I am a historical film director in the entertainment industry.

If two machines are used, a typical TV drama scene may need to be filmed around nine times; a movie scene may need to be filmed 28 times or even more.

There were many takes, partly due to the director. For example, Wong Kar-wai, in his pursuit of perfection, had the actors reshoot seventy or eighty times. Liu Jialing even had over 90 takes for a scene where she was mopping the floor, all to capture the 'right feeling'.

During the filming of "Days of Being Wild," the scene where Cheung Kwok-yung was holding a toothpick in his mouth required multiple takes, and it was only completed on the 14th attempt.

On the contrary, on Cheng Sheng's set, because of the immersive experience, as long as there are no unexpected external reasons or the actors are really bad and unable to get into character, it is considered normal.

Cheng Sheng smiled but didn't intend to explain, since no one would believe it if he told them about cheating.

Forget it.

Just consider it a testament to your excellent ability to train actors!

Anyway, that's what people say about him.

Fifteen minutes later.

"Scene 1, third shot begins."

Seeing that everyone had rested enough and the set was ready, Cheng Sheng announced that filming would continue.

……

While Cheng Sheng and his team were filming at sea, news of the start of filming for "Zheng He's Voyages to the West" had already appeared in domestic media.

People in Hollywood are also paying attention to news about Cheng Sheng's new film.

After all, historical films have been very popular in Hollywood in recent years, and their box office revenue has even exceeded that of Hollywood blockbusters.

Chinese historical films are making money in Hollywood. Isn't that a slap in the face to Hollywood film companies?

While some Chinese-language films have been very popular in Hollywood in the past, those were all films of other genres.

Historical films, unless they are produced domestically, have virtually no market abroad.

This phenomenon is not unique to China; historical films from other countries also struggle to achieve good box office results in other countries.

This is actually quite normal.

After all, the two sides have different cultures and values. People in China can understand their own history films, but people from other countries can only understand them as if they were reading gibberish.

However, Cheng Sheng's historical films broke this curse.

From "The Great Tang Dynasty 1" and "The Three Kingdoms" to "Ten Red Army Soldiers Sent Off," these books have been very popular abroad, sparking interest in Chinese history among people overseas, who have purchased and read many Chinese history books.

In the past, when Westerners talked about China, those who had never been to China would often subconsciously think that China was both backward and poor.

They have never set foot in China, yet they shamelessly claim that "China is backward," "Chinese people don't have enough to eat," and "China is like a giant North Korea."

Of course, there are reasons for such misunderstandings.

For many foreigners, the eating habits of the Chinese are "incomprehensible".

For example, the idea of ​​eating offal immediately makes many Westerners frown.

Their logic is: Offal? Isn't that just the cheapest by-product from the slaughterhouse? Only poor people eat that!

What they didn't know was that Chinese food culture emphasizes "making the most of everything," meaning that every part of a chicken, duck, fish, or pig can be turned into a dish.

Pig liver is a good source of iron, duck blood can be added to hot pot, and Buddha Jumps Over the Wall is a classic dish, with pig stomach as one of its ingredients. Its flavor is far superior to that of their steaks. Unfortunately, what foreigners often see is not these flavorful delicacies, but rather misled by out-of-context descriptions and images, such as street stalls in certain places, or the "hard times" shown in some historical photos.

Little did they know that the streets and alleys of China had long been occupied by all kinds of delicious food and snacks, and that it was common for people to have long queues at restaurants overnight.

Another point to consider is the toilet, which is also a common source of misunderstandings about China among foreigners.

In earlier years, there were indeed many dry toilets in rural China, and the sanitation conditions in some areas were far from satisfactory.

These images were captured by the media, amplified, and interpreted, becoming a symbol of "China's backward infrastructure."

But today, China has undergone earth-shattering changes.

The rural toilet renovation campaign was fully launched several years ago, and the sanitary conditions in many rural areas are now no less than those in cities.

Public restrooms in big cities are so luxurious that they leave foreign tourists speechless.

Smart toilets, fully automatic sensor flushing systems, and even dedicated cleaning staff.

For example, a 2006 report showed that China had completed the modernization of more than 70% of rural toilets nationwide.

The speed of this change was astonishing, not to mention foreigners, even Cheng Sheng himself, who had another set of memories.

Unfortunately, these achievements are often "selectively ignored" by the media, while old photos from decades ago are occasionally dug up, leading foreigners to mistakenly believe that China is still in a "dirty and chaotic" stage.

This method of disseminating information out of context actually reveals the deeper logic behind Western media.

Even in the future, Western media will still describe China as being in the 1950s or 1960s.

They won't report how fast China's high-speed rail runs, they won't mention that China has built the world's largest highway network, and they certainly won't say that China's mobile payment system is far more advanced than their credit cards.

They prefer to focus on remote mountainous areas, or simply rehash old footage. Why?
Because these are more in line with the audience's stereotypical impression of China.

After all, a “poor and destitute” China makes it easier for them to find a sense of psychological superiority.

Moreover, this kind of subject matter is more in line with the commercial logic of the media, since contrasting themes such as "poverty and spectacle" are more likely to grab attention.

On the contrary, the images of "modern high-rise buildings" and "clean streets" are so bland that few people are willing to click to see them.

In fact, this prejudice is not just on the surface of culture; it is also deeply intertwined with ideological opposition.

In the eyes of many capitalist countries, socialist China is an "outlier".

This concept is instilled in students layer by layer from the beginning of school education through various textbooks and classroom discussions.

In their view, China's economic development is not a reflection of strength, but rather a so-called "concentration of resources to accomplish major tasks," as if the happiness index and living standards of the Chinese people can be completely ignored.

This ideological bias has led many people to have a completely unfair understanding of China.

They prefer to believe old arguments that have long been proven false, such as "China only knows how to copy," "Chinese people have no freedom," and "China's economy is not good." These outdated ideas still circulate in some places today.

The lag in cultural dissemination has exacerbated these prejudices.

Although China has made efforts to strengthen its cultural exports in recent years, it started late and its influence is limited compared with India, Japan and South Korea.

India, through its Bollywood films, has successfully cultivated a vibrant image; Japan and South Korea, with their music, anime, and television dramas, have swept the globe, deeply embedding their modern image in people's minds. (End of Chapter)