Chapter 92 Gossip and Final Shooting

There is a joke in the industry that in a film crew, those who can record are the recorders, those who can take photos are the photographers, those who can do makeup are the makeup artists, those who can write scripts are the scriptwriters, and those who can do nothing are the directors.

In the eyes of some people, a director is nothing more than that. He just sits on a chair and shouts with a loudspeaker or a walkie-talkie, but he actually can't do anything.

This kind of joke is just told to laymen. It is a joke and just a joke. Anyone who takes it seriously is a fool.

Being a director requires at least a variety of abilities, and it can be said that his comprehensive qualities are the best in the industry.

He must be capable of scriptwriting, editing, acting, art, photography, recording, on-site scheduling, and team management. Maybe he is not the best, but he must at least be able to do all of these, and have excellent appreciation and communication skills.

In the future there may be directors who sit on a chair and shout with a loudspeaker or a walkie-talkie. Some singers and writers may know very little when they become directors for the first time and have to rely on professionals to help them.

But the director is the core of a movie after all. Even with the help of professionals, the chances of making a bad movie are very high.

In the impression of outsiders, Liu Zhou may be a writer who switched to become a director, but he is actually a graduate of a professional school and has a very solid foundation in directing.

And after the practice of the last film, Liu Zhou is no longer the new director who is a little worried about gains and losses.

So when Liu Zhou saw how he could control the crew like his own arm, Liu Dehua felt that his reputation was well-deserved.

He knew very well that a film crew was like a small society, with a lot of intrigue.

If the director cannot control his subordinates, not only will filming be more time-consuming and labor-intensive, but the resulting film will also be more likely to be a bad one.

These are all his personal experiences.

"Are all departments ready? If so, we'll start shooting right away."

Today is the first day of filming, and the first shot is the scene where the hero and heroine first meet.

The security guard retired and the male protagonist took over his position, but the female protagonist didn't know about it and still came to the security booth to bring food to the security guard.

Zeng Li performed very well. She was cheerful and sweet at the beginning and kept narrating what happened in her day. She also acted the role of a blind person very well.

The male protagonist played by Andy Lau was a former boxing champion, but was later sentenced to four years in prison for being a thug. This was his first job after he was released from prison.

He was originally taciturn, but when he suddenly saw the sweet and generous heroine, he became stunned for a moment, then calmed down. Finally, as he ate the food the girl gave him, ripples appeared in his heart and his face showed more expressions.

Although Andy Lau's performance was a bit extroverted, this is not an art film, and his performance also met Liu Zhou's requirements.

Liu Zhou looked at it again and thought it was okay, so he didn't keep it and took the next shot.

The next shot is still in this guardhouse. The two gradually become familiar with each other. The girl Jinghua still comes to find the male protagonist Mingzhe because the security guard is her only friend.

Now that the security guard has retired, Mingzhe has become the only person Jinghua can talk to.

The two were watching TV that day, and Jinghua said with a smile:

"Can you open the door? My nose might be sensitive."

Mingzhe didn't say anything. He turned around and realized that it was his own feet that smelled, then he put on his shoes silently.

"Click, stop for a moment, props teacher, make Hua's shoes and socks a little dirty, and change his socks to white ones."

There was nothing wrong with the performances of both of them. The shoes and socks that Andy Lau wore were a bit new, and they were a bit eye-catching in the close-up.

"Director Liu, you really pay attention to details." Liu Dehua said with a smile.

"This is not a detail. It may be a momentary negligence of the props team. Any director should be able to find this problem."

After changing my shoes and socks, I shot this scene twice and completed it smoothly.

The subsequent shots will still be taken at this guard post, and Liu Zhou plans to finish shooting all the shots here today.

After the previous embarrassing incident, Mingzhe began to pay attention to personal hygiene. He not only washed his feet every day, but also changed into clean shoes and socks.

As the two gradually became familiar with each other, Mingzhe would close his eyes and empathize with Jinghua's feelings, listening to the sound of her crutches tapping on the floor and gradually getting closer.

The two would also watch TV series together, and Mingzhe would tell her the plot of the TV series.

After shooting these shots, Liu Zhou felt that Andy Lau's acting skills were indeed not as good as Zhang Guorong's. Although he had been trained by Du Qifeng in "Infernal Affairs", he has not yet completely transformed.

So during the filming, most of the NGs were caused by Andy Lau, while Zeng Li performed quite well.

Of course, it may also be because Andy Lau had little time to prepare, after all, he was still filming other movies a week ago.

But the problems were not serious and we completed the shooting smoothly that day.

As they worked together over the next few days, Andy Lau's performance got better and better. After all, it was a relatively simple love movie, and both of them almost got it right in one take.

Seeing the promising progress, Liu Zhou felt that it might take less than a month to finish the film.

At this time, Mingzhe, who had just finished filming, found out that he accidentally caused Jinghua's family to get into a car accident when he was collecting debts, which led to the death of Jinghua's parents and the blindness of Jinghua's eyes. He felt extremely guilty and vented his guilt in the boxing gym.

