"Sister An, I just accepted a short film, which was assigned by Brother Ye." Li Tang said helplessly.
Nai'an got him another job this time. He needed a small role in a Wanwan martial arts TV series that was being filmed in Hengdian. Although Li Tang debuted as the male lead in Shanghai Film Studio's gift film, he was awesome and coquettish. In fact, small roles like this are in line with his current positioning.
The movie has not yet been released, the TV series has not been broadcast, and it has not been tested by the market, let alone become popular. Speaking of which, the biggest reason why Nai An was able to get this job was because of "Return of the Pearl II". "Returning the Pearl" is a hit, so "Returning the Pearl II" will not be any worse.
"How long will it take to shoot this short film?"
Because there was no pay, not even a contract, Nai An didn't know about this situation.
"At least half a month." Li Tang thought for a while and said.
The crew of "Criminals" has been established. Cheng Er brought seven or eight classmates from Nortel to serve as the main creative behind the scenes, including photography, lighting, art design, sound recording, etc., and announced to the outside world that it was "a joint work of Nortel graduates from the 99th class."
Li Tang just met the other two main characters in the short film yesterday. The young man who plays Hu Tian's younger brother Hu Di is a young man named Hu Ge. He is only seventeen years old today. He is a young host on an educational TV station and is currently in Shanghai No. 2 Middle School. In the first year of high school.
Shanghai No. 2 Middle School is very close to the Drama Center and has a tradition of cultural and artistic performances. Bald Xu graduated from this middle school.
The young man is quite handsome, about the same height as Li Tang. Standing next to each other, he really looks like a brother. And after all, he has been a small host for many years and has a certain performance foundation.
The person who plays Hu Tian's lover and shop assistant Xiao Zhang is a young model who has just debuted in commercials. His name is Huang Yi. He is three years younger than Li Tang. He is quite beautiful, but his voice is thicker.
After all, the crew had no money. In addition, Cheng Er requested that the short film be all in Shanghainese and could only use local actors in Shanghai.
"That should be no problem."
Nai'an was relieved and continued: "This drama has just started shooting, and it is expected to be filmed for about two months. Your character will not play much, only about eight episodes. I will discuss it with the crew and wait until you finish filming this short film. The crew checked in in time.”
"Well, that's good."
Of course it is a good thing to have live actors. With the opening up in recent years, many scenes from Bay Area and Hong Kong have been filmed in the mainland. The motherland is a vast country and the labor costs are low. Generally, the leading actors and creators are their own people, and the supporting roles are from mainland actors, with at most a second male or female lead.
But to be honest, Hong Kong and Taiwan celebrities are indeed very well-known in the mainland these days and are very popular with mainland audiences. In a sense, the success of "Huan Zhu Ge Ge" did make Xiao Yanzi the first mainland idol star.
Probably because of the success of "Return of the Pearl II", Li Tang played this small role in eight episodes this time, and the other party still offered him a salary of 5,000 per episode, 40,000 for eight episodes, and he got 32,000 after deducting the share.
"Don't worry, when "Returning the Pearl Part 2" is aired, I will dare to announce the salary of 10,000 yuan per episode." Nai An said with a smile.
It seems that everyone is now confident in "Return of the Pearl II", and Nai An is ready to play Li Tanghong. 10,000 per episode, that’s the treatment for the leading male lead.
…
"Brother Li, can we discuss something?" Sun Li approached Li Tang with a smile.
He is Cheng Er's classmate and works as an art designer on the set. Compared with Cheng Er's reticence, this guy is much more lively. He is either a brother or a sister when he sees people. His mouth looks like it has been coated with honey, and he is very talkative.
"It's not a good thing to smile. Tell me, what's the matter?"
"Brother Li, can you shave your hair?"
"Shaving your head? No problem." Li Tang said.
He shaved his head when filming "Return of the Pearl Part 2". Now more than two months have passed, his hair has grown a lot, and he has trimmed the sides and back a little, and now he has a neat short hair. Li Tang also thought that this hairstyle was a bit trendy and not suitable for the character Hu Tian, who had a flat head or something.
