One day in March 2004, a newspaper report caught the attention of director Su Zhaobin, saying that a group of Japanese scientists led by Miyamoto, a scientist at Osaka University, had invented a porous cube called "Mengjie sponge", claiming that It can capture electromagnetic waves of a certain frequency for ten millionths of a second. This interesting news immediately aroused his curiosity, and he thought, if this thing can capture electromagnetic waves in an instant, is it possible to use it to capture souls?
Driven by curiosity, Su Zhaobin, the director and screenwriter of the film, unlocked the key to his imagination and developed this simple idea into a gripping script that combines elements of thriller, sci-fi, suspense, and action.
After the completion of this script, in 2004, it not only won the first prize of the Taiwan Information Bureau's mentoring fund, but also won the first prize of the excellent script professional group in the same year; it was also selected as "Highly Recommended Project" by Hollywood Dimension Films (highly recommended). Excellent script) and Japan GAGA rated it as "A very well-written script" (excellent screenwriting work).
A person who doesn't believe in ghosts will actually make up a horror story related to ghosts. Su Zhaobin, a master's degree student, used his superb scientific and logical ability to write this twisted and bizarre story. He once wrote the box office thriller [Shuangyu] and Director Su, who won the Golden Horse Award for Best Screenplay [Sangeng], said: "[ Moose] Absolutely original and unique, I am very confident that everyone can see a completely different story from the movies they have seen before..."
The story tells the story of a scientific team led by Hashimoto Yoshiharu, a disabled scientist, who captured the world's first ghost using the "Mengjie sponge" that can capture the frequency of electromagnetic waves. This ghost is an unidentified thirteen-year-old child, but who is the child's identity? Why kill? It is a mystery. The scientist who led the project, Hashimoto Ryoharu, recruited Ye Qidong, an elite detective with super vision, to investigate the cause of the child's death. During the process, he saw a filament between the child's eyes, and vaguely, the filament was connected to some mysterious power. The people involved in the research have died mysteriously, and one by one they have fallen into a death crisis from another world...
In a short period of time, this script has attracted the enthusiasm and enthusiasm of the elite behind-the-scenes films from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, Australia and other places around the world. In the sweltering June of 2005, the streets of Taipei officially started filming this blockbuster thriller, which almost set a record for Taiwanese film funding. For the two, this is not only a challenge, but also a continuation and practice of a dream.
The cooperation between director Su Zhaobin and Huang Zhiming began in 2001, the first film "Double Vision", which was invested and produced by the American Columbia Film Company in Taiwan. At that time, Su Zhaobin was the screenwriter and Huang Zhiming was the producer. Huang Zhiming said: "I think from [Double Eyes] to this film Director Su has become more mature, and he is better than before in terms of skills or in the mix of genres. As he said to me before, [Double Eyes] is good for him. Speaking of which, it may be more like a beginner. When it comes to this case, all aspects are mature, and it is a more complicated script. The biggest characteristic is "big", which makes it complicated. There are even some things that I didn't touch when I was filming [Double Eyes]."
[Double pupils] In those days, Taiwanese films created shock and success with their innovative theme scripts and professional productions in the Hollywood model. Continuing this successful experience and learning, this time, I will try my best to create this film with greater ambition and vision. So under the running of the two, almost all of Asia's first-class behind-the-scenes talents have arrived. They recruited Hong Kong's leading photographer, Huang Yuetai, who is also the photographer of [Double Eyes]. Happy, and also the top Japanese art director in Asia, Mr. Taneda Yohei. Mr. Taneda has very good experience in multinational production. He is also the art director of the American movie "Chasing Bill" filmed in Japan. As for the important special effects direction and special makeup in the film, they are respectively the Chinese special effects Hu Shengzhong Sing Foo who worked at Columbia Film Company in the United States and participated in the production of "Spider-Man" and also had a wonderful performance in "Double Eyes", and has been helping Hollywood. The Australian special makeup MEG (Makeup Effects Group) company that works.
In short, it is not so much a Taiwanese movie as it is an Asian movie, and it is an Asian movie of "MADE IN TAIWAN", which is a new brand concept and has never appeared in a Taiwanese movie. All the main actors are from Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong, and the main behind-the-scenes work groups are also from Hong Kong, Japan, Australia and Taiwan. The directors Su Zhaobin and Huang Zhiming have always had such a blueprint in their hearts. Intended to capture the best talent in Asia to form an exciting and refreshing super group, and now they did.
