Bright Era of China Entertainment

Chapter 847: Sky Curtain: Enemy at the Gate (Part )
A living room in a house.

The lighting is dim and the atmosphere is gloomy. The decoration is plain and simple, giving people a sense of the 1990s.

There was only a framed photo on the cabinet as decoration. The camera gave a close-up, which was a photo of Chu Xuan and Zhang Fengyi.

"Zhang Fengyi? Wearing a military uniform, is he Wei Ran's father?" The audience speculated.

Film critics have their own thoughts. It is a worthy film produced by Brilliant Times, Huaying Group and Yinghuang Entertainment. It is both funny and impressive that they can let Mr. Zhang Fengyi cooperate to play a posthumous photo.

There was no one in the camera frame, only the sound of packing in the unseen bedroom and the sound of news playing on a TV.

“Three aliens were found by local villagers in the river valley. After contacting the military and police, the joint combat force of the river valley military and police discovered their tracks and shot the three aliens dead in time, causing no casualties on our side.

It was discovered that the three aliens were originally members of an extremist organization. After being severely brainwashed by the organization, they crossed the surveillance blind spot cordon and approached the sky curtain and were actively alienated. In this regard, our station reminds everyone: cherish life and stay away from the sky curtain. "

The audience laughed and felt that this movie seemed to have reshaped a new civilization system. Many things seemed to be incompatible with reality, but they were closely integrated with some basic things that exist in reality. This was quite interesting.

Only footsteps were heard, and then the camera turned to the news screen on TV.

Chu Xuan walked out of the bedroom and entered the camera, holding a travel bag in his hand. He casually threw it on the sofa, then picked up the remote control to change the channel on TV.

"A small group of aliens appeared in the Yili area of ​​the Western Regions. The combat troops paid a heavy price to prevent the aliens from crossing the city defense line. Currently, four people have died..."

The sound stopped abruptly, and it was Chu Xuan who changed the channel again.

"Strange beasts have appeared frequently in Shennongjia in recent days. We would like to remind the local people..."

The sound suddenly stopped and Chu Xuan changed the channel again.

"Brother Monkey, you are really amazing..."

It was a cartoon about Sun Wukong. Chu Xuan didn't change the channel this time. He threw the remote control onto the coffee table with a "click".

These detailed actions made the audience realize that Wei Ran must hate news reports about aliens.

Film critics are even more certain that although Wei Ran looks like a greasy boy, he is actually very decadent. It is probably because of his father's death that Wei Ran has a psychological trauma, which makes him hate or even fear aliens so much that he doesn't even want to see reports about aliens in the news.

But the details are still unknown, so just keep reading.

"Knock knock knock..." There was a knock on the door.

Chu Xuan went to open the door, and outside was Liu Yifei.

"Big sister, it's too early. It's only 6 o'clock. Isn't the gathering at 8 o'clock?"

Chu Xuan was helpless. Seeing Liu Yifei was like seeing a tigress. He was scared but couldn't get rid of her.

"I'm afraid you'll run away." Liu Yifei's words were concise and to the point, revealing Wei Ran's character.

"I'm running away? I'm going to go back on my promise to you? Who are you looking down on?" Chu Xuan was annoyed and turned to the coffee table to get the remote control to turn off the TV.

"How many of the things you promised me have you done? I just look down on you." Liu Yifei is a straight-laced woman, the kind that can't be killed by an argument, and she is always cold when she argues with people.

Chu Xuan's hand holding the travel bag froze, and he was very angry and speechless. He could only take a deep breath to calm down, then picked up the travel bag and walked out: "Lin Yi, you will never get married in this life."

With a bang, he closed the door and left.

Liu Yifei looked at the figure in front of her and said, "There's no way you can get a wife like this."

“Hahahaha…” The entire theater burst into laughter.

The relationship between these two characters is indeed full of dramatic conflicts. In the past, the couple in the play would only be loving and affectionate, but this time they broke out into several quarrels in succession, which was really full of humor and fun.

In the front row, following the cheerful atmosphere of the entire venue, Chu Xuan, Liu Yifei, Jackie Chan and other actors could not help laughing.

Chu Xuan, who never liked watching his own works, found the movie editing to make the couple look like a pair of bickering lovers, and he thought it was quite interesting.

As the movie conveys a comedic atmosphere, the male and female protagonists gather at the playground. After a speech by the instructor played by Ti Lung, all the students get on the bus and set off.

The cars were military vehicles, the kind that looked like green trucks, and they were driving out of the school one after another.

