In August, Lin Chaoyang stirred up the literary world with a review, but these matters had nothing to do with him.
During this period of time, domestic public opinion has still been agitated about the incident of "Zhang Hua saved a man from drowning". In an era when there was no Internet and television media was not very developed, the vitality of a hot news event that attracted national attention was very long-lasting.
Tao Yushu said a few days ago that it is a good idea to use "life value" or "life meaning" as the core of creation. After several days of thinking, Lin Chaoyang also felt that he could really try to write about it.
So these days, he has been thinking about such a new work.
After thinking for a few days, the idea matured and I was about to start writing, but I was dragged to the Chengde Summer Resort by Li Hanxiang.
After more than a year of preparation, everything is finally ready for the two films "Burning the Old Summer Palace" and "Behind the Curtain".
Originally, based on Li Hanxiang's status in the film industry and the scale of investment in the two films "Fire" and "Down", it was appropriate to hold a massive press conference.
However, the relationship between the mainland and the Bay Island is still tense, and the Bay Island area is the largest ticket warehouse for Hong Kong movies. Therefore, Li Hanxiang has been keeping a high degree of confidentiality since he was preparing the two films of "Fire" and "Down".
During this period, many reporters from Hong Kong and Bay Island heard that Li Hanxiang planned to film in the mainland, and they have been using various methods to spy on him.
Moreover, there are now ZY factions in the Xiangjiang film industry. Z faction is naturally inclined towards the mainland, while Y faction is close to the Bay Island. Those filmmakers who are close to the Bay Island often cause damage.
As the saying goes, good things come hard, and the preparations for "Fire" and "Hanging" have gone through a lot of hard work. Now that the script is confirmed and funds are sufficient, the support for Li Hanxiang from above is unprecedented, with a huge team of hundreds of people from more than 60 units across the country assembled.
Film crew.
Seeing Li Hanxiang again, Lin Chaoyang saw on his face the high-spiritedness of a young man who had just passed the exam.
The two met at the Chengde Summer Resort. Today is the film's launch ceremony, and the first scene is about to be filmed here.
Li Hanxiang followed the rules of Hong Kong and held a worship ceremony before starting the filming. He finished the worship ceremony and asked many cast and crew to worship together.
He is the director, so naturally he can tell the truth. Even if many mainland staff don't want to participate, they can only go through the scene reluctantly.
But when it was Lin Chaoyang's turn, he did not give Li Hanxiang face. Instead, he said to Li Hanxiang: "Just forget about these feudal superstitions. Don't get involved with me. I am an atheist."
When Li Hanxiang heard this, his face suddenly became unhappy, but he had no choice but to say to Lin Chaoyang: "If I had known, I shouldn't have called you here today!"
"I didn't ask you to call me either!"
Today is the first day of turning on the phone. In line with the principle of making money by being friendly, Li Hanxiang will not argue with Lin Chaoyang.
He threw Lin Chaoyang aside, sat in front of the monitor with great dignity, and shouted the first sound of "The Burning of the Old Summer Palace" in a tone of infinite excitement: "Ready, prepare, start!"
What we filmed today was the very first scene of "The Burning of the Old Summer Palace". This scene mainly talks about Cixi's experience before entering the palace.
At this time, she was not the demon queen who dominated the Qing Dynasty and brought disaster to the country, but Yulan, the pretty daughter of an eunuch who was worried about being drafted.
In front of the camera, Liu Xiaoqing is dressed simply and has braids. According to the aesthetic standards of later generations, her appearance is not a great beauty, but she is more natural. Especially after being dressed up by a makeup artist, her eyes are quite charming, which makes her look pretty.
There is something about his style that could charm the emperor.
"Why is it that the dragon is on top and the phoenix is ​​on the bottom?"
Magnolia, played by Liu Xiaoqing, sat next to the stonemason who was carving stone carvings for the palace. She looked at the patterns he carved bit by bit and asked. Her voice was high-pitched, which was completely different from her usual speaking voice.
At this time, Liu Xiaoqing was already 32 years old. To play a young girl, she had to use some acting skills.
Lin Chaoyang looked on and sighed. Who would have thought that Comrade Xiaoqing would still be playing the role of a girl thirty years later?
