Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 799 Help

Three days passed in the blink of an eye.

Chen Fan would arrive at school as usual on Mondays and Tuesdays, attend two long classes, and then leave.

Although his folklore course only lasted two weeks and consisted of eight short lectures, it has already become one of the most popular courses at Jiangnan University.

Besides sociology students taking it as a required course, many students from other majors also choose to take it as an elective. Students have to arrive early to grab a seat before each lecture, otherwise they might not even get a seat by the door or window.

However, Professor Chen spent half a day compiling a paper on folklore studies, which elaborated on the research scope of folklore studies and divided it into three major research directions: modern folklore studies, historical folklore studies, and folk literature studies. This was enough to extend the academic research of folklore studies to the graduate level. After handing the paper over to Professor Xu, he no longer focused on it.

The most urgent task is still the movie.

Jiangying Film Studio, small screening room.

Watching the gray-haired projectionist fiddling with the equipment, Director Wu remarked with emotion, "This is the first time since this screening room was built that we've shown a film produced by our own Jiangxi Film Studio."

An elderly man in his sixties sat to the side, though his body was somewhat distorted, and he kept staring at the projectionist next to him.

Upon hearing Director Wu's words, he immediately laughed and said, "Director, that's not right. I, Lao Chang, have actually made a few movies, haven't I?"

Factory Director Wu rolled his eyes and said, "Get lost. What kind of movie is this? You just put the camera there and it never changes from beginning to end. I could do that too."

As soon as he finished speaking, a burst of laughter erupted from the side.

Old Xu, the retired projectionist who was fiddling with the projector, straightened up and said impatiently, "Can you all be quiet? This is the latest projector. If you guys break it while you're making a fuss, paying for the machine is a small matter, but not being able to watch a movie is a big deal!"

Upon hearing this, the surroundings immediately fell silent.

Even Factory Director Wu lowered his voice and asked softly, "Master Xu, is it alright?"

Chen Fan stood to the side, tilting his head and watching without saying a word.

However, he could tell that this master craftsman was indeed a master craftsman. Although it was his first time using this kind of widescreen projector, he was able to quickly figure out how to use it and its functions. At this point, it was almost ready.

After a few seconds, Master Xu wiped his sweat, straightened up, and smiled, "Alright."

Then the switch was turned on, and a beam of light shone onto the screen, and the film began to rotate.

The previously noisy crowd immediately fell silent, all staring intently at the screen.

Some people who didn't follow the rules and wandered around, such as Director Wu, Director Kuang, and Director Chen, quickly returned to their seats and prepared to watch the movie.

Almost everyone from Jiangxi Film Studio came today. More than 100 employees and cadres gathered here, along with 57 people who had already gathered at Jiangxi Film Studio for training and were waiting to film "Monk Comes Down the Mountain," all of whom were sitting in the back.

Amidst the flickering lights and shadows, two lines of subtitles first appeared.

Filmed by Jiangnan Film Studio.

The subtitles appeared for only two seconds, yet they brought tears to the eyes of more than a hundred people, who spontaneously stood up and applauded enthusiastically.

Coincidentally, the next scene features the director and Chen Fan.

At the same time, there is a line of smaller print below: Adapted from Jiang Tiantian's novel of the same name.

It was as if everyone was welcoming Chen Fan, so he could only secretly raise his right hand to cover his eyes, then walk down and cover his face.

Seeing his appearance, Director Wu, Secretary Fang, and others couldn't help but burst into laughter.

Secretary Fang wanted to say something more, but then several subtitles flashed by.

As the movie title appeared, "Little Lotus Just Beginning to Show Its Tip" flashed for two or three seconds, and the movie officially started. He then waved his hand, signaling everyone to sit down and watch the movie attentively.

The film opens with the protagonist working in the fields when he suddenly receives news that his application to return to the city has been approved.

From the moment the protagonist shares his joy with his fellow educated youth to his eventful return to the city and finally arriving at his doorstep, this segment is filled with several comedic moments, filling the small screening room with laughter.

However, upon returning home, the reality is staring him in the face: cramped living conditions, few rooms, and a large number of people. The protagonist sleeps on a makeshift bed on the floor, waves his hand to shoo away a rat, and secretly decides to move out as soon as possible to avoid causing trouble for his family.

This scene realistically depicted the current state of society, resonating with many viewers, and the screening room fell silent.

As the plot unfolds scene by scene, everyone's emotions rise and fall with the protagonist's experiences, sometimes laughing heartily, sometimes feeling indignant, and sometimes sighing with sorrow.

