Chapter 317 A Few Things

After filming had been going on for about five or six days, Lu Yanhe finally realized what Liu Bige really wanted.

Liu Bige has a pair of sharp eyes; he can tell if you haven't fully entered the character's state and if there's even the slightest element of acting.

He won't tell you that your acting was bad or wrong, because he knows it's not a matter of you not being serious or trying hard enough. He's using a rigorous, meticulous process to polish away all your designs and calculations, in order to capture that final moment of returning to simplicity.

"He looks so young, but I didn't expect him to be so capable of tormenting people," Chen Ziyan joked as she listened to Lu Yanhe's words.

“Yes,” Lu Yanhe said on the phone. “When I talked to him about this movie before, I felt that he was a confident person who knew exactly what he wanted to film. Now on set, he insists that we actors perform the kind of feeling he wants before he will approve.”

“That’s good. I was worried before that he wouldn’t be good at directing because he had no experience.”

“He has a lot of experience. He participated in the production of many films in France before, especially low-budget films like this.” Lu Yanhe chuckled softly. “If it were a big production, he might not have any relevant experience. But with a film like ‘Late Spring,’ I feel that he is very familiar with it. He knows everything about each department. No one can fool him.”

On set, Liu Bige would also get angry with the staff.

Especially in the field of art.

He always complained about the set design; to be precise, he felt that everyone was just doing routine work without putting their heart into it.

"When you were in school, did you only have books on your desks?" Liu Bige has said this many times, pointing to the classroom's layout. "This blackboard is so clean, it doesn't look like it's been used for many years. Even if you wipe a blackboard clean with a chalkboard brush, there will still be a layer of chalk dust left! Look again, in the nooks and crannies next to the podium, isn't there any dust that can't be swept or wiped away? It's so clean, it's like it's had laser surgery."

Lu Yanhe had heard Liu Bige's criticisms countless times when he was present, and he had heard them countless times when he wasn't.

Privately, Lu Yanhe had also heard from staff members that Liu Bige was the most fussy and troublesome person they had ever encountered.

These complaints were endless, and even Lu Yanhe couldn't help but want to laugh at Liu Bige. However, it also proved that it was precisely because of meticulous people like Liu Bige that a good movie could be made.

The importance of a behind-the-scenes team to a film is often overlooked.

There's a way to do things seriously, and there's a way to do things perfunctorily.

The director's job is to enable each department to perform at its best and achieve the best results.

Unlike Luo Yuzhong or Chen Lingling, Liu Bige doesn't have a high status in the industry, a fixed team, or a strong understanding of the director's high standards, so he doesn't need to emphasize many basic things one by one.

He was a new director, so others inevitably looked down on him. Especially those who did odd jobs on set; whether they put their heart into it or not, whether the film turned out well or not, didn't directly benefit them. So most of the time, they just wanted to get by.

The reason why Liu Bige gets angry so frequently is because of this.

-

In comparison, none of the actors in "Late Spring" made any mistakes.

There were no instances of diva-like behavior or lack of professional competence.

This is also because films like "Late Spring" have such low budgets and uncertain prospects that no one else interfered with the casting, and no actors were forced to be included.

The casting for "Late Spring" was almost entirely decided by Liu Bige.

“It’s also because of you that you’re so cooperative with Liu Bige. The others are all newcomers, how could they dare not cooperate?” Chen Ziyan pointed out the key issue incisively. “Don’t think that just because someone is a newcomer or a young person, they are all well-behaved. In this industry, there are plenty of self-important and ignorant young people. There have been people who thought they were superior and acted willfully in front of big directors. You guys are just lucky.”

Lu Yanhe felt very comfortable on this film set. This was also the first time Lu Yanhe had played a "key role" on a film set, aside from his cameo appearance in "Three Mountains".

Every film has a "key character," a tacit rule that has become an established norm in the film industry.

Most of the time, if a film's director is a famous director, then the key figure is the director. Even if the film stars the most outstanding actors and the promotion focuses on these big-name actors, it doesn't affect the director's status as the "key figure."

However, often the director of a film is not considered a director who can carry the film in the industry. He has not entered the status of "film history". Whether in the eyes of the industry or ordinary audiences, the key figure of the film becomes the biggest star actor.

In the film "Late Spring", the key character is undoubtedly Lu Yanhe.

Lu Yanhe's attitude will subtly influence everyone else's attitude.

