Chapter 10
Chapter 10
GIGABYTE Entertainment is currently one of the most prominent entertainment companies. Since its establishment, GIGABYTE has produced four television series, each of which has achieved astonishing viewership ratings and can be considered a blockbuster. Even the founding of GIGABYTE itself is quite legendary.
The founder of GIGABYTE Entertainment was originally a very popular actor. With his keen eye for film and television, he selected promising novels from the market, bought the IPs, and produced TV series that he directed and starred in himself. After reaping huge returns, he used this to gamble with capital and entered the ranks of investors.
Because of his experience in the industry, the owner of GIGABYTE Entertainment is very happy to personally promote newcomers with pretty faces.
In fact, even more than a decade after Jiang Mingyue became familiar with the company, the owner of GIGABYTE Entertainment still maintained a good reputation for not allowing his artists to go out for drinks and meals.
Given these conditions, it's no wonder that the school teachers considered this a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Jiang Mingyue.
—Every year, no fewer than 20,000 students graduate from film academies, drama academies, and film schools, but very few of them actually appear on screen.
Regardless of whether the conditions offered by entertainment companies are lenient or harsh, for students who choose this performing arts major, just having an opportunity to appear in public is enough for them to fight tooth and nail for.
Regardless of their motives, GIGABYTE's invitation to Jiang Mingyue for an audition was a timely help for her, who was in a difficult situation.
Continuing to hesitate would be incredibly ungrateful.
but……
Thinking of those young actresses and actors who, after leaving GIGABYTE Entertainment, would suddenly be embroiled in all sorts of bizarre scandals within a year or two, a strong alarm bell rang in Jiang Mingyue's mind.
"I will go to the audition." Regardless of what she was thinking, Jiang Mingyue's smile was flawless.
The counselor happily agreed: "This is the script they sent. It should be for the audition. Take a look when you get back. The time and place are written on it. Remember to bring your ID card."
Bringing my ID card is so that I can sign a contract on the spot if I pass the audition.
This only happens when the production crew urgently needs someone to fill in and is unwilling to waste even a day, and it's basically the kind of treatment given to minor, insignificant roles.
No well-prepared production team would make such a hasty decision regarding casting.
The fact that GIGABYTE Entertainment has successfully produced four TV series shows that it is by no means a company that acts rashly or relies solely on luck to succeed.
Jiang Mingyue seized this opportunity, glanced at the excerpt in the thin two-page script, put the pages into her backpack, said goodbye to her counselor, and left the office.
Getting two opportunities from a single news story is incredibly lucky, no matter how you look at it.
Jiang Mingyue doesn't believe in luck.
She decided to wait until noon to message Fu Xiachuan to see if the invitation was related to him.
It was almost time, so Jiang Mingyue went straight to the classroom and found a seat.
*
The script provided to Jiang Mingyue by GIGABYTE Entertainment was for a fantasy romance film called "Seven Stars Alignment" that was currently being filmed.
Jiang Mingyue had heard of this drama because it was also affected by the recent tax investigation and had gone through the twist of changing the cast.
"Seven Stars in a Row" was luckier than "The Story of a Bottle" because it only released promotional photos of the male and female leads, giving it more room to maneuver when changing the cast. If the cast had been changed after the official photos were released, there would have been too much speculation about the production team, which would have had a very negative impact on the entire series.
Amidst a barrage of negative news about the entertainment industry, "Seven Stars Align" unsurprisingly didn't become a huge hit after its release. However, compared to other films and television series that had already finished filming or only discovered problems with the actors after a significant portion of filming had been completed, "Seven Stars Align" can be considered to have landed smoothly.
According to year-end statistics, "Seven Stars in a Row" was one of the best-selling works of the year.
Jiang Mingyue was going to audition that afternoon for the role of a "pure-hearted, kind-hearted fox demon who was willing to sacrifice her life to repay a debt of gratitude," but Jiang Mingyue knew nothing about the plot of "Seven Stars in a Row."
There wasn't enough time for her to read the original novel several times in detail to analyze the role of the "fox demon" in the plot.
As for the content written on the two pages of paper provided by the production company for the audition, it was all trivial things like "I was hit by an arrow, it hurts so much, I cry", "I was misunderstood, I'm sad, I cry", "I'm going to die, I'm scared, I cry", and they weren't even afraid of it being leaked.
What's the point of giving these audition tips?
The only value is to test whether the auditioning actors can instantly evoke emotions and cry beautifully.
If we choose to record live, we can reluctantly add another take to see if the actors' delivery of lines is up to standard.
...That's really GIGABYTE Entertainment's style. Whether the script is good or not is another matter. The actors' performances must be aesthetically pleasing.
Remembering that the audition notice she received required "beautiful crying," Jiang Mingyue could only manage a wry smile.
She now needs to have a very thorough understanding of the entire context of the "fox demon's" involvement in this story and the final product's effect!
Jiang Mingyue glanced around the classroom and immediately decided to slack off during the two acting classes that had completely lost their value to her, and instead devote her time to something more meaningful.
With a thought, she maintained the posture of sitting in the classroom in a daze while her body was outside, but she had already entered the "three-bedroom, one-living room" space.
*
The three-bedroom, one-living-room film and television area was put to use for the first time.
