Recently, the crew of the TV series "Mother of the House" was involved in a "cat abuse" scandal, which caused controversy from all walks of life. From "Little Q" to "A Dog's Purpose", animal-themed movies have always attracted fans, but when filming some intense scenes with animals, do they really need to pay the price of injury or life for the scene?
Director Feng Xiaoning and animal actors participated in the film "Animals Attack" event. Photo provided by interviewee.
When it comes to animal actors, director Feng Xiaoning has endless things to say. Many animals have appeared in many film and television works directed by him. For example, in the film "The Atmosphere Disappears", there are touching big white cats and wolf dogs, and in the films "Red River Valley" and "Gada Merlin". There are the shocking galloping horses, and in the TV series "Beiyang Navy", the wolfdog raised by Deng Shichang as a loyal savior jumped into the sea. In the movie "Animals Attack" released in 2019, the dog and cat "actors" were even raised by him himself. Feng Xiaoning likes to shoot animals and is known as the "animal director" because he often uses animal actors. He was extremely angry when he heard that a crew was suspected of disregarding the lives of animals. He also shared some safety rules for shooting animal scenes with reporters from the Beijing News, and issued an appeal, "Don't be too self-righteous in front of animals. The industry needs the most basic artistic ethics, and animal actors should be respected."
Animals are spiritual "actors"
If you respect them, they will cooperate with you.
"Gada Merlin" (released in 2002) directed by Feng Xiaoning is a film about grasslands. The story takes place on the vast and beautiful Horqin Grassland in Inner Mongolia. One day, Feng Xiaoning's behavior "scared the crew." He was going to film a scene of thousands of horses galloping across a river. There would be at least dozens of horses in the scene. He stood opposite the dozens of horses, waiting for them to gallop towards them. That was still 2002, and filming equipment and post-production conditions were far less advanced than today. In order to create a realistic effect, it had to be a real horse or a real person. "It really scared everyone at the time. I just stood there. If the horse rushed over uncontrollably, it would most likely knock me and the camera over. But I still insisted on standing there and filming hand-held. Later, I found that all the horses rushed in front of me, and there was still one or two to go. When the horse hit me, they would suddenly dodge and rush past me. The horse galloped towards the camera, but they all flashed past me, and the effect was quite wonderful. "Feng Xiaoning's confidence in the horse. From spending a long time with animals, he believes that animals are spiritual, and if you treat them well, they will give back to you: "We went to the Horqin Grassland to deeply understand how the local herders get along with horses. The local people's requirement is that people should become friends with horses and dogs. We adopted their habits of getting along with horses as the habit of our crew. Later, the animals became friends with us."
Treating animal actors as friends is an "iron rule" that Feng Xiaoning's film crew always adheres to. In his opinion, the participation of most animals in movies is actually a "zero-pay" act. How can they be used as props by people in a cold-blooded or even cruel way? He strictly requires everyone on the crew to treat the animals well and not to feed or scare them at will. The animals are managed by specific personnel. The actors who play opposite the animals must also be familiar with their habits and spend time with the animals. After the animals "decided to participate" in the film, they must be given plenty of time to adapt and prepare. "For example, the parrot in "Animals" (released in 2019) was unfamiliar to us at first. It acted very nervous and often bit the crew members. Because the parrot's beak is hard and sharp, it even caused blood holes on our hands. But we understand its fear, so we get closer to it and care for it little by little. You will find that even if you don't hurt it, it will also put down its defenses and be very cooperative. You, this is the standard for treating animals in our movie. If you respect them, they will naturally cooperate."
Living with the parrots for a month in exchange for tacit understanding
Using props and editing to shoot dangerous animal scenes
Feng Xiaoning said that it takes time to develop a tacit understanding with animals, and you should not harm animals just because you think it is troublesome or costly. In order to "impress" the parrot, not only did the parrot enter the "Animal Attack" team in advance, but a custom-made cage was given to it. From then on, the parrot lived with the director for a month. "We would open the cage at night so that it could move freely, occasionally flying to the bedside, and occasionally flying to your shoulder. Over time, it got used to (getting along with people), and it stayed with us every day when the crew colleagues held meetings. Gradually, it became part of the filming group. The crew's relationship with the animals also changed from unfamiliarity to harmony. When you secretly photograph it or find a specific shot, it will make up its mind. "
In addition, in film and television production, the film crew will also make special arrangements for some unavoidable dangerous scenes, such as the final scene of "The Great War of 1899" (released in 2012), in which Deng Shichang, played by Lu Yi, sinks to the bottom of the sea and commits suicide. In order to shoot this scene, Feng Xiaoning insisted on filming while ensuring the safety of the animal actors. "Our requirement for a real dog to enter the water is only one second. This dog has been trained for a long time, and the one-second sinking can be tolerated. After shooting this scene, we made a very realistic prop fake dog, and then filmed the scene where Lu Yi held the prop dog and sank into the water for a long time, which can be separated later. The camera is used to achieve the most realistic effect, thus protecting the dog."
Animal actors often have many dangerous scenes in war scenes and adventure scenes. Feng Xiaoning said that the bottom line in handling these scenes is that the animals must be safe, and at the same time, good work should be done on the props to ensure that the animals are not harmed. The spiritual black dog in "Animals Attack" is actually Feng Xiaoning's pet. There is a scene where a dog rushes into the cabin with a fire-breathing signal stick, and then the cabin explodes. "This shot was edited, and the cabin was also set up. The dog did not enter the cabin at all, but we had to take a shot of it holding the fire stick. We needed to train it, so we invited professional dog trainers from the army to use a complete set of scientific methods, such as giving rewards when it does a certain action well, and patiently guiding it if it fails. After about a week of training, the signal stick was also Special cold fireworks are used, and the flames do not have any heat to ensure the absolute safety of the animals on camera. "There are many similar ways to guide animals in filming. Feng Xiaoning has always emphasized that the best actors in the world are children and animals. Their reactions in front of the camera are very real, and they are the precious "baby" of the crew. The entire crew will protect and care for them, and there will never be any cruelty or harm to animals.
The crew's cruelty to animals is a lack of artistic ethics.
The screenwriters try to write as few scenes of dangerous animals as possible.
Feng Xiaoning was particularly angry about the Rashomon incident in which the crew of "The Mistress of the House" fell into "pet abuse." "In the past, the public's attention tended to stay on directors and stars, and rarely paid attention to these filming links. In recent years, the film and television industry has been too 'focused' on money, and has been too easily seduced by convenience and fame and fortune, which has led to a decline in overall standards. Actors use stand-ins for filming, backgrounds are matted, and animal actors suffer the consequences with live ammunition." He believes that the country has been very effective in cracking down on industry chaos recently, and crews that do not respect service and the audience will be punished. It should be eliminated. "Animal abuse is actually a reflection of the lack of artistic ethics of the crew. Nowadays, many young and foolish producers have no sense of public morality at all. They always think that they are superior to others because they have traffic. This is very fatal. The goal of making art is to serve the public. The film and television industry is equal to any other industry!"
Feng Xiaoning was extremely angry and helpless about the behavior of some crews that harmed animals. He believes that allowing animals to film in a safe environment is something that can be done. Animal actors do not have to be "sacrificed" to achieve a certain effect. He calls on the outside world to conduct more supervision on such unscrupulous behavior. The country and film and television industry associations can also introduce some protection policies to further To further ensure the safety of animal actors during film shooting, "We need to establish a protection mechanism for them, just like screenwriters who don't go out of their way to gain gimmicks when editing similar scenes. Try to avoid setting up many dangerous scenes that are difficult for animal actors to achieve. We must respect every life."