"No way?" Everyone looked at each other and couldn't believe the result.
"For a top drama actor in the industry, if he is lucky enough to perform 200 performances a year, his ceiling is only 1 million." Wang Pingfei sighed: "And there are only a handful of such actors in the country."
Su Ze already knew this result from Liu Tianyi, because 90% of the country's market-oriented theater troupes are stationed in the capital and Shanghai. According to the cost of living in the capital, even senior actors who have established themselves can only have enough to eat, and it is absolutely impossible to make big money from dramas.
of.
"Now do you understand why these people will cry for poverty when the show starts?" Wang Pingfei said: "Since it is an objective fact, I guess the director also hopes that the dramatists will try their best to use a simple way to perform the show."
"This is a good thing, and it is closer to some of the essence of modern drama. There are two types of regular drama rehearsals: one is when the script is basically finalized, and then the crew starts with a round-up of the script, which is also called sitting rehearsal."
"Everyone analyzes the characters together, gets familiar with the script, then goes out to rehearse, and finally adjusts it over and over again. There is also a type of rehearsal called a workshop."
"This kind of rehearsal often has only one outline or concept for the script. The actors and directors create characters and improvise within the framework, and gradually take the essence and form the final version."
"For example, conflicts in everyone's understanding of characters, overturning certain plots, and even actors having various emotional breakdowns during rehearsals are all very common and real situations."
Wang Pingfei continued to play the show and introduced: "The reason why I recommend you to watch this variety show is because the rehearsal part is very realistic. Including me, we are really in this state when rehearsing."
Next, Wang Pingfei explained that the normal rehearsal cycle for a full-length two-hour new play is basically thirty to sixty days. After the rehearsal is completed, the crew will enter the pre-performance work called theater synthesis, which means entering the stage from the rehearsal hall to the theater and lighting.
Sound effects and other technical departments rehearse and prepare for the official performance.
For example, the first episode of the show, "The Story of the Chicken Farm," although there is a story framework, basically starts from a screenwriting workshop.
Let’s calculate a 20-minute play as one-fifth of a play. The normal working cycle is 7-10 days, but these seven people only took 48 hours to complete it?
The most amazing thing is that the official performance version looks very different from the version that didn't pass the preview. Everything was completed overnight. Only top drama talents can do this.
"You must have heard of the Wuzhen Theater Festival, right?" Wang Pingfei stepped down from the podium and came to the middle of the students and said: "In 2013, it was initiated by Huang Lei, Lai Shengchuan, and Meng Jinghui. After that, it was held in Wuzhen every November for two weeks."
"I have participated in the theater festival as a guest every year since 2016, and I can live a dream-like day for more than ten days every year. It can be said that many familiar scenes in the show bring back many memories."
Su Ze knew something about the Drama Festival. Three keywords are released every year, allowing young dramatists to create based on the keywords. Every year, 18 groups of elites advance to the finals, and the winning team is finally determined.
In particular, youth competitions have many requirements for the stage, such as not allowing redundant props, trying to use a table and two chairs provided by the organizer to complete the performance, limiting the number of people to no more than five people, etc.
"What level of drama do you think "Chicken Farm Story" belongs to?"
Wang Pingfei signaled the students to speak freely. Liu Guanjie was the first to raise his hand and finished his brief statement. Zhao Yuran was the second to finish his talk and finally asked Su Ze: "What do you think?"
"If you don't consider the creation time, I think it is at least the best in the industry. If you take into account such a short creation cycle..."
Su Ze said seriously: "That's an incredible level!"
"I think what Wu Bi said in the show is very good. For viewers who don't understand drama, we are all variety show amateurs."
"If no good works are released, who cares about what kind of life you live?"
"Liu Tianqi's story, Ding Yiteng's music and screenwriting, Liu Xiaoye's stage style, Liu Xiaoyi's prop production, Wu Bi and Zhao Xiaosu's performance standards, and even Xiu Rui integrated well into the stage."
“This is a complete and mature work that can be toured!”
Su Ze nodded in approval. The banter and absurdity in the first half of the story set a good structure for the narrative style. In this situation, the audience will not be obsessed with questions like why chickens can talk or why there are TVs in the sea.
Instead, he gradually accepted and paid attention to the story of a little hen as the protagonist, and followed the plot step by step with all his heart.
The second half of the story also uses a familiar strong emotional rendering method. When analyzing the story, the actors have accurately analyzed the mapping between "sea" and "dream".
At the end, the actor's personal emotional expression on this topic is even brought in, which is full of energy and very touching. This is a standard laughter-then-tears drama structure, with conflicts, characters, and touches of detail.
As an excellent children's drama, it is not preachy or childish, but has a strong allegorical effect. Isn't it enough?
"I admire Teacher Huang Lei's approach very much." Wang Pingfei returned to the podium and said sincerely: "The protagonists on the stage are only dramatists. There are no guest stars. If the audience likes it, they can just come to the show, stand on the stage, and applaud."
"Look at what variety shows are doing now. Is it impossible to break the show's style? Are there endless vicious and sharp comments? Are actors' performances being compared and analyzed?"
"Is it true that only if you can cry and shout, your acting skills will explode?"
“That’s bullshit!”
Wang Pingfei became more and more angry as he spoke: "There are only three characters in the play "Brazil", a robot, a vegetative state, and a puppet representing a vegetative state. During the performance, two actors covered their faces, and one was lying on the bed. No one used popular language.
Explosive acting in the sense of the word, right?”
"Tell me why the audience cried?"
"Because of empathy!"
"Emotions come from the actors themselves, and voice and body control are the best expressions of acting skills."
Su Ze was a little moved. Under the rules of the show, everyone seemed to be out of touch with their real situation. For example, Liu Xiaoye, as a mature dramatist, no longer experienced this kind of chaos.
But we all represent drama people in a broader sense, simulating the current industry ecology. If you let yourself summarize their lives, there are only six words:
There is ideal but no bread.
Support yourself from scratch, but don't expect to get rich or do more, because the money problem is throughout. Make money selling tickets, paying rent, and completing the show?
But the reality is that theater tickets can't be sold, theaters can't be rented, props and costumes are patched together, and even grandpa and grandma are begged to be groveled.
Facing the audience, the actor stretched out the QR code while compromising, and said pitifully: As long as you come to see it, you can pay as much as you want.
"Wu Haochen finally met an audience member who took the initiative to buy a ticket. He accepted the money, thanked him repeatedly, and finally sat on the roadside with tears streaming down his face."
Wang Pingfei said emotionally: "He is your senior brother who got into acting!"