Huayu: I Have a Doraemon

Chapter 49 Each Taking Their Own Photos

90% of the scenes in "iPartment" are filmed in the two main settings: the "apartment" and the "bar".

There's no need to frequently change locations, and with multi-camera shooting, especially with most shots using ultra-long lenses, the shooting efficiency is very high.

In five days, the filming was more than halfway complete.

Besides a sufficiently detailed script, the most crucial element is the storyboard.

In this day and age, few people in domestic TV drama production teams care about this.

With limited funds, the director would have a vision in his mind, explain it to the actors on set, and the cameraman would improvise, and that would be about it.

Standard definition videotapes cost several hundred dollars each, and with wear and tear on the magnetic head and post-production editing, it's safe to say that every minute and second is a money drain. No one would repeatedly shoot for a few details.

But with the storyboards drawn by Lin An using Impression Paper, filming became much easier.

The camera positions, shot sizes, camera movements, and even the movement routes of each character were clearly marked, which greatly reduced the difficulty of filming in the forest.

What used to take 14 hours to film was now completed in 7 hours.

In fact, if someone's acting hadn't been so bad, the efficiency could have been even higher.

It's 9 PM on the 20th.

Lin Cong stared at the monitor, took a deep breath, and his knuckles turned white as he gripped the walkie-talkie.

"stop."

The voice wasn't loud, but everyone on set could hear the gritted teeth.

Lin An jumped down from the bar stool decorated for the bar, spreading his hands with an innocent expression:

"What's wrong now?"

"What's wrong?"

Lin Cong stood up from behind the monitor, grabbed the script, and walked towards him. "Tell me, what are you acting out?"

"That fickle radish!"

"Is this what a 'heartbreaker' looks like? You're just expressionless!"

Lin An was displeased, crossed his arms, and spoke righteously:

"The character I portray is one of restraint, depth, and not easily revealed..."

"Profound my foot!"

Lin Cong slapped the script on his chest. "Your lines were practically right in the second female lead's face! You should at least give her a reaction! Even the girl wasn't scared, why were you, a guy, dodging?"

Lin An's lips twitched, and he muttered under his breath, "An instinctive reaction..."

Lin Cong almost laughed in anger. "Your instinctive reaction is to hide? Are you even a man?"

Gao Yuanyuan, standing at the edge of the set, held a script in her hand, a slight smile playing on her lips, which she quickly suppressed.

Shen Teng sat in a folding chair in the corner, holding a water glass, sharing gossip with Qiao Zhenyu next to him:

"Brother Qiao, do you think Lin An is genuinely bad at acting, or is he deliberately teasing Xiao Gao?"

After spending a few days together, he had become familiar with Lin An's personality and knew that the other party did not like being called "director".

Qiao Zhenyu closed his eyes, pretending not to hear.

Shen Teng then asked, "Do you think they knew each other before?"

Qiao Zhenyu kept his eyes closed.

"You mean the two of them...?"

"Drink your water," Qiao Zhenyu finally said.

In the middle of the set, Lin An was still being stubborn.

"I told you long ago I can't act, so stop complaining!"

Lin Cong glared at him: "You think I can't criticize your acting just because it's bad?"

Lin An scoffed and said matter-of-factly:

"That's called 'you get what you pay for!' Always trying to find bargains at the market—that gambler's mentality is unacceptable!"

Lin Cong opened his mouth, his chest heaving, and finally rolled up the script and chased Lin An all over the set.

"Stop right there!"

"I won't stand!"

"Are you still running?"

"I won't run unless you chase me!"

……

The two of them walked around the bar's decor several times.

Lin An ran ahead, and Lin Cong chased after him.

The entire crew was laughing hysterically.

After several minutes of this commotion, Ji Tao couldn't stand it anymore.

He stood up from behind the monitor, took a few steps over, reached out to stop Lin Cong, and advised:

"Alright, alright, don't bother arguing with a little kid."

Lin Cong stopped, panting, and pointed at Lin An, who was hiding behind the set:

"Did you see that 'dead pig doesn't care about boiling water' look on him?"

