CH 8

Chapter 8 Role, Get ✓

Jenny had no idea if Dave’s friend was sitting behind the audition table. There were four members conducting the audition, and they all looked serious, seemingly weary of unprofessional applicants. A woman sat in the middle, took a glance at Jenny’s resume, and then gave an obvious disapproving look.

“Who put her on the list?” She didn’t deliberately lower her voice, but Jenny didn’t take offense. She knew her qualifications weren’t up to par.

A middle-aged man who looked somewhat similar to Dave — presumably his friend, according to Jenny’s guess — spoke up, “Jenny, can I get you to introduce yourself?”

Jenny provided some basic information, and the man directed her to smile and make some expressions for the camera.

From a viewer’s perspective, acting may not seem like a big deal, as when they watch even the greatest actors on screen, they would be able to pick out flaws from their performances. This is similar to the Chinese national football team— whereby everyone thinks there is room for improvement and feels vexed that they can’t replace the footballers playing on the field.* This is one of the drawbacks of television broadcasts — everything seems easy on TV. Even sporting activities that require professional training are no exception, let alone simply reading the lines from the script whilst facing the camera.

Well, of course, almost anything seems easy when you’re just watching, but difficult when you actually attempt it. Even just smiling and making expressions in front of a camera requires a long adjustment time for most, even more so if they want to try to reveal their true ability to a strange round device and the scrutinizing gaze behind it. — Acting is a profession that demands a lot of confidence and courage.

A shy person will never be able to reveal the natural side of themselves in front of a crowd of strangers, and the camera has the ability to magnify all imperfections. Microexpressions that may pass by unnoticed in real life will become permanent flaws on camera. If a person is ‘slightly introverted’ in reality, then they would appear to be ‘shy and nervous with awkward movements’. If Jenny is still the same naive country girl who held onto her dreams, even with Dave’s support, she may perhaps fail this test miserably. —In the early stages of their career, many great actors would have gone through countless failed auditions. It is only through repeated auditions, failures, and more auditions, and learning from those failures, that truly talented actors can develop a polished and confident on-camera presence. Not even professional training can replace real-life experiences.

During the four years of acting school, Chen Zhen underwent countless acting classes where she was required to throw tantrums, roll on the ground, cry, and laugh loudly in front of an audience. These exercises were meant to break down the average Joe’s natural psychological defenses— Normal people strive to maintain their composure. However, actors are required to show a certain level of emotional vulnerability in their performances, which is commonly referred to as “getting into character” or “letting go”. But even so, when she first appeared in the ‘performing arts space’, using simulated techniques, appearing in the surreal yet real filming set, facing the massive soundstage and a crew of at least a hundred people behind the camera…

Chen Zhen still got scared shitless, she had truly felt a sudden urge in her lower abdomen that almost made her wet herself. So much so that she had to interrupt the simulation and visit the bathroom before continuing.

The three months she spent as a waitress were valuable. During this time, she not only lost weight and became a size 2 — which was practically the limit for her, and is also the perfect figure for the camera, she also gained experience by simulating over thirty sets in the past three months, which was equivalent to the amount of work a B-list actress would do in five or six years.

—Moreover, these were all big productions with hundreds of people on set. After such religious practice, how ever would she still be afraid of a small audition?

She effortlessly made several expressions in front of the camera, staring at the lens as if she was looking through it and at the audience behind, but maintained a dismissive attitude (as if she was disregarding the small object), this was as if she was having a conversation with the audience, smiling and getting annoyed from time to time, with no trace of self-consciousness of being filmed(this self-consciousness is commonly prevalent among non-professional actors).

There was a brief silence in the audition room, and then the female casting director handed the script to Jenny, saying, “Read this dialogue.”

One of the basic skills for actors is dialogue delivery, which requires clear pronunciation and natural intonation. Normally, an average Joe’s spoken language does not meet the required standard, they tend to speak too fast, have regional accents, mumble, vary in volume, or have a lack of emotional expression among other issues. This is a normal phenomenon, as language is only one component of social interaction between two individuals. For example, in the conversation between Chen Zhen and Dave, eye contact, body language, and even micro-expressions are important means of communication between them. The vocal system only carries less than half of the information, so it doesn’t need to be overly precise. However, under the filtering and modification of the camera and sound recording system, it goes back to that logic— flaws will be magnified and strengths will be concealed. If someone speaks casually according to their usual vocal habits, they may come across as having an unclear speech on camera, and the audience may have difficulty understanding them.

