Filming is actually hard, but if you really put yourself into the process of filming, you will enjoy a lot of fun shooting. [Full text reading]

At the beginning of June, when Wang Xiaohu announced the completion of "Ip Man 2", there was a burst of jubilation on the set.

"Ip Man 2" took three months from the start of filming to the completion of the filming, from Concord Studios to Victoria Harbour, during which in addition to the actors worked the hardest, it was the crew of the crew.

In particular, Zhang Yuan, Li Hanwei, Zhang Shuping and others were busy for a prop, a set of costumes, and a scene, and after three months of suffering, they were finally finished, and these people couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief in their hearts.

"It's finally finished!"

Zhang Shuping accepts challenges every day, both physically and mentally facing the limit state, after hearing the word "finish", he suddenly felt full of tiredness, but his heart is more proud and proud.

In the cheers, Wang Xiaohu warmly shook hands with each staff member, patted them on the shoulder and said "hard work", and told them to take advantage of this time to rest after participating in the finale party.

Most of the crew went out on vacation after the film was completed, and Wang Xiaohu and several main creators had to squat in the company to engage in film editing, post-production and other work.

is still the old tradition, Wang Xiaohu personally edited, the length of this "Ip Man 2" film is twice that of "Ip Man 1", according to Wang Xiaohu's original intention: the length of the final cut of the film will be more than 120 minutes.

Some things are perfect in the eyes of others, but they are still not classic enough for Wang Xiaohu, and excellence has always been his mark to distinguish him from other filmmakers.

"Brother Hu, Uncle Hui is here, waiting for you in the recording studio." Xia Houmo walked into the editing room and said to Wang Xiaohu, who was busy editing.

Wang Xiaohu said "oh", said a few words to Zhang Zongyao, got up and walked towards the recording studio with Xiahou Mo.

In "Ip Man 1", it is Gu Jiahui who is responsible for the background music of the film, the godfather of the music world who added the icing on the cake to the wonderful action record of "Ip Man 1", making the whole film full of power and heroism, and Wang Xiaohu still preferred him to score "Ip Man 2" this time.

"Uncle Hui, I'm really sorry to make you wait."

Wang Xiaohu walked into the recording studio and saw Gu Jiahui concentrating on something, and hurriedly went up to say hello.

Gu Jiahui shook his head with a smile and said, "I just arrived, hehe." ”

"Sit!"

Wang Xiaohu asked Xiahou Mo to make tea, and immediately sat next to Gu Jiahui, and after thinking about it, he said: "Uncle Hui, I can't imagine that we will be able to join forces again to create the music of the "Ip Man" series in eleven years, I don't know how much you can add color to the film this time." ”

Gu Jiahui said: "Since I answered your call last night, I haven't slept all night, and I'm thinking about how to innovate, but I haven't watched the film yet, so I don't know what tricks you will come up with." ”

"That's all there to say." Wang Xiaohu said: "After all, the story scene of the film is transferred to Hong Kong, and there is only one purpose of the soundtrack: the rhythmic fusion of folk music and Western music is just right. ”

"Hmm!" Gu Jiahui nodded hurriedly and said: "At present, the film industry is also changing with each passing day, and it is always difficult to follow the usual old routines. Tell me about the plot first? ”

When Wang Xiaohu told the plot, Gu Jiahui had already started his brain to think.

When Wang Xiaohu told the scene of "Ip Man went to the Kwan Chung fish stall to save his apprentice", he immediately picked up the pen in his hand and quickly wrote and drew on the paper.

Wang Xiaohu stretched out his head to look and saw Gu Jiahui writing these words on the paper: "Beginning: Depression, local uneasiness, piano strings at the bottom, bells and bells, looming fear Fight: string quadruple, six, two strings intertwined, the fight is tense and uncertain: the screams match the rhythm of the soundtrack"

Wang Xiaohu has also studied music with Gu Jiahui for more than two years, and at first glance, he has written a few keywords on it and the assignment of musical instruments, and he has roughly understood that he has found inspiration for music creation.

"Good." Wang Xiaohu praised in his heart.

At this time, you can see that Gu Jiahui is not in vain as the godfather of the Hong Kong music scene, Wang Xiaohu only said the plot a few times, and elaborated on the key words in several key fight scenes, Gu Jiahui immediately wrote the fragment outline of the soundtrack along with the plot.

