Generation Z Artists

Chapter 255 What the heck is this?

Fang Xinghe's conscience was awakened, and a sense of guilt arose in his heart, as thick as a hair.

He opened the door wide, leaving it wide open, gesturing for Liu Yifei to come in.

"Don't rush, come in and talk."

Nenxian slowly moved into the living room, which still reeked of smoke, and sat down awkwardly next to the sofa.

Fang Xinghe sat down opposite her and asked in a solemn voice, "Two questions—first, what do you think you're still missing to completely become Chen Nian? second, why do you think that after completely becoming Chen Nian in this drama, you will no longer be yourself?"

Liu Yifei paused for a moment, then looked up.

I came to you to solve a problem, how come I passed the exam again?

Fang Xinghe's questions were fine, but they were too serious and academic. The first question was about the performance state, while the second question was essentially about the performance philosophy.

This person... is a pervert.

The little girl felt intense disappointment, but dared not show it, so she mustered her spirits and explained her feelings in detail.

"I feel like I'm still missing one last bit of mindset."

It's the deepest despair in Chen Nian's heart—the disbelief that she could be saved.

I think that the real Chen Nian, until she was released from prison and saw Xiao Bei again, always harbored doubts about the future.

It's not that she doesn't trust Xiao Bei; it's that she doesn't trust anything.

The negativity and doubt about all emotions deep within her heart together construct an ultimate despair, a despair that is very hidden, so she is still struggling.

In terms of performance, the first level of difficulty lies in portraying Chen Nian's gloom, gloom, and timidity.

The second level of performance difficulty is to show her indomitable spirit; she relies on her resilience to persevere and keep trying to get out of this quagmire.

The third and most crucial layer of performance requires conveying a sense of relief within specific scenes.

The scene where the two are looking at each other through the interrogation room window, trying to exonerate the other, shows Chen Nian's outward emotions as relief, acceptance, and a smile through her tears.

But what was the core motivation behind her sense of relief?
It's negativity, it's giving up, it's despair, it's wanting to stop dragging Xiao Bei down after giving up on herself.

She wasn't brave, nor was she loyal; fundamentally, she gave up on herself, and in that moment, she finally felt a sense of ease and freedom.

I can understand this level, but I'm still one level below Chen Nian.

I have no way of understanding that despair that makes you want to give up on yourself…

Liu Yifei's language was very fluent.

It's clear that she spent a lot of time thinking and summarizing, which is why she was able to explore the character to such depth.

Her understanding of Chen Nian was correct.

Fang's version of "Less You" is fundamentally more profound and insightful than the plagiarized version.

Therefore, all of Chen Nian's outward expressions are firmly tied to the core personality traits of the character.

The fairy version of Chen Nian is even darker, more desperate, and less confident than the little yellow duck version of Chen Nian. Without this tone, there would be no touching moment when the final redemption arrives.

The most brilliant moments must bloom in the darkest darkness.

Director Fang was extremely satisfied and showered him with compliments as if they were free.

“Fantastic! Your understanding of the script, the relationships between the characters, and their inner emotions has reached the level of an award-winning actress. This level of understanding and depth fully proves that you have not wasted your time. You have not only worked hard, but you have also worked hard in the right places. I am very pleased!”

After a bit of rambling, he casually asked, "You've proven one thing: you already possess the theoretical framework and all the qualities of a good actor. So why do you think completely becoming Chen Nian is a bad thing?"

That bastard subtly shifted the concept; he actually knew what Liu Yifei was worried about, but he wasn't sure what state her mental condition was at.

At this moment, he is still being tested, still being weighed.

"because……"

Liu Yifei swallowed nervously and spoke with difficulty.

“I realized that I simply couldn’t find that state through external training, or rather, I couldn’t achieve that level of performance using expressionist techniques.”

If I want to achieve this, I must... have a deeper experience...

Well, I have to put myself in a desperate situation...

I want to completely transform myself into Chen Nian...

But I'm scared...

I don't understand why people would despair to the point of giving up on themselves. I think if I did, I wouldn't be myself anymore...

If I were in a desperate situation, would I give up like Chen Nian?
Now, my answer is no.

But if I force myself to experience it again, I don't know what the outcome will be...

I still want to stay true to myself.

Director Fang, I just want to know, is it really necessary for me to become a completely negative, hopeless girl with only false hope for the future for the sake of a film?

Fang Xinghe carefully observed the girl's eyes, expression, and every subtle muscle movement.

Then he fell into deep thought, for a long, long time.

Good news: Nen-xian remains very clear-headed and has not blurred the lines between reality and acting.

The bad news: she can't deliver a 99-point performance, especially in the last two key scenes.

She performed her daily scenes very well today.

But the big drama that broke out was another matter entirely.

