Chinese entertainment starts with Hong Shixian

Chapter 338 Chen Duling and Chen Yao, a clear-headed but foolish college student
A few days later, Feng Xiaogang's film "Personal Tailor" was released.

Despite the poor reputation, theaters don't care about that; all they care about is making money.

Feng Xiaogang is a big name, and deserves good screen time from theaters.

Soon, the box office figures came out: the opening day box office was just over 70 million.

It's not as good as Qi Hui's performance in "Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon," or even as good as Qi Hui's supporting role in "Painted Skin 2."

But these numbers are still pretty good compared to other movies.

Huayi Brothers is ramping up its promotional efforts, aiming to replicate the box office success of "Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon" and "Painted Skin 2".

But just as "Personal Tailor" was doing well at the box office, film critics began to criticize Feng Xiaogang's film online.

His views were incredibly sharp, saying that Feng Xiaogang was no longer the ordinary director he once was, but had become a capitalist.

His films are no longer as sharp and satirical as they used to be; instead, they are superficial, merely scratching the surface, and even condescendingly mocking the lower classes.

The audience didn't think much of it, but Feng Xiaogang was taken aback.

He got into a war of words with film critics on Weibo, and when he appeared on TV and gave interviews, he directly attacked the film critics.

He vehemently denounced film critics as idiots, saying they knew nothing and only knew how to spout nonsense.

Qi Hui chuckled for a while, judging from the extent to which the film critics had broken down, they were probably telling the truth.

Otherwise, Feng Xiaogang wouldn't be so furious.

Huayi Brothers didn't react much to this situation.

He did not respond to the criticisms from film critics, nor did he stop Feng Xiaogang from breaking down his defenses.

Controversy attracts attention, and attention translates to box office success.

I wish there would be more of these kinds of controversies; Huayi is rarely interested.

As Huayi Brothers predicted, "Personal Tailor" saw a steady increase in box office revenue, despite poor reviews.

The majority of the firepower was drawn to Feng Xiaogang, while they stayed behind the scenes to make money.

Huairou, north of the capital

Film and television base
The first snow of the year fell in the capital, the north wind howled, and snowflakes fluttered down... Of course, Qi Hui was in no mood to watch.

He's busy setting up the set with the crew.

"The Glorious Era" is set in the capital city at the time of the founding of the People's Republic of China. The police stations, alleys, and city walls at that time needed to be arranged according to historical records.

The project is not small.

In addition, a large area of ​​the sky overhead needs to be covered by a green screen.

The capital city is shrouded in smog right now, so it's all hazy and impossible to take pictures.

We can only use a green screen and add special effects later.

This is why the filming costs were somewhat high.

Besides the sets, costumes, and actors, explosion scenes and special effects also cost money.

These days, everyone thinks that the air quality problem in Beijing is the fault of the Loess Plateau in northern China.

Everyone's attention is focused on the domestic market.

I later learned that while there were indeed problems domestically, the bigger problems were abroad.

"Props team," Kong Sheng instructed repeatedly, "The paint on the wooden door needs to look older; it looks too new."

"Also, make sure there's dust on the steps at the entrance, and some dry firewood, old bamboo mats, etc., set them out quickly..."

Kong Sheng kept shouting as he walked around the scene.

Under his direction, the props and set design teams worked in an orderly manner.

On the other side, Qi Hui nodded in satisfaction as he watched all this. Old Kong truly lived up to his reputation as a veteran cadre.

A solid batch!
Qi Hui temporarily shifted his attention to the sidecar motorcycle beside him.

In the film, he had to ride quite a few bikes.

There were old-fashioned bicycles, sidecar motorcycles, and old-fashioned convertible jeeps.

Motorcycles and jeeps are fine; you'll get used to them after a few tries.

But this old-fashioned bicycle is a bit tricky. Qi Hui has some trouble figuring out the riding style where he steps on the pedal with his left foot and straddles it with his right.

He couldn't quite learn to ride a bike like his grandfather did.

He did ride a bicycle when he was a child, but the bicycles of that time no longer had the big crossbar in the middle.

When he started school, Qi Hui became a boarder and never rode a bicycle again.

The next time he rides a bicycle, it will be the same yellow bike he used to ride in college... Damn it, Qi Hui gets angry just thinking about it.

He hasn't gotten his deposit back yet!
The queue numbers looked like gibberish, stretching back ninety years!

Just as Qi Hui was pondering how to ride an old-fashioned bicycle, Xiao Yang arrived at the film set with two girls.

They came before Qi Hui.

