Chapter 30 It's all for the sake of the show
The end of February in the lunar calendar and the beginning of April in the solar calendar.

All the crew members arrived at the mountain city.

This time, Lin Yicheng prepared a one-month shooting cycle and half a month post-production cycle, plus a certain amount of time to deal with emergencies.

We will try to finish the film before June or in early June, promote it in June, and then compete in the summer season.

Lin Yicheng remembers that there was only one big production in this summer season, Xu Ke's "Seven Swords", a film that made the investors lose a lot of money.

As for how to deal with this film, Lin Yicheng has already made preliminary plans, which will not be discussed here.

……

As usual, all the main creative staff gathered together to read and discuss the script.

Since there are quite a few film rookies including him as the director this time, and this is the first multi-line narrative drama in China, almost everyone has no experience.

Therefore, Lin Yicheng needs to break down each role and explain it to them so that they can understand his intentions for filming, so that they will not be confused about what they are acting or doing.

After seeing that everyone knew almost what they needed to do, Lin Yicheng arranged for them to learn the dialect and gave them 5 days.

Afterwards, Lin Yicheng took Zhou Chenggong and Wang Liming out to shoot some empty shots.

(PS: When Wang Liming was cast to play Xie Xiaomeng, he had already learned the dialect in advance)

And coordinate with relevant departments, such as traffic police, fire department, power company, cable car, etc.

Thanks to Lin Yicheng's fame, these departments were very cooperative.

The local government also welcomes the crew to shoot here, hoping that the movie will attract tourists after its release, so it has sent relevant personnel to help coordinate.

……

After 5 days, turn on the machine and worship the gods.

Since a relatively remote location was chosen, it did not attract much attention.

There were people who spotted the crew and recognized Lin Yicheng. Lin Yicheng and the traffic police comforted them and gave them a signed album, asking them not to disturb the filming and to keep it confidential.

Calling a few people to his side, Lin Yicheng began to assign tasks.

"Mr. Ren, you are on the trailer, take a long shot of the bread moving forward. Remember, leave me enough lead time, I need multiple edits."

"Xie Xiaomeng, you shoot from the side. Be in charge of two cameras, one for parallel shooting and one for overhead shooting."

"Bao Shihong, Sanbao, follow my instructions and act out your lines. Especially Bao Shihong, keep the speed down to 20 mph."

In order to help the actors get into the mood, Lin Yicheng called everyone on the set by the names of the characters in the play.

After seeing everyone nod, Lin Yicheng shouted with a handheld loudspeaker: "Attention, all units, check your work and take a pre-shoot first."

Problems arose during the first pre-shoot.

The car speed was reduced, but Guo Tao's driving skills might be poor, and he was concentrating on driving, so he spoke incoherently.

The second time I said the words correctly, I failed to control the speed and drove to the designated position without finishing the words.

It took four or five times of going back and forth before I succeeded.

Guo Tao felt embarrassed and kept apologizing.

Lin Yicheng told him not to worry about it, after all, they hadn't officially started shooting yet and no film was wasted.

After confirming that Guo Tao was OK, we officially started filming, which went very smoothly and was completed in one take.

The subsequent car crash, chase and other scenes were also filmed smoothly, with only two or three NGs at most.

……

After the morning shoot, Lin Yicheng ate his lunch and asked, "Have you communicated with the cable car?"

"No problem. They gave us three trips today, which is enough time for us to shoot." Zhou Chenggong replied.

"Send some gifts to express your appreciation. Tell them I'll thank them in the subtitles."

Lin Yicheng instructed that if someone gave him face, he should take it and give them face. He was discussing the afternoon arrangements with Zhou Chenggong, and the actors were also discussing him when they gathered together.

"Director Lin is no ordinary person. You can't tell that he is a novice." Guo Tao is experienced in filming and has worked with many crews. He can tell whether a director has good skills or not.

"Or maybe it's because his TV show is so popular?" Liu Hua praised him. He was over 40 years old and it was his first time to play a leading role. He was very grateful to Lin Yicheng.

"What do you think, will this play be successful?" This is what Guangtou Xu was most concerned about.

“It’s hard to say. Who knows before the filming is finished? But I heard that the media publicity is quite enthusiastic, so there’s no need to worry that no one will know about it after the filming is completed.” Guo Tao replied.

The three of them were considered the stars of the crew and had a say, while Huang Bo and Yue Xiaojun were basically newcomers and no one paid any attention to them, and they also consciously chose not to interrupt.

……

In the afternoon, I filmed Xie Xiaomeng flirting with Jingjing on the cable car.

One time it was Wang Liming who made a mistake, another time it was senior Yao Di who made a mistake, but fortunately the third time it was shot successfully and it did not exceed expectations.

There was no need to shoot on the cable car later. The scene where the trio used Coke to set the trap could have been shot in a carriage.

To be honest, Ning Hao’s original work on Xie Xiaomeng’s hooking up with Jingjing was actually pretty bad.

The camera was pulled in too close, and the shot was too close to the face, so it looked like two photo booths that cost one dollar, or the kind that were developed and cropped incorrectly, so the face is not even complete.

Lin Yicheng chose to shoot the upper body, focusing on the face.

Also, because of a little trick by King Liu and the crew was too poor, Ning Hao used DV to shoot the film, and the image quality that was finally presented on the big screen was terrible, not even as clear as some TV dramas.

Especially in the night scenes, it is pitch black. Although it is required by the plot, the audience's feelings must also be considered. At least people should be able to tell who is chasing who.

So this time Lin Yicheng used top-level equipment and film shooting to produce better picture effects.

In the original drama, the use of handheld devices in the chase scene at Luohan Temple was fine, as it gave people a sense of urgency.

But the few shakes in the small hotel were unnecessary and too chaotic.

And there are some problems with several editing scenes. In one word, it's rough.

The transitions were awkward, and several shots switched inexplicably and were totally unnecessary.

Even those who don't know much about this can see it.

This is the result of the best efforts of Du Yuan, the master of editing. There were problems with the material shot by Ning Hao, and Du Yuan, a good cook, could not do anything without the right materials.

These are some of the reasons why this movie did not have high box office in the previous life.

In addition, the main creators were not famous, there was insufficient publicity, not enough copies, low screenings, etc., the final box office of more than 3000 million was already a miracle.

……

We shot a few more night scenes in the evening, and we achieved today's expectations. Lin Yicheng looked at the time and didn't ask the crew to work overtime. Everyone was tired, so there was no need to rush. Too much is as bad as too little.

After packing up their things, the group returned to the hotel where they were staying.

Of course it’s not the small hotel in the drama. Lin Yicheng is not so cruel as to let everyone live there.

After washing up, I was about to write something when the door rang.

When I opened the door, as expected, it was senior Yao Di.

It was the senior’s first time making a movie, and she was a little unconfident about herself, so she needed guidance and instruction from director Lin Yicheng.

As the largest investor and director, Lin Yicheng would certainly not refuse.

So, that night, Young Master Lin did his best and taught everything he knew.

The senior student was also very satisfied and suggested that she would continue to trouble Director Lin in the coming days.

Director Lin agreed.

The play is more important than anything else. We all do it for a good play. What does some hard work matter?

(End of this chapter)