[Casting and Casting]
"When I was preparing for this film, I hoped to make a film not just for Taiwan, but an Asian film. That is to say, when foreigners, or people from other Asian countries, see this When making a movie, you can find some of the concepts and thinking of the Asian people it represents, so when you choose a role, you are going in a more international way.” Director Su explained a major principle of actor selection at the beginning, With this exact direction, in the whole casting process, the determination of the actors is actually quite a matter of course. Later, he became popular in Asia with Japanese dramas such as [The White Tower], [Under One Roof], etc. The well-known Japanese actor Yosuke Eguchi and many international films with many well-known directors such as [Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon], [2046] and The Taiwanese actor Zhang Zhen, such as [Eros], appeared one by one and became the soul of the film.
"It was set from the beginning to find a Japanese actor. After talking with Eguchi, I found that he is a very serious actor. When I met in Japan, I felt that they were very involved and provided a lot of advice. It was decided later; S, in fact, we originally wanted to find a very hot actress for this role, but after Da S finished the audition, her acting skills and self-confidence completely convinced us. As for Chen Bolin and Zhang Junning, they are a couple , a feeling, I am often joking, if there is a sequel, it is to shoot the story extended by the two of them. The role of Jiaxin actually has a very important emotional relationship with Qidong, but Ye Qidong has always wanted to find someone He wants it, but because of his job or personality, or because of his mother's relationship, he doesn't dare to directly confess to an object, so such a role can't be too active, it must be a little subtle, so Jiaxin is ours The first choice, and after some twists and turns, she finally agreed to participate in the performance." Huang Zhiming briefly explained the whole casting process.
Zhang Zhen played the hero detective Ye Qidong in the play. He was deeply attracted by the script from the very beginning. He mentioned the situation of reading the script when he first received it: "I remember when I got the script, I read it and read it. I couldn't stop, so I couldn't help but read it in one breath. There are a lot of thrilling atmosphere and action scenes in the script, which will keep me reading all the time. Of course, the most special thing is because of that mysterious "silk" , in the end what is the communication between people and ghosts, I think this thing is very interesting. Whether he believes in ghosts or not, he said, "I doubt it. There are many things in this world that cannot be proved by science, and they have always been there."
For the role of Ye Qidong, I actually went through some process in the casting process. The director and I actively searched for suitable candidates in Hong Kong and Taiwan, and finally chose Zhang Zhen. "I think Zhang Zhen is more mature in this play than he was in the past." Huang Zhiming said.
What about Yosuke Eguchi? Director Su said, "In this film, Yosuke Eguchi plays a man who has suffered from diabetes since childhood, and later lost his foot. He has a very unhappy life since childhood, so when he discovered that people can become ghosts after death, He is very obsessed with this thing." For this role, from the very beginning they decided to look for Japanese actors, such as Sanada Hiroyuki, Tang Ze Shouming, etc., but in the end the director still preferred Yosuke Eguchi, and then Director Su flew to Japan to follow Eguchi talked a few times in person, Eguchi also liked the script very much, and his image and performance intentions were very suitable, and finally he was determined to perform. "His performance in the film is very good." The director said with great satisfaction.
This is the first time Yosuke Eguchi has left Japan to shoot a movie. He himself is full of expectations for this film and regards it as another breakthrough in his acting career. With Director Su, the whole group is a very strong film team. The hardest part is memorizing Chinese lines and filming. After I received the script, I listened hard to the Chinese MD and kept auditioning and practicing. When the filming officially started, facing the camera, I still felt like I opened my mouth. It’s hard to say. After working together, I feel that the staff is very good. During the whole process, I feel the charm that I have never felt before. I hope that after this role, there will be more breakthroughs in the film attempt.
” The performance was well received, and the heroine Xu Xidi (big S) in the same play also admired Yosuke Eguchi's name, which made her, who did not dare to watch thrillers in private, excited and took over the movie with the highest production cost among Chinese films. , plays the role of Su Yuan, an ambitious female assistant who wants to become famous through research in the film.
