Talk about performances, fame and misunderstandings in the entertainment industry

Liu Tianchi: "Beauty drama" will eventually withdraw from the stage

"I believe that China's performance will not stop at this level." Liu Tianchi wrote on the title page of his new book "Actual Combat Performance". She said that in the future, the "facial paralysis" performances that fill the screen and the "beauty drama" supported only by appearance will withdraw from the historical stage, and the focus of actors will return to creating vivid characters.

In the eyes of the public, Liu Tianchi is not only a teacher of the Chinese opera performance department, but also a "star teacher". In recent years, she has served as a performance director in variety shows such as "The Birth of an Actor", guiding actors with a unique method and triggering the audience's discussion and attention to the performance itself.

A few days ago, in the Beijing Liu Tianchi Performance Workshop, reporters from West China Metropolis Daily and cover news had an in-depth dialogue with her, focusing on the current performance methods in the film and television industry and the difficulties faced by actors. She doesn't shy away from key issues. As she said, "Actors must be sincere in their performances, and no skills can fool them, otherwise they will be abandoned by the audience and peers."

She believes that if there is only a good-looking face and no real ability to get it, it will soon be eliminated, let alone expect fame and fortune. Some young actors only think about how to play the role handsomely, which is a "misunderstanding" at the beginning of the creative path. "Performance is a profession that studies life and people, and it needs to have a high degree of aesthetics for culture and life, and must also abide by professional ethics." Liu Tianchi said frankly that the efforts that actors need to make on their career path are something that many people have not thought about.

Why are the actors in "Crazy" loved? Liu Tianchi said that good actors can shape classic artistic images and even affect everyone's lives, and need to have excellent performance techniques, rich knowledge and the ability to create characters with aesthetic value. "After the explosion of film and television dramas such as "Crazy", everyone can see the surprises brought by really good actors, and the audience will re-examine the performing arts by another standard." She said.

Talk about the current situation of the film and television industry:

Young actors need to fit into the role

Reporter: "Actual Combat Performance" is popular with many friends who love performance, and some comments say that it seems to be a "martial arts cheat" of performance. What did you do in writing this book? Why emphasize the word actual combat?

Liu Tianchi: Some young actors talked to me about the many confusions they encountered in acting, which caused them to not be able to complete the roles well. After a scene is filmed, you can't find the best state. I categorized various problems and hoped to help young actors in distress so that they could find some solutions to their acting problems on the set, so as to enjoy the fun and sense of achievement brought by the profession of actor.

Regarding "actual combat", although performance theory includes "Self-cultivation of Actors" and "Actors Create Roles" written by Stanislavsky, who is known as the "Bible", it is difficult for many actors to accurately find the relationship corresponding to the theory in the book in the actual performance, and I hope that this book can solve the problems in the performance from the practical level.

Reporter: How do you think of the current difficulties faced by young actors, and which ones urgently need to get out of the misunderstanding?

Liu Tianchi: I think the dilemma I face, first of all, is that many young actors' hearts can't calm down. When I got the script, I thought about how to play the character beautiful or handsome. But to play a character, the most important thing is whether you can find the needs of the character, whether you can really enter his thoughts and emotions, and finally present him. Instead of getting the script and thinking, who the director will be, what the audience will think, everything interferes with the creation of the performance itself. I think young actors sometimes get a little too distracted and don't fully dive into and integrate into the characters.

Talk about "fame and fortune" in the entertainment industry:

"Horns" need to be refined into steel

Reporter: One of the things you often ask about acting learners is "Why did you choose to become an actor?" "There are many people who apply for art colleges with "fame and fortune" and "star dreams", do you think this purpose is pure? What is the professionalism of an actor?

Liu Tianchi: To become a "horner" it takes a hundred refining to become steel, but now due to all kinds of information, many young people fantasize about becoming famous overnight. Because you are beautiful or handsome, it seems that you can easily master the art of acting. If you want to become a well-known actor or star, there is nothing wrong with your starting point, but you must know that acting is an art and has professional requirements.

I think people who are particularly willing to "toss themselves" are the "billets" of good actors. Actors have to put all their emotions into the character, and if they refuse to toss themselves, they may not be able to become actors. If we talk about the spirit of performance, I think that people who have the spirit of "self-destruction" and are willing to take out all the "secrets" can touch the spiritual world of performance.

On "facial paralysis performance":

Actors lack "backbone"

Reporter: There is an Internet buzzword called "facial paralysis performance", which means that no matter what you perform, there is only one expression, and the audience cannot receive the true feelings transmitted by the actors. What do you think of such a performance?

Liu Tianchi: I don't want to watch it either. The reason for this kind of performance, I think, is that the actor did not do a lot of homework when he conceived the character in the early stage, and no one can replace this part of the work. If the preparation is not sufficient, it may become the director telling you how to act you how to act, in such a noise, the actor will slowly turn himself into "facial paralysis", because his "main backbone" is gone.

