Huayu: Enjoy Yourself

Chapter 3 First Shooting Experience

"Zombies? Infection? What are these things?" Boss Lin asked, looking puzzled. 🐚👻 😂👑

She looked at Chen An standing beside her with serious suspicion in her eyes, feeling that he was fooling her.

"Boss Lin, you don't understand. This is a new type of film from abroad, a new favorite in modern horror films."

"It has social critique, satirizes foreign state violence and racism, and is a subject matter that appeals to foreign audiences. The first zombie film was made in 1932."

"If you don't believe me, I can recommend three films to help you better understand this subject. Moreover, the core of this film is also about great fatherly love, which I'm sure you've already noticed."

Chen An tried his best to explain the film to Boss Lin, and also mentioned George A. Romero's trilogy. Boss Lin didn't quite understand, but he nodded.

Although he didn't understand what zombies were, the script wasn't long and he could understand it. It mainly involved a dying father who tried everything he could to entrust his son to a safe place.

Having attended high school, he is well-educated and can understand the script, at least better than the scripts written by previous directors.

He finally nodded, having no other choice: "I'll go back and watch those three films you mentioned. Find a way to include my clothing brand in them, and then you'll be the director. I'll send someone to keep an eye on you, and no one can mess around."

After saying that, he left a security guard there, made a phone call, got into his car, and left.

Then everyone gathered around.

They chattered away, each offering a word of thanks.

"Ahem~ First of all, everyone listen to me. I'll print out the script and distribute it to everyone later. Then, I also have a few things to say."

Chen An first lowered everyone's voices before speaking, "That's the situation now. I also have a few things I'd like to ask for your help with."

"Because of the script, I'd like to ask if anyone here has a child around one year old at home, I can hire them for 50 yuan a day, I'll pay out of my own pocket."

Just as he finished speaking, the thin stagehand standing next to Chen An said, "My sister just gave birth not long ago, I can come over."

Upon hearing the answer, Chen An immediately patted the production assistant on the shoulder and said happily, "Great, the biggest problem is solved. Next, who's the makeup artist? Do we even have one?"

A baby-faced woman standing in the crowd also raised her hand: "Here."

"Hello, do you know anything about zombie movies?"

"Yes, I've seen them. I've seen all three of the movies you mentioned before. I also like to watch horror movies on DVD by myself."

Hearing the makeup artist's reply, Chen An was overjoyed. He never expected to meet someone who liked zombie movies at this time: "That's great! Do you know how to do the makeup? I can give you money to buy the props. We don't need too many, just enough for one or two people."

"I haven't tried it, but I can give it a shot."

"Alright, I'll give you a hundred first. Go and do your shopping. You don't need too much, just enough for one or two people."

"it is good."

Chen An looked around again and asked, "Where are the original actors?"

Only two people stepped forward this time. They were a middle-aged man and a woman who originally played the female lead's parents in the drama. The director, who had run away, had pulled them out from the extras on set.

Chen An looked around again but didn't see any familiar faces, so he had to give up. He couldn't expect all the good things to happen to him.

"Do you have children?" Chen An asked the middle-aged man.

The man nodded: "I have two kids, the younger one is a daughter. I work so hard to find jobs for these two kids. I usually only do minor roles with group leaders, this is the first time I've taken on a big job."

"Okay, what's your name?"

"My name is Wang Jianguo."

"Okay, Brother Wang, come with me later. I'll go print out the script. Take a copy back and take a look. Alright, everyone, it's getting late. Let's get ready and start filming tomorrow."

Although Chen An didn't have a choice, Wang Jianguo had a child, which would make it easier to explain the plot. As for the male lead's wife, she only needed to put on makeup, and another woman would be used.

Before leaving, Chen An made a few important requests to the stagehands and makeup artist, then took Wang Jianguo to print out the script and gave him a copy.

The next day, Chen An got up early and went to the film set.

Soon everyone arrived, including Boss Lin. Chen An was also planning to meet with him, since the filming location would also change after the script was revised.

