"What's there to envy? They're just a bunch of people who have lost their way, with nothing to teach, so they can only tell jokes to amuse everyone," Zhang Luo retorted upon hearing this.
Seeing some students whispering, Jin Xue immediately said angrily, "The students in the back row, listen carefully. If you learn this acting formula of mine, you can act freely in any role. If I catch anyone slacking off again, you'll be sent to Class B."
Zhang Luo and the others quickly collected their thoughts and listened attentively.
...
Class B. After the self-introductions, the students finally understood the purpose of introductions.
Quan Jiu said, "In the workplace, self-introductions are very necessary, but ultimately, everyone looks at work ability and attitude.
You are actors, so you should value acting itself more. I hope that students who genuinely want to join a film crew will not put the cart before the horse, nor think of earning traffic and value through their persona. What ultimately reflects an actor's value is the set."
The students applauded again.
Qiao Ran whispered to Han Zhao, "Although the teacher won't teach us acting, at least we can learn something else, which is also good."
Ren Kui said with a worried frown, "But I really don't want to embarrass myself in front of the entire school faculty and students in a week. People in Class A are already better than us, and now they have a professional teacher. We're definitely going to lose badly this time."
"I'm not expecting a comeback anyway, it's just like this. We're about to graduate, do you really think you can change in a week? You're so naive," Qiao Ran teased.
Ren Kui sighed again, "True, even without a teacher, I'd still be at the bottom. I'll most likely graduate and go home to inherit the family business."
Qiao Ran's mouth twitched. Just as he was about to roll up his sleeves and beat this humblebrag into submission, the lecturer spoke from the podium. He could only roll his eyes at Ren Kui.
Quan Jiu brought up her teaching PPT and distributed a lesson plan to each student, saying,
"In acting, emotion is the most important thing. Emotion can even be equivalent to your acting skill. Appropriate emotion not only allows for a good interpretation of the character but also touches the emotions of the audience in front of the screen.
Now, the scenes you have in your hands are various emotional scenarios. For the next half hour, you will rehearse on your own, and after half an hour, you will perform on stage in turn."
The students each took their scene snippets and compared them with those around them, finding that they were all different.
No two people had the same emotion.
Han Zhao looked at the snippet in his hand with fascination. Although it was only a few sentences, the content was very captivating, making him eager to know the entire story.
"This is the screenwriter's ability. I can only say, amazing. One sentence hooked me," Qiao Ran said, looking at the snippet in his hand. "Class monitor, let me see your snippet."
Han Zhao showed his snippet to Qiao Ran, then took Qiao Ran's snippet to look at himself. He had the same feeling: it sparked a desire to glimpse the full story.
"Class monitor, class monitor, let me see yours." Someone else gathered around. It turned out everyone was looking at each other's snippets.
Quan Jiu did not stop them, but instead began her own creative work during the break.
The students soon finished looking at all the snippets and then found their own spots to begin rehearsing.
Half an hour passed quickly. Quan Jiu called for a halt, but the students looked at her with confusion or worry.
Qiao Ran said dejectedly, "Teacher, my snippet is too abstract. It's only four sentences, and it feels so empty."
Quan Jiu smiled and beckoned, "Then you go first."
"Ah?" Qiao Ran walked to the center with a mournful face. After a moment of silence, he adjusted his emotions, then made a gun gesture with his hand, looking forward with determination. "Bang~" he mimed shooting.
Quan Jiu walked off the stage and asked Qiao Ran to stand beside her. She then asked the students, "From this performance, what did you see?"
"Shooting and killing," someone said first.
Quan Jiu then asked Qiao Ran, "Read out the snippet you performed so everyone can hear it."
Qiao Ran, not understanding, loudly read, "Li Zuo made up his mind. Since he had to shoot his own people, he would rather shoot an officer than a common soldier."
The students started discussing animatedly. Just like the snippets they had received, although only a few sentences, they were thought-provoking.
Quan Jiu said, "I'll set an example for you first. For the next student to perform, you will need to analyze, judge, and evaluate it yourselves.
Firstly, Qiao Ran's performance only completed the action. As for the protagonist's emotions, not only were they not conveyed, but his mood was even misrepresented."
A screenwriter can actually evaluate acting? Some students were unconvinced. Qiao Ran was even more so, saying, "Teacher, I think my emotions were fine. He was determined to kill, so his gaze should be firm and unwavering."
Quan Jiu did not directly refute but smiled faintly, "You only saw the first sentence. However, these short four sentences contain more emotions that you haven't grasped.
Firstly, 'made up his mind' does have an element of determination;
Secondly, 'shoot his own people' is equivalent to killing his own kin. This shows that Li Zuo is ruthless. His gaze should be sharp, fierce, and decisive. He is not an approachable person, but he is powerful and taciturn."
The students below were astonished. With just two sentences, so many emotions were analyzed, even the protagonist's personality. Moreover, these personality traits and emotions were consistent with the description in the snippet, not forced.
Qiao Ran understood and nodded in realization, "Teacher, I understand."
Quan Jiu continued with a smile, "Do you think that's all? As a good screenwriter, no language should be superfluous, and every word should have its meaning.
And the snippet I gave Qiao Ran has the last two sentences. 'He would rather shoot an officer than a common soldier.' What does this signify?"
Ren Kui guessed, "Is he an enemy spy? According to the definition of value, an officer has a great role in command. If there is no leader, it's like a scattered mess. He wants to kill the person with greater value, so he must be a spy, right?"
Someone objected, "Since it's already said to be 'his own people,' there shouldn't be a spy identity."
"Then he's a villain," another person added.
Quan Jiu asked at the opportune moment, "So you define the reason for his actions as him being a villain? So he does evil without any reason?"
Qiao Ran was itching to know and urged, "Teacher, just tell us directly, what does it mean?"
Quan Jiu explained, "Except for a very small number of perverted psychologies, no one commits evil purely for the sake of evil. Regardless of whether he is a villain or a protagonist, there must be a reason why he does what he does. Finding that reason is the key to understanding the character.
The protagonist weighs the pros and cons of killing his own kin, otherwise, he wouldn't need to 'make up his mind,' he could just kill directly.
Since this is the case, his decision to kill an officer instead of a soldier must also be based on weighing the pros and cons. To him, the soldier is innocent, and the one at fault is the commanding officer."
Qiao Ran's mouth hung open in shock. After a long while, he said blankly, "Teacher, I understand. He is a leader with the power of life and death, and he is investigating the main person responsible for the defeat in the battle."
Quan Jiu, however, smiled slightly, "Wrong."