Chapter 317 Soul Ferry: Huangquan
As a fantasy film, "Soul Ferry: Huangquan" has almost no real shots.
The 800-mile Huangquan, the endless Wangchuan River, the Naihe Bridge connecting life and death, the quaint and deep Mengpo Village...
All these scenes must be completed by post-production special effects.
Therefore, Meng Bai is familiar with the shooting location and decided to shoot at the Oriental Film City in Landao.
When this place was first built, it was for special effects blockbusters. Various scenes, equipment and teams are complete, which can save the crew a lot of energy.
Moreover, Sunac has just taken over and provides various preferential policies for the crews that come here to shoot, which greatly reduces the production cost.
Of course, the most important thing is that this place is very close to the crew of "The Wandering Earth", which is convenient for him to run between the two.
"Brother Yi."
In the studio, Meng Bai looked at Yu Yi, who he hadn't seen for a long time, and said with a smile: "Finally, we are working together again."
Unlike the cool Zhao Li in the play, Yu Yi's personality in reality is almost completely opposite, and he is much more stable.
Despite this, hearing Meng Bai's words, a smile of nostalgia still appeared on his face: "Yeah, I didn't expect that after more than two years, the 'Pendulum' series could still have new stories."
When the setting collection of "Soul Ferry" was released, Meng Bai once said that there might be new stories in the future.
However, with the increasing number of Arclight projects and the increasingly strict review environment, many people, including Yu Yi, thought that it would be difficult for this series to produce new content.
Unexpectedly, Meng Bai actually remembered it all the time. Even after such a long time, even if it has changed from a web drama to a web movie, even if it is just a prequel, it has been made after all.
"I have promised the audience and fans, and I always have to keep my promise." Meng Bai said: "Thanks to you, Brother Yi, this IP will not be forgotten."
In addition to the normal film and television projects that Yu Yi has taken on as an actor in recent years, he has also been doing the stage play of the same name as "Soul Ferry", which has kept this IP always alive and popular.
"I'm not that capable." Yu Yi smiled bitterly, "The audience's deepest impression is still the classic units in the original web drama, and we are just re-enacting them."
In order to keep the audience fresh, the stage play also recruited a lot of screenwriters and added many new plots.
Compared with the increasingly strict censorship online, the standards for offline performances are much more relaxed, so these new plots are much larger in scale and performance than the original web drama.
It is also for this reason that the quality of the newly added plots is good and has been supported by many offline audiences.
But despite this, none of them can compare with the original "God-conferring" units such as "Old Things", "Chi Ling" and "Weaver Girl".
So when Yu Yi received the new script sent by Meng Bai, he was very excited.
After completing the background setting of the prequel, this series will have more room for expansion, and they can also realize more ideas about the plot.
"It's a pity that there are no Ruoyun and Xiaoli in this prequel story." Yu Yi sighed.
Hearing this, Meng Bai couldn't help but recall the scene at that time.
However, the current occasion is not suitable for reminiscing about the past. Meng Bai and Yu Yi chatted for a few words and then separated, and then found the director.
The director of the web drama version of "Soul Ferry" is Wu Bai, but he will be busy with "Psychological Crime·City of Light" next, so he has no time to direct.
Arc Light discussed some candidates and finally selected director Bo Shan.
This guy is from Guo Jingyu's team and has directed many classic TV series before.
Like "Divine Doctor Xilaile", "Detective Di Renjie Prequel", "Brave Heart", etc., he is also an excellent director with more than ten years of experience.
Meng Bai had contact with Guo Jingyu at the previous Qiyi TV new film investment promotion meeting, and it happened that this time he asked him to help introduce him to be the chief director of "Soul Ferry·Huangquan".
When Meng Bai met Bo Shan, the latter was watching the material that had just been shot.
This project started two days ago and entered the formal shooting stage.
It's just that Meng Bai was delayed by some things in the company, so he couldn't come to attend the opening ceremony.
But then again, with more and more projects produced by Arc Light, it is unrealistic to expect Meng Bai to be equally attentive to each one.
Generally speaking, he would only personally work on big productions like "Day and Night" or "Detective Chinatown".
The rest were basically handed over to the increasingly mature Liu Zhi and other people from Arclight.
