Life in the Light and Shadow of Chinese Entertainment

December 2009, 4.

Today marks the start of filming for "A Little Thing Called First Love".

Early in the morning, hundreds of media outlets, both large and small, gathered in front of the gate of a relocated school in Haiding District.

Han Sanye from China Film Group stood at the front with Wu Yang in his arms, accepting interviews from various mainstream media outlets.

Beside them, Liu Yifei had several microphones in front of her, and on the other side were Huang Xiaoming, Guo Xiaodong, Jia Ling, Liu Yan, Yang Zi, Ren Suxi, Tan Songyun, Cai Wenjing, Zhang Ruoyun, Zhu Yilong and other celebrities from the entertainment industry, ranging from the first, second and third tiers to even the 18th tier.

At the very back was Wang Jinsong from the Beijing Film Academy, the one who threatened to smash your window with a rubber band. He was accompanied by elites from various departments of the second, third, and fourth years of the academy, who were also being interviewed.

On the outskirts of the crowd, a row of vans were parked, each with a driver, assistant, and agent.

Considering that the three top directors in China today often invest hundreds of millions of yuan, Wu Yang's youth film with a total investment of only 3000 million yuan can only be considered a low-level project.

Logically speaking, it shouldn't attract so many celebrities to join.

But who can blame them when Wu Yang is the first Chinese director to win an Oscar for Best Director?!

It's another collaboration with China Film Group, and Han Sanye is the producer again. Didn't you see him warmly embracing Wu Yang while giving an interview?

At a party, when Master Han learned that Wu Yang wanted to cast Liu Yifei as the female lead, he waved for Xiao Wang, the CEO of Huayi, to come and pour the drinks.

When faced with this two-pronged approach, Wu Yang only said, "We'll have a chance to work together," and the "ban" on Liu Yifei disappeared the next day.

Furthermore, Wu Yang did not encounter any obstacles when he invited Huang Xiaoming to make a cameo appearance.

This is a classic example of the benefits of being under a big tree. As the leading film and television company in China, breaking into Hollywood has always been Huayi's strategic goal.

On one hand, there was anger at being tricked, but on the other hand, there was a ban for almost a year, so the anger had been vented.

On one hand, there's the ambition to use Wu Yang's small boat to go out to sea, which might upset the children.

But adults, especially successful businesspeople, never act impulsively.

In the entertainment industry, there are no permanent enemies. As long as the conditions are right, even couples who once fought tooth and nail can continue to work together to make money.

The interview ended at 10:00 AM, and then, under the organization of Master Han, the opening ceremony was held.

After Master Han and the other veteran actors left, Huang Xiaoming and the other guest actors who were not currently filming also left one after another.

The film set has been built, a script reading was held before filming began, and everyone received a copy of the shooting plan.

This shooting style was naturally learned by Wu Yang from Hollywood. Although the hardware is not up to par for the time being, the software is still fine.

Everything from the overall filming process to the specific details of the dialogue has been listed in the filming plan.

Clear at a glance!

In this way, each job in the crew knows what they should and shouldn't do once they receive the daily shooting schedule.

As the director, Wu Yang also had an easy job; he only needed to watch from behind the screen.

……

"Click!"

Wu Yang would only call for a stop when he saw that the performance was not going well.

Today is the fifth day of filming. The early scenes were all set on campus, and they were mostly filmed in three takes.

The scene we just filmed was about the four sisters swooning over a guy. Ren Suxi acted the best, followed by Liu Yifei, while Tan Songyun and Cai Wenjing couldn't keep up at all.

When the four women, dressed up as ugly, came behind the monitor at Wu Yang's request, they watched the replay of the clips.

Wearing all-black makeup, round-framed glasses, and sporting a braces-covered mushroom haircut, Liu Yifei appeared lost in thought.

Ren Suxi glanced at Tan Songyun and Cai Wenjing, opened her mouth but said nothing.

Tan Songyun and Cai Wenjing looked bewildered; in their eyes, the replay on the screen didn't seem to be wrong.

"When we were reading the script together, I emphasized that you two are best friends who grew up together. In today's terms, you are best friends. As best friends, you should have a tacit understanding. Whether you are talking or doing things, you should show that tacit understanding."

"Think back to how you usually interact with your best friend, and then apply that to this scene. I believe you'll be able to find the problem."

When Wu Yang was giving instructions, the entire crew would stop, and some people would gather behind him to listen to his explanations.

In the first five days of filming, Wu Yang didn't give many pointers, but each time he did, he was insightful and pointed out the problems, offering precise suggestions.

Putting everything else aside, their ability to train actors is absolutely top-notch in the eyes of these professionals!

This gradually dispelled their doubts about Wu Yang.

When they first joined the crew, they actually had a lot of doubts and resentment towards Wu Yang.

After all, they are the same age, and besides, in the entertainment industry, many people in various positions are only half-baked.

There are also some imposters and scum who infiltrate the entertainment industry and deceive the world!

Many of the junior and senior students at Beijing Film Academy here even know Wu Yang.

In their memory, although Wu Yang was very capable, he did not produce any influential films during his four years of university.

It should be said that Wu Yang only shot three short films in four years, and none of them were feature films.

How did she manage to go abroad and, in less than a year, not only team up with Leonardo DiCaprio to conquer Hollywood, but also win the Oscar for Best Director, a prize that is unattainable for three of China's top directors, just two months ago?!

Not to mention them, even Tian Zhuangzhuang and Wang Jinsong were deeply confused about this.

After all, Wu Yang had taken their elective courses when he was in school. Back then, Wu Yang was quite dull and a bit stubborn.

Aside from his roguishly handsome face and excellent grades, he's utterly useless!

The three short films I shot are all full of craftsmanship, and while they do have some inspiration, it's not much.

If something exists, it must have a reason. Since Hollywood hasn't questioned Wu Yang's directing abilities, his mentors Tian Zhuangzhuang and Wang Jinsong naturally won't either.

However, during these five days, the two also gave Wu Yang's directing ability a very high rating.

When the two chatted privately, they could only sigh and say "it all made sense" when faced with this unreasonable phenomenon.

In the art industry, there are some cases where someone who was initially not good suddenly became good.

These cases were all categorized as "enlightenment"!

No matter how wildly they imagined it, they would never have guessed that Wu Yang was a reincarnated person!

……

"knock off!"

After a day of filming, Wu Yang leisurely got into her car and left.

Zhang Haibo oversaw the wrap-up work, while the actors went to the dressing room to remove their makeup.

The area where the school is located is part of the area that will be relocated this year, so the surrounding area is very open.

There weren't many people around during the day or night, so the hotel I booked was five kilometers away.

Apart from specific night shoots, Wu Yang also works the eight-hour workday typical of Hollywood in China.

Ignoring Zhang Haibo's resentment, they persisted with the 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. filming schedule.

Since a shooting schedule has already been prepared and a sufficient publicity budget has been allocated, there is no need to extend the shooting time in order to meet the deadline.

It's worth noting that two-thirds of the crew members were students, and their pay was already quite low.