Producer Shao Mingming: A Shandong man who loves money as much as his life!

Shao Mingming’s hometown is in Zaozhuang, Shandong Province. He grew up listening to his grandfather’s stories about the “Weihu Brigade”, “Battle of Taierzhuang”, “Railway Guerrillas” and other anti-Japanese war stories! Therefore, this upright and honest man from Shandong has had a positive, passionate and unyielding energy since he was a child!

In 2014, the TV series "Flying Tigers" was filmed in his hometown, and the crew stayed at his place after work. This was his first contact with "behind the scenes of film and television". Before that, Shao Mingming often had some ideas and pictures in his mind. Sometimes he would take paper to write them down, but at the time he didn't know how to write these things down. What's the use.

▲ The filming scene of the TV series "Flying Tigers"

The arrival of "Flying Tigers" opened the door to a "new world" for Shao Mingming, "Can I put the things in my head "How about taking photos of those 'memories'?" This "restless" idea became stronger and stronger. It happened that his girlfriend who had been in love for many years broke up with him at that time. He didn't want to miss her, so he divorced her despite the strong opposition of his family. After leaving the hotel, I came to Hengdian alone.

Director, on-site producer, production director.

Being arrogant and frivolous in wealth are the usual traits of Shandong men, but Shao Mingming is extremely "stingy". During the production team's work, he did many "extraordinary" things in order to save the crew's expenses.

When filming "The Perfect Love", due to an operational error, the drone was flown into the river by the staff, and the footage from the plane still contained footage from that day. It was already a very cold day in December, and the director planned to abandon these scenes and reshoot them. But in this case, it will cost hundreds of thousands more, and it will cost more than 20,000 to find a professional diver to fish it out. In order to save the money, Shao Mingming jumped into the ice water and fumbled for more than half an hour to find something. After returning, he fell ill with a fever and took 7 or 8 days to recover.

▲ Salvaging drone footage

Another time I went into the water was during the filming of "Falling in Love". It was a scene "in the water" and the director wanted to go down. The temperature was also very low at the time of the "test position". Considering that if the director got sick, it would affect the filming process, and if the crew was delayed for one day, a lot of money would be wasted. So Shao Mingming stopped the director and tried it himself. He stayed in the water for more than 40 minutes that time and his feet cramped due to the cold.

▲ The filming scene of "Have a Good Love"

In addition to being too "careful" about money, Shao Mingming is an authentic "Shandong man". "You can't tolerate sand in your eyes, and you can't hide things in your heart. You must speak out when you see something that doesn't suit your eyes, and you are straightforward and don't like to beat around the bush!" Although he sometimes offends people, many people appreciate his frankness and become friends with him!

He is not lazy, is enthusiastic, and is down-to-earth, which is why everyone likes him! From set management to on-site production, Shao Mingming has always displayed the spirit of "Screw": helping the costume team move clothes, carrying boxes for the prop team, delivering ashtrays to the director, finding lighting signs for the lighting engineer, replacing Wu Xing on stage, and coordinating departments The friction between... some are work responsibilities, and some are Shao Mingming's voluntary help. He said: "Everyone is here to make the show a good one. If you can help, just help. There is no need for Ding to be Ding or Mao to be Maofei is divided into you and me.

After becoming a production director, he did less physical work, but he was more worried. He was worried that something would be broken and would exceed the budget, and that an actor or department would have an accident and delay the filming. Shao Mingming liked it the most. When it was finalized, only then would he feel a stone in his heart fell to the ground.

▲ A group photo taken during the filming of the movie "The Secret History of Old Summer Palace"

Not only does Shao Mingming feel sorry for the "public" money, he also lives an extremely frugal life. While budgeting carefully, he keeps accepting money. Playing, I can't bear to take a day off. He is working so hard to save money so that one day he can shoot his own things. He has been preparing for his dream of "directing".

Why did the director shoot this scene like this? How to set up the camera for photography? How to teach actors? Usually at the shooting scene, Shao Mingming will pay special attention to observe and record these useful "knowledge points", and save them one by one after returning home!

Shao Mingming said: I am progressing step by step, bit by bit, believing that one day I will get what I want, even if this day may take a long time.

Interview transcript

Q: You were recently in Foshan, Guangdong. Were you filming any drama there?

A: It is a drama about Huang Feihong, called "Glory of the Lion King"!

Q: In 2014, you got in touch with film and television because of "Flying Tigers", which was filmed in your hometown. What kind of work were you doing at the time, and how did you get "in touch" with it?

A: I opened a hotel in my hometown at the time, and the crew stayed at my place after work, which is how I came into contact with this industry. At that time, I added the WeChat account of a person from the crew of "Flying Tigers", and later I found him when I arrived in Hengdian.

Q: Was that when you decided to come to Hengdian?

