1990: Starting from Baojia Street

Yu Hua and the others sat in Zhou Yan's office for a while, then went to the large recording studio to watch the Piano Youth Band's rehearsal, while Zhou Yan went to the practice room to teach Kudo Shizuka to practice ukulele.

Zhou Yan is actually not very familiar with ukulele, but ukulele is relatively simple, and Zhou Yan is more than capable of coaching Kudo Shizuka.

Kudo Shizuka first practiced solo ukulele alone. After a while, Zhou Yan said, "You can try playing and singing. There are no tricks in playing light bombs. The main thing is to combine playing and singing."

Playing and singing is a difficult thing. It doesn't mean that you can play and sing. The combination of playing and singing is very important.

Moreover, the playing part of this song is very simple, and there is actually nothing to practice. The key is to practice the rhythm of playing and singing well.

Shizuka Kudo nodded, prepared a little, then sat next to Zhou Yan and started playing and singing.

"I still remember the fireworks at that concert, and I still remember that cool late autumn..."

"still remember……"

As she sang, she looked at Zhou Yan with a smile, her eyes full of smiles.

After listening to the first three sentences, Zhou Yan's eyes lit up. He hadn't heard Shizuka Kudo sing for a few days. Did she improve so quickly with this song?
In fact, Kudo Shizuka had already sung very well before, including her pronunciation of the lyrics, but Zhou Yan always felt that there was a lack of excitement.

The song "Little Hands Holding Big Hands" is a sweet song of love. The singer needs to show that kind of love state when singing, but Kudo Shizuka has never been able to do it before.

Unexpectedly, Kudo Shizuka's state was very different today.

Zhou Yan nodded while listening. When the first chorus ended, he couldn't help but put his hands on the keyboard and played in harmony with Kudo Shizuka.

With the intervention of the piano, the accompaniment is more in line with the back-and-forth feeling in the lyrics.

The lyrics are "little hands holding big hands" and the music is "ukulele playing the piano".

When Zhou Yan's piano music first entered, Kudo Shizuka was a little flustered, but Zhou Yan was very experienced and quickly picked up her rhythm.

"Our little hands hold big hands"

"Cheer for me today"

"Reluctant to wave my hand"

Kudo Shizuka finished singing the last line, took a deep breath, and then couldn't help but lean over and kiss Zhou Yan on the cheek. This was the happiest time she had ever sang.

When playing and singing, she didn't need to think about anything at all, her hands and body unconsciously moved with the singing.

She only felt happy when she sang this song before, but when she sang this time, looking at Zhou Yan in front of her, she suddenly felt that the song was a bit dreamy.

The fireworks and wind in the lyrics are like elements in a love fairy tale, and at this time she is the heroine in the story.

Zhou Yan gently pushed Shizuka Kudo's hair behind her ears, "You sang very well this time. If you maintain the same state as before, the recording effect will definitely be fine."

Shizuka Kudo clenched her fists and said energetically, "I will, keep working hard."

Zhou Yan nodded and put his hand on the piano keys again, "When I was playing with you just now, I suddenly had an idea. I'm going to change the key and make it into a piano piece. I'll add it to the arrangement and let the piano follow it. The ukulele echoes each other. Although the perspective of this song is from a girl, it is definitely not a one-man show for girls. There must be a boy who always appears in it, and the piano represents this boy."

"Can you play the piano for me during the recording?"

"Yeah, no problem."

Then Zhou Yan played another piece of music and wrote it down.

After making several revisions, Zhou Yan performed another ensemble with Kudo Shizuka, and this time the effect was better than before.

The two practiced together in the practice room for more than an hour. Nangong Songzi walked in and asked, "How was your practice today?"

Zhou Yan nodded, "Very good, tomorrow..."

Shizuka Kudo said quickly, "We still need to practice for two more days."

Nangong Songzi didn't understand Chinese, so she only understood Kudo Shizuka's words, but the translator looked at Zhou Yan with confusion.

Zhou Yan was also a little surprised, because Kudo Shizuka was speaking in neon language, and he didn't understand it either.

Nangong Songzi said, "Since you have to practice for two more days, then postpone your return for two days. Your activities in the country will also be postponed."

Shizuka Kudo laughed and said, "There's nothing I can do about it, it's better for the album's effect."

Nangong Songzi nodded and said to Zhou Yan, "Mr. Zhou Yan, I will trouble you to take our Shizuka to practice more in the next two days."

After hearing the translation, Zhou Yan immediately understood that Kudo Shizuka must have said that recording could not be done for the time being.

