I really don’t want to play Go!

Chapter 370 How does the new era clash with the old era?

Upon hearing Kong Zi mention the War of the Torch, everyone's expressions immediately turned somewhat strange.

Indeed, the "Torch Battle" was only a year ago. It was the first battle for all professional Go players as they entered the professional Go world. As the name suggests, the Torch Battle symbolizes the passing down of the torch of Go.

Yu Shao's partner in the game of "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" was Kong Zi, and it was in that game that the move of playing the 3-3 point appeared before the world for the first time.

Looking back on that "war for the torch" a year later, it's somewhat ironic.

The study of the 3-3 point has become quite in-depth, so when they look at the game of the Fire of Life again, they all have a feeling that Kong Zi was actually holding Yu Shao back in that game...

After all, at that time, everyone's understanding of thickness had not yet changed.

Therefore, many people privately tease Kong Zi about the "war of attrition" game, and Kong Zi should be aware of this.

"Hahaha, you must be Yu Shao? I've heard so much about you, you truly are a young hero."

At this moment, a slightly overweight middle-aged man broke the somewhat awkward atmosphere, extending his hand to Yu Shao with a friendly smile and introducing himself: "I am Zhang Yufang, and also the director of today's promotional video shoot."

Yu Shao immediately looked at Zhang Yufang, shook hands with him, and said with a smile, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Director Zhang. I've watched 'Red Drift' more than once. It's very well made."

Upon hearing Yu Shao's words, Zhang Yufang immediately beamed with joy and found Yu Shao incredibly pleasing to the eye. He feigned modesty and said, "Oh, it's nothing really. I'm not actually satisfied with that movie either."

"If it's so good even if you're not satisfied, what would happen if you were?" Yu Shao said with a surprised look.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Yufang was slightly taken aback and glanced at Yu Shao with some surprise. Then, his smile widened, and he said cheerfully, "Haha, don't underestimate Yu Shao just because he's only a third-dan. He really knows how to talk."

As a renowned director, Zhang Yufang has seen far too many people who achieved fame at a young age, but those people all had a certain arrogance about them.

He originally thought that Yu Shao should be the same, or even more arrogant. After all, at this age, to have such unprecedented achievements, it's understandable that he would be somewhat arrogant.

Moreover, chess players, who don't experience the realities of life, are often not adept at interpersonal relationships and social interactions.

When Zhang Yufang met Yu Shao today, he found that Yu Shao was actually quite humble and polite, which immediately increased his goodwill towards Yu Shao.

"Now that both main actors have arrived, let's get ready, make a quick decision, and start filming as soon as possible."

Zhang Yufang turned to the makeup artist and called out, "Xiao Li, do Yu Shao's makeup."

"okay!"

A woman in her mid-twenties with exquisite makeup immediately responded, picked up her makeup bag, and came to Yu Shao. After Yu Shao sat down, she immediately took out a powder compact and applied makeup to Yu Shao.

"Director Zhang, how do you plan to film this?"

While the makeup artist was doing her makeup, Yu Shao asked Zhang Yufang with some curiosity.

Zhang Yufang was adjusting the camera lens when he heard Yu Shao's question. He smiled and said, "Have you read any martial arts novels?"

Wuxia novels?

Yu Shao was taken aback, then quickly nodded and said, "Of course I've seen it."

"That's right."

Zhang Yufang, full of enthusiasm, spoke eloquently: "I want to capture the feeling of a martial arts novel, the atmosphere of two peerless masters facing off at their peak."

"To be honest, because I also play Go, and because I understand it, when I see two players playing, it really feels like two great swordsmen competing on Mount Hua."

"The lighting will be bluish and dim, paired with a dense drumbeat background music, and through a lot of montage editing, the scenes will constantly switch, speeding up the pace of the entire promotional video..."

Zhang Yufang rattled off a string of highly technical terms, which Yu Shao only vaguely understood, but he could sense that Zhang Yufang was very confident about the shoot.

"It seems Director Zhang is very confident about this shoot," Yu Shao said with a smile.

"It's just a promotional video, how complicated can it be? The promotional video is only two or three minutes long, and it was filmed in one morning. The post-production color grading, editing, and music selection took much longer."

Zhang Yufang said with a smile, "All you need to do is make some expressions, like being tense and focused, or solemn, and then just keep playing chess."

"Okay, I'll do my best."

