This director loves making friends.

clap clap!

The assistant director clapped his hands, attracting the attention of the extras.

"I'll say it again, when we start filming, just follow the positions I just told you. Don't look around, and don't stare blankly at the camera. Just act naturally..."

Qin Keqing watched all this with a smile. He was a veteran actor in the industry, having worked as an extra for over a year and knew many assistant directors in Beijing who were in charge of actors.

However, everyone in the industry who knows Qin Keqing knows that this guy is an oddball. Some assistant directors, seeing that he is handsome and not stage-frightened, kindly promote him and give him some roles with lines.

But he was completely unwilling, only interested in being a background extra, as if he only liked being an extra and had no interest in any other roles.

Watching the assistant director emphasize this point again and again, Qin Keqing didn't think he was making a mountain out of a molehill; he had seen too many assistant directors emphasizing this point before.

Many of these extras were hired on short notice and had never acted before. As soon as the camera started rolling, some of them would instinctively look at the camera.

In the early 1990s, extras in China were not yet "professional" and there were no dedicated extras organizations. Even though there were individual extras waiting outside the Beijing Film Studio, these people were not pure "extras".

Many of them come here as extras out of interest and in their spare time, rather than with dreams of becoming stars and using being an extra as a career or a stepping stone.

In other words, many "extras" either have a regular job or are retired elderly people; the proportion of those who are truly "full-time" is not very large.

That's why extras are hard to control, especially during filming.

Qin Keqing is different from these extras.

He wasn't a "professional" extra; he had his own regular job.

But he was also a professional extra—in order to become an extra, he took a leave of absence without pay from his job and came to Beijing.

Currently, the city with the most opportunities to work as an extra is Beijing.

Qin Keqing was actually very depressed.

In his past life, he was admitted to a good film academy and was assigned to a state-owned film studio after graduation. At first, he was full of ambition and thought he would definitely become a great director. But in the end, he didn't learn much and just accumulated seniority...

In that era of seniority-based promotion, especially since it was a small state-owned film studio, opportunities were even fewer.

He spent many years in the film and television industry, but achieved nothing. Later, he simply switched careers and went to the south to partner with someone in foreign trade.

He made up his mind to not follow the old path in this life, studied hard, and finally got into a key university and was assigned a decent state-owned enterprise.

However, fate played a cruel joke on him. He performed a small show at work and suddenly discovered a golden finger in film and television. Isn't that ridiculous?

What other options does Qin Keqing have?

He was helpless too!

They had no choice but to go back to the old path, except this time even the "academic" label was gone.

However, his decision to take a leave of absence without pay puzzled his parents... Well, that's a nice way of putting it. The truth is, his father almost cut ties with him because of this.

It's no wonder Qin Keqing's parents didn't understand.

It's 1992 now.

In an era when college graduates are still quite scarce, no matter who it is, if their son finally gets into college and is assigned a good job after graduation, it's considered a great honor for the family.

The parents were truly proud and had face wherever they went.

For people in the surrounding villages and towns of Qin Keqing's hometown, everyone who mentions Qin Keqing gives him a thumbs up and praises him as "a man of great ambition"!

Don't think this is an exaggeration; in the 1990s, it was a big deal for a college student to come from a rural area.

However, Qin Keqing's parents were too happy too soon.

"Leave without pay" might seem to leave room for returning to the original workplace, but in Qin Keqing's parents' eyes, what's the difference between this and resigning from the job?

Isn't this just staying home and unemployed?

Moreover, Qin Keqing's "leave without pay" is not the "going into business" that has become popular in recent years, but rather becoming an actor!

This is rather absurd!

Qin Keqing's parents thought he had "gone mad" and was possessed.

He tried to persuade, argue, make a scene, and even curse... and almost came to blows. Qin's father was so angry that he wanted to sever his father-son relationship with Qin Keqing, but in the end he still couldn't change Qin Keqing's mind.

"If you step out that door today, don't ever come back, even if you die outside!"

These were the harsh words Qin Keqing's father uttered when he left home for the capital...

What can Qin Keqing do? He can't exactly say he has a cheat code and that developing a career in the film and television industry would be more promising, can he?

He's currently working as an extra in a film crew for a movie called "The Flower Sisters' Romantic Debt," directed by Zhang Junzhao.

Zhang Junzhao is quite famous. His directorial debut was called "One and Eight," and many people would probably instinctively associate it with Zhang Yimou when they hear the name of the film.

