1979 Golden Age

Gong Xue returned to the double room and saw a bed full of messy drawings. She shook her head and leaned over to help clean it up, but then she thought it would be bad if she disrupted other people's habits, so she gave up.

She looked around the room and felt it was very strange.

Among the people in "Life is Beautiful", she and Chen Qi were undoubtedly the most valued. In the two days since she came here, the factory director, deputy factory director, people from the city's cultural department, and propaganda department have met one after another. Gong Xue is a Shanghainese after all. It's not easy to come back to film. This is called returning home in glory.

Now is the time when the status of the literary and artistic circles is the highest, especially in small places. When a star emerges or a star comes to the local area, the leaders will go directly to the airport or train station to pick him up.

"Alas, my biggest dream was to enter the Shanghai Film Studio, but I ended up in the bed of a little fool. Things are unpredictable!"

Gong Xue opened a small blue bottle and continued to rub it on her face.

Just now, it was for washing the face. This is for wiping the face, which can moisturize and nourish the skin. She has seen a lot of foreign things, and she has learned from them. She knows a lot about makeup and maintenance, and she will gradually dress up.

So Chen Qicai felt that the "star style" had emerged.

In comparison, domestic female stars are still rustic, with red cheeks and stockings thicker than autumn pants...

"Sister Xue!"

"Open the door!"

A voice suddenly sounded, Gong Xue paused, and opened the door helplessly. Li Jianqun came in with a bunch of clothes and said, "Take off your clothes!"

"What?"

"Put them on and see!"

"Now?"

"What else? It will start tomorrow."

"I, I..."

Gong Xue had no choice but to lock the door, slowly reached out to unbutton, took off her dress, revealing a very modern set of underwear, which was obviously imported. Seeing Li Jianqun's playful eyes, her face turned red and she said angrily, "Which one do you want to try?"

"This cheongsam!"

"It seems looser than before?"

"Your waist is too thin, the previous size was just right, but some movements will look very tight, and it will be beautiful if it is looser."

Li Jianqun helped her put on a light purple cheongsam and brought her high heels.

Gong Xue walked in front of the mirror several times and smiled: "Not bad, quite comfortable, indeed more comfortable than before."

"Try this little dress again!"

"And this headdress!"

Gong Xue let her fiddle with it and found it funny: "Why don't you prepare in advance? Do you have to sharpen your sword at the last minute?"

"I prepared, but I always feel that it can be better, and I always want to improve it..."

"Okay!"

Li Jianqun stepped back a few steps to look at it, nodded, and said: "It is indeed better. You have three kinds of costumes in this play, cheongsam, Western suit, and casual clothes. I designed a total of 16 sets for you. In fact, I want to change them all, but unfortunately I don't have time."

"You can't demand movies with your artist's standards. We can't keep up. I like all your clothes. That's enough."

Gong Xue was afraid that she would toss again, so she flattered her quickly.

"Okay, then I won't change it."

After Li Jianqun finished his work here, he went to his bed, put the drawings together and casually placed them on the table with his hands, and then lay down on the bed: "I'm sleepy, I want to sleep!"

"..."

Gong Xue suddenly felt a little envious, this person is really good-tempered.

…………

The next day, "Life is Beautiful" started filming.

The process is roughly: first shoot the outdoor scenes and actors with less roles in Shanghai, wait for foreign actors to come and then shoot their scenes, then go to Hong Kong, finish the foreign actors' scenes, and then return to Shanghai to finish.

Chen Qi wants to send it to the Berlin Film Festival, because Berlin likes films with political elements the most, and Germany, as one of the villains in World War II, is also appropriate.

If it's really too late, then you can only go to Cannes, where the chance of winning an award is worse. Fortunately, "Life is Beautiful" doesn't have any big scenes, so the cycle is shortened a lot.

In the future, there was a Chedun Film and Television Base in Shanghai, with the style of the Republic of China, but now there is no trace of it.

But it can be filmed. In 1987, Spielberg was allowed to film in Shanghai for three weeks for Empire of the Sun. He used 10,000 extras and removed all the ships produced after the 1930s on the Huangpu River...

Shanghai has no film and television city and lacks complete street scenes. Chen Qi and Li Wenhua have discussed how to deal with it.

For example, there is a semi-enclosed building on Hankou Road, which is the Municipal Council Building of the Concession. After the Wang Puppet Government took over the Concession, the puppet city government was set up here. After the liberation of Shanghai, the People's Government was also here. It has experienced many ups and downs.

Then just shoot this building, and then shoot other landmark buildings, and finally cut them together with montage techniques, like a complete street scene. This is also the technique Spielberg used in Empire of the Sun...

What's more, Shanghai has not yet been built on a large scale, so you can still find some old-fashioned exteriors, such as Suzhou River.

(The picture shows the Suzhou River in Empire of the Sun)

Studio.

It is arranged like the inner house of the Li family, magnificent and magnificent.

Mr. Li, played by Tie Niu, is having dinner with his children. He pretends to pray before dinner. He has a broad face and big ears, and his makeup deliberately highlights this feature. He wears a tight gown, which naturally makes him look funny.

"Amen!"

"Dad, can you be more pious?" Gong Xue couldn't stand it.

"I'm not pious? The fact that I believe in religion is pious enough. Did I donate money to you in vain? You can teach in school safely because I say 'Amen' every day!"

"Stop!"

"What's wrong with the lights?"

"The rhythm was good just now, do it again!"

Li Wenhua is commanding with confidence, and his demeanor as an international director is increasing day by day.

Chen Qi was watching from the side. He had been following for several days and usually did not intervene unless something was extremely serious. Now that he was watching for a while, there was no problem. It was just that the progress was a little slow, as they were shooting both exterior and interior scenes.

He flipped through the shooting schedule to see what was going on for the next day and the day after tomorrow. During the break, he waved, "Zhang Yi!"

"Hey!"

Zhang Yi crouched and trotted over: "Teacher Chen, what do you want?"

"I won't need you tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. I'll give you a chance. You and Zhang Junzhao will go shoot on location. Don't you know what to shoot?"

"I know!"

"Okay, I'll give you 300 feet of film!"

"300 feet is a little short, it can only take 3 minutes?"

"I'll give you a lot of my family property, do you want it?"

"Yes!"

"I warn you, if you mess up, I don't know when the next time will be."

"I promise to complete the task!"

Zhang Yi became resolute again, trotted back, and told Zhang Junzhao that the two were as happy as roses - being the second photographer and assistant director here, how can you let go and be free? This is a chance to shoot independently!

Chen Qi shook his head.

If they really had to shoot a story, he would not feel at ease, but shooting on location and taking empty shots, both of them have good aesthetics, especially Lao Mouzi, who has first-class photography talent, so it should be no problem.

So it was another busy day, with no time to spare.

He only spoke to Gong Xue in a hurry.

Chen Qi finally borrowed a bicycle from the Shanghai Film Studio and rode back and forth every day, leaving early and returning late.

At night, he returned to the foreign-style dormitory and took a few newspapers with him. There was no water heater, so he took a cold shower anyway because it was hot, and then he had time to rest. Lying on the bed, he flipped through the newspaper: "Mr. Liao... open letter... Taiwan..."

Wow!

His eyes lit up.