Made in Hollywood

After the entire September, "The Matrix" ended the shooting of all kung fu scenes and turned to literary dramas. The action team from Hong Kong also finished their work and left Fox Studios. While Duke was in control of the crew, he also Handing over some shots to Zack Snyder not only exercised his practical camera skills, but also made him more familiar with the series.

The shooting on both sides was advancing at the same time, and the speed was much faster than expected. Besides, the literary drama of this film, except for some magic sticks, was actually not that difficult. The most difficult scene left was the bullet time.

According to the plan, Duke put the shooting of bullet time to the end. John Schwartzman and the special effects team of ILM have combined the ideas proposed by Duke, done a lot of experiments, and found an effective shooting method.

But before that, there are still quite a few literary dramas to be filmed.

"I want the simplest arrangement!"

Standing on the shooting location surrounded by green screen, Duke explained to the set designer, "All the rest have been removed, except for two sofa chairs and a TV."

Seeing the set designer nodding earnestly, Duke turned to Schwartzman again and said, "John, remember to feature the TV and the logo!"

The TV that appears in this scene is neither an antique nor a futuristic one, but a style just released by the sponsor, which is most in line with the aesthetics of the general public in this era.

Keanu Reeves and Lawrence Fishburne came over, Duke made some last words, and went back to the director's monitor.

"The one hundred and seventy-second scene, the one hundred and thirteenth act..." The field recorder put the record card in front of the camera, "Start now!"

"...Is it that unbelievable?"

Lawrence Fishburne, wearing a black suit and black sunglasses, walked to the chair and said to Keanu Reeves, who looked curious, "Your clothes have been changed. There are no sockets on your arms. already."

Reeves looked down at his body, and Fishburne continued to talk about how different he was from reality.

Duke has been watching Keanu Reeves on the monitor. Frankly speaking, it is not unreasonable that his acting career has not risen in recent years, but has fallen a lot. It's been 6 years since "Speed ​​of Life", Reeves's acting has improved, but the progress is extremely limited, and he is not the future Johnny Depp, Will Smith, and now Tom Cruise. Actors, performances and temperament are all too popular, if not supported by excellent acting skills. A career cannot be maintained at a high level for a long time.

There are also rumors of his character, which is really not suitable for this Vanity Fair.

"is this real?"

Keanu Reeves walked over to the sofa chair, touched the sofa chair, and tried his best to look puzzled.

"What is true?"

After more than a month of shooting, Lawrence Fishburne fully grasped the essence of 'cool'. Coolly said, "How do you define true?"

"If you say truth is what you can feel, smell you can smell, taste you can taste. Then the truth is the electrical signal that your brain responds to. The world you know is such a world... "

Lawrence Fishburne picked up the TV remote and John Schwartzman's main camera slid aside. Another photographer, who was holding the Steadicam, walked behind the two to shoot.

Keanu Reeves and Lawrence Fishburne sat on the sofa chairs, "This is the world of the end of the twentieth century..."

"Cut!"

At the end of this long shot, although Keanu Reeves's performance was mediocre, it has already met Duke's requirements. "This one is over, tidy up the venue!"

Also under this green screen, the scene of Neo and Morpheus's argument about the world's true and false will be continuously filmed. The field worker removes the TV and a chair, and puts another chair next to the background green screen. Start again.

Lawrence Fishburne is still like a magician, and Keanu Reeves's acting skills are not showing any tendency to improve. Duke's requirements for acting skills are not particularly strict. Even if he is strict, Keanu Reeves is also may not be possible.

For three consecutive days, Duke was filming the scene between Neo and Morpheus, and Zach Snyder was in charge of the location shooting. There were not too many location shots in this film. Deeply influenced by him, whether it is the concept or the method, it is similar to his style, and Duke does not need to worry too much.

Besides, all the shots Zach Snyder takes, he reviews.

Compared with the extremely difficult shooting of "Chicago", the crew, from props to photographers, from assistants to assistant directors, are very adaptable to the shooting method and rhythm of sci-fi films, and the state is also excellent. The work efficiency of the crew is very high. Plus Duke's side and Zach? Snyder's side go hand in hand, the actual progress has been far faster than planned.

