Chinese Entertainment: Academic Director

Chapter 235 Jia Jia Jia

Lu Yi had only played a small supporting role in one play. He had just made his debut and didn't have that many things to think about. After listening to Chen Shu's words, he didn't think so much.

She glanced at Dong Xuan who was putting on makeup, and whispered to Chen Shu, "Many directors use the color of clothing to differentiate and contrast the roles, which can also leave a deep impression on the audience."

Chen Shu looked at Lu Yi in surprise. She really didn't expect that this girl would give such a serious answer.

She didn't expect Lu Yin to answer in the first place, she just wanted to find a reason to get closer to them.

No, sister, you seem to be from Beijing Dance Academy as well, right?
You are a dancer at Beijing Dance Academy. How do you know all this if you don’t dance well?
The key point is that Chen Shu actually felt that what Lu Yi said made sense and did not seem like nonsense.

"I can't believe you know all this? You're a top student!"

Chen Shu asked with some confusion, is it possible that Beijing Dance Academy still teaches these things?

Lu Yi waved his hands a little embarrassedly and said, "This is all taught to me by Sister Fang. I worked as her assistant for a few months and learned a lot."

"Sister Fang?"

"Yes, it's Sister Chen Gu Fangfang. She's very capable, a famous costume designer and stylist. She won the Best Costume Design Award at the Golden Horse Awards in 87 for "A Chinese Ghost Story". She has worked with almost all the big-name directors and stars in Hong Kong."

"Oh, you're amazing. You've even been her assistant. No wonder you know so much."

Chen Shu praised enthusiastically on the surface, but she was wondering in her heart, is this another one who got in through connections? No wonder she was not chosen as another heroine.

I hate these people with connections the most.

After all, she was young, so Chen Shu couldn't help but say something sarcastically, "Your sister Fang should have a very good relationship with Director Cao, right?"

Lu Yi shook her head. She really didn't understand Chen Shu's hidden meaning. She looked to the side and saw that no one was paying attention to this side. She whispered:
"Sister Fang wanted to meet Director Cao, but unfortunately she never had the chance. Sister Fang has been working with Xiang Jiang Wan Wan. She said Director Cao doesn't pay much attention to the people in Xiang Jiang Wan Wan..."

Having said this, perhaps realizing that he had said too much, Lu Yi quickly stopped talking and smiled embarrassedly at Chen Shu.

It seems that she is not a relative of the family. She is a very simple girl.

Chen Shu smiled more sincerely. She took Lu Yi's arm and said softly, "Let's not talk about this anymore. Director Cao has been talking to us about the play for such a long time. Let's think about the plot and exchange our thoughts."

Black Swan is a psychological thriller that tells the story of a veteran ballet dancer's gradual descent into madness in her quest for the perfect performance.

The heroine is a dancer in a ballet troupe and has always longed to be the protagonist on stage. When she learned that she had the opportunity to play both the white swan and the black swan in the famous dance drama "Swan Lake", she was extremely excited.

She played the pure and innocent White Swan with ease, but was unable to fully unleash the wildness and passion of the Black Swan.

In the process of pursuing the role of the Black Swan, she began to discover the dark side of herself, while also releasing the wildness that had been suppressed by her extremely controlling mother.

At the same time, her life began to undergo strange changes. She often had hallucinations, saw her own shadow and other people, and her mental state became increasingly unstable.

At the same time, she also faces competitive pressure from Lily.

Lily was able to easily interpret the evil and wildness of the Black Swan, which made her feel even more anxious and uneasy. Under the guidance and pressure of the stage director, she gradually fell into a state of self-doubt and madness.

As the performance drew closer, her mental state became increasingly unstable.

She began to have doubts about her body and discovered some strange scars on her legs. During rehearsals and performances, she was gradually completely consumed by the Black Swan role, and her personality split into two people.

One is the purity and perfection of the white swan, the other is the wildness and evil of the black swan.

In her final performance, she finally succeeded in portraying the evil and wildness of the Black Swan.

At the same time, she was on the verge of a mental breakdown.

After the show, she discovered the scars on her body and realized that it was all real, not an illusion...

The subsequent shooting was completely beyond Ning Hao and Gu Changwei's expectations.

