Chapter 75: Magical Reality
Li Sishi held the script and first skimmed through the main content. While she gained some understanding of the revised script, she couldn't help but be amazed by its ingenious ideas.
The story of this script is said to have magical elements, but these magical elements are unusually "clever" and perfectly fit TBL's requirement to save on production costs by being as "simple" as possible when making dramas. For most of the time, it really is a modern fashion drama, just as Zhuang Menghua said.
Compared to the huge expenses of wire work and special effects in period dramas and mythological dramas, the magical elements of this drama rely mainly on the actors' performances and makeup. Of course, it cannot be said that this drama is low-budget, because the production costs of dramas that TBL (Taiwan's anniversary drama) expect to be "anniversary dramas" are much higher than those of non-anniversary dramas. The cast, costumes, props, and locations are also much more luxurious and exquisite than those of non-anniversary dramas.
Similarly, high investment means expecting high returns, and high production costs are for high viewership ratings. If an anniversary drama can't beat non-anniversary dramas, then even without the upper management holding them accountable, the entire production team will probably be in an awkward position.
So Li Sishi thought that this was probably the real reason why the producer changed the plot setting—this year, TVB set up two anniversary dramas. Based on the original plot setting, the two anniversary dramas, "Mr. Morning," which is positioned as a fashion comedy, and "Looking Back in Anger," which is positioned as a fashion business war, are quite different in scale.
"Take It Easy" is TBL's most typical ensemble drama, family drama, and male drama; while "Mr. Morning" after the changes, is TBL's most appealing housewife drama and youth drama.
The two companies have different target audiences, which may allow them to expand their territory in their respective areas of expertise and avoid internal strife that results in mutual destruction.
“This should be Leo’s last TV series in TBL. With him guiding you, I can be mostly at ease.” Zhuang Menghua said after seeing Li Sishi skim through the contents of the TV series. “Most of the scenes are about being a student at school, so you just need to act naturally. The only part that you need to train on is the non-school scenes.”
"I will try my best." Li Sishi nodded earnestly.
Actually... the non-campus scenes were probably where she was most "naturally herself".
Because after the plot was changed, the male and female protagonists are now a couple who went from school days to wedding nights and then became estranged spouses. The wife, who had become haggard and worn out, accidentally returned to her sixteen-year-old body after taking a beauty potion. To investigate her husband, who was suspected of having an affair at school, she changed her identity and enrolled in the school where her husband worked. Ultimately, she and her husband, who had gone undercover to investigate the school's accounts, joined forces.
A story about working together to save schools and families.
Every ten years, TBL produces youth dramas targeting a young audience, but most of the time they are critically acclaimed but commercially unsuccessful. Therefore, in order to avoid falling too far behind the critically and commercially successful "Looking Back in Anger," "Mr. Morning" incorporates elements that housewives love most, using this "rejuvenation" approach.
The magical realism techniques are combined to attract a larger audience.
It's very creative, but also quite bold and adventurous.
This kind of plot, which is novel and interesting in this era, can bring both fame and fortune if it is well-made, but if it is poorly made, it will end up losing both.
"When will filming for this drama begin?" Li Sishi asked Zhuang Menghua as she began to carefully read the script.
"Once all the main actors' schedules are arranged, it will probably be around July during summer vacation." Zhuang Menghua glanced at the information. "Firstly, it will be convenient to use the middle school for location shooting, and secondly, we need quite a few students as extras, so it's not easy to shoot before summer vacation."
"And this year's Miss Hong Kong has a good..."
Li looks very sweet and young. Although she is a few years older than you, she looks almost the same age as you. I plan to put her in the show as the third female lead, acting alongside you.
Upon hearing Zhuang Menghua's words, Li Sishi probably remembered who this sweet-looking beauty was—she had quite a connection with her. She was widely regarded as the best candidate to play the role of Yunya Fairy in the new version next year, while this beauty named Lü Yutong would be the young Huo Xiang in the 1995 version of "Qingxia Renjian".
She truly has a naturally delicate and sweet baby face, and her eyes and posture are full of girlish charm. She is probably the most well-received and recognized among all the versions of Xiao Huo Xiang.
The only pity is that contestants with this sweet girl style are basically out of the running for Miss Hong Kong. Most of them will be placed in the third place among the top three, especially when Li Sishi heard that Zhuang Menghua had already made arrangements for her: at this time, the top three Miss Hong Kong contestants were still "valuable" and they basically had little time to film dramas during their year in office.
