บท 74: Budding ambition

How does one define a good film versus an exceptional one?

Every film produced has its specific audience and unique attributes, tailored to serve its purpose. Popcorn flicks entertain, comedies provoke laughter, and thrillers instill fear. As long as a work fulfills its own objectives, it can be considered "good".

Take "Transformers" for instance; while the series has been critically panned and received unfavorable reviews, its box office success remains unshaken. This is due to its mastery in eliciting adrenaline rushes, effectively maximizing the potential of visual effects and action-packed entertainment. From this perspective, "Transformers" qualifies as a "good" work.

So, how does a "good" film elevate itself to become "exceptional"?

Films are like propositions, each carrying a central idea. Even crude comedies like toilet humor revolve around themes like family, friendship, or personal growth. Once the screening concludes, was the theme effectively conveyed? Did the audience understand it? Did it offer more than expected? Could it reflect on real-life scenarios, perhaps society? Could it stimulate profound contemplation? How deep and far-reaching could this introspection go? Beyond mere visual and auditory experiences, what else did the audience gain? How long does the residue of the film linger in their minds?

This is the essence of defining an exceptional film.

Now, what kind of film earns the title of a classic ventures into another realm. From "good" to "exceptional", and from "exceptional" to "classic", traversing these levels isn't an easy feat.

Following Rodrigo's original conceptualization, the core idea behind the creation of "Buried" halted at Renly's "first" point. As Renly stated, a film shaped in this manner would merely be a run-of-the-mill suspenseful thriller. If Rodrigo could successfully orchestrate the shot sequences, control pacing, establish atmosphere, and lay the emotional groundwork, it could become a decent suspenseful film, standing out among the crowd of ordinary works.

However, that would be the extent of it.

Renly's earlier mentioned "second" point is precisely what elevates "Buried" from being merely "good" to becoming "exceptional."

The fatal flaw in most suspenseful thrillers lies in their underdeveloped stories or characters – the absence of connections between characters and personal backgrounds or societal contexts. This keeps the suspense shallow. "The Shining," a film classic, became such because the hotel's backstory and the protagonist's familial history enriched the entire story, allowing the thrill to take root and extend deep within the audience's minds.

Paul's personal attributes can achieve this; the world beyond the coffin supplements the plot, bridging the gap between the movie screen and the audience's experiences. It intensifies the emotional highs and lows, rendering the film more substantial. Furthermore, Paul's societal attributes elevate and distill the film's core, provoking deeper contemplation after the horror and fear have subsided.

Rodrigo's brow furrowed increasingly, his thoughts delving deeper, a surge of astonishment mingled with boiling excitement!

It was astonishing to imagine that Renly had yet to lay eyes on the script, having only perused the limited information left by the guild. And yet, he was able to outline such a grand blueprint. It was truly beyond belief! Of course, Rodrigo could sense that Renly's perspective was character-oriented. Every idea revolved around Paul's character. While their approaches were distinct, given that Rodrigo's perspective was that of a director, the level of Renly's insights was still astounding.

Rodrigo raised his head once again to appraise Renly. Despite his invincible youthfulness, there lay a pair of tranquil eyes on his face – eyes as calm as water. Deep brown irises blossomed within the hazy shadows, emanating a profound, muted brilliance akin to a black hole's depth. It was like gazing up at the night sky, inducing an inexplicable sense of awe.

In that moment, Rodrigo once again felt the same mixture of astonishment, maturity, and composure he experienced during their first encounter. It was a blend of restraint and ruggedness, with every detail in his features bearing the mark of Paul Conroy. This was by no means the temperament expected of a twenty-year-old; not at all.

"Ahem." Rodrigo realized his loss of composure and coughed softly twice, masking his disarray. "...You know... I mean, you should know that if we follow your interpretation, this would be a formidable task for the actor. No, more accurately, it's almost an impossible feat."

"I know," Renly said with a smile. His words were casual yet exuded an irrefutable confidence, even a hint of arrogance. The sharp glint that momentarily flashed in his eyes was too intense to meet.

By choosing "Buried", Renly had no intention of playing it safe. Unlike "The Pacific", "Buried" was a challenge that far exceeded Renly's current capabilities. This, in fact, was the very reason his blood boiled with excitement.

