2001 Media Godfather

Chapter 92 Preliminary Test
"Hit, Hit a Big Watermelon" is an animated short film written, directed and produced by director Dumpling from another time and space.

Chu An watched the film and liked it very much, considering it to be a film with both intellectual depth and entertainment value.

Since the Central Academy of Drama happened to have a segment showcasing artistic talents, I just copied it and used it.

Little did he know, he had used too much force.

In another time and space, "Hit, Hit a Big Watermelon" is not just about being "good".

Many people only became familiar with the animated short film "Ne Zha" after it became a huge hit, through Jiaozi's directing experience.

In reality, this film swept more than thirty international animation awards upon its release. It was the success of "Hit a Big Watermelon" that laid the foundation for creating Nezha.

At this point, Lao Lu's words were anything but polite: "How could this film be made like this?"

Chu An had given him the script to direct before, but he hadn't taken it seriously; it was just a short animated film of about ten minutes.

I just thought the metaphors were good and had depth. But for Chu An, who was directing for the first time, being able to capture half the expressiveness of the script should be enough to pass the entrance exam.

Old Lu had no idea that this cheater copied the entire video!
The expressive power of the script is less than one-tenth of that of the finished film.

This is what we ended up with.

"Even teachers from the Central Academy of Drama couldn't produce this kind of effect in this film! They'd definitely think I directed it!!"

Okay, Lao Lu is being a bit shameless, actually, he couldn't even film it.

Old Lu was a little jealous.

It's one thing if you can write stories, but how come you can be a director too?

You know, making movies was also Lao Lu's dream. Unfortunately, he tried it many years ago, and it was a complete disaster.

"How about we just change it? We can just draw a storyboard."

Chu An looked at him suspiciously, wondering why this old man seemed to have ill intentions.
"No way! I refuse to believe that you can't get into the Central Academy of Drama without talent, and having exceptional talent is a crime?"

Lu Mingze wanted to persuade him again, but Chu An didn't give him the chance.

Before we knew it, it was early May, and the Central Academy of Drama's independent admissions exam was held as scheduled.

The night before, Chu An reviewed the preliminary assessment process and went to bed early.

Then Xu Shu called, "How are the preparations going?"

Chu An: "No problem, how about you?"

Xu Shu also applied to the Central Academy of Drama's acting class, and she took the exam earlier than Chu An. Tomorrow is the second round of auditions.

Chu An didn't need to ask a question; Xu Shu's performance level far surpassed that of all the other candidates.

It is said that the veteran performing artists who are considered the crown jewels of the Central Academy of Drama's acting department have already declared that Xu Shu is unparalleled among this year's acting department candidates and is already the pre-selected number one.

The two chatted for a while, and Xu Shu, not wanting to disturb Chu An's rest, said, "See you tomorrow. I'll come find you after my exam."

The Central Academy of Drama is located in Nanluoguxiang, very close to Chu An's home.

Early in the morning, Chu An ate two steamed buns at the entrance of the alley and then prepared to go to the examination hall.

At this moment, Lu Mingze walked over with a shameless grin and said, "I'll go with you."

Chu An said dismissively, "No need, right? It'll look bad!"

Old Lu is a well-known director who graduated from the Central Academy of Drama. Even if he didn't use connections, it would seem like he did.

Old Lu, "A straight body casts no crooked shadow! What are you afraid of?"

Chu An, "."

Entering the Central Academy of Drama campus, one is greeted by a sea of ​​people.

Excluding admissions from other departments such as film and television directing, photography, fine arts, and drama, the number of people taking the independent admissions exam for the acting department alone is in the thousands.

Although many were eliminated in the re-examination stage, there were still over a thousand applicants. In addition, there were parents accompanying their children to the exam, as well as lecherous second and third-year students looking for female students. The area around the exam venue was packed with people, three layers deep.

Chu An didn't see Xu Shu, and since he was a celebrity and had Lu Mingze protecting him, the school was afraid he would cause a disturbance, so they simply took Chu An to the administrative office of the "Film and Television Department".

"Why don't you sit here for now? You can go over when it's almost your turn."

The man who brought Chu An and Lu Mingze there was a male teacher in his fifties named Zhang Heng, who was Lu Mingze's classmate.

Back then, Lao Lu graduated and embarked on his path to fame, while Professor Zhang stayed at the university to teach and nurture students. Over the years, he has also directed several documentaries, though he hasn't gained much fame, but he is considered a prominent figure in academia.

In addition, the Central Academy of Drama has no shortage of stars, so they didn't have any special thoughts about Chu An.

Looking at Chu An, he still had a hint of reproach in his eyes, "You, such a big actor, would have been better off just applying for acting school?"

