The days are long in June. It's only four o'clock in the morning, and the sky is already white.
A Pampas green Mitsubishi Pajero pulled over at the entrance of a new community on Taiyangong South Street. At this time, a young girl carrying a backpack was already waiting at the door, and there was a huge suitcase next to her.
As soon as the car stopped, the girl was about to open the trunk door at the back.
"Put it in the back seat and throw the box directly on the back seat. There are films in the back."
He Xin stepped down from the driver's seat, opened the back seat door, and helped the girl move the heavy suitcase to the back seat.
"With so much luggage, do you plan to stay there and never come back?"
"No, I will definitely come back with you then. The boxes are full of food for Sister Hu and Xiao Wang."
He Lirong, the studio receptionist and busboy who usually wears heavy makeup, is rarely seen without a face. Moreover, she is usually seen wearing high heels. Today, she seems to be shorter in sneakers.
He saw her picking up the skewered string that was about to be draped over her body when he saw her, and said, "Boss, I'll hold it in front of you!"
He Xin said with a dark look on his face: "Put the dog down and you drive!"
But then he still asked a little worriedly: "How are your driving skills?"
He Lirong had no choice but to put the dog back in the back seat, pat its little head to comfort it, then straightened up and said with a grin: "Don't worry, boss, I can drive a pickup truck to the fish market to deliver goods when I'm in high school."
, the technology is absolutely fine.”
In fact, He Xin was still a little hesitant about whether to go visit the cast. After all, the location chosen by Ning Hao was too far away, almost to the border between China and Mongolia.
Originally a green grassland, the Ulan Butong Grassland not far from the capital is also pretty good. Many films and TV dramas about grasslands are usually shot there.
But Ning Haofei said that the Mongolians there were not like the Mongolians in the traditional sense, and that they had been close to the settlements of the Han people since ancient times, and their bloodline and living habits were no longer pure. Without him, he wanted to
That taste.
After reading a newly published novel called "Wolf Totem", he learned that there is a place called Dongwuqin near the border between China and Mongolia that retains the last piece of primitive grassland in Inner Mongolia. The Mongolian herdsmen there still retain the traditional nomadic people.
For this reason, he excitedly drove more than a thousand kilometers with photographer Du Jie to wander there for half a month. When he came back, he said that it was the green grassland in his mind.
This time, he took the preliminary staff there to select actors and set up scenes in late March. None of the actors were professional, they were all local herdsmen. The three main young actors went to school from dozens of local primary schools.
Selected from thousands of primary school students.
We started shooting in late May and have already shot almost half of the film. However, the film consumption is a bit high. When I learned that He Xin wanted to visit the class, I asked him to buy some film in the capital and bring it with him.
Kodak 35mm film is really hard to buy in other places except big cities.
He Xin, who was originally hesitant because he was worried about Lu Yuan, could only go now if he wanted to go or not.
He Lirong, the receptionist who had been staying in the studio during this period, heard that He Xin was going to visit the class, so she clamored to go with him. One of the most important reasons why He Xin could take her with him was that the girl knew how to drive.
After all, it is more than 600 kilometers from Beijing to Xilin Gol, more than 200 kilometers from Xilin Gol to Dongwuqin Banner, and 200 kilometers from Dongwuqin Banner to the remote Sumu town in Mandu. As for the location of the film set, it is still there
More than 30 kilometers northeast of the town, near the China-Mongolia border, is a place called Jiuqu of Nailin River.
When Ning Hao was filming "Green Grass" in the original time and space, the investors withdrew their funds before filming started. The original investment of 1.4 million was only 200,000. There was no choice but to change from film to DV again.
During the filming, in order to stabilize the crew, his girlfriend Xing Nana spent all the savings of more than 100,000 yuan that her family had saved to renovate the house and get married. In addition, she borrowed 100,000 yuan from a buddy to barely scrape together the money.
For this reason, I also forgot about the prop master who was setting up a yurt on the grassland 200 kilometers away from the station at that time. This guy could only guard the yurt on the deserted grassland with a radius of dozens of kilometers and no mobile phone signal. Fortunately, he
I was carrying a box of instant noodles, and luckily a sheepherder passed by. The sheepherder didn't speak Chinese, but he gestured, knowing that he had to bring some water to this strange Han man every day. Normally, the two of them could only squat a few meters apart and look at each other.
When the crew remembered the prop master and quickly drove to find him, seven or eight days had passed. When they found the prop master, they saw him standing on an oil drum and looking forward to it. He could hardly speak anymore.
, but the first sentence was: "Director, I want to return to the capital."
Because they had no money, the crew only had four rented shabby cars, which broke down every day. In the end, photographer Du Jie returned to the capital and drove his Cherokee, which became the main transportation source for this hard-working crew.
