Chapter 28: Casting and Start of Filming

For three days in a row, there were quite a lot of people auditioning, and many who had already made a name for themselves even came, including Li Xiaoran and Qin Lan; the former had already appeared in hit dramas like *Like Fog, Like Rain, Like Wind* and *Farewell Vancouver*, and her fame was not small.

The latter had also begun to make a name for herself in *My Fair Princess 3*, but when they came to audition, they were both still very cautious, which shows just how precious film resources were in this era.

However, Wei Jin felt nothing for either of them; Li Xiaoran was beautiful, yes, but her features were slightly sorrowful, making her unsuitable for this film.

As for Qin Lan, she was a bit too round and not very suitable for the big screen.

The auditions gave Wei Jin a headache; those who came were all confident in themselves and were indeed quite pretty, but there were just too many people, and he suffered from aesthetic fatigue. Wei Jin decided that in the future, public auditions must be handled with caution.

The male lead finally decided upon was Qiao Zhenyu, the second male lead was Lei Jiayin, the third male lead was Lin Zicong, and the remaining supporting roles were left to Chen Zhiming to handle.

The reason for choosing Qiao Zhenyu was simple: he was handsome. Wei Jin also did not know what the director of the original film in his past life was thinking; it was a youth film, after all, so the male and female leads absolutely had to be good-looking enough.

Choosing Lei Jiayin was because you always felt a sense of bad luck about this actor, which fit the second male lead very well.

As for Lin Zicong, it was because Wei Jin really liked the performance of Hao Shaowen in the original, but since Hao Shaowen had gone off to study, he could only send an invitation himself and found this substitute.

In short, the matter of the male actors was settled. The second female lead, unsurprisingly, went to Hu Jing; after all, she was Li Jie's best friend, so it was no big deal. The female lead, however, was troublesome. Several names kept circling in Wei Jin's mind, and he could never make a decision, leaving him feeling completely out of sorts.

Watching Wei Jin smoking incessantly on the balcony, Ceng Li asked with concern: "What's wrong? Is the casting not going smoothly?"

At this moment, Ceng Li was packing her things, as she was about to head to the *World's Number One* film crew.

"I don't know who to choose for the female lead. It seems they all have some advantages, yet they all have some disadvantages."

If you talk about acting skills, Yan Danchen was certainly better; if you talk about fame, Gao Yuanyuan was naturally a cut above, and she had had rumors with Wei Jin, so when the film was released, hyping it up could increase the film's popularity; if you talk about character fit, that would really be Liu Yifei. So, they truly each had their own strengths and weaknesses.

Wei Jin then informed Ceng Li of the three candidates.

Upon hearing this, Ceng Li also fell into thought, though her angle of thinking was somewhat different.

"Hmm, Gao Yuanyuan won't do. There have already been rumors; if you stay in the same crew, something will happen sooner or later. No, no."

"Yan Danchen is certainly pretty enough, but she is too pretty. Xiao Jin seems to have no resistance to mature women. No, no."

"Liu Yifei, hmm... she does look quite like a middle school campus belle. This girl is only 17, right? It seems she has to bring her mother when filming. Safe. Yes, this can work."

As if after some difficult deliberation, Ceng Li gave her answer impartially.

"Why not choose Liu Yifei? I think her image fits the best. As for acting skills, you are a Silver Bear Director; coaching an actor's acting skills should be a piece of cake for you."

Hearing this, Wei Jin set his heart at ease and stopped agonizing over it.

Soon after sending Ceng Li off, Wei Jin went to the study and took out his phone. He first called Liu Xiaoli to inform her of the audition result. Through the phone, Wei Jin could even hear Liu Yifei's exclamation, and Liu Xiaoli also expressed her thanks repeatedly over the phone.

Afterwards, he called Gao Yuanyuan and Yan Danchen. The former was naturally slightly resentful, which sounded quite unnatural to Wei Jin, only saying that the rented house hadn't been lived in for a long time and that he would go stay there for a few nights after a while.

The latter didn't say much, perhaps having guessed the result, only saying there would be a chance to cooperate. Wei Jin also took the opportunity to propose the idea of her making a cameo as a teacher, to which Yan Danchen readily agreed.

Just like that, the cast was finally settled, and the next step was to officially start filming.

A week later, on September 19th, Wei Jin held a simple opening ceremony with the entire crew and took the opportunity to accept some interviews from the media.

"May I ask Director Wei, why did you write such a story?"

"Actually, it's very simple. If you have read my books, you will know that everyone's youth has regrets and is not perfect. What I wrote is not just my youth; this is the common youth of our generation."

