Chapter 739: Future of the Wave

That's right—later, when they said the night drama required filming a night‑battle scene, they needed a few soldier Extras, and Bai Lang was the one selected—there's an extra allowance, and the crew is surprisingly straightforward, willing to add twenty bucks for these soldier Extras. The afternoon street shoot began, and before the camera rolled everyone was relaxed, especially Bai Lang and the two meat‑buying Extras who were actually chatting nonsense.

The fixed spot is the easiest; everyone else has to walk back and forth, just following the prescribed route and yielding the middle to the leads. Considering Bai Lang's acting experience could be called zero, he also felt those leads' acting was a bit poor, "They're mainly just striking poses and trying to look cool, right?" Bai Lang glanced at the two male leads passing by and the female leads running over, "Exactly, what can a talent show or hype have in terms of acting?" The speaking male Extra sounded a bit resentful.

The Extra girl was similar; objectively her appearance was delicate but still fell short of those flamboyant sluts, who had spent a fortune on surgery, and even a few of the male leads' looks were probably enhanced to be more glamorous than this girl... "I tell you, this entertainment industry is a pill!" Bai Lang added. The three's gossip under the camera really looked like bargaining; originally there was nothing, the highlights and focus were on the leads, and the three of them staying silent and still actually drew no attention.

If Bai Lang placed a martini on the meat‑cutting table, maybe it would attract the camera, but he's not that flashy a man, even though his thick eyebrows and starry eyes are far more masculine than the leads, Bai Lang is still an Extra. Suppressing his aura to lower his presence, Bai Lang thought that was fine, "I heard the southern film city pays more?" he whispered, "Yeah, a bit more, but I also heard this industry is about to be 'regularized'."

Let the regularization be whatever; Bai Lang is now considering what to rely on to make a living—it's not certain that depending on a good brother who gives sixty bucks can sustain him every day? In the Capital there's probably no chance, so maybe go south and see; he doesn't expect to make a name in the entertainment world, but that doesn't mean he can't earn money. As a martial‑arts expert, the first thing Bai Lang thought of was black‑eating‑black, perhaps he could survive by robbing illegal trades and confiscating their money.

A graduate of 211 University, Bai Lang, after so many events, finally fell into a rough thug, and the only way to get money left was through violence. "I don't have a degree; what can a high‑school diploma do? Hold a tray?" Bai Lang curled his lip, continued watching these people perform. It seems the director lowered the requirements, knowing the acting level of these people, so as long as the footage is still decent, the awkwardness and flaws in performance can be ignored.

Moreover, they have to rush the schedule, so cut the NGs. The night shoot only needs a few close‑ups; all the fights can be done with stunt doubles, the male and female leads can leave by eight o'clock, while others might have to shoot until ten. Bai Lang was also caught up... "Twenty bucks, a total of eighty bucks, but this work time has already exceeded twelve hours, right?"

Even though most of today was spent idling, waiting for the leads to arrive, it was still enough to make one irritated—once you're on the job, you're irritated.

Bai Lang changed into a foot soldier's costume—again a uniform from a dynasty he didn't recognize, and it was tight because he's big‑built; after trying several sets he barely managed to fit. As for movements? There is a movement coach, but they can't design many moves for a foot soldier; the action scenes are handled by stunt doubles and the martial‑arts director himself, while a foot soldier like Bai Lang can just swing the rubber weapon in a child‑like play manner.

"Isn't filming just child's play?" Bai Lang thought it was just for fun, as long as you pose you're fine. Among the soldier Extras, a few of the weaker ones were instructed to lie on the ground and play dead later, each receiving an extra ten‑buck red envelope. "The money's pretty quick to hand out—still only a few hundred bucks, but today's delayed costs are already over ten thousand bucks." Bai Lang didn't have to play dead—though he didn't mind.

Posing with the weapon, Bai Lang briefly observed the martial‑arts director and the stunt doubles' choreography, "The visual effects are just average; earlier when they shot the front shots of those guys they even hung wires and used dry ice for the entrance, but the stunt fight and the entrance footage differ a lot." Bai Lang thought they might have to Photoshop the images and add effects afterward. What else could they do? Anyway, when he heard those people read their lines they were stuttering, and most of the lines weren't even memorized, requiring a few assistants to hold cue cards off‑camera.

Consequently, those people's gazes drifted—as much as the assistants tried to stand at the right height and angle per the director's instructions, individual visual focus still varied. The performance could be called a mess, but the fans only needed to see the faces. At that moment Bai Lang thought he might even deliver the lines better than them—Bai Lang's memory was quite strong then.

He worked until ten p. m. today, and Bai Lang immediately decided not to come tomorrow and take a full day off, "If you work one day you should play three days." Bai Lang said. He decided to head south anyway; staying in the Capital has no future, and he only has a little over a thousand bucks, maybe he could pull a job tonight? The Capital is a top‑tier area, even the local thugs know the law, so asking them for money would instantly turn into a robbery.

Bai Lang didn't want to break the law, and nowadays even the Capital is full of cameras, so with nothing to do he just hung out at an internet cafe; Bai Lang thought the internet cafe was the best place to gather information. It costs nothing, yet you can collect almost all public data and rumors. Bai Lang did get some unexpected surprises—like the fact that Hong Kong movies and TV dramas are still alive and doing well, and Hong Kong‑born stars still have a strong market in the mainland and Dong Nan Ya.

Japan and Korea are the same; overall the entertainment industry is far more developed than the hometown Bai Lang remembers, but the chaos is the same, with hype now ruling. Some familiar songs he knows don't appear in this world, "So I can become a plagiarism official? Ahahaha." Bai Lang was quite pleased, but after listening to some pop songs he felt his voice might be in danger.

"Can I fit the trends of this era? And my singing seems a bit tone‑deaf, I can't just imitate Zhou Dong…" Bai Lang was also a bit troubled; the key is his musical knowledge is mainly ancient notation, so he'll need to spend some effort learning staff notation and numbered notation.