1990: Starting from Baojia Street

"How about our acting department go there together tomorrow? What do you think, Teacher Huang?" Tian Youliang asked, pulling Huang Dingyu's arm.

Huang Dingyu said with a smile, "Of course I can do both, but if all of us from the acting department are going, do we have to ask Teacher Liang?"

He was talking about Liang Bolun, the head teacher of the 95 acting class.

Huang Dingyu thought that since students from all three grades had gone to visit Zhou Yan's studio, it would not be a good idea to leave out the 95th grade students alone.

"It's okay, Teacher Liang, I'll go talk to him later." Chang Li said.

"Okay, then it's settled." Tian Youliang said with a smile.

Zhou Yan smiled and nodded, "Okay, I'll be waiting for you all in the studio tomorrow."

……

They chatted for a while, and Xiao Can had almost finished what he said to the students.

Like the students of Class of 93, everyone is very interested in this new movie.

It can also be seen that their enthusiasm is even stronger than that of their seniors from grade 93.

This is understandable because they have just entered college and most of them have not really been exposed to film shooting. They are full of infinite curiosity and desire for acting.

What’s more important is that because they are freshmen, the school has very strict management and does not allow them to go out to film.

If students spend more time filming outside than the school stipulates, they will be expelled, and none of these freshmen dare to violate the rules.

Even though they have only been at the school for a few months, many of them have already received quite a few invitations. However, due to school rules, they are unable to accept them.

But now their class teacher Chang Li has personally brought the directors into the classroom, which at least shows that the class teacher has no objection to them participating in this movie. This is a rare opportunity for them and they must certainly seize it.

Xiao Can also said just now that the filming time of the movie will most likely be during next summer vacation, so it will not conflict with school rules.

Even if the final filming time is not in the summer and they cannot participate, they still want to join in the fun.

Even if you just go for an audition, it can be considered as gaining experience.

Since they want to be actors, they will have to experience these things in the future.

Besides, their roles may not be very long, so it doesn't take too long to shoot. Maybe they can just take a weekend and then take two days off to finish it.

The school is strict, but it doesn't mean you can't film at all. If you just spend some time to make a cameo appearance and it doesn't exceed the maximum time you're away from school as stipulated by the school, there's no problem.

Class monitor Zhang Tong got the contact information from Xiao Can and made an appointment to contact him later. That was the end of the class of 96.

"Teacher Gao, I'm sorry to have taken up your time. We'll leave now and leave the class to you." Zhou Yan said goodbye to Gao Jinwen with a smile.

Gao Jinwen asked, "Are you going back now?"

Tian Youliang quickly said, "No, Director Zhou and the others have already agreed to go watch our class rehearse a play."

He was also afraid that Zhou Yan and the others had forgotten about this, so when Gao Jinwen asked, he reminded them again.

"Is it the movie No Name?"

Gao Jinwen also taught the 93 acting class, so he naturally knew the play "No Name" that they had been rehearsing. He had also guided the students many times.

Tian Youliang nodded and said, "Yes, that one. Wang Qianyuan and the others want to perfect this play. Maybe there will be a chance to perform it commercially later."

"Of course it's a good idea." Gao Jinwen pondered for a moment and suddenly said, "How about this, I'll go with you to take a look."

Chang Li was surprised and said, "Teacher Chang, come with us, these students in the class..."

Gao Jinwen waved his hand, "Of course you can go with me. It's a rare opportunity that Qianyuan and Naiwen are rehearsing "No Name". I'll take this opportunity to take these kids in your class to learn from them and see what the level of their seniors is like. Some students can cry because of homework for a whole semester. This is a good opportunity for them to find their gaps and find their direction."

Hearing Gao Jinwen say this, Chang Li couldn't help but glance at Liu Ye and Zhang Ziyi, the two of them hugged each other and cried about their semester assignments.

Zhang Ziyi and Liu Ye also knew that Gao Jinwen was talking about them, and they felt a little embarrassed because they had not finished their homework yet, the semester was about to end, and they were under increasing pressure.

In fact, if everyone was like this, they would be fine. The main reason was that they two couldn't hand in one assignment, while Qin Hao had already handed in five or six assignments.

So when Liu Ye was with Zhang Ziyi, he not only cried, but also scolded Qin Hao for being too pretentious.

This is Gao Jinwen's class. Gao Jinwen has full authority over what to do. Even Chang Li, the class teacher, has no control over it.

Moreover, Chang Li also felt that what Gao Jinwen said was right. Taking the students to see how their seniors performed could also help them learn something.

The students were very happy when they learned that they were going to watch their seniors from Class of 93 rehearse a drama. No matter what they did, it was better than staying in the classroom.

……

When everyone arrived at the small theater, Wang Qianyuan and his team had not yet started formal rehearsal and were still gathered together discussing something.

