Chapter 50: Beginning Preparations for a Short Drama

Chapter 50: Starting to Prepare a Short-Form Drama

There are quite a few places worth visiting in Japan. In winter, Hokkaido and the Chubu region are great choices. Hokkaido is breathtakingly beautiful—literally any casual snapshot could serve as a desktop wallpaper—though it is also genuinely crowded.

After making a round of travels, Li Jingkun returned to the country, arriving first in Guangzhou to meet up with his classmates there.

He harassed Song Hairong, Wang Yajing, Zhu Miaotong, and the members of the "Aurora Band" all over again. Most of them studied at universities in Guangzhou, while a few were in surrounding cities. Those who could make it tried their best to come, even though they had already gathered briefly at home before the New Year.

They all envied Li Jingkun quite a bit because they had been back to their studies for a while, whereas his winter vacation hadn't even ended yet.

And it was about to end soon. After staying in Guangzhou for two or three days, he flew to Beijing.

Back in May, he had decided to shoot a short-form drama. Having already filmed quite a few short films ranging from a few minutes to longer since high school, it was time to put his hands on something more substantial in length.

Moreover, in high school, nobody had helped him handle the camera; now, with Wang Yang and the others around, he could occasionally even make a cameo appearance to hone his acting skills.

"Isn't it a bit too fast? You're only a freshman."

Su Zhijun remarked after hearing Li Jingkun outline the plan briefly.

"Not really. I've already shot two short films since high school, and one of them was already eighteen minutes long. I definitely need to keep increasing the difficulty and length," Li Jingkun replied.

"From what you've described, you'll need seven or eight main characters. Factor in the minor supporting roles, and you're looking at over a dozen people. Then you have to account for the directing crew, the camera crew, the production assistants, and so on. That's at least a few dozen people altogether. Are you sure you can keep a lid on all that right now?"

"That's precisely why I didn't jump straight into making a feature film, but am using a three-episode short-form drama to practice my hands first."

"……As long as you're confident. Show me the script once you finish writing it, and also draw up a shooting schedule," Su Zhijun said.

"Got it," Li Jingkun said.

"You need to calculate the budget too. How much are you planning to prepare?"

"I'm not sure yet, but I do have a bit of money. Let's calculate it based on a normal production budget; two or three hundred thousand yuan should be fine."

"Alright, as long as you have a clear idea in mind." Su Zhijun nodded. Honestly, only someone like him—someone with vision and a bit of capital—could pull off preparing a short-form drama so quickly.

The short drama Li Jingkun wanted to make was titled *Days of Being Airborne*. Consisting of three episodes in total, it told the stories of several high school seniors who suffered from severe subject imbalances in their studies and daily lives.

After spending a few days finishing the script for the first episode, Li Jingkun brought up the matter with Wang Yang, Guo Junli, and Fang Weida.

"I plan to shoot three episodes in total, each around twenty minutes long. Put together, that's nearly sixty minutes—almost the length of a feature film.

However, the overall difficulty is much lower than shooting a movie. Naturally, it's still harder than the short films we've shot before, so I wanted to ask if you guys have time. If you do, I'd appreciate your help then."

All three of them were somewhat astonished by Li Jingkun's pace and instantly had a flood of questions they wanted to ask.

"Really? The script is already written?"

"There's going to be a large crew on set, right?"

"When do you plan to start shooting? How long will the production cycle be?"

Li Jingkun answered, "The first episode is written, and the shooting schedule is currently in progress. The preliminary plan is to wrap up filming in about half a month. Preparation starts now, and everything will be set right in time for the summer vacation, so I plan to kick off shooting in July. Everyone will be paid."

Li Jingkun spoke quite seriously, so they didn't joke around and began to consider it earnestly.

Wang Yang spoke up first. "I don't have any problems. I don't have any special arrangements for the summer anyway, let alone turning down the chance to be part of a film crew."

Guo Junli asked, "What roles do you want us to take on?"

Li Jingkun replied, "Just like our previous collaborations—you guys will naturally take charge of the assistant director and cinematographer positions. Of course, you might also need to help out with other miscellaneous chores, since we can't possibly fill every single position with a dedicated person."

Guo Junli nodded. In reality, how things went depended on the individual; if one was willing, there were naturally plenty of things to do.

Fang Weida asked, "You mentioned there's pay—how much roughly?"

Wang Yang and Guo Junli came from slightly better-off families, so they didn't care much about the pay and would have been willing to come even without money. Fang Weida's family background, however, was quite ordinary.

"We're a small crew with a low budget, so I'm calculating it on a monthly basis. Even though the actual filming will take half a month, you'll need to help out during the preparation period beforehand as well. Therefore, we'll calculate the compensation based on a full month, and each of you will get three thousand yuan."

Fang Weida didn't say anything further, leaving it unclear whether he thought it was too little or too much.

Instead, Wang Yang said, "Do I really need it? Just letting me participate is already great enough."

"I don't need it either," Guo Junli echoed.

"This time is different," Li Jingkun stated. "The three- to five-minute short films we shot previously didn't take up much time, and we were just helping each other out, so not taking money was completely fine. But this time, it's going to take up a whole month of your time, so we definitely have to follow proper procedures."

Fang Weida smiled and said, "Anyway, you've got money, right? You sold a single song for 300,000 yuan, so three thousand for a cameraman isn't that much."

Of course, three thousand a month for a cinematographer wasn't much, but first of all, they were all still students, and there was still a huge gap between their skills and those of professional cinematographers.

Secondly, since everyone was a student, he also wanted to give them an opportunity to hone their craft.

Thirdly, the visual style of the short drama and the storyboard scripts would all be finalized by him beforehand, so at that point, he would simply expect them to shoot according to his specifications.

Besides, regarding the amount of compensation, he had already consulted Su Zhijun. To be honest, given the current cost of living, three thousand yuan for a college freshman wasn't a small sum.

Even so, if their perspectives didn't align, he wouldn't force it.

……

"Yo, what a rare guest! Did you actually come to class in person?"

Running into Da Tian-tian on campus after class one day, Li Jingkun greeted her with a tease.

Zhao Tiantian tried to hold back her smile. "What's with that weird, sarcastic tone? Who told you I've been busy?"

"Sigh, it must be nice to be you—having a company to handle everything for you."

Zhao Tiantian was the true definition of wealthy and willful. Most other actors had to rely on recommendations from others or go through auditions to get a chance to act.

As for Zhao Tiantian, nobody came looking for her, nor did she participate in any open casting calls; she simply shelled out her own money to invest, and then cast herself as the female lead.

Last year's television series *The Legend of Sun Tzu* was like that, and this year's upcoming project *My Beautiful Big Boss* was too, with people who had long established their fame acting alongside her as supporting cast.

Although Li Jingkun was also financing his own films now, he had to put in physical effort in many areas. He had to act as producer, floor manager, and production assistant, all while doubling as director and screenwriter.

He naturally handled the storyboard script himself, though to ease the pressure, he had invited a senior student from the animation department to help out.

While everyone was full of drive while working on it, once things piled up, there were still quite a few headaches.

"Rich lady, treat me to a cup of coffee," Li Jingkun said.

"Quit it, that sounds so ugly," Zhao Tiantian said. "Call me something else."

"Big boss, please bestow upon me a cup of wine."

Thanks to Chen Xingpeng, Boring Life... Taixin Taoist, Book Fan Ending in 9049, and Book Fan Ending in 1300 for their recommendation ticket support!

(End of this chapter)