Exciting 1979!

Chapter 449 Start-up and Failure
The filming locations for "Under the Bridge" were mainly the Suzhou River in Shanghai and neighboring Suzhou.

The female protagonist, Qin Nan, had previously entrusted her son, Dongdong, to her uncle's family in the rural area of ​​Suzhou. She traveled between Shanghai and Suzhou every day because her son was an illegitimate child who couldn't be brought into the open.

To meet Xizi's schedule, they filmed Xizi's main scenes in Shanghai first, and then came to Suzhou to film the remaining scenes. They are now filming the final scene.

In this scene, Dongdong wants to live with his mother by the river, but Qin Nan can't do that, so she has to cruelly refuse. Dongdong throws away the toy gun his mother gave him and runs away crying.

On camera, Xizi was crying pitifully, which made Gong Xue's eyes sting. When the director yelled "Cut," Xizi immediately stopped crying and ran to the director's side to ask, "Grandpa Director, should we do another take?"

Director Bai Chen is 60 years old, and this is the first time he has seen such a talented child. He smiled and shook his head: "No need, the performance was very good and very nuanced."

In this drama, Dongdong has many crying scenes, each with a different intensity and emotional focus. Wei Xi can cry with unparalleled precision every time, and can start crying immediately when the line is called and stop immediately after a scene ends. Her crying scene skills even surpass Gong Xue's.

Teacher Gong needs to prepare herself before filming a crying scene, thinking about the awful things Wei Ming has done.

I had just thought of him when he showed up.

"Teacher Wei, right? You've come at the right time. Wei Xi can be handed over to you now." Bai Chen shook hands with Wei Ming.

Wei Ming also expressed his gratitude to Director Bai Chen for cooperating in filming Xi Zi's scenes first. Although Xi Zi's scenes were not many, some veteran directors like to film according to the script order, so let's just wait and see.

Gong Xue didn't expect Wei Ming to come and pick up Xizi in person. He must be very busy preparing for the start of filming.

It was only during dinner that evening that she learned Wei Ming had just returned from the Venice Film Festival and was simply passing through on his way back to China.

Besides the director, the male lead Zhou Lijing was also at the meal. He didn't actually have any scenes to film here, but everyone said Suzhou had beautiful scenery, so he wanted to come and see it.

"So you won an award?" Gong Xue asked.

"Yes, I won two small prizes," Wei Ming said. "I didn't originally want to go, but I heard there were prizes to be won, so I went."

Gong Xue said with longing, "I've long heard that Venice is the hometown of Marco Polo and the famous 'The Merchant of Venice,' but I wonder what it's really like there."

Wei Ming laughed and said, "You might find out what Venice is like soon. The chairman of the organizing committee told me that he is very interested in Chinese films. You could try to apply for 'Under the Bridge' next year."

In the past two years, Shanghai Film Studio has been a regular at international film festivals. "The Return of the Swallow" was shortlisted for the Berlin International Film Festival, and "The True Story of Ah Q" was shortlisted for Cannes. Although they did not win any awards, both were in the main competition.

In fact, "Under the Bridge" was indeed shortlisted for the main competition at the Venice Film Festival, but filming was moved up a year.

Zhou Lijing said, "Venice is a bit like Suzhou, both are cities with a lot of water, only more urbanized. My girlfriend took photos there before."

His girlfriend of nine years, Fu Chunying, is a dancer and a National March 8th Red Banner Pacesetter. She frequently performs abroad, including in Italy. Now that Zhou Lijing has graduated from university and secured a job, the two plan to apply for marriage next year.

Wei Ming laughed and said, "It does look a bit like it. I can show you the photos I took over there once they're developed."

He was speaking to Gong Xue, because there were many people present and Gong Xue couldn't say many things privately. Fortunately, Wei Ming was going to stay here for the night.

That evening, Gong Xue entered Xi Zi's room under the pretext of seeing her one last time. At that moment, Wei Ming was waving a pendant in front of Xi Zi.

He was trying to hypnotize Xizi, but Xizi's eyes became cross-eyed and he still couldn't fall asleep.

"Mommy Xue!" When she saw Gong Xue arrive, Xizi wanted to hug her.

