Chapter 640: Full of Vitality

Reaching middle age, he suddenly got the chance to become a director.

Because of this opportunity that suddenly landed in his hands, Wu Chi even went to have his fortune told, wanting to see if his fate had toughened upon reaching middle age.

Fortune had finally turned.

It was his first time directing; although the production budget was only two million, for Wu Chi, that was still a lot.

In his entire life, he had never seen so much money at once, nor had he ever had enough money to spend like this.

His apprentice, Li Chao, served as his assistant.

On the film set, chaos reigned supreme.

"When exactly is Jiang Yue arriving?" Wu Chi asked, his face filled with irritation.

Li Chao said, "She's on her way; about three more hours."

"Aiya, the whole crew is waiting for her! Why can't she arrive a bit earlier?!"

"We didn't anticipate beforehand that she would suddenly need to make an appearance in this scene," Li Chao said. "How about we start filming now, and when she arrives, we'll find time to reshoot her parts later?"

Wu Chi looked utterly overwhelmed.

Everyone else watched them.

In truth, everyone who joined this film crew knew that this was a novice director.

Yet no one expected this "novice" to be quite so incompetent.

The daily efficiency was far too low.

The actors would struggle through half a day of performing, only for him to finally say that what they had just filmed were all long shots, and that close-ups were needed tomorrow.

Hearing this, the actors felt like spitting blood.

Not to mention the other technical departments; due to the lack of clear instructions, many workers didn't know how to proceed, and upon arriving on set, faced all sorts of dissatisfaction, forcing them to tear everything down and start over.

Of course, Wu Chi himself was the most troubled; he knew many situations were caused by his own faults, but he lacked the strong capability to perfect everything, for being a director wasn't just about sitting on set holding a megaphone and giving orders.

He not only had to make requests, but he had to make precise requests.

However, since he did not understand actual filming, no matter how thoroughly he pondered and re-pondered his ideas, they would still fail to be executed because he hadn't accounted for practical realities.

And so, they filmed in this dragging, halting manner.

After Lu Yanhe and Chen Siqi arrived at the film crew, this was exactly the situation they encountered.

Wu Chi had only received the news an hour before Lu Yanhe and the others arrived that they were coming to visit the set.

He was completely dumbfounded.

Wu Chi's first reaction was whether he should quickly gather everyone for a brief meeting to put on a show, preventing so many of the crew's problems from being exposed before Lu Yanhe, otherwise he would look incredibly incompetent.

Although this was indeed the fact.

Wu Chi felt that since he had just started, it was perfectly normal for problems to arise.

Given a little time, he would adjust and get back on track.

The problem was that he hadn't adjusted yet... the overall condition of the crew could be described in two words: terrible.

Wu Chi acted as if facing a great enemy.

"Do you know that Linghe Studio launched a new movie this month called 'Oh My Sea'?" Huang Kaiwen asked Xin Zixing.

Xin Zixing nodded. "I heard about it; it seems that while they were collecting scripts for the 'Jump Up' theater, they received a script along with some footage previously edited by this director, decided to sign him, and support him in making his first film, which is this one."

Xin Zixing nodded. "I heard about it. It seems that when they were collecting scripts for the Jump Up Theater, they received a script along with some footage previously edited by this director, decided to sign him, and support him in filming his first movie, which is this one."

"It is a little, but since they chose it, the script should be decent," Xin Zixing said, rolling over, getting out of bed, walking barefoot to the desk, pouring herself a glass of water, and drinking it. "However, this movie has basically nothing to do with Yanhe; Linghe most likely wants to develop some projects unrelated to Yanhe. Previously, 'Co-ed Roommates' was also like this. Oh, right, they have a new project called 'Bankrupt Sisters'; this time, Yanhe only provided a story concept and did not personally write the script."

"That is somewhat true, but since they took a fancy to him, the script must be quite good." Xin Zixing rolled over, got out of bed, walked barefoot to the table, poured herself a glass of water, and drank it. "However, this movie has basically nothing to do with Yan He; Linghe most likely wants to undertake some projects unrelated to Yan He. The previous 'Co-habiting Men and Women' was also like that. Oh, right, they have a new project called 'Broke Sisters.' For this one, Yan He only provided a story concept and did not personally write the script."