Don't underestimate the program of these clips, you must know that the soundtrack for the film is quite complex and locked, Wang Xiaohu relied on his familiarity with the film, and analyzed the front and back of several popular kung fu films in detail in his previous life, so that he has a general sense of direction in music.

And if he is asked to score the original film, his two brushes are really not worth mentioning in front of Gu Jiahui.

Wang Xiaohu said a plot, Gu Jiahui either pondered and thought hard, or wrote hard, Wang Xiaohu would occasionally hum a few melodies to provide inspiration for Gu Jihui's creation, and the two stayed in the recording studio for a morning, basically determining the melody of the soundtrack of the whole film.

After eating in the restaurant of Concord International at noon, Wang Xiaohu took Gu Jiahui to the editing room for a walk.

At this time, Zhang Zongyao, the chief editor of Concord International, was using computer special effects to render the beginning of the film, and Gu Jiahui was very interested after watching it, and stood aside and watched it with relish for a long time.

When filming "Ip Man 1", because there were no mature computer stunts, the martial arts movements in the film were completely concocted by Wang Xiaohu and everyone with local methods.

Now that there are computer stunts, Wang Xiaohu is indispensable to use in "Ip Man 2", of course, these computer stunts are not used in martial arts action, most of them are used to render the atmosphere of the film.

For example, Zhang Zongyao is currently working on the opening credits of "Ip Man 2": the background of the film is the early fifties of the last century.

The background production must be very characteristic of the times, otherwise there is no strong sense of substitution.

The opening chapter uses a long shot to slowly introduce the style of the rooftop of an ordinary residential house where Ip Man moved to old Hong Kong, the camera is from the bottom up, the backlit surface of the old stone brick wall facing the building is blocked in the foreground, the brightness of the picture changes from dark to bright, the picture is deliberately old, and the picture is gray and rich in texture.

Wang Xiaohu quietly explained to Gu Jiahui: "The main reason for this is to make the rhythm of the camera movement seem very vicissitudes and a little sad." After all, there are some scenes that can't be restored to the atmosphere of the 50s, and computer special effects must be used. ”

Gu Jihui nodded again and again, and said, "Can you let me see the overall rendering effect?" ”

Wang Xiaohu knew that he wanted to determine the tone of the soundtrack at the beginning of the film, so he asked Zhang Zongyao to play the cut part of the opening aside.

Gu Jiahui clasped his arms in front of his chest and squinted his eyes to look at it very seriously.

At the beginning of a paragraph of less than 1 minute, Gu Jiahui watched it back and forth three times, and after a long time, he said: "I have figured out how to score this beginning." ”

Gu Jiahui said, while pointing to the picture of thunder and rain on the screen and said: "I use some percussion and thunder to harmonize, so that it will make everyone feel heavy, you just said that the general environment in Hong Kong at that time was complicated, and Ip Man's life in Hong Kong must be extremely difficult." ”

"Yes, that's how it feels, and it's even better if you add a little erhu solo!"

After listening to Gu Jihui's exposition of the soundtrack, Wang Xiaohu applauded, that's right, it seems that he doesn't have to worry about the soundtrack

Wang Xiaohu was not happy for two days, and on the third day, Gu Jiahui came to the door with a pair of panda eyes.

"Uncle Hui, what's wrong with you?" Wang Xiaohu was a little surprised to see his appearance.

Gu Jiahui sighed tiredly, sat on the sofa in the editing room and said, "Don't mention it, didn't you make the fight more realistic." ”

It turned out that after Gu Jiahui determined the overall dubbing plan of "Ip Man 2", he did not start to create background music, but borrowed a copy of the movie "Ip Man 1" from Wang Xiaohu and took it home to watch back and forth, after all, this film was shot 11 years ago, and he can find some inspiration and innovation from it.

When studying "Ip Man 1", Gu Jiahui found that the music creation techniques of the year were indeed a bit shoddy, the most obvious is the collision sound made when the film was fighting, and the audience felt that Wang Xiaohu and others played a wonderful game that was real, that was because they were doing it in a real way, and even the sound of physical contact was really played.

Although he is very dedicated to his creation, it is now in the 80s, and there are more than a dozen batches of music equipment updated, and things that sounded very good back then are now a bit difficult to hear.

