Chapter 87: In the Midst of Filming

Once the cast had finished their makeup and were light and ready to go, Chu Luoxi could not help but sigh, "Director Li, so you were pulling my leg all along. What happened to a tight investment budget? Your actors are all dressed in Chanel—who are you trying to fool?"

Though she said that, she had already seen the clothes Zhu Xueshuang and Liu Yujia wore the day before, so Chu Luoxi understood it well enough. This was one of the great advantages of modern dramas: in-house advertising, sponsorships for all kinds of things, and so on.

Since it was an idol drama, costumes were naturally one of its major highlights, and which clothing company would not rush to offer sponsorship? Not to mention that Li Shuangmu already had a strong reputation, and with the recent success of Dragon's Roar Across the World, the sponsors could basically be lined up without stepping outside.

So what if Crystal was full of newcomers? So what if there were no star names anchoring the cast? What audiences saw and what industry insiders saw were two very different things. With Li Shuangmu's name alone, all the major brands would come flocking.

"How was I pulling your leg? I'm the director. Securing sponsorship to save the production money is the producer's job. Heh, when I first came looking for you, there really was only that little budget!" Li Shuangmu said with righteous confidence, raising an eyebrow. "Besides, you know I've always shot period dramas and almost never touch modern ones. I didn't even realize there were so many expenses that could be cut."

Chu Luoxi was speechless. This guy was simply getting the better of things and still pretending to be modest. Although she had refused the female lead back then, it had not been because of the pay, yet she still felt that Li Shuangmu was smiling like a fox. This production was clearly not poor.

"Looks like you found yourself a good producer..." Chu Luoxi rolled her eyes and said weakly.

"It wasn't me who found them; it was the investors who did. I'm just the director," Li Shuangmu said. He was not lying. He had come this time solely to help a friend, and naturally nothing else should have required his concern, so long as it did not affect or interfere with his work. "This one is just a favor, purely by chance. Otherwise, the next film I discussed with you should already have started. With this situation, it has to be pushed back."

Only then did Chu Luoxi understand that Li Shuangmu had long since made his plans. Crystal was merely work outside the plan, which was perfectly normal. Who did not have friends? In this circle, what piled up was connections; so-called help was really just the strength of a relationship.

Watching others film was also a kind of learning experience, and Chu Luoxi did not find it boring. On the contrary, she wanted to study the production process of an idol drama. In her past life, she had mostly shot period dramas. There had been modern dramas too, but she had no real memory of idol dramas, so she could still find them rather interesting.

For instance, the visuals of an idol drama absolutely had to be exquisite, yet at times certain movements were not necessarily comfortable for the actors to perform; and if they were comfortable, they were not necessarily beautiful. On set, one could see many things beyond the frame, and that made it hard not to laugh or groan at once.

Moreover, modern idol dramas naturally involved fewer costumes, unlike period costumes where the drape of robes could sometimes hide flaws. If the angle was wrong or the pose not elegant enough, then it was back to another take.

Added to that was the fact that Li Shuangmu himself was a perfectionist. After watching for a long while, Chu Luoxi saw the production crawl along at an agonizing pace. Continuous retakes had become ordinary, so ordinary that even the countless crew members had grown used to it.

What made Chu Luoxi even more astonished and speechless was that in such conditions, people like Wei Chihhao, who had been specially trained, were actually the most at home, while professionally trained actors seemed to suffer more.

No wonder so many truly capable actors did not want to appear in pure idol dramas. It was not that they could not act, or anything of the sort; it was just that acting in them was rather miserable.

Take the scene before her, for example. The heroine, Zhu Xueshuang, had to run hurriedly over from a distance to hand something to the hero, Wei Chihhao. If that look of anticipation and a girl's nervousness were placed in any other television drama, Zhu Xueshuang would have passed with flying colors, and the shot might have cleared in a single take. But in an idol drama, cough, the entire long take became a trap.

According to Li Shuangmu's shouted instructions, it amounted to: Little Zhu, your running is not beautiful enough; use the breeze to create a dreamy atmosphere; your expression is too exaggerated, not beautiful enough; the way you hand over the item is not graceful enough; your eyes are not adorable enough...

By the time the long list had finished, Chu Luoxi was covering her face. The dreamlike beauty on camera really should not make one expect any so-called truth behind the scenes.

By contrast, Wei Chihhao's trained style, which usually looked rather affected, became, once filmed, the sort of dreamy, princely movement that belonged in a fantasy. No wonder stars under promotion all loved appearing in idol dramas; the training itself was capital.

Every gesture, every movement, flawless from every angle, always aimed at beauty from the very start. So long as it was pleasing to the eye, then acting skill and all the rest were nothing but clouds drifting away.

So if one were to ask whether Wei Chihhao performed well, Chu Luoxi would certainly cover her eyes. In truth, it was not so bad that it had no foundation at all. Besides, after encountering the absurdly terrible acting of Ji Yanjin, she would definitely say Wei Chihhao was already very good. But if one asked whether Wei Chihhao's movements were eye-catching, Chu Luoxi would answer with complete certainty, yes.

"Is it very tiring?" Seeing Zhu Xueshuang panting as she drank water, Chu Luoxi glanced at her assistant before speaking leisurely. She was truly relieved she had not taken the role in the beginning; it seemed even more frustrating than she had imagined.

Zhu Xueshuang nodded, her face showing a trace of fatigue. She had run back and forth several times, and however good her stamina, she could not keep it up; the distance was no small one.

"Is the filming very tiring?" Chu Luoxi asked in a roundabout way. Seeing that Zhu Xueshuang did not understand her meaning, she changed the question.

Zhu Xueshuang widened her eyes, looking for an answer, unable even to find time to speak, still catching her breath...

"Xiaoxi, why is this happening? I feel uncomfortable too. It seems really hard to perform, and we keep having retakes. A lot of people are even thinking that if people from Imperial Film are like this, then they're really not much good," Liu Yujia said as she came over as well, sounding weak.

What Liu Yujia was most unconvinced about was that even Wei Chihhao was filming more smoothly than they were. If that was the case, where was the prestige of Imperial Film supposed to go? Yet every time they felt they had done rather well, they still could not get through, and that was unbearably frustrating.

With a light laugh, Chu Luoxi looked fully understanding. "Are Wei Chihhao's retakes fewer than yours?" It truly was hard on them, to have held in this breath until now. Tsk, if she had not come to the set to see for herself today, she would never have known what the problem was.

"Xiaoxi, this way, we're making you lose face too," Zhu Xueshuang said a little sadly, finally having caught her breath, her mood somewhat heavy.

"Pfft, what do you mean, lose face or not? If you change it, won't that be fine? The problem with you two is that you haven't found the key point..." Chu Luoxi blinked, smiling with a hint of amusement. "Other than making you retake the scene, has Director Li ever scolded anyone else? Said things like, 'You really dare call yourselves from Imperial Film, and this is all you can do,' or anything like that?"

Li Shuangmu had certainly seen the problem, but he could not put it plainly. He could only wait for the two of them to realize it themselves. Still, as an observer, and also as an actor, classmate, and friend, Chu Luoxi pointing it out was just perfect.