"You could ask around, I heard Fei-ge and the others are setting up a film and television department. Should we all jump ship?"
"I was just kidding. If we jump ship and it doesn't work out, we won't even have food to eat."
"Then you should think carefully. If Swords Drawn becomes a hit again, Liangyin Media might not need us anymore."
"Forget it, I was just talking."
The first day of filming went smoothly. Wang Zhi was sweating buckets on set. Just setting up the wires, the sets, and adjusting the camera positions was enough to make him frantic.
He didn't know much about adjusting the camera positions and the lights. He just listened to the photography teacher and the lighting teacher, and immediately did as they told him.
Lin Chudong glanced at the time and said,
"It's about time, let's eat."
Everyone's faces immediately lit up with joy; it was best to have a hot meal on such a cold day.
They came to a temporarily set-up small room. There was a large bucket of braised beef, a bucket of chicken stewed with mushrooms, and four vegetarian dishes. The staple foods were rice and steamed buns.
Everyone was shocked. The crew's food was too good!
Several of the leading actors were from Northeast China, so Chen Jianguo had found a Northeastern restaurant to cater. Eating some Northeastern cuisine on such a cold day was also a good idea.
Everyone was quite satisfied with the food, as it was the first time they had seen a crew with such good conditions.
At noon, Lin Chudong called Fang Wei to inquire about the extras.
He checked the weather forecast, and they should be able to shoot outdoor scenes tomorrow. The military consultant had already been hired; now they were just short of extras.
Fang Wei looked a bit troubled, "Fei-ge, something happened with the extras here. Several of the group leaders said they don't have anyone available. It seems they've all been borrowed by the crew of True Colors of the Anti-Japanese War."
Lin Chudong frowned, what a joke, in such a large film and television base, all the extras could be borrowed?
It was obvious that these group leaders were playing tricks, not wanting to find people for Lin Chudong, right?
Liangyin was so angry that she crossed her arms, "Li Zhilin is going too far, isn't he? Just film properly, why does he have to resort to underhanded tactics? Is it fun to fight like this?"
Lin Chudong snorted coldly, "He's not a person with much vision to begin with. Without extras, we won't be able to film tomorrow."
"Xiaoliang, you and Jia Lu go to the nearby universities and find the students in their law departments. Tell them it's eighty a day, including lunchboxes, immersive script killing, and free answers to law exam questions."
"Most importantly, Liangyin Media can issue them internship certificates."
"Okay!"
The two of them immediately took action.
Fortunately, Brother Fei is quite well-known in the law school circles, and he can practically get a crowd together with a single call. If he can really find a group of university students, it should be enough.
Liangyin was a little worried, "Da Fei, will the university students be okay? Are their acting skills up to par?"
Lin Chudong laughed, "Aren't the extras all non-professionals?"
"That's true."
In the afternoon, they continued shooting the interior scenes.
Li Hongbin was performing with great effort.
"Why does the 772nd Regiment get to be the main attack, and we're the reserve? Do they really think we're stepchildren?"
"Let me tell you, a single rotten soldier ruins the whole army, and a rotten general ruins a whole nest of them. Our Independent Regiment can't get any decent food because you, you damn political commissar, are too timid in front of your superiors. What are you afraid of? Why won't you dare to fight with the brigade commander?"
"I'm telling you, Kong Jie, go ask around in the New First Regiment. I've been polite to you. In our regiment, only I get to scold people. Who dares to glare at me!"
"When I was in Eyuwan, I was demoted and reinstated five times, and lost the position of regimental commander three or four times. You dare to stare at me? You're not even worthy!"
Li Hongbin puffed out his beard and glared, his performance was vivid, he didn't use a script at all, but he didn't miss a single word. The veteran actor was extremely professional.
"You, Kong Erlengzi, have become a political commissar in a blink of an eye? You're like a pig with a scallion in its nose, pretending to be something you're not!"
"Old Zhao is at least an intellectual. What are you? You can't even recognize a single character, and you don't even know the character 'one' when a carrying pole falls over. You're like Zhu Bajie wearing glasses, pretending to be a college student!"
The phone rang, and Li Hongbin's expression immediately changed.
"Brigade commander, thank you! Hehe, thank you, brigade commander, I'm kneeling down for you!"
...
Everyone on set burst out laughing. Li Yunlong was portrayed so vividly; the character's personality was just perfect.
"This is killing me! Even without watching the monitor, I knew it would be hilarious. Are we sure this is a serious anti-Japanese war drama and not a comedy? Haha!"
"Of course, it's a proper drama, but this Li Yunlong is really interesting. I can't wait to watch it! When will we get to see the finished product?"