The same is true for "Soul Ferry: Huangquan". As a "web movie" with an investment of only 20 million yuan, if this IP was not the start-up work of Arclight, Meng Bai might not have come.
After chatting with Bai Shan about filming and plot issues, Meng Bai casually asked if the crew had any difficulties.
"The filming went smoothly here." Bai Shan said.
After thinking about it, he mentioned another thing: "If you want to talk about difficulties, the special effects company has not found a suitable one. I may have to trouble you, Mr. Meng, to help think of a solution."
"That's simple." Meng Bai said without hesitation.
If other problems are not easy to solve, but in the field of special effects, since the launch of "The Wandering Earth", it can be said that there are few people in the domestic film and television industry who know more than him.
"I'll contact a few teams and ask them to talk to you to see which one is suitable."
"That's great."
After chatting for a few more sentences, Meng Bai didn't bother him any more because he saw that the other party was still busy.
...
"Brother!"
A crisp voice with surprise sounded behind him. Meng Bai turned around and saw a cute figure trotting over.
"Brother, you're here."
Zhu Xudan ran a few steps and stopped in front of him, her eyes full of excitement and joy.
At the annual meeting before, Meng Bai once said that he would come to the crew when shooting this movie.
Zhu Xudan was disappointed for a long time because she didn't see him at the opening ceremony a few days ago.
But she didn't expect to see him today.
"Zhu Zhu."
Meng Bai smiled and greeted this "cheap junior sister", and then took a look at her outfit.
She was wearing a gray coarse linen dress, her long hair was tied into a bun on the top of her head, and she was holding a silly bandage in front of her forehead.
With this makeup, anyone who saw it would only think that she was a simple girl from a farm, and had nothing to do with the legendary Meng Po.
But this is the effect needed for this role.
"Sanqi" was mentally dull because she lacked a soul in the early stage. In addition, she had been in Huangquan since she was a child and had never seen the world, so this "village flower" look was designed.
Don't think that this outfit looks simple and cheap.
For props and costumes in the film and television industry, this kind of artificial aging is more expensive than new ones.
It's like many viewers feel that the texture of current costume dramas is not as good as the old dramas in the past. The reason is very simple. The investment is not enough, and the crew is reluctant to spend money. The characters wear and use all new things.
The texture naturally presented is very different.
"Soul Ferry: Huangquan" is a fantasy theme, but it does not mean that it can be fooled casually.
On the contrary, the more unreal the story is, the more it needs such details to make the audience feel "real".
Seeing that his senior brother was looking at him, Zhu Xudan slightly pinched his cloth skirt and shook his body.
"Senior brother, how is it?"
"Not bad." Meng Bai nodded, "It fits the role very well."
Zhu Xudan was delighted at first when she heard his compliment, but then she realized that he was just talking about the role, and she couldn't help but pout.
But in a moment, she put this little emotion behind her, and happily said that she would be a guide for Meng Bai and take him around the crew.
Meng Bai had this plan, and he happened to have nothing to do, so he let her do it.
Compared with the huge team of nearly a thousand people in "The Wandering Earth", "Soul Ferry: Huangquan" is obviously a small production. There are not many extras or staff, and it looks very empty.
For such a small crew, the "standard process" summarized by Guo Fan is not very applicable, so it is still in the traditional management mode.
This is actually the reason why the industrialization of the film and television industry is difficult to improve.
There are only a few large productions with an investment of hundreds of millions every year. The rest are still small crews.
In the traditional model, everyone is experienced and more efficient, so there is naturally no need to consider any improvement.
There is a long way to go!
Meng Bai sighed in his heart.
With the expansion of the film and television market, various large investments and large productions have increased, and the traditional "workshop model" will eventually be replaced by modern management.
However, this kind of thing cannot be solved by just a few of them or a few projects.
It can only be changed by new generations.
The crew was not big, and the two of them quickly went around.
In the actor's lounge, Meng Bai saw Bai Lu.
"Hello, boss."
Seeing her own big boss, the girl habitually grinned.
Unlike Zhu Xudan, who was dressed in coarse linen, she was now dressed in a red and black knight outfit with a cloak tied behind her.
Her hair was tied together in a high ponytail, which looked very cool.
