Inside Hunan TV editing room....
The assistant editor was looking at the screen and shaking his head.
Looks like I have to work overtime today, he thought.
The editor walked in and asked "How is everything going? We need to air the next few episodes. Remember the deadline please!!"
"Boss, we have a situation."
"What situation?"
"We have too much of DIYUE content."
"Again?" He frowned.
"Err.....There are more this time."
"Didn't we ask them to minimize their interaction before the show begin?"
"We did. But something must have changed during the second time filming of The Inn2. They were very close, especially when they were unaware of the cameras."
"It's like watching Meteor Garden 2", his assistant grinned.
"The Inn2 bosses are not going to be happy with this. Don't we have enough material to air?"
"We do and we don't. If we just eliminate their cuts, fans are going to be curious. They were already complaining of our editing for the first 6 episodes."
Checking his boss' concerned expression, he continued, "And honestly boss, the ratings went up because of them. Everyone wants to find out if they are dating in real life."
"Are they?"
Mr. Assistant Editor shrugged, dodging the question.
"Why don't you see these yourself?"
Mr. Editor plopped down on the chair in front of him and peered closely at the screen.
The first scene showed they were waiting for some guests to arrive at the gate. The camera then panned a wide angle and he could see Dylan and Yue, behind everyone, playing the hand game. Dylan was extending his hand to Yue, which she gladly took. Soon enough, they were hitting each other's hand.
"Okay, we can edit this part here and show the guest's side directly. What do you have next?"
The next scene was after the fashion show. All of them were lining up, with Yue and Dylan standing next to each other. He could clearly see the couple was physically close, both their arms in contact, despite all the thick winter clothes they both were wearing. Both of them seemed to be talking softly (since the mic could barely picked up their audio) and Dylan smiling and glancing at Yue while she was telling him something, using her hands, animatedly. As they walked, she continued to turn towards him, causing her to fall slightly out of formation of the line.
"For this one, just show the satellite cut from the top, far shot so audience will miss both of their movements."
Okay that one was easy, he thought.
"What about this one, boss? I thought this will make good material for the ratings." His assistant quipped.
It was the morning after the blackout. Yue was sitting on a chair, calling the boys to wake up. Then, she got down, motioning her right hand to Kido to wake up. Kido sat up but Dylan was still motionless under his blanket. It was a far shot, and it was easy to miss out but Mr Editor had eagle eyes. Despite her left hand being obscured from the view of the camera, he could tell that her hand was resting on or touching something. Or someone. Was her hand touching his head?
Wu Yi looked over to her direction and suddenly Yue started fanning Dylan's blanket with her left hand, saying "Wake up, wake up.".
"Any other shots for this scene?"
Assistant nodded.
Another camera on a close shot showed Yue lifted Dylan's pillow with his head on it but he slumped back down to sleep. She then grabbed him by his arm and shoulders before pushing him up to a sitting position. "Wake up, xiong di." Dylan put his face in his hands, eyes still closing.
Xiong Di? Not Didi? Strange.
Editor looked at it the whole scene again, thoughtfully.
"Oh, Boss, we also have the breakfast scene which we can connect to the earlier waking up scene."
Everyone were gathered in the dining room. Dylan sat in a chair right across from Yue. He flashed a smile at her and asked "Did you have a good sleep last night?" Yue nodded, smiled back, with her face flushed. The front camera captured a certain glow on her cheeks. Dylan smiled back sheepishly, touching his beannie.
Eh, they looked so shy suddenly.
"Did they film anything after everyone went to bed the night before?"
"No, it was off camera hours. The staff went to rest. It was a long night for them."
What could have happened the night before?
"So boss, what do you think?"
"Keep the morning call and breakfast scenes. Use Dylan's cut when he asked that question but edit it with another scene of the guests coming in. And if you must, you can repeat the sequence. As long as it looks believable."
"Okay, boss."
"If there is nothing else, I trust you to do your job."
"Boss, wait! Take a look at this one. This scene is about 20 minutes. Should we use some of it?"
The next one showed four of them, Dylan. Yue, Kido and Wu Yi, setting up the new area for football. Dylan and Yue were fixing the goal post when suddenly she hit him on the arm (he must have said something) that caused Dylan to hit her back. Yue then shove him playfully on his chest and the next moment he saw Dylan grabbed her around her shoulder, her head was deadlocked in between his arm and body.
Mr Editor let out a chuckle, to the surprise of his assistant. He rarely seen his boss on the light side.
As he watched Yue trying to set herself free, Dylan was already wrestling her to the ground, when she pulled him down. He fell on his back, and she was instantly on him. In a blink of an eye, Dylan overturned Yue, who was now on the ground, he on top.
Whoa, these kids are really violent.
He found himself eager to watch what would unfold next.
He could see Yue looked surprised and he thought that was the end of their wrestling game. But no, Yue grabbed something and flung it at Dylan that caused him to jerk back and stood up. "Take that, idiot!" shouted Yue mischievously.
Mr Editor clapped his hands "Good one, Yue!", unaware of the strange look that his assistant was giving him.
