novellhall Chapter 17 Male College Student Who Breaks into the Red-Light District
Chapter 17 Male College Student Who Breaks into the Red-Light District
As soon as I entered the film set!
The instructions were delivered in friendly Chinese, and there was also the familiar smell of cooking oil from a takeout lunchbox.
It's completely different from the seemingly orderly atmosphere on a Hollywood film set.
It's very lively here, even a bit chaotic!
"Lights! Where are the lights? I need side-backlighting, not lighting up your uncle's grave!"
A director wearing a baseball cap was yelling through a megaphone, his voice louder than the loudspeaker itself.
"Here they come! Director, the American's circuitry doesn't match our interface. We're fiddling with an adapter!"
The lighting technician was sweating profusely, clutching a handful of wires in his hand and a screwdriver dangling from his mouth.
Chen Xun was immediately assigned to help the props team move a bunch of replica Republic-era household furniture.
Contrary to his imagination of Chinese film crews spending lavishly overseas, the props here mostly exuded a sense of frugality and careful budgeting.
Several staff members were gathered around a small cart.
The above are frozen dumplings and cabbage bought from a local Chinese supermarket; cost control is impeccable!
While working, he kept his eyes and ears open.
Soon, he spotted his target.
A fight scene is being prepared.
A male actor in a Zhongshan suit and a stuntman playing a villainous henchman are practicing their moves under the guidance of the action choreographer.
The action choreographer, a lean man, moved with clean and crisp movements, and was explaining:
"When you throw that punch, it'll carry the wind! Then I'll block, turn around, and deliver a sweeping kick..."
"Watch the rhythm!"
"Crunch! Crunch! Crunch! It needs to be crisp!"
Chen Xun held his breath and stared intently.
As the stuntman followed the instructions and threw a punch, producing a short, sharp whistling sound, a gray orb of light fell to the ground.
[Physical Attributes - Strength Increased by 1]
absorb!
Immediately afterwards, the martial arts choreographer personally demonstrated the sweeping leg kick, the movement swift and powerful, the lower body stable, and a green orb of light fell down:
[Physical Attributes - Lower Body Stability +2]
nice one!
absorb!
Chen Xun was like a male college student who had accidentally wandered into a red-light district, greedily absorbing these targeted attributes.
Although they are all basic levels, they are plentiful and filling, and extremely practical.
He could feel that he had a more subtle understanding of power generation techniques and body balance.
During a break, he approached an old stagehand who was squatting in a corner smoking and tried to strike up a conversation.
The old production assistant was from Guangdong. He traveled all over the world with the film crew and was very knowledgeable.
"Young man, coming to see the show?"
The old stagehand glanced at him, his Cantonese accent reeking of smoke.
"Learn, learn!"
Chen Xun handed over a bottle of mineral water he had swiped from a Hollywood film set:
"Our crew is filming in Los Angeles, it must be tough, right?"
"Not easy? Ha."
The old stagehand chuckled and took the water:
"Do you think we're filming 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'? Our kind of production crew, to put it nicely, is doing cultural export; to put it bluntly, we're just taking advantage of location shooting."
He pointed around:
"Look, a lot of the equipment we're using was brought from China. Why? Because it's cheaper! Renting it locally is ridiculously expensive!"
"Not to mention the labor costs. The core team is from China, and for us odd jobs, we try to find local Chinese people whenever possible, and we keep our wages very low."
"Is the collaboration with Hollywood going smoothly?"
Chen Xun was curious.
"Smooth my ass!"
The old stagehand blew a smoke ring:
"The union has countless rules, and they charge extra for even a minute overtime. Unlike back home, where staying up all night is like child's play. Look over there!"
He gestured with his chin, pointing to several expressionless white men standing at the edge of the set:
"That's a supervisor sent by the local union, keeping an eye on us, afraid we'll mistreat our employees. Damn it, we're not even this polite to our own people!"
Chen Xun was speechless.
This is completely different from his imagination of "Chinese capital sweeping through Hollywood," and is more about the predicament of trying to survive in the cracks of the rules.
What's the most frustrating thing?
The old stagehand lowered his voice:
"Once filming is finished, most of the footage will be shown back in China. Here? Nobody watches it! Americans don't care who was involved in espionage during the Republic of China era."
"I heard that a blockbuster that grossed hundreds of millions domestically came here for a screening, but the box office was so bad that it didn't even recoup its advertising costs. It was just for show, a publicity stunt!"
Just then, the fight scene started filming again.
This time it's a scene where the male actor gets kicked away by the villain.
The male actor was suspended by wires and his movements were neat, but when he landed, they filmed three or four takes to achieve the desired effect.
With each impact, he shed a gray [limb attribute - recovery +1].
As Chen Xun absorbed the energy, he thought to himself: This guy isn't losing stats, he's losing health!
Earning money is really not easy.
He also noticed that during breaks in filming, the actor was video chatting in broken English with someone who appeared to be from an American talent agency, in front of a laptop screen in a corner.
A smile was plastered on his face, and his tone was cautious.
That scene inexplicably reminded Chen Xun of the scene in "Silent Echoes" where Li reassures his family that he is safe, except that the message here is:
"I hope to have the opportunity to try out your company's projects..."
This is a microcosm of Chinese film crews in the US: on the one hand, they are working hard to meet deadlines using mature domestic models and cost control, and on the other hand, they yearn to truly knock on the tightly closed door of Hollywood, even if it's just a crack!
After a day as a temporary assistant, Chen Xun was exhausted, like a dead dog.
However, the number in the [Limbs] column on the attribute panel has indeed increased significantly.
Although no qualitative change has occurred, the physical memory of power generation, stability, and recovery techniques is something that cannot be learned by watching any number of kung fu movies.
When Li Suyan returned to the apartment that evening, she was shocked to see him covered in sweat and looking disheveled.
"Oppa! Did you go to the construction site to carry bricks?"
Chen Xun slumped on the sofa and waved his hand weakly: "Almost there. I went to experience life in China's Hollywood today."
"How's it going? Any success?"
"I gained a lot!"
Chen Xun stared at the ceiling, his eyes sparkling:
"At least I now know that if we want to make a name for ourselves in Hollywood, it's not enough to just work behind closed doors; we have to figure out their rules."
The next day, Chen Xun gritted his teeth and pulled out a few banknotes from his increasingly depleted wallet.
I bought two packs of Marlboro cigarettes at a tobacco shop in Koreatown.
It's not the cheapest, but it's not high-end either; it's the kind of decent, presentable item.
He put the cigarette in his pocket.
Arriving once again at the noisy set of the Republican-era film crew, he found the lean action director and several key stuntmen from the previous day with practiced ease.
They had just finished filming an intense chase scene and were sitting on the equipment box, panting heavily, gulping down water from the mineral water bottles with Chinese characters printed on them, which the crew had given them.
Chen Xun seized the opportunity, put on an innocent smile, and moved closer:
"You guys' worked hard, have a smoke to relax!"
He took out the two packs of Marlboro cigarettes, and with somewhat clumsy movements, opened one pack and handed them over one by one.
Martial arts practitioners are seasoned veterans who spend years traveling the martial arts world; they're all shrewd and can understand what's going on at a glance.
The action choreographer, known as "Brother Qiang," took the cigarette, squinted at the brand, glanced at Chen Xun, grinned, revealing a set of teeth slightly yellowed from smoking:
"Hey, young man, you're pretty quick-witted. I saw you watching eagerly yesterday, wanting to learn a few moves?"