The events that unfolded in the tutoring class were merely an introduction. After the disruptors who crashed the scene left with harsh words, Old Tang and his group were forced to embark on the journey of filmmaking.
Old Tang dug out a script that he claimed to have written ten years ago and kept hidden away. Its main content involved Tang Sanzang, who had been reincarnated in modern times, accidentally discovering a shocking conspiracy by the evil organization that had resurrected him. Together with several superpowered individuals he met by chance, he set out on a path to save the world and protect global peace.
Naturally, the actors in the script were played by Old Tang and his group.
As for the various difficulties encountered during filming, they resolved them in unique ways—
No budget for sets? Then film everything on actual locations!
No money to hire extras? Use hidden cameras to capture the most genuine reactions from passersby!
To add the gimmick of celebrity appearances in the film, the master and four disciples even disguised themselves as nouveau riche and infiltrated a high-end club frequented by stars, successfully coaxing several big-name celebrities into making cameo appearances!
The comedic moments came one after another, and unlike ordinary comedy films, "Journey to the West on Film" wasn't simply funny for the sake of being funny. Each seemingly simple joke laid groundwork for later plot developments, making the audience not only enjoy themselves but also appreciate the internal logic of the storyline when thinking deeper.
Even the four young men who already knew the subsequent content couldn't help but share knowing smiles when they saw the string of coincidences forming remarkable encounters. The audience in the theater naturally responded with waves of laughter.
The four actors in disguise observing from the back of the theater were certainly pleased with this development, but also harbored hidden concerns.
The reason was simple—they knew very well that this light-hearted comedic plot would soon end, and what awaited the audience next was a somewhat heavy past.
Whether it was Xiao Sun, the rich second-generation heir whose parents were too busy with their careers to pay attention to their child; Xiao Zhu, the money-grubber whose sister's deteriorating condition urgently required funds; or Xiao Sha, the dreamer whom everyone believed had no filmmaking talent but who kept fighting despite repeated failures—their storylines, though still wrapped in a comedic shell, had a heavy core.
And when the plot reached Old Tang and Xiao Bai's past, the film completely stripped away its comedic facade, exposing the cruel reality to the audience.
When they first read the script, they had doubts—in a family-friendly Spring Festival film, would audiences accept such content inserted into a comedy?
With apprehension in their hearts, they secretly observed the audience's reactions.
Sure enough, as they had anticipated, the theater that had just been filled with roaring laughter gradually quieted down when this part of the plot began.
During Old Tang's monologue, there was complete silence.
The four felt their hearts tighten—was it indeed inappropriate to mix such serious content into a comedy?
Among them, Xiao Bai was the most worried, closing his eyes and covering his ears, completely afraid to see the audience's reaction.
But though he didn't want to look, someone would remind him to.
He felt his shoulder being bumped, ignored it, and then was bumped again.
Unable to pretend anymore, he opened his eyes with a worried expression to see who was being so inconsiderate.
Then he saw the actor playing Xiao Sha gesturing in a certain direction with his shoulder, whispering: "Listen."
Xiao Bai: ...Listen to what?
Half-believing, he listened carefully and was surprised to discover that a young woman in front seemed to be sobbing.
This was completely unexpected.
Was it really that moving?
He opened his eyes again and, taking advantage of his position in the last row by the aisle, slipped to the entrance to secretly survey the audience's condition. He discovered that although the plot no longer contained constant comedic moments as before, the audience's expressions remained deeply engaged.
Even the sobbing viewers weren't limited to just that one young woman!
Xiao Bai secretly slipped back to his seat in the last row, still somewhat dazed, and quietly asked the other three: "So... did our plot transition successfully?"
"Of course it was absolutely successful!" Xiao Sun gave him a thumbs up.
He looked incredulously at the others and found that although they weren't as obvious as Xiao Sun, their faces were also beaming with joy.
Only at this moment did he truly confirm that the reception to this film probably wouldn't be too bad!
The film's reputation seemed assured!
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After resolving the background conflicts between each character, Old Tang's film continued production.
But just as Old Tang's script was only missing an ending, an unexpected situation arose—when the master and disciples had previously disguised themselves to infiltrate the high-end club, they caught the attention of a gang of kidnappers. Successfully fooled by the five's acting, the kidnappers mistakenly believed they were billionaires. Seeing that Xiao Bai seemed the easiest to deceive, they actually kidnapped him, intending to use him to extort money from Old Tang!
Upon hearing this, Old Tang, who was in the middle of filming, didn't even have time to change out of his costume. He immediately led the remaining three disciples to infiltrate the kidnappers' hideout, launching a direct assault, letting nothing stand in their way. They eventually succeeded in confronting the kidnappers.
During the standoff with the kidnappers, Xiao Bai, who had been in a withdrawn state, was stimulated to briefly emerge from his autism! He delivered a powerful elbow strike to a kidnapper on the spot. Old Tang seized the opportunity to charge forward with his three disciples, executing a successful shoulder throw that took down the kidnapper leader. As for the remaining henchmen, they were collectively subdued by Xiao Sun and the others in a flurry of punches and kicks, finally bringing the film back to its comedy theme.
