HuaYu97: Starting as a Singer

Chapter 148 [148] The young War Wolf plays a supporting role, so there's no need to worry about martial arts attributes.

"I begin to write about this land, and the bloodline of the nation stretches for thousands of miles. Over the centuries, the descendants of the dragon have weathered storms. This central axis of the capital region remains as steadfast as the integrity of a gentleman. The glazed tiles on the Nine Dragon Wall mark the rise and fall of history."

These lyrics are so well written.

Liu Tiemin had to admire Qi Yuan's talent.

It seems he made the right request to Qi Yuan to change the song.

Prompting him really did bring out Qi Yuan's potential.

Even someone who can't read sheet music can tell that the lyrics are well-written just by looking at them.

Just reading the text, you can feel the grandeur of the story. "Yellow Race" is actually quite good, but compared to "Heaven and Earth Dragon Scales," it still seems small-scale.

There is no harm without comparison.

What impressed Liu Tiemin the most was that Qi Yuan really wrote all his requirements into the lyrics.

This poem contains historical connotations, cultural confidence, and national pride; it can be described as magnificent and awe-inspiring.

Liu Tiemin even dares to guarantee that this is absolutely the best song of this year's Spring Festival Gala.

After listening to the demo of the song brought by Qi Yuan, Qi Yuan also mentioned that he planned to compose the music using classical instruments such as the drum, guzheng, and flute.

Liu Tiemin interrupted Qi Yuan directly: "Alright, no need to say anything more, just use this one, I'll give feedback to the higher-ups."

If this song can't be changed, Liu Tiemin is willing to write his name backwards.

Is there a song more suitable for the Spring Festival Gala this year than "Heaven and Earth Dragon Scales"? Even the chief director, Liu Tiemin, thinks there isn't.

The other songs are all similar to "The Mountain Road Has Eighteen Bends", "Come Home Often", and "Hot Girl".

It's not that it's bad... Liu Tiemin thinks it's a bit rustic. Compared to these songs, Richie Jen's "The Girl Across the Way" is quite sophisticated.

"Heaven and Earth Dragon Scales" is remarkable for being grand and expressing the pride and cultural confidence of the Chinese nation without being vulgar.

Director Liu Tiemin was very much looking forward to how spectacular Qi Yuan's performance of "Heaven and Earth Dragon Scales" would be on February 15th.

Less than a day later, Liu Tiemin brought back news that the other directors in the directing team and the higher-ups unanimously agreed to replace "Heaven and Earth Dragon Scales".

Qi Yuan quickly summoned Hong Jingyao from Taiwan to Beijing to help with the arrangement, as he was more comfortable using his own personal arranger.

Liu Tiemin and Liu Yulu, the director in charge of program arrangement, designed a segment for Qi Yuan's "Heaven and Earth Dragon Scales".

While Qi Yuan was singing, a few people were asked to perform traditional martial arts on the side.

Qi Yuan was stunned when he saw the supporting role that the production team had found for him.

Hey!
A young wolf warrior?

That's right, it was Wu Jing who played a supporting role to Qi Yuan.

Wu Jing is from Beijing and has won the national martial arts competition's elite tournament championship in spear fighting and sparring.

He debuted in the Hong Kong film industry. He had a very high starting point, starting as the male lead. He was one of the few people who could play the lead role in Hong Kong films.

Unfortunately, Wu Jing's career peaked right at the start, and his career has been a rollercoaster ride ever since...

This is a sad story. In just a few years, Wu Jing went from being a leading man in Hong Kong films to a supporting actor in Hong Kong dramas.

This is related to Wu Jing's mentor, Yuan Heping.

Yuen Ho-ping is one of the most skilled action choreographers in Hong Kong, but his directing skills are far inferior to his action choreography skills.

With kung fu films declining in popularity, and Yuan Heping himself turning to television dramas, Wu Jing naturally couldn't get many film opportunities.

The second Li Lianjie is not so easy to create.

As the year draws to a close, Wu Jing returns to the capital to celebrate the New Year.

It's not surprising that the Spring Festival Gala production team found Wu Jing to perform martial arts.

