Chapter 18. Special Effects
TN: I said it would be a few hours but this chapter took a whole day OTL. Sorry!
The cast and crew had a rare day of rest.
Hua Ji sat on a chair and continuously wiped away sweat. Lord Jellyfish on his forehead was constantly leaking water. People came and went on the set, each one of them whispering amongst themselves. Contrary to expectations, monsters' hearing was exceptionally sharp, no matter what these people were saying, Hua Ji could clearly hear every single word.
These gossipy people, as they were talking, they secretly looked at Hua Ji, thinking that their actions hadn't been found out, yet, in actuality, these actions were supremely obvious in Hua Ji's eyes.
It wasn't just Hua Ji who elicited such a reaction. Besides the Male Lead, Fei Ka and Li Shun Hua too received this sort of treatment.
This wasn't the case with the Female Lead He Bai, though, since she had always been hiding behind the cliff wall. Other than the Male Lead's actor, Yun Bie Shen, who knew the girlie was suspicious, the rest of the people all thought that the Female Lead had always been hanging from the cliff, almost having her small waist snapped in half by the wire harness.
Hua Ji was completely unconcerned about news of the incident spreading out, and also did not fear nonsensical rumours floating around. This was because the production of this series was sponsored by Chuang Xia Media.
Speaking of the Big Three entertainment companies in the country, besides Chuang Xia Media and Wan Gu Entertainment, the last one was called Xing Guang Studio.
Even though it was called a studio, in reality, it was one of the Big Three entertainment companies in the country. Rumour had it that there was the shadow of the government in this company. It had exceptional influence and power. When there's money and authority, there will naturally be people. Some special effects productions or large-scale productions were handled by Xing Guang Studio. At the same time, Xing Guang Studio had connections with many special effect studios outside the country. Regarding this point, whether it was Wan Gu or Chuang Xia, neither could compare to Xing Guang Studio.
However! Wan Gu and Chuang Xia weren't bothered about special effects at all. This was because their own bodies could produce special effects ah!!
Want a cool scene or background? Chanting an incantation would do the job. What's more, some scenes of demon-slaying and devil-rending didn't even need any special effects. Just invite some monster actors, seek out some small ghosts in some cemetery, and a XianXia[1] production will be ok in minutes.
For example, right now.
The XianXia stories passed down from ancient times of the Jianghu were all-encompassing. Among them included XianTian Real Qi [2], Internal Martial Arts, Materialized Sword Aura and other such cool and profound settings. If it were other production teams, filming works like this would surely take a large sum of money spent on special effects. They would even need to purchase safety equipment for the actors, to prevent any accidents.
However, Charming Maiden's production team could disregard this part of their expenses.
This is because they had no need for it.
An insignificant wire-fu[3], to them it was basically nothing. Their only concern was the special effects being too awesome and in a moment of carelessness, the camera would be struck and sent flying.
Then where did the remaining money go to?
It was spent to activate a powerful hypnosis technique= =
This so-called powerful hypnosis technique, is a type of memory altering, large-scale art. Every time it was cast, it required a certain amount of materials, and in the spell radius would alter any strange and unnatural memories, changing into logical and ordinary memories. Furthermore, with the passing of time, this sort of memory would become fuzzy and indistinct, ultimately fading from memory.
Ever since the morning's filming ended, Director Yu had looked at Li Shun Hua multiple times, hesitating over what he wanted to say. Li Shun Hua straightforwardly made a call and very quickly, two young fellas wearing t-shirts arrived in a car. They laid down a magnetic interference field around the entire set. Like this, any communication devices would no longer be able to contact anyone. The entire set became a lonely island, unable to send any news out.
He smiled and said to Director Yu, "Whatever effects you need, just let us know. If we can do it, we will, so you can film the series in your heart. As for other matters…… you don't need to worry, don't need to be anxious, and even more so don't need to keep this in mind.
Director Yu hesitated for a while, before ultimately deciding to pretend he didn't see anything.
Having mingled in this circle for so many years, he also knew that Chuang Xia and Wan Gu were somewhat suspicious. He only needed to calmly film the show; the rest, he better not care too much about them.
"But I can't control other people……"
"This isn't something you need to worry about, just leave it to us."
Chuang Xia Media and Wan Gu Entertainment were extremely familiar with dealing with this sort of situation. Before three hours had passed, whatever was posted by the cast and crew on the internet had vanished without a trace.
At the same time, the cast and crew received a warning; all the cast and crew were prohibited from leaving as they pleased.
If they really had matters and needed to leave, the cast and crew would receive the warm attention of the young fella watching the door, ascertaining that not a thread of abnormality would be leaked out.
Of course, the ordinary members could be treated like this. A few people with special circumstances needed to be treated specially.
For example…… the unlucky Male Lead, Yun Bie Shen.
Check this story out at its original translator’s page, silvcyanide dot wordpress dot com.
Yun Bie Shen started his career from movies. Generally, the status of movie actors was higher than television actors. So much so that the actors who took on a movie role would never return to television.
However, the position of Director Yu to Yun Bie Shen was different. Yun Bie Shen's first movie role was gotten through Director Yu pulling strings to find a script and a director. It could be said that for Yun Bie Shen to get to where he was today, Director Yu played a big part in the process. Therefore, because it was Director Yu asking him and also because the sponsors were generous with his pay-check, he accepted a role in this show, acting on behalf of friendship.
