenes of the war used horizontal lenses, but did not use long lenses that used a saw-saw type of horizontal movement. In the history of cinema, only the Soviet director Bondarchuk dared to play like this, and the most representative work of which is "War and Peace".

Speaking of the see-saw traversing long shot, Zhang Ran also shook his head: "We rehearsed this shot for more than half a month just by rehearsing, but there was still a problem during the actual shooting, and it took three shots to pass, and it took us more than a month to shoot this shot alone." I was going to shoot five long see-saw shots, but I ended up shooting only two, and the rest were replaced with normal pan shots. No way, it's really too complicated. I really envy Bondarchuk, if you can give me five years and give me tens of thousands of troops, I will definitely be able to make a war film that is even more awesome than "War and Peace". But now it's impossible, there will never be another film like that, it belongs only to that era, and if you want to reproduce a film like "War and Peace", you can't do it again with the Soviet Union!"

Zhang Yimou nodded, when filming "Golden Armor", he was going to try a saw-and-saw panning long shot in the scene of the Chrysanthemum Terrace battle, but he calculated the time and the cost, and finally gave up. Films like "Saving Private Ryan" can be learned, while the Soviet version of "War and Peace" is something that you can't learn if you want to, and you can only look up to it.

The Soviet version of "War and Peace" is a huge production that took five years to complete, and the film was shot with the great assistance of the Soviet military, using 125,000 actors and 35,000 horses, and each soldier has his own weapons and uniforms, which is equal to the number of people on the front line of Napoleon's campaign that year, which is equivalent to fighting the war all over again, becoming one of the films with the most extras. Among them, the war scenes of the third part of "War and Peace" and "1812" can be said to be a classic that has never been seen before or since, and director Bondarchuk's use of the camera and scene scheduling is really superb.

Zhang Yimou is a fan of Akira Kurosawa, and Akira Kurosawa's most famous directing method is scene scheduling, but in Zhang Yimou's opinion, Bondarchuk's scheduling ability in "War and Peace" is three points stronger than Akira Kurosawa.

It is no exaggeration to say that "War and Peace" is the world's first in terms of large-scale scene scheduling. In Lu Chuan's words, Hollywood directors have nothing but kneel in front of Bondarchuk's "War and Peace."

Zhang Yimou sighed and said, "Yes, it is indeed difficult to reproduce a movie like "War and Peace", as you said, that kind of movie can only belong to that era." ”

The movie continues to play, and as the plot unfolds, Zhang Yimou has completely entered the story, no longer looking at the movie from the director's eyes, just like a movie fan, watching the movie with an appreciative eye.

However, when the long shot of ultra-low-altitude cruising appeared, Zhang Yimou was shocked and the whole person was dumbfounded. Zhang Yimou knows that Zhang Ran is a director who likes to innovate, and there are always a lot of new things in Zhang Ran's movies, and sure enough, this time is no exception, but this shot is so amazing!

When the long shot of ultra-low-altitude cruising was over, Zhang Yimou couldn't help but ask: "How was this shot shot?" Definitely not a cannon, the cannon can't shake a few kilometers away, and it wasn't shot by a helicopter, how did this be filmed?"

Zhang Ran explained with a smile: "It was filmed by drones, and we bought ten drones for this drama, but six of them were blown up during the filming." Fortunately, the war scene has been almost filmed, otherwise I would have to order a drone. ”

When Zhang Yimou heard that it was filmed by a drone, he couldn't help asking: "Isn't a drone used for war, but can it be used to make movies?"

"The drone used to shoot is accurately called a multicopter aerial vehicle, which is different from a drone fighting a war. Zhang Ran briefly explained, and then combined with his own experience of using drones, he introduced the advantages and characteristics of drone shooting to Zhang Yimou.

After listening to Zhang Ran's introduction, Zhang Yimou said with emotion: "This ultra-low-altitude cruising long lens is too powerful, the visual impact, and the sense of presence are the top." I'm sure Bondarchuk will be shocked when he sees it. After the release of "Future Apocalypse", I don't know how many directors will follow you and learn from you!" Speaking of this, Zhang Yimou laughed: "Anyway, I'm ready to learn from you, and I am also going to try to shoot the war scene at the beginning of "The Thirteen Hairpins of Jinling"!"

Zhang Ran also laughed: "Hollywood attaches great importance to sexual technology, and I also hope that our domestic directors can use more new technologies, so that we can catch up with Hollywood." ”

After a brief exchange of two sentences, Zhang Yimou continued to watch the film, he watched it very attentively, sometimes frowning slightly, sometimes his eyes lit up, and sometimes shaking his head and sighing.

The more than fifty-minute movie footage was quickly watched, and the lights came on.

