After all of them were reborn, who would still be an actor?

Chapter 798 Moonlight is formless, yet it falls as shadows on trees.

"Seriously, is it really okay for us to just show up like this? Didn't the boss forbid us from contacting people in the company?"

"Who cares? The company is in such a mess. I should just focus on drawing comics and storyboards. Leaders are prone to changing their minds."

"You mean Xiao Ye and Brother Huo?"

"Stop talking nonsense and get on with your drawing. Does anyone have a phone? Call someone to bring a hot water bottle, it's fucking cold!"

Li Mingyang heard the storyboard artist behind him complaining, but he couldn't make out what they were saying, so he didn't pay much attention.

His mind was focused on the snow-covered mountains and forests, the path, the frozen lake, the sky, the distant buildings, and the distant, faintly visible mountains.

The communication through love letters is ingenious, a level of artistry that even the director himself couldn't surpass...

Because it was an unconscious stroke of inspiration.

He just thought it would be better to film it this way, so he filmed it, and it became a classic.

He himself couldn't explain why it became a classic.

Shunji Iwai's later works fully demonstrate this point; even the inspiration for his love letter came from Haruki Murakami's "Norwegian Wood."

This book resonated strongly with him.

His inspiration comes from Norwegian Wood, substitutes, and death.

Then, during the process of drawing inspiration, a burst of inspiration struck, and the theme was elevated inexplicably, pushing the love letter to an unparalleled height!

Even viewed from the perspective of a commercial film, Love Letter is a successful commercial film with a clear plot, foreshadowing, twists, reversals, resonance, humor, and tear-jerking moments. It is easy to understand and has a fast pace!

Love letters are from a long time ago, and they look different from today's perspective.

It might be a bit rough and outdated.

But the essence of a classic lies in its powerful resonance that transcends time and space, allowing the audience to empathize and be moved by the characters' joys and sorrows.

That roughness transformed into the naivety of youth.

What is outdated is precisely what creates history!
Love Letter has many iconic scenes, such as Hiroko Watanabe shouting loudly towards the snow-capped mountains, "How are you? I'm fine!"

The wind blew the curtains, but the man behind them, Fujii Itsuki, disappeared.

Female Fujii Itsuki and Watanabe Hiroko meet face to face on an empty street.

Hiroko Watanabe saw her and called out to Fujii Itsuki. Fujii Itsuki stopped her bicycle and turned around, her eyes full of confusion. The once deserted street was now bustling with people. The female Fujii Itsuki wondered if she had misheard and rode her bicycle away at the end of the road.

And then there's the woman Fujii Itsuki behind the last library card, a bittersweet mix of misfortune and relief.

Unfortunately, male Fujii Itsuki is dead, but I am relieved that he also liked me.

"The snow is getting heavier and heavier, it's so annoying..." Li Mingyang said softly.

Heavy snowfall severely obstructed visibility.

He makes romance films, not disaster films.

By the way, can the Sunny Day skill make the sky clear up?

With a thought, Li Mingyang turned on the sunny setting. What was just a heavy snowfall soon turned into light snow, and even the wind subsided.

The light snowfall creates a sense of tranquil security and fairytale charm.

Sunny day, second gear!

It snowed all day, but it stopped quickly!

It really works!
Li Mingyang smiled. With the sunny weather skill, he no longer had to worry about blizzards and snowstorms, and could film with peace of mind.

Filming real snow scenes is fine with light snow, but heavy snow is pure torture.

The snow is too heavy, and we're facing the possibility of filming being suspended. We can't see clearly, so what's there to film...?

Therefore, in order to save time and avoid accidents, snow scenes are often created artificially or through special effects.

Special effects are cheaper than manual labor, and the results are even better.

All day long, until dark, the entire crew was busy on the mountain, setting up camp and establishing a stronghold.

The main camera position is set, but the camera movement route is not yet determined.

Li Mingyang told everyone else to call it a day, but he stayed behind to act as a camera, planning the camera movements.

With the director working so hard, even if the others wanted to run away, they wouldn't feel comfortable leaving the mountain at this point.

So a large group of people used flashlights for illumination and continued preparing for the shoot.

Fortunately, the snow stopped, and everything became traceable.

It's easy to make marks.

It wasn't until after 10 p.m. that the markers were finally placed.

Hundreds of long sticks, each over two meters long, with red tape wrapped around the top.

It should be long enough to prevent it from being lost the next day if it snows at night.

The next day was a fine day; the sky was clear, the wind was light, and the forest was quiet.

