Thus, the film crew's first creative team meeting concluded successfully, with Shao Yichen arriving half an hour late, accomplishing nothing substantial, and spending the entire time eating and drinking.
If pressed to identify any film-related work she accomplished, she did name the film and its main characters on the spot.
Of course, this wasn't Shao Yichen's initiative. While eating, Li Xingyu suddenly asked thoughtfully: "Sen—Director Shao Yichen, what's this film called? The scanned script only included the inner pages; the title on the cover wasn't included."
Upon hearing Li Xingyu's question, the other crew members nodded in agreement. After discussing for so long, they still didn't know the name of the film they would be working on.
Nan Rongyu and Nan Rongzhou joined in: "Yes, Director, not just the film's title—we don't even know our characters' names! The script just says 'police officer' here and 'deceased' there. What about our names?"
Shao Yichen, happily eating, suddenly choked.
Since distributing the initial script to Li Xingyu and the twins, she had completely forgotten about her promise to revise it. Instead, she spent every day happily playing games and climbing ranked tiers, thoroughly enjoying herself and relegating the film to the back of her mind.
When suddenly questioned like this, how could she possibly answer!
However, Shao Yichen dared not admit she hadn't thought of anything—that would be too embarrassing. She strained her neck, swallowed the half-chewed chicken nugget stuck in her throat, took a sip of her drink, and spoke with feigned confidence.
"I didn't include the script title and the two protagonists' names because I had several options in mind but couldn't decide which was most suitable. However, after careful consideration these past few days, I've finally settled on the film's title and the main characters' names!"
While spinning this lie, Shao Yichen's eyes darted around, seeking inspiration from the café.
Suddenly, her gaze fixed on the latticed potato chips on the table, giving her a flash of inspiration.
"The film's name will be 'The Web'! This is a mystery thriller with intricate clues. The title 'Web' perfectly conveys the complexity of the truth!"
Looking beside the potato chips, she noticed a black chocolate pie topped with white cream, immediately inspiring names for the two protagonists.
"As for the protagonists' names, they'll be Bai Ri and Bai Ye! The police officer is Bai Ri (White Day), and the deceased is Bai Ye (White Night). One leads the explicit investigation, and one leads the implicit backstory, corresponding to 'day' and 'night' in their names. The surname Bai (White) signifies that evil cannot triumph over good, and the truth will ultimately come to light."
Naturally, this was all nonsense. The clues were indeed intricate—since she never filled the plot holes, leaving countless loose threads hanging. As for the explanations about the protagonists' names, "truth coming to light" and "evil not triumphing over good" were pure fabrication. She herself had no idea what the film's ending meant, so what truth could there possibly be?
But this explanation apparently convinced everyone else. Li Xingyu nodded in agreement, and the others chimed in with: "Very fitting," "So meaningful," "Sounds captivating"...
Shao Yichen breathed a sigh of relief: These people are so easy to fool.
She was satisfied, and so was everyone else.
The creative meeting concluded in this harmonious atmosphere.
Just days after this small film creative meeting ended, good news arrived from Professor Zhao Kang: the crew's application to film on D University's campus had been approved. During the university's two-month summer break, the crew could film freely in designated areas with the school-issued permit.
However, D University imposed certain conditions—the school would allow students to visit the set for learning purposes, treating it as a summer practice project that would provide internship certificates and add points to final evaluations. In return, the crew needed to accommodate D University students learning the film production process and couldn't refuse reasonable requests that wouldn't affect filming.
D University had not only a performance department but also directing and photography departments, with many students likely to work in film-related fields in the future. Early exposure to a film crew would benefit their future careers.
Shao Yichen readily agreed, stating that if students came to intern, they would be paid according to crew grip standards, and she fully supported those who wanted to observe and learn. If performance department students wanted to be extras, she would accommodate them all—after all, the deceased's class comprised an entire classroom of students. If one class wasn't enough, there were other classes; if students weren't enough, there were teachers; if teachers weren't enough, there were passersby... everyone would have a chance to perform!
Shao Yichen made this decision partly as gratitude for her alma mater providing the location, and partly for her own purposes.
After all, these college students had virtually zero social experience and would likely hinder the crew's work. Even if they didn't obviously slow down the filming process, they would lower the film's quality by at least one level, which was advantageous for losing money—naturally, she welcomed this with open arms.
Moreover, the crew currently lacked extras, so having junior schoolmates come as interns was beneficial. As long as no second Li Xingyu appeared, it was a worthwhile choice guaranteed to lose money for Shao Yichen—and Li Xingyu's acting skills weren't easily replicated, right?
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After the filming application was approved, Shao Yichen quickly set the official start date for three days later and notified the key crew members.
As for pre-filming preparations, ribbon-cutting ceremonies, and blessing rituals that normal crews would organize, Shao Yichen didn't bother at all, keeping everything minimal.
