Chapter 88: She Underestimated Her Opponent
Yang Wanxiu said Lu Mindan wasn’t crazy at all, and this wasn’t the first time she had done something like this.
A good state is really too important for an actor.
It not only determines whether the actor can quickly get into the role, but also directly affects the final effect of the footage.
The actor’s emotions, image, including makeup, costume, are all included in it.
Take Xuan Xia as an example: right after finishing styling, she was undoubtedly in the best state, whether it was makeup, hairstyle, clothing, or her overall vitality.
But as time passes, makeup will oxidize and fade, hairstyle will loosen, including clothing will become ill-fitting, with wrinkles and so on.
Xuan Xia is not the lead actor, let alone a named actor, so the film crew’s makeup artist and costume designer won’t hover around her, adjusting these things for her from time to time.
Plus with overly long waiting, people will inevitably feel fatigued, and vitality will suffer a bit; whether a person shows tiredness will be truly captured on camera and presented to the audience later.
Xuan Xia isn’t from a formal acting background either, and hasn’t systematically learned how to adjust her state and so on.
Thinking that Lu Mindan would likely continue to waste time next, Yang Wanxiu felt aggrieved and upset for Xuan Xia, and also angry.
Seeing her expression of grievance mixed with anger, Xuan Xia asked puzzledly: “Is she really going that far? Deliberately delaying progress, isn’t she afraid of getting scolded?”
Speaking of this, Yang Wanxiu sounded even more resentful. “She’s not worried at all. She often said before that rather than meeting expectations every day, it’s better to occasionally perform poorly, then perform well later, so the director will only remember your acting skills exploding, feeling surprised, and won’t remember the previous bad performance.”
Xuan Xia raised an eyebrow. “Oh, that actually sounds pretty reasonable.”
Precisely because Lu Mindan was experienced, Yang Wanxiu was anxious for Xuan Xia.
“But according to what you said, the problem should be with me.” Xuan Xia laughed and suddenly said.
Yang Wanxiu: “Ah?”
“To forge iron, you still need to be strong yourself. If I were confident, would I be afraid of her dragging out time?” Saying this, Xuan Xia straightened her body and picked up the script again.
Originally, she had indeed felt a bit drowsy from the long wait in the waiting area, plus seeing Lu Mindan’s series of NG takes.
But after Yang Wanxiu said this, she wasn’t drowsy anymore; she instantly felt full of energy and fighting spirit.
Lu Mindan actually came up with such a self-damaging and useless trick, but she had misjudged her opponent!
“Am I doing the scene where I read a book next? Let me study it again.” She flipped the script to the corresponding page.
Reviewing the plot again this time, Xuan Xia gained many more insights, reaching a state of “Master, I get it.”
So Xuan Xia looked up at Yang Wanxiu with this expression.
“Xiuxiu.”
“Mm.”
“Do you have time now to go build some rapport with the makeup artist and costume designer?” Xuan Xia said: “Coffee, milk tea, cake, all are fine; get reimbursed from me later.”
Yang Wanxiu was stunned at first, then reacted and immediately nodded, saying okay.
“Then I’ll go now.”
“Go, go.”
Watching Yang Wanxiu’s receding figure, Xuan Xia was just about to turn her line of sight back to the script when her peripheral vision caught a figure hurrying into the film set.
She turned her head for a closer look: the one who arrived in a hurry was Jiang Feng.
At this moment, he had already changed into his costume and put on a wig.
Dressed in white robes with black hair tied in a topknot, he had the air of an elegant ancient young nobleman.
Even in plain white garments, the costume designer had added clever details, so with his steps, it was like layers of surging white waves.
Just looking at the styling, no one would guess he was the villain in the drama; they’d think he was some little immortal boy from the heavenly clan.
After entering the film set, Jiang Feng first stood still, his line of sight sweeping around the film set. When he saw Xuan Xia looking at him, his gaze paused, then he started walking toward her.
His strides were large, and with the hem of his robe fluttering, he walked that short distance with the momentum of crossing mountains to rush to her.
As soon as he approached, Jiang Feng apologized: “Sorry, a sudden interview delayed me. Hope I didn’t keep you waiting long?”
He added: “It should be our scenes now, right? I’ll go apologize to Director Pan.”
Hearing his latter sentence, Xuan Xia hurriedly called out to him.
“Teacher Jiang, no need to rush; it’s not your scenes yet.”
He actually thought the filming delay was because of him; Xuan Xia could only think, Lu Mindan, why don’t you just drop dead.
Jiang Feng paused his step that had just moved forward and turned back suspiciously: “Hm?”
Xuan Xia said: “My senior disciple sister, oh, that is Lu Mindan, seems unable to get into state, so the director said to rest for a bit first. After resting, they’ll continue filming her scenes.”
Jiang Feng frowned slightly and looked toward where Lu Mindan was resting.
The rest time happened to end right then; the field coordinator began directing the on-set environment, telling the actors to get into position.
Under the field coordinator’s direction, Lu Mindan slowly returned to her previous position.
Soon the slate was clapped, and filming officially began.
Seeing this, Jiang Feng: “……”
How could it be like this!
Jiang Feng’s assistant arrived at this moment, panting and saying: “Feng Bro, I told you not to rush. You didn’t believe me.”
Jiang Feng didn’t speak, just watching Lu Mindan reciting her lines from afar.
Midway through her lines, Lu Mindan suddenly glanced toward off-camera, and then a “cut” was called.
Director Pan picked up the megaphone and asked: “Mindan, can you do it? Do you need more rest?”
Everyone could tell this was the precursor to Director Pan getting angry.
But Lu Mindan wasn’t panicked at all. “Sorry, Director Pan, let me do it again.”
Director Pan didn’t agree immediately and asked again: “Are you sure you can do it in one more take? Think carefully; if not, don’t force it, I’ll give you more time to adjust.”
“I can do it, Director Pan.” Lu Mindan said with full confidence.
“Then I’ll give you one more opportunity. Field coordinator…”
……
Jiang Feng withdrew his gaze, turned to Xuan Xia, and asked her: “How’s your preparation for the scenes? Need to run lines first?”
Run lines? Xuan Xia said sure.
It would be perfect to discuss her understanding of the role.
The assistant perceptively brought him a chair. After Jiang Feng sat down beside Xuan Xia, he didn’t rush into running lines but first asked her: “I heard you didn’t study acting.”
Xuan Xia didn’t beat around the bush and frankly admitted: “Right.”
Jiang Feng “mm”ed, then casually flipped open his script.
Xuan Xia saw that his script was densely filled with passages written in different colors.
So many words, matching the amount she usually wrote in her notebook.
Jiang Feng noticed her line of sight and smiled a bit embarrassedly, explaining: “I usually like to write down my current thoughts.”
Because he liked researching roles, the script not only had his own character’s insights but also those for other roles. This could be seen from the different ink colors.
Xuan Xia glanced at his script again, then sincerely said: “I need to learn from Teacher Jiang.”
