A Valiant Life

Chapter 228: Give the dog more screen time!

Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations

The crew were all stunned, how did such a thing happen?

Seeing the once agitated Little Blackie calm down, they all started to believe Lin Fan had the ability to communicate with dogs. They all couldn’t fathom how a random stranger just walked in and effortlessly calm Little Blackie.

On the other hand Teacher Liu who spent the whole afternoon trying didn’t even make Little Blackie calm down a tad bit.

Xu Zi Le’s face lit up upon the sight of Little Blackie finally calming down and commended, "Wow! Ming Yang, Lin Fan is really what you describe him to be - Well versed in various ’languages’."

Ming Yang laughed it off and said, "I feel like I just found a new way to make money. I’ll open a dog training center and make Lin Fan the president."

Director Qin was speechless. However, when he saw the serious look on Lin Fan’s face, he began to explain the script, "Xu Zi Le I need you to... Alright, as for Little Blackie I just need him to keep still and not make a mess out of the set."

Lin Fan listened on although he knew nothing about acting nor changing of scripts. However, the movie revolved around the emotions of commoners who lost their loved ones.

In addition, the current scene was mainly focused on Xu Zi Yue’s emotions. As for Little Blackie, as long as he played along and supported the main character, the scene would be perfect.

Lin Fan nodded his head " Ok I get what you mean, let me have a talk with Little Blackie."

Director Qin wanted to say something but hearing what Lin Fan had to say he instantly held back and quietly left, leaving Lin Fan and Little Blackie to talk.

Lin Fan knelt down, patted Little Blackie’s head and started to do his magic. And so, the human and dog duo started to ’talk’. Lin Fan would say something and Little Blackie would respond with barks and this went on for a good thirty minutes.

Director Qin watched Lin Fan and thought to himself.

Today is such a weird day, no one would have thought that Little Blackie would calm down and finally allow me to proceed with the shoot.

"Everyone in their positions, standby... Lights and camera crew to your stations. Let’s get scene 102 over and done with."

Wang Ming Yang asked curiously "What on earth did you tell that dog?"

Lin Fan laughed and said, "I taught it how to act."

"F*ck you. Don’t play around with me... If dogs can act then pigs can fly," Wang Ming Yang said in disbelief.

Lin Fan honestly did not know why no one believed that Little Blackie knew how to act. However, after communicating with Little Blackie he realized that there was an attitude and look that Little Blackie had to display which could easily touch the hearts of the audience.

Everyone scurried to their posts still amused by Lin Fan ’talking’ to Little Blackie. However, it did not matter. As long as the shoot went on smoothly and Little Blackie remained well-behaved, all was good.

Everything was set in place and ready for inspection to prevent any bugs from occurring halfway through the shoot.

Xu Zi Yue put on her torn and tattered clothes and had her makeup done to portray the look of a poor farmer.

On top of the old cart lay a corpse who was one of the main characters. In order to cut costs, they planned it such that he died in a bomb blast in which his body was blown beyond recognition.

As to how the female lead was able to identify the heavily disfigured body as her husband, it was entirely based on her gut feeling which saved them a huge amount of explanation.

They even hired corpse a double to play as the corpse.

The group members were clueless as to how the scene would turn out but they could only try and wish for the best. Afterall. There was no such thing as a guaranteed success when filming.

Director Qin seeing that everything was in order, took a seat by the filming post and gave the command to start.

"Take 1. Go!"

Xu Zi Yue quickly got into character and managed to pull off a look of extreme sorrow - one that would be observed on someone’s face when they had finally managed to find the corpse of their long-lost husband. She pushed the old and broken cart while Little Blackie slowly walked aside.

The cameras zoomed in and out, only focusing on Xu Zi Le and the cart as if Little Blackie wasn’t part of the scene.

Director Qin started to tense up. The most crucial moment had arrived.

This was when the cart would fall over and Xu Zi Yue’s husband’s corpse would fall off. Xu Zi Yue would then hug the body in grief before quickly loading it onto the cart again.

He was so afraid that Little Blackie would get startled and run away. Deep down he prayed that Little Blackie would just remain beside and the scene would be complete.

Of course, although it was simple, what could one expect from dogs in terms of acting.

*Thump*

The cart flipped over. The group of faceless corpse fell off the cart. Xu Zi Yue dashed forward, hugging the body in distraught.

At that instance, Lin Fan signaled to Little Blackie with a quick hand movement.

At that moment, everyone was stunned by what Little Blackie did.

*Woof woof*

Little Blackie barked as he quickly bit on to the shirt of one of the corpses and tugged it towards the cart. He tugged with all his might, creating a scene that was bound to make one cry.

Who would have dared to say that dogs couldn’t act after witnessing this scene?

Little Blackie even managed to give a look of extreme sorrow.

Director Qin upon witnessing this could not help but let out, "I’ll be damned"

Noticing that the camera crew were only focusing on the female main, he yelled, " Xiao Zhang, what are you doing? Quick! Give the dog more screen time for God’s sake."

"Shift the cameras to focus on the dog..."

"Stop."

Director Qin was truly stunned and speechless after what he had witnessed. Recovering from the shock, he reprimanded, "Xiao Zhang, what were you thinking? Why did you leave the dog out of the scene initially? Didn’t you see how amazing his acting was? With that performance alone, I’m sure that’s at least another 0.5 points for the movie."

Xiao Zhang lowered his head in guilt, "I’m sorry Director Zhang, I didn’t expect..."

Director Zhang was frustrated but could only let out a sigh. He knew that the cameraman did not focus on Little Blackie in fear that Little Blackie would mess up and spoil the scene.

All the workers who stood by to watch were all stunned.

No one expected Little blackie to be able to put up such an amazing performance.

Teacher Liu was also shocked.

Lin Fan nodded his head in content, "Director Qin don’t worry, we can always go for a second take. Little Blackie is ok with it."

Director Qin smiled to Lin Fan and gave him a thumbs up for his effort. Never did he expect Lin Fan to be able to train Little Blackie to act like that within such a short amount of time.

"Everyone standby. Xiao Zhang, remember to give the dog enough screen time and the light crew better not screw up. I want this to be the final shoot for this scene."

"Yes, Director," Xiao Zhang echoed.

Xu Zi Yue was shocked before she finally realized that Little Blackie was pulling the corpses towards the cart.

The corpse actor who was pulled was even more afraid thinking that Little Blackie was trying to bite him.

Director Qin nodded his head and commanded, "Ok... Begin!"

...