As Qin Lu recalled this, he felt an urge to sigh, but swallowed it back when he saw the young woman sitting across from him, seriously examining his resume.
After all, the interview was still in progress.
The young woman before him appeared to be the interviewer, though her attire was far from formal. She wore casual clothes with her slightly curly hair falling naturally, looking like a college student who hadn't yet graduated. She was currently flipping through his resume, having reached the attached portfolio. During the height of his work's popularity, he had published a single-volume collection, which she was now reading with great interest.
So far, she had only asked his name and "whether he had any film crew experience," and after he answered "no," she hadn't asked anything further.
This made him feel that his chances of being selected for this "Art Director" position were even more minuscule.
However, he had mentally prepared himself for this outcome. After receiving the interview notification yesterday, he had carefully examined the job posting and discovered that the position was actually "Film Crew Art Director" with benefits far exceeding his expectations—not the low-level graphic design job creating posters for real estate developers or supermarkets that he had imagined...
And he, with absolutely no film crew experience—a two-dimensional culture enthusiast who barely even watched films—seemed completely unsuitable for this position by any measure.
The only question now was when this interviewer would finally give him a clear rejection.
Just as Qin Lu was thinking this, the young woman before him closed his manga with a "snap."
Is she finally going to reject me? Qin Lu thought.
But she said something he hadn't expected.
"I've finished reading," she said. "So, can the logging mech and custom mech duo successfully fly across the volcano crater?"
Qin Lu didn't immediately comprehend: "Huh?"
"I mean, I've finished your manga and found it quite interesting," the young woman gave an intrigued smile. "What happens to the protagonist in the end? Do they win this mech competition?"
Qin Lu suddenly realized that when she was flipping through his portfolio earlier, she wasn't simply assessing his skills—she was genuinely reading his manga.
If this weren't an interview, he might have happily discussed the upcoming plot with a reader; but happening during an interview, he found it ridiculous and absurd.
He sighed and stood up directly: "Please stop toying with me. What's the point of wasting both our time?"
The woman across from him tilted her head and crossed her arms: "Wasting time?"
"Obviously, I have no film crew experience, no relevant knowledge, and no idea what this position entails," Qin Lu felt that since he wouldn't be hired anyway, he might as well speak his mind. "There's no way I would be hired. I should have recognized this fact—"
"Why do you think you can't be hired?" the young woman interrupted him. "Actually, I'm very satisfied with you."
Qin Lu looked up in surprise.
"Your manga is very creative, and the colors appear harmonious. Isn't that exactly what an art director needs—the ability to create harmonious film scenes?" She picked up Qin Lu's manga again and tapped the giant mech on the cover. "Plus, you're very attentive to details. I noticed that all the mechs in your work have manufacturers, even specific logos. And the cockpit designs aren't just pursuing a sci-fi aesthetic, but rather the result of careful consideration."
"Even the functions of the dashboard buttons seem to have been specifically planned. The left side is for activation, the right side for deceleration, and the middle contains the keyboard for inputting AI commands—is that correct? I discovered this pattern by paying attention to the specific buttons the protagonist pressed during each operation," the young woman said proudly.
Qin Lu's eyes widened.
That was indeed the design.
During the early stages of creating this work, he was in his university days—full of dreams and free from life's worries. Back then, he had created numerous settings for this work in his spare time. However, these settings weren't disclosed to readers but existed as part of the work's worldbuilding, occasionally discovered as easter eggs but mostly buried within the plot. This dashboard design was one such buried detail.
He never expected it to be identified by an interviewer reading his work for the first time.
Looking at the interviewer before him, a long-forgotten impulse suddenly surged within him—the love and pursuit of creation that had been forgotten after years of life's hardships.
Although this film crew seemed unrelated to manga, wasn't the process of making a film, like drawing manga, a creative process?
And wasn't his original purpose for picking up a pen simply for that creative impulse?!
For some reason, Qin Lu felt that his long-forgotten dream was beginning to sprout in his heart again—through this "Art Director" position.
Perhaps he really could become a good art director for a film?