The camera zooms up and quickly reaches a high altitude, presenting the layout of the entire city from a bird's-eye view with the school as the center.

In the eyes of the audience, this "Shenghai City" is a bit strange, as if there are circles of city defenses, wrapping the urban area into layer upon layer.

I can't see what it looks like exactly, only a rough outline of the composition.

The camera moves downward, making an "L"-shaped parabolic movement at high altitude. During this movement, the city layout, which was originally just a composition, appears clearly in the eyes of the audience.

There really are layers of defense lines, and the innermost line of defense, which is used to protect the inner city area, is a modern city wall.

There are soldiers standing guard on the city wall, and there are weapons such as anti-aircraft missiles, and even some equipment such as heavy machine guns.

Subsequently, the second and third lines of defense were all on the ground, each with a moat and several bridges for people to pass through. The bridgeheads were patrolled by military and police and heavily guarded.

After that, the fourth and fifth lines of defense are used to expand the strategic depth. They appear to be large uninhabited areas in the suburbs and wilderness, each patrolled and defended by helicopters, drones and ground troops.

The fifth line of defense is the front line. Although the distance from the sky curtain is not marked, the front line and the sky curtain seem to be very close.

These five lines of defense cover a large area, with Shenghai as the center and extending directly to the fifth line of defense, which is roughly the location of Hangzhou, nearly 200 kilometers.

"Wow, this is awesome, what a grand scene!"

When the camera slid down to a close-up and followed the male and female protagonists' vehicle, the audience finally came back to their senses from their surprise, and small exclamations were heard from everywhere.

They were once again visually shocked. Such a spectacular and novel civilization construction, rendered by the panoramic high-altitude camera, was extremely grand and stimulated the adrenaline of many people.

"How was this film shot?" a film critic was somewhat shocked.

"either a model or full special effects," said a film critic.

"How could it be all special effects? Those soldiers are obviously real people." said a film critic.

"Models plus special effects, acting in front of a green screen." A film critic told the truth.

"Then the composition technology of this set is very advanced. Has our country reached this level?" said a filmmaker and media person.

“The overall domestic level is definitely insufficient, but Brilliant Times has proved that they can do it,” said a media person nearby.

Hearing this, the professionals nearby nodded and said no more.

The movie starts with pure special effects, whether it is the universe or the sky, they are all computer special effects.

The opening of the feature film is also pure special effects. The fighting method, the eagles and the landscape environment are all computer special effects.

But this huge city defense scene in front of us is so realistic, and there are real people involved in it. It should not be produced by special effects alone. The special effects technology has not reached such a level, and it is difficult for the original artist to draw such a realistic city environment.

But if the model is built manually, then such a realistic large scene can be achieved, because the city model is real, just scaled down.

Then move the camera towards the model, and you'll get the high-altitude arc-shaped motion shot just now. Zoom in on the model in the camera to present this magnificent picture.

Finally, we used green cloth to shoot, combined the group actors and the model into one picture, and then made the picture move by adding keyframes. We had a shocking panoramic view of soldiers standing guard on the city wall, patrolling the ground defense line, and helicopters and drones cruising in the air.

It sounds simple, but the complexity and technical requirements for personnel in each link are very high. So far, no company or movie in China has presented similar scenes. We can only say that Brilliant Era is really awesome, and its strength in special effects shooting far exceeds the domestic level.

The professionals sighed in their hearts and then continued watching the movie.

The camera moves from high altitude in an "L"-shaped parabola. When it reaches the parallel line "_" at the bottom of the "L", it is quickly pushed straight toward the convoy.

Cars passed by one after another, and when the camera locked onto the second car in front, it dropped down and looked into the cargo box.

This is a one-shot shot that first shows the city defense scene and then follows the character's storyline.

One film critic could imagine the "L" trajectory of the camera running towards the model in the studio, but a model is only a model after all, and a real person cannot appear in the model, so how to transition to real-life shooting?
The screen flashed and the camera cut directly into the cargo box, showing a group of students riding in a car.

The film critic grinned. Is it true that the only way to piece together the pictures by directly cutting them?
He also looks forward to a shot that can be shot all the way to the main film, perfectly and smoothly entering the plot scene from the model shot. If Brilliant Times can achieve this, it will be comparable to Hollywood.

This dual-shot combination, which requires the director to move the camera and the technicians to perform special effects camera movement on the computer in post-production, and requires a high degree of coordination, is one of the advanced aspects of Hollywood special effects movies.