Cao Yang asked Dong Xuan to show that she was satisfied with the status quo and had a little happiness. Even Lu Yi and Chen Shu could see from Dong Xuan's performance that she had completely achieved it.

This gave both of them a lot of emotion and pressure. The heroine is so outstanding, what if I fail?
Ning Hao and Lao Gu were also very surprised.

In the third shot, Dong Xuan only took three shots to complete the difficult shot of capturing micro-expressions close to the face.

Cao Yang did not take the opportunity to lose his temper and remained calm.

Ning Hao was a little disappointed that his Huazi was gone.

Old Gu was somewhat happy and even mocked Ning Hao.

The sixth shot is Dong Xuan's rivalry with Pan Hong, who plays her mother in the play.

Lao Gu previously believed that someone like Pan Hong, who had already won three Golden Rooster Awards for Best Actress, would definitely have better acting skills than Dong Xuan, who might not have gotten into the role yet.

Director Cao must have taken this opportunity to shoot over and over again to allow Dong Xuan to adapt to the rhythm, thereby opening up his "Ren and Du" meridians and getting into the role with great immersion.

Who would have thought that not only did Dong Xuan shoot the third shot smoothly, but he was also able to keep up with the rhythm in the sixth shot of the rivalry, and looked no worse than Pan Hong.

Two more shots of the two people's conversation were shot. The morning's plan was completed. Cao Yang did not get angry, and Dong Xuan also finished shooting this part of the scene in the room.

"Don't worry, Lao Gu. I'm willing to accept the loss. If I said I'd give you a pack of Huazi, I'll definitely give you a pack of Huazi. A real man definitely won't go back on his word."

Ning Hao moved a small stool and sat next to Lao Gu. While waiting for the crew to have lunch, he started chatting with Lao Gu.

Old Gu was stunned at first. When did this guy admit defeat so voluntarily?

Then he realized something was wrong. The little bastard did it on purpose and wanted to cheat him out of his Wuliangye.

"Go away, don't cheat. I told you at the time to increase the bet on Wuliangye, and you said you followed suit. You still want to cheat me! Besides, neither of us won. How about I give you a bottle and you give me one too?"

Ning Hao felt a little regretful that he failed to deceive Lao Gu.

"Forget it, it's useless even if you didn't win."

Then he touched Lao Gu with his hand and whispered, "Why do I feel that Dong Xuan acted the feelings of satisfaction and happiness very well? Has he already gotten into the role?"

"Maybe. Everyone's situation is different."

Gu Changwei thought about it. He started working with Director Cao from "Secret Sunshine". At that time, Gao Yuanyuan was "tortured" by Director Cao over and over again with one shot, and then suddenly she got into the role and her acting skills became superb.

At that time, the bastard Ning Hao was still his assistant and was very clear about the situation, so the two of them thought that Cao Yang would use a difficult shot, shooting it over and over again, to guide Dong Xuan into the role.

However, Lao Gu heard from the old people in the crew that when Director Cao made his first movie, he collaborated with Li Xiaoran, not like Gao Yuanyuan.

It is said that at that time Director Cao explained the play to Li Xiaoran over and over again. Before the filming started, Li Xiaoran was already immersed in the role and was immersed in it very deeply.

Is this the case with Dong Xuan as well?

This is definitely not the case with Dong Xuan.

If the shots of Dong Xuan's mood changes in the later stage were shot first, Ning Hao and Lao Gu would probably have seen Dong Xuan being "tortured" by Cao Yang over and over again.

However, what they are filming now is the beginning scene, which requires Dong Xuan to show satisfaction and happiness, which is definitely not difficult for Dong Xuan.

Becoming the heroine of Cao Yang's new movie and being able to film with Cao Yang every day, for Dong Xuan, is there anything that could make her more satisfied and happy than this?
There is no need to get into character or think about other things. Dong Xuan can perform naturally as long as he sees Cao Yang on the crew.

The scenes shot in the afternoon still took place in the bedroom.

Movies are generally not shot in chronological order. Most are classified by scene to avoid unnecessary trouble caused by transitions.

The first shot of the afternoon was a passionate scene.

Well, it’s not a passionate scene between two people, it’s a passionate scene just for the heroine.

This is already a later plot.

In order to get the opportunity to play the White Swan and the Black Swan, the heroine listened to the director and unconsciously wanted to comfort herself, which led to this short plot.

