Leisure is leisure, and work is work. Lu Chen clearly distinguishes between the two.
No matter how beautiful the scenery in Jinling is or how captivating the Qinhuai River's charm may be, it cannot make him linger and neglect his work.
On the second day in Jinling, Lu Chen woke up early.
Li Feiyu was still sound asleep, so he quietly left the hotel to go exercise outside.
After returning, Lu Chen woke Li Feiyu, and the two went to the hotel restaurant for breakfast.
Just as they finished breakfast, Lu Ze arrived.
Today was the day for shooting the advertisement. According to Silver Horse's arrangements, if the morning shooting went smoothly, he would go to the Senqi headquarters in the afternoon to shoot promotional photos, and then return to the Capital City that night.
Of course, that was the ideal scenario.
Shooting for film and television is never simple. Even the simplest advertisement can encounter unexpected issues and setbacks, such as costume and prop errors or poor actor performance, all of which can affect the shooting process.
Under Lu Ze's guidance, Lu Chen first met with the shooting team from Silver Horse Advertising.
Although it was just an advertisement, the shooting team was quite large, including the director, photographer, photography assistant, script supervisor, art director, lighting technician, lighting assistant, prop master, makeup artist, and several crew members responsible for miscellaneous tasks, pushing tracks, and transporting equipment— there were at least a dozen people.
This also showcased the strength of Silver Horse Advertising. If it were a makeshift crew, perhaps only a few people, like the director and photographer, could handle it, and they wouldn't be able to assemble such a large team.
Additionally, it demonstrated Senqi's emphasis and investment in this advertisement.
The shooting location was on Hongkong Street in Jinling Film City.
Jinling Film City was built through cooperation between the government and enterprises, with investments totaling hundreds of billions. It has long become one of the famous tourist attractions in Jinling.
Hongkong Street, modeled after Hong Kong's Kowloon commercial street, is lined with tall buildings and shops, and there are trams and a real subway station, making it hardly different from a real scene.
Many domestic films and television shows have been shot here. Interestingly, it is said that even Hong Kong film companies have filmed movies with a strong Hong Kong flavor on Hongkong Street.
When Lu Chen arrived, the shooting team had just taken their positions.
According to the plan, the outdoor portion of the advertisement would be shot first, followed by the indoor scenes, and the plot was not complicated.
The advertisement's storyline tells of Lu Chen's character, the male protagonist, and his cohabiting heroine who oversleeps. The latter rushes to attend an important company meeting but accidentally leaves the documents at home.
Upon discovering this, the male protagonist immediately puts on Senqi sportswear and shoes and runs out to catch up, only to find that the heroine has already taken a taxi and left.
Thus, the male protagonist runs frantically down the street, overcoming various obstacles. When the heroine arrives at the meeting room and realizes she has forgotten the documents, the male protagonist, covered in sweat, appears like a divine weapon!
The touched heroine immediately gives him a kiss, prompting applause and cheers from everyone in the company.
Finally, the camera focuses on the Senqi logo.
Lu Chen had already read the advertisement script and memorized the lines.
His character did not require high acting skills; the only challenge was that several shots involved parkour to showcase the brand's athletic features.
Silver Horse Advertising planned to use a stunt double, a professional parkour enthusiast, for these scenes.
Lu Chen arrived a bit early, and under Lu Ze's introduction, he chatted with the shooting team's director, who explained the key points of the shoot, as the main shots would focus on Lu Chen.
The director also introduced Lu Chen to his stunt double.
The stunt double was a professional fitness coach named Wang, who appeared to be nearly 30 years old.
He was slightly shorter than Lu Chen but had a muscular build that made him look very strong. He spoke a bit shyly, clearly belonging to the straightforward type of personality.
The director told Lu Chen that this fitness coach had a military background and loved parkour, having achieved an impressive fifth place in a national parkour competition.
After understanding the director's intentions, Lu Chen thought for a moment and asked, "Director, can we skip using the stunt double? Let Coach Wang demonstrate those parkour moves for me first, and then I can do them myself?"
"No stunt double?" The director was taken aback, looking at Lu Chen with disbelief: "You want to do the moves yourself?"
The expressions of the nearby photographer, lighting technician, makeup artist, and even Coach Wang were somewhat unusual.
Professional tasks should naturally be handled by professionals. Although using a stunt double would be more complicated, requiring post-editing and adjustments to avoid mistakes, and significantly increasing the shooting difficulty, it was still better than risking Lu Chen's safety!
One of the shots in the advertisement required the male protagonist to nimbly leap over a railing and jump across a flower bed that was three meters wide. Without sufficient jumping ability, it would be impossible to complete, and lacking technique could even lead to injury.
