Month: January 2021 (Page 3 of 3)

Chapter 51 – The Film Emperor’s eyes are locked on you

Jie Jie: Update schedule is back on its usual Wednesdays & Fridays. But there might be some days where I can only do it once a week. I’ll be a bit busy these days(or months) because of New Year, New Semester. I’m sorry (ಥ﹏ಥ)

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An Xumo was slightly stunned and felt that Lin Rui seemed to have something to say.

But the other party’s tone and expression were very natural and there seemed to be nothing unusual as if An Xumo thought too much about it.

Zhou Jinchen’s tone was also flat. “I was there in the second half of the two scenes in the afternoon.”

Lin Rui said “oh” and didn’t say anything else.

The two men who got wet had to change clothes. Not long after they left, the crew began to distribute the lunch boxes.

After entering the group, because he could see his brother every day, An Xumo’s appetite has been reduced a lot unknowingly. The various supplements that Tang Tang prepared for him are consumed more and more slowly. Although An Xumo can’t completely stop the snacks now, the situation is much better than when he first joined the group.

Because he has to film in the afternoon, An Xumo quickly ate his lunch. After he finished eating, he found his script, and the lines to be filmed in the afternoon had long been memorized. An Xumo was not looking at his own scene but the one in the morning between Zhou Jinchen and Lin Rui in the hotel.

In contrast with the wonderful performance of the two, the lines on the short page of the script appear much thinner. An Xumo compared the script in his head in the morning shoot in detail twice. After carefully guessing the emotions of the two during the performance, he turned the page and went to see the scene he was going to shoot.

He tried to use the same method to stimulate the scene he was going to film in advance, but this operation is obviously somewhat difficult. When An Xumo had finished visualizing how he was going to act, the crew started working again.

An Xumo failed to watch this time. He had to change his costume and put on makeup, and wait for the second half to be filmed.

Except for the two main actors who have a larger time span, more image changes, and have a single dressing room, all the rest of the actors used a common dressing room. An Xumo’s morning makeup was done by a teacher from the ballet company, so this was the first time he came to the crew’s dressing room in addition to the still makeup photo.

Although the first half of the scene has already begun filming, the dressing room is still relatively busy. When An Xumo came to the dressing room after changing his costume, the makeup artist in charge of him didn’t seem to have come yet so he waited for a while.

It wasn’t long before a young girl hurriedly pushed in the door. An Xumo happened to be standing by the door, the girl didn’t look at the person and hurriedly said “excuse me”, walking past him.

An Xumo’s sharp eyes noticed that the girl quietly feebly raised her hand and wiped her eyes.

The girl ran to the makeup table and Sister Wang who was doing another actor’s makeup, saw her and wondered, “Xiao Ai, you didn’t participate in the makeup for the second half of the scene today?”

“No,” Xiao Ai’s voice was a bit flustered, “I’m in the shift today.”

Upon hearing this, Sister Wang stopped her hands. She was surprised and said, “Then why are you so late?”

“Lu Pinghui, Brother Lu said I didn’t put on enough makeup and asked me to bring things to him. I just came back.” Xiao An said more and more anxiously and vaguely with a nasal voice, “Sister Wang, has the actor for the seventh chair been here yet?”

Hearing Lu Pinghu’s name, Sister Wang couldn’t help but frown. When she saw that Xiao An was so anxious that she was about to cry, she hurriedly comforted her, “It’s okay, don’t worry. All the actors who need makeup should have arrived, you can look around the room.”

Xiao Ai wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and look around while whispering, “Brother Wu warned me before that the actor I was responsible for in the second half was a popular artist, and I ended up being late……”

Sister Wang saw that she was in a great hurry but there was no way to comfort her with further words. In front of the actors, makeup artists are originally a service industry. Typically, when they encounter bad-tempered and somewhat famous artists, they still have to be careful, and as a result, Xiao An is even late now.

Sister Wang can’t help thinking that if she met another artist like Lu Pinghui……

“I think I’ve found him!”

When Sister Wang returned to her senses, she saw Xiao Ai running towards the door.

