On June 1st, the filming of the movie was halfway through, and today the crew returned to the sea again to shoot Yang Mi's scene on the whale carcass.
Yesterday afternoon, Xu Ruoyun told Tang Liao'an that Li Xiaowan would come to Xiangshan to visit the class at noon at the latest and asked him to be prepared.
This is unavoidable. After all, Yang Mi is now regarded as Rong Xinda's more promising actress. She is highly favored by Li Xiaowan and is a target of vigorous training.
Moreover, Xiangshan is not far from Hengdian. It only takes three or four hours to drive, so it is very convenient to come and go.
During this time, Tang An was also thinking about how to deal with the situation. If Li Xiaowan saw that he was the only one on the crew and took Yang Mi back in anger, he would be blinded.
Fortunately, the movie has already entered the middle and late stages. Li Xiaowan will let Yang Mi finish filming as long as he is not too impulsive.
Tang An's scene today was also temporarily arranged. He had to show off his directing talents in the shortest possible time and make Li Xiaowan believe that the crew could film it well even if he was the only one on the crew.
He directed several people to push the whale prop into the sea, float it in a suitable place, and then fixed it on the bottom of the water.
We are now about 50 meters away from the shore, and the water is not very deep.
In addition to them, Tang An also went to a nearby scenic spot to temporarily hire three lifeguards at a high price of 30 yuan a day to prevent accidents.
Everyone is wearing full equipment. Tang An's camera is not a professional underwater camera, so he can only cover the entire outside, leaving only the lens exposed to prevent water from entering.
After checking it again, the shooting started.
"Scene 19, 1 shot, 1 shot!"
"start!"
Tang An put on a cheap nylon diving suit and floated on the water with the camera on his shoulders.
In the camera, Yang Mi, who was lying on the whale carcass, slowly struggled to take pictures, resting his hands on it, and looked back at the wound on his thigh.
There were huge tooth marks from both factions, and blood flowed profusely.
Yang Mi quickly flattened her thighs, took off the rope around her ankle that was used to fix the surfboard, and made an emergency bandage to stop the bleeding first.
"Click!"
"Wait, try it again, pay attention to your expression!"
"Remember what it says in the script, close your eyes and raise your head and scream in despair!"
"Despair, do you understand what I mean?"
Yang Mi listened to Tang An's instructions and just wanted to shake his head to show that he didn't understand.
Unexpectedly, Tang An explained to her immediately, "Just think about it, being seriously injured and floating on the uninhabited sea, with a hunting shark nearby, ordinary people must be immediately confused and don't know what to do. It’s just despair!”
Yang Mi nodded thoughtfully, "Director, I understand!"
"Scene 19, 1 shot, 2 shots, start!"
Yang Mi untied the rope again, looped it around his thigh, tied a knot to stop the bleeding, and shouted to the sky with pain on his face, "Ah!"
"Click!"
“Much better than before!”
Tang An praised, and then said, "But your timing is wrong. When you tie that knot, you have to shout out. The pain is also one of the reasons why you are so desperate!"
Then why didn't you tell me earlier?
Yang Mi muttered quietly and untied the rope from his legs.
"What?" Tang An, who was playing with the camera, turned around and asked.
"Ah...it's nothing, I understand!"
This shot didn't meet Tang An's requirements until the 13th time. He has very strict requirements for every shot. After all, the big screen is not so easy to fool.
"Okay, you lie down now and I'll take some close-ups!"
First, there is a close-up shot from bottom to top, showing Yang Mi and the wounds on the whale's body together, hinting to the audience the heroine's subsequent situation.
Then there is a close-up of the side, Yang Mi is still very strong when lying down, like two mountain peaks suddenly rising from the plain, very tempting.
...
The time slowly approached noon, when Li Xiaowan also arrived.
Seeing that it was almost time for dinner, Tang An simply ended work dozens of minutes early.
Back on the shore, Li Xiaowan, dressed in professional attire, was waiting there.
"Hello, Mr. Li!" Tang An greeted her before taking off his diving suit.
Li Xiaowan looked around and asked with some uncertainty, "Director Tang, why don't I see the rest of the crew?"
Tang An didn't hide it either. He couldn't hide it no matter what he said at this time, unless he temporarily recruited a large group of people to make up the number, but that would definitely be seen through by Li Xiaowan.
"Mr. Li, there's no need to watch, I'm the only one on the crew!"
"Director Tang is kidding!" Li Xiaowan looked back at Tang An and laughed.
"This kind of thing is nothing to joke about. If Mr. Li doesn't believe it, just ask Mi Mi!" Tang An shook his head and said.
Li Xiaowan frowned and looked at Yang Mi.
Yang Mi looked at Tang An and saw that his expression was normal and not panicked, so he told the truth.
"Mr. Li, what Director Tang said is true. During this period, apart from temporarily hiring a few people to do odd jobs, Director Tang is the only one filming!"
Xu Ruoyun echoed, "Mr. Li, it is indeed the case. Director Tang is now also the photographer, lighting engineer, props artist, set designer... various positions, and he completed the entire film by himself!"
Now Li Xiaowan was even more shocked, followed by anger after being deceived.
"Mr. Tang, aren't you going to explain?"
Li Xiaowan increased his tone and even changed his title.
Before, she had never thought that Tang An's small crew would be so small. To say it was a grass-stage crew was a compliment.
Tang An motioned for the two of them to get in the car first, and then explained to Li Xiaowan.
"Mr. Li, due to lack of funds, the crew has saved everything they can, and I really don't have any extra money to hire people!"
"It's unheard of for me to have a one-person crew after more than 10 years in the industry. Mr. Tang, I don't need to say anymore. I'm going to take them away today. It's a waste of time to stay here!" Li Xiaowan laughed angrily.
"I can understand your mood, Mr. Li. This is indeed a bit of a fantasy, but please rest assured that there is only one main character in this film, and the shots are not very complicated. I will have no problem by myself!"
Tang An said as he turned on the monitor and brought out the footage he had taken previously.
"Mr. Li, please look at this. This is the result of more than half a month. I believe that even if we find a full crew, we may not be able to shoot better than this!"
Seeing Tang An's words so confidently, Li Xiaowan moved over to take a look.
There are no problems with the lens or lighting. Although there are some minor flaws, they are not serious.
But what really interested Li Xiaowan was Yang Mi's performance.
It had only been more than half a month, and she found that Yang Mi's acting skills had improved a lot and could already support a movie.
Although this movie relies on creativity, plot and rhythm to win, there is no doubt that Yang Mi has made progress.
Maybe it would be good to stay and continue filming. No matter how good the film is, at least Yang Mi can practice her acting skills.
That's it, after Tang An's repeated persuasion, Li Xiaowan agreed to let Yang Mi finish filming the film.
We had lunch together at the village chief's house at noon, and after confirming with Xu Ruoyun and Yang Mi that there were no other problems, we prepared to rush back to Hengdian.
"Don't worry, Mr. Li, Director Tang did a good job, this movie should be good!" Yang Mi also said a good word to Tang An.
Humph, that’s ridiculous. If one person can make a good movie, why do we need so many people behind the scenes?
Li Xiaowan thought to herself that if it weren't for the purpose of training Yang Mi's acting skills, she would never allow this "movie" to continue filming.
PS: Thanks to "Bright Majesty" and "168666609" for the 100 starting coin reward, I wish everyone a happy May Day!