Choosing the right setting as described in the script, especially for periods such as war, ancient times... is a constant effort of Vietnamese filmmakers. Besides costumes and good actors, the setting also accounts for 50% of the trust and inspiration of the audience for old films. The later the films, the more research is required, if we do not want to repeat the settings of other films. Therefore, finding old settings to build a film set takes almost several months to a year, which is normal.

The crew of the film "Tunnels: Sun in the Dark" recreated the Cu Chi Tunnels on set for filming.

Meritorious Artist - Director Nguyen Phuong Dien, who has been dubbed by audiences as the "King of Old Movies" in the South in the past few years, said that even after having a good script in hand, he still had to spend a long time traveling everywhere with his crew to survey and choose the setting. With modern social films, it is very easy, because everything is available, but films with old settings require finding "unique" corners, to bring something new and interesting to the audience. Finding a suitable setting is one thing, the film crew also has to restore the story to the correct era described in the script.

Director Phuong Dien said: "To make "Tieng tho trong mua" successful and loved by the audience, I surveyed more than 100 ancient houses in provinces such as Dong Thap, An Giang, Dong Nai... When making "Luoi troi", I also traveled all over the West to find a setting that matched the script, then I spent an additional 500 million VND to restore some streets to make them most similar to the period the film describes. To have a film set with the right setting is a very elaborate job."

Director Nguyen Phuong Dien spent half a billion VND to recreate the scene in "Sky's Net".

In the film "Linh Luc: Quy Nhap Trang", finding the setting and restoring the essence of the family in the 1960s was the whole journey of the film crew. Director Luu Thanh Luan's crew spent 3 months going everywhere in Hue to search for French-style houses, but in vain, because the ancient houses here have almost no outside space or are preserved, so they could not film... The male director shared: "We needed a house with French architecture, but still had to have a large screen in front of the house like a Hue traditional house. Not to mention, the house had to have a large garden around it to look completely separate from the other houses. Luckily, we finally found the ancient house, located in the middle of a vacant lot that had been abandoned for many years. However, everything here was badly damaged. So the whole film crew had to work hard to restore the house with this vacant lot becoming the extremely magnificent family's property in the film that you will see."

One of the biggest challenges when creating and recreating historical sets is balancing cinematic aesthetics with cultural accuracy. Sometimes there are things that you want to do well but can’t convince the owner to rent them out for filming, or the set has changed so much over time that the restoration must maintain its original value.

Filming in old decades is difficult, and war films are even more difficult. Nowadays, old film sets have become historical relics. Some areas require complicated permits if you want to film scenes with explosions.

The 1940s setting in the movie "Sky Net".

Director Bui Thac Chuyen and the crew of the film “Tunnels: The Sun in the Dark” chose to solve a very difficult problem, which was to recreate one of the most fierce wars of the nation, under the tunnels. Cu Chi Tunnels are considered a symbol of the People's War. The entire film crew spent a lot of effort and time to recreate that heroic historical period, facing countless difficulties in production, demanding harsh work. They created a simulated tunnel that surprised everyone.

Director Bui Thac Chuyen shared: “In the simulated tunnel, there is no space to place the lights, making it difficult to move the equipment. In addition to building an indoor studio, the simulation of the underground tunnel was tested over and over again with many materials and methods. Everything had to be done by hand to get the most realistic look. In addition, the narrow space could not be used to build a track for the camera. I kept the light in the film purely the oil lamps and flashlights of the soldiers instead of using other lighting equipment. The filming process took 6 times longer than other movies because of the limited space, making every stage much longer.”

It was impossible to film in the real Cu Chi Tunnels, which meant that the film crew had to simulate the tunnels in the studio and recreate them as realistically and in the most detail. The lucky thing and also the light that guided the film crew was the help and advice of the People's Armed Forces Hero To Van Duc, a guerrilla who lived and fought in the Cu Chi Tunnels.

Besides the underground filming set in the studio, the film crew also filmed outside scenes in the forest along the Saigon River in Cu Chi, giving the crew indescribable emotions.

After many experiments, each part of the tunnel on the set was made from different materials, but the final layer was still soil. The surface was then colored, animated or added with tree roots... to create the most realistic and diverse feeling, completely deceiving the viewer's vision. In addition to the tunnel filming set in the studio, the film crew also filmed outside, in the forest along the Saigon River in Cu Chi, giving the crew indescribable emotions. The film crew had the opportunity to recreate the most realistically ruined base under the bombs of the US army.

The old-time TV or movie scenes, especially the fierce war period that the audience watches and feels emotional about, are the result of the sweat of hundreds of people who worked hard to create them. The setting and restoration are not only a matter of patience but also an effort to bring back the original old values, recreating the past historical period. The selection of the setting, in addition to being based on aesthetic factors, must also respect the cultural values ​​and beliefs of the audience. From there, we can see how valuable the efforts of the filmmakers are./.

Lam Khanh

Photo: CANH TOAN

Source: https://baocamau.vn/phim-truong-phuc-dung-boi-canh-xua-cu-no-luc-lon-cua-nha-lam-phim-viet-a38295.html