Huayu: Hard fight against Zhang Weiping at the beginning

Chapter 375: How to Practice "Painted Skin"

Starting with "Eden Lake", script reading has become a fixed part of all Zhang Chen's film projects. TV drama projects in South Korea also have script readings, which is very formal, but it is not necessary for Zhang Chen. He never requires formality, even casual chatting is fine.

The scene was indeed similar to a chat. Zhang Chen was the last one to arrive. When he arrived, everyone was chatting, but after he appeared, the chatting stopped.

Seeing that everyone was about to stand up, Zhang Chen quickly raised his hand and pressed it lightly: "Everyone, please don't be like this. The atmosphere now is pretty good. Let me say a few words first. First of all, I am very grateful to everyone for participating in the "Painted Skin" project. Because of "The Promise", there are some negative voices from the outside world about the same type of "Painted Skin", but everyone is still willing to continue to participate. I appreciate your kindness..."

What Zhang Chen said was actually polite.

The failure of "The Promise" did have an impact on "Painted Skin", but Zhang Chen has never failed so far, and many people outside are still optimistic about "Painted Skin".

"Some of us have worked together before, and some are working together for the first time. Whether you know each other or not, I will introduce them to you first..."

Breaking the ice is a must. For any film project, the faster the teams in front of and behind the scenes integrate, the faster the film can be shot.

"Painted Skin" cost 90 million yuan, and a team of several hundred people worked together for two to three months to shoot it. Every day counts as money.

Zhang Chen introduced them one by one: "Martial arts instructor Yuan Ba ​​Ye, all action scenes are handled by Yuan Ba ​​Ye..."

Yuan Heping stood up and bowed to everyone.

"Art director William Chang is responsible for the film's overall art style and costume design..."

"Director of Photography Song Xiaofei..."

"Makeup instructor Xiao Jin..."

"Our chief steward Chen Xi..."

Zhang Chen finished introducing the behind-the-scenes team. Every time he mentioned someone, the person stood up and greeted everyone.

"This is Mr. Zhang Fan. Our Painted Skin will realize the linkage between movies and games. Our partner is Perfect World Games, and Mr. Zhang Fan is the representative of Perfect World."

Zhang Fan also stood up and nodded to everyone. Only then did everyone realize that Xingchen Entertainment was going to make such a big deal this time, and they were actually doing a joint venture.

There have been linkages between film and television projects and games before, but they were all niche and people were not aware of the profits involved.

Many people know that game companies make money. "Westward Journey Online 2" and "Legend" were really popular for a while, but people have no idea how much money games make.

After all, we are not from the same circle.

"Next is the cast. Everyone should be familiar with them. Fan Binbin plays the fox demon Xiaowei, Huang Xiaoming plays Wang Sheng, Brother Xun plays Wang Sheng's wife Peirong, Zhang Jin plays the demon catcher, Yang Xiaomi plays the bird spirit, Qin Lan, Li Xiaoran, and Wang Luodan play the maids, Chen Minghao plays the bandit boss, Wang Qianyuan plays the soldier leader, and Zhang Yi..."

The next few were minor characters who didn’t even have names, so Zhang Chen’s solemn introduction actually seemed a bit strange, but everyone just thought they were related to each other.

These people were a little embarrassed, but without exception they all looked at Yang Xiaomi with envy.

Her character doesn’t even have a name, but she is definitely the third female lead.

However, before joining the crew, they had inquired about it directly and indirectly, and found out that Yang Xiaomi got the role with the help of Chen Xi. They were amazed at her good luck for having a best friend who was trusted by Zhang Chen.

After the introduction, Zhang Chen continued: "Today, we are going to take advantage of this opportunity to clarify our understanding before filming begins to avoid cognitive bias. Let me first talk about the background of the story, so that everyone can understand the characters more three-dimensionally..."

"For the Painted Skin project, our original plan was to make three parts, the first part is about love~
Xiao Wei falls in love with Wang Sheng and deliberately approaches him and enters his life, but because she needs to eat human hearts to maintain her appearance, she attracts a monster catcher.

Faced with the choice, Wang Sheng finally chose Peirong and was willing to die for her. The demon catcher fought a fierce battle with Xiao Wei. When Xiao Wei was on the verge of death, she finally understood what love was and was willing to give up her cultivation to save Peirong and Wang Sheng...

