Chapter 20: Filming in Progress

Although Kenny Ortega had convinced Lin Mingyang himself, things didn't end there. Although the United States Labor Law was not as strict as the United Kingdom, there were clear requirements for the management of underage labor. If Lin Mingyang wanted to enter a theater set for filming, he had to obtain the consent of his guardian.

In fact, even without the constraints of legal provisions, it was impossible to bypass Lin Ming Yang's parents in this matter. Kenny Ortega visited Mr. and Mrs. Lin Qing Hai with complete sincerity, and this negotiation, which would have been difficult in Lin Ming Yang's eyes, ended up going exceptionally well. The two sides agreed in a subtle compromise, as long as it didn't affect Lin Ming Yang's studies, he could do whatever he wanted.

This precondition seemed very broad, but in order to fulfill it, Kenny Ortega had to move the entire crew to Florida, and the location for the filming of the movie was chosen at Moss Middle School. The school's supporting hardware was perfectly suited to the requirements of the shoot, and all the possible scenes in the script could be found here as ready-made locations.

The Moss High School Association welcomed the film crew to the school, and several board members believed that the film would bring great publicity to the school. The school charged the crew a nominal $1 for the use of the location. In return, Kenny Ortega promised to use the original name of Moss High School in the movie wherever the school's name was involved.

Moss Middle School sought the name, the crew gained, in this win-win cooperation, the role played by Kenny Ortega made Lin Mingyang have a brand new understanding of the director's career position, the vast majority of directors get a budget from the producer that cannot support him to realize all his ideas.

The director's personal ability determines how much investment he can get, but Hollywood's bullish demons like James Cameron are, after all, a minority. To use limited investment to get the maximum return, the director must seriously consider how to allocate the resources on hand, whether to find big-name movie stars to support the scene, or choose to burn money on special effects to ensure the quality, these are all the directors are headaches.

And those who often hundreds of millions of dollars compared to the blockbusters, "Song and Dance" shooting costs are insignificant, Disney executives just take this movie as a novel concept, the concept of strange song and dance drama, even Kenny Ortega did not expect the film will eventually achieve how dazzling results. Of course, all of this is an afterthought. At this time, Lin Ming Yang, with some trepidation, was sitting in the cast's dressing room, accepting the stylist to put on his makeup for the first time.

"The first time you face the camera, you need to try to relax yourself as much as possible!" Because he was quite fond of the boy, the stylist named Tony kindly reminded him.

"I look nervous now?" Lin Ming Yang was more or less embarrassed at being accidentally told off by someone else, especially since Megan was sitting in the seat right next to him at the moment and another stylist was helping her with her hair.

Luckily, Megan's attention was drawn to the fashion magazine in her hand at this time, and she didn't hear the conversation between the two.

"Your lips are pursed a little unnaturally and your eyes are fluttering, these are signs of inner nervousness!" Tony explained with a smile.

"All the stylists in the crew are as observant as you?" If Lin Ming Yang had a trace of contempt in his heart before, then Tony's performance had made him completely put away that mentality, a simple stylist who was able to have such keen observation, it seemed that the guys that Kenny Ortega had found were not simple.

Hearing the praise in Lin Ming Yang's words, Tony felt that the boy in front of him was indeed very interesting, which gave him the idea of getting to know the other party further. "An excellent stylist focuses on not only the exterior, but also the heart at the same time. A smile that comes from the heart is far more charming than putting a flashy lip gloss on your lips. Actors who are able to maintain a good and appropriate state of mind make our work relatively easier and simpler!"

Lin Mingyang heard that the other party was secretly mentioning that he needed to maintain a natural and calm state of mind in his performances, he nodded knowingly, it seemed that as long as one held an attitude of zeroing in on everything, everyone around him had something worthwhile to learn from him.

"What are you guys talking about?" The conversation between the two finally caught Megan's attention, she put down the magazine in her hand and curiously looked over this way.

"We're talking about how to relieve tension very well!" Lin Mingyang answered before Tony.

"Felix, are you nervous?" Remembering her first time on camera, a look of concern naturally appeared on Megan's face.

"A little bit just now, it's better now!" Lin Mingyang bristled, after talking to Tony for a few moments, he really wasn't as nervous as he was just now.

"Don't worry, I was so nervous the first time I faced the camera that I even forgot my lines, your performance will definitely be much better than mine!" Megan's sweet smile coupled with these words of encouragement instantly allowed Lin Ming Yang to find a lot of confidence.

Although Lin Ming Yang also went to the radio station as a special guest once before crossing over, facing the microphone and facing the camera were two completely different feelings. The first scene the crew had to shoot today was the meeting between the male and female protagonists at a New Year's Eve party. In the opening scene, the hero in his father's help to train basketball that set of shots Lin Mingyang performed very well, his personal skills needless to say, the key is the Firefox team in the previous few finals have a cameraman in the scene shooting, the opposite lens he is not afraid, he completely this as a training, the effect of the shooting out of the natural Kenny Ortega is very satisfied.