"Yes," Xin Zixing nodded. "After Hu Siwei arrived at Linghe, he seems determined to delve deep into the sitcom genre, from 'Wu Lin Wai Zhuan' to 'Co-ed Roommates,' and now 'Bankrupt Sisters.'"

Huang Kaiwen said, "In the domestic industry, he is the only Producer capable of consistently producing good sitcoms."

Xin Zixing said, "The second season of 'Wu Lin Wai Zhuan' will air during the Spring Festival next year; you won't be able to rest, will you? Won't you have to resume work and start promotional tours on the second or third day of the lunar new year?"

"About that," Huang Kaiwen nodded. "Yuehu TV will start rebroadcasting the first season before the New Year; everyone wants to see if the second season can capitalize on the holiday, when everyone is at home, to make this show one that families sit together to watch. The promotion will also focus on this point; if successful, this show could become a national comedy."

"It sounds very important for you too," Xin Zixing said. "Your national recognition has always been slightly lacking; among the slightly older demographic, basically no one knows who you are."

For a star to possess national recognition truly requires the convergence of timing, location, and human harmony.

Some stars may have been famous for seven or eight years, yet their national recognition remains just so-so.

Huang Kaiwen said, "Yes, probably because the box office of 'Fake Death Doesn't Work' let the industry see the potential of romantic comedies; in the second half of this year, I received no fewer than twenty romantic comedy film scripts. Before, they were all scripts in the style of 'Rouge.' I've heard people tell me that in the eyes of many film companies, male actors who currently have both the ability and the handsome looks to star in romantic comedies are few and far between; I benefited from 'Wu Lin Wai Zhuan,' making everyone feel I am suited for comedy, but in terms of actual image and performance, there are very few who can be picked."

Huang Kairen said, "Yes, probably because the box office of 'Even Faking Death Won't Work' let the industry see the box office potential of romantic comedies. In the second half of this year, I received no fewer than twenty romantic comedy film scripts; before, they were all styles like 'Rouge Button.' I have been told that in the eyes of many film companies, male actors who are both capable and possess a handsome appearance suitable for romantic comedies are few and far between. I benefited from 'Wu Lin Wai Zhuan'; everyone feels I am compatible with comedy, but truly, in terms of image and performance, one can hardly pick out a few others."

"Look at how many actors I've seen while producing 'The Birth of an Actor'; many have good acting skills, but the homogenization is severe—if you ask them to perform in serious dramas or portray deep suffering and hatred, many can do it," Xin Zixing smiled. "Our entertainment industry truly lacks no actors who can perform well in good plays; what we lack are actors who can handle less serious, less dramatic roles with ease and relaxation, carrying heavy burdens lightly. Take Chen Bige, for instance; she can only play the role in 'Love Letter'; if you asked her to star in 'Friends,' she absolutely wouldn't be able to draw the audience in. There are many roles that simply don't require that kind of acting intensity."

"Look at how many actors I have seen while producing 'The Birth of Actors'; many have good acting skills, yet the homogenization is severe. Ask them to perform in serious dramas or portray deep suffering and hatred, and many can do it." Xin Zixing smiled. "Our entertainment circle truly does not lack actors who can perform good plays well; what it lacks are actors who can handle roles in less serious, less dramatic plays with effortless grace and relaxed moderation. Take Chen Bige, for instance; you can see she can only play the role in 'Love Letter.' If you asked her to act in 'Friends,' she absolutely would not be able to draw the audience in. There are many plays that do not require that kind of acting."

"To be honest, I think at best you could only achieve an effect similar to Yanhe," Xin Zixing said. "The male actor who truly performed best in 'Friends' was Yan Liang; this is also related to the fact that when Yanhe wrote the script, he used Yan Liang as the prototype. He didn't feel like he was acting at all; if you look at Yan Liang's performance in 'Friends' and then compare it to 'The Gold Rush' and 'The Summit,' his state is completely different; in 'Friends,' he was simply speaking and acting normally, very much like real life."

