Chapter 225: Outstanding Performance This year's outstanding performance...
Watching the two actors' scenes up close, Liu Jixiang couldn't help but touch his chin: "Don't be fooled by the current plot where the male lead is in a dominant position and the female lead is in a submissive one. In fact, judging from their performances on set, the one who is truly 'dominant' is Li Sishi, the female lead."
Although Cheng Erjian was older and a senior, his acting skills at this time were just adequate. Of course, it's not that his acting skills were bad. In fact, at his age, he had already transitioned from being a leading man in the TBL (Taiwanese film industry) to the film industry and had done well in both. His appearance and acting skills were definitely passable.
The main reason why it's not "refined" enough now is that the schedule is too tight, which doesn't allow him to properly polish the character.
Then, she happened to be paired with Li Sishi, a prodigy—compared to Cheng Erjian's performance, which still had some "dramatic flair," Li Sishi was almost one with the character. Despite being in a vulnerable position in the plot, her slightly furrowed brows and tightly pursed lips constantly attracted the viewer's attention, making people subconsciously follow her subtle movements and feel their emotions rise and fall.
It's clear that Li Sishi has already moved beyond the "getting into character" stage and is now moving towards a more relaxed and natural portrayal. In particular, the richness and depth of the character's inner world expressed in her every gesture is remarkable. Even when the character is in a vulnerable position, she still manages to achieve a level of effortless mastery where the mundane and the extraordinary are all part of the drama.
Because she could promptly notice that her co-star wasn't keeping up, she calmly restrained herself and tried her best to cooperate, striving to achieve a natural and smooth performance of equal strength.
Sigh, he almost felt sorry for it—such delicate and refined acting skills, which would be just as good in an art film, were wasted on such a low-budget, rushed film.
However, for him as a director, this was a great deal, extremely worthwhile.
Although he, like the chubby director Huang Zheng, was meticulous and knew when to "OK" and wrap things up, since Li Sishi took the role and the film so seriously, and even managed to get it done in one take without wasting film, he naturally couldn't ask her to lower her standards...
Moreover, Li Sishi is like a catfish released into a school of sardines. After she took her role so seriously, others were more or less stimulated or inspired by her, and their understanding and interpretation of their respective roles became richer and richer.
Sometimes, when it's a rare opportunity to shoot interior scenes, unlike exterior scenes where every second counts and a single take is crucial, they can still deliver exceptionally vivid and captivating performances. Aside from reshooting scenes from different angles, most scenes are completed in one take.
Having captured performances that exceeded expectations, Liu Jixiang certainly wouldn't demand multiple takes from the actors like those making art-house films to find the best, most impactful performance; on the contrary, someone like him, who understands cost control, naturally just kept saying "OK."
"Okay," "Cut," "The construction progress is very fast."
With this arrangement and slight adjustments, this so-called "rushed production crew" was actually able to squeeze out a "vacation" for Li Sishi and Cheng Erjian to attend the Jade Solid Gold Awards ceremony.
Of course, for such a big annual event, it would be worthwhile to even stop filming for one night to allow the two lead actors to be on set, not to mention that their crew could also schedule some scenes for other characters to film first.
After leaving the "People in the Jianghu" crew, Li Sishi took her junior brother Cheng Erjian and went straight to their master Le Yun's house.
Le Yun is one of the award presenters tonight, and he's going the exact same way as the other two.
After tidying up briefly at her mentor's house, Li Sishi changed into a classic little black dress paired with a white fleece shawl for warmth. Then, she and Cheng Erjian, who had changed into a trench coat, got into her van. Although they were going to the same destination, her mentor, Le Yun, was seated in the front right row of the awards presenter section, while Li Sishi and Cheng Erjian, who were competing for awards, were seated in the front left row of the singers section.
The only difference from last year is that Cheng Erjian's seat has moved from the side to the middle this year, while Li Sishi's seat has moved up a whole row from the second row to the first row, where it is easiest to go out and receive the award.
The first row on the left has ten seats, each corresponding to one of the ten winners of the Golden Melody Awards. Li Sishi's seat is the fifth one in the middle, which, together with Zou Huayan on her left, forms the dividing line between the male and female singers' seats.
It's quite a coincidence that this year's ten hit songs correspond to five male and five female singers, who, starting from the left, are Tang Jingwen, Peng Ning, Cheng Zouyun, Chen Weilan, Li Sishi, Zou Huayan, Hou Beihua, Huo Gucheng, Ling Chen, and Shang Hanyou.
However, Tang Jingwen is said to be unwell and unable to attend tonight, leaving the last seat vacant. Although we are somewhat worried about her health, the chances of the remaining four female singers winning an award are significantly increased with the absence of such a strong performer.
After all, no matter what kind of award ceremony it is, they all basically follow an unspoken rule: "If the person doesn't attend, there will be no big prize or even any prize."
