Chapter 610

For the audience, a mediocre 80-point work and a 60-point work with innovative value—the former is definitely more watchable and better suited for them. However, creators cannot always choose the mediocre 80; a mediocre 80 will always just be an 80, while a 60 with innovative value might one day turn into a 90.

For an actor, compared to a good work, a role with increased difficulty and extremely high completion is definitely more helpful to the actor specifically, and can establish a reputation as a "performance-based actor." However, whether an actor wants to become a "performance-based actor" or an "actor" in the hearts of the audience lies in the latter; the latter is the prerequisite.

Lu Yan He will protect his characters, not letting them be messed around with blindly. But Lu Yan He equally respects the principle that the work is greater than the actor; he has always believed that if the work is good enough, other good things can truly be good.

Why did he take on this film, *Tropical Rainy Season*?

Lu Yan He told different people different reasons, all sorts of reasons. In the final analysis, it was nothing more than this script, which, at the time he read it, moved him. Why was he moved?

Because even though he has become famous to this extent, among the many film scripts he has received, scripts like *Tropical Rainy Season*—which simply and earnestly tell the story of a teenager's growth, tell a silhouette and change of a family, and tell of the person themselves—are few and far between, and it is the best among them.

—You could clearly receive bigger productions and more impressive teams, why did you choose it?

—Because I have all those; if I want to act, there are plenty of good projects for me to perform in. But for a script like *Tropical Rainy Season*, apart from this one, I haven't encountered another.

Now, what Huang Tianlin is discussing with him is how to better present this scene in the film, even if it means sacrificing his performance space—so what?

Actors don't only touch the audience's hearts within their performance space.

Just listening to Huang Tianlin's description, Lu Yan He could already visualize how this segment in the film would be presented in his mind.

The image he imagined was completely in line with his expectations for this film.

Then why wouldn't he cooperate?

"Actually—" Lu Yan He hesitated for a moment.

Huang Tianlin felt a sense of relief in his heart; sure enough, Lu Yan He still hadn't fully accepted it.

How could a big-name actor allow himself to appear in a film as such a blurred figure, with no close-ups and no performance?

"Go ahead." Huang Tianlin thought to himself, if it really doesn't work, adding two close-up shots would be fine.

Lu Yan He's performance was indeed good.

He hadn't said it during the day, but he was very satisfied with the eye-acting Lu Yan He gave at the very end after being slapped.

He is truly a good actor. Not every actor with good acting skills can deliver a shot like that.

Just as Huang Tianlin was thinking this, he heard Lu Yan He say: "I'm thinking, for this scene, how about we delete my two lines as well, and delete the younger brother's lines too? In this scene, no one speaks, and everything is in the actions."

Huang Tianlin was stunned, "Huh?"

Lu Yan He: "In the script, it was originally the younger brother coming up, me telling him to go down, him whispering an apology, me ignoring him, him coming over again, me pushing him away again, and him aggrievedly going down to sit on the floor by the bed. After a while, my heart softens, and I let him get on the bed after all. I'm thinking, if this scene is to be shot with a fixed camera position, then let's use actions entirely to present the change in between, without a single line of dialogue. And this seems to fit the two people's mindsets better. Everyone wants to save face and won't apologize verbally, but the younger brother wants to express his apology to his older brother, and the older brother, in his heart, won't really be angry with his younger brother after all and will forgive him. Using this kind of interactive relationship through physical movements might be presented more... how should I put it? Less direct, and also more moving."

Huang Tianlin was completely dumbfounded.

Originally, Lu Yan He still had a few lines in this scene, and now he was proposing to delete them all...

Then in this scene, there would really only be the silhouettes of two people left.

"In this way, you two basically won't be able to be seen by the audience in this scene."

Especially Lu Yan He; apart from entering the door and getting on the bed, he just lies there. The audience basically won't be able to see his face; the light is dim, and nothing can be seen clearly.

Lu Yan He smiled and said: "Isn't that quite good? Chinese people, we ethnic Chinese, are actually quite reserved in our emotions; it's not that direct. Only in such dim situations is it more possible to express one's love and tolerance for family, isn't it?"

Huang Tianlin nodded.

He actually highly approved of what Lu Yan He said. Sometimes, in a scene, silence is better than sound. With the camera language of this scene changed like this, silence is indeed better than sound.

However, because of this, Huang Feng was confused. He didn't know how to act.

Huang Tianlin had to demonstrate on the spot, going through it once with Lu Yan He to let Huang Feng learn.

Huang Tianlin poked Lu Yan He's shoulder with his finger, and Lu Yan He immediately nudged his shoulder, pushing his hand away.

Huang Feng: "Why do I have to poke him with my finger?"

Huang Tianlin: "Because you just argued with him during the day, and you're embarrassed to talk to him directly at this moment."

Huang Feng: "Then I'll just say sorry."

"You can say it, but the younger brother you're playing can't."

"Why? If you feel you're wrong, just say sorry."

"Because he doesn't feel he's wrong, or maybe he feels he's wrong but is embarrassed to say sorry," Huang Tianlin explained.

