289: Chapter 289 Filming of "In the Name of the Father"

...

You cannot judge a book by its cover; Ah Kai certainly has real skills.

After confirming that Lin Chuyan had followed his advice, Ah Kai seemed to be in an even better mood.

Throughout the rest of the day's shoot, he was busy running around. First, he clarified Lin Chuyan's dislikes and the desired style, then he proactively communicated with the makeup artist and photographer, offering quite a few useful suggestions.

Lin Chuyan remained like a marionette, getting makeup done, changing clothes, and posing for the shoot... letting others style him.

Xia Zhi was very attentive; she told her boss and went to buy drinks for everyone.

From day to night, the photographer took many, many photos of Lin Chuyan in the studio.

They presented a variety of styles, some of which were quite unexpected for Lin Chuyan.

They had such texture and style; that kind of feeling wasn't something he could capture with his phone on a daily basis.

"Teacher Lin Chuyan, we will send you the photos suitable for the cover and the inner pages later. We will also provide our professional opinion. Just let us know once your team has made the selection."

"Sounds good, thank you all for your hard work!"

The four of them bade farewell to the City Magazine team.

Looking at the time, it was 6:40, just in time for dinner. Ah Kai wanted to leave, but Lin Chuyan asked him to stay for a meal.

Before leaving, Lin Chuyan called out to him: "Ah Kai, could you give me your address? After this issue of City Magazine is published, I'll mail you a copy?"

Regardless of whether the other person was joking or not, he hadn't forgotten that Ah Kai had mentioned wanting to collect a copy.

Ah Kai's eyes immediately lit up, and his expression turned into a fake crying look: "Oh my god, I'm going to cry."

Lin Chuyan: "..."

"Teacher Lin Chuyan, you are really, really, really too kind!"

Ah Kai really hadn't expected that the other party would actually remember a casual remark he'd made.

Seriously, how could there be an idol like this!

This time, he was truly touched.

...

Lin Chuyan met with Director Du Qiyu at 6 a.m. the next morning, just like when they were filming "a moment of romance".

To be honest, it was a bit too early.

However, Lin Chuyan didn't dare to be late. Once, Zhou Shiyun was late by half an hour and got scolded for it.

But then again, you couldn't say Director Du Qiyu was wrong to scold her; after all, he led by example and arrived at the set early every day.

"Nickname, go, follow the makeup and styling team, and come find me when you're done."

"Got it."

Following the staff, the extras he encountered on the way were all foreign faces—Hong Kong might lack many things, but it certainly didn't lack foreigners.

Entering the room, he sat there being fussed over for the entire morning.

Director Du Qiyu came to check on him twice.

The first time was to finalize his look.

"Try a hairpiece or a wig; I want a style with slightly longer hair. It can be combed back, but don't keep the hair short."

"Add a ring to your hand; make the look a bit exaggerated. When you're lip-syncing the rap, use a few rap gestures to highlight your hands. Your hands are so good-looking, it would be a waste not to show them off."

The second time was after Lin Chuyan had tried on all the clothes and selected a few outfits.

It was just a bit hard to choose; it felt like every outfit looked good.

Damn it, is this kid a bit too handsome? Is he actually even more handsome than himself when he looks in the mirror after a shower?

Lin Chuyan found it amusing: "They are all Vogartis clothes, and aren't they on site? Why don't you, Director Du Qiyu, set the tone, and for the ones you can't decide on, just let the client pick from them."

"Good idea!"

Once everything was ready, Director Du Qiyu began a new round of instructions.

"Nickname, we need to shoot a lot over these three days. I expect Vogartis will definitely have opinions and want changes. We need more material so we don't have to go through too much trouble later."

"In a moment, I will only tell you what kind of feeling I want, and you just follow my description. Don't overthink it, just shoot a lot. Anything is fine. It's an MV, after all; it's about the atmosphere. You never know when it might come in handy."

"But there is one thing you must remember: your actions should be as memorable as possible; you need to strike poses."

Director Du Qiyu was afraid he wouldn't understand, so he specifically gave him an example: "For instance, if I'm filming you lying on the bed with your eyes open, thinking about something, you can't just lie however is comfortable, you know? You could rest your head on the pillow with your hands behind your head, or you could curl up on your side. That way, it's immediately clear in the lens that these are two distinct emotions. It's an MV; the plot relies on interpretation, so you definitely need these kinds of actions that can straightforwardly convey emotions."

Lin Chuyan understood instantly.

The filming over these few days remained effortless for him.

With his current acting skills, shooting an MV was like child's play.

Not to mention having a plot outline; even if there wasn't one, he could improvise one on the spot.

Next was the filming.

As for how "in the name of the father" should be filmed, Director Du Qiyu didn't actually follow his own ideas entirely.

To put it bluntly, this was an advertisement, and the client's opinions took priority.

Yes, he was the boss on set, that was true, but he also had to listen when necessary.

Just like when filming the "ambush from ten sides" MV last time, that was also a re-creation based on Lin Chuyan's ideas.

"in the name of the father" was the same.

He first talked with Vogartis to determine the client's intentions and the desired feeling, then listened carefully to the ideas of Lin Chuyan, the creator, and figured out what the lyrics were meant to express, only then starting to add his own creation—the teaser trailer was a product based on this foundation.

The plot that was ultimately developed satisfied all three parties—

The protagonist witnessed the mafia killing his father when he was a child—this was his biological father.

After growing up, he joined the mafia for revenge, climbing step by step to a core position and marrying the mafia boss's daughter.

When the time was right, he killed the mafia boss and several subordinates with five shots—this was the godfather.

Finally, the protagonist became the new head of the mafia.

He prayed and repented to the Lord in the church: the dragon slayer eventually becomes the dragon; he fell into a kingdom where sin cannot be seen, and after the revenge, the pain did not disappear—this was the Heavenly Father.

Of course, there were many details hidden within.

For example, at a banquet for core mafia members, everyone else was laughing, but Lin Chuyan alone had a serious and somewhat dark expression.

This was him preparing for his revenge.

For example, who exactly was that last shot meant for?

Director Du Qiyu also hid clues within—he filmed a shot from the perspective of a car trunk, and after the mafia boss passed away, he had the latter's daughter cry in Lin Chuyan's arms.

What did this explain?

It meant that no one knew he was the one who killed him; he had likely framed someone else.

And that last shot was to kill the person he had framed, creating the appearance of having successfully avenged the mafia boss, and this credit also allowed him to successfully ascend to the top of the mafia.

Of course, when the time comes, there will definitely be people who provide different interpretations, but that's okay, anything goes.

Another example is Lin Chuyan's lip-syncing segment; Director Du Qiyu also added cinematic language—the light and shadow falling on Lin Chuyan's face were always half in light and half hidden in darkness.

Overall, this was a story about revenge with philosophical and religious undertones.

As an MV that was only a few minutes long, it was already very, very good.

Director Du Qiyu greatly appreciated this song.

Frankly speaking, he had never heard a song like this, or rather, he felt that it was incredibly awesome for a song to be written with such a sense of storytelling.

Especially the gunshots in the song...

He listened to this song repeatedly; how should he put it? He was very inspired.

Five gunshots at the beginning, one gunshot at the end.

Are the gunshots important?

No, what's important is the interval between the gunshots!

Because there were only lyrics and no visuals at the beginning, Director Du Qiyu could only rely on his own imagination.

In his imagination, the interval in between was the two sides of the battle in a standoff.

No, I can't take it, I feel like my brain is growing.

If I keep thinking about it, my next movie will be born.