I’m a Director, I’m Not Bad

Chapter 150 148. Ripples of Time

January 4, 2007.

Bingxu year, Gengzi month, Wuxu day.

Suitable for: getting married, starting construction, breaking ground, praying for blessings, offering sacrifices, building, breaking ground, and laying beams.

8:30 am.

Inside the studio.

Xu Xin looked at the sight of various fruits and tributes being placed in front of the offering table, his eyes a little vacant.

"Brother, what are you thinking about?"

Hearing Yang Mi's voice, Xu Xin turned his head and saw that he had finished putting on makeup, wearing a small dark blue suit with a single ponytail, a knee-length skirt underneath, and a pair of black cotton pants on his legs. Socks and little leather shoes.

If that long skirt could be replaced with a JK pleated skirt, it would be a perfect replica of a JK high school queen.

However, when wearing this school uniform, I have to admit...it's still very beautiful.

Especially those two slender legs.

Maybe it's because of the long Achilles tendon? In short, her calves are really something that people can never tire of looking at and playing with...

Seeing Xu Xin's eyes, the girl smiled slightly:

"Isn't it beautiful?"

"beautiful."

There was no intimate movement between the two of them.

Even the crew seemed to be deliberately keeping some distance these days.

This is to prevent any scandals from spreading.

But in fact, we are face to face in the hotel room in Taichung... we can go whenever we want.

After receiving the compliment, the girl rubbed her hands.

If it were normal, Xu Xin would have covered it up. But at this moment, he just handed over the very strange thing in his hand, at least the self-heating bag that he had never seen in Hengdian so far.

"It's not that cold."

Unconsciously, the girl spoke with a Bayan accent.

The characters are straight and round.

Then he tilted his head:

"I'm just curious about what you're thinking."

"I didn't think about anything...my mind was pretty empty."

Xu Xin answered truthfully, and then asked:

"Where's Sister Zeng?"

"Come over in the afternoon..."

Zeng Jia returned to the mainland on New Year's Day.

After Yang Mi finished speaking, she added:

"Are you thirsty? Hot coffee is prepared over there. Can I bring you a cup?"

"No need... you go and get ready, I'll stay by myself for a while."

"good."

After the start-up ceremony, the crew will officially start filming. She knows that her boyfriend needs a calm process.

After all, technically speaking, this was his "first time" making a movie.

It's just that he looked a little dull just now, so I came here to pay attention. After confirming that nothing was wrong, she retreated.

Xu Xin continued to stare at the table arranged by the staff in a daze.

He didn't know what he was thinking.

Logically speaking, it should be nervous + excited at this time.

But it just didn’t happen.

He wasn't nervous, and even seemed strangely calm.

It was as if everything was falling into place.

This should be considered "confidence" for the time being, right? But... in this indifference, he felt a... strange discomfort.

Not uncomfortable.

Rather, it was an inexplicable feeling of urgency.

The movie has just started filming, but he is already thinking about how many people will see the Easter eggs he designed in the script.

This feeling was inexplicable, but he had to admit that he felt very happy when he thought of a group of people scratching their heads at his movie. But I was very happy and thought about it carefully... The filming of this movie has just started, and there are a lot of problems in the later stage such as soundtrack, dubbing, editing, and film scheduling, and I feel very unhappy...

How can it be so slow!

This inexplicable discomfort combined with the impatience and various emotions created a mess in his heart unconsciously.

This forced him to instinctively light a cigarette.

"call……"

After a puff of smoke came out, I suddenly felt much more comfortable.

At this time, Zhang Xunwei walked up to him:

"Director, can we start?"

"..."

Xu Xin turned his head and glanced at the camera that had been wrapped with red cloth, and nodded:

"Um."

…

"Teacher Li, what god do we worship? Mazu? Bodhisattva? Buddha? Sanqing? Guan Erye?"

"...???"

Standing in front of the altar table, Li Pingdong suddenly heard Xu Xin's words and became confused.

The crew started worshiping Mazu? Do you still worship Bodhisattva?

What a strange development this is.

So he quickly shook his head:

"It's the God of Machines!"

"……understood."

Xu Xin nodded and looked back around. At this moment, whether it was Yang Mi, Jay Chou, Gui Lunmei... or other staff members, they were all waiting for him with solemn expressions.

He took a deep breath, took a step forward, walked to the altar table, took out three sticks of yellow incense, placed them in front of the candles, lit them, and then stepped back.

Standing at the front of the crowd, his mood at this moment was not that of being the leader or being the only one to dominate.

Some are just modesty and prayers for the future.