At this moment, Shizuka Kudo was looking at Zhou Yan expectantly. Zhou Yan smiled. He did not expose Shizuka Kudo, but just nodded and said, "It's no trouble, as long as you don't waste time."

Hearing Zhou Yan say this, Kudo Shizuka also breathed a sigh of relief, with a bright smile on his face.

"We will make adjustments to Shizuka's time. Don't worry, Mr. Zhou Yan." Nangong Songzi said.

"Ah That's good."

Nangong Songzi asked, "Do you still want to practice?"

Zhou Yan looked at his watch and saw that there was still some time before dinner, so he nodded and said, "Let's practice for a while longer."

"Okay, then we won't disturb you."

After Nangong Songzi and the others left, Kudo Shizuka immediately sat on Zhou Yan's lap and looked at him lovingly, "You can't bear to leave me, right?"

Zhou Yan lifted her hips into his arms and smiled, "Are you sure you want to practice singing like this?"

It was Kudo Shizuka who took the initiative to sit on Zhou Yan's lap, but when Zhou Yan pressed her against her, her face turned red again.

She wanted to stand up, but Zhou Yan held her tightly.

Zhou Yan looked at her with a smile, "I've been practicing singing with you for such a long time, and I'm almost out of battery. Why don't you recharge it for me?"

"How to charge?"

"I will only demonstrate once..."

After saying that, Zhou Yan kissed Kudo Shizuka. Kudo Shizuka originally pushed Zhou Yan's chest to stand up, but soon became addicted to the passionate kiss.

It wasn't until Kudo Shizuka was suffering from hypoxia that Zhou Yan let her go.

After standing up, Kudo Shizuka pouted and said, "Is this charging?" while tidying up her clothes.

"Well, this is charging." Zhou Yan nodded with a smile.

"So, is it charged?"

"Charge it to 10%." Zhou Yan made a small gesture.

"so slow."

"This is slow charging. Of course it is slow. There is also fast charging, but it is not convenient for demonstration during the day."

Kudo Shizuka didn't react at first. It took her a few seconds to realize what Zhou Yan meant, and her face immediately turned red.

She picked up the ukulele and ran to a chair a little further away to sit down, "I'm practicing."

Seeing her face flushed, Zhou Yan stopped teasing her, nodded, and started to practice singing with her again.

In the next two days, Zhou Yan would spend one to two hours every day practicing singing with Kudo Shizuka. On the third day, Zhou Yan began to assist her in recording "Little Hands Holding Big Hands".

During the recording, Nangong Songzi was also very surprised. She didn't expect that Shizuka Kudo's practice in the past two days was so effective. This song felt much better than before.

It seems that it is worthwhile to postpone domestic activities for these two days of practice.

Zhou Yan participated in the entire process of this song, and he took the lead in the recording of lyrics, arrangement, vocals, and arrangement.

After the song was recorded, Shizuka Kudo and the others returned to Neon in the evening of the same day. Zhou Yan originally wanted to recharge his batteries, but he didn't have the chance.

……

Early the next morning, Zhou Yan went to Yanjing Studio. Today was the scheduled audition time for actors.

The audition was scheduled for nine-thirty, and Zhou Yan arrived at eight-thirty. He was about to go chat with Han Sanping for a while, but Wang Xiaoshuai pulled him and said, "The actors have basically arrived, why don't we just audition first."

Zhou Yan looked at his watch, then grabbed Wang Xiaoshuai's watch and looked at it to make sure his time was correct, "They came so early?"

Wang Xiaoshuai said with a smile, "You are a big director now. They came early to show respect."

"This is too early."

Zhou Yan naturally expected that the actors would arrive early, so he expected to start at nine o'clock, but he did not expect these actors to arrive so early.

"They all arrived in Yanjing early. They stayed at the guest house opposite last night. They had nothing to do in the morning, so they came early."

"It's better to wait a while. If it's half past nine, don't go too far in advance. However, you can first send them the script they will be auditioning for later and let them read it. This will give them a little more time to prepare."

"Ok."

"Is Director Huo here?"

"Lao Huo, he's over there in the small conference room."

The small conference room is where today's audition is held. Huo Jianqi is in charge of casting, and he is also doing the casting today.

When Wang Xiaoshuai called Huo Jianqi Lao Huo, Zhou Yan curled his lips and said with a smile, "It doesn't sound right if you just call him Lao Huo."

"That's what he asked for." Wang Xiaoshuai said seriously.

"That's fine."

Zhou Yan nodded and then went to Han Sanping's office.

