Chapter 451 - Everyone’s Face Hurts
Chapter 451: Everyone’s Face Hurts
Actually, there were not many actors who were attending the training that time.
There were only 7 or 8 tanks that were scheduled to appear in the same scene of the movie, hence there were only 7 or 8 actors who would be climbing out of the tanks. Other than Wang Peng and Tan Da, there were only seven left. Therefore, the actors who lined up would soon have a turn to try their hand on the simulator.
Instructor Liu did not make things too difficult for them. He only gave all of them 3 simple instructions, fire up the tank, left turn and switch gears.
Also, the requirements for them were much simpler, there was no limit to what procedures they needed to carry out, all they had to do was whatever they remembered.
After all, Instructor Liu’s goal was for them to adjust their attitude and experience the difference between tanks and household vehicles.
Actually, that was also Wu Feng’s idea as well. Otherwise, how were the actors going to be able to act realistically if they did not even have any experience in driving a tank?
‘In order to switch gears in a real tank, one has to use all the strength in their body and have the correct posture to be able to get it done properly. If you change gears like how you do it in a car, leisurely and carefree, How the f*ck are you going to act realistically?!’
Therefore, under Instructor Liu’s guidance, the actors lined up according to their height and went on to experience the tank simulator one by one.
The actors’ expressions were almost the same throughout the whole experience. They were all confident and high-spirited before they went in, flustered when they did get in, regret all their arrogance and cockiness when they got out.
‘Why did it feel like something was holding back the clutch? I just couldn’t push it in
‘Why did it feel like the joystick was being blocked by something? I couldn’t pull it down at all.
‘Why was the accelerator as hard as a rock? Is it really possible to step it in?’
Very soon, the first 3 of the 7 actors failed the simulation and exited the tank simulator in disbelief.
When all 5 actors failed consecutively, the remaining 4 finally felt that something was wrong.
After all, they were not idiots, they were just overconfident in themselves earlier. Now that the reality has been laid out right before them, they began to wonder if the tank driving simulator was really very difficult to operate.
But when they thought about how Su Yang was able to drive a moment ago, they still thought that there should not have been any problems…’Could it have been because Mr. Su had carried out the exact procedures required?’
Just as they were thinking about it, Instructor Liu had another cunning thought in his mind. He stopped the next actor who was supposed to try and waved at Su Yang. “Su Yang! Step out!”
Su Yang stood up and answered loudly, “Yes sir!”
Instructor Liu pointed at the simulator. “Get in it again! This time, using the procedures that they’ve been using!”
Su Yang replied, “Sir, yes sir!”
Su Yang got into the simulator and followed the few simple procedures that the other actors were only able to remember. Once again, Su Yang had operated smoothly.
In fact, he only simply started up the tank, turned left and changed gears.
Compared to the others who had done it clumsily, Su Yang on the other hand was able to get it done perfectly, looking absolutely cool and dazzling!
While Su Yang was controlling it, the [Bronze Ability: Tank Driving Ability] seemed to have awakened his body as he did everything in fluid motion like it was all muscle memory.
Now that he had both the ability and the experience to drive a tank, Su Yang felt that that was actually the kind of transport that men should be driving!!
‘Those sedans and sports cars! Too soft!
‘This completely manual, completely mechanical ruler of the lands is what men should be driving!
‘No wonder I’ve always seemed to be afraid of driving at full speed and have been holding back when I was driving the Ferrari. No wonder I’ve always felt that I haven’t had the most fun yet!
‘The ability I have is for driving tanks! If I were to drive my Ferrari with the strength equivalent to driving my Ferrari, I’d probably remove the entire Ferrari’s steering wheel…’
After he was done with that round of operation, Su Yang got off the tank simulator.
At that moment, everyone looked at him differently.
Firstly, it was Instructor Liu. If he was still suspicious of Su Yang based on his first operation that he might have just been lucky before, his doubts had all been cleared at that moment. ‘This guy has definitely driven a tank before!
‘Those fluid movements and proficiency is not something a hobbyist will be able to achieve.
‘But… Where would there be a tank for him to drive within the country?
‘Could he have spent money to drive it overseas?
‘I seem to recall that there are some places overseas that provide such experiences.’
At that thought, Instructor Liu felt that he had convinced himself. ‘Yeap, that’s probably the case.’
On the other hand, the actors who had experienced it themselves looked at Su Yang as if they were looking at a “monster”. That was a given since they had already realized just how difficult operating it was!
‘Is this guy really human?
‘How was he able to operate it?’
The remaining four people regained their confidence. If they were still worried that they would make a fool of themselves earlier and were extremely nervous, they were now much more relieved after seeing Su Yang’s perfect operation.
Firstly, Su Yang had reestablished their confidence. Secondly, they knew that it was not exactly that simple to operate the tank simulator, hence they were extremely serious when Su Yang was operating it.
They thought that they had seen Su Yang’s skills clearly and felt that they would be able to do a good job. Hence, they regained their confidence.
But they did not know that Su Yang had the [Tank Driving Ability]…
So… Reality once again taught them a painful lesson.
Each of them were more or less the same, everyone who went up would still fail miserably, fumbling on all sorts of scenarios.
In fact, because they had “learned Su Yang’s skills”, they were even more flamboyant when it was their turn to operate. One of them even sprained his back…
When everyone was done with their training, the actors suddenly realized that Su Yang was the only one among them who did it well…
Moreover, he was at least five or six times better than them…
‘You’re joking, aren’t you?’
