The King of Directors 2000

Chapter 576 Difficult Drama
Snowflakes were flying and falling from high in the sky, forming curtains of snow.

The cold wind blows, sometimes to the left and sometimes to the right.

Li Shengyao walked alone on the set with a cup of hot soy milk.

It was only 08:30 at this time, and he arrived at the set with the first crew bus. As in the past, he started working early.

On the other side, Zhang Songwen was wearing a long down jacket, holding a black umbrella, and looking quietly into the distance. He looked a little melancholy.

Last night, Li Shengyao chatted with Zhang Songwen. After a few bowls of chicken soup, he started a script seminar and analysis of the next day's performance.

When the first crew bus was about to leave today, Zhang Songwen followed.

Li Shengyao was not sure whether Zhang Songwen had thought clearly about whether the next performance could reach the top level, but his attitude was good and he was willing to give him time.

At this time, Zhang Songwen stood there blankly, seemingly wandering, but actually looking for a state of mind.

Different actors find status in different ways.

Li Shengyao whispered to Dapeng and asked the workers not to disturb Zhang Songwen.

About an hour later, all the actors arrived, put on their makeup, rehearsed twice, and then started the official filming.

The plot of this scene is that Zhang Songwen was shoveling snow outdoors. Someone came over to inform him that his brother had passed away and asked him to return to his hometown. The actor was sad inside, but his face was expressionless and he seemed to be fine.

The plot is not difficult, and the acting doesn't seem to be difficult.

The most important thing is the atmosphere, which should quietly reveal the hidden decadence and sadness of the male protagonist.

"Manchester by the Sea" does not tell the audience what the story is at the beginning. It is a little suspenseful at the beginning. It first shows the living conditions of the hero, making the audience curious about why the hero is so depressed, and then gives the answer.

In terms of performance processing, the actors need to restrain their emotions from the beginning. Indifference is greater than sadness, and the core is still endless pain.

There is no doubt that it is not easy to perform such a subtle and restrained performance.

Zhang Songwen's performance a few days ago was actually quite good, but as Lee Sheng-yew said, it was not amazing enough. He needed Zhang Songwen to be 100% immersed in the role and needed the character to be charming.

The assistant director held a loudspeaker and shouted "start".

Li Shengyao sat behind the director's monitor, staring closely at the screen. He chatted with Zhang Songwen yesterday. Logically speaking, even if someone changes, it shouldn't happen so quickly.

However, Li Shengyao still hopes that Zhang Songwen can surprise him.

After all, "Gao Qiqiang" is a famous drama addict.

In anticipation of Li Shengyao, Zhang Songwen began to praise.

In the fluttering white snow, everyone stared closely, and soon a burst of warm applause broke out.

……

Zhang Songwen's performance has undergone a qualitative change. Before, he was a character played by Zhang Songwen, but now, Zhang Songwen is the male protagonist, the man immersed in sadness.

He quickly found his form and played better and better.

If Zhang Songwen performs well, the crew of "Dalian by the Sea" will move forward quickly.

Li Shengyao was very satisfied with Zhang Songwen's progress and felt that he had not chosen the wrong person.

In the early morning of this day, the long-lost sun slowly opened its eyes and radiated some sunlight.

Many children went out to have snowball fights, cheering and shouting loudly.

The crew of "Dalian by the Sea" had an indoor scene today, and this scene was the most intensely emotional scene in the movie.

According to the original plan of Lee Sung-yao and the assistant directors, they were supposed to arrange this scene at the closing stage.

After all, the time it took Zhang Songwen to get the script was too short, and Li Shengyao was worried that Zhang Songwen would not be able to accumulate enough emotions so quickly if the filming was shot in the normal order.

Zhang Songwen is in very good condition recently. He took the initiative to find Li Shengyao, hoping that he could take advantage of his good performance to film this most difficult scene.

The plot of this scene is that the male protagonist killed his two children because of his carelessness, and he fell into despair and endless regret.

After recording his statement at the police station, he was about to leave, but he had lost the courage to live. He suddenly attacked and snatched a policeman's gun. Then he pulled the safety button and shot himself.

However, the police responded very quickly and swarmed him quickly to control him and prevent him from committing suicide.

Lee Sheng-yew liked the design of this plot very much. When watching the movie, when he saw the male protagonist grabbing a gun and committing suicide, he could feel the infinite remorse and sadness in his heart.

