I really don't want to make bad movies!

Under Xia Ming's leadership, the entire crew became increasingly adept at coordinating their work.

The lead actors made rapid progress, and the other staff members gradually adapted to the high-intensity work.

Filming and post-production proceeded almost simultaneously. Once all the footage for an episode was filmed, Xia Ming and the DIT team would go to the color grading studio to follow up on editing and color grading, and to refine the sound effects and subtitles.

If a problem is discovered, a reshoot will be conducted immediately the following day.

Although the workload was very heavy, they still paid plenty of overtime.

Chen Yuan even volunteered to stay in the color grading studio in order to learn Xia Ming's color grading techniques.

Before meeting Xia Ming, he felt like he was just messing around!

Twelve days later, all of Chen Kun's shots were completed.

He stayed on set for three more days to help complete the reshoots.

Only after confirming that all the cameras were working properly did he leave with his team.

Everything went smoothly from then on.

A small incident occurred during this time.

The video of "Sun and Moon's Commentary on the 849-Section Breakdown of the Character 'Wan'" has become popular again on Green Fruit Short Video.

As a newly established short video platform, Green Fruit Short Video focuses on a high-quality short video strategy in order to differentiate itself from Music.

Kiwi is a film and television platform, so its audience naturally doesn't reject film and television commentary.

With the platform's promotion, and under the banner that "good commentary can resonate with the audience," Riyue's commentary video surpassed one million likes and received over 30,000 comments, successfully attracting the account's first batch of fans.

The copyright for "Bureau 849" is currently held by iQiyi.

Some users were redirected to the main site through short video links and, driven by curiosity, subscribed to a membership in order to see the 849 Bureau.

This is also why Green Fruit Short Video primarily promotes film and television-related videos.

In the group's strategic plan, Green Fruit Short Video is still regarded as the main website's traffic channel to attract viewers who are interested in film and television works and build a complementary ecosystem of short and long videos.

Membership conversion rate is secondary; negotiating GG agreements through traffic data is the main source of revenue.

However, Green Fruit Short Video has a limited user base, and the video's online resurgence is mainly due to the debate between the two neighboring platforms.

Even Lu Chuan's previous works, such as "Chronicles of the Demon Tower" and "The Last Supper," were dragged out and criticized.

"Sigh, none of Director Lu's films since 'Nanjing' are watchable!"

"You don't actually think 'Nanjing' is a good film, do you?"

"Why don't you, Director Lu, go back to feature films? Your films like 'The Missing Gun' and 'Kekexili' left a deep impression on me!"

"The Missing Gun should be Jiang Wen's work, while 'Kekexili' seems to be plagiarized!"

"Really?"

"..."

Director Lu's name once again topped the trending searches, and it was all negative news.

This prompted Lu Chuan, who was planning a new film, to personally respond: "Bureau 849 is the culmination of eight years of hard work, and it's what I promised Teacher Han: to explore the domestic commercial film market."

"Some malicious marketing accounts have made false accusations and slanders against me. I will collect evidence and use legal means to fight back against the unwarranted online attacks and safeguard the domestic film creation environment..."

After Director Lu responded, Xia Ming, who was filming, received a call from Xiao Cheng.

"Teacher Riyue, your recent video has caused quite a stir, so we may have to lower its ranking and temporarily stop providing traffic to it!"

Xia Ming was speechless. Why was Lu Chuan arguing with him about a movie commentary?

Moreover, he was telling the truth in the video. "Bureau 849" is rotten from the inside out, and there is not even a point that can be disputed.

When I have some free time, I'll make a video about "Chronicles of the Demon Tower".

"It's alright, your platform can handle it."

Xia Ming has gained 100,000 followers on Green Fruit Short Video in the past few days, which makes him very satisfied.

Thank you for your understanding!

Xiao Cheng hung up the phone and immediately went to Huang Xuke to handle public relations.

……

This minor incident did not affect Xia Ming's filming schedule.

Everything proceeded smoothly until filming reached its 32nd day, when all 12 episodes of the first season of "The Swindlers" were finally completed!

Filming wrapped!

As Xia Ming shouted into the megaphone on set, the entire crew erupted in enthusiastic applause and cheers.

After a month of working together, the way all the crew members looked at Xia Ming changed dramatically.

At first, when they heard that the director was a sophomore in college, the same student who made "The Big Hornet," no one had high expectations for the production team.

Everyone joined the group with the mindset of receiving a salary.

But as time went on, they discovered that Director Xia was simply not human!

Not only do they oversee the performances and revise the script, but they also have to write execution sheets, monitor the camera work, select costumes, and even do post-production!