All these scenes were dutifully recorded by the hidden camera in Xiao Sun's hand, which he had forgotten to turn off, naturally becoming the ending of Old Tang's film. The kidnappers ended up playing themselves as villains, forever preserving their not-so-glorious performance on film.
To everyone's surprise, after Old Tang's film was released, although it didn't become the perfect "hero film" he had hoped for, it was wildly popular as an absurdist comedy. After a ten-year hiatus, Old Tang accidentally became a real film director through this strange turn of events.
The scene changed.
Old Tang was directing others to hang a shinier sign on the wall where the tutoring class had once been.
A year had passed, and the originally cramped tutoring class room had been completely renovated into a formal institution. Xiao Sun, as an investor, was dressed in a suit; Xiao Zhu had become Old Tang's capable assistant; Xiao Sha had been admitted to a proper film academy and occasionally returned to the tutoring class as a teaching assistant; while Xiao Bai was gradually emerging from the shadows.
Everything was developing in a better direction, and "Journey to the West on Film" concluded here.
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As the lights came on, the four—Xiao Sun and his friends—looked at each other, all feeling somewhat reluctant to leave.
The final exciting yet humorous infiltration of the kidnappers' hideout hadn't felt special during filming, but watching it now, it was both thrilling and entertaining. It finally immersed them in their own work at the end of the film, allowing them to experience the joy of ordinary viewers.
They walked out of the screening room, listening to the discussions of nearby audience members, and found that most comments were positive. Although some viewers who had come for Director Shao Yichen's suspense films seemed to think the plot was too simple, lacking the mind-bending puzzles of her previous works, ordinary viewers had enjoyed it thoroughly.
For these novice performers, this was already a great achievement!
The four felt a weight lifted from their hearts and couldn't help but smile with relief under their masks. Xiao Sun made a grand gesture, declaring magnanimously: "Let's go! To celebrate the film's anticipated success, I'm treating everyone to lunch today!"
After saying this, his voice grew smaller: "But my boy band doesn't have many performances lately, so I don't have much money... How about we go to McDonald's?"
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While the four young lead actors were huddled in the Golden Arches munching on hamburgers, Shao Yichen was also monitoring the box office and reviews.
Her previous two works had initially received good reviews but poor box office performance, only gaining momentum in the later stages. But after observation, she discovered that the situation with "Journey to the West on Film" seemed somewhat different from her previous two works!
The current box office figures, though making Shao Yichen anxious as they teetered on the edge of losing money, weren't accompanied by the previously good reception. The negative voices had grown much louder.
There were two specific criticisms—"too idealistic" and "the director's skill level has declined compared to the previous two films."
Actually, both criticisms were baseless to Shao Yichen.
The former accused the film of being "unrealistic" and "idealistic"—but it was a exaggerated comedy film! Although there were some heavy segments in the middle, it was ultimately dominated by comedic content. Trying to find logic in such a film that relied on exaggerated comedy for its humor was really asking too much.
Moreover, in Shao Yichen's eyes, the film's content wasn't even that exaggerated—it was just about making a hit film without money and earning profits. What was so exaggerated about that? Wasn't that a true reflection of her own filmmaking experience?
She really couldn't understand what those people who found this experience too exaggerated were thinking.
As for the latter point, it was even more nonsensical.
Shao Yichen believed she had no directing skill to begin with—she was already at rock bottom, so how could she possibly decline further?
Besides, most of the viewers who initially reached this conclusion had been attracted by her previous two horror-suspense films. They wanted to see what huge mysteries she had hidden in this film, only to discover it was a comedy with a beginning that easily predicted the ending. Without even finishing the film, they rushed to criticize.
But how could a comedy film be as mysterious and profound as a suspense film?
Although Shao Yichen believed these criticisms had nothing to do with her, she didn't take any countermeasures and allowed the public opinion to ferment and control the narrative—even though she could tell many replies were from paid trolls following the trend of negativity.
After all, as the film moved further away from the goal of losing money, she was still hoping to use these negative reviews to turn the tide in her favor!
But just as she contentedly closed the comments page, she found her WeChat automatically displaying a new push notification.
—Cat Mint had published a new column.
She was immediately alert, clicked to take a look, and breathed a slight sigh of relief.
Today's content wasn't a film review but a character interview.
But then she looked more closely—why did the interview subject look so familiar?
Wasn't that Li Xingyu?
She looked at the title again—"Those Behind the Films."
No matter how she looked at it, this didn't seem like a normal interview title.
It didn't even name the interview subject!
If the person on the cover hadn't been so familiar, she might have missed this interview entirely.
Her vigilance instantly increased, and she immediately clicked into the article.
Author's Note: Second update!
I hear people in the comments section secretly discussing my sense of time.jpg
Thanks to the little angels who gave me Overlord Tickets or Nutrition Solution between 2020-09-19 11:59:47 and 2020-09-19 21:39:15~
Thanks to the little angels who gave Nutrition Solution: Vowing to Be a Great Qing Dynasty Cannon Fodder 40 bottles; Abu Blowing Balloons 10 bottles; Dream Purple Stream, Little Jing 1 bottle;
Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!