On set, his every move carried more weight than Liu Bige, who was directing for the first time.

That's exactly what Chen Ziyan meant.

Lu Yanhe placed Liu Bige in a very high position as director, completely trusting and executing all of Liu Bige's decisions without reservation. This influenced the rest of the crew.

After filming with the other actors for a week, Lu Yanhe gradually became familiar with them.

Only then did they dare to show some of their true emotions to Lu Yanhe as friends.

"Yan He, may I ask you why you were willing to star in this movie?" Kong Fan asked. "After all, you're so famous now, and this is a low-budget art film, and the director has never directed before."

Lu Yanhe smiled and asked in return, "Why did you all come to act in this movie?"

“We’ll come if there’s a role to play,” Kong Fan said. “We’re only freshmen, so we’re not allowed to take on roles. But Director Liu talked to our class teacher several times and somehow managed to persuade her.”

Kong Fan and Yan Lingyu were classmates.

Yan Lingyu nodded as well.

“You’re all students at Beijing Arts University, you shouldn’t have trouble finding acting roles after graduation, right?” Lu Yanhe said. “How can you just accept any role you get? Didn’t you even read the scripts?”

Kong Fan said, "I hadn't read a complete script before I took on this role, but when I heard that you were the lead, I immediately felt that I had to take it. Even my homeroom teacher said that, judging from your eye for choosing roles, this film was worth taking."

Lu Yanhe hadn't expected this turn of events.

“I did come because the script was good. Also, I’ve known the director for a long time. The original novelist and screenwriter of this film, Miao Yue, is my classmate. When the director wanted to buy the film adaptation rights, Miao Yue asked me to accompany her to meet the director, and that’s how we became friends,” Lu Yanhe said. “They are both very talented people, so of course I would come.”

"Many people at our school were surprised and couldn't understand why you would act in such a film."

"Do you know Yan Liang, your senior?"

"I know him. He was your teammate in the Fengzhi group before, right?"

“Yes.” Lu Yanhe nodded. “He told me that students in the Performance Department of Beijing Art Theatre also have to take literature classes.”

"right."

Have you ever wondered why schools give literature classes to performing arts students?

Kong Fan said, "This is because we need to do literary appreciation of the script and the characters in order to understand the characters, and we need to have a good aesthetic sense."

“Yes, actors need to have their own aesthetic sense. When it comes to scripts, they need to know how to analyze what makes a good script and what makes a good role,” Lu Yanhe said. “This is my own standard when choosing scripts. Of course, the production team is also very important. Big directors, big companies, big productions—people tend to choose these kinds of shows because such a setup is often more dedicated and seems more likely to produce a good work. But these are actually second-best choices. Actors who don’t choose roles based on the content or the talent of their collaborators can only judge the pros and cons of a show based on these external factors.”

Kong Fan and the others listened silently to Lu Yanhe's words, unsure of what to say for a moment.

Lu Yanhe smiled and said, "Actually, I'm not qualified to say that. Before 'Late Spring,' the films I made were either by big directors or big productions."

At this moment, Yan Lingyu shook his head and said, "I understand what you mean."

“It’s not that big productions are necessarily good projects, nor is it that small productions are necessarily bad projects. That’s not a standard for choosing a role.” Yan Lingyu said, looking at Lu Yanhe.

Lu Yanhe smiled and nodded, "That's the idea, but it's just my own opinion."

Kong Fan: "But it feels like we don't really have the power to choose or make choices. I see many of our seniors who are facing unemployment right after graduation. They don't have any roles to play. It's not a question of what roles to choose. That's why I said, if there are roles to play, seize the opportunity to act, especially if it's a role you're in."

In this day and age, there are more and more film and television projects, but the pool of actors is also getting bigger and bigger. In the past, the majority of actors were graduates from professional film and television schools, but now the situation is different. Compared with students who have just graduated and have no fame, there are idols who became famous at a young age, stand-up comedians or crosstalk performers who have made a name for themselves in other fields, and internet celebrities who have become popular through social media or live streaming platforms... There are too many people competing with actors who graduated from professional film and television schools for jobs.

Lu Yanhe is one of them.

This has indeed left many students from vocational schools with no acting opportunities.

Lu Yanhe nodded and said, "When there is no choice, seize the opportunity as soon as possible, but when there is a choice, you can consider more factors."

