An extra's position is generally the work of the assistant director, but now it is a long shot to be filmed, the extras are not a human background, everyone has specific requirements for how to walk and what actions to do, Zhang Ran can only come by himself, and personally demonstrate the performance actions and positions for them.

Zhang Ran finished talking to the soldier who played the robot, and then to the tanker who was in charge of the attack. The tanks were rented from the Irish military, a total of ten tanks, five armored vehicles, including the driver, and each tank cost $1,000 for an hour. If you rent fifteen cars for 8 hours a day, it is 120,000 yuan a day, and 1.2 million yuan for ten days, which is really very expensive.

However, Zhang Ran believes that the cost is worth it, as long as he can make his own ideas, the visual impact of the movie on the audience will not be worse than watching "Saving Private Ryan" for the first time.

In fact, these tanks and armored vehicles will not really appear in the final frame of the movie, after all, the war in 50 years will not have the 2010 tank. During the actual shooting, these tanks will be covered with green cloth, and they will be cut off by the special effects artist in the later stage. The reason why these tanks are used is to add special effects positioning to the special effects artist in the later stage, if there is nothing in the picture to tell the special effects artist, how to add the tank, where the location is, then it will be difficult to achieve the desired effect of the special effects.

Chen Kaige's "Wuji" is a particularly obvious example, the cows in the bull running scene are simply hanging in the air, which is that there is no fake cow on the scene to locate it in the early stage, and the special effects artist can't get it in the later stage. Doing special effects is not only done in the later stage, but also in the early stage, especially Zhang Ran's play, the two sides of the battle are tactical, and only by making sufficient preparations in the early stage can they make realistic effects in the later stage.

After talking to the robot side, Zhang Ran came to the other end of the set and told the human soldiers and tanks how to move. After telling them, Zhang Ran called Matt Damon and several main actors over and gave them a one-on-one lecture.

After the play, each group of actors, under the leadership of the assistant director and pyrotechnician, rehearsed according to the area, and at this time, Zhang Ran, Williams and the special effects team began to communicate with the drone controller, telling them how to fly, where there will be explosions, what the effect will be, and what kind of picture they want.

After some communication, the drone operator lifted the drone into the air and began to test shoot according to Zhang Ran's requirements. This unmanned aerial vehicle is very different from the drone used to fight the war, it looks like an octopus, and the accurate name is a multi-rotor aerial photography aircraft, which is the case with domestic DJI drones.

Throughout the morning, the crew spent all the time in group drills, and in the afternoon the crew began to practice together.

Zhang Ran took the walkie-talkie and issued a password: "Each group is ready to be in place, we are ready to carry out the first rehearsal!"

Soon the actors were in place, the staff were in place, and Zhang Ran issued the final command: "Go!"

As the command "start" sounded, the tanks and soldiers playing the robot army launched a charge towards the human troops with a roar, and the human troops immediately began to organize a counterattack, and the whole set burst into gunfire.

Zhang Ran sat behind the monitor, watched the aerial shooting effect, and kept giving instructions: "Very good, very good! Keep going! Group A Adams troops are ready, the camera is coming soon! Matt Damon, get ready......

Ten minutes later, the aerial footage was copied to the computer, and the effect of viewing through the 42-inch large screen was much clearer than the small screen of the monitor, and it was clear that the cooperation between the actors was relatively unfamiliar, just to write down their respective movements and sequences, not at all like the army that has always been able to fight skillfully; These can only be corrected through rehearsals to achieve the best results.

However, after watching the pictures taken by the drone, Zhang Ran was still so excited that he clapped his hands and praised it, and Williams, who watched the replay of the camera together, and Robert De Niro and others were also shocked.

This is still a picture without special effects, and after the special effects are added, the effect is absolutely shocking!

Zhang Ran picked up the walkie-talkie and shouted, "Everyone rest for ten minutes, and we will rehearse again after ten minutes!"

Ten minutes later, the rehearsal began again.

This afternoon, the crew has been rehearsing, and after this afternoon of hard rehearsals, the cooperation between the actors, and between the actors and the drones is more proficient. Whether it's the attacking robot soldiers or the defending human army, both sides have shown their respective tactics, and they are no longer a mess.

In addition to the hot war scenes, the most important thing in war movies is to look at the contest of tactics between the two sides, what methods we use to attack, what methods the other side uses to defend, and what methods we use to kill the opponent in the end. Without tactics, there will be no offense and defense between the enemy and us, it will be tantamount to children playing and fighting, messy, and the film will lose its charm.

The current standard of domestic war films is very low, in addition to the nonsense of the content and the nonsense of weapons, a very important point is that the movie has no intention of tactical execution, firefight scenes, etc., and the audience will feel false after watching it;

Zhang Ran looked at the time, it was already half past five, and directly announced the end of work: "Gentlemen, today's shooting is over, now it's over! Everyone has worked hard today!" After speaking, he took the lead and began to applaud.

The crew and actors also put down their work and smiled and applauded. This is the tradition of Zhang Ran's crew for many years, and they will applaud when they call it a day. This applause is for others, but also for yourself, and it is an affirmation of everyone's day's work.

