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"I heard from Lenny yesterday that you encountered some bottlenecks while shooting the MV. Is that true?"
Beyoncé's gaze swept across everyone until it landed on the director, Old Mike.
The old lecher had taken artistic photos of thousands of women in his life, but even so, being stared at by the diva like this, he still felt immense pressure.
Both in terms of temperament and physically.
Old Mike swallowed hard: Fxxk... if she sat on me with that butt, probably only Superman could withstand it.
Imagination aside, on the surface, Mike responded with a refined look: "Yes, Miss Beyoncé, because Demons is the title track of this album."
"We want to make it as distinctive as possible, so the audience will never forget it after one glance."
Beyoncé revealed a dazzling smile like the sun, staring at Leon: "Very good, that's my purpose for coming here."
What purpose?
Leon was confused: Does Sister-in-law want to add more budget?
Although that was completely unnecessary. Without inviting superstars to join, the remaining $200,000+ was more than enough to produce a high-quality MV.
Of course, if Beyoncé insisted on adding to the budget, he had no reason to refuse.
When the time came, he would collude with Old Mike, inheriting the glorious tradition of the US military.
Directly expensing a five-dollar prop as five hundred dollars.
Maxing out the kickbacks.
However, Beyoncé's next answer was much more explosive than adding to the budget.
She looked at Leon with eyes full of desire, her gaze intense: "I want to join your MV."
"What?!" Everyone looked at each other.
"You heard right. Let me be the female lead in your MV this time~"
Hearing this, both Phil and Mike fell silent.
Since 2006, apart from appearing in her husband Jay-Z's MVs, Beyoncé seemed not to have joined anyone else's MV.
The significance of this couldn't be measured by money.
For the "Gold-Inlaid Venus," even the highest bid probably wouldn't move her.
"Is that true, Miss Beyoncé?" Leon still felt a bit incredulous.
With a top-tier diva of the current music scene appearing in his work, it would be hard for this MV not to take off.
"Of course it's true~ I hope you can provide some interesting creative ideas."
Beyoncé sat down right next to Leon, without any airs of a diva.
Everyone started chatting about ideas for the MV.
According to Old Mike's previous idea, the MV would use a lot of CG special effects. Leon only needed to stand in front of a green screen and constantly change his styling.
In the initial stage of the MV, Leon would appear in the shot shirtless as a redeemer.
Then, during the chorus corresponding to the song, CG effects would transform him into a demon image wrapped in black liquid, spewing fire from his eyes.
There was no female lead in this idea. Beyoncé's joining meant the shooting plan would have to be completely scrapped.
After listening to Old Mike's idea, Beyoncé said happily, "I think this idea is cool. The demon image is just awesome; it doesn't need any changes."
"But then we can't arrange a role for you, Miss Beyoncé."
"Why?" Beyoncé suddenly linked her arm through Leon's with zero start-up frames. "I can appear as a redeemer, bringing the fallen Lucifer back to God's Kingdom..."
Old Mike's eyes lit up immediately upon hearing this.
In the lyrics of Demons, before entering the final chorus, there is this passage:
I want to save their light
I can't escape this now
Unless you show me how
According to the songwriter Leon, this is the weak struggle of human beings facing inevitable corruption.
But in the original MV shooting plan, Old Mike ignored this detail.
Leon's image fell from an apostle to a demon, smoothly without a single struggle.
This lacked some depth and reflection, which are key factors for whether a work can be nominated for the MTV Video Music Awards.
Old Mike quickly revised the script according to Beyoncé's idea.
When Beyoncé walked out of the changing room, all the staff on site were dumbfounded.
Old Mike was so excited he almost couldn't hold the camera steady.
Beyoncé was wearing a white tight latex bodysuit, her whole body tightly wrapped by the latex, exposing a bottomless Mariana Trench only at the chest.
The upper part of her face was covered by a white hood, revealing bright red lips.
Her amazing S-curve was revealed undoubtedly under the foil of the latex suit.
Especially her slender and fit thighs, and that historic-level domineering tail light.
"How is it?"
When Beyoncé spoke, due to the hood, Leon couldn't see her expression clearly, only the upward curve of her red lips.
It seemed even more bewitching.
"Awesome..." Leon's eyes unconsciously looked at Beyoncé's tail light. "This is the real Texas Style..."
Robust physique, tall figure, confident smile, pickup truck-like butt...
This is a real Texas girl.
Old Mike coordinated the on-site staff as quickly as possible.
The lighting technician nervously adjusted the position of the fill light; the position of the reflector couldn't be wrong by even a centimeter.
The makeup artist made the final fine adjustments to every detail on the protagonist.
With Beyoncé participating in such an important matter, no one dared to make a mistake.
Everyone knew that Jay-Z was the King of Roc Nation, then Beyoncé was the Queen of this company!
Even this Queen had more power than the King, because Jay-Z obeyed almost any instruction from Beyoncé completely.
"Action!" With Old Mike's command, the shooting officially began.
The first half had no changes compared to the original script. Leon appeared shirtless, posing variously in front of the green screen facing the camera.
"Leon... make your expression richer, you have to show the struggle!"
"Cameraman, keep up! I need a close-up!"
"Yes, that's it, right!"
"Zoom in slowly, very good!"
Most of the shots in the first half were done in one take.
Only the transition stage where Leon's image transformed into a demon with the chorus took five takes because he couldn't quite grasp the emotion.
Entering the final stage of the song, Beyoncé suddenly appeared in the shot.
With a height of 1.7 meters plus 12-centimeter high heels, she looked a bit taller than Leon.
Like a loving mother, an angel... she gently cupped Leon's face.
Their bodies were pressed tightly together. Leon felt those amazingly elastic "big guns" pressing on his breathing.
Then, under everyone's astonished gaze, Beyoncé held Leon's chin and kissed him deeply and affectionately.
"WTF..."
Including Leon, everyone was dumbfounded.
This part wasn't in the original script design.
"Shxt... this is bad..."
Old Mike scratched his head. Although such a design had a good effect, he didn't know what expression Boss Jay-Z would have after seeing the final cut.
"None of my business..."
According to Old Mike's thinking, a director like him couldn't control the diva's willfulness.
In fact, no one in this company could control it.