Putting the incense on his head, he prayed softly:

"Goddess of God, please bless us to have a good start and ensure that the crew can shoot safely and smoothly."

After he finished speaking, when he bent down, everyone followed his rhythm and bowed three times to the camera behind the altar table.

After bowing three times, he put the incense into the incense burner.

Xu Xin personally walked around the camera and unveiled the red cloth:

"Everyone, let's get started!"

"Hua la la la la..."

After all the staff spontaneously applauded, Xu Xin nodded:

"Clear the place and prepare to start filming."

…

The actor in "The Untold Secret" is currently missing Huang Qiu Sheng. It's not that he was late, but that his family was sick and he had to stay with him for two days, so he joined the cast two days late.

And except for him, everyone else has arrived.

This time, Xu Xin, the actor on the crew, didn't care, and the audition was all conducted by Jay Chou. And his audition also has his own style.

The so-called own style means that you can use your own people and never use others...

For example, the student supporting roles are almost all Nan Quan’s mother, and the interpretation teachers are basically those who participated in the production of his album.

In fact, these are nothing.

Because these people's roles are not important, they all serve as a transitional role.

enough.

Although Xu Xin is a director, he is not the kind of person who is domineering. Director Zhang said that if you want to mix in this circle, you must respect some rules of the game.

He was convinced.

The filming plan for the movie is also very simple. First, all interior scenes will be shot in the studio. The winter vacation here will start around January 15th. After the interior shooting is completed and the students are on vacation, one after another people will go to various outdoor shootings.

Xu Xin plans to complete the filming before the end of January.

The Chinese New Year is very late this year, February 18th is the 30th day of the New Year.

The shooting was completed at the end of January and I returned to Yanjing directly with the film.

I will definitely participate in the editing of my own movies. So the editing will be done in mainland China, but the soundtrack and stuff will be done here.

And now the first scene is of Ye Xianglun walking into the old piano room after he and Qingyi walked around the campus and saying goodbye. Then he heard bursts of piano sounds, searched all the way, and found Lu Xiaoyu.

Although it is one scene, it was shot in three parts.

The first segment is a fixed camera position, filming Ye Xianglun entering the door. The second section is shot on a sliding rail, following Ye Xianglun to find the sound of the piano and giving a close-up of the set space. The third paragraph is a close-up of him searching for the sound of the piano.

If it were put in a movie, it would only be five or six seconds, maybe ten seconds.

But actually it takes at least half an hour to start shooting.

Because in the middle, we have to change the light, lay the slide rails, transfer the camera position, etc.

Making a movie is such a tedious task.

As for Xu Xin's position, he was sitting in front of several monitors placed outside the set, and what he was shooting would be transmitted in real time.

But this time he was not in front of the monitor, but at the gate of the set.

The on-site staff were busy all the time, while Jay Chou stood next to him, looking like a student who was receiving orders face-to-face.

"After a while, you come in from here. Don't poke your head in, but open the door normally, wait and see, and then listen attentively. You will be attracted by the singing and start walking in step by step... Teacher Li."

Xu Xin placed the seat behind the door for the first game.

This door panel has been removed at this moment, because if it is not removed, the camera position cannot be rotated.

The door panel itself is movable. Once the shot is taken, a few props will move the door panel forward. Then it will be okay to do some shadow processing.

Looking at Li Pingdong sitting in front of the camera, Xu Xin said:

"For a while, the camera pans according to his rhythm. After he stands still, he looks forward. Your camera moves little by little at a constant speed to give a panoramic view of the entire set."

"OK."

Li Pingdong expressed his understanding.

Xu Xin nodded:

"Well, behave well."

"……Um!"

Jay Chou took a deep breath and nodded heavily.

Then, with all the camera positions and lighting arrangements completed, the staff left the venue.

After Xu Xin returned to the outside of the set room, he looked around at the people surrounding him... Everyone had a look of curiosity and exploration on their faces.

I don’t know if I want to see the director’s skills or what.

but……

It doesn't matter.

Taking one last look at his girlfriend, whose eyes were burning and full of encouragement, he sat on the seat that belonged to the director.

Then he waved to Zhang Xunwei on the side:

"Awei, come here with a notebook and sit next to me."

"OK."

As the assistant director who has been with Jay Chou since his first MV, Zhang Xunwei didn't know what director Xu was going to do, but he still nodded, took his work notes, and moved a chair over to sit down.

Xu Xin picked up the walkie-talkie, stared at the fixed camera image that had begun to transmit the image and said:

"Jielun is ready, the record is ready."