Whether it was because they knew in advance that the competition would fail and therefore simply didn't bother to come, or...
Whether it's because they feel their performance this year wasn't good enough and thus withdrew early, or because they suddenly felt unwell and couldn't come... in short, if they're not present, then no matter how good their performance this year is, their performance tonight will be limited.
Tonight's hosts are two people: one is the industry's top MC, Brother Dan, and the other is Yan Yingyi, who just hit a wall in the film industry and started to explore other avenues.
With the arrival of the overly lively new host Yan Yingyi tonight, the award ceremony was quite ingenious. For each Golden Melody Award, two envelopes were drawn from the table, and two singers were called out. The singers then opened their envelopes and checked their names. The singer who saw their name was the winner, while the singer who drew a four-character idiom became the presenter for the other singer.
If the atmosphere among singers and artists weren't relatively good right now, this would definitely be a bizarre and ingenious way to easily capsize friendships...
Since everyone knows that the Four Heavenly Kings are basically guaranteed at least one Golden Melody each, the first thing they did at this awards ceremony was to invite "Heavenly King Killer" Zou Huayan and "Heavenly King Successor" Li Dewen to the stage to demonstrate their skills.
It must be said that Zou Huayan's momentum as a newcomer to the music scene was indeed strong this year. He won his first battle shortly after taking the stage and became the first winner of the Golden Melody Award at this year's Jade Solid Gold Awards.
Li Sishi quietly watched him perform the Golden Melody Award on stage, but she had some other thoughts in her mind: If it weren't for his status as a newcomer to the industry, and considering how strong his album sales were this year, he might have been able to defeat the Four Heavenly Kings, who were already causing audiences to get a little tired of his work, and win the Golden Melody Award.
Unfortunately, the local award ceremonies' regional protectionist nature, coupled with the Four Heavenly Kings' deliberate attempts to change the situation, meant that even though this year was the peak of the Cantonese music scene for Zou Huayan, it was still difficult for him to shake the Four Heavenly Kings' solid local foundation.
Moreover, the low attendance at the awards ceremony, which was a significant factor in the award judging process, was due to Zou Huayan, one of the Four Heavenly Kings who excelled in both singing and acting, focusing on the music industry and neglecting film and television.
In fact, Li Sishi's pursuit of awards this year also followed the path of attracting popularity through high exposure in both singing and acting.
Now, with Tang Jingwen absent and Cheng Zouyun's career hampered by her boyfriend and company change, Li Sishi is in a perfect position this year. In 1993, she swept the music scene's newcomer awards and was unparalleled in her glory. In 1994, she had several songs nominated for awards and maintained a high standard at the awards ceremony, but due to insufficient experience and fierce competition, she could not win the grand prize. In 1995, it was a good time for her to accumulate experience and create brilliance again.
Looking forward to
As the Golden Melody Awards were presented one after another, Li Sishi and Zou Huayan unsurprisingly won the Most Popular Duet Song Award with "Love Myth" in the middle of the competition. Then it was time to present the Outstanding Performance Award of the Year.
The bronze, silver, and gold awards were presented in reverse order. When it came to the gold award, Ah Yeah, the presenter, made a rather pointed remark: "As for this year's Outstanding Performance Gold Award, she has a unique appearance and knows how to dress herself well. Every new look she has is eye-catching—of course, even if it's not a new look, she's so beautiful that seeing her is always a sight to behold..."
Upon hearing this, the little pink flags in the audience, who had finally managed to carve out a niche for themselves among the various fan groups, began to scream.
"Yes, you guessed it right, this year's Outstanding Performance Gold Award winner is once again this 'beautiful' female singer—MayLee, Li Sishi!"
Having been awarded two prestigious awards in a row, Li Sishi was quite impressed, but for a moment she was really unsure: these special awards sounded good and looked good, but if she really wanted to win the final three major awards, she would have to win a Golden Melody Award.
Given the usual practice of "distributing the prizes" in the awards, isn't it a bit "dangerous" to have her given two awards in advance?
The longer Li Sishi stayed in this circle, the more deeply she understood these rules and unspoken rules, but she also became more cautious and uneasy.
Fortunately, the last two names announced by the Golden Melody Awards were her and Cheng Erjian.
"Wow, this is a battle between senior and junior students!" After spending the whole night organizing challenges to test their relationships, such as friend battles and boyfriend-girlfriend battles, the two hosts immediately started by summarizing the two's personalities when they came on stage.
"Erjian, you've done well this year. Do you want to win the Golden Melody Award?" Brother Dan asked.
"I want to, but losing to her is something I'm used to..." After all, both of them had followed the same mentor on their musical journeys, and Li Sishi's achievements since her debut were better than his. So when he heard that he and Li Sishi would be going on stage together to compete for the last song, Cheng Erjian quickly and skillfully adjusted himself to a calm and indifferent attitude, like a lazy bum lying down and not caring about praise or criticism...
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