"Upgrading" the Vietnamese film scene

During the preparation process for the film Cam, director Tran Huu Tan affirmed: "We are not afraid of difficulties. As long as we achieve the effectiveness of the film, no matter how difficult the setting is, we will be ready to survey and film."

Find the strange in the familiar

Before filming in March and April in Thua Thien Hue and Quang Tri provinces, producer Hoang Quan shared that he wanted to find new, unique settings to realize his imagination of a horror version of the Tam Cam story. "We especially wanted to film in Quang Tri because it seems that there are few movies that choose this place as a setting," said producer Hoang Quan. That is why 3/4 of the main settings of the film were filmed here, including: Ha Trung communal house (Gio Linh district), Truong Phuoc lotus pond (Hai Lang district) and mangrove forest. The remaining main setting was filmed in Phuoc Tich ancient village (Thua Thien Hue).

The salt village scene is elaborately staged in Hai Muoi.

New and strange is both the goal and the biggest challenge in the setting stage for Vietnamese filmmakers today. And to solve that inherent problem, many film crews have spent a lot of effort. Before the film Cam, when making Tet in the Hell village and Ke an hon, director Tran Huu Tan and producer Hoang Quan found the Sao Ha village, which is still full of wildness in the middle of the rugged Ha Giang mountains, despite the temperature always being below 4-5oC (sometimes dropping to 0oC) accompanied by heavy rain and strong winds. Or before that, the Ta Nang - Phan Dung setting in Rung the mettle, one of the most beautiful trekking routes in Vietnam.

In fact, not every film crew is lucky enough to find locations that have never appeared on the big screen and are suitable for the production plan and cost. Especially for localities that have left their mark on the screen through previous projects, the pressure is even greater. “We continue to explore , travel all over the roads and villages to find corners of Phu Yen that still retain the typical atmosphere of the 1990s to early 2000s,” director Trinh Dinh Le Minh shared about the process of choosing scenes for Ngay Xua Co Mot Truyen Tinh. Previously, Phu Yen was the main setting of Toi Thay Hoa Vang Tren Co Xanh and created a fever after the film was released.

Or like the film crew of Getting Rich with Ghosts, although it was filmed right in Ho Chi Minh City, the crew painstakingly spent 14 days to build 14 houses. The chosen location was an area overlooking the Saigon River and the high-rise buildings right across. This was the intention of director Trung Lun related to the content of the film, showing the contrast between rich and poor, dreams are sometimes just a river away but still unreachable.

Perfectionism for the audience

With the desire for the scenes in Hai Muoi to be "natural and salty", director, Meritorious Artist Vu Thanh Vinh asked the crew to design and construct many sets in both Ho Chi Minh City and Thieng Lieng Hamlet (Can Gio District) 2 months in advance for approval and editing. For the big house fire scene, he did not want to use effects but built and burned the real house himself. Notably, many scenes in the film use a lot of salt. The crew bought tons of salt from the locals just to serve the filming scenes. "In order for the fire to happen as intended, we built the salt house 3 months in advance so that by the time of filming, it had aged like a real salt house", director Vu Thanh Vinh shared.

It can be seen that when the audience's taste is increasingly high and more demanding, it is understandable that filmmakers must also be self-aware and strict with themselves. Director Trung Lun shared about the process of making Getting Rich with Ghosts: "Although the setting is a working-class neighborhood, which is not difficult to find, we still decided to build a completely new house. The reason is that I want poverty to still have its own poetry." The house was then taken care of in every detail to bring the feeling that the characters have actually lived here for decades.

The actual filming process is always not easy when the film crew is affected by external factors, especially the weather. However, according to director Tran Huu Tan, "Everyone knows that filming outdoors is both expensive and risky, but only filming in such settings can bring real images and emotions to the audience."

That is also the reason why, although it is possible to film indoors, in favorable conditions, many film crews still choose more difficult things such as Soul Eater filmed in the forest with the cold sometimes below 0oC; Cam filmed in the middle of Quang Tri, where the temperature sometimes reached 42oC-44oC; actors in the film Ma da had to soak in water for nearly 13 hours, sometimes in the freezing cold night... all efforts are aimed at creating quality film products, meeting the needs of today's audience.

VAN TUAN

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/len-doi-cho-boi-canh-phim-viet-post759834.html