1990: Starting from Baojia Street

Gao Jinwen and Xiao Can had worked together for quite a long time and were familiar with each other. When he heard that Xiao Can was going to be independent, he was happy for him.

Speaking of which, the directors who followed Zhou Yan have been developing better and better, and most of them can stand on their own.

Zhou Yan smiled and said, "Teacher Gao, I may have to delay your class time for a while."

"It's okay." Gao Jinwen waved his hand generously, "I can give this class to you all. Anyway, you can find time to make up for it later."

"It won't take too long. I'll just come over to take a quick look. Teacher Chang has already arrived."

Gao Jinwen nodded, "Okay, in that case, let's go in."

After saying that, he walked into the classroom first, and Zhou Yan and the others followed closely behind him.

The students had already learned from Chang Li in advance that directors Zhou Yan and his group were coming, so they were not too surprised when they saw Zhou Yan and his group.

The expressions on the students' faces when they looked at Zhou Yan were more of curiosity. They were very curious about Zhou Yan, who was only a few years older than them but had already gained international fame.

They were looking at Zhou Yan, and Zhou Yan was also looking at them.

Unlike the two classes he had seen before, the faces of the students in the 96 class were indeed more familiar to Zhou Yan.

This class not only has many big stars, but other students, even if they are not famous, basically have works that are always released to the public.

For example, actors like Dang Hao, Chen Minghao, Zhao Huinan, Niu Qingfeng, and Song Yunhao, although most people have never heard of their names, they will feel familiar when they see their faces, and then recall which drama they have seen them in.

Relatively speaking, the girls in their class have developed better. Zhang Ziyi, Yuan Quan, Zeng Li, Hu Jing, Mei Ting and Qin Hailu are all household names.

Among the boys, Qin Hao and Liu Ye have performed relatively well, while the others are relatively inferior.

However, after Zhou Yan looked around, he suddenly raised his eyebrows, because this class was not the same as he remembered.

First of all, he didn't find Zeng Li.

That’s fine, after all, it’s possible that Zeng Li didn’t come to class today, but the problem is that Zhou Yan also found two people who shouldn’t be here, a boy and a girl.

The boy was thin and sitting in the corner. Zhou Yan was very sure that the boy was Lu Yi, because Zhou Yan had a very deep impression of Lu Yi's appearance during this period.

Another girl was sitting in the front row. Zhou Yan thought she looked a bit like Hao Lei, but he was not sure.

Logically speaking, these two people should not appear in the Central Academy of Drama, but they are now there, which surprised Zhou Yan a little.

In this way, this generation of the Central Academy of Drama is stronger than the previous one.

Even if Zeng Li is really not in this class anymore, it would definitely be a good idea for Hao Lei and Lu Yi to replace Zeng Li.

While Zhou Yan was daydreaming, Chang Li had already told Xiao Can about the general situation. She turned to Zhou Yan and said, "Director Zhou, it's a rare opportunity for you to come to the Central Academy of Drama. Would you like to share your experience with the students?"

Zhou Yan smiled and said, "Teacher Chang is too flattering to me. It would be like showing off my skills in front of an expert if I were to impart my experience to you."

"Director Zhou, you are too modest."

"I'm not being modest at all." Zhou Yan waved his hand. "Come to think of it, my acting skills are also learned from your Central Academy of Drama."

As he said this, he half turned to look at Gao Jinwen, "Teacher Gao is my first acting teacher in my life. When I was filming Raise the Red Lantern in Qiao Family Courtyard, Director Zhang entrusted me with the important task of playing the role of Chen Feipu, even though I was a music assistant. Fortunately, Teacher Gao taught me with all his heart, otherwise I would have failed Director Zhang's trust."

Gao Jinwen had never told anyone about this, so the students in the audience naturally didn't know that Zhou Yan and Gao Jinwen had such a past, and they all showed curious expressions.

"Don't listen to Director Zhou's nonsense. I didn't help him much back then. At that time, I just wanted him to follow the steps and copy what I had done. He was very ambitious and even asked Gong Li to act opposite him. I was amazed at his talent at the time. It took him less than a month to grow from an amateur who had never acted to a young actor with great potential."

Talking about Zhou Yan's past, Gao Jinwen couldn't help but start to encourage his students, "In order to perform those two scenes well, Director Zhou practiced from morning till night every day. If you had half the effort of Director Zhou, I would have less worries, and so would your teacher Chang."