Obviously, Brilliant Times can't do that yet.

But it doesn't matter, there must always be a process of development and improvement. As far as the camera technique just now is concerned, it can be said to be top-notch in China.

"Wei Ran!" A shout startled the audience.

I was just immersed in the shock of the grand scene, but suddenly a loud shout appeared on the screen.

Wei Ran, played by Chu Xuan, folded his arms and dozed off with his head down. When he heard the scolding, he opened his eyes and looked up, looking around blankly, and finally locked his eyes on the instructor Dillon: "What are you doing?"

"What are you doing!" Dillon said sternly, "We're about to go to the front line, and as a soldier you're not alert and you're still sleeping?!"

"It's just a patrol test. It's not like we're going to do real combat. What's the big deal?" Chu Xuan muttered.

"The patrol test is an exercise, and an exercise is equivalent to real combat! Put away your playful mentality, otherwise if you encounter danger, you won't even know how you died!" Dillon was very stern.

Chu Xuan didn't care, but raised his eyebrows and said, "Uncle Jiang, don't be so strict."

"Please call me instructor during the mission!" Dillon glared at him.

Chu Xuan curled his lips, but sat up straight. It seemed that he was still a little afraid of Uncle Jiang.

The students nearby tried to hold back their laughter, and were amused that Wei Ran, the naughty classmate, was finally punished.

Only Liu Yifei sat upright. She glanced at Wei Ran to see that he was obedient, then looked away, behaving properly.

And the audience learned another piece of information that the male protagonist has some relationship with the instructor and is obviously very familiar with him. Combining the clues given in the previous situation, it is very likely that the male protagonist's father and the instructor have a relationship similar to that of comrades-in-arms.

At this time, an armored vehicle drove past the military vehicle.

At the same time, a voice came from the walkie-talkie in Dillon's hand.

"Old Jiang, are you leading the team?"

"It's me, what?"

"Leading the team to conduct patrol tests again?"

"Yes, you."

"Just got back from night patrol."

"is that OK?"

"There's no problem at all. It's still safe inside the defense line. Don't be nervous, students. If you really want to be careful, you have to be careful of the torture your instructor will bring to you."

"Tsk, what do you mean by torture? That's called training effective individual combat capabilities."

"Haha, classmates, I wish you good luck."

The conversation stopped, and the students in the car all had miserable faces, feeling a little scared by the words "torture brought".

In the eyes of the audience, this little episode of walkie-talkie conversation conveys a very relaxed atmosphere.

However, the relaxed mood did not last long. As soon as the scene changed, the tense mood immediately took over.

In the school office, Yu Rongguang, who made a guest appearance, knocked on the door in military uniform, and the counselor Zeng Baoyi looked up.

"Teacher Yang, I'm Chen Guang, the political commissar of the Shenghai Military Police Joint Operations Command Center. Can you please find Wei Ran and Lin Yi? Which classroom are they in?"

"Uh...Hello, Political Commissar Chen. They are going to conduct patrol tests."

"Patrol test!" Yu Rongguang was shocked and said subconsciously: "Oh no!"

Seeing Zeng Baoyi's puzzled look, Yu Rongguang put on his military cap, turned around and left, then picked up his cell phone to make a call.

The audience didn’t understand what this “Oh no” meant, but an inexplicable sense of tension began to spread.

The scene turns to the motorcade and the car of the male and female protagonists. Ti Lung's cell phone rings. He picks up the phone and looks at the caller ID. It's the command center.

Why did the command center want to see him? ... Dillon was puzzled and prepared to answer the call.

In the close-up shot, just when Dillon's finger was about to press the connect button, there was a "bang" and the vehicle in front hit something and stopped, and the vehicle they were in was forced to brake suddenly.

A female student was frightened, screamed and fell forward.

The classmates were swayed all over the place, and Dillon's cell phone was thrown out and broke into pieces, without any ringing sound.

Dillon couldn't care less about the phone call. Just as he was about to use the intercom to ask what was going on, he heard a voice on the intercom: "There is an alien beast air raid!!"

Dillon's face turned pale when he heard this, and he said calmly: "Leave two people in each car to protect the students, and the rest of you are ready to fight!"

The sudden change in style caught the audience off guard, but it was this sudden reversal that instantly perked up the audience, letting them know that the battle scene was about to begin, and everyone was watching intently.

The so-called strange beasts are a group of birds with grayish-white eyes, exactly the same grayish-white color as the evil light, and the same color as the eyes of the eagle group at the beginning of Chenglong's world. Combined with the previous situation, it is clear at a glance that they are alienated and controlled species.

