Chapter 113： explosion scene

By September, the North American box office of "Star Wars Episode 1: The Menace of the Phantom Man" had accumulated to 530 million US dollars, and the growth rate has been very flat. Fortunately, the overseas box office is still going strong, and has now accumulated more than 400 million US dollars.

The final North American box office and global box office of "Star Wars Episode 1: The Menace of the Phantom Man" is impossible to surpass the box office myth of "Titanic", but it will become the second box office after "Titanic" to exceed 1 billion. The dollar-mark movie is just around the corner.

The "Wedding Cracker" produced by Dunn Films has been released in the world one after another. It has been released in North America for three weeks. The box office is 26.4 million US dollars, 23.8 million US dollars, 22.6 million US dollars, and a total of 72.8 million US dollars.

This is a romantic comedy, it can't have a big box office explosion like a commercial film, it relies on a long-term box office that is as smooth as water. Although it has not won the weekly championship for three consecutive weeks, the strong box office trend has witnessed another success of Dunn Pictures.

Especially the wonderful performance of the heroine Reese Witherspoon has gained a large number of fans. I heard that I have already received three film contracts, all of which are silly and sweet comedy heroines.

Naturally, Tang En will not limit her acting path, after all, the heroine's salary is far from the salary of the secretary position.

"Don, there is something wrong with the stunt team." Andy Thompson, Dunn's official assistant director, came over worriedly.

At this time, the "Spider-Man" crew is preparing to shoot a thrilling explosion scene in an abandoned factory in Downey, California.

This scene was actually supposed to take place in Times Square, New York, but the crew could never shoot the explosion scene in Times Square, let alone the scene of the building collapsing.

Regarding this set of shots, Tang En discussed with the special effects team whether it is possible to edit the characters on the building that is about to collapse through green screen shooting in the early stage and special effects processing in the later stage.

The special effects team's answer is yes, but it takes a long time to process special effects. The scheduled schedule for "Spider-Man" is May next year. If there are too many special effects shots in the later stage, I am afraid that the time will not be missed.

After several thoughts, Tang En decided to shoot in real scenes.

Of course, not the actual shooting in Times Square, but through the close cooperation of art directors, VFX artists, special effects supervisors, graphic artists and other staff, part of the Times Square scene was restored in this abandoned factory, and then produced Come up with a building that can collapse.

The stunt director of the crew, John Fraser, had cooperated with Dunn when he was filming "Titanic", and when he saw Dunn walking over, he hurriedly greeted him, "Don, this set of shots is definitely the one I have since filming. The biggest challenge!"

In the next set of shots, the heroine Mary Jane sits on a bomb-bombed, crumbling balcony, and then her life hangs by a thread.

The location of the balcony is very high from the ground, even if there are protective measures below, in the event of an accident, if the balcony really falls, Jessica Alba is likely to be injured.

"Can't the balcony be fixed?" Dunn frowned, "It's really not possible, let Jessica hang Weiya."

John Fraser immediately shook his head, "I used a computer-controlled hydraulic device. Even if the balcony is tilted to 90 degrees, it will never fall. I am worried about another problem."

"Oh?"

"Miss Alba is too close to the explosion point. The glass fragments brought up by the explosion are likely to splash on her, or even... scratch her."

Dunn was silent for a moment, "Is there no solution?"

John Fraser shook his head, "The power of the explosion is not small, and it can easily hurt people. I think...you can find a short male substitute to take her place in this scene."

"I can't use a stand-in, I need to use a wide-angle lens to show Mary Jane's panic and fear during the explosion, to increase the urgency and danger of the shot."

Dunn was a little helpless.

In the future, filming, especially commercial blockbusters, will definitely not meet the schedule. Such a shot, if it was shot on a green screen, would be too simple. But live shooting, in addition to saving time in post-production, has too many disadvantages.

At this moment, Jessica Alba walked over quietly and said softly, "Director, I can."

"Um?"

Dunn glanced at her in surprise.

After a few months of getting along, Jessica Alba didn't leave a deep impression on Dunn except for her sweet face and hot body.

Dunn even thought about it. As soon as the movie ends, this "partner" relationship will end. There are too many beautiful girls in Hollywood, and Jessica Alba is not good enough to deserve his energy.

Whether it's emotional intelligence, IQ, or the taste in bed, it's far worse than Nicole Kidman.

Unexpectedly, Jessica Alba bravely stood up in the face of this explosive scene that girls can't avoid.

Tang En gave her a deep look, "This may hurt you."

Jessica shook her head firmly, "It doesn't matter if there is a slight injury during filming. I can turn my face away when the explosion occurs. As long as there is no scratch on my face, it will not affect the progress of filming."

John Fraser glanced at Dunn and hesitated for a while, "Actually, it doesn't necessarily mean that you will be injured, it is just a possibility. If Miss Alba can persevere, I believe this set of shots will be fine."

"Okay, then do that!"

Dunn waved his hand and made a decision.

……

In order to increase the visibility and visual effects of the film, Dunn greatly increased the action scenes and the "flying" scenes of Spider-Man between various buildings. Most of the movie's budget is spent on this.

"Camera No. 7, go to the right, yes... move another ten meters!" With a loudspeaker in his hand, Dunn stood on the street built on the first floor of the abandoned factory, looking at the cameras on the second floor and elevated The commander adjusted his direction.

The explosion scene must be completed in one go, otherwise it will cause a lot of trouble to the crew. Tang En must coordinate the work of the team to ensure that nothing goes wrong.

Fortunately, in this set of shots, in addition to the violent explosion and the collapse of the building, only "Mary Jane" played by Jessica Alba appeared in the shot, showing panic, fear and trepidation.

The other close-ups of the expressions of the onlookers need to be filmed on site in Times Square, New York, and then edited with special effects in the later stage, so that they can be perfectly connected.

In order to film this set of shots, Tang En set up 12 cameras, 4 in the air, 4 on the second floor, and 4 on the first floor, to lock the explosion scene from all angles.

Because once the explosion occurs, the model building that the crew spent a lot of money on will collapse, and there is no possibility of a second reshoot.

"Well, well, the location is good!" Dunn looked away from the viewfinder and picked up the walkie-talkie at his waist, "John, I'm Dunn, is everything ready?"

Stunt supervisor John Fraser held the master switch of the explosion, his voice was a little hoarse, "Ready, ready to explode at any time!"

"Very good! Remember, after the filming is over, put Jessica down as soon as possible and check her physical condition."

"clear."

Dunn took a deep breath and pressed the red button on the walkie-talkie, "I'm Dunn, everyone should pay attention, the explosion will start immediately, the countdown, 5...4...3...2...1...start!"

"Boom!"

A violent roaring explosion resounded in this closed abandoned factory. The loud sound seemed to overturn the entire factory.

The huge fireball and energy shock caused by the explosion created a wonderful flaming picture.