Early in the morning, at a hotel by a beach in Qiongdao, Qi Yukun got up with a tired face and looked at the materials he had shot in the past two days.
Although it was shot with a digital camera, the effect of the shot can be clearly seen on the monitor at the shooting site, but Qi Yukun still wanted to be cautious and spent two hours every other morning looking at the material.
And we couldn’t shoot outdoor scenes in the morning. After all, all the scenes near the beach were outdoor scenes, and most of them relied on natural light.
It's March again now, and even in Qiongdao in the south, the outdoor sunlight in the morning is simply incomparable to the summer vacation in the movie plot.
Usually, we don’t start shooting until at least nine or ten o’clock in the morning. When the sun is about to go down, we switch to indoor scenes, so we have time to read the material in the morning.
As a director for the first time, Qi Yukun was also very careful. After all, the production cost was nearly 10 million and the first film was a hit. If he messed up, he couldn't imagine the consequences.
The debut film is a commercial film costing tens of millions of dollars. It is impossible for even a professional director to get such a high investment for his first work.
If the cost was hundreds of thousands or one million, it would probably be okay if it failed, and the loss wouldn't be much.
However, Qi Yukun had no doubt that it was nearly 10 million. If he really lost all of it, Li Qian would be willing to chop him in the heart with a knife.
Moreover, once it fails, it can almost declare that his dream of directing is shattered. No company will reinvest in a director who lost nearly 10 million on his debut film.
Cautious and fearful, these four words can only be used to describe Qi Yukun's mood.
After reading the material and having dinner, Qi Yukun went to the set again.
The crew at the beach are already waiting. The scene to be filmed today is the corpse of a killer whale stranded on the beach. Li Guangjie concluded from the wounds on the whale that it was caused by a shark.
Another marine expert disagreed. Although killer whales are a member of the dolphin family, they are known as whale killers. They are carnivores and will prey on sharks, even great white sharks.
A killer whale is eight or nine meters long, so how big must the shark be?
The killer whale carcass has been prepared at the beach. After preparing for a while, the filming started after the actors and extras were in place.
With an order from the executive director, filming began.
Qi Yukun also sat in front of the monitor, watching the performance on the screen.
There was nothing wrong with the first scene, but when Li Guangjie was arguing with the marine expert, he shouted stop before the scene was finished.
"Click!"
"Come again."
"Click."
...
A simple shot failed four times in a row, and Qi Yukun was helpless.
Since the filming of the movie started, as expected, Li Guangjie is not as obedient as he was in the first movie, expressing his thoughts from time to time.
Just express your own thoughts. Everyone has their own thoughts. If you don't have your own thoughts, you are not a human being.
However, even if Qi Yukun did not adopt Li Guangjie's opinion, he would still argue.
And it's getting more and more outrageous, and I always act according to my own understanding.
After several NG shots in a row, it was still not a difficult shot, and the atmosphere in the entire crew was not good.
Qi Yukun shook off the walkie-talkie in his hand, stood up from his chair with a look of helplessness, and told Li Guangjie about the scene again.
However, Li Guangjie still insisted on his own ideas.
"Director, in the last film, my character has already gone through the transformation process from a mediocre middle-aged man who drifted with the crowd under pressure from many parties, to finally killing the Great White Shark and becoming a hero.
I feel that the image of our character in the second part should not be like the first part. I am already a hero who kills great white sharks. Even when facing the resort owner or the village chief, my attitude must be stronger. No.
They should be controlled by their work and hometown, and should not be coerced.
Otherwise, he would be playing the same character from the first half of the first movie. After killing the Great White Shark and becoming a hero, his character's character would not change at all. This is unreasonable.
Just like in this scene, I was discussing with a marine expert whether the killer whale was killed by a great white shark. If I had kept my posture very low and tried to convince him, with a face full of anxiety and fear, the character would not be able to stand up.
I have already seen a great white shark attack a human, and even fought it and killed it with my own hands. I no longer have any fear of sharks. When I see this scene, I will worry about the safety of tourists, but I will not panic or even be afraid.
When expressing your thoughts to a marine expert, your attitude should be more decisive. You should not just follow his words and interrupt him forcefully when necessary. Compared with a marine expert who talks on paper, he has personally killed a great white shark.
I am the one who has the most say."
He talked a lot eloquently and became more and more enthusiastic.
Li Guangjie still attaches great importance to the movie "Jaws: The Revenge".
After all, none of my movies have been released, and Beginning of Spring is not a commercial movie.
And the response to the first part was so good that this sequel may even be a hit.
However, all the audience discussions in the first movie were focused on Jaws, while the real protagonist himself was ignored, which made Li Guangjie feel very unhappy.
