Chapter 183: Are You Kidding Me

Early the next morning, Lu Yan He got up early and went for a run.

This was what Huang Kai told him; if there is a scene the next day that needs to show high energy, go for a run in the morning, and the state will be completely different.

Lu Yan He didn't have the habit of morning running originally.

He had a big difference from Yan Liang.

He didn't have much passion for sports.

But since he was going to be on camera today, he listened to Huang Kai, went for a run, and improved his state.

At six o'clock, Lu Yan He returned to the hotel to take a shower, went to the restaurant to eat two slices of toast and a boiled egg, and at six-twenty, arrived at the hotel entrance on time and got on the shuttle bus.

The drive from the hotel to Nanhe University was forty minutes.

Because they left early, there was no traffic on the road, and they wouldn't be blocked by the morning rush hour.

At seven-ten, the car drove into Nanhe University.

It was already summer vacation, and two-thirds of the students in the campus were gone.

But many students knew that "The Golden Age" was coming here to film, so when the crew recruited volunteer extras, they signed up and stayed.

The first scene this morning was the first meeting between Yao Yuan and Guan Zhu in the play.

Yao Yuan walked in from outside the classroom and was loved at first sight by Guan Zhu.

Because Luo Dao Yuzhong wanted to use natural light for this scene, it was scheduled to start filming at eight-thirty.

Lu Yan He followed the crew members to the third floor of a teaching building, where there was a large tiered classroom at the end of the corridor.

The classroom had already been set up by staff members who arrived earlier yesterday.

Tracks were being laid in the classroom for the camera to move and film later.

Several classrooms next door were borrowed to be used as dressing rooms and changing rooms for the actors.

As soon as Lu Yan He arrived, he was called over to put on makeup.

When actors film, few are truly bare-faced on camera.

Truly bare-faced on camera easily makes one look haggard, with uneven skin tone and a bad state.

The styling for today's scene had long been decided.

By the time Lu Yan He changed his clothes and finished his styling, it was already seven-fifty in the morning.

At this time, Luo Yuzhong, who looked exhausted as if he hadn't slept, also arrived.

He called Lu Yan He over first and had someone walk him through the blocking.

Today was Lu Yan He's first day of acting, and Luo Yuzhong specifically arranged scenes that weren't too difficult for Lu Yan He.

For example, in the first scene to be filmed today, Lu Yan He only needed to walk in.

He didn't need to make any expressions, just his face was enough.

After Lu Yan He knew his blocking route, Luo Yuzhong saw Lu Yan He and was about to talk to him when his brows suddenly furrowed.

"Who drew these eyebrows of yours? Why draw them so thick? Redo it."

Lu Yan He was at a loss, but someone immediately took Lu Yan He away.

Redoing the eyebrows.

By the time he came out after redoing his eyebrows, Jiang Yuqian had also changed her clothes and arrived.

She was dressed in a very student-like style today, a typical good student outfit.

Her hair was completely combed to the back, revealing a fair face.

"It's eight-fourteen!" someone announced the time.

When Luo Yuzhong heard the time, his first reaction was to glance at the morning sun outside the window.

Under Mo Zhi's arrangement, the extras entered one by one from another door and sat in their corresponding seats according to the instructions of the on-site personnel.

They were all original students of this school, playing university students in their true colors.

When they saw Lu Yan He and Jiang Yuqian, especially the latter, their eyes lit up.

This was seeing stars in reality with their own eyes!

Lu Yan He turned his head to look at them, which immediately caused a soft exclamation from some of them.

"They are so handsome in person!"

"Much more handsome than they look on camera!"

"And he is so tall."

Such discussions rose and fell.

Jiang Yuqian suddenly whispered to him: "Don't be disturbed by these voices, concentrate."

Luo Yuzhong communicated with the photographer about how to move the camera to capture the light later, and then instructed Lu Yan He: "The first shot later will film you. We will capture the feeling of the sun rising just behind you, filming this shot from Guan Zhu's perspective."

Lu Yan He nodded.

Luo Yuzhong said to Jiang Yuqian: "Yuqian, you sit there later."

He pointed to a place where someone was standing, indicating the position for Jiang Yuqian.

"After filming Lu Yan He's shot, we will film you."

"Okay." Jiang Yuqian nodded.

Actually, Jiang Yuqian didn't need to participate in this kind of shot specifically filmed for Lu Yan He.

Because she wouldn't be in the frame.

She could have completely waited until Lu Yan He's shot was finished before coming over.

But Jiang Yuqian didn't say a word; if she was needed to film, she filmed, not being pretentious at all.

