sovbooks Chapter 35: Choose the most difficult one.
Chapter 35: Choose the most difficult one.
Three scripts, three segments, with difficulty increasing from easy to difficult.
Lin Hao picked them up and flipped through them one by one.
The first clip is from the first episode.
Xiao Qi secretly descends to the mortal realm to save her second sister, where she meets Tong Yuan for the first time.
The performance must be done without props and by one person.
The core challenge lies in portraying the nuances of "suddenly seeing an unparalleled beauty appear before you"—first being stunned, then bewildered, and finally breathtakingly impressed by her beauty.
The three emotional shifts must be completed within a few seconds without making the audience feel abrupt.
It sounds difficult, but for experienced actors, it's standard practice.
The second segment is from the second episode.
Xiaoqi asked Tongyuan what kind of girl he liked. While talking about his ideal type, Tongyuan unconsciously turned his gaze toward Xiaoqi.
The dialogue is brief, but the emotions are extremely complex.
That kind of instant connection, where you suddenly realize that the person in front of you is the one you've been describing, is the ultimate test of an actor's skill.
Because you can't act too deliberately, otherwise it will look fake.
You have to make the audience feel that this man really fell in love with this woman at that moment.
The third segment is the finale.
Modern time and space.
A young man wearing headphones was wandering the street when he suddenly spotted a familiar figure in the crowd. He started searching frantically, and the two eventually smiled at each other.
There are no lines throughout the entire film.
They convey emotions entirely through facial expressions and body language.
This is the most difficult of the three segments.
Acting without dialogue is like walking on a tightrope. You have nothing to rely on, no words to guide your emotions, and what the audience sees is the most raw expression on your face.
Any falsehood will be magnified tenfold.
Lin Hao placed the three scripts side by side in front of him and scanned them back and forth twice.
Choose the first one? Too easy.
The three emotional shifts do require some skill, but for a player like him with past life experience and the support of the system, it's something he can do "with his eyes closed without making a mistake."
After the performance, the director might say "not bad," and that's it.
Should we choose the second option? It's safer and offers more room for maneuver.
But this is the one that Brother Hu chose.
If he also chooses the second option, then he will be going head-to-head with Hu Ge on the same track.
Hu Ge is a graduate of the Shanghai Theatre Academy, and his sense of camera presence and delivery of lines have been systematically trained.
In comparing these key metrics on the same segment, he may not necessarily have an advantage.
What about the third one?
The most difficult.
There are no lines.
They rely solely on their looks and body to speak for themselves.
The risk of a rollover is the greatest, but the potential is also the highest.
When most people see this kind of clip, their first reaction is to "dodge it".
What if it gets smashed?
Losing face in front of the director is a small matter; losing the role altogether is a big deal.
But Lin Hao saw another layer.
This segment has a natural structural advantage: the contrast between the beginning and the end.
The more relaxed and ordinary the first half is, the more shocking the emotional outburst in the second half will be.
This kind of contrasting performance is precisely what he excelled at in his previous life.
The scene where Zhen Zhibing "smells the bottle" is essentially a contrast, a gap between his outward calm and his inner madness.
The moment Dong Yong saw Xiao Qi in the modern era was essentially a contrast: the ordinariness of worldly life and the surging emotions when memories deep within the soul were awakened.
Same way.
Having figured this out, Lin Hao reached out and picked up the third portion almost without hesitation.
"I choose this one."
Hu Ge's eyes flickered slightly across the table.
He chose the second one.
In his opinion, the second one had the best cost-effectiveness, moderate difficulty, and a lot of room for performance, making it the easiest to showcase his acting skills.
The first one is too easy; it's hard to leave a lasting impression on the director after the performance.
The third one is too difficult: pure facial expressions without any lines. If you mess it up, it's a disastrously embarrassing situation.
Choose the middle setting; it's stable.
But Lin Hao chose the most difficult one.
Hu Ge's heart tightened.
He subconsciously observed Lin Hao's expression after he picked up the script.
Very peaceful.
There was no tension or hesitation, not even a serious expression of thought.
It's as if he already knew he would choose this segment before he even selected the third one.
This composure reminded Brother Hu of the auditionees he had seen in the corridor earlier.
Before they entered, almost everyone was struggling, nervous, and repeatedly flipping through the lines in the script.
Only this seventeen-year-old boy, from the moment he stepped into this room, seemed like someone who already knew the ending.
The three directors exchanged a smile.
They certainly noticed Lin Hao's choice as well.
The third segment is a "differentiation" feature they designed specifically. Anyone who dares to choose this is either truly skilled or incredibly arrogant.
Lin Hao's performance at the Capital Theatre has already proven that he belongs to the former category.
"Just let me know when you're ready," Liang Shengquan said casually.
Lin Hao read through the script.
Then I watched it again.
On the third reading, he put the script down.
"That's fine."
The whole process took less than three minutes.
"So fast?" Huang Weiming was somewhat surprised.
Wang Shaojie raised an eyebrow as well.
He was given ten minutes to prepare, and he finished reading it in less than a third of the time.
Either they were already confident, or it was just youthful recklessness.
Based on his previous performance, it is more likely to be the former.
"Okay, all ready."
Liang Shengquan nodded and picked up the clapperboard.
"Smack."
After a crisp sound, the conference room fell silent.
Lin Hao closed his eyes briefly.
When he opened his eyes again, he was no longer Lin Hao.
He was an ordinary modern young man, wearing headphones. His demeanor changed instantly from calm and reserved to a relaxed and carefree attitude.
The three directors' eyes lit up simultaneously.
Putting everything else aside, the speed at which he gets into character is already astonishing.
But what concerned them even more was the approach Lin Hao had chosen.
The third segment is indeed difficult, but it has a structure that can be cleverly utilized. The first half is "strolling around the street while listening to music," and the second half is "the emotional outburst after seeing Xiao Qi."
If you perform with enough relaxation and "carefree" attitude in the first half, the emotional reversal in the second half will be all the more striking.
The greater the contrast, the stronger the impact.
This technique sounds simple, but very few people can actually see through the script structure and find the best entry point within a few minutes.
This guy only looked at the script for two or three minutes before he noticed this.
That insight is truly remarkable.
Sitting next to him, Brother Hu also saw through Lin Hao's intentions.
His brow furrowed slightly.
He has keen insight, has played the role of Dong Yong in the opera version, and directors even made a special trip to see his performance...
With such an opponent, the odds of winning are extremely high.
Even without watching the performance that follows, the combination of these inherent advantages has already seriously tipped the scales.
Inside the conference room, a "young man" was walking around with his head bobbing and swaying while wearing headphones, his entire demeanor extremely casual.
Occasionally, I'd sway my shoulders to the rhythm, or adjust my headphones, my face displaying a nonchalant air as if the world had nothing to do with me.
Liang Shengquan's lips curled up slightly.
He got the young man's attitude right.