Li Mingyang felt something was missing.

Rainy days, first gear!
Li Mingyang tried it out last night; using the rain skill in the dead of winter actually made it snow.

Before long, the wind picked up, and small snowflakes began to fall gently!

"That's it, that's the feeling! Everyone get ready! First test shot!"

At Li Mingyang's command, the crew sprang into action, and he lay down in the snow to conduct a test shoot!
After shooting all morning, Li Mingyang was still not satisfied.

The track was difficult to lay, the camera was a bit shaky, the lighting was off, and there was backlighting.

Most importantly, the effect of a one-shot shot with a camera following the view is terrible; a fixed camera position is better.

Li Mingyang has always been easygoing when making movies, never pushing himself too hard, and rarely refining his shots.

But this time he suddenly lost his temper.

He had someone else take his place while he picked up the camera again and filmed steadily in the snow.

The film crew's cameraman was technically competent and had a stabilizer, but the cold weather made it impossible for him to maintain a steady hand position for long periods of time. His hands would get sore, cold, numb, and shaky.

This is where the advantage of Li Mingyang not being afraid of the cold comes in; even at temperatures below minus ten degrees Celsius, he can still maintain long-term stability.

After two takes, the backlighting and polarized light became increasingly obvious; this is the pain of shooting outdoors.

The best shooting time for lighting and shadow effects is limited; you can force it, but don't do any post-processing.

Viewers will experience alternating periods of daylight and darkness while watching the film.

In the past, TV dramas did not undergo post-production lighting and shadow adjustments because of limited funding and the high technical difficulty.

In film, the emphasis is on light and shadow, and outdoor scenes are shot using magic lighting.

Without magic lighting, we shot interior scenes.

In the past, the biggest enemy of film directors was location lighting. In order to get rid of the dependence on magic lights, they developed factory set shooting to get rid of the dependence on magic lights.

The interior lighting is stable and efficient.

Outdoor lighting is extremely unstable; if it rains or is cloudy, the magic light will definitely be ruined.

Faced with this lighting problem, Li Mingyang used the simplest and most direct method to solve it: the system!

A lottery prize featuring your name, rendered with light and shadow!
Li Mingyang always felt that this skill was useless because lighting and shadow problems could be solved with special effects. When filming Seoul Spring, Pangu developed the light-tracking engine, which handled lighting and shadow effects very well.

According to the skill description, lighting and shadow rendering involves manipulating light.

However, in actual use, it's not just about manipulating light; it also involves instilling shooting techniques and methods based on his ideas, such as how to adjust the lens to achieve the ultimate effect of light and shadow!

Li Mingyang quickly became engrossed in it.

The charm of light and shadow lies in the fact that when you shoot the same scene repeatedly, you get a different effect each time, just like changing filters.

What was originally just an ordinary little forest has been transformed into a desolate atmosphere by the interplay of light and shadow.

The moonlight is formless, but it falls and forms tree shadows, which are reflected on the ground as your loneliness.

night.

Li Mingyang sat behind the monitor, watching his 31st audition scene.

This audition was filmed just before dark, and the sense of loneliness practically overflowed the screen. Every snowflake, every shadow, and every tree silently spoke of the man's solitude.

A hint of resilience shines through the solitude.

This resilience was evident in his performance; he probably tortured himself for five or six hours, to the point of wanting to die, but dared not stop filming.

It's not easy.

"Excellent! We'll shoot at the same time tomorrow. Everyone, get some rest tomorrow, take a nice bath to warm yourselves up. We'll meet at the mountaintop at 4 PM tomorrow. That's it!"

Li Mingyang waved his hand, and outside the tent, all the film crew members, with snot dripping from their noses, were moved to tears.

It's not because I'm off tomorrow, but because it's finally over, and I can finally go home.

They're almost at their breaking point.

Compared to the group of crew members who were somewhat sickly, Li Mingyang was in excellent spirits. Upon returning to the company, he even personally cooked spicy boiled fish for the crew members.

Six tables, six large basins of boiled fish!
"Boss, you can cook too!"

"What are you saying? The boss always does a good job, he just doesn't do it often. Oh my god, this fish is so tender, spicy and fragrant, it's so delicious."

"The pickled vegetables are even more delicious! I've never had these pickled vegetables at the company before! Where did they come from?"

"Boss, aren't you going to eat?"

After Li Mingyang sat down, he waved his hand and said with a smile, "You guys eat your food, don't worry about me."

"The eldest brother can eat a lot; this whole table isn't enough for him."

