Unscientific Movie King

Chapter 8 Walk-in

What wakes Qin Chuan up every morning is not the alarm clock, but poverty.

He was used to getting up early, so he woke up before dawn as usual. When he turned on the light, he saw that Zhou Haopeng in the bed next to him was gone.

Qin Chuan sighed: "As expected, he is a person who can buy a house and a car. He is really diligent. I still need to learn more."

Half an hour later, Qin Chuan finished washing up and Zhou Haopeng opened the door and came in with a messy hair, dark circles under his eyes, and wearing shorts.

"Brother Peng, where have you been?"

Qin Chuan was a little confused about his actions. Morning exercise? That didn't seem like it.

"I slept in the next room in the second half of last night." Zhou Haopeng seemed to be hesitant to speak, but finally couldn't help but asked: "Brother, do you have a habit of sleepwalking?"

Qin Chuan scratched his head: "What do you mean?"

Zhou Haopeng complained: "I was half asleep in the middle of the night and heard you whispering."

"Then I turned on the light. Damn, I was almost scared to death. You had a mask on your face and kept talking in your sleep. You were crying and laughing at the same time. It was so creepy."

God knows what he went through last night.

Qin Chuan was like a ghost possessed, with a split personality, and he felt the chills on his back just from hearing it.

He called out several times but couldn't wake her up, so he got scared and went to the next room to find someone else sleeping.

Qin Chuan was a little embarrassed. It had become his habit to write a short biography before going to bed, put on the Nuo costume, experience two hours of life in his dream, and then fall asleep.

I didn't expect to scare my roommate.

"Brother Peng, I'm sorry, this is an old habit of mine. I'll try to change it."

"I understand, I understand." Zhou Haopeng's face looked a little unhappy.

……

After washing up, Qin Chuan squatted at the door of the hotel waiting for the car. After a while, people came out of the hotel one after another to wait with him.

There are clear class divisions within the crew.

The big-name artists stay in hotels, while those who stay in guesthouses are just staff members and small actors.

At six o'clock in the morning, the crew's bus arrived on time. Everyone got on the bus and twenty minutes later arrived at the foot of Cangshan Mountain, the Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils Film and Television Base City.

That’s right, in order to film a movie, the crew built a city.

Of course, although it is called a city, it is actually just a few palaces of different styles and some man-made scenic spots.

Even so, it is still very expensive. It cannot be done without tens of millions of dollars. There are not many directors in the country who dare to do this.

Zhang Jizhong, also known as Zhang Da Huzi, is one of them.

Although he is not the director of this play, he has more say than the director because he is both the investor and the chief producer, and the director and the filming team are all his people.

A true boss.

"Everyone get off the bus and line up." The assistant director was about to assign tasks to the extras: "The group leader will maintain order and call out names to see if everyone is present."

When the group leader called the roll, Qin Chuan came out, holding a cigarette in his hand and ran to the assistant director: "Director Wang, I'm new here today, please take care of me."

"Got it." The director took the cigarette and said indifferently.

Seeing him like this, Qin Chuan continued, "My name is Qin Chuan."

"It's you." Xu Zhu had just greeted him yesterday, so the assistant director certainly didn't forget. He looked at Qin Chuan straight in the eye and said, "You are an actor in the group. Do you have any experience in filming before?"

"Yes, I filmed at the Beijing Film Studio for two and a half years."

When you come out to hang out, your identity is given by yourself.

Qin Chuan mentioned that he had two and a half years of work experience. There was no need to provide work proof, so he could say whatever he wanted.

"Okay, I got it." The assistant director took out a small notebook and wrote Qin Chuan's name on it: "You go back to the team and stand in line first." Ten minutes later, the team was in line, and the assistant director spoke, mostly words like precautions and obeying orders.

Finally, he said, "Today we need 60 distant actors, 15 close-up actors, 11 special actors, and 6 extras."

"The next person whose name is called, please stand up..."

Long shot, close shot, special guest, extra, supporting role, protagonist, these are the levels of the crew.

The long shot is commonly known as the background board, with no lines and no shots. It may be a beggar, a peddler, or a passing scholar in the distance when the protagonist is shopping with his girl.

Sometimes in post-production, the background becomes blurred and everything disappears.

There are no lines in the close-ups, but faces can be seen, such as the palace maid walking towards you and the eunuch standing next to the emperor in the hall.

Special guests can show their faces and have lines, but they have very few words, maybe just one or two. They are further divided into small special guests, medium special guests, and big special guests.

It’s different for the extras. The innkeeper who checks out the bill, the ladies who hawk their wares in the brothel, the bandits who rob people on the road... basically they can all talk to the protagonist and supporting characters and have communication with them.

The actors’ pay varies depending on the roles they play, and the difference between different levels is huge.

"Supporting actors: Chen Jinping, Wang Xiao, Li Lulu, Qin Chuan..."

Qin Chuan's name was added to the first list of actors whose names were called.

He himself didn't expect that he would have to play a supporting role on his first day.

It seems that Huang Bo's connections are quite strong.

Qin Chuan stood aside with a few extras, clearly separated from the large number of extras. There was a huge gap between the extras and the extras.

He could clearly feel that there were many eyes looking at him, full of envy and jealousy.

After arranging the work, the assistant director called Qin Chuan and others aside to explain the play to them individually.

One page per person.

This is the script.

Qin Chuan was assigned to be a waiter. When Qiao Feng and A Zi came to eat, he was responsible for greeting them.

There are more than twenty lines in total.

"Everyone come once, I'll see the effect."

The assistant director said he was reviewing the play, but in fact he was just testing the level of the actors. As long as they looked about the same and acceptable, that was enough, because his own level was average.

Some of the people in front were given the role of drugstore owner, some were given the role of gang leader, and some were given the role of female slave.

Under the scrutiny of the assistant director, everyone performed well and it was obvious that they all had certain acting skills and were not newcomers.

When it was Qin Chuan's turn, he bent over, smiled brightly, and walked forward quickly, pretending to serve the dishes: "Here are the dishes, sir. Beef, chicken, and wine. Please enjoy your meal..."

In costume dramas, little gangsters, waiters, and street vendors are unavoidable roles. Fortunately, Qin Chuan has practiced them several times in his dreams.

The working man's mentality has been ingrained in his bones, so he doesn't need to think, he just opens his mouth and speaks, and his performance is very natural.

There is a lot of knowledge involved in just a few simple lines of dialogue. Expression, posture, tone, and movements cannot be too exaggerated, nor too stiff.

"Not bad, not bad." The assistant director nodded, and this hurdle was passed: "Go put on your makeup."

"Huh!" Qin Chuan exhaled.

This was the time he spoke the most lines since he entered the industry. If there were no Nuo props, I'm afraid he wouldn't be able to perform even if he was given the opportunity.

Even a waiter is like this, let alone the protagonist with hundreds of pages of lines.

As expected, opportunities always come to those who are prepared...so don't prepare blindly before you get the chance.

(End of this chapter)