"To be honest, I think at best you could only achieve an effect similar to Yan He's," Xin Zixing said. "The male actor who truly performed best in 'Friends' is still Yan Liang. This is also related to the fact that when Yan He wrote the script, he used Yan Liang as the prototype. He has not a trace of an acting feel. Look at Yan Liang's performance in 'Friends,' then look at 'The Gold Rush' and 'The Summit'; his state is completely different. In 'Friends,' he is simply speaking and acting normally, very much like in real life."

"Exactly," Xin Zixing said. "Especially for the male lead in a romantic comedy, it's even harder; he must be a handsome guy yet have no burden, able to blend into the film's light-comedy style; this balance is very difficult to grasp. Generally, for this type of film, unless the character setting fits, it's very difficult for famous male actors to perform exceptionally well."

"Correct," Xin Zixing said. "Especially for the male lead in a romantic comedy, it is even harder; he must be a handsome guy yet carry no burden of image, able to integrate into the film's light comedy style. This degree of balance is very difficult to grasp. Generally, in this kind of film, unless the character setting fits, famous male actors find it very difficult to perform exceptionally well."

"It's the same; it depends on the character setting," Xin Zixing said. "Take Chen Bige as an example; if the female lead in this romantic comedy is a powerful female CEO or a similar high-status female role, then she can play it, and the comedic effect might even be very good because the audience's impression of her is that of a goddess and a Best Actress winner, creating a contrast. But if the female lead in this romantic comedy is a silly, sweet, innocent type or a common, ordinary girl, her playing the role would be a disaster; no matter how plainly you do her makeup, the moment the audience sees her, they will still realize, 'She is Chen Bige,' and the audience won't be able to immerse themselves."

Huang Kaiwen said, "So your meaning is that I can play a handsome, rich, powerful CEO because it fits everyone's impression of me, but if you ask me to play a somewhat frantic, neurotic, exaggerated young man like in 'Fake Death Doesn't Work,' then I can't?"

"That's roughly the idea," Xin Zixing nodded. "But what I'm saying isn't absolute; how many actors have found a second spring in their careers coming from a performance that completely exceeded everyone's expectations? Just like before you starred in 'Rouge,' no one thought you could play such a role."

"Only Lu Yanhe thought I could do it," Huang Kaiwen shook his head. "Are his eyes different from ours? Can he see things we cannot?"

"It is just that Lu Yanhe thinks I can do it." Huang Kairen shook his head. "Are his eyes different from ours? Can he see things that we cannot see?"

Huang Kaiwen said, "I acted in two movies this year, one suspense crime film and one low-budget art film; I don't know what kind of results they will have." Xin Zixing said, "Relax; you currently have 'Wu Lin Wai Zhuan' as your safety net; before this series finishes broadcasting, you can try different things."

Huang Kairen: "I acted in two movies this year, one suspense crime film and one low-budget art film; I do not know what kind of results they will achieve." Xin Zixing: "Relax. You currently have 'Wu Lin Wai Zhuan' as your safety net; before this series finishes broadcasting, you can try different things."

Huang Kairen nodded.

"Actually, you should focus on filming more movies over the next few years and hold off on TV dramas for now," Xin Zixing said. "With the Best Actor title 'Rouge' brought you, in the current ecosystem, it's best to first establish a firm foothold in the film circle. There are only a handful of people in the entire entertainment industry who can handle both films and TV dramas without compromising their status, like Yan He; this is mainly because his achievements in film are truly impossible to ignore. You currently have only 'Rouge'; you need to accumulate a bit more."

Huang Kairen nodded.

"That is indeed the plan; basically, everything I'm discussing involves film scripts," he said. "However, competing for better productions is still quite difficult; nearly everyone approaching me right now is offering ordinary productions."

At this moment, Xin Zixing naturally would not say, "Why are you fixated on big productions? Gold can also be panned from ordinary productions."