I chatted with Han Sanping for a while and asked about some recent film policies.

The policy in this area has basically been set. "The Fugitive" will be released in China soon, and it will be the first partial blockbuster.

During this period, Han Sanping didn't mention Zhu Lin's matter, and Zhou Yan didn't take the initiative to mention it.

Although he has a good relationship with Han Sanping, he will never choose Zhu Lin because of this. Being given a chance to audition is already his bottom line.

Han Sanping probably knew this, so he simply didn't mention it, otherwise it would embarrass both parties.

……

After saying goodbye to Han Sanping, Zhou Yan went to the small conference room. There was a row of actors sitting in the corridor. They were either reading the script carefully alone, or they were chatting together.

Zhou Yan said he wanted to organize an audition, so Huo Jianqi simply made appointments with a few more people. Apart from the students, he basically made appointments with all the characters in the film from top to bottom, including more than one person for most of the roles. actor.

There were about thirty or forty actors in the corridor. Someone noticed Zhou Yan and immediately greeted him, "Director Zhou."

The sound of "Director Zhou" attracted the attention of others, and everyone looked over.

Everyone had different expressions, some were surprised, some were curious, and some had a flattering smile. Although Zhou Yan is still a new director, his results are too dazzling, especially at the box office of Neon. In the hearts of the actors, Zhou Yan's weight is Still very heavy.

Zhou Yan nodded to them, "Good morning everyone, thank you all for taking the time to attend today's audition. Many of my friends came from other places, which is not easy. Don't be anxious, everyone. We will come one by one according to the serial numbers we got. We strive to end your auditions today. Friends with lower numbers can also arrange their time freely and come back at about the same time."

"Director Zhou is too polite."

"We're in no rush."

Zhou Yan then walked directly into the small conference room without greeting them, and started preparing for the audition with a few deputies.

Zhou Yan had already received the list of actors for the audition in advance. After arriving, he confirmed with Huo Jianqi, "Are all the actors on the list here?"

Huo Jianqi handed Zhou Yan a sign-in list, "They're all here, no one left behind. Here is the serial number they got."

Zhou Yan glanced briefly, nodded and said, "Set up the machine and let people come in."

"Okay, I'll call someone."

After a while, the first actor to audition came in.

"Hello directors, I am Qin Yong from Shanghai Repertory Theater. I am thirty-eight years old this year..."

Qin Yong has participated in many film and television dramas, but they were all supporting roles and did not have many roles. The one he auditioned for was the previous superintendent of the school.

This character has very few scenes, that is, he showed up for a while and said a few lines during the transition with the protagonist.

Qin Yong has an average appearance, of medium height. He is said to be thirty-eight years old, but he looks like he is forty-eight, which makes him look older.

But his acting skills were very good. After the audition, Zhou Yan was very satisfied.

Mainly because the role he auditioned for really didn't have much room for performance, so it was just fine.

When the audition was over, Zhou Yan drew a circle behind his name. If nothing else happened, the role would be his.

The second person to audition was the main teacher. This role was much more important than the former superintendent, so there were two actors competing.

Zhou Yan read this and felt it was average, so he wrote "To be determined" next to his name and prepared to read it later.

……

I kept seeing the ninth one, Zhu Lin came in.

When he saw Zhu Lin, Zhou Yan narrowed his eyes.

Zhu Lin's dress is somewhat similar to the description of Lin Lin in the script. She has slightly curly shoulder-length hair, with one side of her hair tucked behind her ears. She wears a gray coat... The coat Zhu Lin wears is black, which is consistent with the description in the script. Not quite the same.

Although the colors of the clothes are different, Zhu Lin's overall outfit today still feels very good to Zhou Yan and fits the character very well.

Is it possible that Han Sanping read the script to Zhu Lin in advance?
Zhou Yan didn't think Han Sanping would do such a thing, but Zhu Lin's dress forced him to think this way.

"Hello directors, I am Zhu Lin, an actor from Emei Factory. This year..."

Although Zhu Lin was already a famous actor, she still introduced herself to Zhou Yan and the others very seriously.

Zhou Yan looked at Zhu Lin up and down again, smiled and said, "It seems you have done some research on this character."

Zhu Lin explained with a smile, "I just got my part of the script in the morning and went back to change my clothes. Unfortunately, I didn't bring a gray coat this time, otherwise it would fit the character better."

Zhou Yan nodded. Zhu Lin was quite smart. She not only knew how to go back and change clothes to increase her image points, but she may have realized that there was something in Zhou Yan's words, so she deliberately explained it. (End of chapter)