Chapter 217 - Bad Acting and Arrogance
Chapter 217: Bad Acting and Arrogance
The next morning, when Chu Xian arrived at the docks, Duan Ke was already there with his assistants decorating.
The opening scene in the movie would be a scene of fishermen storing away their catch. Their ship obviously would not be Chu Xian’s Mermaid, but rather a small, ten meter long fishing boat.
“Brother Chu Xian!” Duan Ke, Ren Penghui, and Yan Zekun immediately called out in greeting as Chu Xian walked over.
“Big Brother Chu Xian!” Yan Wenwen called out sweetly. Ever since the events from the day before, she had grown to like Chu Xian a lot more, and even the way she called him had changed.
“En!” Chu Xian nodded to the gropu. Today, Yan Wenwen was wearing a simple affair, and she even had an apron over her clothes. Her face was also a little darker, and she was recognizable as a fisherwoman living by the sea.
Ren Penghui and Yan Zekun also wore fishermen clothes. All the various outfits and devices they needed had already arrived the day before, and all that was left this morning was to officially begin filming.
Chu Xian had already read the script, and he was familiar with the basics of filming, but he was not the director and did not know how to shoot film, so he just sat by the side and watched.
“Everyone get ready. We will start filming the first scene right away. We need to start the film powerfully!” Duan Ke clapped and shouted to the readied crew.
“Yes!” They all called back.
“Good, everyone get on the boat. The camera people need to pay attention. Many of our scenes will be on the waters, and you cannot let your camera shake. Feng Huao, Wenwen, and these brothers, come over. Let’s get on the boat!”
Duan Ke called out and walked over to the little ship, with Chu Xian following behind.
The first scene of the movie would be one of pulling up nets of fish, and would be the beginning of the movie. *
The supporting cast that Duan Ke had found were all experienced veteran actors, and they performed all the movements of netting the fish perfectly.
Duan Ke and the others had purchased the fish from the market earlier, and once they had the fish pulled out of the waters, Yan Wenwen, Feng Huo, Ren Penghui, and Yan Zehui began gathering and storing thhe catch.
This was the first scene, and a very simple scene.
“Ready, action!” Duan Ke shouted, and they began to film.
As they shot the movie, Chu Xian, Dean Ke, and another assistant director sat and watched everything silently.
An old fishermen couple dragged the net out of the sea and onto a small boat, and one of them called out. “Separate them out.”
Yan Wenwen, Feng Huo, Ren Penghui and Yan Zekun nodded, and then began separating out the fish.
Duan Ke watched Yan Wenwen and nodded approvingly, but very quickly he began to frown.
This scene of separating the fish was very straightforward, and Yan Wenwen, Ren Penghui, and Yan Zekun all performed the task naturally. Picking out fish and storing it away basically did not need acting at all.
But Feng Huo was tossing the fish from the ship onto the ground with disgust, and was even doing it in an obvious manner.
Chu Xian also noticed Feng Huo’s actions and frowned a little. He glanced at Duan Ke.
“Cut!” Duan Ke shouted out.
“The performance was pretty good, but Feng Huo, you’re still lacking a little. Act more naturally, naturally. Let’s start again!”
Feng Huo frowned a little and nodded.
“Action!”
This time Feng Huo’s acting was good enough, and Duan Ke nodded with satisfaction.
“Get me some water!” After shooting a few more scenes, Feng Huo felt thirsty and yelled over to Duan Ke.
Since they were on the boat, and the area on the deck was rather small, the assistants could not follow the actors on board and take care of them, so Feng Huo directly yelled over at Duan Ke, as if he was commanding him.
Duan Ke did not say anything and threw over a bottle of water.
“This blasted weather. I thought it would be nice to be out at sea, but there’s nowhere to hide from the sun. In a month, I’ll have been burnt black.” Feng Huo said with some complaint.
Nobody paid him any mind. After what had happened the day before, everyone here had a bit of anger toward Feng Huo.
Chu Xian tossed water to Yan Wenwen and the others, smiling at them as he called out. “The temperature here is pretty nice, but there’s no shade. You can bring a parasol or umbrella, or put one some sunscreen.”
“It’s alright. Filming in the summer is always like this, it’s inevitable.” Yan Wenwen smiled back, and asked. “Big Brother Chu, do you often go out to sea to fish?”
“Not so much. I’ve only actually been out to sea a few times since I bought the fishing ship, and I was only going out to search for material for my aquariums. But fishing is a pretty interesting thing. When we need to film out in the ocean, I can show you guys how to fish. We can get some giant lobsters, giant crabs, or anything you want!”
“Really, that nice?” Yan Wenwen replied with some eagerness.
“Brother Chu Xian, tell us about what happens when you go out to fish?” Ren Penghui asked with some curiousity.
“Sure!” Chu Xian laughed and told them his stories, about how he met poachers and found sharks and dolphins. His stories made the people who had never been out to the ocean really look forward to the adventure.
Feng Huo saw the group of people talking and laughing, and very unhappily drank his water.
After shooting on the water for a while, they returned to shore. The filming did not go as smoothly as Duan Ke had imagined, and the day made him quite unhappy.
“What is it?” When they wrapped up for the day, Chu Xian heads over to Duan Ke and put a hand on his shoulder.
“Too fucking trash.” Duan Ke looked over at the leaving Feng Huo, and couldn’t help but swear.
Chu Xian laughed and did not reply.
