Unscientific Movie King

Chapter 10 One Hundred Dollars a Day

At 7:30 in the morning, the crew distributed breakfast, which consisted of a boiled egg, a steamed bun, and a cup of soy milk.

The reason why it wasn't posted before makeup was because it was too early. The extras eat early and get hungry quickly, so they'd be crying out before noon.

Breakfast is served at 7:30 and lunch is served at 12:30 noon. This is almost the unspoken rule of the crew.

If I work overtime, dinner is at six o'clock.

However, few crews ask extras to work overtime. Not only is the overtime pay not cost-effective, but they also have to pay for their meals.

Some crews with tight funds dismissed extras at 4:50 p.m., because working after 5 p.m. is considered overtime.

After eating and drinking, Qin Chuan picked up a piece of grass from the roadside and put it in his mouth, then found a corner of the palace eaves to lie down and began to rehearse the waiter's scene in his mind.

He knew that it would not be his turn to act for a while.

For young actors, it is normal to finish putting on makeup in the morning and only film themselves in the afternoon. Sometimes the leading actors have too many NGs, so the extras' scenes have to be postponed to tomorrow.

At eight o'clock, the leading actors and supporting actors arrived one after another, but the crew still had no intention of starting filming.

The director is not in a hurry, and neither are the extras. They wish they could just not shoot for a whole day. They are already piled up here and there, looking so cool.

Qin Chuan was still thinking about the role when his roommate Zhou Haopeng came over.

"Congratulations, Xiao Qin. You're just a supporting role right from the start. You have a bright future ahead of you."

Qin Chuan propped himself up and said, "Lucky, is Brother Peng replacing Hu Jun today?"

"How do you know?" Zhou Haopeng was a little surprised.

He is a stunt double in the crew, but not a fixed person's stand-in. Qin Chuan can actually tell at a glance that he is Hu Jun today.

Qin Chuan smiled and said, "Your outfit is very much like Qiao Feng's."

There are not many characters dressed like this, with disheveled hair, a coarse cloth gown, a leather belt around the waist, and wrist guards on hands.

In the memory of another world, the Qiao Feng played by Hu Jun was like this, exactly the same.

"Really? You guys can see that?" Zhou Haopeng straightened his collar and smiled from ear to ear.

"Mr. Hu really doesn't know martial arts?" Qin Chuan asked his doubts.

This version of Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils is generally recognized as the only one that can compete with the 97 version. Some people even think it is better than the old version.

Because the conditions were poor when the old version was filmed, the scenery was terrible and the waterfall was made of plastic bags.

There were photos of six or seven sects in front of a Shaolin Temple. The plaques changed from time to time: sometimes it was Shaolin, sometimes it was Wudang, and sometimes it was Shanzhuang.

The picture quality back then was poor and not as mature as it is now.

This version's martial arts, photography, casting, framing, and post-production are all top-notch.

Any one of Hu Jun, Liu Yifei, Liu Tao, and Lin Zhiying has a certain degree of fame.

Several years later, this version of Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils has become one of the classics, and its wonderful martial arts are still talked about today.

But few people know that the protagonist Hu Jun does not know martial arts and cannot even do a backflip.

"He's an actor in a literary drama, so is it strange that he doesn't know martial arts?" Zhou Haopeng said with a smile: "It's not just him, most of the main actors in the crew don't know martial arts, Lin Zhiying doesn't know martial arts either."

"But Xiu Qinhui, the guy who plays Murong Fu, was also a stuntman in his early days, but now he has made it and is playing a leading role."

It is not difficult to hear the envy in Zhou Haopeng's voice.

The same stuntman, others have already become stars, but he is still unknown.

In terms of Kung Fu, he is no match for Xiu Qincha. He has been learning Kung Fu since he was a child and has been performing martial arts on stage for ten years. He can sing, recite, sit and fight.

It just doesn't look good.

This is sore.

