1991: The Era of Hong Kong Dramas

"Wait a moment!"

Huo Sheng stopped Wei Jiahui and Yuan Yingming, who were about to get up.

"When we were building the team, we were working hard with the goal of broadcasting during the station's anniversary month. Now, just because of a decision made by higher-ups, are we supposed to give up our pursuit of quality?"

He looked up at the two of them, abandoning his usual modesty and humility, and disregarding the fact that the producer had the authority to finalize the filming schedule, and said directly, "At this rate, even if we manage to finish the film in March, we won't win, will we?"

Wei Jiahui could only sit down again, giving him a dejected look. "Is there anything else we can do?"

He felt he had done all he could, and now all he could do was try his best and leave the rest to fate. He would only sleep four or five hours a night and try to maximize his strengths and minimize his weaknesses in the later stages.

Yuan Yingming also sighed.

"Ah Sheng, it's not that we're giving up on the anniversary celebration and quality, it's just that we only have so much time. We need to make sure we can deliver something first. If we can't, we won't even be qualified to compete."

Having goals is a good thing, but reality is often harsh.

Huo Sheng didn't like this approach and continued, "What I mean is, we should find other ways to increase speed without compromising quality, rather than sacrificing quality to rush the schedule."

Wei Jiahui sighed, exchanged a glance with Yuan Yingming, and suspected that Huo Sheng was new to the industry and couldn't understand the professional shooting schedule.

Yuan Yingming shook his head and pointed out a few key data points to him, saying helplessly, "Asheng, it's good to have this goal, and we really want to do it too, but there's really no way to do it now."

Even if we could work in two shifts, the actors still couldn't handle it.

He still admired Huo Sheng to some extent, so he didn't say anything too harsh.

Leung Ka-shu isn't someone to be trifled with; how could he be defeated by a production that needed to be rushed and whose quality couldn't even be guaranteed?

The other party isn't some minor producer; they're the current production manager!

Young people are still unwilling to accept reality and act impulsively!

They had lost their spirit and thought it was impossible, but Huo Sheng not only disagreed, but became even more serious, saying:

"Yes, I understand that Leung Ka-shu is very strong, but our show is just as good! We're doing so well right now, and the actors are all very cooperative. Are we just going to give up like this?"

Wei Jiahui was even more puzzled and opened his mouth to ask what else could be done, but Yuan Yingming interrupted, asking curiously, "Ah Sheng, do you have some ideas?"

Huo Sheng didn't hide anything and said directly:

"I've looked at the schedule. Given that both filming and post-production can't be done half-heartedly, why not try filming and editing simultaneously?"

"Filming while editing?"

After hearing this, Wai Ka-fai and Yuen Ying-ming exchanged bewildered glances, wondering what had gotten into the creative team and screenwriter. Wai asked suspiciously, "You're going to edit and film at the same time?"

This proposal sounds like a paradox.

Even if we don't talk about 1992, the filming process is still the same as in 2026: film first, then edit.

The reason for this is simple—editors need to see the actual footage to judge the rhythm of each scene.

How many seconds to cut from a scene, how long to pause after an actor finishes their lines before cutting to the next shot—these are things that cannot be precisely calculated when producing footage.

The editor has to wait until the director has finished shooting, and see the actors' actual speaking speed, the range of emotional changes, and the speed of camera movement, before deciding where to speed up, where to slow down, and where to leave blank spaces.

If you shoot and edit simultaneously, and set the pace in the first episode, the speed of speech, emotions, and camera rhythm in the footage shot later may not match, causing the emotional flow of the whole show to break up, which will make it very awkward for the audience to watch.

Therefore, the industry practice is always to wait until all the footage is filmed and all the materials are in front of you before editing it all in one go, ensuring that the emotions are consistent and the rhythm is unified from beginning to end.

"That won't work."

Wai Ka-fai refused without hesitation, saying, "Ah Sheng, you may not understand, but if you're filming and editing at the same time, you won't be able to define the boundaries of each episode, and the pacing will easily collapse."

"The potential disruption of the rhythm is indeed a problem."

Huo Sheng did not shy away from this point, and said softly, "But we can find a way to solve it. I want to try to design the editing ideas during the creative process."

When it comes to editing, those who have seen the original film are the most qualified to comment. If Huo Sheng hadn't been so bad at using that old SP video recorder, he would have preferred to do it himself.

But Wai Ka-fai didn't know his background and found it hard to accept such a risky approach.

He shook his head. "Ah Sheng, I know you want 'The Great Era' to be on TVB's anniversary celebration. Who doesn't want that? But we can't just do whatever we want."

If the editing is a mess, Sister Fang won't even approve the funding for the rest of the production, and the show will be completely canceled.

"At least now, I can still work in late-night slots..."

Huo Sheng knew Wei Jiahui would disagree, so he didn't rush to refute him. Instead, he went back to his office, took out the script for the new episode, casually flipped to a page, and said:

"Take this scene for example. Fang Zhanbo is eating a boxed lunch downstairs, while Ruan Mei is folding paper cranes next to him."

Wei Jiahui and Yuan Yingming exchanged a glance, unsure of what he was planning to do.

Huo Sheng thought for a moment, then slowly said:

"The first thirty seconds should only show the environment: a dilapidated stairwell, dim lighting, and the sound of a tram coming from afar. No dialogue."

Huo Sheng spoke slowly but confidently, "For one minute in the middle, the two of them were doing their own thing and didn't look at each other, so the audience would think they were together."

In the last thirty seconds, Fang Zhanbo looked up at Ruan Mei, but Ruan Mei did not look up.

When the tram bell rang for the first time, Fang Zhanbo lowered his head; when it rang for the second time, Ruan Mei's fingers paused.

After saying that, he added, "Screenwriters also need to pay attention to pacing when writing scripts. What should the characters do at what time? How many seconds should they pause after each line of dialogue? How much pause should be left for each emotional transition? Is this pacing appropriate? I've tried it many times, and it can't be wrong."

Wei Jiahui looked down at the two lines of text, then looked up at him, pondering for a moment.

Having worked as a director for several years and filmed hundreds of scenes, he naturally knew what Huo Sheng's words would look like on screen.

Yuan Yingming also frowned and looked Huo Sheng over again.

He is the executive director, spending every day on set, and has a high sensitivity to time and camera angles.

He quickly went through the scene in his mind and found that every frame Huo Sheng described matched perfectly.

"Did you do the editing while you were writing the script?"

Wei Jiahui asked, his voice becoming much louder.

"I've thought about every single one of them."

Huo Sheng said, "It's not just this scene. I know exactly what the characters should do at what time, how many seconds to pause after saying their lines, and how their emotions should change in all the scenes in the first ten episodes. I can mark these things out in advance so that the editor can cut according to what I say."

He knew that doing this seemed bizarre and outside the scope of screenwriting, but he had no choice; he couldn't just watch "The Greed of Man" die.

The meeting room was silent for a few seconds.

Wei Jiahui and Yuan Yingming exchanged a glance, both seeing something complex in each other's eyes.

I'm not completely convinced, but at least I won't easily dismiss it.