Chapter 11: If The Money Is Short , Find The Professionals! (1)
Chu Xiaxing in was not relaxed. She must run both in front of the camera and the monitor, as well as self-direct and act. Doing all this work she was relieved of Han Chuning’s screenwriting abilities. However, since the script has been reworked, the actors must perform diligently, and it was tormenting.
Large production projects were not as stressful because the staff were professional and could perform their duties skillfully. Small budget films have a harder time, which would include more difficult actors being unprofessional.
“Stop! stop! stop, you look like a log!” With a permanent frown on her face, Chu Xiaxing looked at Cao Yangang from the monitor. She had lectured many times with no results, thus making her naturally annoyed. She was not suitable to be a teacher at all. A few years ago, she was invited by a school to become a professor, but due to her temper, she politely declined.
Chu Xiaxing is not the type to teach basic knowledge with patience. At most, she gives lectures and disregards common sense.
Cao Yangang lacked confidence. He looked at Chu Xiaxing, who was expressionless, and apologized again: “Boss, I’m sorry….”
With a headache coming on, Chu Xiaxing rubbed her head and helplessly said: “No, don’t apologize. How long have you been acting, and which school did you attend?”
Chu Xiaxing: I just want to know which teacher taught him so they can release the film!
Cao Yangang cautiously said: “…more than two months.”
Chu Xiaxing could not help but raise her eyebrows: “Are you still a student at a film and television school?”
Cao Yangang’s eyes wandered, and he sheepishly said: “No, I’m no longer at the school. The company signed me up for acting classes and I studied for two months…”
Chu Xiaxing: “…”
Chu Xiaxing was silent for a moment, and asked in disbelief: “…then you have zero foundation?”
Cao Yangang: “You can… say so…”
Han Chuning was sitting next to the director’s chair. Seeing Chu Xiaxing’s expression on her face, she hurriedly persuaded: “Auntie, auntie, this is all common now, many actors are not professionally trained…”
When Chu Xiaxing was young, all the actors she encountered came from film studios or film and television academies. She occasionally met actors who weren’t enrolled in a class, but they either had great talent, good looks, or a strong backstage background. The problem here is that Cao Yangang’s not among the naturally talented ones!
After Chu Xiaxing became famous, the actors she collaborated with were even more influential. She didn’t meet small actors, and even the “liuliang stars” selected were those who had acting skills.
TLN: Liuliang star – refers to celebrities attracting a high volume of social buzz, digital traffic, and, in many cases, lots of short-term sales.
Cao Yangang found that Chu Xiaxing was silent. He was at a loss for what to do and said weakly: “…Boss, are you okay?”
“I’m okay, I’m okay…” Chu Xiaxing drew a deep breath. She felt that she couldn’t be angry with the child, and patiently said: “Okay, just teach it from the beginning since it can’t be helped.”
“Stop acting and come here first so we can take a look at your acting skills.” Chu Xiaxing asked someone to playback the previous shot. Showing Cao Yangang the shot, she played it with sound and then replayed it again on mute. She rhetorically asked Cao Yangang: “Do you think there are any discrepancies?”
Cao Yangang watched the replay twice, but he was confused. He racked his brains and couldn’t think of an answer. He whispered: “…It doesn’t seem to have any changes between the shots…?”
Chu Xiaxing faintly said: “All the lines you say have this expression. Your expression with or without sound does not make much of an impact since your face is unemotional.”
Cao Yangang blushed immediately, he touched his face and felt a little embarrassed, unable to refute for a while.
Chu Xiaxing: “It’s obvious to see that you’ve been spoiled by voice actors. Your acting skills heavily rely on dubbing, and it seems that you’ve always been in that setting.”
Currently, due to various restrictions of shooting TV dramas, from time to time, they do post-dubbing for the episodes. Since the cost of live recording was high, post-dubbing saved money. However, it’s unsure when the actors’ skills started to rely on dubbing. Everyone is completely depressed and can hopefully get back on track with vocal emotions.
“The tone of the lines can convey emotions; happy, deep, sad, angry… But if the lines don’t match your face, the scene looks all very fake. In the past, they were dubbed to cater to the actor’s attitudes. Now, you’re just going to let dubbing do the work for you, making your work effortless?” With a slight smile, Chu Xiaxing looked at Cao Yangang and noticed he was quite embarrassed, unwilling to voice his shame.
Chu Xiaxing finished playing the shots for Cao Yangang and headed directly towards the camera: “Okay, you watch me perform it in front of the monitor and I’ll have you repeat. Now that time is tight, and the goal is high I can only force this on you.”
Learning to act is a step-by-step process, and they should have already had the basics learned by now. However, each day of shooting costs money, and Chu Xiaxing can’t stop the progress for Cao Yangang. She can only teach and concentrate her efforts to finish the job quickly and let him complete the shooting test.
Working with Cao Yangang was quite difficult as he was clumsy and awkward. Chu Xiaxing occasionally couldn’t hold back her anger and would directly scream at the child causing the whole set to become silent.
Being reprimanded for several days, Cao Yangang became numb. Fortunately, he was able to resist the pressure and let the scolding slide without temper and finally showed some progress.
It didn’t take long for Han Chuning to despise the treatments. So, speaking on behalf of Cao Yangang in private, she said: “Aunty, he’s rather good and seems better than other actors. I don’t think you need to be so fierce…”
Chu Xiaxing nodded and replied: “Well, as long as the bottom line is low enough everything should be fine.”
Han Chu Ning: “…I mean it, he’s made progress.”
