I Am A Prodigy - Tricks Of A Top Class Director

“Grandmaster Ye, there’s another matter that I’d like to discuss with you. Vatti headquarters is planning to help us with marketing after they learned of our collaboration. What are your thoughts?” Ma Ding asked.
    

He did not dare to reveal the contents of that meeting. If Grandmaster Ye found out that others were questioning his ability, he might cease collaborations with Vatti. If that happened, their losses would be huge.
    

“It’s fine to help me with marketing, but don’t bother trying to take part in the management.” Ye Lingchen’s voice remained unfazed.
    

“Mm, rest assured, Grandmaster Ye. I’ll definitely fulfill my promise. Your department will be independent.” Ma Ding quickly agreed. He then followed up with another question, “What series would your luxury brand be named as?”
    

“Isn’t it printed on the bags already? Just use the letter Y.”
    

Y!
    

Ma Ding’s heart skipped a beat. ‘So that’s the reason that letter was printed on the bags!’
    

What Y represented was known to all. Grandmaster Ye was aiming to be the best of the luxury brands!
    

After ending the call, Ma Ding’s heart continued racing for some time. Grandmaster Ye’s mindset has influenced him greatly. It was just as expected of a grandmaster to remain unfazed despite facing such a grand achievement. He was beyond the materialistic world. That was the behavior of a true expert.
    

He needed to catch up with the grandmaster’s footsteps and try not to embarrass him!
    

With that, he suddenly felt a transformation of his mindset. He recovered his composure and strode forth…
    

Ending the call, Ye Lingchen’s expression did not show any changes.
    

Realizing that Xiao Feifei and the others were looking at him, he laughed it off without trying to brag. “It’s nothing important. Continue the filming.”
    

At his current level, he could brag whenever he wanted. 
    

‘Sigh, I’m tired of this. It’s uninteresting.’
    

A big portion of iPartment’s filming was already done. Ye Lingchen only participated mid-way. The actors were mostly handpicked by Ye Lingchen himself. Although they were rookies, nobody dared to voice their opinion.
    

TV series involved a large area of interest. Although it’s not ranked as highly as movies, the filming period was lengthy, making it demanding on the plot writers and other crew members.
    

A TV series had to take many things into consideration. It required a lot of people and various departments to work together for its completion.
    

One man could not complete such a tedious job by himself. Of course, it was not technically impossible, but that would be a meaningless debate. Apart from Ye Lingchen, no other person would have such capabilities.
    

A TV series’ success usually required dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of people working together. That was to say, the end result of a TV series was not the responsibility of a single person.
    

Blame the actors? Although the director was not on the screen, the actors had to follow his directions, letting him control the general directions of a TV series.
    

Blame the director? The actors were the ones acting. Their acting skills were not something the director could help with.
    

Apart from that, the investors, producers, editors, special effects, and so on had their roles too.
    

In another example, if the investor had a daughter that wanted the leading role, what could they do? They would have to do it even at the risk of the TV series being a flop! They had no choice.
    

If the different parties did not work together and had their own goals, it was impossible to produce a good TV series.
    

However, Ye Lingchen had no such worries. He had the final say for the entire crew. Although Xiao Feifei was also a director of the company, Xiao Feifei still worked for Ye Lingchen.
    

As long as Ye Lingchen was not taking advantage of the actresses, Xiao Feifei would not care. In fact, if Ye Lingchen really wanted to take advantage of an actress, Xiao Feifei might not be totally against it. She might even help him make arrangements.
    

However, based on the performance of Meijia and the rest, they would love to have Ye Lingchen take advantage of them. From that perspective, it would seem that Ye Lingchen was the one trapped in a dangerous spot.
    

‘Cough cough, that was off-topic.’
    

Of course, such a thing had its pros and cons. Ye Lingchen could control the entire crew, but he would have to bear full responsibility if the TV series performed badly.
    

“No businesses willing to invest in ads yet?”
    

Ye Lingchen asked Xiao Feifei while watching the filming progress.
    

“From what I can see, with you and director Li’s reputation, only some snack companies are willing to invest.” Xiao Feifei shook her head helplessly. “Is our asking price too steep?”
    

“Nope. It’s not steep at all. It’s a good deal for them at this price.” Ye Lingchen shrugged nonchalantly. “Just leave it be if there are no investors. I don’t care for that measly sum.”
    

The so-called investment was referring to the ads within the TV series. For example, the brand of instant noodles that the main character ate, or the brand of water filter used, and so on. That represented the confidence of those businesses in their TV series.
    

Ye Lingchen contemplated for a moment, then calmly stated, “Why don’t we do this. We’ll add in products from Y Cosmetics and Wanrong Technology!”
    

“Y Cosmetics and Wanrong Technology?” Xiao Feifei was mildly surprised. The way she looked at Ye Lingchen changed ever so slightly, as though she had expected it.
    

She knew nothing of Y Cosmetics. However, she knew Ye Lingchen’s identity as Y in the entertainment industry. There must be some connection between the Ys.
    

Nevertheless, she maintained her silence and did not ask any questions.
    

Wanrong Technology was developing a new type of lifestyle technology. That was a good chance to market it. As for Y Cosmetics, although they did not have their own products, it was an eventuality. Ye Lingchen planned to hype it up and get the consumers ready for it.
    

“Cut!”
    

Ye Lingchen suddenly stopped them with his megaphone. Chen Chichi and the others exchanged glances, then walked over, “Young Master Ye, is that not suitable?”
    

“Maintain this expression! Quickly return to your positions.” Ye Lingchen waved. “Camera 3 pull backward slightly. Increase the brightness by one level.”
    

“That’s good. Done!”
    

“What happened? Why was that done so quickly?” Lu Xiaobu who was outside the shot asked in astonishment.
    

“Chen Chichi’s expression was not on point. You guys are really suitable for comedy shows. Your faces bring joy to others. However, your expressions are lacking when it comes to other emotions.” Li Tai explained. “Right then, Chen Chichi should be showing a nervous expression but he was not in character. Young Master Ye’s words caused Chen Chichi to feel nervous from the bottom of his heart. That’s why it’s done.”
    

Pausing for a moment, he then added. “This is the trick that only top-class directors could pull off.”
    

In the earlier scene, he was unsatisfied with Chen Chichi’s acting. However, it was very difficult to have Chen Chichi act it out properly. At first, he planned to make do with it, yet to his surprise, it was settled in just a few words by Ye Lingchen.
    

That was the standard trick used by top-class directors. When an actor was unable to fully get into character, the director would think of ways to bring up that emotion in real life. In the case of a crying scene, it might very well be achieved using insults to make the actor cry.
    

However, those that can do it as casually as Ye Lingchen just did were very few.