The director felt that Lu Chen was a bit unaware of the risks involved, but he concealed his disdain well.
The advertisement director was not on the same level as film and television directors; the status difference was too great, and they couldn't afford to offend any stars.
So he could only explain kindly: "That's too dangerous. We can't take that risk; please understand."
Lu Chen smiled and did not insist on his idea, choosing to respect the director's arrangements: "Alright then."
The director secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
He had shot many advertisements and knew how difficult some stars could be!
After calming Lu Chen down, the director looked at his watch and frowned.
He turned around and pointed at his watch, asking his assistant, "What time is it now? Why hasn't Miss Sun Shan arrived yet? Call her and hurry her up; what are you doing just standing there?"
The assistant, scolded, shrank back and quickly took out his phone to contact her.
The director then said to Lu Chen, "Mr. Lu Chen, I apologize for the inconvenience. Please bear with us; Miss Sun Shan might be encountering some issues. Why don't you sit here for a moment?"
Lu Chen smiled and said, "It's no problem. I'll wait a bit longer."
Sun Shan was Lu Chen's co-star in this advertisement, a third or fourth-tier little star in the film industry.
Lu Chen had searched for her information online and knew she had appeared in a few dramas, although all in supporting roles. However, she had gained some popularity on the internet and was said to be quite good at self-promotion, having won a couple of obscure awards.
Sun Shan was quite beautiful, but her reputation was not very good.
Of course, Lu Chen did not care about her character; after all, it was just a collaboration for an advertisement.
But he soon realized that he had underestimated the situation!
After the assistant finished the call, he timidly approached and said, "Director, Miss Sun Shan is still at the hotel. She said she would arrive in about an hour. What should we do?"
"Another hour?" The director was furious, his eyes wide with disbelief: "So many people are waiting for her!"
He suppressed his anger and waved his hand forcefully: "Forget it, let's not wait. We'll shoot the male protagonist's part first. Everyone, get ready quickly!"
With the director's command, the shooting team immediately got busy.
The photographer set up the camera, the makeup artist rushed over to do Lu Chen's makeup, and the lighting assistant ran around with reflectors.
The script supervisor and crew members kept the curious onlookers at bay to avoid disrupting the shooting.
The first shot was not of Lu Chen but of his stunt double.
Coach Wang changed into a full set of sportswear and shoes, and after warming up, he began the first round of shooting, which mainly involved an obstacle jump.
The professional coach was quite capable; he took a running start and jumped effortlessly over a few stacked boxes by the roadside, executing the move with great agility and fluidity.
The camera mounted on the track followed his movements, capturing the entire process perfectly.
The first take went very smoothly. The director was satisfied and approved the footage after reviewing the replay.
The next parkour shot was significantly more challenging, requiring the stunt double to leap over a railing and jump across a flower bed onto the grass. Due to the long jump distance, there was a certain level of danger involved.
While the stunt double was preparing for this shot, Lu Chen received an unexpected phone call.
It was a call he did not anticipate.
"Sister Fei?"
The caller was Chen Fei'er: "Lu Chen, where are you?"
Lu Chen replied, puzzled, "I'm in Jinling shooting an advertisement. Sister Fei, is there something you need?"
Chen Fei'er chuckled, "Can't I call you if there's nothing going on?"
Lu Chen: "Uh..."
Chen Fei'er laughed, "I'm not joking with you. You're shooting at Jinling Film City, right?"
Lu Chen confirmed, "Yes, I'm on Hongkong Street."
Chen Fei'er said, "I've filmed there before; I know the place better than you. I'll hang up now."
Lu Chen was left momentarily stunned: "Oh, goodbye, Sister Fei."
After ending the call with Chen Fei'er, Lu Chen felt a bit bewildered.
"Ah!"
Just as he was thinking, a sudden painful scream came from ahead.
Lu Chen was startled and rushed over with several crew members.
He soon discovered that his stunt double, Coach Wang, had an accident!
It turned out that while shooting the jump over the flower bed, Coach Wang had not landed properly and twisted his ankle, causing him to be in so much pain that he couldn't stand up.
Everyone helped him up and brought a chair for him to sit down.
When they took off his sports shoe, they saw that Coach Wang's ankle had already started to swell!
Although it was still unknown if there was any bone injury, it was clear that he could not continue shooting.
Moreover, the previous shots were essentially wasted.
Because they would have to find a replacement.
The problem was where to find a substitute at the last minute, knowing that these moves were quite difficult and not just anyone could perform them.
The director's frustration was overwhelming!
(End of this chapter)
You can read ahead up to 30 chapters on my patreon, and I've also activated (date to date) subscription model on my patreon https://www.patreon.com/darkshadow6395