Xiao Yao and his entourage lived in Qingshuihe County for five days before they found a suitable shooting location in a place called Dahebao Village in the northeast of Qingshuihe County.

The village is located in the middle of several hills and has a large pasture. However, this meadow is not an endless grassland, but an undulating grassy slope. What's more, there is the Great Wall, there are ancient castles, and there are caves at the foot of the city walls, and the whole environment exudes a strong sense of historical vicissitudes, which makes Xiao Yao feel very much like the scene he saw in the movie in his previous life.

"I think it's nice here. Not long after watching here, Xiao Yao took the lead in expressing his opinion and asked Lin Jingliang, "Teacher Lin, what do you think?"

"The environment is very nice. Lin Jingliang nodded, looked at Xiao Yao and said, "But what about the scene in the movie? The movie is about a story in a school, but I don't think there seem to be suitable buildings in the village." ”

"Isn't there a primary school in the village? Anyway, it's summer vacation, and the students are on vacation, can't we borrow the venue of that elementary school to shoot?" Pei Minyi, who was on the side, opened her mouth to suggest.

"The school site is big enough, but it's not very suitable. Lin Jingliang shook his head and said, "This movie tells the story of the Republic of China. The schools in the Republic of China period are not the same as the schools now. Although I haven't found any information about what a primary school in such a poor and remote place was like during the Republic of China, at least it seems that simplified characters, writing habits, and some things that appeared after the Republic of China have to be changed, right?"

"Then can we renovate that school?" Pei Minyi continued to ask, "For example, you said that the simplified Chinese characters are changed to traditional Chinese characters, from left to right to right to left, or even to rebuild a school gate, etc., there should be time to do it, right? Anyway, we don't start filming now." ”

"This depends on what Director Xiao means. Lin Jingliang looked at Xiao Yao with a smile, "When it comes to spending money, you have to nod your head!"

"It's okay to spend money, but I don't think it's a good idea to renovate the primary school in the village. Xiao Yao touched his chin and said to Lin Jingliang.

"Why?" Lin Jingliang asked.

"There should be no problem in terms of time and money to rebuild the primary school in the village," Xiao Yao said, "but the problem is that we can't return a primary school in the village from the Republic of China, and we have to help them change the school back after the film is filmed, which is very troublesome." What's more, it's summer vacation, the school is empty, we can renovate, but by the time we turn it on, the school should have already opened. ”

"The school is one of the main scenes in the movie, and it can't be done in a few days. Xiao Yao continued, "If we keep occupying it, it will have too much impact on the children in the village who are going to school." Could it be that if we make a movie, we will leave dozens of children in the village without a place to go to school for a month or two?"

"That's what I said!" everyone nodded after listening to Xiao Yao's words.

"Then what do you mean?" Lin Jingliang asked Xiao Yao again.

"It's very simple, the scene of the school, we build it ourselves!" Xiao Yao smiled, "We can build a school during the Republic of China by ourselves!"

"Build your own school?" Pei Minyi said in surprise.

"Yes!" Xiao Yao nodded, "We can't create a natural environment, can't we create a man-made environment?"

"During the Republic of China, a school in such a place could not be a building, we just built a larger bungalow by ourselves. Xiao Yao continued, "It doesn't seem to cost a lot to build a house in this kind of place. Let's choose a suitable vacant land, build a house by ourselves, and build whatever we want, so that Mr. Lin can give full play to the space to give full play. After the film is finished, we can leave the house to the village if the village needs it. I think they should need it, and they don't even need to be demolished. ”

"Good idea!" Lin Jingliang rubbed his hands happily, "Let's build it ourselves, the space that can be played is much larger, and it will not affect the lives of the people in the village, I agree!"

"It's really better to build it yourself," Pei Minyi said worriedly, "but is it too late to build a school in two months?"

"Two months?" Xiao Yao shook his head, "No, we don't have two months, we only have one month." However, building a house in the village is different from that in the city, this kind of bungalow, as long as we are efficient enough, it should be able to be built in a month. ”

"A month?" the people in the company looked at Xiao Yao puzzled, "Isn't it planned to start in two months?"

