director of the millennium

"Very good, thank you for your hard work!"

“Let’s just shoot this for today!”

"knock off!"

Following Wu Yuan's shout, the tired crew members immediately began to clean up the set with swift hands and feet, with happy smiles on their faces.

Especially those blond and blue-eyed foreigners in the crowd, they were already chatting about which bar to go to in the evening and which bar in the city was good.

There's no way, the filming during this period is really tiring.

It's not a physical endurance, but a mental one.

For Wu Yuan, "Mulan" is his first time shooting a costume film, so many things are new to him, and it is not as easy and familiar as the science fiction films and movies with modern themes he shot before.

Even though he had an advisory group of five people, Wu Yuan was still quite restrained in filming.

Before filming began, he originally thought that the biggest difficulty in making this movie would be the fighting scenes and Liu Yifei's adaptation. After all, she hadn't filmed a movie for a long time since she finished filming "Cai Wenji".

But unexpectedly, the biggest difficulty in filming this movie was Wu Yuan himself.

When most of the crew members are foreigners, it is really a torment to shoot a movie with a Chinese historical background in a Chinese style.

The more literary the drama is, the slower it is shot. It is common to grind shot by shot.

Many times, the crew members who were watching thought that the shot was well done, but Wu Yuan was not satisfied and had to reshoot it.

From an actor's tiny salute to the harmony and composition of the entire picture, Wu Yuan would easily feel dissatisfied with anything and then reshoot it.

It can only be said that it was quite stressful for Wu Yuan to shoot a costume film for the first time and it was a blockbuster that would be released worldwide.

The shooting, which was originally scheduled to be completed in ten days, will probably have to be postponed for five or six days.

The crew members naturally have no complaints about this, but they are indeed mentally exhausted and would rather relax themselves more after work.

In contrast, director Wu Yuan is still busy after work.

After returning to the hotel with the footage shot today, Wu Yuan began to look through the rough footage carefully, and started writing and drawing in a small notebook, recording problems discovered during the shooting and thinking about what to shoot tomorrow.

"Honey, take a rest and have some midnight snack." At this time, Liu Yifei came to Wu Yuan with a bowl of wontons.

"I noticed you've lost weight these past few days."

Wu Yuan took the wontons and kept his eyes on the material screen. He just said indifferently: "The conditions are much better now than before."

"Nowadays, when we shoot with digital cameras, we can watch the finished film right after it's shot, we can rewind and fast forward at will, and even edit the film on the spot."

“This has reduced a lot of workload for the director.”

"When I first entered the industry, I was filming "17 Years Old Bicycle". It was still the film era. At that time, after finishing the filming every day, I had to take the film to be developed immediately, and then take it to the projection room to play and watch it."

"In those days, the crew had a special position, which was responsible for transporting the raw films between the laboratory and the crew every day." "Oh, by the way, I remember that there were also film runners at that time. They were responsible for transporting the film to various theaters after the movie was released. They usually delivered the film on bicycles or motorcycles to ensure that each theater could show the movie at a staggered time."

"If we say too much, it will only be the tears of the times."

Wu Yuan somehow recalled his time as a guest printer on the set of "Seventeen Years Old Bicycle". Back then, he would go to develop the films after the filming was finished every day, and then bring them back to review the films with Wang Xiaoshuai in the small projection room, learning Wang Xiaoshuai's directing techniques and ideas.

Thinking about the troubles back then and then looking at the advancement and convenience of today, Wu Yuan no longer feels how tired he is now.

At least now, as soon as he finishes work, he can take the digital video tape back to the hotel and slowly watch the footage he shot that day. He can watch it however he wants and can even start editing directly.

"It's much more convenient now than before." Liu Yifei also sat next to Wu Yuan and reminisced with him.

She also experienced the era of film and had a deep impression of it.

"Back then, movie copies were very expensive. One copy cost 10,000 yuan, and 100 copies cost 1 million yuan. Showing movies was a luxury. The film runners at that time worked harder than today's food delivery guys to ensure that every theater could show the movie on time."

"Indeed." Wu Yuan chuckled and said happily, "Times have changed."

"Yes." Liu Yifei reached out and took her husband's arm: "But he hasn't changed."

The next day, the crew continued filming.

The plot to be filmed today is a bit special. It is about Mulan returning from the army, reuniting with her family, and changing back into women's clothes. This part is also the scene at the end of the movie.

It is just like the words in "The Ballad of Mulan": Open the door of my east chamber, sit on my bed in the west chamber, take off my wartime robe, put on my old clothes. Comb your hair by the window, apply your makeup in front of the mirror.

Liu Yifei was wearing a noblewoman's dress in the style of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, with beautifully combed hair and various expensive gold and silver headdresses. She was sitting in front of a wooden table and a bronze mirror in a red dress.

Her beautiful face with a little makeup on was reflected in the extremely smooth bronze mirror, and two maids were very seriously helping her "put on makeup in front of the mirror".

The so-called Huahuang is a kind of facial decoration for ancient Han women. They use yellow powder to draw or cut golden paper into shapes of stars, moons, flowers and birds and stick them on the forehead, or paint a little yellow on the forehead.

This type of facial decoration was popular during the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, it was gradually replaced by more complex and beautiful flower ornaments.

Huadian comes in three colors: red, green, and yellow, with red being the most common. It is made into flower shapes with gold, silver, etc. and worn on the face. It was a popular type of jewelry in the Tang Dynasty.

In addition to plum blossom shapes, the shapes of flower ornaments also include various small birds, small fish, ducks, etc., which are very beautiful and novel.

Huadian did not appear in the Tang Dynasty. Its earliest origin can be traced back to the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. However, it has never been popular, at least not as popular as Huahuang. After all, Huadian costs more.

It was not until the Southern Dynasties that Princess Shouyang invented plum blossom makeup. It revived in the Tang Dynasty because of Shangguan Wan'er and reached its peak. It continued to be popular during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms until it disappeared during the Song and Yuan Dynasties.

At this time, Liu Yifei did not choose the beautiful plum blossom flower ornaments, but instead put a small yellow flower cut out of golden paper on her forehead.

Wu Yuan, who had never seen his wife dressed like this, was suddenly dazzled.

My wife's looks are really good. Even though I've seen her for almost 20 years, she can still come up with new things from time to time! (End of this chapter)