Entertaining Children

Xiao Yao and his team lived in Qingshuihe County for five days before finding a suitable shooting location in a place called Dahebao Village in the northeast of Qingshuihe County.

This village is located in the middle surrounded by several hills and has a large pasture. However, this grassland is not an endless grassland, but a grassy slope with undulating terrain. More importantly, there is the Great Wall, an ancient castle, and cave dwellings at the foot of the city wall. The whole environment exudes a strong sense of historical vicissitudes, which makes Xiao Yao feel like the scene he saw in the movie in his previous life.

"I think this place is good." After looking here for a long time, Xiao Yao took the lead in expressing his opinion, and asked Lin Jingliang, "Mr. Lin, what do you think?"

"The environment is very good." Lin Jingliang nodded, looked at Xiao Yao and said, "But what about the scenes in the movie? The movie tells a story in a school, but I don't think there are any suitable buildings in the village."

"Isn't there an elementary school in the village? Anyway, it's summer vacation and the students are on vacation. Can't we borrow the venue of that elementary school to shoot?" Pei Minyi suggested.

"The school's venue is big enough, but it's not very suitable." Lin Jingliang shook his head and said, "This movie tells the story of the Republic of China period. The school in the Republic of China period is different from the current school. Although I haven't checked the information Talk about what a small school in such a poor and remote place was like during the Republic of China, but at least the simplified characters, writing habits, and some things that appeared after the Republic of China have to be changed, right?"

"Then can we renovate that school?" Pei Minyi continued to ask, "For example, change the simplified characters you mentioned to traditional characters, change from left to right to right to left, or even rebuild a school gate and so on. Yes, there should be time, right? Anyway, we don’t start filming right now.”

"It depends on Director Xiao's intention." Lin Jingliang looked at Xiao Yao with a smile, "We need him to nod for money!"

"It's okay to spend money, but I don't think it's a good idea to rebuild the elementary school in the village." Xiao Yao rubbed his chin and said to Lin Jingliang.

"Why?" Lin Jingliang asked.

"There shouldn't be any problem in terms of time and funds for rebuilding the primary school in the village," Xiao Yao said, "But the problem is that we can't return the primary school in the village to the Republic of China, and we have to help them rebuild the school after the movie is finished." It’s very troublesome to come back. What’s more, it’s summer vacation now, the school is empty, we can make renovations, but when we start the machine, the school should have started.”

"The school is one of the most important scenes in the movie, and it can't be finished in a few days." Xiao Yao continued, "If we keep occupying it, it will have a great impact on the children in the village who are going to school. Don't we make a movie

Will dozens of children in the village have no place to go to school for a month or two? "

"That's right!" Everyone nodded after hearing Xiao Yao's words.

"Then what do you mean?" Lin Jingliang asked Xiao Yao again.

"It's very simple, we build the school scene by ourselves!" Xiao Yao said with a smile, "We can build a school in the period of the Republic of China by ourselves!"

"Build your own school?" Pei Minyi asked in surprise.

"Yes!" Xiao Yao nodded, "We can't create the natural environment, can't we create the man-made environment?"

"Schools in places like this during the Republic of China couldn't be buildings. We just built a larger one-story house by ourselves." Xiao Yao continued, "It doesn't seem like the cost of building a house in this kind of place is too high. Let's choose A suitable open space, build a house by yourself, everything is based on the requirements in the movie, and you can build whatever you want, so that Mr. Lin can give full play to it. After the movie is finished, if the village needs it, we can make the house Leave it to the village. I think they should need it, so it doesn’t even need to be demolished.”

"Great idea!" Lin Jingliang rubbed his hands happily, "If we build it ourselves, there will be much more space for us to play, and it will not affect the life of the villagers. I agree!"

"It's better to build it yourself," Pei Minyi said worriedly, "But to build a school in two months, is there enough time?"

"Two months?" Xiao Yao shook his head, "No, we don't have two months, we only have one month. But building a house in the village is different from that in the city. This kind of bungalow, as long as we are efficient enough, can be built in one month. It should be covered."

"One month?" The people in the company looked at Xiao Yao in puzzlement, "Isn't it planned to start the machine after two months?"