Next, the crew spent another day rehearsing. By the end of the afternoon, Zhang Ran saw that the actors were in position, and the actors and drones were very skillful, and at this time he announced that he would officially shoot tomorrow morning.

At five o'clock the next morning, before dawn, Zhang Ran arrived at the shooting site.

At this time, except for Matt Damon and the other leading actors, the other staff members have already arrived, and the scene has been almost arranged. Tanks and armored vehicles were covered with green cloths, the extras who played the robot soldiers were also dressed in green costumes, and several prop tanks that were about to blow up were pushed to the blast point after being covered with green cloths. After a while, Matt Damon and they also came. Matt Damon quickly changed into a military uniform, and the actor who played the human soldier changed into exoskeleton armor.

Seeing that the preparations had been done, Zhang Ran put the groups in place and rehearsed again; the results of this rehearsal were still very good, and the cooperation in all aspects was not flawless, and the overall effect was very good.

At this time, Zhang Ran announced a temporary break, and the crew will officially shoot after the "magic moment" arrives.

Anyone who knows photography knows that every day before sunrise and half an hour after sunset, the sky turns dark blue or red, which can clearly reflect the outline of all the scenes on the earth, and it looks like the effect of setting up lights from the sky and then shining on the ground.

The reason why Zhang Ran put this scene in the magic moment is not only because he hopes to shoot the picture very beautifully, but also because it is before sunrise, which is very symbolic.

Now Zhang Ran is very relieved about the actor's position, and he is also very relieved about the cooperation between the actor and the drone, and the problem he is most worried about is the cooperation between the pyrotechnician and the actor, the pyrotechnician and the drone. The actors and drones have had many rehearsals, and although the pyrotechnics have also participated in the rehearsals, they have not really detonated the explosion points during the rehearsals, and there are many explosion points, so it is really a question whether they can cooperate well.

Hollywood has particularly strict regulations on pyrotechnicians, and a pyrotechnician can generally only control one or two explosion points, and at most three. There are more than 110 explosion points in this scene, which means that the explosion of this scene is controlled by more than 30 pyrotechnicians, and Williams is generally controlled. This shot is a long shot, and there must be no problems in any link, if any pyrotechnician blows up early, or late, this shot may be scrapped and needs to be reshot.

This is the last thing Zhang Ran wants to see, he came to Williams and said solemnly: "John, I'll ask you next!"

"Don't worry, Robin. William said with great confidence, "I promise that I can do it in one go, and I will definitely be able to achieve the results you want." ”

Zhang Ran patted Williams on the shoulder and smiled: "You are the best pyrotechnician in the world, I believe in you!"

Half an hour later, the sky began to glow white, and the deep blue sky seemed to have been injected with white paint by someone, turning into a pale blue, and at the end of the sky was a white cloud, as thin as cicada wings, giving the whole sky a sense of layering.

Zhang Ran picked up the walkie-talkie and shouted: "Now clear the scene, the pyrotechnic team will check the explosion point, and the other groups are ready to shoot!"

Except for the pyrotechnician who was doing the final checks, the rest of the crew retreated to a safe distance to prepare for the final shoot. Ten minutes later, Zhang Ran got a message from William that the preparations for the explosion had been confirmed.

Zhang Ran raised his head and looked at the sky, at this time there was a glow in the sky, red and bright, and the clouds next to him were gilded, which was very spectacular. Zhang Ran knew that the morning glow was the prelude to the sunrise, and the sun was about to come out soon.

I can't wait, if I miss this moment, I will have to wait until tomorrow!

Zhang Ran took the walkie-talkie and began to order: "Prepare in one minute!"

The two assistant directors reported to Zhang Ran through walkie-talkies that both groups of tanks had been activated and were ready to set off at any time.

Zhang Ran immediately asked the assistant director in charge of the actors: "How is the situation of the extras?"

At opposite ends of the film, the two assistant directors in charge of the actors at both ends replied: "Group A is in place!" and "Group B is in place!"

Zhang Ran immediately shouted: "Turn on!

Immediately after, the five drones slowly took off into the air, flying to different positions and stopping at different heights, with the lowest being four meters from the ground and the highest being twenty meters from the ground.

Zhang Ran decreed again: "The tank is leaving! The extras are leaving!"

After Zhang Ran gave the order, the tanks of the robot side were activated, and one by one they launched an attack formation and charged towards the location of the human army. Under the cover of the tank, the extras in green costumes also moved forward frantically with weapons. On the other side, Matt Damon and the extras are also in position to counterattack the robot troops.

After a short pause, Zhang Ran shouted, "Let's go!"

With this "start", the five drones in the air slowly flew forward under the remote control of the five controllers.

Zhang Ran held the walkie-talkie, sat behind the monitor, stared at the monitor screen with a solemn expression, ready to give orders at any time, and beside him, Williams held the walkie-talkie with his right hand and put it to his mouth, his eyes were firmly fixed on the monitor screen, ready to issue the command to detonate the explosive point at any time.