72 Pop Idol's First Day on Set

Yuan Ge doesn't  appreciate Yin Fenghua's ambiguous gaze, nor does he give any response, but is standing far away from the crowd and examining Yin Fenghua indifferently.

He is dressed in a half ancient, half modern plain white robe, deliberately imitating the style of Rong Qing in the film. It is hard to say whether this is to act in concert with Chow Mingrun's publicity campaign or to prove to Yuan Ge that he is the most suitable candidate to play Rong Qing in the film. However, in Yuan Ge's eyes, all these efforts are just a cheap marketing ploy to grab attention and does not recreate the image of Rong Qing he has in mind, not even close.

Watching him pose in front of the camera - his waist is slender but obviously stiff; his movements lack grace; his seduction appears soulless. His smile looks dazzling to the eye, but fails to dazzling the heart.

Seeing the frequent flirtatious glances coming from Yin Fenghua, Amélie can't hold back her smile and gently leans over to Yuan Ge and whispers teasingly in his ear, "Although he is late coming on set, our leading beauty has started making up for it as soon as he joins the cast. Shouldn't you also play along with his act in front of the media and respond to his flirtations and romantic gestures?"

Yuan Ge frowns and he ignores Amélie's teasing. Judging from Yin Fenghua's outfit today, he must have read the script like Chow Mingrun said, but the way he presents himself is so wrong and so different from the character Rong Qing, a person with the spirit of the moon. This makes Yuan Ge deeply worried about the subsequent shooting of the film.

***

"Yuan Ge, what are you still standing there for? Stop dawdling and come over with Amy, it's time to offer incense!"

Ever since becoming the Chow family's son-in-law, Chow Mingrun has become particularly superstitious, and for the opening ceremony of the shoot, he has deliberately dressed in red from head to toe, which incidentally matched Yin Fenghua's all-white outfit. Following his lead, the other three company founders take three thick incense sticks and worshipped heaven and earth according to Chow Mingrun's pre-calculated longitudes and latitudes.

Yuan Ge has little interest in such a ceremony, but as a director he has no choice but to comply with the arrangements. Unfortunately, as the red cloth is about to be removed from the camera, the weather isn't cooperating and a light rain starts to fall. Du Jinghai hurriedly hands over an umbrella and when he saw Yuan Ge looking like he was about to thank him, he hastily adds, "Don't thank me! It's not for you. Quick! Cover up the camera!"

"Never mind never mind! It's called 'Seeing Water and Getting Rich'. This film will definitely make Dragon Dreams a hit!" Chow Mingrun explains, putting things into a positive light as usual.

After the routine procedures of the opening ceremony of the shooting, Chow Mingrun is still talking nonsense to some of the press, but Yuan Ge is unwilling to waste time with the media and asks the make-up and costume crew to take Yin Fenghua to the dressing room to prepare for the afternoon shoot. Amélie also follows suit, responding to various demands made to the crew by several of Yin Fenghua's assistants.

"Director Yuan, I don't understand. We are in a modern society, but why is it still popular for film crews to hold such superstitious opening ceremonies?" A puzzled look appeared on Waylon's face.

Stephen takes the opportunity to show off his inside knowledge, "That's because every film crew is worried about offending something mysterious or unclean. Think about it, take the example of the Rong Mansion where we are filming now, it is hundreds of years old, how many people would you say have died in the Mansion? Is there a water ghost under this pond, do you know? Maybe just as you are filming a scene, something will appear right behind you in the same frame!"

Chestnut is horrified by what he said. Feeling satisfied, Stephen continues, "And it's just an old tradition. If burning incense in a filming opening ceremony is considered a superstition, then all the temples in China would have to close."

Chestnut says, "But don't you have to be sincere when lighting incense and worshiping the gods? Just now I found a pad on the offering table and it used a picture of a pig's head as an offering. What's more, the pig was from the cartoon Peppa Pig! I almost laughed out loud."

"That's Mr. Chow's bad taste! It was supposed to be an offering of a roasted pig's head, but frugal as he is, he even dares to cheat his offering to the gods." Yuan Ge is laughing as well, "These shooting opening ceremonies are actually inherited from some of the traditions of the old Shanghai film industry during the period of the Republic of China. What is important is actually the sense of ritual. If you think about it, there are so many actors and crew members involved in a film production. Pulling a group of people together from all over the country to work on a film for months and having a formal ceremony like this, or having a meal together to kick off a film project, can boost the morale of the team. It's like a rallying event."

"So there will be a meal together today?" Waylon's eyes lights up when he heard that.

"Stop dreaming. Boss Chow is so stingy that all you can expect is a packed lunch." Stephen deals him a blow without mercy.

With that they joked and laughed all the way to the filming location, but when they arrive, they saw Yin Fenghua has already put on his make-up and costume for his role and is shouting his complaints at the crew on set.

"You have too few camera positions on the set. Variety shows I've been in often have a dozen cameras, some with more than twenty, so that there's enough material for post multitrack editing, avoiding reshoots and wasting everybody's time. You're making a film and you only have three cameras? Even my concert in the village hall was equipped with at least four cameras..."

"Is the crew all here? So few, even less than a documentary team! How can you get things done properly when you have one person doing the work of many? You call this professional?! Look at all this make-up, why do I look so fat? And why do you always use this terrible lighting setup!"

"Mr. Du, your equipment needs to be upgraded. You guys save money on everything, even on LED lights, look at all the cables on set, it's a mess! It's seriously affecting the actors' form!"

"Your sound department is so unprofessional, your boom man keeps getting the pole into the camera frame. If I hadn't brought over my guys from Tom Records to help out, are you going to let my great voice go to waste like that?"

"Miss Jiang, are you the casting director? I just want to ask you, where did you find all these supporting actors, and what kind of schools did they graduate from? How come they don't know anything about facial expressions or emotions management? You all come in before me, and have been warming up for weeks in advance, but I don't see any signs of training in these actors. Where is Director Yuan's so-called talent?"