Generation Z Artists

Chapter 242 I, Liu Yifei, am not afraid of hardship at all!

"Now?!"

Nenxian's voice suddenly rose an octave.

It was 5:40 a.m. when Fang Xinghe's female senior brother knocked on Liu Yifei's door.

Ah, no, it was opened directly with a room card, waking up the little girl who was still in bed.

The instructor spoke coldly: "As instructed by Director Fang, you have 18 minutes to take care of your personal hygiene. You must be at the training ground before 6 o'clock."

As everyone knows, Liu Yifei always sleeps until she's no longer grumpy in the morning before getting up. She's not lazy, but she loves to sleep in.

But under Shi Zi's strong and cold aura, she didn't dare to utter a sound. She rolled out of bed and rushed to the bathroom.

Fang Gou... no, Director Fang didn't mistreat her; he booked the largest suite for the newcomer.

This is the county government guesthouse; those rooms used to be where the county head stayed.

She hurriedly washed her face and brushed her teeth, quickly tied her hair into a bun, and then rushed energetically to the small open space in the backyard.

Fang Xinghe was already there waiting for her.

The dog director, dressed in a training outfit, stood with his hands behind his back in front of the stream, looking as ethereal as a celestial being descended to earth, causing the girl's somewhat unstable fan base to surge again.

It's not surprising that Liu Yifei is a fan of Fang Xinghe.

As long as there is internet access at home, very few Chinese people don't know Fang Xinghe.

Love or hate usually depends on gender and age.

Liu Yifei is at the age where she admires and fantasizes about Fang Xinghe—not in a vulgar way, but more like a projection of her feelings for a prince.

But at that moment, when she greeted her idol in a cheerful mood, he gave her a stern look in return.

"Director Fang, what are we learning today?"

"Xueli, don't make me wait for you again tomorrow."

"Oh!"

The young fairy reluctantly agreed, but forced herself to start listening to Teacher Fang's lecture.

Her initial excitement subsided, but it also made her focus her attention even more.

The first lesson Fang Xinghe taught her was very simple.

Breathing and humming exercises.

To put it simply, scientific vocal training through breath control is the most fundamental skill among fundamental skills.

Flexibility training, such as tongue twisters, should be placed further down the line.

Liu Yifei's delivery of lines has major problems, which essentially stems from a lack of long-term, sustained practice.

The punctuation in "Meng Hua Lu" is not a fundamental problem; many of them are her deliberate designs to make the pauses different from the conventional way. In fact, she understands conventional punctuation and has shown a passable level of skill in many films.

Her real problem is that her basic skills don't support many ideas, let alone show the complex nature of a character.

Using Wang Zhiwen as an example to illustrate the point about delivering lines is not appropriate. You can actually get a feel for Song Dandan's voice delivery in the theater without a microphone.

It is clear, full, distinct, resonant, and detailed.

Fang Xinghe certainly couldn't train her to that level within a month; the morning exercises were just part of the play.

As for whether she can continue this scientific and precise training method in the future...

It's not my business!

The aloof Director Fang led her through the details of the morning exercises several times, covering various aspects such as breathing, control, function, and sensory engagement.

At 7 o'clock sharp, I took her out for a special meal.

"what?"

The little girl was completely dumbfounded when she saw the breakfast.

"Is this what we're having for breakfast?"

Fang Xinghe glanced at her plate, snapped his fingers, and signaled his assistant to bring his breakfast over.

"No, only you can eat this."

Liu Yifei subconsciously craned her neck to glance at Fang Xinghe's plate, which contained chicken legs, fish, eggs and dairy products, vegetables, and even lobster sashimi, which was quite rare at the time.

"Gudong!"

She swallowed hard, then looked down at her plate...

Wow!

I almost burst into tears.

A small bowl of unidentifiable coarse grain porridge—she only recognized a few kernels of corn and two pieces of sweet potato.

A small plate of vegetable salad without any sauce—just a simple scoop and it's fantastic! It's all leafy greens that I don't usually like!

A small piece of boiled chicken breast—not a whole breast, nor a large chicken, probably only a tiny bit bigger than a KFC Colonel's Chicken Nuggets.

Two pieces of egg white—that's the most ridiculous part; they can't even be put together to make a complete egg!
And the clear broth that was never oily before.

over.

Liu Yifei couldn't believe it, and didn't want to believe it.

She is indeed not picky about food, and she can make do with cheap boxed meals on set, but not in this way—feeding dogs is animal abuse!
"I'm going to eat this from now on?!"

Her eyes were wide open, puffed up with anger, and she looked so cute.

“At least on set…yes.” Fang Xinghe shrugged easily.

The young fairy tried to argue: "But I'm still growing..."

"Eating smaller, more frequent meals and taking appropriate vitamin supplements will not affect your development."

Fang Xinghe was prepared and answered slowly and deliberately: "During the lockdown, you will need to eat 6 to 8 meals a day. The amount of each meal may vary, but it will definitely ensure you get the nutrition you need."

When it comes to food, Liu Yifei finally got it right for once.

"Does that mean you can't guarantee the taste and portion size?"

