Chapter 28: The Movie Begins Production

"I now announce that the opening ceremony for 'No More Bets' has officially begun!"

Half a month later, the production crew, which had been in preparation for a month, finally kicked off!

Although there were no members of the media present, at the suggestion of Beret and the others, the crew still held a rather grand opening ceremony.

After Beret finished cueing the proceedings, he invited Cheng Cheng to the stage to speak.

Cheng Cheng walked onto the stage, picked up the microphone, and said:

"Although today is the opening ceremony, in reality, I have already been working with everyone here for half a month, and even longer with the crew members. I don't know what you are all thinking, but I am full of confi—"

Just as he was speaking, his phone suddenly rang.

Cheng Cheng covered the microphone and said, "Excuse me, I need to take this call."

With that, he stood on stage, one hand on his hip and the other holding the phone to his ear, and began to talk.

"Hello, Manager Zhang? My house has been sold?"

"120,000 per square meter? That's a bit too low, isn't it? That’s a large flat inside the Fourth Ring Road; a property like that is hard to come by even if you look with a lantern. I know, I know I'm selling in a hurry, which is why I listed it at 140,000. Otherwise, in normal times, people would be scrambling to buy it at 150,000! How about this, Manager Zhang, take the client to look at it, see if he’s interested in any of the furniture I left behind..."

"Hey, alright, thanks for your help, Manager Zhang. When I get back to the Imperial Capital, I'll treat you to a meal."

Hanging up the phone, and calmly enduring the strange gazes from the crowd below, Cheng Cheng seamlessly reconnected to his previous sentence:

"—dence. I believe that in the next half-month, everyone will be able to cooperate perfectly, and then we will produce a massive blockbuster for 2021!"

After finishing, Cheng Cheng walked off the stage.

After the other main creators took their turns to speak, Cheng Cheng and Beret led everyone in offering incense, unveiling the red cloth, and taking a group photo. In the afternoon, formal filming began.

The first scene was the one featuring the protagonist, Pan Sheng, played by Li Yang, in the large conference hall.

Pan Sheng is a veteran programmer working at a major tech company. Having achieved many successes, he expected to be the one promoted at the company meeting, only to find out that the position went to someone with connections.

In a fit of rage, Pan Sheng threw down his employee badge and stormed out. He then used a program to project various prank emojis onto the conference room screen, finally leaving the hotel with a flourish.

This was a large-scale scene. Because it was a company meeting with many people involved, it required frequent switching between wide, medium, and close-up shots, which was a true test of a director's ability to coordinate.

Before going on, Li Yang pumped himself up:

*The director sold his own house to make this movie; I must give my best performance to live up to the director and to myself!*

*Everything I've lost, I will take back!*

However, the unexpected happened. He had only been on set for a short while, and before he had even fully reacted, Cheng Cheng had wrapped up the filming in a flash and was already calling for everyone to pack up.

It hadn't even been half an hour in total!

You have to realize, this sequence would take up about two or three minutes in the final film!

Was that it?

Li Yang felt uneasy and asked, "Director, should I do another take?"

Cheng Cheng looked at him, puzzled. "It was filmed perfectly well, why would you need another take?"

"Ah?" The question was logical. Li Yang scratched his head, feeling a bit doubtful of himself, and said, "I just feel it was a bit too fast; I feel a bit unsettled."

Cheng Cheng said seriously, "We have rehearsed this scene many times. You performed very well. You need to be confident, you know? I plan to direct at least a hundred movies in my life; time waits for no one, Li Yang."

Li Yang said, "But I still feel it was a bit too fast."

Cheng Cheng replied, "Think of it this way: the faster we shoot, the more time is left. The more time is left, the more time we waste. The more time we waste, the slower we shoot. Therefore, the faster we shoot, the slower we shoot."

Leaving Li Yang to ponder this on the side, Cheng Cheng continued to direct the crew to load the camera equipment onto the trucks, heading to the next filming location.

In truth, what Li Yang didn't know was that Cheng Cheng didn't need to shoot so many wasted takes. He had the complete finished film in his mind; he just needed to shoot according to that vision.

Usually, the movies we watch have a runtime of about two hours, and the ratio of raw footage shot on set to the final movie length is generally 50:1—meaning 100 hours of raw footage.

But Cheng Cheng’s raw footage ratio was ten times less, at most 5:1, which saved a significant amount of time.

Furthermore, it wasn't just that. Beyond the shooting of the raw footage, Cheng Cheng knew exactly what he wanted to film, eliminating the need for frequent trial and error. In other words, he was saving time not just on the volume of footage, but also on the process of capturing it—a double saving of time.

In one afternoon and evening, Cheng Cheng finished two scenes: Pan Sheng in the conference hall, and Pan Sheng on the airplane, along with the exterior transition shots.

Such efficient filming speed earned Cheng Cheng the nickname "The Quick Shooter."

Over the next two days, the crew realized that their speed in setting up scenes couldn't keep up with his speed in filming. Often, they had to run parallel operations: while Cheng Cheng was filming one scene, part of the crew was already setting up the next. By the time Cheng Cheng moved to the second scene, the crew was already rushing to set up the third.

Even then, they couldn't keep up with Cheng Cheng's pace. If they had more manpower and equipment, they would have needed at least three parallel lines of production.

Soon, the day arrived for Cheng Cheng's first scene.

After Pan Sheng is tricked into going to northern Myanmar, he is taken to the compound like livestock. Lu Bingkun, played by Cheng Cheng, makes his entrance at this moment.

"Come quick, come quick! Let's go watch the director act!" Wen Lian said excitedly to Yan Gou'er.

Yan Gou'er was struggling to put on her white sneakers. "Wait for me, wait for me!"

Soon, the two arrived at the set and found it already crowded with people, all there to watch Cheng Cheng act.

Over this period, the image of Cheng Cheng as a top-tier playboy had faded from their minds, replaced by that of a young director who was skilled in acting, experienced, talented, and possessed a unique way of thinking.

However, even though he had been coaching the actors for half a month, they hadn't seen Cheng Cheng perform a single scene yet. Consequently, curiosity naturally arose: Just how good is our director's acting? Is it just empty talk, or does he have the real goods?

Yan Gou'er stood on tiptoes to peek inside, and Wen Lian’s eyes were filled with anticipation.

Whispers echoed around them:

"This is the director's first scene!"

"Finally!"

"Do you think the director can do it in one take?"

"Nonsense, of course he can."

"You have that much faith in the director?"

"I think it's questionable. Sometimes you can explain a scene perfectly to others, but when it comes to your own turn, you might not be able to act it out."

"True, that's possible."

"Shh—be quiet, it's starting!"