Chapter 11: If The Money Is Short , Find The Professionals! (1)
Chu Xiaxing in was not relaxed. She must run both in front of the camera and the monitor, as well as self-direct and act. Doing all this work she was relieved of Han Chuning’s screenwriting abilities. However, since the script has been reworked, the actors must perform diligently, and it was tormenting.
Large production projects were not as stressful because the staff were professional and could perform their duties skillfully. Small budget films have a harder time, which would include more difficult actors being unprofessional.
“Stop! stop! stop, you look like a log!” With a permanent frown on her face, Chu Xiaxing looked at Cao Yangang from the monitor. She had lectured many times with no results, thus making her naturally annoyed. She was not suitable to be a teacher at all. A few years ago, she was invited by a school to become a professor, but due to her temper, she politely declined.
Chu Xiaxing is not the type to teach basic knowledge with patience. At most, she gives lectures and disregards common sense.
Cao Yangang lacked confidence. He looked at Chu Xiaxing, who was expressionless, and apologized again: “Boss, I’m sorry….”
With a headache coming on, Chu Xiaxing rubbed her head and helplessly said: “No, don’t apologize. How long have you been acting, and which school did you attend?”
Chu Xiaxing: I just want to know which teacher taught him so they can release the film!
Cao Yangang cautiously said: “…more than two months.”
Chu Xiaxing could not help but raise her eyebrows: “Are you still a student at a film and television school?”
Cao Yangang’s eyes wandered, and he sheepishly said: “No, I’m no longer at the school. The company signed me up for acting classes and I studied for two months…”
Chu Xiaxing: “…”
Chu Xiaxing was silent for a moment, and asked in disbelief: “…then you have zero foundation?”
Cao Yangang: “You can… say so…”
Han Chuning was sitting next to the director’s chair. Seeing Chu Xiaxing’s expression on her face, she hurriedly persuaded: “Auntie, auntie, this is all common now, many actors are not professionally trained…”
When Chu Xiaxing was young, all the actors she encountered came from film studios or film and television academies. She occasionally met actors who weren’t enrolled in a class, but they either had great talent, good looks, or a strong backstage background. The problem here is that Cao Yangang’s not among the naturally talented ones!
After Chu Xiaxing became famous, the actors she collaborated with were even more influential. She didn’t meet small actors, and even the “liuliang stars” selected were those who had acting skills.
TLN: Liuliang star – refers to celebrities attracting a high volume of social buzz, digital traffic, and, in many cases, lots of short-term sales.
Cao Yangang found that Chu Xiaxing was silent. He was at a loss for what to do and said weakly: “…Boss, are you okay?”
“I’m okay, I’m okay…” Chu Xiaxing drew a deep breath. She felt that she couldn’t be angry with the child, and patiently said: “Okay, just teach it from the beginning since it can’t be helped.”
“Stop acting and come here first so we can take a look at your acting skills.” Chu Xiaxing asked someone to playback the previous shot. Showing Cao Yangang the shot, she played it with sound and then replayed it again on mute. She rhetorically asked Cao Yangang: “Do you think there are any discrepancies?”
Cao Yangang watched the replay twice, but he was confused. He racked his brains and couldn’t think of an answer. He whispered: “…It doesn’t seem to have any changes between the shots…?”
Chu Xiaxing faintly said: “All the lines you say have this expression. Your expression with or without sound does not make much of an impact since your face is unemotional.”
Cao Yangang blushed immediately, he touched his face and felt a little embarrassed, unable to refute for a while.
Chu Xiaxing: “It’s obvious to see that you’ve been spoiled by voice actors. Your acting skills heavily rely on dubbing, and it seems that you’ve always been in that setting.”
Currently, due to various restrictions of shooting TV dramas, from time to time, they do post-dubbing for the episodes. Since the cost of live recording was high, post-dubbing saved money. However, it’s unsure when the actors’ skills started to rely on dubbing. Everyone is completely depressed and can hopefully get back on track with vocal emotions.
“The tone of the lines can convey emotions; happy, deep, sad, angry… But if the lines don’t match your face, the scene looks all very fake. In the past, they were dubbed to cater to the actor’s attitudes. Now, you’re just going to let dubbing do the work for you, making your work effortless?” With a slight smile, Chu Xiaxing looked at Cao Yangang and noticed he was quite embarrassed, unwilling to voice his shame.
Chu Xiaxing finished playing the shots for Cao Yangang and headed directly towards the camera: “Okay, you watch me perform it in front of the monitor and I’ll have you repeat. Now that time is tight, and the goal is high I can only force this on you.”
Learning to act is a step-by-step process, and they should have already had the basics learned by now. However, each day of shooting costs money, and Chu Xiaxing can’t stop the progress for Cao Yangang. She can only teach and concentrate her efforts to finish the job quickly and let him complete the shooting test.
Working with Cao Yangang was quite difficult as he was clumsy and awkward. Chu Xiaxing occasionally couldn’t hold back her anger and would directly scream at the child causing the whole set to become silent.
Being reprimanded for several days, Cao Yangang became numb. Fortunately, he was able to resist the pressure and let the scolding slide without temper and finally showed some progress.
It didn’t take long for Han Chuning to despise the treatments. So, speaking on behalf of Cao Yangang in private, she said: “Aunty, he’s rather good and seems better than other actors. I don’t think you need to be so fierce…”
Chu Xiaxing nodded and replied: “Well, as long as the bottom line is low enough everything should be fine.”
Han Chu Ning: “…I mean it, he’s made progress.”
