This director is so innocent.

Hotel banquet hall.

The film crew rented an entire banquet hall for script readings.

Apart from guest actors, everyone from the main cast to the lighting, props, and cinematography departments participated in the discussion.

It can be said that from now on, the entire crew of "The Coffin in the Mountain" has officially arrived. After the press conference for the start of filming is held on the 20th, they can head to Hebei Province.

Zhang Guoli intently flipped through the script in her hands.

Over the past two weeks, he has read the script countless times, and the edges of it are already worn and frayed, but he still praises it highly.

The plot is logically perfect, completely self-consistent, and can be said to be without any loopholes.

The dialogue is also very well written, so mature that there's basically no need to change it.

Every word was so exquisite and perfectly timed that it made people want to applaud!

Zhang Guoli particularly admires the following line.

Why did you have to ask?

Some things, like stones, weigh him down for a lifetime.

He will treat you well for the rest of his life.

If you ask the question, then this stone will be moved into your heart.

This line was spoken by Wang Baoshan's mother-in-law. The whole village knew about Wang Baoshan's affair with Liqin, and his pregnant wife got angry and went back to her parents' home.

Wang Baoshan came to apologize to her, but his wife told him to get lost. Then Wang Baoshan's mother-in-law said the words mentioned above to his wife.

Of course, the above advice is also dependent on the person; it is especially effective if the person still has a conscience.

He's heartless and ungrateful; don't count on him. Just leave him! Don't waste your time.

The lead actors huddled together discussing the script, how to act it out, and what emotions to express.

The discussion was very heated, with everyone expressing their own opinions, and no one fawned over you just because you were in a high position.

Actors these days are still relatively pure. Although there are some who take advantage of others, they are ultimately a minority. Everyone still wants to make good films.

The most heated argument they had was about why Huang Huan put the medal under the stone at the end.

Zhang Guoli believes that Huang Huan hid the medal under the stone because after this incident, she realized that Xiao Zongyao was not her true love and she wanted to change her way of life.

Yu Nan believes that Huang Huan's refusal to show his medal is a trap set for Xiao Zongyao and his son, so that they...

Then Guo Tao and Fan Wei joined in.

As for Sister Xia, she watched silently. She only had one scene with Wang Baoshan, and the rest of her scenes were with Su Jin.

Perhaps feeling bored, she came to Su Jin's side and whispered, "Brother Jin, they're arguing so fiercely. Aren't you going to stop them? If this keeps up, they'll start fighting."

"It's not that bad. They're all big-name celebrities, they wouldn't be so shameless." Su Jin's lips curled up slightly, showing no concern whatsoever.

"By the way, how's your script reading going?"

Liu Shishi raised her chin confidently and replied, "Absolutely no problem! I've not only thoroughly studied the plot, but I can even recite the lines by heart!"

"Wow...that's amazing?" Su Jin looked at Liu Shishi with a smile in her eyes.

"Of course, why don't you test me?" Liu Shishi's eyes flickered slightly, a hint of cunning flashing in them.

She was going to give Brother Jin a big surprise.

I believe you.

"You're going to test me."

"I'm not taking the exam, I don't have time."

"Brother Jin, will you test me?"

"What's there to test? I don't have time. I need to discuss lighting and photography with Du Jie and the others!"

After Su Jin finished speaking, she walked straight to the location where the photographers were without waiting for Liu Shishi's reply.

"Hmph." Liu Shishi looked at Su Jin's back, snorted coldly, stomped her little foot lightly, and then caught up with Su Jin.

When Su Jin arrived at the photography and lighting crew, she saw that each of them had a cigarette in their mouth, puffing out clouds of smoke.

Good heavens, you're probably going to lose ten years of your life.

"director."

Upon seeing Su Jin arrive, everyone stood up to greet her, and none of them acted arrogantly.

The crew of "The Coffin in the Mountain" came from three sources: Du Jie's own camera team, a group of people recruited by Huang Jiaqiang, and many people arranged by China Film Group and Dama Benteng.

There are about 120 or 130 people in total.

This was done intentionally; otherwise, there would have been at least two hundred people.

Su Jin casually picked up a cigarette from the table, lit it, and prepared to fight poison with poison.

"Du Jie, how's the discussion going?"

Du Jie stubbed out his cigarette, sat up straight, and said, "That's about it. We can complete everything you asked us to do."

"So fast?"

"Yes, what you're talking about is a bit difficult, but it's also easy to solve; it just requires a little thought."

Su Jin nodded, asked a few more questions, and then left.

The visual language style of "The Coffin in the Mountain" is inspired by "A Separation" and "Winter's Bone".

The former is a low-budget Iranian film costing $300,000, which won numerous awards and swept the Berlin Film Festival that year.

The latter is a film starring Jennifer Lawrence when she was 17, and it has won numerous awards.

The two films are very similar in style, both using natural light and handheld shooting techniques.

Handheld shooting, on the other hand, involves carrying the camera on your shoulder and moving it around among the people to create a so-called documentary feel.

The full name of "documentary feel" is "the feeling of truthful recording or realistic portrayal".

When applied to movies, it gives the audience the illusion of watching a real documentary.

The multi-narrative type of "The Coffin in the Mountain" has too many plot twists and fragmented shots, making it naturally suitable for this handheld shooting technique.

The early scene in the grove and the dialogue between Xiao Zongyao and Huang Huan in the small hotel both used this technique.

The camera's shaky movements reveal Xiao Zongyao's sense of urgency, thus heightening the suspense and drawing the audience in, making them eager to know what will happen next.

As for Du Jie's point about needing to put in some effort, it's because a well-shot handheld shot has a documentary feel, while a poorly shot one is just garbage, capable of making people dizzy, like playing a 3D game.

The script reading went smoothly without any unexpected issues, and we also managed to take some costume photos.

The costume fitting photos need no explanation, right? They're for confirming the actors' appearance in the movie.

On November 20th, the crew of "The Coffin in the Mountain" held a press conference at the Kunlun Hotel to announce the start of filming.

The press conference for the start of filming is actually a publicity stunt, letting everyone know that we're making a movie and that they should come see it when it's released.

Su Jin originally planned not to hold a press conference to start filming, but to go directly to Hebei Province to start filming.

But Zuo Shandiao and Zhong Lifang told him that although the press conference was useless, it was still a form of publicity and wouldn't cost much.

He also said that media reporters were very interested in his career change from a bestselling young adult author to a director.

There were quite a few media reporters present, forty or fifty in total, including those from Southern Weekly, Beijing News, Phoenix Entertainment, Entertainment Live, Sohu, and more.

They also invited over a hundred newbies to liven things up.