Wei Ming picked him up and said, "You're already in second grade, don't pretend to be young, don't you know shame?"

Xizi was about to burst into tears, but everyone knew it was just an act, so it was no use.

Gong Xue asked Wei Ming, "Is everything packed?"

"Yeah, you've bought him a lot of toys." Wei Ming smiled.

Gong Xue thought to herself, "He'll be calling me sister-in-law in the future, so of course I have to spoil him."

After not seeing each other for so long, a passionate kiss would be perfect, or at least a tight hug. Unfortunately, the third wheel is too much of a jerk.

Wei Ming had a sudden inspiration: "Xizi, go downstairs and buy me a pack of cigarettes."

Wei Xi: "No."

"The extra money is yours." Wei Ming pulled out a ten-yuan bill.

Wei Xi: "I just enjoy helping others."

The kid took the money and scurried out of the house and downstairs.

Wei Ming quickly turned off the cigarette, then pulled the frail Xue-jie into his arms and savored the aroma; there was no smell of smoke.

"Stop messing around." Only when Wei Ming made even more extreme moves did Gong Xue fight back.

Wei Ming knew that this was indeed inappropriate. In the play, Qin Nan suffered a lot of scorn because she gave birth out of wedlock, and he didn't want Xue Jie to suffer from the scandals on set as well.

It's okay to date someone before marriage, but sleeping together before marriage is beyond the bounds.

Let's talk about movies instead.

"Your goddaughter didn't get selected in the end," Wei Ming told Sister Xue.

"Oh, that's a pity."

"The child is quite pretty and loves performing. She's not shy on stage, but she's too fair-skinned, even fairer than the white people in Venice. It would be too difficult to put on makeup for her to play a little girl picking mushrooms. Besides, filming in the countryside often involves shooting outdoors under the scorching sun. It would be a shame to ruin such good skin."

Gong Xue thought about it and realized that made sense. She then asked, "Does that little girl still remember you, her savior?"

Wei Ming laughed and said, "I've long forgotten about what happened three years ago. She was only three years old then, but her parents always talked about it to her, and there are photos to prove it, so she still knows about it."

It's been three years, and they've known each other for three years.

Then the two chatted about interesting things that happened on their respective film sets. Xizi didn't come back until half an hour later. This child has become sensible.

The next day, Wei Ming took Xizi by plane to Chengdu, and of course, they had to go to the airport in Shanghai first.

At this time, two other child actors with significant roles in the movie also arrived: one played Xiaocao, and the other played Qingqing, a little girl picking mushrooms.

When Xizi saw the girl playing "Xiaocao," her eyes lit up, and she went up to her and kept calling her "sister, sister."

This older sister is 13-year-old Xia Lin, whose original name is Wang Fei. After her parents divorced, she took her mother's surname and changed her name. She is also the original singer of the song "Little Grass".

Wei Ming needed a girl who appeared stubborn and resilient. After much deliberation, he decided to give the role to the cool and aloof Wang Fei, and the result was quite good. As a result, he even specially increased the age of the character.

Wang Fei, a junior high school student, is very aloof, but she is good friends with Wei Le, Wei Xi's younger sister, so she still shows a friendly smile to Wei Xi, the little bean.

The little girl next to me, who is only eight years old, is named Liu Lin. She was born into a highly educated family; both her parents work in the aerospace industry. She has a very simple and honest smile. She is a child actress selected by the Children's Film Studio through a newspaper audition and has loved performing since she was a child.

Later, she was admitted to the Beijing Film Academy, where she was classmates with Xu Jinglei and Alyssa Chia. She later became famous throughout the country for her role as "Jiang Dehua," and even became popular in the era of short videos. From then on, "Dehua" became a unique term.

The child looks simple and honest, but with a little dressing up, he does have the rustic charm of a rural child, which Wei Ming finds quite satisfactory.

He then asked, "Have your parents arrived?"

Both of them shook their heads. Wang Fei was older and more self-reliant, so she came alone. Moreover, she was acquainted with Teacher Wei, so her mother felt safe and secure.

Liu Lin's parents entrusted her to a makeup artist sent by the Beijing Film Studio for care, as both of them were researchers and didn't have the time.

Accompanying the two of them was a female makeup artist sent by the Beijing Film Studio, whom they had already booked while they were in Beijing.