"I believe that there are ghosts in this world. The reason why I will take on this drama is mainly because Director Su's previous script has a very good reputation, which makes me very interested in him and I want to talk to him very much. Cooperation; Another big reason is because I really want to cooperate with Yosuke Eguchi, because I have seen all the Japanese dramas he starred in in the past, and I admire him very much." Big S said.
"At the beginning, we actually wanted to find a very tall and hot girl to play the role of Su Yuan, but then Da S's confident attitude and very natural and excellent acting skills convinced us to choose her." Huang Zhiming said that another female in the film The protagonist Lin Jiaxin plays Zhang Zhen's girlfriend Du Jiawei in the film, and she is the purest and brightest character in the film.
"The first time I saw the script of [Wusi], I thought it was a very exciting commercial film, because I felt that the scripts of [Three Watches Home] and [Double Eyes] that Director Su wrote before, also There is [Wusi], he is very good at creating a very thrilling and suspenseful feeling for the movie. After reading the script, you will always want to look back, and you are very anxious to know the development of the story, so I think it is full of fun, because if this is the case The story can completely attract me, and the general audience can also feel it, so I agreed immediately!”
The reason why Jiaxin was asked to play the role, Director Su said: “This drama is a horror and thriller drama, so All people are basically dark to some extent, but only the role of Lin Jiaxin, she is the sun in this play, she represents the completely positive, happy, joyful, sunny side. When I first looked for her, It's also because her appearance gives you such a very comfortable image!"
"There are also two important actors in the film, Chen Bolin and Zhang Junning, who play the two young male and female assistants of the male protagonist Yosuke Eguchi in the film. A pair of very young scientists. Compared with Eguchi, who is very obsessed with death in the play, and Da S, who wants to make a name for himself through ghosts, these two young people are more of the type who don't believe in ghosts and are more iron-toothed, because they They are too young to think about what death is, so they have a kind of negligence towards ghosts, and of course this negligence comes at a price.” Director Su Zhaobin described the two completely different dramas. The young characters are complicated by other roles in the game.
In the play, Chen Bolin plays the genius scientist Shouren who is proficient in physics and chemistry. He believes in ghosts, but he believes that it is a "spiritual body" that can be explained through scientific methods. In the play, he often publishes a lot of scientific data and theories. He is an erudite young man who is quite devoted to research. "This character is very stubborn, that kind of 'it can't be a ghost, it must be a spiritual body, it must be composed of something', but that's what makes him cute." Chen Bolin said.
As for Zhang Junning, who performed a thriller for the first time, he also said: "I think the most difficult thing is to imagine. If you want to imagine that you are afraid, because there will be no such thing at the scene, you must use your imagination. When I'm afraid to the top, my whole body will shake. It's really tiring to play this kind of play...and the part of pretending to be calm." Zhang Junning plays a very timid scientific assistant in the play. Screaming when something terrifying happens. "I think she's a very smart person, but she's actually very timid, but she has a bit of a nerve in a certain way. Although she is very afraid of that thing, she thinks that nothing should happen." She described the play in this way. in self.
[Behind-the-scenes production, production scene]
[Wusi] began filming in Taipei in June 2005, and was completed in early August of the same year. Since the background of the story is set in the current Taipei, almost all the filming was completed in the hot Taipei. There are many shooting scenes, including the interior scene of "House No. 17", which was designed by the famous Japanese art director Taneda Yanghei himself, built at a cost, and is as beautiful as a tourist attraction. It is connected to the magnificent "flower field" in the external scene field, as well as the street scene, house scene, mountain view, etc. in Taipei, almost connecting the entire modern Taipei. Through the film photography Huang Yuetai, art farming and actors, Zhang Zhang In the end, we are brought into a strange and beautiful horror fable painting that is a bit like Taipei, but not quite like Taipei. In order to present a completely different feeling, the production staff are busy and challenging in this city that does not have filming conditions - Taipei. It is difficult, just to insist on the best quality of the film.
Huang Zhiming said: "[Wusi] This large-scale film, this big actually caused it to become complicated, its complexity, and even some things I have never touched, and then, I feel that this type of film is made. There are fundamental differences. Some things must be done well, or must be photographed, and these elements must appear. The persistence of these scenes and quality is the biggest test for us. We make announcements every day. Find a way to overcome this predicament, because the filming dilemma in Taiwan is not known to outsiders.”
