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

It must be said that although my senior's team is small, their execution is quite strong.

The next morning, as soon as Li Yan entered the company, he was startled by a neatly stacked pile of red-circled cameras on his desk.

When Ding Xiaoxiao saw him come in, she didn't waste any words and directly pushed the brand-new 5D Mark II over.

"The rabbit you wanted, and these red-circled ones too."

"Is it all yours?"

Ding Xiaoxiao nodded shyly, "Mostly, I guess."

"..."

Li Yan didn't stand on ceremony. He pushed Ding Xiaoxiao aside and took out the CF card, inserting it into her computer.

A crowd instantly gathered behind me.

Li Yong was the most anxious; he had tried it himself and felt it wouldn't work.

"Weren't you testing the machine? What are you doing?"

"Let's reinstall the system."

Li Yan sat in Ding Xiaoxiao's chair, quickly found a website, and only explained once while downloading the file:

"This is a foreign firmware forum. The original manufacturer has removed many video functions, but you can unlock them using this forum."

The Magic Lantern firmware is still in its earliest version, but the basic unlocked functions are already sufficient.

Insert the card, install the battery, green letters pop up on the screen, restart the machine.

"alright."

Li Yan casually grabbed an 85mm F1.2 prime lens, screwed it on, and slung the camera over his shoulder.

"Let's go downstairs and try."

A dozen or so people crowded into the elevator, all eager to see if this thing was really as amazing as Li Yan had claimed.

……

Jianwai SOHO, downstairs.

Ding Xiaoxiao sat on the bench, holding a Starbucks cup in her hand, looking nervous.

"Director Li... how should I act? I don't know how!"

"Xiaoxiao, you don't need to act, just be natural. Look at the coffee, look at the trees, then get up and walk around a couple of times. Forget about the camera, that's it!"

Li Yan crouched slightly, holding the camera steadily as he moved forward, the lens brushing against Ding Xiaoxiao's hair.

A true expert's skill is immediately apparent.

Once filming began, Li Yong, who was following behind, remained silent. His positioning, focus changes, and focus control were all impeccable.

That's professional.

He's now just waiting to see how the final product turns out.

A few minutes later, in the conference room.

Li Yan connected the card reader to the Apple monitor with the best color reproduction.

The crowd had already gathered around, unable to contain themselves any longer.

"Turn off the lights."

Li Yan pressed the space bar, and the screen lit up.

The moment the image appeared, a chorus of gasps filled the conference room.

The so-called cinematic feel largely comes from depth of field and dynamic range.

In the image, Ding Xiaoxiao's profile is lively, with a full and clean outline. The shallow depth of field of the F1.2 aperture naturally blurs the bustling crowd and tall buildings in the background, yet the layers are very delicate.

The center is sharp, the bokeh is soft, and the texture is instantly enhanced.

Li Yong, who was closest, spoke first, "Holy crap... this is something it could even film? It's good enough... absolutely good enough!"

Wang Hao, who usually maintained a cool and aloof demeanor, almost couldn't keep up his composure, his clenched fists revealing his inner excitement.

Li Yan was fairly satisfied with the video's effect. He looked at Zhang Qiang and asked with a smile, "How is it? If we adjust the color and reduce the contrast a bit in post-production, the effect will be even better. Are you relieved now?"

"That's so reassuring, so incredibly reassuring! They even gave you the director's job!"

Zhang Qiang and Wang Hao discussed it until midnight last night, and he knew what a successful test shoot meant.

With a ruddy complexion, he waved his hand dismissively, exuding the air of a boss.

"Stop standing around, let's get to work! Li Yong, you've been familiarizing yourself with the machines these past few days, come on, everyone, get moving!"

……

For the next few days, Li Yan lived a life like an office worker, going back and forth between Dongba and Jianwai.

He can't do desk work, and he's not interested in it.

On the contrary, he spent his free time getting to know Ding Xiaoxiao better.

This young heiress drives a Mini Cooper to and from get off work every day.

Although it's called administration, you actually need to go to her for everything – getting stamps, expense reports, even signing for express deliveries.

Even when Li Yan steals vegetables on Kaixin.com, she can naturally help keep track of the time.

This girl has been calling him "director" ever since that test shoot, and she hasn't changed her way of addressing him despite being corrected several times.

In her words, it was only a matter of time...

"Hey, Director, your hay is ripe. Hurry up and harvest it, or Wang Hao will definitely steal it after the meeting."

Ding Xiaoxiao handed over a boxed lunch and gave a reminder.

