Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 795 Hello, Teacher

The day before school starts, August 31st, Friday.

Jiangying Film Studio dormitory area.

Thank goodness, a film studio that has been established for twenty years is finally starting to shoot its first real outdoor film today.

Even the employees and their families of the Jiangxi Film Studio, who are considered by outsiders to be the closest to the film, surrounded the filming area of ​​"Little Lotus Just Beginning to Show Its Tip" in layers.

Because there were too many people, those standing at the back couldn't see, so some brought chairs, some brought tables, some brought ladders, and some even borrowed ladders from others to climb onto the roof.

This is even though outsiders are prohibited from entering the dormitory area today; otherwise, the number of people would at least triple.

Inside the photography area, Chen Fan stood expressionless, his eyebrows lowered, silently contemplating something.

Meanwhile, several actors from Jiangxi Film Studio stood somewhat uneasily to the side, awaiting the director's verdict.

At this time, film cameras did not provide playback; lens monitoring, recording, and playback fell under the category of electronic digital systems.

He was a "do-it-yourself" producer and director in the 70s named Robert Alan Howard. He was very unhappy about not being able to watch the playback during filming, so he later founded a company called Moviecam.

Subsequently, they partnered with the German company ARRI... yes, the same company that sold Zhou Yali the camera.

At his suggestion, combining light-splitting techniques and television electronics technology, a movie camera with an electronic viewfinder and analog monitoring signals was finally produced, which was the Moviecam camera, a landmark in film history.

After several generations of this machine, it was eventually acquired by ARRI.

Before the invention of the movie monitor, which connected a small television set with a single wire, most directors in the world checked the results of their shots through this tiny viewfinder window.

Although it's just a small image, and it's in black and white, it's barely enough.

The term "viewer" was only included as an electronics term in 93.

So now Chen Fan isn't considering how well the actors performed, but rather whether he should get the viewfinder and movie monitor ready for filming convenience.

Otherwise, you won't even know what your own shots look like. What if you go back and find them unsuitable, and then you have to reshoot them?
This thing is actually not difficult. By combining a camera, a television camera, and a surveillance camera, and solving a few integration problems, it can be pieced together logically.

So what are directors like nowadays?
Everything depends on experience.

On-site observation of lighting, set design, actors' positioning and movement, expressions, movements, costumes, atmosphere...

If anything seems off, the director will immediately yell "Cut!" and rush onto the set to make adjustments, including directing the actors' performances.

Many great directors from the film era still have this habit in 2025.

Unlike later generations, where people can easily control the entire scene by sitting behind a few 22-inch monitors, and if there's a problem, they can just shout into a walkie-talkie, or at worst call the actors over and yell at them.

After a moment of reflection on the challenges of directing these days, Chen Fan snapped out of his reverie, gathered the actors together, and said carefully, "The performance just now was basically fine, except for Master Yang..."

The veteran actor who was called out immediately straightened his back and looked at the director with trepidation in his eyes.

Chen Fan smiled and waved his hand, saying, "It's not a big problem. It's just that when your youngest son came back just now, the expression of emotion was a little lacking. Your performance conveyed joy, worry, and determination very well, but there was a lack of depth between the emotions..."

As he spoke, he made several facial expressions. “You see, when my youngest son comes home from the countryside, I’m happy and excited. But there are already too many people in the house, and now there’s another person. How are we going to arrange things?”

Seeing that both daughters-in-law looked unwell, it's understandable that you'd be worried, right? Besides, there's also the question of how to solve your younger son's job situation..."

After a series of explanations and guidances, and with Master Yang being a veteran actor himself, he immediately understood, "I get it, I get it."

He then said, "Director, let me act it out first, and see if it's right."

After saying that, he began to perform on the spot.

Chen Fan watched it once and thought it was about right, so he nodded, turned around and shouted, "Let's do it again, scene three, move seven, start."

Sitting in the director's seat, Chen Fan filmed eight takes before calling a halt.

Today's filming has ended, and the onlookers, satisfied, have begun to slowly leave.

Some people were discussing it excitedly.

"Master Yang is still going strong despite his age; his performance is so realistic."

"Of course, after twenty years of acting in plays, it's a piece of cake for them. But I feel that Master Yang and the others' performance just now was a little different from their performance on stage."

