I’m a Director, I’m Not Bad

Chapter 65 063. Bring Xiao Xu with you~

The bright red on top of the bird's nest model is so dazzling.

But the radiant color is not sharp, on the contrary, it is soft.

It looks like red silk or a ribbon.

Wrapped and twisted into a spiral.

Surrounded by a circle full of auspicious cloud patterns, there are several small holes on the auspicious cloud patterns, which look a bit dark, but are brightened by the silver color painted all over the body. It does not look dull, but has a radiant and soft look. The beauty of coexistence of pride and passion.

Is this... a torch?

Countless people stood at various angles, either bending down or looking at the outline of the torch.

And these people first discovered that no matter from any angle, silver and red are unified.

You can see red and you can see silver.

Some of the art directors present, including Yu Zhen, nodded unanimously to express their satisfaction.

If nothing else, just this use of color is great.

Zhang Yimou simply started circling around the Bird's Nest model, bending down to look straight from all angles. After spinning in a circle, he suddenly noticed...

"Is it one piece?"

After hearing his words, the three of them looked at each other.

Xu Xin stood up:

"That's right, Director Zhang, they are one and the same."

With that said, he walked directly to the model and started explaining:

"My design concept is a scroll. A long picture... Director Zhang, when you asked me to explain the design concept the day before yesterday, didn't I object to your concept of five thousand years? I think One performance cannot reveal our five thousand years of civilization. Because if we adhere to this concept, the performers will inevitably have to create props from different dynasties and then play out the characteristics of different dynasties... That would be too cumbersome and too deliberate. . So I was thinking...what makes us know our history? Is it by word of mouth?...No!"

He shook his head extremely firmly:

"It's paper, one of our four great inventions. Countless people have recorded what happened in every era and every dynasty through paper. So I was thinking, why can't I also show it through these papers? Come out? And how should this paper be expressed? ... Make a very, very big paper on the scene? Or something? I have been thinking about it, so I came up with the idea of ​​​​combining it with the live big screen. You look……"

Under the gaze of everyone, Xu Xin pointed to the circle of aluminum plates pasted:

"This is the big screen of the Bird's Nest. It is integrated with the torch. The concept of feathers you mentioned... let's just follow this. Look, for example, this is a feather."

He picked up a piece of paper that fell from nowhere and placed it at a starting point:

"According to what you want, Director Zhang, this feather will first fly over the five continents...for example, North America, Canadian maple leaves, American Indians, the Statue of Liberty, etc... Hey, let's go...and then South America. , Latin, Samba, football and other symbols... Let's go to Africa, the singing and dancing Africans, or the pyramids, the Sphinx... Let's go... The Leaning Tower of Pisa in Europe, Football, cathedrals, etc... and finally came to Asia.

Then... Shang, Zhou, Qin, Han, Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing... As this feather flies, our history is revealed. This is the richness of our history of five thousand years... Then, walk, walk, walk... the first Olympic Games begins, the scenes of countries passing the torch, the athletes competing... walk, walk... and finally the smiling faces of the children , the smiling faces of athletes, the smiling faces of people, etc..."

Looking at these people with astonished expressions, including Zhang Yimou who was frowning and thinking, everyone was listening to Xu Xin's thoughts and simulating the pictures in their minds:

"From the history of the world, to the history of our country, to the spirit of the Olympics... these all appeared as the scroll unfolded and the feathers flew. Finally, the feathers landed here."

Finally, he pointed at the silver-red main torch.

"The feathers started to burn with a crash, and after the scene of sparks bursting out, only a little bit of fire was left... This is the long scroll of the entire human history. We invented paper, which recorded the history, civilization, and record of all mankind. After our own historical civilization conveyed this concept to people, the last spark of fire fell here. Look..."

He pointed to the red and silver scroll.

The scroll is made of two layers of aluminum plates put together, leaving a row of grooves in the middle:

"Here is the gunpowder, or the fire-throwing device... After the fire falls, boom ~ ignite this circle of fire... The flames surround this paper scroll, going around and around..."

