[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-starting-from-stealing-the-role-in-1995-huayu":3,"chapter-starting-from-stealing-the-role-in-1995-huayu-starting-from-stealing-the-role-in-1995-huayu-chapter-4":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Starting from Stealing the Role in 1995 Huayu",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2320993,4540,"Chapter 4: The More Important Question Than the Director","starting-from-stealing-the-role-in-1995-huayu-chapter-4",4,"\u003Cp>Many in the classroom exchanged glances; a short-haired, efficient girl spoke up directly:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I don’t think it’s necessary. ‘Bus 44’ is written so well—if it doesn’t win, I won’t accept it!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With this girl leading, others quickly chimed in agreement.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But then a boy raised his hand and said:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I fully admire the script of ‘Bus 44,’ but Wu Yuchen has only been in university for a month—can he even handle directing?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Wang Hongwei, aren’t you from the Literature Department too? Aren’t you a newcomer to directing too?!” the short-haired girl retorted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Yuchen turned his head toward the voice—it was Wang Hongwei!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Hongwei was Jia Zhangke’s go-to actor, the one who played Xiao Wu, even appearing nude in the film—truly sacrificing for art.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I don’t mean anything by it. Everyone admires the script, and Wu Yuchen has the most right to speak—but I just want us to carefully consider how to shoot it well.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wang Hongwei explained with a sheepish grin.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If you ask whether Wang Hongwei had ulterior motives, of course he did!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But his motive wasn’t for himself—it was for his best friend, Jia Zhangke.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As Jia Zhangke’s close friend and roommate, Wang Hongwei knew his heart best. He knew Jia Zhangke craved this opportunity, so he wanted to help his best friend fight for it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Yuchen smiled faintly, completely unfazed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He stood up deliberately, clapped his hands twice, and drew everyone’s attention.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Thank you all for your appreciation of my script.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But compared to choosing a director, I think there’s a more important issue.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Yuchen didn’t answer Wang Hongwei’s question at all—he changed the subject outright.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The classmates all turned to Wu Yuchen, wondering what this more important issue could be.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Yuchen thought to himself: What adorable students—only dreaming, ready to act at a moment’s notice!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Yuchen scanned the room:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Money!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Have any of you seriously calculated how much it would cost to shoot this short film?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Everyone froze, stunned he’d brought up such a practical issue.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This youth film group was formed by young people united by passion, hobby, and idealism.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Full of fiery enthusiasm and ready to act—that was their greatest trait, which meant none of them had ever seriously considered how much money it would take to make a film.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But now that Wu Yuchen raised it, they had to face it—and yet, they just stared at each other, unable to name a single figure.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Yuchen smiled:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“We can calculate item by item.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>First, how long do you think our short film should be?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Everyone chattered, agreeing that even as a short, it shouldn’t be too short—minimum thirty minutes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Yuchen watched them, thinking: Another flaw of inexperienced newcomers—greedy for quantity!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Yuchen nodded without arguing and asked further:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Then, given our experience and ability, how many days do you think it would take to shoot?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Yuchen looked at Jia Zhangke.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jia Zhangke paused, then said: “We’ve all got no experience. Some directors are fast, some slow. Let’s take an average—ten days okay?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Everyone agreed. If a 90-minute feature takes a month, then thirty minutes in ten days made perfect sense.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Yuchen nodded with a smile and continued:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Let me calculate for you.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>First, film stock cost.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Currently, established directors in China require a shooting ratio of three to one or four to one.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>We have no experience—I’ll be generous and use five to one.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That means shooting a thirty-minute short requires 180 minutes of film.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Most of us now use 35mm or 16mm film.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A 400-foot roll of 35mm film costs 1,500 yuan and shoots four minutes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A 1,000-foot roll of 16mm film costs 1,200 yuan and shoots ten minutes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>35mm film is too expensive—we can’t afford it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At 16mm, 180 minutes needs eighteen rolls, 1,200 yuan each—total 21,600 yuan.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That’s just shooting. Post-production—editing, developing, sound mixing, and creating the master—costs even more than the film stock!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Add it all up—I’m estimating fifty thousand yuan total.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He’d already stunned the students, but Wu Yuchen wasn’t done—he held up another finger:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Now, shooting equipment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A 16mm camera rents for 1,000 yuan per day.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A Nagra recorder costs at least 500 yuan per day.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Plus actor fees, crew wages, food and drink, props rental—minimum 1,000 yuan per day.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That’s at least 4,000 yuan per day, and we’re shooting ten days—forty thousand yuan.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Finally, Wu Yuchen looked around the room and concluded:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“According to these estimates, to shoot this short film, we need at least ninety thousand yuan.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If anything goes wrong, we’ll need at least one hundred thousand!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The students sat stunned. They were just students—even those with part-time jobs couldn’t possibly afford one hundred thousand yuan.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was 1995; most people earned only a few hundred yuan a month.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They’d spent countless nights watching films, debating, passionately writing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They’d dreamed of making a dazzling, groundbreaking work together—only to hit this first, crushing reality.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They stared at each other, speechless.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Like a bonfire doused with cold water, the entire classroom fell silent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Yuchen had given these students a hard lesson in reality.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He also felt a pang—filmmaking in the film-stock era was this expensive, this high a barrier!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Back then, Chinese directors weren’t like Hollywood’s rich, reckless ones—they saved every foot of film, even Zhang Yimou kept his ratio under 1:5.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not everyone was Jiang Wen, who dared to shoot 250,000 feet of film for his debut as director, ‘In the Heat of the Sun,’ achieving a staggering 1:15 ratio, with one scene alone requiring 1,300 meters of film!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Yuchen had calculated: Jiang Wen spent 1.01 million yuan just on film stock—enough for many directors to make two films.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Unlike the digital age, where Ning Hao shot his 90-minute ‘Incense’ with a DV camera for just thirty thousand yuan.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Wu Yuchen saw some students looking dejected—he knew he couldn’t crush them too hard, or how would he convince… cough, rally them for crowdfunding?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Don’t give up yet—we can still make the film!” Wu Yuchen raised his hand and smiled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing Wu Yuchen’s calm, confident aura, many instinctively felt hopeful, eager to hear his solution.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Yuchen handed his script to Jia Zhangke: “Everyone, please take a look at my script.”\u003C\u002Fp>",1038,"2026-06-20T16:09:29.273Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","16778eebcf695aa58f6dd14b088346da97d567838dd65c7de11560fa7e219443","starting-from-stealing-the-role-in-1995-huayu-chapter-5","starting-from-stealing-the-role-in-1995-huayu-chapter-3",335,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fstarting-from-stealing-the-role-in-1995-huayu-cover.jpg"]