Chapter 40
Chapter 40
The ideal situation is for artists and their agents to understand each other's abilities and cooperate effectively.
Jiang Mingyue has already confirmed Gu Yifan's abilities through "the future," and Gu Yifan has also experienced Jiang Mingyue's acting abilities on set.
Although they haven't had much contact yet, they are both very satisfied with each other.
Gu Yifan pushed up his glasses and said decisively, "Then perform well in a moment and intimidate him with your acting skills."
Although fans love to shout to the public, "My idol/sister was ruined by an incompetent team," in reality, an artist's team operates entirely around the artist's will.
Especially for a rising star like Lan Xu, his agent can hardly go against Lan Xu's wishes. He has to devote himself to Lan Xu like a mother hen in order to prevent the artist from being snatched away by other agents.
Jiang Mingyue didn't understand the point of Gu Yifan asking her to intimidate Lan Xu's agent.
She pondered for a moment, then tentatively asked, "Does Agent Lan Xu have any resources that can be exchanged?"
Gu Yifan shook his head, his eyes filled with shrewd calculation compared to his ordinary appearance: "No, it's a different story from what you're thinking."
Gu Yifan refocused his attention on his laptop and continued working, explaining the intricacies of the situation to Jiang Mingyue.
"Lan Xu has a ten-year contract, and the revenue-sharing agreement is quite harsh. Most artists who debut through talent shows have contracts like that, there's not much to say about it. After all, these kinds of stars who rely on popularity don't actually have any representative works or stable earning power. If their popularity declines one day, they'll be out of work."
"But Lan Xu is an exception. His popularity has been rising steadily since his debut, and his self-composed albums have sold very well. He is not the kind of singer who relies on fans, but one whose songs can be sung by people who are not fans. So GIGABYTE Entertainment has already earned back dozens of times the resources it invested in Lan Xu, but Lan Xu's contract has not changed."
At this point, Gu Yifan smiled, a smile that was unusually devoid of contempt, but rather sympathy: "Normally, after his first album sold well, his manager would have renegotiated the revenue-sharing contract with the company. However, because Lan Xu's manager wasn't arranged by GIGABYTE Entertainment, but rather by a relative, the other party had no idea about the ins and outs, allowing GIGABYTE to take advantage of Lan Xu for quite some time."
"Brother Gu, so do you want Lan Xu to have a falling out with Gigabyte, or are you trying to poach him?" Hearing this, Jiang Mingyue finally understood what Gu Yifan meant.
Gu Yifan was very honest: "Of course I want people. The company needs all kinds of talents. Someone like him, who will definitely become a triple threat artist in film, television and music in just a few years, is only so demanding because there are factions within GIGABYTE competing for resources. They're not afraid that he'll leave."
Jiang Mingyue immediately gave an "OK" sign: "No problem, I'll help tell Lan Xu and his agent about the good news of his move to Xingchen. But whatever I say, Brother Gu, you'd better be able to handle it yourself when you sign people over."
Gu Yifan: "As long as you don't exaggerate to the point of asking me to put someone in a movie submitted to an international film festival as the male lead, I can handle it. Say whatever you want, just leave Lan Xu's agent with the impression that our company will carefully cultivate artists and manage their careers for the long term."
*
After finishing our casual conversation, the car arrived at the photography studio.
A song has a limited length, requiring far fewer shots than a film or television drama, and the performance requirements for the actors on screen are also several levels lower.
In other words, being the female lead in a music album's music video is a very easy job.
Lan Xu had previously released an album and taken a short acting class. This time, he spent some time there again for filming.
Because her performance in the music videos of her previous album received positive reviews from fans and casual viewers, Lan Xu has always been confident in her acting talent.
But when Jiang Mingyue stood in front of him and naturally portrayed the "spoiled and arrogant girl of heaven" and the "insecure academic genius who secretly loves the other person," Lan Xu began to doubt how much of the praise he had received in the past was real.
Didn't anyone notice that his smile was stiff?
No one realized that he had never been in love with anyone, so was the way he looked at the opposite sex completely a pretense?
Even though he himself felt that in Jiang Mingyue's eyes, which were filled with unrequited love, he looked like a scumbag who knew that the other party was showing her true feelings but deliberately pretended to be stupid!
"Stop, stop, stop! We'll film later." Lan Xu abruptly interrupted the filming.
He reached out and touched himself, and sure enough, he was sweating profusely from anxiety.
Lan Xu asked directly, "Jiang Mingyue, how did you manage to act out these natural expressions? I know that in this scene I should be infatuated with the rich girl, unaware that you have a crush on me, and completely ignoring you. But I know the script, and I can't act out the emotion of 'not knowing'."
The lead actors all said they didn't want to act anymore, so the makeup artist definitely had to come and touch up their makeup.
After being asked a question, Jiang Mingyue pulled a hand-held mirror from the makeup artist's bag and pointed it at Lan Xu: "What is the first cosmic velocity?"
Lan Xu: "Huh?"
Jiang Mingyue asked again, "At what carbon dioxide concentration will the human body experience difficulty breathing?"
Lan Xu: "Huh?"
Jiang Mingyue asked for the third time: "On what day was Qin Shi Huang's mausoleum excavated?"
Lan Xu: "Huh?"
Three completely unrelated and obscure questions were thrown at Lan Xu, leaving him bewildered, yet his mind couldn't help but try to find the answers.
Jiang Mingyue patted the mirror: "Look, you're thinking about the problem right now, so just ignore my expression."
Lan Xu grabbed the mirror and looked at her face.
The expression remaining on the mirror changed in an instant, replaced by his longing gaze. But with just one glance, Lan Xu understood what Jiang Mingyue meant by "different yet natural".
He looked at Jiang Mingyue in disbelief: "So I don't necessarily need to understand what it means to like a girl or to be secretly loved without knowing it, to be able to act out this feeling."
Jiang Mingyue nodded, tilted her head up so the makeup artist could touch up her makeup: "It's not wrong for you to want to understand the male lead's feelings, but rather than 'empathy,' you should focus on why the male lead feels this way and what kind of emotion it is. Then just apply that same emotion to the scenes where you need to perform."
Lan Xu, who had originally invited Jiang Mingyue to take the photos simply because she admired her appearance, was completely convinced by her words.
Lan Xu asked curiously, "I remember you just started school, right? Then your acting classes must not be with the school."
He said with envy, "Did Starry Sky Films hire a private teacher for you? It must be very expensive. I usually take acting classes with artists from several companies."
Jiang Mingyue suddenly glanced at Lan Xu with a subtle expression.
This expression only lasted for a moment, but because the change was so drastic, Lan Xu accurately caught it.
Humans have only used language for a few thousand years, but before language existed, there were ways to express meaning through body language and facial expressions.
Lan Xu understood Jiang Mingyue's meaning in an instant.
Jiang Mingyue only used one expression, and he actually understood what she meant!
Lan Xu admitted that he was impressed by Jiang Mingyue's superb acting skills—he was in the process of transforming his career and wanted to have such good acting skills as well.
Lan Xu quietly wiped the sweat from his palms onto his pants, his breathing quickening.
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