I’m a Director, I’m Not Bad

To be honest, Liu Yifei is really unfamiliar with this issue.

Literally unfamiliar.

In a daze, I felt like I was back when I took my first acting class in the United States. The NOBODY teacher from Hollywood leaned on the desk and casually asked the first question:

"Do you know what acting is?"

These two questions... have different meanings, but they seem to be the same.

But for those who are new to acting, this question may be profound.

but……

Brother, I have been in the industry for a long time.

When you ask me this question, you are really looking down on me, right?

Her eyes became strange.

But he still didn't refute Xu Xin's face, but said:

"What answer do you want me to give you? A standard answer? Well..."

Speaking of this, she thought about it and said:

"I remember, in summary, it seems to be like this. [Acting is performance skills, which refers to an actor's ability to use various techniques and techniques to create images], and if it is broken down, different acting styles have different genre definitions. Method, Experience and Expressionism are the three major frameworks, Stanislavsky, Brecht... Oh yes, and the Mei Lanfang School... This is a huge problem, what do you want to hear?"

Xu Xin scratched his neck subconsciously.

I think your theory is quite solid.

"Your answer makes me feel like I'm pretending to be a failure... Forget it, just pretend I didn't ask. I'll ask another question."

"..."

The corners of Liu Yifei's mouth twitched.

He said something speechless:

"Teacher Xu, can you do it?"

Xu Xin glared at her angrily.

My heart says, who are you calling a slut?

However, he did not respond, but asked:

"You know... let alone one, my view is actually quite one-sided. Strictly speaking, it may not have theoretical support. But it is indeed a summary of my own experience... I say this Well, you know that in my eyes, there are only two categories of actors in this world..."

"One is genius and the other is mediocre? So am I a genius or mediocre?"

"You are stupid."

Xu Xin rolled his eyes directly:

"When the teacher is lecturing, can you please stop answering this classmate? Your credits will be deducted!"

Liu Yifei remained silent this time.

He just pinched his lips with his fingers in a cute way.

Like a little duck.

Xu Xin finally understood that this guy was probably not a good person when he was in school.

According to the level, they must belong to the category of people in the last row of the class.

I really want to slap a piece of chalk on her forehead and give her a "negative mark"!

But... it should be said or not, this cuteness is fine.

Full marks.

Shaking his head helplessly, he said:

"In my eyes, there are actually two realms of actors. The former relies on image, and the latter relies on skills. On these two points, no matter whether the person plays well or poorly, or how many awards he has won, or how popular he is...actually it doesn't matter. It's imaginary. You come to my crew and act out my needs for a character.

Whatever I want this character to be like, you can play it for me. For me, as long as I meet my requirements, other so-called status, strength, honor, fame, etc. don't matter. And what I want to talk to you about today is actually the two types of actors in my definition. Let me give you an example, if you want to play a young and Dangerous boy now, how will you behave? "

Liu Yifei did not answer directly, but pointed to her lips with her finger.

Eyes widened:

"Uh-huh?"

Xu Xinxin said why are you so naughty...

Then I saw her tooth flower.

"Hey~"

After grinning at Teacher Xu, she thought for a moment and said:

"The easiest way is to dye your hair yellow, wear a floral shirt, jeans, and small sunglasses, hold a toothpick in your mouth, and pose like this towards the character opposite..."

She straightened her right hand and raised it into the air.

made a Jewish gesture of indignation:

"OI~~Boss!"

"..."

Tell the truth.

Ever since I started teaching, no one dared to talk to Xu Xin in class.

Even the people from Beiying didn’t even dare to sleep or play with their mobile phones.

Just kidding... Director Xu is the one giving the lecture.

Director Xu was speaking on stage, but were you playing with your phone or sleeping in the audience?

What should you do if people remember your name?

Remember your name. When you graduate, you can finally submit a resume. Director Xu took a look... Oh, this person slept in his class and his professional grades are average.

One sentence can sentence a person to death.

Who dares?

Is Mr. Xu’s class professional?

definitely.

Their construction and understanding of audio-visual language is top-notch!

But it's relatively boring.

A large number of professional terms and uninteresting explanations were the characteristics of his lectures in the directing department.

But when I was lecturing in the performance department, it was a different story.