Of course, this is also a part that Chen Zhen learned during her four years of college. Although she didn’t know English at that time, as long as the memory of pronunciation habits remained, it wasn’t a problem. This character she was playing is an American, and Jenny speaks North American Standard English— thankfully, Jenny hadn’t picked up any peculiar accents, despite being in various foster families.

But this was not the only source of her confidence.

Jenny stood up and took the script, then sat back down in her chair. Taking a deep breath, she shut her eyes slightly— a normal adjustment process that didn’t even take up five seconds and no one could find fault with it.

But in that second, she quickly entered the ‘performing arts space’, swiftly selected a film, and started simulating the character’s emotions.

In the performing arts space, time flowed at a different pace. Five seconds in the real world could be expanded to around fifteen seconds here, and fifteen seconds was enough for her to immerse herself in the chosen film’s character role. It’s as if she had experienced the ups and downs of the life of this character and truly became that famous woman who has gone through a winding and weathered life journey.

Then, with a single thought, she exited the space. The traces of the emotions still lingered, but to the outside world, only a few seconds had just passed.

Jenny glanced at the script for two seconds, then put it down.

Her voice switched abruptly, from natural sweetness to a huskiness, and the smile at the corner of her lips turn into one filled with sarcasm. As if she knew everything and had everything under control.

Jenny lazily said, “Oh, I really hope you haven’t ruined my wardrobe. You know, haute couture clothes are like bitches, they need to be cared for, delicately.”

She glanced at the script, skipped over the lines of her scene partner, and continued, “Yes, I understand, officer, you’re here for official business. You can do as you please. I’m not a big star who thinks they’re entitled to privileges just because they’ve achieved something, bossing around and yelling at respectable law enforcement officers.”

The smirk on her lips widened abruptly. Jenny turned her head and looked at an empty space behind her, saying, “Although I’m sure, the evidence of a murder case won’t be found in my underwear, you’re just doing your duty, right?”

“Cut,” the female casting director said, looking at Jenny with a strange expression. “That’s enough.”

Jenny commanded herself to quickly detach from the character’s memories. She cleared her throat, adjusted her facial expression, and returned to the identity of the waitress Jenny Jane. She stood up and said, “Thank you for the opportunity.”

“Yeah,” Dave’s friend looked at Jenny with a penetrating gaze, “Don’t leave yet, wait outside for a moment.”

No one objected to his decision.

Jenny knew she had secured the role.

This didn’t surprise her, as according to her plan, this was only to be expected.

As she thought, the role seemed tailor-made for her — when it came to playing the “alluring big star” character, there would be little competition even among B-list actors.

She had the allure, as for the “big star” part… though the performing arts space might not allow her to directly emulate the skills of a renowned actor, it didn’t mean Jenny couldn’t pull off a trick.

“The Week I Spent with Marilyn,” “Two-faced Marilyn”… These were movies she had seen before. After receiving the audition notice, Jenny had already practiced several times, selecting either of these two films would allow for her to experience the same vague emotional memory. If she guessed correctly, perhaps this was Marilyn Monroe’s true memory and insight from her lifetime.

Auditioning to play a big star by simulating another big star… Honestly, for a guest role in a single episode of a TV show, Chen Zhen truly felt that using Marilyn Monroe in such a way was a waste of talent. If Marilyn Monroe could know from the afterlife, she might feel somewhat insulted.

But regardless, for her, this was an opportunity not to be missed. From the very beginning, Chen Zhen had gone all-in, without much reservation or conservatism.

After waiting for an hour, the female casting director approached her and told her that she had gotten the role.

“My name is Emma Swan,” she said with a less serious tone, and Jenny realized that she was actually quite young — probably not over thirty years old — and was trying to show goodwill towards her. “I’m really looking forward to seeing your performance again. To be honest, it was your performance that left a deep impression on me, and that’s why I fought for you to get this role… My colleagues were a bit hesitant because of your resume.”

This must be her trying to sell a favor to me, Chen Zhen realized.

Emma Swan seemed to hold her in high regard.

*The Chinese national football team is very very bad at playing the sport, there are tons of rumors of corruption going on in their national team management (That players have to bribe the management to get a spot in the national team, players intentionally cause injuries to football genius due to jealousy, etc.).