Unboxing, Director!

Chapter 138 Muscles Fill Your Eyes
"The World's Number One" was labeled as "the last pure martial arts novel" in its original timeline.

Before it, martial arts dramas were mainly adapted from Jin Yong and Gu Long works, and their style was traditional.

Examples include TVB's "Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils", "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" and "Heavenly Sword and Dragon Sabre".

After it, the traditional spirit of chivalry faded, and martial arts dramas gradually became more fantastical, like "Swords of Legends" and more idol-oriented, like "The Untamed".

"The World's Number One" stands at a turning point, possessing both the soul of traditional martial arts and a new narrative style, encompassing chivalry, power struggles, love and hate, and becoming "the last pure martial arts novel."

Aside from the "pure" aspects of the plot and narrative, the martial arts action and scenes are also relatively "authentic".

Although martial arts films of this era have more technological elements than those of five or six years ago, they are still based on real swords and guns compared to later generations.

Therefore, for Lu Jiang, shooting his first martial arts film was initially quite chaotic.

For example, there's a scene where Duan Tianya is in the bamboo forest.

The simple act of wielding a sword to fight the enemy, with bamboo leaves fluttering around, evokes a strong sense of martial arts chivalry.

However, just finding the filming location took the crew four hours to recreate it, because getting from the hotel to the location involved taking a detour through the mountains.

Once we arrived at the location, the action director spent another half a day rehearsing, adjusting the wires, and the blowers.

When actors take the stage and filming begins, it's common for them to make mistakes, and retakes are a regular occurrence.

If the falling leaves don't look good in the shot, you have to start over.

Therefore, everything from makeup to scene selection, action design and rehearsal, shot breakdown, and the use of traditional auxiliary props was done.

Even a simple martial arts scene takes a whole day to recreate the original effect.

This is only because Yu Bo already had experience in action scenes; otherwise, it would have taken much longer.

This is completely different from the scene in the cheat code simulation.

In a simulator, a single thought has almost no effect on the environment.

In reality, you have to consider environmental factors and even figure out how to make good use of them.

While the results were satisfactory, they were indeed time-consuming and laborious.

It's no wonder that later generations gradually abandoned the real-life scenes.

Martial arts moves started to become slow motion and gestures made in place, and eventually they were simply turned into fantasy and computer-generated special effects.

I really don't want to be this tired!
Of course, market demand and capital's pursuit of efficiency are another reason.
After a day of filming, the staff and actors returned to their hotel exhausted to rest.

Lu Jiang, on the other hand, continued working, full of energy, and didn't seem tired at all.

The enhanced body, thanks to the cheat code, was completely worth the price at this moment.

Back at the hotel, Lu Jiang had a discussion with the program team from Enlight Media.

This time, "The World's Number One" boasts the original cast of "Meteor Garden", so the initial popularity of this drama is not on the same level as other dramas.

With five super popular actors in one project, "The World's Finest" temporarily overshadowed the current hits "Hero" and "Romance in the Rain".

Countless fans want to know more about the new drama, but the production team is keeping it very secret.

As a result, after the official announcement of the start of filming, various media outlets began to visit the set and take photos without permission.

Fans from mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Southeast Asia sent letters, and even pilgrims flocked to the filming location.

To meet the needs of fans, Dawn and Light collaborated to produce a simple pre-production promotional video without affecting the filming process, releasing some information and behind-the-scenes footage.

Enlight Media's "China Entertainment Report" has been renamed "Entertainment Live," and it is divided into a mainland version and an international version.

Riding on Lu Jiang's coattails, Guangxian is already intentionally exploring Southeast Asia.

Whether it will be successful is unknown, but at the very least, this initial promotional video will definitely boost viewership.

So the next day, the Enlight Media production team settled in at the "The World's Number One" set and began filming for two weeks.

First is Lu Jiang.

Lu Jiang's main role this time is director, but he will make a cameo appearance as Gu Santong.

The character Gu Santong only had two or three scenes in the original version, so they didn't bother to find someone else to play the role and Lu Jiang played it himself.

This time, some scenes have been revised and added.

The extra scenes are set in the imperial prison.

In other words, the elderly version of Gu Santong passed on his skills to his son Cheng Shifei.

The original version featured an elderly actor, but this time Lu Jiang will play the role himself.

This is to complement the youth-preserving properties of the Absorption Technique.

Currently, only two living people in the show know this skill.

One is Gu Santong, and the other is Zhu Wushi.

So it's natural to respond in kind.

In the revised scenes, Lu Jiang showed off his muscles.

As for the Vajra Indestructible Divine Skill, it naturally needs to be demonstrated in more detail.

So in the intelligence footage, Gu Santong is seen shirtless in his courtyard, practicing martial arts with a humming tone.

His muscular physique later earned him the nickname "Little Lu Jiang".

Then the younger version of Zhu Wushi arrived and exchanged pleasantries with Gu Santong.

Before they could chat for long, his fiancée, Su Xin, appeared and thoughtfully wiped Gu Santong's body and draped an outer garment over him.

This was also the first time Zhu Wushi had seen Su Xin, and then he got drunk, and Su Xin also got drunk.

You stand in the courtyard looking at the ancient three passages.
Zhu Wushi, standing outside the courtyard, is watching you.

Muscles fill your eyes.

You adorned Zhu Wushi's dream.
So this is another love triangle?

Expectation!

Next up is Qiao Zhenyu, who plays Zhu Wushi, and Lu Jiang redesigned his look this time.

In the setting, the Absorption Technique is given the characteristic of eternal youth, but it only affects the face. Hair and bodily functions are unaffected and will still age, otherwise it would be too overpowered.

