Literary Master: Starting with Refusing to Be a Child Star

Chapter 160 Let's take pictures.

Filming on location in Iceland lasted for nearly three weeks. The last location scene to be completed was on Miller's planet, where Cooper and Brand landed in shallow water amidst a giant wave, with a wall of water as tall as a mountain approaching them in the distance.

The water wall in the film will be generated by the special effects team; on set, only a relatively flat shallow area covered with dark volcanic sand remains. The camera is set up on a distant high ground, and the lens needs to capture the actors facing the open distance, their expressions revealing that they are witnessing some unstoppable force approaching.

The weather was sunny on the morning of the shoot, but the wind speed was unstable, which affected the sound recording.

The film crew set up a telephoto lens at a distance to capture the panoramic view, while another close-up camera followed the movement of Duan Yihong and Tan Zhuo.

The two, dressed in worn-out spacesuits, walked slowly and heavily across the shallows. After completing their initial positioning, Duan Yihong glanced at the distant horizon, then turned back and asked, "How far is that wall of water from them?" Luo Jinnian provided a rough estimate of the distance and proportions. Duan Yihong nodded, then returned to the starting point, adjusting his pace—each step taking a little longer to land—as if to express the oppressive feeling they were experiencing, whether from gravity or psychological pressure.

During filming, Tan Zhuo was asked how she understood Brand's reaction to the giant wave. During a break, she told Luo Jinnian, "She's a scientist; she knows what that wall of water is, how it formed, and how heavy it is. But she knows her data is wrong. The problem she had to face at that moment was what she had misjudged." Luo Jinnian heard her words but didn't discuss them. When the next take began, Tan Zhuo's pace and breathing in front of the camera were faster than before. He saw that change on the monitor, didn't call a stop, and let the take go.

Unlike the outdoor shooting locations, a five-dimensional space scene is being constructed inside the filming base's studio. It's a space composed of countless luminous...

The grid structure, composed of fine lines, extends to the edges of the ceiling and walls, appearing similar from all directions. Duan Yihong was suspended inside the grid structure by wires, simulating a weightless, free-floating posture. The prop team installed multiple refractive panels around the perimeter, causing light to reflect multiple times between the grid lines, creating a sense of three-dimensional space. Chen Yuanfan had confirmed in earlier discussions that the spacing of these grid lines should not be uniform, but should vary with spatial location to simulate the scale shift caused by differences in gravitational fields in different spatiotemporal regions. The grid spacing design referenced his suggestion and was applied to the actual set after measurement.

During the actual filming of that scene, Duan Yihong needed to float in the center of a grid in a weightless state, with a luminous structure extending to the horizon beneath him. His gaze moved slowly, as if reading an unfolding sequence of information—the marked nodes on the timeline, the moments of interaction with his daughter, and a crucial coordinate waiting to be discovered. There was no dialogue in that scene, only subtle changes in movement and breathing. Luo Jinnian confirmed the alignment of the light direction and the grid depth, began filming, and then stopped. He reviewed the playback, confirming there were no anomalies requiring adjustment, and all filming parameters were within the expected range. The tension of the wires and the securing of the clips had been checked, and the grid spacing was also on the predetermined coordinates. There was nothing else he needed to confirm.

After Duan Yihong came down from the wire, he didn't immediately head to the rest area. He stood there for a while, looking up at the grid lines that shimmered slightly under the lights, before turning to get some water. His movements were very ordinary, as if he had just finished any routine physical activity.

The next scene was quite different from the previous ones. The robot forms of TARS and CASE weren't composited in post-production; they were actual props on set. The props team constructed two robots, each approximately 2.4 meters tall, using metal frames and a gear system. TARS's arms were connected by multiple precision hinges, allowing for complete circular movements. A remote-controlled servo system enabled complex limb movements to adapt to different mission requirements. Operators controlled the movements with a remote, and Duan Yihong and Tan Zhuo worked in tandem with them, adjusting their positions to suit their height and movement trajectories.

After the first day of filming ended, Duan Yihong stood next to the props at TASS, examining the structure of the hinges for a while. He stretched out...

He pressed his finger against the joint of the metal frame, the surface of the joint revealing subtle undulations and irregular textures—not the result of deliberate processing, but rather the natural marks left by repeated adjustments and calibrations of the metal material. He lowered his hand, without making any further movements or measurements.

