November 25th.
According to the lunar calendar, it was an auspicious day for starting a new project, making business deals, traveling, and seeking good fortune.
The opening ceremony for Lu Chen's first film, 'A Chinese Ghost Story', was held at Fa'en Temple inside Lion Rock Film City.
Fa'en Temple was an old, abandoned temple site originally built during the late Qing Dynasty. After being destroyed by fires twice, it was left in ruins and became a haven for wild overgrowth.
When Lion Rock Film City was developed in the early 1990s, the temple ruins were incorporated into the studio grounds. Instead of rebuilding it, the set designers restored and reinforced the existing remains, turning it into the perfect location for shooting horror and supernatural films.
Quite a few of Hong Kong's wildly popular zombie and ghost movies from the '90s were filmed here. But times had changed. With audiences no longer interested in those genres, Fa'en Temple's usage had dropped dramatically. That made it easy for the workshop to rent the location at a very reasonable price.
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A long altar table had been set up in front of the temple. Covered with a red velvet cloth, it held a statue of Lord Guan in the center, with incense burners, a whole roast suckling pig, fresh fruit, and other offerings arranged on either side. A movie camera stood beside the altar, completely covered with a red cloth.
A little farther away, strings of firecrackers were lit one after another. Amid the deafening crackling, the cast and crew took turns offering incense and praying for a smooth production and a successful box office run.
The custom of holding a blessing ceremony before filming had originally come from Hong Kong.
Hong Kong people placed great importance on feng shui and traditional customs, always seeking good fortune before any important event. Film crews were no exception, and there were plenty of taboos to navigate.
For example, the direction everyone faced while offering incense had to be precise. Depending on the time and location of the ceremony, the proper direction changed.
Something as simple as facing southwest instead of due south was considered a major mistake, and some productions went as far as calculating the exact compass bearing down to the degree.
It sounded unbelievable, yet many Hong Kong productions still hired feng shui masters before filming to determine the proper arrangements. No one dared to take it lightly. Otherwise, if anything went wrong during filming, people would inevitably wonder if they had brought bad luck upon themselves.
Lu Chen's workshop had only recently been established, and their partner, Jiayang Film Industry, wasn't one of Hong Kong's biggest production companies. So while the ceremony wasn't especially grand, it was still conducted with complete sincerity.
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Jiayang Film Industry's boss, Zhou Yi, personally attended. Of course, he was mainly there to accompany his cousin, Nie Mingzhu, the heroine of 'A Chinese Ghost Story'.
Madam Jin also came, along with her two goddaughters, Ji Xiaodie and Li Xinyan, who had each been given small supporting roles in the film.
Also present was Chen Wenqiang's daughter, Chen Siyi. Chen Siyi had just turned twenty.
She had never liked studying, so after graduating from high school, she chose not to attend university. Instead, through her father's connections, she enrolled in a professional acting academy to begin her training, hoping to break into the entertainment industry.
Back when Wan Xiaoquan had persuaded Chen Wenqiang to join Lu Chen's Hong Kong workshop, before it was even officially registered, it wasn't just the better salary that had convinced him. More importantly, Wan Xiaoquan had promised his daughter a significant role.
In 'A Chinese Ghost Story', Chen Siyi played Miss Zheng, a supporting female character with a fairly substantial part.
In reality, the movie only had four truly crucial roles: Ning Caichen, Nie Xiaoqian, Yan Chixia, and the main villain, the Tree Demon Granny. Almost all of the film's highlights revolved around these four, especially the first three.
As the leading supporting actress, Miss Zheng didn't have many scenes. Even so, both Chen Wenqiang and Chen Siyi were more than satisfied.
Apart from Lu Chen himself, 'A Chinese Ghost Story' didn't feature a single major star. Ma Rongzhen had long since faded from fame and was now reduced to playing background extras.
Most of the remaining cast were newcomers. Even Lu Chen had only recently started making a name for himself in Hong Kong's film industry, and not through acting work.
Yet the film had a budget of thirty million Hong Kong dollars. While it wasn't considered a top-tier blockbuster, the lack of expensive stars meant there were no sky-high salaries eating up the funds.
Virtually all of that money would go directly into filming and post-production. If they still couldn't produce a quality film with that kind of investment, it would be a real waste.
For Chen Siyi, landing such an important supporting role in her very first movie already made her far luckier than most aspiring actresses her age.
She was starting her career from an unusually high point. As long as 'A Chinese Ghost Story' didn't completely flop after release, she'd have gained a valuable credit on her résumé. And in the entertainment industry, experience meant status.
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After the incense ceremony ended, Lu Chen, Zhou Yi, Wan Xiaoquan, and Nie Mingzhu stepped forward together and removed the red cloth covering the camera. The crew surrounding them immediately burst into applause while the reporters snapped photos.
According to tradition, this custom originated during the era of film cameras. Back then, crews dreaded a mishap known as "scratched film." If the film inside the camera was accidentally scratched by one of the internal components during shooting, the damaged footage could cause enormous losses to the production. Since there was no reliable way to predict or prevent it, crews covered the camera with a red cloth before filming to ward off bad luck.
Modern cameras had long since gone digital, making scratched film a thing of the past. Still, the more sophisticated the equipment became, the more complicated the technical problems that could occur. So, the tradition remained.
Once the red cloth was removed, the opening ceremony for 'A Chinese Ghost Story' was officially complete. The final event was a press interview with representatives of the production.
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Most of the reporters had been invited by Jiayang Film Industry. There were more than a dozen of them, representing both large and small media outlets, and their presence served as both publicity and support for the project. As was customary, each reporter received a generous red envelope.
For any film or entertainment company hoping to establish itself in Hong Kong, the last people you wanted to offend were the media. If they spent every day criticizing your company in newspapers and on television, or worse, spreading fabricated rumors, you could forget about making money. Of course, pleasing every media outlet was impossible.
Jiayang Film Industry was an established production company, and its boss, Zhou Yi, was a longtime Hong Kong businessman with plenty of media connections. There were, however, some reporters who hadn't been invited.
These journalists were clearly more interested in Lu Chen than in the opening ceremony itself.
As soon as the event ended, they crowded around him, firing off questions one after another.
"Mr. Lu Chen, are you planning to use this movie to change the landscape of Hong Kong cinema?"
"What makes you so confident?"
"If this film flops, what will you do? Go back to the mainland?"
"Mr. Lu Chen, as far as I know, your cast doesn't include a single major star. Could you explain why, "
Their rapid-fire questions were anything but friendly. Each one carried an unmistakably aggressive edge.
Standing nearby, Chen Wenqiang and Wan Xiaoquan immediately darkened their expressions. Even Zhou Yi, who was usually exceptionally composed, couldn't hide the trace of displeasure that flashed across his eyes.
(End of Chapter)
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