He traced the path of the flame, and finally, when he came to the main torch, he let go of the piece of paper:

"The flames exploded and were ignited!"

At this time, Xu Xin picked up the lighter on the table and pressed it into the torch.

A faint flame appeared from the candle hidden inside.

Then, he pressed the switch at his hand.

"Click" sound.

When the flames passed through the lines and holes filled with auspicious clouds and ignited above the bird's nest model, the small light bulb buried inside the scroll also shined brightly!

"!!!"

That moment when the light of the flames reflects the auspicious cloud patterns, and the shadows of the auspicious clouds are dispersed by the soft light of the light bulb!

The darkness dissipates, and thousands of feet of red light and silver color appear!

The collision of silver and red instantly made Zhang Yimou, who was frowning and thinking, also open his eyes wide!

"..."

"..."

"..."

Everyone's breath was shocked by the red and silver, combined with the soft halo of fire and lights.

Even though it was just a model, in their minds, they seemed to be in the bird's nest at this moment, witnessing this historic moment with their own eyes!

The shock, surprise, and excitement coming from their blood made them breathe heavily and stare at the torch in front of them... Some even clenched their fists in excitement!

At this time, Xu Xin's voice sounded again:

"Teachers, this is our design idea. Paper carries history, and flames forge civilization! The auspicious clouds bring good luck, and that touch of red is the unique spirit and romance of us Chinese people!"

After speaking, he bowed to everyone:

"thank you all."

"Pah...pah...pah...pah pah pah pah..."

This time, there was no silence.

Unlike last time, which could only be described as a brilliant debut, this time, the young man in front of them shocked them with the magical concept in his mind, and it was worthy of everyone's heartfelt applause:

"Hua la la la la..."

Amidst the applause, that familiar temperature filled Xu Xin's brain again, causing his face to become quickly filled with blood and turn red like never before.

Xu Jin and Liu Mingsheng, who had been busy all night and had several Bundy tied to their fingers, hooked their companions' shoulders with excitement, their eyes full of excitement.

at last.

In applause.

Zhang Yimou's brows slowly relaxed.

Looking at the three young people...or the young man in front of me who just joined the team the day before yesterday, he gave his own applause:

"Well done, Xiao Xu, the plan is great!"

"……Thanks!"

…

"Guoqiang, follow Xiao Xu's idea and simulate an ignition test here. Xiao Wei, go get our camera. Then organize what Xiao Xu just said into copy. After Guoqiang's ignition is successful, take it Report the pictures to the leaders and let them take a look... Well, Ma Wen, you and Xiao Xu will connect and make a clip. After finishing, combine the shooting pictures and then report them together..."

Several people quickly nodded in agreement, but Zhang Yimou suddenly stopped talking...

His eyes fell on the "main torch" with candles still burning.

"Xiao Xu."

"Hey, Director Zhang, please tell me."

"Are your design ideas for the main torch combined with those of the torchbearers?"

"Well……"

Xu Xin was stunned for a moment, then nodded quickly:

"Yeah, yes, here is the design."

He bypassed everyone, came to his desk, and unfolded a page of paper folded in half.

The two lower halves were red, and the upper half was painted into a silver torch pattern that appeared on his chest.

Holding the drawing paper, Xu Xin said:

"Same as the main torch, I used two colors of red and silver to design it. It's just that the main torch doesn't have our Olympic Games LOGO, but the one in the torch holder does."

"..."

Zhang Yimou frowned again, squinted, and looked at the shape of the torch on the paper...

After a moment, he nodded:

"Okay, this is a good plan. Ma Wen, I'm working on a set of three-dimensional animation of the torch and will submit it together."

"Okay, Director Zhang."

Ma Wen nodded, and Zhang Yimou's final gaze fell on the main torch again.

"... Guoqiang."

"Eh."

Zhai Guoqiang, an artist who is well-known at home and abroad, nodded.

"Hurry up and get the lighting ceremony out."