Filming continues. The outdoor scenes in Iceland are complete, as are the studio scenes. Footage for post-production is accumulating, and the storage cabinets holding the corresponding hard drives are gradually filling up, with the numbers on the labels arranged sequentially. The directing team is recording the corresponding scenes and shooting dates for each piece of footage for later organization and matching, ensuring that all footage is traceable when entering the post-production stage.

The news about Chen Yuanfan came on a typical weekday afternoon.

Luo Jinnian was in the studio watching the special effects team perform the final lighting calibration for the five-dimensional space scene when his phone vibrated in his pocket. He took it out and glanced at it; it was a message from Chen Yuanfan's assistant—Chen Yuanfan had been hospitalized due to a sudden cardiovascular problem and was temporarily unable to continue participating in the project. His condition was currently stable, and he was recuperating in the hospital, requiring rest for the short term and unable to continue working.

Luo Jinnian put down his phone without replying immediately. He stood there for a dozen seconds, staring at the luminous grid structure that was being adjusted, then turned and walked out of the studio. Standing at the door, he dialed Chen Yuanfan's number. Chen Yuanfan's family answered, saying he was asleep and in stable condition, but the doctor said he needed at least several weeks of rest and couldn't work for long periods or engage in strenuous mental activity. Luo Jinnian replied, "Okay, let him rest well," and hung up. He stood at the door for a moment, phone in hand, feeling the studio lights shining from behind him, casting a sharply defined line of light and shadow on the light gray cement floor outside.

As the project progressed into its later stages, several scenarios involving gravitational equations, orbital mechanics, and spacetime metrics had yet to undergo final technical verification. Although the script and storyboards were finalized, some dialogue and dynamic simulations involving scientific principles still required cross-checking by Chen Yuanfan before the final solution could be finalized. Without him, those milestones remained unfinished. If they waited for him…

It will take at least several weeks to recover enough to return to work, which means that the final result of these scenes will be delayed, and the subsequent editing and post-production pacing will also be affected.

Luo Jinnian returned to the studio and told the team, "That's all for today."

He didn't explain further.

After removing the wire equipment, Duan Yihong walked over and asked, "What happened?" Luo Jinnian replied, "The scientific advisor has a health problem and needs to take a few days off." Duan Yihong didn't press further, only saying, "Then do you want to readjust the schedule for these few days?" before leaving the studio.

That evening, Luo Jinnian compiled a list of scenarios involving unverified scientific parameters and evaluated each one against his available materials and notes. During the process, he discovered that some of these scenarios could be verified using his existing knowledge. This knowledge came from his past reading and research, from the notes and materials he had compiled before the project started, and from his previous discussions with Chen Yuanfan. He reopened the feedback documents Chen Yuanfan had sent and meticulously checked his own solutions against the data line by line.

He then adjusted the filming schedule, marking scenes requiring scientific re-verification as "pending" and storyboards with completed technical verification as "can continue." He confirmed the revised schedule with the project team, without including the consultant's specific situation in the discussion. The crew continued filming according to the updated schedule, and most of the shooting was unaffected.

But he needed some time to re-verify the incomplete feedback left by Chen Yuanfan. That feedback was scattered across different documents, each marked with a different completion date. He had already read some, but hadn't yet thoroughly examined others. He planned to use the gaps in those few days to check each unread section, confirming their feasibility and applicability.

On the third day, he sent a message to Chen Yuanfan's assistant, not asking about the illness, but simply confirming that his feedback could be used in the project.

The assistant replied that Chen Yuanfan had authorized him to continue using the relevant data without requiring additional confirmation procedures, and suggested that if there were any urgent technical issues, he could first contact another familiar expert to handle the parts that did not involve complex calculations.

Luo Jinnian replied, "Not needed for now," and then opened the first unread feedback document, starting to check the data and parameters line by line.

The data was spread across multiple pages of documents, some handwritten, some printed, each requiring individual verification of its scope and constraints. The sunlight streaming through the window moved gradually throughout the day, slowly shifting from one end of the desk to the other, like a train slowly decelerating before pulling into a station. He moved back and forth between the numbers and formulas, adding notes and references where necessary, and completed the first part of the work that evening.

He closed his notebook without immediately setting a timetable for the next step.

Chen Yuanfan still needs some time to recuperate, and he also needs to continue to organize and verify the notes that have not yet been marked.

He sat at his desk, not continuing to work, but letting the night outside the window slowly settle down.