The summer file finally ushered in a decompression blockbuster. On July 29th, Mahua FunAge sci-fi comedy directed by Zhang Chiyu and starring Shen Teng and Mary was released nationwide in Moon Man. The story tells that in order to resist the impact of asteroids, humans deployed a moon shield program on the moon. The meteorite struck ahead of time, and when all the staff were evacuated, the maintenance worker Du Guyue (Shen Teng) was left on the moon by the team leader Ma Lanxing (Mary). Unexpectedly, the moon shield project failed, and Duguyue became "the last human in the universe" and began his life of breaking pots and falls on the moon …
Moon Man is a classic Mahua FunAge-style work, with dense laughter and high content. This is also a feature film in which Shen Teng and Mary collaborate again after the 2015 goodbye mr. loser. In addition to the appealing cast, the attention of the film also comes from a special theme type-comedy+science fiction. What kind of spark will the collision between the two spark?
According to the data of Lighthouse Professional Edition, as of press time, the box office of this film exceeded 330 million yuan on its first day of release, setting a record of breaking 100 million yuan in the summer of China film history. Zhang Chiyu, director of Moon Man, recently accepted an exclusive interview with Variety Daily to share the story behind his creation.
Science fiction is a shell,Comedy is the core.
Zhang Chiyu revealed that Moon Man’s creation lasted nearly five years, and tens of thousands of staff members participated in it. As Mahua FunAge’s self-breakthrough, Moon Man combines sci-fi settings, space themes and comedy types. At the film premiere, many viewers gave good comments. "Science fiction and comedy are skillfully combined, with scenes and special effects of sci-fi blockbusters." "Shen Ma’s combination once again joined hands, although there were not many scenes in the same box, it was very sparking." "There were both smiles and tears, and the reversal continued."
Moon Man is the first theme of "Science Fiction+Comedy" directed by Zhang Chiyu in Mahua FunAge. He admits that each theme has its difficulties. "The difficulty of science fiction is to establish a world outlook, and the difficulty of comedy is to make the audience laugh." At the same time, he said that the science fiction element is only the shell of Moon Man, and comedy is the core of the film, and many bridges in the film are designed according to this idea. In order not to let the comedy burden dispel the sense of science fiction, the film will try to balance the relationship between the two when creating.
Although it focuses on comedy genre, the film is unambiguous in scientific setting. Zhang Chiyu introduced that in the initial stage of the script, the team invited sci-fi consultants to discuss whether the plot setting is in line with scientific common sense; In the preparatory period and later stage of the film, there are also relevant experts from the special committee of science, film and film integration to escort the construction of the world view of the film. "They have just grasped the degree of science and science fiction, which not only meets the needs of the plot, but also tries to avoid scientific injuries."
Zhang Chiyu said with emotion that the combination of science fiction and comedy is difficult. Whenever his creation encounters a bottleneck, he will think of the first picture that comes to mind: on the vast surface of the moon, there is a little man wearing a yellow spacesuit. "This yellow dog symbolizes human courage and hope. This is also my initial intention to shoot the film. "
"Shen Ma Combination" Join hands again.
The last feature film that Shen Teng and Mary collaborated on was goodbye mr. loser in 2015; Seven years later, the two finally joined forces again in the Moon Man. They became astronauts, and the story background moved from the earth to the moon. Compared with goodbye mr. loser, the role relationship between them has a new reversal: this time, Duguyue secretly loves Ma Lanxing and staged a one-way "different-ball love". Therefore, the two are rarely in the same box, and most of them are opposite each other from a distance.
Zhang Chiyu revealed that the emotional line is one of the highlights of the film. How to promote the relationship between characters and let their feelings deeply penetrate into the hearts of the audience is a difficult point to be overcome in creation.
Shen Teng plays an ordinary maintenance worker at the moon base in the film. At the critical moment, he stepped forward to protect all mankind. On the set, in order to pursue the real weightlessness effect of the moon, Shen Teng needs to wear a 40-Jin spacesuit to hang Weiya, and make movements such as rolling, jumping and running.