Unless your vision is truly sky-piercingly good, for a project like a film, you really cannot determine whether or not to act in it based solely on the quality of the script; what is more important is whether the production team itself is good.

The script is merely one small link in the chain, a foundation.

How many ordinary, extremely mediocre films are produced domestically every year? No lack of those with creativity that seems dazzling at first glance, but after actually watching them, you regret it so much you want to slap yourself twice.

As for many reliable productions, even if their reputations vary, the films that truly achieve an excellent reputation are few and far between in a year—just those few; at the very least, films from reliable productions won't make people feel they were made just to launder money.

Truly reliable productions very rarely suffer "catastrophic failures." Non-profitability might be real; the film industry is like this, especially Chinese-language films, which rely too heavily on box office revenue, having only one main profit channel; the risk level is possibly the highest in the world. But at least they won't severely damage an actor's reputation—

Looking at them one by one—

There are films that can, by their own power, push an actor onto the throne of the King of Bad Films, let alone the director.

Even Director Chen the Great could be brought down by a steamed bun into a lingering tragedy, while a certain Director Lu, whose early reputation was quite good, saw his reputation plummet after "The Nine-Story Demon Tower" and has yet to recover to this day.

For a top-tier actor like Huang Kairen, caution is normal, and it is also correct.

"Actually, look at this film 'Oh My Sea'; although Linghe supported the new director, provided funding, and allowed him to start filming, in reality, no important figure from Linghe participated in the actual production," Xin Zixing said. "From what I've heard, they just wanted to give this Wu Chi experience in directing films so he can later direct a script written by Yan He. Two million yuan to buy the experience needed by a film director with potential box office earnings in the hundreds of millions is actually a cost-effective deal, but only an atypical film company like Linghe could do this."

"Why do you say that? Can't other film companies do the same?"

"They could certainly do it, but other film companies lack Linghe's long-term vision," Xin Zixing said. "Many film companies are merely maintaining relationships with a few big-name directors; whichever director's film explodes, they rush to grab and fight for it. Cultivating new talent... which film company isn't serving the capital behind them, serving their stock price? Cultivating new talent offers no help to stock prices."

Huang Kairen: "Yan He has always refused to accept external capital investment."

"Think about it; he has no need to," Xin Zixing said. "Linghe now has its own film library and several production teams, capable of filming what they want to film. Although the scale isn't large and they are basically small productions, the advantage lies in freedom; even if they incur losses or total losses, it won't cause the company to collapse. Yan He is particularly clear-headed; he never takes risks that could lead to a total loss for him. All the risks he takes are such that even if they fail or require a turnaround, they won't affect the overall situation."

Huang Kairen: "He is indeed amazing; the Jump Up Theater has now been successfully established."

"Then you are mistaken; the Jump Up Theater actually has little to do with him personally; Linghe is merely one of the producers of the Jump Up Theater," Xin Zixing said.

"The Jump Up Theater was mainly established jointly by Jump Up, Yuehu Station, Ice Plain Video, and Aurora Video. As far as I know, Yan He indeed did not participate too deeply in it, although during the initial stage, his network of connections played a decisive role."

"The most amazing aspect of the Jump Up Theater lies in its creation of a model for low-cost, high-quality small productions. Previously, the biggest shortcoming of Chinese-language film and television was terrible control over production budgets; for a drama that could originally be filmed with ten million, due to low efficiency and various losses, it ultimately required thirty million. The Jump Up Theater, telling you the production budget is one million or two million, calculates the budget down to what level? It truly can produce works with such a budget."

Huang Kairen: "I have felt this myself; didn't I film a Jump Up Theater drama for them before? For one drama, the main setting was inside a single house, a daily life comedy story about a family; we filmed it in just four days. Because there was no need to change sets or move around everywhere, plus we had rehearsed in advance, we used only four days to produce the volume and texture of a film."