"Aren't you getting enough of it here on set?"
"It's not the same! When we're filming, it's all disjointed, you can't piece it together!"
"Fei-ge is truly a genius. This script is unbeatable; it's definitely a breath of fresh air in the world of anti-Japanese dramas."
"Exactly, with all these young idols dominating the scene, anti-Japanese dramas have become unwatchable. They're all so ridiculous. This time, using an experienced actor as the male lead might actually work wonders."
"Absolutely, Fei-ge's scriptwriting in this section is just divine. The characters' personalities are perfectly portrayed. The way he curses is simply masterful."
"That's right, Fei-ge is a master of insults. He's chewed out Li Zhilin several times, really giving him a dressing down."
"Shh... Don't talk about that. Haven't you seen that we don't have any extras because we offended Li Zhilin? Fei-ge has connections in the music world, but he's still a bit green in the film and television industry."
"..."
The sky darkened, and the light was no longer sufficient.
"Wrap it up!"
Everyone started to get busy. They were all quite tired after a long day, but after watching the scenes filmed today, they were all filled with confidence in this drama.
This drama definitely has a future!
That evening, Li Zhilin, Shi Wei, and a few others set up an electric hot pot in their room. Eating some hot pot with thinly sliced mutton was really comfortable in this weather.
A production assistant walked in and said, "Director Shi, Brother Zhilin, the actors on set are saying the hotel is a bit cold. Several of them have started sneezing. Should we move them to another hotel?"
Shi Wei frowned. "Changing hotels is too much trouble. Besides, can we even move them all to a five-star hotel? Buy some cold medicine and electric blankets. They'll just have to deal with it."
"Tell them that no one will wait for them if they get sick. If they can't act, we'll replace them."
The production assistant nodded. "Understood, Director Shi."
Li Zhilin sneered, "These people are such drama queens. They all think they're big stars, don't they?"
Shi Wei said, "Zhilin, I don't care about you and Fei-ge, as long as it doesn't affect our filming. You've spoken to those extras, right? Make sure they don't cause any trouble."
Li Zhilin said, "Don't worry, Director Shi. I've taken care of those group leaders with money. I'll personally pay for the extras. No one ever complains about having too many, right?"
Director Zhuang Yan said, "That's right. You can never have too many extras. It's a war drama, the bigger the scene, the better. I can use them all."
A smile appeared on Li Zhilin's face.
In the film set, could Fei-ge still outplay him?
Spending a little money could paralyze their side. Without extras, let's see how they continue.
If they have the guts, let them go find old men and women in the residential areas. Then he'd admit they were capable.
In the evening, Guo Xiaoliang and Jia Lu returned.
"Fei-ge, the task is complete. Over a hundred people signed up, and we went to three schools. About half are from the law department, and the rest are from various other majors. What's even more surprising is that there's a group of Japanese language majors."
Lin Chudong said, "That's perfect. Tomorrow, everyone will wear the uniforms of the puppet army and the Japanese devils. Those who speak Japanese will play the majors and colonels, and those who are six feet tall will play the Eighth Route Army soldiers."
"Alright."
Lin Chudong and Wang Zhi were in the same room. After they lay down, Wang Zhi was too excited to sleep.
"Fei-ge, am I also in charge of arranging the explosion scene tomorrow?"
Lin Chudong said, "You can't arrange anything. You just listen to the prop master."
"That's good, you scared me. I don't dare to touch that stuff."
The indoor scenes were fine, but for the outdoor scenes, it's easy to get chaotic if you can't control the whole scene.
Wang Zhi said, "Fei-ge, if the scene isn't well-controlled tomorrow, don't scold me, okay?"
Lin Chudong laughed, "You've got no confidence, kid. That's all the ambition you have?"
"Just focus on your job tomorrow. If things get chaotic on set, don't lose your temper. I'll take charge. You just take some short videos. Consider it our exclusive behind-the-scenes footage."
Wang Zhi was taken aback, "I'm shooting behind-the-scenes stuff with my phone?"
"Exactly. Post them on our official account. Especially if those college students start acting up, film them a lot. We're not in a rush to finish; it's fine."
Ordinary extras had their way of filming, and the college students had their own strategies. Since Li Zhilin wanted to play with him, he'd play along.
The next morning, around a hundred people arrived on set.
These college students were immediately excited as they entered the filming location.
The rules were already laid out before they arrived. They wouldn't touch anything belonging to the crew and kept their distance from the expensive equipment. However, they were thrilled to see the prop guns and grenades.
As soon as Lin Chudong appeared, he was immediately surrounded.
"Don't crowd around! Listen to Brother Wang's instructions. We'll take group photos during the lunch break!"
