enjoyebooks Chapter 123 Actors
Chapter 123 Actors
In short, the least interesting film Wang Xiaohao made was "Beautiful Legend". He basically just copied the original and had nothing of his own.
However, copying is also a way to learn calligraphy. After Wang Xiaohao remade "Beautiful Legend", his directing skills suddenly improved significantly.
By the time of the third film, "My Love from the Star," it was already considered a semi-original work, as it was an adaptation of a TV series.
Wang Xiaohao felt a sense of exhilaration throughout the entire filming process!
As for filming this fourth installment of "Love Letter," it's a good opportunity to hone my skills.
There seems to be a saying in the directing world that a director's third film is often the most important one for the director personally.
It was the moment that truly established his personal style and marked the beginning of his maturation as a director!
A director's first film is often a flash of genius.
The second film is often an extension of the first film.
It wasn't until the third film that the director began to transform, moving towards a more mature direction.
So you see, most directors' third films are generally not very good.
Those are often semi-finished prototypes produced during the transition period!
Of course, there are also some genius directors who maintain an excellent standard even in their third installment.
Some directors simply lack ambition. By the third installment, they're still relying on the success of the first film!
Yes, that's possible!
In the movie "My Love from the Star", Wang Xiaohao mastered the most important aspect of commercial films: pacing.
But in this fourth film, he shifted from commercial films to art films!
In this project, Wang Xiaohao will learn to create works with greater depth and meaning.
Or rather, how to imbue a film with meaning and spirit!
Calligraphy works emphasize spirit and rhythm.
There are movies too!
That's what the language of the camera gives it!
The love letter scene is simple, and the plot isn't complicated once you follow the clues.
Perfect for Wang Xiaohao to practice!
However, Wang Xiaohao actually found it very uncomfortable to film.
Because after mastering the rhythm in "My Love from the Star", he found that after making an art film like "Love Letter", he needed to abandon the rhythm, or rather, put down the rhythm.
Because the most important thing in art films is not pacing, but emotion!
Every great art film has an emotion that runs through it.
Having figured this out, Wang Xiaohao suddenly felt that his changes to "Beautiful Legend" seemed a bit superfluous.
The film "Beautiful Legend" contains the director's narcissism, with its lengthy monologues.
This monologue actually constitutes the director's complex feelings towards his hometown.
This is also why "Beautiful Legend" became one of the trilogy about returning home.
But Wang Xiaohao, in his own cleverness, deleted all of these things.
This seems to have caused a problem with the film's emotional tone...
Wang Xiaohao wanted to use some empty shots to replace the monologue.
For example, the undulating waves on a cold, gloomy beach, or the changing clouds in the sky, can be used to express that emotion.
However, it's clear that the results weren't very good!
Perhaps it is these changes that make it difficult for "Beautiful Legend" to reach the heights of later generations!
During that period, realizing this, Wang Xiaohao began to doubt his own abilities.
Furthermore, for Wang Xiaohao, the most crucial part is not the third installment.
At that time, Jin Ningxin was the female lead, and he felt that filming was extremely difficult and awkward!
Jin Ningxin is undoubtedly a very beautiful woman, and she also has a very good personality.
She'd be wonderful as a friend, or even a lover! But as an actress, she comes across as a blockhead, clueless and unintelligent!
He needed to explain the play to Jin Ningxin first.
There's no need to talk about theories or delve into the characters' inner thoughts. Jin Ningxin, a young lady from a wealthy family, has never experienced any of that.
My imagination is terrible too!
She simply cannot understand what you are saying to her!
Therefore, Wang Xiaohao could only break it down and explain it to her in detail, even demonstrating it himself to show her what to do.
In this way, Jin Ningxin was able to copy it perfectly.
Even so, the effect that Jin Ningxin could produce was at best barely satisfactory.
Close-ups are not allowed; only medium and long shots, or even montages, can be used.
After filming Jin Ningxin for a long time, Wang Xiaohao began to doubt that he was not good at directing at all, or even that he was not suitable to be a director!
However, now that Qi Zhen has taken over, it's a completely different story.
While filming Qi Zhen's scenes, Wang Xiaohao's confidence returned completely!
Good actresses are truly captivating!
This isn't to say she's a particularly good actress or anything like that. She uses seventeen or eighteen different acting techniques to perform a single scene!
It's something that's naturally perfect, you know?
Every gesture and movement was a performance.
Everywhere you look, the photos are perfect; you can take them from any angle.
This thing is a bit like playing mahjong; you can get whichever tile you want, which is even more fun than cheating with the "one tile" tile!
Playing the Golden Heart card is like having bad luck in cards. You want to find a two, and you manage to make four twos, but you can only draw a three of spades...
That's how desperate I was!
At this point, Wang Xiaohao had to admit that good directors and good actors absolutely complement each other!
Perhaps in commercial films, actors don't need to perform exceptionally well.
But you really can't make an art film without good actors!
Ideally, it would be someone like Qi Zhen; if that's not possible, Zhen Liang would be a good alternative. But under no circumstances should it be Jin Ningxin!
Wang Xiaohao discovered that the reason why a good actress like Qi Zhen could make every gesture so expressive was because of her acting skills.
It's because they have a strong imagination and a great sense of immersion.
She seemed to have become the character herself, every move she made was imbued with emotion.
Even if you don't look at her face or her expression, just seeing her actions can have an emotional impact.
It was as if someone had just stood up from the snow, looking bewildered!
The scene before us is Hiroko slowly waking up in the snow, opening her eyes to find herself surrounded by a world of ice and snow.
The space between heaven and earth was vast and boundless, with nothing but a few trees in the distance.
The female lead's black coat stands out starkly against the snowy landscape!
The whole process started with the female protagonist lying down in the snow, then suddenly coughing, and then breathing rapidly as if she had been holding her breath for a long time.
Like a drowning person on the verge of death!
She stood up, wanting to hold onto something, but reluctantly let go.
She raised her head and looked up at the sky, where her most beloved person lived in that distant heaven.
The emotions build up gradually!
All of this was vividly portrayed in Qi Zhen's performance.
It's even better than Wang Xiaohao imagined!
Watching Qi Zhen's performance on the monitor, Wang Xiaohao almost wanted to applaud and cheer.
However, he forced himself to hold back!
Even though Wang Xiaohao is a layman when it comes to acting, he knows that Qi Zhen is now completely immersed in the role. Beneath her calm exterior lies a strong emotional rollercoaster.