I Am A Prodigy

The Y-Department was fully under Ye Lingchen’s control. It was super easy for him to put one aside for Xiao Feifei.“You’re calling me Elder Sister Feifei[1]. Do you think I’m older than you? Do I look that old?” Xiao Feifei’s expression did not improve.

Ye Lingchen was speechless.

At times, women’s train of thought can be quite weird. To a man, if any problems arose, one just needed to solve it. However, women do not think so. When a problem arose, they would often over-analyze the situation and then generate an infinite number of problems after that. It was likely for them to cry out of the blue over something minor.

It was obvious that Xiao Feifei had encountered such a problem. At first, she felt confident about herself; at least she would not feel that she could lose to Zhao Liangying. However, she suddenly noticed an issue—that she was older than Zhao Liangying and was not as youthful as her. That issue was immediately inflated limitlessly in her mind, causing her much anxiety.

“Mm… Feifei,” Ye Lingchen forced himself to change the way he addressed her.

At such a time, words like, ‘you don’t look old at all’, ‘you’re beautiful’, and the likes were useless. It was best to take immediate action.

As expected, Xiao Feifei finally smiled after hearing Ye Lingchen’s address. She acknowledged it with a soft grunt, then added, “Then you better not forget that I want one set too.”

“Don’t worry. I’ve already prepared a set for you in advance. It’s just that I came in a hurry and forgot to bring it along.”

Ye Lingchen’s words made Xiao Feifei even happier.

With all that out of the way, they finally went out for supper before heading home.

On a side note, Chen Chichi and the gang looked at the discussions online and finally could not resist joining the verbal warfare, putting all their effort to support the Chinese camp.

…

“Camera two, move forward slowly!”

“Lu Xiaobu, follow what I told you earlier and do it again.”

“Post-production, insert an inner monologue here. Please note it down.”

Following that, iPartment’s filming process was fully under Ye Lingchen’s control.

This TV series was in a slice-of-life comedy style. Although it sounded simple, the difficulty was comparable to the big scenes.

Slice-of-life shows required them to keep things relatable to reality. That in turn limits the scope of the series as it would revolve around their lifestyle. If mismanaged, it would turn into a very boring and dragged out series. In fact, this type of series was looked down upon in the market. It was too difficult to produce and could easily fail. That was why Durian TV breached their contract and adjusted iPartment’s timing.

Meanwhile, comedy was just as challenging. They had to be on spot for the humor, or it will similarly fail without a doubt.

What was a comedy? A comedy must not have jokes forced into them but instead had to be closely tied to reality.

Most modern comedies would forcefully create humor and push the point. It would be similar to having someone forcefully tickling someone to entertain others. It was totally meaningless and made the audience feel awkward.

iPartment’s goal was to make it feel natural. The story was about a collection of random funny stories in life in order to trigger the viewer’s sense of humor without them realizing it.

The first season was not that long. It only had 20 episodes. The filming was reaching its end, and at that moment, Chen Chichi was doing some sales pitch for a fire extinguisher.

“As the vice president of the street apartment’s committee, I have to lead by example.”

“Lead by example? Why don’t you light yourself up first? I’d like to see how you can save yourself in three seconds,” Hu Yifei said while rolling her eyes.

…

“Then I’ll buy a few more. I can give some to my coworker.” Lin Wanyu was finally convinced by Chen Chichi. She smiled while taking out her wallet, ready to pay. “How much each?”

“RMB380.”

Lin Wanyu quietly kept her wallet, then showed an awkward but respectful smile, saying, “I think you’ll be a suitable person for the position of vice president.”

“Cut!” Ye Lingchen took up the megaphone.

“Your smile in this part is a little forced. Remember, you are roommates. Your conversation needs to be natural. Don’t just be memorizing the script. That part in the middle where Chen Chichi went through the inner monologue was problematic too. Your smile should be cheekier,” Ye Lingchen explained. “Let’s redo the parts that need improvement.”

Under Ye Lingchen’s directions, filming progressed quickly.

Most scenes only required one or two takes to be done with. The current episode was originally scheduled to be completed in two more days, yet they managed to move the progress forward. Just from 10am to 3pm, they managed to complete the filming. The outcome was quite good as well.

They suddenly had an extra day’s worth of time. Their efficiency was terrifying.

All that was naturally due to Ye Lingchen being in charge. With him giving orders, the others only needed to complete them according to his instructions and wasted no time in between.

Most of the time, if the departments were too messy, they would inevitably run into some conflicts that could delay the progress. The reason for having multiple departments was to help cover each other’s shortcomings. That was why in most situations they would sacrifice speed for it. However, with Ye Lingchen around, that was not an issue.

Of course there was the issue of the leader’s capabilities.

More often than not, the leader played a key role in decision making.

For example, when faced with an issue, the leader felt that it would not work but was unable to point out the root of the problem, thus unable to suggest a solution. Instead, he could only have others fix it until he was satisfied with the result. If that were the case, others would be unable to help and lead to slow progress.

Ye Lingchen was different. He could tell others where exactly the flaws were and provide a solution. For example, the gaze that was off, unnatural gait, and other parts, then have them fix it immediately. That helped them save a lot of time.

After filming, Ye Lingchen did not stop them but instead continued filming the next scene. Everyone was already used to that and merely continued working.

“Lu Xiaobu, Wanyu, come over here.”

Ye Lingchen waved at them. He was watching the filming process while checking the previous recordings. A lot of scenes were scrapped by him and had to be shot again.

At that moment, he was preparing in advance.

Only by fixing the actor’s acting skills could he improve the progress.

Ye Lingchen’s explanation was very detailed. He had no intention of keeping any secrets.

How to act a part, why that movement was made, what sort of look to portray, all that was to help them immerse themselves in the story to make it look more natural.

As a matter of fact, under his lead, everyone’s acting skills went through major improvements. Even Xiao Feifei, the Best Actress of TV series, felt that she had learned a lot just by staying near Ye Lingchen.

It was the type of acting that could be differentiated with a single glance. Everyone behaved more openly and their expressions were more natural. Their words and actions felt immersive, and the emotions on their faces flowed smoothly…

[1] 菲菲姐 (Feifei Jie/ Sister Feifei) is actually indicative of Xiao Feifei being older than Ye Lingchen. This term is usually used as a term of endearment by someone younger.