Sun Tingting asked Xiao Yao to give her three months to prepare, so Xiao Yao planned to start shooting in October. This schedule is known to many people involved in the preliminary preparations. It's only August now, and when I heard Xiao Yao say that there was only one month, everyone was puzzled.

"I was planning to turn on the phone in two months," Xiao Yao smiled bitterly and raised the mobile phone in his hand, "But in the past two days, I checked the temperature history here and found that it may be too late to turn on in October." ”

"Temperature history?" a group of people all looked at Xiao Yao.

"In Shuozhou, in the second half of October, the maximum temperature during the day will drop to about 10 degrees Celsius, and the minimum temperature at night will reach zero or even below zero. Xiao Yao said, "This village is geographically located in the north of Shuozhou, and the temperature will only be lower than what I found. If we start filming in October, not to mention that it will be very hard for actors to shoot in winter and summer, when the grass here may start to turn yellow, and the shooting effect will be much worse. ”

"Actually, the best time to shoot should be in July and August, that is, now," Xiao Yao continued, "The highest temperature here is only in the early thirties, and at night it is only a dozen degrees, and the temperature is very comfortable." But we can't start the film now, and I don't want to wait for a year to shoot this time next year, so I have to start it early. ”

"Is it too late to start the machine a month in advance?" Fang still asked Xiao Yaodao.

"A lot of people in the crew are undecided, and most of the actors are not finalized, so we can choose people according to this criterion. Xiao Yao said, "It should be possible to form a crew in a month." ”

"Most of the actors are undecided, but some have been decided!" Fang still reminded, "Duo'er said that you would wait for her for three months, and you agreed." And Teacher He Ying, you also said that it would be at least three months before it was turned on, right?"

"This," Xiao Yao scratched his head a little embarrassed, "There shouldn't be much of a problem on Duo'er's side." She originally said that she would spend two months to teach to experience life, and then spend another month to let Uncle Sun and Aunt Sun help her prepare for the role together, and let her end the teaching in advance, or remove the next step, and enter the group directly after the end of the teaching. Sister He Ying's side, she doesn't have many scenes, and there should be no big difference between the preparation time of two months and three months, and she is also going to experience life, so she shouldn't take on other dramas in September, right?"

"In this way, I will contact Uncle Sun and Sister He Ying in a while to see if there is any problem with them entering the group a month in advance to start filming," Xiao Yao finally said, "If they have no problems, we will choose to shoot here." If it doesn't work, I definitely won't change it, Sister He Ying's side will negotiate well, if we can't negotiate, we can only go to a place further south to re-select the scene. ”

"Teacher Lin, I'm sorry!" Xiao Yao said to Lin Jingliang again, "It's the first time to be an independent director, and there are some things that are not well thought out, and they change back and forth, which makes you laugh." ”

"It's okay," Lin Jingliang smiled, "It's not a simple matter to shoot a movie, and it's inevitable to encounter some problems and situations." Some big directors take a year or two or even longer to prepare a movie, and they will encounter all kinds of things and make all kinds of adjustments before filming starts. You are so young, and it is the first time for you to be an independent director, and you have to work as a producer, so it is normal for problems to occur. ”

"Thank you for your understanding!" Xiao Yao bowed his head and said.

"To tell you the truth," Lin Jingliang said again, "your demonic name is too loud, as if nothing can bother you, and it doesn't feel real." Now I see that you also have inconsiderate places, and you will also encounter problems, but it gives me a more real and vivid feeling. ”

"Thank you!" Xiao Yao smiled, "I can't imagine that there are some mistakes, but it is actually a way to win favor." ”

Although they encountered time problems, Xiao Yao and Lin Jingliang still preferred to use this place as a filming location and start the film in advance. Before discussing with the village about borrowing a place to shoot and finding a place to build a house in the village, Xiao Yao had to get in touch with Sun Tingting and He Ying to confirm whether they could join the group in advance.

He Ying is very easy to contact, Xiao Yao can just call directly.

During this time, He Ying didn't take any long-term jobs, and when she had nothing to do, she disguised herself and went around the street and vegetable markets to see if she could meet shrews quarreling and scolding the street, and secretly observed and learned. In addition, I took the "makeup photo" of the coppersmith's wife made by Xiao Yao to take a look, and even found a professional special effects makeup artist to put on makeup for myself according to the appearance in the photo, and found my own feeling.

