Chapter 101: Martial Arts Design

  "My name is Guo Jing, my father's name is Guo Xiaotian, and my mother's name is Li Ping. I am an only child. Many people call me 'foolish Guo Jing', yes, I admit that I'm not clever. Maybe foolish people really have good fortune, I have a very intelligent girlfriend named Huang Rong, usually, I call her Rong'er."

  "Rong'er is the most beautiful girl I've ever seen, and also the most talented girl I've ever seen. She not only excels in the Five Elements Eight Trigrams Formation and the Qimen Dunjia technique, but is also proficient in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting. Her culinary skills are also exceptional."

  "Rong'er likes me very much and I also like her. If anyone dares to bully Rong'er, I will definitely use the 'Dragon Subduing Eighteen Palms' to slap him to death..."

  ……

  Tang Xiaosheng sat in front of the desk in his room, holding a black pen and quietly writing down the above content. He was writing a diary, which he called "performance diary" in his own words.

  Every time before performing a role, Tang Xiaosheng will try his best to integrate himself into the role. Writing "performance diary" is one of his methods to integrate into the role. When writing performance diary, he will try to forget himself and then narrate as the character, treating himself as the character, so that he can truly integrate with the character.

  Many actors perform by relying on their own impression of the role to make movements, expressions and speeches, which tests the actor's observation and imitation skills. Táng Xiǎo Shēng does not usually do this when performing. He doesn't like to simply imitate, but instead tries his best to forget that he is acting, completely believing that he is the character himself.

  The advantage of doing so is that the role can be performed more realistically, and the disadvantage is that a lot of preparation work is required before the performance. Because it's very difficult to fully integrate into the role.

  However, Tang Xiaosheng was relentless.

  No matter what role he plays, before performing, he will do such preparation work and write a large number of performance diaries. In the past six years of his acting career, he has already written dozens of performance diaries. In his view, if you can't completely become the character, it's a failed performance.

  "The Legend of the Condor Hero" will officially start filming in mid-April, so Tang Xiaosheng is now starting to write a performance diary in the voice of Guo Jing to prepare for the shoot two months later.

  Since Guo Xiang had already agreed to play the role of Huang Rong, Tang Xiaosheng immediately contacted director Zhang Zhi-zhong. Upon learning this news, Director Zhang was also very excited, as he thought Guo Xiang was the best candidate for the role of Huang Rong.

  Soon, Guo Xiang also signed a performance contract with the crew of "The Legend of Hero". As Guo Xiang was a newcomer, the crew's remuneration for her was not high, with 7,000 yuan per episode and 280,000 yuan for 40 episodes.

  Actually, the original pay for Tang Xiaosheng was only 200,000 yuan per episode, which is not considered high compared to mainland China's first-line actors. However, for a TV series like "The Legend of Arching Hero" with a strong mass base, even if no pay is offered, many people would still be eager to act in it, because as long as the production is not too bad, whoever acts in it will become popular.

  After signing the contract with the crew, they entered the rehearsal stage. For more than half a month, Tang Xiaosheng took Guo Xiang to the rehearsal room of Jinghua Film and Television City every day for rehearsals.

  Throughout the rehearsal process, Guo Xiang was very diligent, not only memorizing the script and lines, but also practicing every performance move repeatedly countless times, at least 13-14 hours a day. Because the entire crew knew that Tang Xiaosheng was leading her in acting, she didn't want to drag him down with her own problems.

  Apart from rehearsing her lines, Guo Xiang also made some suggestions for revisions to the script, as there were parts of the script provided by the production team that did not match the facts.

  This time, Tang Xiao Sheng and Guo Xiang's performance of "The Legend of the Condor Hero" has a very important purpose, which is to find Guo Jing and Huang Rong. The more realistic the script, the easier it will attract Guo Jing and Huang Rong's attention.

  In order to make their performance in the play more realistic, Tang Xiaosheng and Little Dragon Girl decided to incorporate real martial arts moves into the play after some discussion. The fighting movements in the play are no longer modern martial arts routines, but real martial arts moves. Because if the fighting movements in the play are real martial arts moves, once they are seen by Guo Jing and Huang Rong who have traveled through time to the city, they will definitely be able to recognize them, and they will naturally come to find them.

  However, Tang Xiaosheng himself did not know martial arts, so the task of designing the martial arts movements fell on Little Dragon Girl. According to the martial arts principles of "Nine Yin Scripture", she arranged more than a dozen sets of martial arts movements that can be used for filming.

  The martial arts design in the crew was all handled by the martial arts director, and the actions designed by Xiaolongnv could not be used directly by the crew. Tang Xiaosheng found the martial arts director Wu Gang and the general director Zhang Zhizong to discuss the martial arts action design of "The Legend of the Condor Hero".