After finishing speaking, after waiting for a while, a voice came from the intercom:

"The notes are ready."

"Okay, let's get ready. Camera No. 1 fixes the camera, Act 1, Scene 1. Come on, everyone."

The words fell and no one responded.

Only a slate with 1-1-1 written on it appeared in Li Pingdong's camera.

""SECRET" Act 1, Scene 1, three, two, one, ACTION!"

"Snapped!"

The field recorder hit the board and took it away.

After about a second or so, the pearly white color mixed with a little blue primer, and the door that looked very European and classical from the pattern to the handles was opened.

Jay Chou, who had been "taught" by Xu Xin for half a year on how to play Ye Xianglun, got into the mood quickly. After opening the door, he first revealed half of his face. After hesitating for half a second, the whole person walked in.

Xu Xin's requirement for this scene was that the lighting should be dim, with dark blue background light and warm yellow as the base.

It reflects the picture of the classical years.

Therefore, the texture of the entire picture looks very quiet.

When Jay Chou stood at the door and looked forward, the camera slowly panned.

The floor full of mottled traces of time, the warm yellow lights in the music classrooms on both sides, and the bluish halo of the skylight in the corridor leading to the second floor immediately highlight the grace and tranquility of the years.

It looks quiet, mysterious and... that kind of classical beauty.

Um.

Xu Xin nodded slightly.

Not just him, everyone else, including the staff and Jay Chou's "friends" nodded unconsciously.

The crew on the set saw the harmony of colors in the picture.

The highlight is the warm yellow lights on both sides of the melancholy blue.

It’s the finishing touch.

People who are engaged in music are more emotional. They pay attention to feelings and immediately taste the tranquility and elegance in this picture.

great.

This is the common understanding of everyone.

At this moment, several people including Mike Lin, Huang Junlang and others suddenly heard a sentence:

"Awei, record it. Pan the camera to hear a gentle piano sound. It shouldn't be so complicated, it should be a solo."

After Xu Xin finished speaking, Zhang Xunwei, Huang Junlang, Lin Mike and others were stunned...

Zhang Xunwei had never seen a director actually at the shooting scene. While filming, he was already imagining the soundtrack in his mind...

Shouldn’t this job be done by the director of the soundtrack?

How come you, old man, do all this work?

But Huang Junlang, Mike Lin...especially Mike Lin, as Jay Chou's royal arranger and producer, it is absolutely not wrong to say that his musical quality is the highest among these people.

After hearing what Director Xu said, various classical piano solo scores immediately came to mind.

chopin?

Berlioz?

Or...a deeper Bach?

Beethoven?

After thinking about it, his intuition told him that it would be better to use Chopin's Ballade No. 1 in G minor...

The calm piano sound slowly ripples in my ears...

Recall that static scene again...

Well, the Ballade No. 1 in G minor is very suitable!

After he nodded slightly in agreement, he immediately felt surprised.

Looking at the young man sitting on the chair...

He also knows music?

…

"OK, pass."

As the scene froze, Xu Xin, who didn't know that his words would surprise the music players behind him, picked up the walkie-talkie and shouted, then continued:

"Lay the rails."

After about ten minutes, all the removed door panels and slide rails were laid.

Shooting continues.

Jay Chou walked through two rooms in the corridor in sync with the camera.

The slide shot is finished.

Then, the camera was set up on the stairs, giving a high-angle top-down shot.

The first easter egg Xu Xin buried, the wooden floors turned into musical notes, appeared in the camera.

After Jay Chou, who had returned to his original position, finished typing the board, he looked around and stepped on the musical note boards, step by step, to the innermost house.

End of act three.

Act 4, close-up begins.

A close-up of the door outside the old piano room, after making a gesture of looking around:

"OK, come on, Lu Xiaoyu is ready."

Hearing this, Gui Lunmei quickly put down the script, tidied his clothes in front of the two art directors, and after making sure there was nothing wrong, he walked directly into the set of the old piano room.

The story here is that Jay Chou walked into the old piano room, and Lu Xiaoyu, who had just "crossed over", met him for the first time.

Soon, the machine seat was set up and Xu Xin sat in front of the monitor again.

In this scene, Ye Xianglun and Lu Xiaoyu met for the first time after entering the old piano room. Lu Xiaoyu planned to hide the music scores in the bookshelf behind the door, but Ye Xianglun did not notice anyone at first. When he saw the bookshelf behind the door There was someone behind me, and I was suddenly startled.

This is the first time the two met.

In a close-up shot, Ye Xianglun gently pushed open the door of the old piano room.