Wei Ming scratched his head. Without a guardian, he, as the director, had to take on the responsibility of a guardian. Actually, the two girls were alright, after all, they were girls. The ones who were really to be worried about were Wu Jing and Xi Zi.

Right now is a mini-peak in the human trafficking industry, and two seven- or eight-year-old boys, wow, so tempting.

Actually, Faye Wong is also in some danger, after all, she is already 13 years old.

So Wei Ming let the makeup artist and the two little girls eat and live together, while Ge You and his son looked after Wu Jing and Xizi, and then they lived with him.

The three new kids also had to go to the village to experience life with Wu Jing. In addition, Wei Ming also hired a teacher to help them with their academic studies. Don't think that you don't have to go to school just because you're in the film crew. It's already September, and school has long since started.

Then Wei Ming gathered his top team to continue making final preparations before filming began.

Upon seeing the director return, everyone asked, "Director, what award did you win this time?"

Wei Ming replied, "A Silver Lion for Best First Feature and a FIPRESCI Critics' Choice Award for Best Film are both minor awards and not worth mentioning."

Chen Kaige, who was somewhat familiar with several academic parties and international awards, asked in confusion, "Isn't this for the main competition? And this is a short film."

Wei Ming: "They said it was an exception."

Chen Kaige: I'm so angry that he tricked me!
Feng Xiaogang hurriedly said, "Teacher Wei, please bring out the trophy so everyone can see it and we can share in the glory."

"Yup!"

"that is!"

Everyone chimed in, but Wei Ming suppressed his laughter and said, "I didn't bring it with me. I had someone take it directly back to the capital. In a few days, you can see the photos directly."

Two days later, reports about Wei Ming's work "The Witness" winning two awards in Venice began to appear in newspapers. The Literary Gazette also had a beautiful photo of him holding the Silver Lion trophy, which was taken by Feng Ge.

This report was widely reprinted and regarded as a landmark event in the internationalization of Chinese culture, greatly enhancing national cultural confidence. It's not uncommon for Chinese films to be nominated for international film festivals, but winning an award is a first, especially since the director shares the same name as the writer Wei Ming!
The title might lead to this misunderstanding, but after reading the full text, you'll be surprised to find that this Wei Ming is the same Wei Ming as the other one!

A writer who not only wrote so many great songs, has now started making movies and even won international awards!
Wei Ming's image in the hearts of readers and fans has become even more majestic; they regard him as a god.

As a result, countless Wei Ming's admirers and friends flocked to the cinema to ask when they could see "The Witness".

For example, Liu Zhenyun's internship salary wasn't much higher than the school's student aid, so he wanted to write film reviews to supplement his family's income.

The cinema told him they hadn't received any distribution notice.

However, Jiang Wen, a student from the Central Academy of Drama who was also inquiring about the film, heard that the award-winning film was a short film and would not be shown in theaters, but would be screened at the Beijing Film Academy.

In fact, not only film academies, but also many film studios will screen this short film internally, as it is considered an internal reference film, which ordinary viewers cannot see.

Besides its explicit content, the film also showcases the stunning skyscrapers of Hong Kong, which is something that needs to be avoided.

The second time the Chinese people heard news about director Wei Ming was when the filming of "The Spring of the Shepherd's Class" began in Sichuan, as reported by local Sichuan media.

With Wei Ming's announcement of "Good luck with filming," "The Spring of the Shepherd's Class" officially began filming in a small town in Xinjin County, Sichuan Province. The first scene filmed was a segment featuring the male lead, Zhong Wei, in the town, with Li Baotian and Zhang Guoli as the main actors.

Li Baotian is 36 years old this year, but looks like he is in his forties. This is the scene where Zhong Wei, whom he plays, is sent to the countryside in the early days. He is still very resentful and his clothes are impeccable, maintaining the aloofness of an artist.

He used to play clown roles in a Bangzi opera troupe, and he was indeed not good-looking. But after a period of time, he suddenly became quite charismatic, and the crew members could not associate him with the dirty Shandong farmer Niu Er.

Even Hu Weili stroked his beard in agreement, saying that he did indeed look like a music teacher, as he had also been a university music teacher.