The emotional tension of this scene is very strong and requires the actors to have strong enough explosive power.

Before filming started, while Zhang Songwen was still putting on makeup, Li Shengyao came to Zhang Songwen and then explained to him the core of the character in the plot.

Last night, when the two of them were studying the script, Li Shengyao had already discussed it with Zhang Songwen, but in order to deepen the impression, Li Shengyao went on to tell Zhang Songwen.

The reason why he attaches so much importance to it is naturally because this scene is so important.

The strongest emotional point of the movie is in this scene.

After this scene was performed well, it can be said that the movie was 50.00% successful.

Soon after, Zhang Songwen put on makeup, and then rehearsed three times to make sure he was in good condition and officially filmed this time.

"what!"

Zhang Songwen suddenly shouted, then grabbed the gun and shot him in the temple without turning on the safety. He immediately took the gun and turned on the safety.

In this short three-second shot, Zhang Songwen performed sadness, despair, anger, shock, panic, and calmly died...

He obviously knew the importance of this scene. He had rehearsed it carefully countless times, and now his performance was very skillful and complete.

"Crack!"

After the assistant director called the call, everyone applauded enthusiastically. Both the actors and the crew were very impressed by Zhang Songwen's performance.

Zhang Songwen frowned slightly. He lowered his head and said nothing, completely immersed in his own world.

This is his state of reviewing and thinking about the performance.

Everyone knew Zhang Songwen's habits and were not surprised.

After a while, Zhang Songwen said to Li Shengyao: "Director, I can give a better performance."

Li Shengyao nodded, "Okay, let's continue."

Fifteen minutes later, Zhang Songwen acted out the scene again.

After the performance, Zhang Songwen reviewed the performance. He still felt dissatisfied and asked to continue the performance.

Li Shengyao naturally would not refuse.

It was not until two hours later that Zhang Songwen finally gave an even better performance. This time, Zhang Songwen felt even more emotional about the performance. The actors and workers even forgot to applaud as they watched him perform.

Zhang Songwen himself was also very satisfied. After reviewing the review this time, he happily said to Li Shengyao: "Director, I think it's OK."

After the words fell, many people breathed a sigh of relief.

Li Shengyao glanced at Zhang Songwen and shook his head, "Teacher Zhang, let's try again. I think you can give a better performance. The performance you just performed has probably been rehearsed too many times. It was very complete and smooth, but I think It lacks a sense of panic.

The male protagonist committed suicide by snatching the gun out of hand, without any plan. He fired the gun for the first time without turning on the safety guard. After he reacted, he panicked. His movements were relatively less skillful than the first time, and he turned on the safety guard a bit clumsily. Zhang Songwen heard this, thought for a moment, and then nodded, "Director, you are right, I understand." "

"Okay, take your time, don't rush, the crew has time."

Li Shengyao smiled and encouraged.

He knows the importance of this scene, and he also hopes that Zhang Songwen can contribute a wonderful performance and make this scene one of the classic scenes in film history.

Zhang Songwen prepared alone, while the set workers rearranged the set, and other actors re-coated with makeup. Everyone just applauded enthusiastically. Many people thought that the scene was over, but they did not expect that Lee Sheng-yew would give a better performance.

No one said anything on the surface, but in fact they were not happy in their hearts.

However, where Li Shengyao's status and power lie, these people dare not show them.

In this way, the crew of "Dalian by the Sea" continued to work on this scene.

But the first day was not successful. It was not until the second day that Zhang Songwen finally gave a wonderful performance after filming fifteen times. The scene was finally over.

Amidst the warm applause, Li Shengyao waved his hand and asked everyone to prepare for the next scene. They had to strike while the iron is hot and continue filming.

……

"Dalian by the Sea" doesn't have any big scenes, nor does it require stuntmen to crash cars, jump off buildings, or do flips and jumps.

It seems to be easier to act, but only actors know that it is actually very difficult to perform such a sense of sadness. This requires actors to be able to drive emotions and make the audience ignore other points, stare at the male protagonist wholeheartedly, and completely become the male protagonist.

Today Zhang Songwen encountered the second most difficult scene in this movie.

The plot of this scene is that the male protagonist killed his children and then left his hometown. A few years later, his brother passed away, and the male protagonist had to return to Laojia to attend to his brother's funeral.

He once went shopping and met his ex-wife.

Because he killed his children, his ex-wife hated him very much and said some very unpleasant things, and she divorced him soon after.