Therefore, Gu Jiahui wanted to borrow the method of onomatopoeia to create a "fist-to-flesh texture." ”

After pondering for a day and a night, Gu Jiahui's hair turned white, and he couldn't come up with a good solution, so he could only come to Wang Xiaohu for help to see if he could find creative inspiration from him.

"Xiaohu, you punch me and let me hear it!" Gu Jiahui said.

Wang Xiaohu smiled, and punched out quickly, making a huo sound.

"You have to say the word punch!" Gu Jiahui shook his head and said.

Wang Xiaohu did so, and punched ** in just one second, the sound was abnormally loud, and the wind speed driven by the fist made Gu Jiahui feel dazzling.

After Wang Xiaohu finished fighting, Gu Jihui nodded and said, "I know how to onomatopoeia." ”

Onomatopoeia is familiar to most Hong Kong filmmakers, but no film company has made a difference.

With a punch, it will be over with a "bang", which is the foley of failure.

Successful, textured, is to consider the strength of the punch, the part of the hit, and whether it will produce other sounds, etc.

Although Concord International has set up a special music group, the sisters Xiahou Mo and Xiahou Jue are not as comprehensive as Gu Jiahui's consideration after all, and they are still in a weak link in this regard.

Wang Xiaohu saw that Gu Jiahui was so concerned, and he was also interested at the moment, so he called Xiahou Mo over to discuss countermeasures together, the more times like this, the more he can let others learn.

"Xiaohu, I don't understand boxing, you have a lot of actual combat in this regard, how many sounds should you make when you hit the opponent's face head-on?" Gu Jiahui frowned and asked.

Wang Xiaohu rubbed his nose and groaned for a moment, and said: "Generally speaking, this set of movements will produce several sounds, such as the sound of muscles and joints when punching, the slight sound caused by the friction of hands and air, the sound of the opponent being hit in the back of the face jawbone and teeth, the sound of mucus mixed in the mouth, and so on. ”

"So much!"

Gu Jiahui was speechless, he never expected that there would be so many ways in an ordinary punch, and his head was as big as a bell.

"Not only these sounds, sometimes there should be various changes according to the different punches and kicks, for example, my punch is tentative, and the sound of hitting the opponent will definitely be very light, for example, I am a heavy punch, and it has to become fierce when I hit the opponent."

Wang Xiaohu said several different voice changes in one breath based on his years of practical experience, and now Gu Jiahui was completely troubled!

Because the martial arts scenes in "Ip Man 2" are far more complex than those in "Ip Man 1", not only the competition between traditional Chinese martial arts, but also the competition between Chinese martial arts and Western boxing, the onomatopoeia process is not only complex but also more refined.

Xiahou Mo, who had not spoken, suddenly said: "Uncle Hui, our recording team is participating in the live recording, can we find out the details of the sound in the half-finished picture, and then amplify and strengthen these sounds?" ”

Gu Jiahui said with a wry smile: "These can be used, but Xiaohu said: You can't let the audience play, no matter how exaggerated and gorgeous the sound is, it should be integrated with the whole film." ”

In fact, the on-site recording collection cannot solve all the sound effects of the film, because there are too many interference sounds on the set, and there are even the voices of Wang Xiaohu or Yuan Heping who are conducting on the spot, so almost all the films produced by Concord are post-production sound effects.

Gu Jiahui and Xiahou Mo fell into deep thought, their brows twisted into pimples, and Wang Xiaohu was also in a state of fugue too empty, and all three of them were thinking about how to create a "real" onomatopoeia.

There was silence in the editing room, and suddenly a clear voice came from my ears.

That kind of voice is difficult to describe, just like someone's brain has been opened, and it is a bit different to say that it is "click", but it makes Wang Xiaohu's mind flash.

But it was Yuan Biao who carried two large watermelons into the editing room, he put one of them on the table, picked up the other and smashed it down, and the watermelon was immediately divided into several sections.

"Come on, come on, everyone eat watermelon!"

The sound just now was the sound of Yuan Biao smashing open the watermelon with his fist and popping out the juice.