He Qingqing looked at Lu Yanhe. This eighteen-year-old girl was not as pretty as Yan Lingyu and Wang Jing, but she had a pleasing round face, was very cute, and had very vivid features. She said, "Brother Lu, you have never studied acting, but your acting skills are praised by everyone. You are amazing."

Lu Yanhe quickly waved his hand, "I just haven't studied acting at a professional acting school, but I've been learning acting all along. I've hired teachers myself and I've also learned on set. You haven't seen my first film, 'The Golden Era,' which I filmed with director Luo Yuzhong. On set, I actually didn't know anything. It was Director Luo who taught me a lot step by step and led me into the world of acting."

He Qingqing looked worried, resting her chin on her hands. "I was wondering if you had any suggestions for someone like me who has never studied acting. Sigh, I keep getting wrong, I don't know how to act anymore. I didn't know how to act in the first place."

Of the five actors, He Qingqing had the most takes.

Basically, if she's in a scene, that scene will definitely need to be filmed more than ten times.

“Practice more. Liu Bige chose you because you are the most suitable candidate for the role of Jiang Mo. The reason you have so many NGs is simply because you have never acted before, you don’t know how to act, and you haven’t learned how. So you can’t adapt to the camera and you can’t control your facial features and expressions,” Lu Yanhe said. “When I was filming ‘The Golden Era,’ the reason I often had NGs was also because I was not used to performing in front of the camera. I felt ashamed and was prone to overthinking. I had too many distracting thoughts. But after acting more and being able to control my facial features, expressions, and emotions better, this situation improved a lot.”

They were filming on the set of "Late Spring," spending every day together, and would occasionally have conversations like this.

As Lu Yanhe became a "senior," he inevitably had to share his "experience" with them.

-

The film "Late Spring" was scheduled to be filmed until the end of April.

Lu Yanhe signed a 50-day filming contract with the production team. However, if Liu Bige really needed more filming time, Lu Yanhe would cooperate. He was in Yuming anyway, and could go there whenever needed. Therefore, the filming time for "Late Spring" was relatively ample, and the schedule wasn't too rushed.

With the premiere of "Three Mountains" just around the corner, Wang Zhong contacted Lu Yanhe several times, asking him to participate in more promotional events for "Three Mountains".

Lu Yanhe had only agreed to attend the premiere in Yuming, but because the filming schedule for "Late Spring" wasn't too tight, he tried to cooperate as much as possible.

He only had a cameo role in this movie for one night, and no matter how good his performance was, he wasn't the lead actor. In a way, he shouldn't have participated in so much promotion, partly because it wasn't included in the original agreement, and partly because of the potential for poor promotional results.

Neither Lu Yanhe nor Chen Ziyan wanted the audience to have the misconception that he was the lead actor in the film. However, the current promotional trend for "Three Mountains" seems to be this way. Instead of openly stating that Lu Yanhe is the lead, it deliberately avoids mentioning that he only has a cameo role, focusing instead on promoting the high praise his performance received at the Sitour Film Festival.

Besides that, there was another point. Throughout the subsequent promotional activities, Wang Zhong only asked Lu Yanhe to cooperate more, without mentioning any additional compensation. When Lu Yanhe couldn't go, Wang Zhong's attitude became somewhat dissatisfied, as if Lu Yanhe was deliberately refusing to cooperate.

Lu Yanhe was a little bothered, but because the movie "Three Mountains" had given him a very good review, and besides, the other party was Wang Zhong, Lu Yanhe silently kept quiet about it and didn't say anything.

Chen Ziyan was somewhat annoyed.

"Even if Wang Zhong won Best Director at the Sitour Film Festival and the film received good reviews, you're not free labor. How can you be expected to work for free all the time?!"

Lu Yanhe had to turn around and persuade Chen Ziyan, saying, "The movie is about to be released, it's normal for him to want to ask me to help with the promotion."

“That’s right. They only had you for a cameo role for one night, but now they’re acting like you’re the lead actor, making you do all the promotional work for them for free. They’re putting you on such a high pedestal. When the movie comes out, many people who thought you were the lead actor will find out you only appeared for ten minutes and will accuse you of false advertising. Who do you think will take the blame for that?” Chen Ziyan said. “This matter needs to be handled properly. We can’t let them use your actor’s name as the main focus now. They’re getting all the benefits, but you’re taking the blame.”