"Of course, the dragon is the emperor and the phoenix is ​​the queen..."
The stonemason answered, but before he could say the next line, he heard Li Hanxiang shout a click, asking Liu Xiaoqing to restrain his voice, which sounded a little too deliberate.
Movies are an embroidery job, and you may not be able to shoot two scenes in one day, especially in the initial stage of filming, when all departments are working together, and various unexpected situations will occur.
At noon, the crew served dinner, and Lin Chaoyang and Li Hanxiang sat together. The food was brought by the set staff on a dining cart, including fish, meat, and a combination of meat and vegetables.
There are also many staff members brought over from Hong Kong by Li Hanxiang in the crew, and the food standards are also the same.
However, as most of the mainland staff in the crew, the leading actors including Liu Xiaoqing only had vegetarian dishes and steamed buns.
"Why do they in Xiangjiang have fish and meat? Ours are all vegetarian?" Liu Xiaoqing looked a little annoyed at the big fish and meat served by the staff in Xiangjiang not far away.
Zhou Jie, who played Li Fei, whispered to her: "They are from Xiangjiang, and their food, accommodation and treatment are different from us."
She didn't say it was okay, but Liu Xiaoqing was even more angry when she said that the conditions of the room she stayed in the guest house were not as good as the Xiangjiang actor who played the maid next to her in the movie.
"They are bullying us!"
"Okay, please stop saying a few words. The crew has the final say in Xiangjiang, so be careful they put on your shoes."
Zhou Jie's persuasion made Liu Xiaoqing feel wary. She finally became the heroine, and she didn't want to cause conflicts as soon as the filming started, so she had no choice but to endure it for the time being.
In fact, it was not only the two of them who felt unconvinced as the leading actors, but most of the crew members also felt the same way. Unfortunately, everyone was too angry and dared not speak out.
As a director, Li Hanxiang had a special awning. After dinner, he sat with several key crew members to eat. Seeing Lin Chaoyang standing there looking around but not eating, Li Hanxiang couldn't help but ask him.
"Why don't you eat?"
Lin Chaoyang turned around and asked Li Hanxiang: "Why are the staff on both sides not eating the same food?"
Li Hanxiang was stunned for a moment when he heard this. At this time, the deputy director Xu Tongjun said hurriedly: "Mr. Lin, our film is a co-production between Hong Kong and the Mainland. Both parties are responsible for the treatment of their own employees."
Teng Hongsheng from the co-production company is the producer of the film, so he is here, and he also said: "That's true."
Lin Chaoyang asked again: "Does this treatment also include food?"
Xu Tongjun was stunned when he heard this and said: "Both parties are responsible for themselves."
Lin Chaoyang looked at Teng Hongsheng, "The studio is responsible for the staff in the mainland?"
"yes."
"Then who will be responsible for the food for the staff in Xiangjiang?"
"It's from the crew."
Lin Chaoyang's expression was slightly surprised, and he seemed a little more deliberate, "It turns out that the crew paid for it!"
He smiled at Li Hanxiang and said, "Doesn't Director Li regard the staff in the mainland as soldiers under your command?"
His tone was gentle, and there was a smile on his face, but there was an edge in his tone.
Normally, when Lin Chaoyang and Li Hanxiang get along, they always call him Lao Li, but today there are staff from Xiangjiang present, so they naturally have to maintain Li Hanxiang's authority.
Seeing him asking this question, Li Hanxiang couldn't help but remain silent, and replied: "The treatment of staff in the two places is indeed different. The staff in the mainland are all studio employees. They do not get paid on the crew, but the remuneration is all paid by the studio."
Pay them wages, even the leading actors."
“Since the crew doesn’t have to pay for the salary, shouldn’t it be reasonable that the treatment should be better?
After all, they do no less work than our compatriots in Xiangjiang."
"This..." Lin Chaoyang's words were well-founded, leaving Li Hanxiang at a loss as to how to answer.
At this time, deputy director Xu Tongjun had a bit of a fake smile on his face.
"Mr. Lin, if the food standards for the hundreds of crew members on the crew were to be raised at once, it would be a huge expense.