An Xumo, who was standing by the door, saw the girl he had just seen running over. She stopped in front of him and carefully asked, “Excuse me, Mr. An. Are you waiting for makeup?”

“Yes.” An Xumo nodded to her and thought for a moment, “I seem to be the…….artist for makeup number seven.”

“Yes, yes. It’s me,” The girls hurriedly said. “I’m sorry, I’m late. I’m really sorry I caused you trouble.”

The girl said and unexpectedly gave him a ninety-degree bow. An Xumo was startled and immediately wanted to reach out to help but because he felt that it was not good to take the initiative to touch a girl, he had to say it. “It’s alright, it’s alright. I didn’t wait long.”

The girl straightened up and seemed a little surprised. She said hesitantly, “Please come over to this side.”

“Okay,” An Xumo responded. “By the way, it’s okay not to use honorifics, just call me Xiao An.”

The girl froze for a moment again.

When she was sure that An Xumo really had no intention to reproach her, she knocked against her companion and said, “Thank, thank you, I’m Xiao Ai.”

When the two walked to the makeup table, An Xumo bent down to sit on the chair and did not see the concerned look that Sister Wang gave to Xiao Ai behind him.

After getting ready, Xiao Ai soon began to help An Xumo apply his makeup. Her technique was quite skilled and her strength was well-controlled. It didn’t take long for the boy in the mirror to still have the familiar eyebrows but added a lot of cold and detached feeling.

An Xumo closed his eyes and waited for the brush to gently sweep over and he heard Xiao Ai whisper, “You……your skin has a good foundation.”

An Xumo smiled. “Thank you.”

With this good start, the two slowly began to talk. Xiao Ai’s technique was too proficient that she finished the whole makeup in less than twenty minutes. By the time the makeup was done, the tone of their conversation was much more relaxed.

After thanking Xiao Ai, An Xumo left the dressing room. Xiao Ai was relieved. She sat back in her chair feeling renewed after a great disaster.

Sister Wang who had also finished her work was drinking from a glass of water. When she saw Xiao Ai sitting on the chair and reminded her, “This time, he was good-tempered. Xiao Ai, you have to be careful next time.”

Xiao Ai nodded and said, “I understand. Thank you, Sister Wang.”

She let out a long sigh, “I haven’t encountered this kind of situation before when I did make up for dancers. I didn’t expect that……Brother Lu would be like this and I didn’t expect that there would be such a good artist as Mr. Xiao An.”

Sister Wang gave a “shh” and looked around warily. Xiao Ai hurriedly covered her mouth.

But after confirming that no one around was paying attention, Sister Wang whispered, “In this circle, there are many extreme people here.”

Xiao Ai nodded with a deep sense of empathy.

“But in the end, the ones that go far……” Sister Wang said in a low voice, “Definitely not someone like Lu Pinghui.”

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When An Xumo arrived on the set, there was still part of the make-up shots in the first half of the scene. Before waiting for half an hour, Ma Lao nodded and the crew began to tidy up the set, and prepare to continue filming the second half.

An Xumo was called in advance, and Ma Lao told them about the scene.

“I’m going to film the scene of Zhao Jiujiu harassing Bai Qingchi.” Ma Lao stood in front of the two people. “I won’t talk about Lingyuan’s part, you grasp it yourself.”

“The key is you,” he turned to An Xumo, “your performance.”

Being named so directly, An Xumo hurried stood upright.

“As a male ballet dancer, Bai Qingchi has been misunderstood since childhood. No matter whether they are relatives, friends, or even his own biological parents did not understand his persistence.” Ma Lao said. “Have you read those news materials I showed you?”

An Xumo nodded. “Finished reading.”

Sister Liu gave him a stack of information before which was full of new cases of male ballet dancers being misunderstood, harassed, and even assaulted. It was in this real world and it was shocking.

“Good, then you have to understand the emotions of Bai Qingchi. He has been living in misunderstanding, and over time, he will no longer reveal his heart to others. Coupled with the temperament of dancing, the whole person’s performance is relatively cold and arrogant. You have to remember this word.” Ma Lao continued, “When Zhao Jiujiu appeared, Bai Qingchi was emotionally disgusted but his performance should not be excessive.”