"Um……"

Zhai Guoqiang took a closer look at the grooves that had been specially preserved, then looked at the structure inside the hollow torch, and said:

"No problem, just give me an hour."

"Okay... then you can do it here, let's have a meeting first..."

As he spoke, he turned to look at the three young men.

Full of praise:

"well done!"

…

"Teacher Zhai, what do we need to do?"

Everyone left, leaving only Zhai Guoqiang and his assistant Meng Li.

After hearing Xu Xin's words, he smiled gently and waved his hands:

"No, you seem to be very tired, go and have a rest. This is easy to do, I just need to mix the fireworks and gunpowder, and then make a simple fire beam...PAUL, bring the box over."

"OK."

Meng Li nodded and walked out quickly.

Even though he said this, the three of them were not sleepy at all now and simply studied with the others.

Soon, Meng Li took out a box, and Xu Xin also saw a red stamp of "permit" on the box.

Zhai Guoqiang opened the alley, and inside was a pile of bottles and jars of powder.

To be honest, Xu Xin has never seen this kind of "art is explosion" stuff.

When I was a kid, I often saw people blowing up mountains with detonators...

But there is definitely a difference between these two things.

So he just looked there...

Xu Jin was also a little interested and wanted to ask what these things were used for, but Zhai Guoqiang shook his head when he asked:

"I can't tell you, there are rules."

"Well……"

Now, Xu Jin couldn't ask any more questions.

Then everyone saw him take some powder, then pour out some liquid and mix it, then put on gloves and knead the sticky "mud" into thin strips.

Press little by little along the groove left by the torch.

Soon, after the thin strips covered the entire groove, he took out the candle from the torch, then took out something that looked similar to chalk, and used a carving knife that didn't know whether it was jade or agate to cut it on it. Cut out a messy shape bit by bit.

The cut powders were also carefully collected and wrapped in paper bags.

Finally, I put a slightly wider sleeve on the chalk with tinfoil and buried it directly in the empty barrel of the torch.

The whole journey takes less than half an hour...

Then, he nodded:

“Go call photography.”

Meng Li walked out immediately, but when he came in, he brought a group of people with him...

As soon as they heard that he had finished it, everyone in the discussion group came down.

There is also a video camera.

Zhang Yimou went into battle in person. After finding the focus of the camera, he looked around:

"Curtains two-thirds drawn."

Soon, the light in the room dimmed.

Xu Xin subconsciously approached him and looked at the picture in the camera...

Zhang Yimou is a master of visual color. It would be foolish not to learn how to use color through the lens now.

And seeing that the other party just adjusted the intensity of the natural light, and the colors of the picture became softer... Xu Xin knew that he still had a long way to go.

"It's time to start."

Zhang Yimou naturally had no objection to Xiao Xu's stealing from his master.

This kid has a lot of energy and is a good seedling!

After hearing his words, Cai Guoqiang took out a slender match and lit it, and the flame lit the joint of the aluminum buckle plate.

One second.

Not lit.

For two seconds, it seemed to be on fire.

Three seconds...

"Crack!!!"

A fire dragon instantly twisted and circled along the originally planned route, and finally landed in the main torch.

Then, a burst of fire erupted from the torch, which was not as fast as fireworks, but was stronger than fire.

The flames soared into the sky, quickly dissipated, and finally, the auspicious clouds lit up.

The entire lighting ceremony was completed within seconds.

It's so fast that people can't react in time.

But it was completely recorded by the camera.

"OK."

After Zhang Yimou shouted to stop, a group of people, including Zhang Wu, quickly squeezed past.

He didn't hide it either. Although the screen was not big, everyone could see it clearly.

Directly selecting the scene taken before and playing it in reverse, Xu Xin discovered...it turned out that he had used slow motion.

In slow motion, the fire dragon soared into the sky, circled the scroll very quickly, and finally lit the torch. The flames of the torch erupted rapidly at first, but then calmed down and began to continue burning.

Although I don’t know what the chalk is, its flames are much more powerful than candles in the camera.

The light and shadow effects are also much stronger.

