Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation
Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
“How much did you drink today? You look like a fool on the sidewalk.”
Looking at Lu Ze leaning against the wall and unlocking his door, Yang Dan wanted to laugh. He was squinting at the lock’s opening, completely failing to insert the key.
Lu Ze didn’t earn a single fen today and treated Liu Le to a three hundred yuan meal, but he was still delighted. He finally had a supervisor and no longer had to wander around like a headless chicken. Therefore, he ended up drinking a lot today.
“Haha, sister Dan, I’m happy today! So happy! Let me tell you sister Dan, I also have a boss from today! Tell me, am I happy or not?”
Yang Dan was also pleasantly surprised, sincerely feeling happy for this little brother of hers. Having a supervisor meant guaranteed income. He would have at least twenty jobs a month, and the income would also be higher than before. Most importantly, being under a boss meant an opportunity to get some distinct roles and even being able to have one’s own dialogues. This was not an opportunity loose extras could have.
“Really? That’s great, Lu Ze! Whose troupe did you join?”
“Hahahahaha…Liu Le, brother Le, the one with fatties, clowns, and grandpas and grandmas.”
“Oh, Liu Le! I know him, he is a pretty good person. It’s really a good job! Did you drink enough today? If not, why not accompany your sis for a bit too? Eh? Lu Ze? Damn…you fell asleep standing?”
She poked Lu Ze with her fingers but had no response. So, she helplessly took the keys from his hand and opened the door before throwing him on the bed. Then, she took off his shoes and covered him before finally leaving.
“Host entering sleep detected, initializing teaching mode, 3…2…1…”
Lu Ze suddenly opened his eyes, not feeling the slightest bit of intoxication. He vigorously blinked his eyes, looking at the white space before his eyes again. He’d entered the teaching space again?
“I can still study after drinking so much? This is really great!”
Lu Ze flipped through the courses on the interface, not selecting today’s course in a hurry until he saw Camera Placement And Character Positioning Study. Thereupon, he unhesitatingly entered the course. Today’s incident had had a huge impact on him. He couldn’t help but think that whether he truly shouldn’t have chosen that spot? If he had chosen someplace else, perhaps there might not have been so much trouble?
“Loading complete, initializing Camera Placement And Character Positioning Study course in 3…2…1…”
A scene emerged from darkness— it was a small production crew with only a single video camera for recording. Then, Lu Ze discovered another him appearing in his vision, shooting with a female partner.
“Welcome to the course. Executing one to multi camera placements, teaching character positioning corresponding to numerous movie styles. Study earnestly.”
Lu Ze saw the other him, who was wordlessly standing with the female lead before the camera in silence, begin changing positions along with the female lead as the camera arm came into play. Then, they repeated the shoot with two camera placements. Adding the camera movement, they again repeated the shoot. In this manner, they shot up to nine camera placements..
Thereupon, the scene transformed again, changing from an urban type to an action type. The second Lu Ze didn’t disappear, but the female lead changed into a muscled male who fought with him before the camera. They repeated the process with camera movement and increasing camera placements.
Lu Ze completely forgot how long he watched for. He saw various styles, including urban, action, ancient, science fiction, western fantasy, and supernatural. Each had a distinct style, and even the character positioning was somewhat different. In addition to feeling dazzled, he even felt that his brain was a bit inadequate.
“Observation concluded. Current study phase’s evaluation, ninety five points, passed.”
Being motivated, Lu Ze observed earnestly this time. Therefore, obtaining ninety-five points was not surprising. As for the next step, he already knew about it—it was getting into the action!
“Entering first phase simulation. Duration, twelve hours. Get ready, host. 3…2…1…”
The second Lu Ze disappeared and he himself took the command. He walked to the camera and positioned himself properly before it. After thirty seconds, the camera began moving, and he let out a sigh of relief, ‘Seems like I passed the first test.’
He positioned properly before the first placement moving camera according to his memories, waiting for the second camera placement to begin.
However, before the second camera placement started, he took a whip on his back. Clearly, he’d been standing wrong. Thereupon, his body irresistibly flew backward until he was thrown out of the set. The second Lu Ze appeared again in his place and demonstrated the position before he could try again.
Just like that, the cycle continued.
…
“Third phase simulation concluded: Evaluation, 96 points, excellent. Course finished.”
Lu Ze opened his eyes and jumped into the sitting position, flipping his quilt over. Huge beads of sweat were running down his head. He then checked the quilt and found that it was moist as well.
He couldn’t remember how many lashes he’d endured, but it almost made his soul leave his body. However, the results were outstanding too. He dared to guarantee that the current him could position himself before the nine camera placements and four arm movements without any problem.
He recalled his position yesterday and gave it a careful thought. It was not too bad, but it was certainly somewhat picked at will. After all, lying down in the path of the male lead’s charge was not too brilliant of a choice.