This is the plot of the first part, and the second part is a prequel, which mainly tells the story of Xiao Wei's cultivation. Why did he fall in love with Wang Sheng? Because Wang Sheng was his master in his previous life, and the two had been dependent on each other. Later, he cultivated into a demon and extended his life, but it attracted demon catchers, who killed Wang Sheng in the fight. In the end, Xiao Wei killed the demon catcher, but she was also seriously injured. In the end, it was the bird spirit she once helped who saved her.

Then comes the third part, which is the sequel. The plot follows the first part. Xiao Wei loses all her power and is hunted by the monster hunter. Other monsters also covet Xiao Wei's body. The bird spirit takes Xiao Wei to escape the hunt..."

Zhang Chen briefly recounted the plot of the trilogy, both to help the actors understand the roles and to tell the people at the game company.

But now, even the main creators looked at Yang Xiaomi in a strange way.

Wow, apart from Fan Binbin, the only one who appears throughout the trilogy is Yang Xiaomi. It turns out that she is the hidden boss.

Is it so great to have a girlfriend who is the third in command? Chen Xi, do you still need a girlfriend? I can do it too~
Yang Xiaomi quickly lowered her head. She was the smallest one here, and everyone was more powerful than her.

But in the "Painted Skin" trilogy, apart from the female lead Fan Xiaopang, she is the only one who appears throughout the whole trilogy. How can one not be jealous?

Yang Xiaomi felt the naked malice coming from Li Xiaoran and Wang Luodan on the side, and quickly lowered her head.

Zhang Chen just happened to remember something: "By the way, Xiao Mi, I heard that there was a problem with your agency contract a few days ago. Has it been resolved now?"

Yang Xiaomi immediately looked up when she heard that and forced a smile: "Yes, it's solved. Sister Hua helped solve it."

Zhang Chen nodded.

"Mimi is already a member of Shijiu Culture? Then we will be colleagues from now on~"

The person speaking is Huang Xiaoming. He and Yang Xiaomi knew each other when they were on the set of "The Return of the Condor Heroes". He played Yang Guo and Yang Xiaomi played Guo Xiang.

Originally, his agency contract was to be signed with Huayi, but for the sake of Painted Skin, he signed with Shijiu Culture because he heard that Zhang Chen had shares in Shijiu Culture.

In other words, although Xingchen Entertainment does not have its own agency department, Shijiu Culture is equivalent to the agency department of Xingchen Entertainment.

"I'll need your care in the future~"

Yang Xiaomi was also a person who knew how to deal with things. She immediately showed off her identity as a student of Beijing Film Academy and started calling him "senior brother". At the same time, she glanced at Mr. Zhou without leaving a trace.

Ms. Zhou came from Rong Xinda. She left Rong Xinda and invested in Shijiu Culture. Ms. Zhou might not like her.

Unexpectedly, Zhou Xun didn't think about it at all. Instead, she asked, "Director Zhang, I want to ask, how do you think I should play Peirong?"

This is actively aligning with the director.

The reason why script reading is called script reading is because everyone has a different understanding of the character, and the significance of reading is to reach a consensus among everyone.

Among these people, the director’s understanding of the role is undoubtedly the most important.

"You can just play the role of a lady from a noble family. Peirong loves Wang Sheng very much. You can see the love in her eyes. This is a typical traditional Chinese female role, with all the excellent qualities of a traditional woman: virtuous, not jealous, and dedicated...

Although your role is the second female lead, if you play it well, you may be more outstanding than the female lead~"

Master Zhou nodded, his eyes sparkling with excitement, and he didn't say that he wouldn't steal the show or anything.

Fat Fan next to him immediately became nervous.

Zhang Chen actually wanted to tell her not to be so nervous, as this was a commercial film and acting skills were not that important.

Commercial films focus on commercial elements, and as long as the acting is above the passing line, it's OK.

Huang Xiaoming was not willing to be outdone and said, "What about my Wang Sheng? Which direction should I push in?"

Zhang Chen smiled: "Don't try too hard, just remember not to laugh."

Ok?
Huang Xiaoming's smile froze, while the others burst into laughter.

"The Return of the Condor Heroes" had not yet been aired, and they had no idea what Zhang Chen meant by this and just thought he was joking.

Huang Xiaoming also thought Zhang Chen was joking with him and laughed along.

Later generations said that he became strong when facing a strong opponent and weak when facing a weak opponent.

Huang Xiaoming’s acting skills are pretty good as long as he doesn’t smile, including Takeda in “The Emperor of Han Dynasty” and “The Message”, but for some reason, it’s easy to distract people from the show when he smiles.

Zhang Chen just wanted to say, Brother Xiao Ming, I am actually saving you, do you understand?