Gunshots rang out continuously, and flocks of birds fell from the sky and died one by one. After death, a gray-white airflow spread out from their bodies and then dissipated, just like what happened after Chenglong's battle with Huiguangmie.

Here I have a question, can such a powerful alien life form be killed with a gun?
Also, when Chenglong was fighting against a group of eagles, the foul light within the eagles was able to escape from their bodies, but this did not happen to these birds.

The difference between these birds and ordinary birds is that they have strong attack capabilities. They can make a hole in a military vehicle with just one poke. Their defense is also quite thick, so they cannot be killed with just one shot. You need to shoot them several times.

It looks very powerful, but it is far inferior to Chenglong's group of foul-light eagles.

Of course, if this group of birds was as strong as the group of foul-light eagles at the beginning, then the male and female protagonists might be wiped out.

This doubt is actually a small problem. Being able to kill with a gun gives many viewers a sense of security, and the audience who are entangled in this are looking forward to an explanation in the subsequent plot.

"Didn't we agree that we're safe inside the defense line? Our luck is so bad!" Chu Xuan looked outside nervously in the car.

"Shut up!" Liu Yifei said coldly and took out something that looked like a harmonica from her bag.

Under the astonished gaze of the audience, Liu Yifei pressed a button on the "harmonica", which then automatically "clicked" and stretched out, eventually forming a mechanical compound bow.

"Wow, so cool!" Some viewers' eyes lit up and they were impressed by this high-tech-looking cold weapon. A bow can be opened in this way, which looks very cool.

Liu Yifei took out a long tube from her bag, pulled out a steel arrow from the tube, then bent the bow and put the arrow on it, looking vigilantly at the outside of the cargo truck.

Compared to the timid classmates nearby, Liu Yifei stood out from the side.

At this moment, three strange birds attacked from the sky. The two soldiers guarding the car door were still aiming their guns when they heard a "whoosh" and an arrow flew out.

"Chi, chi, chi..." Three faint sounds were dubbed very pleasantly. As the three gray-white air currents dissipated, the three attacking alien birds were pierced by arrows, achieving a triple kill.

"Wow, this is really handsome!" Some audience members were dazzled by Liu Yifei, and some female audience members were also inspired to admire and get excited by this heroic and decisive posture.

Two soldiers turned around and one of them gave Liu Yifei a thumbs up.

"That's awesome." Chu Xuan came back to his senses and praised, then he came over from his seat and sat on the board behind Liu Yifei, as if asking for protection.

Some viewers were speechless. Wei Ran is too shameless. Can he be more manly?
But in the eyes of some viewers, real-life couples play out the drama of the woman being strong and the man being weak, which is also very enjoyable for them to watch.

With a "bang", something hit the car.

The scene cuts to outside, where Dillon is shooting an alien with a rifle, just a few steps away from him.

The audience also saw the appearance of the alien again. He was exactly the same as the alien at the beginning. The biggest feature was his grayish bald head. His face was a little squeezed and a little hideous, and there was no emotion in his eyes.

In Chu Xuan's eyes, the surface image of this alien was similar to the alien work "Prometheus" in his memory. This alien looked similar to the tall, gray-skinned man who was the so-called "origin of mankind" in this movie.

As expected, art is interconnected to some extent. The team at Tang Ji Li designed the appearance of the character in the future movie. I don’t know if this character will change when "Prometheus" is released in the future.

"Bang." A shot was fired and the alien was hit in the chest. There was not much blood and he did not die. He just took a step back or two as if due to gravity.

"Bang." The second shot was fired, and the alien remained the same, but his body was slightly hunched.

"Bang." The third shot was fired and the alien fell to the ground, but he was not dead yet and tried to support his body with his hands.

"Bang." The fourth shot was fired, and the alien was finally killed. Several streams of gray-white air dissipated from his body and then disappeared with the wind.

It took four consecutive shots to kill an alien, and each shot hit a vital point, which shows that the alien's physical strength is very strong.

The audience had an intuitive feeling about this, and the next moment a strange man jumped out of the jungle and pounced directly on Ti Lung.

The tension in the entire audience suddenly reached their throats, and then they saw an arrow "swoosh" that blew up the alien's head, followed by the soldiers' follow-up shots.

"Go back!" Ti Lung saw Liu Yifei jump out of the car and motioned her to go back.

"I can help you." Liu Yifei said calmly.

