Unboxing, Director!

Chapter 48: Gao Yuanyuan

The 1999 Venice Film Festival opened on September 9rd.

The deadline for submission of feature films is June 6rd.

The short film will be released on May 5rd.

So Lu Jiang only has less than 34 days left.

But Lu Jiang only had 24 days of safe time for front-end shooting.

The remaining 10 days will be reserved for post-production, review, and selection.

The good news is that a one-shot film does not require complicated post-production work such as editing, only some minor post-production work such as subtitles.

Also, because the film is only 20 minutes long, there are not many lines, and there are no special effects, the overall post-production time does not need to take too much time.

With the big boss Situ Zhaodun in charge of the review, the speed can be beyond imagination.

The selection process is not very controllable because the Venice Film Festival also has an audit process.

For example, subtitle specifications, film formats, etc.

Be prepared to make temporary changes.

The bad news is that 24 days is really tight.

After all, we are now shooting in one shot and there is no room for mistakes.

So sufficient rehearsal is very important.

The rehearsal stage does not start with rehearsing the actors.

You have to start from the basics.

To this end, Lu Jiang set up a three-step plan.

Step 1: Clarify the movements and roles of all actors and machines.

The location for this shoot was sponsored by a KTV that had just been renovated and had not yet opened.

We were given the venue and the money, and we can shoot day and night, which looks great.

But the interior design of this KTV is somewhat complicated, magnificent, but similar to a maze.

This brings considerable challenges to plans such as actor movement, camera routing, and lens settings.

So on the first day, Lu Jiang put all his focus on this.

At noon the next day, after the basic camera positions were adjusted, the actors entered the scene and began to design the scenes for each individual scene.

The small scenes include the roles of each character.

The roles of nearly a hundred actors needed to be confirmed one by one, and the camera movements had to be flexibly adjusted according to the actual situation, which was a huge workload.

And this is just the workload for a single scene.

After the scenes are properly adjusted, the next step is the transition, which presents a host of problems.

There are three rooms, two main loops, and the protagonist does not participate in the third loop, but the scenes in each room are still performed semi-series.

How do actors make efficient transitions, how do they set up their scenes after the transitions, how do they adjust the camera lens based on the actual situation, and there are also various issues such as costumes, props, lighting, and sound recording.

This is just on the production side, and there are many other problems as well.

For example, small things like eating and accommodation.

In Lu Jiang’s previous crew, there were only about ten people on a MV set.

Some minor problems can be easily solved.

There are more than a hundred actors and staff members on the entire set now, making it the largest crew Lu Jiang has ever coordinated.

When there are more people, the problems multiply exponentially.

It can be said that the past few days were full of chaos and problems arose one after another.

The key is that these problems cannot be simulated in the cheat simulator because they are all human problems.

For this reason, the first few days brought considerable challenges to Lu Jiang and his team.

Fortunately, the overall plan is clear.

The teachers and students at the scene were all very obedient and willing to challenge the difficulty. In addition, Lu Jiang was not stingy with his remuneration.

Be patient, it will work out.

On the 8th day, the first step of "Not Drunk" was finally completed.

The next step is to officially start rehearsals for the performance.

The actors don't put on makeup first and rehearse according to their roles.

As the lead actor, Lu Jiang also had to get into character. Even though the camera wasn't on, he still had to move around as he would during the actual filming.

After all units have completed the rehearsal, the final step of officially starting the recording will be.

On the first day of rehearsal, the stage manager came to report that someone came to visit the set, specifically looking for Lu Jiang.

Lu Jiang's first reaction was Fan Binbin, but she had just called last night. She had a big night scene last night and a big scene today during the day, so it was impossible for her to come to visit the set.

Lu Jiang was wondering if it might be Chen Hao, Liu Ye and others. Lu Jiang had a good relationship with them, so it was possible that they would come.

It can't be Xiao Tao Hong, right? If it was her, that would be a bit unsportsmanlike. We agreed to play a game, are you serious?

Xu Zhen is also possible. After the filming of "Spring Pig" was completed, Xu Zhen came to Beijing to visit him twice, but the visit was just a passing visit. The main purpose was to pursue Tao Hong.
While thinking, the answer was revealed, it turned out to be Gao Yuanyuan.

"Out-of-season watermelons are quite expensive, right?"

Ning Hao was holding a watermelon in his hand, his face full of gossip. This was one of the gifts that Gao Yuanyuan brought when she visited the set.

“The price is not important, as long as everyone enjoys the meal.”

Gao Yuanyuan took the initiative to distribute them.

A group of actors who were unaware of the truth smiled and expressed their gratitude in various ways.

They are all good stuff, various fruits, snacks and drinks, don’t miss them.

By the time Lu Jiang saw Gao Yuanyuan, most of the things had been divided.

"How did you come?"

Lu Jiang frowned slightly.

Gao Yuanyuan stared at Lu Jiang, her tone somewhat mischievous: "Didn't you say that I could come to the crew to observe? You can't go back on your word, right?"

This is a very strong reason.

Indeed, Lu Jiang did say that at that time.

But he thought that after he rejected Gao Yuanyuan's request to perform and be her assistant, Gao Yuanyuan would give up.

As a result, the offensive is now even more fierce.

At this time, the treasure chest on Gao Yuanyuan's head is still there, but the level and entries have changed:

Blue treasure chest: [Gao Yuanyuan hopes to become friends with the host]

The number of demand items has been reduced a lot compared to before.

What was the last time I understood the inner world, listened to the creative process, and wanted to perform.

Now it seems that Lu Jiang’s rejection did make her realize some realities, but it also made her more courageous.

Lu Jiang really had a headache.

"I'll just watch from the side. I promise I won't interfere with your work. Is that okay?"

Seeing Lu Jiang didn't say anything, Gao Yuanyuan immediately raised her hand to make a promise.

His energetic look made the surrounding onlookers envy Lu Jiangyan's good fortune.

Lu Jiang didn't have time to argue with her: "Okay, just watch it here, don't go into the set, and go back early after watching."

"Don't worry, I'm right here and I'm not going anywhere."

Gao Yuanyuan happily agreed.

Lu Jiang no longer cared about her.

Eat people with soft mouths and short hands with others.

The gifts for visiting the set have been distributed, so we have to give people some face.

Besides, even if she stayed here and watched, what could she see?
This was a one-shot shoot, and the set was moving. Once the camera passed the end of the corridor and turned the corner, it entered her blind spot and she couldn't see anything.

After a while, I got bored and left.

Of course, we still need to be vigilant about unidentified people visiting the set, and the crew management must be done well.

Li Chao, who had just returned to the set after dealing with food issues, apologized: "This is my first time encountering a visitor. I have no experience. I will pay more attention next time."

"I suspect you put it in there!"

"How can I have the time to do that? I have to deal with a hundred people eating, drinking, defecating and urinating, and now I have to split it in half. I'm too busy to handle it all."

"You should recruit more people."

"We're already recruiting, isn't it not that fast?"

(End of this chapter)