The Rise of Chinese Entertainment in 2008

It's already mid-November, and there are only a little over two months left until the Lunar New Year.

During this period, news of movie release dates has been circulating, and a massive publicity campaign has begun.

The Lunar New Year film season doesn't just refer to the Spring Festival; it can be considered the period from late November to early March of the following year.

The period includes important holidays such as Christmas, New Year's Day, Spring Festival, and Lantern Festival.

The Hollywood blockbuster "Next" is scheduled for release on December 2nd.

The film "Mei Lanfang" by the great poet Chen is scheduled to be released on December 4th.

This film not only participated in the Berlin Film Festival, but also received extensive publicity.

Ip Man is scheduled for release on December 16.

Feng Xiaogang's film "If You Are the One" is scheduled to premiere on December 20th.

The movie "Red Cliff Part II" is scheduled for release on January 7.

New director Ning Hao's new film "Crazy Racer" is scheduled for release on January 20.

When Gu Ning got up, Xu Zheng and the others had already gotten up and gathered together to discuss the popular films in this year's Lunar New Year season.

"Everyone's up pretty early, what are you chatting about?" Gu Ning asked with a smile.

"Director Gu!"

"Senior Brother Gu."

Upon seeing Gu Ning arrive, everyone quickly greeted her.

"We're talking about the films that will be released during this year's Lunar New Year season. Which one does Director Gu think is the best?" Xu Zheng asked.

Everyone else looked at Gu Ning, since he was the director and had more authority to speak.

"I'm more optimistic about the box office performance of 'If You Are the One'," Gu Ning said.

Although Feng Xiaogang's character isn't great, it must be said that his comedies are quite good.

"But 'Mei Lanfang' is a sincere work by director Chen Kaige, 'Foresight' is a Hollywood blockbuster, and 'Ip Man' is touted as the only kung fu blockbuster in the Lunar New Year season."

Xu Zheng said, "Red Cliff grossed over 300 million yuan. Although the reviews were so-so, the box office for the sequel shouldn't be too bad."

"During the Lunar New Year, comedy movies are definitely more popular."

Gu Ning smiled, unwilling to say more.

Poet Chen has a common problem: the first half of the film is excellent in terms of both story and visuals, but he starts to go astray in the middle and later parts.

If he remembered correctly, although he was nominated at the Berlin Film Festival, he ultimately lost.

As for "Red Cliff," it goes without saying that the director's core message about a classic battle from the Three Kingdoms period is actually anti-war.

Although it was a bad movie, the line "Mengmeng, stand up!" created a memorable scene.

He couldn't afford to offend these big-name directors, so he naturally didn't want to say anything more.

"Alright, let's get ready to go," Gu Ning said.

The scene filmed in the afternoon was the one where Xu Zheng and Wang Baoqiang drew lots to film the Wuling van overturning.

When Gu Ning arrived at the filming location with the crew, Fan Chunxi and his people had already set up the venue.

After rehearsing and practicing the scene, filming officially began.

After half a month of working together, Xu Zheng and Wang Baoqiang have developed a very good working relationship.

Both actors were quite good; the scene where they won the lottery was filmed in just two takes.

The next scene to be filmed was a car scene between the two. First, several long-distance shots of the car driving on the road were filmed, and then they were loaded onto a trailer.

That's right, almost all driving scenes in movies and TV shows are filmed on trailers.

This is done for both convenience and safety.

After the two finished filming the scenes inside the car, it was time for the car to overturn.

Car crash scenes in movies are usually filmed using techniques such as reverse shooting or virtual filming.

Of course, it's possible to film it in real life, with a professional driver responsible for the filming, but that would be too costly.

Gu Ning adopted a clumsy method—shooting in segments.

The so-called segmented shooting actually involves breaking down the scene of the car overturning, shooting it frame by frame, and then editing and compositing it in post-production.

If you zoom out a bit during filming, it's hard to spot any flaws.

Anyway, it's not some kind of special effects blockbuster.

By the time the car crash scene was finished filming, it was already getting dark.