After "The Return of the Condor Heroes" is broadcast, you will be criticized badly, and even worse after "The Deer and the Cauldron".

By the time "Painted Skin" is released, everyone will find that your acting skills are still good, which at least will help you recover some of your losses.

Huang Xiaoming is really a good man. It is said that he saved Liu Tianxian's life during the filming of "The Return of the Condor Heroes", but Liu Tianxian never returned her body to him.

This shows that the world is deteriorating and people’s hearts are no longer the same as before.

And Brother Xiao Ming works very hard.

I heard that the character he played was a frontier general of the Ming Dynasty, so he specially found someone to learn a lot of knowledge about the Ming Dynasty.

Are you working hard? Are you dedicated enough?

In order to get the role in The Return of the Condor Heroes, he later stayed under the sun for three days to get himself tanned. It was heard that Zhang Da Huzi liked masculine actors, and he was afraid that he would lose the role because his skin was too white.

At this time, Fat Fan next to her finally couldn't help it. One by one, they were asking the director about roles, and she couldn't fall behind.

This is not a question of ability, it is a question of attitude.

"Director Zhang, how do you think I should play the role of Xiao Wei?"

Zhang Chen snapped his fingers and said, "Whether the drama "Painted Skin" can be successful in the end depends on you. If you play the role of Xiao Wei well, it will definitely become a film and television classic. I will analyze this role for you...

First of all, Xiao Wei is a demon, and demons don’t understand human emotions.

I just told you the background of the whole story, so you should understand that Xiao Wei’s clinging to Wang Sheng is not actually love.

She doesn't understand what love is at all.

Xiao Wei is the primitive possessiveness.

Because in the previous life, Wang Sheng was with her all his life, and the man and the beast depended on each other for survival.

When she saw Wang Sheng's reincarnation again, she still wanted to continue her original life, but Wang Sheng was already married and had Peirong, which made her very uncomfortable.

Later, she found out that Wang Sheng liked Peirong very much, so she began to deliberately imitate Peirong's words and deeds and learn to be as virtuous as her.

But a demon is a demon after all, and it is inevitable that its true nature will be exposed."

Fatty Fan didn't understand what he said, but Zhang Chen continued, "Xiao Wei and Peirong are actually two extremes of women. Xiao Wei is charming, seductive, and gorgeous, while Peirong is just the opposite. She is dignified, generous, well-educated, gentle, and virtuous..."

After that, Zhang Chen said to Zhang Shuping and Xiao Jin: "This aspect must be reflected in the costumes and makeup, and their respective characteristics must be highlighted..."

The two of them nodded immediately after hearing this.

Costumes and makeup are inseparable.

The art director for "Painted Skin" this time is William Chang. William Chang and Tim Yip are the two most talented art directors in Hong Kong. Zhang Chen and his team actually wanted to look for Tim Yip at first, but Tim Yip had just taken over the art director position for "The Banquet", so they replaced him with William Chang.

Zhang Shuping has been holding back a lot of energy recently. He was the art director of "The Promise" and the disastrous failure of "The Promise" also affected him. During this period, several projects that had been agreed upon before were finally changed.

Since we are talking about clothes, Zhang Chen asked again: "Is there any problem with the clothes?"

William Chang answered confidently: "No problem, because the background of Painted Skin is in the Ming Dynasty, our costumes and styling are all based on the Ming Dynasty style, with some innovations added to make it look better.

We also made special designs for the long gowns and armor that border guards usually wear..."

Zhang Chen affirmed: "I only have one requirement, whether it is clothing or makeup, it must be beautiful.

There should be some distinction between clothing.

For example, Xiao Wei is a thousand-year-old fox demon with profound Taoism, so her clothes should be more beautiful. The little bird demon is a young demon, similar to young people in human society, full of energy and vigor, so her clothes should be youthful. Similarly, Peirong's clothes should be dignified and elegant..."

In the original film, Xiao Wei, played by Zhou Gongzi, was very beautiful. Those two years were the peak of her beauty. She exuded a youthful aura, and her makeup was close to fair skin, which looked amazing. This is also the reason why many people are obsessed with Zhou Gongzi's Fox Demon.

Later, when "Painted Skin 2" was filmed, the costumes and makeup were obviously more sophisticated, but it just didn't look as beautiful as the first one. I don't know if it's because she's passed the peak of her looks or because her makeup has changed.

"By the way, the armor must also be beautiful, you don't have to be too particular about this aspect~"

The real military uniforms of the Ming Dynasty, whether they were the fiery red mandarin duck battle jackets or the chain mail, were all very bulky and ugly. If one really wanted to study them carefully, they would be unsightly.

