Chapter 709

Ganghwan liked acting. The first reason for that was it used the body, and the second reason was that there was no correct answer. With acting, there might be a standardized pattern, but there was never a fixed answer, allowing for all sorts of challenges. He found the world of acting way too charming since even a misinterpretation might be a trigger to view something from a different perspective.

A play had a script as well as a general direction, but the details were up to the actors. During practice, actors would have to talk to others to tune their acting and to exchange opinions, but once the play started, time would become solely their own. Even if they made a mistake, the ‘producer’ couldn’t just interrupt halfway and tell them that they did something wrong nor could their colleague actors ask the audience for forgiveness and then try the same scene again. After the starting point, there would only be the driving wheel with no access to the brakes.

“Cut!”

Ganghwan felt his heightened emotions collapsing at that sound. The background actors sitting in front of him put down their bowls and sighed. The breaks had been stepped on. This mechanism, which wasn’t present during a staged play, existed during camera acting. It was also in the most authoritative and powerful form.

Once there was a ‘cut’, everything would stop even if the actors were at the epitome of their emotions or were creating a great picture. The time when acting, which solely belongs to the actors in a stage play, would be taken over by the producer, which made Ganghwan feel extremely iffy.

“Why do you look so gruffy, hyung?”

“Dramas don’t suit me after all.”

“There you go again. You started already, so you can’t go back. There’s only going forward.”

“Just let me keep going forward then. Stop cutting in midway.”

“If I don’t cut and keep going, who would do the editing, and who would come up with the composition? Stop complaining and fix your makeup. Your hair is too down. You should also get your cheeks touched up.”

“Sweating on the stage is supposed to be natural.”

“Unfortunately, this is not a stage.”

“Then give me thick makeup so that it doesn’t get wiped away with sweat.”

“If I do that on an HD broadcast, the forums will go into an uproar, you know? They’ll ask if you’re an actor for a Beijing opera or something.”

“You just won’t lose a word, will you?”

“If I lose, it means that everything will become a mess. Get your makeup fixed and get ready for the next cut.”

Ganghwan brought his face in front of the makeup artist. After a few brushes, he returned to how he was during the beginning of the shoot. Ganghwan found the quick makeup method rather desirable. He decided to ask later.

The shoot resumed. Ganghwan spoke to the girl sitting on the left,n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“Did the assistant director instruct you on anything before the start?”

“He told us to eat naturally.”

The others said the same.

“If that’s the case, you should look at each other when you eat. You all are very pretty and handsome. You should exchange numbers too. What do you think?”

Hearing that, the background actors who were supposed to be a couple became slightly embarrassed as they looked at each other. They smiled awkwardly. Ganghwan liked how they looked. At least for this moment, the expression those two showed looked really natural. He gave some advice to the others as well.

“Let’s enjoy ourselves.”

“Yes, okay.”

Just then, they got a signal from the director.

The following cut was given an okay after just two shots. Ganghwan thanked the background actors for the job.

“We’ll take a 10 minute break,” the assistant director shouted.

Ganghwan sat down inside the pojang-macha. It would be better if his role required him to move around, but since he had to stand still throughout the whole shoot, his calves were hurting.

“Why don’t you quit stage plays and continue with dramas since you’re here? I’ll definitely use you if I manage to win a mini-series or something.”

“You can do that all you want. I don’t think dramas suit me after all. There’s no sense of tension here.”

“Do you want me to bring an audience then? So that you feel like you’re being watched?”

“Will you?”

Jayeon shrugged. It was an absurd notion, so Ganghwan didn’t expect anything either.

“What do you think about those two?”

Jayeon pointed at Maru and Yuna with her chin.

“For Maru, I find him reliable since I’ve been watching him for a long time, but as for Yuna, I’m not too sure. What did you see in her that made you choose her?”

“The fact that she can become endlessly honest with herself. Also, a bit of acting skill.”

“That was your criteria? Aren’t you being too lenient because it’s your debut piece?”

“Hyung, don’t you know me? You know I despise being lenient. I actually thought about it until the end. I thought about who would fit this drama better. Actually, I didn’t pick Maru based on acting skills alone. I liked his attention to detail and his quick adaptation to the system. That’s why I gave him high marks.”

Ganghwan nodded. Jayeon was someone who prioritized cooperation ever since she was in college. She preferred team members who were slow but could walk together with the others towards the goal rather than those who were individually very good but couldn’t fit in with the rest. Of course, it wasn’t that she didn’t value their skills entirely either. She would just prefer someone with better teamwork if two people were around the same level.

“Yuna is definitely rather subpar when it comes to acting skills alone. But, she’s only in her first year of high school. It’d be rather strange to look for perfection.”

“But she made quite a lot of mistakes though.”

“That’s true. Compared to everyone else here, she’s quite lacking in terms of acting. I’m not that worried though.”

