Manager Tian had crawled halfway when he suddenly stopped, raised his head, and a look of despair flashed in his eyes.
Director Jiang Lei's eyes lit up—she knew what this extra was trying to express!
Manager Tian knelt in a spot not too far from the First Madam, a rather delicate location. From the side, the composition was quite pleasing.
Manager Tian shouted and drew a dagger from his waist, stabbing it into his own neck!
The spring-loaded dagger retracted; special effects will need to be added in post-production.
Manager Tian collapsed to the ground with a thud.
The script says "the corpse's eyes gleamed with an eerie light," but the actors are left to improvise on what exactly made it eerie.
For most actors, portraying such ambiguous scripts would just involve rolling their eyes and moving on. After all, post-production will add bloodshot eyes and scary background music. With the right atmosphere, even a cross-eyed actor can be made into a horror film.
However, Shang Yechu did not choose this superficial and hasty interpretation.
Shang Yechu gasped for breath, her mouth agape. She didn't roll her eyes; instead, her gaze was unusually stubborn and focused, fixed intently on the First Madam's fingers, her eyes narrowing into a single point.
The actress playing the First Madam trembled slightly at the fingertips.
Shang Yechu's gaze froze, his pupils dark as ink, reflecting the figure of the First Madam like an ink well.
"Cut!"
Jiang Lei's voice rang out, and Shang Yechu quickly got up and blinked hard.
Until Jiang Lei yelled "Cut!", Shang Yechu kept her eyes wide open, playing the role of a dead person. Not blinking for so long was definitely uncomfortable.
Everyone held their breath, waiting for Director Jiang Lei to share her insights.
Jiang Lei walked over to Shang Yechu, patted her on the shoulder, and praised her, "You did a good job."
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Shang Yechu's performance was somewhat different from the script, and they were all worried that the director would be dissatisfied and they would have to do it again.
Jiang Lei was quite lenient with Shang Yechu's improvisation. Who told Jiang Zhiyuan to run around and block her face—what kind of talk is it to deliver lines with half your face showing? Even a rural romance drama wouldn't be filmed like this, let alone a period drama.
Shang Yechu's minor alterations not only didn't ruin the plot but also added dynamism to the visuals. It was much better than the original script where the characters stood still and recited their lines. Of course, Jiang Lei didn't think Shang Yechu did it intentionally; after all, the actress was so young and couldn't possibly have much acting experience. Jiang Lei was more inclined to believe it was an unintentional success.
The atmosphere relaxed, and the veteran actress who played the First Madam stepped forward to say, "Young man, your acting is quite good! You really startled me when you crawled over here."
Shang Yechu smiled shyly and didn't reply.
Jiang Lei then added, "We'll reshoot a scene later where you're stopped by the guards. There will also be a few close-ups of your waist where you're holding the dagger."
Shang Yechu nodded. The assistant director leaned in and asked, "What are we reshooting?"
Jiang Lei was in a good mood and explained, "Since Manager Tian had the audacity to conspire with the First Madam to frame the young lady of the Duke and Marquis, how could he have committed suicide without resistance? I plan to shoot a few close-ups to imply to the audience that he originally wanted to kill the First Madam, but was stopped by the guards and committed suicide in despair."
The assistant director suddenly realized: "So that's what happened just now...that..." He hesitated because he couldn't remember Shang Yechu's name.
"Xiao Ye," Shang Yechu said politely.
"So that's what Xiao Ye meant by that!" The assistant director nodded vigorously. "I'll go prepare right away."
Jiang Lei added, "Tell the post-production team not to let Manager Tian's blood splatter on the ground, but to make it splatter on the First Madam's skirt—the way Xiao Ye fell was very clever, it goes perfectly with this."
"A genius!" The assistant director, who was on very good terms with Jiang Lei, praised her without any reservation.
Shang Yechu didn't fawn over the assistant director; she simply said, "Then I'll go do the reshoots. Thank you, director."
Jiang Lei had a good impression of this quiet but perceptive actor: "Go ahead."
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