Chapter 125

Scared?

Song Jixing said very seriously: "Not afraid."

"Alright, then you stay here first. Call us if anything comes up! The others will come over this afternoon..." Zhang Haolin said, referring to the rest of the crew members, among whom there were two girls who would be staying with Song Jixing, though they would come a bit later.

Song Jixing saw Zhang Haolin off and heard the whispers of two orioles again, "Is that the director?"

"I don't think so, it should be him! The one walking!"

"Then let's keep an eye on him!"

They were just two talking birds. Song Jixing didn't take them to heart.

In the afternoon, the villagers sent some burning coals to the yards on both sides. When it was almost dark, the other members of the crew came over one after another.

The two girls greeted Song Jixing and stayed in a room with her.

On the other side of the yard, there seemed to be more people. Plus, it was damp in the mountains and the equipment couldn't be put on the ground, so there was a lack of living space.

Zhang Haolin urgently rented another yard from the villagers, which was even farther from this yard.

However, the newly rented yard was a little better. It had air conditioning inside, warmer than the small yard here. So Zhang Haolin moved there with Older Mr. Zhang.

-

The next morning, Song Jixing got up to the crowing of roosters.

When she went out after getting dressed, many villagers were standing on the thresholds of their own yards, holding steaming bowls and looking at them curiously.

"Tsk, going to the Zhang family again! This Zhang family is really something now. People come looking for them every month without stopping from last year until now."

"That girl looks quite handsome!"

"How many days are they going to stay in the village this time? What are they here for?"

- Today's task was simple, to rehearse and confirm the shooting process, actions, makeup, etc.

Song Jixing wandered around the Zhang family's yard with the interview script.

Zhang Bo was surrounded by people while Older Mr. Zhang was next to him explaining how to shoot. Zhang Bo was making actions accordingly.

Compared to the movements of Tai Chi, Older Mr. Zhang wanted to show more of Zhang Bo's living state.

The monotonous and depressing daily diligent practice, the life from morning to night, this process was boring and stuffy, but persisting year after year could make everything better.

Under the guidance of the famous director, Zhang Bo quickly entered the state and started following everyone's instructions.

However, when the camera moved, Zhang Bo's movements became stiff, repeating this several times. Zhang Haolin was a little anxious.

He went up and gave him some guidance, "Old Zhang, don't panic. Just pretend the camera isn't here! It's not filming you, it's filming the things around you, filming this yard!"

Zhang Bo nodded, but the movements were inevitably a little stiff.

These were very common problems in the shooting process. The crew's camera lens was too big to hide at all, so they could only let the actor get used to the lens.

Of course, he also needed to get used to Song Jixing. Zhang Haolin signaled Song Jixing to chat more with Zhang Bo, so that Zhang Bo would not be afraid of the lens and then start fearing her.

Song Jixing nodded and casually chatted about some daily things in the mountains. Finally, she fixed her eyes on the orioles in the tree.

Zhang Bo's eyes followed Song Jixing's gaze, and he couldn't help sighing, "...The birds in previous years all went south for the winter. Although our place is considered south, it’s still quite cold in the mountains. These two birds didn't leave..."

"Maybe they’re not afraid of the cold." Song Jixing thought.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Bo immediately rejected Song Jixing's opinion, "No, they are afraid! These two are quite afraid of the cold. Sometimes they fly into my room to warm themselves by the fire. They come less when I'm home alone, and come more when there are many people..."

"It's like..." Zhang Bo looked up and thought for a moment, "like they've come to enjoy the liveliness!"

Hearing this, Song Jixing couldn't help but smile.

That's so true!

"The older generation said that the animals in these mountains are spirited. They don't want to go south, but know to come and warm themselves by the fire, just like spirits that have become fine."

The crew agreed with Zhang Bo's statement.

Nowadays, there were many such spirited animals online. Many pet bloggers posted videos saying that the pets they raised were gradually learning to speak human language, and some could even do arithmetic and express their own meanings through buttons.

"Are they praising us two?"

"Yes, praising us for being smart!"

"Of course I'm the smart one. I brought you here to play first."

"They all say the younger ones are smarter. I'm the younger one who brought you to warm up by the fire. I should be the smart one!" "People all say that listening to elders is sure to be right, so you should listen to me! I'm the smart one!"

The two birds argued again.

Song Jixing observed them several times and found that their body sizes and plumage were almost the same. They should be brothers from the same family, with no hierarchy between them.

-

After adapting for two days, Zhang Bo gradually found his state. Under the director's requirements, he shot several Tai Chi movement shots at various different sunlight angles, all turning out very well, and the empty shots in the yard turned out very well too.

Empty shots refer to shots of scenery or buildings with no people, complementing regular shots.

Zhang Haolin sat in the yard with a wooden board, watching his own empty shots for a long time, and couldn't help but praise himself a few times.

"The composition of the woodpile is quite good, the wind blowing through the treetops, the birds fluttering their wings."

"The birds are great! You can still see birds in the dead of winter. When I take this back to show them, they definitely won't believe it..."

As he spoke, Zhang Haolin saw two birds perched on the fence of the yard again, and immediately moved the lens to shoot them.

The two birds were frightened by the suddenly shifted lens at first, and didn't dare to move. After confirming that they were being filmed, they moved their wings slightly and shifted their little claws.

This made Zhang Haolin even more excited!

He urgently asked the other people in the yard to move more gently. He wanted to shoot the birds to get a good empty shot.

As an onlooker, Song Jixing could see the excitement between Zhang Haolin and the two little birds. It was a two-way effective chase.

Sweet.

Zhang Haolin had been shooting the birds for half a day, reluctant to move away.

The two birds gradually grew bolder, flying forward a little.

The birds seemed to understand what the lens was. They stopped at the position in front of the lens and walked lightly.

There was an old table moved out from the Zhang family's house to pile some idle items. It had now become a stage for the two birds.

Zhang Haolin looked very regretful!

It had been a great shot, but because of the messy things piled on the table, it couldn't be used at all.

Don't shoot unusable shots!

Zhang Haolin sighed, got up, and moved the stool, making quite a bit of noise that startled the two little birds into flying away.

"Let's move this table away tomorrow! There are too many things. Or we could put the stuff indoors." Zhang Haolin said