"Oh, Shen Yue, you asked for this!" he retorted as he grabbed some snow and threw at her. Snowball fight! The staff recording this was doing it from quite a distance so they were completely unaware of being filmed. They were pelting each other with snow back and forth when suddenly Yue called out "Kido! Help me!!"
In the next minute, Kido and Wu Yi came running towards them and joined in the fight. It was actually fun watching them. Mr Editor was contemplating including the whole scene as part of the episode to attract guests to have fun when they come to the Inn2.
A sudden movement on the screen caught his eye. Yue was running towards Dylan for another attempt of snowball attack, when she slipped on ice and fell on her back. From the corner, he could see Dylan running towards Yue with concerned eyes. He grabbed her by her shoulders and helped her up "Are you ok?" Yue whined "So painful! You idiot!" Dylan laughed "What's the matter, Shen Yue? You started it first!" She smacked him on the arm.
Suddenly, there was a shift in both of their bodies as Dylan pulled her close to him. His right hand was rubbing her back as her face was buried in her hands which were now on his chest.
Mr Editor straightened up himself. Is this really happening? He peered closer to the screen.
"Wait. Can you just rewind that? Just a little back to...yes that one."
He saw Dylan's head moved down towards Yue's head, resting his chin there for a moment before pulling away. And then he looked down at her, grinning and whispering something. Yue pulled away, and smacked him in his chest, laughing.
Few seconds later, the other two guys came running over and asked if Yue was okay. She nodded and gave a thumbs-up. Dylan clapped his hands "What was an awesome snowball fight! We should do it again!" to the cheers of the other three. Laughing, they continued their work to complete the football area.
"Has anyone seen this yet?"
"Hai mei you (not yet). I wanted to show it to you first before we edit it further."
"I don't you to air any of that snowball fight. Just show them fixing the goalpost and then add the scenes of them working the area."
"Yes, boss. Anything else?"
"Please keep all the unaired scenes in our archive. No one outside of this room will have access to this one. Understand?"
"Okay, boss."
"I need a puff. Let me see the final edit before I leave."
Mr. Assistant nodded, turning to face the screen and started weaving magic with the panel buttons and knobs. The art of editing. You can literally edit what is and what is not, what should be or should not be. It is up to one's imagination.
Lighting up his cigarette, Mr Editor sighed heavily. He had been in the industry too long to ignore signs like these. Anyone could tell that these two had chemistry. Before the show started, the main cast was given a storyline concept to follow. Script was not necessary as it was a reality show. The actors were briefed to create their own as long as the outcome was effective. Any kind of love triangle story would get viewers to stay loyal to the show.
Dylan did well in the beginning by encouraging Wu Yi to know Yue more. And Wu Yi, who was already smitten by Yue, was just being himself. Shen Yue on the other hand, had no clue. They intentionally kept her in the dark to get the most honest response from her. That was how they create "tension" in the storyline. However, they did not expect her to stay as a permanent staff. The next best way was to request both of them to minimize interaction with each other so that Wu Yi could get close to Yue.
By the end of first filming, they realized that the original storyline had died a natural death. Dylan and Yue were just being themselves and having fun whenever they were together alone or with the others. Ratings started to go up after Shen Yue arrived, much to the delight of the management.
Mr Editor exhaled sharply, his thoughts were afar. When this young couple came on the drama world this year as Daoming Si and Dong Shancai, he had been watching their careers quietly. They reminded him of his children. Good kids. Maybe too young to be in love. But who is he or anyone to stop them from true feelings? He reminisced the times when he used to be young, dangerous and being in love. How wonderful the feelings of first love and sharing a world of their own to themselves. He paused a moment to think of his former wife, who was a fan girl of Jerry Yan, the original Daoming Si. She was an ardent fan of MG2001. She used to say "DMS and DSC must and will stay together forever. Let's pray that our love will be like theirs." His eyes glistened as memories of her came flooded in.
He inhaled one more time before flicking off the cigarette butt. Now that they had to deal with this situation, he only had 2 options - release ALL DIYUE content, mellowing the main story of The Inn2 just to please the audience and get high ratings, OR air just the right amount of content for viewers to read between the lines.
He chose the former. Yes, they would bash Hunan TV editor but heck, he had been through it all. What viewers do not know would not harm them. But what they were about to know, if he allowed it, would wreck the kids.
If all of those cuts got aired, it would jeopardize their career. He knew how dating rumors, real or not, had affected many celebrities in China. Fans from both sides were not going to be merciful when they find out. He had seen how they bashed Shen Yue when the HYT audio leaked out. It was not even her fault. Up till now, HYT studio did not confirm or deny it but he saw how producers stopped pairing Yue with Yi Tian after that. He imagined that she could even be having trust issues with co-stars or men in general. But with Dylan, she looked completely happy and free. They both looked happy.
No, he must protect Dylan and Yue at all cost.
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Author's note:
This piece was easy to flow for me as I saw the editing room in mind first before my hands started to write. But I had to edit them many times to keep with the consistency of the message.
A little different from the previous write ups. A different point of view. What do you think? I thought what if the editor ships them as well? And was really trying to protect them?
Please bear in mind that some parts of fiction. Any coincidences with real life is duly apologized. Do not ask me to show you the unaired scenes! 😝 You can use your own imagination.😁
Love, Hsien