Li Yan smiled as he accepted the lunch, and casually asked:

"Wang Hao is usually quite aloof, so why is he being so down-to-earth, liking to steal vegetables online?"

"He was just venting!"

"What are you venting about?"

Ding Xiaoxiao leaned closer mysteriously and whispered some gossip to him:

"Hmm...do you know who our opponent is this time?"

"Isn't it Ogilvy? That top 4A agency?"

"Yes, that's Wang Hao's former employer! I heard... he was ousted by a Hong Kong entertainment industry director. Now that we have a chance to snatch business from Ogilvy, how could he not work hard?"

"oh!"

Li Yan suddenly realized.

No wonder Wang Hao was so agitated that night; good heavens, he was holding back a lot of anger.

The two were happily eating lunch and chatting about gossip when Li Yan suddenly noticed a pop-up window appearing on Ding Xiaoxiao's computer.

The Legend of Sword and Fairy 6 will premiere on June 28th!

"Chinese Paladin 3?"

"Yeah, this show is quite popular online lately."

Ding Xiaoxiao casually prepared to turn it off.

"Wait a minute," Li Yan stopped her, looking thoughtfully at the stills in the pop-up window, "Our male lead hasn't been decided yet, right?"

"No, I can't attend to that right now."

"So what do you think of Yang Mi?"

Ding Xiaoxiao tilted her head and thought for a moment, "It seems alright, but... it's a bit small, isn't it?"

"What do you mean 'young'... cough, no, she was born in '86, she's already 23."

"Is it expensive?"

"It's not like it's an endorsement; the pay is barely a few dollars."

Li Yan's focus was not on this.

"Look, the popularity of 'Chinese Paladin 3' is already quite high. Tang Ren is also a marketing enthusiast, and there are also Tencent's four little actresses. With this kind of traffic, our GG can just ride some of it after it goes online and make a fortune."

Ding Xiaoxiao's eyes lit up, but then she sensed something was off: "You really dare to think like that..."

Li Yan pushed the lunchbox away, stood up, and said, "Let's go find them."

The conference room was filled with smoke.

Zhang Qiang, with a cigarette dangling from his mouth, was discussing something with Wang Hao on the whiteboard next to the table.

Ding Xiaoxiao burst through the door and yelled, "Boss, Li Yan said the female lead needs to use Yang Mi!"

"It's a shame Xiaoxiao doesn't go into acting; she has such a loud voice!"

Li Yan, who was following behind her, shook his head helplessly.

Zhang Qiang was taken aback and looked at Li Yan suspiciously: "Why are you looking for her? Do you two know each other?"

Li Yan pulled out a chair and sat down. "We know each other, but we just felt we were a good match."

Wang Hao was so dizzy from revising the plan that his slicked-back hair was completely ruined. He subconsciously replied:

"Wouldn't Gao Yuanyuan be more suitable? She's so innocent and pure!"

Ding Xiaoxiao's eyes lit up; she knew another piece of gossip.

"Oh, I see, Brother Hao likes this one!"

Zhang Qiang waved his hand, letting the matter drop.

"Seriously! Yang Mi's image is alright, and we can afford her, but is it really necessary? Wouldn't it be just as good to hire a student from the Central Academy of Drama?"

Li Yan put away his joke:

"Tang Ren, the female lead of 'Chinese Paladin 3,' and the four little actresses of Tencent are all huge topics. Yang Mi is currently on the eve of becoming a big star, and has the best cost performance."

He pointed to the words "Overall Planning" written on the whiteboard:

"Furthermore, in addition to television media, we should also focus on the Internet, especially social networks, and engage in online marketing."

"What do you mean?"

Wang Hao is now very willing to listen to Li Yan's wildly imaginative ideas.

"If, and I mean if, you saw a link with this title, what would you do?"

Li Yan grinned mischievously and wrote a line on the whiteboard:

Leaked Inside Footage! Private Videos of "Xuejian" Yang Mi from Her Boyfriend's Perspective!

"Pfft..." Ding Xiaoxiao sprayed a mouthful of water onto the table while drinking and started coughing violently.

"We can use this kind of headline to pique the audience's curiosity, and that curiosity will lead them to click in."

Li Yan pulled out two tissues and handed them to Ding Xiaoxiao, then patted her back to help her catch her breath.

"On the internet, as long as you can deceive people, um, lure them in, then you're the winner..."

He did this without even blushing.

The bottom line for film directors is much lower than this!