After checking the picture, Zhang Yimou immediately moved away and let everyone see for themselves.

But he himself came to the torch.

Suddenly his brows wrinkled again.

"...We can't use gunpowder anymore."

Hearing his words, Xu Xin was still puzzled, but Zhai Guoqiang nodded in the same way:

"Well, indeed, it would be more appropriate to use a fire-breathing device."

"?"

Xu Xin came over in surprise.

There was no need for him to ask, Zhai Guoqiang pointed directly to the edge of the book:

"No matter how stable the gunpowder is, it will explode. If it is calculated on a physical scale, it is likely that the gunpowder ash will fall on the heads of the audience, which is a safety hazard. So it cannot be done."

Xu Xin followed his instructions and suddenly realized after seeing the blackened traces on the auspicious cloud pattern on the edge of the main torch that was painted silver...

"Then it has to be made hollow, and then a fire-breathing device should be installed inside, right?"

"Um."

Zhang Yimou nodded and found Ma Wen in front of the camera.

After muttering a few words, Ma Wen nodded:

"Xiao Xu, come with me."

"Uh...Okay, Director Ma."

Xu Xin responded, turned to Xu Jin and Liu Mingsheng and pointed outside:

"Then I'll go first."

"You go, we'll do the rest."

"Um."

In response, he followed Ma Wen to the visual art design room next to her.

…

5:30 p.m.

"...Xiao Xu, Xiao Xu?"

"Huh?...Uh...Director Ma, please tell me."

Xu Xin, who had fallen asleep on the stool, woke up instantly.

Ma Wen looked at the young man who had been sleeping for more than an hour and said helplessly:

"I told you to go back and rest..."

"Uh...I'm fine...Director Ma, are you done?"

Rubbing his sore eyes, Xu Xin looked at the three-dimensional diagram on the computer and asked.

Ma Wen nodded, clicked play, and demonstrated it to him.

To be honest, the drawing is very rough.

But it’s understandable. After all, it was something that was made in an afternoon. It would be unrealistic if even the outline of the feathers were exquisite.

So it's just a demonstration of burning feathers rolling along a scroll.

Feathers fly in front, and behind are the history of various civilizations on the five continents of the world, as well as some photos of Olympic athletes.

Finally the scrolling is completed and the screen ends.

The total time is just over one minute.

But the meaning is right.

So Xu Xin nodded:

"Yes, that's what it means."

"Well, that's good."

After Ma Wen saved it directly, she got a new bottom board and typed a line on the keyboard:

"Zhang Yimou Design Team"

Designer: Xu Xin

"Hey wait..."

Seeing that she wanted to save it again, Xu Xin quickly stopped her:

"Director Ma, there are two more people here."

Ma Wen was stunned and blinked:

"You mean those two props?"

"It's Xu Jin and Liu Mingsheng."

After saying their names, Xu Xin shook his head:

"Everyone has been busy all night, how can I only get the credit?"

"EMMMMM~~~"

Looking at the serious-looking young man in front of her, Ma Wen suddenly laughed:

"terrific."

Then changed it a bit.

"Designers: Xu Xin, Xu Jin, Liu Mingsheng"

"Is that okay?"

"Uh-huh."

Xu Xin nodded with satisfaction.

"Okay, then you can get off work. I'll give this to Director Zhang. If there's no problem, I'll hand it in tomorrow. Go back and rest quickly~"

Hearing Ma Wen's words, Xu Xin, who was really tired, no longer refused. He stood up and nodded:

"Okay, Director Ma, I'll leave first."

"Well, go ahead and drive carefully."

"Uh-huh."

After watching Xu Xin leave, Ma Wen imported the film into the USB flash drive and walked out of the design room with her laptop.

At this time, those who should get off work have already got off work, but Zhang Yimou and several main creative staff are still there.

After Ma Wen walked into the small conference room, she held the computer and said:

"Director Zhang, take a look."

"good."

Everyone paused their discussion and gathered together.

Ma Wen clicked play directly and explained at the same time:

"After all, the concept hasn't been finalized yet, so I just randomly chose a model for the feather."