These character analyses have been done by An Xumo himself before, but Ma Lao’s analysis was obviously more thorough, and he also analyzed in detail the several actions and expressions set in the script. He even gave An Xumo a few simple demonstrations.

Ma Lao is recognized for his eccentric temper, but no one has ever questioned his attitude in directing.

After talking about the scene, all the necessary scene props for filming were arranged but Ma Lao did not let the scene record hit the board directly but said to An Xumo, “You go to the middle first and take a few steps.”

An Xumo was a little confused but did not raise any objection. He quickly went to the designated location and walked forward with the prop handbag in his arms.

Before he took two steps, he heard Ma Lao shouting, “Keep your back straight, don’t shake your head, and pay attention to your demeanor and temperament!”

The staff at the side heard Ma Lao’s voice and looked at each other, their eyes full of sympathy for An Xumo.

This is Ma Lao’s habit. Before filming, the actors with important roles must maintain their most suitable demeanor. When Zhou Jinchen and Lin Rui acted as middle school students, Ma Lao made them go in and out of the classroom for nearly thirty minutes in order to let them find the correct student posture. This is still good. According to the group legend, in the first few plays, there were secondary tunes to teach new actors. Ma Lao unexpectedly let people learn to walk for three days. In the end, the actor’s calves were swollen and Ma Lao still refused to lower his own standards a little.

This time, the artist is more inexperienced. Although the popularity is not low, with Ma Lao here, you will certainly be trained to take off a layer of skin.

There were not a small number of people at the scene. If An Xumo fails to meet the requirements in full view of the public, it will not only leave a bad impression on everyone but also delay the entire progress of the crew.

Many people in the crew have an excellent impression of An Xumo, and they all pay attention to the child’s performance on the set every day. Seeing that Ma Lao is going to use the strict way of tuning actors to him, several people can’t help but sweat for him.

But in the end, there will be no fewer gloating people who intend to watch the fun.

A tall, thin young man waiting on the sidelines with his arms crossed together smiled with a sneer, looking at the person in the field with eyes full of sarcasm. He snorted to the agent beside him, “Look at that person, shrinking his neck like a turtle, and he can’t even walk but he can still be called a popular idol ne. I think his fans are blind ba.”

After he finished his words, the agent who had always been in sync, rarely agreed.

On the contrary, the fat agent oozed a little sweat from his forehead. He pulled the hem of the slim young man’s dress slightly and said in a low voice, “A’Hui,¹阿(A): Used to indicate familiarity. keep your voice down……”

“What’s wrong, where’s my voice louder?” Lu Pinghui frowned discontentedly. “Besides, he’s just an embroidered pillow²Embroided pillow: refers to people/things that are glamorous on the outside but useless on the inside. with nothing but a face. I haven’t acted in any scene so what’s wrong with saying a few words about him?”

The agent’s look showed no signs of improvement and Lu Pinghui still continued to sneer. “When you look at him before, every day you know how to stand by and watch. You can’t wave him away like a fly for fear that others won’t recognize him. He’s in the film set every day to be familiar with others, but what else can’t be done backstage ah?”

Before Lu Pinghui finished his words, the agent suddenly grabbed his arm and pulled the man away.

Although the area around the set was not packed, there were a lot of people. The two people rashly walked out and were squeezed twice by the crowd on the way. Lu Pinghui was even more upset. Without waiting for his agent to stop, he shook off his arm and said, “What are you doing, hiding from the plague ah?”

The agent raised his hand to wipe the sweat from his face while lowering his voice, “My little ancestor……can’t you see that someone next to you is looking at you ne!”

“What’s wrong with me, does anyone dare to touch me?” Lu Pinghui impatiently said. “What are you afraid of? Who is it ah?”

Without waiting for the agent to answer, Lu Pinghui turned back to look at where they were standing just now. Since he will also participate in the second half of the filming, Lu Pinghui’s place is not far from the scene spot, and there are other people around not far away.

He looked back, not waiting for the agent to confirm who that blind person was, but he suddenly bumped into an ice-cold, unwarm line of sight.

Lu Pinghui suddenly stiffened.