"May I ask Director Wei, why did you choose Liu Yifei as the female lead?"

"Look at her, does she remind you of the youth in your memory?"

"..."

After simply dealing with the reporters, Wei Jin gathered all the key creators together to begin interpreting the script. Several of the key creators were working with Wei Jin for the first time and were a bit reserved; only Hu Jing was carefree and had an easygoing personality, which actually fit the character's positioning. With her wisecracking, the relationship between them quickly became harmonious.

The filming location this time was a middle school in Huairou, because this school fit the era setting in the book quite well.

When the principal heard that a Silver Bear Director was coming to the school to film a movie, he didn't want any venue fees at all and even gathered students to come and make cameos. Upon learning that they could show their faces in the movie, the students were also extremely excited.

Wei Jin was also very happy, as this meant saving a large sum of money; one must know that the school scenes were quite numerous.

The investment for this film was not large, so he saved wherever he could.

Actors in this era were still very cheap, and the method of calculating pay was also very reasonable. You filmed a drama based on the amount of scenes, so much money per episode, unlike the later traffic era where they calculated money by the day, and the crew had to pay an extra day's salary for every extra day of filming.

Currently, first-tier actors in the country were about 100,000 per episode, second-tier actors 30,000-50,000 per episode, and third-tier actors around 10,000.

And film salaries were generally lower than television salaries. After all, film resources were relatively scarce, so sometimes when you see reports of actors lowering their own salaries to appear in certain dramas, it means the market is very optimistic about that drama.

For this film, Wei Jin gave Liu Yifei a salary of 200,000, with the schedule tentatively set for 40 days, mainly because it couldn't be coordinated any further with Zhang Dahu's side.

The other actors were even cheaper; Qiao Zhenyu was only 100,000, Hu Jing was also given 100,000, Lei Jiayin 50,000, Lin Zicong 100,000, and the remaining supporting roles were settled for less than 100,000 in total.

Wei Jin's salary as screenwriter and director was 3 million; this was the necessary prestige for a Silver Bear Director. The rest of the funds were spent more on props, venues, and labor costs.

The first few days of filming were not very smooth, mainly due to the crew's adjustment period.

The assistant director, Sun Hao, had already signed with the Studio, with a base salary plus project commission. The other few photographers were also recommended by the school.

After interviewing them, Wei Jin felt they were good, so he kept them all, and the treatment was about the same. This was basically the first batch of the Studio's core team.

With this film, Wei Jin wanted to build up the production team; otherwise, it would be very troublesome if he didn't have familiar hands every time.

After a few days of getting to know each other, the actors had basically established a rapport, but they still needed time to slowly get into the state.

Finishing a day of filming, Wei Jin was planning to head to the hotel to rest; the crew all stayed in one hotel, which was not too far from the set.

Seeing Liu Yifei and Liu Xiaoli walking quickly toward him from afar, he stopped to wait for a moment:

"What's wrong, Yifei? Are you looking for me for something?"

"Brother Wei Jin, I want to ask, how have I performed these past few days?"

Over these past few days, Liu Yifei and Wei Jin had become familiar with each other, so she changed her address to call him brother, which Liu Xiaoli was also happy to see.

Having such a delicate little girl call you brother, Wei Jin was also happy to accept it; after all, she was the Fairy Sister.

"It's alright. The scenes these past few days have been relatively simple. Later on, there will be scenes with emotional outbursts, so I estimate you'll need to put in some effort."

Because he had the finished film in his mind for comparison, Wei Jin filmed very quickly and rarely had to explain scenes to the actors. After telling the actors the effect he wanted, he would just film a few more takes, so the filming progress was quite good.

After receiving Wei Jin's affirmation, Liu Yifei was very happy and chatted with Wei Jin about her understanding of the character for a long time.

Heaven have mercy, from childhood to adulthood, Liu Yifei had almost no male friends. It was hard for the little girl to find a male friend of a similar age, and Liu Xiaoli didn't object either. One must know that when filming *Chinese Paladin* before, she wouldn't even let Hu Ge get close.

So these past few days on set, Liu Yifei was overjoyed. Whenever she had free time, she would sit next to Wei Jin, resting her chin on her hands and staring at the monitor, imitating Wei Jin's manner.

However, happy times are always short-lived. Half a month flashed by, and the time to test their acting skills had arrived.

As a novice author writing a book for the first time, I humbly beg for your collections, follows, reading progress, and recommendations. Thank you all. As a novice author writing a book for the first time, I humbly beg for your collections, follows, reading progress, and recommendations. Thank you all.

(End of chapter)