But this good state of entry in the shooting of the second set of shots in the second set of shots, this set of shots in the hustle and bustle of the party in the male and female protagonists were selected by the lights, was asked to sing a song on stage together.

As soon as there were more actors around, Lin Mingyang became a bit nervous. At first, his nervousness was a good way to show how out of place the unsociable hero felt when he suddenly came to an unfamiliar party, but when the two of them walked onto the stage together, Lin Mingyang's nervousness was still not eliminated, and holding the microphone in front of the camera, he suddenly didn't know what to sing. Although the lyrics were displayed on the electronic screen opposite him, his mind was blank!

Lin Ming Yang put down the microphone in discouragement and made a very helpless expression towards the director Kenny Ortega who was sitting behind the camera. Megan Fox beside him tapped him on the shoulder, the director told everyone to take a break for a while, she had to go down and touch up her makeup.

After she left Kenny Ortega called Lin Ming Yang aside, "Felix, what went wrong?"

"I don't know, for the camera I just can't find that feeling of wanting to sing!" Lin Ming Yang tried to hold his head in some pain, Kenny Ortega stopped him in time.

"You'll break words off the hairstyle Tony just did for you, we have to cherish the fruits of other people's labor!" Kenny Ortega calmed the somewhat agitated Lin Ming Yang, "Didn't you sing well in the studio? And you were spot on in your previous performance, you can't find the feeling, we can repeat it a few more times, but you have to have confidence in yourself, can you?"

"I'll try my best!" Lin Ming Yang nodded his head with effort, he knew that if he wanted to go further on this path as an actor, he had to cross this hurdle today. To put it another way, such a difficulty could only be considered a beginning, there were more and more difficult problems waiting for him later on, if he couldn't even overcome this difficulty, then all future development would be empty talk.

Before starting the second take, Megan gave him a smile full of encouragement, and Lin Ming Yang let out a long sigh of relief, nodding his head towards Kenny Ortega, signaling that he was ready himself!

After the field note board closed in front of the camera, the director shouted out a start. Looking at the lyrics bouncing on the electronic screen, Lin Ming Yang struggled to sing the first verse with good results. Kenny Ortega, who was sitting in front of the small screen monitoring the effects of the shooting, nodded with satisfaction and turned his head to the assistant director beside him, Jack, and said, "I realized at the beginning that this little guy had unlimited potential, and it looks like he's found his form now!"

"Your guidance should have been a bit earlier!" Jack laughed, at first he was skeptical about Kenny Ortega finding such a boy who had never been exposed to acting before to act as the lead role, but now he had felt that this concern was completely redundant, "This way we can wrap up early!"

"If he gets into the swing of things too early, maybe we'll have to repeat it more times. Don't you think that this state of gradual relaxation he's in right now just happens to coincide with the mentality of the male and female protagonists in the plot as they go from being strangers to being familiar with each other? Such a performance is the most authentic!" Kenny Ortega was very proud of himself for arranging it this way, "Jack, you're still underestimating that boy, he's the author of the script, and there's something about the plot that he doesn't need my guidance on!"

The song "StarOfSomethingNew" was nominally composed by Lin Ming Yang's own lyrics, and after slowly finding the feeling, his vocals began to gradually get into the groove, and the coordination between him and Megan became even more seamless, as he had completely integrated himself into the plot.

The surrounding actors were just dancing according to the director's request at first, but slowly, Lin Mingyang's singing voice seemed to carry a kind of magic, making their bodies naturally sway with the rhythm, and Kenny Ortega, who was wearing headphones, also bobbed his head with the music. Singing to the most wonderful part, Lin Mingyang pulled the microphone from the fixed frame, Megan also hands tightly hold their own microphone, the two people affectionate duet will shoot the atmosphere of the scene pushed to the climax.

"CUT!" Kenny Ortega's voice rang out before the imminent end of the climax, and only then did the crowd come back from this music-driven atmosphere. Everyone gave Lin Ming Yang a warm round of applause for his wonderful singing performance, and Megan was so excited that she forgot to give him a warm hug.

"Felix, you did it! You're the best actor I've ever seen!"

An equally excited Lin Ming Yang ignored the gazes of the crowd and hugged Megan in a frantic spin around the stage, "Success isn't me, it's us!"

Kenny Ortega, who had taken it all in, was also slightly emotional, he sniffled vigorously, "It's been a long time since I've seen a scene like this, it makes me resist the urge to cry, Jack, did you bring any paper?"

Jack handed over a box of tissues with some emotion, to say that the scene was the most talented actor, who could compare to this great director beside him?