"These days you can do a lot on the computer, for example, change a color film into a black and white one," he said.

"Instead, I decided to use real objects to achieve the desaturated effect: everything on the set, every prop, costume and weapon, had to be black, white or a combination of the two."

"Of course there were not enough rainy days, so we set up a special team in charge of making rain," said the director, who worked on the screenplay for three and a half years and shot the movie in three and a half months, using a crew of "500-600 people" that included 15 stuntmen.

"We had machines with different-sized spouts to obtain the kind of rain we wanted for each scene -- big drops, small drops, drizzling drops," he said.

"We shot under this water constantly, so the actors were always drenched."

The interplay between masculine and feminine, yin and yang, is a strong theme in his movie, and Zhang said that the younger female character played by 21-year-old supporting actress Guan Xiaotong "represents contemporary young Chinese women who live in the big cities -- a kind of headstrong and non-conformist girl who doesn't want to accept adults' standards."

"I like this character because she is different from the others, who are all struggling for power and survival," Zhang said.

"She is not struggling for power, but for respect -- that's why she decides to engage in battle. She represents young people's desire for independence and freedom."

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