One Thousand One Hundred and Sixty-Eight Character Extension

For ordinary audiences and ordinary actors, acting is a one-dimensional process.

This is not a compliment or a pejorative, but an objective fact, and this is how expressive acting is interpreted——

Standing on the stage, sadness is sadness, joy is joy, and pain is pain. Get the mood and emotion right into place, and then become part of the story, impacting the audience through the depth and breadth of the story itself, creating a frenzy of reflection. The actor is indeed the protagonist, but the story is the soul.

Even on a single level, there are only a handful of actors who have reached the pinnacle of expressive acting skills. The perfect fusion of control and explosiveness can be called an art.

But for Renly, after so many works, he has a new understanding of the definition of method acting and expressive acting. It can also be said to be his own understanding - acting is a level process.

To put it simply, sadness is still sadness, and joy is still joy, but what is the source of sadness and what is the reason for joy? With the extension of background stories one by one, the three-dimensional sense of the characters is enriched, and the whole is further enriched. The story fills the blank space of the film with the power of performance, leaving countless aftertastes, waiting for the audience's aftertaste.

Take the story of "Drunken Country Ballad" as an example.

Mickey is a character who doesn't appear and has no lines at all. His only "appearance" is his voice. One part is in the "wave goodbye" as the background soundtrack, and the other part is dubbed in the studio of "Old Trio". - and then presented in a live performance with four actors.

Even in the dialogue of the main characters, they only appeared three or four times.

In other words, if the audience doesn't pay attention, they won't even notice that there was a Mickey character; and, even if they don't know it, it doesn't have any effect on the understanding and connection of the plot.

If acting according to the expressive style, then Renly only needs to show the loneliness and despair of Le Verne, and outline the bitterness and confusion of spinning around in a delicate level, interpreting those changes bit by bit, and finally Or go back to the original point, you can completely ignore the existence of Mickey.

But in real life this is not the case.

Mickey is real, and Mickey has to exist if the audience is to believe that LeVine is real.

LeVine and Mickey have always been partners and have grown up together, but their dreams have both hit the rocks, and they can only gag in small performances at the bar, living in the dark rain of Greenwich Village,

Can't see the future.

For Le Verne, he refused to change, he hoped to stick to his musical ideas and beliefs, and raised his head proudly; but for Mickey, he began to waver, on the one hand, he recognized Le Vern's insistence, On the other hand, he is envious of Jim's opportunities, and he is always suffering in the wavering.

When recording "Wait Goodbye", Mickey suggested that they try to look at new arrangements, while maintaining their own style, incorporating some bold attempts, but also their own style; for this, Le Vern There was a strong rejection, and the two had a fierce quarrel, and even broke up.

But in the end, LeVine gave in.

Because Mickey emphasized that this is just an attempt, an exploration and re-creation of musical styles.

Everything seemed like the quarrel between Renly and Marcus just now. But more intense.

Hence the song "Wait Goodbye". This also further highlights the distinction of the duet.

The style and arrangement of Le Verne's other solo songs are simpler and more rustic, and the lyrics are also filled with the bitterness and helplessness of life, as if they have nothing but arrogance; but this duet burst out with high spirits, The wanton and unrestrained youthfulness presents Le Verne's arrogance in a positive and sunny way.

After Mickey's death, LeVine heard the "Old Trio" for the first time in the kerosene lamp bar, and then tasted the style of Mickey and Jim, and recalled the recording process of "Wave Goodbye" , in the depths of his heart, he could not help but shake and question again, and burst out a kind of self-defeating brutality and ferocity.

Perhaps, part of the reason why Mickey chose to commit suicide is related to him; further, perhaps, his persistence and belief have always been worthless in the wave of folk songs; perhaps, his talent and talent have always been just a joke, insignificant joke. All of this is hidden in the last performance -

The same two tracks, "Hang Me, Oh, Hang Me" and "Wait Goodbye," but they've changed.