That's called talking and laughing.

But we can also see the characteristics of Teacher Xu. He is never vague in his profession and what he teaches is very hardcore. But in non-professional classes, he also provided a lot of inspiration.

As for which one is more important...it's a matter of opinion.

What's more, even if you don't understand, you must try hard to listen and behave.

Didn’t you see that all the graduate students who were in the same class as Director Xu took off?

Even the worst-off people can now rely on their experience working with Director Xu to have a good time in the industry.

Where can I find such resources?

Being able to make Director Xu remember you is comparable to thousands of troops.

So, what’s the point?

There is no such thing as good cutting.

Unless you don’t want to be in this circle anymore.

But Xu Xin really discovered it today... Giving lectures to this fat guy really raises the blood pressure.

Although it might be the backlash of the red wine that made him feel a little dizzy at the moment.

but……

"Okay. Brother Crow."

After directly pointing out which character her answer was referring to, Xu Xin sighed helplessly.

The prodigal daughter-in-law...

If I had known earlier, I wouldn't have taken your job.

Your harem is unstable and you have a relationship with me.

While thinking about it, he said:

"Since you mentioned Xiangjiang, let's use Xiangjiang actors as an example. You just mentioned Young and Dangerous. Let's give another example, pervert. Who is the first Xiangjiang actor that pops up in your mind? ?”

"Well……"

Liu Yifei thought for a moment and said:

"Ng Meng. Uncle Da. In his collaboration with Master Xing, the character "Uncle San" has such a squinty look..."

"Squinting eyes, smiling cheekily, and exuding a vulgar temperament?"

"Yes, that's it."

"Then, do you think the cognitive images in your mind like Brother Crow and Uncle Da are due to their good acting? Or is it the image and temperament they dress up that is more deeply rooted in people's hearts?"

"Well……"

At this time, the playful look in Liu Yifei's eyes gradually faded and turned into a kind of thinking.

After a moment, she asked:

"But why do I feel that they are more like the label acting skills introduced by the director through his works?"

"That's right. Tags."

Although there is no blackboard, it is quite easy to remember the key points in this kind of one-on-one teaching.

Xu Xin nodded:

"It's labeling. Let's take Xiangjiang as an example. Throughout film history, you can always find that in different dramas, there are a group of actors who can leave a fixed impression on the audience. For example, Brother Crow, when you see this person, he is really I can't think of any good guy he can play... Even if he is an undercover policeman in "Infernal Affairs", you will still think he is a villain until the end.

For example, Uncle Da, when you see him, you can imagine that he must be the kind of humorous and witty character.

For another example...if I talk about a person, look who comes to mind. Qin Pei. "

A somewhat unfamiliar name came out of his mouth.

After Liu Yifei was stunned for a moment...suddenly several images popped into her mind.

Let her blurt out:

"Hypocrite, insidious villain? This person is the villain in the movies "The Legend of Detective Lei Luo" and "The Gambler", right? That middle-aged man, with thick eyebrows and big eyes, with a side parting? "

"Yes, that's him."

Xu Xin nodded slightly:

"You see, it actually has nothing to do with acting skills. As long as they appear on the stage, you can almost 100% determine what type of role they are playing. And for this kind of actors, you only need to arrange them into roles that suit them. Even if you don't act very hard, you can still win with your temperament. This is what I call actors who rely on their image and temperament. It's not just them, you are like this too."

"Well……"

After Liu Yifei digested what Xu Xin meant, she was momentarily speechless:

"What do you mean? You mean I'm still selling my face?... Hey, you're looking down on me."

"of course not."

Xu Xin shook his head in denial and explained:

"On the contrary, there is nothing wrong with this approach. To put it bluntly, the acting skills of these people... Take Uncle Da for example. His acting skills have transcended the level of acting. They have evolved into a kind of personality. This kind of As long as the personality label is attached to the body... let's define Uncle Da's wretched temperament for the time being.

[Vulgar] is a label. Within the scope of the label, any character with this label symbol can be understood by him. It can be said that he has achieved the ultimate in a label.

And he is not the only one walking this road. Look at Brother Qi. The manly and fierce temperament that Brother Qi is taking now also has such a label. I've talked to her many times, and she doesn't have any intention of changing the track now... I've had enough of roles with this kind of label. Do you think she went the right way or the wrong way? "

"..."