Therefore, the mature version of Zhu Wuwei is no different from the younger version in terms of appearance; both are so handsome and have such smooth skin.

However, his hair was now completely tied up in a tuft of gray-white locks, with two long, flowing sideburns hanging down his chest. Paired with a pure white royal robe embroidered with gold and dragon patterns, he exuded an air of noble, mature elegance. The addition of a wheelchair further accentuated his sense of disability. Upon his appearance, everyone present was immediately struck by his striking appearance.

When the show resumed, Zhu Wushi, before his transformation into a villain, relied entirely on his eyes to convey the character.

Without moving his body, he merely raised his eyes and smiled slightly, which made people feel as if they were bathed in a spring breeze.

"You can't tell at all that this is a villain."

Those watching on site couldn't help but sigh, and were even more eager to see Qiao Zhenyu's character turn to the dark side later on.

Next up is Yu Bo.

It's a bit of a pity about Yu Bo.

Because of scheduling conflicts, the actor who plays Yagyu Tajima-no-kami, Kurata Yasuaki, had to film his scenes in a concentrated period.

Therefore, when gathering intelligence on Yu Bo, Yu Bo was either being beaten or being rescued.

However, Yu Bo is very confident about this.

After Xiao Shiyilang

"I've got quite a bit of experience with serious injury scenes. Just watch, I'm sure I'll make you all look incredibly handsome!"

Yu Bo patted his chest and said this.

This is true.

Yu Bo's new look this time concealed the flaw of his large forehead.

He has already filmed an action movie, so he has a foundation in martial arts.

Therefore, his action scenes are very entertaining on camera.

Moreover, with the blood added to the corners of his mouth, the sense of brokenness did indeed deserve the word "cool".

Moreover, the key point is not only that he looks handsome, but he also has the best luck with women in the show.

Fan Binbin plays two roles, both of whom fall in love with Duan Tianya.

As for Fan Binbin's role this time, putting everything else aside, just the Empress's princess-cut hairstyle alone is enough to make everyone drool.

Tell me loudly what a goddess of beauty is!

Above all, "beauty".

And, cool!

Following Lu Jiang's order.

Just moments ago, Fan Binbin was all smiles and gentleness, but the next second he leaped up, wielding a Japanese sword.

Blowers and fallen leaves flew together in a flurry.

The extras fell down one after another.

After the flashing of swords, Fan Binbin turned to the side and put down the blood-stained blade, his eyes fierce.

With that princess cut hairstyle, she's really ruthless when she starts chopping people up!

However, it's rumored that Fan Binbin will be playing two roles this time?
looking forward to!

Then came the shots of the new actors.

Not much was shown, after all, the original cast is the main character.

But it's also quite interesting.

For example, Michelle Ye's Cantonese, Yagyu Tajima-no-kami's Japanese ghost language, and the Thai language spoken by the Thai artist selected by Thailand who played Princess Asa, etc.

The intermingling of multiple languages ​​leads to frequent laughs.

Cui Peng is a newcomer, but he has striking good looks and is dedicated to his work. He might gain his first wave of fans after the promotional video airs.

Shu Chang is quirky and playful, and her bickering with Zhang Jin makes them quite a good couple.

Zhang Jin's face looks a bit young now, but he moves with the most graceful and handsome movements. He will probably gain his first wave of fans after the promotional video is released.

In the promotional video, Lu Jiang also gave Baoqiang a shot. Baoqiang mainly appeared as a production assistant and stunt double, but he also made a cameo appearance as an extra in the film. It is believed that this will become an Easter egg in future archival footage.

The new actors were lively and cheerful, making the whole crew seem full of love.

However, some observant people have already noticed a problem.

What about Deng Chao?
Fortunately, it was finally Deng Chao's turn.

But after seeing the clip about Deng Chao in the promotional video, everyone burst out laughing.

The promotional video didn't reveal any information about Deng Chao's role.

In all the clips featuring Deng Chao, he is observing his colleagues' performances.

And it wasn't just watching from the sidelines; after watching, he tried it out himself.

As a result, he got hit on the head by a weapon while wielding it, screamed in terror while being suspended by wires, and was kicked in the shinbone by Shu Chang while learning sparring moves. He then hugged his leg and jumped around while hissing.
While the audience laughed, they also began to wonder what role Deng Chao would be playing.

While Deng Chao is playful off-screen, he is more serious than anyone else on-screen.

This time, Qiao Zhenyu took on the most challenging role of Zhu Wushi, which put a lot of pressure on Deng Chao, so he put a lot of effort into his performance.

Lu Jiang also encouraged Deng Chao to use his brain more, so during the actual filming, Deng Chao had a few more scenes, and many scenes incorporated the use of props.

For example, in the early stages, the young emperor had something to do whenever he met anyone.

He's either doing woodworking or carving.

During a performance, the lines, eye contact, and so on often revolve around the action at hand and then return to the present.

This performance style immediately reminded Lu Jiang of Emperor Qing from "Joy of Life," who was always studying arrows.

In fact, this idea was indeed Chen Daomin's.

Deng Chao and Chen Daomin established a good relationship during the filming of "The Emperor of Han Dynasty", so Deng Chao directly consulted him this time, which led to the new character design.

The new young emperor was constantly indulging in frivolous pursuits in the early stages of the story, making the whole character seem somewhat muddle-headed and incompetent.

But it wasn't until later, as the handicrafts in his hands gradually took shape, that the audience finally realized that Deng Chao was actually making a chessboard and chess pieces.

Simultaneously, Deng Chao's identity as the mastermind behind everything will be fully revealed. Lu Jiang also expressed his anticipation for how the audience will react.
(End of this chapter)