Yu Shao smiled and nodded.

Soon after, once Yu Shao and Jiang Changdong had finished their makeup and the cameras in the video chat room had been adjusted, Zhang Yufang gave the order, and filming finally began.

Just as Zhang Yufang said, the filming process was not complicated. Yu Shao and Jiang Changdong simply set up a chessboard, placed chess pieces one after another, and made some expressions in accordance with the prompts.

It's worth mentioning that, in order to highlight the intensity and suspense of the match, Zhang Yufang even asked the staff to spray water on the faces of the two players to simulate the scene of sweating.

The promotional video, which was only two minutes long, took nearly two hours to film before we finally wrapped up.

"OK, that's a wrap. Thanks for your hard work, you two!"

Zhang Yufang gave Yu Shao an OK sign and said with a smile, "All that's left is post-production. It should be finished in a day or two. I'll send the final cut to you two to take a look."

Seeing that the filming was finally finished, Yu Shao couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

Although he was just sitting in front of the chessboard pretending to play chess, he was more tired from filming than from actually playing chess, because he had to make some facial expressions.

Fortunately, it's finally done.

Seeing that the filming was finished, Jiang Changdong finally put down the prop folding fan in his hand.

Jiang Changdong doesn't actually have the habit of using a fan when playing chess; it was Zhang Yufang who requested it. The fan has the words "National Master" written on it. In Zhang Yufang's words, as a senior, holding a chess fan would make him look more imposing.

During this shoot, Jiang Changdong actually had it much easier, because for most of the time, Zhang Yufang only asked Jiang Changdong to put on a calm and composed expression.

After filming the entire promotional video, Yu Shao finally understood what Zhang Yufang wanted to film.

Although neither he nor Jiang Changdong had any lines, Zhang Yufang clearly wanted to tell a story through these micro-expressions.

Regardless, Jiang Changdong is the current national team player and a senior player, while he is much younger and a challenger in comparison.

Therefore, from the very beginning, he was required to put on a solemn expression and then frequently stare at the chessboard, lost in deep thought.

Jiang Changdong, on the other hand, held a folding fan and gently tapped his palm with it, appearing as immovable as a master.

This story tells of a young chess player challenging a senior chess player. Zhang Yufang's purpose here is clearly to portray the senior player as calmer and more confident in the game.

However, after giving Yu Shao a close-up shot of him making a move, Zhang Yufang asked Jiang Changdong to also start to look serious and to tap his palm with his folding fan more frequently.

This story is clearly about a senior master who goes from being calm and collected to finally feeling the pressure, becoming serious, and the game enters a heated phase.

Then, the two continued to place their pieces, and fine sweat began to appear on their faces. This clearly indicated that the two sides were locked in a fierce and evenly matched battle, with each side having their own reservations.

The promotional video ended abruptly there, without showing the final outcome, although judging from the game record chosen by Zhang Yufang, Jiang Changdong, playing black, ultimately won.

That's to be expected, since it's just a promotional video, its purpose is to pique the audience's curiosity, and there's never been a precedent for a promotional video to determine a winner.

"Looking forward to the final product," Yu Shao said with a smile. "Don't worry, it'll definitely be a blockbuster!"

Zhang Yufang patted his chest and said with a smile, "Although there's no post-production yet, I already have a picture in my mind."

Just then, Jiang Changdong suddenly glanced at Yu Shao.

After a moment of silence, Jiang Changdong slowly stood up from his seat and finally spoke: "The promotional video has been filmed. Next, all that's left is the challenge match."

Yu Shao was taken aback, looked at Jiang Changdong, and then nodded.

Jiang Changdong withdrew his gaze from Yu Shao, said nothing more, and turned to leave the game room.

Soon Jiang Changdong reached the door of the game room, stretched out his hand, and was about to push open the door when he seemed to remember something and suddenly stopped.

"Many online opinions say that you have started a revolution in the Go world and that a new era has arrived."

With his back to Yu Shao and the others, Jiang Changdong asked without turning his head, "An interesting way of putting it, isn't it?"

Upon hearing these words, everyone in the room was stunned and turned to look at Jiang Changdong's back.

Jiang Changdong, without turning his head, continued speaking to himself: "If you win, the media should be very happy. A seventeen-year-old title, a new era for Go—it's all hype."

"This proves that times are progressing and the tide of a new era is coming. It's a very positive and uplifting topic."

