Chapter 23: New Movie: Lin Daiyu Battles Lu Zhishen!

"I don't know..."

"I don't know what I've been busy with these past two days..."

"I used mud to build many model houses..."

"I made a small moat..."

"I used some drinks to pretend to be blood..."

"..."

"No matter what props I make, President Zhou always praises me..."

"He says, 'So amazing!'"

"He says, 'Well done! The world's number one prop master is none other than you!'"

"He always finds various ways to praise me..."

"I even suspect that if I take a dump, he'd say I took a great dump!"

"..."

"..."

July 3rd.

The first day of filming for the movie "Love Ferris Wheel"...

An Xiaoshi sat in front of the camera, staring blankly all day long.

For this movie, she felt she was completely an outsider.

Zheng Yichen was explaining the scenes; the plot progression and the crew's schedule were controlled by dedicated personnel...

She really couldn't help but offer some suggestions on the plot, but they were quickly and completely rejected.

Watching the first scene, where the female lead crashes into the domineering CEO's luxury car, An Xiaoshi simply couldn't connect the domineering CEO in her mind with "Chen Liang," this greasy actor trying too hard to look cool.

That sense of dissonance was simply too intense!

Moreover, when filming the first scene, for some reason, she felt this movie was doomed.

3 PM.

After the first scene was finished, she returned alone to the crew's office.

She called the prop master of the "Sun Wukong vs. Superman 2" crew to inquire about the filming progress of that movie.

Then, she keenly realized that the prop master Liu Fang's mental state seemed to have undergone some subtle changes.

"Everything was done in one take? Didn't President Zhou or Director Shen raise any issues?"

"No! Everything was done in one take..."

"How far has this movie actually been filmed?"

"We've already filmed one-third. Right now, we are working with some masters from the Four-Ling Auto Repair Shop to finalize the makeup and styling for the final BOSS, the mechanical monster..."

"What! One-third already filmed?"

"It's only been four days, right?"

Even though An Xiaoshi was well-traveled and experienced, when she heard this, she still couldn't help but feel her pupils shrink!

"Yes. The original plan was a 15-day movie, but President Zhou seems determined to finish all footage in 10 days... Right now, we're filming some miscellaneous footage during the day and editing at night. I just heard President Zhou's schedule; it seems the movie is set to release on July 11th..."

"???"

When An Xiaoshi heard this, she no longer knew how to describe her emotions at that very moment.

July 11th?

Did she hear that wrong?

She checked the date!

It's already July 3rd, so there are only 8 days left until the scheduled release?

Wait!

Don't they need to go through censorship for their movie?

Even if they took the fast-track censorship route, but...

If such a movie is released, will any audience actually go to see it?

At this moment!

An Xiaoshi's eyes were wide with shock! A stronger sense of unease surged in her heart.

She had originally wanted to introduce a distribution company for this movie, but now it seems...

She should just forget it?

Wait, filming this fast, isn't this a guaranteed terrible movie!

…………………………

"Hello? Is this Mr. Xu from 【Star River Cinema】? This is Zhou Yang. We discussed 【Star River Cinema】 investing before; do you remember?"

"Yes, however, regarding the investment, I am still considering it. But, I have a movie scheduled to release on July 11th... If there are no movies playing in your cinemas during that time slot, I can authorize it for you..."

"Yes, authorize it for you to broadcast for free... and we'll split the box office revenue!"

"Correct, following standard market rates for major deals, we'll split it 50-50..."

"It's an Eastern fantasy plus sci-fi movie... The investment isn't large, just around three million!"

"Yes..."

"..."

July 5th.

Who could have imagined...

In just about 8 days, the plot of a movie has already been filmed halfway through?

At this very moment, Shen Long, sitting before his computer and editing footage until his scalp went numb, had stopped worrying about the filming progress of this movie.

He felt that these past few days must be the darkest page of his entire life since he started acting.

One minute of action...

At Mr. Zhou's request, it was cut into five minutes, then cut again into seven minutes.

The plot in the movie had completely devolved into something for young children...

The actors showed no acting skills whatsoever; under the camera, their movements had gone so crazy that they just did whatever looked coolest.

The dialogue was so awkward it was deadly...

After Chen Jianfeng finished filming, he once found Shen Long and, in the most desperate tone, said this: "I feel that once this movie is finished, I suspect I'll be going to meet my great-grandmother!"

Facing Chen Jianfeng's response, Shen Long barely managed to hold back his emotions.

After filming each day, the cinematographer Zhang Yunyi would squat alone in the bathroom to smoke, and then smoke until midnight...

The only one who was slightly normal was the prop master, Chen Fang...

Chen Fang was praised by Mr. Zhou every day; whatever prop he produced, Mr. Zhou would highly commend and then have it used in the movie at the fastest speed.

A terrible film...

That could no longer describe this movie.

It was simply...

So terrible it shook heaven and earth!

After watching the plot roughly cut halfway, Shen Long instantly felt the world spinning around him...

He felt like he was about to go meet his own great-grandmother too.

And what about Mr. Zhou?

Inside the rental room.

Shen Long watched Mr. Zhou constantly making calls to various cinemas.

These past days, Mr. Zhou had been contacting cinemas all over the place...

And Shen Long had specifically checked these cinemas; they were all on the verge of bankruptcy or poorly managed.

Another similarity was that all these cinemas were located next to schools...

Inside the rental room.

After finishing his call, Zhou Yang looked at Shen Long, whose face was deathly pale.

"Mr. Zhou, do you think this editing is OK?"

Zhou Yang lowered his head, looked at the explosive scenes Shen Long had edited, and nodded in satisfaction: "Not bad! However, I feel it's still missing a little something..."

"What something?"

"How about we add some special effects?"

"Special effects?"

"Yes, by the way, Director Shen, you should know how to do computer special effects, right?"

"..."

Shen Long was shocked hearing this; he pointed at himself and took a deep breath: "Me? Do special effects?"

"Yes!"

"I don't know how..."

"If you don't know, you can learn..."

"Wait, I, I... how am I supposed to learn?"

"Don't be afraid! Just put some special effects together for me to see... like this laser, let's do a whole..." Zhou Yang hesitated for a moment and made an Ultraman firing a laser gesture.

"I don't know how to do special effects..." Seeing this scene, Shen Long was greatly alarmed!

"Then use filming techniques to fill in these gaps? For instance, camera lighting and such..."

"I..."

"Just discuss it with Cinematographer Zhang; you both are so talented. Anyway, I just need that effect, you understand? You can do it!"

"???"

"Back when TVB was so poor, they still found ways to solve it; our film crew, right, should have a way too!"

"???"

"I feel that with your talent, the special effects you produce won't be much worse than that 'Superman 2', right?"

"..."

Looking at the serious expression on Zhou Yang's face, Shen Long's gaze had already gone vacant!

Not much worse than 'Superman 2'?

Us?

How about...

Mr. Zhou!

Look at what you're saying!

Is that even human speech?

You're asking for a 100-yuan wage to produce a 10-million-yuan effect?

"By the way, after this movie is finished, I've applied for another film project for us..."

"What project?"

"The Eastern martial arts movie 'Lin Daiyu Battles Lu Zhishen'!"

"..."

"Holy crap!"

The instant Zhou Yang blurted it out, Shen Long's face drained of color in shock!