Furthermore, within the cast of this series, he wasn't really a prominent actor. The senior acting as the Devil Sect Sect Leader was more prominent than him. What's more, the old senior acting as Old Lady Bai Mei was an actor from the older generation of actors. With them there, Yun Bie Shen felt that acting in this series wouldn't lower his status and treated this as a learning opportunity.
However, he infinitely did not expect that he…… en, his three views[4] would suffer a severe hit, needing to calm down for a bit.
Considering Yun Bie Shen was the Male Lead, afterwards he, the Female Lead and other actors would have plenty more scenes. If they continued to use the hypnosis technique, then by the time Charming Maiden had completed filming, Yun Bie Shen would have become an idiot. Therefore, Li Shun Hua didn't try to conceal it, directly telling Yun Bie Shen.
The reason he gave was…… the other actors in the cast were all masters of the internal arts, all the special techniques didn't need special effects. All of them were bona fide, completely real.
Yun Bie Shen was shocked silly. After a long time he drily said, "…… Then what about me?"
He was still very respectful towards his work. Hearing this kind of explanation, his first thought was that if other actors all did their own special effects, then what about him? Add it in during post-production? Then wouldn't it seem very abrupt?
Li Shun Hua faintly smiled. He coughed once and said, "Regarding this point, you need to have your manager discuss with Wan Gu Entertainment."
Yun Bie Shen blanked. "Discuss with Wan Gu Entertainment?"
"Oh! Are you here for your Painted Skin?"
Yun Bie Shen had just haltingly told Hua Ji his reason for coming, and Hua Ji instantly understood.
"If it's a Painted Skin, the price isn't low." Hua Ji had a smile that wasn't a smile on his face as he looked at Yun Bie Shen. "Actually, I feel that since Brother Yun walks the big screen, a television series can be casually done, the special effects can be added on in post-production. Don't worry about Chuang Xia Media lacking money, if they are anything, it's rich. The final product will surely be pretty good.
Of course it would be pretty good. If Xing Guang Studio produced sub-par special effects, nobody would say anything. However, if Chuang Xia and Wan Gu's special effects were so terrible to not be fit to be seen, then they would become the laughingstock of China's inhuman circle.
Yun Bie Shen frowned and resolutely shook his head. "The quality is most important. Regardless if it's for television or movie, they are all my works."
Hua Ji raised an eyebrow, in his eyes surfaced a bit more seriousness.
Yun Bie Shen had been acting in movies since his debut, becoming an instant hit, and every film after that was an improvement; exploded with popularity; and did fairly well at the box office. The people outside the entertainment circle all said Yun Bie Shen could only get to this point because of unearned good luck, but now it could be seen that the rumours were absurd.
He thought for a bit, before meaningfully saying, "The price won't be low."
Yun Bie Shen said, "If it's within reason; if it's worth it, then it's no problem."
Hua Ji nodded his head. "Alright, wait for the news."
That night, Hua Ji drugged Yun Bie Shen's cola and, under Lord Jellyfish's focused gaze, he stripped Yun Bie Shen, beginning to craft the Painted Skin.
The so-called Painted Skin was a fox spirit's unique ability. Hua Ji could attach the demonic energy in his body onto Yun Bie Shen, shaping it into a demonic skin. If the demonic energy didn't dissipate and the skin didn't crack, Yun Bie Shen would be able to use demonic energy.
Of course, the so-called 'use' referred to imagination.
For example, if Yun Bie Shen slashed with his sword or if he imagined his sword light was bitingly cold, then the demonic energy on his body would coalesce into a while light, and twist around the longword. Using it to create special effects, the results would surely be amazing.
The only troublesome part was when Hua Ji used the Painted Skin, there would be a few days of weakness.
Lord Jellyfish's tone was dry.
"Aren't you afraid that during these few days when you're weak, you'll run into danger?"
Little Fox Hua Ji couldn't even imagine it. "If it were the past, I wouldn't dare. After using Painted Skin, I would need to hide out for a while at the old tortoise's place. Now, however……"
He laughed cheerfully, "Don't I have Lord Jellyfish? With you here, what do I have to fear?"
Lord Jellyfish mused for a long time before speaking, "What if I have matters to take care of and must leave?"
Hua Ji blanked, the corner of his lip twitching. Damn it, he had basically already gotten used to a life with Lord Jellyfish always by his side.
Lord Jellyfish said, "I feel that your Painted Skin is pretty useful. What about I use water to help you make a water skin?"
Hua Ji: "……!!!"
[1] XianXia – (仙侠 xiānxiá) - literally means "Immortal Heroes". Fictional stories featuring magic, demons, ghosts, immortals, and a great deal of Chinese folklore/mythology. Protagonists (usually) attempt to cultivate to Immortality, seeking eternal life and the pinnacle of strength. Heavily inspired by Daoism. (Taken from .)
[2] XianTian Real Qi – 先天真气 – it’s apparently a form of cultivation(?) popularised by Jin Yong (a famous author for WuXia in China, people call him the Father of WuXia I think) and his work ‘The Legend of the Condor Heroes’. I’ve personally never read his works because I find them so boring.
[3] Wire-fu is the way Chinese WuXia/XianXia shows portray the fighting between cultivators. For those speedy attacks or air attacks, the actors are hung by wires and flown through the air doing kung-fu. Hence it’s called wire-fu, an amalgamation of both.
[4] Three views – 三观 – refers to world views/moral views.