"Brother Yuan, you're incredibly popular in Hong Kong. I hear your songs there every day." Wu Jing was very polite, putting himself in a humble position.

It's common knowledge that in the entertainment industry, being a "brother" has nothing to do with age, but everything to do with talent. Qi Yuan's status and influence far surpass his.

Even disregarding Qi Yuan's musical achievements and status in the music industry, Qi Yuan's achievements in the film and television industry far surpass his.

Qi Yuan is now the male lead in Jin Yong's drama.

If Qi Yuan is willing, he can still be the male lead in a poor Yao drama.

Wu Jingting was quite frustrated. His starting point was something many actors could only dream of, but he flopped right from the start.

"Kung Fu Kid" used the same team that made Li Lianjie famous, but the total box office was less than one million Hong Kong dollars, and his dream of becoming a kung fu superstar was shattered.

"I heard that Director Du Qifeng wants to cast you in a movie. Hong Kong films have been a bit sluggish these past two years, which is due to the financial crisis. Once the financial crisis is over, Hong Kong films will definitely regain their former glory. You're more handsome than me. As long as you're willing to work hard in the Hong Kong film industry, you'll definitely be ten or a hundred times more successful than me," Wu Jing said with some envy.

"..."

Qi Yuan thought there was a reason why Wu Jing had been failing for so many years.

Wu Jing has a very strong bias towards the Hong Kong entertainment circle.

Later, the Hong Kong film industry only offered him minor supporting roles with the most challenging action scenes and the highest risk of injury, but he still accepted them with great enthusiasm and continued to work in the Hong Kong film industry.

Around 2000, many production teams in mainland China were willing to invite him to play the second or third male lead in TV dramas.

If he hadn't been so focused on Hong Kong's entertainment circle, he would have had the opportunity to become famous in mainland China.

Qi Yuan couldn't possibly devote all his energy to Hong Kong.

Hong Kong can produce films that are suitable for production, but its main battleground and core market will always be the mainland, and that will never change.

Moreover, the decline of Hong Kong cinema was not significantly related to the financial crisis. Even without the financial crisis, Hong Kong cinema would have been barely alive.

Hong Kong films used to have two major box office markets: Taiwan and Southeast Asia.

After Taiwan opened its market to Hollywood blockbusters, Hong Kong films suffered a series of setbacks, leaving them with only the Southeast Asian market as their sole source of revenue.

Since the financial crisis, the Southeast Asian film market has been in a slump, and Hong Kong films have been in complete decline.

This wasn't said by Qi Yuan, but by Wang Jing later.

Hong Kong films have lost the conditions to regain their former glory.

"Director Du's movie was just a small-scale project. He approached his old employer, TVB, but they were unwilling to invest in it. In the end, he went to Taiwan, and they only gave him 250 million out of courtesy," Qi Yuan said.

"Only 250 million?" Wu Jing was slightly surprised.

Is 250 million enough to make a movie?
He suspected that the film would go over budget if it required several takes.

Indeed, that was the case; in his previous life, Du Qifeng required actors to get every take right in one take.

There was only one exception: Lin Xue, who was playing an important role in a film for the first time, and Du Qifeng gave him all the NG opportunities that everyone else had.

Wu Jing is straightforward and talked a lot with Qi Yuan, also giving Qi Yuan some experience and insights into navigating the Hong Kong entertainment circle.

He truly shared all his knowledge with Qi Yuan.

Although most of the experience he gave was unnecessary for Qi Yuan, Qi Yuan could see his sincerity, so she still said 'thank you' to him.

Wait...right, Qi Yuan suddenly remembered something.

Wu Jing played a supporting role to him on the Spring Festival Gala; he sang while Wu Jing performed kung fu next to him.

If Wu Jing gains exposure after "Heaven and Earth Dragon Scales" is featured on the Spring Festival Gala, will he be able to boost Wu Jing's attributes?

He will be filming "The Mission" and "Swordsman" after the New Year.

In particular, Linghu Chong has many action scenes in "The Smiling, Proud Wanderer".

He can't just leave everything to a stand-in, can he? If he can do it himself, he'd rather do it himself.

With this in mind, Qi Yuan was even more looking forward to this year's Spring Festival Gala.

(End of this chapter)