Next up is the dialogue scene between Xu Zheng and Wang Baoqiang. After their car crash, they know they can't go home for the New Year, so they can only cook instant noodles by a campfire in the wild.

It was here that Li Chenggong put everything aside and opened up to Wang Baoqiang about his stress and family matters.

In the original film, this scene depicts Niu Geng expressing his gratitude that there are still many good people in the world, and that they have encountered good people along the way.

He also praised Li Chenggong as a good person. Li Chenggong suddenly reflected and said that he was not a good boss, nor a good son, nor a good father or husband.

Gu Ning felt that Li Chenggong's sudden self-reflection was a bit abrupt, so she added a scene.

As before, when Niu Geng praised Li Chenggong as a good person, Li Chenggong retorted, "I have a mistress outside, and this time I'm even planning to divorce my wife when I come home. Do you still think I'm a good person?"

Niu Geng hesitated. He didn't agree with Li Chenggong's approach, but Li Chenggong had previously been able to give all his money when facing the female swindler and the adopted children.

He remained silent for a long time before asking, "Why do you want to divorce your sister-in-law? Is it because you're afraid she'll find out you're having an affair?"

Li Chenggong, however, was unwilling to elaborate, and casually replied, "I suppose so."

"Then I think this marriage should end in divorce!" Niu Geng said.

"Um?"

Li Chenggong looked at Niu Geng in surprise and asked, "Why?"

"Look, your mistress doesn't mind that you have a wife, but your wife minds that you have a mistress. Obviously, the mistress loves you more," Niu Geng said with a simple smile.

Li Chenggong was stunned upon hearing this, and it took him a while to come to his senses. He took a sip of wine, his expression inscrutable.

"Card!"

Gu Ning shouted, "That's a wrap! Calling it a day!"

"Director Gu, that line is amazing."

Xu Zheng stepped forward and said with a smile, "It not only shows the intelligence beneath Niu Geng's honest and simple appearance, but also directly exposes the feelings that Li Chenggong's lover has for him."

"The pay is already set, and you can't get a raise even if you flatter me," Gu Ning said with a smile.

Jing Tian initially found the lines quite shocking, but after hearing Xu Zheng's words, she realized there was a deeper meaning behind them.

But after thinking for a while, she still couldn't understand, so she tugged at Hao Hao and asked, "Did you understand?"

"I understand."

Hao Hao said, "This line is really good. Li Chenggong's wife knows that he has a mistress and wants to divorce him, which shows that she cares about feelings and him as a person."

His mistress knew he was married, yet she was still with him; clearly, she was after his money.

"That's right, that's what Lao Gu said. I thought this part was very interesting, which is why I asked you to come and see it," Liu Sanxi said.

Yesterday, he only told Jing Tian about their general scenes for today, but he didn't say this particular line.

"No wonder I found Xu Zheng's final performance a bit strange. Now it seems that Li Chenggong was enlightened by Niu Geng. Why wasn't there a scene where Li Chenggong reflected on his actions?" Jing Tian asked curiously.

"I asked Lao Gu before, and he said that would seem too deliberate. Niu Geng's words are a seed, and their purpose is to awaken Li Chenggong."

"It was at the end of the film, when Li Chenggong returned home and his wife said 'It's good that you're back,' that he finally understood," Liu Sanxi explained.

Although Jing Tian didn't quite understand, she felt a sense of awe and wonder, and said with bright eyes, "Senior Brother Gu is really amazing."

…………

Jing Tian and the others stayed on set for a few days until a phone call came in, at which point they left Wu City.

Gu Ning was busy filming and didn't see them off herself, but instead asked Liu Sanxi to take them to the airport.

On the morning of November 27th, after Gu Ning yelled "Cut!", he let out a heavy sigh and said, "I hereby declare 'Human Awkwardness' officially wrapped!"

"Filming has finally wrapped!"

The crew cheered excitedly. The most troublesome thing about road movies is the location changes. The longest they can shoot in one place is only three days.

Every time they moved locations, they had to go to the new shooting location in advance to set up, which was very hard work.

Filming has finally wrapped up.

"Young Master Liu is paying the bill tonight, everyone's going out for seafood!" Gu Ning announced.