Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 923 Budgeting carefully
boom……

Snap, snap, snap, biubiu, ...

In the mountains not far north of Yunhu Film City, gunshots and cannon fire rang out, as if a massive army was fighting there, attracting countless citizens and members of nearby production teams to come and watch the spectacle.

Unfortunately, militiamen were stationed on the perimeter, and no one could enter.

Inside an outdoor canopy not far from the foot of the mountain, Sister Zhou from the Health Department and Zuo Qiuping from the Education Department were huddled together on a bench, eating sunflower seeds. There were several other women nearby, all from their respective departments. Judging by the number of people, it seemed that Sister Zhou and Zuo Qiuping's direct subordinates had also come over.

This place was originally a rest area prepared by the logistics department of the film studio for Ma Jiajia and Dong Zhengyang. However, upon seeing these people mingling in the crowd, Dong Zhengyang immediately told Ma Jiajia in a low voice that these people were all friends of General Manager Chen, and that they had a good relationship.

So, naturally, Ma Jiajia invited them all over, set up a high table and low stools to entertain them, and even served them tea and melon seeds, which made Sister Zhou and Zuo Qiuping very happy.

I heard that last time Commissioner Yang came to see Director Chen, he didn't even get a cup of tea and had to pay for several cigarettes. With this kind of treatment now, who else in the entire Yunhu area can compare?!
As Sister Zhou ate sunflower seeds, her eyes were fixed on the mountains. Listening to the sounds of gunfire, she felt a strange itch in her heart. "How many people are in there? How many guns are they using? The fighting must be really intense."

Zuo Qiuping spat out a mouthful of sunflower seed shells, picked up her teacup, took a sip, and caught her breath before saying, "I heard that originally only two or three thousand people were needed, but more than six thousand people came all at once. It's only because Xiao Fan is so capable that he can command so many people. Otherwise, it would be difficult for anyone else to even figure out how to manage all of them."

Upon hearing this, Sister Zhou turned to look at Dong Zhengyang, her eyes wide, and asked, "Director Dong—no, I should say Deputy General Manager Dong—there really are over six thousand people?"

Although she is still only in charge of the Political Work Section, she has the title of Deputy Director of the Health Department, so her work is much busier than before. These past few days she has been busy urging the establishment of health clinics in various newly established factories. She finally finished a phase of work and only today accepted Zuo Qiuping's invitation to come to Yunhu Film and Television City to watch the excitement. Otherwise, she wouldn't be unaware of the current "headline news" in the Yunhu area.

Dong Zhengyang, whose rank was similar to the two women, accompanied them. Upon hearing her words, he immediately smiled and said, "Director Zuo is right, there are indeed that many. In addition, the armed forces departments of various districts and counties also provided a lot of blank ammunition, which supported the ammunition consumption over the past few days. Otherwise, the prop warehouse of Jiangnan Film Studio could not support such a large consumption of ammunition."

Sister Zhou couldn't help but gasp in amazement, "This could be considered a huge project."

Dong Zhengyang nodded with a smile, "It can definitely be considered a big project, only slightly inferior to the large-scale war films produced by the August First Film Studio."

Their mobilization numbers are in the millions, while even if we mobilize more than 6,000 people here and send them back and forth, it would only amount to tens of thousands of people at most. They are not even in the same league.

But that's only compared to "blockbusters." Compared to films from other film studios, this is already considered a big-budget production.

At the very least, the Shanghai Film Studio's war films cannot compare to the scene before us.

As a member of Yunhu Tourism Company and Yunhu Film and Television City, Dong Zhengyang felt honored to be able to personally participate in the production of such a "major project".

Thinking of this, Dong Zhengyang suddenly had an idea and looked at the two of them, asking, "There's a scene later where our team is resting in a certain place and leaving, and the local people are seeing us off with tears in their eyes. We need a group of extras for that scene. Are you interested?"

"what?"

Sister Zhou and Zuo Qiuping turned around to look at him instantly, and the next second, their eyes were filled with excitement, "We can act too?"

Isn't making movies something only performing artists can do? We can do it too.
Not only the two of them, but also Sister Qin, Sister Yu and the others behind them looked at him with hopeful eyes.

Dong Zhengyang laughed and said, "I definitely can't do important shots, but I can do regular extras. I did it once a few days ago, and it was quite interesting."

He paused for a moment, then added, "But let me make this clear: if you don't perform well, Director Chen certainly won't scold you, but don't even think about having any of your scenes in the movie; they'll definitely be cut."

Sister Zhou blinked, looking at him with confusion, "What do you mean by cutting it off?"

Dong Zhengyang: "Even if we filmed it, we wouldn't use it; that shot would have to be scrapped."