Zhang Yimou sat in front of his chair in a trance, he remembered that someone said that there are two kinds of film masters, one is to open up the film vocabulary and extend the expressiveness of film, they are technical masters, such as Eisenstein to montage, Griffith to editing, and the other master uses film to express profound philosophical thoughts and profound thoughts, they are ideological masters, such as Bergman for doubt, Antonioni for alienation.

Zhang Yimou doesn't know what kind of film master Zhang Ran will become, Zhang Ran seems to have both characteristics, but Zhang Yimou knows that Zhang Ran will definitely become a master on par with such a great name.

Zhang Ran looked at Zhang Yimou and asked, "Lao Mou, after watching the movie clips, you should have a better understanding of the overall style of the movie, give me some advice!"

Zhang Yimou doesn't know what to say about "Future Apocalypse", although he hasn't watched the whole film, the special effects of the movie have not been completed, and there are a lot of green screens, but he already knows what the movie will look like in the end. He was really jealous of Zhang Ran, and hoped that he would be able to shoot such a work, but he knew that he would never be able to shoot it. In the face of Zhang Ran's movie, all he felt was helplessness, powerlessness, and deep frustration.

Zhang Yimou stood up and said with emotion: "I really don't have any opinions, I don't know how to describe it, I can only say that if my generation can make such a movie, then as a director, then I will not live in vain." This film is too powerful, especially those panning shots, the lens moves horizontally, and the characters in the lens move vertically, the sense of space in the whole picture is particularly strong, plus the dust and smoke columns caused by the explosion, and the drones in the air, make the picture space particularly three-dimensional. It's been a long time since I've seen such a complicated movie scheduling, and the last time I saw such a complicated scheduling should have been "Armageddon"!"

When it comes to scheduling, Zhang Ran is a little interested: "Most of my scheduling is made through special effects, and it can't be compared with the completely live-action scheduling of "Armageddon"!"

Zhang Yimou said: "The most powerful thing about this movie is the style, which gives people a particularly classical feeling, using a lot of long-range horizontal shots, just like classical oil paintings, which are particularly thick and epic, but also very modern, with ultra-low-altitude cruises, various close-range explosions and follow-ups, through the flesh and blood of the characters, heart-rending screams, people feel the destruction of life by war." This film seems to be a combination of Soviet war films and Hollywood war films, but without the slightest sense of incongruity, it blends particularly perfectly. I don't know what to say, I can only say that it's so powerful, I can't shoot such a film to death!"

Hearing this, Zhang Ran laughed, both classical and modern, this is the effect he thought of: "Now I am relieved, it seems that the hard work of the past few months has not been in vain." It's getting late, it's time for dinner, let's go eat!"

Zhang Yimou smiled: "Don't say it, I'm really a little hungry." You are the head snake of the earth, what you eat and how you eat I will listen to your arrangement. ”

Zhang Ran groaned: "Since you have come to Ireland, I will take you to taste Irish food!"

Coming out of the hotel, Zhang Ran took Zhang Yimou to a restaurant called Chapter 1, which is a well-known Michelin-starred restaurant in the local area, and has won many awards for food and service. The food continues the traditional Irish style, but with enough innovation.

The two found a place in the restaurant, ordered the food, and chatted while eating. Zhang Yimou told Zhang Ran that after more than four months of intense construction, the construction of the "Jinling Thirteen Hairpins" filming scenic spot located in Jinling Shiqiu Film and Television Base has come to an end, and major building properties such as churches have been completed. However, the war ruins scene is still being built, this is more laborious than repairing the church, brick by brick has to be done according to the drawings, even the gravel and broken bricks on the ground have to be done according to the plan, and the entire ruin scene is about to be built in mid-December.

The other part of the interior will be filmed at the studio of the Century Film City in Lin'an. The construction of Century Shadow Capital began at the beginning of the year, and now the main construction of the complex building, the gate square area and the first group of the first studio area is almost complete, and it will be completely completed by the beginning of October. At that time, the special effects team of "The Thirteen Hairpins of Jinling" will go to the studio to set up the scenes, and these interior scenes are relatively simple, it will not take too much time, and they will definitely be completed before the film is shot.

In addition, the actresses of "The Thirteen Hairpins of Jinling" have been training since July, and it is Zhang Ran's student Guo Zhen who trains them. To build a group of campus girls into the dusty women of 70 years ago is also a small challenge for Guo Zhen. However, Zhang Yimou is quite confident in Guo Zhen, after all, she is Zhang Ran's student, and there is absolutely no problem in ability.

After introducing the preparations for "The Thirteen Hairpins of Jinling", Zhang Yimou looked at Zhang Ran and said slowly: "Zhang Ran, in fact, I came here this time because I want to talk to you about something." ”