Originally according to the plan, they had already started rehearsing, but just now they heard Tian Youliang say that he would bring Zhou Yan and the others back to watch, so Wang Qianyuan decided to take his classmates and wait until Zhou Yan and the others came back before rehearsing.

However, Wang Qianyuan and the others did not expect that not only Zhou Yan and the others came, but also the junior brothers and sisters from Class 96 were brought by Teacher Gao.

The seniors from Class 96 were all very happy to see the juniors from Class 93, especially the seniors, because the juniors from Class 96 were really good-looking.

Tian Youliang walked over and gave Wang Qianyuan a few instructions, and the students began to rehearse formally.

It was called a rehearsal, but in fact it was more like a formal performance, and the audience was Zhou Yan and his group.

……

"No Name" was better than Zhou Yan expected, and the performance of these students was also beyond his expectations.

Tian Youliang's introduction is indeed much simpler. The drama has a lot of good details and some of the lines are very interesting.

But unfortunately, this is not a mature work.

Zhou Yan could see that the students were very conflicted while creating this drama.

At some point in time, they probably wanted to create an experimental, confusing play.

But at another time, they seemed to want to make the content of the drama more substantial and the story more compelling so as not to leave the audience too confused.

The end result was that they neither completed an experimental work, nor did they have a good storyline, and the main theme of the story was somewhat confusing.

They wanted to express so much that they could not express much. After more than an hour and forty minutes, the play ended and the audience applauded. Xiao Can and Huo Jianqi also began to congratulate Tian Youliang.

In response to Xiao Can and Huo Jianqi's congratulations, Tian Youliang smiled and nodded, then he looked at Zhou Yan, wanting to hear what Zhou Yan had to say.

Zhou Yan did not give any special suggestions. He just smiled and congratulated Xiao Can and the others, "Teacher Tian, ​​congratulations. You must be very happy that the students have produced such an excellent work. This drama is not only well-written, but the actors' performances are also very good."

Although Zhou Yan and the others were indeed praising him, Tian Youliang was slightly disappointed because that was not what he wanted to hear.

Tian Youliang is just an acting teacher and he can't actually provide any help to his students in terms of creation.

Of course, students in the performing arts department don’t really focus on creation in their studies.

The actor's task is to interpret the role well. As for the creative work, it is the job of the director, screenwriter and other behind-the-scenes workers. Although the actors also have to pay attention to it, they don't need to put too much energy into it.

At least this is the case when studying in school. If a student becomes interested in creation later, it is only after graduation.

However, since the students of Class 93 had created such an original drama and put a lot of thought into it, Tian Youliang still wanted to help the students improve the drama.

The Central Academy of Drama also has a directing department, and Tian Youliang has sought help and guidance from teachers in the directing department. However, today Zhou Yan and several other directors are here, and he also hopes that Zhou Yan and others can give some valuable suggestions.

It’s just that Zhou Yan and the others were unwilling to go into details, and Tian Youliang didn’t feel comfortable asking for more information.

But at this time Gao Jinwen suddenly said, "Director Zhou, Director Huo, and Director Xiao, you should not only give praise, but also give some real criticism. The play they tinkered with is indeed quite good, but I also believe that in your eyes, this play must have many problems."

Zhou Yan and the other two looked at each other, and then Huo Jian spoke first, "If we talk about problems, then most works in the world have problems. First of all, we have to admit that a work with flaws is a good work. This drama just happens to perfectly showcase the current talents of students, which is better than the work itself."

"Director Huo, this is too official." Gao Jinwen was obviously not satisfied with Huo Jianqi's answer.

Huo Jianqi looked at Xiao Can with a smile, "Old Xiao, give Coach Gao an unofficial one."

Xiao Can smiled and said, "I think there is nothing wrong with the students' performance. It may be that some parts of the script were not perfect."

In fact, it’s not that the students’ performances are so perfect that there is nothing to fault with them, but Xiao Can can’t say that. There are several acting teachers here, and if he mentions the acting, he would be showing off his skills in front of an expert.

"What's not perfect?" Gao Jinwen continued to ask.

It can be seen that he is not going to let Xiao Can and the others go.

Seeing that he couldn't fool the audience, Xiao Can considered his words carefully and said, "In the first scene, there are too many exchanges between the protagonist and the villagers. It can be seen that you want to show that the protagonist is not unfamiliar with the villagers in this village. But this is obviously counterproductive. If you just want to highlight that they are familiar with each other, you should reduce the exchanges..."

Hearing Xiao Can's words, Gao Jinwen nodded frequently. He felt that what Xiao Can said made a lot of sense.

In fact, Wang Qianyuan and his team spent a long time thinking about the lines in this section. They wanted to use the lines to reflect the relationship between the protagonist and the villagers, which is not unfamiliar, but not very familiar.