"Don't be shy, it's mainly about the expressions, there will be close-ups, just get ready, I'll start filming."

Cao Yang said to Dong Xuan who was lying on the bed.

Dong Xuan was indeed a little embarrassed about comforting herself, especially in front of other people. Even when she was filming, she felt a little uncomfortable letting go.

But as an actor, especially a female actress, who hasn’t filmed a passionate scene?

She is already very lucky. Since she followed Cao Yang, she has almost never filmed passionate scenes. Even if there are some occasionally, they are all out of position or with a substitute.

Dong Xuan hypnotized himself in his heart, just treat this as his own home...

She took a deep breath, nodded at Cao Yang, then closed her eyes and said to herself: This is my home, this is my home... Cao Yang shouted, "Start."

The script supervisor hits the clapboard and shooting begins.

Dong Xuan, covered with a quilt, reached his hand into the restricted area, just touched it, and then he opened his eyes with a start.

"Ka! Rest for ten minutes and save another one."

This is a euphemism to say that he is actually not satisfied with this one.

Cao Yang walked up to Dong Xuan, looked at her and said:
"You opened your eyes too quickly, and the expression on your face is wrong. You have to have an expression of enjoyment, enjoyment, understand? Last for about ten seconds, open your eyes, suddenly see your mother sitting next to you, and then have a frightened expression. Do you understand?"

Dong Xuan nodded quickly, "Okay, Director, I'll remember it."

Cao Yang thought for a moment and said again: "There are still sounds, suppressed in the throat, but some of them must be released."

Dong Xuan made up his mind. Since there's no exposure anyway, it's just the expression and voice. Just see if you think they look familiar.

As for women, as long as they are adults, this kind of thing will happen to them to a certain extent, and it is very easy to perform.

Next, I filmed a few more scenes with Pan Hong in the bedroom. Since the subsequent changes had not been filmed yet, everything went smoothly.

The first day of shooting ended uneventfully.

"Do you still want to bet?"

Ning Hao nudged Gu Changwei and asked in a low voice.

"How to bet?"

Both of them are people of status, one is the assistant director and the other is the chief photographer, so they don’t have to worry about the subsequent cleaning of the equipment, as there are people to do that.

They found a place, each of them had a cigarette, and started puffing away.

"Just bet on whether Dong Xuan is into the role."

Ning Hao thought about Dong Xuan's performance today and quickly put forward his own opinion, "I bet she is not into the role. Let's have a bottle of Wuliangye."

Old Gu considered it and felt that Dong Xuan did not seem to be into the role.

According to his experience following Cao Yang, if the protagonist is immersed in the role, the performance is visible to the naked eye and the performance is extremely natural. In many cases, as long as there is no problem with the co-actor, it can almost always be passed in one take, and then maintained.

Dong Xuan's performance today was sometimes good and sometimes bad. Although it was very good compared to ordinary actors, there was still a big gap compared to the actors who were trained by Cao Yang and got into the role.

Old Gu really wanted to say that he also bet that Dong Xuan was not getting into the role, but that little bastard Ning Hao had already made his choice, so he could only choose another answer. Anyway, it was just for fun, so he might as well lose.

"Okay, just a bottle of Wuliangye. I said she was into the role."

Ning Hao chuckled, feeling that he had a sure win.

Cao Yang returned to the hotel suite at night. He had originally planned to shoot for two or three days before letting the actors join in the show to experience the show, but think about it, who in the world doesn't know that he is good at training actors?

I don't need to prove anything, so why make things difficult for myself and torture the actors?

I have been explaining the plays to the actors with more important roles for more than a month, and their acting skills have suddenly improved. Can they still think of themselves as geniuses?

I'm sure it will all be attributed to my own acting.

Then add them.

Dong Xuan's acting skills are actually pretty good, and should be better than Li Xiaoran back then. If he could do something crazy like he did with Li Xiaoran back then, I guess it would be just an immersive experience.

However, it is definitely not possible to have an immersive experience now. Even after talking about the play for more than a month, she only has a deeper understanding of the plot of "Black Swan", but her spiritual level has not been affected.

Cao Yang tried to add one for Dong Xuan, but it didn’t work.

Then I tried it with two and added them.

