Strange Life of a Cat

On Zheng Tan's side, Papa Jiao had told him before coming here that he should act stupid if necessary.

What is "when necessary"?

For example, when you don’t want to shoot shots, people you don’t want to cooperate with, places you don’t like, when you feel uncomfortable or urgent to urinate, etc., you can pretend to be stupid, just pretend that you don’t know how to act or just roll around on the spot. As for cats, how much can the crew expect from a cat? Let the team members deal with the headaches. Xiao Guo sent so many people here not for soy sauce. It said that Xiao Guo and Jiao's father had no private agreement to discuss, and Zheng Tan didn't believe it even if he killed him.

However, this is for his own good. Zheng Tan understands that it is okay to be smart, but acting too smart will make people suspicious. For some unnecessary troubles, sometimes it is safer to be a little stupid.

Zheng Tan would not shoot many scenes before, but this time he was patient. After all, this kind of documentary is different from commercials, and it consumes a lot of manpower and material resources. , these shots are very common to ordinary cats, and it is really unreasonable to stop acting.

Zheng Tan is not comfortable wearing "makeup" all over his body, and he needs to touch up the makeup every now and then, especially if the eyebrows and beard are inadvertently rubbed off, he needs to repaint. After all, Zheng Tan's beard is black, and the one in the photo is black. The cat's whiskers are white.

Fortunately, Zheng Tan's efficiency was relatively high, and the entire filming was much less than Yang Yi's plan.

The people in the filming team thought it would take a long time to shoot these things, but they didn't expect the cat to be so cooperative. In their opinion, the cat's intelligence is naturally one of them, and the few people who came over heard that it was a special care. The Mao team and the filming team exchanged experience with the team members sent by Xiao Guo in their free time. They didn’t know that the faces of the team were almost frozen with smiles. They didn’t dare to talk about some facts, but they had signed There are several contracts, and they will respond as Xiao Guo tells them.

Now Zheng Tan doesn't know how well he is acting, he can only tell from Yang Yi's expression whether he is up to the standard, the specific effect can only wait for the final production to be completed. The old man who played with Zheng Tan looks more like Yang Yi's grandfather from the side view. Of course, he has also put on makeup to try to be more like him. Coupled with some shooting techniques, Zheng Tan believes that when it is actually produced, it should be able to make Yang Yi feel more like him. Be satisfied.

Among them, Zheng Tan also came into contact with some commonly used things in that era, such as furnace ash and cat litter. At that time, almost every house burned coal, so it was easy to clean up. There are also hand-made cat walks, which are made by the people in the courtyard for those little bastards who come in and out all day long. A half-foot-square hole is opened, and a curtain is hung. Fat and larger cats will also open it. bigger. Nothing high-tech existed, but it worked pretty well back then.

In addition to Zheng Tan, Da Mi Xiaomi also made a cameo appearance, and Yang Yi wanted to shoot some scenes where the cats were active and having fun.

Among them, Xiaomi did so well that Yang Yi was delighted. Even if he was alone, that guy could immediately get high, kicking himself, scratching himself and biting the soles of his feet like a schizophrenic, running around quickly on the narrow wall, having fun After eating, the tail hooked into an S shape was raised, and the chrysanthemum was facing the sunset, stretching in a pouty style, and then began to call for food.

When filming, everyone joins in the fun. Zhao Le's mother even came to the scene in person, and she didn't care about her cat's embarrassing appearance, but she still thought that cats should be like this. Zheng Tan could tell that Zhao Le's mother took Xiaomi very seriously, and it seemed that Xiaomi liked this person very much.

As for Rice, although there is no stage fright, it is too calm and quiet in comparison. Standing on the high fence, Yang Yi doesn't know what to do. After all, Fang Shaokang asked for this cat Yes, there must be something to shoot, right?

"Are these two really brothers?" a crew member asked. He was referring to millet and rice.

"Rice is a girl!" Fang Mengmeng corrected her with sharp ears.

"Oh, girl, she's quite quiet." The crew member of the filming team laughed. He didn't know much about cats, and he didn't know how to judge the gender of some special cases based on their patterns. After smiling, he looked at Fang Meng. Meng said, "Then can you make your Dami smile?"

Smiling?

Can cats smile coquettishly?

Fang Mengmeng teased under the wall for a long time, the rice squatting on the wall finally moved, her front paws stepped on the spot twice, straightened her back, looked down, and finally pulled out a creepy "smile".

All the members of the filming team watching: "..."

Nima, how scary!

Several people scratched their arms unconsciously, feeling goose bumps.

Fang Mengmeng didn't think much of it, because usually rice is more natural only when it is facing familiar people. Once it is not natural, it will either have facial paralysis or this expression, especially when it is in a bad mood. Fang Shaokang said I have a deep understanding.

Now Dami probably feels that there are too many unknown people under the wall, and the atmosphere is a bit dull. It is not as active as Xiaomi, and usually does not actively stretch its paws outside. Fang Mengmeng just teased for a long time and did not see it stretching its paws. , can only judge its emotional changes by facial expressions. Of course, it might not be rice's smile just now, it's just a change in the face and mouth, it looks like a smile. However, it can only be like this if it continues.

