Chapter 387: Setup! Setup Must Be Big!
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
However, after all, it was a rare chance to film a movie. Once Ling Yi and the rest heard that they could star in the movie as well, they were instantly energized, and one by one, they made all sorts of poses. Ling Yi even asked, “Director Lin, what do you think about my looks? Am I qualified to be a big star? If not, I can also be a small star!”
Lin Hao smiled and nodded. “Not bad, not bad, there’s definitely no problem for you to be an extra!”
Du Xinzhen roared with laughter. “Haha, Ling Yi, looks like you have the natural face of an extra!”
Ling Yi’s face turned red. “Extra it is, then. Many big stars started off by being extras too, it’s totally not a problem!”
Now that there were both actors and holy garments, and this place was a concealed area outside the city wall of New Lanxiang campus city, and there was nobody in the surroundings, the production team started to prepare for the filming right away!
Hong Dali asked, “Director Lin, what’s the plot like for this scene you’re going to film today? There isn’t any problem, right?”
Previously, after filming The Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre: Pugilistic World, Lin Hao had already gotten a taste of the perks. Now that Hong Dali asked about it, Lin Hao naturally would not let go of this opportunity. He hurriedly answered, “Young Master, the scene today is the background introduction at the start. To put it simply, it’s a large group of people snatching for resources, food and whatnots on a piece of barren land. Here, the props and so on have all been more or less prepared over there.” Lin Hao pointed at more than a hundred real extras that were following from not far behind, as well as a big vehicle pulling the props along. “These people are the extras that have come to film this scene. They can be called minor characters. Actually, initially, we were planning to film this in the mountains. However, due to limitations of the topography, and it just happened that this empty land over here didn’t have many people, thus, we thought of coming over to film it. I didn’t expect that Young Master was here as well. Young Master, your storylines are spectacular. Why don’t you give some advice?”
The storyline for this “Holy Warriors of the Goddess” was very simple and direct. Back then, Hong Dali had talked about a distant future. Because of the eruption of a nuclear war, most of Earth was destroyed. Thus, there was an extreme lack of resources. Only the sacred land, Sky City, was left, and it was the last sanctuary of humankind…
The divine beast, Vermilion Bird, morphed into a kind goddess to come and pray for the sacred city to open up and let the people have a place to seek refuge in. Alas, she was shot by an arrow and got injured. Then, to awaken the Goddess, the five holy warriors started a fight to barge through the twelve golden temples.
The storyline this time was much simpler and direct than The Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre: Pugilistic World. The main highlights were all on the fighting scenes, and there weren’t many aspects that required alteration with regards to the storyline.
But the problem was that Hong Dali was a prodigal. Especially now, because of the upgrading of the System, his Squandering Value had increased as well.
Previously, when he obtained one attribute point for every 10,000 yuan he squandered, Hong Dali squandered with a few million at one go. After he could exchange for one attribute point for every one million yuan, Hong Dali started to squander in terms of tens of millions…
Thus, now, as Hong Dali looked at the hundred and more extras, his first sentence was, “Director Lin, you’re making such a small scene for a 50 million movie?”
“Ah?!” Lin Hao looked at the extras. “This scene… Is it very small?”
“There are only a hundred of them! If there are so few, how would it be enough for people to watch them?!” Hong Dali raged. “There should be at least thousands of people in a big group fight! Didn’t I say it already? 50 million budget! 50 million! And you’re only using so few extras?”
“This…” Lin Hao was instantly despondent. “Young Master, actually, it’s really not that we don’t want to find more. The problem is there aren’t enough holy garments and Virtual Nodes Projection Suits!”
Actually, it wasn’t his fault. After all, it was easy to find extras, but the problem was that it was hard to get the armors.
According to what Lin Hao meant, he was using the method of replacing big with small to handle this scene. He only focused on filming their image. Because of the size of the screen, the scene would still appear very impactful.
