Generation Z Artists

Chapter 35: Skills of Hard Work

In a small practice room at the People's Art Theatre, Teacher Feng was giving Fang his first lesson.

"Xiao Fang, are you going to pursue a career in film and television acting in the future?"

Fang Xinghe nodded honestly: "Yes, Mr. Feng, I like movies more than drama."

"Normal, I'm also willing to try film and television acting."

Feng Yuanzheng was very open-minded and then brought up the key point.

“Then you have to understand the essential differences between film and television acting and theatre acting.

A drama performance is a continuous performance performed with fixed partners on a closed stage under the gaze of the entire audience.

There are no NGs, no do-overs, only tense nerves at all times, relatively more exaggerated body language, and clear and sufficient lines.

Film and television performances, on the other hand, are about giving the fullest possible clip in an open and chaotic space, according to the director's needs.

So you can take shortcuts in film and television performances. If you shoot 100 takes of the same shot and contribute one high-quality clip, that's enough.

Why do Wang Jiawei’s movies always produce best actor and best actress?
Grinded out.

Other directors would rather shoot in just one take to save film, but he really aimed to shoot more than 100 takes.

Okay, back to the point -

For actors, the overall difficulty of drama performance is obviously higher.

But at the same time, the requirements for micro-expressions such as eye contact in film and television performances are higher than those in theatrical performances.

The fundamental purpose of the two is different, which leads to the differences.

And this is exactly why the scholastical teaching ignores the body - in film and television dramas, subtle facial expressions come first.

Then there is another question: if your training system is not sound, how can there be no cost?

Mr. Si can only give an answer of 90 points at most.

It’s different with Stanislavsky. We attach the most importance to physicality, because we believe that only by starting from the body can we dig out the most extreme emotions, which is something that the simple Stanislav experiential school cannot do.

Why can we do it but they can't?
Come, start warming up now, and I’ll tell you why with examples.”

Fang Xinghe said nothing and just followed the warm-up silently.

It is natural for Teacher Feng to praise Ge's music as the best in the world, but Fang Xinghe would not believe it completely. He has his own judgment.

After going through a series of relaxation movements to fully awaken the muscles and stretch the joints, Feng Yuanzheng took him through a set of body movements called "Dolphin Training".

The movement itself is not complicated - stretch out your arms and walk rhythmically in circles in the classroom.

Rotate your shoulders and arms, stretch your elbows back as far as possible, rotate your hands and arms in the opposite direction, and at the same time, lift your shoulders up and try to lengthen your neck.

At this time, imagine yourself as a dolphin, gradually increase the rhythm, and "raise" your body little by little.

Does it sound a bit confusing?
But if you push the intensity to the extreme, stretch the duration, and perform the movements with utter precision, something amazing can happen.

Fang Xinghe followed the instruction and imagined leaping out of the water like a dolphin breaking through the waves.

As the intensity of the movement increases to the extreme, the blood surges upward, the qi rushes upward, and it seems that the sound of the sea water surges in the ears along with the movement of the arms...

Tired, dizzy, dazed, and physically overwhelmed.

But at a certain moment, when he struggled to jump up, he suddenly felt incomparable freedom, joy and satisfaction.

The extreme action does bring an extreme emotional experience.

The body and the mind are always connected.

Yes, dolphin training is not to make actors swim like dolphins, but to activate the emotional experience of "freedom and satisfaction" in their hearts.

Feng Yuanzheng looked at Fang Xinghe, who was a little dazed but still persisting, and smiled with satisfaction.

He began to guide the boy's thinking.

“Have you seen The Shawshank Redemption?

Suppose I were a director and I wanted the actors to act out a scene of someone being detained for a long time and finally being freed, and the requirement was to accurately release their emotions.

For an experiential actor, if he has experienced losing his freedom, such as being detained and tortured by a pyramid scheme, then that's good, he will go on stage and give a 90-point performance.