Huang Feng frowned, "Does he actually feel he's wrong or not?"

"What do you think? Do you think the younger brother feels he's wrong?"

Huang Feng thought seriously for a long time and finally reached a conclusion: "I don't know."

"Then just act it directly."

And so, they went straight for it.

Huang Tianlin told Lu Yan He that when opening the door, he must stop the door at a certain position so that the light spilling into the room from outside could exactly shine halfway onto Lu Yan He's bed.

As a result, the action of opening the door alone was shot three times.

Huang Feng does indeed have an aptitude for acting.

Although he actually didn't understand at all why the younger brother he was playing would do this, Huang Tianlin taught him hand-in-hand, telling him what position to be in, what the younger brother's thoughts were, and how he should act. Huang Feng basically followed Huang Tianlin's guidance to a T.

However, because this scene only had one camera position and one shot, Huang Tianlin wanted to shoot a long take, finishing it in one go without any editing in between. Therefore, any flaw or problem that appeared in the middle wouldn't do; they had to start over.

This night, they started shooting at 7:30 and kept going until late at night, nearly midnight.

Huang Feng didn't know how many times he had yawned.

The child was still at the age where he was growing.

Lu Yan He said to Huang: "How about we stop shooting for tonight? Huang Feng looks like he has no energy left."

Huang: "But this scene hasn't achieved the effect I want."

"We can continue shooting tomorrow."

"There are other scenes to shoot tomorrow."

Lu Yan He: "Then the day after tomorrow."

"You have scenes to shoot every day; you only gave us seven days," Huang said.

Lu Yan He: "..."

Huang Tianlin's expression was as if to say, "This can't be blamed on me."

Lu Yan He: "If we really can't finish, we'll just shoot for a few more days."

Huang Tianlin looked at him with some surprise.

Lu Yan He: "Let's rest, let's wrap up."

Huang Tianlin: "Alright, wrap up!"

No one wanted to pull an all-nighter. They had thought they were in for a bitter battle tonight, but when they suddenly heard the director call for a wrap, everyone from every department looked jubilant.

Huang Feng fell asleep directly on his mother's back.

Lu Yan He and Wang Biao went back together.

As they were getting close, they could see from afar that the lights were on in the house. Wang Biao suddenly remembered and said: "Sister Siqi has already arrived; she sent me a message an hour ago, and I forgot."

Lu Yan He was somewhat surprised, "Isn't she supposed to come tomorrow?"

"It seems things were discussed quite smoothly, and it was settled in advance," Wang Biao said.

Lu Yan He had been a bit sleepy, but as soon as he knew Chen Siqi had arrived, he was no longer sleepy.

"Do I have to get up early tomorrow morning?" he asked.

Wang Biao nodded, "Yes, you have to go out at seven tomorrow to get your styling done."

"Sigh." Lu Yan He yawned, "So tired."

Wang Biao smiled and asked: "Then how about I ask the crew for a morning off for you?"

"How can I do that? I can't do such a thing."

"You've already promised them you can shoot for a few more days, they aren't that anxious anymore."

"That's two different things," Lu Yan He shook his head, "although I really want to ask for a day off."

Wang Biao knew Lu Yan He's style on set, so he didn't try to persuade him.

"However, Little Brother Lu, you also have a full day of scenes tomorrow; Sister Siqi will just have to wander around the neighborhood by herself."

"I'm following him," Wang Biao said immediately, then realized why Yuan Hai asked that, and explained with a smile, "On set, unless Little Brother Lu looks for us, we don't stay by his side, otherwise he'd blame us for disturbing his ability to maintain his character state."

When Lu Yan He entered the room, Chen Siqi had probably just finished showering not long ago and was sitting on the balcony letting her hair air-dry naturally.

She was wearing only a white silk pajama set, very loose, half-reclining on a lounge chair with her laptop on her lap, typing on the keyboard. Judging by the frequency of her typing, she should be replying to emails.

"You're finally back!" Hearing the sound, Chen Siqi jumped up immediately and ran back to the living room in surprise.

Lu Yan He immediately stepped forward two paces, hugged her, and subconsciously spun her around once on the spot.

This was an action the two of them had never done before.

After spinning, Lu Yan He himself was stunned, not having reacted yet.

Zou Dong and Wang Biao, as if they hadn't seen anything, took their things and went back to their respective rooms.

Lu Yan He put Chen Siqi down, and upon thinking that the scene just now had been seen by Wang Biao and Zou Dong, he scratched his head with a smile.

Seeing him like this, Chen Siqi curled her lips, took his hand, and pulled him into the room.

As a result, the next day, Chen Siqi couldn't be bothered to go wander around the neighborhood by herself.

She directly had Wang Biao take her to the set.

Visiting the set.

Lu Yan He's girlfriend suddenly appeared, shocking everyone.

No one had received the news in advance.

And after Huang Tianlin learned of it, he immediately smiled at Lu Yan He with a thoughtful look.

No wonder he was urging him to wrap up last night.

Huang Tianlin had also been Lu Yan He's age once, so of course, he could understand why Lu Yan He was rushing back.

