I am a historical film director in the entertainment industry.

Chapter 161, "Buried Alive," is finished.

Cheng Sheng recalled the plot of the drama and said after thinking for a moment: "The male lead, Li Shi, is a special forces king. He serves as the leader of a special forces team and is responsible for carrying out peacekeeping missions. He is decisive, has a strong sense of justice, and often protects the vulnerable in emergency situations. The character is a combination of a soldier's sense of honor and responsibility."

"He is handsome and tall, with a humorous personality. He develops a romantic entanglement with the female lead, Kang Mo-yeon, during their mission in Uruk... The two become connected through their joint participation in an international rescue mission, and their love story runs through the grand narrative of war and medical relief."

"Therefore, the selection of the male lead is also extremely important. We must find an actor who is both handsome and has a strong sense of justice."

Yang Ting listened and nodded, which gave her a target for choosing the male lead.

After finishing his explanation, Cheng Sheng saw Sun Fei and Yang Ting off from the set, leaving the two of them to handle the affairs of the two TV series.

Aside from giving the female lead role to Da Tian Tian and Su Chang, he didn't plan to interfere in anything else.

With the script in place, and given Sun Fei and Yang Ting's abilities, as long as they don't drastically alter the script, the resulting TV series will definitely be good, and may even surpass the original work.

After all, Korean dramas have a fatal flaw: they are very petty.

Perhaps because they are from a young age and have to be mindful of the opinions of the Americans, Korean dramas are mostly about romance, and their props and costumes are often the subject of much criticism.

Especially the palaces in South Korea, compared to palaces in China, are just small earthen mounds.

There's something about South Korean films and television shows that makes you not even want to complain.

Korean works often use exaggerated plots to showcase South Korea's "strength" in military, economic and other fields. For example, works such as "Superpowered Tribe" depict fictional South Korean superpowered organizations fighting against Western forces.

This setting serves more as a dramatic conflict than a reflection of reality.

The movie "Superpowered" even fabricated a plot where "the president of South Korea led the navy to carry out a forced rescue," which shows that they are not afraid of being killed by other countries.

Cheng Sheng had seen a news report from another memory: how the US military stationed in South Korea could distinguish between Chinese and Koreans at a glance on the street.

After 70 years of observation, the U.S. military stationed in South Korea has discovered a reliable pattern: by identifying specific characteristics or behavioral patterns, it can accurately distinguish between people from different countries.

Observe the eyes and behavior.

When South Koreans encounter American soldiers, they react as if they've seen a tiger, often choosing to take a detour to avoid them. They avoid eye contact, appear overly respectful, fidget with their hands in front of their legs, speak haltingly, repeat themselves over and over, and are extremely nervous.

Why can people of the same race, both being of East Asian descent, distinguish Chinese people solely by their eyes and eyebrows? The differences are obvious and need no further explanation.

The Chinese dared to look directly into the eyes of the American soldiers, their gazes revealing sharpness and mockery, as if they were looking at migrant workers in a foreign land, with a unique scrutiny and curiosity.

According to the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) between U.S. forces in South Korea, South Korean police only have the right to detain U.S. military personnel when they are caught in the act of committing specific serious crimes.

This means, "Unless you catch me red-handed, there's nothing you can do to me!"

This shows the posture of a mouse seeing a cat.

This has led to a continuous rise in crimes committed by US troops stationed in South Korea, with 599 cases reported in a single year.

The data reflects that South Korea poses a serious security risk to the United States, making it seem like a 'backyard'.

So, don't be fooled by how glamorous South Korean actors appear in TV dramas; in reality, they are utterly humble when they encounter American soldiers. That day, Cheng Sheng had just finished filming in the morning when he received a call from Ning Hao, informing him that filming for "Buried Alive" had wrapped and asking if he wanted to return to Beijing for the wrap party.

Cheng Sheng thought about it and then refused, as going back and forth would waste at least two days.

Although he wasn't attending the wrap party, Cheng Sheng still inquired about the filming of "Buried Alive".

Filming for "Buried Alive" began in late July and has now wrapped up in about fifteen days, while the original "Buried Alive" wrapped up in about ten days.

Ning Hao added five more days than in the original work, clearly indicating that Ning Hao was striving for perfection.

In fact, the filming of "Buried" was very simple. The entire film was made by one person, and the only props in the film were a coffin, one person, and a mobile phone as the main communication tool, used to contact the outside world and to deduce the development of the plot.

There are also lighters, used for lighting and creating a tense atmosphere.

Other support items include simple props such as snakes and fools.

Of course, this movie has more than one male lead, and several supporting characters, but none of them have many scenes.

For example, Wang Zhi, who played the male lead's wife, only had a few scenes. Although she was called the female lead, she was practically a supporting actress or an extra.

The true protagonist of this movie is the male lead.

The original series "Buried" tells the story of Paul, an American truck driver who came to Iraq to work. He was captured by terrorists and buried alive in the desert in an extremely cruel way, with the truck driver, who is the protagonist of this film, in a coffin. They gave him hope of escape by giving him a cell phone with a low battery, a lighter, a pen, a glow stick, etc.

This film has a smaller space but a larger scope.

The entire film is completed by the male protagonist alone in a small coffin.

The dim, or even non-dark, environment, the cramped space where one cannot turn over, and the tense, painful breathing make the audience feel as if they are there to experience the protagonist's situation. The sense of tension and suffocation is created effortlessly.

The protagonist called the government, his company, and his relatives using his mobile phone, but he was just an ordinary citizen at the bottom of society, and no one spent money or time to rescue such a grassroots person. The government was worried that the protagonist would reveal that he had been buried alive and no one had come to rescue him, so they gave him a perfunctory answer, saying that the government would send someone to rescue him immediately.

This burly man shed tears of despair more than once, his cries of fear and helplessness echoing as he desperately sought survival.

The director's handling of the last five minutes was very powerful. Just when the driver was in despair, we suddenly saw hope, and we were all ready to applaud. But then the director pulled another twist: they dug the wrong hole!
The quicksand quickly covered the driver's face.

"Buried" was filmed from a Western perspective, and Cheng Sheng made many adaptations to make the film more suitable for the Chinese context.

For example, the part where the government is perfunctory towards the male lead must be changed, otherwise it won't even pass censorship.

Cheng Sheng changed the story to the government's all-out rescue of the male protagonist, but due to location issues, they were unable to find where the male protagonist was buried.

Cheng Sheng also made changes to the character of the wife. In the final scene, the male lead bids farewell to his wife, adding some emotional scenes.

Although there are more romantic scenes, it doesn't hinder the plot development; on the contrary, it makes the movie more human.

(End of this chapter)