Several large-scale explosion scenes are the most difficult, but because they want to reflect the difference between the virtual world and reality, most of them will be generated using CGI. The only explosion scene filmed on the spot is only one, which Neo and Trinity made when they rescued Morpheus. explosion.

The special effects team of Industrial Light and Magic had already made the model. Joss Williams led a few assistants and also came to Sydney from Los Angeles. There was enough communication between the two parties in advance, and the work quickly entered the right track.

"We're finally working together again!"

Seeing Duke again, Joss Williams seemed a little excited, "Last year you went to shoot "Chicago", I took another play, but the director is too far from you, his understanding of explosions is too Too superficial, only knowing to create explosions on the largest scale, but not knowing that explosions are fundamentally different from explosions, and there are too many methods that can be used..."

He shook his head. "Working with him was a disaster. Duke, I hope you keep bombing..."

Having said this, he suddenly stopped and sighed, "I almost forgot, the movie behind you is the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, and I won't be used anymore."

"Isn't the communication between you and Zack very smooth?" Duke patted his shoulder lightly, "If the film succeeds and the latter two are derived, you and Zack have a chance to cooperate."

"That's great!"

In Hollywood, not only the various types of work that directors need to be familiar with, but other types of work also like to work with familiar directors for a long time.

"Jos, it's up to you next."

For these long-term partners, Duke was relatively relieved, and after saying this, he went back to the monitor.

Joss Williams began to lead people to wire in a man-high scaled down model, and then did a final check, and it was not until half an hour later that Duke was told that he was ready.

"A long-awaited explosion!"

There aren't many explosions in this film, Duke sighed to himself, then raised the megaphone and shouted, "Clear! Last five minutes, clear! Everyone back 50 feet away!"

Although the explosion has not been used for nearly two years, the crew members are familiar with all this, and they completed the final work in an orderly manner, and retired to their respective positions.

"Joss!"

When the time was up, Duke shouted in person, "The countdown is ready to explode!"

"10,9,8..." Joss Williams' countdown sounded on the set, "3,2,1, detonate!"

"Boom...!"

With a loud noise, a fiery wave rushed out of the model skyscraper. With the earth-shattering noise, billowing smoke rose into the sky like an overwhelming sandstorm, accompanied by scarlet flames blooming enchantingly, as if blossoming and enchanting. The gorgeous other shore flowers are vying for beauty.

Violent explosions sounded one after another, and one support column after another broke and collapsed, and the shattered reinforced concrete fell like a meteor shower. The glass curtain wall of the car collapsed and flew to the torn asphalt road outside. The glass of the number model car instantly shattered into pieces, and it flew into the sky and turned into a strange glass rain.

The model building is crumbling; the explosion of fire seems to break through the sky...  

The long-awaited explosion!

I don't know why, John Schwartzman, who captured the explosion, also came up with this idea.

The long-awaited explosion! The rest of the crew felt that way too, especially when compared to the hard work of Chicago, the torture of these explosions really doesn't count!

Looking at the explosion of fire on the monitor, Duke's calm blood seemed to boil. This was a long-lost feeling, which seemed to be a natural instinct.

"Great!" Duke shouted, "Great!"

He stood up from behind the monitor, looked at the model that was blown to rubble on the empty studio, and let out a long sigh of relief, but the explosion scene shot in the film was limited, and he could only get here for the time being.

Picking up the megaphone, Duke shouted again, "Transition, back to Studio Seven!"

Turning around, he instructed the assistant next to him, "Go and inform the actors to prepare!"

The scene on the other side was already ready, and the shooting could start only after the explosion scene was completed. An assistant director directed the staff to pack up the equipment, and Duke returned to the studio first.

An hour and a half later, filming began again.

In the deafening music, Charlize Theron in a low-cut tights found Keanu Reeves.

"I'm Trinity." She took off her sunglasses, revealing a glamorous face, "I'm looking for you, Neo!"

Keanu Reeves leaned against the wall, "How do you know my name?"

"More than your name..."

This is just a very ordinary literary drama, but according to Duke's request, the camera lens controlled by John Schwartzman will sweep across Charlize Theron's chest from time to time, giving a close-up of the ravine squeezed out... …

Filming continued in an orderly manner, and Duke's energies remained focused on this until mid-October, when news of "Titanic" came from North America. (To be continued ~^~)