Nearly 20 Toyota Coasters were carrying several old Flying Tigers members and their relatives to the shooting base of Flying Tigers, which was the simple airport restored by the crew.
When the old people followed the cars to the red land, Li Mu could see that each of them had a different kind of excitement on their faces.
Although the airport used for filming was not rebuilt from the original site, because the simple airport was also on such a piece of red land, it looked exactly the same to the old people.
What excited them the most was actually the dozen or so P-40C planes parked at the airport. It was said that half of them were real planes and the other half were replicas.
Li Mu couldn't tell which of these planes were real and which were props, but these old people had unique insight. They almost swarmed to several of the planes, went up to touch them, walked around them, hugged them, and cried. However, there were a few planes that looked the same and no one cared about them.
Ning Hao exclaimed in front of Li Mu, "These old people have really good eyesight. I've been here for so long, but I can't tell which is real and which is fake. They can tell at a glance."
Li Mu asked with a smile, "If you don't know which is real and which is fake, how do you know that the old people are right?"
Ning Hao said with a smile, "I can't tell which is real and which is fake, but I remember the number of the plane. If it's an odd number, it's a real plane, and if it's an even number, it's a prop."
"Okay." Li Mu nodded and walked to Old Man Sun Xiaozhong. At this time, he was stroking the propeller of the P-40C in front of him with a trembling hand, trying to move the propeller slightly. His face was full of excitement and excitement.
Li Mu asked him, "Mr. Sun, do you want to take a picture with this plane? I'll ask the photographer to come over and take a few pictures for you. "
When Elder Sun Xiaozhong heard this, he was excited at first. Then, he looked at himself and realized that he was wearing the most ordinary white short-sleeved shirt. He said awkwardly, "I don't think it's appropriate for me to take a picture with it like this. Let's talk about it in the future. I'll dress more formally then …"
Han Zili nodded repeatedly and said in a joking tone, "How can you dress so casually when taking a photo with these old fellows? Shouldn't you at least wear a Chinese tunic suit?"
Han Zili's son couldn't help but say, "Dad, why don't you put on your former pilot's uniform and take a photo with it? That would be very memorable."
Old man Han Zili smiled and said, "You make it sound simple. The Flying Tigers gave me the uniform, and I wore it until the end of the War of Resistance. After that, I changed it to the national army's uniform. That uniform has always been in my collection, but when I went to Taiwan in 1949, because the plane's luggage was overweight, it was seized."
Li Mu slapped his forehead and said, "Our crew has a replica of the Flying Tigers military uniform. Let the crew take you to try it on. There are hundreds of military uniforms, and there will definitely be one that suits you."
"Really?!" The two old men, as well as the other two old members of the Flying Tigers Hua Xia, looked at Li Mu in surprise.
Li Mu immediately nodded and said, "I also borrowed a military uniform yesterday and wore it for a photo. I'll let the director know and let him arrange it."
As he spoke, Li Mu called over Spielberg and told him his idea in English, "Steven, later, let the crew take these old gentlemen to change into a suitable military uniform. Let the photographer come over and take some photos for them. This is very meaningful to them."
Spielberg nodded without hesitation and said, "Then I'll arrange it right away. Our stunt pilots are still here. Do you want them to come out and fly the plane for these old gentlemen?"
Li Mu asked in surprise, "They can fly at any time? Don't we need to apply to the military? "
In Li Mu's impression, the airspace of Hua Xia was managed by the Air Force, and the flight routes of civil aviation also needed to be approved by the Air Force. The plane used by the crew also needed to be approved by the Air Force.
Spielberg said, "Normally, every flight needs to be approved a few days in advance, but the local military has given us a lot of support for this movie. They know that we are going to shoot aerial scenes, so they gave us a special privilege. Before the plane takes off, we can directly report to the military. As long as the military gives the nod, we can fly immediately."
Li Mu asked again, "How long does it take for the military to approve?"
Spielberg said, "One or two minutes. We are directly contacting the air traffic control of the Air Force. Our area is not on the civil aviation route, so as long as the military is sure that there is no activity in our area and has not received any flight requests from other airlines, they will immediately give us permission."
As he spoke, Spielberg added, "Our P-40C and our camera helicopter can basically take off at any time."
Li Mu nodded in satisfaction and said, "Then let the pilots of the flight team get ready. When the old gentlemen have changed into their military uniforms, we will take off to pay our respects to them."
