Chapter 71

Su Ning had previously joined director Tong Feifan and had a chat with him. The two had known each other before the film was released.

When reshooting was in progress, Su Ning saw his camera movements and scenes and knew that this man was no ordinary person, so he wanted to make friends with him, and they got along well at that time.

Besides, Tong Feifan has a very good impression of Ji Xue. Many directors have actors they habitually work with, like muses of inspiration, and when they work together, there will be different effects.

The box office this time is enough to explain the situation. Director Tong still wanted to cooperate with Ji Xue and even asked Su Ning specifically. When he knew that Director Guo had taken the drama, he gave up. However, Su Ning took the opportunity to talk to him about the Glory MV.

The MV is at most two or three minutes long, and there are seven people in the group, which is not enough to tell a real story. So he discussed with Shen Mingzheng and wanted to make a big micro-movie of the same length as the MV, about 20 to 30 minutes long, as a short drama to go with the MV.

Even if it doesn't make much profit, he just wants to shoot it.

Although things did not go well with Joy-Dong, they did not want to completely kill Glory's possibility of filming. It was because they were not professional actors and had no experience, and they could not make bad films, especially with a good director who could guide the actors.

After much deliberation, Su Ning finally set his sights on Tong Feifan.

The production cycle of this kind of MV supporting short drama is much shorter than that of ordinary movies and TV series. What's more, Su Ning was generous and the money he offered was indeed enough. At least Gaoshan Pictures did not refuse it.

Tong Feifan had never photographed a popular idol before and was hesitant at first, but in addition to the fact that Ji Xue was making a guest appearance, Su Ning also gradually convinced him with other reasons.

"I know that most of the people who come to me for help are definitely looking for romantic movies, but this time we want to shoot a micro-movie with three MVs, which includes love, plot, and suspense. You can definitely try your hand at this and try other themes. The shooting cycle is relatively short and it won't take too much time."

"Directors often have to bear the responsibility for the performance of their works. Especially with the attention you are getting now, it will bring a lot of pressure to your next work. But you don't have to worry about the performance of this work at all. It's included in the album. The number of reservations for our album has already broken the record. You don't have to worry about the performance. Director Tong just needs to come."

“Believe me, this is a unique challenge.”

Moreover, Tong Feifan was reminded by Su Ning that he had watched MVs of various singers when he was a child. At that time, there were no various music shows, and people only watched CDs or tapes. Some stories and pictures were indeed very impressive.

Not many people are shooting this kind of thing nowadays. The vast majority of idol group production is focused on the songs, so spending a lot of money to shoot this doesn't seem to be very cost-effective, but Su Ning is willing to give it a try.

So after thinking about it, Tong Feifan agreed out of trust in Su Ning. He was still young and wanted to give it a try.

Therefore, Zhu Lan and Yue Dong's visit today was destined to be fruitless.

During this period of time, Tong Feifan heard too many compliments, and many invitations came like snowflakes, but in this world, it is easy to add flowers to the icing on the cake, but it is difficult to send charcoal in the snow.

He didn't quite trust people like Zhu Lan and Mr. Sheng, and felt that he had more common topics with Mr. Su.

In fact, there are quite a few idealists in this circle.

Zhu Lan and Mr. Sheng were still standing outside, waiting for Su Ning to come out after signing the contract.

The two were politely escorted out by the people from Gaoshan Pictures, but the expressions on both sides were very different.

When they reached the parking lot, Su Ning heard Mr. Sheng say, "Su Ning, I underestimated you."

"You are not underestimating me, but you are underestimating the true power of good works. You think everything can be controlled."

Su Ning stood in front of the car and replied, "It's not a bad thing to want to make money. People in every industry want to make money. Otherwise, who would work? But whether to make long-term money or short-term money, everyone has their own way, no need to say more."

He still said the same thing: no matter how powerful some people are, there is no need to cooperate with them.

Zhu Lan didn't say anything. She stood there and watched Su Ning's car leave, then took a deep breath.

No matter how angry Mr. Sheng was, he didn't dare to lose his temper with her. He just lowered his head and cursed her softly. Then he asked, "Mr. Zhu, this is someone from your Shen family, right? Why is he like this..."

"I can't control him either," Zhu Lan said. "I was originally on your side, but Mr. Sheng, you know me. I'll be where the money is."

After all, "Old Love Letters" is the highest-grossing movie of the year, and her thoughts may change at any time.

People in the circle generally think like this. The last time Glory didn't win the award, it had a huge impact. Many people didn't understand what happened at the time, and only knew a few words after the ceremony.

Well, Liang Xiaoliang is indeed a well-known gossip king in this circle. He absorbs gossip everywhere and also produces gossip.

Even if the big-mouthed Mr. Liang didn't say it, many discerning people outside could guess that when Yuedong was privately soliciting investment before, it used the silhouette of Glory to persuade advertisers, and said that it did have the intention of cooperation, but after the award ceremony ended that day, it never did so again.

