Chapter 802

The first film Lu Yanhe chose was "The County Magistrate Runs Fast," the new work by Ning Zhiyuan, the director of "Nine Yin."

It's a period drama set in a martial arts world, but action scenes and fight scenes aren't its selling points.

According to online reviews, this is a satirical comedy that inherits the style of "Three Words and Two Slaps" and "The Scholars".

The film still stars Zhou Yuning, the male lead from "Nine Yin".

But it's a completely different persona.

In this drama, "The County Magistrate Runs Away," Zhou Yuning plays a truly petty and calculating county magistrate.

Also starring in this film is Liu Zi, an old acquaintance of Lu Yanhe.

She plays the wife of this county magistrate, who is also... how to put it, a loud, fussy, and naturally funny woman.

The story begins on a dark and stormy night.

A young thief couple with the ideal of robbing the rich to help the poor heard that the magistrate of Tan County had a box of gold hidden in his house, so they secretly sneaked into the magistrate's house that night.

The young male and female thieves are played by He Jiang, who played Lü Xiucai in "My Own Swordsman", and Zhu Xiuxiu, an actress who became popular two years ago with a period drama.

Almost all the actors adopted a theatrical, expansive, and slightly exaggerated performance style.

However, in this film, which is already quite flamboyant and satirical in style, it seems to complement each other perfectly.

The two notorious thieves were discovered by the county magistrate's wife. She screamed and grabbed a broom, shouting "Madam, strike quickly!" The two thieves, who had ideals but no real skills, were caught just like that.

When the county magistrate heard that the person had come to steal money, he was so angry that he immediately wanted to tie the person up and lock them up in the county office.

On the way, they unexpectedly encountered real bandits—and moreover, several constables from the county government office. They killed and robbed people, and the county magistrate happened to witness it.

Under pursuit, the magistrate and his entourage fled east and west, eventually escaping into the clerk's house—this scene is a particularly joyful long take, filming the chase as they flee. Towards the end, the camera even rises into the air for a wide panoramic view, allowing the audience to clearly see how the magistrate and his gang escaped with great danger and near death into the clerk's house.

Lu Yanhe almost clapped his hands in amazement.

This is how long takes should be filmed.

The camerawork is superb. The chase and escape, the back-and-forth switching of single perspectives, are both exciting and thrilling. Just when the viewer is getting a little dizzy, the camera's field of vision gradually opens up and stops swaying back and forth.

Then a wide shot, followed by a long take, brings the curtain to a close.

However, before the group that had taken refuge in the advisor's house could recover from their shock, they fainted while being served tea by the mastermind behind the scenes—the advisor.

-

The film enters its second chapter from here, introducing the background of the lectern master and the constables.

Domestic films often employ this multi-perspective, episodic narrative style. Among the people Lu Yanhe knows, Cao Baoping is one of them, for example, his film "The Chaser".

Even "The County Magistrate Runs Fast" has adopted this format.

In the second chapter, the characters' backgrounds take a dramatic turn.

The clerk and the constables were Robin Hood-like outlaws who robbed the rich to help the poor. They were killing corrupt and lawless tycoons in the county town who had committed murder.

The county magistrate was a muddle-headed fool who rose to power by taking advantage of others, but because he did not oppress the people, the clerk and the constables hesitated about whether to kill him to silence him.

Surprisingly, the role of the advisor is played by Jiang Jun.

-

Lu Yanhe had not noticed before that Jiang Jun had made this movie.

He only glanced at the movie cast and didn't scroll down the list.

Therefore, Lu Yanhe was pleasantly surprised when he saw Jiang Jun appear.

However, the second chapter is not finished either.

The third chapter surprisingly returns to the story of the master thief played by He Jiang and Zhu Xiuxiu.

These two men were not the so-called notorious thieves, but rather secret agents of the current prime minister. They had come to Tan County to search for a martial arts master who had escaped from prison ten years prior.

Mo Hai.

They suspected that the county magistrate was Mo Hai, so they took this opportunity to deliberately approach him, waiting for him to slip up.

However, no matter how critical the situation was, even with the clerk and others holding a knife to the magistrate's neck, he and his wife remained perfectly normal and showed no signs of distress.

Even as the county magistrate was on the verge of being killed, he made no move, a far cry from the legendary master thief with exceptional martial arts skills.

In the end, the two spies showed their true skills, stopping the clerk and the constables from tying them up. Then, without explaining anything, they drifted away.

At the end of the third chapter, Lu Yanhe thought the movie would end there.

Although the plot is a bit simple, the whole movie is very enjoyable to watch. The style is consistent and the pacing is good, which is great.

Who knew, a fourth chapter would appear.

