How can you ascend to heaven when you are a star?

Chapter 489 A Good Show

"All departments, prepare yourselves. Item 5 of the third round, commence!"

Han Xiaohua's voice echoed throughout the set via walkie-talkie as the lead actress Bai Lu and the second lead actress Shen Sitong began their most important scene together that day.

In the shot, the two actors' expressions, lines, and movements were all just right, making Han Xiaohua nod in approval. This take should be able to be completed in one take, and after filming, they could move on to the next scene.

Just as the scene was about to end, one of the three monitors suddenly flickered, and the previously clear image instantly turned completely black, leaving only the buzzing sound of electricity.

"what happened?"

Han Xiaohua frowned, reached out and patted the monitor that had no picture; the screen remained completely black.

He stood up, looked at the cameraman Lao Wu not far away, and asked loudly, "Lao Wu, what's wrong with the equipment? Why can't I get any footage?"

Old Wu looked down at the camera with a puzzled expression. Suddenly, the indicator light on the camera body turned from green to red, and the screen displayed "Storage failure, data cannot be read".

I wipe?

Old Wu was stunned for a moment, then quickly pressed the button to repeatedly restart the machine, but no matter what he did, the screen remained stuck on the fault screen.

"Director Han..." Old Wu was sweating profusely as he looked at the director and said, "The camera's storage module seems to be broken. Not only can it not shoot normally, but it can't even read the footage we just shot."

"What did you say?" Han Xiaohua strode over to Lao Wu's side, staring at the "Data cannot be read" message on the screen, his face instantly darkening.

He had just thought the actors were performing very well and that they could film the next take soon, but then the camera broke down and all the footage was lost. Wasn't that just adding to his frustration?
"Why is there a problem with the storage module? Old Wu, I'm not trying to be mean, but you're a veteran cameraman, don't you know you should check the equipment properly before turning it on?" Han Xiaohua said irritably, his voice filled with barely suppressed anger.

"Director Han, everything was fine during the test shoot at noon, but I don't know why it suddenly stopped," Old Wu said in a low voice, looking aggrieved.

What's the point of test shooting?

"I'll contact the repairman right away; he should be able to fix it."

After saying that, Lao Wu quickly took out his phone and dialed a number.

The actors and crew around them all stopped what they were doing, their faces full of helplessness. The camera was the main equipment of the crew, and if it couldn't be repaired, it would definitely affect the subsequent filming.

Although there were two cameras, the shooting from two positions was far from meeting director Han Xiaohua's requirements, and would eventually even affect the later editing.

"Stop filming. Everyone, rest where you are. Assistant Director Wang, see if you can get another camera as a backup," Han Xiaohua instructed.

"Okay, Director Han, I'll get right on it." Wang Yanshi quickly went to the side to make a phone call.

Wang Xiaofei, standing behind the crowd, saw everything and recorded it on his phone. He knew that this was a "homework" that Teacher Zhang had deliberately prepared for him, so he immediately sent the video to Vice President Liu, so as not to let Teacher Zhang's good intentions go to waste.

At the same time, he added a message: "Mr. Liu, the camera here is broken. Director Han is furious. Filming has been suspended and we are contacting someone to come and repair it."

Liu Haiyang was watching the actors filming when he saw the video and the message. He instantly stood up from his chair, his gloom vanishing and replaced by a bright, sunny smile.

His fingers flew across the screen as he typed a reply to Wang Xiaofei: "Well done. Let's see how long they can fix it. Report back to me immediately if anything happens."

After putting down his phone, Liu Haiyang sat down again, his upturned lips almost reaching his ears in a wide grin.

'Wang Xiaofei, that good-for-nothing, has finally done something decent.'

"Cameras are crucial equipment for the film crew, and Wang Xiaofei managed to find an opportunity to sabotage them. It seems the saying 'Where there's a will, there's a way' truly applies."

"If the camera breaks down, no matter how brilliant the director, how talented the actors, or how excellent the script, all we can do now is watch helplessly."

Liu Haiyang picked up his phone and opened the video Wang Xiaofei had sent him again, slowly watching it.

Han Xiaohua's angry expression, the cameraman's anxious expression, and the frustrated and helpless expressions of the people around them were simply hilarious.

the other side.

Han Xiaohua circled the broken camera twice with a worried look on his face, then sat down next to Zhang Wen, unfolded the script in his hand, and said loudly, "Brother Zhang, the repairman hasn't arrived yet, let's talk about the next scene first."

"Mm." Zhang Wen nodded.

Han Xiaohua casually flipped to a page, pointed to it, and whispered, "My performance just now was pretty good, wasn't it?"

