On New Year's Day this year, Yu Zheng followed Guo Jingming's footsteps and apologized for plagiarism in his past TV series. After that, he did not like to speak in front of the stage as before. And his new dramas this year "Jade House...
On New Year's Day this year, Yu Zheng followed Guo Jingming's footsteps and apologized for plagiarism in his past TV series. After that, he did not like to speak in front of the stage as before. And his new dramas this year "Jade House Spring" and "The Housewife" are also all pre-cold.
The currently airing "Mother of the House" issued a copyright statement as soon as it aired, and netizens were not allowed to take screenshots. This move is almost equivalent to an official announcement not to take screenshots to discuss the plot, and it drives the audience away.
Unexpectedly, a question arose that everyone had to take screenshots and analyze frame by frame: When the cat was poisoned in the plot, was the cat really dead?
The controversial scene of "Mother of the House" came from the 32nd episode aired yesterday.
The plot is: The white cat ate the cakes on the table, suddenly fell off the table, bleeding from the mouth and nose, and died of poisoning, causing panic in the hospital, and Cao Yaoniang began to investigate the case.
In these short sixteen seconds, the "acting" of the white cat dying from poison became too real: the white cat suddenly fell from the table, hitting the ground head and back first. It did not stand up after hitting the ground, but stretched its four claws, twitched and struggled, and finally its eyes Staring wide, not breathing, with red liquid flowing out of his mouth and nose...
(To avoid causing discomfort to readers, there is no picture accompanying this scene.)
Many viewers suspected that the crew poisoned a cat in order to film this episode. Because even if it is a domestic cat, no matter how obedient it is, it is impossible for it to show such realistic acting skills.
Cat lovers are sensitive to this scene, and viewers who don’t own cats will also find it inappropriate. Because it looks too realistic and makes people worry about "killing cats for filming." If so, it is also very uncomfortable to think that the life of accompanying animals has indeed disappeared at that moment.
The question of "the crew is suspected of torturing and killing animals" immediately arose.
The crew conducted two rounds of explanations.
At 9 o'clock this morning, the official blog of the TV series responded and released some behind-the-scenes videos.
The crew said that a real cat was indeed used during the filming, but it was not harmed throughout the process.
The white cat "Mimi" is a native Hengdian cat and the crew's favorite. The whole process of the white cat "Mimi" was shot in a safe environment and processed with CG special effects.
The scene of the white cat "struggle" has been guided by professionals. On the premise that the cat will not be injured, a rope is used to pull the legs to imitate the effect of struggling. Shots taken from other angles show that the cat is still sticking out its tongue to lick its mouth.
The white cat's appearance when it died was freeze-framed. The blood that spilled from the corner of the cat's mouth when it died was "edible plasma", not the cat's own blood.
However, this response did not quell the doubts. Many netizens are asking the crew to provide evidence that the cat is still alive.
Many netizens who are familiar with cats analyzed that the video released by the crew was not credible.
First of all, a normal cat falls naturally from a high place and still lands on the ground with all four paws. However, the cat in the original video was already unconscious and fell to the ground in a daze, with its back and head hitting the ground first.
Some pet doctors said that the cat in the original film showed typical "opisthotonus" when struggling. This phenomenon is usually caused by nerve damage, illness, or convulsions before death after the animal is injected with drugs. The crew's response of "using a rope to pull to simulate a struggling effect" is far-fetched.
Regarding the scene of a cat sticking out its tongue and licking its mouth released by the crew, some movie bloggers slow-played the video to clarify and found some unnatural traces, and questioned the crew for giving the cat a tongue-sticking action.
This afternoon, the official WeChat account of "Housewife" responded again, showing a video claiming to have found the cat's "owner", trying to prove that the cat is living well now. But in this video, it says that the cat is free-range and went out to play and is not at home now. Evidence that the cat is still alive are photos and videos in the interviewee's cell phone chat history.
In the video, a woman who claims to be the owner of a white cat explains the current situation of the "cat in question".
The owner said that the crew returned the white cat when filming was wrapping up in November last year. There was nothing unusual about the white cat after it came back. It was "very nice and fat" and even gave birth to a litter of kittens.
She took out short videos sent to her by others in the WeChat family group, including clips of cats giving birth and filming on other crews. The picture is blurry, and it is difficult to identify whether it is the "cat in question" based on eye color and other characteristics.
No white cat was photographed at the scene. The owner said that his cats were free-range cats. Now Mimi took advantage of the good weather and went out to play.
Netizens still don’t believe it. Some compared eye colors, some said that the cats in the TV series are too thin and cannot be fat, and some said that it is easy for white cats to find substitutes...