As she spoke, a hint of embarrassment appeared on her face. "Well, last time, the scene I was supposed to act in wasn't selected because two of the extras didn't perform well."

Almost everyone stared at him with meaningful looks.

Ma Jiajia, standing beside her, smiled silently while holding her teacup.

It's hard to say which two extras performed poorly; only those who felt embarrassed truly know.

With the spirit of "let's try our luck whenever we can," Sister Zhou and Zuo Qiuping happily followed a staff member to change costumes, preparing to film the farewell scene later.

Just then, a series of explosions suddenly came from the other side of the hill, boom boom boom boom boom boom boom...

Unlike the previous one-shot-one-shot attacks, this time there were dozens of shots. What's going on? Is this a cannon barrage?
Seeing the panicked faces of Sister Zhou and the others, Ma Jiajia put down her teacup, turned to look at the direction from which the sound came, and said with a smile, "It's alright, those are buried detonators. The second phase of the film city project, Ming and Qing Dynasty City, is located there. We took advantage of this opportunity to film the artillery battle scene and blew up a few small hills there, saving a lot of prop costs."

Everyone stared at her in disbelief. Detonators? Bombing a mountain? Artillery battle?

Is your company really that frugal?

……

Inside the hill, Chen Fan removed his earpiece, picked up the walkie-talkie, and shouted, "Did you see clearly? Did you see clearly? Are there any duds that didn't explode?"

After a long while, a voice came through the walkie-talkie: "Reporting to the commander-in-chief, reporting to the commander-in-chief, verification confirmed, verification confirmed, all bombs detonated as planned, without missing a single one."

Chen Fan picked up the walkie-talkie again. "Okay, okay. Wait for the smoke to clear up, then set up the second batch of bombs as soon as possible. But be careful. Check everything first, then have the props team go up and set up the scene, and finally set up the new mines."

The walkie-talkie answered quickly this time, "Understood, understood, we will complete the mission."

Chen Fan tossed the walkie-talkie aside, turned around and shouted, "Director Kuang, you take the men and leave first. Go to the Republic of China Street to film the farewell scene."

Kuang Mingyi immediately made a hand gesture, "Received."

After saying that, he picked up a megaphone and shouted loudly. Several stagehands scattered and ran off to organize the militiamen to change clothes and retreat.

Meanwhile, on a nearby hillside, the militiamen were excitedly discussing the matter.

Of course, besides them, there were also the production team cadres who didn't even go home and stayed here to watch the spectacle. Ye Shubao turned to look at Xiao Liewen, the shock in his eyes still lingering, "Old Xiao, was it like this when you encountered enemy shelling back then?"

Xiao Liewen finally came to his senses, but he was still a few seconds late in reacting. He swallowed hard before saying, "Well, that's for sure. When the Americans and the Japanese bombed with planes and artillery, it was much more powerful than this."

But we're not afraid. The key is to dig the trenches deeper and make sure to leave room for bends, otherwise the shockwave can travel dozens of meters and flatten an entire trench.

As he spoke, he glanced again in the direction of the explosion, and couldn't help but click his tongue, muttering to himself, "If the Blue Army had launched such a massive artillery barrage back then, it's hard to say how many people would have managed to escape."

After discussing for a while, they followed the crew members out, leaving only a few hundred people to wait and film the "second round of shelling".

Taking advantage of Director Chen's break, Yang Kangnian finally seized the opportunity to come over.

Chen Fan looked up at him and asked curiously, "When did you arrive?"

Yang Kangnian didn't expect anyone here to take care of him, the commissioner of the administrative office. He pulled up a chair and sat down, took out two cigarettes, handed one over first, and said with a smile, "I came here just now when you were directing the burying of the detonators, but I didn't dare to disturb you."

This thing is far more dangerous than prop cannonballs; a slight mistake could be a matter of life and death, so he dared not disturb it.

He paused for a moment, then sighed and said, "But you're really something, using detonators to film artillery battle scenes, aren't you afraid of getting into trouble?"

Chen Fan took the cigarette, smiled, lit it with the lighter offered, took a puff, and said, "What could possibly happen? The close-up shots are props. They look scary, but it's nothing special."

The shots I just filmed were all long shots. I didn't want to waste these detonators, so I filmed it like an artillery battle, and it was quite exciting.

Yang Kangnian clicked his tongue and said, "Now that you're building the second phase of the film and television city, using detonators to blast mountains isn't a waste."

He then looked at Chen Fan and asked, "Didn't you say that we would wait until the first phase of the project was completed, and then start construction on the second phase of the Ming and Qing Dynasty City in the second half of the year or even the end of the year? Why is it being brought forward?"