No matter how well "Three Mountains" performs, that success will never reach Lu Yanhe's level.

Otherwise, if Lu Yanhe were the actual lead actor in "Three Mountains," Chen Ziyan would have cooperated.

Chen Ziyan said, "If 'Three Mountains' hadn't actually helped your career reach a new level, I would never have cooperated with them."

As a result, Chen Ziyan and Lu Yanhe neglected the "Three Mountains" project a bit.

Even director Wang Zhong is the same.

-

These days, Wang Zhong is being treated with great respect wherever he goes, a testament to the honor he received as Best Director at the Citium Film Festival.

The promotional schedule for "Three Mountains" is very busy.

The distribution company hastily scheduled the film for release in March, hoping to capitalize on the popularity of the Sitour Film Festival.

Wang Chong appeared on a talk show.

On the show, the host asked, "Director Wang, what are your expectations for the box office of 'Three Mountains'?"

Wang Zhong certainly hoped that "Three Mountains" would have the highest possible box office, but everyone also knew that a film like this couldn't possibly reach such a high box office. Before it won awards, everyone thought that making tens of millions at the box office would be a miracle. Now that it has won awards, it will at most break 100 million, which would still be considered a big hit.

In today's film market, such box office figures are undoubtedly insufficient.

Wang Zhong could only downplay the issue by saying, "I hope it will be liked by more audiences. Actually, we all know it's not a movie that can achieve high box office returns. We didn't have that goal in mind from the very beginning of filming."

The host then added, "Lu Yanhe is currently very popular. With him in this movie, can't you, the director, have more confidence in its box office performance?"

Wang Chong felt uncomfortable upon hearing this. This was his movie, not Lu Yanhe's, and besides, Lu Yanhe only had a ten-minute cameo.

The publicity team had been urging him to bring Lu Yanhe to participate in more promotional activities, which was bad enough, but to be questioned like this by the host on a TV show made Wang Zhong even more annoyed.

"It has nothing to do with who plays the lead role. Xiao Lu is very good and very popular, but everyone's power is limited. How much box office a film can sell depends on timing, location, and people. 'Three Mountains' is not the kind of simple film that everyone can immediately understand what it's about. To put it simply, it's not very audience-friendly." Wang Chong said these words directly, which made the publicity and distribution company's scalp tingle and left them at a loss.

“Director Wang is basically driving the audience out.” Chen Ziyan said to Lu Yanhe, speechless, “At first I thought Director Wang was frequently asking you to participate in promotional activities in order to ride your popularity and make the box office better. But judging from his attitude on the show, it seems like he doesn’t have that in mind.”

Lu Yanhe was also completely baffled. "I don't know what's wrong with the director either."

It's impossible for a director not to want good box office results.

However, Wang Zhong's words drew the attention of many people.

In particular, many netizens have offered various interpretations of these words.

Well-known entertainment critic and chief writer for "Dream Back to Qing Dynasty" Chen Miao commented scathingly: "After winning an award at the Xituer Film Festival, director Wang Zhong ascended to heaven and no longer cares whether we ordinary people like this movie. The movie is so profound that it's not surprising that we mortals can't understand it. Anyway, it doesn't mean the movie is bad."

Chen Miao's sarcastic remark won her many likes.

Wang Zhong has never been a director popular with the public, and his style has destined him to be a minority.

He has a rather aloof personality, as evidenced by his remarks on the show. After seeing Chen Miao's comments online, Wang Zhong was so angry that he directly commented in the comments section: "I never said I didn't care about the audience!"

-

"Director Wang's mentality is a bit broken." Anyone with eyes can see that Wang Zhong has been provoked.

Originally, Chen Ziyan was still a bit annoyed with Wang Zhong because of the fact that he had dragged Lu Yanhe into being free labor before "Three Mountains" and didn't like him much. But after seeing Director Wang Zhong angrily confront more than a dozen netizens in one night, and the phrase "Wang Zhong angrily confronts netizens" became a trending topic, Chen Ziyan realized that something must have happened to Wang Zhong.

She contacted Chen Ling, the producer of "Three Mountains".

Chen Ling didn't hide anything and said directly, "The ideas of our marketing company and the director's ideas are completely different. The two sides have been unable to reach an agreement, which has led to the current situation."

What exactly is the situation?

