Chapter 186 Rumors
Behind the monitor, Luo Yuzhong wore headphones and carefully watched the content on the screen.
The scene was quiet, and no one spoke, providing an environment for the two actors to perform.
The atmosphere at the scene was quiet and gentle.
After the two actors finished reciting the last line of their lines for the scene, Luo Yuzhong did not call "cut".
Several seconds later, Jiang Yuqian and Lu Yanhe looked at each other with a hint of hesitation and doubt, and Luo Yuzhong finally snapped out of his daze and called "cut".
"The atmosphere between these two is a bit awkward," Liu Zeliang said quietly, standing next to him.
"Jiang Yuqian is amazing. She completely immersed Lu Yanhe in this scene," Luo Yuzhong said. "I was worried that Lu Yanhe wouldn't be able to get into character. The two of them have a big difference in status and position, and I might not be able to overcome such a psychological barrier immediately. But I didn't expect that we would get it right on the first take."
"That's it?" Liu Zeliang was quite satisfied with the two actors' performance, but he didn't expect that even someone as strict as Luo Yuzhong would be satisfied.
Luo Yuzhong said, "We need to shoot another take. There are still some places that need adjustment, but it's much better than I expected. Xiao Lu, that kid, his eyes can speak. He's really a promising actor."
"After all, you personally selected him from Xingyu Entertainment." Liu Zeliang smiled. "In other people's eyes, he is your disciple."
"What nonsense are you talking about?" Luo Yuzhong called over two actors and told them to watch the replay of the previous take themselves.
Lu Yanhe and Jiang Yuqian sat next to Luo Yuzhong, wearing headphones, and watched the scene they had just performed.
Lu Yanhe was extremely surprised.
He had no idea that he had just been experiencing so many emotions that he couldn't hide them and they were captured on camera.
His reactions to Jiang Yuqian were not acted; they were natural expressions.
Lu Yanhe was momentarily bewildered and somewhat at a loss.
Is this acting? Is this the right thing to do?
After watching the video, Jiang Yuqian took off her headphones, looked up at Luo Yuzhong, and said, "The camera shot is so beautiful, so youthful and gentle."
Luo Yuzhong nodded and said, "When you went down the steps just now, the cut was a bit off. Why did you suddenly go down the steps first? It's because you wanted to take your relationship with your senior to the next level and ask some questions you wouldn't normally ask. Subconsciously, you're a little shy, so you need to keep some distance between you. But at this moment, your subconscious also wants to get closer to him. You didn't have this subconscious reaction just now."
Jiang Yuqian seemed to realize something.
"Understood."
“Xiao Lu, you too,” Luo Yuzhong said to Lu Yanhe. “You need to know that you like Guan Zhu, and this liking also carries a bit of professional appreciation. You know she is a very proud girl, which makes you a little hesitant to express your feelings. So the way you look at her at first is too direct. Anyone can tell that you are interested in this girl, understand? You need to act more neutrally. Later, when you notice Guan Zhu’s feelings for you, you can slowly reveal that you are attracted to this girl. There will be a change in your attitude.”
Lu Yanhe nodded.
"Have you ever liked a girl?" Luo Yuzhong said. "When you like a girl, do you show it immediately? Or do you keep it to yourself until you're sure? Try to find that feeling. This scene is very important. It's one of the most beautiful moments in Guan Zhu's life in the drama. Her perseverance at this crucial juncture in her life is all because of this conversation and mutual confession with her senior. Overall, it should present the feeling of a young person's heart fluttering, the purity of youth, and hope for the future."
Lu Yanhe thought of Chen Siqi, and of the noon he had lunch with her.
The thought of liking someone is stuck in my heart; I just can't bring myself to say it.
In an instant, his feelings merged with those of Yao Yu'an in the drama.
He couldn't describe it, but he had a clearer picture of Yao Yu'an.
"Let's shoot another take, get ready," Luo Yuzhong said.
The two nodded.
"Keep that feeling going, it felt really good just now," Luo Yuzhong said again.
The two actors nodded in unison.
-
Group B has finished their work.
With Luo Yuzhong absent, He Xun led Team B in filming all day. Their roles weren't important; most of their scenes were just background moments.