Sun Tingting asked Xiao Yao to give her three months of preparation time, so Xiao Yao planned to start the machine in October. Many people involved in the preparatory work are aware of this schedule. It's only August now, and everyone was puzzled to hear Xiao Yao say that there was only one month.

"I planned to turn it on in two months before," Xiao Yao smiled bitterly and raised the phone in his hand, "But I checked the temperature history here in the past two days, and found that it might be too late to turn it on in October."

"Temperature history?" A group of people looked at Xiao Yao.

"In Shuozhou, in the second half of October, the highest temperature during the day will drop to about ten degrees Celsius, and the lowest temperature at night will be zero degrees or even below zero." Xiao Yao said, "Geographically speaking, this village is located in the In the northern part of Shuozhou, the temperature will only be lower than what I found. If we start the machine in October, not to mention that it will be particularly hard for actors to shoot summer scenes in winter. At that time, the grass here may start to turn yellow. The effect will be much worse.”

"Actually, the best time to shoot should be July and August, which is now," Xiao Yao continued, "The highest temperature here is only in the early 30s, and at night it's only a dozen degrees. The temperature is very comfortable. But we can't turn it on now. I don’t want to wait a year and wait until this time next year to shoot, so I can only start the film in advance.”

"Start the machine one month earlier, is there enough time?" Fang still asked Xiao Yao.

"Many people in the crew have not been finalized, and most of the actors have not yet been finalized. We can select people according to this standard." Xiao Yao said, "It should be possible to form a crew in a month."

"Most of the actors are undecided, but there are also some who are determined!" Fang still reminded, "Duo'er told you to wait for her for three months, and you agreed. And Teacher He Ying, you were the same at the beginning. You said it will be turned on at least three months later, right?"

"Well," Xiao Yao scratched his head in some embarrassment, "Duoer's side shouldn't be a big problem. She said at the beginning that she would spend two months as a volunteer teacher to experience life, and then spend another month with Uncle Sun and Auntie Sun to help her prepare together. The role, at worst, let her end the supporting teaching early, or remove the next step, and directly join the group after the supporting teaching is over, at worst, let her bring Uncle Sun into the group, and ask Uncle Sun to serve as an actor director. Sister He Ying, her There are not many roles, the preparation time of two months and three months should not be much different, and she has also gone to experience life, so she should not take other roles in September, right?"

"Well, I'll contact Uncle Sun and Sister He Ying in a while to see if there is any problem with them joining the group and starting shooting a month in advance," Xiao Yao finally said, "If they have no problem, we will choose to shoot here. If not, Duo I'm sure I won't change it, Sister He Ying will negotiate carefully, if the negotiation fails, we can only go to a place further south to re-select the scene."

"Mr. Lin, I'm sorry!" Xiao Yao said to Lin Jingliang again, "It's the first time to be an independent director, and there are some things that are not well thought out, and they change and change, which makes you laugh."

"It's okay," Lin Jingliang chuckled, "Filming a movie is not an easy task, and it is inevitable to encounter some problems and situations. Some big directors spend a year or two or even longer in preparing a movie. Before the filming starts, you will encounter various things and make various adjustments. You are so young, and it is the first time you are an independent director, and you also have to serve as a producer, so it is normal for problems to arise.”

"Thank you for your understanding!" Xiao Yao bowed his head.

"To be honest," Lin Jingliang said again, "Your reputation as a monster is too strong, as if nothing can trouble you, it doesn't feel real to people. Now that you have not thought carefully, you will When encountering problems, it gives me a more real and fresh feeling.”

"Thank you!" Xiao Yao said with a smile, "Unexpectedly, making some mistakes is actually a way to win favor."

Although they encountered time problems, Xiao Yao and Lin Jingliang still preferred to use this place as the shooting location and start the film in advance. Before discussing with the village about borrowing a place for filming or finding a place to build a house in the village, Xiao Yao had to get in touch with Sun Tingting and He Ying to confirm whether they could join the group in advance.

It's easy to contact He Ying, and Xiao Yao can just make a phone call.

During this period of time, He Ying didn't take any long-term jobs. When she was free, she pretended to go to the streets and vegetable markets to see if she could encounter shrews arguing and cursing in the street, and secretly observed and learned. In addition, I took a look at the "fixed makeup photo" of the coppersmith's wife made by Xiao Yao, and even asked a professional special effects makeup artist to apply makeup to myself according to the appearance in the photo, so as to find out how I feel.

