Chapter 196
Inside the monitoring room, Dai Linfei's manager sat in a chair, intently watching the footage on the large screen. Next to him was Chen Lin, who had come along to watch. Both of their assistants were currently on set, on standby.
When Dai Linfei's lips curled up on the screen, even Chen Lin, who was personally styling her, couldn't help but exclaim, "Sister Fei, this aura is incredible!"
Lu An, sitting in a chair, pondered the video for a moment. He tapped the monitor pinned to the upper left corner of the screen, rewinding the footage to a few seconds. He turned his head to look at Chen Lin and asked, "Well, if you saw this ad on Valentine's Day, would you be interested in buying the outfit Feifei is wearing?"
Chen Lin didn’t understand Lu An’s intention for a moment, and blurted out, “Why wait until Valentine’s Day to buy it? I’ve already set my eyes on it!” As a makeup artist, she was already starry-eyed when she saw Dai Linfei in Zhou Xiao’s camera. How come she didn’t think she looked so good when she was matching clothes for her?
Especially when the camera showed Dai Linfei's outfit for today's photoshoot, she began to imagine how to match it with other artists. With her keen eye, honed by years of experience, she was certain that Dai Linfei's outfit would become a hit in the near future!
Lu An pondered for a moment, and when he regained consciousness and looked at the scene on the screen, he was already viewing it with admiration. Especially under the camera, the glance from Dai Linfei was particularly vivid and captivating.
At dusk, Dai Linfei leaned against a tree, clutching a handful of red roses, a blower whirring nearby. Her dark hair, tangled with the branches behind her, was rustled by the wind. She held the brim of her wide-brimmed white hat between her index and middle fingers, gazing at the camera with a sense of ease and comfort.
Zhou Xiao pressed the final shutter of the day. "Great! Shooting's over!" The camera crew gathered around her cheered. Seeing how quickly Zhou Xiao finished the first scene, the sets for the back door had to speed up. They were almost all finished within a minute or so before Zhou Xiao arrived. Even the toughest of people would have been overwhelmed by the pace.
Yu Cheng was the loudest among them. "God damn it... Respected sponsor photographer, the shooting speed was so fast that they didn't even have time to slack off!" Luckily, the artists needed to change their makeup, which gave them some breathing room. They now had a bit of a favorable impression of the assistants, who used to be annoying and had to stop every now and then to touch up the artists' makeup during the shoot!
Of course, after receiving Zhou Xiao's prompt on-site payment, Yu Cheng felt that he could take ten more orders like this! There was no other way, the payment was simply too much!
Zhou Xiao had just finished filming when he turned around and ran into Shen Lin, who was squatting nearby, waiting. She was staring intently at Dai Linfei, her eyes filled with suspicion, as if she was trying to find some flaw.
"What are you looking at?" Zhou Xiao gently reminded the other party to pay attention to his gaze. This was the first time for both of them to work with Dai Linfei's team. Seeing Chen Lin like this, Zhou Xiao almost thought she was a fan.
“It seems like there’s a difference when looking at it this way…” Shen Lin watched inside for a while, and couldn’t help but go out to watch the actual shooting, but she always felt that there was still a difference between this and what she saw on the monitor.
Zhou Xiao finally understood what the other party was doing and sighed, "Sister Lin, interrupt me for a moment." She looked up at the team dismantling the photography equipment in front of her. "If there were no difference and no effect, there would be no need for me to rent so much equipment and people, right?"
Under the night sky, Dai Linfei was still wearing the same clothes she'd worn during the shoot, except now she had a thick coat on her shoulders. Her manager, Lu An, was beside her, holding up his phone to show her the surveillance camera photos he'd taken today.
The two of them stood under the prop light, discussing something. At this moment, a somewhat immature voice sounded, "Brother and sister, please move aside. I need to take the light away."
Dai Linfei smiled when she heard this, and then she and Lu An walked towards Zhou Xiao in their high heels. Halfway through, Lu An's phone vibrated. He glanced at the name on the screen, pointed at Dai Linfei, and walked towards a deserted direction to answer the call.
"Teacher Zhou, thank you for your hard work today," Dai Linfei said gently. She was very satisfied with the entire shoot. This Valentine's Day shoot in particular was especially satisfying. In the past, photographers had always considered pairing her with a male model whose face remained hidden, to portray a sweet romance. But now, love was just a side dish for her; living a comfortable and fulfilling life was more important.
The temperature in Shanghai was exceptionally low today. Zhou Xiao realized her hands were nearly frozen after finishing the shoot. She looked at Dai Linfei, who was wearing only a thick coat, and shook her head. "It's not hard. You should go back to the car and warm up first."
Dai Linfei smiled, looking a bit like a warm and feminine woman off camera. "It's okay, I'm used to it," she continued, "Brother An just got a call from the WP manager. If everything goes well, there won't be any reshoots tomorrow."
Even Dai Linfei had to set aside two or three days to film a promotional video for a luxury brand. Because of her fame, she's been a spokesperson for many major brands and has experienced the level of procrastination from various brands, but WP is relatively undemanding.
As the wind grew stronger, the three of them entered the open monitoring room nearby. While waiting for Lu An to communicate with the brand, they chatted about this shoot. Upon learning that Zhou Xiao had drawn the storyboard, Chen Lin looked at him with some surprise.
