Huayu 2011: Starting with Hilarious Men

Chapter 88 Unsealing the Demon Orb Deng Chao

Lin Wenruo and others, who had just returned to school, watched Deng Chao and Zheng Nan act together from the outside.

"Big stars are handsome." Yuan Bingyan didn't bother to look at Zheng Nan, focusing all her attention on Deng Chao.

"Stop looking, you'll drool if you keep looking," Lin Wenruo teased Yuan Bingyan for her infatuated look. "Besides, she got married last year and already has a child."

"I'm just appreciating it. Looking at handsome guys is good for your mental and physical health," Yuan Bingyan argued forcefully, not forgetting to pull her best friend Reba to speak for her: "Reba, don't you think so?"

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Reba asked, somewhat bewildered.

"Reba, what are you thinking about? You've been spacing out since last night," Yuan Bingyan asked with some concern.

"I was reading a serialized novel yesterday and I kept thinking about the plot." Dilraba tapped her head, trying to clear her mind.

Yesterday, Dilraba spent an hour reading through all the currently updated chapters of the original novel of "With You".

This 60,000-word passage mainly describes the female protagonist, Geng Geng, entering Zhenhua High School as a first-year student and her first encounter with the male protagonist, Yu Huai.

To become deskmates.

Then, the daily life and awkward interactions on campus during the first semester of high school —

What happens next?

That's all! The book ends here.

This story left Dilraba feeling neither here nor there; she couldn't imagine how it would develop, and she had no idea how Zheng Nan planned to adapt it.

"Stop reading novels and come look at this handsome guy with me. He's a big star. Let's go up and get a photo with him later," Yuan Bingyan suggested.

"By the way, isn't Deng Chao the first big star we've ever met in real life?" Ren Yi asked.

The group exchanged glances, and it seemed to be true.

Even though they are students at the Shanghai Theatre Academy, they don't usually have the opportunity to meet big stars.

In the second season of "Hilarious Men", the guest appearances by celebrities were basically filmed by Zheng Nan, and none of Lin Wenruo and the others made it.

So Deng Chao really was the first big star they had ever seen, met, or even met in person.

"I actually prefer to see Fan Bingbing," Lin Wenruo commented.

"I'd rather see Misaka Mikoto," the veteran anime fan said.

"You're dead." Lin Wenruo kicked Ren Yi, sending him flying a great distance.

"OK, cut! This one's done," Zheng Nan shouted.

Deng Chao's acting skills are undeniable; at this stage, he can easily outshine Zheng Nan.

Zheng Nan's acting skills are more than enough for "Hilarious Men", and Deng Chao is a performer who can get the role in one take.

"Is that all? My facial expressions during the transformation were off, was that okay?" Deng Chao, who had been acting in movies a lot lately, immediately raised a question.

The large size of movie screens and the frequent use of close-ups magnify the actors' subtle facial expressions, making it impossible to hide even the slightest out-of-character expression.

Furthermore, film performances tend to be restrained and subtle, often relying on eye contact and subtle expressions to convey emotions, thus demanding a high level of facial expression from the actors.

Television dramas have small screens, often use medium and wide shots, and have fast shooting pace and tight schedules, so the performances are more extroverted and formulaic, relying on lines and body language to convey emotions.

Therefore, when acting in TV dramas, the subtle details of facial expressions are not easily noticed by the audience, so there is no need to scrutinize facial expressions to the extreme, and the performance range is wider.

The standards for web series are lower than those for television dramas; basically, as long as the actors can perform their roles smoothly, that's fine.

Of course, this excludes high-quality online dramas.

In the future era of short dramas, the pace of the scenes will be extremely fast! There will be a plot twist almost every few seconds. Actors will not have time to build up their emotions through micro-expressions. They must immediately use exaggerated expressions to convey their emotions directly to the audience.

As times change, so do the requirements for actors.

Zheng Nan gave a brief explanation, then asked, "Is filming web series interesting, Brother Chao?"

"To be honest, it's quite interesting." Deng Chao nodded.

Deng Chao has an abstract spirit in his bones, but it was suppressed by serious performances in TV dramas and movies in the past.

In his previous life, Deng Chao gradually unleashed his true nature by participating in variety shows.

Zheng Nan is now preparing to partially remove the seal on the Demon Orb through the filming of "Hilarious Men".

"Brother Chao, do you want to shoot something different?" Zheng Nan asked, like a big bad wolf with a poisoned apple, trying to lure the sea snail maiden.

"What's different? I don't film anything that's illegal or non-compliant." Deng Chao's eyelids twitched, and he suddenly had a bad feeling.

"Don't worry, we're a legitimate film crew!" Zheng Nan assured him confidently.

The unserious production team was already written to go bankrupt in chapter 43.

"Give it a try?" Deng Chao agreed without even asking his agent's opinion.

"Hehe, Brother Chao, wait for me, I'll go get you the script."

On the rented bus.

Deng Chao is ready.

Zheng Nan even recruited Deng Chao's agent to act as an extra.

"Shot 1, Act 7 on the bus, ACTION!" Lin Wenruo stepped up and clapped the clapperboard.

A series of muffled, continuous "puffing" sounds rang out inside the bus.

Passengers around them frowned, covered their noses, and looked around with disgust and discomfort.

Zheng Nan frowned, turned to look at Deng Chao, and said with dissatisfaction, "You're such a big star, taking the bus is one thing, but can't you at least be a little more considerate?"

Deng Chao didn't answer, looking innocent and pretending not to hear, his eyes looking elsewhere.

Then came several louder, more frequent farts, causing passengers to scramble to get out of the way and cough.

-

"You can put one or two down, but you're putting them down in strings! This is a public place, not your home!" Zheng Nan shouted, unable to bear it any longer.

Deng Chao immediately turned around, his face a mixture of surprise and anger, and retorted, "Are you kidding me, sir? There are so many people on this bus, how can you say I put them here?"

"Who else could it be but you? That voice, that smell, who else could it be?"

"Everything needs evidence! What makes you say I released it? What evidence do you have?" Deng Chao's voice grew louder and louder.

The camera slowly pulls back, revealing an elderly woman with gray hair behind Deng Chao.

The woman's hair was completely standing on end and was in a mess, with a faint "smoke" swirling around her head. Her face was dark, her features were distorted, and she had a pained and aggrieved expression on her face.

"Evidence? Look what you've done to this old lady! She's smoking! Isn't that evidence?" Zheng Nan said, pointing at the old lady.

"Big star, please spare this old lady's life—you're going to kill me—"

Deng Chao did appear in the original version of "Men's Diary," but Zheng Nan gave his jokes to Jiang Jinfu in the first season.

So this time, we found the original Liu Yan's skit for Deng Chao to perform.

"How was it? Did you enjoy the performance?" After the performance, Zheng Nan didn't forget to ask how it went.

"You know what, it was quite enjoyable to act in." Deng Chao nodded in agreement.

He had never been so unrestrained in his previous TV dramas and movies.

"The most important thing in life is to be happy."

"When I become a director in the future, I'd like you to make a cameo appearance." Before leaving, Deng Chao left Zheng Nan's contact information and this promise.