After looking around, I found that no one was there, so I subconsciously wanted to open the door and walk in.

His eyes first focused on the layout of the old piano room, looking from the right to the left slowly. And when he saw Lu Xiaoyu playing with a book next to him...

"Well!"

He subconsciously took a step back...

"Click."

Suddenly, Xu Xin stopped shouting.

Jay Chou and Gui Lunmei were both stunned.

There's nothing wrong with this play...

But Xu Xin walked to the old piano, where Li Pingdong's camera was.

After looking at the picture and thinking for a moment, he suddenly said:

"Props, come on, move that lamp. Jay Chou, don't move, put your arms up."

"……so?"

Jay Chou, who was standing at the door, crossed his arms in confusion.

Xu Xin nodded:

"Yes, props, attach the lampshade to his arm."

Soon, after the lamp was moved to the appropriate position, Jay Chou asked doubtfully:

"Wouldn't this be a hindrance?"

But Xu Xin ignored him, but looked at the picture in the camera and said:

"Go back to your original position and make the same move that shocked you just now. Remember to touch the desk lamp."

"...?"

Although Jay Chou couldn't understand, he still obeyed the instructions. After taking a small step, he turned his head to the left:

"Well!"

After a small jump, his elbow hit the desk lamp, causing it to shake violently.

"Move the props a little bit. I want the lamp to shake slightly."

The prop standing next to him was adjusted again.

Jay Chou followed the same example, and this time, the desk lamp happened to shake slightly.

"Um."

Xu Xin nodded with satisfaction and walked directly to the two of them.

Mainly facing Jay Chou:

"After a while, you still make an action like observing and being startled. Remember to touch the lamp gently, you know?"

"Uh... OK. But can I ask why?"

Obviously, he didn't quite understand Xu Xin's intentions.

Gui Lunmei, who was standing on the ladder without coming down, also looked confused.

She also wondered why the director had trouble with a lamp.

"It's simple."

When an actor has doubts, the director naturally has to solve them:

"The color of Lu Xiaoyu's body that does not belong to this period of time, I will use a desk lamp to give it many times later. You can understand this desk lamp as the time that belongs to Lu Xiaoyu. Originally, it was frozen. But precisely because You suddenly walked into the old piano room and became the first person Lu Xiaoyu saw when she traveled through time... In other words, you "invaded" her time, triggering a chain effect, and the overall story behind it came into being. . Do you understand? Time is a river, and when you touch the desk lamp, it is like gently dropping a pebble into the calm flowing river. The ripples on the river surface trigger a series of subsequent changes. Do you understand? This is called a hint."

"..."

Jay Chou is 100% sure that he never thought about it this way when he designed the script and scenes.

So I couldn’t help but say:

"Would anyone think of doing this?"

“Don’t underestimate the artistic pursuit of those who like movies.”

Xu Xin said with a smile:

"Okay, get ready to start. The one just now is good. But don't stick your head out and look like a big sneaky mouse. Just observe normally, open the door, and walk in with half your body..."

After correcting Jay Chou's movements, Xu Xin turned to look at Li Pingdong again.

Li Pingdong knew that what he meant was to remember to deal with the distortion or zoom problems that may occur when the light shakes for a while.

So he nodded:

"clear."

"……Um!"

After all, it’s Lao Jianghu.

The boss is the boss.

Extraordinary.

Xu Xin returned to the monitor with emotion.

Shooting continues.

…

Ye Xianglun finally arrived at the old piano room.

The door to the old piano room was ajar.

Through the glass, he found that there seemed to be no one inside.

no one?

Where did the sound of the piano come from?

He looked surprised. Then he involuntarily put his hand on the ajar door handle, pushed it gently, bent half of his body and walked into the old piano room.

A piano is placed alone in the middle of the room.

This piano room looks very old.

But I can vaguely hear the sound of the piano that once echoed in this piano room from the portraits of the masters hanging on the wall.

Beautiful and deep.

His eyes moved from Beethoven, to Chopin, and then to Bach...

Every master's face is full of traces of time.

His eyes slowly moved to the left and moved.

After moving away the master and the piano, he finally saw an old bookshelf and...

"Well!"

The moment he met the eyes of the girl with a black scarf wrapped around her neck and a slightly weird look, he inevitably took a step back, and his arm accidentally hit a lamp standing next to him.

The lamp light swayed.

Those are ripples of time.

Slowly rippling.

This is the beginning of the first chapter of this time-traveling magical campus love story.

…

Jay Chou is in very good shape.

Xu Xin was quite satisfied.