He's practically a superman!

Several actors, in particular, seemed eager to rush up and pick Xia Ming up.

Although they haven't seen the finished product yet, after witnessing Xia Ming's abilities, they felt that the quality of the finished product couldn't be too bad!

They don't need to become overnight sensations; at the very least, having one decent production will greatly benefit their future acting careers.

"I've booked the entire restaurant next door. After we pack up the equipment, we'll all go out for a celebratory feast!"

"Director Xia is awesome!"

"Everyone, please don't drink too much. Please drink within your limits, especially the post-production team. Our work is not finished yet."

"The finance department should organize the production crew's preliminary accounts tonight and send them to me tomorrow."

Then everyone remembered that Xia Ming was also the producer and supervisor of the production team.

As for who the original producer was, they had long forgotten about it.

……

After a two-hour dinner, Xia Ming and the post-production team returned to the color grading studio.

The one-month private session has been used up, and the rental of the color grading studio for each subsequent day will be calculated at the original price.

Considering that Xia Ming had booked the entire venue for a month without damaging a single piece of equipment, and also because of Zhao Fei, the photography base manager generously offered a 20% discount. The studio cost 10,000 yuan per day, with additional charges for using the team.

Fortunately, Xia Ming's filming and post-production were carried out simultaneously, so the remaining workload was not too great.

After spending twelve hours a day in the studio, the final product was successfully rendered after ten days.

Upon opening the video, the entire post-production team couldn't help but exclaim in admiration: "The quality is amazing! It's almost indistinguishable from a movie!"

"I feel that most movies aren't as refined as our web series!"

Chen Yuan was the most excited. He had learned a lot about color grading from Xia Ming over the past month, and now he admired Xia Ming to the point of complete awe.

"Director, this show is definitely going to be a hit!"

"Whether it becomes a hit depends on the publicity and promotion." Xia Ming smiled. "You've all worked hard these past few days, twelve hours a day. You deserve a good rest!"

Later, everyone shook their heads. If we're talking about hard work, who can compare to this young director?

"Thank you for your hard work, director!"

"Director, I know a foot massage parlor nearby that's perfect for relaxing!"

"Never mind, I still have to do publicity work," Xia Ming waved his hand in refusal.

"Director Xia, let's work together again in the future!"

Chen Yuan stood up and shook hands with Xia Ming, his tone sincere and heartfelt.

"Thanks for your hard work!"

After dealing with the hard drive, the group handed the finished film to Xia Ming, exchanged pleasantries, and left the shed.

"call."

Xia Ming let out a long sigh of relief, slumped into his chair, and felt the pressure on his body instantly halved.

After 42 days, the production phase of the first season of "The Swindlers" has finally been completed.

To ensure the quality of the final product, and also due to budget constraints, he personally oversaw many key aspects of the production.

The high-intensity work every day gave him a surreal, disorienting feeling when the finished product was taken offline.

But it was precisely because he was personally involved in every aspect that his directing skills improved by leaps and bounds.

As filming progressed, his coordination and management skills became increasingly refined.

In the fastest instance, the crew could start working within ten minutes of arriving, while also ensuring that everyone had a clear division of labor.

Rubbing his temples, Xia Ming opened the report sent by the finance department and checked the crew's expenses for forty-two days.

The original shooting budget was 120,000 yuan per day, but the equipment was upgraded, and the costumes, props and post-production were also slightly adjusted to better highlight the aesthetics of color.

Eventually, the daily shooting fee rose to 160,000.

The filming lasted 32 days, and with additional expenses such as reshoots and insurance, the total cost was 5.4 million.

Adding Chen Kun's 1.5 million yuan salary and the 400,000 yuan post-production cost, the total cost of filming was 7.3 million yuan.

With such a budget, it can only be considered a low-to-medium budget web series.

Nowadays, the cost of online dramas ranges from tens of millions to hundreds of millions of yuan, so a few million is really child's play.

Chen Kun, who is the main actor, is not the lead actor and even took a pay cut to join the cast. The other lead actors are all newcomers, which saved a lot of money on their salaries.

Xia Ming, as a producer and director, does not receive a fixed salary; he only participates in profit sharing.

Zhao Fei's filming team all got a friendly price, and they even negotiated the venue rental fee, which was a major expense.

The daily expenses of the venue staff are all standard.

After several rounds of cost-cutting, the production cost was brought down to 7.3 million.

The remaining budget of 6.2 million will be used entirely for publicity and marketing.

Once you get through this phase, it's time to split the profits!