"For example, we want to shoot a scene that takes place in the MRT. In the end, in addition to filming on the MRT, I actually have to spend a million to get a MRT car, and then make a combination. Why? Because this scene is The final plot, the front is full of action special effects, it is lively and lively, but in the end it still has to fall on the feelings of all the relevant characters. For a sci-fi ghost movie, in order to achieve this dramatic effect, we filmed
the ending for two days, why did it take so much effort? The vision of the film was directed by well-known Hong Kong photographer Huang Yuetai and the Japanese art director Mr. Taneda Yanghei who had filmed "Chasing Bill", and the action stunt was directed by Hong Kong's most experienced master Dong Wei.
The two most important and largest scenes in the film are "House 17" and Huatian.
"House 17" is one of the most important main interior scenes in the film "Witch Silk", which was built by Mr. Taneda in the studio of Arong.
For this special "House No. 17", which occupies a very important position in the movie, Mr. Art Taneda has a very original idea.
Mr. Taneda said: "'House 17' is a mysterious and terrifying house, so it should have a mysterious effect. The soul captured in this 'House 17' belongs to a man named Yoshi Xiao. Boy, he is actually the real protagonist in this film." So when Mr. Taneda was thinking about setting the scene, he uncharacteristically did not refer to many horror movies, but referred to many art collections where children would appear. Then get inspiration from the worldview of the children.
"For example, when I wanted to make houses like "House 17", I thought that the drawing books I read when I was a child were some fairy tales. For example, "Grimm's Fairy Tales" and "Little Red Riding Hood", I wanted to make a kind of fairy tale space. Go in a Scary places need a key, that is, scary but beautiful, scary but charming to attract people to enter, just like the fairy tale "Candy House" suddenly appeared in the forest, although it is a dangerous trap, it is gorgeous and unbearable. Stay and find out."
"What I want to express this time is to have something shiny in an old place. The use of colors that are not available in Taiwan in the space effect makes everyone's curiosity to want to go into a strange house. , I just wanted to make something like the fable in my impression, so I designed the interior of "House 17" like that."
Photographer Huang Yuetai said: "Mr. Taneda put a slightly European-colored blue-green on the At the same time, the effect is like a European oil painting. The scenes he made, especially the colors in "House 17", have never been seen in Chinese films. Everyone cooperated very happily. The main white and color scenes are Lin Jiaxin. Inside the flower shop, it gives people a very safe feeling and a very pure feeling. For the part of "House 17", I used the Cuban Havana style. This time, instead of having something in common with Japan, I adopted something in common with Spain. I think this is closer to what I want. It feels like the moisture, the tiles on the floor, and the walls are quite similar, and they have something in common. I want to achieve a special Taiwanese effect in this film from here. "
In Mr. Taneda's conception, "House 17" is an entrance to the film, and another important scene, the flower field, is the final exit.
"In the play, the flower field represents the exit. In the scene of the flower field, the little boy Yoshi is buried in it and finally dug out, which represents a kind of exit. The art scene of the whole film is basically constructed backward from the flower field. .We want to make a lot of "flower" effects in the scene structure of the whole film. If you don't look carefully, you may not find that we use a lot of "flowers" in different places. For example, there are "flowers" and patterns beside the bed in the hospital. Maybe it's the flower pattern "flower" of the wallpaper that exploded the house. The most obvious scene is "Du Jiawei's Flower Shop". Just use many different ways to prompt the flower field, and then connect to the largest flower field at the end. "Mr. Taneda expressed the concept that the image of flowers is used throughout the film throughout the film.
Tan Tian also explained the urban atmosphere of Taipei he designed for [Wusi]: “I made a movie called [Swallowtail Butterfly] in Japan a few years ago. In [Swallowtail Butterfly], I made an illusion of Japan. At that time, the Japanese felt Japan after seeing it, but it didn't feel like Japan, but I had done that kind of artistic effect that didn't seem to be Japanese. Then this time I felt the same. Similarly, I want to make the effect that when Taiwanese people see this movie, they know it is Taiwan but it doesn't feel like Taiwan. It has that kind of exotic flavor. It's not just because it was made in Taipei, it's just Taipei. I want to target this movie The film shows a special Taipei. I want to make a fictional Taiwan."
