Chapter 35 The Highest Standard
"Action," said the director.
On the set, Ebony Gibson, who was lazing around, suddenly became serious and interacted with Moses Smith.
"Cut," Director Bass yelled for the first time five minutes later.
The crew all looked at the two on the set at once. After a while, the director said solemnly, "Moses, come here."
Moses walked over with an unhappy look. Pointing at the picture in the monitor, Director Bass explained carefully to him. Moses knew he did not performed well in the clip just now, so he nodded quickly and listened humbly.
After a while, Director Bass said with the loudspeaker, "Okay, reset." Then he said to Ebony Gibson, "Ebony, you were in the right state just now, keep it up. It doesn't matter if you can't keep it up and make mistakes, we can use the previous clip."
Ebony knew that online dramas were relatively rough, and the requirements for actors were also very low. She nodded to show that she was fine with that.
Then they started the second take, but it was still NG, and it was still Moses who made mistakes.
Moses was very diligent and hardworking, but he was a newbie, and he got nervous easily in front of the camera, which was problematic.
Moses had failed six takes. The director did not expect that such a simple scene of the hero and heroine would take so long. When the seventh take finally came to fruition, Director Bass was relieved himself.
After careful comparison, it was found that Ebony had always maintained the highest standard for the first six times.
The director was very surprised at this. Both Ebony and Moses were newbies, but Moses had failed so many takes whereas Ebony had great consistency and emotional control.
But after all, this was just a very simple scene of the hero and heroine, and it was not difficult to perform consistently.
"Okay, next scene."
The next scene was still the same set, but Ebony was to act with a middle-aged actor.
The first scene was finally over. Moses came down from the stage with a pale face. Because of his good looks, and also because he had been mingling with the crew for the past two days, several assistants liked him very much. Seeing him lost and haggard, two makeup girls took a bottle of drinks and hurried over to comfort him.
Moses smiled bitterly and said, "I'm the one who made it difficult for everyone."
The makeup girls hurriedly said, "No, Moses, you're great. After all, it's your first time filming, so it's normal to be uncomfortable..."
Moses shook his head, "Miss Gibson is also filming for the first time, but her performance is very good..."
The two makeup girls fell silent. When Director Bass was talking about the drama previously, they all thought that Ebony would not perform well since she seemed to be so inattentive. However, Ebony's performance was so steady whereas Moses, who had been working very hard, made mistakes all the time probably because he was nervous.
"Okay, cut," the director shouted again.
The two makeup girls hurriedly said, "See, Ebony also..."
"Moving on," said the director, and the atmosphere between the three of them froze.
On the stage, Ebony was touching up her makeup, and the actor who acted with her was talking smilingly to her.
The second scene was completed in just a few minutes. In the last scene, Ebony and Moses filmed for an hour. In this scene, Ebony and the experienced veteran actor only filmed for eight minutes in one take.
No, it could not be because of Ebony; it must be because of the good performance of the other actor, yes, it must be because of this.
But after that, throughout the morning, the filming just took one take no matter whom Ebony was acting with. The crew gradually became silent.
Moses's face became paler and paler, and he memorized his lines even more keenly.
The six scenes involving Ebony had all been filmed even before lunch.
Director Bass sat in front of the monitor and watched the videos of the first six scenes. The more he watched, the more suspicious he became, "Could it be that my requests were too lenient?"
The screenwriter smiled and said, "Ebony's performance is really good."
The director nodded, "Definitely unlike a newbie."
The screenwriter thought for a while, and then added, "Actually, in the fifth scene when she was with Eugene Glover, she had an emotional outburst at the end, but for some unknown reason, she got a hold on herself halfway through the outburst. If she didn't, then Eugene might not be able to handle it at the end."
The director had noticed that too, so he could not help thinking, and he got up and went to Ebony.
Ebony was standing by the woman who was responsible for the distribution of lunch boxes, and her eyes were about to burn a hole in the woman.
There was no way for the woman to avoid Ebony, so she said helplessly, "It's no use staring at me. The director didn't call for meal, so I can't give it to you."
Ebony said nothing and continued staring at the lunch box in her hand.
The woman was nearly going mad when she saw the director coming, and she said quickly, "The director is here. Ask him yourself!"
Ebony looked back and saw that the director was indeed there. She asked enthusiastically, "Is it meal time yet?"
The director glanced at her and said to the woman, "Give one to her and let her eat first."
The woman randomly handed a lunch box to Ebony.
Ebony said at once, "I don't want this, I want that!" She pointed to another box.
"Aren't they all the same?" the director said with a frown.
Ebony sneered, "How could they be the same? That box has one-fifth more meat than this box! One-fifth!"
You looked at it very carefully indeed, thought the director, but why didn't you read the script so carefully?
The director said with a wave of his hand, "Give it to her."
Ebony ate a meaty lunch as she wished, sitting on a stool and listening to questions from the director.
"Outburst?" Ebony swallowed a mouthful of soup, looked up and said, "Yeah, I held it back on purpose. I thought Eugene couldn't handle it anymore, and I was afraid the take would be NG, so I held back."