During the few days in the crew, the filming went very smoothly. The assistant took care of food and accommodation, and the other crew members were also friendly and enthusiastic. Even Zhao Yingnan, who won the Golden Flower Award for Best Actor and played the male lead, specially arranged for an assistant to come and talk to Li Zhao. If there was anything he didn't understand in the script, they could discuss it with him and improve together. He even avoided using the word "guidance".
The leading actress Liu Fen, who won the Feihe Award for Best Actress, even came to Li Zhao in person and praised him.
"Teacher Li, you are the focus of this scene. You must show the character's elegance, grace and beauty. When the camera moves over here, it will give you a close-up of your eyes. Let's try to see if we can shoot the whole scene in one take. Of course, it doesn't matter if we can't do it. This shot is difficult to begin with, and many people who have been in the industry for several years may not be able to do it." The director explained the scene to Li Zhao: "Let's try it twice first. If it doesn't work, we can change the shooting plan, okay?"
"Okay." Li Zhao was wearing brocade clothes, a jade crown on his head, and hand-embroidered brocade shoes on his feet. When the cold wind blew, he couldn't help shivering. Seeing this, the staff nearby quickly stuffed a hand warmer into Li Zhao's hand.
Before filming began, Li Zhao was suspended on a wire, and the director shouted from below with a loud speaker: "Teacher Li, you need to perform a handsome and elegant look that overflows the screen. Your posture must be graceful. The kind that makes female audiences' hearts beat faster when they see you, and they want to possess you. Do you understand?"
The biggest purpose of the character played by Li Zhao is to please a group of audiences who are attracted by appearance. He actually has another identity, which is the biggest villain in this movie, but the script only hints at it and it is not directly pointed out until the end of the movie.
Li Zhao: “…”
To be honest, he didn't quite understand. But the man was already hanging there, with the cold wind howling, and he could only try to understand.
It took several takes before he finally found the feeling. By the time Li Zhao recovered from the pressure, his whole body was frozen. Li Zhao took the hot tea brought by Dake with trembling hands and drank several sips with chattering teeth.
"Thank you for your hard work, Mr. Li. The result is very good." The director walked through the several staff members surrounding Li Zhao, praised Li Zhao, and then said, "But we still want to shoot from the side. Can you please work harder?"
Li Zhao discovered that although the director spoke nicely, he did not fail to do anything he was supposed to do. He asked the makeup artist to touch up his lip makeup and started shooting side camera shots over and over again.
"Sister Liu, this young actress recommended by the investors is pretty good, right?" The actress who plays the second female lead in the play is Liu Fen's junior sister. The two have different looks, styles and development paths, but they have always had a good relationship over the years.
"Do you think he has good acting skills or good looks?" Liu Fen handed her a cup of ginger tea and slowly said, "It can be seen that his acting skills are unskilled, but he is very talented, plus his looks make him more than qualified for his current role. After all, he is a newcomer that our company wants to promote, so he must be good at what he does."
On the day Li Zhao came to the crew, the company's top management called her and asked her to guide this newcomer when she was free.
"In the entertainment industry, a boy like this who is likable and unworldly is a delight to watch." The junior sister took a sip of the hot tea and watched the newcomer repeat the action of flipping the fan over and over again for a perfect shot. She sighed and said, "Fortunately, he signed with Strawberry Entertainment, otherwise such a delicious and exquisite product would probably attract many people's covetousness."
"Heh." Liu Fen laughed. "Who with a brain would dare to covet a newcomer who can get a personal greeting from the top management and let me take care of him?"
The junior sister was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter: "You are right."
She lowered her head and drank her hot tea in silence, putting the little thoughts in her mind aside. It’s hard to find a good man, but money and career are more valuable.
"Okay, this set of shots passed." While the two were chatting, Li Zhao had already finished the filming.
"Teacher Li, you have one last set of shots left to shoot. After that, your scene will be finished." The director pulled Li Zhao to sit next to the electric heater and said, "The most important thing in this scene is the eyes. It's the kind of eyes that arouse the audience's endless reverie about the hidden plot lines, the ambiguous eyes, do you understand?"
Li Zhao asked: "Is it the kind of look that makes some viewers think that the character I play might be the real mastermind behind the scenes, while others think that I just turned around and smiled unintentionally?"
"Yes, yes, yes. Teacher Li is very young, but has a strong ability to comprehend." The director clapped his hands excitedly with the script: "This is the feeling I want."
As a mature director, when he learned that the investor wanted to force a new actor into the crew to get a role, he did not have much resistance. It was just an insignificant little role anyway, and it didn't matter who it was given to. At least the one who was forced into the crew had a good-looking face.
However, over the past few days, he has developed some affection for Li Zhao. Perhaps it is because his expectations are very low, and when he finds that the other person is much better than he imagined, it is inevitable to have a favorable impression of him. Originally, he was going to cancel this eye shot because the new actor would definitely not be able to portray the feeling he wanted, but now he wants to give it a try.