Zhou Yan rolled his eyes. Old Gao, if you want to praise someone, just do it. Why does he praise one person and put down a bunch of people?

However, the students were already used to their teachers talking like this, and they were more interested in the fact that Zhou Yan was acting with Gong Li.

"Senior Sister Gong Li is so nice. She even accompanies the newcomers in practicing acting." Chen Minghao said with a smile.

"Yes, Sister Li is very good." Zhou Yan nodded, "So I said that my acting skills were learned from the Central Academy of Drama, and it was also related to Sister Li. Sister Li has had a great influence on me on my acting journey."

He was not complimenting her. After all, Gong Li was not here, so there was no need for him to compliment her.

It was Gong Li who made him feel the charm of acting for the first time, and it was also Gong Li who brought him into the state of performance for the first time.

To this day, Zhou Yan still remembers clearly the feeling of acting opposite Gong Li that time.

Regardless of whether Zhou Yan was complimenting them or not, the people from the Central Academy of Drama present felt very comfortable listening to it, and felt that the relationship between themselves and Zhou Yan had become a little closer.

"Director Zhou, will you work with Senior Sister Gong Li again in the future?" asked Qin Hailu, who was sitting in the first row.

"As for cooperation, it all depends on fate. Of course, I personally hope to work with Sister Li again. If there is a role suitable for Sister Li in my movie in the future, I will definitely look for her first."

"Director Zhou, what do you look at when choosing actors? Appearance or acting skills?" Qin Hailu asked again.

Zhou Yan smiled and said, "I mainly go by my feeling."

"It's just like dating, right?" Hu Jing said with a smile.

As soon as she finished speaking, Chang Li's sharp eyes flew over, and she immediately lowered her head and stopped talking.

It can be seen that the students in their class are very respectful of Chang Li.

"It's true, actually. Finding an actor is like dating. Although you have many requirements in mind, whether you can finally make it or not still depends on your feelings. Feelings may seem illusory, but they are actually made up of real standards. For example, appearance and acting skills."

After answering Hu Jing's question, Zhou Yan continued, "You are only freshmen in your class, and many of you have little exposure to movies. If you have time, you can go to my studio to have a look. In our studio, you can be exposed to a complete set of film post-production processes, and you may also be exposed to the preparatory processes of the early stages. Although you are studying acting, it won't hurt for you to get familiar with these things early."

After Zhou Yan finished speaking, the students hadn't responded yet, so Tian Youliang opened his eyes wide and said, "Director Zhou, your words are not only effective for the students in grade 96, right?"

"Of course, our studio is open to your school. You are welcome to visit us at any time."

Chang Li and Huang Dingyu also looked at each other. They didn't expect that there would be an unexpected surprise today.

If the Central Academy of Drama can establish cooperation with Zhou Yan's studio, it will be a good thing for their school. The Central Academy of Drama is too small and its infrastructure is very simple.

But they heard that the equipment in Zhou Yan's studio was more sophisticated than that in Yanjing Film Studio.

Most people might think that they are teaching an acting class and students just need to focus on acting. How much do the equipment and processes of filming have to do with them?

In fact, it matters a lot.

If students studying acting don't even know how movies are made, they won't be able to act well. If you don't know the angles from which the camera shoots the actors, it's impossible to accurately find the positions and movements in front of the camera. It's impossible for the director to tell you everything on the scene.

Zhou Yan didn't say anything after that, and Xiao Can began to explain the general requirements of the role to the students.

While Xiao Can was speaking to the students, Zhou Yan turned his head and asked Chang Li, "Teacher Chang, is everyone in your class here?"

Chang Li nodded. "Yes, everyone is here. There were originally 20 people in our class when the school started, but two of them left, so now there are 18 people."

"Oh, that's how it is."

It seems that Zeng Li is indeed gone.

There may be other people who are different from the previous life, but Zhou Yan doesn’t know, and he doesn’t know everyone in this class.

"The overall quality of the students in our class is pretty good, but the character of many of them needs to be polished."

Zhou Yan smiled and said, "The overall appearance of this class is good."

"I don't deny that. The girls are indeed pretty. As for the boys, Liu Ye and Lu Yi are not bad either. But in the acting industry, appearance is a double-edged sword. I am also worried that they pay too much attention to their appearance. Some students are good-looking and think that as long as they are good-looking, they can get everything. Some students are average-looking and easily feel inferior."

