Director of Photography Department of Huayu

Chapter 369 Opening roads through mountains and building bridges over rivers
In late May, the sun shines again on the vast landscape of Chaidan Town, as if the first rays of sunlight have touched the earth after a long night.

The mountain shadows still carried a pale blue tinge of lingering morning frost, but where the sunlight fell, amidst the red rocks, there was a trembling patch of new green.

That was a clump of sprouting potatoes in the crew's artificial temperature-controlled incubator. The sprouts were no longer than a fingernail, yet they had already broken through the soil, like a symbol of human will that still held its head high after being crushed by a Martian dust storm.

At that moment, the entire tent seemed to fall silent.

"Director Wu, it's sprouted." The next day, the assistant on duty pulled back the tent and said softly.

Wu Chen stood in front of the incubator, his gaze fixed on the new green shoots, and said nothing.

Behind him, sunlight streamed through the half-open curtains, falling on his shoulders and casting a long, resolute shadow.

The wind was no longer the dry heat of yesterday; instead, it carried the unique cool fragrance and gravel of the plateau, gently brushing past the tents, lamp stands, and car tracks, as if offering a silent congratulation for the birth of this life.

The sound of a director's voice could be heard from the filming location not far away. Everything seemed normal, but the atmosphere had subtly changed.

Just like this country, it is also quietly welcoming the first glimmer of green life amidst the ruins of the earthquake.

The capital city, in the suburbs.

Sunlight streamed through the glass, falling on the hydroponic pothos plant that Liu Yifei had personally grown in her living room.

The new leaves of the roadside trees outside the window are lush and vibrant, and the city seems to have pressed the continue button.

"Junior brother, the new pothos I planted is growing really well. You'll see it when you come back."

Liu Yifei held the script for "Bad Genius" in her hand, occasionally glancing up at the potted green plant, and chuckled as she talked to Wu Chen.

“Okay, we should be able to see it at the beginning of next month.” Wu Chen chuckled upon hearing this.

"By the way, how's the Olympics going? There's a lot of news, and Director Zhang seems really busy."

"Hmm, it shouldn't be a problem. I also have a meeting tonight."

These days, the work on the Olympic Games has undoubtedly been affected in many ways, both positive and negative, and there are many opinions at present.

In the evening, the directing team and cultural and artistic consultants, including Wu Chen, held their usual meeting. They have already held two or three meetings recently, which is the most intensive period of time.

Wu Chen and Chen Kaige, among others, participated online.

"We're having this meeting today for two reasons: first, there are still suggestions for supplementing the cultural programs for this Olympics; and second, the project 'Modular Type Printing' is currently facing significant challenges," Zhang Yimou said, his voice slightly hoarse.

Not only Zhang Yimou, but also several core members of the director team looked somewhat tired, and their voices were not as strong as before.

There is a strong demand for adding new programs, but with only a few months left, the discussion reached a stalemate, and ultimately everyone gave up.

Immediately afterwards, Zhang Jigang sighed softly:
"The difficulty level of 'Modular Type Printing' is constantly increasing. The newly added animated projection part is indeed amazing, but it has also brought a series of new problems."

The precise timing of the actions needed to be down to 0.2 seconds. However, we were directing 897 soldiers, each performing 144 precise movements, totaling over 12 repetitions. Even the slightest deviation would cause the footage to become misaligned.

“We’ve tried music, rhythms, and so on, but some soldiers aren’t sensitive to pitch, so the pressure to achieve this level of precision is just too great,” another assistant director added. “The leadership has already seen the first internal rehearsal and has given very strong feedback. If the second rehearsal still doesn’t pass muster, the ‘Movable Type Printing’ project will probably have to be scrapped.” Zhang Yimou smiled wryly. “This isn’t just a matter of artistic effect anymore; it’s a matter of mission completion.”

Everyone remained silent for a long time, and the entire production team was also very frustrated.

"When we encounter mountains, we'll pave the way; when we encounter rivers, we'll build bridges." Ji Xianling spoke, his tone gentle yet firm. "Our country has withstood such huge external challenges, so we can find our own solutions to this little problem. There's nothing we can't solve."

"The old man is right."

Zhang Yi and the others breathed a sigh of relief, and everyone began to rack their brains for a solution.

Wu Chen didn't know much about the show, and hesitantly offered a suggestion: "If we're talking about timing, wouldn't it be simpler and clearer to arrange it into a 'one, two, three, four' chant?"

"One, two, three, four?" Everyone was taken aback, but upon closer inspection, it seemed to make some sense.

"Doesn't this sound a bit like a training command?" Zhang Yi asked hesitantly.

Zhang Jigang suddenly slammed his hand on the table, startling everyone online:
"Yes, yes, yes, it's training commands. The music soldiers definitely can't remember them, but the commands are different. We can change it to another way, like military boxing, and then we can arrange them into 'one, two, three, four' commands. That way, it will be much easier to remember."
Commands, rhythm, repetition—a combination of military-style movements—can achieve a precise target placement effect. Yes, this will work! Let's do it!

The directing team acted immediately, because there wasn't much time left for the Olympics.

The only truly outstanding project that hasn't been arranged yet is this one: "Modular Type Printing".

It was only a few days later that Wu Chen learned from Zhang Yi that after the arrangement was completed, the effect improved dramatically, and there was hope of passing the second leadership review.

At that time, Wu Chen was also filming the scene of planting potatoes in "The Martian".

Next to the incubator, Jiang Wen changed into his spacesuit.

Wu Chen sat behind the monitor, watching Jiang Wen on the screen with one hand on his knee and the other slowly raised, as if he wanted to gently touch that tender green through the air, but was afraid that if he touched it, he would destroy the only living thing on Mars besides himself.
June arrived quickly, bringing with it the warm breezes of early summer. The crew finished filming in Chaidan Town, with only two important locations remaining: the space agency and NASA.

"Director Jiang's scenes are finished. His acting was superb. I'm really looking forward to his next performance."

"Director Wu's directing skills are undeniable, and I had a lot of fun acting in it, but I'm even more looking forward to him acting under my management next time."

When the crew returned to Beijing, the back-and-forth between the two during an interview with the media caused a burst of laughter from the reporters. That evening, news articles were published and quickly spread across the internet, forums, and the film and television industry.

Filming for the main scenes of "The Martian" has wrapped, and filming is scheduled to wrap up in mid-June.

[Filming of "The Martian" is accelerating; Wu Chen is about to head to the United States for final filming!]

[Wu Chen returns to Beijing with the cast and crew of "The Martian": Jiang Wen's acting is impressive; Jiang Wen jokingly says, "Please ask Wu Chen to act in this film."]

The filming in Beijing took only a few days.

With the close cooperation of the space agency, the actors' scheduling and set design were all arranged properly. Wu Chen personally oversaw the multi-camera shooting of the "ground communication" part with the protagonist.

Subsequently, the core crew members officially set off for Los Angeles.

This was a pre-arranged wrap-up by Wu Chen and Universal Pictures: to finish filming in Hollywood and, incidentally, to give global media a big shout-out for the completion of "The Martian".
(End of this chapter)