However, Zhong Wei was a little flustered at this time. He was about to be sent to a rural primary school to teach, but the letter from his wife, whom he had been waiting for, had not yet arrived.

Before leaving, he asked Zhang Guoli, a young teacher who had been sent down with him, to remember to notify him once he received the letter.

Zhang Guoli was 27 years old at the time. He had acted in some stage plays and was quite talented. However, in front of Li Baotian, he was still as naive as a greenhorn.

Fortunately, the key to this scene wasn't him, and the scene wasn't particularly difficult, so it was easily passed.

In the first scene, Wei Ming intentionally started with the easier scenes first, so as not to put too much pressure on the inexperienced team and make them feel frustrated.

These film rolls were all imported from Hong Kong by Wei Ming. They were much more expensive than domestically produced ones, and they would feel bad if there were too many takes.

But Wei Ming didn't mind; in order to shoot some beautiful establishing shots, he left the camera running on the mountain.

There's also the issue of food. With the film crew here, the pigs raised in the nearby villages no longer have to worry about finding a market, and all kinds of wild game that they catch can be brought to the film crew to exchange for money directly.

Director Wei Ming not only needs to eat well himself, but also the crew members need to eat well.

As the production manager, Han Sanping had an obligation to save money for the production team, at least not to exceed the budget. However, Wei Ming had already told him that the Children's Film Studio would only contribute 20 yuan, and the Hong Kong company would cover any extra costs, no matter how much was spent.

At this point, Han Sanping had a vague idea: if you want to make a good movie, you still have to be willing to spend money, you still have to make big productions, do cross-regional cooperation, and use other people's money to make your own movies!

~
Yanjing.

Yu Minhong, a student in the Department of Western Languages ​​at Peking University, fell ill and was hospitalized in his junior year. He was diagnosed with tuberculosis, which is contagious, so he could not return to Peking University. To be on the safe side, the university suggested that he take a year off and continue his studies with his juniors next year.

That means what others take four years to complete at university, he will have to spend five.

After the initial sadness and depression, Yu Minhong cheered up again. He remembered that the TOEFL tutoring class run by Peking University was recruiting part-time teachers. With his English level, he could give it a try. In any case, he couldn't let his mother bear the burden of his living expenses anymore.

During his convalescence in the hospital, Yu Minhong did not forget to keep up with national affairs, and watching the news broadcast with his fellow patients became a daily routine for him.

Today, a major event occurred in Beijing: Margaret Thatcher, the Iron Lady of Britain, visited China to discuss matters concerning Hong Kong.

Not only the Chinese, but the world's attention is now focused on Yenching, wanting to know what outcome the Sino-British talks will yield.

Wei Ming was in a remote area, but he was still keeping an eye on news from the central government.

That day, the relevant report finally appeared in the newspaper, but there were no photos of Thatcher falling. It only mentioned that such an incident had occurred and speculated that Mrs. Thatcher's fall might be related to her recent leg surgery. There was no other response.

Wei Ming laughed heartily: "This round is in the bag!"

He was afraid the other person hadn't fallen.

Compared to China's low-key and magnanimous approach, foreign media showed absolutely no mercy in their criticism.

Because there were foreign journalists present, the footage of Margaret Thatcher's fall was broadcast verbatim, instantly igniting global public opinion and becoming a top news story in countries around the world.

She may genuinely have just undergone leg surgery, but Western media certainly wouldn't adopt such a boring explanation—it doesn't generate any traffic. This is completely different from the still quite serious Chinese media at the time.

Western media have dubbed the incident "koutou" and linked it to Margaret Thatcher's failures on the Hong Kong issue.

Even the British media themselves are subtly speculating that the Prime Minister was frightened and that his outward bravado masked his inner weakness.

He added that China is not Argentina, and Hong Kong is not the Falkland Islands, so this matter may not be so easy to resolve.

Aside from China and the UK, Hong Kong people, caught in the middle and also parties involved in this issue, are clearly more concerned about the outcome of the negotiations than China and the UK.

The day Margaret Thatcher's undignified "falling" photo appeared in the newspapers, the Hang Seng Index immediately dropped 25 points, and the Hong Kong market was in an uproar.