But the problem was that Hong Dali was extremely dissatisfied. “Change, it must be changed! If there aren’t enough props, go and liaise with the factory side to make more sets! Strive to increase the production of the Virtual Nodes Projection Suits in batches as well. How can you expect me to show others such a small scene, it’s really… Setup, the setup must be big, do you understand?”
Fine, from what he’d said, today the filming wouldn’t be able to take place again…
Lin Hao shouted towards the scene. “Young Master says to stop for now. There’s no rush at the moment to film this part! Everyone, take a rest. Hey, that so and so, bring the stools and umbrellas over here!” Upon hearing what Hong Dali meant, looks like that would be something good happening again. Thus, he naturally had to serve him well in all aspects.
Very soon, the stools and umbrellas were brought over. Hong Dali pulled Tang Muxin to sit down and said, “Reward, everyone 2,000!”
The male lackeys took out the cash, while the female lackeys brought over the cash counting machine and started counting the money. “Young Master’s reward!”
In no time, all the production team members beamed with delight. Young Master was a God of Fortune, it was indeed true!
Just then, Hong Dali started to nag again. “Setup! Setup must be big! Director Lin, I’m not picking on you, but you can’t be so petty when filming a movie! What’s our goal! Emerge out of Asia and go towards the global stage! We want to compete against Hollywood. Look at you here, with only these 100 people or so, how is it enough?”
“Ah?” Upon hearing Hong Dali’s words, Lin Hao wiped off the cold sweat on his forehead and cautiously asked, “Young Master, it really can’t make it? This setup of ours is already not small, isn’t it? That’s more than 100 holy garments, and they must all be solid and authentic!”
“It’s not only that it can’t make it!” Hong Dali angrily slammed the table. “Do you think you’re fooling some children? Only a hundred plus sets! It has to be a few thousand sets at the minimum, alright?”
Upon hearing Hong Dali’s words, Lin Hao couldn’t really concede to it. After all, you are good at talking about storylines, but when it comes to filming methods, can you be more professional than me? It’s already rather impactful to have more than 100 people on the screen. After all, it’s a CG animated film, not an ordinary film. After it’s displayed on the screen, it would already be quite good to be able to create these hundred plus people!
Of course, though that was what he thought, he couldn’t say it out loud. Lin Hao cautiously asked, “Young Master, actually, it’s not that I can’t bear to part with money. The key is that there’s no need to do so. Think about it, the screen is only this big, even if thousands of people were to appear in this scene, they can’t fit into the screen.”
Hong Dali asked, “The screen is small?”
Lin Hao: “Small.”
Hong Dali: “Can’t fit in?”
Lin Hao: “Can’t fit in.”
Hong Dali: “That’s simple. I’ll build one myself.”
Everyone instantly collapsed. Lin Hao raged as he said, “Young Master, you’re building a new cinema just to view one scene?!” He’d heard about people squandering, but he didn’t hear about people squandering this way! Building a new cinema just for the sake of such a small part of the movie, how big would the screen be?
“Yes!” Hong Dali nodded. “Anyway, there isn’t a cinema in this sci-fi town. Looks like I really need to build one. In the future, we can watch movies here!”
“Then…” Lin Hao’s forehead brimmed with sweat. “Then, Young Master, how big do you plan to make the cinema screen?”
“This?” Hong Dali touched his chin. “Don’t bother about this first. Anyway, just remember that if you want to throw in money, throw it in with all your might and make as big a scene as you can! Write the script according to a big scene. Don’t show me any battles that have less than 1,000 people in it!”
What the heck, Young Master is going against the heavens!
“O… OK…” Lin Hao wanted to cry but couldn’t. Looks like he would have to refilm many scenes again…
Since everything had been decided, Hong Dali instantly gestured. “Alright, everyone, wait for two more days. After there’s more people, we’ll film it again. Go back home and rest first!”
“OK!” All his classmates instantly agreed.