Many netizens pointed out: The most direct clarification evidence is actually the video of the cat standing up after filming.
However, the official blog of the TV series did not give an updated response before we went to press.
The originally low-scoring "Mother of the House" has been scored below 4 points today.
This is not the first time that Yu Zheng's drama has been questioned about animal cruelty.
In the 65th episode of "Story of Yanxi Palace" broadcast in 2018, there was a plot in which Concubine Xian's pet parrot suddenly died.
Immediately aroused doubts among bird lovers, who believed that the parrot in the play was not a prop or a long-dead animal specimen, but died suddenly and violently according to the progress of the plot.
There is also a popular natural science blogger @ Cat Demon in the Bird's Nest. Judging from its feathers, it is believed that this parrot is a national second-level protected animal monk parrot. The parrot was probably drowned by the crew. The way it dies is far more realistic and detailed than models and CG.
The show's response at the time was to shoot a video of "a little parrot sending a congratulatory message" to celebrate the 700 million views of "Story of Yanxi Palace", implying that the parrot was safe and sound.
In addition, some viewers have questioned that the treatment of birds in other plots of "Story of Yanxi Palace" is too simple and crude. In episode 42, the Queen Mother released budgerigars and other birds that could not survive in the wild. In episode 67, Concubine Xian smashed a bird cage, which happened to contain a live monk parrot..
In foreign countries, filming methods involving animals will be clearly marked at the end of the film, otherwise there will be suspicion of using the film to directly demonstrate the process of harming animals.
But in the country, few film crews seem to have this kind of awareness. In the past, using the injuries or deaths of real animals to create plots was regarded as "the pursuit of artistic truth."
The film "Dog King" filmed in 1993 had previously caused strong controversy.
This movie is about the Anti-Japanese War, and the protagonist is a military dog.
The key plot is that the military dog took away the bomb to protect the villagers, and was blown to pieces. Many young viewers were heartbroken for the military dog.
Many years later, the audience discovered that the military dog was really killed in that scene.
In 2007, director Yao Shougang recalled the film and said that in pursuit of authenticity and artistic appeal, he carefully selected a retired military dog with military merit from many military dogs and let it die heroically for art: "In order to make the performance appear more realistic, a real bomb was tied to a well-trained military dog that has repeatedly performed meritorious services; in front of the camera, it was blown to pieces while running." The soldier who had been training and training the dog for many years burst into tears after seeing such a real shot... In order to relieve the dog's pain, it was necessary to blow it up at once."
The military dog breeder had no idea about this. It was too late to find out after the filming started that it was a real explosive. The breeder could only witness a military dog with military merit, thinking that he was performing a mission, and rushed forward without hesitation.
In addition, there were some war dramas and costume dramas in the past where horses were directly shot to the point of becoming insane or dead. Directors at that time believed that this was a necessary sacrifice for filming and a reflection of the professionalism of their crews. It may not be acceptable to the audience even now.
In recent years, another issue that has attracted attention is the way in which animals are filmed. It is Ning Hao's "Crazy Alien". The reason was that the video of the filming scene was leaked, and some people suspected that the crew was abusing dogs. But Ning Hao later specially invited reporters to his home and said that he used to keep dogs and now he adopted the dog. The crew did not abuse the dog. It was because the scene was misunderstood during the filming and the scene was canceled when the filming did not go well.
"Crazy Aliens" has many monkey scenes, all of which were done with special effects. This film is also one of the few domestic films that actively labels that it does not harm animals.
Should animals be harmed when filming? Should “animal feelings” be considered? This has always been a topic of debate.
Some people think that animals are not as important as humans and do not need to be paid attention to; some people think that companion animals should be treated as friends of humans; others point out that whether they are companion animals or not, if animals are handled casually during the filming process, it will set a bad example for people.
The ethics and boundaries of respect statements can be fully discussed.
The filming method of "Military Dogs" will definitely be unacceptable to most viewers. Military dogs with military merit should not be cruelly sacrificed in such a way. This filming process was a disservice to the breeder at the time and to the audience.
The audience is concerned about how the scene in "The Housewife" came about, and it is for a similar reason. There are many ways to complete this scene. You can do special effects. If you don’t have money for special effects, you can fake the cat’s figure. You can also use the actor’s reaction to show that the cat has been poisoned to death without actually acting out the process. If the crew feels that it is easiest to let a cat die directly on camera, many viewers will not be able to accept this shooting method.
In the scene where 123 died in "Wulin Gaiden", the props they held were fake, but the audience's viewing experience was actually good.
Actors can cut out pictures and dub lines when filming, but when it comes to cats, do they have to be real?
