China Entertainment 1981: Starting from Journey to the West

The salary and benefits have increased, and everyone on the crew is happy. No one is pretending to be reserved and saying that "money is not the most important thing." People are ashamed to talk about money these days, but who doesn't know that money is good!

Remuneration is recognition of work, and there is nothing to be ashamed of.

Gu Bei did not take any credit, and specifically pointed out that this was all Director Yang Jie won for everyone from the stage.

Yang Jie, on the other hand, then said, "I never expected to get this. If you want to thank me, just thank Xiao Gu. If he hadn't reminded me, I really wouldn't have noticed."

Uh……

This old lady is really...

Gu Bei knew that Yang Jie was doing this for his own good. Although the on-site coordinator had great power, it was also a job that offended people. During this period, the reason why no one had any conflicts with Gu Bei was entirely because of his young age and easy-going temperament.

Even if someone is dissatisfied with Gu Bei for some things, they are too embarrassed to say anything. As the saying goes, don't hit the smiling person with your hand.

Gu Beike was polite and smiled when no one said anything. Who would have the nerve to just lower his face and make trouble.

But in a short period of time, I can rely on interpersonal relationships to coordinate work. If it takes a long time...

You still need to have enough prestige to convince the public.

Nothing can win people over more than fighting for better benefits for colleagues.

In the following period, Gu Bei also felt that speaking was obviously easier than before. This was a real benefit.

The filming work of the crew is coming to an end. Although the conditions in all aspects have not been improved, with various crude methods and stupid methods, they can still make do when faced with some difficulties.

However, some problems cannot be solved overnight.

Such as acting.

No matter how great the behind-the-scenes work is, it ultimately depends on the performance in front of the stage.

If the performance is a mess, then all other work is zero.

The other characters in the story are easy to handle. For most actors, they are just another character, but for Zhang Jinlai, the core of the whole drama, it is a completely new experience.

Before joining the crew, Zhang Jinlai had never been exposed to TV dramas. He was only a student in the Shaoxing Opera Troupe. He did not have many opportunities to appear on stage and was still in the learning stage.

Now that he was suddenly asked to play the male lead in a TV series, no one in the entire crew, including himself, was very sure.

It would be fine if it was just a simple character, but the male lead is a monkey.

How should we perform the character Sun Wukong?

The preparatory team had already set the tone during the previous meeting. Sun Wukong should have the thoughts and feelings of a human, the animal characteristics of a monkey, and the spiritual understanding of a god. But how should the scale be controlled during the performance?

Regardless of the air, you should have both the monkey air and the popularity, but which aspect should you focus on?
The lively movements like the monkey scratching its ears and cheeks and jumping up and down are indispensable. This is also the part that Zhang Jinlai is most familiar with.

When it comes to performance specifically, it should be based on this and evolve towards life-oriented and humanistic aspects.

In the training class before, the teachers from China Theater and People's Art also taught it repeatedly, but the teachers had never seen Sun Wukong, so they were also at a loss as to how to grasp this degree.

In the final analysis, Zhang Jinlai still needs to figure it out and understand it himself.

But through the filming during this period, it is obvious that Zhang Jinlai has not yet mastered the core point, and he still habitually deviates towards the opera performance when performing.

Not even as agile as on the opera stage.

Because on the opera stage, the actor's makeup is painted on the face with oil paint, but now Zhang Jinlai needs to perform wearing a mask every day.

When expressing joy, anger, sorrow, and joy, facial expressions and the look of the eyes are very important. The latex mask on his face greatly limits Zhang Jinlai's performance. No matter how hard he tries, the latex mask is not affected and his face cannot be seen at all. His expression can only be seen in his eyes.

Moreover, Zhang Jinlai didn't know how to use his eyes. In the close-up shots given to him, his eyes were empty and there was no sense of fire at all.

This is also because Zhang Jinlai used to perform on the opera stage, far away from the audience, and needed to use body movements to express, but this method of expression simply cannot withstand close-ups and close-ups.

While filming on the set, Gu Bei often heard Director Yang Jie shouting from time to time.

"Monkey! Did you see it?"

"Monkey, what did you see?"

"Look with your eyes, not your shoulders!"

Regarding this point, Yang Jie could only ask the acting teachers in her group to help Zhang Jinlai improve his acting habits and learn more about the characters' thoughts and feelings, as well as his acting methods.

Overall, there is still progress, but it is still far from reaching the standard that satisfies Yang Jie.

Changing performance habits does not happen overnight. Opera actors have only one minute on stage and ten years of practice off stage. Years of study and habits have long been formed, allowing them to turn around in one fell swoop. Obviously not easy.

Yang Jie also knew this, so she didn't need to be in a hurry, just take her time.