After the two spies left, the magistrate and his wife immediately untied the clerk and the others. They exchanged a glance and breathed a sigh of relief.

Let's turn back time to the day before this movie started.

The little beggar who had been secretly gossiping about the county magistrate's hidden box of gold changed his appearance and ran into the county magistrate's house in a panic, calling out to the county magistrate, "Brother County Magistrate, news has come from the capital that they have been discovered."

The county magistrate was indeed the martial arts master who escaped from prison ten years ago, and the group of people in Tan County were all his cronies.

Everything that happened was a staged performance by them to fool the two secret agents.

-

The fifth chapter tells a story from ten years ago.

The story opens with the magistrate's wife clinging desperately to his leg, crying and screaming, "You're not allowed to go! I won't let you go!"

An absurd comedy.

Liu Zi completely disregarded her image, portraying a shrewish and unreasonable character.

"Once you leave, never come back!"

The next scene shows two people dressed in black, lurking in the shadows outside the prison.

"Madam, you forbade me to come—"

"Shut up, I forbade you to come. If you come, I will. Don't talk nonsense." Liu Zi's performance was too mature. After portraying a hot-tempered and charming woman, she revealed the side of a female knight-errant—of course, not the kind of female knight-errant in ancient costume dramas. "Whether you succeed or not, you can't go back. Have you thought about where you're going next?"

"Tan County".

Then, the two of them started fighting.

Unfortunately, although they successfully rescued the people from prison, they were constantly pursued.

Zhou Yuning had no choice but to stay behind to cover their retreat and lure the others away, creating space for Liu Zi and the rescued Lord Liu to escape.

Then he was arrested.

-

Chapter Six.

As the sun rises, the morning light emerges from the ground.

He Jiang and Zhu Xiuxiu, playing young secret agents, gallop on horseback.

"Then how did he escape?" Zhu Xiuxiu asked He Jiang.

He Jiang said, "No one knows how he escaped. He suddenly disappeared one day. However, many people in the court privately admired Mo Hai, who rescued Lord Liu. Back then, Lord Liu was imprisoned by the Prime Minister for pleading for the people during the disaster, and was later sentenced to beheading. If it weren't for him, Lord Liu would probably be dead."

"Where is Lord Liu now?"

“Nobody knows.” He Jiang sighed. “Unfortunately, this news is still false. The magistrate of Tan County is not Mo Hai.”

"Yes, it's a pity. Otherwise, we would have made a great contribution on this trip. Now we can only go to report to the Prime Minister with our tails between our legs."

The two said it was a pity, but they smiled at each other under the morning sun.

-

Chapter Seven.

At the county magistrate's house.

Several people formed a circle, and the county magistrate was holding a shovel in his hand.

The magistrate's wife complained, "This broken box is full of stones, why did you have to dig it out?"

When everyone opened the box, they found two gleaming gold ingots inside.

-

Chapter Eight.

Ten years ago.

The two children sat on the side of the street, their bodies emaciated.

Around them were all people who were ragged, emaciated, and pale.

In the dead of winter, the ground is covered in snow.

"Sister, are we going to die?" the little boy asked the little girl.

The little girl looked at her younger brother without saying a word.

Suddenly, someone shouted, "The city gates are open! Grain is being distributed! Soup is being given out!"

The two children still looked somewhat dazed, as if they hadn't quite grasped what was happening.

Around them, everyone scrambled to their feet.

The camera slowly pans up, and after being stranded outside the capital for twelve days, tens of thousands of disaster victims finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Finally, a voice-over says: "In the seventh year of the Renli reign, an earthquake struck Wangjiang Prefecture, causing numerous deaths and injuries. Tens of thousands of displaced people gathered outside the capital. Liu Weiming, the Minister of Revenue, pleaded for the people, distributing grain and porridge, and allowing the displaced people to enter the city. The Prime Minister was furious and sentenced Liu Weiming to be beheaded on the spot, which caused a great uproar. All the officials knelt outside the palace gate. The Emperor, with a benevolent heart, rebuked the Prime Minister and ordered the city gates to be opened to save the people."

-

Lu Yanhe let out a long sigh of relief.

This movie has grossed 280 million yuan in ten days and has a good chance of breaking 350 million yuan.

Indeed... how should I put it, it has the feel of traditional Chinese novels.

And it's quite ironic.

Based on the details presented in the movie, the so-called villain, the prime minister, was actually just a villain pushed to the forefront by the emperor.

A wicked prime minister is a prime minister, but an emperor is benevolent to all under heaven.

Despite the various plot twists, the production is anything but rough; on the contrary, the cinematography, costumes, props, and music are all of excellent quality.

After watching the movie, Lu Yanhe really wanted to know one thing: what was the production cost of this movie?