Liu Yifei naturally understood.

It doesn’t matter if it’s Brother Qi or Uncle Da.

Not the core meaning of his rhetorical question.

But "label".

So, she didn't answer.

And Xu Xin didn't need her to answer:

"Let's talk about you again. Since you debuted, the labeling has been very obvious. [Innocent], [Pure], [Clean]... Looking at the entire post-85 generation, who is more pure than you? Who can compare with you?"

"But the disadvantages of this labeling are obvious."

Liu Yifei shook her head, looked at him rather unconvinced and said seriously:

"Even if I don't know myself well enough, let's not talk about myself. What about Mimi? When Mimi debuted, didn't she follow a youthful and sweet style? According to you, this is also a label for her, right?"

"Of course."

"But now she's switching successfully."

"Don't be impatient, just listen to what I have to say."

After signaling her not to refute in a hurry, Xu Xin continued:

"It is right to label acting skills. When you do something to the extreme, you will naturally be the best. Just like Qi Ge, I think she has a concept that is actually very good. She said to me: Director Xu, I I feel that I can interpret an image so deeply that people will think of me when they see this type of character... I think it is a great thing. These are her original words.

And what I want to express is very simple. What do you compare these labeled actors to? To put it bluntly, it is a weapons arsenal. Whoever has more labels will be stronger. Uncle Da's nonsensical label can be paired with the obscene label, and Qin Pei's hypocrite label can be supplemented with cruelty. The audience can accept Brother Crow's gangster temperament no matter how excessive he does.

These labels are actually an actor’s arsenal. The larger the caliber of the cannon, the more lethal it is. The more actors with labels, the more profound their acting skills will naturally be. Because these labels can only be obtained by actors interpreting the characters and being remembered by the audience. And this is the first type. "

"Is this the stage I'm in now?"

"No, you're getting beyond that, just not enough yet."

This answer came out of Xu Xin's mouth, and it successfully made the Shibuya school beauty with black skin who started to listen attentively show a surprised look with a bit of joy:

"What do you mean?"

Faced with this question, Xu Xin just asked again:

"Since you took the Xiangjiang actor as an example, let me talk about another person... What do you think is good about Liang Chaowei's drama?"

"Eye!"

Fat Fairy almost did it without thinking.

Speaking of Liang Chaowei, why bother asking?

The title of the man who is known as the best at acting with his eyes is not made up out of thin air.

But when faced with her answer, Xu Xin did not deny it, but just asked a strange question:

"Then why do you think he was able to achieve this with just a pair of eyes?"

"..."

This time, Liu Yifei couldn't answer.

Xu Xin was not surprised and just said:

"This is the second way I want to talk about, a performance method that relies on skills. Or to put it more bluntly, it relies on micro-expressions to express the level of acting skills. You see."

He pointed at the screen as he spoke.

On the screen, the image of "The Grandmaster" was still fixed at 20 minutes and 55 seconds.

"Watch carefully."

Xu Xin clicked play directly.

Liu Yifei narrowed her eyes slightly.

As the picture played, under the profile shot of Yang Mi given by Wang Jiawei, a voice sounded:

"Your temper is just like when dad was young. He only focused on victory and defeat, and had no sense of the world."

"clatter."

Space tap.

The screen pauses.

"What did you see?"

he asked directly.

"..."

Liu Yifei was silent.

what did you see?

Saw nothing.

What can you see here?

So, Xu Xin backframed the image and continued:

"Keep watching."

Soon, the scene restarted, but this time Xu Xin retreated for ten more seconds and gave a shot of Wang Qingxiang.

"Your temper..."

At 21 minutes and 7 seconds, the screen paused again.

Xu Xin asked again:

"What do you see?"

"..."

Liu Yifei frowned again.

Staring at the close-up of Yang Mi on the screen.

Vaguely, she thought she saw something.

But I don't know how to express it.

Until...Xu Xin asked another question:

"You know what this scene is about, right?"

"Know."

Liu Yifei, who had read it many times, nodded:

"Gong Er came to Guangzhou and refused to let her father fight with Ip Man. She felt that Ip Wen was not worthy."