"Hey, if you can't speak properly, then say less." "It's okay, it's okay. After you've finished eating, come find me at Mingyang. I have something to tell you." After Li Mingyang finished speaking, he picked up his wine glass, swirled it around, toasted everyone at the table, and then hurriedly left the restaurant.

"Something's gotten a little off... I have a bad feeling about this!"

"Just eat, you're probably going to be up all night again..."

"Don't you guys think that our boss is taking this too seriously? If it were before, he would have finished filming the snow mountain scenes on the first day. Now, we don't even know how many scenes he has filmed."

"It's good to be serious! That way we can get more bonuses!"

"Eat up, eat up, let's get this 'Clean Plate Campaign' going on!"

"Haha."

The employees at the Volcano Studio rolled up their sleeves and began to enjoy their meal.

The academics, led by Han Jianu, all had solemn expressions, looking as if they were being tortured.

They've never suffered like this before!
On a snowy day, with temperatures below -10 degrees Celsius, the shelter that provided shelter from the wind and snow was on the verge of collapse, and people dared not stand inside. Inside, there were props, equipment, and supplies piled up.

They originally thought joining the Love Letter film crew would be a great opportunity, as it would give them experience and enhance their resumes. Now it seems like they're just suffering.

Most of the time is spent battling the cold...

The Love Letter crew was completely different from the Li Mingyang crew they had heard about and seen before!
Li Mingyang has always left the crew to their own devices, taking a laissez-faire attitude and rarely seeing anyone.

"My goodness, Director Li is working so hard on this movie... I feel like I can't go on, I can't go tomorrow, can someone help me ask for leave?"

"Take leave? Then don't bother coming. Someone can fill in anytime."

"The Witch 2 was a piece of cake, they were practically risking their lives! Ninth Brother, has your dad ever filmed a movie in the snow?"

"Yes, we've filmed before, but not as ruthlessly as Director Li. My dad always stops when it starts snowing, but Director Li keeps going even when it snows!"

"Xiao Han, I think we can finish filming the snow mountain scenes by tomorrow. Once that's done, we can move on to interior shots, right?"

Han Jianu shook her head, blowing her nose with a tissue as she said, "How would I know? I'm the producer, but what do you think I can decide?"

"You can go ask!"

“Yes! Sister Han, go and ask about the filming schedule so we can prepare in advance. If we're also filming outdoor scenes, we can prepare in advance and get the RV ready.”

I was even thinking about a motorhome...

Such a big heart...

When Heaven is about to place a great responsibility on a person, it first tests their will, strains their muscles and bones, and starves their body.

In just two days, Li Mingyang's actions perfectly illustrated this statement.

If you're so ruthless to yourself, you'll be even more ruthless to others!

Acting superior on his film set is just asking for trouble...

……

The next evening, when Han Jianu arrived at the film set, Li Mingyang personally distributed hand warmers to everyone.

Before everyone could get into character, the filming of the love letter began.

This time, Li Mingyang personally rehearsed the scene.

To everyone's surprise, after two days of preparation, the scene was filmed in just one take, lasting less than half an hour.

When Li Mingyang called it a day off.

Everyone thought the snow mountain scenes were over, but Li Mingyang's next words were, "Tomorrow or today, we'll continue filming!"
The next few days were the same; even a fool could tell that Li Mingyang was working on refining the lens.

When a great director starts refining shots, it's a disaster for the crew.

Moreover, this was on a mountain in a heavy snowstorm.

The only consolation was that Li Mingyang had three buses driven up the mountain to the vicinity of the film crew, finally providing them with shelter from the wind and snow.

On January 14th, just as darkness fell, the Love Letter crew wrapped up work again, just when everyone thought they would be back the next day.

Li Mingyang said, "This scene is finished. Tomorrow we'll start filming the interior scenes at the usual time, on the seventh floor of Mingyang. I've already set up the set."

This sentence is short, but it contains a lot of information.

While everyone was whispering and making a ruckus, Li Mingyang had already drifted away.

"Director Li said this scene is finished? What does that mean? Isn't Yang Mi the female lead?"

"I didn't know! I always thought Director Li was just doing a test shoot, I didn't expect him to be actually filming!"

"Could it be that Director Li is going to make a male version of Love Letter?"

"It's possible! All the actors are busy and haven't joined the crew yet. It's entirely feasible for Director Li to write, direct, and star in it himself!"

"This snow, this snow scene, is something you can only come across once in a lifetime!"