At the same time, because the location was remote, there was no mobile phone signal. Later, they found that there was an area of about two square meters on the top of a nearby mountain. If they stood a little higher, they could occasionally get a mobile phone signal, so they placed an oil drum there, and often used it from a distance.
There may be a person standing on an oil drum on the top of the mountain. But looking at the mountain nearby, it takes forty minutes to walk up from the shooting location.
Then the filming started, and all these bad things happened one after another. First, on the third day of filming, the van transporting the actors overturned into a deep ditch. One child suffered a fractured hip bone and needed six stitches on his head; an actress suffered a broken collarbone.
Fortunately, the local kind-hearted Mongolian herdsmen comforted them: "It's okay. It's common for children on the grassland to fall off their horses."
One sentence made Ning Hao, who was in extreme pain, burst into tears.
Then the arduous and difficult filming made many people unable to persist, and groups of people left one after another. Ning Hao could only grit his teeth, and in order to continue filming, he reorganized the organization: canceled the scene notes,
The child's local teacher serves as the assistant director, one driver serves as the production director, another driver serves as the live producer, and a sound engineer also serves as an on-site producer.
This is how the film "Green Grass" was completed.
Ning Hao is obviously much happier now. He has 1.5 million lying around in his account, and there is Xiao Douding who is fierce and able to control the entire crew to ensure logistics. He no longer has to distract his energy and can only concentrate on it.
Just make a good movie.
Of course, even so, filming in a deserted grassland is much harder than filming in a city. For example, there is almost no mobile phone signal on the set. If I want to contact him for something, I can't find anyone at all, so I can only wait for him to call me.
Call him. For this reason, He Xin specially brought him a satellite phone.
"Boss, does this car belong to you?" He Lirong sat on the driver's seat and looked at the interior of the car and asked.
"No, I borrowed it from a friend."
During this time, Li Mengnan went to another place to film a movie, so I lent the car to him when he had some spare time.
"I mean, how can a big star like our boss drive such an old car?"
He Lirong started the car and started looking at He Xin, who was sitting next to him with a sleepy look on his face, and said with a smile: "Boss, rest assured, my skills are absolutely reliable."
"It's better to drive slower, we are not in a hurry, please fasten your seat belt." He Xin still reminded.
I got together with Yu Dong last night. Even though he had stated in advance that he would drive to Inner Mongolia early this morning to visit the class, he was still drunk by the enthusiastic boss, and he is still a little dizzy.
However, he didn't dare to sleep right away. He sat next to He Lirong and watched for a while until he got on the Beijing-Tibet Expressway. When he saw that the girl's driving skills were really good, he put down the backrest with confidence and lay down to take a nap.
When he woke up in a daze, he felt that the sunshine outside was very dazzling. When he looked up, he had already got off the highway. Looking around, he saw straight roads and endless prairie.
He quickly raised his wrist to check the time. It was almost nine o'clock. Unknowingly, he had slept for four hours.
At this time, He Lirong, who was concentrating on driving, had put on a pair of sunglasses at some point. When she saw him waking up, she smiled and said: "Boss, you're awake!"
"Uh, sorry, I drank too much yesterday."
As he said that, he looked outside the car and couldn't help but ask: "Where are we?"
"I just passed Zhangbei County. This road is now National Highway 207. When I left the toll station, I asked, go to Xilingol and follow the national highway to the end."
"You drive pretty fast!" He Xin couldn't help but look at her in surprise and said.
"Okay."
He Lirong glanced at the odometer and said with a smile: "We have only driven more than 300 kilometers, not even 400 kilometers."
"Okay, you've worked hard after driving for such a long time. Pull over and I'll drive." He Xin was a little embarrassed, sleeping soundly and letting a girl drive for such a long time.
"It's okay, boss, I'm not tired at all! You see, the road is completely empty. You haven't seen a car for more than ten minutes, and there are prairie trees next to it. The scenery is so beautiful, it's just like driving a car." He Lirong said with a smile.
.
He Xin saw that she really looked like she was enjoying herself, so he didn't force her. He pulled up the backrest and chatted with her.
After all, it’s easy to get sleepy while driving long distances.
In fact, when Xiao Douding first recruited He Lirong, He Xin was a little uncomfortable with the girls here who wore heavy makeup. They thought they were quite coquettish and did not seem to suit the style of Xinhao Studio.
However, after getting to know her later, I discovered that makeup is just her hobby. In fact, this girl is quite nice, she has never even had a boyfriend, and her family is in good condition. She stayed in the capital just to pursue her dream.
There was no talk all the way, and the car drove into the hinterland of the Mongolian Plateau. The biggest feature here is probably the vast land and sparsely populated areas, with very few cars on the road. With the development of the economy in the past two years, the entire National Highway 207 is basically a black asphalt road.
