After arriving at Qingchi and settling down in the hotel, Zhang Ran met with the leaders of the county, and then, accompanied by the county magistrate, went straight to Laoshupo Village. Laoshupo Village is halfway up the mountainside, there is no road, and vehicles can't drive up, so they can only park at the bottom of the mountain. In order to facilitate the parking of the crew's vehicles, the county government opened a temporary parking lot at the foot of the mountain.

At the entrance of the parking lot, Zhang Ran saw several reporters who were stopped outside. The person in charge of the county co-production office told Zhang Ran that the county government specially hired dozens of villagers as security guards, and at the same time, it was also equipped with police and armed police to protect outsiders, so as to ensure that the filming information of the film would not be leaked. The person in charge also told Zhang Ran that the county government also provided a group of female staff wearing costumes with the word "cleaning" to carry various items and provide cleaning and miscellaneous services for the crew.

Zhang Ran and the county leaders walked along the mountain road for more than ten minutes and came to Laoshupo Village.

When Zhang Ran went to Laoshupo Village a few months ago, the doors and windows of the houses here were blocked with stones, and the walls and roofs of many houses were broken. The stones that had blocked the doors and windows had been removed, and the holes in the walls and roof had been filled. Many of the houses have been renovated, but after the renovation, the art part has been renovated, and there is no sign of renovation at all.

On the day when the filming of "Year, Month and Day" officially started, the crew's bus, as well as large box trucks such as lights, costumes, and props, lined up in a long line, opened the road by police cars, and drove to Laoshupo Village.

When Zhang Ran and the others arrived at the parking lot at the foot of the mountain, there were people on the third floor and the outer three floors outside, and nearby villagers came over on motorcycles, bicycles, and even tractors, all wanting to see how the movie was made. In addition, there are a large number of journalists waiting to report, as well as fans who have come from all over the country. However, the police and security guards on duty were very responsible, and they stopped all these people outside and did not let them in.

After the crew's vehicles were parked, the crew quickly set up a blue tent outside Laoshupo Village as the crew's base camp, and then moved all kinds of equipment from the bottom of the mountain to the base camp, and then began to debug the equipment.

The scene to be filmed today is the first scene of the movie, that is, the scene of worshipping the sky. This scene will be filmed from different angles from the air and the ground, and drones will be used. After arriving at the set, the three drone operators carefully inspected the drone, turned on the remote control, let the drone slowly rise into the air, and began to conduct various tests on the aircraft.

The roar of the drone attracted the attention of the onlookers, and everyone saw the "strange thing" in the air and began to discuss enthusiastically: "Oh, what is that? Is it a flying saucer?"

"Nonsense, flying saucers are alien things, how can the crew have flying saucers!"

"That's right, it's supposed to be a model flying saucer, a prop used to make movies!"

The reporters on the scene didn't know the drones, they had similar views to the onlookers, thinking that they were props in the movie, and thought that Zhang Ran's new film was really a science fiction film, so many reporters drew up the title of the news in their hearts, called "Zhang Ran's new film Qingchi started shooting, and a mysterious aircraft appeared on the set".

The extras quickly changed their clothes and, under the leadership of Zhou Xiaoxi, came to the altar at the head of the village. This time, Zhou Xiaoxi put a lot of effort into the selection of the masses, and screened the villagers of more than a dozen nearby villages, and only a dozen of them were selected in one village, both old and young, but the ones selected were all relatively thin and dark.

Assistant director Guo Fan stood on the altar, holding a loudspeaker and said loudly: "Everyone be quiet and listen to Director Zhang tell us about the play!"

Zhang Ran knew that for these extras who had never acted, the most important thing was to let them relax, and said with a pleasant face: "Our drama is about a great drought, and in the past, when there was a great drought, we had to sacrifice to the sky, or to the dragon king." It is necessary to set up an altar at the head of the village, place offerings, set up two water tanks, tie a dog between the two tanks, and let the dog's head turn up to the sky and bark violently at the sun! Generally speaking, after a few days, it will rain! You will play the role of a villager participating in the worship of heaven, and all you have to do is to worship the sky with Teacher Li Xuejian! When the time comes, you just listen to Teacher Li Xuejian's command, and if he tells you to kneel, everyone will kneel! He tells everyone to kowtow, and everyone will kowtow!"

Zhang Ran looked at the many extras and said: "This scene is very simple, it is similar to our usual ancestor worship, everyone listen to Mr. Li Xuejian's password, just follow him! There is a place where I remind you a little, we will use drones for today's shooting!" Speaking of this, Zhang Ran pointed to the drone in the air: "The voice of the drone is relatively loud, and when the official performance is held, everyone must not go to see the drone, if you look at it, you will wear it out, and you will have to start again." ”、

Soon, Li Xuejian, who had put on makeup and changed his clothes, rushed over, and folklore experts also rushed over. There is a special process for the Great Drought Festival, Zhang Ran doesn't understand this, and no one in the crew understands it. In order to truly reproduce the scene of the sacrifice, the crew specially recruited folklore experts and invited people to the crew to ensure the accuracy of the sacrifice process.

Under the guidance of folklore experts, Li Xuejian began rehearsals with extras. Li Xuejian stood in the center of the altar, saying the words of worshipping the sky, and then took the lead in kneeling and kowtowing......

It was quickly half past nine, and the preparations for the shoot were almost done, and only the question of the light remained.

This is a scene to worship the sky, it must be filmed under the scorching sun, there must be a bright sun, and there must be a very strong light, so that the audience will feel very hot when they see it.