He said to Yuan Hai: "I was wondering why he suddenly agreed to give us a few more days of shooting time."

"Where did your mind wander off to again?" Yuan Hai asked back with a smile.

Huang: "Believe it or not, he will definitely ask us for leave these next few days to accompany his girlfriend."

Yuan Hai: "How could you think that? That's a bit small-minded of you."

Huang Tianlin: "Just wait and see."

He seemed very confident in his judgment.

Yuan Hai: "Alright, I'll wait. If he doesn't ask for leave, let's see what you have to say."

As it turned out, even though Chen Siqi came to the set, it didn't affect Lu Yan He's shooting in the slightest.

Chen Siqi didn't come forward to find Lu Yan He, and Lu Yan He didn't talk to Chen Siqi while preparing for scenes.

When Chen Siqi was on set, she just found a chair, sat in a corner, looked at her phone, and chatted with the crew members.

When Lu Yan He was acting, she watched from the side.

It wasn't until lunchtime that Lu Yan He sat together with Chen Siqi.

"Why didn't you go wander around the neighborhood?"

"Tired, don't want to move, and don't want to wander," Chen Siqi said, "Sitting here is quite good too, looking at my phone, watching you act. Watching a Best Actor act on set, what a rare opportunity this is."

Chen Siqi's teasing made Lu Yan He shake his head helplessly.

"By the way, did you say hello to the director and the others? Have you met them?"

"Mm, Wang Biao took me to say hello to them," Chen Siqi said, "That Director Huang Tianlin is quite interesting."

"What do you mean quite interesting?"

"He has quite a personality," Chen Siqi said, "Didn't you tell me that he was quite resistant to you because of your big-star status? He was actually quite... how should I put it, respectful to me? He actually knew about my efforts to promote *Jump Up* for distribution in various countries overseas and even expressed his respect to me."

Lu Yan He: "... What the heck? Why is his attitude toward you so different from his attitude toward me?"

Chen Siqi said with a smile: "Why do I feel like he's making a reverse gesture of goodwill? Because his attitude toward you earlier wasn't great, but due to face, he's embarrassed to apologize to you, so he's using this method to 'besiege Wei to rescue Zhao'?"

Lu Yan He: "... Is that so? Then I really don't know what he's thinking."

Chen Siqi: "How do you feel about the filming of this movie? Has it met your expected ideas?"

"I don't know yet for the time being. In the two days I've been shooting on set, I've felt comfortable. Huang Tianlin understands scenes very well; he understands how to use the camera and visuals to present the feeling of a scene," Lu Yan He said, "The directors I've worked with before haven't used the camera to present a story as extensively as he does. Moreover, his camera design, especially the shooting angles, is very thoughtful. I think after the film comes out, I don't know about the whole thing, but one should be able to see a look in it that hasn't appeared in other film and television works."

Chen Siqi looked at Lu Yan He with some surprise.

"That's already a very high evaluation."

"Mm," Lu Yan He nodded, "Mainly, he surprised me; he is a director who truly understands film cameras. Many directors make films that are not bad, watchable, but most directors' scenes make people feel they are good because the pacing is good and the narrative perspective is good. He is different from them; he is very special."

Chen Siqi: "Then can you let me see the footage that has already been shot this afternoon?"

Lu Yan He said: "I'll ask him; we can take a look at the conflict scene we shot for a whole day yesterday first."

"You wrapped up so late last night, what did you shoot at night?"

"We shot the conflict during the day and the reconciliation at night, but the night scene wasn't shot," Lu Yan He said, "We adjusted the shooting approach temporarily, and we have to continue shooting it tonight."

"How many takes are you going to shoot for this one scene?"

"That's quite a few; I haven't counted, ten-plus takes, dozens of takes?" Lu Yan He said, "Anyway, I've just been tortured by him, constantly being asked to start over."

"Is he that strict?"

"He's not strict; he's a detail freak," Lu Yan He was also helpless, "I was shooting a scene at night where I push the door to enter the room. In order to make the light shining into the room stop exactly at the position he wanted, I shot that one action for nearly half an hour."

Chen Siqi: "... Then your temper is really good."

"If it were someone else, I might have lost my patience, but because I know what effect he wants, and I also want to shoot that best effect, it's not that my temper is good; it's that he makes me feel that this scene can indeed be shot better."

In the final analysis, it's because Lu Yan He himself is an actor who hopes for the scene to be better.

To achieve this goal, he can constantly torture himself.

He is willing.

As the two were chatting, Yuan Hai suddenly brought over a plate of what should be freshly roasted chicken and said with a smile: "This is a chicken we roasted on the spot; you guys try it, it's our local way of doing it."

"Thank you, Mr. Yuan."

"Too thoughtful."

The chicken was still whole. Yuan Hai directly put on plastic gloves and sat on the side to help them tear the chicken meat apart, making it convenient for them to eat.

While tearing the chicken meat, Yuan Hai asked: "Siqi, are you staying here to accompany Yan He until he finishes filming, and then go back together?"

"Me? I can't; I don't have that much time. I have to leave the day after tomorrow," Chen Siqi said with a smile.

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