nucmednet Chapter 1 Rebirth: Picking Up Attributes on the Film Set
Chapter 1 Rebirth: Picking Up Attributes on the Film Set
Hengdian World Studios, 2016.
The golden sunlight streamed over the vermilion palace walls, framing the upturned eaves with a warm edge. The blue bricks at the base of the walls were scorching hot, and a few ivy plants drooped their green leaves listlessly.
A group of actors dressed in ancient costumes, lifting their skirts, strolled along the palace road in twos and threes.
As a background actor, Xu An stood at the back of the crew and raised his arm to wipe the fine sweat from his forehead.
He was actually a reincarnated person, but now he had no class and was just playing minor roles in Hengdian.
"Attention everyone, everyone stay alert! Teacher Chen is back. Makeup artist, hurry up and touch up Teacher Chen's makeup. Let's get to the next take."
As soon as the director finished speaking, the crew immediately swarmed around.
The stage manager has already started marking out the positions, also known as code points.
In layman's terms, it means that the director has someone draw the positions in advance to ensure that the actors move accurately and do not go out of the frame.
Actors in this era can enjoy as much comfort as they want and be as famous as they want.
Even so, there are still actors who can recite numbers like 1234567 and 7654321 without even opening their mouths.
Even more extreme cases involve not going to the film set at all, relying entirely on post-production photo editing to achieve the desired effect.
That's money they're making—it's truly enviable!
"All departments in position, Action!"
With the director's command, the entire crew began to operate like a sophisticated machine.
A minor character rode up to the execution ground on a large horse and shouted exaggeratedly to the crowd, "Spare his life!"
He lacked both acting skills and the ability to deliver lines effectively, yet despite his exaggerated performance, the director never yelled "cut."
Xu An saw it all clearly from behind.
Sure enough, when you're out in the game, you need connections and influence. With connections and influence, you can do anything. Without connections and influence, you can only be a nobody in the corner!
Just as Xu An was in a daze, what happened the next second made his eyes widen even more.
The male lead, Benny Chan, was even more flamboyant than the supporting actor, completely letting loose with his body language and facial expressions, immersing himself entirely in his own art.
"Second Prince, you arrived just in time. If you hadn't come in time, I would probably be a corpse by now."
The Crouching Dragon and the Young Phoenix – possessing either one is enough to conquer the world; this small production team actually managed to bring both of them together!
"Card!"
The director clapped his hands:
"Teacher Chen's performance was excellent. That's exactly the feeling I wanted. The more exaggerated, the better. Don't be too serious. That's exactly what I wanted—exaggeration."
"Second Prince, I think you're being a bit too serious. You could have done something more impressive while on horseback. You needed to project a more sophisticated and imposing presence!"
As expected of a director, he started by praising the lead actor's performance, while also giving a warning to a supporting actor.
Before Xu An could think further, the director's voice came again.
"Were any of you extras talking just now? Who gave you permission to talk during filming? Don't you know it affects the sound recording? If this happens again, your lunchbox will be halved."
The fact that one person could have three faces made the extras frown.
It's none of the director's business to flatter the lead actors or instruct the supporting actors, but it's wrong of the director to lower the standard of boxed lunches.
While we were playing, why did we start throwing sand?!
As soon as the director and lead actor left, the extras began to whisper among themselves.
No one dared to accuse the director of being inhuman; instead, they wanted to find the person who had spoken earlier and kick this "black sheep" out.
Xu An didn't chat idly with the group; instead, he focused his attention on the spot where the Second Prince and Chen Haoming had been standing.
Two orbs of light were floating above the two people's positions.
The sphere of light was extremely dazzling, constantly flashing its light, but strangely, no one in the surrounding crowd noticed it.
He strode forward and quickly absorbed the two orbs of light.
[Exaggerated expression +1]
[Stiff limbs +1]
These two rewards made Xu An's face darken. He knew these two people wouldn't drop anything good, but he didn't expect them to give him such a huge reward!
If the other attributes are buffs, then these two are debuffs!
He turned around and went to a shady spot to bring up the control panel.
[Host: Xu An]
[Dialogue: Lv1 (23/100)]
[Emoji: Lv1 (16/100)]
【Eyes: Lv1 (40/100)】
[Limbs: Lv1 (22/100)]
[Aura: Lv1 (35/100)]
[Constitution: Lv1 (75/100)]
[Emotion: Lv1 (36/100)]
【…】
【Charm: 12】
Appearance rating: 88
The attributes on the panel made him frown; they were only slightly better than those expressionless, blank-eyed types.
As a student at the Shanghai Theatre Academy, Xu An came to Hengdian with Lv1 attribute value.
As a result, after so many days, only the percentage increase in the latter part of the score was observed, while the charm and appearance scores did not increase even once.
If it weren't for this cheat code, who the hell would leave their perfectly good job at the Shanghai Theatre Academy to come to Hengdian and suffer like this?!
"Xu An, what are you standing there for? We're about to film another scene, hurry up and change your clothes."
"Hey, here it comes, here it comes!"
Emerging from his gloomy mood, Xu An immediately put on a smiling face.
He got up, dusted off his clothes, and followed the stagehand to the extras' dressing room.
It was supposed to be a fitting room, but it was actually just a makeshift partition made of plastic sheeting, and it smelled terrible inside.
Many people's shoes reek of an unbearable stench.
There's nothing we can do about it; costumes are all recycled, and the production team won't make custom-made ones for extras.
After changing into their costumes, the group was taken to the film set of the female lead.
This one is also very famous, Mu Tingting.
She has acted in "Peacock Feather", "Happy Everyday", and "The Living Buddha Ji Gong 2".
This drama, her second collaboration with Benny Chan, was titled "Liu Hai Plays with the Golden Toad," and can be considered a major setback in her career.
Few people have heard of this show, and even fewer know that Lin Zicong played a supporting role. It aimed to continue the nonsensical style, but it ended up being a complete flop.
It's unclear whether this drama exhausted her luck, but ever since "Liu Hai Plays with the Golden Toad," Mu Tingting's career has plummeted.
But I have to say, Mu Tingting is quite beautiful!
She was a childhood goddess for a generation.
After taking their positions as instructed by the director, the set quickly became busy.
The lead actors were busy, while Xu An was bored out of his mind in the back.
Fortunately, he didn't come away empty-handed. After Mu Tingting and the others left, their spots left behind a number of light orbs.
Xu An rubbed her hands together happily, ready to announce the prize.
[Sleazy vibe +1]
Knock, wow!
[Dull expression +1]
I'm so impressed!
[Appearance +0.1]
Wow, that's brilliant!
The crowd on set was heading out, but Xu An, grinning, walked back into the set.
He no longer cares whether the attribute values inside the light orb are useful or not; his main goal is to pass by without missing out.
You'll get more girls if you accumulate enough points!
Only after all the orbs of light had been collected did he turn and leave with a flourish.