Zhou Yan noticed that when Chang Li said the last sentence, her eyes were looking at Qin Hailu in the front row.

Objectively speaking, Qin Hailu should be the least pretty girl in this class.

She is not ugly, but compared with Hu Jing, Yuan Quan, Zhang Ziyi and others next to her, she is really too ordinary.

However, Zhou Yan did not expect Qin Hailu to be so inferior. In Zhou Yan's impression, Qin Hailu has always been a generous and straightforward person.

Now that I think about it, when Qin Hailu asked him what his criteria were for selecting actors, she might have been waiting for a certain answer. Qin Hailu probably wanted to hear from him that appearance is not important.

Zhou Yan agreed with Chang Li's point of view. If an actor is too beautiful, it is not easy to achieve success in film art.

On the one hand, actors are too beautiful and receive too many preferential treatments and temptations in life, so they tend to relax their thinking on acting skills.

On the other hand, if the actors are too beautiful, it will be easy for the audience to focus too much on their faces in the camera.

Of course, beautiful actors have a wider range of roles, because it is easy to become ugly as long as the actors are willing to let go of their burdens.

But it is very difficult for an actor with ordinary looks to become good-looking.

Many beautiful actors starred in some high-grossing movies when they were young, but when they got older and their looks deteriorated, they began to pursue art.

"Everyone's appearance is born, there is no use thinking too much about it." Zhou Yan said.

Chang Li laughed and said, "Director Zhou, you sound a bit sarcastic. As a person with good looks that most people think is good-looking, it is difficult for you to understand the feelings of people like us with ordinary looks."

"Uh……"

"Haha, I was just kidding." Chang Li said she was just joking, and then asked Zhou Yan, "Director Zhou, where is your studio located exactly?"

"It's next to the Third Ring Road, not far from the Yanjing Factory."

“Is the area very large?”

"It's quite big now. Do you know the state-owned electronics factory near the Third Ring Road?"

"Yeah. I know."

"Now the entire factory belongs to our studio."

Chang Li's eyes widened. "The electronics factory is not small."

"Well, more than three hundred acres."

“It’s more than a dozen bigger than our school.”

The Central Academy of Drama only has more than 20 acres, so the electronics factory must be more than ten times larger than that.

Chang Li was deeply shocked. She knew very well what it meant to have a land of more than 300 acres next to the Third Ring Road. Moreover, an electronics factory not only has vacant land, but also many buildings.

“I will definitely go and visit if I have the chance.”

Zhou Yan smiled and said, "Welcome Teacher Chang to come and give us guidance. I plan to build a comprehensive theater in the park in the future. Teacher Chang, please give me more suggestions when the time comes."

"I don't understand this." Chang Li waved her hands repeatedly.

While waving her hands, she became even more envious. Their school had no place to organize a performance, but Zhou Yan's studio was actually planning to build a comprehensive theater. It was really frustrating to compare yourself with others.

But this is also good news for them. If they can really get along well with Zhou Yan, maybe they can use the theater in Zhou Yan's studio in the future.

She has made up her mind to take her students to visit the museum when she has free time in the future.

While the two of them were chatting, Tian Youliang came over again and said, "Director Zhou, do you have time these two days? I'll take our classmates to your studio to study?"

Zhou Yan thought for a moment and said, "I have time in the afternoons these days."

"How about we go there tomorrow afternoon?"

"Tomorrow?" Zhou Yan was a little surprised. "Don't you have a day off tomorrow?"

Tomorrow is New Year's Day, so we have a day off.

"I only have time during holidays." Tian Youliang said with a smile.

Zhou Yan also laughed, "It's vacation time now, and students may not be willing to participate in this kind of group activity."

"They act like they have a holiday every day now. Anyway, I won't force them. I'll ask for their opinions later."

Since Tian Youliang said so, Zhou Yan nodded and said, "Okay, as long as they want to go, I will definitely receive them."

Chang Li rolled her eyes and said, "Since you guys are going, then our class might as well go with you and take a look."

"Okay, let's go together, but if there are too many people, it won't be too much trouble for Director Zhou."

Zhou Yan waved his hand, "No, let alone your two classes, even if your entire school comes, I can accommodate you."

He didn't brag. The Central Academy of Drama only has a few hundred people, and the studio will definitely be able to accommodate them. (End of this chapter)