Hearing Li Xingyu's words, Nan Rongzhou and Nan Rongyu exchanged glances.
Costumes? Weren't costumes just... ordinary clothes?
Seeing their confused expressions, Li Xingyu didn't explain further, simply handing each of them their respective outfits: "Hairstyle, makeup, and costumes all provide feedback to performers, reinforcing the suggestion: you are now the character you're portraying. I know you might not feel it yet, but start by putting on the clothes."
Though Nan Rongyu and Nan Rongzhou didn't fully understand, changing clothes in summer was easy enough, so they turned and put on their costumes.
Seeing them ready, Li Xingyu continued: "The first evening scene features Nan Rongyu's shot, so I'll start with you."
As he spoke, Li Xingyu revealed what he had been hiding behind his back—a flat mirror that he had apparently taken from the makeup table.
"Look at yourself in the mirror," he said.
Nan Rongyu looked at his reflection with confusion.
In the mirror, his hair was disheveled, hands stuffed in his pockets, shoulders uneven with one higher than the other, the top three buttons of his uniform undone, half the collar tucked inside, his head tilted as he looked back at himself.
"How do you feel?" Li Xingyu asked.
Nan Rongyu tried hard to identify the differences between his mirrored self and his usual self: "My makeup is smudged."
Li Xingyu patiently inquired: "What else?"
"Um, I'm wearing the police uniform prop?"
"Not entirely correct," Li Xingyu shook his head, speaking softly. "It's not that you're wearing the crew's police uniform prop—it's that you are now a police officer."
Nan Rongyu seemed to half-understand as he looked at himself in the mirror: "I am the character I'm playing, Bai Ri? A police officer?"
"That's right, you're a police officer," Li Xingyu affirmed, then continued guiding him. "As a police officer, you've naturally undergone training at the police academy and passed the entry examinations and training. You should have good posture, follow discipline, and possess a strong sense of justice."
"Now look carefully at yourself in the mirror again—do you think the person in the mirror matches these descriptions?"
Nan Rongyu examined himself again and, for some reason, suddenly felt that everything seemed off.
He awkwardly fastened his buttons, tidied his hair, and brought his legs together, but still felt something wasn't right.
"Your back isn't straight enough," Nan Rongzhou gloated from the side.
Nan Rongyu glared at his brother, who was clearly enjoying his discomfort, and silently straightened his back.
Li Xingyu looked Nan Rongyu up and down, seemingly satisfied: "You look more like a police officer than before. Try walking? From the doorway to the deceased's desk, just as the shot will be filmed."
Nan Rongyu took a step forward.
...Great, the rich heir in a police uniform was back shopping.
Nan Rongzhou, watching from the side, laughed mercilessly, while Nan Rongyu, seeing himself in the mirror, also blushed a little.
He had been walking this way for over twenty years, and if Li Xingyu hadn't pointed it out using this method today, he would never have noticed the problem.
Though Li Xingyu's expression remained calm, there was no hint of difficulty in his demeanor, only a smile as he said: "It seems there are still areas for improvement, right?"
❀⋆｡°✿☆❀✿°｡⋆❀
Five hours later.
Led by Shao Yichen, the crew members reassembled, and upon entering the set, they immediately saw the two lead actors exhausted, sprawled across the table, while Li Xingyu casually flipped through the script nearby.
Shao Yichen recalled how Nan Rongzhou had been in the middle of a game when he suddenly told her his brother had called and he needed to leave for a bit, after which he hadn't come back online all afternoon. She vaguely suspected that Nan Rongyu and Li Xingyu might have gotten into a fight over their roles, with Nan Rongyu calling his brother for backup when he couldn't defeat Li Xingyu, only for both to be mercilessly crushed...
With this thought, Shao Yichen felt a twinge of concern, worried that her film's leads might have fallen out before filming was even complete. After weighing her options among the three, she decided Li Xingyu, being the youngest, might be the easiest to get the truth from, so she approached him and asked quietly: "What happened to those two... Are they okay?"
Did you hit them? If you did, please don't hit their faces...
"Nothing much," Li Xingyu calmly turned a page of the script. "They might be tired after some cordial and friendly exchanges with me."
Both men sprawled on the table shuddered at these words.
Shao Yichen: ?
She became even more concerned about the crew's future and, after some thought, approached Nan Rongzhou, the less threatening of the twins: "What happened to you guys?"
Nan Rongzhou was concise: "No fighting."
Shao Yichen responded with an "Oh," immediately relieved.
No fighting was good.
She instantly lost interest in further inquiring about these two companions from her previous life, knowing full well that if they had truly suffered any injustice, they wouldn't be sprawled here but would have called their older brothers to intimidate—no, to reason with—the offender.
She turned around and called to the other crew members: "Get ready, it's almost evening! We'll reshoot this morning's scene, try to get it in one take, and then wrap up today's work!"
Li Xingyu, looking at the script nearby: ? We're done after filming this scene today? So casual?
❀⋆｡°✿☆❀✿°｡⋆❀
Bai Ri strode quickly into the classroom.
He knew his actions had already gone beyond the normal scope of investigation, but he believed he was right—was this case really an accident? If the answer was yes, why would the deceased have gone to the rooftop? Wasn't that area normally closed off?
If it was suicide, why did the deceased's classmates collectively consider him a bright and cheerful person? Why did the substitute teacher feel this child's death was so sudden?
In any case, concluding "accidental fall" seemed too hasty!
With this thought, he steadied himself, straightened his posture again, and walked directly to the deceased's desk, pulling open the drawer to search for clues.