The art of acting has a long history, tracing back centuries or even millennia. After years of evolution, it has progressed to its present form. Generally, people perceive acting through actions, expressions, and language, among other means. This fundamental understanding of acting has persisted for thousands of years, shaping the traditional approach known as the academy or representational style.

This style of acting is not difficult to grasp. "Representation" encompasses body language, facial expressions, and mastery of dialogue. Actors must accurately grasp emotions, understand characters, and comprehend the plot, then present these through precise control and accurate execution.

This style of performance has no shortcuts; it wholly relies on a solid foundation of skills. It truly embodies the saying "one minute on stage, ten years off stage". Every actor must undergo systematic learning, extended training, and professional guidance, meticulously honing every detail from body posture to appearance.

Each actor's level of understanding varies, their practice of basic skills differs, and the performance they deliver as well as the lingering charm it leaves behind diverge drastically. Genuine talent is easily discernible, especially in traditional performing arts like Peking Opera and stage plays. The same character portrayed by different actors, or even the same actor in various performances, yields distinct flavors.

Renly is a prime example of a traditional academy-trained actor. His educational journey at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in the United Kingdom had him steadfastly start with the basics. Thanks to the advantage of living a previous life, Renly began receiving systematic performance education from an early age. In aristocratic education, theater, opera, and ballet are all forms of refined art. The learning of basic skills is consistent, and excruciatingly demanding. It truly requires the accumulation of sweat and toil.

Hence, Renly's foundational skills were exceptionally solid, with no traces of laziness. He was the epitome of the traditional representational style.

Apart from the representational style, over the past half-century, another acting method emerged, gradually becoming the industry norm—the method acting technique.

Method acting, in short, is about fully immersing oneself in the character's current state, empathizing with the character's circumstances, and then expressing the character's emotions accordingly.

One of the most famous examples in film history is Robert De Niro's performance in "Taxi Driver". To truly experience the life of a taxi driver and to capture the era when the script was crafted, he actually worked as a taxi driver for three months in New York. He genuinely felt the confusion and madness of the male protagonist, Travis Bickle. This is the quintessence of method acting—immersing oneself fully in the character, allowing the character to dictate the performance, and becoming an integral part of the story. It's raw, shocking, bold, and frenzied.

The pinnacle of this acting technique is often summed up as "going insane to be convincing". It involves disregarding the boundary between reality and fiction and reaching a state of self-oblivion. Heath Ledger's portrayal of the Joker in "The Dark Knight" epitomized this approach, to the extent that he was unable to escape the character and ultimately chose self-understanding, bringing an end to his brief yet brilliant life.

For proponents of method acting, they firmly believe that every character's life is unique, and no one can truly feel their emotions unless they have lived through similar experiences. Take "Buried" as an example. From the method acting perspective, they would need to experience the sensation of being confined in a tight space firsthand to truly grasp the feeling of being buried alive. While the representational style may accurately capture the emotions, it lacks that genuine sense of experience.

Furthermore, the representational style adheres to a stringent academy approach, characterized by high barriers to entry. It demands not only years of accumulation but also professional training and instruction from teachers. This requires actors to undergo systematic education. On the other hand, method acting lacks such barriers. Anyone can engage in it, understanding the character's emotions based on their own interpretation. Even those without formal education can become exceptional actors.

In the contemporary film industry, Europe values the representational style, believing that acting requires a high threshold. In contrast, the United States favors method acting, and Hollywood, as a representative of the film industry, has brought countless grassroots dreams to fruition. It has offered opportunities to everyone, regardless of their non-professional background or lack of historical depth.

As someone reborn into this world, Renly received training in the academy's representational style. However, deep down, he remained rooted as Chu Jiashu, a commoner. His unique experiences from two lifetimes granted him a distinctive sensibility for characters. This motivated him to experiment with method acting, and even more ambitiously, to merge the two methods and explore entirely new realms of acting.

Evidently, "Buried" presented such an opportunity.

Renly's previous statements comprised two parts: the representational style in the first part and the method acting in the second. In other words, it was a bold attempt at amalgamating two distinct acting methods!