This actor has something

Chapter 402 Album Completed
He Daqi felt that he was just making trouble for himself.

When Vivian Chow was recording an album before, he accompanied her to the recording studio to record songs. At that time, apart from accompanying her to the recording studio, he did not participate in the rest of the process.

Now that it's his turn, he realizes just how much trouble there is involved.

Vocal recording is relatively simple in the album production process. Before vocal recording is instrument recording, and before that is composition.

After the voice recording, there are still a bunch of procedures to go through.

Mixing, mastering, music video shooting, album design, promotional strategy planning—it's not over until the official release, because there are still concerts to come, and if the album doesn't sell well, autograph sessions will have to be organized.

and so……

Was I out of my mind back then? Why did I release an album?

The reason He Daqi is making this exclamation now is not because of anything else, but simply because after the song was recorded, Liu Ying explained the process to him, and he started to feel numb.

He ultimately didn't remove Wang Feng and Li Zongsheng's songs, but he felt uncomfortable with that, so he dug through the song library himself and added a simple one.

So in the end, this album had twelve songs: six in Chinese, and two each in English, Korean, and Japanese.

The six Chinese poems are: "In Spring," "When I Think of You," "Fugitive," "The Ordinary Road," "Lingering Fragrance," and "Anhe Bridge."

The two English songs are: "Centuries" and "Something Just Like This".

The two Korean songs are: "Heaven" and "Way Back Home".

The two Japanese songs are: "Lemon" and "Uchiage Hanabi".

Now that the songs are recorded, everything else is fine, but filming the music videos is a bit troublesome. The songs have different styles, so they definitely can't be filmed in one place. Moreover, He Daqi wants to make the production as high-quality as possible, since he is only releasing this one album, so it is being made with the aim of becoming a classic album. Therefore, filming the music videos has become the top priority.

Now you know how troublesome it is, right?

Given how lazy Ho Tai-kei is, the fact that he'd be willing to wander around filming music videos is practically a miracle!

"Do I have to be on camera? Isn't it enough to just tell a story? Why not just have someone write a few stories and then film them at a leisurely pace? Why do I have to appear on camera?"

"Daqi, this is your own album's music video. How can your fans support you if you don't appear in it?"

Hearing He Daqi haggling with Liu Ying, Wang Jinghua almost laughed at the absurdity. She knew He Daqi was lazy, but this level of laziness was indeed beyond her expectations, so she couldn't help but interject.

Upon hearing this, Liu Ying gave Wang Jinghua a look of strong approval.

Girl, you're practically my mouth double!

“Daqi, it’s definitely not okay for you not to shoot the music video. How about this, let’s compromise. You can stay out of the Chinese songs and have a director and actors film six stories. But you must appear in the foreign songs. If you want your songs to be released overseas, you have to use your name. If you find people to film the stories and the actors aren’t famous overseas, then the sales definitely won’t be very good. Only if you appear will the album be successful overseas. After all, you’re already quite well-known in Bald Eagle.”

Liu Ying then began her deceptive tactics, something she excelled at. Back when He Daqi wasn't very famous, she used this method to help Zhou Huimin swindle a lot of money from him.

Although it was a case of one party willing to give and the other willing to receive, Liu Ying did contribute in some way.

Could He Daqi possibly believe Liu Ying's nonsense? It would be strange if he believed it all!

However, Liu Ying's point is not entirely wrong. Releasing the album overseas does indeed rely on He Daqi's own reputation. You can't exactly find an international superstar to film your own music video, can you? It's more reliable for him to do it himself.

"Hmm... Then let's talk to our company's editors and ask them to simplify the stories of those six foreign language songs. We can make a music video where... um... the background is a story, and the singer appears on screen lip-syncing. I definitely won't be involved in the story; I'll just appear on screen lip-syncing."

"That works too." Liu Ying thought for a moment and nodded.

Seeing that Liu Ying nodded, He Daqi decided not to argue any further, got up, said goodbye, and left Liu Ying's office.

He looked up and scanned the area, found Ning Hao's location, and strolled over slowly.

At this moment, Ning Hao was surrounded by three people, one sitting on each side and one standing behind him, all listening to Ning Hao explain and edit the video.

Sitting to his left and right were Lu Yang and Xu Guangtou, while Huang Bo stood behind them.

He Daqi walked over and greeted everyone with a smile, then waved to Ning Hao to indicate that he would come to him if he had nothing to do, and then patted Lu Yang on the shoulder.

"Junior brother, I've gotten you a job."