But there are some problems that cannot be slowed down.Let’s go back to monkey spirit and popularity.

After the filming started, at the beginning, Zhang Jinlai was obviously more monkey-like than popular when he was performing. However, as director Yang Jie continued to emphasize, and the filming entered the second half, it turned out that the characteristics of the monkey were not enough, and the human aspect was not enough. too much.

Zhang Jinlai worked hard to perform the human aspect, and the result was that he was like a hero who stood upright.

Gu Bei noticed that Zhang Jinlai also had a habitual move, which was to punch the golden cudgel into the ground, then insert it into his waist and stand in a majestic manner.

Ok!

The Monkey King has become a hunter chasing mountains.

In fact, Gu Bei knew that Zhang Jinlai couldn't be blamed for this. After all, it was a pilot episode, and the entire crew was still in the exploratory stage from top to bottom.

Director Yang Jie often reminds people to "monkey energy, pay attention to monkey energy", but unfortunately the effect is still not obvious.

How to grasp that point?

Gu Bei had watched "Journey to the West" countless times in his previous life. He had a standard in his mind, but how to express it, he was not a professional actor, so he really couldn't figure it out.

There are problems, and it’s not just Monkey King’s performance that needs to be fixed, but also many other aspects.

For example, character modeling.

Although the actors had to suffer enough from wearing masks every day, the looks of the two core characters, Monkey King and Zhu Bajie, still looked less than ideal.

When the characters were initially determined, they were basically based on the four portraits drawn by Gu Bei. Fortunately, Tang Monk and Monk Sha played the two characters with their own faces.

The faces of Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie need to be designed and made by Teacher Wang Xizhong. The masks that can be made are compared with the portraits drawn by Gu Bei...

It's just ugly.

It’s not that Teacher Wang Xizhong’s skills are not good. Everyone knows that painting is easy, but it is very difficult to create real objects.

To use a simple analogy, if Gu Bei is asked to draw a picture of the celestial palace, even without reference, he can quickly draw it out with his imagination, and it is guaranteed to be beautiful and full of mythical color.

But it is difficult to arrange the heavenly palace.

The same goes for when Teacher Wang Xizhong makes the masks for Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie. There is only one picture as a reference, but how to design it so that the facial features can be expressed without delaying the actors' performance?
In order to find a way to balance both, the old man lost a lot of hair.

But director Yang Jie is still not satisfied.

Gu Bei often saw Director Yang Jie staring at Monkey King's face worriedly after filming, and muttering: "This is not the Monkey King, he looks like a chimpanzee!"

Zhu Bajie's mask also looks a bit rough. It doesn't look like a domestic pig, but more like a wild one. The belly also lacks realism and elasticity.

These are also issues that Teacher Wang Xizhong is studying and improving.

Yang Jie was not satisfied, and neither was Wang Xizhong, but time waited for no one. The leaders of the station and the radio and television had already issued a fatal order, limiting the broadcast time of the pilot episode. No matter how ugly it was, the filming had to continue.

Yang Jie now only hopes that the pilot episode can successfully pass the review, allowing her to continue this job. As long as she can pass this test, there will be a chance for everything.

"Monkey, what's going on? Have you ever seen any monkey with such a straight back?"

Zhang Jinlai was wielding a golden cudgel, looking very proud. When he heard Director Yang Jie shouting, he was frightened, and then he discovered the problem.

He is also very worried now. The director emphasizes the need to pay attention to monkey energy and popularity every day, and the performance instructor also talks about it all day long.

But how should the two be arranged? Which one is more monkey-like or more popular?
He was equally confused.

"Do it again and pay attention to the way you perform it."

When Yang Jie said these words, she felt guilty. The actor couldn't find the right way to perform. The director should have helped solve the problem, but she didn't know what the perfect Monkey King should look like.

Everything can only be followed by feeling.

If I think it works, then it will work. If I think it doesn’t work, then I will try again.

After saying that, Yang Jie glanced at Gu Bei subconsciously, but quickly shook her head. She was overthinking. Although Gu Bei was very capable and had many methods, he was not a professional actor after all. What could he do? ah.

Gu Bei really had no choice, but who let him watch the most classic "Journey to the West" in his previous life? Who let him know what the most classic and most vivid Sun Wukong should be like.

If he can't act, can he also imitate?
Don’t forget what he does. If you can’t act it out, why can’t you draw it out?

How do monkeys see people from a distance?

What do people look like from close up?

Also, how do you sit, how do you walk, and what do you do when talking to different people?

Gu Bei knew that even without his participation, this group of people could have produced that masterpiece, but now that they are here, it would not be in line with his character to do nothing!
What should a monkey look like when it's angry?