"I know, I know. Director Chen said that movies are different from stage plays. Stage plays need to be exaggerated as much as possible, and the sound needs to be loud, otherwise the audience in the back rows won't be able to see or hear clearly."

Movies are different. The camera is pointed directly at your face, and any slight expression will be magnified. You have to think about how big the movie screen is. Every little expression of the actors is magnified on it, and the audience can see it clearly. If you exaggerate, wouldn't you become a joke?
So, Master Yang and the others' performances were all adjusted. I heard that Director Wu even personally went to Beijing to invite two acting coaches from the Beijing Film Studio to provide guidance; otherwise, Master Yang and the others might not have been selected.

"Seriously? The requirements are that strict?"

……

Ignoring the outside noise, Chen Fan glanced through the shooting log and then handed the materials to Bian Huifang to organize.

Well, although Comrade Xiaobian is a member of the Writers' Association, her superiors have all been seconded, so it's reasonable to second her over as well.

Actually, when we were having dinner yesterday, Chen Fan casually jokingly asked if I wanted to come and film a movie with him.

Without saying a word, Comrade Bian Huifang immediately agreed, even giving up the powerful External Liaison Department.

Chen Fan originally thought Xu Qizhen would try to stop him, after all, such an opportunity was rare. Being able to serve as an assistant to a deputy director-level cadre and manage the miscellaneous affairs of a popular department after only one year of graduation was not an opportunity that everyone could have.

But Xu Qizhen not only did not object, but also applauded in agreement.

So Director Chen brought an extra assistant with him to the set.

However, this assistant was only responsible for his personal paperwork; the film's assistant director was still Kuang Mingyi, who was in charge of filming.

With filming now finished, Kuang Mingyi, like a firefighter, rushed around directing the crew to pack up and arranging the filming schedule for the next day.

Chen Fan sat in a chair, unscrewed the teacup and took a sip of water. A young lady in charge of production staff immediately refilled it for him.

Seeing that Chen Fan had finished his work, Director Wu quickly walked over, took out some Zhonghua cigarettes that he had bought from a friend, pushed a few out from the bottom and handed them to him, then casually pulled up a chair and sat down, laughing, "Director Chen is quite something, shooting eight takes on the first day of filming, that's really efficient."

One take is one scene. In later film productions, with monitors and various equipment, only about 20 takes can be filmed a day.

Nowadays, with outdated equipment and a general shortage of film, directors have to rehearse dozens of times to ensure everything is in order before they can officially start filming. Naturally, this efficiency is far inferior to that of later generations.

When efficiency is low, it's not uncommon to shoot just one scene every few days, let alone one scene a day. To be honest, even Director Wu himself was quite surprised after finishing filming just now. Was the filming progress really that fast?

A film, depending on its genre, can have anywhere from 50 to 150 scenes.

In general, art films have fewer scene changes, ranging from about 50 to 70, while commercial films have more, usually more than 100, and a small number of action films or multi-narrative films can even approach or reach 200.

For example, "Goodbye Mr. Loser" has a total of 143 scenes, which is a typical pace for a commercial film.

"The Lotus Buds Are Just Beginning to Emerge" is a standard art film with few scenes, only 64 takes. If filming continued at today's pace, it could be completed in just over a week.

Compared to other movies, which take half a year or even a whole year to film, it's no wonder Director Wu is worried.

He kept muttering to himself, even if it's just a practice production by Director Chen, it can't be too shoddy!

But he didn't dare to ask directly, fearing that the "big director" would get angry, so he could only try to get information indirectly.

Chen Fan took the cigarette, lit it, glanced at him, and understood his thoughts.

He smiled and said, "The fact that we can shoot eight takes a day is due to a variety of reasons. In August, you invited two acting coaches from the Beijing Film Studio to provide specialized guidance to all the actors for a month. Even if it was just rote memorization, our actors were still able to deliver the performance they deserved."

Of course, their acting skills haven't fundamentally changed; it's just a matter of this particular film, but it's sufficient.

With their tireless rehearsals, there are no major issues with the performance. As long as their on-set performance isn't too off-track, filming will proceed quickly.

The second point is that we have enough film, so we don't need to be stingy and insist on 'one take'. If there are any flaws, we can just shoot another take.

