Chapter 133: On the Way to Filming

After Luo Xuan's "story" came to an end, the long-planned first TV series remake of "The Romantic Swordsman" was finally put on the agenda under the leadership of Li Xuansheng, when the warm spring breeze was blowing across the cold earth.

The four seasons in Hong Kong are not distinct. Sometimes, when things get chaotic, you can experience all four seasons in a single day. Fortunately, Li Sishi was lucky this year. When she first officially wore ancient costumes to film a period martial arts drama, it happened to be a pleasant spring day with mild weather.

Although she wore ancient costumes when filming the music video for "Hateful Marriage" before, it was mostly for posing and striking a pose, aiming for a beautiful visual effect, unlike now, where she wears several layers of long robes and skirts to film large-scale martial arts movements.

Moreover, the character designs in this 1995 version of "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" are mainly fresh and simple, with most of the materials being cotton and linen fabrics. This is completely contrary to the old version's designs, which still had some opera elements.

This is also due to ten years of development—from the upgrading of filming equipment to the changes in the aesthetics of the times, most of TBL's period dramas have also changed from the bling-bling style of period dramas that incorporate opera costumes to a more widespread style of simplicity and naturalness, as if this is what ordinary people in ancient times looked like.

Of course, within the simple and natural style based on realism, there are also some styles that are slightly different for the sake of visual effect. After all, the most important thing in styling is to match the character's personality. A noble princess would certainly not wear simple clothes, and a cold fairy would certainly not be adorned with pearls.

The outfit that Li Sishi was photographed and "revealed" at the press conference was just one of the daily outfits of the Fairy of Cloud Cliff in the early stages: a white ancient costume made of layers of cotton, linen and gauze, with only the headband and waist belt in very light pink, which looked as simple as it could be.

The person in charge of designing Li Sishi's look is Hui Shu, a veteran makeup artist from TBL. After comparing the old version of the modified opera style look and consulting a lot of information, he combined it with modern aesthetic thinking and used a large amount of white for Li Sishi, as well as some light pink, light blue and black as embellishments.

Uncle Hui not only has his own design concepts, but also explains them to people when he is doing the styling. For example, for the Cloud Cliff Fairy styling this time, he explained to Li Sishi that in ancient times, dyes were precious, and ordinary people would usually only use undyed white cloth to make clothes. The dyed cloth that ordinary people could easily make was mainly a variety of light colors and mixed black.

As for using light pink as an accent color as the most classic first time

The reason for the choice of color for the appearance is that red dyes were relatively easy to find in ancient times. In addition, Li Sishi is the youngest among the actresses who have played the role of Yunya Fairy. Using light pink as an accent color can better highlight her personal advantages.

Although the original novel describes the Fairy of Cloud Cliff as having skin as white as snow but lacking a fresh and healthy rosy glow due to her long-term residence in a stone chamber atop the mountain, the film and television portrayal certainly cannot be exactly the same as the original description. Instead, it should use a "spiritual resemblance" to showcase this unique beauty on the screen.

Li Sishi thanked the expert for the explanation and made her appearance with the stylist that the expert had spent three whole hours creating, which indeed shocked many people.

"Three hours?" Luo Xuan was quite shocked when he heard this.

Those who haven't genuinely and personally dedicated themselves to an industry often find it hard to imagine that what seems like a simple job actually involves so many hidden processes.

“Yes, don’t be fooled by the fact that my hair is only tied with a ribbon at the back. To make this antique-style hair bun, first you have to attach a wig, then apply hair oil for easy styling, and then use a lot of black invisible hair clips and hairpins to hold it in place… In short, it’s so troublesome!” Li Sishi sighed, and then couldn’t help but add, “But the effect is really beautiful.”

"Also, don't think you can escape just because you're a boy. It's more troublesome for boys to put on wigs than for us girls with long hair. Otherwise, why are so many male extras in movies made to wear ancient costume hats? It's because if they wear hats, they only need to stick on two sideburns, not the whole wig."

Speaking of this, Li Sishi couldn't help but recall their mutual friend's quirky antics: "Look at Yimian, he even grew his hair long so it would be easier to film period dramas..."

Since Cheng Erjian wasn't here, and Luo Xuan was an old acquaintance she'd met before, Li Sishi, being a typical mantis shrimp, naturally used their old nickname to address him.

"If that happens, we'll have to arrive much earlier than the scheduled start time for work in the future..."

Luo Xuan immediately realized the real difficulty of creating costumes for period dramas.

“Yes, the sooner the better. There are no big or small stars on set. No matter how big a star an artist is, they will be criticized if they make a mistake.” Li Sishi glanced at him. “Especially you. Don’t think that just because the producer approves of you, you’re safe. If you’re slow with the styling and slow down the whole crew, do you think the director will give you a long, scathing speech on the spot…”

When passing by here

Hearing Li Sishi's words, Zhang Chu, who was habitually late, immediately felt a lot guilty.

Some people don't necessarily not want to be punctual, but they can't help but procrastinate, thinking that being on time doesn't count as being late. As a result, they often fail to be on time, thus becoming known as the "Queen of Lateness" by their colleagues and friends.