So their conversation has a lot of lines, but it's also a bit polite.

Wang Qianyuan and Li Naiwen looked at each other and felt that Xiao Can was right.

In fact, they also think that there are problems with the lines in this paragraph, but they have always felt that there should be better lines, but they have not thought of it now.

Now it seems that they were heading in the wrong direction. There was no need to think of better lines. They could just reduce the lines in this section. Sometimes, the frequency of the lines itself can express a lot.

"What I said are just my personal opinions and are for reference only. Please forgive me if there are any inappropriate remarks," Xiao Can added.

Tian Youliang said with a laugh, "The ancients said, 'If you hear the truth in the morning, you can die in the evening.' Although we don't have the same spirit of seeking knowledge as the ancients, we are naturally very happy to receive guidance from professionals like Director Xiao and find out our shortcomings. The students spent a lot of time on this drama, and everyone hopes that it can continue to develop in a good direction. They don't expect to make a perfect work, but only hope that they can learn something in the process of constantly revising the work."

I have to say that Tian Youliang is very good at speaking. This passage not only spoke well of the students, but also made Xiao Can save face.

However, he was the one who said the good things, but Gao Jinwen had to play the bad guy, because Gao Jinwen was the one who knew Zhou Yan best here.

At this time, Gao Jinwen looked at Zhou Yan again, "Director Zhou, what do you think? What else can you say to your classmates?"

"I think……"

"If you want to praise them, then don't say anything more." Gao Jinwen gave Zhou Yan a heads-up in advance.

Zhou Yan smiled and said, "No matter what, praise should be given. The students' performance was better than I expected, especially Wang Qianyuan, Liu Mintao, and Xin Baiqing. There was nothing to complain about their lines, body shape, and stage movements. I believe that the three of them have the ability to go on stage directly no matter which drama troupe they join in the country."

"Of course, the other students are not bad either. Some of them didn't have many roles, but their performances were remarkable..."

When Zhou Yan was commenting, Tian Youliang raised his eyebrows. He didn't expect Zhou Yan's memory to be so good. Just now, Zhou Yan only took a look at the cast list and remembered Wang Qianyuan and the other three.

And the fact that Zhou Yan can remember these three people means that he has remembered more people.

After praising the actors, Zhou Yan also praised the script, "It's a standard play, nearly two hours long, and it's an original play, so the workload is very huge. It's not easy to achieve this level. Not to mention the students in the acting class, even the directing class and the screenwriting class can hardly do better than this. There are no major problems with the integrity of the play and the overall rhythm. Apart from anything else, being able to control the time within the range is already very impressive."

For many amateur troupes, the duration of a play is always not fixed, and there may be a difference of more than ten minutes between two adjacent performances.

So Zhou Yan said that being able to control the time well throughout the entire play was already very good.

After talking about the advantages, Zhou Yan changed the subject and said, "Next, I will talk about the shortcomings of the script. We all know that a work cannot be perfect and it will inevitably have various problems. If I only talk about the general aspects, I think it is too broad, time-consuming, and may not be useful to you. It is better to start from a certain aspect and talk to you about my ideas, which may be of some use to you."

"Director Zhou, just talk. We're all ears." Gao Jinwen said with a smile.

Zhou Yan nodded. "Director Xiao mentioned the issue of dialogue just now. I think it's a good opportunity to talk to you about the issue of conversation structure."

Many people were stunned for a moment because they felt that Zhou Yan seemed to be telling them something different.

In fact, their feeling was correct, Zhou Yan was indeed going to increase their intensity.

He continued, "Alan mentioned in his Theory of Dramatic Semiotics that theater audiences are faced with a symbolic world, and the reason they can understand this symbolic world is because they assume that everything that happens in this symbolic world basically follows the laws of the real world and the laws of nature."

"In other words, the world of drama is a simulation of the real world, and the dialogues in it are also simulations of daily conversations in real life. Although the two are different, they are closely related. Let's first talk about what is daily conversation and what is drama dialogue, and what is the relationship between the two..."

After talking about daily conversations and dramatic dialogues, Zhou Yan began to extend the topic to the back, "Next, I want to introduce you to a concept - turn-taking. Does anyone know what this concept means?"

Everyone looked confused; it was the first time they heard this concept.

This was also within Zhou Yan's expectations, because the analysis of conversation structure developed very late in China. The domestic academic community only had some contact with it in the 1990s, and there was no systematic research until the 21st century.

There are no professional articles in China at present, and even the relevant foreign literature has not been translated. How do they know these things?

Not to mention their acting department, even those in the directing and screenwriting classes most likely don’t know about it.

"The term turn was proposed by the famous linguist Levinson, which means the period of time a speaker speaks alone in a typical, orderly, multi-person conversation."

Everyone suddenly realized that this was the meaning of the word "hualun". It was so simple. (End of this chapter)