Looking at the camera showing Liu Dehua collapsed in the corner, sweat pouring down his face with an expression of deep self-blame and guilt, Liu Zhou shouted "Come on".

This is a shot that shows the male protagonist's mental changes, so Liu Zhou had higher requirements. After shooting for a whole morning, it was finally completed.

"Let's take a break and have a meal first." Upon hearing Liu Zhou's words, the uncle who was the producer of the crew immediately started busying around, preparing to serve the meal.

Liu Dehua took a long while to get up, took a box lunch, found a seat and started eating.

In the past few days, everyone has gotten used to big stars like Andy Lau eating boxed lunches together.

In this respect, he really made Liu Zhou admire him. He did not have any star airs in the crew.

Although Zhang Guorong is relatively easy-going, he seldom eats boxed lunches. He is rather picky about food, and his assistant usually prepares food for him.

Perhaps this is also related to the development history of the two. Andy Lau graduated from the wireless acting class and worked his way up from the bottom as a supporting actor.

Later, he was blacklisted by TVB and suffered a lot before he got his current status.

Zhang Guorong, on the other hand, has always had smooth sailing. Apart from a slightly bumpy relationship, his career has been smooth sailing and he has never suffered much.

To be honest, Liu Zhou is a bit picky about food. He is not picky about the types of dishes, but he is a bit picky about the taste.

Therefore, he rarely eats boxed lunches and always orders takeout himself.

Liu Zhou also often asked Brother Hua to come over to eat together. At first he would come, but later when he saw how affectionate Liu Zhou and Zeng Li were, he decided not to eat this dog food.

But today Liu Zhou also took a box lunch and sat down next to Brother Hua.

"Brother Hua, this afternoon's show is up to you."

The filming in the afternoon was about Mingzhe starting boxing again to win prize money in order to cure Jinghua's eyes, but this was a drop in the bucket compared to the medical expenses. Helplessly, he had to find his former big brother to go to Thailand to help him fight underground boxing.

The boxing gym and the octagonal cage for the illegal boxing were both built in the Zhujiang Studio. The afternoon was mainly spent filming Andy Lau's boxing scenes.

"Director Liu, don't worry. I just finished filming a boxing movie, so I still have the basics."

"Then I'm relieved." Liu Zhou changed the subject and asked, "Brother Hua, did you and Liang Chaowei really fall out at the beginning?"

After spending half a month together, Liu Zhou became familiar with Liu Dehua, so he asked this rather gossipy question.

At the Cannes Film Festival which ended not long ago, Liang Chaowei successfully won the Best Actor Award for his outstanding performance in In the Mood for Love, and instantly became the hottest male actor in both sides of the Taiwan Strait and Hong Kong.

When Liu Zhou saw Liu Dehua, he wanted to gossip about what happened back then.

Liu Dehua swallowed the food in his mouth and said:
"Director Liu, why are you so funny?"

"I'm curious too." Liu Zhou replied with a smile.

"What's there to be curious about? This matter is known to almost everyone in the Hong Kong circle. They just had a falling out at the time. Liang Chao and Wei may have had some difficulties, but they were young and hot-tempered at the time and didn't care about so much."

After getting a positive answer from Andy Lau, Liu Zhou also satisfied his curiosity. People outside speculated that the two had a falling out, and it seemed to be true.

No wonder the two never worked together again. After all, that incident caused Andy Lau to be banned for nearly three years.

"Brother Hua, who exactly violated Lan Jieying?"

"Cough...cough..."

Liu Dehua almost choked and said unhappily:
"Director Liu, don't gossip about this. Don't embarrass me."

"Ok."

Seeing that Liu Dehua didn't say anything, Liu Zhou was not disappointed. He was just asking out of curiosity.

But looking at Andy Lau's expression, it seems that the person behind this does have some power.

"Brother Hua, the environment for filming in Hong Kong shouldn't be so chaotic now, right?"

"Of course not. After all, Hong Kong has already returned to China, and given the depressed film market in Hong Kong, few people are willing to invest in films."

"That's good. I've loved Hong Kong movies since I was a child. Now that I'm a director, I'd like to make a Hong Kong-style movie if I have the chance."

"Don't worry, although there are still clubs in Hong Kong, they are much more disciplined. If you come to Hong Kong to make a movie, I will definitely treat you well."

The two of them chatted and ate, and time passed quickly.

After lunch, everyone immediately started filming. There was no lunch break.

The following shots mainly depended on Andy Lau's performance. Although he had a certain foundation, it still took him nearly two days to finish this series of shots.

As time came to late July, only a few shots of the film were left.

After finishing the scene where the male and female protagonists recognized each other by the river, Andy Lau officially finished filming.

Liu Zhou originally wanted to hold a wrap-up party for Andy Lau, but because he was busy and Hong Kong was nearby, he went back to Hong Kong directly.

In the end, only two scenes of the heroine were left, which were also the two most important and touching scenes. Liu Zhou put these scenes at the end in order to give Zeng Li enough time to prepare.

(End of this chapter)