During this encounter, the ex-wife had already let go. She apologized to the hero, saying that she had ignored the hero's feelings at the time, and then introduced her recent situation.

She married again, started a new family, and her third child was born.

She went on to say that the male protagonist should come out, forget those sad things, and face life again.

The actor didn't have too many emotions at the time, but he was very uncomfortable after being separated from his ex-wife.

Only then did he realize that his children were dead.

Everyone gradually came out, but he was still immersed in sadness and self-blame. He could not recover.

In this scene, the sadness must also be hidden. The hero must not be able to see the sadness when communicating with his ex-wife. Only when his ex-wife leaves does he reveal the sadness hidden behind it.

This scene requires a strong sense of layering to express the mood of the male protagonist, which naturally requires strong acting skills.

With the experience of grinding out a scene in the past two days, a group of actors and crew members all thought that Lee Sheng-yew would have to grind even more this time.

But something unexpected happened, and Li Shengyao did not grind away this time.

Zhang Songwen performed well, and Li Shengyao announced that he had passed the film after only four takes.

When the other actors and crew heard this, they applauded.

At this moment, Zhang Songwen quickly left the set, came outside the set, squatted down, covered his face with his hands, and cried sadly.

Dapeng received Li Shengyao's order and kept an eye on Zhang Songwen. Upon seeing this, he immediately told Li Shengyao about Zhang Songwen's situation.

The set workers didn't pay attention. They continued to work and prepared the set layout for the next scene.

The actors also didn't care. Zhang Songwen's situation is actually easy to understand. He was just too immersed in the role that he couldn't get out of it in a short time.

However, they believed in Zhang Songwen's professionalism, so no one tried to persuade him.

Some actors even wanted to joke with Zhang Songwen and help him "come out".

A group of assistant directors also didn't take it to heart. They all knew Li Shengyao's plan and felt that they should change scenes immediately and prepare for the next scene.

As for Zhang Songwen's emotional breakdown at this time, everyone didn't take it to heart.

After hearing Dapeng's report, Li Shengyao paused for a moment, then looked at the sky and said, "Okay, that's it for today. Let's get off the morning shift and go back to the hotel to rest."

It was almost four o'clock at this time, and it was not yet time to get off work.

In the past, Lee Sheng-yew wished that one minute could be used as eight minutes. Unexpectedly, Director Lee was so kind this time and let them get off work early.

Dapeng quickly thought of Zhang Songwen, "Director, would you like to give Zhang Songwen some advice?"

"I'll talk to him personally."

"Dalian by the Sea" is a very sad and decadent movie.

When other movies encounter bad things, even if the life situation of the hero and heroine does not change in the end, the mentality of the hero and heroine must have changed. They are definitely more confident and hopeful, as if they can see the light.

But "Dalian by the Sea" is different. The male protagonist still didn't come out in the end.

He couldn't become his nephew's guardian. He left his nephew in the care of a good friend. He still couldn't face the sadness of the past. He couldn't stay in his hometown. He had to leave here to live.

Such a mournful male protagonist is really depressing.

Zhang Songwen has read the complete script and knows the ending of the male protagonist. At this point in the performance, his ex-wife has walked out, but the male protagonist is still trapped in endless sadness.

At this time, Zhang Songwen was too involved and it was completely understandable that his emotions collapsed.

Although Zhang Songwen looks very mature, Li Shengyao is still worried and plans to give him more time to recover.

He then walked over and squatted down next to Zhang Songwen.

Zhang Songwen covered his face with his hands and kept crying. There were sobs at first, but then he shed tears silently.

It took a full 10 minutes for the mood to calm down.

"Teacher Zhang, your performance is great, I'm proud of you."

Li Shengyao felt that there was no need to discuss this plot. It was better to divert Zhang Songwen's attention, which might help Zhang Songwen come out faster.

Zhang Songwen was slightly startled when he heard this, "Director, did I perform well?"

"Very good, I was prepared to grind for two more days, but you met my requirements so quickly.

Go to bed early today, rest at night, and come back tomorrow. "

Li Shengyao smiled and had nothing to say.

Zhang Songwen quickly understood what Li Shengyao meant. He was indeed feeling uncomfortable and needed time to get rid of the negative emotions.

Li Shengyao asked him to rest early, which would be good for him.

He nodded gratefully, "Thank you, director."

"It's a small matter. For me, the physical and mental safety of actors is more important than the movie."

(End of this chapter)