Maybe it’s because he had enough preparation time, or maybe it’s because this is his “own” story.

He seems to be very comfortable in grasping the role of "Ye Xianglun".

But in the final analysis, his foundation is still a bit weak, and his performance is still somewhat ups and downs.

But it doesn't matter.

Don't be afraid when your father is here.

I will definitely help you sort it out clearly.

In one morning, the crew shot about two scenes...

The first paragraph is the first encounter between Ye Xianglun and Lu Xiaoyu.

And the second paragraph... is more torturous.

There is no way, mainly...

According to Yang Mi, it is...

Huang Junlang is too ugly...

I don’t know why Jay Chou designed such a look, with an afro curly hair and a headband wrapped around his head. When combined with the handsome-looking warhead, the style of the painting feels wrong.

Not to mention other people, Huang Junlang himself was embarrassed by his own ugliness.

The old piano room itself had a very blurry mirror. After Huang Junlang took a look at the shape, he muttered:

"Wow, how can this person be so ugly?"

This statement made everyone laugh.

Jay Chou can't even play the piano anymore...

In addition, this guy has never acted before, so his lines and everything seemed very stiff.

There was no other way, Xu Xin had to help him adjust it.

Teach sentence by sentence and learn sentence by sentence.

Happy to have two sons.

Moreover, A Lang, played by Huang Junlang, has foreshadowing of the second timeline, which is the correction fluid he held in his hand when he first met Ye Xianglun.

The correction fluid was written in the hiding cabinet. After writing "The coach is a fool", Alang casually put the correction fluid into his breast pocket when he went out. Then, when Lu Xiaoyu and Ye Xianglun were playing four-hand play, the music teacher walked in and also opened the cabinet.

Because he thought Ye Xianglun was in love and wanted to find the girl. But because Lu Xiaoyu couldn't see him, he only saw the words written with correction fluid, leaving a helpless sigh:

"You students, you are really..."

A staggered technique is used here to make the audience think they have met Lu Xiaoyu at first glance, but in fact the teacher cannot see her, only the line of words left by A Lang.

Under Xu Xin's handwriting, the script of "The Untold Secret" was quietly dropped one by one inadvertently, and finally it became a turbulent undercurrent hidden under a seemingly calm river.

The first day of shooting in the morning mainly focused on these two scenes.

Huang Junlang did waste some time...

It's pretty interesting though.

At least Xu Xin thinks so.

When it was time to eat, he also received his own lunch box.

Braised pork rice, plus an egg.

Some greens.

Not that anyone is picky... Eating boxed lunches is actually a normal thing. What's more, the crew of this film is not as big an investment as Director Zhang, who can easily invest hundreds of millions.

Its total cost, including post-production soundtrack, publicity, etc., was only NT$70 million.

Converted to about 18 million.

Yang Mi's salary is 1 million, and Gui Lunmei's salary is 2 million. Huang Qiu Sheng's is one million, while A Lang and A Bao are only a few hundred thousand.

The total remuneration and the fees that need to be paid to the crew are about 5 million.

The remaining 10,000,000 are all production fees and related publicity expenses.

Xu Xin came over with twelve million.

Jay Chou took six million.

However, the two people have never made it clear whether the movie is a share of the box office or a loan.

Xu Xin didn't care, but Jay Chou was thinking that if the movie lost money, then he would borrow money instead. If you make money, you get a share.

In short, I will definitely not let my friends suffer.

Therefore, although the lunch boxes provided by the crew are not bad, they definitely have nothing to do with luxury.

However, after finishing the meal, Xu Xin immediately noticed something different.

People here... don't rest.

When we were in Hengdian, perhaps because of the hot weather, Director Zhang always arranged to take a 2 to 3 hour break at noon.

But not here...

After Xu Xin finished eating, he put down his chopsticks and went to smoke outside the studio.

But when he came back after smoking a cigarette, he found that... Zhang Xunwei had already begun to arrange the shooting plan scheduled for the afternoon.

Xu Xin looked surprised.

Don’t these people take a break?

At this moment, Yang Mi came over:

"Have you finished smoking?"

"Um... don't you guys take a break at noon?"

Hearing this, the girl shook her head:

"I was a little confused just now, so I went over and asked Teacher Li."

"...How did you say that?"

"Teacher Li was quite surprised to hear that it was still the same as the working day over there..."

The girl looked at the busy crowd and whispered:

"He said that this might be the last bit of dignity left in the Wanwan film industry as a Hong Kong and Taiwan film..."

"Well……"

Xu Xin was thoughtful.

Please give me a monthly pass. Please give me a monthly pass!