While everyday scenes may account for more than 70% of the film's runtime, they only make up less than 30% of the audience's and even the judges' perceptions.

No matter how realistic and vivid the regular scenes are, if the explosive scenes fall short, then all the effort is wasted.

If you score 90 points in everyday scenes and 95 points in dramatic scenes, you're guaranteed to win an award.

Aside from the issue of immersion brought about by performance scores, explosive scenes also involve the balance between the actors playing opposite each other.

Acting is not a one-person job, and filming is even less so.

Anyone who's been a director knows that if one actor is too strong and the other too weak in a scene, resulting in an imbalance in the performance, then that shot can't be used.

The visuals are disjointed, the emotions are conflicting; releasing that kind of content would only annoy the audience.

Therefore, when choosing footage for scenes with other actors, directors always prioritize the weaker elements over the stronger ones.

Both scores were around 80 points; not particularly exciting, but watchable.

One is from the 80s and the other from the 95s; they're practically incompatible.

Therefore, if we want "Young Love" to reach a higher level overall, Chen Nian's explosive scenes must not be lacking.

90 points is just the baseline; it's best to get above 95.

In this way, Fang Xinghe's Xiao Bei can fully play its role and maintain balance with it.

Otherwise, it would be like in the previous life, where Little Yellow Duck contributed at least 94 points in performance, while the four-character brother scored a maximum of 89 points, with a significant gap between them. Not only did it look unbalanced and difficult to fully immerse himself, but it also failed to fully unleash Little Yellow Duck's potential.

This girl has a bad reputation for her personality, but no professional has ever criticized her for being bad. On the contrary, some people have said that all the topics she chose after "Young You" were a waste of her talent.

Now, Liu Yifei's outburst performance is less than 95 points, and the impact is not only on herself, which is the most troublesome part.

Fang Xinghe began to ponder whether there was any way to allow the little girl to both maintain her individuality and experience that despair.
In fact, there are.

However, he was unwilling to use it unless absolutely necessary.

After all, Brother Fang is such an upright person, how could he possibly start with his ultimate move without saying a word?
Let's talk about it some more...

After pondering for a while, Brother Fang decided to respond to her honesty with honesty.

"If I told you... well, if you miss Chen Nian, if you miss this opportunity, with your talent, you'll never be able to even get close to becoming a Best Actress in this lifetime, what would you think?"

Nenxian's pupils suddenly contracted, and then she revealed a very unconvinced and sulky little expression.

"I do not believe."

The little girl slowly retorted in a slightly hoarse voice.

"Compared to Yang Mi and others, I am particularly hardworking. I also have a spirit of sacrifice and am willing to put myself into a role. In 20 years, even if I only make one movie a year, I don't believe my acting skills won't improve to the level of an award-winning actress!"

Those mediocre, low-quality films you make?!
Fang Xinghe almost burst out laughing.

For well-known reasons, Fei Xian's film resources have been extremely limited since the middle of her career. New directors, bad scripts, money-grabbing co-productions... If it weren't for her action scenes that landed her a role in the streaming phenomenon "Mulan," would she have even bothered to become a brand ambassador for LV?
Even with all her titles upgraded and her commercial value expanded to the global market, she still didn't get any good roles in the domestic film industry.

However, no matter how much Fang Xinghe knew, he couldn't use the sword of the future to kill her in the present.

The young girl was very ambitious, so we had to think of another way.

"Simply being able to endure hardship is not enough."

Fang Gou slowly shook his head, revealing a bloody truth.

"I used the highest level of time, resources and cost to immerse you in the experience of Chen Nian for two months. This character and you have a large overlap in personality."

But in the end, you can only produce an answer sheet with a score of 80.

This is your true talent.

Who will give you that opportunity next time?
In mainland China, all directors except myself strictly adhere to time and budget limits when making films, and there are no longer big names like me, Sister Li, or Uncle Chen who personally teach you how to act.

You just finished filming "The Story of a Noble Family," so you should know very well what the atmosphere is like on a normal film set.

This is your only chance. If you can truly grasp it, your future acting career will be smooth sailing. If you decide to give up halfway, then it will be impossible to raise your talent ceiling again.

in addition……"

Fang Gou looked at the thoughtful and conflicted young fairy, and suddenly struck her hard.

“Experiencing Chen Nian’s despair does not mean you will necessarily become Chen Nian. My special training for you has always been based on pragmatism, integrating the three approaches of experiential learning, performance learning, and methodological learning.”

For your current situation, I have a simple and easy-to-implement solution—

The performance constructs mental images using expressionism, allowing the audience to experience Chen Nian's despair. Finally, during the actual performance, all unnecessary designs are abandoned, and the method approach is used to evoke emotions and activate that despair before allowing for free improvisation.