Before we knew it, 100 minutes had passed. As the movie ended, the song "Young Ambition Knows No Sorrow" started playing again, and everyone suddenly realized what had happened.

Immediately afterwards, without anyone giving instructions, everyone stood up automatically and clapped their hands vigorously.

Old Party Secretary Fang clapped his hands a few times, then grabbed Chen Fan's right hand tightly and said excitedly, "Great! This movie is really well made. Vice Chairman Chen, you've made history for our Jiangxi Film Studio!"

Chen Fan shook hands with him on the left, and said with a smile, "Making a movie is a collective effort, so please don't put all the blame on me. That wouldn't be fair to the other comrades."

Old Party Secretary Fang laughed heartily, then turned to Factory Director Wu and said, "When we reward those who have made contributions later, make sure no one is left out."

Factory Director Wu's expression turned serious, and he stood up solemnly. "I guarantee the mission will be completed."

Upon seeing this, everyone around burst into laughter again.

……

After the others had gradually dispersed, Chen Fan said to Factory Director Wu, "Now that we've arrived here, my mission is complete, right?"

Factory Director Wu smiled and nodded, "Next up is my turn."

He paused for a moment, looked at the projectionist who was carefully loading the film reel, turned his face, and smiled, "Your two songs have helped us get help from Changchun Film Studio and Shanghai Film Studio. With their help, this movie will definitely be released nationwide faster than expected."

Moreover, with National Day just around the corner, I plan to personally travel to Beijing to have a serious talk with the leaders of China Film Group Corporation, and strive to have the film simultaneously screened in more than twenty provincial capital cities across the country on National Day, under the guise of a "gift."

Chen Fan raised an eyebrow. "Heh, that's quite a large-scale operation. There must be at least 100 copies, right?"

Nowadays, there are generally not many movie prints. Even if a city has more than ten cinemas, they will not buy 10 prints at the same time. Instead, a central cinema will start showing the film first, and after each roll of film is shown, someone will deliver the film to the next cinema, and so on.

The person responsible for moving the film reels is called a "film runner".

Whenever a popular movie is released, the most exhausted people are undoubtedly the moviegoers.

Later, when "Shaolin Temple" was released, there was an incident where a film deliveryman slipped on a watermelon rind while riding his bicycle, causing the film to fall out of its box and scatter all over the ground, which made the news.

Director Wu, brimming with confidence, clenched his fists and said, "100 copies are nothing. I want China Film Group to produce at least 200 copies. With the help of Changchun Film Studio and Shanghai Film Studio, and with such high quality of this film, 200 copies will definitely be no problem." Chen Fan smiled and said, "Alright, then I wish you every success."

Although he doesn't care how many copies the film sells, he still wants to support Jiang Tiantian's first adaptation.

After Director Wu left, there were not many people left in the small screening room. Apart from Chen Fan and Kuang Mingyi, there were only Yang Zhenlong and others who were waiting to film "Monk Comes Down the Mountain".

Chen Fan gestured to Kuang Mingyi and walked towards Yang Zhenlong and the others.

Before he even got close, he smiled and asked, "Senior Yang, how are the preparations going?"

Yang Zhenlong chuckled, took two steps forward, stroked his beard, and said with a smile, "Everything else is fine, it's just that this beard is a bit short. I might have to wear a fake beard during filming."

Chen Fan laughed and said, "Oh, you seem very confident."

Yang Zhenlong shook his head. "Hey, it's just acting. Back in the day, the capital was a place where the kings changed hands all the time. If we wanted to survive, we had to act in front of them. If we didn't act well in front of the camera, we could do it again. But if we didn't act well in front of those people, we'd lose our heads!"

After saying that, he patted his chest and said confidently, "You can rest assured and just watch!"

Chen Fan nodded, then looked at Yang Chenfeng, Yang Congling, and Chen Qingqing.

When they saw eyes sweeping over them, they all straightened their heads and puffed out their chests, looking equally confident.

Chen Fan smiled, turned to Kuang Mingyi and asked, "Director Kuang, when can we start filming?"

Kuang Mingyi immediately replied, "I can do it anytime you give the order."

Chen Fan hummed in agreement and said, "Alright. In that case, it's better to do it sooner rather than later. Send the word that filming will officially begin tomorrow, and the first scene will be filmed at the Wufeng Mountain Taoist Temple."

When filming "Little Lotus Just Begins to Show Its Tip", Chen Fan did not shoot in sequence, but rather filmed a certain scene first and then moved to another location.

This is also a normal filming method.

