"Three, two, one—May the filming of 'Yu Ye' be prosperous and successful!"
Following the filming crew member's lead, everyone shouted the slogan together.
After the filming concluded, the gathered crowd gradually dispersed.
Xiao He walked up to Liu Rulan, and they moved to the side together.
When there were fewer people around, Xiao He sighed: "Ah, Director Yan might be in trouble this time."
Liu Rulan was quite optimistic: "Then you don't need to worry about him. It's better for a director to create buzz for the production than to have complete silence. Besides, having high attractiveness is indeed a major selling point. The post-production team's promotional efforts might even lean into this direction. Getting this label reserved in advance isn't bad at all."
Although many people look down on dramas starring attractive actors, thinking their acting is poor and the plots dumbed down, it's undeniable that such shows remain highly popular in most cases.
Everyone hates a world that judges purely by appearance, but when encountering attractive people or things, they can't help but take a second look—that's just human nature.
With the production team using high attractiveness as a gimmick, the cast's visual appeal alone will attract many casual viewers to check it out.
In such situations, as long as they can pull in new viewers, the promotion is definitely successful.
Liu Rulan thought this was also why Zhuang Hongyi hadn't interrupted Yan Shaohan's speech.
After all, they would promote it this way eventually, so Yan Shaohan's approach wasn't really problematic.
Xiao He could only shrug: "I'm not really worried. With him around, he can help share some of the criticism directed at me."
Although he was already used to it, he didn't particularly care about outside opinions anyway.
"True," Liu Rulan remarked with feeling. "You kid, you managed to dodge it again this time."
Xiao He gave her a sidelong glance: "Sister Liu, why does your tone sound almost regretful?"
Liu Rulan blinked: "I'm not."
"Really not?"
"Not!"
"Hmph—"
...
After finishing makeup and arriving on set, Xiao He discovered he was the first one there.
Yan Shaohan was still adjusting the set props, directing the prop master to move several bookcases serving as background elements to the side.
"Didn't I mention that section? The color is wrong, why hasn't it been replaced?"
Yan Shaohan pointed at a tablecloth behind the background panel, his tone serious.
Several prop masters looked at each other.
One prop master said quietly: "Director Yan, Director Zhuang saw that tablecloth earlier and didn't say—"
"Then don't listen to him, replace it now."
Yan Shaohan spoke while looking down at his watch. "There's still time. Go replace it now. This red one looks terrible—find a green one."
"But—"
"Hurry up."
Yan Shaohan stared at the prop master, his expression unprecedentedly stern. "If the tablecloth doesn't arrive, we can't film. We'll wait for you to return."
The prop master: "..."
The prop master cursed inwardly but ultimately didn't dare to talk back to Yan Shaohan, turning and jogging away.
It was then that Yan Shaohan noticed Xiao He's arrival.
"Xiao He, you're here. Take a seat for now while I adjust the set a bit more."
Yan Shaohan spoke while showing a troubled expression: "I don't know what's wrong with these guys lately. Have they been too busy? The adjustments I asked them to make last night still aren't done. This will take some extra time now, what a hassle."
Xiao He: "...Haha, everyone's been really busy lately."
Why does this Director Yan seem stricter than expected?
Xiao He stood to the side observing for a while, then suddenly felt his eyelid twitching.
He suddenly remembered when he and Liu Rulan first met Director Yan—they had watched him fuss over prop placements for a long time back then...
Now he's nitpicking these props and set details again. Later...
Xiao He inexplicably had a bad feeling about this.
When the actors for the first scene arrived one by one, Yan Shaohan widened his eyes, staring straight at Yuan Sitong and the others: "What's going on with your makeup?"
The first scene wasn't following the story's chronological order but was chosen as a simpler scene to warm up, though several actors needed elderly makeup applied first.
Since the protagonists appear mostly as elderly in the first episode or so, only becoming younger later, hiring elderly actors to play the younger versions would feel too disjointed and waste a significant amount of additional payment. So Zhuang Hongyi directly invited a special effects makeup studio team to apply appropriate on-screen makeup for the actors.
The actors were all aware of this in advance and had undergone makeup tests starting half a month ago, allowing the special effects makeup team to make adjustments and finalize the looks beforehand.
Everything had been properly arranged.
So what's going on with Yuan Sitong and these other people's makeup?
Just wearing silver wigs and adding some wrinkles counts as elderly makeup?