"Wait a minute! What about Yang Mi?"

"What do you mean, 'what to do'? Director Li is starring in it himself; this is her good fortune."

A group of people chattered as they went down the mountain, discussing a fact.

That's the love letter they filmed. It wasn't the love letter from the female lead that they were thinking of, but... the love letter from the male lead.

They were all scammed...

However, this has nothing to do with them.

The original female lead, Yang Mi, was already a bit... well, you know...

The wall around the flower shop is very leaky, and Yang Mi, who used to be the general manager of the flower shop video company, has many informants.

No sooner had Li Mingyang made his announcement than he received a call from Mimi, even before he had reached Mingyang.

"Li Mingyang, did you change my love letter?" Yang Mi didn't get angry or scold her; instead, she asked in a gentle and sweet voice.

"Yup!"

You big dummy!

"Change it to a love letter story centered on the male lead, with the female lead dying at the very beginning?"

"Mimi, you have a real talent for screenwriting! This heavily modified script that took me a long time to figure out, you guessed it right away," Li Mingyang praised.

"Why don't you just die! You bastard!"

After Yang Mi finished scolding, she hung up the phone.

Li Mingyang nodded and said seriously, "Yes, it's good to vent your anger and release your emotions, which is good for your health."

Back at Mingyang, Li Mingyang went to the seventh floor.

The interior scenes for Love Letter weren't designed by Li Mingyang alone; there were also five storyboard artists involved.

These five people were among the group that Li Mingyang started with, and they were isolated by Li Mingyang early on. These people were the core of the "one center, multiple branches" strategy.

It was they who used their pens to draw the storyboards that Li Mingyang wanted, allowing him to control the shooting progress and quality through the storyboards.

Even after he left the crew, the crew continued to operate efficiently.

They have a good eye for visuals, know how to set up scenes, and are very skilled with their hands.

The interior design was done by Li Mingyang and his team, using everyday moments from their lives to create a set with a strong sense of nostalgia.

Goodbye My Soulmate was very poor in terms of its historical and regional relevance, because Li Mingyang didn't know much about Korean culture and only knew about kimchi...

Unlike Miss and Seoul Spring, they did not take it seriously and consult a large amount of historical data.

Tomorrow we're filming interior scenes. After Li Mingyang and the other five had a hot pot meal, they decided to start.

Everyone was drinking red wine while looking at the storyboards, checking for omissions and filling in gaps.

The five of them were also the first to know that he was going to film a male version of Love Letter, not the female lead that everyone thought.

The biggest advantage of remakes is that there is an existing storyline.

With a broad vision and a God's-eye view, the work was transformed into a new film with regional characteristics.

Domestic remakes, especially those in the suspense and crime genres, have their own unique characteristics, and the remakes are generally quite good.

Once it comes to romance and comedy films, it's all over...

The root cause is that domestic screenwriters lack the ability to see the big picture in small details.

They lack the ability to describe a simple, trivial matter in a way that leaves a lasting impression.

This Korean is absolutely amazing!
The script is also quite good; the psychological drama and inner monologues in the scripted films are exceptional!
It was past 1 a.m. when the five people left. Li Mingyang sat alone on a single sofa, legs crossed, fist against his chin, staring at a bedroom scene, immersing himself in it and sketching out the picture.

When storyboards on paper are transformed into movie scenes, the actors are the most important! The director is secondary!
How to express this? Movie shots are continuous, and the storyboards leave blank spaces, allowing people to imagine and fill in the blanks subconsciously, deeply immersing themselves in the story.

Movies offer a direct audiovisual experience and don't require much thought. Once you're captivated and start thinking, you become immersed in the story.

The most direct way a movie attracts an audience is through its actors.

The saying "popular actors are destined for bad movies" is absolutely true.

Because popular actors can't carry a role, giving the audience the feeling that "I could do that too."

Fans can tolerate it because they're wearing filters, but their minds aren't really on the movie.

It's such a waste for casual viewers to pay money to see a bad movie!
He'd start criticizing her immediately—on QQ groups, on Weibo, at work to his colleagues, at school to his classmates…

As he immersed himself in the story, the outline of the love letter became clearer and clearer in Li Mingyang's mind.

Then he encountered a problem that all directors face.

Is this a good way to film it?
Speaking of which... can I realistically simulate it? Just thinking about it always feels a bit off...

Upon thinking of this, Li Mingyang opened the system.

The skills that Brother Tongzi provides are actually all closely related to the movie.

Are there any skills that can simulate filming?
(End of this chapter)