Zheng Wenjing patted Liu Yun on the shoulder and said, "Don't worry. Everyone has their first time, and no one can be perfect the first time they take on a leading role. Besides, your acting skills aren't as bad as you say, otherwise the studio wouldn't have chosen you to play the female lead. Just work harder, study the script more when you have time, and act hard. You'll definitely be able to make this play a success."
Liu Yun pursed her lips, still feeling a little unsure.
She looked at Zheng Wenjing timidly and said, "Sister Wenjing, can I come see you when I'm free? I've read the script, and there are a lot of scenes where we have to act against each other. I want to rehearse with you in advance to get a feel for it."
Zheng Wenjing readily agreed, "Sure, I'm studying the script alone at home anyway. If you come, we can study it together. Maybe we'll get more inspiration."
Liu Yun became happy: "Sister Wen Jing, thank you. I will come to see you tomorrow morning with the script."
"Tuo."
The next morning, Liu Yun arrived as promised.
Her acting skills are good, but she lacks some spirit. But she is a very hardworking girl. After repeated scenes together, Zheng Wenjing can feel that she is getting better and better, and her progress is particularly obvious.
During the acting process, she was also inspired to win, and the two of them acted back and forth, and became more and more compatible.
In the days that followed, Liu Yun would come to Zheng Wenjing's house to rehearse scenes whenever she had time. Sometimes, when Ji Yu was at home, Ji Yu would also give them some guidance and explain the scenes to them.
On New Year's Day, the filming of "Butterfly Love" started, and the two joined the crew and caught up together.
At that time, the status of actors was not high, and all the crew members and main and supporting roles, regardless of their status, lived in double rooms.
The relationship between Zheng Wenjing and Liu Yun had made rapid progress in the past two weeks of filming together, and they had become close friends, so when they were assigned rooms, they naturally chose to live with each other.
In this way, the two of them acted on set during the day and then returned to their room at night to rehearse in the room. They were inseparable day and night, and even their close friend Ji Qi was jealous, jokingly saying, "You two are more like a couple now, and I've become the one outside."
Zheng Wenjing glanced at Ji Yi helplessly and said angrily, "What are you talking about?"
Liu Yun took Zheng Wenjing's arm and said with a smile: "Thank you Director Ji for your recognition. You are indeed more like the one outside Sister Wenjing than me now, hahahaha."
Liu Yun's words made everyone present laugh, but no one took it seriously. After laughing, they changed the subject.
"Butterfly Love" was filmed for a total of four months. Zheng Wenjing played the supporting actress and her role was not very important, so she did not have to follow the crew throughout the whole process.
After the holiday, Ji Ye shortened her scenes and filmed all of them by mid-March.
Just then, at the end of March, the film "Call from Overseas" of Shanghai Studio finally started shooting after being delayed for half a day. Zheng Wenjing left the crew of "Butterfly Love" and packed her luggage to Shanghai.
Zheng Wenjing had high expectations for the movie "Overseas Call", but when she actually joined the crew, she found that everything was not as good as she had imagined.
Because the film was co-produced by the Shanghai Film Studio and a Hong Kong film and television company, there were actually two sets of teams in the crew. The two sides supported each other, and although they were cooperating, they were secretly in opposition.
And the treatment of the people on both sides is also different.
The actors from Hong Kong stayed in the downtown foreign-related hotels, which cost more than ten yuan a night. However, Zheng Wenjing and the actors from the Shanghai Film Studio stayed in an ordinary guesthouse near the crew.
The salary is also different. As a female role, Zheng Wenjing's salary is only three yuan a day. The Hong Kong actors, even the male No. N who plays the male role's assistant, earn fifty yuan a day.
Zheng Wenjing understands that there is a gap in income levels between the two places, and it is normal to have two sets of standards for funding.
Although she felt uncomfortable and unbalanced, she could convince herself to accept the reality as it was.
What Zheng Wenjing could not tolerate the most was that the crew had two sets of standards even for eating.
Every time they ate, the group of Hong Kong actors would go to a room to eat. At first, Zheng Wenjing didn't think much of it. But after chatting with the actor who played the male lead's assistant, she learned that the Hong Kong actors were very well paid. Zheng Wenjing became suspicious and specially at mealtime, she used the excuse of having a scene with the male lead to go to the special room where the Hong Kong actors ate to watch.
She didn't know until she saw it, and she was shocked because the food for Hong Kong actors was too delicious, even more delicious than what she ate at home during the day.
As the female lead in the movie, Zheng Wenjing eats from a big pot. Sometimes her snacks are steamed buns, sometimes they are rice, and occasionally she has cornbread and pickled cabbage.
The meals of Hong Kong actors, on the other hand, include vegetables and meat at every meal, with a perfect combination of meat and vegetables, and they are very particular about it.
Zheng Wenjing couldn't stand it at that time.
She didn't show it in front of the Hong Kong actors, but only afterward did she approach the film's director and ask her, "Director, what exactly makes us mainland actors inferior to Hong Kong actors? I won't talk about the differences in salary and accommodation, after all, the income gap between the two places is indeed huge. Their salaries must be comparable to local Hong Kong incomes, which we can't compare to. But why are we treated differently even when it comes to food?"
The director was helpless about this.
He understood Zheng Wenjing's frustration and anger, and calmly explained, "This is all the Hong Kong side's request. They've already agreed on the compensation and other things before we even started working together, so there's nothing I can do. The crew has two different teams, each responsible for their own side. Conditions aren't good here in mainland China, so this is the only way we can do it. If you feel it's unfair, you can talk to them."
After the director said this, Zheng Wenjing was speechless.
After all, the food on mainland film crews has always been like this, a big pot of rice, no matter if you are a leading actor or an extra, everyone eats the same, and everyone is truly equal.
She had never felt anything wrong before, but she became psychologically unbalanced after seeing Hong Kong actors eating too much.
Although Zheng Wenjing was dissatisfied, she also understood the director's difficulties.
Even the director was unable to do anything about it, so as a small actor, she herself had no way to do anything.
Zheng Wenjing could only swallow her grievances and dissatisfaction and devote her energy to acting.
The actors in Hong Kong were very dedicated. Although there were differences in their acting styles, one spoke Mandarin and the other spoke Cantonese, which made communication difficult, they finally completed the filming smoothly after many setbacks.
Filming for "Calling from Overseas" started at the end of March and after three and a half months of shooting, it was finally wrapped up in early July.
By now, half of 1981 had passed.
It was also in this summer that Yun Qiao ended his three and a half years of college life and graduated from Capital University of Chinese Medicine.
After graduation, Yun Qiao refused the job assigned by the organization and returned to Shanghai to open a private clinic as planned a few months ago.
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