When he looked over, the other party also looked over in the direction he was going. The person’s gaze was so cold that Lu Pinghui, who was not even afraid of wearing a single coat on the catwalk in winter, directly shivered.

After all, it turned out to be Zhou Jinchen, one of the two film emperors.

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The author has something to say:

Comrade Lu Pinghui is a guide who will bring out the next section of the plot~

Chapter 50 – You care so much about Xiao An

Jie Jie: Happy New Year to everyone! I hope everyone would have a wonderful 2021. Wishing you all the best in life. Fighting! ( ´ ∀ `)ノ～ ♡

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The outstanding appearance made An Xumo stand out directly among all the people on stage, but on the other hand, for movies, a good shot can’t just be about the face.

Ma Zechi found that in addition to his own appearance, the young boy also had an excellent sense of camera. Obviously, his previous stage experience had helped him a lot as An Xumo knew how to present the most suitable angle in front of the camera. Coupled with his dancing ability comparable to professionals, An Xumo naturally attracted all the attention among ballet dancers with the same excellent conditions.

The most suitable aspect of developing actors was originally part of the director’s job, so when An Xumo began to spontaneously cooperate with the camera, Ma Zechi immediately noticed this. He had a vague sense of ominous——

Perhaps in this young man, whose acting experience is like a blank sheet of paper, there will be some surprises.

Because Ma Zechi never called to stop, the group dance, which was originally planned to be a trial performance, ended up dancing the entire piece. The cameras distributed in various positions recorded the whole scene and the shooting was not completely finished until all the actors gave the curtain call according to the stage etiquette.

The crowd on stage looked at Ma Zechi sitting in front of the screen. He waved his hand, “Dance again.”

The smooth process of filming was beyond imagination. There was no need to finish all the dances, only to add a few more shots of An Xumo in the middle. When the crew signaled for all the extras to leave the stage did An Xumo suddenly realized —— his first scene was shot without even NG and it passed straight through.

Although most of the reason is that the camera only needs to shoot the dance performance, but when Ma Zechi really nodded to show it passed, An Xumo’s heart which had been hanging for a long time was relaxed a lot.

Everything is difficult at the beginning.

The successful start gave An Xumo a lot of confidence and after the training scenes were shot, there was a scene in which he officially performed afterwards. The busy costumes and props staffs spent more than ten minutes setting up the stage backdrop and An Xumo who had changed into his costume also danced formal ballet once more under Ma Zechi’s signal.

This time, there were no other actors on the stage; it’s just An Xumo’s solo dance. Compared with a group performance, the difficulty factor for solo is obviously higher which is more convenient for shooting. In addition to the vertical shot from above which was repeated a few more times, the scene was smoothly completed.

Despite knowing that An Xumo had a background in dancing, the crew did not expect to finish all these scenes so soon. With more than half of the reserved time left, the crew stopped working one after another and prepared to go to another shooting site to see the progress.

Ma Zechi was still sitting there, staring at the screen. In the replay footage, An Xumo dressed in a gorgeous dance costume, dancing beautifully and moving gracefully. He wore a three-piece dance suit where the main body is black. His coat tightened against the waistline at the back, his white shirt with intricate lace folds, and the black and white boundary line brought better visual effect to the already slender legs.

There are many leg movements in ballet dance, and raising the leg is one of the most basic movements. The slim dance costume outlines An Xumo’s figure, and between each movement, the unique charm of that dance is perfectly displayed.

The performance is called 《The Dying Swan》 which is one of the very classic ballet pieces. The struggle between life and death is presented in the dancer’s movements, and the “fragile nobility” required for the role of Bai Qingchi was highlighted even more clearly.

[If anyone is curious about the dance, here’s the link: 《The Dying Swan》]

Ma Zechi watched An Xumo’s performance and suddenly stood up.

The assistant at the side was taken aback, “Director Ma, what’s wrong?”

“When I’m done tidying up, I have to go to the set to look for Mr. Tao.” Ma Zechi said without looking back and threw down a sentence, “Put the machine away, and be careful when you operate it!”

