Chapter 34: Tiered Advertising

The film's preparation was progressing rapidly. The exterior locations were selected, the script had been filed with the Youth Film Studio, and some props were being rushed to completion, expected to be finished in three to five days.

As for the actors, the male and female leads had been decided: Liu Ye for the male lead and Yu Feihong for the female lead.

This time, Cao Yang didn't dare to pull any stunts, fearing a repeat of the Li Xiaoran situation.

However, while waiting for the props, he spent every day with Liu Ye and Yu Feihong, letting them read the script thoroughly, talk about their own understanding, and then correcting them and explaining what kind of story this was.

This process could also be called a script reading, but since it was only the two leads, it went beyond the scope of a standard reading. Cao Yang was forcing his own views upon them, not letting them misunderstand it.

This film was a bit unusual because the male and female leads had almost no lines; it was all supported by their acting. Even a slight difference in understanding would lead to vastly different performances.

Cao Yang had to break it down and chew it over to make them understand his intent.

Liu Ye and Yu Feihong were two completely different actors.

At first, upon learning there were no lines, Yu Feihong's first reaction was that the film would be easy to shoot—no need to memorize lines, no need to think about what expression to use for every sentence.

Liu Ye's reaction was worry. He knew his state wasn't right; having no lines required even more acting skill, even more body language and micro-expressions—you couldn't just use one expression for the whole film without lines, could you?

If you did that, a dog's acting would be better than yours!

At least a dog could bare its teeth from time to time.

In private, Liu Ye even sought out Cao Yang, hesitating as he said his state was a bit off and it would be hard to recover in a short time. If his state were fine, he felt he could challenge it, but now, maybe they should change actors.

Cao Yang wanted to laugh. If your state were fine, with that carefree, sunny boy look, I wouldn't have chosen you.

"I believe you'll be fine. Keep your current state; that's exactly what I want. That's the only way to fit the male lead's persona. Don't you dare lose it."

Cao Yang comforted him with a smile.

If you were in a normal state, he would have to spend time pulling stunts. Now it was just right, saving him the time of pulling stunts, and he could just layer an "immersion experience" on you later...

Cao Yang suddenly hesitated. With Liu Ye's current situation, was he suitable for an immersion experience? What if he couldn't handle it?

As for Yu Feihong, once Cao Yang let her fully understand the plot, he left her alone.

With this big sister's current relaxed and comfortable demeanor, giving her an immersion experience should be no problem at all.

*3-Iron* superficially tells the story of a male lead who rides a motorcycle through the city all day. His favorite thing to do is to find empty houses in the city and sneak in to live for a while.

He acts as if he's in his own home, eating and sleeping leisurely, and even taking photos with the owners' pictures. However, he never takes anyone else's things, and he even helps them clean the house, do laundry, and repair furniture.

Then, one day, he sneaks into a villa and meets the female lead, whose face is covered in bruises. She is curled up in a corner alone, silently enduring the dual pain of body and soul.

To the male lead, this is just another empty room, but to the female lead, who is frequently abused, isn't it the same? Although she has a home, there is no one to accompany her, so what is the difference between this and an empty house?

At this time, the female lead's husband returns. As usual, he starts verbally abusing her the moment he returns, and even resorts to violence.

The male lead can't stand it, beats the abuser with a golf club, and takes the female lead to "experience life." Walking from one stranger's house to another, the female lead feels freedom and happiness she has never known before... Then, the male lead is framed by the abuser and sent to prison.

Finally, when the female lead is forced to return to that cold home and face her husband's habitual violence, she is no longer silent and chooses to fight back.

... The male lead achieves enlightenment in prison, masters his divine art, and joins the female lead's household. With the abuser unable to see the male lead, the three of them live a shameless life...

Actually, this last, most absurd part of the plot is the essence of the whole film.

Without this part, it would just be a drama reflecting domestic violence; it wouldn't achieve sublimation, let alone win awards.

For the other actors, the most important supporting role, the abuser, had already been set as Hong Kong actor Wu Qihua, and for the old police officer who helps the abuser frame the male lead, they found Hong Kong actor Liao Qizhi.

Originally, Cao Yang wanted to find a Hong Kong actor for the correctional assistant at the detention center, but this character wasn't a positive figure, and they couldn't cast Hong Kong actors for all the villains, could they? What if people said they were discriminating?

So forget it, just two Hong Kong actors. Anyway, there was a supporting role with a very heavy part; if it really didn't work, they could give him a third-billing special starring role. Everything was flexible.

Chen Kun and Fu Dalong both agreed to play those two supporting roles. There was also the role of a photographer; Cao Yang mentioned it to Performance Department teacher Wang Jinsong, and Teacher Wang happily agreed.

This way, the roles with heavier parts were mostly settled.

The remaining few small supporting roles would be found from the Beijing Film Academy, which would also be an explanation to the school. After all, it was nominally a student practice film; it wouldn't be right not to find a few current students.

!

However, Cao Yang didn't need to worry about these; he could just leave it to the two assistant directors, Liu Shan and Li Mingyi. That's what assistant directors were for.

At the same time, the old rule applied: every department of the crew would recruit one or two assistants from the current students, providing food and lodging, and giving some subsidies depending on the situation, which counted as a practical part of the teaching task.

With the support of the Ludong Island local authorities, all filming would take place on Ludong Island, which was also one of the conditions.

This filming wouldn't be like the last time, with a large opening press conference; it would be held right on Ludong Island.

After several days of negotiations, Cheng Jianye finally settled on several product placements.

Cao Yang's principle was that product placement was fine, but it couldn't affect the plot. For example, the digital camera the male lead uses to take selfies every time—any brand was fine, it was harmless.

For example, the motorcycle the male lead rides could also be any brand. After all, if interpreted as the male lead being the female lead's fantasy, and the female lead's husband being very rich, she could imagine the male lead riding any brand of motorcycle.

For example, the car the abuser drives—as a rich man living in a villa, and with the story happening in Hong Kong, he couldn't possibly drive a Mazda or a Hyundai; at the very least, it had to be a BMW, Mercedes, or Lexus.

For example, the car the police officer drives couldn't be a BMW, Mercedes, or Lexus; it could be a Mazda.

Product placement was also to ensure the film could recoup its costs; this was understandable.

But you couldn't have a second-generation heir to a listed company driving a car worth around 100,000 yuan in and out of various places every day—a situation that was all too common in some TV dramas.

Following Cao Yang's advice, Cheng Jianye negotiated tiered advertising fees.

The base advertising fees weren't high, but if the film could win an award at the three major European festivals, the advertising fee would be a nice income—each one being several hundred thousand, in US dollars!

But even the base advertising fees had already recouped more than half of the film's investment. This was probably the "famous director effect."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 35 =====