Chapter 85 Audition Meeting (Second Update)
When Hou Xiaoxian was on the phone with Zhou Yan and the others before, he said it would be two days, but this time it was a week. By the time he came to Yanjing, he had already arrived On July 20th, Zhou Yan's feature film script was almost completed.
They met at the hotel where Hou Xiaoxian was staying, and Zhou Yan brought the script to follow.
After reading the script of the feature film revised by Zhou Yan, Hou Xiaoxian raised some questions, but they were minor issues that could be easily changed without affecting the direction of the plot.
Putting down the script, Hou Xiaoxian said with a smile, "It has been less than a year and you are already filming a feature film. It is incredible."
Zhou Yan said modestly, "I still have a lot to learn now, and I may have to ask you for advice frequently during the filming process."
Hou Xiaoxian waved his hand, "For your first feature film, you need to remember one thing, that is, you need to be brave. Don’t be timid.”
“Is this the secret to making a good movie?” Zhou Yan asked.
"No." Hou Xiaoxian shook his head, "This is the secret to not regretting it. As for whether a good movie can be made, most of the time, it is not something we can control. All we can do is to put ourselves Shoot what you want to shoot. After shooting, the rest is left to others to judge."
Zhou Yan nodded, no matter what you do, you need a strong heart, and those who are determined may not succeed. But he who wavers is bound to fail.
"By the way, how's the casting going?" Hou Xiaoxian asked again.
"The male protagonist, the male protagonist's mother, and the male protagonist's grandfather have all been decided."
Xu Feng has settled He Saifei's matter. He Saifei will be here in a few days. Will come to Yanjing.
When the time comes, Zhou Yan will go to pick her up. Of course, he won't pick her up on his 28-inch big bar. Xu Feng arranged two cars for their crew, and they also have drivers.
Maybe it’s because He Saifei had a scene during the filming of “Raise the Red Lantern”, or maybe it’s because the situation this year is different from last year. This time Xu Feng didn’t put much effort into He Saifei’s Saifei asked for it from the Daishan Yue Opera Troupe.
The most important actor, the father of the male protagonist, has not yet been decided.
Hou Xiaoxian didn't care much about the choice of the male protagonist's father, but was interested in the young woman who appeared in it: "Has the heroine been chosen?"
"The heroine?"
Zhou Yan was stunned for a moment and thought to himself that there is a female protagonist in his movie?
Then he reacted and realized that Hou Xiaoxian should be talking about the big sister next door that the hero liked.
In the original film, when the male protagonist was very young, there was a nanny at home who was much older than her. The two got along very well, but because the mother thought that the nanny would lead the male protagonist into bad ways, she fired the nanny.
A few years later, the male protagonist reunited with the nanny and decisively pursued the nanny. However, in the nanny's eyes, the male protagonist was just a child. Of course, she could not accept the pursuit of a child, so she left directly.
Of course Zhou Yan had no reservations about this part, but in order to show the male protagonist's unusual maturity, Zhou Yan still arranged for a girl who is the male protagonist's neighbor and a eldest sister who is ten years older than him.
And when the two met again, the male protagonist did not initiate a pursuit, but silently liked them.
Zhou Yan arranged very few scenes for this female character. He did not expect that Hou Xiaoxian would pay attention to her and treat her as the heroine.
Seeing Zhou Yan's expression, Hou Xiaoxian knew that he didn't pay much attention to this role, so he said, "I personally think that you must choose this role carefully. It is very important what kind of person the male protagonist likes. What kind of person does he like?" , best reflects the heart of his character."
Zhou Yan nodded. He felt that what Hou Xiaoxian said was reasonable. What the character likes is an important part of building a character. This role must be chosen carefully. One choice.
Seeing Zhou Yan nod, Hou Xiaoxian added, "Now the large-scale casting work has to be carried out, otherwise there will not be enough time to release the short film."
......
Follow After meeting Hou Xiaoxian, Zhou Yan began to prepare for the casting.
In addition to the female character, the movie also needs many supporting roles, and he certainly cannot find them one by one. He needs to organize an audition meeting to solve the battle quickly.
Nowadays, there is no casting studio in China that specializes in the casting of film crews, and there will not be a separate casting director, so Zhou Yan himself set up a casting studio with executive director Lu Xuexiang and photographer Zhao Fei. Corner team.
There are also some makeup, props, and logistics staff in this team. Some of these people were transferred from Chang'an Studio, such as Hong Xin and Lin Juan, and some were directly from Yanjing Production. The studio wants it.
Zhou Yan originally wanted to ask Liu Qing to come over, but unfortunately Liu Qingren was already on the crew of "Qiu Ju's Lawsuit".
The film "The Piano Boy Who Wants to Fly" has the same model as "Farewell My Concubine". It is jointly produced by Tomson Film Company and Yanjing Film Studio, and is independently distributed by Tomson Film Company, so as long as There are people at Yanjing Studio who are idle. In theory, Zhou Yan can go to Chen Zhigu for secondment.