Because everyone had personally experienced driving a tank once, everyone knew how difficult the operation was.
When they projected that difficulty level onto Su Yang, they were shocked to realize how amazing Su Yang’s technique actually was!
‘How did he do it!
‘Would I be able to perform better if I tried it again?’
Those young actors that Wu Feng had hired all had the aura of being completely newbies to start with.
Instructor Liu, on the other hand, probably felt that it was not enough to let those people suffer that harsh lesson once, so he went along with the flow and allowed everyone to try again.
In the end…”Pa Pa Pa”, the actors could feel their faces being slapped again…
Although they were obviously much better the second time compared to the first and they were not making that much of a fool of themselves anymore, none of them were still able to perform it as easily as Su Yang did!
After trying for the second time, all the actors were filled with admiration for Su Yang…
‘How did he do it!
‘Could it be that he’s driven a tank before?
‘Why was I still driving so badly the second time?
‘Could that be the power of being an investor?
‘Would I be able to drive anything if I had money?
‘But, this isn’t Marvel…’
Hence, everyone looked at Su Yang weirdly during the lesson. The word “mon” was written on their left eye and the word “ster” was written on their right eye.
All in all, they were completely convinced by Su Yang…
However, thanks to Su Yang’s status, no one had any thoughts of being jealous or resentful of him. Moreover, the idea of a minor actor being jealous of the movie’s investor or producer was insane!
However, news of Su Yang, the big boss, driving a tank proficiently slowly spreaded throughout the production team.
There were even a few fat female staff who had some other thoughts in their head…
Even Wu Feng went to chat with Su Yang after filming that night to ask about the situation. Then, he smiled and said that Su Yang was more than qualified to be a stuntman in a military-themed movie.
The next day’s lesson was even simpler. It was a special training for the actors’ based on their specific roles.
Among the batch of actors, Su Yang was the only tank driver while the rest were leaders. Hence, Instructor Liu wanted to coach Su Yang first before dealing with the rest…
In the end, he stood in front of Su Yang for 5 minutes and held it in for a long time before finally saying, “You don’t have much to learn anymore, so you should go train on the simulator If you haven’t got anything else to do.” Then, he stopped caring about Su Yang…
Su Yang was speechless.
Hence, Su Yang walked out of the meeting room under the envious gazes of the other actors. Then, he went to the set and strolled around.
It was rare for him to have a day off, so Su Yang could not be bothered to continue spending time on that huge machine. Instead, he wanted to experience what it was like to be part of a proper production team.
After a while, Su Yang’s horizons were broadened.
‘I have to admit, this proper team of crew is indeed different from my ragtag crew from “Fighting The Buddha”. Every department is properly organized and there are many staff members. There’s the actors’ department, the camera department, the makeup department, the stunt choreography department, even the filming department has been split up into two groups.’
Yes, that’s right. Most movies would not have been filmed by a single director. Most of them would be divided into two groups, A and B.
Some did so to speed up the process, while some did it just so the director could slack off.
However, Wu Feng was not one of them. He was both the director and producer, so he could not take care of everything himself. Therefore, for some simple or special scenes, he would ask the assistant director to handle it for him.
Of course, after the assistant director finished filming, he had to go through it every night. If the assistant director’s submission did not meet his requirements, he would then reject it to be redone, or he might even reshoot the scene himself.
Hence, Su Yang quickly made his way to Team B’s filming location.
That day, Team B was filming the opening scene of “Wolf Warriors”. A drug trafficking criminal had knocked down a soldier and then taken him as hostage while he hid himself in a corner, threatening the army outside to let him go.
Su Yang had read the script. ‘By the end of this scene, the leader would research and realize that he was unable to harm the criminal at all. Therefore, for the safety of the hostages, he would then decide to stop attacking.
‘However, when Wu Feng saw his unconscious comrade lying on the ground, he would then decide to go against his leader’s orders for the sake of his comrade’s life. He will fire 2 shots at the wall before killing the criminal with the third shot.
‘This led to him being held accountable by the leader later on and he will then join the Wolf Warriors.
‘However, even though the script has been written as such, there are actually a few scenes to be filmed.
‘The scene of the criminal holding a hostage and being killed.
‘The scene where the leader decides to stop the attack.
‘Another scene where Wu Feng snipes the criminal.
‘That’s the charm of movies. Although this scene has been shot through 3 different times, 3 different locations and 3 different characters, it all comes together and becomes a perfectly smooth movie after putting them together.’
Su Yang watched the entire scene from the outside.
The “main character” for that scene was a bald man with a round face. He used to be the lead singer of a band, but later, he became an actor. In fact, he was cameo-ing for the movie due to his friendship with Wu Feng.
He had been in the entertainment industry for many years and his acting skills had been honed. He clearly did not have an opponent, but he had acted like he was facing the army alone.
In the end, he was able to shock everyone when he had been headshotted and dropped onto the floor realistically.
Su Yang clapped silently in his heart. He finally understood why that scene was handled by Team B. ‘This actor has such good skills and professionalism to his art that there isn’t a need for the director to be involved too much.’
Just as the shoot was over and Team B was resting, there was a sudden commotion within the crew. A few people ran over from afar and shouted, “Medic! Where’s the medic?! Hurry up and come here! We’ve got an issue! Director Wu has been injured!”