Chinese Entertainment: Academic Director

Chapter 9 Finishing

Li Xiaoran picked up a branch and slowly drew a portrait on the beach. Her focused expression, her face full of tenderness, her eyes full of love...

Just as Cao Yang was about to remind him, he saw Lao Tian's camera move forward and shoot directly at his face for twenty seconds, capturing everything.

According to the previous plan, this is a fixed long shot and it is not time to move forward yet.

But Cao Yang's sensitivity as a director made him think alike with Lao Tian. This is a set of shots that are difficult to reproduce. There is not the slightest trace of acting, and everything is so natural.

Ding Jiali's character walks in, squats down, looks at the head on the beach, and asks, "Who is this?"

Li Xiaoran held the branch in her hand, her eyes never leaving the portrait. She tilted her head to examine the portrait again. She smiled gently at first, then her expression darkened, "It's him."

One sentence, one expression, can convey a lot of information, allowing people outside the camera to understand.

Ding Jiali smiled, sighed lightly, turned his head and said, "Very good, is he really that handsome?"

Li Xiaoran smiled and tilted her head to look at the portrait. "He doesn't look like this, but it's almost the same."

Ding Jiali asked: "He has no hair?"

Li Xiaoran shook her head first, then nodded, with a mischievous smile on her face, which quickly faded away and turned dejected. "He said he's married and asked me to forget him, so I'll punish him by making him bald."

Cao Yang couldn't help but touch the top of his head, feeling a chill. Wasn't this what he had just said to her a few days ago?
The lyrics were changed. It was originally "shaved off, he is bald", but was changed by Li Xiaoran.

Cao Yang didn't call for stop, so it depended on whether Ding Jiali could continue, as the original lines were no longer applicable.

Ding Jiali paused for a moment, then naturally continued: "Is that so? Then let him become bald."

The delivery was smooth and natural. It's not about how well the lines were delivered. When an actor encounters such an emergency and is able to carry on the role without being abrupt, he is already a very talented actor.

There is no doubt that Ding Jiali is a talented actor with impeccable acting skills.

This is a 4-minute long shot. If Ding Jiali had been stuck because of Li Xiaoran's unauthorized change of the lines, the entire reel of film would have been scrapped and 1500 yuan would have been wasted.

As their conversation ended, they fell silent. Ding Jiali looked at Li Xiaoran with concern. Li Xiaoran looked into the distance with a dazed expression. She murmured like a dream, "I wonder if he will miss me as much as I miss him?"

Ding Jiali felt so compassionate, as if she was really facing her best friend, that she couldn't help but hug Li Xiaoran gently and said softly, "Yes, yes."

These are lines and actions outside the script. It is said that a good actor can not only immerse himself in the play, but also lead his opponents into the play, and also let the audience get into the play as well.

Maybe in Ding Jiali's eyes, Li Xiaoran is also a good actor, which made her involuntarily immersed in the play.

After the four-minute-long shot was finished, everyone looked at Cao Yang, including Tian Zhuangzhuang.

There are too many unexpected things in these four minutes, and too many lines and actions that are changed without permission. Everyone knows that some directors, in order to highlight their authority and control the completion of the film, will never allow actors to change even a single word.

"Pass!"

"Roar……"

Several students from Beijing Film Academy couldn't help but shout out. At that moment, they regarded this girl, whom they had never heard of before, as a talented contestant. Her acting skills were so fucking amazing that people could get into the show together.

I'm afraid they will remember this girl named Li Xiaoran for quite a long time, and will use this as a bragging point.

"You call her acting good? You idiots, when I was filming with Director Cao, Li Xiaoran knew about it, right? That was truly amazing, that acting skill..."

I'm afraid there will be a lot of similar words.

The film is generally divided into three acts. The first act is hiding abroad, the second act is returning home to meet friends, and the third act is meeting the director. The last act can also be understood as an extension of the second act, the heroine's fantasy. This four-minute long shot is the last shot of the first act. Because I felt it would be difficult to shoot, I put it at the end. There are several shots at the beach in the second and third acts, which have been shot before.

To everyone’s surprise, this shot, which seemed to be the most difficult to shoot, was actually completed in just one take, which surprised everyone.

Now all the shots on Ludong Island have been completed, and the remaining ones are almost all indoor shots, which can be shot in Beijing.

Cao Yang said, "Pack up, have dinner tonight, and return to Beijing tomorrow."

"it is good……"

Everyone cheered, including the reserved Old Tian. The last set of shots today gave him a little shock.

After returning to Beijing to continue filming, Li Xiaoran also gave the new actors a little shock.

When filming Li Xiaoran waiting for someone at the back door of the cafe, she was smoking and softly singing a song of longing. At that moment, there was so much tenderness, like lingering smoke, lingering in the heart for a long time and making the hearts of everyone present tremble slightly.

Fortunately, the supporting actors Cao Yang found are mostly talented and can take over Li Xiaoran's role.

Teacher Wang Jinsong teaches acting, and his ability is self-evident.

Although Sun Honglei is a newcomer and has only played small supporting roles, he is very well-known in the drama world. He just won the Plum Blossom Award not long ago and his acting skills are impeccable.

The coal boss's mistress also studied acting, and her basic skills were okay. Plus, there weren't many shots, so it didn't take much to waste some film, and by shooting a few more times, the result would be acceptable.

On the other hand, Sister Feihong, who came all the way here specially, had many scenes with Li Xiaoran. In comparison, she was ruthlessly crushed and failed to catch up with the scenes several times.

I had originally thought of giving Sister Feihong a few more shots, but maybe the time was too short, and Sister Feihong might not have a deep understanding of the script, which resulted in her looking a bit inferior in front of Li Xiaoran.

Cao Yang felt that he should take back his previous words. A good actor can immerse himself in the role and also bring his opponent into the role, but the prerequisite is that the actor playing the opponent must at least have good acting skills, otherwise the contrast will definitely be too great and he will not be able to carry the play.

So Cao Yang changed to taking a picture of Sister Feihong's profile.

Especially when the two of them were kissing, Li Xiaoran acted naturally shy, and her emotional transitions were just right, while Sister Feihong was okay at playing the role of a cold fairy, but her shyness seemed a bit stiff, and her expression was unnatural.

The contrast between the two is very obvious, and Sister Feihong is overshadowed again.

After shooting six or seven times in a row, Cao Yang was still not satisfied.

Finally, I thought about it and decided, forget it, it's understandable that her expression was a little stiff after being kissed, so I'll take another shot and have her add the action of covering her face with her hands.

Isn't it better not to see her face? No one would know whether her expression is shy or stiff. I am so smart.

Cao Yang praised his own wit.

Anyway, the highlight is not on Sister Feihong, this movie is just Li Xiaoran's personal show.

After another ten days of filming, Tian Zhuangzhuang played the role of the extramarital affair director. Although Tian is a big director, he is also very good at acting and his acting skills are definitely powerful.

Emotional transformation and outbursts come suddenly, and even crying loudly is extremely natural.

Including the wasted time, it took a total of 27 days to shoot, and finally all the shots were completed. When Cao Yang announced the completion of the filming, the entire crew cheered.

Except Li Xiaoran.

(End of this chapter)