Everyone wanted to take a picture with Fei-ge, but the day was busy, and they had a lot to film, so there wasn't time for them to be starstruck.
The outdoor shots began, and the close-ups of the main actors were definitely fine; their acting was on point, and the shots were good.
They could see their breath in the air when they spoke; it was freezing, but the shots came out looking very realistic.
However, the college students were a bit out of control. They all kept breaking into laughter, and at first, they didn't want to wear the Japanese soldiers' uniforms.
But once they put them on, they immediately became sleazy, and turned into acting pros.
A gunfight scene, and everyone was scurrying around, clutching their heads.
Wang Zhi was both angry and amused. This take was unusable. The college students were still at it, completely absorbed.
He took out his phone and started filming.
Lin Chudong walked out with a megaphone, shouting at the students in the trenches.
"Who the hell just yelled 'wo cao'? You all blew it, you know that? Yell 'baka'! Stop using those national treasures, you're all talking like you've been eating honey."
They looked pretty stupid before, but after Fei-ge's scolding, they suddenly became hilarious.
Not much of the footage from this morning was usable, but the atmosphere was definitely joyful.
At lunchtime, all the college students took out their phones and started filming.
"Damn, the food in this crew is really good! Much better than the school!"
"The crew's cafeteria has six dishes. Guys, my eyes have been opened."
"Eating a free buffet, playing a script-killing game all day, and taking a photo with Fei-ge, he even gave me eighty bucks. I'm totally winning this round, brothers!"
"Playing the Japanese is so addictive. Although the Japanese costume is on me, my heart is still a Chinese heart..."
I have to say, these college students are bursting with energy, even during the lunch break.
A group of people started shooting short videos outside the crew. They hadn't had enough acting in the crew, so they had to get their fix.
Several young men in Japanese military uniforms were seriously recording videos.
"Hui-san, the cherry blossoms of my hometown are in bloom..."
Seeing them filming short videos, Wang Zhi asked, "Fei-ge, is this considered a leak?"
"No, let them film. We'll repost it later on our official Douyin account and treat it as exclusive behind-the-scenes footage."
Wang Zhi nodded. Although he didn't understand it, he thought Fei-ge's marketing strategy was quite unique, and it might actually be effective.
The outdoor filming progress of the first day was slow. These college students NG'd too much, either laughing while pretending to fight, or shouting "fuck" while running. Later, under Lin Chudong's direction, the Japanese language students charged to the front, spouting Japanese, and the effect was actually not bad.
The next morning, as soon as Lin Chudong opened his eyes, Guo Xiaoliang ran over.
"Fei-ge, there are dozens more college students outside, saying they don't want any money, just want to experience it and get an internship certificate."
Lin Chudong smiled, "Alright, you and Wang Zhi arrange it. These college students are under your command."
Wang Zhi got up early and spent some time on Douyin while squatting in the toilet.
Seeing that a work called 'Hui-sang, The Cherry Blossoms of My Hometown Are About to Bloom' made by two college students had over a million likes, it's estimated to have tens of millions of views, right?
This can also go viral?
Wang Zhi logged onto the band's official account and looked at the video posted yesterday; the views had surprisingly exceeded ten million.
"What drama is this? I need to know the name within five minutes."
"Does the crew still need actors? I don't want money, I just want to freeload some food. I'm really good at playing the Japanese."
"I am Japanese. Please let me do a true-to-life performance. Just give me an internship certificate."
"This crew is amazing. The internship certificate isn't from Liangyin Media, but from the Yamamoto Special Assault Force of the Greater Japanese Empire."
"College student: Director, how much per day? Director: 80."
College student: Where do I pay?
College student: Fun, meals, and money.
Director: Obedient and cheap.
Investor: They'll watch it themselves after it airs, a huge profit.
Parents: Not at home, free time.
"Originally invested five million, and eight million was left after filming."
"…"
Wang Zhi was about to burst out laughing when he saw the comments from the netizens. The third episode of Swords Drawn hadn't even finished filming, but it was already very popular. This marketing campaign deserves full marks.
Fei-ge isn't just a genius director, he's a marketing mastermind!
Lin Chudong received a call from Huang Wei during his break.
"Big Fei, I saw your series on Douyin. You're so talented, getting a bunch of college students to promote it for you? When can I get the episodes?"
"Sister Huang, it'll be about two months. Can you finalize the price on your end?"
Huang Wei said, "Don't worry, our leaders saw your promotional efforts. At least 1.5 million per episode, prime time at eight in the evening, and ten percent of the advertising revenue for you. This is unprecedented."
"They say you're the darling of CCTV, and this time it's confirmed."
-----------------------
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