A: Yes, when I didn’t know about the film and television industry before, I had the habit of writing down the scenes, plots and other “points” that came to mind in my mind. After I learned about this industry, I I want to give it a try myself, and hope that one day I can take pictures of my ideas. At that time, I happened to break up with my girlfriend, and I didn’t want to miss my friends at home, so I sold out the hotel and came to Hengdian alone.

Q: What was your family’s attitude when you decided to come to Hengdian?

A: They were quite opposed to it at the time and didn’t understand. They said it was tiring and they couldn’t make any money. They didn’t understand why I had to come here. It was really hard when I first came here. From a small set manager, earning 100 yuan a day, to the head of set manager, and now the production director, I have come step by step!

Q: You said, "You are not afraid of hard work, but you are afraid of not having food to eat." Have you ever had the experience of "having no food to eat"?

A: At the beginning, I didn’t have many friends or resources in Hengdian. After I finished filming "Big Mian Cao Tian", I had no work for 3-4 months. At that time, I still had rent, food and other expenses. The money was disappearing little by little, and I was very panicked. I just thought that if the crew could follow me, it wouldn't matter how hard it was.

Q: Some people say that "the set manager has to handle all the chores of the crew." Is this accurate?

A: Yes, field brothers are basically a brick of the party, installed wherever needed. Helping the costume team to get clothes, helping the props team to carry boxes, or "the actor needs a stool", "the director needs an ashtray", "the lighting engineer needs a light sign" and other large and small things on the scene need to be done by the scene steward. When filming "Falling Love", there was a "going into the water" scene. We prepared hot water, ginger soup, plastic wrap and other things for the actors. The director wanted to go down to "test the position". It was winter at that time, in case the director fell ill. It will definitely affect the shooting process. I quickly stopped him and jumped into the water myself. I stayed in the water for more than 40 minutes, and my feet were cramped due to the cold.

Q: The main task of the "production team" is to ensure the shooting progress and control the budget. Can you give an example of what efforts you have made to complete this "task"?

A: When I was filming "Once Upon a Time in Jinan", I was once short of two martial arts positions and I was very anxious. At that time, I was doing on-site production. Because I went to a martial arts school when I was young, I took over the job myself. Knocking down, shooting, several fighting scenes, using 7 or 8 packs of blood plasma, wearing Japanese army clothes, wearing Eighth Route Army clothes, and wearing Eighth Route Army clothes to become a double. After it was over, the production director gave me a red envelope of 50 yuan. Generally, the average cost of hiring a martial artist is four to five hundred yuan. This can be considered as saving money for me. Another time when filming "The Perfect Love", due to a staff error, the drone flew into the river. The footage on the plane still contained the footage from that day. At that time, the director planned not to use the footage, but if It would have cost hundreds of thousands more to reshoot, and it would have cost more than 20,000 to find a professional diver. In order to save this money, I jumped into the water myself and fumbled for half an hour before finally finding the thing. At that time It was December, and it seemed to be the "Big Cold". It was very cold, and I caught a cold and fever when I returned home. It took me 7 or 8 days to get better.

Q: What kind of situation are you most afraid of when working behind the scenes?

A: First, I am afraid that things will be damaged! The second is that I am afraid that something will happen to the actor! Things like lights and photographic equipment, many of which are imported from abroad, cost tens of thousands of yuan each. There are also actors. When filming "Magic City No. 44", an actor wanted to go shopping and borrowed an electric car from me. I didn't dare to lend it to him. I had already filmed so many times. If something happened, I would have to It cost a lot to replace someone and reshoot it, but I didn't expect the actor to come over and borrow it from me. After borrowing it, I quietly gave it to him. Although nothing happened that time, the actor couldn't wait for him when he came on stage, and the whole audience was waiting. It took more than 4 hours, which was a big delay in shooting.

Q: You said your dream is to be a director and one day be able to make your own films. Are you preparing for this dream now? Do you have any specific plans?

A: I have been preparing. Each director has his own shooting technique, why he shot the way he did at the time, and how to set up the camera. I will make a brief memo on set and transfer it to the computer when I get home. At present, I plan to do a good job as a "production director" and at the same time accumulate more experience. I will wait until I can attract investment in the future, but if I can’t attract investment, I will invest some money myself and make some small purchases. Step by step, step by step, I believe that if I work hard, I will get what I want one day, even if it takes a long time.

Q: How do you evaluate Liu Guangchao as a master?

A: He is very nice! As a friend, he cares about me very much. As a master, he is very strict with me. If I don't do a good job at all, I will be scolded. I remember one time when I was filming, I was too sleepy and fell asleep sitting on the floor. The master came and scolded me. He said, "If I'm sleepy, we can discuss it with a few people and go to the back to take turns to rest, but we can't sleep on the set." The master has a martial arts background. He doesn't like to be long-winded and speaks and does things directly, which will hit your heart.