466: Chapter 466 The Female Lead Makes Her Debut!

After finishing the musical sequence for the opening credits, Lin Chuyan continued to increase the intensity of his shoot—he wanted to film Ruan Xingyu's scenes first.

The logic was actually the same: if Ruan Xingyu could perform these scenes well, the rest would be much easier to film later.

There was another reason: although Lin Chuyan had a good idea of his girlfriend's Acting skills when they rehearsed offline, he still needed to test whether she could perform well in front of the camera.

Only after testing her would he know how to shoot the subsequent scenes and how to guide her to perform even better.

At this moment, the two were whispering to each other.

"Are you nervous?"

Ruan Xingyu shook her head. "Not at all."

"Then you're better than me. I was still nervous during my first time."

The "first time" Lin Chuyan referred to was actually seven days of pursuit, not hunting blue star.

If it weren't for the System, he probably wouldn't have been spotted by the director and recommended to play the second male lead in drama.

Lin Chuyan began to explain the scenes to her.

He was very serious when directing, adopting a completely professional attitude, which was quite different from how they interacted in private.

Ruan Xingyu really appreciated this.

"Since this is your first time Acting, I want you to feel immersed in the character, so we'll start filming from the beginning and hold off on the later parts."

"We'll shoot this first scene in two parts."

"First, you're working part-time at a coffee shop. When a famous actress comes in to buy coffee, you need to show respect; as she turns to leave, you should look at her with longing, because her life is your dream."

"Immediately after that, you receive an audition notification on your phone. The camera will follow you the entire time, so you need to get used to being followed by the lens—"

Ruan Xingyu interrupted, "It's okay, I've always been quite used to that."

"...I almost forgot you're a big star."

"Hehe."

Lin Chuyan continued, "Great. Anyway, the sequence is: take off your apron, tell your colleague you're going to an audition, grab your bag and walk forward, turn back to get your Lines, and then walk forward while looking down at your Lines, before finally hitting the plot point where you get splashed with coffee. The main point here is that your hands or feet must always be in motion; you can't stop. You need to convey that sense of urgency."

"Got it."

"Yeah, it's fine, don't feel pressured. This scene is still simple; if it doesn't work, we can just shoot a few more takes."

After finishing with Ruan Xingyu, Lin Chuyan turned to Sand. "For the coffee-buying part, let's have the camera follow the famous actress's back first. After she leaves, push the camera toward the female lead so the focus shifts from the actress to our female lead."

"So this part is just filming her expression, right?"

"Right. Then she'll watch the actress leave, keeping her eyes on her. As the actress walks out of the store, she'll turn her head to look out the window. This gives you a motivation for the camera movement, and you can then smoothly pan the camera toward the actress outside."

"Nice." Sand drew an inference. "When the actress gets into the car outside and it starts driving off, the camera follows. That gives us another motivation for the movement, so we can then slowly pan back into the store and return to the female lead."

"Exactly. Next, the female lead should receive the audition notification, and you can continue filming from there."

Sand said, "The next part is 'getting bumped into by a customer,' so the camera needs to keep moving, and the shot size needs to change as well to stir the audience's emotions."

"Mm, you're the professional, I'll listen to you." Lin Chuyan only reminded him of one thing: "Don't forget one thing: for this camera design, the first thing to consider is 'how the female lead gets bumped into'—we need to emphasize the feeling of 'suddenness'."

"Then we'll film from the side," Sand explained. "If we use a front-facing tracking shot, the result will look too deliberate."

"Right, then let's start the shot by tracking from the side. Then, while the female lead is facing the camera, taking off her apron, and explaining to her colleague, your Steadicam can circle around."

Sand noted it down: "Got it. Should we tighten the shot size too? That way, the audience's emotions will be closer to the female lead's."

Lin Chuyan snapped his fingers. "That makes sense. Let's push the camera in, increasing the female lead's screen presence and narrowing the audience's field of view. It will make the upcoming collision seem even more sudden."

Lin Chuyan now understood not just what to do, but why he was doing it.

Take a ready example: to film the female lead getting bumped into and splashed with coffee, you could just have her get bumped while walking forward. Why waste time and camera shots having her turn back?

The answer: because the series of actions the female lead performed earlier were too fluid, and the emotion of the entire sequence remained on a single line. Choosing to have her get bumped into immediately would be okay, but it would appear very "flat."

But by having her forget something and turn back, the atmosphere instantly becomes impatient and subtle.

The previous "fluidity" is suddenly broken. The audience worries that the female lead might leave something behind again, and they fear she won't make it to the audition... Do you see it? The emotion is interrupted here.

But just when the audience thinks this is the interruption, the real interruption suddenly descends—she gets splashed with coffee!

This is cinematic language, and this is directorial skill.

In less than a minute, the audience might not see the technique, might not be able to say why it's good, and might not realize it was designed... But great works need to be polished like this, and the manipulation of emotions is subtle and imperceptible.

...Today was an overcast day, and the contrast between the light inside and outside the coffee shop was a bit strong.

Lin Chuyan felt it was too dark, so the crew set up a new side backlight above the window outside.

Sand still felt it wasn't enough, so he placed large reflectors behind the camera to fill light into the entire environment.

"Actors in position... Lighting and camera ready..." Lin Chuyan raised his hand and gave his girlfriend an OK sign. "Ready... Action!"

The camera began to follow the famous actress who walked into the shop. Ruan Xingyu was looking down at this moment. "Cappuccino, please."

To Lin Chuyan's surprise, Ruan Xingyu's Acting was not "deliberate" at all, and she didn't "overact."

Ruan Xingyu looked up; her expression was slightly surprised, but only just a little. She did show respect, but she also looked a bit cute and dazed. When the actress was about to leave, she remembered to offer her a smile that was somewhat ingratiating, yet kind and knowing.

Lin Chuyan sat in front of the monitor watching, and he truly felt that her performance was quite good... No wonder his senior brother told him that Ruan Xingyu had a great talent for Acting; it always felt like she could just pull it off effortlessly, didn't it?

You have to know, many actors often struggle to gauge the right scale, either appearing too light or too heavy. But Ruan Xingyu's timing was just right? Was she really that good?

Watching further, the camera followed what he and Sand had discussed, panning out and then back, returning to Ruan Xingyu's face. The expression of a little girl filled with envy and longing upon seeing a big star was indeed played a bit too perfectly.

"Cut!" Lin Chuyan watched it again. It seemed... there were no problems? "It's a wrap!"

Sand: "One take? You weren't like this yesterday!"

Lin Chuyan ignored him and pulled his girlfriend over. "Those little expressions of yours were just too perfect."

"Maybe it's because..." Ruan Xingyu pursed her lips, unable to help but laugh. "I often see this expression on other people's faces. That's how they look when they see me, so I just acted like that."

Lin Chuyan: "..." A small extra in the drama, a big star in real life—so it turns out you're quite experienced.