However, to her surprise, upon hearing this news, Nan Rongyu and Nan Rongzhou unexpectedly took the matter seriously and began preparing for their roles.
Specifically, they even stopped playing games for several days.
Shao Yichen was quite surprised when no one joined her team for ranked matches, assuming the brothers had switched to a new game without her. But when she called to ask, she discovered they had not only quit gaming but even stopped performing with their band at the restaurant, spending all day studying their characters in the script!
Shao Yichen was shocked—in her previous life, she had never seen these brothers so reliable and serious!
What was happening? How had they suddenly changed? Did they have objections to her money-losing plan?
Shao Yichen couldn't guess that their behavior had been greatly influenced by seeing how thoroughly everyone else knew the script during the creative meeting. After much thought, she could only attribute their actions to the pressure of suddenly becoming lead actors, causing some part of their brains to malfunction.
Although Shao Yichen knew their last-minute cramming might not significantly improve their acting skills, she still hoped their malfunctioning brains would return to their previous rich-kid state after filming officially began, avoiding any impact on her money-losing plan.
And perhaps they could continue teaming up with her to climb ranks.
She sincerely hoped for this while queuing alone for matches.
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On the first day of filming.
The brothers Nan Rongyu and Nan Rongzhou arrived on set nervously, feeling insecure.
Although they had desperately studied the script content since the creative meeting ended, even practicing scenes together to improve their acting skills in hopes of not dragging down the crew, if acting skills could improve so easily, there wouldn't be so many actors criticized for their eye-scorching performances in the entertainment industry!
After recording their performances and watching the playback, they both suffered significant psychological trauma.
Nan Rongzhou: Why am I so stiff? Is Li Xingyu possessing me?
Nan Rongyu: Why are my expressions so exaggerated? Any screenshot looks like a potential meme!
After much suffering and hesitation, they finally gave up, accepting their fate.
Whatever happens with our acting happens—this is our limit!
Since Shao Yichen hadn't organized any opening ceremony, the film crew didn't give the two lead actors any buffer time. As soon as they arrived, they were whisked away by a temporary makeup artist—a wedding photographer acquaintance of Jiang Miaomiao's—who seated them on stools and applied various incomprehensible cosmetics before filming began immediately, simple and direct.
Furthermore, film crews typically arrange simpler shots for the first day to ensure success and give actors space to adapt. But Shao Yichen, who hadn't even held an opening ceremony, couldn't care less about such omens. She started filming from the very first scene, giving the lead actors no time to get into character.
The first scene was the initial meeting between the police officer—character Bai Ri—and Yuan You.
In this scene, the newly recruited police officer Bai Ri had doubts about Bai Ye's falling case. After the investigation concluded, he used students' dismissal time to revisit the school, entering the deceased's classroom to find his desk, which hadn't yet been removed, hoping to discover clues among the items inside. While examining books in the desk, he suddenly heard a young voice from the classroom doorway asking if he was investigating the falling case. He looked up to see Yuan You, who claimed to be the deceased's friend.
In this scene, the deceased "Bai Ye" didn't appear, so Nan Rongzhou escaped momentarily, watching his brother's performance nervously—knowing his turn would come next! He had no time to gloat over his brother's predicament.
Nan Rongyu, forced into a police uniform, tugged at the collar, feeling uncomfortable all over.
How should he act?!
The more nervous he became, the blanker his mind grew. He walked to his position in a daze, only jolting awake when he heard "Ready—Action!" and steeling himself.
Whatever happens, it's now or never!
With a face of resignation, he began his performance.
Author's Note:
Shao Yichen: I'm so clever. (referring to naming on the spot)
Don't laugh at the author's naming skills! If the author were good at naming, the female lead wouldn't be called Shao Yichen! (covers face)
Everyone in the comment section is so talented; the author feels inferior.
As for the issue of similar appearances, we won't let Li Xingyu shoulder this plot-filling burden—we'll let others bear it after filming is complete (?)
Thanks to the little angels who cast Emperor Votes or poured Nutrition Fluid for me during the period from 2020-08-26 11:14:47 to 2020-08-26 20:03:31~
Thanks to the little angels who threw landmines: Feifei, Rich Lady 1;
Thanks to the little angels who poured Nutrition Fluid: Passerby A Eating Melon 242 bottles; Seven-colored Cloud Bean 22 bottles; Lin Mu 20 bottles; Little Pool Sagittarius, yunhuinyunho 10 bottles; Inle Lakeside 7 bottles; 24510406 6 bottles; Ye Zi Who Wants to Lose Weight Again, Maple Forest Drunk, A_Xia Mi, Ice-bathed Phoenix Dance 5 bottles; Fall North 2 bottles; £Weixian ギ, Human Ultimate Taste, A Deng, My Home is on Another Planet, Make a Little Heart, Thorns on Roses, Wood, gaial, Xiao Fan 1 bottle;
Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!