"Not just good, it's an award-winning performance," Zhang Wen praised in a low voice.

"Haha, you know what, I actually had a cameo role in a few movies when I was younger," Han Xiaohua said proudly.

"Director Han, you're wasting your talents as a director; you should be acting." Zhang Wen secretly gave the other person a thumbs up.

“I think you’d be very suited to be a director,” Han Xiaohua said.

Zhang Wen smiled. After Director Han said that, he really did have the idea of ​​becoming a director.

In fact, he directed the whole "camera malfunction" act. Director Han and cameraman Lao Wu were the actors in this scene. As for the audience, they were naturally the undercover agents hidden in the crew, whose purpose was to lull Liu Haiyang into a false sense of security.

So far, he has only discovered two undercover agents, Wang Xiaofei and Chen Xukun. He cannot guarantee that there are no other undercover agents in the crew who have been turned by Liu Haiyang. This is also an important reason why he deliberately created 'sabotage' after capturing Wang Xiaofei and Chen Xukun.

If everything goes smoothly for the crew, but Wang Xiaofei and Chen Xukun report to Liu Haiyang that the sabotage was successful, then when Liu Haiyang inquires with the other undercover agents, won't their lies be exposed?

Given Liu Haiyang's current state, he will definitely threaten other staff members in the production crew.

The crew members are all in their designated positions; you can't just fire every single one of them, can you? How would you film then?

In comparison, cooperating with Wang Xiaofei and Chen Xukun to act out a play for Liu Haiyang is the simplest, easiest, and most effective solution.

As for the 'pause in filming', consider it as a break for the actors.

Not long after, maintenance personnel arrived at the set and stood behind the camera to conduct an inspection.

Old Wu used to always be the one filming other people's performances, but today he suddenly had this opportunity to act, and he immediately became a drama queen, constantly questioning the threatening person.

"Is there a problem with the hard drive? Should we open it up and take a look? Will we lose the footage we shot earlier?"

One problem after another perfectly captured the cameraman's anxiety over the equipment malfunction.

The repairman was a staff member of the film and television base. He came here on the instructions of the general manager and knew that this was a show for others, so he nodded in agreement and said, "It's most likely a hard drive problem. It will take at least two hours to disassemble and repair it."

"What? Two hours?" Han Xiaohua, who was standing next to him, immediately got angry and asked anxiously, "Can't you hurry up? There are hundreds of people in the crew. We can't just rest for two hours. I'll pay you extra."

"It's not about paying extra; imported machines are always troublesome to repair," the repairman explained, feigning concern.

"Two hours, it'll be past four o'clock by the time it's finished. I might as well just go home now," Han Xiaohua said dejectedly.

At this moment, assistant director Wang Yanshi hurried over, panting, and said, "Director Han, the camera has been rented and will be delivered soon, but the equipment is a bit inferior and can't compare to ours."

"Something is better than nothing. Oh well, we'll just have to make do." Han Xiaohua sighed helplessly.

Standing on the periphery of the crowd, Wang Xiaofei sent what he had just heard to Vice President Liu.

"The repairman is here; the repair will take two hours."

"The assistant director rented a camera, and it will be delivered in a little while."

Liu Haiyang frowned slightly as he looked at the WeChat message.

I thought filming would be suspended for an hour or two, but the problem was solved in just over ten minutes. However, you can't blame Wang Xiaofei. If it were him, knowing the camera was malfunctioning and would take a long time to repair, he would also choose to rent another one. After all, this is a film and television base, and renting a camera is easy.

It's okay, we still have Chen Xukun.

Even if a problem can be easily solved, frequent problems can still be frustrating.

This is called managing one's mindset.

“We can do it a few more times if we have the chance,” Liu Haiyang replied in a WeChat message.

Wang Xiaofei secretly breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing Vice President Liu's reply.

If there's an opportunity, we'll do it again; in other words, if there's no opportunity, we don't have to do it.

However, while we may have these thoughts, we still need to maintain the proper attitude.

He quickly replied, "Okay, Mr. Liu, I will try my best."

After sending it, I ignored it.

A few minutes later, the rented camera arrived at the set, and filming continued.

……

As evening approached, filming began for the last scene of the day.

"Where's the second male lead? Where did he go?" Han Xiaohua's voice echoed across the set once again.

As soon as he finished speaking, assistant director Wang Yanshi strode over and said with a troubled face, "Director Han, there's a problem with the second male lead's costume. We're working on it."

Upon hearing this, Han Xiaohua's eyes widened immediately. "How could there be a problem with the costumes? Weren't they prepared in advance?"