Some advertisers were confused and some responsible persons even secretly complained that Glory did not keep its promise. In fact, it was all self-directed and self-acted by one party. Only after Su Ning explained it did we realize that it was Yuedong's fault.

But it’s one thing to understand the injustice, and another to speak out against it or even fight against it.

The capital of Glory is strong, and the whole industry knows it, but no one dares to resist. Su Ning and the young idols are wronged, but once this matter is discussed in a mess on the Internet, there will always be uncontrollable comments. Some people even think that Glory is ignorant of propriety even though they know it is unfair.

"If you agree, you'll get the award, right? It won't interfere with your filming and stage performances. In fact, Yuedong's resources are pretty good. I don't know why you don't agree."

"Did Tang Lulu become famous just by acting in exciting dramas? How can you know it won't work if you don't try?"

"We can't keep Glory in Guangying Entertainment and Shen's Pictures forever, right? The company's resources are limited, and it feels like this has been monopolizing the group's only cash cow. This..."

Anyone would be affected by such remarks, right?

At least that's what Zhu Lan thought.

She had seen Glory's trust and solidarity with Su Ning. In fact, she found it unbelievable that people would always fall apart for the sake of interests. She didn't believe that this kind of relationship would last forever, so she watched things develop with cold eyes.

But the subsequent development was not what she imagined.

Not long after, "Old Love Letters" was released, and Ji Xue, who had signed a contract with Guangying Entertainment, became famous, and it was because of the resources that she once looked down upon and deliberately threw away.

Even now, Tong Feifan did not accept her invitation. Even though the price and configuration she offered were higher than Su Ning's, the other party did not even take a second look at it and chose to cooperate with Su Ning.

Now the person who somewhat doubted himself became Zhu Lan.

Glory's fans were originally hurt by these recent events, but they finally came together to clarify the rumors about the fake data. There were also many discerning people who knew that they couldn't just take over the show from Elantra.

There are many popular movies released together with "Old Love Letter", and one of them just won the Audience Choice Award. It was produced by Yuedong Investment, which was highly praised before its release, but ended up closing with a box office of more than 200 million yuan, which is not even a fraction of "Old Love Letter".

The audience actually does have a choice. There is a yardstick to judge the quality of a work, and it cannot be completely controlled by capital.

Besides, a blessing in disguise.

Sure enough, not long after, the news that Glory and Tong Feifan were going to work together spread immediately. The fan group had been somewhat exhausted by the recent events, but when this resource came out, they were immediately excited from the negative emotions of fan abuse.

This is the director of a 1.5 billion box office movie!

They actually filmed a MV for our group. It’s such an honor!

So what if they didn't win an award? Haven't you seen that the resources are getting better and better? With Director Tong, who would still envy those idol dramas that are mass-produced? The audience knows whether those dramas are good or not!

As for the matter of going to "film", the seven people knew about it in advance. They never blamed Su Ning from beginning to end. They encouraged themselves privately, wanted to save face, and took the initiative to practice more for the next album. However, the resources Su Ning provided still often shocked people - he actually got Tong Feifan.

Su Ning had previously asked if they wanted to film a movie, and quite a few of the seven raised their hands.

It is normal for young people to want to try new fields. Su Ning knew that they had such a desire, so he went to talk to Tong Feifan.

He was like a wishing genie who would grant whatever was asked of him. However, after getting the contract back, Su Ning also gave them a special reminder.

"Filming is not as easy as everyone thinks," he said. "If you want to try something new, I support you, but you will definitely have to go through some pain, so remember to be prepared."

But even with this reminder, they still couldn't understand it with just one word. Su Ning found a teacher to give them basic acting lessons, and it felt... not that difficult.

Although the seven people's initial ideas were not influenced by fans, some details of their thinking can be subtly changed by the Internet.

——For example, when it comes to acting, it seems that the threshold is quite low, especially for idol dramas with simple scripts and low requirements.

Many idols act in movies, and their fans are always praising them. They even take screenshots of the scenes from commercials and variety shows and make animated pictures to praise them, saying that their acting skills must be great if they were to act, which makes people feel a little bit overwhelmed.

Moreover, they read the script Su Ning gave them carefully and found it not complicated.

The three micro-films correspond to the three title songs in the album, and their respective themes and stories are love, drama and suspense.

The love story follows the route of a youth film, quite similar to the style of an old-school idol drama. This story is the simplest, about a school celebrity falling in love with Cinderella. The dreamy Marilyn Sue can only be considered a story for them to try their hand at.

The corresponding song is "First Love" which they are about to release, a very cheerful little sweet song.

The second story is about a young girl who accidentally inherits a coffee shop and also inherits seven employees. In the end, it turns out that these seven employees are all small animals that she once raised.

This is a guest appearance by Jixue, and the theme song is the warm and lyrical song "I Met You";

The suspense story invited Xie Fangmin to play a few scenes. A retired teacher was murdered, and seven students who had been taught by her dressed up to find the murderer and then take revenge. The corresponding MV is the cool song "killer".

