"In a moment, you’ll come out from this door, cautiously observing the surroundings, and then Liu Gang will shoot at you from upstairs. You’ll notice in time, dodge, and hide behind this row of containers to launch a counterattack."

Wen Bing said.

An action scene needs to be broken down into many shots to be filmed.

It’s just the beginning, the prelude.

The main event is the showdown between the two later.

Zhou Yun nodded and took the gun from the prop team.

But just this one shot, Wen Bing took the whole morning to finish.

Just the shot of Zhou Yun dodging behind the container was filmed five times.

The difficulty in filming this shot lies in the fact that Liu Gang almost hits Zhou Yun’s head when shooting.

Wen Bing wanted to capture the thrilling effect of the bullet grazing past both Zhou Yun and the edge of the container simultaneously.

Of course, this scene has to rely on special effects in the end, but it can’t be completely fabricated, as that would be too fake. The method used on site was to create a bullet-launching device, which used a machine to hit the bullet to the designed position - a point on the container’s edge. Zhou Yun hides behind this point, and at the moment the bullet passes, she dodges backward. Of course, there’s a visual misplacement effect here; even if Zhou Yun didn’t dodge, the bullet wouldn’t hit her, but from the shooting angle, it creates an effect as if she would be hit or grazed by the bullet if she didn’t dodge in time.

In this scene, Zhou Yun has to dodge backward at the moment the gunshot rings out and the bullet passes the container, achieving a visual balance not solely dependent on acting.

Each failed shoot required changing the container and reinstalling the bullet-launching device.

Due to the filming difficulty, Zhou Yun didn’t want her performance issues to delay progress, and she stayed in a state of tension, ready to perform at any time.

After this shot was completed, Zhou Yun breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Thank goodness, it’s finally done."

Wen Bing was very pleased with this shot.

On the big screen, he wouldn’t slow down this shot; he wants to raise the audience’s adrenaline with these dangerous and exciting shots in a fast and tense rhythm, giving everyone a sense of inevitable danger.

Of course, lots of special effects processing are required later.

The effects created by the bullet-launching device aren’t quite realistic enough.

Zhou Yun rested for a while and began filming the following sequences.

After a whole day of filming, Zhou Yun and Liu Gang hadn’t had a direct confrontation but were engaging in mutual gunfire.

Most shots were of Zhou Yun, but Liu Gang stayed in character the whole time, even when the camera wasn’t on him, he was coordinating upstairs with Zhou Yun, which moved her a lot.

After wrapping up for the day, Zhou Yun invited him and the martial arts instructor to dinner.

"I’m not a professional action actor, so there are many places where I need your guidance in the future." Zhou Yun first made a toast to them.

Liu Gang, tall and powerful, seemed somewhat introverted and shy, speaking little at the table, and merely followed the martial arts instructor saying "Not at all" when Zhou Yun toasted him.

Curious, Zhou Yun looked at Liu Gang and asked, "Brother Gang, have you been filming action scenes for a long time?"

Liu Gang nodded and said, "After I retired, a friend introduced me to this industry to become an action actor."

Zhou Yun said, "Indeed, I rarely see someone with your build in the entertainment industry."

The martial arts instructor said, "Over the years, as special effects become more fashionable, action design has become less in demand. Someone like Liu Gang, with both skill and looks, might not have become famous but at least would be a familiar face in action movies in the past. It’s a pity there aren’t as many opportunities now."

The martial arts instructor’s words seemed to carry a hint of wistfulness.

Zhou Yun asked, "Is that so? I see quite a few action movies each year."

"What do you mean by action movies? It’s all just a sham." The martial arts instructor scoffed, "A new director like Wen Bing makes action films with attention to innovative action design and camera work. As for the others, hmph, they’re all living off old laurels with nothing fresh to offer — still the same old routines."

Zhou Yun didn’t know what to say next.

She smiled awkwardly.

Liu Gang said, "You can’t say that; there are simply more choices now when making films, and the visual impact of special effects is indeed more compelling than action films, that’s a fact."

"Who says action films don’t match the visual impact of special effects? Look at ’Two Tigers,’ no big scenes involved — all fought with fists and feet, and it’s beautiful. It’s just that films like this are too rare now." The martial arts instructor said, "But they’re too rare these days."

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