"Why should I study directing?"

There's actually a rather interesting little-known fact here.

That is, the so-called directors, cinematographers, art directors, etc. in TV dramas are actually just "honorary titles" used by the industry to embellish their reputations.

In fact, the professional names for film and television production teams are completely different.

In film, the director is called "director," while in television series, the director is actually called "screenwriter/director."

In film, it's called photography; in television series, it's called videography.

In movies, the teacher is called the art teacher; in TV series, the teacher is called the art director.

This also reveals a clue as to why TV dramas seem to be considered inferior to movies.

There's a difference in positions, not to mention the general societal perception that movies are art, while TV dramas are just mass entertainment.

Although Zhang Heng did not achieve as much as Lu Mingze, he still couldn't shake off his natural sense of superiority.

He assumed Chu An came from a television drama background and was brought here by Lu Mingze, so he thought he would be learning television drama directing.
Chu An didn't say anything about it; let people think what they want, it's none of my business.

He responded with a smile, "I don't have much talent for acting, so I'd like to try a career change."

Zhang Heng had also seen Chu An's performance and nodded, "It wasn't very good."

"Alright, you stay here for now, I have other things to do."

After saying that, he left in a hurry.

As soon as he left, Chu An looked at Lao Lu with a questioning look in his eyes, as if to say, "What's going on? Isn't this your alma mater? Why are the teachers so unfriendly?"
Old Lu said smugly, "Don't pay any attention to him! The girl he liked back then married me."

Chu An, "."

Oh! It turns out to be a love rival.

Lao Lu said, "Apart from him, the students at the Central Academy of Drama are all pretty good."

Just then, a white-haired teacher returned to the office. Upon seeing Lu Mingze, he exclaimed, "Oh! The great talent Lu is back?"

"Can't you, the great scholar Lu, ever push yourself a little? You're always making those lousy Qing Dynasty dramas, they're making my teeth ache!"

have to.
Another one who wasn't polite.

Chu An sensed something was wrong and concluded that Lao Lu was bragging.

It was almost noon when Chu An went to the examination hall.

When they called his name, there was no one behind him.

He was last in line.

Upon entering the examination room, just as Chu An had expected, there was a row of tables in front of him, and behind him sat examiners he knew or did not know.

The first preliminary test was a recitation, which was particularly easy.

His homeroom teacher had previously instructed him not to choose classic literature or song lyrics.

For directing majors, the key isn't how well you recite a poem. It's your ability to feel and analyze a story that's essential for a director.

Once Chu An understood what the examiners wanted to see, the recitation question became much simpler.

He simply chose a line from Yu Huai in "The Best of Us".

It is expressed in a completely different way and tone.

Some examiners had seen "With You" and remembered Yu Huai's line.

After listening to Chu An's reinterpretation, he nodded repeatedly.

This is not surprising.

Yu Huai is played by Chu An, who is extremely familiar with the character, so delivering a line is no problem for him.

More importantly, the emotions he expressed in this line were completely different from those in the play, showing another layer of understanding of the character.

The original lines were Lu Mingze's understanding of the story and characters, while now they are Chu An's understanding of the story and characters.

The contrast between the two is crystal clear.

After Chu An finished reciting, the white-haired old man who was in charge of the examination nodded with a smile.

He joked to those around him, "Everyone says Chu An's acting is so-so, but his screenwriting is top-notch. Now that I see it, his story comprehension is indeed quite good."

This set the tone for Chu An's recitation, essentially marking it as over.

However, the old man deliberately changed the subject, praising Chu An's screenwriting ability rather than his directing skills.

Chu An gave the old man a deep look after he spoke.

This man is Wang Zhan, a veteran performing artist of the same caliber as Tong Meng and her son Zhang Lanfang, and also the head of the Film and Television Directing Department.

Chu An was a little confused as to why he brought up the screenwriting level.

In the afternoon's assigned performance, Chu An was ahead of the group, performing in the 6th group along with 7 other candidates.

Of the eight people, six were men and two were women. They found a shady spot under a tree outside the examination hall to get to know each other.

Chu An goes without saying; the others are all quite familiar with him.

In fact, the wildest gossip circulating today about the directing class admissions is that Chu An will be taking the directing exam instead of acting.

Of the other seven people, six were young recent graduates who were a little reserved around Chu An.

The remaining man was a middle-aged man in his thirties, who was quite poised and generous.

This is not surprising, especially for directing classes, where older young people take the exams every year.

Moreover, these people are generally not ordinary people.

Wang Chengzhi, 32 years old, started his career in advertising planning and later became an advertising director. He directed a shampoo commercial for CCTV last year.