Chen Fan smiled and shook his head, tossed the documents aside, leaned back and stretched, and laughed, "It's not exactly ahead of schedule, it's just that I'm taking advantage of the military's green light to get a batch of detonators for free and level the land for construction. Otherwise, it would be too troublesome to apply for detonators and do blasting later when construction starts."

They're not a mining company, so how can they easily use detonators? Besides, blasting requires professional blasters, and getting the necessary permits is a hassle.

It just so happens that the provincial military region has given instructions for this film shoot, and the district and county armed forces departments are fully supporting it. With such good conditions, of course we should take advantage of them.

Hearing Chen Fan's words, even Yang Kangnian couldn't help but shake his head and sigh, "You've calculated things too precisely."

Chen Fan hummed twice and laughed, "Of course we need to be more precise in our calculations to improve efficiency and save costs."

Hearing Chen Fan say this, Yang Kangnian was slightly taken aback. He frowned and pondered for a while before saying, "What you said makes sense. When I was inspecting municipal work, I found that some departments lacked communication. If they could be as meticulous as you are, they could save a lot of money and time, which would be a win-win situation."

Chen Fan smiled, not responding to his words, but instead flicking off his cigarette ash and looking at him, asking, "So you came all this way to see me today just to witness the grand spectacle of the artillery battle?"

"That's not true."

Yang Kangnian snapped out of his daze, looked at him and smiled, "I came here because I received some good news and wanted to tell you."

Chen Fan blinked at him, paused for two seconds, and said, "Has the approval for filming the promotional video for the Yangtze River been granted?"

Yang Kangnian's eyes widened instantly. "You knew? Who told you?"

Chen Fan smiled, shook his head, and said, "Nobody told me, I just guessed."

As he spoke, he raised his hand and made a gesture as if calculating with his fingers, "I submitted the plan to Director Lan of the Provincial Bureau on May 24th, and they went to Beijing on the 25th."

Even if the Tourism Administration wants to verify some of the things I said, such as whether "The Silk Road" really caused a sensation in the bookstore, or whether my uncle actually acquired a TV station and developed a TV business, it wouldn't be difficult to verify these things; a week would be more than enough.

Today is June 16th, more than half a month has passed, and if the results are still not out, I'll start to doubt whether the higher-ups really want to vigorously develop the tourism industry.

Upon hearing this, Yang Kangnian quickly waved his hand, "Hey, don't say anything that's not good for unity."

As he spoke, he turned his head to look around and, finding no one within a dozen meters, breathed a sigh of relief.

Then, looking at Chen Fan, she smiled and said, "Deputy Director Zhou from the Health Department said that you're even more cunning than a monkey when you're covered in hair, and she's absolutely right."

You guessed it. I just received an official document from the province today. The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television issued a document three days ago to film the "Yangtze River" scenic film series. According to the document, you are responsible for filming the entire series of scenic films, and the tourism bureaus of the provinces along the Yangtze River and the tourism branches of various regions will fully cooperate.

As for the filming expenses, in accordance with the principle of "taking from the local area and using it for the local area", each local branch will share a portion, and the local special administrative region will bear a portion. In principle, the filming expenses for each location shall not be less than 300,000. The specific expenses will be discussed and decided by the local administrative region, the tourism branch and you.

In addition, funds will be allocated to build hotels, restaurants, and vehicles specifically for receiving foreign guests, in preparation for developing tourism and generating foreign exchange.

After rambling on for a while, Yang Kangnian took a drag of his cigarette, grinned, and said, "Yunhu started early; hotels and restaurants are already under construction, and vehicles are being manufactured by Yunhu Automobile's second branch factory..."

Hearing this, Chen Fan suddenly interrupted him and asked curiously, "When did Yunqi Factory get a second branch factory?"

Yang Kangnian immediately said, "When you talked to me about this last time, didn't you mention that tourist buses have a promising future? I'll have the leadership of Yunqi Factory go out to investigate. We found that it's not difficult to produce. It's just an engine in a shell. We can get the production drawings from the Ministry of Machinery Industry, adjust the production workshop of Yunqi Factory, or expand two dedicated engine factories for buses, and then we can start production."

So they quickly set up this second factory, specifically for producing buses.

Chen Fan blinked. "Then is there also a first branch factory?"

Yang Kangnian chuckled and said, "This first branch factory was originally the van production line. Taking advantage of the industrial reform in Yunhu area, they reported to the Industrial Bureau and separated the van production line into a separate factory. So now there are three car factories in Yunhu."

In other words, Yang Kangnian came from Yunqi Factory. The current factory director is his son-in-law, and the secretary is his old partner who worked with him for decades. Otherwise, an ordinary car factory would not pay attention to a prefectural commissioner like him.

(End of this chapter)