"Have you ever seen "A Step into the Past"? I think the costume design of Xiang Shaolong in that movie is quite unique. You can try to find some inspiration from it~"

"A Step into the Past" is TVB's anniversary drama and a rare conscientious drama of TVB.

In the past, TVB had one set of costumes that were worn in rotation by each crew. There was never any design and they were not rigorous.

We often see soldiers in uniform with the word "zu" (soldiers) on the back, appearing in film crews of all eras.

This is worn in Qing Dynasty dramas, Ming Dynasty dramas, and Song Dynasty dramas~
TVB never cares about these details and doesn't pay much attention to them.

However, "A Step into the Past" is an exception. Xiang Shaolong's clothes in Zhao State and Qin State are completely different. Zhang Chen clearly remembers that Xiang Shaolong's leather armor-like design was very handsome.

That was exactly the effect he wanted.

"Okay, I'll publish a version in the next two days and let you review it then."

The director gave a topic for the composition, and William Chang had to complete it.

Huang Xiaoming didn't know what he was thinking about, and raised his hand to ask again: "I'm a little curious, since the prequel is the beginning of the story, why not start filming from the prequel?"

Zhang Chen shrugged: "Because the story of Painted Skin is more well-known, only if Painted Skin is successful can the sequel project be launched~
If we start with a prequel, the story won’t be well-known and it will easily flop.”

There was one more thing Zhang Chen didn't say.

The first part of the "Painted Skin" trilogy definitely set the style.

If it is successful, it means that this style can be accepted by the audience, so the next sequel can be shot in this style.

If it fails, it means that the style or IP does not have the ability to be monetized, and there will most likely be no sequel.

All the movies in the world, no matter how much money they claim to have lost or how miserable they are, as long as they can have sequels, it at least shows that their predecessors made money.

At this time, Zhang Jin, who had been silent, finally got the chance: "Director Zhang, how should I play the role of Pang Yong?"

Pang Yong is the monster catcher.

Because the monster catcher didn’t even have a name, Zhang Chen simply gave him a name, Pang Yong.

Zhang Chen patted his shoulder and said, "Catching monsters is the easiest of these. You just need to fight well. Master Yuan is an expert in this area.

The reason why "Painted Skin" dares to call itself a blockbuster is because of the final decisive battle between the monster catcher and the fox demon.

This movie has a 90 million investment, 50 million of which is spent on special effects and fighting, so there can be no problems with this. By the way, Mr. Yuan, I would like to take this opportunity to talk to you about martial arts styles~"

When it came to the martial arts director, the first person Zhang Chen wanted to look for was Won Bin, simply because Zhang Chen particularly liked the film "Green Snake" directed by him.

The mighty dragon
Zhang Chen often said this when he was exorcising demons.

Unfortunately, Yuan Bin is one of the Seven Little Fortunes and is Hong Jinbao's junior brother. Even if Zhang Chen looks for him, he may not come.

Later, Zhang Chen simply went straight to find Mr. Yuan without asking any questions.

After "The Matrix", Mr. Yuan was known as the number one martial arts director in Hong Kong, and of course, his salary was also the most expensive.

But his qualifications are there, and he has Hollywood works to his credit.

Zhang Chen thought for a moment and asked, “Is there any way to make it in the style of Green Snake or New Dragon Inn~”

When it comes to domestic martial arts films, Zhang Chen always believes that "New Dragon Inn" is a benchmark.

Today’s martial arts films focus on wirework and explosions, but they just don’t look as good as “New Dragon Inn” and “Green Snake”.

In fact, looking back now, the methods used in films like "Green Snake" and "New Dragon Inn" are very simple.

First is fast forward.

The rhythm of the movements is normal at ordinary times, but when it comes to the martial arts scenes, they are fast movements, giving people a feeling of being unable to keep up with the action.

Then there are the martial arts special effects.

The martial arts special effects are actually quite low-level, after all, it is limited by the times.

In "Green Snake", a pavilion is lifted up with bare hands, while in "New Dragon Inn", objects and even people can be chopped into pieces with just a single knife.

In that era, all special effects were done using primitive methods. The props were disassembled in advance and sprinkled with power powder. When the actual filming began, the staff would pull the wire, the props would fall apart, and the power powder would fly everywhere, giving people the illusion of infinite power.

To build a gazebo with bare hands is just to replace small props such as tables and stools with the gazebo.

(End of this chapter)