But for an assistant director, this is also a very important accumulation of experience.
He Xun smiled at Li Qian and Wang Yunfan and said, "You've worked hard today."
Wang Yunfan said with a smile, "Director He, you've worked hard too."
After He Xun left, Li Qian's face showed a hint of unhappiness.
Wang Yunfan whispered a reminder: "There are so many people here. You're wearing that expression on your face because you're hoping someone will tell him about your dissatisfaction with He Xun, right?"
Li Qian rolled her eyes at him and said, "When did I ever have any complaints about He Xun?"
"Then as soon as he leaves, your face falls. Who wouldn't think that?"
"I'm just a little annoyed." Li Qian crossed her arms and said, "Why did they have to arrange for He Xun to film our scenes? Aren't the two of us worth Luo Yuzhong personally filming?"
Wang Yunfan glanced at her helplessly and said, "See, I knew you were holding a grudge about this, and you still deny it."
Li Qian: "Don't you mind?"
“It’s perfectly normal to film in two groups, A and B. Which film crew doesn’t do that?” Wang Yunfan said with some helplessness, “It’s standard practice to hand over transitional scenes to the assistant director.”
Li Qian: "He Xun was the one filming for the next few days, so why wasn't he allowed to film their side scenes?"
“You know perfectly well that the scenes on the university campus are very important. Haven’t you read the script?” Wang Yunfan said. “Alright, there’s no point in you fussing over these things. Director Luo has his own ideas. Do you dare to complain to Director Luo?”
Luo Yuzhong holds a top-tier position in the television drama industry, standing at the very top of the pyramid. He has been a director for nearly thirty years, having directed over a dozen works, almost all of which are highly acclaimed, including many hugely popular shows with extremely high viewership.
Not to mention Li Qian and Wang Yunfan, even actresses of Jiang Yuqian's caliber wouldn't dare to act recklessly in front of Luo Yuzhong.
Wang Yunfan shut Li Qian up with a single sentence.
Li Qian glared at him, as if to say, "You know perfectly well that I wouldn't dare complain to Director Luo, so why are you saying such things?"
-
Lu Yanhe didn't return to the hotel until 11:30 p.m.
He doesn't feel tired at all when he's filming, but as soon as he gets in the car, he feels completely exhausted.
He closed his eyes, feeling drowsy and wanting to sleep.
Everyone around was a bit tired, and almost no one spoke on the huge bus.
Back at the hotel, Lu Yanhe intended to lie down for a while before taking a shower, but once he lay down, he didn't wake up again and slept straight until six o'clock the next morning. When the alarm rang, it felt like an eternity had passed.
He glanced at his phone and saw that Li Zhibai had posted a screenshot in the group at 1 a.m. last night.
Just then, Yan Liang suddenly appeared.
He said in the group: Is this news real or fake? It looks so fake.
Lu Yanhe clicked on the screenshot and found that it was a comment from someone online, saying that the lead actor of "The Golden Era" was suspected of not being single.
Lu Yanhe frowned in confusion.
The main actors in "The Golden Era" are Huang Kairen, Jiang Yuqian, Wang Yunfan and Li Qian. As far as he knows, they are all single. Who is this online comment referring to?
Lu Yanhe said: I haven't heard that. These people are all single.
Yan Liang: Why are you up so early?
Lu Yanhe: We need to film a movie.
Yan Liang: You get up earlier than you did when you were in your senior year of high school, that's impressive.
It's only 5:40 in the morning.
Lu Yanhe: You're going for a morning run again?
Yan Liang: Yeah, I went to bed early yesterday.
Lu Yanhe: You went back?
Yan Liang: He's back, but Li Zhibai isn't.
Lu Yanhe put down his phone, took a shower, brushed his teeth, and then prepared to go downstairs.
-
As soon as he got on the bus, Lu Yanhe heard people next to him discussing the rumor that Li Zhibai had posted in the group chat.
"I don't know if it's true or not, but it seems like all the main actors in our show are single, right?"
"But Jiang Yuqian—" The speaker stopped abruptly as he saw Lu Yanhe approaching.
Their expressions changed slightly, and they avoided Lu Yanhe's gaze.
Lu Yanhe looked at them, puzzled.