Having directed so many films himself, Lu Yanhe is very sensitive to production costs. Take, for example, the Hollywood film *Instant Universe*. It gained fame in the industry because many directors were amazed that they could make the film with only $25 million.

They all felt they couldn't do it.

Of course, after watching this movie, although you may not be very clear about the themes it expresses, the film's technical aspects are certainly impeccable.

According to the original production standards of Chinese films, "The County Magistrate Runs Away" would have cost at least 100 million yuan to produce. Especially the county town scenes in the film, which are clearly real shots and required the construction of actual sets.

However, Lu Yanhe also felt that the production cost of this film shouldn't be that high. This is because the film's story theme and style are not mainstream or commercial. To be precise, it's a genre film, not a commercial film, and it's a very extreme genre film. Films of this style and genre often need to control costs to ensure they don't lose money—of course, if made well, they can easily become dark horses.

After watching the movie, Lu Yanhe immediately recommended it on his Weibo account.

He hasn't recommended movies on his social media platforms for quite some time now.

He then contacted director Ning Zhiyuan, curiously asking how much it cost to produce the film.

Ning Zhiyuan told him that the actual production cost was around 40 million.

Lu Yanhe was extremely surprised.

40 million is enough to produce a movie of this quality?!

Ning Zhiyuan called.

Why are you suddenly asking me this out of curiosity?

“Because I just finished watching this movie,” Lu Yanhe said. “I didn’t expect you to make a movie with a completely different style from ‘Nine Yin’. ‘Nine Yin’ is a very serious drama, but ‘The Magistrate’s Run’ is such an absurd comedy.”

Ning Zhiyuan said, "When I was preparing another film, I couldn't continue, so I suddenly had a whim to change the style and tell another story."

"I never imagined that this movie could be made for only 40 million."

"Did you think we created a panoramic view?"

"Isn't that so?"

“No,” Ning Zhiyuan said with a smile. “We shot in a studio, and many scenes were added in post-production. On the other hand, we compressed the shooting schedule. According to the original shooting plan, the movie would have taken about 120 days to shoot. However, we made many adjustments to the crew management model and shooting schedule. As a result, the final shooting time of the movie only took 68 days, which was much shorter and saved us a lot of production costs.”

Lu Yanhe nodded.

"Could those two long takes in the movie have been done to save shooting time?"

“That’s true,” Ning Zhiyuan said. “We didn’t waste any preparation time on set. All the camera work and blocking were done in advance. The actors rehearsed for one day and filmed for two days. We filmed a total of six takes and got it right.”

Lu Yanhe: "Awesome."

Under normal circumstances, shooting two sets of long shots like these would take at least a week.

These two long takes play a significant role in the film, totaling approximately 17 minutes.

No wonder so much time can be saved.

Most importantly, the quality of these two long lenses is excellent, and you can't tell at all that they were chosen to shorten the production time.

That skill was totally worth it.

-

From then on, for the next few days, Lu Yanhe went to the cinema to watch one or two movies almost every day.

Indeed, the overall quality of this summer's movies was quite good, with no particularly bad ones.

Most importantly, finally, the movies in theaters are no longer movies that look creative but feel very similar overall.

No wonder that the daily box office during the summer season has exceeded 100 million yuan so far.

Lu Yanhe basically recommends any movie he thinks is pretty good on Weibo.

Lu Yanhe rarely recommends movies so frequently on Weibo.

His fans jokingly created a hashtag for him called "Lu Yanhe's Film Review".

However, basically, the movies recommended by Lu Yanhe will experience a surge in box office revenue within 24 hours of his recommendation.

It's not a lot, maybe only around a million in "over-expected growth," but this isn't just one movie; it's something that happens with every movie.

Clearly, Lu Yanhe has a large fan base who would watch a movie based on his recommendation.

Buy tickets to see it.

in the country, only Lu Yanhe currently possesses the ability to demonstrate this capability through data analysis.

Then, many film companies came attracted by the opportunity.

They want to ask Lu Yanhe to recommend their movie.

Lu Yanhe politely declined each offer, refusing to accept any of them.

Fortunately, given his current status, he wouldn't be resented for politely declining such offers.

On the contrary, many people approached us with the mindset that "Lu Yanhe might not agree, but let's give it a try, what if he does?"

The fact that Lu Yanhe doesn't "put personal feelings first" has long been a well-known fact in the industry.

Everyone knows this, but even if everyone knows it, it doesn't matter.

What if it works?

Lu Yanhe's words were like "golden words," each utterance worth millions in box office revenue.

-

Lu Yanhe specifically spoke to Chen Yin about this film, saying that Linghe could learn from it and see how it was made, which would be very inspiring for Linghe's future filmmaking.

Chen Yin agreed.

(End of this chapter)