The road condition is very good.
We arrived in Xilin Gol city before 12 noon. We had a simple lunch, filled up the car with gas and continued on our way. However, the road conditions were a little worse after changing to the provincial road, because June to September is the grazing season, and there are still
There were often cattle and sheep crossing the road, walking and stopping until nightfall was about to fall, before they arrived at the border town of Mandu Sumu.
When the car was about to arrive, it drove to a small figure standing at the door of the gas station at the entrance of the town. He was looking forward to it. When he saw the dusty off-road vehicle approaching, the color of which he could not see clearly.
waving.
"Ah - Sister Hu, you miss me so much!"
As soon as the car stopped, He Lirong jumped out of the car and rushed over to hug the little figure. Maybe she was overly excited, but she actually hugged the other person at once.
Hu Linyu stepped on her two short legs and said excitedly: "Did you bring all the food?"
"..."
It has been almost three months since Xiao Douding and Ning Hao came here to make preliminary preparations. Although they have returned to the capital twice for other reasons, this is the first time He Xin has seen them since they last parted.
to her.
Well, I've become a lot darker, and I've lost a lot of weight. But my eyes are a lot sharper, which makes me feel like I've been reborn, and my small body can actually emit a strong aura.
"Xiao Hu, thank you for your hard work!" He Xin walked over and greeted her with a smile.
Xiao Douding picked up Chuan Chuan, who had also eagerly jumped out of the car early in the morning. He only focused on petting the dog. He rolled his eyes at him and said angrily: "I'm not working hard, boss, it's you who are working hard. You have come all the way to visit the class."
Not to mention how far it was, He Xin just checked the odometer. It took nearly 16 hours to drive here, a total of 1,100 kilometers.
He didn't mind Xiao Douding's unkind attitude. He was such a person, and filming on the grassland during this period was indeed quite hard.
"Hey, where is Xiao Wang?"
"She is helping to prepare dinner. The crew will be back after a while, and since you, boss, came to visit the crew, we have to express your gratitude and give you a break, don't you agree?"
"Okay, I know you have worked hard during this period. In this way, you will be reimbursed for the things Xiao He brought today!" He Xin could only say with a wry smile.
"Really?"
As soon as he heard that he could be reimbursed, Xiaodouding immediately burst into laughter. Sure enough, he was still the money-hungry guy at heart.
But she was also very smart and said quickly: "Then I will just ask Xiaoqin to add this fee directly to the production cost."
Just then I thought about it and couldn't help but wailed: "If I had known this, I would have asked Rongrong to bring more!"
The town of Sumu in Mandu is very small, located on both sides of Provincial Highway 303, with a total length of only two hundred meters. Sumu is a transliteration of Mongolian, which means town when translated.
According to Xiao Douding’s introduction, Mandusumu is the most remote town in Dongwumuqin Banner. Its jurisdiction is larger than the entire capital city, but its population is only a little over 3,000. It mainly relies on animal husbandry and its economy is very backward. Many people
They have been herding cattle on the grassland all their lives. Not only do they not speak Chinese, many of them are illiterate. There are less than fifty students in the town’s central primary school.
In addition to working, Xiaodouding also helps with classes at school, teaching students English classes starting from the most basic ABCD. The teaching materials were brought with her own money when she returned to the capital last time.
The meal was arranged at the only restaurant in town. In addition to the residents of the town, the original customers of this restaurant were truck drivers passing by. Because there were few people and traffic, the business was very deserted. However, since the crew came, the business of the small restaurant suddenly increased.
Become popular.
The Mongolian boss greeted them warmly in blunt Chinese. The kitchen was steaming with steam, and large pieces of mutton were cooking in the pot. The smell was so fragrant that He Xin's mouth watered.
At this time, Wang Qin, a young accountant, was picking various unknown wild vegetables that had just been dug from the grassland with a woman with a typical Mongolian face and a bloated body.
Xiao Douding secretly told him that the wild vegetables here were delicious, but she thought the landlady here couldn't clean them well, so she asked Wang Qin to come over and help every time.
When Wang Qin saw them coming in, she, who had always been shy, couldn't hide her excitement. First she greeted He Xin shyly, and then she took He Lirong's hand and kept chattering.
After a while, people in the car were heard outside, followed by loud voices, among which Ning Hao’s broken gongs and drums were the loudest:
"Everyone, hurry up. The boss is here to visit the class today. Let's have a good meal together. Du Jie, don't forget to put the film away first... Hey, Geng Hao, your idol is here. Remember, I will pay you respects later."
Two glasses for him!”
Hey, He Xin, who was about to go out to greet him, was stunned for a moment when he heard this familiar name. Who is Geng Hao?