"Huh?" Lu Yang looked at the smiling He Daqi and had a bad feeling.

Could it be that He Daqi has written another Balabala Little Fairy series? Wasn't this series supposed to be finished?
"Are you happy?"

"Senior brother, why don't you tell me what kind of job it is first?" Lu Yang's face was wrinkled like a steamed bun with eighteen pleats.

"My album recording is finished, and now we're going to start filming the music video. I got this opportunity for you, so how about it? Aren't you happy?"

Should I be happy?

Shouldn't it?

Listening to He Daqi and Lu Yang's bizarre conversation, Ning Hao, Xu Guangtou, and Huang Bo all turned to look at them, their lips twitching.

"Daqi, are you releasing an album?" Ning Hao asked, somewhat surprised.

This is also He Daqi's fault. Only Liu Ying and other management at Ya Yue knew about his song recording. He Daqi didn't tell anyone else, and Liu Ying and the others kept their mouths shut. That's why Ning Hao was so surprised when he heard the news.

Lu Yang had just been tricked by He Daqi and was still a bit confused. But when Ning Hao asked him, he finally realized what was going on and asked, "Senior, are you releasing an album? Should I shoot the music video?"

After saying that, he slapped his forehead and cursed under his breath, wondering what he had been thinking.
Why are you all so surprised? What's wrong? Can't I even have a dream of becoming a singer?

Seeing He Daqi's cheerful appearance, Ning Hao couldn't help but click his tongue and tease him, "You're already at this level, why are you still trying to sing after being an actor? Take a break and leave some food for others."

"Wow! Senior brother, you're quite kind-hearted!" He Daqi looked at Ning Hao with surprise, then grinned and patted Ning Hao on the shoulder, saying, "I've decided, of the twelve music videos, six will be directed by Lu Yang, and the other six will be directed by you. How about that? Isn't that generous?"

"I shouldn't have answered!" Ning Hao slapped He Daqi's hand off his shoulder and turned to focus on editing the crazy racing video.

He Daqi wanted to tease Ning Hao a bit more, but his arm was gently patted.

Turning his head, he saw Huang Bo smiling and nodding at him.

"What's wrong, Brother Bo?"

"Mr. He, I..."

Upon hearing this, He Daqi immediately interrupted, saying, "Call me Daqi."

"Um, well, Daqi, I have something I'd like to discuss with you." Huang Bo smiled somewhat ingratiatingly. "Brother Bo, go ahead, no need to be so polite. We're both graduates of Beijing Film Academy, we're on the same side, and even 90% of our company are graduates of Beijing Film Academy, so there's no need to hide anything from each other."

These words made Xu Zheng, who was standing next to him, quite uncomfortable. He blinked and looked around before realizing that this was a Beijing Film Academy campus, and he was the only one from the Shanghai Theatre Academy.

Damn it, I really want to rub my bald head!

"Well, here's the thing. A friend of mine from my hometown is also a director, and I've become quite well-known now, so he invited me to direct an art film. But Mr. Wu is holding me back, so I'm hoping you can help me put in a good word and ask him to let me go," Huang Bo said somewhat embarrassedly.

"An art film? Sister Wu doesn't agree? Have you read the script? It's not a banned film, is it?"

"No! No! It's a proper art film! It's about fighting the Japanese invaders during the War of Resistance Against Japan. The reason Ms. Wu disagreed was that she thought the film was unlikely to be released, and even if it was, it wouldn't do well at the box office. Her plan for me is that I should lean more towards commercial films in the future, rather than honing my skills in art films."

"I see..." He Daqi pretended to think, but his mind went into the film library. He quickly browsed through Huang Bo's information. Based on the time, Huang Bo was probably referring to the movie "Cow" which was filmed next May and released the year after next September, because Huang Bo was the lead actor in the movie.

He Daqi clicked on Cow Fighting again and glanced at it. The first thing he checked was whether the film was banned. After finding that it wasn't, he looked at the film's box office. It was indeed not high, only less than 12 million. When He Daqi saw this, he was thinking of asking Huang Bo to turn down the movie.

He continued reading, but when he saw the awards announcement, he was slightly taken aback. Huh? Huang Bo won Best Actor for this movie?

He Daqi himself has benefited from the popularity of Best Actor awards, so he knows all too well how much Huang Bo's status would rise if he won Best Actor.

He opened his eyes and looked at Huang Bo strangely, making Huang Bo feel a little uncomfortable.

"...Da Qi?"

"Brother Bo, you have to make this movie! Don't worry, I'll talk to Sister Wu, she definitely won't stop you!"

