The Common Man's Return in Chinese Entertainment

Chapter 143 Ji Qingxu's First Appearance

"Cut!"

"Pass!"

"Wait, Director Xu, let's do it again."

Hearing Li Ming's signal, everyone on set looked over curiously.

After staring at Li Ming for a while, Xu Ke smiled and said, "Alright, let's do it again."

Li Ming said seriously, "Try it a few more times, and when you feel there are no problems at all, then move on."

Sensing the seriousness in Li Ming's tone, Xu Ke slowly nodded, "Okay."

After Xu Ke finished speaking, he glanced at Ma Jingwu unintentionally. Ji Qingxu, who had been staring at them, smiled faintly.

Interestingly, this Xu Laoguai actually regards Li Ming as a "typical example".

When filming a movie or TV series, every director has their own methods to get into character faster. One method is to target a particular actor in the crew, making them do one take after another, so that the entire crew can focus their attention and get all the actors and staff to take it seriously.

However, the actors used as typical examples are rarely the male and female leads; most of them are the second or third male leads or the second or third female leads.

After all, actors who can play the male and female leads in film and television dramas are definitely not unknown. Furthermore, the focus of the entire film is on the male and female leads. If the start is not smooth, it may have a great impact on the subsequent filming.

It has to be said that Tsui Hark is very bold and smart. Most film and television dramas choose a simple scene for the first scene to bring good luck. Unexpectedly, Tsui Hark intended to use Li Ming as a typical example to stir up the atmosphere of the crew. The key is that he did not say it directly, but let Li Ming understand it himself.

If Li Ming hadn't spoken up, Xu Ke wouldn't have reshot the scene. Although movies pay more attention to details than TV series, commercial films are not art films. As long as the performance isn't too bad, less important scenes are generally not filmed repeatedly.

Fortunately, Li Ming wasn't the kind of person to be perfunctory. Even an outsider like Ji Qingxu could see the problems with his performance just now, so he naturally noticed them himself. Ji Qingxu was somewhat impressed. It was true that someone who could become one of the Four Heavenly Kings was extraordinary. The first scene was already getting retakes, but Li Ming didn't care about other people's opinions. Everything he did was to make the filming better.

"Cut!"

"Okay, that's done, it's OK."

Upon hearing this, everyone in the crew breathed a sigh of relief.

The first scene took more than an hour to film. At the beginning, everyone had a watchful expression, but later everyone was so nervous that they held their breath. The atmosphere on set was so quiet that it was oppressive.

After glancing at the crew members around him, Ji Qingxu crossed his arms and fell into deep thought.

As expected, film shooting is vastly different from television shooting. Although the previous shoot was intended to get the crew into character faster, the repeated takes made Ji Qingxu realize just how demanding film shooting is on actors.

Several times, Ji Qingxu felt there was no problem, but Xu Ke thought it was no good and needed to be done again. Looking at the other actors who were preparing for the next scene, Ji Qingxu's expression became even more serious.

"Cut!"

"That's enough for today, we'll continue tomorrow."

Upon hearing this, Ji Qingxu took out his phone and glanced at the time: 8:30.

We started filming at 10:30 this morning and have been shooting ever since. We've only filmed three shots in total today.

The filming speed made Ji Qingxu grin; they were really strict.

Ji Qingxu still remembers that on the first day of filming the previous movie "The World's Number One", they shot more than thirty scenes. He wondered what it would be like for that Fatty Wang to be making a movie.

Seeing Ma Jingwu walking wearily toward the dressing room, Ji Qingxu quickly went over to him.

Teacher Ma.

""

Looking at Ji Qingxu who had walked up to him, Ma Jingwu smiled and said, "How was your day?"

Ji Qingxu gave a thumbs up, "Teacher Ma is really amazing."

Ma Jingwu laughed heartily and asked, "How do you feel?"

"Very strict."

Ma Jingwu smiled and nodded, "That's right, movies have stricter requirements for actors than TV series."