Zhou Xiao explained directly, "This is actually quite simple. Also, the pictures I took before were basically departure pictures, so there was no need to use storyboards."
In addition, Chen Lin, who had already worked with Zhou Xiao three times, became increasingly familiar with him. Hearing this, she teased, "I have a male artist here who asked me to invite you to shoot. When can you come shoot male artists other than Ji Shao?"
Zhou Xiao shrugged nonchalantly. It's not like she hasn't filmed male artists before. But no matter the filming time, location, or treatment, she can only say that the older sisters are more attractive!
Moreover, many male artists' assistants are a bit overconfident. Some of them were a bit "servile" to Zhou Xiao a month ago, but the next month they were like a different person, acting like they were getting a favor by having them do the shoot. Zhou Xiao was really worried that they would come back to her for the final payment if they didn't pay.
Dai Linfei hadn't said much at first, standing aside and listening to the two of them. But when she heard the name Ji Shao, she glanced at Zhou Xiao again. She was also recalling what her agent had told her on the way here. The person before her had another identity: a fangirl for one of her company's artists.
Initially, she hadn't taken it seriously, thinking he was just a new photographer trying to create a star. But after today's shoot, she was now curious and planned to take a closer look at his previous photos in the car later.
While the three of them were chatting in the room, there was a knock on the monitoring room door. Zhou Xiao looked towards the door, guessing it was Lu An or Yu Cheng, and shouted "Come in."
It was Lu An, a smiling face and a cell phone in hand. Just as he was about to speak, a puff of breath drifted out of his mouth, a sign of being frozen. But the man didn't seem to mind at all, and said cheerfully, "It's been sent. The brand is very satisfied! No need to order another one!"
After saying that, he looked down at the time, then politely turned around and asked Zhou Xiao and Shen Lin if they wanted to go to dinner together. Because he had been on the phone for so long, he was still a little embarrassed despite his excitement.
"Great!" Shen Lin seemed the most excited of the group. As for Zhou Xiao and Dai Linfei, they both looked quite surprised. After all, one was the director and the other was the subject, so they had a good idea of what the film would turn out like.
"Teacher Zhou, how about we make an appointment to take the official photos for this set of photos?" Lu An turned his head and looked at Zhou and smiled.
Zhou Xiao thought about it and said honestly, "If it's just the official photos for today, then there's no need. I also took quite a few photos during the recording process."
Chen Lin nodded as well. She thought Zhou Xiao had spent enough time today. And who wouldn't want to work for a day for a good salary? If they were to take official photos for him tomorrow, they'd have to wear the same makeup.
Shen Lin: Please, I don’t really want to do repetitive work!
Lu An clearly knew something, so he didn't ask any further questions. He and Dai Linfei exchanged glances, earning a cautious nod. Before leaving, they exchanged contact information, and Lu An solemnly invited both of them to join him for another photoshoot.
Inside the room, Shen Lin saw that the two men had already gotten into the car. Although she was much older than Zhou Xiao, she put her arm around Zhou Xiao's shoulders in a rare expression of emotion.
"Xiaoxiao, I'm treating you tonight!" Shen Lin couldn't help but laugh as she looked at Dai Linfei's private number on her phone. Adding an artist to her first collaboration was such a lucky coincidence! And it was Dai Linfei! How many people had admired her in their youth!
Meanwhile, Lu An, who was walking towards the car, chuckled when he heard his artist was curious about Zhou Xiao's photo skills. "Is this difficult to handle? I'll send you the summary blog post she posted a few days ago."
Lu An's tone clearly showed that he had seen it before, and in fact, he saw it before he learned that he would be collaborating with photographer Zhou Xiao on WP.
…
If there is anything that has recently caused a small storm in forums and fan circles, it must be the annual shooting report released by Zhou Xiao at the end of January.
This brief report is a collection of Zhou Xiao's photos for New Town, from his first official photo shoot to the end of 2013. Each of these photos has sparked heated discussions online, which is undoubtedly quite intimidating for a newcomer to the entertainment industry.
——【Entertainment Forum】——[January 26th evening]
【Theme】How terrifying! How terrifying!
[Main Post] Look what I found, everyone! [Leaning back with a full movement] Zhou Xiaofa's collection of business photos! Links and directions [@周笑V: 2023 annual photos...]
[picture]
The picture is a screenshot of @周笑V's blog post
1L
Her aesthetic is really good. She can even make trainees who haven't debuted yet look star-studded. Besides photographing NINE STAR, does Xiaojie only photograph female artists now?
36L
No, the former Zhao Yitong fans have started to have angina pangs when they see Zhao Yitong in the collection! It’s hard for Teacher Zhou to be so generous and not remove her orz
88L
Suddenly I felt that several of the girls came into my sight because of the photos Zhou Xiao took for them~ But I have to say, ever since Wang Jiangchang got the traffic code for that time, his makeup and style have become monotonous! I think it’s better to ask Zhou Xiao to take another photo with him!
165L
After watching it, I felt a touch of melancholy. I wondered when I'd get my number in line for love. I felt like this teacher was really good at capturing people's unique characteristics and magnifying their strengths. Overall, it didn't cause any visual fatigue at all. That's truly amazing.
203L
Many New Town artists [point and groan] Damn it! Teacher Zhou, you can't give New Town a backdoor just because Ji Shao is from New Town!
…
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