The interviewer continued: "Although you know nothing about film art direction, I believe that with this attentiveness, combined with your aesthetic sense, you can definitely excel at this job!"
Saying this, she pulled out a contract: "In fact, after seeing your resume yesterday, I prepared this contract, with terms completely consistent with what was advertised. If you trust me, you could sign it right now—though I suggest you go home and read it carefully before deciding."
As she said this, the interviewer gave Qin Lu a confident and composed smile: "My actions during the interview may have created some misunderstandings, and I apologize for that. My name is Shao Yichen, and I hope we have the opportunity to work together in the film crew!"
❀⋆｡°✿☆❀✿°｡⋆❀
Although Qin Lu appeared stunned by Shao Yichen's maneuvers, unlike Jiang Miaomiao, he didn't immediately sign the contract out of emotion without reading it. Instead, he indicated that he wanted to review it further, think about it more, and examine it carefully before making a decision—he would take the contract with him.
In other words, he was still not entirely comfortable with the contract and wanted someone to look it over first.
Shao Yichen expressed understanding and support for this, as she also felt her interview approach had been quite unprofessional.
Setting aside the issues with the interview location and her attire, what kind of interviewer would set the interviewee aside during an interview and become engrossed in reading manga?!
Shao Yichen felt quite embarrassed about this. She had originally just intended to flip through the manga for appearance's sake, but the beginning was so captivating that she couldn't help reading a bit, then a bit more, and a bit more... until she had read it all.
This Qin Lu, although certainly clueless about art direction, had created a truly fascinating manga plot, Shao Yichen thought. Once she returned to her original world, she could check if his works were available and support him.
Fortunately, her reading speed wasn't slow, and manga panels contained at most a few lines of text. Plus, since this manga was adapted from web publication to print, the panel layouts were particularly sparse. She had finished reading over a hundred pages in about ten minutes, which was just barely acceptable in terms of time. When she finished the manga and saw Qin Lu's expression, she sensed trouble and quickly deployed her one decent skill—persuasion. With a barrage of flattery and an attractive salary compared to similar positions requiring equivalent experience, she managed to convince this amateur.
In truth, Shao Yichen knew perfectly well that no matter how impressively she described it, art direction and manga drawing had absolutely nothing in common! Did drawing good manga have anything to do with creating props? Not at all!
Therefore, regardless of how well Qin Lu drew manga, he would still be completely in the dark as an art director, which would only help, not hinder, her path to losing money!
Returning to the contract, Shao Yichen was confident that Qin Lu wouldn't find any issues even if he had professionals review it. Being a system product, which she had skimmed through once more, she was quite certain the contract was problem-free.
Additionally, after hearing her speech, Qin Lu's expression had clearly shown interest; taking the contract home was merely a precaution.
Shao Yichen was confident that once this manga artist named Qin Lu confirmed there were no issues with the contract, he would immediately sign with her!
At that point, she and her crew would be a small-scale but completely inexperienced money-losing operation with both art and photography capabilities!
❀⋆｡°✿☆❀✿°｡⋆❀
Sure enough, one day after the interview, Qin Lu called to say he had decided to sign the contract and asked when shooting would begin.
Shao Yichen immediately understood—he was also short on money and was hinting about when he would get paid.
She arranged to meet at the same familiar café. After signing the contract, she followed the same approach she had used with Jiang Miaomiao, having the system transfer 5,000 yuan as a deposit. She told Qin Lu that filming would definitely begin within a month and that he should await further notice. Having resolved his pressing rent issue, Qin Lu naturally had no objections.
Thus, one-tenth of the system's one million yuan film production budget had been spent.
Shao Yichen didn't feel particularly pained by this. She was accustomed to spending money and didn't think this amount was much—if anything, it seemed insufficient. Moreover, this was the system's money; it would be a waste not to spend it, and not spending it all would affect her ability to lose money, so it was best to spend it quickly.
Originally, regarding equipment, she had only planned to make do with whatever was available, but after recruiting Jiang Miaomiao as her cinematographer, Shao Yichen didn't feel comfortable using the poor-quality camera borrowed from her advisor to fool the young woman. After all, it didn't matter if she herself was criticized for shaky camerawork, but Jiang Miaomiao was only eighteen—criticism could easily hurt her spirit.