[Behind-the-scenes production, photography]
The photographer of this film is Huang Yuetai from Hong Kong, known as Brother Tai, who is a very senior professional photographer in Hong Kong. He has won many Golden Horse Awards and the Hong Kong Film Awards for Best Cinematography. "Wood Silk" is the 122nd film he has participated in.
"I came to Taiwan to shoot this is the third film, one is Yang Dechang's [Independence Era], the other is [Double Eyes], and then this [Witcher]. When I received this film, four scenes came to me, [ In addition to "Wu Si", there is also a Hong Kong drama, an American film, and a mainland film. In the end, I chose "Wu Si". The main reason for choosing "Wu Si" is mainly because the content of the script attracts me, and I have no interest in photography. Speaking of, this is the most important thing, I think this drama can give me a little more performance, so I chose this film." Brother Tai happily said his views on the film.
"From the perspective of color, tone, and air components of the atmosphere, it is different from ordinary ghost movies. It looks inadvertent, but you will feel that it is difficult to do!" Brother Tai went on to explain. 【Silly】.
During the filming, Brother Tai spent a lot of time communicating with the director and art director Tanada Yanghei. The most important thing is to find out the visual positioning and characteristics of the film, and technically achieve the final precise and perfect effect. Such high-standard shooting The persistence of quality requires a considerable price and effort.
Regarding the visual photography direction of the film, Director Su said: "I don't want to make a dark horror film or thriller, I want a thriller that looks very bright overall and looks very real, even if the film When we have ghosts, souls, etc., I don't want it to look gloomy, it should look very bright, a very clear film, because of this requirement, it also makes photography difficult. It has improved a lot, because when we are shooting outdoor scenes, we usually need to light up the whole street to achieve the effect that I and him asked for. Everything must be clearly seen, and we have also studied a lot. After the film, we finally picked a special color as the tone of the film, which also took a lot of time in the post-production process."
Then Tai Ge said, "Director Su is a very famous screenwriter. , In fact, as long as this play can meet his requirements, it is not easy, because he has already thought about all the worlds and divided them. I just provide pictures to help him tell the story. He said that he likes my movements very much, I will add a lot of movement to the scene, because the movement of the camera is very important in this scene. In many scenes, the actors do not move too much, and the camera is used to move, but how does the studio move? It is in the studio. The atmosphere and rhythm of the film follow the mood of the actors at that time.”
Director Su felt very trusting in Brother Tai’s professional and rich photography experience, he said, “Brother Tai really helped this drama a lot, because we There are a lot of special effects shots in it. The previous Taiwanese films rarely touched this field, especially the experience of filming compositing, filming, counterpointing and filming filters. He is very skilled in this aspect and avoids a lot of troubles for us. , and then his whole movement is very fast, when we have weather or light problems several times, he can be very fast and respond in a timely manner, I really admire him!"
In [Wusi], it was matched with Brother Tai. The art director Mr. Taneda Yohei is a well-known art director in Japan. The two worked together on the Japanese film "The City That Never Sleeps" 8 years ago.
Huang Yuetai said: "Mr. Tan Tian is the top artist among the oriental friends I have worked with. He is an art director, but he is absolutely qualified to be a production designer, because the things he designs are all real, unique, and very good. The subtle, and then all are fully filtered and then designed. It also fully matches the character of each actor. The colors used are very unique. For all the scenes in this play, he cooperated with us and used blue and green colors to shoot. Because in the film, all the colors are red, blue, and green. I used two blue and green, and there is no red. I don’t think I will use a lot of red light, because the director doesn’t like it very much, so We use a lot of small red accessories in art, such as shooting street scenes, I will use a traffic light especially, the red light flashes inside, just put some red things in the distance, Tsukada designed this, Quite mature.”
And Mr. Taneda praised his brother Tai in this way: “There are three respected photographers among the photographers I have worked with. One is Japanese named Shino Tiansheng, who is shooting "Swallowtail Butterfly" "Love Letter" ”. And Bob Richardson, who worked with [Bill to Kill], he can really understand what I want to do. Although I don’t understand the language, he will help me shoot what I imagined. Finally, it’s Brother Tai. Brother Tai and I worked together in [The City That Never Sleeps], and this [Witchcraft]."