Ji Qingxu asked curiously, "Teacher Ma, is this the typical pace of film shooting?"

Ma Jingwu smiled and shook his head. "No, it depends on the movie genre and the director. Today is the first day of filming, so it's a bit slow. Once the crew gets used to each other, it's normal for a commercial film like this to shoot about ten shots a day."

Seeing Ji Qingxu nod thoughtfully, Ma Jingwu smiled and patted his arm, "Tomorrow is your turn. Don't be nervous, just perform normally. It's okay if you have to do NGs. Everyone knows this is your first time making a movie."

Ji Qingxu smiled and said, "I'll have to trouble Teacher Ma to give me some guidance tomorrow."

"No problem. Get some rest early tonight. Just do what you've always done on set. Don't overthink it. The more you think, the more mistakes you'll make. Just act boldly. It's okay if you make mistakes. Everyone goes through this. I'm not afraid of you acting badly. I'm just afraid you won't dare to act."

"Okay, I got it. Ms. Ma, please go remove your makeup. I won't keep you any longer."

"Okay, go ahead."

Watching Ma Jingwu walk into the dressing room set up in the trailer, Ji Qingxu also turned and walked towards the RV.

Glancing at the surrounding tents, Ji Qingxu smiled and stepped into the RV.

The filming of "Seven Swords" took place mostly in the wilderness. Xinjiang Province is different from other parts of the mainland. It is a vast area with no people in the wilderness. There are few hotels and even few residential areas. The nearest town to the crew is more than 100 kilometers away. Therefore, the crew rented more than ten RVs for the main crew members to live in.

The director, producer, assistant director, and several lead actors all lived in RVs.

Aside from Li Ming, who has his own RV, and Xu Ke and Shi Nansheng, who share one, the other main cast members each have one RV. For example, Ji Qingxu lives with Lu Yi. Well, Korean actress Kim So-yeon also has her own RV, but she uses the excuse that her assistant and manager want to live with her, so it's ostensibly a shared RV.

As for the crew members, including those minor supporting actors with fewer scenes, they all lived in tents. After all, the rental price of RVs is not cheap. For example, the Great Wall C11 series RV that Ji Qingxu and Lu Yi lived in looked so-so, and the rental price was 500 yuan per day.

Thinking of the price he had learned from the crew, Ji Qingxu smiled. The car was worth less than 200,000 yuan. He didn't know how they dared to quote such a high price. However, Ji Qingxu didn't say anything. Since the producer didn't have any questions, Ji Qingxu was too lazy to care.

Xu Ke and Li Ming stayed in a more upscale RV, a Dodge Ram RV, which is now considered the highest-end RV in mainland China, reportedly costing one or two thousand yuan a day to rent.

Seeing Lu Yi lying quietly on the bed reading the script, Ji Qingxu smiled and greeted her before going into the narrow bathroom to take a shower.

After taking a shower, Ji Qingxu changed his clothes and stepped out of the RV. Since it was still early, Ji Qingxu decided to wander around outside first.

As for chatting with Lu Yi, well, I don't know if Lu Yi felt that Ji Qingxu was too much like a teacher to him, but after joining the crew, Lu Yi and Ji Qingxu didn't have much interaction.

Ji Qingxu wasn't the type to rush into anything unless the other person was a beautiful woman and Ji Qingxu intended to sleep with her.

After stepping out of the RV, Ji Qingxu looked around at the darkening night sky. This place was very different from the mainland. It wasn't dark when they finished work, but it was only nine o'clock now that it was officially dark. However, the sunrise was not much different from the mainland; it would be light around seven or eight o'clock in the morning.

After looking around, Ji Qingxu walked in one direction.

After wandering around outside for about an hour, Ji Qingxu returned to her room, rinsed her mouth, turned off the light, and went to sleep.