Jiang Mingyue quickly ran to the viewing area, found the finished film of "Seven Stars Alignment" and began to watch it.
Inside the "three bedrooms and one living room", time flows at a different pace than outside.
Jiang Mingyue's vision was completely occupied by the plot and scenes of "Seven Stars in a Row," but mentally she could still feel the lessons that were taking place in the classroom.
These two different contents appeared in Jiang Mingyue's mind at the same time, but they were independent of each other and did not affect each other.
Watching a TV series normally requires concentration; after watching more than five episodes in a row, it becomes difficult for viewers to stay focused.
But in this peculiar space, Jiang Mingyue watched the entire series without experiencing any adverse reactions such as headaches or eye strain; on the contrary, she even felt that her mind was more active.
She seized the moment and quickly summarized the plot in her mind.
The plot of "Seven Stars Align" follows a common structure, with the love story between the male and female protagonists running throughout.
In the drama, the male and female protagonists each have their own adventures. The second female lead's scenes are with the male protagonist. The "female lead-male lead-second female lead" together form a classic love triangle that is both close and distant, prompting the male protagonist to take risks.
At the same time, the "male lead-female lead-second male lead" relationship forms a symmetrical love triangle, which in turn drives the female lead's growth.
However, in such a conventional and even somewhat old-fashioned TV series, the role that truly defined the female lead's personality and established the series as a "female-centric drama" was the third female lead, which was the role that the production team sent to Jiang Mingyue and asked her to audition for.
A very beautiful, but also very foolish, fox spirit.
In the background of the story, demons roam the world, and fox spirits who suck the life force of living people are naturally the villains. Once their identities are exposed, they will face a situation where everyone wants to kill them. However, the inner core of the fox spirit can cure diseases and heal injuries, and the demon body is also a top-quality food.
Fox spirits and humans are in a predatory relationship.
The encounter between the third female lead and the female lead occurred under such an awkward circumstances.
The male protagonist vanquishes demons and monsters, and after his victory, he receives a tribute from the tribe—a beautiful woman. This woman is actually a fox spirit in disguise. The male protagonist sees through the fox spirit's disguise and tries to shoot her dead on the spot.
To save her life, the third female lead fled in a sorry state, hiding in a dilapidated temple with serious injuries, where she encountered the female lead who had come looking for the male lead.
The female lead found the fox cute and rescued the third female lead, healing her wounds.
The third female lead, being a foolish fox spirit, had no idea of other ways to repay kindness. Upon seeing the female lead dressed as a man, she transformed into a beautiful woman and offered herself to her in gratitude.
After learning that the female lead was a girl, he began to fawn over her, doing maid duties such as making her bed, serving her tea and water, and warming her quilt.
Even so, people despise demons, and the foolish fox is often misunderstood and treated coldly by others for adding spices and flowers he finds to the heroine's food.
The silly fox couldn't even explain himself clearly; he could only cry in front of the female lead and cling to her in human form, acting coquettishly.
One day, the female protagonist asked the fox spirit what her plans were after the world was at peace. The foolish fox spirit replied that he would go with the female protagonist. The female protagonist did not answer, but the usually stupid fox spirit suddenly became clever and noticed the female protagonist's unusual behavior.
Through inquiries, the fox spirit discovers that the male protagonist needs to forge a divine weapon with a sword spirit in order to defeat the Great Demon King, and the person who meets the requirements for that sword spirit is the female protagonist, because she has a pure heart for love.
On the day of sword forging, the fox, under the pretense of delivering food and medicine, knocked out the female protagonist, transformed into her appearance, and walked tremblingly toward the sword forging pool.
Even after the female protagonist woke up, she was unable to catch the fox spirit who jumped into the boiling molten iron.
Thunder shook the nine provinces, and divine weapons were perfected.
The divine sword, which was originally meant for the male protagonist, could change its form at will and was only allowed to be used by the female protagonist. Later, the female protagonist personally killed the great demon king.
Compared to storylines involving slaying demons and saving the world, the third female lead has very little screen time compared to the main characters and the second male and female leads.
The only highlight for the third female lead is the scene where she jumps into the sword-casting pool in place of the female lead. Even in this scene, it is actually performed by the female lead—because the fox spirit has become the female lead.
The third female lead is nominally a charming character, but in reality, she doesn't have many scenes where she can show her face!
Jiang Mingyue was certain that after watching the third female lead's storyline, viewers wouldn't remember the actress's face.
The role is good, but unfortunately it doesn't attract fans. No wonder no young actresses are willing to take it over and compete for the job.
Jiang Mingyue suddenly became uncertain, because with this kind of role, the image of her crying in the newspaper could really move investors.
Jiang Mingyue quickly came up with ideas on how to portray the silly fox spirit, the third female lead, in "Seven Stars in a Row".
She pulled up a clip from "Animal World" showing foxes playing and hunting, watched it repeatedly, and then got up from her comfortable seat...
In front of the full-length mirror, Jiang Mingyue checked her movements several times to make sure they matched the desired feeling. Finally, she stopped and left the performance space.
*
The two performance classes in the morning have also ended.
Jiang Mingyue packed up the textbook, which she hadn't written a single word in her class notes, and quickly left.
In the classroom, the people sitting next to Jiang Mingyue exchanged glances, their faces showing disdain.
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