Hearing that Xiao Yao asked to join the group a month in advance, He Ying immediately replied that there was no problem, not to mention that filming would start in a month, as long as Xiao Yao needed it, he could enter the group at any time to start filming.

It's not so easy for Sun Tingting to connect there. Sun Tingting is still teaching, the place is very remote, the signal is not very good, and she can't be contacted at any time if she wants to. However, Xiao Yao knew that Sun Tingting would basically contact her parents at home every day, so he contacted Sun Zhihao in Yanjing, told him about the problems he encountered and the corresponding arrangements he made, and asked him to tell Sun Tingting on his behalf.

couldn't get a reply from Sun Tingting right away, and Xiao Yao and the others couldn't discuss with the village about borrowing a place to shoot right now, so Xiao Yao and his party could only go back to the hotel in Qingshuihe County first.

At ten o'clock in the evening, Xiao Yao received Sun Tingting's reply. This reply was not relayed by Sun Zhihao, but received a call from Sun Tingting herself.

Regarding Xiao Yao's behavior of promising to give her three months to prepare, but she backtracked and started the machine early, Sun Tingting inevitably complained coquettishly, but of course Sun Tingting still has to understand and support the difficulties and problems encountered by Xiao Yao.

Volunteer teaching activities in Huaxia can be carried out in various ways, but there are relevant policies and regulations. Sun Tingting did not study in China, and after Chambers graduated, she stayed in China for a year, not as a fresh graduate, but as a working person, through a volunteer organization called the "Western Plan". Volunteers in this organization must also comply with some relevant policies and regulations.

The volunteers of this organization have to go through the unified physical examination and on-the-job training of the organization before going to teach, and the teaching time is generally half a year. However, Sun Tingting went to teach with the purpose of experiencing life, which was a little different from ordinary volunteers, she participated in the physical examination, the on-the-job training was simplified, and the teaching time was only two months, which was a special case in this organization. Although it is a special case in the organization, Sun Tingting has no intention of ending the volunteer teaching activities ahead of schedule, and has to complete the two-month volunteer teaching task promised before coming.

Regarding Xiao Yao's proposal to invite Sun Zhihao to join the group and let Sun Zhihao tutor her in the crew and guide other actors by the way, Sun Tingting and Sun Zhihao did not accept it. One reason is that Sun Zhihao can't leave because he has something at hand, and the other reason is that Sun Zhihao and Sun Tingting both said that they believed or wanted to test Xiao Yao's ability to guide the actor's performance, so Xiao Yao was in charge of Sun Tingting's performance. Anyway, he is a director, and this is also one of his responsibilities.

Sun Tingting's reply was not much unexpected by Xiao Yao, and Xiao Yao immediately agreed.

After hanging up Sun Tingting's phone, Xiao Yao saw that it was not too late, and immediately went to Lin Jingliang's room.

"Teacher Lin, Sister He Ying and Sun Tingting can all join the group in advance, so I think we will shoot in Dahebao Village. After a brief greeting, Xiao Yao went directly to the topic and said to Lin Jingliang, "Tomorrow we will go to the village to find the person in charge of the village to discuss the matter of renting a venue for filming." ”

"Okay!" Lin Jingliang smiled, "It's best to be able to shoot there." ”

"It shouldn't be too difficult to talk to the village about renting the space. Xiao Yao said, "After negotiating with the village, we will start construction of the school house as soon as possible." You are the art director, you are responsible for the props, art, and sets, and you have the final say on how the house will be built, so you have to come up with the overall design plan of the house as soon as possible. As for the furnishings inside, you can design it while covering it. ”

"It's no problem to come up with a design, I've been thinking a lot about the shooting scene these days, and I've got a lot of ideas. Lin Jingliang knew that Xiao Yao was concerned about the progress of the scene construction, so he said very seriously, "But in terms of manpower and materials, you have to make a guarantee." Building a school or building a house in a month is not something that can be done simply. ”

"You don't have to worry about this!" Xiao Yao said confidently, "The problem that can be solved with money is not a problem." When it comes to building a house in the mountains, I can find a construction team and professionals who are both efficient and quality-assured. As long as you can give us the design drawings and requirements, they can build your house for you in less than a month. ”