"Teacher Wang, we're ready. We can start anytime."
Wu Chen noticed the expressions of everyone in the Performance Department above. There wasn't a hint of awkwardness. He calmly called out.
On the contrary, Pu Songri seemed to feel he had made a fool of himself. For a moment, he was still a bit shy, fiddling with the microphone and not daring to speak.
"Alright, let's begin. Yifei, even though you're arranged as a substitute, don't be complacent. Watch more, learn more. Lines and stage presence are very important. You'll need to practice later too!"
Wang Jinsong looked at everyone on stage and instructed.
"Okay, Teacher!"
Liu Yifei nodded, responding with a crisp, pleasant voice.
"Chen Ge, I binged the plot of 'thunderstorm' last night. It's explosive! All that father-son love rivalry, brother-sister entanglement—Cao Yu's mind is simply on fire!"
Pu Songri marveled while fiddling with the Sennheiser ME66 shotgun microphone.
"Less emotion, quickly adjust the lighting. Don't let the footage I shoot look like a ghost movie."
Seeing that the Performance Department was about to start, Wu Chen nimbly adjusted the gimbal with his fingers, adding, "Don't let your hands shake, or all the footage I shoot will be 'earthquake scenes,' and that would be a huge mess!"
"Don't worry, Chen Ge, my hand is as steady as a nail!" Pu Songri patted his chest to guarantee, but no sooner had he spoken than the softbox in his hand tilted with a "click," almost hitting his foot, causing Wu Chen to roll his eyes so hard they almost went to the back of his head.
Thankfully, Wang Jinsong was still instructing the Performance Department members on stage about what to pay attention to, so he didn't notice.
However, a pair of beautiful eyes in the corner took in the entire scene, covering her small mouth as she secretly chuckled.
On stage, the rehearsal officially began.
The plot of "thunderstorm" slowly unfolded.
Zhu Yawen, playing Zhou Puyuan, stood in the center of the stage, his voice deep and authoritative: "Fanyi, the air in this room is already stuffy enough. Don't add to the trouble."
Jiang Yiyan, playing Fanyi, sneered, a hint of suppressed anger in her eyes: "Stuffy? There's no longer any human warmth left in this house!"
The two actors' dialogue was a sharp exchange, full of tension.
Zhou Yang, playing Lu Siping, whispered to the side, her tone filled with the bitterness accumulated over the years: "Dahai, don't be so stubborn anymore..."
Luo Jin, playing Lu Dahai, gritted his teeth, his emotions surging, wishing he could rush up and fight Zhou Puyuan.
"......"
Wu Chen quickly glanced at the people on stage and knew this was a condensed version of "thunderstorm," divided into four acts and six scenes, with Cui Jian's rock version of "Nothing to My Name" used as a transition between acts.
The plot gradually built to a climax.
Zhu Yawen, playing Zhou Puyuan, confronted Luo Jin, playing Lu Dahai, and the atmosphere was tense.
Emotions both on and off stage were stirred, and even the air seemed to solidify.
Wu Chen half-squatted on the ground, his eye pressed against the viewfinder, his fingers as nimble as a conductor's.
First, a wide-angle shot captured the entire stage's tense atmosphere, then he quickly switched to a mid-shot, focusing on Zhu Yawen's face, distorted with anger.
The aperture was adjusted to F2.8, blurring the background just right, and combined with the warm light from the Lowell Diva-Lite 300 softbox, the image had a strong sense of depth, so three-dimensional it seemed to leap out.
"Chen Ge, your operation is too smooth!" Pu Songri watched in a daze, almost forgetting to aim the microphone.
"Stop talking nonsense, watch carefully. For the next shot, I'll show you a trick. Learn it well. If you can't pull it off later, I'll smash your head in."
Wu Chen's gaze sharpened, his finger gently pressed the shutter, and he decisively switched to a close-up of Jiang Yiyan.
Wu Chen precisely captured the instant of anger and suppressed emotion in Jiang Yiyan's eyes as she played Fanyi.
Then, another smooth push-in shot, from Luo Jin's angry roar to the frantic running of the servant played by Qi Kui, the camera movement was fluid, the rhythm explosive, even Pu Songri couldn't help but exclaim softly: "This is art!"
"It's a pity the Performance Department's skill didn't keep up; it wasted Chen Ge's shots!"
Pu Songri couldn't help but feel a bit emotional, but his lighting movements followed very closely.
"Clap clap clap!" After the rehearsal ended, Wang Jinsong called out "Stop" and then clapped, "Not bad, it's starting to look like something."
"Yang Yang, you performed really well just now." Liu Yifei stood up, her long hair cascading like a waterfall over her shoulders, praising sincerely.
"Yiyan, your Fanyi just now was good!"
"Zhu Yawen's Zhou Puyuan also seems to be taking shape!"
"......"
The students of the Performance Department breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing Wang Jinsong's somewhat praising tone, and they gathered together to discuss their recent performance.
Wang Jinsong watched this scene, snorted coldly, and his tone suddenly shifted:
"What are you arguing about? Are you satisfied with just 'looking like something'?
Next, I have three points to make. First, your lines are very forced, without emotion. Second, your acting is very stiff; you can't get into the character.
Finally, your eyes—your eyes have no drama, do you know that? You're like robots. Do you watch robots act?"
"Ha, Zhu Yawen, do you watch robots act?"
"Zhou Yang, do you?"
Wang Jinsong's barrage of criticism immediately silenced the entire room.
"Is Teacher Wang so scary when he gets angry?" Pu Songri whispered, trembling slightly.
"Just giving them a warning. Otherwise, this group will run wild!" Wu Chen's expression remained unchanged, he said softly, while quickly replaying the footage, preparing to show it to Wang Jinsong later for inspection.
These were all common tricks of teachers; he used this trick often when he was an assistant director.
"Wu Chen, are you done shooting? Show them what they've performed, still praising themselves one by one..."
Wang Jinsong finished speaking and walked over.
Everyone from the Performance Department followed silently behind Wang Jinsong. Liu Yifei, however, winked at Zhou Yang, linked arms with her, and curiously looked at the images on the screen.
Wu Chen calmly pressed the play button, and the screen immediately displayed frames that could be called textbook-level visuals.
Zhu Yawen's roar was made powerful by the light and shadow, and Jiang Yiyan's suppressed anger and Zhou Yang's profile when she whispered gained a deeper charm in the dim light.
"Did I act that well?" Zhu Yawen was a bit unsettled.
"Is this me?" Zhou Yang was a bit disbelieving and tugged at Liu Yifei next to her, "Xixi, was I like that just now?"
"I don't know either!" Liu Yifei paused, recalled the previous scene, and said uncertainly, "Maybe!"
"......"
Everyone immediately began to discuss amongst themselves.
Especially during the climax confrontation, Wu Chen used a 360-degree circling shot to fully display the tense atmosphere of the entire stage. The speed of the perspective change and the stability of the image even stunned Wang Jinsong, who couldn't help but recall Mu Deyuan's confident words that day.
"Lao Mu has found a good talent!"
Wang Jinsong couldn't help but feel a bit envious of Mu Deyuan. Comparing him to his own students, who were still exclaiming in surprise, he immediately became furious...
