Chapter 83: Starting Production

Just as Cao Yang expected, Xu Jinglei refused.

She was not lacking in resources; to build a good relationship with Cao Yang, acting in a role would be fine, but for the female lead to be Gao Yuanyuan, that was a different matter entirely.

This sister was quite proud and arrogant.

This time, three roles with decent screen time were given to the Beijing Film Academy: one was the rebellious daughter of a kindergarten director, one was the younger brother of the female lead, and another was the owner of a clothing store.

Perhaps feeling that Cao Yang was a sentimental person, the interviews at the Beijing Film Academy were still handled by Assistant Director Li Mingyi and Casting Director Liu Shan, and they actually used two familiar faces.

The female lead's younger brother was given to Zhou Yiwei, the clothing store owner was given to Dong Xuan, and only the kindergarten director's rebellious daughter needed someone who looked younger; in the end, they chose Wang Luodan from the class of '01.

Born in 1984, Wang Luodan was only 17; with her short hair, she looked like a tomboy, which truly fit the character's profile.

There was also a slightly more significant role, a pharmacy clerk, who was the one to introduce the female lead to the religion, which had requirements for acting ability.

It just so happened that Ding Jiali had called a few days ago, offering compliments for a long time, with the goal of wanting a role.

Cao Yang went with the flow and gave the pharmacy clerk role to her.

Before she could ask for anything else, Cao Yang told her there were no more male roles, and Ding Jiali had no choice but to give up.

It wasn't until two days before joining the crew that Gao Yuanyuan received the call that she had become the female lead in Cao Yang's new film. Cao Yang was mainly afraid of telling her too early, lest she get too excited and lose the state of mind he wanted.

For a moment, Gao Yuanyuan was filled with both sorrow and joy.

After she made her decision and carried it out, she was indeed in pain, and it lasted for a period of time, but becoming the female lead in Cao Yang's new film made her happy from the bottom of her heart.

It was a very contradictory feeling.

Cao Yang called Gao Yuanyuan and Wu Qihua over; when he had time, he would explain the scenes to them, and when he didn't, he would have them read the script and write character biographies. Before filming started, he had to make sure they understood what kind of story this film was telling.

It must be said that Gao Yuanyuan was a good choice; every time she listened, she would cry her eyes out, and when she read the script herself, she would also shed tears involuntarily, her emotional fluctuations being very intense.

This made Cao Yang feel that with Gao Yuanyuan in this state, there was no need for any tricks; one immersion into the role would absolutely lead to an explosion of acting talent.

As for Wu Qihua, Cao Yang still had some hesitations.

In terms of acting, Wu Qihua was actually quite good; he would wait to see how he performed the male lead before deciding whether to incorporate the immersion technique.

In late November, "Secret Sunshine" began filming on Ludong Island.

There was a small city in South Korea also called Milyang, and the original film was shot there.

But the English title of this film was named "Secret Sunshine."

Sunshine represents light, happiness, good luck, and reliance. Secret sunshine, hidden light, concealed good luck and happiness, reliance in the shadows.

Therefore, the film title did not need to be changed; the meaning was quite good.

This was also a question asked by a reporter at the opening press conference.

Cao Yang's explanation was that Secret Sunshine is hidden sunshine, sunshine that is hidden, light, reliance, and love that is hidden by one's side and has not been discovered...

Consequently, media reports claimed that the new film by the great director Cao Yang was a romance; looking at the title alone, it might be a great and sweet love story.

For a time, many media outlets scrambled to report that Director Cao's new film was a love story.

Fine, report it however you like; I hope that when the time comes, you will see a deeply moving and sweet love story in the theater, as long as you don't come out crying. The production of this film, except for Old Tian being replaced by Gu Changwei, still used the crew from "3-Iron," with assistants in each department still being students from the Beijing Film Academy.

Compared to "3-Iron," this film used very few metaphorical shots; the most prominent were three scenes. The first was the opening scene, where brilliant sunlight shone through the car window into the car, appearing full of vitality and life.

Then there was the final scene of the film, where the female lead silently cut her own hair, and then a gust of wind blew the hair onto the ground, with a beam of sunlight hitting it.

The third scene was when the female lead was cutting her hair at the end, and the male lead was holding a mirror; through the mirror, the female lead's head appeared inside, looking exactly like the male lead holding a portrait of a dead person.

When discussing the opening and closing scenes with Gu Changwei, Cao Yang explored them with him for a long time, finally reaching a consensus to use lens language to imbue these two scenes with more meaning.

The first shot of the film was looking up at the sky through the car window, and the last shot was the exact opposite, looking directly down at the ground.

Looking up at the sky, "God" is in the heavens, and we are separated from Him by a layer of transparent glass; it looks unobstructed, the sunlight is brilliant, and it is very beautiful, but in reality, that beauty is very hard to touch.

Looking down at the ground, it is chaotic and unobstructed, representing that one's own hair is mixed with all the trivialities; this is the real life we have to face, with both sunlight and ugliness.

Gu Changwei liked to use a gray tone, especially when filming this kind of tragic fate; through the gray texture, the characters' struggle with fate and their spiritual sustenance slowly seeped into the depths of the audience's consciousness, which was particularly complementary.

Therefore, in terms of filming style, Gu Changwei was better at handling this kind of conflict and fusion between the individual and the world, emphasizing the powerlessness and resistance of tragic characters when facing the pain of reality and their own fate.

Cao Yang chose the first shot to be the car parked on the road with its hazard lights on.

!

He chose not to film people, but to film the car, just to ensure the first shot went smoothly.

The second shot was chosen to film the child in the car, who was looking through the front windshield at the female lead, who was making a phone call in front.

Before filming, Cao Yang said to the child again: "Mengyun, we will be filming in front of the car later. You just need to look forward, looking at the camera is fine, you can make some small movements, pouting is fine, staring is fine, show an expression of being impatient, can you do that?"

The child was found by Liu Shan locally on Ludong Island; at the time, there were two candidates, a little girl and a little boy, both of whom were young reporters learning to host at the Children's Palace.

The little boy's parents had a few too many demands, and the child was a bit mischievous, so in the end, Cao Yang chose the little girl who looked very docile, and her parents were much easier to get along with.

The little girl's name was Du Mengyun, and she was 5 years old this year.

In the original film, the female lead's child was a son, but in fact, whether it was a son or a daughter didn't have much impact. When he asked Liu Shan to pick someone, he didn't specifically emphasize gender, so Liu Shan, in order to get the job done well, found two child candidates.

"Okay, Uncle, I understand everything."

"All units, pay attention, prepare to film."

Cao Yang picked up the walkie-talkie and said.

The crew moved quickly, busy but not chaotic, and the whole set was silent.

Gu Changwei's camera was mounted on the hood, and he adjusted the lens; he liked to use natural light to create a sense of realism.

Because he had to film inside the car through the front windshield, natural light alone was somewhat insufficient, so reflectors were needed to adjust the natural light.

After Gu Changwei gave the signal and the clapperboard was hit, filming officially began.

Du Mengyun pouted as she looked forward, showing an impatient expression, which actually looked quite playful and cute.

"Okay, that's a wrap."

Cao Yang shouted, gave little Du Mengyun a thumbs up, and next it was Gao Yuanyuan's turn for her shot.

(End of chapter)