Obviously, I completed my role very well. The character was full of contradictions. In the end, I overcame all the contradictions from the outside world and myself, completed the redemption, and finally the character was sublimated.
But no audience mentioned him, as if the protagonist was dispensable.
Li Guangjie didn't think it was because he didn't perform well. After much thought, he finally found the reason.
Although this character is very malleable, the first two-thirds are too cowardly. The boss and the village chief used the overall situation to suppress him, resulting in the death of two more people, which is not liked by the audience.
In this kind of monster movie, what the audience likes to see is a tall and awesome protagonist who defeats an even more awesome monster, rather than the helpless and weak protagonist in front of him.
Therefore, in the second part, Li Guangjie was not satisfied with the setting of the script and almost relied on the first part again.
Moreover, he didn't think he was wrong. The character had already completed his transformation at the end of the first part. He couldn't ignore it in the second part.
It was a headache for Qi Yukun to hear him talk about so many things. He ignored the insignificant parts, but if he changed the character of the protagonist, it would not work no matter what.
The shark is the absolute protagonist!
Qi Yukun would not dare to forget this confession made by Li Qian before leaving.
However, despite Qi Yukun's hard words, Li Guangjie still insisted on his own ideas.
At the beginning when filming started, Li Guangjie was still a little apprehensive, but seeing Qi Yukun being so easy to talk to, he gradually started to have more and more ideas.
If this was just a minor role, Qi Yukun wouldn't say it a second time. Just like what happened to Yin Tianchou in "The King of Comedy", he would just tell him to get lost.
However, the male protagonist is different, not to mention that he himself is a new director.
Just when Qi Yukun was at a loss what to do, Li Qian's voice came from not far away.
"Lao Qi, hello everyone."
Hearing this voice, Qi Yukun felt relieved and quickly turned around to greet him.
"Boss, you are here."
Others also quickly said hello.
The crew of "Jaws: The Revenge" is basically composed of people from "Frequency of Life and Death", as well as special effects director Liu Jinhui who was sent by the special effects company of the first film.
Except for Zhang Zhonghua and the original lighting master who followed Guo Fan to the "127 Hours Crew", everyone else is basically here.
After all, in the film "127 Hours", the photographer and lighting are as important as the actors.
When Li Guangjie saw Li Qian coming, his face fell, but he immediately smiled again and walked up quickly to say hello.
"Director Li is here."
Li Qian glanced around and said with a smile, "It's okay, I'll just come and take a look. Is everything okay?"
Qi Yukun did not mention the contradiction in public and nodded, "Everything went smoothly."
"Then take your pictures seriously and don't worry about me."
Li Qian waved his hand and walked aside. The field worker next to him quickly brought a chair over.
"Okay, let's get ready and move on to the next item."
Qi Yukun also ordered everyone to get down and sat back in front of the monitor.
During this filming, there was an additional supervisor beside him, who was also a major investor. The entire crew immediately became nervous and acted more carefully.
However, Li Guangjie still acted according to his own ideas.
"Click."
Qi Yukun shouted to stop again, "One more."
"Click!"
It was still the same the second time.
Li Guangjie glanced at Li Qian not far away with some guilt, feeling hesitant for a moment.
When the executive director called to start, Li Guangjie was still hesitating whether to continue to stick to his own ideas and act, or simply follow Qi Yukun's request and lean on the protagonist of the previous film.
In the tangle, this one clicked again.
Li Qian was still sitting there leisurely, watching them take photos with great interest.
Li Qian said nothing, and Qi Yukun continued filming.
It wasn't until Li Guangjie failed again that he finally acted according to the requirements honestly and did not mix his own ideas.
Qi Yukun breathed a sigh of relief and quickly prepared for the next shot.
Li Guangjie didn't know what was going on. When Li Qian came, he seemed to feel a little awkward again, just like when he was filming the first film, he was very uncomfortable.
At the beginning, Li Qian was just a big internet director, but now, he is a director in the billion dollar club. In terms of box office, he is one of the few directors in China.
Li Guangjie felt very uncomfortable when he thought about the half-month filming time. As long as he was on the set, he felt like he was just a moving tool, doing whatever he was told and not allowed to have his own ideas.
I really don’t want to film under Li Qian anymore!
As soon as this thought came to my mind, I immediately threw it away.
But if you feel uncomfortable, be uncomfortable. He is a director who can sell 100 million in box office. After all, it only takes two months to shoot a movie, so it is not impossible to agree.
After that, Li Guangjie became much more honest and had the idea of performing well in front of Li Qian. The filming went particularly smoothly.
I have already played the same role with similar character settings once, and it will be easy to play it a second time.