Chapter 443 Press Conference and Start-up

March 5th was the day when the launch conference of "Aftershock" was held.

The heat of the news about Golden Harvest has not yet faded, and Liu Zhou's press conference has once again become the focus.

Originally, Liu Zhou had not planned to hold this launch conference. After all, the popularity of "Aftershock" was already very high, so there was no need to make a fuss about it.

However, Tangshan has a different view. In addition to commemoration, they made this movie for the purpose of city promotion, and the latter is the main purpose.

Therefore, they would not miss any opportunity for publicity. Liu Zhou could understand this and took the initiative to cooperate with them.

Liu Zhou also mobilized his own connections and invited many media to participate.

In fact, Liu Zhou doesn't need a special invitation, as long as he leaks a rumor, a large number of media will come.

This is indeed the case. After confirming the news, more than 200 media outlets, large and small, rushed to Tangshan.

In addition, Tangshan also mobilized its own connections and even invited several large official media to come.

With the joint efforts of both parties, the launch conference of this film was made extremely grand, which can be said to have raised the level of "Aftershock" to the maximum.

This press conference is not just a press conference, there is also a commemorative ceremony. It is the official department that has to give it the full sense of ceremony.

In the morning, Liu Zhou came to the earthquake memorial wearing a black Zhongshan suit, where there would be a ceremony to present wreaths and observe a moment of silence for the victims of the earthquake.

You definitely can't wear anything too bright on this kind of occasion; you should wear black or solid colors.

Before this, Liu Zhou also specifically reminded other film creators of this matter, otherwise it would be embarrassing if they appeared in such a serious occasion dressed up.

So Mr. Zhou and others were all dressed in plain clothes, and it could be seen that they only put on light makeup.

When they arrived at the ruins park, Liu Zhou found that the media reporters present were no exception. They were basically all wearing solid colors or black. There were no brightly colored clothes in the entire ruins park.

Under the gloomy sky, the Earthquake Memorial Square was shrouded in a solemn atmosphere.

There was no music or posters at the scene, only a plaque with white letters on a black background that read "Tangshan Earthquake Start-up Ceremony", telling people that today was different.

When the host of the movie channel Jingwei announced the official start of the opening ceremony, all the crew members first presented a wreath to the earthquake monument and observed three minutes of silence for the compatriots who died in the earthquake.

Next, the leader from Tangshan came to give a speech, then the leader from the Film Bureau also came on stage and said a few words, and finally it was Liu Zhou's turn to speak.

Liu Zhou did not say much, but simply expressed his determination to live up to his mission and go all out to make a good film of "Aftershock" and recreate the anti-earthquake spirit of Tangshan that year.

After the memorial ceremony, everyone moved to the press conference hall prepared by Tangshan.

There will be a Q&A session at the press conference, and it would definitely not be appropriate to hold it in front of the monument. This hall is where the real press conference will take place.

The hall for this press conference was very large, larger than any other hall Liu Zhou had held for press conferences in the past.

Even so, the entire venue was still packed, which shows everyone's attention to this movie.

Liu Zhou was not surprised at all. "Aftershock" could be said to be a subject of national concern, and he directed it himself. In terms of attention, no other movie could compare to it.

Even his previous film "Interstellar Rescue" did not receive as much attention.

Maybe the atmosphere was too depressing just now, and people talked a lot more when they came here, making the whole hall seem a little noisy.

However, as the host Jingwei came on stage, everyone stopped talking and the venue became quiet in an instant.

This time the leaders didn’t show up anymore, so after a brief talk, Liu Zhou and other main creators were invited to the stage.

As the director, Liu Zhou naturally sat in the middle, with Mr. Zhou on the left and Liu Yifei on the right. Other actors were arranged in order of the importance of their roles.

Liu Zhou briefly introduced the relationship between the characters in the play. Liu Ye and Zhou Gongzi played a couple, but after the earthquake, the character played by Liu Ye died;

They have a son and a daughter. The daughter is played by Zhang Zifeng, and the son is played by a young actor from Tangshan. His role is relatively small, but crucial.
Zhang Yi and Liu Yifei play Zhang Ran's younger brother and sister, Dou Xiao plays Liu Yifei's husband, and Hu Jun plays the driver of the car that Zhou Gongzi takes home.