However, Yang Zhenlong and his team are all laymen. Despite their confidence, Chen Fan is certain that once filming begins, there will be a whole host of problems.

Therefore, the best approach is to film the story in chronological order, although this is more troublesome, it allows the actors to get into character more quickly.

Once you're in the zone, you can adjust to shooting according to the scene later.

……

Thursday, March 9th.

Chen Fan drove to the gate of Jiangying Film Factory and saw a Jiefang truck and a light truck parked at the gate. Kuang Mingyi and Lao Jianhua directed people to load the equipment onto the trucks, and then organized the personnel to get on the trucks.

In addition to the two trucks, there were also two vans parked nearby.

Upon seeing the two vans, Chen Fan couldn't help but feel exasperated.

Because the van even had two red cloths hanging on it, with the words "Yunhu Automobile Factory warmly congratulates Director Chen Fan on the complete success of his work" written on them.

Hey, are you trying to ride my coattails?

Just as he was about to speak, Shi Tiezhu, the deputy director of Yunqi Factory and formerly the workshop director of Yunhu Machinery Factory, suddenly noticed him and immediately ran over, leaning against the car window and saying, "Advisor Chen, it's been a long time."

Chen Fan got out of the car, took out a cigarette and offered it to him, laughing, "What's wrong? You got hooked on mooching off 'Cloud Lake Romance' last time, now you're planning to mooch off my movie again?"

When "Love in Yunhu" was being filmed in Yunhu, Chen Fan gave Director Yang an idea: to go to Jiangying Film Studio, buy the unused film reels in their warehouse, and give them to Director Huang of the film crew in exchange for Yunqi Factory's cars appearing in the movie.

This deal was a perfect match. The production team obtained much-needed film stock, and Yunhu Auto was used in every scene with a car in the movie.

After the release of the movie "Yunhu Love" this year, Jiangnan Yunhu Auto also became popular all over the country along with the movie.

In the past, people only knew about the cars produced by Yunnan Automobile Factory, but they were unaware of the quality differences among the various provincial automobile factories.

After watching the movie, I realized that the cars from Yunqi Factory were more than twice as good as those from other factories.

This immediately made Yunqi Factory famous.

But unexpectedly, they set their sights on me again.

Shi Tiezhu took the cigarette, lit it, and exhaled a puff of smoke in frustration. With a bitter face, he said, "What are you trying to piggyback on? You wanted to make a movie, but you didn't even tell us beforehand. By the time we found out, your movie was already finished."

Otherwise, we could take inspiration from "Love in the Lake" and donate a batch of film reels to you, and even provide you with a car to use for free in the movie.

But now there's nothing left.

After saying that, he pointed to the two trucks and said, "You're making a war movie now. Even if you need vehicles, they're from the War of Resistance against Japan. They're completely different from the vehicles in our factory. How can we possibly borrow them?"

Chen Fan laughed a few times and looked at him, saying, "Then why are you still coming?"

"We definitely have to come."

Shi Tiezhu changed his expression and said with a smile, "You are our factory's beloved Consultant Chen. You have a lot of business to attend to, how can we not lend a hand?"

Although we can't go to the movie theater, it's okay. Sending a couple of cars over to help out is a gesture, and we can't let the people of Yunhu criticize us Yunqi Factory employees for being unethical.

Chen Fan quickly waved his hand, "You're too kind, you're too kind, it's not like that at all."

Shi Tiezhu chuckled and said, "Don't worry, it's not just our Yunqi Factory. The machinery factory, the home appliance company, and even your father-in-law's cotton mill have all lent a hand and contributed quite a bit."

Then he pointed to Lao Jianhua, who was extremely busy, and said, "I just led the team here last night and communicated with Director Lao. I know that your main filming location is in Wufeng Mountain, so I have already sent all the supplies there. Now I have left two vans to help with the transfer of personnel."

Chen Fan looked at him, then at Lao Jianhua, shook his head, and laughed, "Alright, since I'm already here, I'll remember this favor."

Shi Tiezhu laughed and said, "What kind of favor is this? Compared to what you've done for us, it's nothing."

At this moment, Kuang Mingyi strode over and waved to Chen Fan, "Director, everything is ready, we can set off at any time."

Chen Fan waved to him, handed him a cigarette, and said, "I'll be in charge when filming starts, but outside of the set, everything is up to you."

Kuang Mingyi took the cigarette, nodded to Shi Tiezhu, and then smiled, "In that case, shall we set off now?"

Chen Fan nodded, turned around, opened the door, and got into the car. "Let's go, as Director Kuang says."

(End of this chapter)