But then Sun Li hesitated and said: "I mean to shave my head, do you think that's okay?"
"Bald? Why?" Li Tang was stunned.
Either he doesn't want to, or his hair has finally grown back, so why does he need to shave his head again?
"Hu Tian took the box in the hotel lobby. The police found the person taking the box from the surveillance video. Because it was not a frontal shot, a more eye-catching feature was needed. I discussed it with the director and the best way was to shave it off. Bald."
"That's it..."
Li Tang thought for a while and felt that what Sun Li said made sense, so he said readily: "No problem, let's shave it."
As an actor, everything must serve the play.
So not long after, Li Tang appeared in front of everyone with a round bald head.
Hu Ge was surprised. The seventeen-year-old boy loves to be pretty at the time. Because he is going to be a host, his hairstyle is not too trendy and exaggerated, but he wears gel water every day and has a smooth and smooth comb.
When Huang Yi saw it, he covered his mouth with his hands and made an exaggerated expression. Then he laughed in her drake voice and said, "Brother Li, your hair is in great shape, and your bald head is beautiful too!"
Because of her family background, this little girl came into contact with society very early. She has a cheerful personality and is good at getting things done. Within a few days, she became very familiar with the people on the set. She learned that Li Tang had starred in "Returning the Pearl II". Watching Li Tang's The look in his eyes became different, and he seemed to be deliberately making friends.
Li Tang also felt sympathy for her. Their parents divorced when they were young, and he still had a father who loved her like a mountain. This little girl is much more miserable. Her parents don't care about her and she can only live with her grandparents.
So Li Tang understood this very well. If a little girl with neither a backer nor resources wanted to change the status quo, she could only not give up any possible opportunity, even if the possibility was slim.
It was out of this mentality that when Li Tang heard her compliments, he touched his bare head and rolled his eyes at her: "Thank you, I thank you and my family!"
Huang Yi chuckled and said loudly on purpose: "Brother Li, what I said is true."
In fact, the more Li Tang had this attitude, the more natural it seemed to Huang Yi. As young people, it is normal for everyone to joke and bicker together. But if you are too polite, the distance between the two parties will become farther, and you may even feel that you are thousands of miles away.
During the first two days of startup, I basically focused on shooting empty shots, which was mainly about running in. Although they are all classmates from Nortel, they often quarrel over a shot or a composition. It seems that everyone is an artist, but Cheng Er is always insistent every time, doesn't talk much, but fights to the end. In the end Everyone had to accept his opinion.
This is the basic quality of a director. If he can't control a crew, Li Tang should really think carefully about whether to give him enough trust.
Today was the first time we filmed a scene with people, and it was also a highlight. The filming location was in the lobby of the International Equatorial Hotel on Yan'an Road.
This time the crew was able to easily enter the hotel lobby for filming, thanks to Huang Yi, because she used to be the front desk of this hotel, and the hotel gave the green light for this.
This scene tells the story of Hu Tian waiting for a friend in the hotel lobby, but his friend failed to make the appointment. He accidentally came across an unoccupied box. After some ideological struggle, he picked up the box and ran away.
There are three elements in this scene. The first one is waiting, waiting for a friend to borrow money to save his life, but the friend has not arrived yet, which is obviously his frustration after being let go; the second one is panic, when he meets that The box, when you find that it is definitely not an ordinary box, you feel panicked and want to take it for yourself; the third is escape, you finally make up your mind to take the box and run away.
"Brother Li, you can start."
The on-site camera positions have been set up and the lighting has been adjusted in place. However, this grassroots team has no monitors at all. Director Cheng Er is standing next to the camera, and there is a buddy holding a stopwatch in his hand to check the time.
It is said that it is ready to start, but in fact it does not mean to start actual shooting, but to perform it first, make sure there are no problems, and then measure the required length of film according to the time measured by the stopwatch, and finally start actual shooting.
Because there was no money, the film was carefully budgeted to ensure that every frame of film was valid and there were no second chances. At this point, the so-called monitor is meaningless, because you have no chance to do it again.