Luo Yuzhong personally took Lu Yan He through it once, told him how to act, and let Lu Yan He act it out once himself.

He didn't say anything, nodded, and said: "Very good, just keep this feeling from just now."

Lu Yan He breathed a sigh of relief and nodded.

The photographer, who had been observing the movement of the sun, suddenly shouted: "Luo Dao, the light is OK."

Luo Yuzhong immediately went to his position.

Lu Yan He was already waiting outside the classroom door.

"Okay, start filming!" Luo Yuzhong's voice sounded.

Lu Yan He immediately lifted his feet and walked forward.

Too rushed.

Luo Yuzhong's brows furrowed slightly, but he didn't call stop.

Lu Yan He opened the classroom door and walked in.

The whole classroom of students looked at him.

"Wow—" some girls on the scene couldn't help but exclaim.

He himself was also slightly distracted.

"Okay, cut!" Luo Yuzhong shouted. "Yan He, move a bit slower, it's too rushed. You are the campus heartthrob; you need to be calm and composed."

Lu Yan He nodded and returned to his original position.

Luo Yuzhong came to the classroom again with a smile and said: "Students, be a bit more reserved. The students' reaction just now was correct, but because we are filming Lu Yan He in this scene, the camera hasn't reached you yet. If you react at this time, the camera won't pick it up."

The girl who had just said "wow" had red cheeks and lowered her head in embarrassment.

Re-filming.

Three cameras were filming him at the same time.

Lu Yan He couldn't help but pay attention to them.

He felt he had messed up the acting himself, but Luo Yuzhong said: "Not bad, let's do another take."

Lu Yan He did the third take.

He opened the door again, walked into the classroom, scanned the classroom, and then looked at the podium.

"Keep the feeling, let's do another take." Luo Yuzhong's tone didn't change at all.

Lu Yan He did it again.

The fourth take.

The fifth take.

"OK, pass." Luo Yuzhong checked the shot he just filmed and finally called pass.

Five takes, adding up to about ten minutes.

Because it was just a shot of less than five seconds, every time they redid it, they didn't need to reset the set, which was very convenient.

When Lu Yan He heard the word "pass," he breathed a sigh of relief in his heart.

Filming one shot five times, Lu Yan He felt uneasy, worried that he had affected the filming progress.

"Yan He, come here." Luo Yuzhong suddenly called.

Lu Yan He immediately went over.

Luo Yuzhong let him look at the monitor screen.

It was the content of the fifth take just filmed.

The video started playing.

On the screen, the light had the warm tone unique to the morning glow.

From the glass window of the classroom door, one could see Lu Yan He's figure approaching.

The door opened, Lu Yan He walked in from outside, and the golden morning sun happened to shine behind him, gathering into a background with slight overexposure.

His eyes were clean, he carried a fresh breeze, there was no smile on his face, but his expression was gentle, a figure that could walk through every girl's afternoon dream.

Lu Yan He was a bit surprised.

He had imagined many times what he would look like when acting, but none of them compared to this moment of seeing himself on the screen with his own eyes.

Luo Yuzhong said: "This is the first shot of your life acting. Remember it well. We filmed five times and finally got the most perfect one, so there won't be any regrets."

Lu Yan He was stunned.

He looked at Luo Yuzhong in surprise.

Luo Yuzhong would actually say these things to him.

He patted Lu Yan He on the shoulder and said: "You put too much psychological burden on yourself. Don't be afraid of messing up; if you mess up, I and Jiang Yuqian will back you up. Don't worry about anything, fully trust me. You will have no problem playing this role well."

Lu Yan He's mood, which had been nervous all morning, seemed to have received a comforting hug at this moment.

"Director..." Lu Yan He didn't know how to express it; he always felt that saying thank you was too sloppy and a bit cheesy, but after stammering twice, he still said the two words "thank you."

Luo Yuzhong: "Go prepare for the next scene."

Lu Yan He nodded.

Lu Yan He entered the classroom and found Jiang Yuqian still sitting in her seat, with students around her sizing her up.

However, no one took out their phone to take pictures, and no one came up to talk to her.

It was probably communicated by the crew in advance.

Luo Yuzhong also entered the classroom.

This time he came to guide the extras.

"Students, just act like you are in a normal class later, and avoid staring at the camera," Luo Yuzhong said. "Thank you all for your hard work today. Filming is different from what you see in movies. Scenes that look very smooth in the movie are filmed shot by shot in reality, so you need to be patient. It's normal for every scene to be filmed three or four times."