Wang Chengzhi was very modest when facing the upcoming performance test.

"Teacher Chu, whether our group can pass depends on your performance!"

Upon hearing this, Chu An exclaimed, "Absolutely not! To be honest, I don't know what topic I'll be given either."

Wang Chengzhi was taken aback. He had seen Chu An and Lu Mingze together and naively thought that Chu An, given their relationship, could get the exam questions in advance.

However, Wang Chengzhi quickly adjusted his tone, "Actually, it's okay." Looking at Chu An, he said, "You're the screenwriter, and I also have some directing experience."

"Even if we have to improvise, our group still has an advantage."

The other young men nodded in agreement, "With Teacher Chu and Brother Wang here, we'll definitely make it!"

Chu Anxin said, "Silly kids! It's not that our group is guaranteed to pass, but that someone in our group is guaranteed to pass!"
To reiterate, the entrance exam for directing programs doesn't test acting skills, but rather directing-related abilities.

Even if a few young people perform well in the assigned performance later, it won't matter; the directing class isn't recruiting actors.

If we give you the topic, Chu An will be the screenwriter, and Wang Chengzhi will be in charge of arranging the blocking and composition, then what's the point of you six?
Looking at their innocent expressions, Chu An felt a little sorry for them.

He pulled Wang Chengzhi aside and said, "Brother Wang, it's just a college entrance exam. There's no need to push yourself so hard. Let them have a chance to show their skills later."

Wang Chengzhi was stunned again, looking at Chu An, unsure whether he was feigning benevolence or genuinely kind.

Finally, he could only reply uncertainly, "Don't worry, Teacher Chu, I'll do my best!"

Chu An: "Hmm! I'll help if I can, but I need to make sure I'm safe first."

Soon, the teacher called out number 6, and the eight people filed into the examination room.

The proctor was still old man Wang Zhan. When he saw Chu An and Wang Chengzhi come in together, he immediately understood what was going on.

They whispered to each other, "Why were they put in the same group?"

Wang Chengzhi was also quite well-known in this cohort.

It's hard to believe that two popular candidates were put in the same group without some deliberate arrangement.

With these two working together, one excelling in screenwriting and the other in cinematography, there's no reason why they shouldn't succeed.
Grandpa Wang Zhan thought for a moment, looked up at the eight nervous people, and suddenly smiled, "Don't be nervous. The assigned performance is actually very simple. Just use your imagination and act out what you think."

"Your proposition is..."

He pushed one of the two lottery boxes in front of him forward. Who wants to draw a box?
These words, coupled with his action of pushing the lottery box, caused all the examiners' expressions to change.

The examiner next to Wang Zhan even whispered in his ear, "Mr. Wang, you've pointed to the wrong one. That was a single-person test question."

The impromptu performance is divided into single-person and multi-person performances.

Chu An's group was clearly given multiple test questions.

The differences are huge!
Single-person test questions include things like "Getting up" or "New Year's Eve alone." They are usually one-person or two-person scenarios.

The questions for multiple test takers included topics such as "Senior High School Study Room", "10:00 AM Market", and "Flag Raising Ceremony".

Large-scale scenes that allow multiple actors to perform well.

Now, Old Man Wang is giving a single-person test question to eight people to act out. How should they act it out?
It might be possible to perform, but the difficulty would increase significantly.

At this moment, Wang Zhan pretended not to hear his colleague's reminder and continued to signal Chu An and the others to come up and draw questions.

He then whispered to the person next to him, "Since two people with professional backgrounds have come together, the difficulty level is definitely not the same as others."

The examiner, “.”

Suddenly, I realized that Grandpa Wang seemed to be taking things a little too seriously.

Meanwhile, Chu An and his group had no idea that it was a test for one person only.

Wang Chengzhi stepped forward confidently, rummaged through the lottery box for a while, and finally pulled out a slip of paper.

The examiner took the note, paused for a moment, glanced at Wang Zhan, and only after receiving a signal to continue did he hand the note to Wang Chengzhi.

"The topic is 'Holding Hands.' You have three minutes to prepare, and your performance time must not exceed two minutes. Start the timer now."

"Hold hands!?"

Wang Chengzhi was dumbfounded.

How could an 8-person group have such a test question?!
He returned to the group of eight, bewildered. "Something's happened!"

Chu An took the note, still somewhat incredulous. When he confirmed that it really only contained two words—"holding hands"—he felt terrible.

chap!
How can 8 people act out holding hands?
Looking towards Wang Zhan, Chu An sensed the old man's unfriendly gaze. Now, Chu An seriously suspected that every word Old Lu uttered was just boasting.

The Central Academy of Drama is full of malice!

.

(End of this chapter)