"Boss, what are you doing?" Xiao Yang's lips twitched... This is like a kid playing with a car, have some manners!
As Xiao Yang spoke, Chen Duling and Chen Yao behind him were also sizing up Qi Hui. Chen Duling looked at this handsome man with a rugged appearance and deep-set features with some curiosity.

She had seen many of Qi Hui's performances, including Xie Ruolin, Hong Shixian, Xiao Zhuang, Jiang Xiaoyu, and Xiao Heyun...

Especially Xiao Heyun, who was heartbroken after watching the last episode of "The Beginning".

In the dormitory, when Xiao Heyun died in Li Shiqing's arms, all four of them cried.

They cried their eyes out, and one of the girls even ruined her makeup.

She is from Lucheng, Fujian Province. When the film "The Beginning" was being shot, she went to watch it a few times when she had nothing to do.

Later, when "The Beginning" started airing, she made a point of watching it, but unexpectedly... sigh!

Now, facing Qi Hui face to face, I feel a sense of both familiarity and strangeness.

He's just as handsome and good-looking as he looks on TV.

But he's different from the person I see on TV. He doesn't seem like someone I know. It's not Xie Ruolin, it's not Xiao Heyun...

Chen Duling never imagined that she would be acting alongside the big star Qi Hui, just like the other actors she had seen.

Unlike Chen Duling, Chen Yao was somewhat excited.

Qi Hui is a famous figure at the Beijing Film Academy. Teachers often talk about him in class, and classmates frequently ask him questions and analyze excerpts from his works.

Chen Yao was naturally excited to see her promising young senior.

"It's for acting," Qi Hui answered Xiao Yang's question without changing his expression. "I have a lot of scenes where I ride a bike and carry people, so of course I need to familiarize myself with the ride beforehand."

After Qi Hui finished speaking, without giving Xiao Yang a chance to react, his expression slowly turned serious, and he asked, "Did you need something from me?"

Xiao Yang turned to the side, revealing the two girls behind him, and said, "These two are Chen Duling and Chen Yao, the actresses for Xian Yi and Xiao Dongxi."

"Oh," Qi Hui glanced at the two girls and thought they were just too green.

Chen Yao is alright; although she's still a bit green, you can see some signs of her acting skills.

Chen Duling is the only exception; her temperament seems completely out of place for an actress.

He has the look and temperament of a college student, and also that clear yet naive look in his eyes.

"Hello, Teacher Qi!" the two girls said in unison.

Qi Hui jolted awake and instinctively stood up straight: "Hello... classmates!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Qi Hui realized something was wrong... What was all this about?

He immediately clenched his fist and coughed lightly: "From now on, just call me Director, don't keep calling me Teacher."

"On a film set, you should address people by their job titles."

"Yes!"×2
The two girls answered in unison.

"Clothing, makeup!" Qi Hui shouted, turning his head.

Soon, two women came running over: Wan Lei, the head of the makeup team, and Li Na, the head of the costume team.

The two men stood at attention in front of Qi Hui, awaiting orders.

"Let these two actresses try on costumes." Qi Hui pointed to Chen Duling and Chen Yao: "This is Xian Yi, and this is the little one."

The two men were taken aback for a moment, then immediately led the two actors into the dressing room.

Qi Hui stopped fiddling with the bicycle and started getting down to business.

"Chen Duling has no experience in acting. What are your thoughts?" Qi Hui asked casually.

"I've already found her a performing arts teacher," Xiao Yang said. "Give her a final push, and she should be fine."

Qi Hui nodded. Although Chen Duling had never studied acting, she had worked part-time as a print model and was no stranger to the camera.

What she lacks is knowledge of acting, and besides, her learning ability is quite good.

After a while, Chen Duling and Chen Yao came out.

Chen Duling changed into a blue-gray long dress. The weather was a bit chilly, so she wore a dark red woolen trench coat with a fur collar over it.

During the Republican era, the temperament of progressive young female students suddenly emerged.

Coincidentally, the character Sin Yi in the play is a recent college graduate.

Chen Duling is a perfect fit for this role.

Qi Hui turned his gaze to Chen Yao, who was wearing a white cheongsam with indigo blue floral patterns.

It was very tight; the thin clothing clung tightly to her skin.

Coupled with her somewhat youthful face, there was something strange about her.

The little girl in the play was tricked into becoming a prostitute. She was young and rejected the identity of a prostitute.

Chen Yao fits the bill quite well.

Qi Hui stroked his chin and said, "Chen Yao's makeup... should be made a little more tacky."

“In the play, the little girl is a prostitute, and this makeup doesn’t give her a proper, worldly look.”

(End of this chapter)