Among them, Liu Ye and Dou Xiao had relatively few roles, which were considered guest appearances, so they did not come to the scene.

After the actors finished introducing themselves, with the help of Jingwei, Liu Zhou and several others also revealed some information related to the planned movie.

Then Jingwei asked Liu Zhou a question:

"Director Liu, I heard that a set of the most advanced seismic equipment was imported from Germany specifically for the filming of this movie. Can you introduce this equipment to us?"

This was also a question that had been communicated in advance. The reason I asked this question was to ask him to introduce the special effects of the movie, which is one of the biggest highlights of the movie.

Liu Zhou picked up the microphone and said with a smile:
“First of all, I want to make it clear that although many foreign teams participated in the special effects of this movie, the real leading role was played by our own Golden Harvest Special Effects Studio team.

I'd also like to make an advertisement here. After several years of investment and accumulation, Golden Harvest Special Effects Studio is now capable of leading such large projects.

The vibration platform that Jingwei mentioned just now was actually designed by ourselves, but the materials were imported, and we asked professional masters to help with the welding and assembly.

In the past, when filming earthquake scenes, the feeling of shaking was basically dependent on the actors’ performances, but this placed high demands on the actors and the resulting effect was not very realistic.

So our special effects department specially designed this earthquake platform. Its function is that when the actors stand on the vibration platform and it starts, they will be shaken to the ground in a few seconds and cannot stand up.

The overall effect is very close to a real earthquake, and our biggest pursuit in this movie is authenticity.

The movie "Aftershock" was very difficult to shoot, and the most difficult part was the special effects.

The difficulty of this special effect lies in the fact that it must simulate a real earthquake, which is particularly difficult to do.

Maybe you don’t know this well, but actually, the scenes like those in Hollywood movies where the sky falls apart or a building collapses are not that difficult.

I can say that this film is the highest level that the Chinese film industry can currently achieve. It may change the Chinese people’s perception of Chinese films, and perhaps even change the world’s perception of Chinese films!”

As soon as he finished speaking, there was another round of discussion from the audience. If you listened carefully, you could find that most people thought Liu Zhou was bragging.

However, seeing Liu Zhou's confident and affirmative tone, it seemed that he was no longer bragging. After all, Liu Zhou rarely boasted in the past, so it was not easy to question him.

But no matter what, it made them more curious about "Aftershock".

After interacting with Jingwei for a while, they soon entered the interview stage that reporters loved to see. The reporters became enthusiastic and rushed to ask questions. Jingwei pointed to a reporter to ask a question. He looked at the film's leading actress, Zhou Gongzi, and asked:
"Mr. Zhou, we all know that you are not married and have no children, but this time you have to play the mother of two children in the play. Do you think it is a challenge?"

Mr. Zhou seemed quite confident and said calmly:
"This role is not a challenge for me. I am a professional actor. I will present a performance that will satisfy the director and everyone. Besides, I am actually a person with a strong maternal sentiment."

Then a reporter asked Liu Zhou:

"Director Liu, you just said that the movie has a lot of special effects and it's difficult to make. You also said that Aftershock is a new height for the Chinese film industry. Is this movie a Hollywood-style disaster movie?"

Liu Zhou frowned slightly, as the other party had obviously misunderstood or misinterpreted his meaning.

“We definitely can’t shoot it this way. In fact, if you look closely, you’ll find that most Hollywood disaster films have a very similar template.

If Hollywood were to make this movie, I have a rough idea of ​​how they would shoot it.

The male protagonist is an expert in earthquakes, and he has a loving wife and a pair of lovely children. About half a year or two or three months before the earthquake, the male protagonist made observations and analysis and concluded that a magnitude 7 earthquake might occur here.

The male protagonist then wrote a detailed analysis and reported it to his superiors.

However, because of a lot of unrest caused by previous false warnings or other reasons, the supervisor returned the male protagonist's report and asked him not to conduct any more research.

Then the male protagonist continued to report stubbornly, and the leader transferred him away without any hesitation.

On the eve of the earthquake, various pre-earthquake data indicated that a major earthquake was imminent. The male protagonist could no longer sit still, so he borrowed a car and prepared to return to the city to find his wife and children.

But just as he entered the city, a great earthquake occurred, shaking the earth and causing the sky to collapse and split open.

