Caught in Affairs with Superstar

Chapter 782: Chapter 520: Eating and Chatting, Part 2

The second scene officially begins filming.

Zeng Lili sits in her chair, posture poised and erect, flashing a slight smile as she says, ”We are going to launch a series of collaborations with the VX brand and let me introduce to everyone...”

Zhou Yun sits among the representatives of the magazine, casting a cursory glance around the people opposite her, pausing briefly on the young clerk played by Zhou Jianfeng.

Her gaze lingered on him because he stands out with his handsome and sharp features; young but confident, he doesn’t look at all like a newcomer just starting his career.

This scene involves a considerable amount of dialogue.

Zhou Yun is responsible for a third of the dialogue, but in reality, the performance’s focal point is on Zeng Lili.

This scene features Zeng Lili as the newly appointed editor-in-chief, securing for the magazine a ’godfather’ willing to invest twenty million in advertising – a crucial moment.

To describe it with a line not yet shot: ”Without showing some true substance, how can you impress those women with sky-high aspirations?”

The entire scene is shot seamlessly, without any halts.

Zhou Yun thoroughly enjoys this filming approach and, in this respect, she finds common ground with Ning Yufeng.

Ning Yufeng doesn’t necessarily prefer long takes, but he likes to shoot an entire scene in one go and then edit the material, rather than stopping after each shot.

Guan Siya also makes an appearance in this scene, with a total of three lines.

Luckily, she’s not a new actor and has a solid experience to draw on, avoiding any slip-ups at this crucial time.

In fact, such a filming technique places higher demands on the actors.

It requires them to maintain character throughout the entire scene, as opposed to the old way where you only had to perform when it was your turn to speak.

When Zeng Lili speaks, what should be your reaction, what kind of response should you give?

When it’s not your turn to speak, do you sit there stiff as a log, or do you react naturally to what others are saying, like a normal person?

Ning Yufeng likes to capture these live reactions and splice them together in the editing process.

This is also why the films he has made with an all-new cast have received high acclaim.

Many have praised Ning Yufeng’s works for their simple style and brisk pacing.

His films rarely contain long takes; the scenes switch rapidly, packed with copious information. If the information is delivered precisely and accurately, it can be thrilling for the audience, but if it’s scattered and meaningless, it can be disorienting.

Several actors sit in their places motionless, awaiting further instructions.

It’s only after Ning Yufeng speaks that everyone stands up.

”It’s a one-taker again,” laughs Zeng Lili. ”At this pace, I’m afraid we’ll wrap up a month ahead of schedule.”

Zhou Yun nods and smiles, saying, ”The shoot is going really smoothly.”

Liu Lingqi shakes his head and says, ”Filming with you all is too stressful, I’m really afraid of dropping the ball.”

Lin Luyao laughs and says, ”Don’t jinx it, it’s been ages since I fully memorized my lines before officially starting to shoot.”

Neither of them is a newcomer, having debuted several years ago, and compared to Cheng Shenlv, they are able to relax a bit more on set.

Zhou Yun says, ”I didn’t expect both scenes to be one-takers either. I can only say everyone is too skilled. I thought we’d be shooting these two scenes all morning.”

”It looks like we could shoot another scene,” says Zeng Lili.

Sure enough, ten minutes later, Ning Yufeng decides to add another editing room scene to the morning’s shoot.

It’s another big group scene.

The difficulty of these large group scenes often lies in the coordination between actors, but the performance difficulty depends mainly on the scene’s content.

Ning Yufeng didn’t schedule the more challenging scenes at the beginning; they were mostly transitional scenes with a relaxed atmosphere, mainly to get the actors comfortable with each other and to build up a successful shooting environment. However, he did not expect things to go so smoothly that everyone was in remarkably good form, leaving him with no issues to pinpoint.

At noon, everyone dines together.

The production team specifically hired a chef to take care of all three meals for the whole crew.

Such treatment is quite rare in many productions. At most, they could cater to the needs of the main creative staff, with other staff members settling for boxed meals. But ”Under the Grand Dress” is well-funded and the producer is generous, focusing on providing good food and drink for everyone, preparing nutritious meals. The set even features a coffee machine and a snack table where crew members can grab food at any time. However, there is one rule: actors are not allowed to take anything from the snack table, lest they can’t control themselves and end up gaining weight during the shooting.