Director Li finally managed to attract investment from Mr. He. For such a large-scale film, there are many places to spend money, so we must save where we can."
Lin Chaoyang glanced at Xu Tongjun without showing any emotion, then turned back to Li Hanxiang and said harmoniously:
"Saving costs is of course a good thing. But I think what Director Li wants is a masterpiece in film history that strives for excellence, rather than a shoddy work that has been released but has not been fully spent, right?"
Lin Chaoyang's words were somewhat alarmist, but they could not be said to be completely unreasonable. His words also touched Li Hanxiang's heart.
Li Hanxiang worked hard and spent several years on the movies "Fire" and "Hanging". No one values ​​these two movies more than him. Naturally, he does not want to reduce the quality of the movie due to any external factors.
Lin Chaoyang's implication is that the harsh treatment of mainland staff is likely to make these people ineffective at work. If things go on like this, it will inevitably affect the filming and even the final effect of the film.
Li Hanxiang has been working together on the set for many years. Although he knows that what Lin Chaoyang said is a bit exaggerated, it is not unreasonable.
While thinking about it, a look of hesitation appeared on his face. Seeing this, Lin Chaoyang played the emotional card again.
"Director Li, you have been in Xiangjiang for decades, but when it comes to talking about it, I am still a fellow villager. I just chatted with the staff, and there were also many Northeasterners among them.
Now that you have returned to the mainland to film, you can be considered a return home in fine clothes. You don’t want the fellow countrymen to stab you in the back and say you, Li Hanxiang, are a miser, right?”
Listening to Lin Chaoyang's words, Li Hanxiang's brows jumped twice. He usually prides himself on emphasizing feelings and teachings, and he doesn't like others being criticized in this regard.
He looked at Lin Chaoyang with a bit of displeasure in his eyes, "If you don't worship God when you turn on the phone today, I knew something would happen sooner or later. I didn't expect you would respond so quickly."
Lin Chaoyang ignored the displeasure in Li Hanxiang's tone, and instead chuckled: "What you said is wrong. So many staff members have worshiped God today, and God is blessing them through my words."
After saying this, several main members of the crew in the awning couldn't help but admire Lin Chaoyang. This man is truly a writer, and his words are full of excitement.
Li Hanxiang looked at Lin Chaoyang with slightly surprised eyes, and then couldn't help laughing.
"Okay, okay! Since it is blessed by the gods, then you should really follow the good deeds!"
After that, he called the production director over and asked him to calculate how much it would cost to improve the food standards for the internal staff.
After some calculations, a figure of "53,000" was derived.
Li Hanxiang felt a little distressed when he saw this figure, and said to Lin Chaoyang: "You are talking about tens of thousands of yuan, which is really a golden word."
Lin Chaoyang said with a smile: "These are not my words. Director Li, you must have awe of the gods!"
Li Hanxiang couldn't help but said sarcastically when he saw how he was taking advantage of him and acting like a good boy, "Aren't you an atheist? Now you're talking about gods but you're silent about gods?"
Lin Chaoyang said calmly: "You have already said that I am an atheist, so it is okay for the gods to use them. The adults do not care about the faults of the villains, and the prime minister can support the boat, so the gods will not blame me!"
Hearing this, Li Hanxiang couldn't help but smile and shook his head, "You have such a mouth, you can tell the dead!"
Once a word is spoken, it is hard to follow.
Since Li Hanxiang said that he would improve the food standards for mainland workers, he naturally couldn't break his promise. Tens of thousands of dollars is indeed not a small amount of money, but after investing several million in "Burning the Old Summer Palace" and "The Government Behind the Curtain", there is no way it would be worse than this.
Tens of thousands of dollars.
Lin Chaoyang stayed on the set for more than a day and left the next morning. When Li Hanxiang saw him off, it was as if he was seeing off the god of plague.
Lin Chaoyang had only been here for one day and it cost him tens of thousands of dollars more, which was more than hiring a movie star.
The matter of improving the food standards was discussed at noon yesterday. The production department did not have time to improve the food during the evening meal. It was not until noon on the day that Lin Chaoyang left that the food standards for the mainland staff were raised.
Chapter completed!