Why not just go cosplay instead?
Yan Shaohan directly asked: "Did you request these makeup changes yourselves? Or did the makeup artist do this?"
Elderly makeup is a crucial element since the story begins with old men and women. If the makeup isn't done properly, what will viewers see when they tune in? Something painful to look at?
These people's makeup couldn't look more fake, as if they completely refused to sacrifice their beauty, insisting on being the youngest, most attractive seniors.
Not just Yan Shaohan—even Xiao He felt his vision darken when he saw their perfunctory makeup.
This, this is way too sloppy! With such fake elderly makeup, people will think our production is broke!
Yan Sitong felt somewhat embarrassed.
There was no helping it—that elderly makeup was just too, too, too ugly! She simply couldn't accept transforming from a great beauty into that appearance! What if she lost fans after the footage came out? Her looks were her winning card—
"Did the makeup artist take payment without doing their job? Damn, how can people like this exist? Taking money but not doing their work properly? Getting paid without working, and still acting entitled—utterly ridiculous! People like this should be kicked off the production!"
Before Yuan Sitong could speak, Yan Shaohan continued his tirade, though the underlying meaning in his words felt somewhat off, as if he was indirectly criticizing them to their faces.
"Did the makeup artist give you a hard time? Come on, I'll help you get justice. Don't worry, I'm definitely on your side—"
Saying this, Yan Shaohan started pulling people along to confront the makeup artist.
"Ah, Director Yan, this might be a communication issue on our part."
Tang Lijuan hadn't expected that after stepping away briefly, her artist was being foolish again. She quickly rushed over to calm Yan Shaohan before things worsened: "After all, it's the team Director Zhuang brought in—their skills must be excellent. It's probably just a communication problem between both sides. We'll go back and communicate again with the makeup artist ourselves, finish quickly and return soon without delaying your time. Would that be alright?"
Yan Shaohan frowned while checking his watch, thinking about the tablecloth replacement, and was quite agreeable: "Fine, make it quick. If communication with the makeup artist doesn't work, I'll go talk to them—"
"No need, no need, I'll handle the communication."
Tang Lijuan forced a smile, then quickly turned around, calling her precious artist to hurry back.
Her expression looked tearful as she whispered quietly beside Yuan Sitong: "My dear, it hasn't been long since you deliberately arrived late to the script reading to sleep in! Can you please lay low and behave properly recently! If Director Yan reports this, we might really get kicked off the production."
Yuan Sitong didn't seem concerned: "Let him report if he wants. Anyway, my dad knows Zhuang Hongyi—it's just a matter of saying hello. He can't do anything to me."
Tang Lijuan was speechless but couldn't say it directly, only thinking to herself: "Knows him? So what? I could say I know the richest person too—would that richest person do things for me?"
...
Several hours later, the finally settled production team could at last begin filming.
Seeing Yuan Sitong return behaving quietly and obediently, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
Good, it seemed the rest of the filming wouldn't encounter further issues...
However, what nobody anticipated was that this was only the beginning of the nightmare—
"Cut! Yuan Sitong, what's with that expression? Is that how you look at an old friend you haven't seen for days? Tone it down, don't be so exaggerated. Although we're adapting from a comic, we don't need cartoonish performances."
"Cut! You there, where were you standing just now? Didn't you remember your previous position? You're blocking the person behind you! Move, move—"
"Cut! Xiao He, what's with that smile? Don't smile like that—the muscle movement when your lips curl up looks really fake, don't you know that?"
"Cut! Sister Xinya, your left sleeve is wrinkled, quickly fix it a bit..."
Yan Shaohan was usually quiet and unassuming on set, acting cheerful and speaking and behaving like a socially inexperienced college student with low emotional intelligence, even showing some chuunibyou tendencies. Many people didn't take his role as director seriously.
But nobody expected that once Yan Shaohan entered his filming work mode, his demeanor and aura completely transformed. His work attitude became meticulously critical to the point of harshness—it was like obsessive-compulsive disorder possessed him!
In just one afternoon of filming, they had over sixty NG takes!
Sixty-plus times! Do you know what I went through during those sixty-plus takes?
Even as background, he had to stand there the entire afternoon!
When confirmation finally came that they could rest, Xiao He collapsed directly into a chair, his mind blank, not wanting to say a single word.
—Hehe, his previous concerns about Director Yan were just a joke.
Thinking about putting Director Yan in his place?
Surviving comes first!