202: Chapter 202 I'll be the Director

The two people walked out of the recording studio and walked along the corridor toward the stairwell.

When they reached the second floor, they turned the corner.

They happened to see Coordinator Zhang standing at the entrance of the pantry, holding a cup of coffee and talking to a staff member next to him.

Seeing Shen Qingxue and Lu Li walking over, he took the initiative to greet them.

"Teacher Shen, Teacher Lu, are you done recording?"

"Yeah, the equipment is very good and very smooth to use."

Shen Qingxue nodded slightly, without extra politeness, and got straight to the point.

"Teacher Zhang, we wanted to ask if the organizer can help contact a few folk music teachers. We need to record some instruments live, such as the guzheng, erhu, and pipa."

Coordinator Zhang put down his coffee cup, a hint of interest appearing in his expression.

"Live folk music recording? Is it going to be used in the song for the Semifinals?"

"No, it's a special program after the finals. The person in charge should be Liu Fang, you should know about it, right?"

Shen Qingxue paused and added another sentence.

"And also, our song has already been written, so we plan to start the live recording work now."

Coordinator Zhang thought for a moment, then showed a look of sudden realization.

"Oh... Then I know."

His gaze shifted between the two of them, and then he smiled and nodded.

"That's no problem. We have a cooperative folk orchestra here. I will help you contact them, and you can decide the time."

"That's great, thank you, Teacher Zhang."

Shen Qingxue nodded slightly, her tone still calm, but a hint of reassurance appeared in the depths of her eyes.

Coordinator Zhang waved his hand, signaling that there was no need to be polite.

"Teacher Shen is being too polite. The higher the quality of the song you prepare, the better it is for us."

After chatting about a few more details, Coordinator Zhang mentioned he had something to do and turned back to his office.

Lu Li and Shen Qingxue didn't stay too long either, walking downstairs side by side and out the main door.

Standing by the roadside at the entrance, Shen Qingxue looked up at the sky, revealing a rare relaxed expression.

"The matter of the folk orchestra is also settled. It feels like we've pushed forward another step."

Lu Li stood beside her and strongly agreed.

"Of course, this is called steady progress, wishing us great luck and success. The champion bonus and subsequent little money are all waving at us."

Shen Qingxue gave him an unamused look, but the corners of her mouth unconsciously revealed a smile.

"It's not just for the money. Alright, let's not talk about this anymore. What's next?"

"Let's find a random place to eat. After eating, I'll go back and do the post-production for encounter, and then you can get ready to practice singing."

As Lu Li spoke, he took out his phone to search for nearby restaurants, and then suddenly remembered something.

"Oh right, although Coordinator Zhang said he would help contact them, we also need to set the rehearsal time as soon as possible, otherwise it will be frantic when the time comes."

Shen Qingxue looked at his serious look, and the ripples in the depths of her eyes moved slightly.

"Why have you become so reliable lately?"

"I've always been reliable, okay?"

Lu Li retorted with a dissatisfied expression.

"I was just too lazy to move before, but now..."

He paused and turned his head to look at her.

"Now I have to move even if I don't want to. Otherwise, what should I do if I can't even afford milk powder money in the future?"

"Cut the chatter."

Shen Qingxue blushed and glared at him, but it had no lethality at all, instead making Lu Li look with a zestful expression.

...

The two casually found a restaurant to eat. After eating, neither of them was in a rush and casually found a coffee shop, planning to sit for a while.

While Shen Qingxue was drinking her coconut drink, she suddenly raised her head to look at Lu Li.

"Right, there is something I want to discuss with you."

"Go ahead."

"After singing encounter in the Semifinals, I want to find some time to shoot MVs for those national style songs of ours before, at least shoot one or two."

At this moment, Lu Li still had a straw in his mouth and froze for a moment upon hearing this.

"MV? Shoot now? Who are we going to find for the actor?"

"Yeah, it's fine if just the two of us appear as actors. Then, while the popularity is still there, if we can have a few high-quality MVs, it will be of great help to subsequent dissemination."

Shen Qingxue paused and continued.

"And after the special program of blue and white porcelain goes online, there will definitely be a new wave of traffic. Releasing the MVs as a package then should yield even better results."

Lu Li thought about it and felt that what she said made sense.

"Alright, then after we are busy with the Semifinals, we will start preparations, but..."

His words took a turn, and his gaze carried a hint of amusement.

"Speaking of shooting MVs, we first need to find a good director. We can't possibly shoot with our own mobile phones, right?"

Shen Qingxue couldn't help laughing, but didn't refute.

"Indeed, we need to find a director."

"As for the director... do you have a suitable candidate?"

Lu Li's gaze fell on Shen Qingxue's face.

Shen Qingxue thought for a moment, then suddenly smiled bitterly and shook her head.

Geez, she actually forgot about this matter.

Without the company's support, big directors couldn't be afforded, and what kind of effect small directors would shoot out was unknown.

She didn't dare to gamble.

And seeing her expression, Lu Li knew that the director part was probably hopeless.

"Then how about... we shoot it ourselves?"

Lu Li thought about it and proposed.

Shen Qingxue froze for a moment and subconsciously looked at him.

"Shoot it ourselves? You mean... we act as our own directors?"

"It's not impossible."

Lu Li leaned against the back of the chair, and the more he thought about it, the more reasonable the idea felt.

"Look, we have no constraints. We can shoot however we want. Moreover, in this world, the people who understand our songs best are ourselves."

"When others shoot MVs, they shoot their own understanding. But when we shoot ourselves, what we shoot is the story we want to express."

Shen Qingxue didn't answer immediately, thinking quietly, seemingly seriously considering the feasibility of this proposal.

"The logic is correct, but..."

She raised her head, her gaze carrying a hint of uncertainty.

"We have no filming experience, and we completely don't understand lighting, composition, storyboarding, etc. Will it look too amateurish when shot?"

"Amateurish is amateurish."

Lu Li shrugged with an indifferent look.

"Think about it, we are taking the online route now. If you make an MV like a blockbuster movie, the vibe won't match instead. It's better to shoot it a bit rougher, which makes it even more authentic."

Hearing this, Shen Qingxue nodded thoughtfully.

"What you said actually makes some sense."

"What do you mean by makes some sense? It makes a lot of sense, okay."

Lu Li grinned.

"However, having said that, we do need someone to help hold the camera. If we shoot blindly all by ourselves, the effect might not even be as good as casually recording with a mobile phone."

Shen Qingxue nodded, lowered her head to think for a moment, and then raised her head.

"I do think of someone. We collaborated once before when we were at Starlight, shooting a lukewarm MV."

"At that time, I felt that the footage she shot had a great texture, but Starlight thought she was too slow, so we didn't collaborate anymore after that."

"Then is she an independent photographer?"

"Yeah, she takes jobs on her own, shoots MVs for some independent musicians, and also takes commercial short films, but she has never made any particularly huge projects."

Shen Qingxue paused.

"However, her aesthetics are really good. I quite liked it back then, but later it didn't meet the company's requirements, so she was dismissed."