If I polish it more carefully, I might be able to get 95 points.

But if he has never had a similar experience, then that would be troublesome.

How to act?
Director, wait a minute, I will find a prison and experience it for a few days. However, this experience is definitely distorted, because he has not really lost his freedom, and he does not know what it feels like to regain his freedom.

Really listen, really watch, really feel, what is the core of the St. Petersburg experience?
No more, right?

If he is an expressionist actor, he will start to construct the image of the character in his mind.

Who is the character?

What were you imprisoned for?

What's his personality like, what are his family relationships like, what accent does he speak in?
How should a person with all of the above characteristics react to this situation?
It's all very exaggerated, after all the design and performance.

A good expressionist actor can give a performance worth 80 points, but an average actor can hardly give 60 points.

Routine, superficial, and nothing that can touch people's hearts.

This is the limitation of pure imitation by expressionist actors.

If he is a method actor, then he will definitely substitute some similar emotions.

I have never been to jail, but after the college entrance examination, when I screamed and threw away my books, the emotion should be similar. OK, just use it.

So the actor gave a surprise of finally being freed, and released it with great excitement, with a vision for the future.

There is nothing wrong with acting this way, but can the freedom of ending your studies really compare to the freedom of regaining a new life?

Impossible, right?
But the problem is, if you give more emotion, it will immediately seem exaggerated.

If the precision is not enough, trying to make up for it in quantity will definitely not work.

So you see, when faced with very special performance requirements, most people can't perform well.

However, if you are asked to perform, and you insist on the most intensive dolphin training and flying training every day, then you don’t need to act at all——

It’s enough to get back to the moment, look up, and glance at the camera.”

I'm so, so cool!
Fang Xinghe understood, and because he understood, he was shocked.

The underlying core of both Ge’s and Stanislavsky’s schools emphasize “starting from experience”, but Ge’s school is more extreme, exploring a variety of emotions through the principle of “the connection between body and emotions”.

Therefore, more real, more brutal, more pious, more aggressive.

Fang Xinghe finally understood why Feng Yuanzheng could play An Jiahe so perverted, because there was a part in the relevant training that specifically explored the "primitive animality".

It is not a simple brutality, but a more naked animality, the most simple, profound and honest.

Fang Xinghe finally became convinced that Gepai was created for special emotions.

You have to know that not every acting system has specific actor training methods. The Stanislavsky system has it, and the Method School has it, but the two of them combined are not as extreme as the Ge School.

Well, to put it simply: exceptionally good at metamorphosis.

Because the actors in Gepai are also very perverted in how they treat themselves...

On that day, Fang Xinghe's training lasted for a full eight hours. Except for eating and resting in between, he was almost always doing various high-intensity movements.

After Teacher Feng sent him home, he was so tired that he hardly wanted to move at all.

But at around 9 o'clock, the boy still managed to get up and wrote an article.

"The basic skills of an actor, voice, stage, shape and performance, are essentially the pursuit of liberating one's body and achieving freedom of control.

Control is the lifelong skill of an actor and the foundation of all performances.

There is no threshold to performing in real life, however, realistic and vivid film and television drama performances are an art that requires extremely talent and persistence.

Controlling the tear glands, controlling the eyes, controlling the facial muscles, doing all of this is just the beginning, there are still many difficulties to come.

The good news is that Gersch has a high ceiling and can overcome all obstacles.

The bad news is that Ge's work was indeed hard. The extreme training brought him extreme fatigue and pain, which was the case on the first day and every day thereafter.

What’s even more difficult is that no one can tell me how long I have to persist until the clouds clear and the moon appears, and I can truly reach that artistic peak.

But I am not afraid, I will work hard and burn myself with all my strength."

Putting down the pen, Fang Xinghe added 10 experience points to the [German Actor Training Method] in the panel.

Close your eyes and feel it, a lot of insights will come to your mind.

Well, hard work also requires skills, I wonder if you understand...

(End of this chapter)