129: Media visits to the set

In the villa in front of his house.

Yue Qingzhu gently wiped her figurine, and her agent Liu Lu’s voice came through her headphones, “Which month’s variety show do you want to go to?”

Some time ago, she asked Chen Fang what was the one-sentence secret to writing lyrics and composing music, and Chen Fang said to go out and walk around for inspiration. Her composition instructor also said the same thing.

So, she planned to participate in an outdoor variety show.

Yue Qingzhu thought for a while, “September, I guess.”

It was summer vacation now, and she was asking a teacher from the Central Conservatory of Music to guide her in writing lyrics and composing music. During the summer vacation, the teacher had no classes, so she wanted to seize the time to ask the teacher for more guidance.

By September, the teacher would be busier, and she would then participate in other activities.

After working hard all summer, she would go relax in September.

She added, “Help me find a fun and enjoyable variety show. The people in the production team should be easy to get along with, and it’s best if there are more acquaintances.”

“Okay, I’ll pick a few for you to choose from.”

“Mm, thank you, Sister Liu.”

…

Time flew by.

A hint of coolness gradually mixed into the air in the Capital, and the high-pitched cicada chirps slowly faded.

On the streets of the Capital, the leaves of the trees on both sides of the road gradually turned from deep green to a duller shade.

Soon, a month passed.

In this month, the legend of fong sai-yuk crew began filming.

Chen Fang’s scenes were scheduled for the early stage, and by August 19th, he had completed most of his filming work for the legend of fong sai-yuk crew.

At seven o’clock on the evening of the 19th, the air was slightly cool.

At the Huairou Film and Television Base, on the set of the legend of fong sai-yuk.

Lighting technicians, cinematographers, and other staff members were adjusting the set, preparing for filming.

Chen Fang and other actors were also changing costumes backstage.

They were filming a night scene tonight.

This segment was about EErdo leading people to the dye house to surround Fang De, Fong Sai-yuk’s father, wanting to get the roster of anti-Qing and restore-Ming personnel. Fong Sai-yuk and his mother appeared to rescue Fang De. A fight broke out between the two sides.

Part of it had already been filmed a few days ago; what was to be filmed today was the scene where Fong Sai-yuk and EErdo directly confronted each other.

Preparations on the set were quickly made.

At the entrance of the set, 10 staff members from five media outlets were walking into the set under the guidance of the crew’s publicity director.

They were invited by the crew to visit the set collectively. To put it plainly, it was to enter the set for interviews and promotional activities under the crew’s control and within the filming area designated by the crew, helping the movie maintain its popularity.

Little Li, a Tencent Entertainment reporter walking in the second row, looked around the filming site.

This was a Qing Dynasty dye house. On the left side of the courtyard stood tall wooden frames and ladders, which were likely used to hang cloth. On the right side, rows of shorter bamboo poles stood in the courtyard, hung with dyed red and white cloths. In the front, inside the dye workshop shed, large and small ceramic vats were placed.

According to the information provided by the crew, tonight’s main focus was filming action scenes in the workshop directly in front.

She had checked some information before coming.

Currently, because of Chen Fang, netizens’ attention to the Nine Gate Admiral EErdo was very high.

She had seen the official makeup photos and audition videos released by the crew, and Chen Fang indeed appeared handsome and his movements were sharp.

But the protagonist was Fong Sai-yuk.

She always liked righteous characters. Since everyone was chasing the trend and focusing on the Nine Gate Admiral, she wanted to promote Fong Sai-yuk more.

Of course, as an employee, she also considered the view count data.

Chen Fang had high popularity, but netizens had already seen many news articles related to “Chen Fang + the legend of fong sai-yuk.”

Writing reports with Fong Sai-yuk as the main content could bring a novel experience to the audience, and perhaps also achieve a higher readership.

Thinking of this, the group of people also arrived at the temporary media zone tent on the filming set.

Soon, actors arrived one after another.

The Nine Gate Admiral played by Chen Fang was a first-rank military official.

He wore a red gemstone top-knot, a golden-threaded nine-dragon five-clawed python robe, a square jade belt, and black official boots, chatting and laughing with his assistant as he walked to the actors’lounge area.

Little Li’s mouth slightly opened.

She had interviewed on many ancient costume drama sets, but in most crews, those wearing high official robes were old artists, and facing them, she felt nothing more than admiration.

But this young and handsome face paired with a high official robe exuded a dual temptation of hormones and power!

Oh no, it made one feel a little wicked.

Little Li pursed her lips, trying hard to suppress the upward curve of her mouth.

Calm down! Many people have already written about EErdo; she needs to focus on Fong Sai-yuk!

But Fong Sai-yuk hadn’t arrived yet, so she would observe EErdo for a while.

Hehe, that’s great. Oh, no, that’s too bad.

They were not allowed to take unauthorized photos of the actors; they had to wait for posed shots, so Little Li could only stare for now.

At the same time, the staff were also preparing to start filming. The shouts of the Assistant Director, the camera crew, and the sound crew, such as “Everyone ready” and “Camera ready,” echoed around.

After staring at Chen Fang for a while, Little Li frowned slightly.

She discovered a problem: perhaps she had seen too many photos and videos of Chen Fang, and she felt that this didn’t look like EErdo; it looked more like Chen Fang. It made it difficult to get into the character, making him seem like he was participating in an ancient costume variety show, which was quite distracting.

The Assistant Director held up a megaphone and shouted, “Actors, please take your positions.”

Chen Fang and Du Yunxiang, the actor playing Fong Sai-yuk, stood in the workshop.

Yesterday, they had already finished the wirework scenes in this setting; today they would fight on the ground.

Little Li also stopped chatting with her colleagues, but the next moment, her eyes widened slightly, because she noticed that Chen Fang’s aura seemed to have changed…

His figure was tall and upright, his demeanor solemn and composed, and paired with this official robe, he had an air of looking down on the world. Standing quietly, his temperament revealed the arrogant, overbearing pride of a Manchu noble.

“Teacher Chen’s aura seems to have changed, hasn’t it? How did he do that?” Little Li leaned forward and whispered to the publicity director sitting diagonally in front of her.

“He trained in Manchu noble etiquette. He even suggested it himself.”

Little Li’s mouth slightly opened.

So, Chen Fang was that serious?

Some of the popular stars from his generation were still using body doubles and even couldn’t remember their lines, yet he was so serious that he proactively suggested learning noble etiquette just to play a supporting role?

The publicity director turned back and chuckled, “Actually, this is what a movie should be doing, but nowadays, we often don’t dare to make such demands of actors.”

Little Li nodded.

She understood. Firstly, efficiency was now pursued, and secondly, many actors had backgrounds and fans. It was not uncommon for fans to angrily accuse the crew of unfairness or bullying their beloved actors over minor issues, thus ruining a drama’s public perception.

Among popular stars, Chen Fang was indeed very rare. It seemed he was truly going to transition.

Wait, no.

Little Li looked at Chen Fang with a sigh, and after a while, she came back to her senses.

No, she was supposed to look at Fong Sai-yuk!

This damned fame was tempting her again.