"I saw it, I saw it."

Ji Tao repeatedly tried to soothe him: "Calm down, calm down, have some water."

Lin An peeked out from behind the set, and only after confirming that Lin Cong had been stopped did he breathe a sigh of relief and slowly walk back to the rest area.

In a corner of the set, Shen Teng had already handed over the water glass, his eyes filled with admiration.

If he were in the director's shoes, he would absolutely not dare to speak to him like that.

Lin An took the water glass, tilted his head back and gulped down a large mouthful, then waved to Shen Teng, indicating that it was "no big deal."

Shen Teng grinned, leaned closer, and whispered:

"Lin An, aren't you afraid of offending the director?"

Lin An returned the water glass, saying nonchalantly, "What's there to be afraid of? Is she going to eat me?"

"We should still show some respect to the director."

Qiao Zhenyu kindly reminded him, "This industry circle is actually very small, and it's easy to find out how someone behaves on set."

Lin An waved his hand, looking disgusted, and said:

"I have no plans to pursue an acting career, and I don't care what others think of me."

Every industry is about fawning on the powerful and belittling the weak.

If you can make money, whatever you do is right; if you can't make money, everything you do is problematic.

……

……

Lin Cong finally calmed down, sat back behind the monitor, took a sip of water from his thermos, and began to look through tomorrow's schedule.

The set quieted down, and the workers from each group began packing up their equipment, preparing to wrap up.

With filming nearing its end, nobody wanted anything to go wrong at this crucial moment.

At this moment, Lin An quietly slipped over and fawned over Lin Cong, saying:

"director."

Lin Cong didn't even look up, his tone curt:

"What are you up to now?"

"I need to ask you for leave."

Lin Cong paused in flipping through the call sheet, looked up, and narrowed his eyes: "Are you taking leave? You have a scene to film tomorrow."

"I know."

Lin Cong stared at him for two seconds, about to start cursing, when Lin An preemptively said:

"I need to take the script for Project Greenlight to Professor Zhang Hua for a look."

Ji Tao was passing by with a water glass when he heard this. His eyes widened, he turned around, and said in a cracking voice:

"You've finished writing that?"

Lin An spread his hands, looking smug, and said:

"That's how talented he is."

He felt no guilt whatsoever about copying foreigners' work.

Ji Tao's lips twitched, and he almost dropped the thermos in his hand.

If I remember correctly, it seems that only five days have passed since he brought this up.

What kind of efficiency is this?

Lin Cong's gaze swept back and forth between the two, unsure of their cryptic exchange, but he still said:

"A day is too long, we only have half a day. We need to finish filming and editing as soon as possible so we can get the follow-up funding sooner."

Lin An's words of defiance immediately stuck in his throat.

Nothing is more important than this matter, no matter how vast the world is.

His eyes darted around, and he asked curiously:

"How's it going with 'Internet Addict's Diary'?"

Lin Cong didn't answer immediately, but first looked at Ji Tao. After exchanging glances, the latter said:

"I heard that Director Ye has brought in a lot of actors from the Beijing entertainment circle to help out, and the show is generating a lot of buzz. Many TV stations have already started pre-ordering it."

Lin An wasn't particularly concerned about the pre-order, but instead subconsciously gossiped:

Who are they?

Ji Tao sighed, "Quite a few: Yong Mei from 'Where Dreams Begin,' Liu Bei from 'Stories from the Editorial Department,' oh, and Tao Hong, who's been incredibly popular lately."

Lin An's brows furrowed slowly, and he stood there stunned for a moment.

Lin Cong gave Ji Tao a reproachful look, feeling that he was being too direct and that this was just a blow to her.

Ji Tao, however, felt that this was something Lin An would have to face sooner or later, and that only by knowing oneself and one's enemy could one win every battle.

Lin An's idea was quite simple.

Tao Hong is actually from the Beijing entertainment circle?

Is Xu Zheng really that amazing? She actually dared to poach talent from Beijing's elite circle?