This director needs to apologize

Chapter 391 No need to think too much

In mid-March 2016, the filming of "Searching for the Heart" officially started in Shenzhen.

The name of the movie was given by Shen Ming, which was derived from the name of the male protagonist, whose surname is Xun and given name is Xin.

Actor Shen played a double entendre here, using the character's name to hint at the theme of the movie - finding one's original intention.

This made Chen Yiming think of the original English name of "Good Will Hunting", "GOOD WILL HUNTING". It is said that when the screenwriter Dai Meng conceived this story, he named the male protagonist with a similar idea.

Is this what a hero who transcends time and space sees? The only pity is that Chen Yiming was the only witness.

The actor who plays Xunxin is Liu Haoran, a sophomore in the Acting Department of the Imperial Capital Drama Academy, and a cute freshman born in 97.

The guy who can be called the school idol has a naturally good-looking appearance. He is tall, thin and clean. He is a pure handsome guy with a delicate appearance. His small eyes are very cute at first sight. When he raises his chin and looks at people sideways, he has a stubborn and aloof temperament.

It fits the rebellious genius character of the male protagonist very well.

The only drawback is that he is a rookie who just debuted last year. He has only acted in two TV series, both of which were supporting roles, and has no acting skills at all.

When Damon played the role of Will, he was already a 28-year-old mature man who had been working in Hollywood for many years. Even so, his acting could only be said to be okay, only slightly outshined by Robin.

Considering that white people generally mature and age quickly, it is not inappropriate for a person in his 30s to play a younger role as a college student.

But the same character setting will not work if it is moved to China. If the male protagonist wants to take advantage of the situation in the university town and pretend to be cool and pick up girls, the male protagonist must not have a face full of wrinkles like a cute and silly man. He still has to look like a student at least.

The price to pay is that the acting skills cannot be relied upon, and one has to spend extra energy to train the newbies.

Fortunately, Mr. Shen participated in the entire final round of auditions, and he was the one who finally ticked the box to confirm Brother Liu, which was equivalent to taking on half of the task of an acting teacher.

In order to reduce the difficulty of the homework for Liu Haoran, Chen Yiming adjusted the schedule, moved the male lead's role to the front, and put the two people's rival scenes to the back, to give Liu Haoran more time to get into the role.

The first scene after filming started was about Xunxin picking up girls in the university town.

"Ka! Take a break, Haoran, come here."

After hearing the assistant director's words, Liu Haoran ran towards the studio with a numb face, not even having time to wipe the sweat off his head.

On the first day of filming, the first shot was stuck for more than an hour. He was now extremely panicked. The joy, anticipation and excitement he had once felt were long gone, and only fear remained in his heart.

Is this the triple-Award winner?

Is this the famous director?
Is this what it means to make a movie?
Liu Haoran's heart was beating fast as he opened the curtain and walked into the prison cell.

Different from the grim atmosphere imagined before, the air in the prison shed was quite sweet. Director Chen and Teacher Shen were chatting in low voices, with happy smiles on their faces.

Chen Yiming, who was facing the door, saw Liu Haoran coming in, nodded and smiled, "Haoran, come and sit down."

Liu Haoran saw that the only empty chair in the studio was very close to Director Chen's left hand side. He did not dare to move over directly. Instead, he turned around, picked up a small stool from the door, moved it slightly inward, sat down upright, placed his hands neatly on his knees, raised his head and chest out, and looked at Chen and Shen.

Chen Yiming smiled even more, and wrinkles appeared on Shen Ming's tense face.

Play nicely, right?

Chen Yiming did not say anything to comfort him, but asked directly, "Haoran, do you have a girlfriend?"

Liu Haoran was stunned by the question, and after a long while he shook his head and replied, "No."

Chen Yiming asked again, "Not now, or never? Tell the truth!"

Liu Haoran pursed his lips and said, "We dated in high school, but we broke up in our third year."

Chen Yiming nodded at Liu Haoran and said, "You are not a good kid. It must be more than that time. What about junior high school? Was your first love in elementary school or kindergarten?"

Liu Haoran got anxious and explained by shaking his flowery hands, "I really didn't date in junior high school. My first love was in high school, that was the only time."

Chen Yiming smiled and put his hand down to appease him, "OK, just once. Then let me ask you, who is chasing who?"

Liu Haoran had already given up on himself, and replied with a wooden face, "She pursued me."

Chen Yiming leaned over and stared at him and asked, "How far have we progressed? First base, second base, third base, or home base?"

Liu Haoran's eyes widened and after a while he whispered, "It was just a kiss, nothing else."

Chen Yiming clapped his hands and said, "You've done some dirty work before, so why were you being so shy in front of the girl just now? Or do you think she's not pretty enough?" Liu Haoran defended, "Director Chen, this is what I think. This is the scene where Xunxin meets his girlfriend for the first time. He was just trying to play a prank on her, not really trying to pick up girls. And Xunxin has never been in a relationship before, so I think he must be feeling a little awkward and uncomfortable."

Shen Ming, who had been watching the conversation between the two, suddenly spoke up, "The analysis makes sense, but it's a pity that the acting was so bad. It was so heartfelt. The inner drama can be seen at a glance. What kind of inner drama is it?"

