The movie "Campus Detective", which will be released on August 3, is a detective film that takes place on campus. On July 30, "Campus Detective" held a road show in Shanghai. Director Yu Fei and starring Lin Ziye, Hong Yuexi, Pei Jiaxin, Yu Shuyao, Zhuang Zexi, Chen Zhiyan and others attended the post-screening meeting and interacted with the audience. It is worth mentioning that Wu Jing's sons Wu Yan and Wu Lu also made cameo appearances in the movie. In the easter egg, Wu Jing himself also interacted with the main creative team at the shooting site, talking and laughing.
Poster of Campus Detective
"Campus Detective" tells the story of an important work of the Second Experimental School's Science and Technology Club that mysteriously disappeared on the eve of the National Science and Technology Competition. The work was well received by the teachers and is expected to represent the school in winning awards. Xiang Li Siqi (played by Lin Ziye), who hopes to establish a detective agency and is even more eager to become a detective, leads his friends on a thrilling investigation journey.
In the process, the children solved mysteries one by one and gained friends who were interested in detectives. After watching the whole film, the comedy was compact, the characters were distinctive, and the reasoning plot was also closely linked. The alibi, motives for the crime, and the gradual investigation of witnesses and evidence, the layers of reversals before the truth was revealed, and finally the children grew up. They gained friendships in the process and learned persistence and love.
It is worth mentioning that unlike many film and television works that use adult actors to shoot campus themes, director Yu Fei used child actors in this film. In addition to the teacher role that appears in some scenes due to the plot requirements, most of the roles in the film are played by child actors, making the "Second Experimental School" more realistic and making the children audience feel more involved. During the filming process, the daily campus clips other than reasoning also made the children who came to watch the film laugh frequently.
Director Yu Fei
After the screening, director Yu Fei said that his original intention of shooting a live-action children's movie in the summer was to "make a truly interesting children's movie for children" so that children can have another choice besides cartoons and watch them with their parents. "Children today are much more mature than adults think," said director Yu Fei. "Their aesthetics and other aspects are close to or even beyond those of adults. We must not underestimate children, and we don't need to deliberately make childish content just to cater to children."
One of the problems that must be faced when using children in acting is that it takes a lot of effort for child actors to balance the identities of actors and students. When extras cannot be found, the leading actors can only play cameos, with their backs turned to act as characters in the background. During the two-month filming, Lin Ziye, who played the leading actor, was at a critical stage in his transition from primary school to junior high school. Regardless of whether he needed to appear on camera or not, he almost always attended classes, and he also performed well in school exams, ranking among the top. Upon hearing the news, some parents started to make a fuss and asked about the secret to efficient study. Lin Ziye said shyly, "I just used some of my spare time. There's no secret to it."
Lin Ziye, who plays the male lead Xiang Li Siqi
Talking about the filming process, the child actors shared their experiences. In Lin Ziye's opinion, reasoning scenes need to focus more on facial expressions and adjust according to the actors in the play. Hong Yuexi recalled the filming experience of "Pipilulu and Lu Xixi" and believed that both A Ru and Lu Xixi were willing to argue with the teacher for their friends, which was a commonality in the roles. Pei Jiaxin substituted into the role in the film and felt that each scene had special psychological activities, and as the performance deepened, she felt more and more empathetic. In Yu Shuyao's opinion, Li Jianan, who was played by her, had a straightforward and generous personality, but also valued the friendship around him, which was somewhat similar to herself in life. Zhuang Zexi praised the script and called it an "O. Henry-style" script. Many reversals were unexpected but reasonable. Chen Zhiyan, who made a special appearance, shared that Xie Xiaomeng, played by her, was the "i-person ceiling". Chen Zhiyan was also very introverted in real life, but she felt very happy during the filming of the crew.
Pei Jiaxin and Chen Zhiyan lead the main actors in a gesture dance
As a detective film, Yu Fei hopes to mobilize the audience's sense of participation by using suspense to gradually reveal the truth in the film's plot. "Try to let the audience participate in the reversal." At the same time, he also further added the requirements for the actors' performances. The performances involving reversals should allow the audience to see two explanations: "One is the victim, and the other is that there are more stories behind it that have not been revealed."