Chinese Entertainment: Academic Director

Chapter 86 Just tell me if it's worth it
The shooting in the morning went very smoothly. As long as the actors she was acting with didn't make any mistakes, Gao Yuanyuan would get it right in one take almost every time.

If you don’t know much, you might think the director is just fooling around and letting the show go.

But in the eyes of the crew, Gao Yuanyuan's changes cannot be called changes. As soon as she appears on the stage, she is like a different person.

It just makes you feel that this is not acting at all, it's like... it's like she is repeating her own life, it doesn't feel like acting at all.

Just like eating and drinking, it’s extremely simple.

We finished filming the coordinated tasks in the morning and did not continue filming the afternoon plot. Instead, we finished work early and waited for lunch.

Gu Changwei sat on a small stool with a cigarette in his hand. He didn't smoke it, but just watched it burn quietly, his eyes empty, and no one knew what he was thinking about.

Ning Hao squatted next to Gu Changwei, with a few pieces of moisture-proof cloth under his butt, and he also held a cigarette in his hand, staring at the smoke in a daze.

After a long time, Ning Hao took a breath of cold air because of the heat and quickly threw away the cigarette butt.

"Teacher Gu, I don't quite understand."

Gu Changwei threw away the cigarette in his hand. Before he could move, Ning Hao quickly took out a cigarette, handed it to Gu and lit it for him.

Lao Gu took a deep breath, swallowed it, and then exhaled slowly.

"What don't you understand?"

Don't talk about you, I don't understand it either.

Ning Hao lit one himself, held it between his fingers, and asked quietly, "What's wrong with Gao Yuanyuan? Yesterday she was...really into the role? That's pretty awesome."

"You know nothing."

Old Gu blew out a smoke ring and said lightly, "I've seen many people who are immersed in their roles. Being immersed in a role is being immersed in the role, and acting is acting. Being immersed in a role means being able to get into the role and improve your acting skills, but..."

Then he took a deep breath and said, "It's too early to say that now. Maybe it's an extraordinary performance. Let's see what happens in this afternoon."

Ning Hao also nodded, and according to the principle of shooting nearby scenes, the afternoon scene was in front of a weed beach on the side of the road, where the heroine played by Gao Yuanyuan came to identify the body.

This kind of situation is when the acting skills are truly demonstrated.

When planning the filming, Gu Changwei had a rare argument with Cao Yang about the corpse identification scene.

He believes that this kind of plot is the best time to vent, and he should carry the camera, follow the heroine's steps, and shoot from the heroine's perspective.

This can make the audience feel more involved and more tear-jerking. In other words, such a plot is the most suitable moment to "sell" tears.

Cao Yang denied his idea.

That would be too cliché. The story is already sad enough, there is no need to use traditional sensational and tear-jerking methods.

You should remain calm and restrained here, and just watch like an outsider.

Gu Changwei said nothing more.

The first shot taken in the afternoon was when the heroine arrived at the river in a police car. Here we only needed to shoot the scene where the car had arrived at the crime scene and shoot the heroine in the car.

Everything is ready, the script supervisor hits the cue and the shooting begins.

Gao Yuanyuan, who seemed normal the moment before and could greet everyone with a gentle smile, immediately got into character. She sat in the passenger seat of the police car, looking forward expressionlessly, with tears in her eyes but they never fell.

It looks calm, but there is also a sense of helpless despair in the calm.

"Crack!"

Cao Yang shouted, "Get ready for the next game."

Gao Yuanyuan got off the car, smiled politely at the staff around her, and bowed slightly to thank the stylist who came to touch up her makeup. Cao Yang came over, and the next shot was a shot with a strong sense of irony.

This is the shot where Gao Yuanyuan is looking forward just now. Through her perspective, we can see a scene where the outside is calm, the sun is high in the sky, the sunshine is bright, and there are no clouds in the sky. Everything seems to be very beautiful.

Seeing Cao Yang coming over, Gao Yuanyuan, who had been gentle and cute just now, immediately stopped smiling and turned away, as if she didn't see Cao Yang.

"Yuanyuan."

Gao Yuanyuan turned around reluctantly, forcing a formal smile out of her wooden face, "Director Cao, what do you want me to do?"

Cao Yang waved his hand, walked forward, pointed at a small slope, and said, "When you go down from here, you can act stiff and wooden, like a puppet, and walk forward mechanically until you reach the child props in front."

"Okay, director."

After replying, Gao Yuanyuan asked again, "You used to be a screenwriter, right?"

"Ok?"

Cao Yang was a little surprised by Gao Yuanyuan's question, but he still said casually: "I am the screenwriter of all these movies."

Gao Yuanyuan suddenly staggered, and Cao Yang helped her up reflexively.

Then he saw Gao Yuanyuan looked at him with a complicated expression, turned around and shook off his outstretched arm, and a look of hatred and disgust seemed to flash across her face for a moment.

Cao Yang was a little puzzled, but he didn't take it seriously, thinking that Gao Yuanyuan was brewing feelings.

Everything is ready, the script supervisor hits the cue and shooting begins.

This is a long shot and a telephoto shot. The camera is set up on the slope. Like an outsider, I watch Gao Yuanyuan walk mechanically to the edge of the small slope.

Gao Yuanyuan looked ahead with lifeless eyes, but seemed not to notice the small slope and stepped over it.

As a result, he missed a step and fell down.

The assistant may have thought it was a mistake and was about to go forward to help Gao Yuanyuan up, but Ning Hao, who was next to the camera, was quick-witted and hugged her. Afraid that she would scream, he covered the assistant's mouth.

The crew member who guest-starred as the police also reached out to help Gao Yuanyuan, but that’s okay, it’s normal for the police to help people.

Gao Yuanyuan ignored the police, nor did she care about the mud on her body and face. She just walked forward mechanically, as if everything had lost its meaning at this moment.

When she was about five or six meters away from the child's prop that fell to the ground, Gao Yuanyuan stopped. Not really stopping, she was still taking steps, but she was just mechanically moving slightly on the spot, almost stagnant.

This was a performance that was not planned in advance. Before the filming, they just told her to go down the small slope and walk over there, and that was it.

What should I do now? I can't let her keep standing still forever, right?
But this wonderful shot is good enough to be included in textbooks, so it can’t be discarded, right?

Cao Yang made a prompt decision, picked up a police uniform and was about to put it on, then entered the camera to help Gao Yuanyuan and supported her to the props.

It's fine to shoot it this way, it makes sense, but it kind of ruins this wonderful sequence.

Before Cao Yang could take any action, he saw Gao Yuanyuan take two steps forward and then collapse to the ground.

There were no tears, no crying, everything happened so naturally.

Cao Yang held the intercom, not caring about the half-put on clothes, and shouted "Click! Pass!"

Then he smashed the walkie-talkie to the ground to vent his indescribable feelings. It was fucking brilliant!
This shot is absolutely amazing!

This performance is so good!

(End of this chapter)