Entertainment: I just want to be the boss behind the scenes

Chapter 37 A thorough exchange of views

"Cut! Each group stay in place."

Wu Bai called the photographer over and watched the playback of the shot on the viewfinder to confirm that there were no problems. Then he said to the waiting crew, "OK! This pass, restore the props to the shelves and counters and prepare for the next scene."

The quiet crew suddenly became noisy, the stage staff were busy dealing with the messy scene to prepare for the next scene, the assistant director began to distribute the parameters to be adjusted for the next scene to the lighting technicians and photographers, and the actors came to the chairs on the sidelines to sit down and rest.

The entire crew was filled with a kind of bustling yet harmonious atmosphere where everyone was doing their part.

The crew of "Pendulum" has started filming for half a month. From the initial unfamiliarity and lag, after constant running-in, it has finally gradually got on the right track and entered a period of rapid development.

It was really "fast" - in just half a month, the crew finished filming the scenes that were originally planned to take nearly twenty days.

Even Meng Bai, the producer who had been trying to meet the deadline, was surprised by the speed. He quickly pulled Wu Bai and said that there was no need to go so fast as quality still had to be guaranteed.

Wu Bai was also helpless when he heard what Meng Bai said. He already had very high requirements for the quality of camera images and actors' performances, all of which were compared with the standards of those high-quality dramas, but the crew just cooperated well, what could he do about it.

Meng Bai looked at the previously filmed material and found that there was indeed nothing wrong with it. Not to mention the online drama, even the TV series on satellite TV would be of this standard.

Of course, if you insist on matching it to the standards of movies, then that’s really not necessary.

Everyone in the crew was talking about the efficient shooting progress, but they still gave the main credit to Director Wu Bai, after all, he was the person in charge of the shooting part.

"Nonsense, what does this have to do with me?"

Wu Bai himself disagreed with this statement. Seeing that everyone was puzzled, he continued to explain: "The reason why we can shoot so quickly is that our producer solved many problems that may be encountered during the early preparations."

What is the biggest challenge for the crew when filming? It is not the location, not the equipment, and certainly not the weather, but the people.

A film crew is a project that requires the cooperation of many people, and the more people a project involves, the more likely it is to go wrong.

Unprofessional technology, unreliable extras, producers who don’t solve problems, leading actors without acting skills… many crews have trouble shooting because they fail to deal with people issues properly.

Wu Bai had worked in some "wild crews" before. The biggest problem of these crews was not "poverty" but "chaos".

The production staff changed six people in two days, and the script notes were mainly abstract. When shooting a costume drama, the actors watched the playback after performing a scene and found that the extras in the background were chatting on WeChat on their phones.

In comparison, the “Pendulum” crew is a director’s paradise.

Although the technical staff are not big names in the industry, they are all experienced hands with many years of experience.

The production team was young and inexperienced, but all filming needs were arranged as neatly as possible.

Not to mention the actors, even the supporting roles in each unit are at least students from the Film and Television Academy. Their abilities vary but they all have a foundation.

Especially the last one, which is okay for the director, but for the assistant director, the happiness is no less than playing Tetris and getting four long strips in a row.

God knows how blessed it is to not have to tell the new ensemble cast over and over again about basic knowledge like not walking in front of the protagonist, having to walk in an arc around the camera, and not touching the lighting stand.

Don’t think that extras don’t need management – a war scene with dozens of people took a long time to shoot, and when it was about to end, the protagonist was suddenly stabbed to death by an extra soldier who was in a “killing” mood. This kind of thing has happened in the industry before.

It was precisely because these problems were resolved by Meng Bai in the preparation period before filming, and after filming began, he gave the filming rights to Wu Bai with complete trust, that the "Pendulum" crew, this "small tank", was able to run unimpeded.

The crew was running smoothly, everyone was not so nervous when working, and the set was more cheerful. Even when the producer and director had a dispute over the filming, it seemed peaceful.

"If the same actor plays the role before and after the transformation, the audience will find it smoother. As for the contrast you mentioned, we can achieve it through makeup and styling." Wu Bai expressed his views in the warehouse lounge of the convenience store.

"No, no, no, changes in makeup and styling are fine for other dramas to show the contrast between the characters before and after. But it's different for us. The 'ghosts' that appear in the background of this plot are physical 'gods'. So we must let the audience feel at a glance that this character has completely changed."

The other people in the lounge were busy with their own things, but they also paid attention to the argument between the two big bosses of the crew.

Although they have been working together quite well for such a long time, arguments still often arise between Meng Bai and Wu Bai.

Of course, these arguments have nothing to do with individuals, they are basically about the plot and filming.

For example, what the two are arguing about now is a unit story in the script called "Lust, Caution".

Don't get me wrong, this story has nothing to do with that youth enlightenment work, it's just the same name.

The "Lust, Caution" unit tells a story about plastic surgery.

A girl who was ridiculed for her ordinary appearance successfully transformed herself into a beauty through the "power of ghosts and gods" she accidentally obtained, but she didn't expect that this power would come at the cost of her vitality. In order to keep her appearance, the girl finally chose to give up her ordinary appearance and would rather become a monster who is "withered and old during the day and stunning and charming at night."

Plastic surgery has been a hot topic in recent years. The main theme of the script of "Soul Ferry" is "using ghosts and gods to write about human nature", so naturally it is impossible to miss such a hot topic.

The point of dispute between Meng Bai and Wu Bai was whether the original actor should continue to play the role after the heroine completed her final "worship" in this unit and was completely transformed.

Wu Bai’s opinion is that the same actor should be used, with just a few changes to the makeup.

However, Meng Bai thinks that since it is a "complete transformation", why not just replace it with a more beautiful actor, which will be more convenient and more contrasting.

The two had a frank conversation in the lounge about their respective views, fully exchanged opinions, and finally reached a common decision with Wu Bai being convinced.

"What kind of actor do you want to replace?" Wu Bai asked.

"Beautiful, delicate, and a little aggressive," Meng Bai described.

Five hundred is speechless. With such general conditions, if you just go to any film and television school, there will be at least eight hundred girls who meet the requirements, if not a thousand.

Forget it, just let him be. Anyway, my only responsibility is to wait for people to come and continue shooting.

Of course, finding people is the producer's job.

(End of this chapter)