"From the very beginning, their selection of themes and actors was done in combination with the production budget and filming plan," Xin Zixing said. "It's truly amazing; look, now many places are referencing them, launching 'xx Theaters,' and even creating small theaters with stories lasting only ten to twenty-plus minutes each. Indeed, some are done quite well, but they are too sketch-like. The Jump Up Theater still films using cinematic methods; those other small theaters are merely using the name of 'theater' to dress up stage sketches."

Huang Kairen: "If the results of 'Oh My Sea' aren't very good, will it affect Yan He? Nowadays, whenever people talk about him, what they mention most is that he has never failed."

"How bad could the results of 'Oh My Sea' possibly be?" Xin Zixing smiled. "For a film with a production cost of only two million yuan, considering TV broadcast rights, online streaming rights, plus Linghe's overseas sales capabilities, even if it earns not a single yuan at the box office, it will not incur a loss. Yan He might not think that far ahead, but Chen Ziyan will not allow any sign of failure to appear on his record. It is impossible to fail, not to mention that this film has only that much connection to Yan He."

"If we fail, then we fail," Lu Yanhe said earnestly to Wu Chi.

Arriving at the "Oh My Sea" film set, the chaotic state of affairs shocked Lu Yanhe, even though he had long been mentally prepared.

He hadn't expected it to be this messy...

Lu Yanhe looked at the footage already filmed; how should he put it? Probably, out of a huge pile of useless clips, one might occasionally find one or two segments that are usable.

The style still had that same flavor: chuunibyou, youthful, manga-like erratic hot-bloodedness...

Lu Yanhe could almost foresee that this film probably wouldn't become a miracle or a dark horse.

Fortunately, he had truly made the mental preparation that "failure doesn't matter."

Originally, just from the two-million-yuan production cost, one could see that from the very beginning, Linghe never thought this film would make money.

Wu Chi had not expected Lu Yanhe to be so "tolerant" toward him.

He had truly prepared himself to be fired.

Having mixed in this industry for so long, he had heard many stories of "unreliable" directors being fired by film companies halfway through filming.

Wu Chi had seriously prepared a speech in his mind, ready to explain things to Lu Yanhe.

He was increasingly feeling it; although a lot of time and filming had been wasted earlier, things would improve later on.

As a result, all these preparations of his found no use.

Lu Yanhe patted Wu Chi on the shoulder, encouraged him a bit, and then prepared to leave.

As soon as he walked out, the dozen or so people from the crew outside were all looking at him with tense and uneasy expressions.

Probably they also knew what kind of stuff they had been filming recently; filled with apprehension, they worried the crew would have its funding cut directly, forcing everyone to roll up their bedding and go home.

Among them, Jiang Yue's expression was the most tense.

Who could understand her feelings?

She had joined the crew with all sorts of expectations, only to be told before even filming the first scene that the situation was very grim, and that Lu Yanhe's visit might result in the crew being ordered to halt production.

Jiang Yue was very worried that Lu Yanhe might really say one word and dissolve the entire crew on the spot.

Lu Yanhe noticed everyone's mindset.

He smiled and said, "Sorry for not giving advance notice before coming, causing trouble for everyone. The 'Oh My Sea' crew is the first production by our Linghe where I am neither the lead actor nor the screenwriter. I really like this script; it isn't serious, not like those traditional good film scripts, but it is sufficiently chuunibyou, like those manga we watched when we were children; unrealistic, yet possessing the power to infect us."

"The chaos is only temporary; as long as we hold a heart dedicated to doing well, things will definitely get better and better," Lu Yanhe said with a smile. "Director Wu Chi is directing for the first time; he is very talented, just lacking experience. Everyone, please give him plenty of help. Having been a director myself, I know best how much a new director needs everyone's help during their first work; the help received at such a time is truly a friendship like timely rain after a long drought."

Lu Yanhe smiled and encouraged everyone: "Then I leave this work in everyone's hands."

After he finished speaking, everyone looked at each other in blank surprise; for a moment, no one reacted.

They also dared not react.

At this moment, Jiang Yue suddenly let out a high-pitched cheer: "Woah—"

"Fighting!" she shouted with full energy. (End of Chapter)