"Thank you so much!"

……

……

The music video shoot went very smoothly, almost too smoothly.

To He Daqi's surprise, Ning Hao actually put aside his crazy racing post-production editing to come and help He Daqi shoot music videos for six songs.

This made He Daqi wonder to himself, "Why do I have such a good relationship with my senior brother?"

It's worth noting that Ning Hao is currently the director with the highest single-film box office in China. He Daqi was just joking when he said that asking him to direct a music video was a joke. Even Lu Yang would be a bit of a waste of his talents to do this kind of work.

As it turns out, the filming went so smoothly that Ning Hao and Lu Yang each filmed six songs for He Daqi, and even worked overtime to edit the music videos, which made He Daqi quite grateful.

However, his small amount of gratitude quickly vanished.

When he stepped onto the third floor of Yonghui Qiming again to admire his finished music video, Ning Hao chuckled and told him something.

Crazy Stone has been nominated for the Golden Rooster Award.

Looking at Ning Hao's smiling face, He Daqi suddenly felt like he had lost out.

As for the Golden Rooster Awards, it would be difficult to help Ning Hao win Best Film, but it would be quite easy to help him win Best Director.

After all, you have good friends everywhere these days, so you don't need to specifically ask for help. Just a few words and someone will come to help you.

The problem is that Ning Hao has already won the Golden Elephant Award with Crazy Stone. If he wins the Golden Rooster Award this time, then no matter how good the data is for "I Speak of Flowers and Kills a Hundred Flowers" in the next selection, he will not win the Best Director Award again. He can still win the Best Film Award, but it is unlikely that Ning Hao will be the one to accept it.

"Senior brother, have you thought this through? If you win all the prizes with the Crazy Stone this time, you'll basically get nothing next time."

“It’s okay, I know. And I also know that if I don’t win the Golden Rooster Award for Best Director this time, ‘After My Flowers Bloom, All Others Wither’ will definitely win Best Film next time, but I might not win Best Director. That’s why I wanted to win the Golden Rooster Award this time.”

Clearly, Ning Hao also had his own ulterior motives.

Thinking about it that way, it makes sense. The Golden Rooster Awards are known for producing many jackpots. Given that "After My Flowers Bloom, All Others Wither" is already slated for Best Film, they might not actually give Best Director to Ning Hao just for the sake of creating hype.

"I didn't realize! Senior brother, you have such profound thoughts."

"If I didn't think things through, would I have become a director?" Ning Hao proudly raised his head.

"Okay, I got it. Just wait to receive the award."

After finishing speaking, He Daqi waved his hand, took the CD, and turned to leave the work area.

Back in his office, He Daqi waved the CD in his hand and asked Zhou Huimin, who was petting the cat, "Should we listen to it here or go back to listen to it?"

“Go back and listen to it, put it on DVD, and let the kids see what it’s like to see their dad show off his singing voice.”

Zhou Huimin's words made He Daqi a little embarrassed.

This is different from movies and TV dramas. The thought of his two children listening to his songs at home made He Daqi feel a little ashamed.

"Why don't we just listen here?"

"Let's go! Let's go back now! Stop dawdling here!"

Vivian Chow hugged the cat with a grin and used her body to push Ho Tai-kai outwards.

At the company, He Daqi didn't want to cause trouble for her, so he went along with her and walked out.

Half an hour later, the couple returned to the villa.

He Daqi breathed a sigh of relief when he opened the door and saw that the children were not home. He was about to tell Zhou Huimin to come back to the bedroom with him to watch music videos on the computer when he heard the laughter of the two children behind him.

"Surprised? I texted my aunt and asked her to tell Grandma that we came back early today and wanted to play with the kids a little longer, so Grandma can bring them back early." Zhou Huimin looked at the stunned He Daqi and covered her mouth with a light laugh.

He Daqi clicked his tongue, ignored her, and turned to greet them. Hearing that the old lady and Mr. He were not planning to come in, he chatted with his grandparents at the door for a few minutes before leading the child into the villa.

"Come on, listen to Daddy sing a song."

Under Zhou Huimin's smiling gaze, He Daqi squatted down and kissed the two little ones' cheeks on either side before putting the disc into the DVD player.

Amidst the two little ones' cheerful playful antics, He Dayi used the remote control to select one of the two English songs.

As the music of "Centuries" began, the atmosphere instantly heated up with the accompanying vocals.

The two little ones jumped and danced to the rhythm, completely forgetting their original intention of listening carefully to how their dad sang.

(End of this chapter)