"Okay, the shot just now is good. Every cat is different. If we want to shoot high-end, we must also shoot unique features." Yang Yi is quite satisfied, at least he took some new things, and at the same time he can explain to Fang Shaokang.

At the end of this paragraph, Xiaomi was taken away by Zhao Le's mother. Before leaving, Zheng Tan heard Zhao Le's mother talking about rice when she was chatting with the people next to her. He said in a thankful tone that it was fortunate that Xiaomi was brought back, otherwise he would touch her. If you serve rice, you will probably be depressed.

As for the rice, Fang Mengmeng was even more thankful that she chose rice in the first place. Xiaomi is too capable of tossing around, and her own rice is obedient.

Maybe some people say that other people’s cats are always good, but even if they praise other people’s cats, in the hearts of cat owners, their own cats rank first, regardless of whether they are stubborn or boring gourds. like.

This documentary is not limited to those about Yang Yi’s grandfather. The crew also interviewed some other people. Although Zheng Tan was not involved in the subsequent interviews, Zheng Tan can’t leave. Some scenes may need to be re-shot. Zheng Tan Tan stayed a little longer, just in case, so Zheng Tan followed them to see the interviewees.

The first one to go was the home of an old writer, all the old men and women were there.

The interview was more life-like, and the shooting location was at the home of the two elderly people. The children are often not around, so the two old people raised a cat, and now they raise a white garden cat. When they saw Zheng Tan, the cat was very curious and vigilant, and kept hiding around the old man and old lady and staring at Zheng Tan. .

Zheng Tan wandered around the house, the cat didn't respond, it just stretched its neck and stared at Zheng Tan, until Zheng Tan came to its cat's nest and approached its cat's rice bowl, the cat blew up and rushed. Come over and bow your back and wave your paws at Zheng Tan and growl.

"Hey, don't worry, that black cat won't fight." Yang Yi comforted the worried old lady, and then asked the two old people when they could start.

The cat immediately ran back to the old man and old lady after Zheng Tan left its rice bowl and cat nest.

The two old men have received countless interviews, so they can deal with this kind of thing calmly. The director will not deliberately tell them what to do,

The old lady was reading, cooking, and the old man was writing, listening to the radio, and the reaction of the cat.

When the old man was writing, the cat jumped on the desk to make trouble, trampled on the old man's manuscript paper, and couldn't push it away. If he pushed it again, he would just lie on the manuscript paper, unless the old lady called it, and then slowly got up.

The old man was not annoyed either. He scratched the chin of the cat lying on the manuscript paper with the end of the pen with a smile, "This guy is very arrogant. As soon as I sit here, he comes to bully me... Wife? My wife doesn't even talk about it, Instead, let me write some manuscripts to praise..."

Looking at the old man's appearance, he didn't feel wronged or annoyed by being bullied at all, on the contrary, he was very happy.

The old man said that literati in the capital like to keep cats, and he also cited a few examples of writers of the same generation.

According to literati, the cats in the capital are somewhat like young masters who are pampered in every way. Although most of them have changed from long-term laborers who catch mice to eat and live, to pets who eat, drink and play in high-rise apartments, there is still a bit of mastery in their bones. They don't care whether the person they are facing is a literary master or a small townsman.

What kind of virtue is Chu Hua's cat? Zheng Tan thought about the cats he knew, and when he thought about it carefully, it seemed that the cats he knew were a bit special, and maybe they were also representative of Chuhua cats.

In addition to the current cat, the old man also recalled the cats he had raised before, and the old lady also took out a photo album and sent it to everyone.

During the interview, the two old people were often immersed in memories, and sometimes they would think quietly, as if they forgot that there were still people filming and interviewing around them, and there were several silences. However, neither Yang Yi nor the rest of the shooting team shut down or interrupted, and there was no look of impatience on their faces.

Before coming, Zheng Tan was informed of this situation by Charlie, presumably it was Yang Yi's advice. After each silence, what the old man said was more vivid, real, and real. When talking about the last cat, the old lady's eyes turned red several times. The cat had been with the two old people for more than ten years, and it was considered to be the end of life.

The filming team then went to interview a master of traditional Chinese painting. During the interview, the old man also took out a painting full of cat footprints. At that time, the old man was painting fish, but his cat jumped on the table and made trouble everywhere. Ink seal, the old man later repaired the painting, then framed it, and collected it. When the guests at home talked about related topics, the old man showed off the painting, saying that his cat has quite an artistic talent.

Zheng Tan also saw that painting in the past, not to mention, it looked very artistic, worthy of being a master of Chinese painting, just like in the movie about Tang Bohu back then, it can always turn decay into magic.

Photographers are very good at capturing some details, which will make the whole film more vivid and full of soul.

Throughout the filming, the interviewed cat owners include artists, educators, and have been to several famous schools and libraries in the capital, as well as some ordinary people's homes. Zheng Tan followed through the streets and alleys, with different venue backgrounds, all kinds of cat owners, and cats with different temperaments, combined together, coupled with those professional production and polishing, Zheng Tan believes that this will be a good film, No matter what others think, Zheng Tan thinks he is very good.

I heard from the filming crew that the film is likely to be sent to participate in the competition after it is produced, but it will take until next year to complete the production, and it is now the end of the year.