Just as he was attracted by what appeared to be a diary notebook and reached for it, a sudden voice came from the classroom doorway.
"Excuse me, are you the investigator for Bai Ye's case?"
Hearing this voice, Bai Ri's body tensed slightly.
He had chosen this time to enter the classroom because the school building locked at 6:30 PM, and there shouldn't have been any students inside.
He had gotten into the building by obtaining the back door key from the security guard earlier in the day.
—So why was this student wandering around the building at this hour?
Even though his covert investigation had been discovered, Bai Ri didn't show any panic. His movements paused briefly before he straightened up and looked toward the source of the voice.
There stood a thin young man. Despite the sweltering summer heat, he wore an unseasonable autumn school uniform, with slightly long sleeves covering his wrists.
With the setting sun's glow behind him, he smiled awkwardly at the young police officer.
"I was accidentally locked in the bathroom by the classmates on duty... I was just released by the patrolling school janitor and came back to get my backpack."
"I saw you during the daytime investigation. You're here for this case, right?"
❀⋆｡°✿☆❀✿°｡⋆❀
On the other side of the camera, Shao Yichen had initially been sitting with her legs crossed, relaxed as she watched the scene.
But from the moment Nan Rongyu's police officer took his first step, she instinctively felt something was off and gradually sat up straight.
This situation wasn't normal... Why did Nan Rongyu's performance seem different from before?
Shao Yichen carefully recalled Nan Rongyu's morning performance, confirming that his acting had been so terrible even she could tell it was completely immersion-breaking.
Yet after just one afternoon, his acting seemed to have miraculously improved!
Though Shao Yichen couldn't pinpoint exactly what had improved, to put it simply—he actually seemed somewhat like a police officer now!
In fact, Nan Rongyu's personality had some similarities with the script's police character, though mostly in their flaws: inexperienced, hot-tempered, overthinking... The biggest difference between him and the character was that the character, being a police officer, had more discipline despite these shortcomings.
But somehow, after having the afternoon off, Nan Rongyu seemed to have found common ground with the character in terms of discipline as well.
Though he had moved to his position with unsteady steps during pre-filming preparations, as soon as he heard the words "Action," he reflexively snapped upright with such agility that Shao Yichen was amazed.
His subsequent performance went even more smoothly than the initial take, making Shao Yichen feel that Nan Rongyu's acting might actually deserve to be called "decent," almost causing her to question reality.
What was going on? Had the system secretly enlightened Nan Rongyu behind her back?
But if the system were that smart, it shouldn't have bound itself to a slacker like her as director from the beginning, right?
Shao Yichen was completely bewildered.
But her confusion lasted only until Li Xingyu appeared, after which it naturally disappeared.
Because as soon as Li Xingyu entered the scene, she suddenly realized that Nan Rongyu's performance wasn't actually that good after all.
Though Li Xingyu was already a university student, wearing a school uniform didn't make his portrayal of a middle school student feel incongruous—he truly seemed like a middle school student, somewhat nervous facing a police officer. Combined with the evening sunlight streaming through the corridor windows—Shao Yichen finally understood why Jiang Miaomiao had insisted on filming at this time—the sunset, the afterglow, the handsome appearance that remained striking despite the awkwardness, it really created a mood!
Of course, the handsome appearance was purely due to Li Xingyu's natural attributes; if the twins were in the same position, they might at best look presentable.
She just wondered why Li Xingyu wore the autumn uniform instead of the summer one. Was he feeling cold in summer?
Looking more carefully, Nan Rongyu's movements seemed very stiff compared to Li Xingyu's, his lines weren't delivered very smoothly, and he didn't seem to know how to work with the camera.
She relaxed again. Clearly her earlier impression that Nan Rongyu's acting had improved was just her being paranoid—it was merely the lack of comparison.
What Shao Yichen didn't know was that her initial feeling wasn't wrong—Nan Rongyu's performance had indeed improved compared to the morning shoot!
As for the issues she noticed after Li Xingyu appeared, they arose because Li Xingyu's morning performance had also been compromised by Nan Rongyu's poor acting; and now, with Nan Rongyu's performance barely reaching a passing level, Li Xingyu could finally demonstrate his true capabilities.
Unfortunately, since Shao Yichen had no understanding of acting, she only briefly touched the edge of this truth before her perspective went askew.
However, she did discover another truth.
Were these two people, especially Li Xingyu, secretly adding lines?
"Locked in the bathroom by classmates on duty"... that line wasn't in the script, was it?
Recalling the condition of the two leads and Li Xingyu before filming, Shao Yichen pondered for a long time and finally boldly deduced a conclusion.
Li Xingyu must have been unhappy with the leads' acting, so he wanted to add lines for himself!
Author's Note:
Li Xingyu: Earning one person's salary, doing who knows how many people's work. Perhaps that's why the pay is so high.
All acting methods described are completely made up by the author—please don't take them seriously (lies down)
A brand new misunderstanding has been created! .jpg
First update today! Thanks to the little angels who cast Emperor Votes or poured Nutrition Fluid for me during the period from 2020-08-27 20:16:03 to 2020-08-28 10:34:38~
Thanks to the little angels who threw landmines: After Jian 1;
Thanks to the little angels who poured Nutrition Fluid: December 20 bottles; Clear and Twelve 10 bottles; Reincarnation 5 bottles; Clear, Transparent ♀ Sadness 2 bottles; A Deng, Dreamy Purple Little Stream, Thirty-five 1 bottle;
Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!