Entertainment: 1990

Chapter 112: My Hair is Messy
After Wang Jinghua officially signed the contract, Zhang Yan paid for a small courtyard near the National Conservatory of Music, where Wang Jinghua, Han Hong, and Wang Luyao could live there to cultivate their tacit understanding.

The task Zhang Yan assigned to Zhang Weining was to solicit songs from well-known composers and lyricists, and to select a suitable piece for each of Chen Hong and Wang Luyao.

The things that Dou Wei and his team put together all have a high barrier to entry. Wang Luyao might be able to sing them, but Chen Hong definitely couldn't.

Therefore, the people invited this time are all true big shots who can handle heavy responsibilities with ease, such as Qiao Yu, the author of "Unforgettable Tonight", Zhang Li, the lyricist of "Asian Heroic Spirit", teacher Gu Jianfen, and Li Haiying, who just made Liu Huan and Yang Yuying famous.

Besides Wang Jinghua and Zhang Weining.

Liu Weidong, who suggested creating a scandal, was also recruited by Zhang Yan.

However, Zhang Yan did not arrange for Liu Weidong to mentor artists. Instead, he arranged for him to join the "I Am a Singer" program team, intending for him to find suitable targets among the contestants.

Liu Weidong was quite happy with this arrangement. He was very confident in his judgment, but he hadn't been famous before, so even if he took a liking to someone, that person might not be interested in him.

By latching onto Zhang Yan's coattails and joining the "I Am a Singer" program, he's determined to find a few "soulmates."

They were busy with this for several days.

By the time Zhang Yan finally had some free time, "My Hair Is a Mess" had already been filming in Tianjin for over a week.

Guan Hu called with a particularly resentful tone, begging the producer to at least show his face, since the movie was already finished and he hadn't even been to the set yet.

At first, he was a little worried that Zhang Yan would steal the show, but to his surprise, Zhang Yan completely relinquished his duties, even leaving the task of rewriting the lines to Yu Hua.

Knowing he was in the wrong, Zhang Yan finally visited the film crew that afternoon, bringing everyone a large amount of gifts.

Although it's described as a large production, it didn't actually cost much money. After all, the crew was small, with only twelve people in total, including the actors and staff—thirteen if you include producer Zhang Yan.

After entering the dilapidated filming location, Zhang Yan listened to Guan Hu's complaints and then asked with a smile, "How's the progress now?"

"not so good."

Guan Hu said with a bitter face, "I used my grandfather's connections to get some expired imported film. I thought it would be usable, but the colors came out really weird. I had to buy new film, and I wasted it all a few days ago."

The original version only had a budget of 20 yuan, so it was good enough that it could be filmed at all, and they didn't care about color accuracy. But now that the total investment has increased to 50 yuan, Guan Hu can no longer tolerate the serious color distortion problem.

Although the expired film was cheap, it was still something he had paid for, and he really couldn't bear to waste it.

Zhang Yan watched the outtakes and realized that something was definitely wrong; the colors kept changing, sometimes blue, sometimes yellow, and sometimes red.

However, he quickly came up with a solution.

"So, you pile all these film reels onto that 'death rock' scene, make the visuals of that scene magical, and then cut out the one with the best effect."

When it's released, you can brag to everyone that you used enough film stock to make an entire movie to create this dreamlike, spectacular scene.

Rock music is inherently colorful, not to mention 'death rock,' so pairing it with these colorful expired film reels is a perfect match.

And it also adds a promotional gimmick.

Guan Hu laughed immediately after hearing this, and gave Zhang Yan a thumbs up, saying, "I knew our crew couldn't do without you, Brother Zhang! This idea was brilliant!"

If it weren't for the morgue's time constraints, he would have loved to move on to another location right now and enjoy the pleasure of lavishly using up film.

At this moment, Wu Yujuan and Xu Fan came over and greeted him, "Producer Zhang, you're really elusive—I heard your record company signed Wang Luyao?"

In order not to overshadow the female lead, Wu Yujuan's current appearance is noticeably more mature, giving her a charming and virtuous young woman vibe.

Zhang Yan laughed and said, "Yes, she herself is quite a topic of hype, and if she handles it well, she should become popular."