I have plenty of time to work with you repeatedly until you find the right rhythm and deliver your best performance.

What do you think of this approach? "

"Is it really possible?"

Liu Yifei was even more hesitant and conflicted. She felt that the method sounded pretty good, but something seemed off.

"of course can."

Fang Xinghe didn't let her think too much, and nodded solemnly: "Don't worry, I've tried it many times, it's very simple. Do I look like I've been affected anywhere?"

"Then...okay..."

Liu Yifei hesitated for a moment, but finally agreed.

She really wanted to play Chen Nian well, and it wasn't entirely for the sake of winning the Best Actress award; she just wanted to do a good job.

With Fang Xinghe's strong assurance, at least half of her worries dissipated, and she decided to give it another try.

"Alright, go back to sleep. You have scenes to film tomorrow."

Fang Xinghe escorted her to the door, looking very intently into her eyes.

"I am your Zhang Xiaobei. You should believe me. In the very end, I will definitely save you."

The little girl went back to rest with a sense of relief and understanding.

But lying in bed, she tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep.

And on the other side...

Chen Nian's good brother, Zhang Xiaobei, immediately went to find Gong Li.

"What's wrong, brother?"

Sister Li opened the door groggily, her eyes still heavy with sleep, and yawned loudly.

Before he could even finish yawning, Fang Xinghe hurriedly chased him home.

"Hurry home, Sister Li, don't stay with us."

"what?!"

Gong Li was taken aback: "No, my scenes haven't been filmed yet... and Sissi needs someone to mentor her... acting lessons and psychological counseling..."

"Pause everything!"

Fang Xinghe waved his hand forcefully.

"She's just one step away from recovery. We need to increase the intensity of her treatment. With you here, she'll always have something to rely on."

"Depend on!"

Upon hearing that this was the reason, the older sister became so angry that she swore.

"What happened before was already bad enough, why are you still going to torment this young girl? She's not cut out to be an award-winning actress, why are you forcing her to do things?!"

"Who says she can't win Best Actress?"

When it came to ideas, Fang Xinghe's eyes suddenly sharpened.

It's not aimed at Gong Li, but at that kind of worldly mindset.

"She came to my crew when she was still a raw talent, so no matter how many people didn't think she was good enough, I had to polish her into a star!"

"And then what?"

Gong Li became even angrier and questioned him in a quarrelsome manner.

"Even if she really gets incredibly lucky and wins a triple crown of Best Actor awards, what then? How long do you plan to let such a cute young girl get over Chen Nian's psychological trauma? Have you even asked her if she's willing? With her looks, what role could she play that wouldn't make her a huge star?!"

"Of course she would agree."

Fang Xinghe leaned against the door and chuckled softly, his voice suddenly becoming low and deep.

"Even if she resists now, she will be grateful to me sooner or later."

Sister Li, you don't understand her. She has no obsession with popularity, money, or career.

Whether she becomes famous or not, she will eventually return to her true self and be herself.

Now, she herself is unsure what she wants, but I'm certain that I'm not wrong in judging people.

It may take her a long time to shake off Chen Nian's influence, but she will definitely overcome it and see this experience as a valuable asset.

Gong Li was stunned, then asked suspiciously, "How can you be so sure?"

Fang Xinghe didn't explain, and just waved his hand lazily.

"In short, I trust her as much as I trust myself. Pack your things, Sister Li, it's time to let Xiaoying get rid of her parents' care."

When Fang Xinghe made his final decision in such a manner, even Gong Li would not object.

As both investor and director, he was the lifeblood of the production team.

"Fine, I'm leaving!"

Sister Li angrily grabbed the door and slammed it shut: "You get out too!"

With a bang, the door slammed shut, and the sound of things being packed up could be heard from inside.

Fang Xinghe shook his head, gave a wry smile, and the next moment, his expression became firm and resolute again.

Since I've chosen Fat Fairy, I must change her fate.

It's not for her, but to slap in the face all the haters and trolls who look down on me.

Is it only right to pay a price for this?
So, hate me all you want, Xiao Liu.

I don't need your understanding or gratitude, I just need you to... bring out your best.

Fang Gou decided to use a hot-and-cold attitude to give Nen Xian one last lesson—the despair of having no one who is real and trustworthy, and no one who can be relied upon.

As long as the rhythm is well controlled and the film is shot in sequence according to the final cut, Liu Yifei can get the training she needs for whatever emotions Chen Nian needs.

I refuse to believe that with my master-level demonic experience, I can't handle a little white flower like you!

Fang Gou sneered and went back to his room to sleep.

But what he never expected was...

At the end of the corridor, Liu Yifei pricked up her ears, pressed herself tightly against the slightly ajar door, covered her mouth tightly, and felt the green light around her surge violently as tears streamed down her face...

(End of this chapter)