Besides, the lesson from the last film's success taught her that even if the image shook like a time-lapse or the lighting was as dark as natural light, audiences wouldn't notice anything wrong—the quality of the visuals didn't significantly impact the film! Why not use somewhat decent equipment? On one hand, it would burn through the system's money; on the other hand, it wouldn't mislead the cinematographer too much, and it wouldn't substantially affect her ability to lose money.
So she specifically contacted camera rental companies and arranged to rent professional cameras at a rate of 500 yuan per day per camera, with three camera positions totaling 1,500 yuan daily. With filming scheduled for one month, the cost would be around 50,000 yuan.
Since she was renting cameras, there was no reason not to complement them with professional lighting. Shao Yichen went on to rent a complete lighting setup, including three light sets, two reflector boards, softbox umbrellas, and other miscellaneous items. Added together, the daily rental wasn't much less than that of the cameras.
Then there were tracks, booms, microphones, and other equipment. After Shao Yichen prepared everything, she realized that nearly one-fifth of the system's film production budget had been spent.
One million yuan was burning quickly, and Shao Yichen was satisfied.
As for crew members like grips and their labor costs, looking at things now, they wouldn't cost as much as the equipment. Shao Yichen planned to improvise when the time came to film. At worst, she could shout at a talent market and would surely find people willing to work.
As for their work being unprofessional... wasn't that even better?
All things considered, Shao Yichen analyzed her situation and found that she only had two familiar issues left in her pre-production preparations—locations and actors.
However, the actor issue wasn't particularly severe, since the first, second, and third male leads had already been decided, leaving only supporting roles that wouldn't affect the film's ability to lose money. So only the location issue remained.
And regarding how to solve the location problem, Shao Yichen had planned from the beginning.
What was the setting for this mystery script? A school!
What month was it now? July!
What state were schools in right now? On vacation!
Given these circumstances, the answer to how to handle locations became obvious.
Shao Yichen smiled slightly, noting that it should be just after university classes had ended, and dialed a familiar number.
"Hello, Professor Zhao Kang, I'd like to discuss my next film with you..."
Author's Note:
Zhao Kang: I feel like I'm just being used as a tool
Second update!
Tomorrow we'll be on the censorship system! If I haven't miscalculated the date (?)
So tomorrow's updates will depend on the situation. The two updates might come early or late, but I'll definitely update—I can't bear to lose that row of little red flowers~
By the way, I'd like to recommend my friend Hajnal's book! Thanks to her constant encouragement while I was writing, otherwise who knows how long this book would have been delayed~
Title: I Opened a Restaurant in the Apocalypse
Blurb:
Yu Xiaoxiao obtained a restaurant system and a fly-infested template store. After upgrading the store, the food provided various buffs, new functions like training rooms and trading halls emerged, and signing up for membership even came with cheat abilities! It could teleport, had built-in storage space, and offered holographic chat! Purchased goods were delivered instantly! Customers had permanent buffs when going out, and after cooperating with hosts from other worlds, the house came with cultivation enhancement buffs, celestial pills and potions sold cheaply, making killing zombies, beasts, and mutant plants incredibly easy!
Yu Xiaoxiao: Ah, the apocalypse is so easy.
Customer (pitifully): Boss, when will you have new dishes?
Yu Xiaoxiao: ...Soon.
Mutant beasts and plants? Sorry, we all have buffs, our equipment and weapons are covered in buffs—mere animals and plants are nothing.
High temperatures and drought? Sorry, we have a restaurant, we can eat whatever we want, and scientific experts have invented new crops.
Ice Age? Sorry, we have a restaurant, the temperature adjusts automatically within its domain—we're not afraid at all!
Zombie kings? Sorry, those are our boss's buddies—they're on our side!
Restaurant short on money? The male lead steps forward: I've got this!
Later—
People: Waaah, boss, please open a branch in our area QAQ
Once again, thank you to all the reader angels~