Reporter: You said that half an hour and an hour before filming are important, but now in the theater or on the set, some actors may still be playing games or nervously memorizing lines, what do you think?

Liu Tianchi: This is incompetent, I think it is better for such an actor to leave the team early. Not whether you respect the profession or not, but you don't respect yourself at all. Performing in such a state for a long time, hoping to get praise, I think it's a bit of a fool's dream.

Talk about the actor bottleneck period:

Every character is unique

Reporter: Some actors complain that there is a "bottleneck period", and they are all of the same type looking for their roles. How to break through this dilemma?

Liu Tianchi: Actors are sometimes passive, and when they succeed in creating a type of character, the director will benchmark similar roles against the characters they played before. If an actor has requirements for himself, he will magnify the differences, and although they are the same role, they will look for differences. Each character is unique, and what repeats is your consciousness, it is you who think it repeats, which will put up a "wall" for creation.

Reporter: Some actors cry with eye drops, or cry in a way that makes people feel unacceptable, and even have views that whether they can cry out represents whether they have acting skills. Is crying so hard?

Liu Tianchi: The crying scene is a "famous scene" that can make the audience judge, because it is generally the moment when the contradiction and conflict of the drama are strongest. If you can't cry in the crying scene, you don't have a deep empathy for the character.

If an actor is a bystander, how can there be full of emotions? If you have developed strong emotions with the character during the preliminary preparation, connected all life situations, and integrated into the character, you will definitely be able to pass on the character's heartbroken feelings.

Reporter: Last year, the number of applicants for the Chinese opera performance department was nearly 200,1, and the ratio of applications was close to <>:<>. What do you look for when selecting talent? Does the image account for a large proportion? Is acting important to talent or hard work?

Liu Tianchi: There will definitely be an image proportion, but it is not the only criterion. We divide image and temperament, and temperament is brought by native. Image and temperament are two-in-one, the actor is not a graphic model, the performance must be vivid, and the emotions must be real. If there is only an image, the inner emotions are not rich, and there will be no choice.

What is talent? We look at who can actually react in a particular situation, and that's his talent. If you enter university, if you do not study and read, and do not enrich your emotions through various ways such as direct and indirect life, you can only be "one trick", and you can only choose suitable characters to create. I think talent is 30% and effort is 70%.

Reporter: Many people think that the entertainment industry is easy to make people impetuous, are there many students who enter the group to film in their freshman and sophomore years?

Liu Tianchi: The school has regulations that social practice can only be carried out after the sophomore year of the Chinese Opera Performance Academy. The education of the first and second year is called "basic teaching", and the creation of the third and fourth year is called "complete character shaping stage", which is a watershed in teaching. Two years of basic skills may serve up to 80 years of artistic life.

Talking about the "star coach" tag:

Acting is not a quick skill

Reporter: You work as an acting director in programs such as "The Birth of an Actor". In variety shows, it may take days or even hours to quickly improve the performance ability of actors, is it a big challenge for you?

Liu Tianchi: There are challenges, I don't really like to be such a mentor in variety shows, because performance ability is not a skill that can be improved quickly, but in order to meet some needs of variety shows, when actors cannot quickly reach the emotional real state, they need some external means to assist in the creation.

Reporter: If the actor's ability is not enough, how can "temporarily hold the Buddha's feet" also "cure the symptoms but not the root cause"?

Liu Tianchi: What is missing in the "methodological school" is a complete teaching system. If the actor is smart, he should explore the method behind this feeling of acting. If you are not aware of this problem and only perform according to the temporary guidance method, you will not be able to create a heavy character.

Talking about "communication" in the entertainment industry:

Actors only need roles that rise from the ground

Reporter: You said to actor Song Yi in a show: "You don't need to learn so much to welcome and send to, you just need to hand over the role to the audience." How to understand this sentence?

Liu Tianchi: Xiao Yi is a student I brought with her, and there is a shy part of her personality. When she entered this industry, the industry was mixed, part of it was very sunny, part of it was mixed with "black smoke miasma", such as asking for "things will come", how to remember the director's birthday, how to live with everyone... If you don't understand this, you become the so-called "uncommunicative". I think this is a huge obstacle for young actors to get into their careers, because actors only need one role after another for their job.

Reporter: Do you think there are many excellent actors who are sought after by young people at present?

Liu Tianchi: I think it's quite a lot. From Lei Jiayin and Yin Tao in "The World", to Zhang Songwen, Zhang Yi and so on in "Crazy". Young people's aesthetics and judgment are increasing, and their appreciation skills are also changing, and I think this is a good turn. Actors are actors, stars are stars, and they can no longer be compared. Even if a star artist wants to cross over to work in the actor industry, he should learn the techniques that actors should master.

West China Metropolis Daily - cover news reporter Su Yu