The next morning, Ji Qingxu woke up on time according to his biological clock, tiptoed out of the RV after getting dressed, and looked at the dark sky outside. After walking a distance away from the RV, Ji Qingxu began to stretch and exercise.

An hour later, Ji Qingxu finished his workout and was about to return to his RV to wash up when he saw a familiar figure walking towards him.

"Qingxu?"

"Director Xu, you're up so early."

Seeing Ji Qingxu's bright smile despite his wet hair, Xu Ke asked in surprise, "Why didn't you sleep a little longer?"

Ji Qingxu smiled and said, "I'm used to waking up early."

Upon hearing this, Xu Ke nodded in approval and said, "That's good, it's a good habit. Getting up early and going to bed early is good for your health."

"Director Xu, why are you up so early too?"

Xu Ke shook his head helplessly, "I'm too old to sleep."

After saying that, he waved his hand and said, "Go wash up first. Today is your first scene, so perform well later."

"it is good."

After washing up and having breakfast, Ji Qingxu started to put on makeup.

As the makeup artist slowly darkened his skin from head to toe, Ji Qingxu silently recalled the scenes to be filmed today.

Two hours later, after finishing his makeup, Ji Qingxu looked at the bald, burly man in the mirror with a rough and savage appearance. He made a fierce expression and grinned, looking quite ferocious.

"Wow, this look is really good."

"My God, this look is completely different."

"Qingxu, did you get plastic surgery? The change is too drastic."

"6

""

When Ji Qingxu arrived at the film crew, the other actors couldn't help but gasp in amazement at his bald head and armored appearance.

"Teacher Ma, what do you think of this look?"

Ma Jingwu circled Ji Qingxu and gave him a thumbs up, "Good, you are truly a gifted talent. This look is domineering."

"Hahaha."

Seeing Ji Qingxu laughing, Ma Jingwu said with a smile, "We'll give them a taste of their own medicine later and show them what you're capable of."

Ji Qingxu grinned and said, "Okay."

66

"Action!"

"Pat! Pat! Pat!"

As a rhythmic clatter of hooves sounded, a tall figure appeared on horseback at the city gate, followed by a large group of people, exuding a solemn and imposing aura.

When the figures of the newcomers stopped in front of the procession, a group of leaders dressed in black armor and their soldiers quickly dismounted and knelt on one knee in front of their horses.

"Sir! ×N"

Ji Qingxu gently twisted his neck and stared blankly ahead. The entire cavalry instantly fell silent, creating a tranquil yet oppressive atmosphere.

"Perfect!"

Looking at Ji Qingxu in the camera, who seemed expressionless yet exuded immense pressure, Xu Ke couldn't help but clap his hands lightly.

Meanwhile, the actors from the film crew who were watching from the outside of the set all instinctively widened their eyes.

Ma Jingwu's face showed appreciation. "Very good."

Lu Yi, standing to the side, felt a pang of envy, followed by a surge of admiration. Honestly, Lu Yi knew he couldn't do that.

Looking at Ji Qingxu, who sat expressionless on his horse exuding a powerful aura, Lu Yi finally understood why Xu Ke had chosen him to play the main villain. Just looking at him from a distance made him feel somewhat oppressed, and he guessed that the pressure would be even greater when they acted opposite each other. Thinking of this, Lu Yi subconsciously frowned.

Zhang Jingchu on the other side whispered, "Such a powerful aura."

On the group of Hong Kong and Taiwanese actors, Li Ming, standing at the front, said softly, "Really good, Master Liu, what do you think?"

Liu Jialiang nodded slightly, "Very domineering, it's innate, you can't envy it."

Although Yang Caini, who was standing next to her, did not speak, she was thinking of two kung fu superstars she had worked with before, Jackie Chan and Jet Li.

Compared to the two kung fu stars, Yang Caini felt that Ji Qingxu had a domineering aura that the other two lacked. Thinking back to their conversation on set, Yang Caini glanced at Xu Ke in the distance and thought, "The director is really amazing; his vision is still so unique."