Huayu 1999: Starting with nothing but getting something for nothing

Before we knew it, it was December 15th.

At 5 p.m., in a lecture hall of the Beijing Film Academy, Wang Jinsong, a teacher in the acting department, is lecturing on the three major acting schools.

"The Method acting style is the most difficult of the three major acting styles because it cannot be achieved through hard work. Hard work can only unleash one's innate talent, that is, the talent of believing in the situation. Through yesterday's brief communication with everyone, I found that many students have a basic misunderstanding of the Method acting style."

When Wang Jinsong got to this point, he glanced at Yang Che in the audience, seemingly unintentionally.

Yang Che's lips twitched. He had a feeling that this Teacher Wang was going to smash his window with a rubber band. Well, that movie hadn't even been filmed yet.

Meanwhile, Hou Hongliang, a student who was quite refined but actually very cheerful and even a bit silly, muttered to himself, "This teacher is really vengeful."

Yang Che paused, his pen still from taking notes. "Liang, can you please not sit next to me next time?"

"That won't do, I have to stay united with Che-ge at all times."

Yang Che shook his head and continued listening to Wang Jinsong's sharing session.

"The aesthetic pursuit of the method acting school is authenticity. Everything is aimed at making the actors' performances achieve a sense of realism that is close to life and close to the subconscious. Before going into specific theories, let me give you an example."

When a heterosexual actor portrays a homosexual character, the method actor might imagine his co-star as a woman; the method actor might find the loving aspects in his co-star; and the performance actor might imitate, going to real homosexuals and learning to imitate their words and actions.

In general, the method approach involves simulating the situation, mastering the role, and substituting emotions; the experiential approach involves believing in the situation, immersing oneself in the role, and generating emotions; and the performance approach involves interpreting the situation, imitating the role, and designing emotions.

Regardless of which school of thought they belong to, the goal is the same: to present the character to the audience and move them.

Just like the saltiness in a dish, whether the salt comes from the salted vegetables in the side dishes or from the salt added during the cooking process doesn't matter to diners, as long as it tastes delicious.

The experiential approach is difficult, but it's no more sophisticated than the other two approaches.

Okay, next....

Yang Che stopped listening and left the classroom, his back aching.

Both Wang Jinsong on stage and the more than one hundred "students" in the audience were used to this, after all, he received more phone calls than a salesman.

As soon as I stepped out of the classroom, I ran into Jiang Wei, who was holding his lesson plan.

"Is Mr. Yang answering the phone again?"

Yang Che smiled and quickly answered the phone to cover his embarrassment. Then a string of suppressed excitement in English came out.

"Boss, our film has been selected as the opening film for the Sundance Film Festival."

Yang Che was stunned for a moment; this was a completely unexpected delight.

"That's great, Lao Wen. What time is it where you are? How's the weather?"

James Wan seemed to be silenced. Why wasn't the boss excited at all?

"It's 8 pm, so comfortable. We're having a barbecue in the yard."

"I really want to go through summer too."

"Now that we've finished our business in America, let's come to Sydney together."

"If we can make money, haha. Okay, I have to continue with the class. I'll leave 'Judgment Saw' to you guys."

Goodbye, Boss.

Just as I was about to return to the classroom after ending the call, my phone rang again.

This time it's Wang Fei.

Yang Che subconsciously looked around, then answered the call as he walked toward the stairs.

Wang Fei's slightly slurred voice rang out: "What are you doing?"

"Back in Beijing?"

"Um...no."

"You speak with such a strong Beijing accent, I thought you were back."

"Tsk, what do you mean by that? It's completely unrelated. Hey, have you finished writing the lyrics for those two songs yet?"

"It's over."

"Send it to my email, I've written another piece of music..."

Yang Che interrupted, "Old Wang, I remember I said I'd give it to you next time we meet."

"Give it or don't, it's not like I don't write lyrics."

"That's unreasonable. We made an agreement."

It was clear that a lot had happened between the two of them before. Indeed, it was at the end of last month, three days before Wang Fei went to Japan. It happened to be the weekend, and Gao Yuanyuan, who was on her period for several days, returned to Fengtai as usual. So Yang Che moved into Jialin Garden, and the two of them basically stayed together during the day.

Although Yang Che left her a letter in Hong Kong last time asking her to contact him, she didn't. She was very proud and arrogant. Chen Jiaying just asked her to come over and sign the royalty sharing agreement for "The Years" and "Legend".

After arriving and signing the papers, Chen Jiaying left, and Tongtong stayed with her father...

Needless to say, what happened next was a natural spark, and after that, it was basically anytime, anywhere, whenever the mood struck.

Of course, that wasn't all. The two of them would sneak out for a car race at night, cook together during the day, and Yang Che even drew her a few pictures.

Wang Fei composed several pieces for him; she plays the piano exceptionally well. Okay, it's just the daily life of an artsy young couple.

The two didn't discuss their relationship, but instead talked about how they could help each other.

Wang Fei said that she booked out a whole theater for the Hong Kong premiere of "My Sassy Girl". It wasn't to avoid any suspicion or anything, but because she didn't have time to go back to Beijing. After all, there were various New Year's Eve galas everywhere, and she had to sing two songs for Hunan TV's recording. There were CCTV, Hong Kong, and Taiwan... According to her, she was probably as busy as a spinning top those few days.

All Yang Che could do was write lyrics for the few songs she composed... or write all the songs when he had inspiration. He would take 7.5% of the royalties for both the lyrics and the music, and Yang Che agreed without batting an eye. If he really couldn't write the lyrics, he would just copy a few more songs according to her ideas. Anyway, he didn't feel any guilt. There was no rush, because she said she wanted to try composing all the songs herself for the new album.

So the two people on the phone at that moment were actually flirting.

Yang Che also came out of the teaching building at this time. It was a little past 5 pm in the early winter in Beijing, and the temperature was already below zero. He didn't feel cold at all because he wasn't wearing a coat. Even the gray sky and the smell of coal smoke in the air did not affect his mood.

"Hey, I'm going on Dou Wentao's 'Celebrity Trio' talk show. They're definitely going to ask me about my love life. What am I supposed to say?"

"Why are you still on this show?"

"I already agreed to it, but there's been so much going on this year. We ran into each other the day before yesterday, so we scheduled the recording for today. Tsk, don't interrupt, I'm asking you a question."

"This isn't like you, saying whatever you want. If you say it, I can save a lot of money on advertising, and I can easily appease the two at home."

After a long silence, Wang Fei said quietly, "You really have no shame at all."