That's not wrong; Zhang Yimou was the cinematographer for "One and Eight".

While waiting backstage, Qin Keqing glanced at Qu Ying, one of the leading actresses, a few more times. The Qu Ying of later generations was somewhat "unremarkable," and apart from being very tall, she didn't look particularly good.

But young Qu Ying was handsome!

Standing at 1.75 meters tall and a former model, her long, straight legs are incredibly eye-catching. Imagine holding them in your hands and examining them closely...

cough……

Despite the assistant director's best efforts and repeated reminders to the extras not to look around during filming, problems still arose during the actual shooting.

During filming, a young man didn't look at the camera, but couldn't help stealing glances at Qu Ying's long legs, glancing at her secretly several times.

Actually, you can't blame the young man.

It's August now, and the weather is hot. Qu Ying is dressed rather lightly, and her long, straight legs are exposed so brightly and whitely that no one can help but want to take a second look.

Director Zhang Junzhao witnessed all of this.

Once a movie starts filming, there are almost no directors with good tempers.

Zhang Junzhao also lost his temper, calling the assistant director over and giving him a thorough dressing-down, even hurling insults at the manufacturer.

This wasn't Qin Keqing's first time working as an extra.

It's not uncommon for directors like Zhang Junzhao to swear on set. Many directors will start cursing when things don't go smoothly, and they'll say all sorts of things.

How to put it? The film crew is actually a microcosm of society, or to put it more directly, a small society with a more rigid hierarchy.

There is a clear division of labor within the organization, with each person fulfilling their specific duties, and there is almost no situation where someone "oversteps their bounds".

In countries and regions with a director-centric system, the director is basically the "king" of the crew during filming. Even if he loses his temper and curses, no one dares to confront him directly and can only greet him with a smile.

Qin Keqing had personally witnessed instances where young actresses, perhaps due to a lack of proper positioning, were physically confronted by directors who would grab them from behind, forcefully pushing them to instruct them on where to move and where to pause.

The key point is that the actresses not only dare not stand up for themselves, but even when they are being choked from behind, they do not care to shake off the director's big hand. They also have to watch the director's expression and do things in a way that pleases him.

Qin Keqing knew that some directors would not only grab actresses from behind during filming, but would even grab them from behind and whip them while riding horses at night...

Perhaps because the director got angry, the reshoot went much more smoothly. The extras moved around without any mistakes, and no one dared to steal glances at Qu Ying's long legs anymore.

The main problem was that the director's insults were so harsh that they scared a lot of people.

After the extras finished filming their scenes, Qin Keqing waited for about half an hour before the assistant director came over to settle their "wages".

15 yuan per person.

not tall.

There are no regulations yet, and extras are paid differently depending on the production crew.

Generally speaking, film crews from Hong Kong who come to the mainland to shoot receive the most money, usually around 100 yuan. Those playing corpses or in special costumes will receive additional red envelopes.

Production teams in mainland China with larger investments tend to pay more, but it generally won't exceed 50 yuan.

Production crews with smaller investments and tighter budgets will receive less money; for example, this production, "The Flower Sisters' Romantic Debt," only received 15 yuan.

Wages were low in those days. The average wage for workers across the country was between 300 and 600 yuan. So, 15 yuan for an extra didn't seem like a bad amount.

But that's not how you calculate it.

You can't get extra work every day.

Especially now, it's not easy for state-owned film studios to apply for filming quotas, and the number of films produced has decreased significantly. Even the Beijing Film Studio is in the same situation; sometimes they might not even get any extra work for a week.

This is also what makes Qin Keqing feel the most uncomfortable.

Money wasn't the most important thing to him; the most important thing was getting work. Being an extra was the fastest way for him to rise to prominence.

Qin Keqing couldn't help but turn his gaze to the south. These past few years seemed to be the most prosperous time for Hong Kong cinema. In such a small place, he heard that nearly two hundred movies were made last year alone.

Those film studios in Hong Kong operate 24 hours a day, sometimes even non-stop, with one movie after another being filmed there.

What an astonishing number.

For Qin Keqing, that place was absolutely the most ideal location, allowing him to accumulate experience as quickly as possible.

Now that the wages for "The Flower Sisters' Romantic Debts" have been settled, it means that Qin Keqing has completed her work as an extra on the set.

He murmured to himself, "Let's be friends..."

The system unfolds slowly, unseen by others.