“When I was filming some online series, most of the actors and actresses I worked with were small time celebrities who had not played any important roles, but none of their acting was as bad as his is, and he thinks he’s some big shot. Fuck, if he wasn’t so famous, I would beat him up.”
Chu Xian was surprised by how coarse Duan Ke was when he swore.
“It’s still only the first day. We still have time if we want to find someone else.” Chu Xian replied.
“Ai, it’s fine. I can just endure for this month and a half. I’ve already paid out a part of the salary, and If I break the contract those are millions of rmb that we won’t get back.”
Duan Ke shook his head.
Chu Xian patted his shoulder silently.
They next two days, all of the scenes were filmed on shore and there was no need for Chu Xian’s ship, so he did not come over and instead headed over to Jing Hai.
The renovations of the store had already began, but since they still had to remove the wall and connected the two stores, the renovation crew still needed some time. They estimated that they would need another half a month before everything was complete.
Chu Xian and the others had not expected it to take so long, but there was no other way so they could only wait.
Chu Xian turned to other matters, and it would be another half a month as well before he could complete the transaction for the fishing farm at Feng Tai Lake, and in two weeks he could finally begin running the fish farm.
“Old Huang, call everyone and have them head to the docks.”
The next day, Chu Xian called Old Huang and the mermen out to the harbor. Duan Ke had let him know that they would need his fishing ship that day, and would need the help of Sword Two and the others.
Since the scenes that Duan Ke had already filmed had Sword Two and the others killing the shark and attacking the Japanese fishing ships, he would also need them present in other scenes.
And of course, Old Mu was needed to pilot the Mermaid.
When Chu Xian arrived at the harbor, everyone was already gathered. He walked over to Duan Ke and called out, “How is it? Is filming going well?”
“It’s alright. Everything is going decently.” Duan Ke nodded. “I’ll have to trouble your brothers to help out today.”
“Not problem. They’ll be here soon.” Chu Xian nodded absentmindedly as he looked out at the people on set.
Yan Wenwen and the others called out greetings and Chu Xian nodded back before sitting down on the sidelines.
Very quickly, Old Huang and the others arrived and walked over, their strong physiques attracting a lot of notice from the crew.
“Alright. Today we’ll be filming out at sea. We’ll need to take the ship more than ten kilometers away from shore. Everyone prepare your things, we’ll be spending the whole day out at sea.”
Since Old Huang and the others had arrived, everything was ready, and Duan Ke clapped for attention and called out instructions to the crew.
“Big Brother Chu, this is your fishing ship? How did it get so damaged?” When the crew saw the fish docked at the harbor, they were surprised, and Yan Wenwen turned to Chu Xian and asked curiously.
“You’ll know in the next few days.” Chu Xian said mysteriously. “This ship o mine will be an important set for the film. Let’s get onboard.
The 28 meter long fishing hsip was quite large, and even with the dozen or so camera people and actors, the space was not at all crowded.
“This is what a fishing ship should be, quit big, even bigger than some cruise ships. Brother Chu Xian, how much did this ship cost?” Ren Penghui walked over to Chu Xian and asked curiously.
“Over ten million rmb. It’s much more expensive than a cruise ship.” Chu Xian smiled and replied.
“Old Mu, we can set sail!”
“Yes boss!” Old Mu nodded.
“Everyone can walk around the deck and familiarize yourselves.” Chu Xian said to the group.
Ren Penghui, Yan Wenwen and the other actors looked around curiously at the boat, and Old Huang accompanied them, introducing the various things. In the following scenes, the actors would need to display some understanding of the ship.
“Come, look over the filming we’ve done these past two days.” Duan Ke held a camera and walked over to Chu Xian. He flicked the device on. “I haven’t edited them yet, but we can tell the basic quality of the film.”
Chu Xian nodded. This was after all a film that he had money invested in, so he took the device and watched.
“Feng Huo’s body doesn’t fit that of a fisherman’s. He is too weak!” Chu Xian said directly after watching.
“This was something I didn’t account for, but his popularity should completely make up for this point.” Duan Ke nodded and explained.
Chu Xian nodded. The celebrities of the day could guarantee sails at the box office, and although their physique might not perfectly fit the role, as long as their acting was on point, there would not be too big of a problem.
“Yann Wenwen, Ren Penghui, and Yan Zekun all have good acting.” Chu Xian rated.
“En, they are quite good. Yan Zekun and Ren Penghui all got fame just from their acting skills, and I have to say, Yan Wenwen is just as the rumors say, harding working and excellent!”
Duan Ke commented on each of the actors: “It’s only Feng Huo who is finicky and arrogant.”
“It might be because of his family!” Chu Xian laughed. “but it’s alright. After you finish, you don’t need to work with him again.”
“If I can become a famous director one day, I will screw with him!” Duan Ke gulped down water angrily.
Chu Xian laughed. “Then I’ll look forward to the day when you become a famous director.”
“Definitely. I’m very confident with this movie, and especially with those videos of you. I can just randomly release those and make it big.” Duan Ke said confidently.
“Oh, right. Have the video of us killing the shark not showed up on the internet?” Chu Xian asked curiously.
When they had killed the great white, there had been many people watching, and more than a few of them had taken videos, yet strangely none of those videos had appeared on the internet.
“I went to my father-in-law and asked him to suppress this news. It was also because he saw my video that my father-in-law supported me so much.” Duan Ke laughed and replied.
“You’re waiting for when the movie is ready to release it?” Chu Xian looked over at him and asked.
“En.” Duan Ke nodded, a confident smile on his lips.