After thinking about it, since we want Dong Xuan to win the Venice Film Festival Best Actress award, should we give her another one so that she can perform better?
Cao Yang is so famous now that he will definitely attract a lot of attention when he attends the Venice Film Festival. With Lao Ma in the fold and the film having a very high quality, as long as it is well shot, winning the Golden Lion should not be a problem.

The key is to win the Venice Film Festival Best Actress Award, which is not so easy.

Everyone knows that Cao Yang is good at training actors. As long as there is a slight flaw in the actor's performance, it will be looked at with a magnifying glass and will be "discriminated" against.

So if you want to win the Best Actress award, you have to give a good performance that everyone praises.

As long as everyone thinks Dong Xuan’s acting is very good, for the same reason, they will unanimously decide to give it to Best Actress.

However, the heroine has some mental problems, which adds to the immersion experience. It would be troublesome if Dong Xuan had a dual personality.

Cao Yang thought carefully about the performance of Li Xiaoran, Yu Feihong and Gao Yuanyuan. There was no doubt that they were all influenced by their roles at the beginning.

Li Xiaoran's affection and escape, Yu Feihong's initiative and comparison after repression, Gao Yuanyuan's wildness and the "child" she always wanted...

As time went by, the "symptoms" of the three of them gradually improved. Even if they suddenly said something at the critical moment of passion, it was not influenced by the role, but for flirting, in order to more easily reach... that point.

After hesitating for a moment, Cao Yang sighed and gave Dong Xuan another experience of immersion in the play.

Sister, I'm doing this for your own good. I'm so famous now and so many people are watching me. If you don't perform in an uncontroversial manner, it will be hard for you to win the Best Actress award.

But as long as you act exceptionally well, no one dares to deprive you of the title of Best Actress.

Lu Yi, the little wife of the Hammer King, Cao Yang was still very impressed by her.

During the audition, she seemed a little shy, but danced with confidence and charm.

Later, when we were discussing the play, she was the most serious. If she didn't understand, she would ask immediately. She was also the most attentive in taking notes and writing down her thoughts.

She is a simple, serious and meticulous girl.

In terms of acting skills, she is definitely not as good as Dong Xuan. She is probably about the same as Yu Feihong in the past, and a little better than Gao Yuanyuan at the time.

Cao Yang added an immersion experience to Lu Yi, no, he couldn’t add it, but two, it worked.

Compared with Dong Xuan, although Lu Yi is nominally one of the female protagonists, she has much fewer scenes. Strictly speaking, she should be the second female lead.

If we add the experience of being immersed in the play, is it possible for her to win a double yolk award for Best Actress?

Afterwards, Cao Yang himself shook his head. If there was no Venice Golden Lion, the biggest award, it might still be possible to get a double yolk egg if the two female protagonists performed well.

But if there is a Golden Lion, there will definitely not be a double yolk egg for Best Actress.

Because in the history of Venice, there has never been a case where the same film won the Golden Lion and then the Best Actress award.

Things that have no routine are generally difficult to break.

Cao Yang did not continue to allow Lu Yi to join the acting experience.

Huang Xiaoming...

This is a very strange guy. His acting skills are strong when facing strong opponents, and weak when facing weak opponents. People in the industry call him 50-50. He is 50-50 with everyone.

Cao Yang wanted to try it out and see if he could still be on equal terms with Dong Xuan when acting opposite him if he was not given the opportunity to join in the acting experience.

Then give it a try.

Cao Yang thought with some evil humor, at worst when Huang Xiaoming couldn't keep up, he could just let him join in the show to experience it.

Chen Shu is a person who, probably because she started working early, is quite clever.

She has worked in the Oriental Song and Dance Troupe for many years. Although she has been an actress for a few years, most of her roles were small supporting roles and her acting skills were just average.

However, she did not have many roles, so Cao Yang gave her a role-playing experience to try it out and then added it directly.

From this, Cao Yang summed up a rule of the system: as long as the role is not too big, even if the acting skills are not good, it is enough to experience immersion in the role.

Teacher Pan Hong looks like a supporting actress, but she has quite a few scenes.

Her acting skills are definitely impeccable. So far, she has won three Golden Rooster Awards and a Hundred Flowers Award for Best Actress. She is a talented actress.

Cao Yang thought about it and decided that although he could perform well without her adding the acting experience, it would definitely be better with her, so he decided to add one.

(End of this chapter)