“I’ve learnt it…” Lu Ze murmured as he picked his phone from the bedside. Opening the phone, he discovered a voice message from Liu Le.
“Lu Ze? You haven’t woken up? There is a shoot today, a war drama again, grenade battle. Are you up? Reply me within twenty minutes, or I’ll substitute someone else. Shoot starts at seven thirty. Reply me first, then hurry.”
Lu Ze was delighted, not expecting to find work so soon. Sure enough, having a supervisor was much better! He immediately replied, “No problem, brother Le! I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”
Lu Ze changed his clothes, rinsed his mouth, washed his face, locked the door, and dashed out of the courtyard. With thirteen minutes left, walking or even running might not be fast enough. Fortunately, he found a mobike by the roadside. Lu Ze unlocked it and pedaled it with all his life, reaching the film city’s entrance in merely eight minutes.
“Huff.. Huff.. Brother Le, I’m here!” Seeing Liu Le, who was crouching at the roadside and eating spicy schezwan noodles, Lu Ze greeted while panting, with his head covered in sweat.
“Shoot starts at seven thirty, still more than twenty minutes to go. Even if you went back and walked over, you could have made it, no? Look at you, so tired! You didn’t have breakfast?”
“Haven’t. Old Liu, give me four garlic steamed buns and a bottle of soy milk!”
Sitting by the roadside, Lu Ze yelled at the familiar old fellow selling steamed buns. While he was panting, Liu Le beside him suddenly slapped his head.
“Who are you calling old Liu? That’s my father!”
Lu Ze glanced at Liu Le and then at old Liu. They…really looked similar! Embarrassed, he could only chuckle and hand a cigarette each to Liu Le and old Liu to alleviate his awkwardness.
Upon eating, Liu Le looked at his wrist watch. He stood up and patted his butt before bringing Lu Ze to the entrance of the film city and yelling, “Nineteen men! Above forty! Capable of running!”
This was the first time Lu Ze was seeing so many people rushing like this in his direction. Thinking how he used to be one of them just yesterday, he couldn’t help but feel a bit emotional.
Quickly selecting twenty people, including Lu Ze, Liu Le led them to the shooting crew. Looking at the costumes, Lu Ze found that they were no different from yesterday. He was even doubtful if he’d worn the same one yesterday..
Then, the stage manager explained the scene to them. Grenade battle was simple, just running while carrying a chest. The manager soon left after explaining the scene. Lu Ze and the other extras found themselves somewhere to sit as they began to wait for the shoot to begin.
It was already nine before the shooting started, and the temperature had gradually risen. Hearing a shout for the extras, they quickly put on their jackets, picked up wooden chests, and prepared to run.
“Action!”
Hearing the command, the group of extras began to madly run in the trenches while carrying the wooden chests. However, this scene was quite difficult to shoot because of the site. The trenches were narrow, and there were more extras crawling ahead with firearms in their hands. There was simply too little space, making it quite easy to trip and fall.
Therefore, the scene was not shot in one take, making the director angry. However, he was also helpless. The extras could only be considered half at fault while the other half could easily be attributed to the site. Even if it were the director himself, he’ll probably be even worse than the extras.
So, one take, two takes…three takes…
Running in blazing heat while wearing cotton-padded jackets, nobody would be able to take this. The group of extras were sweating as if they had just taken a dip in a river, bathed in sweat.
However, Lu Ze discovered something: Even while running, he could habitually maintain the optimal positioning.
And the director could also see a few things through the several takes with this group of extras. He discovered that Lu Ze was the only one conspicuous in the group. The moment one looked at the screen, one’s gaze would almost always fall on him. This was the benefit of understanding positioning.
At the fifth run, the scene was finally done. The extras happily took off their clothes and hats, feeling a burst of coldness. However, at this moment, the director pointed at Lu Ze.
“That extra in the grey vest, come over here for a moment!”
“Me?” Lu Ze looked at other people and then pointed at himself with a question mark on his face.
“Right, you! Come over here.”
Yesterday’s affair had left a shadow on his mind. Seeing the director, he walked over scared and without confidence, “Is something wrong, director?”
“Have you studied acting?”
“No.”
“Then, how do you know about positioning?”
“I’ve read a few books about camera placement.”
“You don’t need to find work tomorrow, just come here directly at 5:30 a.m. Can you do it? Three hundred and fifty per day with food.”
“Eh…What, eh!” Lu Ze finally came back to his senses. He’d been directly assigned a role! Unable to suppress his excitement, he turned completely red. “I can do it, I can do it! Thank you, director, thank you very much!”
However, the director showed no reaction. He no longer looked at Lu Ze as he waved his hand and said, “Alright, leave.”