Chapter 16 Preparations
Chapter 16 Preparations
It was already the afternoon of the next day when Zhang Chen and his group returned to the imperial capital, carrying investment contracts and checks. However, there were three people when they went there, but four when they came back.
It was Lao Li who drove them back.
As the largest investor, Haixin Group naturally had to send a producer, and Lao Li was that producer.
In fact, he doesn't know how to make a movie, but as the largest investor, Hai Xin must have a pair of eyes watching here, at least he must know how the money is spent. Lao Li is the middleman in this matter, and he is the most suitable person to play this role.
The car drove to the gate of Beijing Film Academy and stopped. Several people got out, including Lao Li.
"Uncle Li, just send it here. The crew is expected to start the preliminary preparations in the next two days. I will notify you then."
"Okay, wait a minute~"
After saying that, Lao Li opened the trunk and took out a lot of Pingyao beef and aged vinegar gift boxes.
"Take these, this is a little gift from Director Li, everyone has one."
"Well... then please, Uncle Li, thank Director Li for us."
They were just some small gifts, and Zhang Chen did not refuse. Seeing this, the other people also expressed their gratitude.
Uncle Li left and went to see Che Xiao off, while Zhang Chen and Cao Bingkun walked towards the school.
The school officially started yesterday and there were quite a lot of people in the school.
Two people were walking in the school carrying gift boxes of different sizes. The gift boxes were not small, but not very heavy, it’s just that the packaging boxes took up quite a bit of space.
After separating from Cao Bingkun, Zhang Chen did not return to his dormitory, but went straight to the audition building.
When he arrived at the second floor, some classrooms were still in class. Zhang Chen came to the office. He was lucky because Teacher Fu was there today. He was the only one in the office. The other teachers should have gone to class.
buckle buckle~
After knocking on the door a few times, Teacher Fu, who was sitting inside, looked up and saw Zhang Chen at the door.
"Zhang Chen, come on in, um, what are you doing?"
Seeing that it was his student, Teacher Fu was very happy and invited him in. But when he saw what he was holding in his hand, he suddenly frowned.
"Teacher Fu, this is not a gift for you. Someone from my hometown brought some local specialties. I am just offering this as a token of my gratitude."
After hearing what Zhang Chen said, Teacher Fu finally smiled.
Zhang Chen put the beef and aged vinegar in the corner and then sat down opposite the desk.
Teacher Fu poured him a glass of water: "Why, did you just come back from your hometown?"
"Ah."
Zhang Chen nodded. After sitting in the car for a whole day, he was really thirsty, so he drank the water in the cup in one gulp.
Teacher Fu was happy. He liked the fact that Zhang Chen was not pretentious in front of him.
Because of the dream, Zhang Chen didn't psychologically regard Teacher Fu as a high and mighty old professor.
Teacher Fu poured him another glass, which Zhang Chen drank up in no time.
He then took out a check and flicked it ostentatiously: "Teacher Fu, look, what is this?"
“Is the investment in place?”
Teacher Fu took the check and looked at it. It was for 200 million yuan and he was a little surprised.
He knew that China Film Corporation had refused to invest, and he also knew that Zhang Chen had returned to his hometown to solicit investment, but he did not expect it to be so simple. He could get 200 million by just returning to his hometown.
"How did you convince the other party?"
"I told him to throw the money in if he wanted to, and get lost if he didn't, and then he paid."
"Go away~"
Well, the attempt to show off failed.
"When will the filming start? Have the crew members been arranged?"
"Except for the two roles of Sharla and Juno, the others have not been decided yet. I still need you to step in for this. I would like to use students from our school as much as possible for the other roles. Please help me choose them. Try to choose those with good acting skills and low prices. By the way, I have found a photographer, a fellow villager of mine..."
"Okay, you're making me the casting director, okay? Who are the two main roles for?"
It is not easy to attract investment for one's student's first work, so Teacher Fu will certainly do his best to help.
However, he was quite interested in the selection of the two main roles.
I was originally thinking of recommending it, but I didn’t expect that Zhang Chen had already decided on it.