"Yan He's here." Someone greeted him with a smile.
"Good morning." Lu Yanhe smiled at them and found a seat.
After he sat down, he took out his phone and pretended to look at it.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the person in front of him quietly turn around and glance at him.
Lu Yanhe's heart skipped a beat.
Could they be thinking that Sister Yuqian is dating her?
Today's filming still involves scenes between Lu Yanhe and Jiang Yuqian.
The film depicts two people arguing over a disagreement about an architectural design. Each tries to convince the other, but each insists on their own point of view.
Upon arriving at the scene, Luo Yuzhong only instructed Lu Yanhe with one sentence: "In this scene, you are purely discussing the issue, and the debate is also without any anger. The feeling I hope to convey in this scene is that you two are finding a more suitable design approach in a serious and rational way."
Lu Yanhe nodded.
Luo Yuzhong's explanation to Jiang Yuqian was even simpler.
"You are confident in your profession, that's undeniable. But you also trust your seniors. So, you initially presented your views with a bit of uncertainty, but as the debate progressed, you became more and more convinced that your approach was better, and your confidence gradually emerged."
Jiang Yuqian nodded.
After explaining to the two, Luo Yuzhong went to discuss photography with Liu Zeliang.
Liu Zeliang joked with a smile: "These two actors are quite easy to work with. This is the first time I've seen you not painstakingly break down the scenes and explain them to the actors."
“Their detailed explanations backfired,” Luo Yuzhong said without a doubt. “You could tell from their performance yesterday. Explaining things in too much detail actually restricted their performance. They’re not the kind of actors who have been acting for a long time and are particularly confident in themselves, or actors who don’t understand acting at all. If I don’t explain things in detail, it’s like they can’t understand what I’m saying.”
Liu Zeliang: "You've only been filming Lu Yanhe for one day, and you already know he's an actor who can improvise?"
“An actor’s aptitude can be seen after just a few scenes; that’s how acting is,” Luo Yuzhong said. “It really depends on talent. A good actor can act no matter what; they’re born to attract audiences.”
Liu Zeliang nodded.
"Do you think Jiang Yuqian has any chance of winning Best Actress for this role?" he asked curiously.
Why do actors desperately want to get roles in films by top directors? The increased chances of winning awards are a key factor.
Luo Yuzhong was silent for a while, then said, "I really didn't know that. Her performance was indeed good, but the character itself lacked depth, complexity, and richness. In comparison, Li Qian's character was much more substantial."
“There’s nothing we can do about it. That’s the general trend now. The main characters are basically flawless and all are portrayed as great and righteous figures. This really reduces the acting opportunities for the actors. I think she acted much better than when she worked with you before,” Liu Zeliang said. “In last night’s scene, Lu Yanhe was completely led by her. Among popular young actresses, it’s rare to see someone who can lead other actors to act together.”
Luo Yuzhong: "Among the current batch of actresses with high popularity, large traffic, and many fans, she is the only one who is seriously studying acting. The others have not made much progress."
"That's too strict of you."
"I'm telling you, right now, among the most popular young actresses, Jiang Yuqian is the only one who truly has the potential to go far as an actress," Luo Yuzhong said. "The fact that she can lead Lu Yanhe shows that she understands the rhythm of acting, which is why she can lead him so well. Moreover, she doesn't compete for or steal the spotlight; she knows to give the other actor more screen time. How many actors can reach that level?"
Liu Zeliang nodded, agreeing with Luo Yuzhong's point of view.
-
For this argument scene, Law Yu-chung held them captive for a full four hours of filming.
The main source of dissatisfaction is Lu Yanhe.
It doesn't look natural enough.
“It sounds too affected,” Luo Yuzhong said. “You always unconsciously adopt a certain tone, like you’re giving a speech. You should speak normally, with your usual serious tone, not with that forced seriousness.”
Lu Yanhe knew where his problem lay. The main issue was that the dialogue was about design concepts and logic, which Lu Yanhe was not familiar with. So when he spoke, he couldn't help but sound like he was reciting a script. In order to get rid of the feeling of reciting a script, he pretended to be serious, so no matter how he spoke, his performance was wrong.