Wang Yanshi stammered, "It was prepared a long time ago, but when the second male lead was changing clothes just now, he found that one of his jeans had several holes in it. It must have been accidentally torn during the moving."

"What? Moving a few pieces of clothing can cause damage? What are the people in the clothing department doing?" Han Xiaohua shouted angrily.

"..."

The costume team members all lowered their heads and dared not utter a sound. They didn't know why the jeans had holes, and more than one at that.

Everything was fine when we unloaded it from the car at noon, and we checked each item one by one while we were packing it. But when the actors were about to wear it, problems arose. Where can we complain?

As for the assistant director's statement that the jeans were "accidentally torn," they did not agree with that explanation. When they first saw the jeans, they had a feeling that they had been deliberately torn, as the holes were too neatly arranged.

Moreover, one hole can be excused as an accident, but what about four or five holes?
They told the assistant director about the situation, but the assistant director asked them if they had found the person who ripped their pants. They weren't police officers, how could they find the culprit just by looking at a few holes?

Finally, the assistant director felt that this explanation would make the crew uneasy and even make others think that the costume department was shirking responsibility, so he changed it to the reason of "accidentally tearing it during transport". In any case, they were definitely negligent in their supervision.

"Director Han, the costume designer is re-selecting trousers for the second male lead. It'll be ready soon," Wang Yanshi said, pointing towards the dressing room.

Han Xiaohua glanced at it, frowned, and said with dissatisfaction, "The camera broke before, and now my pants are torn. Can't you make things easier for me? Fine, never mind, let's call it a day."

After saying that, he closed the script in his hand, muttering curses under his breath. Although it was hard to hear clearly, everyone knew it wasn't anything nice.

Everyone was stunned for a moment.

Everyone looked at each other, both surprised and puzzled.

It's just a torn pair of pants, right? Just change them, why not take pictures?

I'd heard that Director Han had a bad temper, and now it seems that's true.

Despite their surprise, everyone was still very happy to be able to finish get off work early. What worker wouldn't like that?
Everyone began to pack up their equipment in silence, no one daring to speak, for fear of adding fuel to the fire and provoking Director Han.

As Chen Xukun walked towards the parking area, he secretly sent the video he had just taken to Vice President Liu, with the caption: "The costumes are badly damaged, Director Han is furious and has called it a day early."

Liu Haiyang's eyes lit up immediately when he saw this message.

Did you finish work early and leave early?
It seems that Han Xiaohua's mentality has collapsed.

Liu Haiyang couldn't stop laughing for a moment, and even looked down on Han Xiaohua a little.

He may be a famous director, but his mental fortitude is really poor. He gives up on filming at such a small setback, no wonder he often loses his temper on set.

Fortunately, the other party did not agree when we invited them, otherwise, given the frequency of problems on this side, wouldn't they have had an emotional breakdown?
The problem lies more with director Xu Baoping's emotions.

Maybe, this is God's will.

God helps me too!

On the other side, Han Xiaohua winked at Zhang Wen, then angrily walked towards the van.

The final scene wasn't difficult and could be reshot tomorrow, which was agreed upon by the two of them. The costume department was unaware of this.

Of course, the costume team deserved to be scolded, as they did not take good care of the costumes. This incident should serve as a reminder to them that in the future, there should always be someone specifically responsible for taking care of the main character's costumes.

"Teacher Zhang!"

Just as Zhang Wen was about to leave, a shout suddenly came from behind him.

He turned his head and saw Wang Xiaofei walking quickly towards him, glancing around as if afraid of being seen.

"What's up?" Zhang Wen asked.

"Teacher Zhang, I have something to tell you," Wang Xiaofei said in a low voice.

"What is it?" Zhang Wen asked, looking at the other person.

“I know who tore the jeans,” Wang Xiaofei said seriously.

"Who is it?" Zhang Wen asked with interest.

“Chen Xukun,” Wang Xiaofei said in a low voice, “I saw him at the clothing storage area at noon. He was acting suspiciously, squatting down in the male lead’s costume area to tie his shoelaces. The set is so big, there are so many places to tie shoelaces, why did he have to do it there? He’s not even part of the costume department.”

Zhang Wen almost burst out laughing after hearing this.

It seems that the two undercover agents threatened by Liu Haiyang were unaware of each other's existence, otherwise Wang Xiaofei would not have reported Chen Xukun.

interesting.

"Okay, I understand. I'll be careful," Zhang Wen said.

"Teacher Zhang, I'm leaving now. See you tomorrow," Wang Xiaofei said politely, then happily went to work.

Watching the other person's retreating figure, Zhang Wen began to ponder what kind of show he would prepare for Liu Haiyang tomorrow.

……

(End of this chapter)