Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 5 Finishing

"The Night the Comet Came" took 13 days from start to finish filming, one day less than expected.

The crew, including staff and actors, totaled 24 people.

On the day of wrapping, Li Qiutang cooked a wrapping dinner for the crew in the rented yard at the request of Qin Lan and Jiang Wei.

Cooking for 24 people really exhausted him.

"Are you used to eating Northeastern cuisine?" Li Qiutang doesn't know how to cook anything else.

"Just cook it however you want. We'll eat it the way you cook it." It was also the first time for Jiang Wei to eat food made by students.

In addition to Li Qiutang and Qin Lan, there were several people from Northeast China in the crew. Li Qiutang was the head chef and the others helped in the kitchen. Everyone got to work quickly.

"There are only a few Northeastern dishes," just like Chu Yunfei belittled Shanxi cuisine. Northeasterners are not particularly proud of their own dishes. "Stir-fried pork slices, sweet and sour pork, chicken stewed with mushrooms, pork stewed with vermicelli, potatoes stewed with eggplant, and spare ribs stewed with beans. Let's eat."

Li Qiutang said as she cut vegetables: "That can't be said. Northeastern dishes are also good, such as bear paws, deer antlers, flying dragons, and snow clam. But these dishes are now illegal."

Everyone laughed at this.

Several people worked for the whole afternoon and dinner was served at six o'clock in the evening.

After a long time of tiredness, Li Qiutang just sat down when he heard someone shouting outside the door:
"We're here to eat!"

The person who came was none other than Wang Jia from Class 02.

There are few students in the 02 directing class, so some professional courses are taken together with the 02 form textbook. After a while, everyone becomes familiar with it.

Li Qiutang turned her head and waved with a smile: "Come in, it's just in time."

Wang Jia said, "I'll bring you a guest." Then he let a girl out to meet everyone.

If it’s not Liu Yifei, then who else could it be?

Everyone laughed: "What a rare guest! Come quickly, come quickly."

The little girl greeted everyone politely: "Hello, hello Teacher Jiang."

Wang Jia sat down and explained the reason why she brought Liu Yifei with her: "Everyone in the class is either filming or running around the crew, and we are the only two who are free, so I brought Yifei with me."

In the second semester of my senior year, the directing department was going to shoot a graduation short film, and the acting department also went out to join the crew.

The 19-year-old Liu Yifei is very lively and joked: "No one wants us, so we are shameless enough to come here to eat the wrap-up dinner."

Li Qiutang said, "It's my honor to have Sister Fairy come to eat with me."

"Oh! You!" Liu Yifei didn't want others to call her Fairy Sister.

Jiang Wei said: "Come, have a meal and try Qiu Tang's cooking."

Li Qiutang laughed and said, "It doesn't matter if it's a skill or not, just do it blindly."

Qin Lan said first: "Teacher Jiang, I made these ribs, how about trying them?"

Everyone ate, drank and chatted.

Wang Jia and Liu Yifei don't have any films on hand, but Liu Yifei will go to promote "The Return of the Condor Heroes" in a few days. "The Return of the Condor Heroes" has been broadcast on terrestrial channels and has received good ratings. After that, she will go to Japan to continue her vocal and dance training and will release an album.

Qin Lan has also signed two TV series this year, both in the second half of the year.

As for Li Qiutang.

"I'm not in a hurry. I'll finish the post-production of this film first." He didn't say how he wanted to process the film.

Qin Lan and the others didn't think about anything else. It was just student work, so what else could they do? They would just hand it over to the college after finishing it and wait until graduation. During the dinner, Liu Yifei toasted Li Qiutang with tea instead of wine. It was unclear whether she was serious or joking, and she said, "Don't forget your classmates when you become a director in the future. Invite us to film a movie."

"Of course." Li Qiutang nodded, "You are so popular, just don't reject me when the time comes."

Liu Yifei seemed to like others saying that she was famous. After hearing what Li Qiutang said, she was overjoyed: "If you invite me, I will definitely film your movie."

Such a little vanity.

After the banquet, Li Qiutang didn't drink much: "Leave two people to clean up the yard. Don't let others ruin the house you rented."

Li Qiutang took the props truck back to school, and the next day, she returned the costumes, props, and camera she had rented from the school.

The staff at Qingying Studio were surprised: "It's finished in less than a month?" Based on past experience, most students will complete the shooting of their graduation short film in May, spend another 5-20 days on post-production, and then participate in the graduation exhibition in mid-to-late June.

"Filming is finished." Li Qiutang signed, "I'm in a hurry to do post-production."

After returning the things, Li Qiutang plunged into the editing room.

Many people don’t know that Beijing Film Academy is the only university in the world that can independently produce a film.

Nortel has all the expertise needed to make a film.

Nortel has its own editing room, dubbing room, color grading console and even a studio.

It's finished but no one is releasing it?

Beijing Film Academy has its own distribution unit, Youth Film Studio.

Thanks to the college's complete supporting facilities, Li Qiutang saved a lot of time and money.

The movie has been deeply engraved in Li Qiutang's mind. He only took one week to complete the editing of "The Night the Comet Came". The next day, he invited Teacher Jiang Wei to watch it.

There was no soundtrack, no subtitles, and no color grading, but Jiang Wei still watched it with great interest.

Jiang Wei has his own thoughts. From "The Night the Comet Came", we can see that Li Qiutang is definitely going the commercial route. Other students' graduation short films are all about literature and art, but Li Qiutang is the only one who chose a genre film. "The Night the Comet Came" should be classified as a science fiction suspense film. It also has a sexy heroine in a vest, and the selling point is very real.

Jiang Wei is different from other teachers who have left the front line of the film set. He has been writing scripts and filming movies. Moreover, he has filmed various genre films, including suspense, romance, and criminal investigation.

Therefore, he does not think there is anything wrong with the academic school taking the commercial and genre paths. Of course, it would be even better if some authorial thinking could be added to genre films.

"There's nothing wrong with the film, it's quite good, the camera language is average, but the story is novel and the rhythm is appropriate." Jiang Wei gave his own evaluation after watching it. Such a film will definitely be no problem for graduation.

But Li Qiutang wanted more than that: "Teacher, do you think the factory can issue it for me?"

Li Qiutang was targeting Qingying Studio.

Jiang Wei said he could do nothing to help: "Qingying Studio has withdrawn from the market distribution, as you know, Qingying Studio is now focusing on serving the college's teaching and filming of teachers and students' homework."

Jiang Wei had foreseen Li Qiutang's requirements. While others made short films, he made feature films, and his intention was definitely to release them nationwide, so that he could accumulate the greatest weight for independent directing after graduation.

Li Qiutang had come this far, so Jiang Wei was willing to give her a hand: "Finish the post-production first, and I'll ask around to see which company is willing to take it on."

The domestic film market is not profitable at the moment. Many film companies are complaining about a lack of films, but at the same time they dare not release films - making money is a small probability, and losing money on distribution costs is the normal state.

Li Qiutang also considered this situation and told her teacher her idea: "I want to try to participate in international film festivals to see if I can make a name for myself first."

Jiang Wei nodded: "That's fine. If the flowers blooming inside the wall can really be fragrant outside the wall, there will definitely be a company willing to take it.

"Your film is not political, not gang-related, not pornographic, and not anti-social. There are no taboos. Just go through the application procedures normally. The bureau should not make things difficult for you."

Li Qiutang said yes, sent the teacher away, and continued to work on post-production.

(End of this chapter)