But no matter how well he performed each take, Luo Yuzhong never stopped him in the middle. He always let him finish the take and then told him how to adjust.
This made Lu Yanhe increasingly uneasy, but at least he managed to remain calm.
Jiang Yuqian remained patient throughout, accompanying Lu Yanhe as he acted out the scene again and again.
After what felt like the umpteenth take, Lu Yanhe's mind went blank, and he lost all passion in his speech. After finishing the impromptu dialogue, Lu Yanhe thought it was time to start over, but then Luo Yuzhong suddenly said, "Little Lu, you got this take right."
Lu Yanhe looked bewildered. What did he act out that made him feel right?
For an actor, not knowing how to act correctly is a terrible thing, but acting correctly but not knowing why it's right is equally terrible.
This shows that he lacks a proper standard of judgment; he was just blindly stumbling upon something.
Luo Yuzhong pulled Lu Yanhe to watch the replay of the previous clip, and then showed him the replay of the one before that.
"Did you notice the difference?" Luo Yuzhong asked.
Lu Yanhe blushed and nodded.
Only after this comparison did Lu Yanhe realize exactly where he had gone wrong before.
During his last take, he was exhausted from reshooting so many times that he lost all his energy. Surprisingly, he still managed to project a confident and composed demeanor.
With this state of mind, when he utters those terms that ordinary people rarely use, they take on a kind of mysterious and impressive quality.
-
A scene was filmed more than a dozen times, which is almost impossible in the filming of a TV series.
But that's the source of Law Yu-chung's confidence as a great director—he dares to film it this way.
He was confident that he could film all the scenes within the allotted time, and he didn't care about spending extra time polishing one or two scenes.
In fact, after finishing the performance that morning, Lu Yanhe vaguely felt that he had some understanding of what it meant to use minimal force to achieve maximum effect.
More effort doesn't necessarily mean better results.
Everyone knows this principle, but only by experiencing it firsthand can one truly appreciate the smooth feeling of a buckle being easily fastened.
At noon, Lu Yanhe still ate lunch with everyone in the cafeteria.
Lu Yanhe felt extremely hungry. He ate a bowl of rice but was still only half full and wanted to have another bowl.
Looking at the boiled cauliflower and blanched shrimp in Jiang Yuqian's bowl, he restrained himself.
At least she ate a bowl of staple food, while Jiang Yuqian didn't eat any carbohydrates at all.
When filming, gaining even one pound of weight can appear as three pounds on camera.
Lu Yanhe restrained himself, put down his chopsticks, and stopped putting anything in his mouth.
Jiang Yuqian couldn't help but laugh when she saw that his eyes were still fixed on the dishes on the table.
"Aren't you full?"
Lu Yanhe shook his head: "Absolutely not."
"Then have two sweet potatoes," Jiang Yuqian said. "You're such a big guy, and you have a lot of scenes to film this afternoon. If you don't eat enough, you won't have the energy to act. Just avoid things with high sugar content."
Lu Yanhe's eyes lit up.
"Does the cafeteria have sweet potatoes?"
Jiang Yuqian: "There should be, right?"
There wasn't any at their table.
Jiang Yuqian said to Luo Xiaoyu, "Xiaoyu, go ask the cafeteria staff if they have any sweet potatoes, and if they can cook two sweet potatoes for you."
Luo Xiaoyu went immediately.
-
"Xiaoyu, where are you going?" Cao Yong came out of the restroom and saw Luo Xiaoyu walking towards the cafeteria kitchen. He was a little surprised and teased, "You're not full yet, are you?"
The fact that Luo Xiaoyu loves to eat has gradually spread throughout the film crew.
Luo Xiaoyu said, "No, I'll go see if we have any sweet potatoes."
"Why are you looking for sweet potatoes?" Cao Yong asked, puzzled, as he didn't like eating them.
"Let's eat," Luo Xiaoyu said, waving her hand before heading into the kitchen.
Cao Yong: "...You still deny that you haven't eaten enough, but so what if you haven't eaten enough?"
He withdrew his gaze and walked out of the cafeteria. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Lu Yanhe and Jiang Yuqian chatting and laughing at a table, and immediately remembered the rumor he had heard that morning.
(End of this chapter)
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