Once the scene at the theater was finished, An Xumo also followed back to the set which was still busy. Because they finished filming early, when they arrive at the set, it was not yet eleven o’clock. It happened that the two protagonists were filming a confrontation against each other. After An Xumo asked Ma Zechi if he had no other arrangements, he found his usual position and went to watch the shooting.

After watching for a while, An Xumo recognized the plot they were filming —— it was the plot when Ling Sihang and Ye Qisheng went to a hotel to spend the night after Zaho Jiujiu had just been killed.

After Zhao Jiujiu kidnapped Ye Qisheng, he used Ye Qisheng’s phone to send a message to his family saying that he would not go back that night. Because he is Ye Qisheng’s real uncle, Ling Sihang, who was trailing behind just sensed that he was wrong and did not call the police directly. When the accident happened, Zhao Jiujiu died; Ling Sihang found that his phone was full of calls from home. Given his state at that time, it was naturally impossible to go straight home, so in the end, the two disoriented boys chose to go to the hotel for the night.

Inside the clean and tidy twin room, two people’s backpacks were huddled crookedly on the sofa. Ling Sihang’s voice was dry as he said to Ye Qisheng: “Ye-zi,¹-zi: suffix added to a name to show a close relationship. go and take a shower first ba.”

He called again twice more but the distraught Ye Qisheng slowly lifted his head and looked at him with empty eyes.

Ling Sihang took a breath erratically. He reached out his hand and took hold of Ye Qisheng’s right hand hanging on his side.

Two distinct hands were held together, Ye Qisheng was like grabbing the last plank, tightly holding Ling Sihang’s hand. As a result, the two hands which were only shaking slightly overlaid their movements and shook violently between the two.

Ling Sihang closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, there was only the figure of Ye Qisheng left in his eyes. He whispered, “Go ahead ba. No matter what, I am here.”

Ye Qisheng’s throat rolled a few times, and he stared at Ling Sihang with blank and helpless eyes, the only one who shared his secret with him. After a long time, he slowly relaxed the strength of his hands, turning around, and went to the bathroom.

The heavy steps made a “squeaking” sound on the smooth floor, and the bathroom door was closed. After a while, the sound of water came from inside.

Ling Sihang took a deep breath as if he had been drained out of his strength. He struggled to sit back on the sofa, lowered his head, and buried his face in his hands.

The curved back, the sluggish interior, and the sound of running water with no change in tone became the background sound. Although no one could see Ling Sihang’s expression, everyone felt the heavy, deadly despair in him.

After a while, Ling Sihang slowly straightened his back and his movements also looked very stiff, but he still turned his head to look in the direction of the bathroom.

The sound of the water there has not changed.

Ling Sihang frowned. He held the sofa and stood up. When he got up, he tripped over himself. After stabilizing his figure, he quickly walked towards the bathroom. After a moment’s hesitation at the door, he still spoke: “Ye-zi, Ye-zi?”

No one answered him.

Ling Sihang closed his eyes and shook his head. After barely concentrating his mind, he listened to the sound inside the door. Suddenly, he fiercely locked his eyebrows and tapped the door several times without getting a response. Ling Sihang took a deep breath, directly stored his strength, and raised his leg, kicking the door to the bathroom.

“BANG!!”

After a loud noise, the door slammed against the wall and Ling Sihang hurriedly rushed in. He saw under the shower, the drenched Ye Qisheng was curling up in the corner with his knees in his arms, trembling sharply.

There was no water vapor in the bathroom, and all the water coming out of the shower was ice-cold water. Ling Sihang rushed over and pressed the switch, squatting down and wrapping his arms around Ye Qisheng, whose clothes had been completely wet.

“Ye-zi, Ye-zi, you look at me……”

He leaned over to dissipate a bit of the cold temperature in his body, like being rescued from drowning. Ye Qisheng gasped a few times and then grabbed Ling Sihang’s hand.

His body was still trembling and even his voice was affected.

“Sihang……there, there’s blood. It’s all blood……”

Ye Qisheng’s voice was hoarse and desperate, like rough sandstone grinding on the tender flesh of the scarlet overflowing bloody wound.

“Can’t wash it off, I can’t wash it off……I’ll never be washed clean!”