"Um."

Zhang Yimou frowned again.

In fact, seeing him frowning, not to mention ordinary people, even the actors when they were on the set would feel a little nervous.

But anyone who knows him well knows that this is just a habit.

Frowning means thinking.

So don't be afraid.

But that's the case...how many people in this circle can do it?

The scene played for more than a minute.

Finally, the last line of subtitles was revealed:

"Zhang Yimou Design Team"

Designers: Xu Xin, Xu Jin, Liu Mingsheng

When he saw this line of words, Zhang Wu was stunned:

"Aren't Xu Jin and Liu Mingsheng Haoyang's apprentices? When I asked them in the afternoon, they said they were just producing, but the idea was all Xiao Xu's idea..."

Ma Wen smiled and nodded:

"I know, so I wrote about Xiao Xu alone from the beginning. But Xiao Xu didn't agree. He insisted that everyone had worked hard, so how could he get the credit? He insisted that I add these two names..."

"..."

Zhang Wu was stunned for a moment, then suddenly laughed:

"This kid can do it, he's very generous."

"Director Zhang, what do you think?"

After hearing Ma Wen's words... Zhang Yimou frowned and was silent for a while, then slowly relaxed:

"The rough effect is acceptable. You can edit the video together with this later. Let Xiao Wei report it to the organizing committee tomorrow."

"good."

After Ma Wen agreed, Zhang Yimou looked at the time and said:

"Okay, let's continue talking... what is the shooting date?"

Cheng Xiaodong, who was a member of the design team but had just arrived this afternoon, said:

"It's scheduled for April 2."

"...April 2nd...that means there are still seven or eight days before we have to leave?"

"Yes, go there in advance to prepare. As a director, you still have to communicate with the actors. So I thought I would leave on March 29."

"..."

After listening to Cheng Xiaodong's words, Zhang Yimou really frowned.

Zhang Qing, who was in charge of coordinating the team this time, thought about it and said to Zhang Yimou:

"Yimou, how about this? The matter has been finalized. Tomorrow Xiaowei and I will go to the leadership to communicate and see if the press conference can be held in advance. After this matter is finalized, we How about taking the people to Hengdian? That way we won’t be delayed. We’ll take pictures and keep an eye on this side.”

"You mean..."

Zhang Yimou pointed to this small conference room:

"Where should we move the meeting place?"

"right."

Zhang Qing nodded:

"After all, you have signed a contract with others, and the actors can't wait. So how about we all go with you? You don't have to bring everyone with you. The main creators will go with you, and we will stay. If you have any ideas over there, we will be here Communicate. Then you finish shooting as soon as possible and come back. After all...the Bird's Nest has to submit plans quickly. Without a plan, it cannot be completed, and that would be a big sin."

"...that's okay too."

Zhang Yimou thought for a moment and nodded in agreement:

"Then let's do it. Tomorrow you communicate with Xiaowei and the leader to see if the appointment ceremony can be moved forward and all the necessary procedures can be completed in Yanjing before the end of the month... Just this room of people Come on, let’s go to Hengdian…Hey, Director Zhang.”

He turned to look at Zhang Wu:

"My movie also has a big scene with thousands of people. Then we can coordinate the design ideas. How about it?"

"no problem."

Zhang Wu agreed readily.

Wei Lanfang on the side asked:

"Then these are the people, right? Do I plan my trip in advance?"

"good."

Zhang Yimou first nodded to confirm...but then waved his hand.

After thinking about it, I added another sentence:

"Bring Xiao Xu with you again."

Zhang Wu, who was lighting a cigarette, responded:

"Well, pfft~ Yes, yes, this kid is smart, so we need to bring him along. I feel excited when I think about the lighting ceremony now. Bring him along, isn't he also a director? Young man, follow us and run around, It’s good to gain experience.”

It was obvious that Zhang Wu really admired Xu Xin.

And Zhang Yimou also nodded:

"This guy is pretty good."

Wei Lanfang responded:

"Understood."