“Our distribution and promotion company this time is Sanhe. After seeing that ‘Sanshan’ won an award, they wanted to take advantage of the popularity of the Xituer Film Festival to release the film as soon as possible. They also talked to Director Wang many times, hoping that he could ask Lu Yanhe to help and participate more in the promotion.” Chen Ling said, “According to the contract we signed, Yanhe is not obligated to cooperate with so many promotional activities.”

Chen Ziyan: "I was wondering why the director kept asking Yan He for help. Actually, you know, it's not that we don't want to help, it's that we're already filming 'Late Spring' and we're also in school, so we can't spare the time. Besides, Yan He isn't even the lead actor, but now they're deliberately not mentioning that Yan He is just a guest star. This publicity makes him seem like the main character."

"Don't even mention it. I've negotiated with them several times about this, but because they are both one of the investors in this film and in charge of publicity and distribution, they don't take much of what we say to heart," Chen Ling said. "That's why the director was so angry and said those things on the show. You wouldn't believe it, but the boss from Sanhe even said something behind my back that reached the director's ears. I think it was deliberately passed on."

"What did you say?" Chen Ziyan asked, frowning.

“Even if the director wins the Best Director award at the Xituer Film Festival, that’s their business. To sell at the box office, they still need big stars like Lu Yanhe.” Chen Ling sighed as he spoke. “The director has always been a proud and arrogant person. Even if it’s true, he would definitely feel bad if he heard that.”

Chen Ziyan was speechless for a moment, and even wanted to go to the boss in Sanhe and yell at him, "What's wrong with your brain?!"

Chen Ling said, "Now that 'Three Mountains' is about to be released, I don't want to cause any more trouble, so I advised the director to let things rest and not to hold a grudge. He's in a bad mood and his condition has been terrible these past two days. He can't even do any promotional work."

"The Sanhe company you're partnering with is seriously out of its mind! Why would you cooperate with a company like that?"

“There’s nothing we can do about it. Back then, they were the only ones willing to invest in and promote Director Wang’s film,” Chen Ling said. “As you know, the director’s films don’t usually do well at the box office, and it’s harder to find investment for them than for regular films.”

"Don't cooperate with them next time," Chen Ziyan said.

Chen Ling smiled wryly and remained silent.

After hanging up the phone, Chen Ziyan went to the set of "Late Spring" to see Lu Yanhe.

Today's scenes for "Late Spring" weren't filmed at the cram school, but in an old house.

Liu Bige is going to film a scene where Lu Yanhe has dinner with his parents.

Meng Bai caught his father cheating on him. That noon, the family of three sat down together for lunch.

Unaware of the reason, the mother prepared lunch as usual.

Meng Bai was seething with anger, and his father reminded him a few times not to have a relationship too early and let it interfere with his studies. He retorted sarcastically, and the two started arguing. His mother tried to mediate, but Meng Bai was still angry. Not wanting his mother to be caught in the middle, he put on a cold face, picked up his schoolbag, and left home.

When Chen Ziyan arrived at the scene, Lu Yanhe was rehearsing with the actors who played his parents in the movie.

Both actors are veterans, though not widely known, their acting is superb.

The actor who played the father was Chen Yinghui, and the actress who played the mother was Jiang Biyu.

After they finished their performance, Chen Ziyan called Lu Yanhe aside and told him about Wang Zhong, Chen Ling, and the Sanhe Company.

“I was thinking of taking you to meet Director Wang after you finish filming today,” Chen Ziyan said. “There was a misunderstanding before, and you and I were neglecting Director Wang. Now that we know the situation, we can’t let the misunderstanding continue. Also, Director Wang is in a bad mood right now. If we go and have a meal with him and chat, maybe it will make him feel better.”

Upon hearing this, Lu Yanhe nodded without saying a word.

After Chen Ziyan finished speaking, she turned to look in the direction of Chen Yinghui and Jiang Biyu.

“You should work with these two and learn a lot from them; their acting is excellent.” Chen Ziyan seemed to know them very well. “Liu Bige is also quite capable; he got them to act alongside you.”

Lu Yanhe said with a smile, "Liu Bige also said that he had to visit these two three times to finally get them to come."

In the movie, these two only have a few scenes, maybe three or four. Chen Ziyan was right; they were really there to support Lu Yanhe, with little opportunity to showcase their own talents. The fact that they were still willing to come is usually due to personal connections.

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(End of this chapter)