He hugged Ling Sihang’s arm and cried roughly. In the narrow and cramped room, only two trapped boys hugging each other with difficulty, and falling together into the pitch-black, incomparable abyss.

——“Cut!”

With Liu Longfei’s shout, everyone looked at Ma Lao on the side, who had been persevering all morning, took another look at the screen before saying, “All right.”

The two main actors did not say anything yet, while the staffs who sprinkled water, lighted, cleaned up, and took close-ups collectively breathed a sigh of relief.

Oh my god, this scene is finally over!

When the set became lively again, the assistants gathered around and gave towels to the two leads, only then did An Xumo wake up.

He just……he can’t believe he got enthralled in watching.

Although all the details of the process were fully memorized, An Xumo could tell that he had not just memorized and figured out the acting technique as he did before. He was immersed in the whole scene like a pure spectator, worrying about the future of the two protagonists.

In that scene just now, Zhou Jinchen and Lin Rui’s performances were evenly split. They both played extremely well, balancing and making up for each other so that the onlookers on the whole set will be immersed in this atmosphere.

The acting skills of the two film emperors have reached the point of perfection.

An Xumo can’t help but remember what Zhou Jinchen said to him yesterday —— filming a kissing scene with Lin Ruo, he would be compared to the obvious gap.

Even though he already had a deep experience when he was watching before, but after listening to Zhou Jinchen’s words, An Xumo came to examine himself again and would still be grieved by the gap between them.

Ordinary scenes are fine. For key scenes like a kissing scene which requires an emotional outburst, he will certainly be overwhelmed and directly taken away by the other party’s rhythm.

At that time, even if he passes Ma Lao’s level, the audience will be able to see it at a glance when the final film comes out.

He still has to study hard and make progress.

It’s also for this reason that Zhou Jinchen said that he would replace the kissing scene. However, An Xumo did not understand that his brother’s acting skills were enough to rival that of Emperor Lin. If he had acted with him, he would certainly be overwhelmed by his acting skills……

When An Xumo was thinking about this, he saw Lin Rui and Zhou Jinchen dr4p3d in towels walking outside. An Xumo stood at the exit and the two people just walked towards him.

Lin Rui was reaching out and touching his throat, apparently affected by the crying outburst he just had. However, it seems that he is in a good mood, smiling, and Zhou Jinchen is saying something.

The two were getting closer and closer, and An Xumo who is still thinking about the kissing scene, could not help feeling a little guilty. After calming down a bit, he was about to give for others when Zhou Jinchen, who was listening to Lin Rui on his side, suddenly stopped and turned his eyes over.

“Have you finished filming your scene?”

The man’s body still carried some water vapor, and the ice-cold breath came over but it did not show much coldness.

An Xumo did not expect Zhou Jinchen would talk to him. He froze for a moment and hurriedly nodded, “I finished filming.”

Lin Rui on the side also stopped and looked at An Xumo, “Eh, right. Today is the day An Xumo officially starts filming?”

An Xumo: “Yes.”

Zhou Jinchen said, “What’s the progress?”

An Xumo answered honestly, “Director Ma said that it was okay and it ended just half an hour ago.”

The people on the set called Ma Mingcheng as Ma Lao and when they called Director Ma, they were addressing Ma Zechi.

Zhou Jinchen didn’t say anything but Lin Rui raised his eyebrows and smiled, “I thought we were fast enough, but I didn’t expect Xiao An’s side to be more powerful.”

An Xumo smiled shyly, “Only filmed the dance scene, the content was relatively small so it ended early.”

“There are two more scenes in the afternoon.” Zhou Jinchen’s voice rang out as he looked at An Xumo with his eyes lowered, “The second one has your part.”

An Xumo nodded, “En, I remember. It’s the set right here.”

While the two were talking, Lin Rui turned his gaze over them. Finally, he landed his eyes on Zhou Jinchen.

Lin Rui’s voice still carried his usual smile and nothing unusual could be heard: “I didn’t expect……Jinchen also wrote down Xiao An’s filming schedule?”

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The author has something to say:

Xiao Mo will be filming with his brother soon _(:3」∠)_