All things considered, the runner-up and third-place winner can barely squeeze out time to play a minor role as the second or third female lead, while the champion is truly too busy with other commitments to attend to anything else.
Therefore, in Li Sishi's year, Huo Chuying and Zheng Liaoying, two popular beauties, failed to make it into the top three and only reached the top five. However, they were able to sign contracts to film dramas immediately after the beauty pageant. Some people who did not know the inside story speculated that TBL secretly suppressed their rankings in order to intercept and cultivate potential TV drama actresses.
Of course, those in the know understand that there are other reasons behind this. While the beauty pageant rankings seemed important at the time, for those who knew the rules of the industry and had received a contract, the runner-up, third runner-up, and fourth or fifth place among the top five were actually more advantageous, because they had a full year to gain an advantage in subsequent film and television resources.
Aside from some champions whose looks are truly memorable, like Yin Jiali, or those who are lucky enough to be chosen and then heavily promoted after their term ends, like Li Sishi.
Anyway, fortunes change every ten years, and until the very end, no one knows who will have the last laugh.
Li Sishi thought to herself as she read the script.
After reading it again, the plot and characters seemed much clearer. Li Sishi thought for a moment and then asked Zhuang Menghua, "Miss Zhuang, have you found the middle school where we filmed the scenes?"
"Not yet. What, do you have a recommendation?" Zhuang Menghua immediately guessed what she was thinking.
Li Sishi smiled and said, "As expected, nothing can be hidden from Miss Zhuang. I think the description of this school is quite similar to my high school, Zeng Dingbaosu. Moreover, it is also Band 3, just like the level set in the script. The environment is also good, and the principal is very easy to talk to..."
Even more enjoyable
The location is so close to the Lucky Tea Restaurant that it not only allows her to visit her relatives whenever she has time, but it also brings in a lot of business for the restaurant—her uncle is really stubborn and doesn't want to accept any "help."
Only by doing this roundabout way to solicit business could he find a way to refuse.
Moreover, Zeng Dingbaosu is a really good person from the school itself to the teachers and students. She is very willing to do her part for such a humane school.
“You’re an outstanding graduate of this school, so it should be easier to talk to you…” Zhuang Menghua smiled. “I’ll have someone talk to Director Xu, who’s in charge of this drama. If the filming location is your high school, it might give you a better chance to perform.”
Recently, Li Sishi has been behaving quite obediently and sensibly, and Zhuang Menghua is happy to indulge her little bit of affection.
In contrast, Huang Qianyan's actions of breaking up with a wealthy businessman and then rekindling their relationship because of her singer ex-boyfriend's "righteous words" are a real headache for Zhuang Menghua.
Why do we have to stubbornly stick to those two crooked trees?!
Seeing that Zhuang Menghua seemed to be troubled by something, Li Sishi tilted her head slightly and silently peeked for a while, managing to detect some clues.
It seems that "Da Bao's rebelliousness is giving her a headache again."
Alright.
Speaking of which, after the slapping incident subsided, Huang Qianyan took the initiative to call her back, saying that she was grateful for her concern and that she would break up with that businessman and try to focus on her work.
But as far as I remember, Huang Qianyan didn't focus on her career for long before being coaxed back by her singer ex-boyfriend...
No wonder Zhuang Menghua felt uncomfortable about this.
So, while learning her craft and memorizing the script, Li Sishi took the time to call Huang Qianyan, thinking that she was nervous about playing the lead role for the first time and wanted to have a heart-to-heart talk with her. They chatted on and off for a while until Huang Qianyan flew to South Korea for an event, at which point their contact was interrupted again.
At this time, the new Miss Hong Kong pageant had already passed the semi-finals and was about to usher in the final of the top 12.
As the previous champion, Li Sishi was required to perform at the finals of the new Miss Hong Kong pageant, as is customary. Therefore, Zhuang Menghua, who had already secured a position with Huasheng, contacted composers and lyricists to create a dance song, "To Miss Hong Kong," tailored specifically for her.
The Miss Hong Kong pageant should have had a lively and cheerful song and dance theme a long time ago. Unfortunately, most of the Miss Hong Kong winners before Lee Sze-sze opened the door to beauty and intelligence, but closed the window to singing...
It's rare to find someone like Kuang Mei-hsing who has achieved success as a singer, but she's also hopelessly addicted to real estate speculation.
