The fledgling Liu Tianchi
In 1993, Liu Tianchi, who was in his early twenties, was full of longing and played the role of Fengxia as an adult in the movie "Alive" directed by Zhang Yimou. It was her screen debut.
At that time, Liu Tianchi was excited and nervous, and she repeatedly figured out the details and connotations of her few scenes. She knows that although this role has few scenes, it carries the joys and sorrows of the whole life of the mute woman Fengxia who has grown up.
At the filming site, Liu Tianchi carefully experienced Feng Xia's mental journey - from an ignorant girl, to a failed blind date when she climbed the stairs to throw a hydrangea, and then to was forced to marry a poor squire who was much older than herself, and life was difficult to endure day by day.
She uses subtle expressions, blank eyes, and slow, quiet body language to portray the magnificence of this mute woman's heart. After filming the scene of the near-death struggle, Liu Tianchi's tears couldn't stop flowing, and they were amazed by her delicate performance.
After the movie was released, although there were few scenes, Liu Tianchi successfully portrayed the mute woman's fate in depth and detail through expressions, eyes and body language, leaving a deep impression on the audience.
She thought hopefully, maybe this was a good sign for her career in film and television. However, to her surprise, director Zhang Yimou thought that Liu Tianchi's appearance was mediocre, his facial features were not outstanding, and he was not suitable for being an actor, so he suggested that she change her career to become a teacher.
This sudden evaluation was undoubtedly a slap in the face to the ambitious Liu Tianchi, and she couldn't help but redden. But what this outspoken director said is not unreasonable, Liu Tianchi asked himself that he really doesn't have many innate advantages.
Although she was inevitably a little discouraged, she was not discouraged. Perhaps, she can make up for her congenital deficiencies through acquired efforts.
The tempering of the Chinese opera teacher's period
Liu Tianchi, who encountered a bottleneck, did not give up his acting career, but pushed the boat down the river and entered the Central Academy of Drama and started a new journey in his career as an acting teacher.
At first, Liu Tianchi was also quite apprehensive about whether he could teach students well. But she believes that a successful acting teacher must first have excellent performance strength and rich stage experience.
So she began to abide by her duties, be strict with herself, and participate in performance training with her students to absorb more performance nutrition. She carefully instructed the students to move freely on stage, almost demanding the realism of their every micro-expression.
Through the day-to-day training and communication with students, she has also continued to improve in the process.
A few years later, Liu Tianchi's teaching achievements began to appear, and a group of outstanding students she brought out emerged in the entertainment industry one after another, such as articles, Bai Baihe, etc. As a teacher, she is sincerely proud and gratified for her students.
On the occasion of graduation, she suddenly remembered the director's "disgust" when she was young, and couldn't help laughing. It turns out that there is far more than one path to success as an actor, and teachers can also achieve themselves and students.
After graduating, Liu Tianchi decided to go to Japan for further study. During her three years in Toei, she eagerly learned all kinds of theatrical knowledge Xi memorized the most cutting-edge Japanese acting concepts and techniques.
Three years later, she has made a qualitative leap forward in both performance theory and stage practice. After returning to China, she wrote and directed the challenging drama "Journey to the West", in which she played 15 roles by herself, showing amazing acting attainments and winning unanimous praise from the industry.
In these years of acting practice, she has gradually formed a concept system that acting skills require ingenuity and soul. This became the core concept of her later mentoring work.
The guidance in "The Thirteen Hairpins of Jinling" reappears in the light
Many years later, director Zhang Yimou decided to remake the classic romance film Jinling Thirteen Hairpins. The biggest difficulty faced by the film is how to create the charming and moving charm of the new version of the heroines.
Zhang Yimou remembered his old partner Liu Tianchi, and had the idea of inviting her to be the physical action director of this group of actors.
Liu Tianchi, who is already middle-aged, gladly accepted the artist's advice and returned to the shooting site of the Thirteen Hairpins in Jinling. She set out to design a systematic physical training course for thirteen actors, with Ni Ni as the main guide.
The training content not only has basic posture and posture requirements, but also pays more attention to the unity of emotional introduction and body language. In order to make the atmosphere of the Xi more lively, Liu Tianchi consciously mobilized the interest of the actors, allowing them to dance in front of the camera while imagining the gentle touch of their lover.
Under Liu Tianchi's careful training, the thirteen actors quickly found their state and successfully created the beauty of a new version of the cheongsam. In the end, the outstanding performance of Ni Ni and other leading actors made this movie achieve good results at the box office and word of mouth, and its popularity soared.
This is not only a great affirmation of the film creation team, but also makes Liu Tianchi, who has become a famous instructor, shine again - she proudly thinks that maybe the "dislike" of the mentor back then is not absolute, and she has finally embarked on an excellent path through her own efforts and the efforts of her students.
Tempering in "The Birth of an Actor".
Time has passed, and the middle-aged Liu Tianchi is already the top performance instructor in the industry. Recently, she served as an acting instructor in the talent variety show "The Birth of an Actor" and showed her skills again.
The program team gave her a difficult task - to force the limits of the participating students' performances in a very short period of time.
Facing a large number of passionate young actors, Liu Tianchi responded calmly. According to the needs of the students' performance content, she selectively arranges them to undergo high-pressure, extreme emotional performance training.
For example, let a girl recite in a crying voice, and let a boy shout; Or order a couple to have a heated argument right away...... These high-intensity performance training made the participants look tired, and some even became emotional and cried on the spot, almost fainting.
However, just as metallurgy requires high temperatures, the growth of actors also needs such tempering and tempering. Under the strict requirements and careful care of Mr. Liu Tianchi, the performance level of the students has been significantly improved, and the sense of role substitution has been greatly enhanced, and good results have been obtained.
This once again confirms Liu Tianchi's outstanding attainments and charm in directing performances. The original sentence "You are not suitable to be an actor" is slowly becoming a booster for her success in the process of proving herself.
If you have a dream, you will become a famous teacher
Over the years, Liu Tianchi has witnessed the golden development period of Chinese films, and has successfully realized his transformation from an actor to a mentor. Today, she is a well-known performance instructor in the circle.
However, Liu Tianchi, who has a humble attitude, is not satisfied with a little achievement. In her opinion, acting requires persistent ingenuity, and she still needs to keep forging ahead and pass on this ingenuity to the majority of actors.
Therefore, whether she is facing senior veteran actors or fledgling young actors, she is strict with them, and she performs and makes progress together with them. In front of the camera, she exudes full of mature charm; When instructing juniors, there is kindness and patience in severity.
It is precisely because of Liu Tianchi's pure heart that she has exhausted her acting life that she has accumulated good contacts and reputation in the circle. After more than 30 years in the film, she has never felt a sense of satisfaction in her heart, and firmly believes that acting needs a soul, which is the source of her motivation to teach and learn year after year.
She knows that there is a long way to go to carry forward China's performance career. She is looking forward to mentoring more outstanding post-graduate students, and also looking forward to China's performing arts blooming more brightly with the efforts of her and her partners.