"Director Zhu, I'm here."
"Have you eaten?" Zhu Shuguang slowly fanned himself with a palm leaf fan. Now that it was evening, his expression seemed much gentler than during the day.
"I've already eaten," Ji Yan replied.
"Go out for a bite and a drink on your day off. The boxed lunches from our crew are really not good."
The advantage of filming at night is that the weather is cool, unlike filming during the day when you'll be covered in sweat with the slightest movement. However, there are also many mosquitoes at night, and the mosquitoes in the mountains are quite aggressive. A bite is both itchy and painful. The crew of "Young Love Poems" could only try to take precautions, but they still couldn't avoid being bitten.
This scene is still Ji Yan's stargazing scene.
He's filmed night scenes twice already. Even though he finishes early, he still has to stay up until one or two in the morning. As the lead actor, he can leave early after filming, while the director and other staff have to stay and continue working.
Ji Yan found it novel once or twice, but after a while it became quite tiring. Ji Yan carried a cup with him and would drink a strong cup of tea when he was sleepy, which would make him feel a little better.
After waiting a while, the rest of the cast and crew arrived. Ji Yan greeted He Qing, and after resting for a bit, they prepared to start filming.
Although "Young Love Poems" is an art-house film, the pace of its filming was anything but art-house, especially during night shoots, when the setup and arrangements were like a battle.
Fortunately, Ji Yan has gradually adapted.
After Zhu Shuguang announced the start of filming, Ji Yan immediately immersed himself in the filming process. When he filmed the first night scene, he was not used to Zhu Shuguang's style and was scolded a lot that night. But now, as long as Zhu Shuguang gave the order, Ji Yan could transform himself into Gu Shan in an instant.
Perhaps because there was no internet access, Ji Yan's attention was not distracted by other things. Instead, he was able to concentrate more on the filming itself. During filming, Zhu Shuguang would stop to explain the scenes to him. Ji Yan then combined Zhu Shuguang's and screenwriter Qin Zhen's explanations to further interpret the script. Every day was very fulfilling.
Naturally, his understanding of the script for "Young Love Poems" deepened even further.
In this scene, Gu Shan remains incredibly persistent in observing the stars. It's a moonless night, but the weather is fine. Gu Shan sits in his familiar corner, looking up at the sky.
Therefore, Gu Shan did not hear his parents' whispers inside the house.
At this time, Gu Shan was carefree. He didn't think about the future, and he never did. He was content with having the stars with him.
Ji Yan opened his eyes wide and looked up at the sky with a devout gaze.
To everyone on set, he was completely immersed in the role of Gu Shan. Gu Shan's love for the starry sky, the burning joy in his eyes when looking at the stars... all of this was captured by the camera.
This scene was no exception.
Suddenly, a meteor shower began to fall from the sky. Su Pan's camera captured both Ji Yan and the fleeting meteor in the frame—the crew of "Youthful Love Poems" had been eagerly anticipating this moment for a long time. The Aquarius meteor shower was more beautiful than any other day's starry sky, but the boy's eyes in the shot were even more captivating.
The intense excitement contained in that glance, the undisguised joy in his expression—for a boy who rarely showed his emotions outwardly, this moment, his burning love… almost seemed to be conveyed to everyone present through the lens.
Seeing this, He Qing pursed his lips slightly.
Having worked with Ji Yan for so long, all the resentment he felt vanished at this moment.
He didn't understand why Ji Yan was chosen by director Zhu Shuguang. He had part of the movie script, including scenes between Gu Haiyang and Gu Shan, whom he played. Based on He Qing's experience, he knew that Gu Shan was a difficult character to play. He thought that director Zhu Shuguang would choose an older actor with more acting experience.
Although actors playing younger roles has always been criticized by audiences, it is understandable to cast older actors when there are no young actors available.
However, Zhu Shuguang chose Ji Yan, which made He Qing somewhat dissatisfied.
He's a professionally trained actor and has been acting for several years, so his acting experience can't be inferior to Ji Yan's.
After watching several scenes filmed by Ji Yan, He Qing had to admit that perhaps there are actors in this world who are born to act and act based on their instincts.
He had heard Yi's songs and liked the theme song Yi sang for "I, Nameless". He felt that, just like when he performed the song "Fly", Ji Yan understood the character Gu Shan and was therefore able to fully immerse himself in the role.
When it comes to expressing emotions, Ji Yan's ability is truly unmatched.
Judging from the script of "Young Love Poems" alone, many people probably cannot like the character Gu Shan, saying that he has not grown up and has not taken on the responsibilities of a husband and father.
However, Ji Yan's portrayal of Gu Shan makes people feel that he simply loves stars, and there is nothing wrong with loving such things.
For someone like Gu Shan, starting a family and taking on worldly responsibilities would be a mistake.
After observing the meteor shower, Gu Shan was unable to record it because he had neither a mobile phone nor a camera, but the scene that night was deeply imprinted in his mind and reflected in his pupils.
Gu Shan, wearing worn-out slippers, wandered through the mountains and forests. The night forest was filled with the sounds of birds and insects, as well as the stars that seemed to gaze at him from afar. Although communication with humans had always been difficult, his communication with the starry sky continued.