The 20-minute micro-movie script is short and can be easily polished over and over again, which is also the advantage of Su Ning's choice.

If they were to shoot a TV series directly, there would be no opportunity to polish the script, as idol dramas often last for 20 to 30 episodes, or even 30 to 40 episodes just to make money. In these three episodes, many unnecessary plots and lines have been simplified, and the pace is very fast.

Each person is not given too many parts and lines, and the characters are tailor-made for them, which is a good attempt for newcomers who have just started filming.

So the seven people really went with full confidence.

In the first story, seven people played different roles. Li Chu was the young master of the school director's family and also the neighbor of the heroine's family. Ji Mowei was the bad school bully. Ruisong was her childhood sweetheart. Qu Shoubai became the handsome and top student class monitor. Zhou Heng was her cram school teacher. Wang Ruoyi was her deskmate. Lin Zhi was her half-brother in the reconstructed family.

The girl transferred from an ordinary school to an aristocratic school because her mother married into a wealthy family. She met different people and developed different feelings with them.

The girl is a newcomer to Gaoshan Pictures. Since it is a collaboration, it is normal to insert a newcomer. Su Ning doesn't mind this, and the performance of this actress is really good. The camera mainly highlights the composition of the members. Many times she is only shown from the back or in profile, but she is still fully committed.

The story is not new, but director Tong Feifan's requirements are not simple.

It was fine in the beginning, as we only shot a few close-ups without any dialogue or interaction. As for how to present their own image, the popular idols were very familiar with it and completed it very quickly.

It seems that filming is really easy! It is not much different from taking photos or shooting commercials before.

But then, things changed.

I am still shooting at night. I chose a rainy day on purpose today.

The footage shot tonight was of a transfer girl being targeted in an aristocratic school. Her umbrella and wallet were taken away, and the driver who came to pick her up thought she had gone to a party and had already left, so she had to go home in the rain.

On the way, Ji Mowei, who came rushing over, stopped her on a black heavy motorcycle and threw a helmet and raincoat to her.

The heavy motorcycle was heavy and not easy to drive, so Ji Mowei practiced for a long time.

The lines in the script are very simple, with only one sentence: "Have you been bullied again? Get in the car", but in the heavy rain, there is a close-up shot of him looking at her from the heroine's perspective.

I thought it would be over quickly, as the script only had one line of description and two words, but Tong Feifan shot for more than an hour and the rain didn't stop, but he was still not satisfied.

Ji Mowei felt that he had done this shot dozens of times. His legs and hands were almost stiff, and it was raining all the time, so he couldn't help but ask, "What's wrong? Is it the expression? The action or the emotion?"

He must have tried his best to adjust it until the director was satisfied.

But Tong Feifan gave an ambiguous answer.

"Something doesn't feel right between you."

He even deleted most of the lines which only had a few words, leaving only two words: "get on the bus".

"It's okay," he said calmly, "Let's do another one."

Anyway, he has plenty of time and is willing to polish the lenses. Good lenses are polished out, but the idols who have been doing well since their debut are a bit devastated.

Not only Ji Mowei who was filming, but also the others who were watching nearby, they didn't quite understand what it meant to feel wrong.

How could this scene be wrong when it's so simple?

No matter how you look at it, there is nothing wrong with Ji Mowei's movements and expressions. He looks very handsome and unrestrained in the camera, and every frame is particularly good-looking, quite like the male lead in an idol drama. If it was a commercial or something, it would have passed long ago, but the director was still not satisfied.

However, the advantage of these seven people is that they were very obedient at this time. They did whatever the director said, and they didn't get impatient because of the repeated grinding of the lens, nor did they have the slightest intention of playing big shots.

Ji Mowei went back and forth for almost two hours without a single complaint. The other six people who were waiting for their turn did not take a break, but instead stood outside the camera in the rain wearing raincoats, thinking all the time.

Until Ji Mowei made a small mistake in his movements.

His helmet went wide.

The movements were so precise and accurate that they had never gone wrong before. The actress in the opposite scene was a little panicked and reached out to catch it. She was already in a shabby state, having been caught in the rain for a long time, but at this moment she had a sense of panic and her movements were a little chaotic.

Ji Mowei's first reaction was to help her pick up the helmet, so he straightened up from leaning against the car body and moved forward slightly, obviously showing some real concern, but the girl caught the helmet again, and subconsciously held it in her arms, looking up at him a little at a loss.

After all, the other party had been exposed to the rain repeatedly because of him. In such a cold day, Ji Mowei felt really distressed and guilty. At the same time, he felt that his mistake was a bit funny, and the atmosphere was not so depressing anymore.

He felt slightly helpless, thinking that he would not pass this scene, so he stood there and looked at the other person for a while without saying any lines. But the director did not call out "cut", so he continued to act.

After the two looked at each other, he raised his hand and signaled to the other party: "Get in the car."

These were his most genuine and natural reactions. He even forgot all the previous movements and poses. Then he heard Director Tong yell “Cut” and then told him “This one’s OK.”