"Of course, I can't guarantee it."

Fang Xinghe glanced at her indifferently and swallowed all her resentment with a casual remark.

"You have to maintain a state of constant hunger, where you can't get enough to eat or eat well. This is the part of the experience. You have to experience what kind of life Chen Nian is living every day, and then understand why she has such a strong obsession with the college entrance examination."

Only by getting into a good university could she escape poverty, hunger, and low status; this was her strongest and simplest wish.

Only when you truly empathize with this can you unleash that heartfelt conviction in your performance.

Liu Yifei immediately became defiant.

"I understand... but... do we really have to go to such extremes?"

The young girl, who had never truly experienced hardship, was somewhat unprepared for the sudden increase in intensity to such a difficult situation.

"Yes."

Fang Xinghe nodded as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

"Because you're too clumsy and lack the talent of a top-tier method actor, we have to resort to this clumsy method. What, are you going to give up already?"

"No!"

The little girl was immediately startled.

To reiterate—she's a stubborn person, and she's too young right now.

Fang Gou suppressed a laugh and nodded seriously: "Then let's start eating. Don't waste time, you still have a lot of classes to attend."

After eating what could only be described as a torturous breakfast, Liu Yifei, with a bitter face and a dejected look, followed Fang Xinghe to the conference room on the rooftop.

Yang Mi and the others had just gotten up and were out exercising when they saw her like this, and they were immediately furious.

As the two passed by, Xiao Mi couldn't help but complain, "What is she so smug about?!"

The chubby girl and the skinny girl looked at each other, puzzled.

Honey, where did you get the idea that she was smug?
But the two girls nodded in agreement.

"Exactly! Being able to train with Director Fang is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but he deliberately puts on a show of reluctance in front of us. What a hypocrite!"

"He's American, I heard he got into the Beijing Film Academy without taking the entrance exam, of course he's arrogant!"

Actually, these two girls aren't bad people, but they are like baby's breath.

Therefore, it's easy to understand where such a strong sour taste comes from.

Wei Lai and her two friends were all die-hard fans handpicked by Fang Xinghe. They were so obsequious in front of him that they didn't dare utter a single word. After living together for a couple of days, they formed a group and officially debuted.

Okay, let's call it the "Starry Night Youth" subgroup. The chairperson is Yang Mi, the vice-chairperson is Fatty, and the secretary-general is Glasses Girl.

The team has only two principles.

First, he drools over Fang Xinghe every day.

Second, they spend every day together talking about Liu Yifei. The main reason is that the director's favoritism is too obvious; a princess is a princess, and a maid is a maid—the distinction is clear.

However, the princess couldn't demonstrate any convincing strength, which directly led to her being seen as a "seductive and shameless woman who drags her brother down" in the eyes of the subgroup.

This situation won't last long. In about two weeks, when filming bullying scenes, they won't need to perform anymore.

Such a trivial skill, laughable!

Behold our truly heartfelt and brutally brutal Demon Eyes of Death Perception!

The three close comrades couldn't stop chatting, whispering among themselves.

"What exactly does Director Fang want to teach her?"

"so envious……"

"Can we practice with them?"

"Yeah, yeah, Honey, why don't you go ask them?"

"I?"

"Yeah, only you have that kind of face! You were one of Director Fang's earliest fans, didn't you even go to his autograph session in person?"

"Of course! I even have Fangfang's autograph!"

Yang Xiaomi immediately raised her head proudly, her expression overflowing with the same arrogance as Fang Xinghe.

She certainly has a talent for imitation.

“That time I went to get an autograph, Fang Fang rarely smiled at other people, but when I sat down in front of him, he glanced at me, then looked down to sign the autograph, but suddenly looked up at me again, and finally smiled gently… His smile was so gentle!”

The chubby girl and the girl with glasses were so envious that their eyes widened. They secretly exchanged a glance and pursed their lips in disapproval.

Are all the stars in the sky one family?
Stop it!
The older sister fans and the mother fans are indeed one family; the career fans can also be roughly united; and the teenage romance fans see every one of their kind as a mortal enemy.

They seem to be getting along very well on the surface, but that's because neither of them has any hope.

Once anyone receives special treatment from Fang Xinghe, just wait and see, chaos will ensue.

The three of them are in a situation that perfectly matches the character of Wei Lai and her two friends in the new version of "You Are My Destiny". They bully Chen Nian together, but they have different positions and reasons, so their styles of doing things are also very different.

For example, the girl with glasses pays a lot of attention to details.

Why is Fang Shen smiling at you?

"Because I'm pretty!"

Without a second thought, Yang Mi blurted out the answer that was already in her mind.

"I saw everyone who went to the autograph session that day. There were a lot of beautiful women, but I was the most youthful, energetic, and good-looking one!"

The chubby girl silently distanced herself, feeling even more depressed.

Of course, this was all Yang Mi's wishful thinking.

Fang Xinghe did glance at her more, but that was out of surprise.

Fang Xinghe did smile, but that was because of her cheeks.

The young actress isn't actually that worried. She's been a beauty since childhood and looks very cute in real life. However, under the lens of a movie, she does look quite different from the best angles.