If it is half past eleven, it is the toplight time, and the sun is overhead, so you can't shoot the sun. The ideal time to shoot is between 10 and 11 o'clock and between 2:30 and 3 p.m. If it weren't for this time period, the effect would be worse.

Shooting in the studio, the crew can arrange the light according to the needs of the plot, but there is no way to shoot in real time, so the film shooting often depends on the weather.

Zhang Ran, Zhang Jingchu, and Zhao Fei sat in the "base camp" of the crew chatting, Yang Ying hurriedly walked in and said excitedly: "Director, Minister Wang of the Provincial Propaganda Department is here to visit the class!"

Hearing that the provincial propaganda minister came to visit the class, Zhang Ran shook his head helplessly. Filming in a local area, this kind of thing is always unavoidable, and it is very time-consuming, but you can't stop it, after all, the crew also needs the support of government departments.

Zhang Ran came out of the tent, and he didn't go far before he saw a group of official-looking people walking in this direction, some of whom he had seen, were city and county leaders. The group of officials also saw Zhang Ran and walked over with a smile on their faces.

"Minister Wang, let me introduce you. Seeing Zhang Ran coming, the head of the Propaganda Department of the Municipal Party Committee smiled and introduced to the officials around him: "This is the internationally renowned director Zhang Ran!" and introduced to Zhang Ran: "Director Zhang, this is Comrade Wang Jianguo, Minister of the Provincial Propaganda Department." ”

Seeing Zhang Ran, Wang Jianguo stretched out his hand with a smile and said enthusiastically: "Director Zhang, hello! It's a pleasure to meet you, I'm your loyal fan! I took the liberty to come this time, I hope it didn't disturb your filming work!"

Seeing that the other party was so polite, Zhang Ran smiled and said: "Minister Wang is polite! The crew's preparations for filming are almost done, and now they are waiting for the sun, and they can't start filming until almost 10 o'clock, and they are all idle now." ”

The two sides had a brief exchange and made a cliché. Wang Jianguo said that Zhang Ran's film can be filmed in Qingchi, which is the best publicity for Qingchi and Luoyang to enhance their external popularity and influence, and asked the city and county to fully cooperate and provide good services. Zhang Ran naturally expressed his gratitude to the government departments for their support to the film, and said that he and the peak of the century will definitely come back here to shoot and contribute to the local cultural industry.

After the cliché was finished, Wang Jianguo called the accompanying staff over, first handed a box of souvenirs to Zhang Ran, and then hugged a box of mineral water and handed it to Zhang Ran, he told Zhang Ran that he knew that the crew was filming very hard, so he brought a little souvenirs and mineral water to everyone. Zhang Ran expressed his gratitude to Wang Jianguo, and then asked the crew to distribute the gifts to everyone.

Zhang Ran took Wang Jianguo and his entourage to visit the set, and then took them to the "base camp". Zhang Ran briefly introduced the process of 3D shooting, and then called Li Xuejian, Wang Luodan and several other actors to the tent, and made a brief introduction, and then introduced the content and shooting requirements of the drama "Years, Months and Days".

Only at this time did Wang Jianguo know that Zhang Ran was not making a science fiction film, but a "Chinese version of the Old Man and the Sea". Of course, as long as it is Zhang Ran's movie, no matter what the subject matter is, the media and audiences at home and abroad will not pay less attention.

It was 10 o'clock and the ideal time for the shoot was up. All departments of the crew were in place and began to make final preparations before filming, and more than a dozen pyrotechnicians used the equipment they had prepared to set off smoke on the scene.

Smoke is a tool often used in movies, and good use of smoke effects can not only create an atmosphere, but also better reflect the beam and dyeing effect of the light, enhance the layering of light, and enhance the perspective relationship of the filmed picture. Akira Kurosawa is a master of using smoke, and he is particularly fond of using it to create atmosphere.

Zhang Ran was influenced by Akira Kurosawa and also liked to use smoke, and the presence of smoke was always indispensable in his films, and "Years, Months and Days" is the one in which he used smoke the most.

There are two main considerations for the use of smoke in "Years, Months and Days", one is because the movie is shot at 60 frames, and 60 frames shooting will make the movie picture smoother and the 3D effect better, but it also brings a problem, the picture is too clear and will lose the texture of the movie. Peter Jackson filmed The Hobbit at 48 frames, but many viewers reacted like a TV series than a movie. Releasing smoke on set increases airborne particulate matter, which softens the picture and adds texture to the film.

Another reason is that the movie is about a drought, and in order to make the audience feel the scorching sensation brought by the drought, in addition to the extensive use of backlighting, another way is to arrange a faint smoke effect. Usually people describe the sun as fierce, and they would say that the ground is smoking. The faint smoke on the set, combined with the fierce sunlight, gives people the feeling that the ground is smoking, and the scorching atmosphere comes out at once!

Wang Jianguo smelled the smoke released by the pyrotechnic master with a faint aroma of coffee, and was a little curious: "I have been to other crews to visit classes before, and I have also seen smoke, and the smoke released by other crews is more unpleasant, but your smoke is actually fragrant, and it also smells of coffee!"

Zhang Jingchu explained: "The smoke we put is evaporated by mixing coffee beans with cooking oil, and domestic crews generally use smoke cakes, which smell more unpleasant, and actors will feel a sore throat after smelling it for a long time." Zhang Ran is more considerate of the actors, and uses coffee beans and cooking oil, which will not cause harm to the actor's body, but the cost is relatively high, and the cost of an hour is thousands of yuan. ”

When the smoke gradually faded away and could only be seen faintly, Zhang Ran picked up the walkie-talkie and said loudly: "Each group prepares, let's start shooting!"