Lu Yan He was really surprised; he didn't expect Luo Yuzhong to guide the student actors on site so patiently.

He heard that the crews of big directors usually wouldn't guide these extras themselves.

Luo Yuzhong chatted and laughed with the students for a while, then turned back and asked: "Has Yang Fan arrived?"

Mo Zhi said: "Teacher Yang Fan is still on the road, there is a bit of traffic, and it is expected to take another thirty minutes to arrive."

Luo Yuzhong couldn't help but furrow his brows, but didn't say anything, and said: "Then let's film Lu Yan He and Jiang Yuqian's shots first."

"Yuqian, we'll film your shot later," Luo Yuzhong said, then turned to Lu Yan He: "You help with the acting, walk in from the door again."

Lu Yan He nodded.

The meaning of helping with the acting here really meant helping with the acting; the camera wouldn't film Lu Yan He, but rather Jiang Yuqian's reaction to seeing Lu Yan He walk in from the door.

Even without Lu Yan He walking in, Jiang Yuqian could act.

However, if someone helped with the acting, Jiang Yuqian's reaction would definitely be more realistic.

Lu Yan He retreated outside the classroom.

The crew reset the camera tracks on site.

According to Luo Yuzhong's vision, this shot would have slow motion in specific seconds, so the picture requirements were very high.

Jiang Yuqian had already started to prepare quietly.

Ten minutes later, filming began.

"Start!" Luo Yuzhong said.

Lu Yan He opened the door and walked in.

Jiang Yuqian acted as if she had really seen someone who made her heart flutter, and she was stunned, her eyes revealing a look of surprise.

Lu Yan He didn't even dare to look at Jiang Yuqian, afraid of affecting his acting.

Luo Yuzhong watched this shot of Jiang Yuqian through the monitor and gave her a thumbs up.

"Excellent, Yuqian, let's do another take to be safe. Let go a bit more in this take," Luo Yuzhong said. "I'm filming a medium shot, give me a bit more of that look from just now."

Jiang Yuqian made an OK gesture.

Re-filming on site.

Another take.

Pass.

Luo Yuzhong filmed several more shots of student actors.

One advantage of having many student actors is that there are always a few with a better sense of the camera.

Luo Yuzhong filmed with three cameras at the same time, checked, and once the material was there, it was done.

"Hasn't Yang Fan arrived yet?" It was almost ten o'clock in the morning, and a look of anger appeared on Luo Yuzhong's face. "How long has the morning rush hour passed, and he's still stuck on the road?"

Mo Zhi showed a look of distress and said: "Director, I just contacted his team, and they said Teacher Yang had a sudden stomachache and went to the hospital for an examination, and he will be here soon."

"Bullshit!" Luo Yuzhong suddenly roared, startling everyone on the scene.

Lu Yan He was also startled.

This roar was like a thunderclap on flat ground, suddenly exploding.

This roar also reminded Lu Yan He of Chen Ziyan's instructions to him.

Chen Ziyan had warned him that Luo Yuzhong was a director with very strict requirements and a very fierce temper.

After getting along for these two days, Lu Yan He felt that Luo Yuzhong was clearly a very gentle director who was good at guiding actors. Why was he fierce?

With that roar just now, Lu Yan He finally understood what was going on.

But Lu Yan He felt that Luo Yuzhong's temper wasn't unreasonable.

The actor who was scheduled to arrive at eight o'clock hadn't arrived yet.

Yang Fan was coming to play this teacher, and if he didn't come, Lu Yan He couldn't film the subsequent scenes.

Luo Yuzhong directly asked Mo Zhi for his phone and called Yang Fan.

Under the eyes of everyone, Lu Yan He was suddenly a bit nervous, not knowing what would happen next.

But this call didn't get through.

Luo Yuzhong directly roared at Mo Zhi angrily: "Go tell Yang Fan to pack his bags and get home, he doesn't need to come again!"

Mo Zhi was stunned.

"Still not going?!"

"Yes." Mo Zhi then walked away in a panic.

When he got angry, the scene was silent.

Lu Yan He didn't know what to say either.

After a while, the photography director Liu Zeliang, who had known him for a long time, said: "Luo Dao, the play still needs to be filmed. Why don't we grab someone to film the scene first, and settle the accounts later, don't delay the filming."

Yang Fan wasn't just coming to make a cameo in one shot.

This teacher had several more scenes later, which had a great promoting effect on the relationship between Guan Zhu and Yao Yuan.

Luo Yuzhong waved his hand, "Then you act."

Liu Zeliang's face changed, "Are you kidding me!" ===== CHAPTER 184 =====