It's no exaggeration to say that Mickey's addition to the role is crucial to LeVine's character extension, and even enough to change how and what Renly does. Especially when Mickey doesn't exist at all, Renly's performance needs to be more delicate and relevant,

From the perspective of pure performance, a single level is actually enough; but from the perspective of self-breakthrough and self-challenge, the extension of the character is the expansion of the entire story, the entire world, and the entire outlook on life, which is undoubtedly for movies and stories. It's a good thing, but it's definitely more terrifying for the difficulty of the actors.

The reason why expressive acting requires actors to be "thousands of people and thousands of faces" is because the dramatic performances on the stage are staged every day, maybe even twice a day, or an actor plays multiple roles, so they must be able to perform. Timely pull away from the role, with accurate performance control power to dedicate day after day, year after year of wonderful performances.

"Black Swan" tells such a story. The heroine Nina really went into trouble, blurring the boundaries between reality and fantasy, burning her life to dedicate a perfect performance, and finally perishing. A performance is life and death, which is absolutely not allowed for a theatrical stage performance - because Nina only appeared in one.

The reason why method-style acting requires actors to go deep into their roles and even get carried away is that on the one hand, it is because of the magnified presentation of film art. The art of one-time performance, the actors have been polished repeatedly, condensing the essence of a performance, and fully blooming.

Just like Heath Ledger, who really confused the difference between reality and fantasy, "Batman Prequel: The Dark Knight" has never been able to fully step out of the role, and this has become a classic in film history, forever staying in On the big screen, it created the pinnacle of performance.

Renly, on the other hand, is trying to find a way of acting of his own, comprehending the character with methodical acting, infiltrating the character with expressive acting, truly finding a balance between loss of control and control, and opening a whole new door.

"Drunk Town Ballad" is a special work. Although it perfectly overlaps with Renly's personal experience, the preparation process is still too brief.

So, during the filming process, Renly studied the script while studying the characters, slowly grinding in, slowly extending, slowly digging, and the characters were plump up bit by bit, which was also a very interesting process.

Today's conversation with Marcus unexpectedly opened up an extension of Mickey's role for Renly. Marcus doesn't need acting, he just needs to be himself, and inadvertently coincides with Mickey.

"Justin, what do you think?" Renly turned his attention to Justin Timberlake, who was sitting beside him.

Then seeing Justin's confused expression, he also chuckled and explained, "I mean, when you chose to go solo, the style of the first album and the second album changed dramatically, and in the process , you must also constantly compete with yourself, discuss with yourself, and finally determine the direction, and then complete the work.”

"Right now, Mickey and LeWine are in such an ambiguous stage, so, is this version of 'waving goodbye' a possibility? It's a compromise between Mickey and LeWine. ' Renly offered his ideas seriously.

Objectively speaking, Renly is not a competent singer, despite having an album of his own. Justin is different.

"Drunk Town Folk Ballad" is a work in which the singer's thoughts are projected into the film, with the singer first and the actor last; in other words, the actor's soul is hidden under the singer's skin.

In this regard, Justin has a natural advantage, he may not be a top actor, but he has enough experience. This time, he went a step further and became a member of the crew as a singer, and playing a singer, his opinion can undoubtedly play a more role.

Sure enough, Justin was stunned for a moment, then he reacted and quickly entered the state, "It is true. I think this is a possibility."

After one or two ambiguous words, Justin's thoughts gradually became active, "It could even be like this, Le Verne and Mickey had a disagreement, and they finally recorded this song, but Le Vern didn't like it, even hated it, However, the song is still included in his album."

"But on the other hand, this song has a special meaning for LeVine, which is the product of his compromise with Mickey and the product of his deep down to business, even if he refuses to admit it, he still can't deny it. The song is special," Justin gushed, already fully in the groove.

Renly frowned slightly, "You mean, if the song is a hit, he won't like it because it proves him wrong, but he won't hate it because it's got something he's never been able to get. Applause; on the other hand, if this song sinks into this, on the one hand, I feel joy, because those changes are proved to be unnecessary, and I feel relieved, on the other hand, I feel bitter, because even change can still not be achieved. success."

"Is that so? That's what Levine is in?" Renly explained further according to his own understanding.