The crowd burst into laughter, leaving the pancake teacher lying on the dragon bed utterly speechless.
To be beaten to death with clubs, thrown into a mass grave, and then dragged back for a night of service – was that really their preference?
"Alright, alright, stop laughing, next scene!"
Although Zheng Xiaolong also found it hilarious, he knew that if they continued like this, the day's shooting would be completely derailed. He quickly put on a stern face and shouted.
The actors curbed their laughter and returned to their roles, continuing the performance.
After the snow scene was completed, the next focus was on the ensemble scenes.
"The Legend of Chunyuan and Muske" had numerous ensemble scenes, which were the most demanding in terms of the director's and actors' skills.
A director with some level of expertise would, unless there were special circumstances, choose to shoot ensemble scenes before individual scenes when filming historical dramas.
This arrangement had one advantage: it allowed them to get an early look at the overall performance of the entire cast.
After all, a great drama wasn't accomplished by just one or two actors but was the result of the collective efforts of everyone involved.
Especially for a divine drama like "The Legend of Chunyuan and Muske," where any single character, whether a protagonist or a supporting role, was so compelling that one could write an entire essay about them. This made the director's overall control of the grand scenes even more crucial.
Jiang Ling had seen behind-the-scenes footage of this drama in her past life. A staff member mentioned that the director had originally intended for the actress playing Consort Jing to portray Consort Qi, and the actress playing Consort Qi to portray Consort Jing.
After the first ensemble scene was shot, the director reviewed the playback and found that the actress playing Consort Qi, with her gentle demeanor tinged with shrewdness, didn't appear foolish enough. The actress playing Consort Jing, on the other hand, looked less intelligent.
Consequently, the director swapped the roles of the two actresses, attempting to have them play each other's characters.
The result was that both roles became classics.
If individual scenes were shot first, followed by ensemble scenes, and problems were discovered later, all the previously filmed scenes would be difficult to revise.
"The Legend of Chunyuan and Muske" was a palace drama with predominantly female characters.
It's often said that three women can put on a show, and with so many imperial consorts, every day was a live broadcast of spectacular drama.
The harem was a battlefield of female competition, where they addressed each other as "sister," but only they knew the depravity in their hearts.
To borrow Concubine Hua's famous line: "Scheming, shedding tears, putting on a smile, gossiping, appearing pure as a still pond on the surface, but with turbulent undercurrents below."
Therefore, to perform ensemble scenes well and truly integrate into the group, one must first learn to be subtly sarcastic.
Concubine Hua, as the main antagonist in the early stages of the drama, bullied this person and harassed that person daily, leading to even more memorable moments of subtle sarcasm.
Because Zheng Xiaolong had seen Jiang Ling's performance before, he was very confident in her acting skills.
Jiang Ling was cast as Concubine Hua directly, without an audition.
The first scene she filmed after being confined was a morning greeting during an ensemble scene.
Despite being a mere daily greeting, everyone was a master of veiled insults, saying hurtful things without using any foul language.
"All departments, position yourselves! Beginning Episode 1, Scene 7!"
The imperial consorts gathered at Jingren Palace to pay their respects to Empress Ulanara.
Consort Qi, seeing that everyone else had arrived but Concubine Hua, went on a tirade against her, accusing her of being arrogant due to imperial favor and disrespecting the Empress.
The other consorts averted their gaze, focused on their noses and then their eyes, wary of Concubine Hua's power and favor, and only uttered a few perfunctory remarks.
After a period of incessant chatter, Jiang Ling, playing the role of the magnificent Consort Hua, finally made a late arrival.
Our Consort Hua, who was the most stunning in the harem, was in a very bad mood today.
The main reason was that the previous day, the dog emperor had leered a few extra times at the palace maid Fuqi, whom the Empress had gifted to her. Fuqi clearly looked like a restless, vixenish creature.