After the casting team was formed, they began to publish recruitment information to various art troupes and schools and invite actors to audition.
In these days, communications are underdeveloped, so recruitment of actors is either based on targeted recruitment, such as Zhou Yan’s casting of He Saifei and Li Shouhai before he finished writing the script; or it is word of mouth and mutual introduction, such as Yanjing Production People in the studio knew that Zhou Yan was going to film, so they could naturally recommend actors in their studio, or other actors they knew, to audition.
Also, if the project is well-known, many people will sharpen their heads and dig into it. Not long after the project of "Farewell My Concubine" was reported, Yanjing Studio received many actors self-recommendation letters, and even actors came to the studio.
Zhou Yan didn't have that much time, so he asked Hong Xin and the others to go directly to various film academies to distribute flyers. Those flyers contained recruitment information for movie roles. In order to attract actors to audition, Zhou Yan specially wrote exaggerated slogans such as "Tomson Films and Yanjing Studios join hands again" and "Created by the best director of the Kurta International Film Festival" on the flyer.
Because time was tight, Zhou Yan was afraid that not many people would come to audition if he didn't do some stunts.
......
The audition location was arranged at Yanjing Film Studio. Zhou Yan asked Chen Zhigu to borrow an empty room, and the time was set at nine o'clock in the morning on July 28th. Zhong, this day is Sunday, so it is convenient for the actors to arrange their time.
It is mainly for the actors and actresses of the art troupe. Weekends are more convenient for them.
On the morning of July 28, Zhou Yan rode to Yanjing Studio at 8:10.
Hong Xin and Senior Lu arrived earlier than Zhou Yan and were setting up the scene.
In fact, there is nothing to arrange. The scene of their audition is very simple. There are two tables in the room, and a banner hangs on the wall, which reads: Audition for the movie "The Piano Boy Who Wants to Fly" meeting.
The only thing that is more impressive is the two cameras placed in the room. These were borrowed by Zhou Yan from the factory to show off. They are the most high-end gadgets in the factory and are very bluffing.
However, these two cameras are just decorations and cannot be turned on today. They are placed here to let the actors feel the strength of their crew.
In fact, Zhou Yan placed the audition location at Yanjing Studio for the same reason. When people heard that they were auditioning at Yanjing Studio, they naturally thought that the crew was very powerful, or at least it was a regular crew.
Seeing Zhou Yan coming, Senior Lu asked him with a smile, "Director Zhou, are you worried?"
"What are you worried about?" Zhou Yan asked in return.
“I’m worried that no one will come to audition.”
Zhou Yan said with a smile, “If no one comes to audition, I will take you to those schools one by one to recruit people from the art troupe.”< br>
“What are you bringing me for?”
"Didn't you graduate from Yanjing Film Academy? Don't you have any connections at school?"
"There are quite a few enemies. If you take me back, you will only get a beating." Senior Lu squinted his eyes and smiled. The eyes are not big to begin with, and there is only a slit left in this smile.
Zhou Yan also laughed, "Not bad, Lao Lu, he can joke now."
"This is called learning to be a good person from a good person, and learning to bite from a mahu, Guide Lu is all fooled by you I brought it." Hong Xin, who was setting up the table, said with a smile.
Zhao Fei, who was studying the camera on the other side, smiled and said, "Hong Guantou, you have to respect Director Zhou and be careful about Director Zhou wearing small shoes for you."
"Oh, Brother Zhao, why do you call me Hong Guantou?" When Zhao Fei called herself Hong Guantou, she was not happy.
Zhou Yan laughed and said, "Old Zhao is right. I sewed a few pairs of shoes at home last night and brought them to the set. I will give them to anyone who doesn't listen to me."
Lin Juan also joined in the fun and said, "Brother Zhou Yan, I will definitely listen to you."
Hong Xin imitated Lin Juan's accent, "Brother Zhou Yan~ I will definitely listen to you."
"Sister Hong——"
A few people chatted and laughed, and other members of the casting team arrived one after another, and Zhou Yan began to assign tasks to them again.
Although there may not be many people coming today, Zhou Yan still tried his best to arrange every aspect properly.
There are signboards all the way from the studio entrance to the audition room, and they will also arrange for someone to pick up the actors who come for the audition at the studio entrance.
After the actors arrive, they will get a number plate. When there are many people, they have to wait outside for their number to be called.
While waiting for their number to be called, the team will distribute paper and pen to the actors and ask them to fill in their personal information. In addition to basic information such as name and academic qualifications, they also have professional experience and participating works.
After all the links are arranged, the next step is to wait.
Zhou Yan sat motionless in the audition room. Everyone else couldn't help but look out the door from time to time. Even Zhao Fei occasionally looked out.
No one showed up until 8:40. Lin Juan’s face was full of anxiety and she kept pacing back and forth. Although it was said to start at nine o’clock, under normal circumstances, there should be someone there. Arrive early.
After another ten minutes, Lin Juan suddenly shouted in surprise, "Someone is coming, someone is coming."
(End of this chapter)