The audience laughed in their hearts. Both the male and female protagonists were restless. The male protagonist Wei Ran was as useless and cowardly as he could be, while the female protagonist Lin Yi was as arrogant and confident as she could be.

They have distinct personalities: one is a poor student and the other is a cold goddess.

In the eyes of film critics, if the male and female protagonists did not get out of the car to face the danger, perhaps the subsequent plot would not be able to continue.

really……

"Lin Yi!"

Outside the car, Concubine Liu Yi was shooting with a bow in front, but unexpectedly a strange man came running from the side and knocked her away.

Liu Yifei was thrown several meters away and fell heavily on the front of the car behind.

Chu Xuan shouted anxiously and immediately jumped out of the car to check on Liu Yifei.

"You have a conscience." Some viewers felt relieved, thinking that Wei Ran finally showed some responsibility.

After several shouts, he woke up.

Chu Xuan helped Liu Yifei back to the car. However, just a few meters away, he saw a strange man kill a soldier with one punch. He was stunned and his face began to tremble.

Then there is a memory scene——

On a rainy night, Liu Yifei knelt on the ground and cried bitterly. In front of her was the bodies of a middle-aged man and woman. From their shouts of "Mom and Dad", one could tell that the couple were Lin Yi's parents.

Chu Xuan pulled Liu Yifei next to him, shouting, "Let's go, it's not safe here," but Liu Yifei remained unmoved and was heartbroken.

Zhang Fengyi, who was standing by, was wearing special combat uniform and fighting with an alien.

At this moment, another strange man suddenly appeared and went straight towards Concubine Liu Yi.

In a hurry, Zhang Fengyi pushed the alien away and stood in front of Liu Yifei. He was knocked to the ground by the alien's punch, vomiting blood.

Chu Xuan just watched his "father" die before his eyes.

The flashback scene only lasts about ten seconds, but the relationship between the male and female protagonists and some of their background, as well as the ins and outs of it, are finally revealed, allowing the audience to understand what is going on.

Movies are not like TV series. Some things do not need to be explained clearly. It is enough to know the general situation so as not to drag out the rhythm of the movie.

"Wei Ran, be careful..." Liu Yifei said weakly.

“Bang, bang, bang, bang…” Dillon rushed over and shot a stranger who tried to get close to the two of them. He yelled at Chu Xuan, “What are you daydreaming about! Are you looking for death? Take Lin Yi back to the car!”

Chu Xuan woke up suddenly, with cold sweat on his forehead. He helped Liu Yifei get into the car with the help of his classmates.

"Everyone get on board!"

"Rush over!"

"Meet up with the rescue team!"

Just like that, under the tense situation created by the tense soundtrack, with more and more aliens emerging from the jungles on both sides, and more and more birds and strange beasts gathering in the sky to attack, the team prepared to break through and escape.

Birds kept attacking from the sky. With a "puff" sound, a bird's beak would penetrate into the car from outside the car body, which frightened the female students in the car.

There were constantly strange people racing madly, trying to climb onto the car from the side but getting crushed by the wheels, and trying to jump onto the car from the back but getting shot back by the soldiers.

This scene looks a little familiar to some movie fans - Resident Evil!
"Oh my god, is this the Chinese version of Resident Evil?" Some movie fans were both passionate and interested.

However, Liu Yifei, who was injured and silent in the car, said something that made the audience more interested.

"I think... these aliens are coming for me."

When these words were spoken, everyone on and off the screen was surprised.

"This..." Dillon was speechless for a moment.

"Isn't it? I was outside the inner circle of the car, and I was protected by you, the instructors. Why did that alien go past you to attack me? This doesn't make sense. Moreover, the aliens you killed seemed to be moving in the same direction, heading towards our car. How do you explain this?"

"Also, this route has been very safe in recent years. Apart from occasional dangers, there has never been a large-scale attack like today. There must be a reason for this. I..."

"Okay, Lin Yi." Dillon interrupted her: "Let's talk about it after everything is safe."

The audience and film critics already have an idea in mind. The previous plot said that it is safe inside the defense coil, and the male protagonist Chu Xuan also reiterated this sentence at the moment of crisis. Now, when combined with Liu Yifei's self-doubt, the logic of the plot before and after is connected.

This also told them that the alien was coming for Lin Yi.

As for why, it doesn’t matter for now, anyway, the audience and critics are both looking forward to it and nervous.

Obviously, as long as this setting exists, or as long as Lin Yi is there, the convoy's escape journey is destined to be restless.

(End of this chapter)