After everyone unwillingly took off their Mechanical Holy Garments and put them back, Mu Huishou, who had been waiting by the side, cautiously asked, “Young Master Dali, if there isn’t anything else, I’ll go back first. But if you want to mass produce the Draco holy garment and Andromeda holy garment, it would need 10 days or so. How many pieces do you want for each type?”
Humph, you’re trying to trick me? Hong Dali snapped his fingers. “12 Dracos and 60 Andromedas! I want 2,000 more pieces of the ordinary, general holy garments!”
You’re trying to rebel! Mu Huishou almost fell to the floor. “Young Master Dali, don’t scare me!”
“It’s fine, it’s fine. If I have no use for them, I’ll send them back to Uncle Chief. It’s fine as long as there’s an external structure for the general holy garments. I’m using them to film a movie.” Hong Dali grinned and said, “Oh right, Brother Turn Back, it’s our summer vacation now. These two days, I should be moving around Tianjing Mountain, going to the park and going underground for expeditions and whatnot.”
“O… OK, I’ll try my best to apply for it…”
…
On the way back.
As Tang Muxin sat in the car with Hong Dali, she asked, “Dali, you really don’t care about things going on at the online game side?”
“Yes.” Hong Dali nodded. “There’s Old Liu over there. He shouldn’t have any problems. If you don’t have much to do, you can also help me to look after things there. I’ll be very busy these two days. You see, since the Granzons have been made, I’ve got to develop and reform it, right? Things are more or less done with the Crazyracing Kartrider, so I have to go and do the closure for it, right? I’ve got to continue developing the Holographic Projection, right? And ‘iPartment,”Where Are We Going, Dad,”Unexpectedly,”Holy Warriors of the Goddess,’ which of them do I not need to go and supervise…”
“Ptui ptui ptui!” Tang Muxin pouted. “You’re supervising it! Which of these things do you need to exert any energy in! Sister Chuyin is mainly the one reforming the cars, Sister Chuyin is mainly the one who makes the Kartrider, and it’s still Sister Chuyin who makes the Holographic Projection. Sister Cai is in charge of making arrangements for ‘iPartment,”Where Are We Going, Dad’ and ‘Unexpectedly,’ and there is Director Lin in charge of ‘Holy Warriors.’ If you want to slack off, just say it directly. I look down on you!”
Hong Dali, whose skin was as thick as a city wall, blushed. “Ah, haha, haha, I’m deciding on the big direction, the big direction, haha, haha! Let’s not talk about this. Speaking of which, our park should be opening tomorrow. Will you be coming?”
Upon hearing Hong Dali’s mention of the park, Tang Muxin’s little heart beat rapidly as well. “Dali, have you thought of a name for our park? Moreover, it’s so far away from the city area, will people come?”
“Why does it matter whether or not people come?” Hong Dali felt strange and asked, “It’s enough as long as we have fun playing there. Isn’t there still Ling Yi and the rest? Anyway, by then, people can come if they want to. We can just make it free of charge.”
“Free of charge again…” Tang Muxin covered her face. But due to the battle of the century, and moreover, Hong Dali’s online novel website had already started to earn large amounts of profit, thus, even if a single cent wasn’t earned from this park, Hong Dali could still afford it. He could just treat it as doing charity.
But though she thought like that, Tang Muxin still hoped its popularity would be higher. She mumbled, “Hope that the free of charge thing works. I’ve seen it, the various amusement facilities there are more or less done. Hope that the little children like to play there.”
“Mmmm…” As he spoke, Hong Dali felt a little tired. “I’ll go to sleep first… I’m so tired…”
Seeing that Hong Dali was sleeping like a child, without the least bit of seriousness, Tang Muxin burst out laughing. She whispered, “You’re forever like a little child. You only know how to play every day…” She looked at him for a while more, then suddenly turned her head around and smiled at Ling Xiaoyi, saying, “Sister Xiaoyi, Dali is indeed quite tired. Why don’t the two of us help him look after this aspect of online gaming.”
“OK, as long as Miss Xinxin is willing to.”
“Mm.”