She was familiar with this plot.

Xu Xin responded:

"Well, in this scene, do you think she listened to Gong Baosen's words?"

"No, she is not convinced."

"Then why did she show that she was not convinced?"

"Of course... uh..."

She subconsciously wanted to tell how Yang Mi expressed it.

However, when the words came to my lips, my mind turned to mush.

yes.

How to express it?

In this scene...Mimi didn't do anything.

Wang Jiawei gave her a close-up of her face.

And the whole time, she just stared in one direction, either talking or listening.

Even when she rewinds the film to the beginning, she maintains this action.

But...why do I feel that she is not convinced?

How did she do it?

not understand.

Didn't see clearly.

She couldn't help but get up:

"Let me see……"

"You can just watch it there. This is Barco, not an ordinary projector. What you see on your computer is not as clear as my projector."

Seeing that she was coming over, Xu Xin waved his hand.

Barco projector.

Ordinary people may be unfamiliar with this brand.

But for wealthy people who want to own a home audio-visual entertainment room, this brand is definitely no stranger.

Xu Xin's projector is for commercial use.

In other words... although it is installed at home, it is actually absolutely top-notch when placed in a movie theater.

The price is not expensive, more than two million.

Supports 4K resolution.

The screen clarity of this laptop is far less clear than the image projected on the screen.

After refusing Liu Yifei and getting up, Xu Xin lowered the speed of the player to 0.5 times and said:

"I'll play it for you slowly."

then……

"Your... temper... anger... ah..."

At the slowed down speed, Liu Yifei's eyes were extremely focused on watching every bit on the screen.

At first, Mimi was calm.

Along with Wang Qingxiang or Gong Baosen's words, her body rose and fell with a breath.

But not obviously.

But... subconsciously, Liu Yifei felt that Mimi's breathing rhythm was wrong.

How should I put it... There is a feeling of "here we go again" impatience.

Although the amplitude of that kind of breathing was very small, it was not obvious when she inhaled. However, when she exhaled, her body rose and fell so much that at a slow speed, her body had an obvious falling feeling.

It's like a daughter showing a little impatience with her father's nagging.

And when Gong Baosen's words came to the word "win or lose" that "only wins or loses in his eyes", suddenly! She saw it!

Mimi's ears moved!

While her ears moved, she seemed to grit her teeth.

But the biting position is not the big teeth, but the force exerted in the tiger tooth area!

The muscles at the corners of her mouth "bulged" outward for a moment.

The ears move first.

The next moment, the muscles at the corners of his mouth bulged and then calmed down.

Then, following Gong Baosen's words, "There is no humanity in the world," her expression returned to calmness again.

From the falling breath, to the ears moving as if stimulated by the words "only the victory or defeat in the eyes", and then the gritted teeth...

When Xu Xin pressed the pause button, her consciousness also caught up with the slow performance.

The father started nagging.

My daughter's first reaction was impatience.

But then I heard something that felt very harsh, and then I showed my dissatisfaction.

From impatient to unconvinced.

Being told by my father is the beginning.

Impatience is also the beginning.

Listening in the middle is a process.

The expressionless face, the impatience that kept listening, was the process.

Hearing "I only have eyes for victory or defeat", being unconvinced is the result.

He disagreed with his father, but he did not refute it. Instead, he was unhappy and dissatisfied, which was the result.

A scene.

Beginning - process - result.

Everything that should be there is there.

Complete and complete.

"..."

She blinked twice quickly.

A sense of absurdity suddenly arose.

Could it be that I'm over-interpreting it?

Did I...think too much?

Just like this... in total, it only takes ten seconds of footage. This complete mental journey and psychological activities are expressed by the expression on the face?

"???"

Did Mimi do it on purpose?

Or... am I really over-interpreting it?

If it was really intentional...

What an international joke! ?

How did she get it just right?

Maybe I'm over-interpreting it?

But...why did Xu Xin play this paragraph for me to watch?

Does he think the same as me?

Unconsciously, she looked at Xu Xin.

He met a pair of interested eyes.

"How's it going? Do you understand?"

Xu Xin asked.

But Liu Yifei couldn't answer.

Because I simply don’t know how to answer... or how to express it.

Even she couldn't figure out how Mimi did it.

