HuaYu: A Great Director Starting with Dream of the Red Chamber

Li Yan was very efficient and finished filming the remaining shots that same day.

The makeshift crew behind "Let Me Stay" has completely wrapped up filming.

As soon as the plane landed in Beijing, Li Yan was greeted by a blast of willow catkins.

Springtime is the season for rhinitis.

Yang Mi is in an even worse situation.

The "Four Little Actresses" of Tencent Entertainment are set to be revealed at the end of the month, and now is the time to warm up for them.

Tang Ren's Cai Yinong and Rong Xinda's Li Xiaowan, who both enjoy the salty taste of manure when passing by, were bound to hit it off immediately when they encountered this good opportunity.

rub!

As soon as she stepped out of the terminal, Zeng Jia hurriedly shoved her into the company's nanny van and headed straight for her next engagement.

Yang Mi stared at Li Yan through the car window for a few seconds with a complicated expression. Her lips moved, but in the end, she just clenched her fist and sent a text message:

"Don't forget, if this doesn't become popular, I'll really smash your windows!"

Li Yan smiled as he looked at his phone, then turned and followed the main group ahead.

It won't become popular?

Just kidding, it's a good thing there isn't a term like "ceiling of pure desire" yet, otherwise we'd practically plaster that title on her forehead.

……

The next few days were a bit tough for everyone in the company.

Despite my confidence, I still felt a little uneasy until I saw the sample.

Except for Li Yan.

My senior's company invested a lot in their post-production server room; it has everything you need.

Cigarette butts, Red Bull, and a dog with a receding hairline.

The guy in charge of post-production, Fatty Zhou, is also a professionally trained actor. He saw that he had no hope of ever getting a permanent position at Beijing TV, so he came to join Zhang Qiang.

They do possess some genuine skills.

This time, however, he was shocked and stood behind Li Yan with a look of utter disbelief.

With his mouth wide open, he held the coffee cup halfway up the ground.

The keyboard in the room was clicking away rapidly.

Aside from asking some software-related questions at the beginning, Li Yan spent the rest of the time quietly working on the software.

He simply and crudely dragged the material into the track.

Rough cut, fine cut, special effects, audio...

There was almost no hesitation.

It was as if the entire film had already played in his mind countless times; he only needed to copy it step by step.

It didn't use any fancy editing techniques; it was just the simplest linear narrative and emotional editing.

But the result was quite different. The narrative rhythm, emotional needs, and the blank space in the visuals before the climax of the music were all done just right.

When Zhang Qiang pushed open the door, he thought it was Fatty Zhou typing on the keyboard, but he didn't expect it to be Li Yan.

He handed over the lunchbox and asked in a low voice, "I thought you had a power surge, why is Li Yan doing it?"

Fatty Zhou also lowered his voice: "Your hand speed is too fast, I can only help out a little."

Li Yan's hand speed, if placed in Warcraft, would be at least a five-star gladiator.

Zhang Qiang was a little uneasy. "Wait, is the haircut already done? Can he really do it that quickly?"

"Senior brother, a man should never say no!"

Li Yan couldn't help but chime in when he heard this.

"Fast," "man," and "no" together are a bit sensitive.

With so many people around, he simply turned around in his chair to rest for a while, grabbed a bite of food, and offered an explanation.

"This thing is just a matter of physical strength. As long as you have a picture in your mind, the rest is just a matter of speed."

Wang Hao, who came in with Zhang Qiang, couldn't help but twitch at the corner of his mouth as he listened.

This is incredibly physically demanding!

Given Ogilvy's track record, this step alone, involving the internal audit's "rough cut A version" and "rough cut B version," would take three to five days to refine.

But when it came to Li Yan, it was like playing a video game.

Wang Hao pointed to the monitor and asked Xiao Zhou, "Why does it look so grayish? Didn't they adjust the colors?"

He knows a thing or two; Canon would never approve this kind of shot.

Fatty Zhou weakly explained, "This is Log mode, which is the gray screen. I can't help with anything else..."

Li Yan quickly ate his boxed lunch, wiped his mouth, took out a USB drive from his bag, and plugged it into his computer.

"This is a LUT preset I created myself. The highlights are warm, the shadows are bluish, and with the large sensor of the 5D2, it simulates the graininess of film... Wait a minute, let me import it first..."

Zhang Qiang and Wang Hao exchanged a silent glance:

abnormal!

As they spoke, they dragged the mouse, and the loading was complete.

The originally gloomy and bland scene was instantly filled with color.

It's translucent, oily, and has a film-like feel.

The scene shows Yang Mi looking back suddenly on the Twenty-Four Bridges, her gaze filled with love amidst the haze. A tender feeling amidst the tragedy washes over you, as beautiful as a Shunji Iwai film.

"Holy crap..."

A chorus of uncultured exclamations filled the room.

Even Wang Hao, who had always held reservations about Yang Mi, had to admit, "Is this really that little brat?"

Li Yan stretched out a big yawn and loosened his neck:

"All done! Senior brother, when you send it to Zhao Gang, don't forget to tell him to buy the copyright."

"The background music used is 'Together We Will Live Forever,' which is the original soundtrack from Warner Bros.' 'The Fountain.'"

"This is expensive... Will they deduct it from our payment?" Zhang Qiang was a little confused, afraid that Canon would not agree.

"Go ahead and negotiate, what's there to be afraid of with this thing!"

Li Yan pointed to the screen and waved his hand:

"As long as it makes him money, these foreigners would do anything, even kneel down! Don't spoil them; artists should maintain their dignity!"

As it turns out, when faced with strength, all obstacles are just paper tigers.

Less than an hour after the sample was sent, Zhang Qiang's phone rang.

Zhao Gang was very polite. "Mr. Zhang, Manager Yamada just saw the sample and was very satisfied. The copyright issue has been arranged, and the finance department has expedited the process; the final payment can be made at any time!"

One sentence was enough to set the entire company into a frenzy. The cheers were so loud that the neighboring company thought these guys selling GG had finally gone mad.

Li Yan didn't join in their commotion.

That's not necessarily true!

He washed an apple and moved closer to Ding Xiaoxiao.

"Mr. Ding, how's the forum registration going?"

Ding Xiaoxiao rolled her eyes at him and opened a spreadsheet.

"These are only a few accounts, how can they be enough?"

"That's quite a lot: Mop, Tianya, Douban, Renren... and those photography forums. We only have a few people, and we're already exhausted!"

"Idiot," Li Yan wanted to knock a smack on the head, "Who told you to post it yourself?"

"What should we do then?"

Li Yan scratched his chin. Right now, the internet doesn't have any censorship or traffic restrictions, and netizens haven't experienced the benefits of internet technology yet, making it perfect for promotion.

He thought for a moment, then asked Ding Xiaoxiao, "Did you get an internship certificate during college?"

"What? Isn't that something the school should handle themselves?"

"Oh, which school do you go to?"

"The National People's Congress."

……

"Let's change the subject. You know student unions, right? Go find a few university student unions, recruit some part-time workers, have them post, 50 cents per post, 5 yuan for featured posts, and they'll even get an internship certificate for outstanding performance. That solves the problem."

Ding Xiaoxiao's eyes widened. "50 cents? This works? Isn't this just paid trolling? Who would want this internship certificate?"

Li Yan corrected her with an air of righteous indignation, "What do you mean by 'internet trolls'? That sounds awful. We call ourselves 'new media operations specialists'!"

Ding Xiaoxiao swallowed hard and gave a thumbs up: "Director, you're a real dog..."