Liu Haoran was simply confused by this. Was he just leaving his inner thoughts unexpressed and leaving the audience to guess?
Shen Ming didn't explain, and directly ordered, "Throw away all the psychological activities you designed, and just act like you're flirting with a little girl. Even if you haven't chased a girl before, you've seen it before, and you should have practiced it in acting class.

Just do as I say, don’t think too much, go out and walk again.”

Liu Haoran nodded habitually, then lifted the curtain and walked out in a daze.

After the people had gone far away, Chen Yiming said to Shen Ming, "Uncle Ming, the student you picked is unexpectedly pure and delicious."

Shen Ming shook his head and sighed, "You want to run before you learn to walk. You are just being clever. Even if you have talent, you need to have the understanding to keep up."

Chen Yiming smiled and said, "Those who are willing to think about things will achieve great success."

Facts have proved that Liu Haoran's understanding is not bad and his response is very quick. After resuming filming, his words and actions became much more natural when facing his future girlfriend again, and he didn't stutter at all when adding the girl on WeChat.

The same scene was shot three more times, and the executive director finally called out "cut". The next moment, Liu Haoran became limp as if his spine had been pulled out.

I have performed it four times in a row under such pressure, so I am qualified to make a living in this field.

Chen Yiming doesn't care about things like getting the first take right in one go, which is a good sign. If his requirements are not met, he doesn't mind taking a whole day to shoot one shot.

At the moment, I didn’t miss lunch, which is already a smooth journey.

In fact, Chen Yiming hoped to see Liu Haoran polish the first shot on his own without any instructions, so for more than an hour, neither he nor Shen Ming spoke.

However, seeing that Xiao Liu was running further and further down the wrong path, Chen Yiming finally lost his patience.

Fortunately, Liu Haoran realized his mistake and corrected it, making remarkable adjustments without going in another wrong direction.

This guy is obviously ambitious. He is unwilling to do nothing and be led by Actor Shen. During the more than one hour he was filmed, he not only switched between several acting styles, but also communicated with the actress he was acting with many times. His attitude was impeccable.

Unfortunately, as the saying goes, if you are heading in the wrong direction, the harder you work, the further away you will be from your goal.

Knowing that Liu Haoran was a newbie, how could Chen Yiming possibly have expectations of him beyond his capabilities?
The little students just need to act truly in their true colors and there is no need to think too much about the rest as it is useless to think about it anyway.

How to train new actors is a major topic in the field of directing. There are countless ways to treat the symptoms or the root causes. How to choose the most appropriate method according to local conditions is particularly challenging for the director.

In this regard, Chen Yiming belongs to the "Huashan Sword Sect". He does not practice internal skills but focuses on technical skills. In other words, he relies on deception.

For example, if an actor cannot meet the requirements in a certain explosive scene, the strength or emotion is not enough, and it is impossible to shoot his face closely, then only shoot his side profile. If the emotions cannot be maintained, you can move and turn to shoot. If the opponent's emotions are unbalanced, then change the contrast dimension to enhance the close-up.

The above are just emergency measures when the actors are not available and the work has to be rushed. If you really want to produce a masterpiece, you can still use "special effects". For example, Chen Yiming adjusted the schedule and arranged Liu Haoran's role in the order of easy first and difficult later, which is also a kind of "training".

To put it bluntly, it is not complicated. All the new actors can be called "experienced", which means that when they perform a role, they will only immerse themselves in it and play the role as if it were themselves.

In comparison, expressionism requires extensive technical practice and life experience, while methodism requires a combination of the strengths of both, neither of which is within the reach of young actors who have just entered the industry.

After clarifying the characteristics of the actors, it is very simple for the director to create an atmosphere for the actors to quickly immerse themselves, making it easier for them to get into the role, and then just keep shooting over and over again.

If we change the director of "Huashan Qi Zong", such as Chen Huaikai, he will most likely take the trouble to analyze the actors' motivations and psychology, allowing the actors to understand first and then put themselves into the role, and he may even directly act it out as a demonstration. As for adjusting the script or process for the actors, it is probably impossible.

It’s hard to say which method is better; it all depends on the director’s personal habits and ideas.

But then again, what the movie presents to the audience is ultimately the performance of the actors. No matter how much the director thinks, he cannot replace the actors. First of all, the actors must be willing to cooperate and obey the dispatch.

Judging from the performance of the first shot in the morning, Liu Haoran has good plasticity and room to realize his potential. Chen Yiming is relatively optimistic about the subsequent filming.

After lunch, Chen Yiming changed the schedule again, skipping the couple scenes and filming the brotherhood scenes instead.

In order to find a new group of bad friends, Chen Yiming did not choose students from the acting department, but picked three older mature men. He asked the fierce gangster Zhang Yu to play the "Big Brother" who had the most important role, and the other two "followers" were Li Mingliang and Fu Ting, with whom he had worked before.

Logically speaking, the members of the low-level gang should all be of the same age, which is indeed the case in the original film, but Chen Yiming made a relatively large change here, setting the protagonist Xun Xin as a younger brother, and the friend of the same age played by Ben Affleck in the original film as the older brother.

If it is told by someone with experience, it will be credible. If you want the plot of a gangster enlightening a genius to be reasonable, the gangster must have a life. In China, friends of the same age are obviously less convincing than gang leaders.

If you don’t understand this, just think about Mitsui and Tetsuo in “Slam Dunk”. It’s very similar.

(End of this chapter)