I heard that Xiao Yao asked to join the group one month in advance, and He Ying immediately replied that there is no problem, not to mention that the shooting will start in a month, as long as Xiao Yao needs it, he can join the group to start shooting at any time.

It is not so easy to contact Sun Tingting. Sun Tingting is still teaching, the place is very remote, the signal is not very good, and it is not easy to contact at any time. However, Xiao Yao knew that Sun Tingting would contact her parents on a regular basis every day, so she contacted Sun Zhihao in Yanjing, told him the problems he encountered here and the corresponding arrangements, and asked him to tell Sun Tingting on his behalf.

Unable to receive a reply from Sun Tingting immediately, Xiao Yao and others could not discuss with the village about borrowing a place to shoot right now, so Xiao Yao and his party had to go back to the hotel in Qingshuihe County first.

At around ten o'clock in the evening, Xiao Yao received a reply from Sun Tingting. This reply was not forwarded by Sun Zhihao, but a call from Sun Tingting himself.

Sun Tingting inevitably complained coquettishly about Xiao Yao's behavior of giving her three months of preparation time, but turned back on her promise to start the machine in advance. But of course, Sun Tingting still needs to understand and support Xiao Yao's difficulties and problems. .

Huaxia's teaching support activities can be carried out in various ways, but all of them have relevant policies and regulations. Sun Tingting did not go to university in China, and Chambers stayed in China for a year after graduation. He is not considered a fresh graduate, but a working person through a volunteer organization called "Western Project". Volunteers of this organization must also abide by some relevant policies and regulations.

Volunteers from this organization have to go through the organization's unified physical examination and on-the-job training before going to support teaching, and the teaching time is usually half a year. However, Sun Tingting went to teach with the purpose of experiencing life, which is a bit different from ordinary volunteers. She participated in the physical examination, simplified the on-the-job training, and only two months of teaching support, which is a special case in this organization. Although it was a special case in the organization, Sun Tingting did not plan to end the teaching support activities ahead of schedule, and had to complete the two-month teaching support tasks promised before coming here.

Neither Sun Tingting nor Sun Zhihao accepted Xiao Yao's proposal to invite Sun Zhihao to join the crew together, and let Sun Zhihao tutor her in the crew and guide other actors along the way. One reason is that Sun Zhihao couldn't get away because he had something to do, and the other reason was that both Sun Zhihao and Sun Tingting said they believed in or wanted to test the director Xiao Yao's ability to guide actors to perform, so Xiao Yao was asked to be in charge of Sun Tingting's performance. Anyway, he is the director, and this was originally one of his responsibilities.

Sun Tingting's reply did not surprise Xiao Yao, and Xiao Yao immediately agreed.

After hanging up Sun Tingting's call, Xiao Yao checked that it wasn't too late, and immediately went to Lin Jingliang's room.

"Teacher Lin, Sister He Ying and Sun Tingting can join the group ahead of schedule, so I think we'll still shoot in Dahebao Village." After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Xiao Yao got right to the point, and said to Lin Jingliang, "Tomorrow we will Go to the village and talk to the person in charge of the village about renting a location for filming."

"Okay!" Lin Jingliang smiled, "It's the best to be able to shoot there."

"It shouldn't be too difficult to talk to the village about renting the venue." Xiao Yao said, "After talking with the village, we will start construction and start building the school house as soon as possible. You are the art director, props, art, and scenery. You are in charge, and you have the final say on how the house will be built, so you have to come up with the overall design plan of the house as soon as possible. As for the interior layout and the like, you can design and perfect it as you build it."

"There is no problem with the design. I have made a lot of assumptions about the shooting scene these days, and I have a lot of ideas." Lin Jingliang knew that Xiao Yao was concerned about the progress of the scene construction, so he said very seriously, "But the manpower and materials On the one hand, you have to make sure. Building a school or building a house in a month is not something that can be done simply."

"You don't have to worry about this!" Xiao Yao said confidently, "The problem that can be solved with money is not a problem. For things like building a house in a mountainous area, I can find a construction team and professionals who are efficient and can guarantee quality. As long as you give the design drawings and requirements, they can build the house for you in less than a month."