  Tang Xiao Sheng first performed the martial arts moves designed by Little Dragon Girl in front of the two directors, and after watching his moves, Zhang Zhi Zong couldn't help but praise him. In his opinion, this was absolutely a refreshing new design for martial arts, and he personally completely agreed to use these dozen or so sets of moves in the filming of "The Legend of the Condor Hero".

  Only the martial arts director Wu Gang had an opposing opinion, and he said to Zhang Zizhong: "Director Zhang, I have already designed all the fighting moves for 'The Legend of the Condor Hero'. In the past two months, my brothers in the martial arts team have been rehearsing these moves. If we suddenly change the design now, how can I explain it to them?"

  Zhang Zhizong hesitated for a moment, the martial arts director's worries were not unreasonable, but he liked Tang Xiaosheng's dozen or so sets of martial arts design very much and couldn't bear to give them up. He slowed down and said: "How about this? Give Wuxing some more money and have them re-choreograph new martial arts moves."

  Wu Gang has been a martial arts director for over a decade and has a certain reputation in the industry. His fight choreography has also received widespread acclaim, which makes him somewhat arrogant. Now, because of Tang Xiaosheng's one sentence, Zhang Zhitong decided to modify the already arranged fight design, Wu Gang couldn't help but feel a bit resentful. He sank his voice and said: "Director Zhang, this isn't about money. My martial arts brothers have been practicing hard for two months, now they're suddenly told that these moves won't be filmed, how can they accept it?"

  Director Zhang Zhi-zong was silent for a moment, then sighed and said: "This can't be helped. You also saw the dozen or so martial arts designs that Tang Xiao-sheng just performed. This is absolutely the most brilliant martial arts design I've ever seen. Not only are the movements unique, but they're also extremely practical. This is a rare martial arts design. If we don't use it, I think it's a pity."

  Having heard this, Wu Gang also understood Zhang Zhi's meaning. After all, Zhang Zhi was the director-general and had to be given some face. After a moment of thought, he proposed: "If we must change the martial arts moves, that's fine, but I have to give my dozens of martial artist brothers an explanation. How about this? Since Tang Xiaosheng suggested revising the martial arts move design, let him fight with me. If he wins, I'm sure my martial artist brothers will also be convinced."

  Wugang himself is a martial arts enthusiast, and his life's greatest pleasure is to engage in combat with others. He has also seen some reports about Tang Xiaosheng on the media, and learned that Tang Xiaosheng had once defeated Hu Dajiang at Nanfeng Mountain.

  Hu Dajiang was the national Sanda champion ten years ago, and Wu Gang had also heard of this. Therefore, now that Tang Xiaosheng has appeared in front of him, Wu Gang also wants to have a good exchange with him. It just so happens that there is such an opportunity now, so the matter of exchanging blows becomes even more natural.

  Just then, Director Zhang Zhi-zong furrowed his brow after hearing this suggestion, because he was very clear about Wu Gang's martial arts foundation, which was absolutely a good hand that could take on twenty people, otherwise he wouldn't have let him serve as the martial arts director for "The Legend of the Condor Hero".

  Zhang Zhizong also appreciated Tang Xiaosheng, but still thought that he shouldn't be Wu Gang's opponent, so he said: "Wu Gang, isn't this inappropriate? If something unexpected happens during the fight, it won't be good."

  "Wu Gang waved his hand: "Director Zhang, don't worry, it's just a test of skills, I have control over my hands and won't cause any trouble. This is also for the sake of giving Wu Hang's brothers an explanation."

  "But..." Zhang Zhizong said:

  "Director Zhang, it's okay, I'm willing to learn from Director Wu." At this time, Tang Xiaosheng interrupted. Although he knew that Wu Gang's martial arts skills were extraordinary, in order to get the martial arts routine designed by Little Dragon Girl adopted by the crew, he had to accept this test. Because if these martial arts designs are incorporated into the play, it will be of great help in finding Guo Jing and Huang Rong.

  "Xiao Tang, I think it's better not to force it." Director Zhang Zhitong still felt it wasn't suitable.

  "Director Zhang, don't worry, I and Director Wu are just sparring a bit, nothing will happen." Tang Xiaosheng explained.

  "Good, indeed a hero emerges in his youth, with great courage!" At this time, the martial arts instructor Wu Gang loudly praised Tang Xiaosheng, "I haven't met an opponent for many years, and it's rare to have such an opportunity today. Since that's the case, let's go to the training room and exchange moves?"

  Director Zhang Zhizong was about to object, but Tang Xiaosheng had already agreed: "Okay, Director Wu, please!"