"One is a senior who graduated from Beijing Film Academy, her name is Che Xiao, she is from the vocational high school class, and the other is from the Central Academy of Drama, her name is Zeng Li, she is a very good actress." Teacher Fu had never heard of either of the two people Zhang Chen mentioned, but since they had already been decided, he didn't say anything more.
Originally, the acting teacher asked him to help recommend his students, but now it seems that this is definitely not possible.
This is the industry rule. It is the director's right to decide the casting. Even if he is a teacher, he can only make suggestions and cannot interfere.
"Don't worry about the selection of other supporting roles. I'll just talk to the teacher in the acting department and ask him to recommend a few reliable ones."
"The venue is the Qingying Studio's studio?"
"Well, I'll have to trouble you for this."
"It's a small matter. I have already informed Director Qiu Yuanxu in advance. The shed is empty at the moment, so you can use it as you like. You can also use their equipment. I will help you negotiate the price and guarantee the best discount."
"Teacher, you are so awesome. How about you also help solve the other positions in the crew?"
Zhang Chen took advantage of the situation and Teacher Fu looked at his student in silence.
"You know this guy well, a veteran can do two things at once~"
"Okay, okay," Teacher Fu pretended to be annoyed: "I take back what I said just now. I'm not a casting director, I'm a producer."
Of course, I am just pretending to complain. Where is this place? This is Beijing Film Academy, the highest institution of learning in China's film and television industry.
It was too easy to put together a crew here, and the level was not bad. Teacher Fu did not deal with it, and called teachers from various departments in front of Zhang Chen, requiring them to be experienced, at least had been in a crew, and had experience.
Zhang Chen was delighted. Of course he could put together a crew on his own, but it would definitely not be as convenient as Teacher Fu's, and the people he found would definitely be different.
Therefore, only students of Beijing Film Academy can enjoy such great convenience.
The reason they dared to make a movie with a cost of 200 million is that the venue, props and personnel are all the cheapest. It would be impossible to do this outside.
"I'll find a classroom tomorrow and bring someone to show you around. Wait for my call then."
"Okay, Mr. Fu, you are really my anchor."
"Don't flatter me. If you have nothing else to do, just get out of here. I have to run errands for you."
"Thank you for your hard work."
……
After leaving Teacher Fu, Zhang Chen saw that it was still early, so he found an empty classroom and took out a thick preparation plan from his bag.
Now that the funds are in place and Teacher Fu is helping him set up the team, Zhang Chen can focus more on the preparations.
Teacher Fu can help solve the problems of personnel and venue, but there are many other details that need to be decided by him.
Preparing a film is a meticulous and strategic job, just like drawing a blueprint before building a house, which requires consideration of many aspects.
How many shots does each scene consist of, what props are needed for each shot, and how to place them.
Which scenes can be shot together and which must be shot separately, these need to be thought through clearly in the preparation stage, otherwise problems will easily arise during the actual shooting.
Hollywood movies generally have a U-shaped structure, with particularly long preparation and post-production periods, and relatively short shooting time. The same is true for regular domestic crews.
Generally speaking, the preparation period for a Hollywood blockbuster is about 6-8 months, followed by 3 months of shooting, and another 6-8 months of post-production.
A makeshift team usually has a very short preparation period, they just gather people and start working, but there are often many problems during filming.
During the winter vacation, he not only wrote a script and storyboard, but also a detailed preparation plan.
The preparation plan recorded everything Zhang Chen could think of, and made scene cards according to scenes and other elements.
When it comes to film preparation, many people think that the first thing to do is to write a storyboard script. In fact, it is not. The first thing to do is to break down the script.
Simply put, it means breaking down the script one by one according to elements such as scenes, locations, actors, etc., while indicating the shooting length, props, stunts and equipment needed.
The best way to accomplish this is to write everything down on index cards to create scenario cards.
After all the scenes are broken down, the production team will further refine them.
Is it a day scene or a night scene, an indoor scene or an outdoor scene, how to rent the location, how to coordinate the actors' schedules, and who needs to shoot together.
If it is a large crew, it is usually divided into several groups, one to shoot the main storyline, one to shoot the side storyline, and one to shoot the exterior scenes.
These need to be taken into consideration by the production team when coordinating.
Therefore, coordination is a very complicated task.
(End of this chapter)