"Boss Lin, you've read the script, so let's change the filming location. We need to find a large forest. What do you think?"

"Okay, I'll do as you say. I'll let Xiao Zhao go with you."

Boss Lin pointed to the bodyguards left behind yesterday and said to Chen An.

"No problem. It's good that Brother Zhao is with me in the middle of nowhere, so I feel more at ease," Chen An replied with a smile, offering the two men cigarettes, which they both declined.

Finally, the stage manager arrived, and he brought his sister and child with him.

"Director, my sister was worried, so I called her along too."

"It's alright. I wouldn't feel at ease if your sister didn't come. After all, she's the future flower of our country. I couldn't bear the responsibility if she got hurt." Chen An waved his hand with a smile, not caring about these things. He had been in a great mood since yesterday, walking with a swagger.

"Thank you, director."

After everyone arrived, Chen An distributed the scripts, then arranged for the makeup artist to do a trial makeup session. He then took the production assistant and his car and began looking for a filming location.

I didn't get back until after 3 p.m.

Seeing that filming was impossible, the group disbanded and told everyone to come early the next day, as they needed to be driven to the filming location in trips.

Chen An arrived at the filming location early in the morning by car. Before everyone arrived, he helped set up the equipment and chatted with the lighting technician.

It wasn't until we started chatting that I discovered he was also from the Beijing Film Academy, but he was too embarrassed to say so before. He was two years older than Chen An, which is why he also knew that director who ran away and got tricked into joining us.

Chen An was happy to agree, as he was at least a professional, easy to communicate with, and his professional skills were guaranteed, because you could trust the professional abilities of the Beijing Film Academy outside of the acting department!

Once everyone had arrived, the makeup artist began applying makeup. Chen An then planned to use the production crew's car in the first scene. He only needed to film a short clip, then open the hood of the car to indicate that it had crashed into a tree.

After everyone was ready, Chen An decided to take the shot himself, since there were no other photographers available.

However, thanks to the images in my mind, I was able to start filming after everything was properly set up.

Even though he needed to operate the camera, Chen An couldn't help but call out, "Hey, wake up!"

The first scene went smoothly. It was initially blurred and then focused, indicating that the protagonist was gradually waking up from his coma, and the image gradually became clearer.

Thanks to Wang Jianguo's acting skills, Chen An decided to shorten his facial expressions in this scene and allow him to use more physical movements.

As for the other actress, it was much easier. Thanks to the makeup artist's skill, although it didn't reach the level of the original, the species could still be clearly distinguished.

Especially with the white contact lenses he specifically requested, his entire eyeballs looked gray, and the prominent veins on his face and the peeling skin still looked quite convincing.

Furthermore, he watched three zombie movies, so he gained some understanding of them and his acting was quite convincing.

She finished filming smoothly in no time.

After filming the first part of the scene, the pace slowed down. Now Wang Jianguo needed to be fully in the shot, and the previous method of covering his face with his body was no longer feasible.

However, the child in his arms behaved very well, neither crying nor fussing, and occasionally even smiling at Wang Jianguo.

"Brother Wang, you need to put yourself in that situation. You find yourself injured and don't know when you'll turn into a zombie."

"That means you're about to die, but your child is still an infant, and you might hurt him. You need to put yourself in his shoes."

"Think about what you would do if you were in this situation. Imagine this child is your lovely daughter."

Chen An tried his best to explain, but didn't tell him about performance techniques because he was self-taught and wouldn't know how to do it anyway.

Chen An could only let him immerse himself in the role and try the method acting approach. Chen An suddenly began to envy those who could cast young, talented actors in their films.

This scene didn't end until it was almost dark, but Chen An's only advantage at this point was that he had a lot of film, which he could use to polish it.

However, Chen An felt that he had some inexplicable inspiration during the filming. The original film flashed through his mind like a movie, and he had a feeling that came out of nowhere.

Do I have a cheat code?

If this Yanzu sees any typos, please point them out. Thank you.

(End of this chapter)