How could she do it?

Then, she heard Xu Xin's self-conscious words:

"Liang Chaowei is a very interesting person. He is very good at controlling eye muscles...I don't know if this is innate or developed by himself. But it is true that he...can interpret with just a pair of eyes. There are many characters with different characteristics.

But in the entire Chinese film industry, there are actually many people who can do this.

In fact, in summary, these people all have one characteristic, that is, they are good at grasping the subtle inner processes of the characters when they experience every mentality change.

Or let’s understand it from another angle and give an example. In reality, if there really is a person like Wu Mengkuo, he makes all kinds of exaggerated expressions... Your first reaction is definitely not that he is very humorous, but that he is being obscene, or you may simply choose to call the police.

It’s actually easy to understand here. In real life, everyone has similar expressions. Smile more when you are happy and cry when you are sad. If you don't want people to see you, you will try to hide your emotions. But at this time you will find that the person who is most familiar with you... is like me. I saw you watching a movie alone today. Without knowing the cause and effect, I could tell that you had something on your mind. Ahem. "

After secretly touting his ability, Xu Xin continued:

"But have you ever thought about it? Why can I detect your unhappiness so easily? How did you show it? ... Or, how did you feel that Yang Mi was unconvinced in this scene? In fact, the answer is This is the sublimation stage of acting in my eyes.

An actor is no longer an actor. In other words, she didn't act, she wasn't acting anymore. Instead, he brought Gong Er to life in everyone's sight.

How she enters the character, and how she drives the changes in micro-expressions to express them accurately and slightly... To put it bluntly, it is based on her understanding of the character. And this understanding drives her performance.

As for this kind of actor, she no longer needs to maintain a so-called label...or it doesn't matter whether she has a label or not. Because she is no longer acting, what the audience sees is the character, not the character performed by the actor.

The control of this kind of micro-expression is closer to life and more real... but it is also more difficult.

Is there anyone in the circle who can do it?

Of course there is.

But...it's rare.

And Yang Mi has actually reached this stage now.

How did she enter this stage? To be honest, I don't know. talent? Or for Gong Er’s efforts? Maybe both.

But indeed, she has come in.

Human eyes have limits.

Faced with visual images that occur rapidly in a short period of time, your brain cannot analyze and disassemble them frame by frame. This is why you can only feel her dissatisfaction at first, but when you tell her where she is dissatisfied, you don't know.

The frame rate of the picture is too fast and it is dizzying.

But while you are dizzy, your brain still completely records these 10 seconds, a total of 240 frames.

And gave you a general feedback.

This feedback is consciousness...instinct, you can say it any way, but in the final analysis, it gives you a kind of knowledge.

Cognition tells you that Gong Er is not convinced by his father's words here.

Sometimes, knowledge is greater than understanding.

So, you don't understand how she behaves if she doesn't slow down. But the knowledge of "unconvinced" has entered your heart.

And this scene may not be enough to make you recognize the character of Yu Gong Er.

However, when the story becomes complete, as an audience, as a bystander, after the movie ends... you will not think about how Yang Mi performed this movie, you will just feel... what you saw is Gong Er's life.

So, do you understand? "

"..."

Does Liu Yifei understand?

Of course I understand.

In other words, I didn’t understand it at first. But later, after Teacher Xu broke apart, crushed and fed this part of the performance to herself, she really understood it.

But……

Understanding is understanding.

Her mind was a little chaotic at the moment.

On the one hand, it's surprising.

On the one hand, there is disbelief.

Surprised by Mimi's acting skills.

Unbelief lies in...

Mimi has reached this point?

Are you kidding...an international joke? ?

That……

"And me?"

She couldn't help but ask.

"what about me?"

"you?"

Xu Xin shrugged:

"You are somewhere in between. You already have many tags, but how can you manage this kind of micro-expression... To be honest, I don't know. I can only say that if you take one step further, it will be She. But how to take this step, I really don’t know.”

"..."

…

outside the house.

After sending the child to his parents' room, he went downstairs and listened to Yang Mi in the corner walking away quietly.

When she went upstairs, there was a smile on her lips.

Um.

Comfortable.

Good luck! ! !

Wait for brother to come back later, serve him well!

Get all the work!