"Brother Peng, do you know how much an extra makes a day?" Qin Chuan didn't know today's salary yet, so he didn't ask the assistant director.

Zhou Haopeng said sourly again: "Normally about 100 yuan, it depends on how many lines you have, the more lines you have, the higher the pay."

There are a lot of extras in the crew and it is easy to recruit people, as there are plenty of people from the nearby villages.

But there are only a few actors in the group, and they basically monopolize all the minor roles. They often have scenes to perform, and if they are lucky, they can even get small supporting roles.

Although stunt doubles make a lot of money, it is hard-earned money and a job they do while they are young. They have limited room for advancement and are no match for extras.

Qin Chuan's eyes lit up: "Three thousand a month, not bad." Zhou Haopeng's mouth twitched. Three thousand, not bad?
Eighty percent of the people in the country earn less than 3,000 yuan a month, and college students only make 1,200 yuan a month.

"Extras assemble!"

“Get ready to shoot!”

While the two were talking, the assistant director shouted into a loud speaker.

Qin Chuan stood up quickly: "I'm going over there, we'll talk later."

Extras and extras don't have any notice sheets, so they don't know what scene they are filming or what time it will be filmed the day before.

Only the assistant director can be on call.

In the industry, whether they are extras or extras, they are just props to support the protagonist.

"Has the owner of Yanbei Inn arrived yet?"

"At this."

"Waiter!"

"Here!" Qin Chuan raised his hand and trotted a few steps to the assistant director.

The assistant director looked him over.

There's nothing I can do, this waiter is really handsome.

"Close-up, where are the close-up actors?"

"coming."

"Vision!"

After a while, everyone except the protagonist was in place.

"Let's rehearse first and practice our movements. We'll start shooting soon and try to get it right in one take."

Dozens of people came to Yanbei Inn in a mighty procession.

There were three cameras on site, one for exterior shots and two for interior shots.

The exterior scenes were shot on the street, and the interior scenes were shot inside the inn.

The extras in charge of the long shots were walking around on the street, those in charge of the close shots were drinking and eating in the inn, and the extras were Qin Chuan and a fat man in his forties, one of them was a waiter and the other was a shopkeeper.

With a white rag draped over his shoulder, Qin Chuanhou waited at the counter for the assistant director to speak.

A few minutes later, Hu Jun, who played the leading male role, walked in.

He was in his early thirties, with a sturdy height of 1.85 meters, which overshadowed everyone else. He had thick eyebrows, big eyes, a high nose and a wide mouth, and a square face.

With his ancient costume, he looks exactly like Qiao Feng.

Seeing Hu Jun, the assistant director put on a smile and greeted him: "Teacher Hu, why are you here in person? For such a small matter as rehearsal and movement, you can just assign someone else."

Now is not the official start of filming, it is just a rehearsal before filming, mainly for extras and group actors.

There is really no need for Mr. Hu.

Find someone to take his place, and after the rehearsal, he can come and follow the route.

"It's okay. I'm free anyway. I'll come over to get familiar with the environment and the camera positions. If there's nothing else to do, let's start the rehearsal."

"Okay, let's get started. Your camera starts from the street outside the door, and moves over here..."

The assistant director accompanied Hu Jun out. Inside the inn, Qin Chuan followed the instructions of the director of photography and began his movement.

"The camera is here. You must walk over there later. Be careful when you walk to the table. Don't block Teacher Hu's camera."

"Turn your body sideways so that you can't block his camera or his light. After serving the dishes, return the same way. Don't look at the camera during the process, and don't be pretentious."

"Come rehearse it."

Not acting according to the script and forcing yourself to add more scenes is a plot in novels.

In real life, if you don’t perform according to the rehearsal and make the director angry, you can just wait to be fired.

An example is in Stephen Chow's King of Comedy, where Yin Tianchou, who played an extra, was shot to death and couldn't die no matter how hard he tried. In the end, he wasted the time of the entire crew and they didn't even have lunch boxes to eat.

(End of this chapter)