Meng Bai's eyes lit up. Don't say it, although this girl looks a bit like Boss Li, her temperament is completely different.
Li Yitong is obviously sweet, especially with her crescent-shaped smiling eyes, everyone who sees her has to call her "sweet sister".
Bai Lu's face shape is tougher and looks very heroic.
With this slim outfit, she feels like a female knight.
In fact, the character she plays, "A Xiang", is also of a similar type.
In charge of the guards of the underworld, she has a strong fighting power and is one of the few friends of "Sanqi". In the final battle, in order to protect "Sanqi", she died. For
this role, Meng Bai originally wanted to set her as Sun Shangxiang, the princess of Dongwu, to lean on history.
Anyway, strictly speaking, the name "Sun Shangxiang" is just a folk custom, and there is no real historical data to determine what the name of "Mrs. Sun" is.
Therefore, there will be no "historical nihilism" or the like.
However, after discussing with the director for a long time, I felt that this setting was a bit nonsensical and did not help the plot, so I finally gave up this character background.
Content creators are often like this. They are always prone to focus on some useless details, which is what the audience often calls "carrying private goods".
But then again, since it is expressed to the outside world, this kind of "private goods" is inevitable.
The reason why some are praised and some are scolded is nothing more than whether they can fit in with the audience's ideas.
"This outfit is nice, Xiaobai."
Meng Bai said to her, "It seems that you are quite suitable for this kind of heroic role like 'female knight'. You can ask your agent to keep an eye on it and look for more resources for this kind of role."
"Thank you, boss. I'll make a note of it." Bai Lu agreed happily.
As a newcomer, she actually didn't have many choices. Usually, she would play whatever role she got.
If she said it herself, her agent would definitely not listen to her.
But now it was "Boss Meng" who spoke, and it was still very powerful.
Zhu Xudan on the side looked at Bai Lu. Although they were from the same company, they had little intersection with each other, so this project was the first time they cooperated.
She also noticed Meng Bai's fleeting eyes just now, and then she saw the familiar attitude between him and the senior brother, and she couldn't help but have many thoughts in her heart.
Fortunately, the senior brother only chatted with the other party for a few words and didn't say too much.
But before leaving, she still looked at the other party deeply.
Watching Meng Bai and Zhu Xudan leave, Bai Lu finally breathed a sigh of relief.
After closing the door of the lounge, she habitually collapsed on the chair.
"Wow, Xiaobai, you really didn't lie to me."
He Handan, who had been standing next to her, said, "You are a really handsome boss!"
Since she was invited to meet in Jingbei last time, she quit her job after returning. Then she joined Bai Lu's team and became a publicity agent and assistant.
Bai Lu grinned: "Didn't I show you the photos last time? What else do you not believe?"
"Aren't photos still a lot worse than real people?"
"Why, do you like it? Let me introduce you to someone."
"Come on, although I'm not strong in other abilities, I still have a lot of self-knowledge."
He Handan sighed.
Not to mention the other party's identity, just based on his appearance, he will definitely have no shortage of girls chasing him.
My appearance is only average among ordinary people, not to mention the film and television industry where appearance is not valuable.
If I changed my best friend's face, I might be able to give it a try.
But then, she glanced at Bai Lu, who was sprawled on the chair, and couldn't help but feel "disappointed".
"I'm not saying anything, Xiao Bai. Look at the attitude of that girl, and then look at you. You deserve to not be popular."
Bai Lu said nonchalantly, "You mean Sister Zhuzhu? She's Mr. Meng's junior sister, we've been friends for many years, how can I compare with her?"
"It's a question of whether to compare or not."
He Handan said, "I asked you to take the initiative, it doesn't mean that we have to have a very good relationship, the key is to get familiar with each other. In this way, when the boss has any good opportunities in the future, he will think of you first."
"Is this your 'working man's wisdom' again?"
"Don't worry about what it is, just tell me if it makes sense."
"It seems to make some sense." Bai Lu sat up straight.
"So, it just so happens that your boss will be staying in the crew for a while, so take this opportunity to show up in front of him more."
He Handan clenched his fist and said firmly, "Remember, our goal is to get familiar with each other."
(End of this chapter)
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