In the coming years, the direction of the Sino-British negotiations will constantly affect the people of Hong Kong, as well as the ups and downs of the Hong Kong stock market and the Hong Kong property market.

Even the least politically concerned group, the students, nowadays, besides discussing the latest comic books published during breaks, also talk about the political situation and complain about how their fathers' stocks have fallen again and how they'll probably beat them up again today.

Amin was secretly pleased to hear this; the more the stock price fell, the more she and Ahong earned.

Moreover, there's no need to discuss this matter; she believes the final outcome will definitely be as Amin predicted: Hong Kong will eventually become part of China again, and when that happens, there will be no more obstacles for her to go to the mainland or for him to come to Hong Kong.

Two months have passed since the New Talent Singer Competition ended. Last month, Vivian Chow's first mini album, "My Favorite Vivian Chow," was released. Within a month, sales of vinyl and cassette tapes (calculated as 1/2) easily exceeded 10 copies, achieving double platinum certification from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI).

Albums definitely sell better than singles.

Tomorrow is the weekend, and Vivian Chow's first task is to record a song at PolyGram Records. It will be the last song on her first full album, "First Love: Vivian Chow," and it's a collaboration between Wong Jim and Joseph Koo, reportedly of comparable quality to Ah Ming's songs.

After all, most of the songs on this album are old ones, and the newer ones are all on "My Favorite: Vivian Chow". So, Zheng Donghan was very willing to invest in order to boost sales.

"Vivian, congratulations on the album's great sales!" Tam Yung-Lin walked towards her.

Vivian Chow laughed and said, "How can I compare to you? I heard your new album is already triple platinum."

"I've been selling for almost half a year, but I can't compete, I just wish I were a girl." Tan Yonglin teased Wei Ming.

Vivian Chow accepted it calmly, saying, "My boyfriend is amazing, what can you do to me?"

After the joke, Tam Yung-lun told Vivian Chow, "Anita Mui's first album, 'Heart Debt,' will be released next month, at the same time as your 'First Love, Vivian Chow.'"

Vivian Chow said happily, "This album is finally out. I was worried that Capital Artists would mislead her. I will cheer her on when it comes out."

Tan Yonglin: Deceive? Where did you learn that word?

Both participated in the New Talent Singer Competition; one was the champion and the other the most popular contestant. It was inevitable that the two would be compared, but Vivian Chow never seemed to have any such worries.

I was just playing around with it.

But should I also participate in the TVB Top Ten Gold Songs Quarterly Awards tomorrow?

TVB has already extended an invitation, hoping she will participate. Both "The Favorite" and "A Rare Lover" have a chance to be shortlisted for the final Top Ten Songs of the Year, but the quarterly chart selection requires singers to participate, so it can be considered a kind of chart-topping effort.

After returning home, Vivian Chow called Lin Ni and told her mother about it. Lin Ni's grandmother chimed in, "She'll only be on TV once a quarter at most. Just think of it as participating in a millionaire contest. What's the big deal?"

Finally, Zhou's mother agreed that he could only participate in this kind of program once per quarter.

Then Zhou Ma chatted with Lin Ni about Hong Kong property prices, their eyes filled with excitement as the sharp drop in property prices began.

Not only will the mother and daughter have a chance to find a place to live, but Holiland is also preparing to buy its own shops during the housing market downturn, so it will no longer be subject to landlords.

Hong Kong's wealthy businessmen are now basically divided into two categories: one is packing up their valuables, ready to flee at any time, and the other is taking stock of their assets, ready to buy at rock-bottom prices.

~
Yanjing.

Biaozi and Yanzi have finished filming their interior scenes for "Journey to the West," and the director said that the exterior scenes might be filmed next year.

So hopefully their physique won't change too much in a year, otherwise their clothes will have to be altered.

This isn't difficult for Yanzi, but Biaozi can't slack off; it takes him quite a while to maintain his physique.

Just then, Changchun Film Studio came to Biaozi's door and handed him a script called "Wudang".

Biaozi declined, saying, "What? I have to go out to film for a few months? No way, I have a family to support, I can't leave."

"We're not looking for you," the person said. "We'd like to invite Comrade Huang Qiuyan to play the female lead. Could you please pass this on to us?"

……

(End of this chapter)