“Why?”

“I told you, Yuna is a very honest girl. I’m not sure what she was like before, but Yuna is someone who is true to her desires right now. While she sometimes tries to hide herself because of the gazes around her and holds herself back due to etiquette, fundamentally, she doesn’t hold back when it comes to projecting her emotions.”

“To me, she just looked like a shy little girl.”

“That’s because you weren’t there at the audition. Yuna doesn’t ignore her own emotions. Normally, when people are told that they’re bad, they would despair or snapback saying that it’s not true, but when it comes to Yuna, while she might feel frustrated at the fact that her skills aren’t up to par, she would not blame herself or others because of that. In fact, she asks this: what can I do to improve myself?”

“Really? She is someone with ambition.”

“Yes, hyung. She’s ambitious. I could see that she was longing for something. That’s why I brought her here. Honestly speaking, I think that the acting skills of minors are all so-so at best. If that’s the case, the things I have to look for are how they can fit in with the rest of the team and how much they can improve themselves throughout the shoot.”

Ganghwan nodded. It sounded like something like Jayeon would think. However, there was one thing she was wrong about. This was something he had to mention.

“If you still think that minors are all so-so at best, then you should scrap that mindset right now.”

He stood up and looked at Maru, who was standing afar.

* * *

Jayeon looked at the monitor with her breath abated. She could see Yuna’s face over Maru’s shoulders. Yuna, who was hesitating with chopsticks in her hand, slowly started speaking. Jayeon thought that she looked pretty okay and listened to the voice she could hear through the monitors.

“Poverty is a sin. I’m sure of it.”

She could see Yuna’s firm eyes losing strength. Yuna’s loose eyes were captured on camera. Jayeon tapped on her thigh with her finger. It was slightly lacking, but she decided to keep watching for now.

“It’s not entirely like that.”

That was Maru’s voice. Even though she couldn’t see his face, the emotions contained in his voice were very good.

Having heard that, Yuna became quiet and looked towards the udon. About 3 seconds later, Jayeon shouted cut. While the progress was smooth, she found the depth of emotions to be a little lacking. She felt like one more step would scatter a depressing light all over the screen.

“Uhm, you know.”

Before she could say anything though, Yuna raised her hand as though she was in a classroom. Jayeon looked at her in confusion.

“Can I do that in a different way this time?” Yuna asked.

She seemed filled with the desire to challenge. Jayeon looked at her for a while before looking at Maru, who stood next to her. He was smiling as though it was okay for her to trust Yuna.

“Alright. If there’s something you thought of doing, then try it out. We still have time.”

Jayeon returned to the monitor. She decided to keep the footage they shot just now. Tapes that were totally unusable or had an NG in them usually wouldn’t be numbered, but if it was decent, it would be kept for editing purposes. If the shooting schedule was strict, she would be satisfied with the footage she got just now, but they had some leisure. Moreover, an enthusiastic actress wanted to do something. As a director, she couldn’t ignore that passion.

She shouted cue and looked at the screen. This was scene 13, where the two high schoolers started taking interest in each other and telling each other about how they truly felt. The meeting between the ever-average boy and the girl who had lots of ups and downs in life would give the viewers a sense of expectation. Whether they could overcome the difference in opinion and into love or go their separate ways. In order to heighten that sense of expectation, their natures had to be shown in full in this scene. Viewers projected themselves onto attractive characters, not nobodies who just walked on the street.

Jayeon rested her chin on her hands and focused on the monitor. The order of progression was similar to before. There was no difference in how she brought out her emotions either. She wondered where Yuna would show that change. After watching for a while, Jayeon stopped breathing. Yuna’s expression crumpled miserably. She could feel the emotions strongly even when she was just looking at the monitor.

Too exaggerated - that was the first thought she had. Yuna’s acting was definitely fit to be called ‘exaggerated’. Usually, she would cut this off and start again, but for some reason, she couldn’t say anything.

It was exaggerated yet attractive. Yuna exuded the feeling of ‘look at me’, which made her unable to find the exaggerated acting bad.

Jayeon stayed quiet for five seconds before shouting cut. She stood up and walked over to the pojang-macha.

“How was it?” Yuna asked.

Even though her act had ended, Jayeon could feel a sense of sadness and rage from Yuna. She looked like she was deeply immersed in the sea of acting.

“Did you two go through that together?” Jayeon asked Maru.

Maru nodded. Jayeon looked towards Ganghwan. She needed an expert’s opinion.

“While it was exaggerated, it was something that made me want to keep watching. At least, I didn’t think about anything else while watching.”

That confirmed it. Jayeon had to think about it. After all, she was asking for his opinion, not judgment.

“Let’s finish up for now.”

“Shall we keep going like this?”

“Yeah, go on.”

Jayeon said with a smile.