The male protagonist frantically dodged the collapse of buildings and cracks in the ground. There were dangers everywhere along the way. In the end, the male protagonist relied on his extraordinary skills to avoid wave after wave of dangers and rushed back home.

However, something happened that made the male protagonist despair. His home had collapsed into a pile of ruins, making him mistakenly believe that all his family members were gone.

Just when he was heartbroken, he heard his family's cries from under the rubble. It turned out that they had escaped the disaster by hiding in the corner with the earthquake-proof knowledge that the male protagonist had taught them.

The male protagonist dug desperately, and the rescue team came to help. After overcoming a series of difficulties, he finally rescued his family.

At the end of the movie, the protagonist's family hugged each other happily, and the whole venue was filled with applause and cheers.

This is probably how Hollywood films are shot, but if Aftershock was shot like this, would you accept it? "

The reporters at the scene were a little stunned, but thinking about past Hollywood disaster films, they might really be shooting it this way.

But is this still the extremely tragic Tangshan earthquake?
Then Liu Zhou became serious and continued:

“It’s very easy for me to shoot like this; it’s not that difficult to shoot a Hollywood disaster movie.

But if we shoot it this way, not only will I not be able to accept it, but Tangshan will not agree to it, and the audience will definitely not agree to it!
When this film was being prepared, I came to Tangshan to visit some elderly people who had experienced the disaster and asked them how to shoot the film.

Most people say that movies should be made realistically!

Therefore, the main tone of our film is authenticity, and our greatest pursuit is to reflect the beliefs and spirit of the people of Tangshan in the face of the disaster through real people and events under the disaster.

It’s the kind of belief and spirit that makes people feel invincible, that even though Tangshan is gone, we can still build a better and more magnificent Tangshan.”

After hearing Liu Zhou's words, the reporters in the hall fell silent.

Liu Zhou thought he had explained the matter very clearly and they had listened to him, but the next day he found that he had thought it was too simple.

The next day, major media also reported on this press conference, but many media still had the following headlines:
“Liu Zhou: Aftershock is more realistic than Hollywood blockbusters”;
"Liu Zhou criticizes Hollywood special effects as fake" and so on.

Looking at the report in his hand, Liu Zhou felt speechless. He still overestimated the integrity of the media.

He was too lazy to get angry about it, so he threw the newspaper into the trash can and shouted loudly:

"Everyone, please stop for a moment. I want to tell you something. Today we officially start filming this drama, and there are a lot of extras in this drama.

They are basically from Tangshan, and many of them have experienced family members dying or surviving the earthquake. We are lucky that they can participate in this film.

So we all have to shoot well, otherwise we will be sorry for them and the city of Tangshan."

It’s not that Liu Zhou wanted to give the film something extra, but when this project started, the film naturally carried a lot of extra things.

Therefore, we really cannot be too casual under the watchful eyes of those who have experienced the disaster.

Liu Zhou didn't say too much. He said everything he needed to say, and then asked each department of the crew to start preparing.

The first scene shot by Liu Zhou was also the opening shot of the movie.

For a movie, the opening shot is particularly important and it really tests the director's skills. A great director's opening shot must be really great.

The opening shot of "Aftershock" begins with a family portrait, with grandpa and grandma sitting in the first row, one holding her grandson and the other holding her granddaughter.

Liu Ye, Zhou Gongzi, Liu Yifei and Zhang Yi stood in the back row, each with a smile on their face. They were a very happy family.

This family photo is very important to the movie. It not only reveals the relationships between the characters, but also the subsequent transitions are completed through the family photo.

Later, after the earthquake, Zhou Gongzi and Liu Yifei worked hard to dig out their relatives, and this family photo was also dug out, which is a symbol of family and affection.

The main reason for shooting this shot was that the photography team was busy, as they needed to install the camera on a crane.

People in the industry call large rocker arms cannons, and this thing really looks like a cannon.

The large jib used by Liu Zhou's crew can be called a heavy cannon. It is 12 meters long and can raise the camera to the height of a 6-story building.

After installing the camera, you also need to install the remote control, power supply and charger, then turn on the power and debug the jib.

After ensuring that the camera could change angles flexibly, Liu Zhou also sat in front of the monitor.

The camera crew pushed the jib forward, slowly moved the camera into the room from the second-floor window, and aimed the camera lens at a family portrait on the wall.

(End of this chapter)