Director of Photography Department of Huayu

Chapter 633 We are professional crashers
Shanghai, Lujiazui, 78th floor of the Shanghai World Financial Center.

The top-tier law firm that the film crew booked has now become the filming location for "The Warmest Thirty Days of My Life".

Beyond the massive floor-to-ceiling glass curtain wall, iconic buildings such as the Oriental Pearl Tower and Jin Mao Tower come into view.
Inside the film set, the atmosphere was quiet, with only the slight sound of the camera tracks moving.

Wu Chen was dressed in a dark gray suit, with a pair of thin gold-rimmed glasses perched on his nose, and his hair was neatly combed.

He sat behind a large desk, a mountain of documents piled in front of him, his face showing a deep weariness, as if he had been completely drained by work.
Liu Yifei and the others stood aside, suppressing their laughter.

Even Park Song-il and others who were familiar with Wu Chen were finding it hard to hold back.

Wu Chen felt helpless as he acted, and eventually gave up, looking at the crowd.

"Laugh if you want to. Do you know how much effort I put in? Do you know?"

"Hahaha, no, this is too funny."

Liu Yifei immediately bent over, slapped her thighs, and laughed heartily.

Park Song-il, Jo Bong, Shu Chang, and others couldn't help but join in.

Some people covered their mouths, while others had smiles in their eyes.

"No, director, it's just that I've never seen this side of you before, so it's a little strange. Don't worry, it's just this once, we're professionals."

When the staff member laughed, he quickly explained.

"Director, don't worry, yes, we are professionals," Park Song-il also helped explain.

"Heh, you guys better adjust yourselves and keep going. You've ruined all the emotions I've built up."

Wu Chen simply made up an excuse to shift the blame for not performing very well earlier.

Everyone knew this, of course, but what could they do if the director wanted to shirk responsibility? They could only silently bear it.

"By the way, lighting team, dim the main light source above and enhance the localized light from the desk lamp on my desk. I want to use the contrast of light and shadow to highlight the character's inner state."

"Props team, we feel like we could add a few more files to the table. It should be messy, but organized within the mess, to convey the sense of being out of control while the character is working."

Wu Chen scanned the scene again and added some details based on the character's state.

Meanwhile, outside the film crew, another major drama is unfolding in a completely opposite and incredibly exciting way.

The Warring States period film has been officially released.

To be honest, the release date of this movie was not bad.

Just after the Spring Festival holiday season, the domestic film market has been lacking in significant domestic blockbusters. While Hollywood sci-fi films like "Battle: Los Angeles" are gaining momentum, a large-scale domestic production that focuses on "ancient epic" undoubtedly has a huge appeal to ordinary audiences.

Coupled with the extensive pre-release publicity, many viewers, thinking "a 1.5 million investment can't be too bad," flocked to the cinemas.

Then they regretted it.

The following day, the box office figures for "The Warring States" were released – 1800 million.

In today's market environment, this result is not amazing for a big-budget production, but it is not bad either.

The entertainment sections of major portal websites also prominently featured it on their homepages.

However, in stark contrast to these respectable box office figures is the precipitous collapse in word-of-mouth.

Almost overnight, social media platforms where movie fans gather, such as Weibo, Douban, and Mtime, were flooded with complaints and anger about "The Warring States".

"I'm so fed up! As a viewer who loves domestic blockbusters, I feel like I haven't escaped a single bad movie! From 'The Promise' to 'A Simple Noodle Story,' and now 'The Warring States'! Please, just leave me alone!"

"It's infuriating! After watching it, I feel like my intelligence and historical knowledge have been insulted like never before. Sun Bin and Pang Juan fought for a woman? Screenwriter, come out here, I promise I won't kill you!"

"Jing Tian Universe is awesome! She single-handedly carried a 1.5 million yuan movie, every man loves her, every man would die for her! This is called 'Warring States'? It should be renamed 'Jing Tian and Her Men'!"

"The special effects are indeed impressive, and the budget was clearly well spent. But aside from the special effects, there's nothing else to it! I suggest renaming this movie 'The Warring States Period: Real Gold and Silver Squandered'!"

Following the audience's complaints, box office revenue plummeted.

On its third day of release, the daily box office had already fallen below ten million.

In the office of Starlight Brilliant Pictures, Lu Zheng stared blankly at the precipitous drop in box office revenue.

The box office drop caught him completely off guard.

It's not that he's particularly distressed about the 1.5 million investment; for the capital behind him, that amount of money is nothing.

What truly terrified him was that a large portion of the online abuse directed at the female lead, Jing Tian.

After all, Sun Honglei and Wu Zhenyu are both veteran actors who have been famous for a long time. Although they have been criticized a lot this time, they still have classic works to rely on and can withstand the criticism.

Jing Tian, ​​as a newcomer, was thrust into the spotlight.
He looked at Jing Tian, ​​who was equally at a loss, his face pale and filled with anxiety.

She seems to have messed up.

But she messed it up for some reason.

She clearly tried her best; she was just acting according to the script and the director's instructions.
The collapse of "Warring States" happened faster than anyone expected.

After six days in theaters, the cumulative box office was a mere 6000 million yuan. For an epic film that claimed to have an investment of 1.5 million yuan, this was undoubtedly a complete loss.

Even more dramatically, the production crew was the first to have internal conflicts.

Jiang Wu, who plays Pang Juan, publicly criticized the production company and director in an interview, saying that they cut a lot of his best scenes, leaving only some "dross", which he called "very stupid".

The production company also responded quickly.
Regardless of the truth, this public feud has turned "Warring States" into a well-known joke within the industry.

Ning Hao and Huang Bo, who had just finished filming "The Golden Era," were still discussing the matter with great interest when they arrived at Wu Chen's film crew.

"Putting everything else aside, Sun Honglei and Wu Zhenyu are quite resilient; they're real men," Huang Bo said with a smile, showing off his signature front teeth. "But they received such high salaries, so it's normal for them to get some criticism. You're paid to do what you're supposed to do."

If I had that money, I think I might be willing to take the film.

Upon hearing this, Wu Chen simply smiled.

Francis Ng didn't say much, but two years later, Sun Honglei's attitude changed completely.

He asked casually, "What, you guys went to see it too?"

"You absolutely have to see it! It's so brutal, isn't it?" Ning Hao said, shaking his head with a smile. "I only saw it in the movie theater. If I were at the premiere, I would have burst out laughing on the spot!"

"President Lu is forcing things to grow too fast. He should learn his lesson after this. You can't do movies like this."

After laughing, he got down to business: "By the way, my scenes can be arranged now."

After I finish your work, I can go back and oversee the post-production of "The Great Heist."

"Okay, I'll get it done for you in the next few days." Wu Chen nodded.

Ning Hao's cameo role in the film is that of a friend of Shen Shi'an's father and the landlord of the apartment Shen Shi'an rents in Shanghai. His role is not complicated and a few days are enough for him to appear.

While the Chinese film industry was abuzz with the film "The Warring States," another seemingly unrelated business news story was quietly brewing.

At Shanda Literature's headquarters, CEO Hou Xiaoqiang is still making final efforts for the IPO application to be submitted to the SEC next month.

Meanwhile, in the chairman's office of Shanda Group, Chen Tianqiao's phone rang as scheduled on Wu Chen's cell phone.
(End of this chapter)