1RomanceEB Chapter 19 Zhanggang
Chapter 19 Zhanggang
Scorching sun and yellow sand, gentle breeze and light clouds.
One man wielded a broken sword, the other wielded two swords; light and shadow intertwined as they fought back and forth, neither gaining the upper hand.
"Faster, faster, faster! Your strikes are too slow, too slow!"
Ding'an held the broken sword in one hand, engaging in fierce combat with Feilong while constantly taunting him.
Upon hearing this, Feilong was instantly enraged; these were words he often uttered to his defeated opponents.
As he parried Ding An's broken sword with his twin blades, a new blade suddenly split off from his twin blades and lunged at Ding An.
Ding An narrowly escaped, and then the two used iron chains to control their knives, the blades flying as they entangled in a fierce battle.
For this final fight scene, Cheng Xiaodong didn't design any martial arts moves, leaving it entirely to the two of them to improvise.
He needs the most realistic and primal fighting scenes.
Tang Long thoroughly enjoyed the fight; this kind of close-quarters combat was his favorite.
Once, he lost control of his strength and accidentally elbowed Yu Rongguang, almost knocking him unconscious.
The actors were quite dedicated at this point. Yu Rongguang refused the crew's suggestion to take him to the hospital and continued filming after resting for more than an hour.
It wasn't Yu Rongguang who was being beaten; he accidentally kicked Tang Long so hard that his nose bled profusely.
Every day after work, the two men were covered in bruises, which clung to their muscular bodies, yet gave them a wild beauty.
This fight scene took almost a week to film, making it the longest scene to shoot.
Filming wrapped!
As soon as Cheng Xiaodong shouted those two words, cheers erupted on the set.
Filming began in mid-June and has now wrapped up in late July, taking one month and six days.
They were the people in the entire crew who spent the most time here, staying from beginning to end.
In this remote western town, logistical support is certainly not very convenient, and even water needs to be used sparingly.
The high-intensity filming every day is also very tiring, especially for the Cheng family team, who are the most exhausted as the action choreographers.
These tough times are finally coming to an end.
The entire crew hurriedly packed their things and set off for Lanzhou the next day.
Tang Jia prepared a wrap party at the best restaurant in Lanzhou.
At the wrap party, Tang Long and Yu Rongguang had just finished a drink.
"Master Yu, it was a pleasure working with you this time. The last scene was really exciting."
"Mr. Tang, your skills are amazing. I can tell you have real kung fu. I still have bruises all over my body," Yu Rongguang said with a wry smile.
"Haha, it's all about the same. You're quite skilled too. Are you interested in developing your career in Hong Kong?"
You should know that the number of films produced in mainland China each year is very small, and martial arts films and kung fu films are even fewer.
In Hong Kong, you'll have more opportunities; with your skills and charisma, you'll quickly rise to prominence.
Tang Long wasn't trying to recruit them; given his current status, he wasn't qualified to do so.
He genuinely felt that Yu Rongguang should have gone to Hong Kong sooner, as he might have been able to create more classic roles.
It's very comfortable to work with such good actors.
"I need to think about that."
Yu Rongguang was somewhat tempted. What Tang Long said was true; it would be very difficult for him to have opportunities to film in mainland China.
However, since he is employed by a company, there are many things he needs to deal with if he wants to leave and develop his career in Hong Kong.
Tang Long could tell that he was already interested, and smiled:
"Of course, you have my contact information. If you're really planning to come, you can contact me in advance."
"no problem."
Tang Long then picked up his wine glass and went to make some connections with Director Zhang, the representative of Xi'an Film Studio.
As the male lead, he had the heaviest workload during filming and had been busy with other projects, so he had become somewhat estranged from Director Zhang.
After toasting everyone, Tang Long finally arrived at the Cheng family's table.
The Cheng family troupe really supported him. They knew this film was very important to him, and they were very dedicated throughout the filming process.
Moreover, filming kung fu movies, especially realistic ones, is the most tiring and injury-prone activity for them.
Tang Long saw all of this, so he wanted to drink the last cup of wine with them.
By the time the wrap party ended, most of the members of the Cheng family stunt team at those two tables were completely drunk.
Tang Long, who has a very high alcohol tolerance, was now somewhat unsteady on his feet.
Most people are experiencing a hangover tonight.
The entire crew rested in Lanzhou for a day before boarding the train to Guangzhou on the third day.
In the soft sleeper compartment, the core trio of "The Blade"—Tang Jia, Cheng Xiaodong, and Tang Long—sat together, a rare occurrence.
After filming wrapped, all three felt very relaxed.
"Uncle, is there any money left?"
"Of course there is, otherwise I wouldn't have the confidence to hold a wrap party."
"Of the five million, I still have over one million two hundred thousand left, a surplus much larger than I expected."
"One million two hundred thousand?"
Tang Long was surprised. So the production cost of "The Blade" was only three million eight hundred thousand.
"Our crew's total compensation cost 1.8 million yuan. The cost of living in mainland China is very low, and even lower in the western regions."
In addition, the producer sent by Fang Yihua was very tight-fisted with money, which indeed saved a lot of money.
The entire month-long shoot cost less than two million Hong Kong dollars.
"Don't be too happy yet," Cheng Xiaodong said. "There will be post-production work later, which will also cost money."
The most important part is the pre-release publicity and marketing; this is where the biggest expense is made, and we might even need to increase investment later.
Tang Long felt that the remaining money should be enough.
For post-production, you can leverage TVB's resources, especially for the soundtrack; TVB's soundtrack department is top-notch in Hong Kong.
This part doesn't cost much.
As for marketing and distribution, it does cost more money, but "The Blade" is not a commercial blockbuster and does not require large-scale marketing and distribution.
By investing hundreds of thousands in precisely targeted press releases, you can achieve excellent publicity results.
Moreover, let's not forget that TVB is the best promotional channel.
Tang Long thought it was incredibly wise of Tang Jia to partner with Shao Daheng.
The resources provided by Metropolitan Films solved many problems for the production team and saved them a lot of money.
"By the way, Director Tang, Ah Long, once we get back to Hong Kong, the post-production of 'The Blade' will have to wait until later."
"A Chinese Ghost Story 2 will premiere at the end of July, and I need to focus on the film's promotion and distribution first."
In fact, Tsui Hark had been urging him for a while, but Ching Siu-tung didn't want to travel back and forth and affect the filming.
Moreover, "The Blade" is short of funds and cannot afford to delay.
So despite the pressure from Tsui Hark, he insisted on finishing filming "The Blade" first.
Meanwhile, A Chinese Ghost Story 2 had been promoted for more than a week.
"Post-production isn't urgent, Xiaodong, you can go ahead and get busy."
"Ah Long, you'll have to come along for the promotions too."
"I'm just a minor character, why should I have to come along?" Tang Long was somewhat puzzled.
"Generally speaking, if you're not famous and don't have many scenes, you don't really need to participate. But this time, Tsui Hark personally called you out; he wants to meet you."
The train slowly headed south, and two days later, in the early morning, it finally pulled into Guangzhou Railway Station.
Tang Long and his group did not stay in Guangzhou and finally returned to Hong Kong that afternoon.