Seeing the sudden splash of green beside her, Li Sishi could only conclude that it was Zhang Chuer, who had already dressed up as "Zheng Qing".

The Miss Hong Kong pageant is about to begin, and Zhang Chuer, who is very talented in acting, will soon relinquish the glory and obligations of the 1994 Miss Hong Kong champion and begin her magnificent film and television career.

Although Zheng Qing is a named and well-known beautiful supporting character in the Romance Trilogy, she doesn't have many scenes, which is why Zhang Chu was able to squeeze out time for her amidst his busy goodwill activities. In fact, strictly speaking, in these three martial arts novels, which are all primarily told from the male protagonist's perspective, the female protagonists and supporting characters, who are called "beauties of romance and chivalry," are merely beautiful embellishments.

While driving the story forward, she also adds various buffs to the male protagonist and ultimately resolves his romantic problems, making her the best example of a "tool character."

However, the old man's writing style and ideas are always top-notch. Coupled with the limitations of the era, the novels are already more intricate and full of twists and turns, surpassing most of his contemporaries.

The female characters who served as foils to the male protagonists were able to gain a place in the male-dominated mainstream aesthetic of the time and remain unforgettable for generations, not only because of the "blank space" in their writing but also because of their unprecedented "spirit".

▔

Just as she was thinking this, Li Sishi saw many familiar faces again: the TV station was neither too big nor too small, but the familiar supporting actors were so familiar that they could be seen both on screen and in real life. Watching them change into their costumes and chat or rehearse in groups of three or five, the bustling and vibrant scene made Li Sishi smile unconsciously.

In this era, although we lack the funding and technology of later generations with their rapid technological advancements, it is thanks to the hard work of those both in front of and behind the camera who strive to make good films that so many excellent works have emerged during this pivotal period of change.

The efforts and achievements of the older generation of Hong Kong people in the arts and entertainment will become a unique memory of an era.

"Hey, why are you all smiles today?" Lu Yutong, dressed in a fresh and youthful pink outfit, walked over and patted Li Sishi on the shoulder. "We're in the same production team again this time!"

It's truly rare to have both of you involved in my first modern drama and my first period drama...

"It's a pity I've already improved to become the male lead and you're still the female lead." When they were filming "Mr. Morning," the group of young people often joked around, and Luo Xuan immediately looked at her with a smile.

"Tch, so what if you're the male lead? Yang Si's reputation is only slightly better than his father Yang An's... just a tiny bit better!" Lu Yutong's excessively sweet baby face was such an advantage that even her pouting was incredibly cute. "And the little Huo Xiang I'm playing is loved by everyone, both on and off screen!"

"Alright, since you have someone to love, then stop with the whole 'traveling the world in search of chivalry' thing. I'm going to live happily ever after with Fairy Yunya..." Luo Xuan continued her nonsense, "But I still have a question. Yang Si, who is also the Divine Eagle Hero in Huo Xiang's eyes—he clearly has so many friends in the martial arts world, so why did Huo Xiang go to Shaolin Temple to ask around?"

"Maybe it's because she thinks monks don't lie..." Seeing someone carrying a camera to interview Li Sishi, the two of them automatically and consciously stepped back a little to avoid blocking the camera, and then, like mischievous kids, put their arms around each other's shoulders and went to the side to continue chatting nonsense.

The character design and makeup test took a full three days, so it was inevitable that some rumors would leak out and reach reporters who wanted to get firsthand information for their reports.

Of course, TBL wouldn't let the benefits go to outsiders. While the production team was still in the preparation stage, they arranged for the "Hong Kong City Chase" program team to come over. In addition to broadcasting the preparation progress every day, they would also ask Hong Kong people for their thoughts on the remake of "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" during random interviews with citizens.

Most people expressed their anticipation for the new version, and those interviewed who knew about the male lead's previous scandals mostly accepted the current situation and wanted to see if Luo Xuan, this prodigal son, could truly "turn back to the right path."

Of course, this high level of acceptance may also be related to the fact that many of the interviewees who knew about the male lead's scandalous past were housewives who appreciated handsome men...

Knowing that the program "Chase in the Port City" would provide viewers with a lot of behind-the-scenes footage of film and television production, Li Sishi was on high alert when she was interviewed on camera, hoping to leave a completely different image from "Fairy of Yunya" off-screen.

Even though she has already completed her costume for the play, the transformation of the Ice Fairy into a sweet and lovely fairy under the warm spring sunshine could still leave a lasting impression on some people's memories.

The only thing that damaged her fairy-like image was Luo Xuan, who had finished rambling and then returned to her side at some point—he was now happily peeking out from the edge of the camera, dressed as a young Yang Si.

Li Sishi was initially too lazy to pay him any attention until the interviewer saw Luo Xuan's amusing expression and gestured for the camera to shift slightly towards him...

Upon realizing that her own people had stolen the spotlight and given her a rather fairy-like interview, Li Sishi instantly dropped her sweet smile and reverted to her aloof and icy demeanor as the fairy of the cliff.

She gracefully raised her hand, her fingers curling into an orchid shape, and then suddenly flicked his forehead as punishment.