Thirdly, all the images are already in my mind…

Chen Fan smiled and pointed to his head, then laughed at Director Wu, "Don't you think about it? The original author of this play is my sister-in-law. If I don't do a good job, I'm afraid they won't let me into the house."

No other reasons mattered; this last point made Director Wu laugh and truly feel relieved. He then smiled and said, "If that's the case, with editing, music, and dubbing, this film can be completed before the National Day holiday?"

Chen Fan silently calculated, "Hmm, about right."

It's just an art film without special effects. If it weren't for the fear of being sensational, Chen Fan could have finished the post-production all by himself in three days.

He handled all the editing and music, while the other actors recorded their own audio simultaneously; three days was considered slow.

Besides, it's not necessary to wait until the movie is finished before starting post-production. You can do post-production as you shoot a segment, which is perfectly fine.

However, we must not be arrogant. We still need to rely on Assistant Director Kuang Mingyi for the specific work. Otherwise, if he finds out that we have learned his life's skills in just two days, he might run home and become depressed.

……

Over the next two days, Chen Fan, who was already on track, found filming increasingly easier.

He filmed eight takes on the first day, twelve on the second day, and on the third day, taking advantage of the actors getting into character, he filmed twenty takes in one go, which actually reached the average level of later generations.

They filmed 40 scenes in three days, and those were all major scenes, leaving only 24 scenes for the entire movie.

But at this moment, Chen Fan left the crew to Kuang Mingyi and disappeared.

Monday, April 9th.

The lecture hall on the first floor of the School of Humanities building at Jiangnan University was almost full.

The freshmen of Class of '79, still bewildered by why it was "Sociology," were speechless with astonishment as they looked at the classroom—no, it should be said that the classroom was packed with people even in the corridors.

This isn't a literature class or a writing class; it's just a folklore class. How could it attract so many students from other majors to attend?

Among the dense crowd, Yang Zhijun and other students from Lujiawan were prominently featured.

Inside the classroom, there was a constant chatter.

"Yang Zhijun, aren't you studying medicine? Why are you listening to folklore?"

"You're making a fuss over nothing. Can't I take it as an elective?"

"Tang Li, there's a creative writing class today. You used to never miss one. Why didn't you go there today and came here instead?"

"Learning more knowledge and broadening your horizons will also benefit your writing. Wait a minute, Ji Xiulan, you're a computer science major, why aren't you listening to electronics lectures? What are you doing here?"

"...Hehe, everyone knows why you came to listen to the lecture, so don't play dumb with me."

"Tsk tsk, I didn't realize, Ji Xiulan, that you actually like my teacher too?"

"Just kidding, there's everyone in school who doesn't like Chen Fan. Hey, you had the advantage of being so close to him back then, how come you didn't manage to get closer to him at all?"

"Pah, what kind of dirty talk is that? I wouldn't even dare to think about someone like that teacher. Besides, there's no use in you thinking about him. He already has a fiancée. They've met each other's parents, and they're just waiting for the right time to get married. It's fine if you admire him, but if you like him, just forget about it."

Hearing the chatter behind them, the dozens of sociology students sitting in the front row finally understood why so many people had come to class today.

The instructor was none other than the renowned author Chen Fan!

Those who knew immediately relayed the message, and soon all the students became excited, craning their necks to look towards the door.

Soon the school bell rang, and the classroom quickly quieted down.

As the bell rang, a straight figure appeared at the door, ignoring the more than two hundred pairs of eyes in the classroom, and walked straight to the podium.

Chen Fan placed the lesson plan on the lectern, looked up, and glanced at the entire room. The classroom fell silent.

The next second, he turned his gaze to the doorway, where several school leaders filed in.

However, there were no seats left in the classroom.

Immediately, someone carried over several benches and sat down in the corner of the front row.

Chen Fan then adjusted his non-prescription glasses and said seriously, "Hello, classmates..."

Just as I started, a loud "Hello, teacher!" erupted in the classroom.

If it weren't for her strong mental fortitude, Teacher Chen would probably have been just like the school leaders sitting on the sidelines, so frightened they almost jumped up.

Chen Fan coughed lightly and continued nonchalantly, "Today's course is 'Folklore,' and I am the teacher, Chen Fan. I will now guide you through the subject of folklore."

(End of this chapter)