For Hollywood's medium and large film companies, they had very high requirements for the quality of their films. During the filming process, they would only use special effects for scenes that needed to use computer special effects. As for the other scenes, they would use real scenes as much as possible, because only real scenes were the most perfect. Take Tom Cruise's "Top Gun" for example. The reason why it became a classic of aerial combat in the eyes of many audiences was largely due to the large number of real fighter scenes in the film. If all the scenes were to use computer special effects, the quality of the scenes would definitely be greatly reduced.
Therefore, in "Flying Tigers," many of the aerial combat scenes were filmed live. Ordinary aerial scenes were done by helicopters, and special scenes of aerial combat, such as chasing and tumbling, were done by a stunt flying plane. The intention was to recreate the real scene of the Flying Tigers fighting with the enemy in the air.
For this reason, the production team specially hired a stunt flying performance team from the United States to be responsible for filming the aerial scenes.
Li Mu suddenly thought of many war movies and TV dramas in the later generations of China. In his impression, all the war movies and TV dramas that he had seen before, when it came to scenes involving airplanes, they all used 50 cents special effects. Even the number one war TV drama in his heart, "My Regiment Commander My Regiment", which had scenes involving airplanes, were all clumsy 50 cents special effects. It was extremely disappointing.
Originally, the expeditionary army was going to take a plane to Myanmar, which was supposed to be a very tragic event. However, the scene of a plane on a dilapidated land suddenly made it feel extremely stingy. Moreover, one could tell at a glance that the props in the scene of the plane on the ground were too careless, and the special effects after the plane took off were even more clumsy. Even a three-year-old could tell that the plane was fake.
Admittedly, this had something to do with the budget of the film and TV series, but why couldn't the budget be tilted towards quality? As a result, later TV series had a production cost of 200 million yuan, and 180 million yuan was the actors' remuneration. As for how they were filmed, it didn't matter. They could just use 50 cents special effects to deal with it. That was why there were so many stingy films and TV series.
Li Mu felt that he might not be able to influence the future development of Hua Xia's films and TV series, nor might he be able to raise the industry's overall demand for film quality. However, at the very least, he could set an example and produce a few high-quality films to set an example for the Hua Xia film industry.
While his imagination was running wild, several old people changed into their Flying Tigers military uniforms and walked out of a large military green tent. Although each of them was over 70 years old, after changing into the pilot uniforms and wearing aviator sunglasses, they looked especially imposing.
Among these old Flying Tigers, there were Hua Xia faces and American faces, just like in the old photos of the Flying Tigers. However, the valiant young people of the past had now become old people. However, except for their bodies, everything else seemed to be the same as before.
The uniforms were still the same, the airport was still the same, and the planes were still the same.
At this time, the aerobatic pilots had already gotten into the six P-40C planes. The planes started up and lined up to the end of the runway.
The old people didn't expect that the planes would start up as soon as they changed into their uniforms. They immediately asked in surprise.
Li Mu said to the crowd, "The members of the aerobatic team are going to take these planes to the sky to pay tribute to you, and to let you see the scene of this plane soaring in the blue sky again."
The old people nodded excitedly, their eyes fixed on the planes, not even willing to blink.
The military had already given the flying team permission to fly within a radius of 20 kilometers and a height limit of 5,000 meters. Therefore, the six P-40C fighter jets accelerated one after another, lifted their wheels, and took off into the air. They formed a formation in the air and began their performance flight.
The old people applauded and watched the planes flying over the airport in different styles. After a few low altitude passes, Li Mu carefully noticed that every old person had a smile on their face, but there were also traces of tears.
Old Sun Xiaozhong said, "Looking at these planes shuttling back and forth in the sky, all I can think of is the scene of me piloting the same type of plane and fighting fiercely with the enemy in the sky. This kind of feeling feels like a lifetime ago, but it also feels like it's right in front of my eyes."
The six planes flew in the air for half an hour, performing many thrilling flying postures before landing on the runway one after another. After the six planes stopped side by side, Li Mu said to the old people, "We can go over and take photos now."
The old people nodded and stood in front of a P-40C plane. The old people from both countries supported each other and took photos in front of the plane as a souvenir. An old American Flying Tigers member wiped his tears and sighed. "When we took photos in the past, I always liked to climb up the wings and the fuselage. Now, I can't climb anymore."
Old Sun Xiaozhong patted him on the back and said with a smile, "John, that era is over. In the past, we still sat in the cabin and drove these guys into the sky with our own hands. Now, we don't have this chance anymore. It's not our era anymore."
The old American Flying Tigers member named John nodded slightly and said, "I'm satisfied to see them again, touch them, listen to their engines, and watch them fly in the sky …"
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