Others might think he was a fool, but Gu Shan truly found joy in this experience.
"Card."
Upon hearing this, Ji Yan turned around and saw Zhu Shuguang waving at him: "Passed."
"Yay!" Ji Yan gave a cheerful gesture.
Zhu Shuguang glanced at him.
Unfortunately, it was very dark at the moment, and even with the bright lights shining, Ji Yan still couldn't see the expression on Zhu Shuguang's face. Therefore, Zhu Shuguang's intimidation effect on him had now dropped to below zero.
Although he was often scolded, for some reason, Ji Yan was not afraid of Zhu Shuguang at all. Although the other party was described as a ruthless demon king and the most irritable director in the industry, Ji Yan inexplicably felt very comfortable when working with directors Zhu Shuguang and Li Xiang.
Perhaps it was because the other party was also fully engaged in the filming.
Ji Yan wanted to play the role well, and the directors wanted to make a good movie; their goals were the same.
Zhu Shuguang went to the monitor and carefully watched the footage that Ji Yan had just filmed. The angle of the shot, the details of Ji Yan's face, and his movements all met the requirements.
Ji Yan's understanding of the character is consistent with his and Qin Zhen's.
In a sense, Gu Shan is a dreamer, but his environment and reality destined him to be unable to pursue his dreams. He is an oddball and a freak in the eyes of others, and in the mountain village where he lives, it is difficult for oddballs to coexist with normal people.
"Next, take a break, we'll start in half an hour."
Ji Yan nodded upon hearing this.
The scene we just filmed was easy, but afterwards, Ji Yan's slippers were covered in dew, and his feet were a little itchy because they had been scratched by grass covered in dew.
Ji Yan's foot was scraped during a night shoot, and even now, he still has several small cuts on his foot.
Starting tomorrow, Gu Shan's love story in the script will begin. The female lead, You Kesi, has also arrived at the set. She is considered the most famous actress in the "Young Love Poems" crew. However, the "Young Love Poems" crew doesn't care about status. After all, the director is Zhu Shuguang. As long as he stands there, no demons or monsters dare to cause trouble.
In fact, Zhu Shuguang is considered a top figure in the directing circle. He always speaks his mind and never gives face to anyone. A few years ago, when he was filming "Home in the Storm", a popular actor acted like a big shot on his set. He arrived at the set drunk early in the morning, was late, and acted out of order during filming. Zhu Shuguang was furious and kicked the actor out of the set.
The other party, relying on her current popularity, was not afraid of him. In fact, many of her fans went to criticize Zhu Shuguang, saying that Zhu Shuguang was just an old man who had faded into obscurity, while her brother was a very popular actor.
Zhu Shuguang sued the person directly, on the grounds that it affected the filming process and caused huge losses to the crew.
He had been in the industry for so long, and he had no shortage of fame or status. When he finally took action, the actor was dumbfounded—because Zhu Shuguang had led the industry in launching a proposal to abide by performance standards. All the well-known directors in the industry, big and small, signed it, even Li Xiang, who had always been at odds with him. That meant that the actor had directly cut himself off from the entertainment industry, and established directors were unwilling to use him.
As for the unknown directors—Zhu Shuguang, who won the Chang Kong Award, is an old man who has faded into obscurity. These other directors are a million miles away from winning the Chang Kong Award. Aren't they even worth a fart?
In short, in recent years, that popular actor has disappeared from the public eye. His career has plummeted, and even the fans who once angrily criticized Zhu Shuguang have gone on to follow other stars.
...
After filming a night scene, Ji Yan was exhausted and sleepy. He collapsed as soon as he got back to his place. He used to think the old school building was quite dilapidated, but now he didn't mind at all. At least it was spacious enough.
He had to thank Sister Ying for placing Xu Zhou by his side; Ji Yan only needed to focus on filming, and he didn't have to worry about anything else.
...
Ji Yan couldn't log into Weibo, so naturally he couldn't post anything. At first, his fans didn't think much of it, but almost half a month had passed, and Ji Yan hadn't posted a single update on Weibo, nor had his Weibo account shown that he had logged in even once.
Xie Mingxuan, Lu Wei, and Fang Yu have all had solo activities recently, and fans thought that Ji Yan would also have a solo activity soon.
But a few days later... where did they go?
DW Entertainment was naturally targeted by fans, and the other members of "Wings" were not spared either. Ji Yan's filming of "Youthful Love Poems" was not made public, and the company could not respond to say what Ji Yan was filming. They could only say that he went to film a movie.
"Then why don't you even use Weibo?"
"I imagined Ji Yan filming in the deep mountains and forests. Even if it's a 2G network, it doesn't matter. At least make a sound."
Fans quietly dug up information about the recently started filming crews, including some popular young actresses and others with patriotic themes. Most of these crews had publicly revealed their casts, and even those that hadn't had leaked photos taken by fans. But Ji Yan seemed to have vanished into thin air.
"Did Ji Yan go abroad to film a movie?"
This is a fan's guess.
"As someone living in a different time zone, I haven't heard of this recently."
"Recently, there's been a big-budget film in the American film industry with Chinese actors involved. I heard it's a billion-dollar production, and the actor is... Let me check, Brynn Ji, maybe that's Ji Yan's English name...?"
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