Becoming a Movie Star, System Only Finished Loading After Ten Years

When "Lost on Journey" surpassed one billion at the box office, Qi Hao didn't throw a celebration party.

This kind of thing is just for flaunting pretentiousness.

It has little effect on boosting box office sales, especially since there are no competitors at the same time to squeeze "Lost on Journey" out of the schedule, and some movies even chose to postpone their release.

Since there's no promotional benefit, why should Qi Hao bother?

He could celebrate after the movie finishes its run just the same.

What he lacks least now is pretentiousness.

Even "Film Art" magazine came to his crew for an exclusive interview, and they took photos intending to feature him on the magazine's cover.

It's not just an ordinary article in the magazine, but one that includes the cover.

That's quite impressive.

"Film Art," founded in 1956, primarily features special articles, film criticism, interviews, theoretical research, inquiries into film history, personalities, and industry information columns.

As a core journal that ranks top in film academics for years, "Film Art" is highly forward-thinking, academically authoritative, setting trends and often leading the forefront of Chinese film development.

It is also the first academic journal in New China specializing in film criticism and film theory, a source journal for the Chinese Social Sciences Citation Index (CSSCI).

If "Popular Cinema" and "Watch a Movie" cater to movie fans, then "Film Art" is for professionals.

This professional magazine might not spread widely compared to fashion magazines, but for a movie actor or director, it absolutely maximizes their pretentiousness.

The person interviewed in the last issue seemed to be Gu Changwei.

He's a top photographer in China, now transitioning into a top director. If you're not at a certain level, this kind of professional magazine won't even care about you.

Now that Qi Hao can accept the invitation, it clearly shows the industry's recognition of him.

What's not to recognize?

Whether there are any biases in "Steel Piano" winning the Golden Horse Best Director, the biases definitely aren't significant, the film's quality is evident.

There's little controversy about the film itself.

The controversy is about Qi Hao, with some saying he didn't shoot the film independently, and others saying it's inappropriate for him to win Best Director at Golden Horse for his first film.

If that's all, it would at most be casually reported.

The decisive factor was "First Love, This Little Thing."

If you view "Steel Piano" and "First Love, This Little Thing" separately, someone producing just one of these two films wouldn't be considered extraordinary.

Huaxia's film circle is full of talent, often producing outstanding individuals.

The key is, both films were made by Qi Hao.

That's very much worth researching.

Moreover, Qi Hao's experiences are legendary, from a minor actor, he emerged after two years, rising suddenly as a star, then transitioning to an Acting Faction route winning Best Actor, and only started directing after winning Best Actor, first shooting an award-winning art film, then making a commercial film for box office.

As the popular saying goes on the internet nowadays, his life seems like it's hacked.

However, there are quite a few people whose lives seem hacked in this world.

Those so-called successful people, many live life like they're hacked, one more or less makes no difference.

"Click~ Take a break and then continue filming."

Holding a box of instant noodles, Lu Yang really couldn't eat anymore.

No choice, he'd consumed too much dog food.

Qi Hao and An Feng were showing affection in front of the camera.

Currently, the film is in the mid-to-late production stages, starting to shoot scenes of the male and female protagonists falling in love.

If a romance movie fails to convey the beauty of love, the stink of romance, then regardless of the ending, it won't move the audience.

The so-called tragedy is tearing beautiful things apart for people to see.

Regret is the same.

Only when the expectation is high is there considerable regret.

Quite different from the original script's scenes.

Qi Hao revised the script a lot, making it more fitting for the city of Jinmen—since you're filming in this city, you must adapt to local conditions.

March to April is the season when peach blossoms bloom, and numerous scenic aerial shots were taken for the film.

Such as Hongqiao Peach Blossom Embankment, Nankai Bitaoyuan, Jizhou Pan Mountain, Jinghai Lv Guantun...

Not needing to spend much money.

The local government greatly supported the film's shooting, providing various conveniences.

Not just peach blossoms, but also the cherry blossoms in Nankai University Cherry Garden and Xiqing Sakura Avenue; the magnolias in Changhong Ecology, Munan Park, and Xigupark; the crabapple flowers in Five Great Avenues; the peonies in Riverfront Park Peony Garden and Binhai New Area Eight Street Peony Garden; and other apricot, pear, and rapeseed flowers...

All are beautiful scenes around April.

Besides natural landscapes, the city of Jinmen has unique architectural styles.

The photographer ingeniously combined these elements with the film's plot.

To make this movie well without it becoming overbearing, Qi Hao elevated the level of photography direction and art direction.

The production costs reached thirty million.

Qi Hao and An Feng together took ten million, leaving the rest for production costs.

The money wasn't spent in vain, as the visuals of this film are far superior to "First Love."

"Didn't you have lunch? Eating instant noodles here, the whole crew reeks of your noodle smell."