The three girls chatted for a while, and finally mustered up their courage to ask Fang Xinghe to let them join.

Dogs don't need their basic skills.

The difficulty of performing those roles all lies in one point—natural and genuine jealousy.

Once this problem is solved, living a simpler, more relaxed life is actually a good thing.

But he did not refuse and began teaching everyone equally.

The second lesson of the special training was the Wudang Longhua Fist, modified by Fang Xinghe.

He combined Tai Chi and Xingyi with some martial arts performance routines to create a beautiful boxing style that maximizes the stretching of the body, combining softness and strength, and with a proper rhythm of speed and slowness.

Is this set of boxing techniques suitable for actual combat?
Does not.

But beauty itself means pursuing the ultimate harmony.

This is a set of highly difficult boxing techniques that are extremely physically demanding, greatly promote blood circulation, require excellent footwork and balance, and are highly entertaining to perform.

It could even be said that mastering this set of boxing techniques will make learning any other style of boxing much easier and more efficient.

Fang Xinghe burned through 2 million starlight to come up with this set of punches.

It's neither too strong nor too weak, and it lacks martial arts concepts, but it's definitely the first treasure trove for actors to hone their physique.

However, Liu Yifei, who had never practiced stance training before, had her thigh swollen from being slapped by Fang Xinghe on the very first day.

It was a pretty little bamboo whip that whistled through the air when swung. If any movement was not executed properly, it would immediately come lashing out with a whoosh, gently striking the muscles where the force was misdirected.

"what!"

"Oh!"

"hiss……"

The sound, rising from high to low, testified to the depth of the pain.

In fact, Master Fang used a clever technique, which only caused a brief pain and did not leave any welts. However, this kind of pain was something that Princess Sissi had never experienced before.

"Think about the suffering Chen Nian endured!"

Fang Gou kept raising the bar for her with a stern face.

"Yang Mi and the others can't grasp the importance of the fight. They can't actually fight during filming. How are you going to act then?"
You can't act well!

Now, only when you truly experience physical pain, and then internalize it mentally, will you be able to perform a realistic and convincing complete process!

Yang Xiaomi, Pang Xiaomei, and Yan Xiaojing watched from the side, trembling with fear.

But they weren't punished when they didn't practice well.

Fang Xinghe glanced at her casually, then quickly refocused his attention on Liu Xiaofei.

"They don't need to act that kind of state, so I won't make any strict demands on them, understand? I'm not targeting you, I'm training you!"
In the Gardner school, there is a very important principle: the physical and spiritual worlds are interconnected.

Modern neuroscience research has also confirmed that even meticulously designed, purely 'performance' can trigger real physiological responses in actors.

Physiological and psychological factors are always interdependent and mutually influential.

Therefore, once you have thoroughly memorized the feeling of being hit, the feeling of pain, and are able to evoke that feeling from your mental world, you can use a method that is half performance and half experience to complete any similar performance..."

Fang Gou's tactics are very deep, extremely deep.

He didn't constantly and harshly punish her, nor did he only focus on hitting her. Instead, he would occasionally stop her to share and nurture her theoretical knowledge.

When Liu Yifei is in enough pain, tell her why she's in pain, where she's in pain, what her real reaction is, what kind of performance is required, and how to activate the relevant muscle groups...

With his acting skills rated 90, he certainly doesn't qualify as a master.

The problem is, no master of any school has ever raised all three major schools to 90 points at the same time!

In other words, this bastard's absolute upper limit is not high, but by drawing on the strengths of many schools of thought and making connections across different fields, his theoretical level is among the best in the world.

Teaching a mere child is an easy task!

Liu Yifei was deeply moved and eagerly absorbed Director Fang's teachings.

What does it mean to teach by example?
Now is the time.

Moreover, it was the kind of close, one-on-one instruction that only existed in ancient times, between a master and his disciple.

In this day and age, no matter which school you go to study acting, it's impossible for a teacher to be this dedicated.

Xiao Xian'er cried twice in pain, but managed to hold back her big tears.

After receiving Fang's sincere guidance, she returned to her room to rest and finally couldn't hold back anymore, collapsing onto the bed and bursting into tears.

Half pain, half grievance, half gratitude, half self-blame, and half uncertainty...

But she completely believed the sentence that Fang Xinghe had repeatedly emphasized—

"You're not suited to a purely experiential acting style, nor can you be a very precise performance actor. Your ceiling is very low, and you're very dependent on the roles you play. So if you really want to be a good actor, you can only use blood and tears to hone your skills to reach your potential."

Let's stick to pragmatism and take a hybrid approach: experience, expression, method—use whatever works best.

I'll keep at it until you stop beating me.

You've got the Best Actress award!
This is the drama, and this is Chen Nian!

Best Actress?

As the little girl cried, a surge of energy suddenly welled up within her—

It's rare to encounter such a good director so early in one's career. Compared to that, what was the director of "The Story of a Noble Family"?

Isn't it just about enduring hardship?

I, Liu Yifei, am not afraid of hardship at all!

(End of this chapter)