Free Web NovelChapter 136: Chapter 129: Slogan_2
"Whether it matters or not, this time we’re going to be shooting a low-budget movie, it won’t be on major networks, but we might have a shot at online streaming. Our focus is on releasing short videos, and the shooting period is very short, tentatively wrapping up in four days. The day is still young, so I’ll take you to the filming location to get familiar with it," Director Ding said straightforwardly.
As the car moved forward, looking out through the car windows, Yang Xiao noticed that this appeared to be a rather remote small town, with few high-rise buildings, clearly not very developed.
Besides that, there were other things that caught Yang Xiao’s attention, as slogans sporadically appeared on the walls on both sides of the road.
"Boys and girls are equally strong, both can grow up to be pillars of society."
"Women hold up half the sky in society, men and women together support the blue sky."
"Let birth take its natural course, daughters are more filial to parents."
"Whether it’s a son or daughter, it’s all the same, love the girls, prohibit discrimination, abandonment, abuse, harm, violators will be severely punished!!"
These big slogans really shocked Yang Xiao, who remembered such things only from past movies and television works, meaning they were at least scenes from 30 years ago. However, the attire of the crew clearly did not match the era.
Soon, the vehicle slowed down and after turning a corner, Yang Xiao saw a school. The entrance gate looked relatively new, with two teaching buildings standing inside. Yang Xiao immediately recognized the one farthest on the right, which was the three-story building on the script box.
What surprised Yang Xiao even more was that the name of the school was not Fu Lin Middle School, but Ru Lin Middle School.
"Was the name changed?"
The school bus driver honked the horn twice, the retractable gate of the school opened, and the bus drove in and stopped. A line of people got off one after another.
Outside the bus, some people had been waiting, led by an old man with graying hair and a face full of smile-induced wrinkles, "Director Ding, nice to see you, I’m the principal of this place, surname Wu, we’ve been waiting for you since we got the news."
Principal Wu was very enthusiastic, holding Director Ding’s hand and exchanging pleasantries, which couldn’t help but make everyone feel strange, especially Yang Xiao, who noticed that both the principal and accompanying teachers seemed to be smiling somewhat insincerely.
"Principal Wu, it was Ms. Shengnan who arranged for us to come and film. Sorry for the inconvenience, and thank you for your assistance," Director Ding was also being courteous.
"It’s no trouble at all, it’s what we should do."
"By the way, Principal Wu, about those filming locations and costumes we communicated about beforehand, how are they..." ƒrēewebnovel.com
"All prepared, we’ve cleared out the classrooms as well."
"Great," Director Ding turned around and commanded, "We’re rehearsing today, actors from the team come with me, everyone else stay and rest." ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com
Looking back, Yang Xiao realized that the two women wearing masks hadn’t gotten off the bus at all. Before, Yang Xiao had wondered if they were "actors" like everyone else.
But now, it seemed they were not, and their disguised appearance gave the impression they were deliberately hiding their identities.
Under Principal Wu’s personal guidance, the group headed to the filming location, which indeed was that three-story building.
Standing at the foot of this lead-gray building, Yang Xiao felt a cold wind hit him, which was certainly not a good sign.
The building was very old, with at least several decades of history. From the outside, it was patchy, with some areas of the cement cracked, revealing the bricks within.
"This building is an old one, built as assistance from the town shortly after the school was established. In the past few years, a new building was constructed, and this building was then repurposed for the junior high section," said Principal Wu, introducing the building as he led them inside.
"Don’t be deceived by the name ’middle school’; in fact, it’s mainly a primary school. The junior high only has three classes. There’s been a significant population decline in the town, with young people moving to the cities to work. Many students who graduate from primary school and wish to continue their education are also called by their parents to go work in bigger cities," Principal Wu explained as they walked.
"The first floor is classrooms, the second floor is an activity room and a music classroom, and you shouldn’t go up to the third floor; nobody uses it. It’s usually a mess with various items being stored there,"
"If you’re going to shoot a film, you should use the second floor. It’s quiet. We’ve cleared out a room for you and set it up like a classroom."
Upon entering the building, Yang Xiao noticed that the surrounding walls were covered with lots of slogans — on the walls, on the staircases, and even inside the glass display cases — there were a lot of them.
The content was not much different from what he had seen along the way. Yang Xiao couldn’t help but wonder: Was it really necessary to post so many slogans inside an ordinary school building?
Yang Xiao stopped in front of one of the slogans. It was written on a piece of white paper and then pasted on the wall. He reached out and touched it, finding that the paper was very new, probably posted in the last couple of days.
Not just this one; the other slogans were similar. Yang Xiao looked at 4 or 5 of them and they were all the same.
It felt as if they were hastily put up just to pass some kind of inspection.
But their role was just a film crew borrowing a classroom to shoot a short film. It was already generous for the school to provide a location. To step back, what was the significance of these slogans to them? Yang Xiao’s mind was a bit jumbled and he couldn’t figure it out at the moment.
Principal Wu went up to the second floor and opened the door to a classroom: a podium, a blackboard, about twenty desks and chairs, all of which were not new and bore signs of repair, it seemed like they had been pulled out of an old storage to make do.
Before anyone could exchange pleasantries, a teacher hurried over. "Principal Wu, Teacher Xu says she’s sick and won’t be coming to teach starting tomorrow."
"Sick?" Principal Wu’s face soured, "How could she suddenly fall ill? Wasn’t she perfectly fine yesterday?"
A moment later, Principal Wu realized there were visitors present and told Director Ding and the others to get on with their business, saying he had no major tasks that day and would be in the classrooms downstairs should they need him.
However, Principal Wu stressed that the filming must not exceed 6 PM; in other words, they had to leave before it got dark, as the building would be locked.
Afterward, Principal Wu and his entourage left. Yang Xiao noticed that his face turned very unsightly once he stepped out of the door, and the accompanying teachers also had strange expressions on their faces.
But Director Ding didn’t care about these details; he began directing the audition. At that moment, Song Yan asked cheerfully, "Director Ding, may we have a look at the script? With the script, we’ll have a better idea of what to do."
"Scripts are for the real actors. Right now, you just do what I say during the audition. I didn’t bring you all here to guarantee you’ll be on camera; I still need to select candidates. Only qualified actors will get this chance,"
It seemed as if he wasn’t satisfied with just saying that, so Director Ding revealed, "Ms. Shengnan has a great deal of appeal. Don’t look down on our small crew and low budget, but with Ms. Shengnan as the face of the film, it’s sure to generate buzz. As long as you all put your hearts into filming, it might become a hit, and then you’ll all be on your way to stardom!"
Such low-level pep talk did not affect Yang Xiao and the others; they weren’t here to rise to fame but to survive.
Opening a few parcels on the classroom desk, they found complete sets of new school uniforms, "You guys, change into the uniforms, the female actors into school uniforms," commanded Director Ding, "The males don’t need to, as you will be playing the role of teachers in the film."
"Teachers of what subjects?" asked Lu Ji.
"Anything, Chinese, Math, Science, Geography; all are fine. First, get into the mood one by one,"
"Let me tell you about the background of the character you will be playing. The male teacher is skinny, fair-skinned, 24 years old, not long after graduating from university, and the setting is ... 20 years ago."
"Back then, college students weren’t like they are now; they were prized students. And this character is drawn as having proactively come to the countryside to teach right after graduation."
"In short, the character is a young man with aspirations and ideals. He’s a bit shy, but has a kind heart, and is liked by both teachers and students. He’s poetic and can write poetry."
"Oh, and he’s also very musically talented, likes to play music for the students on a tape recorder, and enjoys when girls dance around him."
