Chinese Entertainment: Academic Director

Chapter 31 Audition
"Empty Room" is much more complicated than "On the Beach at Night Alone". When Cao Yang was preparing the crew this time, he recruited many people from Qingying Studio.

The original producer Cheng Jianye had a good cooperation with us last time, so this time he was made the chief producer, in charge of the daily life producer and the external liaison producer.

According to Cao Yang's request, the external producer had already gone to Ludong Island in advance to look for several suitable locations for filming.

Two assistant directors were hired, one of whom was an actor assistant director, the same Liu Shan as before.

We also asked for an on-site assistant director, named Li Mingyi, who also graduated from the Beijing Film Academy and was recommended by Lao Tian. He had worked as an assistant director for Lao Tian before.

This time, the coordination, costume team, makeup team, lighting team, art set design, etc. were all done by professionals from Qingdao Film Studio, rather than students from Beijing Film Academy.

In this film, Cao Yang wanted to try to use more camera language. After all, the students from Beijing Film Academy had no experience and certainly couldn't handle these, so they had to be assisted by professionals.

Today is the audition date for the male lead. Cao Yang did not send out recruitment information like he did last time. There was nothing he could do about it then. Today is different. The audition invitation he sent out is already very attractive.

This time, we sent out three audition invitations in total, two from Beijing Film Academy and one from the Central Academy of Drama. All three came, and they all came early.

In fact, when Cao Yang sent out the auditions, he deliberately staggered the times, but who knew that they all arrived early and bumped into each other.

Liu Shan was the deputy director of actors, and Cao Yang asked him to contact them.

Generally, the assistant director of a crew who does not know the inside story thinks that they have a lot of power, but in fact, it is not the case. They are usually only responsible for finding child actors and special guests.

Cao Yang also handed over the task of contacting the actors to Liu Shan.

Liu Shan came in and told Cao Yang about the situation. Cao Yang didn't expect that several people would come so early, so he asked Liu Shan to take them to the lounge first and audition when the time came.

Fu Dalong became famous at a young age. He started acting in movies at the age of 8 and was admitted to the Beijing Film Academy in 94. During this period, he participated in many movies and is considered to be very experienced.

He was unlucky. He graduated in 98, just as the domestic film market was in recession. The number of films decreased sharply, and it has continued to this day, and there are fewer and fewer films he can act in.

I received an audition call two days ago, and when I found out that the role I was auditioning for was the leading actor in Cao Yang’s latest movie, I was so happy.

Look at several famous domestic directors, no matter they are national masters or small-time talents, almost all of them have their own fixed team, so the films of big directors are scarce resources.

Although the outside world has not yet regarded Cao Yang as a great director, he is young and no one can say whether he will become an international director like Guo Shi.

The key is that he has not yet formed his own fixed team, so his plays are also scarce resources.

Today, Fu Dalong arrived at the audition location more than half an hour early. Unexpectedly, not long after he arrived, he saw Chen Kun, who was two levels lower than him, also came.

He knew Chen Kun. There were only a few people in the acting department, and as long as they hadn't graduated yet, they knew each other.

"Kun, are you here for an audition too?"

"Brother Long, yes, you too?"

Although Chen Kun is two levels lower than Fu Dalong and they are the same age, but since the other person is two levels higher than him, he still has to call him Brother Long when they meet.

"Ha, I came half an hour early. Maybe your audition time is earlier than mine." Fu Dalong probed.

Chen Kun was silent for a moment, then said faintly, "I came more than an hour early."

Why did I arrive more than an hour early? I just wanted to try to find out more useful information to give myself a better chance of success in the audition.

At this time, another young man was brought in. Chen Kun and Fu Dalong looked at each other. Is this another competitor?
"Are you here for an audition too?"

Fu Dalong knew that Chen Kun was a bit quiet, so he took the initiative to ask.

"Yes, hello."

"Hello, I'm Fu Dalong from Beijing Film Academy." Fu Dalong introduced himself, also wanting to test the other party's background.

"My name is Liu Ye, and I'm from the Central Academy of Drama." The man didn't say much, but spoke in a low voice. He seemed a little shy, which was a bit inconsistent with his tall stature of over 1.8 meters.

So, Fu Dalong tried again, "You came early too?"

Liu Ye smiled a little embarrassedly, with a bit of feminine shyness, "I've been quite free recently, so I came two hours early."

Fu Dalong and Chen Kun breathed a sigh of relief at the same time. This shouldn't be an internal appointment through connections. Maybe he was recommended by a teacher from their school?

Liu Shan walked in, nodded to the three of them, then smiled and said to Fu Dalong: "Fu Dalong, you are the first one, follow me."

"Okay, Teacher Liu, thank you for your help." Fu Dalong followed.

As a director at the Qingying Studio, a school-owned enterprise, Liu Shan is known by many people in the school, including Fu Dalong and Chen Kun.

Liu Shan knocked on the door, waited for someone inside to say come in, then motioned for Fu Dalong to come in, and gently reminded him, "We're all from the same school, don't be nervous."

Fu Dalong took a deep breath, pushed the door open and said, "Hello, teachers. I am Fu Dalong."

Then he looked up and saw four people in the room, Cao Yang, Tian Zhuangzhuang, Li Mingyi, and Li Xiaoran.

Fu Dalong thought for a moment, could the heroine still be Li Xiaoran?

Cao Yang didn't waste any words and said directly: "We are all from Beijing Film Academy, so you don't have to be nervous. It's called an audition, just to see if you meet the requirements. You can learn... a dance from Xiaoran, practice for 20 minutes, and it doesn't matter if you can't practice it. What I want to see is how you dance."

Lao Tian next to him said: "I'll give you a few hints: loneliness, freedom, soul release, and madness."

Li Xiaoran stood up and said, "The movements are very simple. You will be able to do it after you do it with me a few times."

Last night, Cao Yang taught Li Xiaoran the movements that the male lead should do by both gestures and descriptions. It took Li Xiaoran less than ten minutes to perform the movements that Cao Yang imagined completely. She is worthy of being a dancer.

So I asked her to come over and help today.

It’s true that people who learn dancing are different. Cao Yang thought of quite a few moves, and last night, Li Xiaoran reluctantly performed them, which really opened Cao Yang’s eyes.

During the intermission, Li Xiaoran asked, "Do you also let her do these embarrassing actions?"

Somehow, Cao Yang was a little excited at that time, so the halftime break ended.

Alas, I have been led astray.

Cao Yang couldn't help but reflect. It was all Li Xiaoran's fault. He actually felt so excited about stealing. He shouldn't have such thoughts. He must change it next time!

Twenty minutes later, Fu Dalong danced again according to his own understanding. His movements were a little stiff, but quite crazy and masculine.

Cao Yang didn't give a perfunctory answer and said directly: "Dalong, you are the first one. I can't give you accurate information right away. I will definitely give you news within two days."

"Okay, Director Cao, thank you."

Not long after Fu Dalong went out, Chen Kun came in.

It’s the same process as Fudalong, but Li Xiaoran taught it more seriously this time. After all, this is her best friend, and it’s normal.

Twenty minutes later, Chen Kun also danced it according to his own understanding.

His movements were very smooth, almost the same as Li Xiaoran's, and even quite graceful, worthy of being from a song and dance troupe.

But precisely because of its beauty, it loses its weirdness and madness.

(End of this chapter)