[Behind the scenes production · Special makeup] The special makeup
in charge of this movie is from Australia, who has been working for Hollywood. Team led by Nick and Paul from MEG Makeup. This group should be no stranger to Taiwanese audiences. Their delicate and realistic special makeup and mannequins in [Double Eyes] amazed Taiwanese audiences, especially the baby models in the film are even more lifelike, which became a topic that everyone talked about at the time.
"We found an Australian NEG company for special makeup. We met them when we were in [Double Eyes], and we thought they did a good job at that time, plus they have been helping Hollywood make some movies for the past few years. The progress is even greater, especially those corpses, and some dead makeup inside, so after seeing more of them, I decided to cooperate with them again, and after seeing the effect of the film, I felt that I was looking for them. That's right, and it's worth it. Especially the two corpses they made in the film are so realistic that everyone who sees them thinks that the two corpses are real people, and they really help this horror film. I got a lot of points." Director Su said.
This special makeup team spent a long time in Taiwan during the filming. At first, they stayed in the studio every day to make corpses. It took nearly 10 weeks to complete the two corpses. This studio is like a scenic spot, and often the staff secretly When I came to watch the place, when I saw with my own eyes that these two lifelike corpses were made from scratch and completed in front of their eyes with various materials and colors, I was amazed and amazed.
Then how to achieve the natural presentation and echo effect of their plot in the film? PAUL explained to NICK: "In the process, we need to refer to a lot of photos, and ask the actors to simulate their postures in the film. For example, the photographer in the film must first simulate his dead state in the film, that is, in the film. On the dissection table, and then we will do it according to this posture. At the same time, we also need to take a lot of photos for reference, and make some corrections to make the corpse show the best under the lens. There are many different expressions on the face. , The little boy's corpse is lying down, and his eyes are closed. For this reason, we first built a lot of models of different parts of the face, then carved out his eyes, and then decorated them for the audience to see. The horrified facial expression, once completed, followed by the detailed skin texture, and finally the finished casting, the finished product is like the masterpiece you have seen!”
PAUL said: "We actually have to deal with a lot of technical issues, and we also try to move the audience, which is one of the main purposes of the film. When the audience sees our work for the first time, when we make it look realistic , we feel a great sense of achievement, when we refer to some anatomical photos, we will want to say how to make a more realistic effect, we will want to say: "Okay, we want to create a real corpse" "Which color, what material would be better.” These are very technical things, and when you’re done, step back and look at the finished work and think, “This is a corpse based on a real person.” We leave the studio, and the general The audience looks at the corpse for the first time, and then thinks: "It looks great, it should be quite amazing on the screen." At this time, there will be a kind of spontaneous moving, but when we are working It's time for us to make sure this is right, that's right, that's what should be done here... wait, it's totally technical, you don't keep thinking that you're going to make a real corpse, and in the end Inspiration is made up of many technical things. "
As for all the dead makeup in the film, it also took them about 6 to 7 weeks on the scene. Just hearing that every actor who was put on was scared to death by his own makeup, but he was reluctant to remove it because it was too delicate. Just know how wonderful these makeup are!
"The original idea was to do post-death makeup, that kind of life sucking dry, so we made the skin look pale, basically to make the audience feel like life was being squeezed out, sucked dry, and the whole body was ripped out. Empty, blood vessels, eyeballs, etc. must look terrifying, because these dead people look lifeless whether it is their outer body or inner. The director told us that he wants to be approached by ghosts And when you die, you have to be dry and pale, hopefully something extraordinary, a little extreme, where you can see the blood and the blood vessels show through. So we tried to create a natural but not too The exaggerated effect, both scary and unusual, aptly reflects that this is a different kind of horror work." NICK and PAUL explained one of their efforts for this special makeup.
NICK and PAUL said: "The reason we like this movie is because, as we mentioned, it has a lot of emotional layers, and sometimes you watch big Hollywood thrillers, they have a lot of special effects and a huge amount of investment behind them. Funding, but there is no strong story to support it. This is quite different from the script we read [Wousi] or [Double Eyes]. The characters in the [Wooth] script have deep emotional characterization, which is also One of the reasons we love this job.”
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