Now that the reigning champion, Lee Sze-sze, has a more "legitimate" title, this song and dance number, which we've long wanted to make famous like the classic symphonic theme song of the Miss Hong Kong pageant, can finally be brought out and become one of the staple programs for the transition between the old and new generations.
This year's Miss Hong Kong pageant final was a fairytale-themed "Pirate Hook Island," held at the Hong Kong Coliseum. The stage design and storyline were full of fairytale charm: 12 princesses overcame numerous obstacles to find the Sun God Sword, awakened the evil wolf to fight against the Millennium Queen and her minions, and then broke the curse of the Moon Goddess, allowing her to awaken and determine the princess who would ultimately inherit Hook Island.
Thinking of her predecessor, Lu Shuyan, the 1992 champion, who dressed up as Guanyin in the 1993 finals, Li Sishi didn't seem to mind dressing up as a goddess in this year's finals. After all, the words "moonlight" and "moonlight" don't have any ambiguity right now, do they?
In contrast, Shang Hanyou, whose title track is "Legend of the Wolf," will be playing the role of the Wolf Knight in this stage performance; and Ling Chen, who is always rushing to play the role of the Son of the Sun because of his name—everyone's roles this time are quite chuunibyou (a Japanese term for someone with delusions of grandeur), so of course the eldest brother won't laugh at the second brother...
There's nothing we can do; the animated film imported this year...
Sailor Moon is so popular that even this year's Miss Hong Kong contestants dressed up as Sailor Moon when attending a charity event at an orphanage.
They're just jumping on the bandwagon and trying to ride the wave of popularity, and they also benefit from not having to wear colorful and stylish wigs.
During rehearsals, as Li Sishi went from being the Dunhuang Princess last year to the Moon Goddess this year, Shang Hanyou sighed in a deliberately profound tone: "It's true what they say, fortunes change. Last year you were the one I was leading in dancing, and this year I'm your guardian knight."
"So this story teaches you that it's better to offend a petty person than a woman; she might climb all over you in the blink of an eye." Aside from her final song and dance performance with the 12 other contestants on the night of the finale, Li Sishi was arranged to sit next to the TV station's big boss, Sir Zhao, watching the performances.
Therefore, there weren't many rehearsal tasks.
The guests were so burdened.
In particular, Ban Shushi, who plays the Snake Demoness, was assigned a dance performance that was quite difficult; while Tang Jingwen, who plays the Millennium Queen, is introverted and not very coordinated, yet she has to be the final boss to fight in a singing and dancing battle with Shang Hanyou, the "wolf," so she had the hardest time practicing.
"Wow, I'm so scared—" Shang Hanyou exclaimed dramatically. He took advantage of the short break during the early morning when he was taking over from the beauties to practice their movements as the Son of the Sun, and ran to grab an apple and started crunching on it.
He always made sure to drink water or eat fruit to soothe his throat after singing, and also whisper to Li Sishi sitting next to him—although Li Sishi thought it was just his audiophile playing music loudly again...
Li Sishi's lukewarm and indifferent response did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of the sound engineer, who could single-handedly run an entire concert. He sat down next to Li Sishi and rambled on about how the four of them couldn't perform together due to the controversy at the previous Chinese Golden Melody Awards. Only then did he finally calm down for the time being.
During the intermission, Shang Hanyou munched on an apple while watching the contestants awkwardly accept the cheek kisses arranged by the show in the early morning. He couldn't help but laugh out loud with schadenfreude.
Seeing his "someone else has finally fallen into the same trap I've fallen into" look, Li Sishi quickly recalled how he had won an award at an awards ceremony a couple of years ago, only to be surrounded by a group of Miss Chinese International contestants who tried to kiss him and prank him. In the end, he could only stand on stage with red lipstick marks on his face and insist on finishing his award-winning song "Never Change My Heart" in a comical way...
"I'll tell Leo in a bit that you, as the older brother, are being disrespectful by secretly mocking him here," Li Sishi snorted.
Upon hearing Li Sishi's words, Shang Hanyou, still dressed in his wolf knight costume, narrowed his eyes and immediately displayed the apple he had gnawed down to its core: "See? You want to climb on my head, huh? And you even dared to poke my back, huh?"
"I'll give you a live performance of 'The Wolf Eats the Moon' right now—Awooo!"
Looking at his expression, which was even more vivid than a panda head emoji, Li Sishi was speechless.
End of this chapter
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