At the same time that Wang Xiaohu woke up, Gu Jiahui also captured the inspiration, he patted his thigh, and shouted almost at the same time as Wang Xiaohu: "This is the voice." ”

Then the two laughed, and Yuan Biao stood there stupidly holding a watermelon, puzzled

Onomatopoeia refers to a rhetorical device that simulates sounds in nature and requires the subjective emotions of people to produce sounds that are similar and can be identified or perceived.

It was Yuan Biao's reminder that allowed Wang Xiaohu and Gu Jiahui to find a channel for onomatopoeia for "Ip Man 2".

Wang Xiaohu was in high spirits, and as he spoke, he picked up the intact watermelon from the table, raised it in the air with one hand, and did not see him make the slightest movement.

"Uncle Fai, this is the effect of hitting the opponent's head with a close-range Wing Chun force." After Wang Xiaohu finished speaking, he felt that the watermelon was not enough for him to use other voices, so he hurriedly said to Yuan Biao: "Ah Biao, go get a dozen more watermelons!" ”

Yuan Biao grinned, and said in his heart What is going on with Ah Hu today, if you don't eat a good watermelon, you can use it to smash and play, it won't have a brain problem, right?

Although Yuan Biao was slandering in his heart, he quickly let people move more than a dozen watermelons to the editing room.

Next, Yuan Biao took the watermelon, Wang Xiaohu either used Wing Chun fast punch or used long-distance strength to beat the watermelons to pieces, Gu Jiahui held a pen to record the effect of various watermelons broken, and Xiahou Mo moved the recording equipment to record the scene.

It took more than 30 watermelons to break up before the work of exploring onomatopoeia was put into place.

By the time the four of them finished their work, the floor of the entire editing room was covered with sticky watermelon juice.

After getting the onomatopoeia effect that hit the other party, Wang Xiaohu and Gu Jiahui were busy simulating other sounds.

For four or five days in a row, they tossed all kinds of vegetables, fruits, and meat products like crazy, and they really gave them a lot of experience.

For example, kicking the skin of pork will make the sound of a fist hitting the target, breaking the sound of watermelon popping out juice can simulate the effect of the opponent being hit, and the crisp sound when the cabbage arm is twisted and accompanied by a small amount of juice flowing out, which is the sound of the opponent's mouth foaming at the mouth and blood mixed with mucus when he is beaten.

If you still don't think the strength of the fight is enough, Wang Xiaohu also has a solution, directly crush two walnuts, which is the "gurgling" sound made by breaking the opponent's joints in the fight, and you can also rub two dice or mahjong tiles to achieve a similar effect.

The two tossed a lot, and they became more familiar with the sound requirements of "Ip Man 2".

For example, Ip Man and his apprentices used wooden stakes to connect Wing Chun, and at first Gu Jiahui wanted to use the sound of hitting the wood to simulate, but after recording it several times, he found that it was not very real.

So Wang Xiaohu asked Stephen Chow, Donnie Yen and others to carry a few wooden stakes to the closed recording studio to rehearse one move at a time, in fact, hitting the wooden stakes is not as fierce as everyone thinks, because the wooden stake method is not a trick force, in some places it is a false move to hit the wooden stake The sound is very light, and in some places it is fast and crisp.

"Grandma's, I've finally got the onomatopoeia system!"

In mid-June 1983, Wang Xiaohu and Gu Jiahui completed their onomatopoeia experimental project, and at the same time, Concordia International established a new sound department: onomatopoeia synthesis.

Under the full exploration of Wang Xiaohu and Gu Jiahui, the onomatopoeia in many Hong Kong kung fu films and martial arts films has also taken shape.

For example, the sound of a sword or knife or other weapon cutting through the sky is a person standing in the air waving a bamboo pole from a recording device.

The tension that expresses the pull of the bow is the sound of gravity falling on an old brown trampoline.

The sound of archery is someone waving a thin bamboo stick in the air.

The sound of bones and flesh with blood is to twist the cabbage's shoulder.

Fencing sounds: two rattans striking each other.

Horses' hooves: Wooden bowls pounding on wooden piers.

The sound of lightning: shaking a thin iron plate suspended from a shelf.

The sound of a fire: A palm-sized cloth bag filled with particles such as stones, rub the pocket with both hands.

Amputation sound in horror film: Cutting open a cabbage.

Who would have thought that these realistic voices on the screen would be made using these local methods?

(To be continued)