"Moreover, I've been in this national team position long enough."

Because Jiang Changdong never turned around, no one knew what his expression was like when he said those words. Everyone just stared at Jiang Changdong's back in astonishment and confusion.

What do you mean by this?
Was Jiang Changdong deliberately trying to lose?
Even Kong Zi couldn't help but frown slightly as she watched Jiang Changdong's retreating figure.

However, everyone knows that, just as Jiang Changdong said, the media would prefer to see Yu Shao take away the national team title, since that would be a huge sensation.

A 17-year-old national team player—this immediately caused a huge stir around the world; it was undoubtedly big news.

Just then, Jiang Changdong finally spoke again—

"Fortunately, I held the national team title for so long, otherwise I probably would have really missed out."

"Then let me see how the so-called new era of Go will collide with the old era!"

After saying this, Jiang Changdong finally pushed open the door of the game room and strode out.

The atmosphere in the entire game room suddenly became somewhat subtle.

All eyes immediately turned to Yu Shao.

A show of force!
Everyone knew that Jiang Changdong's words were a clear show of force, indicating that he was extremely confident about the upcoming title fight.

Seeing everyone staring at him, Yu Shao was momentarily at a loss for words.

"That old bastard Jiang Changdong."

Just then, Kong Zi suddenly cursed from the crowd.

A look of surprise flashed across everyone's faces as they finally looked away from Yu Shao and turned to Kong Zi.

Kong Zi walked to Yu Shao's side and said in a deep voice, "I can't tell that he really seems confident of victory."

“If he were truly confident, he wouldn’t have said such a thing. I’ve fought him countless times, and that’s why I know him very well.”

Kong Zi said, "He's feeling the pressure. Don't be intimidated by his show of force."

"fine."

Yu Shao shook his head and finally slowly stood up, saying, "Saying more is pointless. The National Player Challenge is about to begin in a few days."

Upon hearing Yu Shao's words, Kong Zi's eyelids twitched, and he was momentarily speechless.

"I'm leaving too."

After saying that, Yu Shao strode out of the game room and quickly left.

Jiang Changdong and Yu Shao left together, and everyone in the game room looked at each other, bewildered.

Amidst the crowd, Zhang Yufang recalled the conversation he had just had, and the almost palpable confrontation between the two of them. He suddenly took a deep breath and whispered to his assistant beside him, "I seem to... have some new ideas about the post-production."

The assistant stared wide-eyed at Zhang Yufang in astonishment, only to see Zhang Yufang's eyes shining as he gazed at the backs of Yu Shao and Jiang Changdong.

"We can't limit ourselves to the chessboard!"

Zhang Yufang took a deep breath and said, "Perhaps we can broaden our perspective a bit. This is no longer just a clash between two chess players; it's a clash between two eras!"

"I have a feeling that this title challenge will be something that will surprise everyone. I can't wait to see the games in the title challenge!"

……

……

During the filming of the promotional video, Yu Shao and Zhang Yufang exchanged WeChat contacts. Just two days later, Yu Shao received the finished promotional video from Zhang Yufang.

To Yu Shao's surprise, the final promotional video was completely different from what he had envisioned.

Yu Shao originally thought the promotional video would tell the story of a young chess player challenging a senior player, the senior player's initial composure, his eventual feeling of pressure, and the fierce battle between the two.

However, the final cut removed the part where Jiang Changdong remained calm and composed. From the beginning, both of them were making moves with serious expressions.

It must be said that Zhang Yufang truly deserves his reputation as a great director. Accompanied by intense and rapid drumbeats, the chess pieces were not yet placed, creating an exceptionally tense atmosphere. He managed to film a game of chess with the solemn and deadly feeling of a thousand troops.

What amazed Yu Shao even more was that in the final color grading, the lighting was warmer and brighter when his scenes appeared, while the lighting was bluish and shadier when Jiang Changdong's scenes appeared.

Finally, accompanied by the rousing drumbeats, the scene froze on a wide panorama, with himself on the left and Jiang Changdong on the right, the two clearly separated by light and shadow!

This is not just about the difference between the two people, but seems to symbolize something deeper!

One new, one old; one bright, one dark; one black, one white!
How about it? Not bad, right?

Zhang Yufang sent a WeChat message asking.

Yu Shao quickly typed back—

[As expected of Director Zhang, this film is truly amazing!]

……

……

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(End of this chapter)