"Hey, why don't I get to have this good thing?"

Wu Yujuan said in a half-serious, half-joking tone, "We're all from the same production team, Producer Zhang, you can't show favoritism. If there's a suitable opportunity, please give Xu Fan and me a hand as well."

She only brought up Wang Luyao as an excuse, but unexpectedly, Wang Luyao actually seized the opportunity.

While feeling envious, Wu Yujuan couldn't help but secretly wonder whether Wang Luyao got the opportunity because of her voice or because of the two big lights on her chest.

"That is required!"

Zhang Yan made a grand promise without any substance, then looked at Zhang Jiayi, who played the second male lead. This was the first time he had seen Zhang Jiayi. Although the young man was quite handsome, compared to Huang Lei at this moment, it was no wonder that the female lead liked 'rock and roll'.

After Zhang Yan and Zhang Jiayi exchanged a few pleasantries, Xu Fan suddenly spoke up: "Can we talk alone for a bit?"

I knew you guys couldn't hold it in!

Guan Hu smiled knowingly and quickly called out to everyone, "Come on, let's hurry up and go through the lines again!"

Once everyone started working.

Zhang Yan and Xu Fan then walked into the alley outside, but the atmosphere was not as romantic and ambiguous as Guan Hu had imagined.

Xu Fan immediately brought up Jiang Shan, saying that Jiang Shan had made two or three phone calls in the past few days, subtly inquiring about Zhang Yan.

“When I told her you were busy with the record company, she visibly relaxed, but a couple of days later she couldn’t help but keep asking.” Xu Fan paused, then cautiously probed, “Why do I feel like she’s a little afraid of you? Between you two…”

It seems that Jiang Shan has also noticed the problem with the photos.

Zhang Yan naturally wouldn't reveal this, and casually replied, "Jiang Shan smashed my car a while ago, probably because she was afraid I would retaliate."

"Your new Xiali? Is there anything seriously wrong with it?"

"It's nothing, they just replaced two panes of glass."

Zhang Yan then said, "If Jiang Shan calls again, just tell her that we're even now, and that neither of us should bother the other anymore."

"Okay, I'll call her later."

Xu Fan verbally agreed, but he felt that things were definitely not that simple. Given Jiang Shan's carefree personality, it was hard to imagine that she would be so worried about Zhang Yan's car all day long.

There must be something else going on here.

At the same time, Xu Fan was also very curious as to why Jiang Shan would go and smash the car. Logically speaking, if she had suffered a loss at Chen Hong's hands, she shouldn't have taken her anger out on Zhang Yan.

But now that Xu Fan is an 'outsider,' it's naturally not appropriate for him to delve too deeply into these sensitive topics.

This morning.

Zhang Yan watched Guan Hu filming on set and found that Guan Hu was different from the directors he had worked with before; Guan Hu always tried his best to make the film look good.

But Guan Hu preferred to make the visuals a little 'ugly' and a little 'dirty' in order to pursue a certain kind of raw realism.

This makes his shots more documentary-style.

Zhang Yan couldn't say whether it was good or bad, but he felt that this thing was unlikely to recoup its costs.

But since it's all money he raised himself, he's happy to throw it away, and nobody can stop him.

It was past 11 a.m.

Guan Hu immediately started arranging to go out to a restaurant to "welcome Zhang Yan back."

Judging from his face, Zhang Yan knew that this kid was probably trying to take advantage of the rich.

So I just took out five hundred yuan and gave it to him, saying, "You treat everyone to a good meal for me. I won't go today, I have some other things to do at noon."

"What could be so important?" Guan Hu snatched the money and said resentfully, "Brother Zhang, it's not right for you to leave so soon after you've just arrived."

"There's nothing I can do; I've already made an appointment with the TV station."

Zhang Yan said, "Let's wait a while. When the TV station isn't so busy anymore, I'll stay with the crew and live, eat, and work with you all."

This statement is half true and half false. It is true that it was arranged in advance, but it was not with the TV station.

In fact, he had arranged to pick Zhou Tao up from the station at noon today and then take Zhou Tao to the TV station for an 'interview'.

(End of this chapter)