Qi Hao looked at Lu Yang with some disgust.

"Why don't you just say the whole city of Jinmen reeks of my noodle smell? I was busy as a dog at noon, where did I find time for lunch, you forgot I'm also the B-team director?"

Lu Yang had a belly full of grievances, unsure how to express them.

Other than the lead roles, the scenes were mostly filmed by him and Wu Jing, thus divided into A and B teams for this purpose.

"Thanks for your hard work, Old Road. When your movie starts filming, I'll come be your assistant director."

Qi Hao sat in his chair, comfortably exhaling a sigh.

Finishing this movie in a month was originally not supposed to be difficult.

The difficulty lay in the complexity of the locations, one could completely say it was filmed across the whole city.

This hustle made the schedule tight.

Qi Hao and Lu Yang had no choice but to work overtime, even skipping lunch breaks.

Qi Hao was filming here, but occasionally had to socialize, attending dinner parties with some of the local big shots.

These were big shots from the city, and since he had emerged from this city, he couldn't just ignore them.

As they chatted, they became more expectant about this film being shot in Jinmen.

Qi Hao had to take this movie more seriously.

Of course, they provided a lot of convenience, arranging every filming location for Qi Hao and An Feng's romantic scenes.

If you want a clear shot, I'll clear out the whole street for you.

If you want to shoot alone in the park, I'll arrange as many days as you need for independent shooting.

Of course, usually such crews would give some money.

"I don't dare, as long as you provide the money."

Lu Yang couldn't imagine Qi Hao being his assistant director, this was just a joke.

In reality, an assistant director isn't the director's deputy.

Their status in a director's team is quite low, whether it's the executive director, action director, or photography director, all hold higher status.

Even some director assistants have more say due to being close confidants of the director.

"Just tell me if you need anything."

Qi Hao didn't mind, right now what he wasn't lacking was money.

If Lu Yang could indeed make a good film, he wouldn't mind giving Lu Yang more opportunities.

It's the same for others too.

Wishing to elevate oneself to a big shot in the entertainment industry, relying solely on the couple movies made each year is clearly not realistic.

"Not too much, 2,607,000 is enough!"

Lu Yang was waiting for this moment, immediately pulling out the script from his bag.

"You're well-prepared, down to the last cent."

Qi Hao curiously took the script to glance at its title, "Blind Cinema," which unavoidably brought to mind Giuseppe Tornatore's "Cinema Paradiso," another of Qi Hao's favorite movies.

It could even be said Qi Hao fell in love with films starting from those movies.

Along with "The Shawshank Redemption," "This Killer Is Not So Cold," "The Truman Show," "Sunny Days," "Back to Back, Face to Face," etc.

All are types you can watch repeatedly.

"West Film Factory agreed to provide one million, you just need to give me the rest."

Lu Yang was a second-generation, so he wasn't short on connections.

Finding investment was very simple, but he couldn't keep making these low-cost small productions forever; in the future, he would surely have to struggle with funding issues.

That's why he cherished his connections with Qi Hao's side.

"You even have a detailed budget sheet, seems like you've planned things out quite well?"

Qi Hao vaguely felt that his movie had stalled Lu Yang.

If it weren't for the temporary additional filming for his movie, Lu Yang probably would have already started shooting his own movie.

"I've been preparing all along, as soon as we finish 'Those Years,' I'll start filming."

Indeed, Lu Yang had been stalled, resulting in him having to renegotiate schedules with the actors he'd chosen, but everything was worth it, as he learned a lot from Qi Hao.

Filming a movie isn't that simple.

If he had tried to jump into it directly without the two years learning with Qi Hao, the movie produced surely wouldn't be any good.

"Director eight thousand, executive director fifteen hundred... No, this is a bit shabby."

Qi Hao looked at the project budget sheet, utterly confused.

Who would be willing to take on such a job at fifteen hundred for an executive director?

Although an executive director might have less power, their role involves too many tasks; whenever a director gives a command, the executive director runs around, and many crews even have the executive director call action and cut.

"My movie is only planned for a month, fifteen hundred a month, it's pretty decent, many people are calling to take up the job."

Lu Yang felt that Qi Hao was quite wealthy now and had plenty of people helping him, so he was quite out of touch with market conditions.

"Director fee eight thousand, how much are you paid for filming with me?"

Qi Hao asked.

"Twenty thousand!"

Lu Yang smiled wryly, Qi Hao was swift with payment, even though he was just an executive director in "Those Years," he received a twenty thousand reward.

Of course, he worked his way up bit by bit.

The first collaboration was a payment of five thousand; at that time, he was just an ordinary assistant director who came in through connections.

The second movie gave ten thousand, the third even twenty thousand.

Such a boss, who wouldn't love it?