In the film, only one research kangaroo "King Kong Mouse" who was also left on the moon accompanied Du Guyue. This means that Shen Teng has to perform a monologue in front of the green screen most of the time. Although it is very difficult to perform in kind, Shen Teng enjoys the process very much. "This time, I was addicted to the performance, and the shooting time was close to 5 months. In addition to the stone powder raised by the lunar surface scenery at the shooting site, people feel a little awkward when breathing, and everything else is fine. "
In the movie, Shen Teng was beaten by a grumpy King Kong mouse, which caused the audience to burst into laughter. To this end, he dedicated a rare action drama since the film. At the premiere, Mary repeatedly sighed with emotion, "Duguyue subverted the image of Shen Teng in my heart. In fact, he was still injured, but he didn’t say anything and supported himself. "
Mary plays the heroic leader in the film, and the whole process is cold, so he is no longer funny. "About the performance, I have discussed it with director Zhang Chiyu many times. Ma Lanxing must be serious and calm in that environment. Her great emotional strength is hidden in her heart, and the picture can’t collapse until the end. " Mary said that in order to accurately depict the characters’ hearts, she and the director repeatedly discussed and polished the details. When shooting, she will even perform the presentation methods they want, which will make the director more comfortable in later editing.
Angry and greedy king kong mouse, completed by the combination of real action capture and special effects. Hao Han, a Mahua FunAge actor who plays the role of King Kong Mouse, spent one year to complete the role, although he didn’t show his face in the movie. In order to play the king kong mouse well, he moved to the zoo one year in advance to observe and imitate the movements of kangaroos, and joined the group four months in advance to carry out intensive training such as physical fitness, flexibility and hanging Weiya. Hao Han said with a smile that after filming, he had sequelae, and now he will subconsciously imitate the actions of kangaroos.
In the film, Z.TAO contributed a lot of jokes. Z.TAO’s role is called "Z.TAO", and he has experienced a change from a "first-line artist" to a "first-line artist" (some people escaped the environmental pollution caused by an asteroid hitting the earth on Metro Line 1, and Z.TAO met Shang Yan on Metro Line 1, nicknamed "first-line artist"). Not only speaks a Qingdao dialect, but also makes a subversive appearance. Zhang Chiyu bluntly said that the cooperation with Z.TAO was beyond imagination. "I was ready to be rejected. I didn’t expect Z.TAO to readily agree to play, and the final effect was great."
The explosion stems from improvisation
Moon Man is a film with strong comedy characteristics in Mahua FunAge. The actors have strong on-the-spot reaction, and they created a lot of impromptu scenes and lines in the filming. For example, kangaroos are out of control to play the drama of missiles, which makes Shen Teng change his words on the spot: "You still play missiles, you are really naughty." Zhang eats fish with emotion. "Brother Teng’s improvisation ability is too strong. Many times, I just tell him an emotion or a situation, and the rest depends on his live performance."
The lines of tribute to The Wandering Earth’s "kill the wolf" and "goodbye mr. loser" come from the impromptu performance of Huang Cailun, one of the leading actors. Huang Cailun’s hilarious bridge of playing cucurbit silk is his second creation with actors such as Mary, Chang Yuan and Li Chengru. "Comedy can’t be scripted. These stalks are not in the script, but all the actors collide on the spot." Zhang eating fish said.
The film also buried small eggs to pay tribute to classic movies. For example, Shen Teng’s gatling gun reminds me of Stallone. When he made a gatling gun with a 3D printer, he said "I will be back", which is a classic line of the movie Terminator. Zhang Chiyu revealed, "The film also has eggs to pay tribute to The Shawshank Redemption, but it needs to be very careful or brushed twice to find it."
Special effects are purely domestic.
Moon Man is Mahua FunAge’s first attempt at sci-fi comedy. Zhang Chiyu introduced that in order to present the wonders of the universe on the big screen, the crew used 15 studios totaling over 40,000 square meters, and 95% of the shots in the whole film involved special effects. In order to simulate the real surface of the moon, the crew laid 200 tons of sand and gravel in a 6000-square-meter studio to simulate the dust on the moon surface, and built a lunar base in 100% reality. Spacesuit, lunar rover, space station, aircraft and other props and art design are also supported by experts in the fields of materials science, mechanics and industrial design.
