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」∠)_
Dank je wel. 😉