At 9 o'clock in the morning on April 16, Li Qian walked to the studio carrying the breakfast he bought on the roadside.
Everything went smoothly with the crew's preparations. After all, with a small crew of more than ten people, there was nothing troublesome.
There were only two main locations. The scenes in the phone booth were shot in the studio, and other scenes on the street were shot outdoors.
The crew completed preparations the day before yesterday and found an executive director who satisfied Li Qian.
Although Qi Yukun from Inner Mongolia has no executive experience, he once studied at the film training academy run by Xiying Film Studio. At Xiying Film Studio, he started from the bottom level as a recording pole lifter and set manager, and did all the bottom-level jobs on the crew.
Be familiar with any position in the entire crew, and have certain literary and directing skills.
This is already the best implementation found.
Once everything is ready, the shooting will officially start in two days.
However, before the shooting begins, a meeting must be held with the main creative staff to determine the shooting plan, shooting style, including specific operation methods.
As well as the mutual communication, collision of ideas, and complete understanding of the film among the main creators.
Great directors have their own team, and they know each other well enough. The director knows the personal style of his photography director and art director. They also know the director's habits and preferences, so communication will be simpler and more effective.
And if a crew that is just starting out doesn’t understand each other, and they don’t even agree on the overall style and understanding of the movie, it will be a disaster for the filming process.
In addition, there are still three days left today, which is enough. After all, the film is only 60 minutes long and has a simple structure, nothing complicated.
When we arrived at the studio, everyone was already there.
Lei Jiayin caught the high-speed train from Shanghai in the morning and came to the set in advance to prepare, while Peng Yuchang took a leave of absence. His second-model grades were very good and he didn't have any problems with the college entrance examination, so he came to the set to study in advance.
It's the first time since we stopped working in the studio that it's so lively.
"Good morning everyone, it seems I'm late."
Li Qian smiled and said hello to everyone.
As soon as he came in, Peng Yuchang reacted quickly and bowed, "Good morning, Director Li."
Guo Fan, Gao Yang and others also greeted each other.
"Boss!"
"Director Li."
"Have you all eaten? Please sit down first and wait for me. It will be finished soon."
Li Qian sat down at the head of the large table and took out breakfast from the bag.
A bowl of tofu puffs with a large spoonful of bright red chili sauce on top.
Use a spoon to mix evenly, red and white, it looks full of appetite.
After taking a few mouthfuls, I immediately hit the bottom.
This way of eating made people from all over the country have different expressions. Gao Yang, who is from eastern Guangdong, twitched his mouth. During the year in the studio, he felt uncomfortable every time he saw Li Qian eating like this.
Peng Yuchang on the side couldn't help but said, "Director Li, can chili be added to the tofu?"
Li Qian smiled and asked, "Why can't you add more? You don't eat spicy food?"
Peng Yuchang shook his head, "I've never tried eating like this."
“As a Jiangnan person, it’s impossible not to eat spicy food.”
Li Qian shook his head and said with some regret, "The taste is still not authentic. There used to be a breakfast shop that sold authentic Q County tofu puffs, but it's a pity that it's closed. The chili oil was so refreshing. Now I can only add some chili sauce."
.”
After throwing away the breakfast box, Li Qian looked at the people sitting on both sides with a serious face.
"There are still three days until the launch. This is the first time for everyone to work together. Let me say something first."
Seeing that Li Qian suddenly became so serious, everyone became serious and looked at him.
"This is the first feature film I have directed, and I have made some ugly remarks. As soon as the movie starts, no matter what happens, the whole crew has to listen to me."
As a director and investor, Li Qian had no problem saying this, and no one here showed any displeasure on their faces.
"Peng Peng, do you think the spicy tofu curd tastes good?"
Suddenly, Li Qian looked at Peng Yuchang with a smile.??
The sudden question made Peng Yuchang a little confused. He opened his mouth and reacted instinctively, "It should be delicious."
The atmosphere suddenly changed. Except for Zhang Zhonghua, Gao Yang, and Wang Lu, the three studio employees looked normal and even wanted to laugh a little. Others, including Lei Jiayin, became a little nervous.
"Then you can try it tomorrow."
Li Qian smiled and relaxed the atmosphere, "By the way, I found a cook for our crew, so we don't have to eat fast food. If you have any taboos, tell Gao Yang later. Although our conditions are simple, but
You still can’t be casual about eating.”
Absolute authority, Li Qian understood the importance of these four words a year ago.
For a leader, this is the foundation of foundations.
Don't look at Zhou Xingxing's filming of "The King of Comedy". If his crew had an extra actor like Yin Tienchou, he would most likely be fired. No director would allow a disobedient person in his crew.
Li Qian's sudden change of attitude made Lei Jiayin, Guo Fan and others begin to truly treat him as a director, rather than a young man younger than themselves.
In the following discussion, Li Qian talked about the creative concept, overall style, structure, and rhythm of the "Sniper Phone Booth" movie.
After receiving the storyboard, I recognized that it was a very mature storyboard. After listening to Li Qian's overall analysis, I gained a deeper understanding and was even more amazed by Li Qian's talent.
Even when it comes to the coordinated use of lenses and lighting, most of the time Zhang Zhonghua, a professional photographer, doesn't have any better suggestions. After working together for almost a year, it was the first time I truly realized Li Qian's ability.
In terms of visual style, Guo Fan sadly discovered that as an art director, he seemed to be unable to provide much useful advice at all, and was reduced to a painter.
Drawing out some key shots is more intuitive than the storyboard script, allowing Li Qian to explain it more simply and clearly.
The morning meeting lasted until two o'clock in the afternoon. The whole process was more like Li Qian was constantly instilling his ideas into them, letting them understand Li Qian's thoughts in detail, down to every shot.
Of course, Qi Yukun, Zhang Zhonghua, and Guo Fan also put forward their own suggestions from time to time during the process, but most of them were convinced by Li Qian.
As for the actors, just listen.
I was really hungry, so I stopped the first formal discussion between the main creators.
For lunch, I ordered a table of dishes from a nearby restaurant and had them delivered to me in the studio.
The afternoon meeting continued until seven o'clock. After dinner, Li Qian also asked everyone to go home.
He greeted Peng Yuchang, "Come on, Peng Peng, you can stay at my house, I just have a room."
Everyone else has a place to live here. After all, Peng Yuchang is young and has just stepped out of the society. He is also a fellow villager. If something happens, he can't tell his parents about it, so he takes it back to his home.
Lei Jiayin's girlfriend may come to visit the class during the trip, and the couple also needs to have independent space.
And since he was the male protagonist after all, Li Qian rented a small hotel nearby for him, otherwise he could sleep on the sofa at home.
However, Peng Yuchang looked troubled. Li Qian looked much more serious today, which made him feel a little scared.
"What's wrong with you? Let's go with the boss."
Gao Yang on the side saw him standing there without moving and asked.
Then he understood again and said with a smile, "Don't be afraid, I won't eat you up. You will know when you get to know the boss. He is very easy to get along with. Sometimes he is like a joke. Today is all intentional."
A funny guy?
Doesn't look like it at all!
Peng Yuchang cursed in his heart, but he still followed Li Qian with his suitcase in hand.