The film special effects were completed by the domestic special effects company MORE VFX, which made special effects for films such as Mozart in Outer Space by The Wandering Earth and A Writer’s Odyssey. This also reflects the development trend of domestic sci-fi movies from the side: from relying on Hollywood technology in the early days to the unique sci-fi special effects team in China.
Talking about the choice of special effects companies, Zhang Chiyu said that comedy creation needs a strong local cultural atmosphere, and cooperation with foreign special effects teams has a high communication cost. He also said that domestic teams pay more attention to the project. "Through these sci-fi projects, we can not only polish our shooting level, but also improve the technology of domestic special effects teams."
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Moon Man’s special effects production took three years, with nearly 2,000 special effects shots in the whole film. Among them, the biggest difficulty and challenge is the production of king kong mouse. Luo Qiulin, director of MORE VFX CG, said that in order to make King Kong mice look more realistic, the amount of hair with special effects is amazing. "Hair is painted one by one. In order to meet the biological characteristics such as kangaroo hair, the shape and direction of each hair must be controlled."
By directing Moon Man, Zhang Chiyu has accumulated a lot of experience in shooting sci-fi movies. He said that the most worth sharing is the virtual shooting before the official shooting. The so-called virtual shooting means that all the shots are previewed in the computer virtual scene according to the director’s requirements. Because there are many special effects shots in Moon Man, virtual shooting can help the director know the shooting effect in advance, reduce the error rate in real shooting and make the cost more controllable. It is reported that the highlights such as "Kangaroo Pulling a Car" in the film have been virtually filmed.
Zhang Chiyu bluntly said that Moon Man is by far the largest investment film in Mahua FunAge. "But investment and technology are always just means. The most important thing in a movie is the story itself. It is my greatest wish that the audience can get a happy and satisfying experience after watching the movie. "
Dialogue Zhang eats fish:
The universe is so big, we will meet again.
Variety: What are your market expectations for Moon Man?
Zhang eats fish:As a creator, it is impossible not to care about the box office, but I care more about word of mouth. In the creative process of the past five years, all the main creators have made a lot of efforts, and the word-of-mouth of the film is the best feedback for them.
Variety Daily: How to evaluate Shen Teng’s "Lonely Moon"? What are the difficulties in role interpretation?
Zhang eats fish:The original intention of the creation was to mold Du Guyue into an ordinary person, so the concept of "middleman" in the film came into being. The middleman is an ordinary person, who is not at the top or at the bottom. We are all such people. All along, Shen Teng has created little people, and Du Guyue’s "sand sculpture" and Shen Teng’s sense of joy have something in common.
After the film was finished, I think the real point of convergence between Shen Teng and Duguyue is "tenacity". Duguyue stuck to the moon alone, taking pains and having fun. In fact, Shen Teng did the same in filming.
The most difficult thing about this performance is to show the ups and downs of emotions: Du Guyue encounters the problems of life and death, great joy and great sorrow. Few movies require actors to go through so many ups and downs, but Shen Teng did it well.
Variety Daily: Some viewers believe that compared with many comedy films, Moon Man’s attitude and values of life have a broader vision and pattern. What do you hope to express through this film?
Zhang eats fish:There are many scenes in the movie that I personally like very much. For example, one kangaroo crossing the moon, and the survivors lighting up the earth for the lonely moon are all full of romanticism. But what I really want to express is the sentence on the screen at the end: the universe is so big, we will meet again. The feelings of this film are not limited to the love between men and women, but also have richer emotional connotations.
Variety Daily: Do you have any regrets about Moon Man?
Zhang eats fish:The biggest regret of this film is that there are not many shots to show the external scene of the earth’s disaster due to space constraints.
Variety Daily: What are the difficulties faced by domestic sci-fi movies at this stage? How to break through?
Zhang Chiyu: The production level of domestic special effects companies is getting higher and higher, and the technical problems can be solved. The biggest difficulty in making a movie is still how to tell a good story. For me, it is how to tell a good comedy story.
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