If it works, it will be a highlight of the movie. If it doesn't, it won't bring down the level of the entire movie.
"Then you should get the feel for it first. We'll officially start shooting in half an hour, okay?"
Li Zhao nodded, wrapped himself in winter clothes, and sat alone in the corner to get a feel for the situation. Dake didn't dare to disturb Li Zhao. He ran over and brought an electric heater and placed it at Li Zhao's feet, then tiptoed away.
During the days of filming, Li Zhao already had a complete image of the character in his mind, so he could probably understand the feeling that the director required.
It is said that eyes are the windows to the soul, but in fact the big screen has higher requirements for eye contact. No matter how good-looking an actor is, if there is no drama in his eyes, his overall beauty will be greatly reduced and he will be mercilessly mocked by the audience.
Just when Li Zhao was about to hand the phone to his assistant to go film, the phone suddenly rang and the caller ID showed that it was from an unfamiliar number. He hung up twice, but the other party kept calling.
He frowned and answered the phone, and Yao Shasha's voice came from the phone. After not seeing each other for more than ten days, Yao Shasha's voice sounded a little unfamiliar. Li Zhao listened to her crying and chattering frantically on the other end of his hand. He waited for two or three minutes before slowly speaking: "Sister Shasha, I'm just a new actor. I can't help you with your problem."
"Only you can help me, Li Zhao..."
"Sister Shasha." Li Zhao interrupted her: "You are too kind to me. I am sorry that I can't do anything."
After hanging up the phone, Li Zhao looked up and saw Dake's big face: "Dake, what are you doing?"
"Zhao Zhao, did Yao Shasha find you?" Dake took the phone from Li Zhao, his tone showing no disdain for Yao Shasha: "I don't know where she found out that I was your assistant. She called me more than a dozen times while you were filming just now. You'd better ignore people like this. When she relied on your higher status and hyped up your popularity, she never discussed it with you. Now you know to discuss with others before doing anything? Oh, it's too late!"
When Li Zhao saw that his eunuch spirit had taken over his body again, he quickly ran to find the director and started filming the last scene.
After Li Zhao hung up the phone on Yao Shasha, she sat on the ground covered with wine bottles and cried, feeling extremely regretful. How great would it be if you hadn't been so hard on Li Zhao and had been nicer to him?
If she had known that "The Boss Girl" would be a hit and Li Zhao would sign with Strawberry Entertainment, she would never have done those things.
But in this world, how can we know so much in advance?
The eye contact scenes went smoothly, and after adding a few more camera angles, Li Zhao finished filming successfully. The crew members took out the flowers that had been prepared for him and took a group photo with him. The director put his arm around his shoulders and smiled kindly.
Li Zhao rejected the crew's invitation to the wrap party and checked out of the hotel early. He took Dake shopping to buy local folk customs and interesting gadgets.
Seeing that Li Zhao was choosing very seriously, Dake felt a little worried. If a straight man could choose a gift so seriously, it meant that this person was very important. Could it be that they were in love?
After we got on the plane, Daka pretended to be nonchalant and asked, "Zhao Zhao, you bought so many souvenirs. Are you planning to give one to all your relatives and friends?"
"No, I'm just bringing some back to my agent and a good friend. I don't know which ones they like, so I might as well bring a little bit of everything." Li Zhao lowered his head and flipped through the script that the company had just sent him. Without even looking up, he said, "Since I'm bringing gifts, I have to bring something they like."
"Oh." Dake breathed a sigh of relief. It was good that he was not in a relationship. He had followed two artists before, both of whom ended their cooperation with the company because of dating and marriage. He was really afraid that he would have the matchmaker buff and let Li Zhao follow the same path as the previous two artists.
The days are short in winter, and it was not even six in the afternoon when the sky was already gradually getting dark. Yan Ting stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, looked down at the world outside the window, and took a step forward.
The cell phone rang, and he moved his index finger slightly. He looked down at the phone and saw the words "Li Zhao" jumping around on the screen, waiting for the owner of the phone to talk to him.
Yan Ting looked at these two words and seemed to see Li Zhao waving with a smile in front of him.
He slowly pressed the answer button.
"Tingting, I'm back. I brought you a lot of souvenirs. Where are you now? I'll send them to you!"
The cheerful voice echoed in the silent office, and every note carried a breath of joy.
"I'm..." Yan Ting looked up and out the window. The street lights were already on, like dazzling bonds, drawing beautiful patterns on the ground.
"I'm at the company."
"You found a job?!"
"Yeah." Yan Ting closed the curtains and turned on the lights in the office: "New job."
"Great, wait for me for a moment, I'll pick you up after get off work."
Yan Ting reached out his hand and gently stroked the cold ornaments on the table: "Okay."
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