Chapter 69: Tang Dynasty Script Reading
The professors' worries did not happen for the time being. After all, it was already the holiday, and even if the students were full of enthusiasm, they could only go home to express themselves. Even if the higher authorities knew about this, they would not make a decision in a short time. The college entrance examination was just resumed in 77, and the students of that year would not graduate until the summer of 81, so time was not urgent.
Liu Hongmin was also a little overwhelmed by what he said, so he invited Ge Chaoguang and others to stay in Beijing and help study ancient books during the winter vacation. He had a lot of ideas that needed to be supported by the content of ancient books.
However, the family's courtyard house is limited and can only accommodate about ten people. Therefore, Liu Hongmin asked Zou Shifang to ask around to see if anyone is selling a house. The price of the courtyard house has increased a bit in the past two years. The surrounding three-story courtyard houses are about 25,000 yuan.
The price has only increased by 5,000 yuan, so Liu Hongmin can definitely afford it.
After a few days of rest, Liu Hongmin took Ma Weidu to visit Liulichang. Ma Weidu now works full-time for Liu Hongmin. He visits Liulichang when he has nothing to do and informs Liu Hongmin when he sees something good. When he has nothing to do, he also writes novels. If they sell well like Liu Hongmin, he can also achieve financial freedom in advance.
However, he was not very talented in writing and could only publish some articles in the Youth Daily. But he was not discouraged because according to Liu Hongmin's theory, novels can be written well as time goes by.
Ma Weidu was a generous person, and he liked to make friends after he became rich. But whenever Liu Hongmin called him, he would always arrive early and never let Liu Hongmin wait any longer.
Liu Hongmin had not rested for a few days when he received a call from Lin Yong. It turned out that the script of Datang had been written, and he, the original author, was asked to participate in the script reading to see if there was anything that needed to be changed.
Script readings are very common in this era, and they are conducted many times. Each reading is a verification of the script, and only after it passes the verification will the filming officially start. In this regard, the mainland's production studios are much better than Hong Kong. Hong Kong does not have script readings at all, and many of their scripts are written on the spur of the moment.
Shao Bao became popular in Hong Kong largely because of the rigorous script. After being used to watching TV series with incoherent logic, they would be willing to watch a TV series with coherent logic.
On this day, Liu Hongmin rode his bicycle to the Beijing Film Studio. The guard looked at his student ID and called Lin Yong.
Not long after, Lin Yong came to the door, took Liu Hongmin in, and gave him a temporary work permit.
"Take this with you. You may need to make a few trips during this period. Once the machine is officially turned on, we won't have to bother you anymore."
Liu Hongmin smiled and said, "It's no trouble. I also want to see how you work. I've seen how TV dramas are made in Hong Kong, but I haven't seen it in our own territory!"
"If you are interested, you can go to the northwest with us!"
"That's it!"
Liu Hongmin waved his hand. Going to the northwest to film in winter is simply torture. It's not just the weather, but also the human factor. The mountains and rivers are poor and it's very dangerous without the help of the locals.
Lin Yong brought Liu Hongmin to a conference room where Director Zhu Jinming and a group of people were distributing scripts. Seeing Liu Hongmin coming, Director Zhu Jinming came over with a script and handed it to Liu Hongmin, "Comrade Hongmin, this is yours."
Then he introduced to everyone: "This is Comrade Liu Hongmin, the author of Datang."
"Hello everyone!"
Liu Hongmin was greeting everyone. He felt a little surprised that he saw someone he knew.
"This is the actor who played Lu Shisi, Comrade Cheng Qiang." Liu Hongmin said with a smile, "I watched Mr. Cheng's works, and I didn't expect that Mr. Cheng would play Lu Shisi."
Cheng Qiang waved his hands quickly, "I don't deserve it, I don't deserve it. I'm just a small actor. I'm lucky to be able to act in such a good work like Datang."
Zhu Jinming introduced again: "This is Xie Tian, the actor who plays Guo Yuanzheng."
Liu Hongmin looked at Xie Tian and said to Zhu Jinming, "Director, these two are old comrades. Can they physically withstand filming in the northwest?"
"Comrade Xiao Liu!" Xie Tian stood up and said seriously, "There is absolutely no problem with Lao Chen and I. You can rest assured."
Zhu Jinming explained: "We also looked through some materials about the Tang Dynasty Anxi Army. The garrison soldiers there had been sent there for many years, and it was easy for people to age in the desert, so we decided to use old actors to play Guo Yuanzheng and Lu Shisi."
Liu Hongmin said helplessly: "I know that too, but I am worried about their health. You know, in the northwest desert, the weather is extremely cold, dry and water-scarce. If something happens, it will be bad."
Before Xie Tian could say anything, Cheng Qiang stood up and said, "Comrade Xiao Liu, we are all volunteers. And we are not unprepared. Recently, Lao Xie and I have been exercising. In addition, the script is basically about Lao Xie and I acting opposite each other. As long as we rehearse well in advance, we can speed up the filming progress. I believe it will be completed in a few days."
Liu Hongmin thought about it and thought that this was a solution. However, he still admired the two old men's dedication.
Suddenly, a short video came to his mind.
"Director, we don't have to shoot all the desert scenes in the desert. There seems to be a desert in Hunan Province, and the winter there is not too cold, so most of the desert scenes can be shot there. When we need the ancient city, we can go to the desert to shoot."
Zhu Jinming and Lin Yong looked at each other and showed an expression that said, "We are not well educated, so don't lie to us."
“Is there a desert in Hunan Province?”
Liu Hongmin nodded. "There is a large lead-zinc mine in Linxiang County. A lot of tailings are deposited every day. Over the past few decades, it has slowly turned into a desert. You can send someone to investigate on the spot. If possible, you can use it as a filming location. You can even go there to shoot desert scenes in the future."
Lin Yong: "I'll go ask someone right now."
He is a film producer and specializes in this kind of external relations work.
Zhu Jinming: "We don't need to wait for him, let's do the script reading first."
So, under the guidance of the two veteran actors, they began to read the script with great emotion. It must be said that the studios of this era were very professional and had a strong literary foundation. The scripts were full of dialogues that were not too old. People could understand them and feel that they were spoken by ancient people.
Except for some places where the actors felt that the dialogue was not smooth, Liu Hongmin did not find any places that could be changed. This made Liu Hongmin feel relieved. Although there were limitations in filming technology, this play would definitely be good-looking.
(End of this chapter)
