Chapter 4 Startup Actual Shot

At the Shaw Studios in Clearwater Bay, all the main creative staff of "The Matrix" gathered together.

In addition to the previously confirmed actors Wu Aizu, Li Meiqi, Gao Xiong, and Yuan De, there are also Zheng Peipei who plays the prophet, Yuen Wah who plays the traitor, Zheng Jiasheng who is one of the crew members, as well as the assistant director, photographer, music composer, art director, costume designer, props, lighting and other staff.

After worshipping the idol and performing the ceremony, the film officially started shooting.

Considering that Wu Aizu and Li Meiqi had no acting experience, Jiang Heng decided to start with the easy ones and then move on to the difficult ones, starting with the relatively simple indoor scenes and literary scenes, and then moving on to the cool action scenes.

The first day we filmed the male lead’s indoor scenes, which were scenes where he appeared to be a programmer but was secretly a hacker.

I have to say that Wu Qiuzu is worthy of being a star. In addition to his outstanding appearance, he also has a very high talent for acting.

It was difficult to adapt to it at first, but soon the effect that Jiang Heng wanted was achieved.

After a day of shooting, the progress was surprisingly good.

The next day, they started filming the scene where the male lead went to meet the prophet.

Zheng Peipei, who plays the prophet, is over 50 years old. Her acting skills are absolutely impeccable. After all, she was once the top actress in the Hong Kong film industry and was once dubbed the "Queen of Martial Arts" by the Hong Kong press.

It is not difficult for her to play a prophetic person like a witch.

It's just that the lines are too abstruse, so everyone on the set had to discuss secretly, wondering if they would make a movie that is incomprehensible to others!

Due to confidentiality requirements, no one on the set knew what story Jiang Heng was going to tell in the movie.

Even the leading male and female actors like Wu Aizu and Li Meiqi did not see the whole picture of the script.

As for the rest of the cast and crew, even less is known.

Fortunately, many Hong Kong films are made by directors who write while filming, and the actors are accustomed to this working mode. Even if there is no script and they don't understand the cause and effect, they can still present good results based solely on the director's requirements.

The crew started working every day and progressed rapidly, and soon they had finished filming most of the indoor scenes.

Jiang Heng decided to save the remaining part for last because he needed to shave his head.

In the film, the male protagonist escapes from the Matrix world for the first time and discovers that humans are actually being kept in captivity by robots. In order to obtain energy, the robots insert cables into the human bodies, trap people in petri dishes, and build a horrifying "biological farm."

This picture is quite shocking and terrifying, and needs to be completed in post-production using a super-microscopic computer, but a single culture dish needs to be filmed in real time.

Especially the male protagonist in the movie, with his upper body naked and his head bald.

When Wu Qizu learned that he had to shave his head, he looked embarrassed, although he did not refuse explicitly.

At that time, he was not yet a very dedicated big star, and he just participated in the movie with the mentality of giving it a try.

He is at an age where he cares about his appearance, so it is too hard for him to accept shaving his head.

"Well, can you keep it shorter?" Wu Yizu gestured with his hands.

Jiang Heng said: "No, this picture, with hair and without hair, gives people completely different feelings!"

Yuan De, who was standing by, rubbed his bald head with his hand and said with a smile: "My bald head is just right, but it's a pity that I can't replace him!"

Yuen Wah said, "How about using a hood?"

When the Hong Kong film and television industry was booming, popular actors all had several film contracts and it was impossible for them to shave their heads for a movie.

When filming costume dramas, it is common practice not to shave the head and use a headpiece.

Wu Qizu also understood something and subconsciously looked at Jiang Heng.

"Definitely not!"

"Well, okay!" Seeing that Wu Yizu agreed rather reluctantly, Jiang Heng thought about it, used a super microscopic computer to draw a conceptual diagram of the male protagonist's first time leaving the matrix world, transferred it to his notebook, printed it out, and handed it to Wu Yizu.

The latter knew the plot outline, and found it more shocking to see a bald man soaking in a petri dish with various tubes inserted into his body than to see him with hair.

"I'm sorry, Director Jiang, I...!"

Jiang Heng smiled and waved his hands, "I understand your thoughts, and you didn't reject me, so there's no need to say sorry!"

In fact, Jiang Heng could still achieve his goal even if he didn't explain.

But he still took out the concept map, mainly because he didn't want to be like Stephen Chow, who asked the actors to do things they didn't want to do in order to make the film effect more outstanding and the characters more colorful.

Although his approach has benefited many actors throughout their lives, he is still criticized as a tyrant on the set.

Jiang Heng will not stay in Hong Kong for too long, but Wu Aizu still needs to cooperate in the filming of the fourth part of "The Matrix", so it is naturally not good to make the relationship awkward.

When the martial arts instructor and villain Yuan De saw the sketch in Wu Yuzu's hand, he was very surprised: "How did you draw this?"

Jiang Heng said: "Use the computer!"

"Oh my god, are today's computers so powerful?" Yuande touched his big bald head, looking very surprised.

Jiang Heng smiled: "The next ones will be even more powerful!"

Yuan De said: "The future world will not really develop into what is shown in the movies!"

Jiang Heng said: "Maybe we are living in the world of the Matrix now!"

"Then I would rather continue living in the virtual world than take the red pill!" Yuan De sighed.

"So you are an anti-virus program, and you have to maintain the matrix world!" Wu Yizu said with a smile.

Yuan De: "You think you can beat me? You need to practice harder!"

Wu Yizu smiled and said, "It's necessary to practice well!"

The scene shot today is still an indoor scene, but it is upgraded from a literary scene to a martial arts scene, filming the scene in the original version where Morpheus teaches the male protagonist how to fight.

Because there are no overly cool shots, the actual shooting mainly relies on two people fighting and wire hanging.

Wu Qizu practiced martial arts when he was young and also studied at the Shichahai Martial Arts School in Beijing, so the fighting routines were not difficult for him.

As for Gao Xiong, he is even more of a veteran actor. His role as the hero Huo Yuanjia in the 95 TV series "Fist of Fury" was extremely classic.

Under Jiang Heng's request and Yuan De's action design, the hero's martial arts learning scenes were also successfully completed.

They had been working for several days in a row, using very common filming techniques, and the crew couldn't help but gossip.

It's said that Jiang Heng is going to make a special effects movie that surpasses Hollywood, but it's just a gimmick. In the end, it's just hanging by wires, and there's nothing special about it!

As all kinds of gossip spread, even the actors began to doubt.

Yuan De, Yuan Hua and others don’t care whether Jiang Heng shoots a special effects blockbuster or not, they just want to get paid and work.

However, Maggie Q fantasizes about becoming an overnight sensation with this movie and never living her old life again.

In addition, his acting skills were not so good when he first entered the film and television industry, and he had to keep failing at many simple scenes.

Jiang Heng had to take time out to talk to Li Meiqi to find out why the latter was not in a good state.

Knowing that everyone in the crew was doubting that his special effects movie was just a gimmick, Jiang Heng decided to make a classic clip first, which could be regarded as a trailer for the movie!
(End of this chapter)