Volume Two: Shadows of the Past, Chapter Twenty-Two: Chen, the Extra, Takes the Stage

“Demolition team, stand by. Extras, stand by. Is the camera ready? Everyone get set to shoot!”

“Ready!”

“All right, third-eight shot of Battle at Old Mountain Ridge, second take. Action!”

Boom!

At the blast, a thick cloud of smoke and dust roared up.

This was the set of the film Battle at Old Mountain Ridge.

That was the scene Chen Jing saw when he arrived early that morning. Last night, Lin Xi had already spoken by phone with the person in charge here, and when they heard it was only to place someone on set as an extra, with no speaking part, there was naturally no reason to refuse. After all, the thing movies lack most is extras.

Because he was only coming on location to do bit work, Chen Jing felt there was no need for Lin Xi and the others to accompany him, so he told them not to come and came alone.

As soon as Chen Jing reached the edge of the set and watched the staff bustling back and forth, someone suddenly came over and shouted at him, “Hey! What are you here for? Are you an extra?”

Chen Jing looked up. The man seemed to be in charge of the extras; Chen Jing had just seen him earlier giving them their directions.

Chen Jing greeted him. “Hello. I was introduced here to work as an extra. I called yesterday to ask about it.”

“Introduced by someone? Fine, you’re one of the extras then. Hurry and get changed. The next shot is about to start. Makeup team, take this extra to makeup.”

The man called out to the makeup crew, then paid no more attention to Chen Jing and hurried off to handle something else.

“Uh, er...” Chen Jing was a little taken aback. He very much wanted to say that perhaps they had mistaken him for someone else. But on second thought, wasn’t he here precisely to do extra work? That settled it. Whether they had mistaken him or not hardly mattered.

With that in mind, Chen Jing said nothing more and followed the makeup crew away.

“Here, hurry and change into this outfit.”

The makeup team led Chen Jing to a pile of clothes and pointed at the shabby military uniform from an older era.

Since Chen Jing was only an extra, the so-called makeup was really just changing into a worn-out military uniform.

He picked up a jacket and found the clothes were somewhat dirty and carried a faint sour smell of sweat. Chen Jing said nothing. He simply intended to find something that fit and put it on. But after trying here and there, he discovered he couldn’t find a single set that fit properly. At his height and build, it was hardly surprising. There were not that many extras built like him.

With no choice, Chen Jing picked the largest one he could find. Once he put it on, he looked almost comical, the sleeves and legs hanging short on him.

After he had changed, someone from the makeup crew came over and smeared something onto his body, especially his face. In an instant, Chen Jing became a soldier on a smoke-choked battlefield.

“Good. When I call action, you’ll all start from there and run forward with everything you’ve got. Understood?”

No need for more words. Chen Jing followed several other extras to the designated spot, and everything was set.

“Action!”

At the cue, Chen Jing did not bother with anyone else and charged straight ahead in the lead. He had not run far when a blast went off behind him, followed by the director shouting, “Cut!”

“All right, that’s good. Move on to the next shot.”

Chen Jing stopped and turned back in a daze. His first acting scene in his life had just been passed like that?

Over at the monitor, Zhang Qishan watched the footage they had just shot. Suddenly, his eyes lit up. Pointing at one of the extras on the screen, a tall man whose clothes were clearly ill-fitting, he said to his assistant, “That extra’s costume is actually the right one. The way he’s dressed is more in line with conditions in that wartime era. Supplies were scarce then, so clothing should have looked tight and ill-fitting. Spread the word: have the actors all change into clothes one size smaller.”

Naturally, Chen Jing had no idea that, because of him, the director had ordered every actor to wear clothes one size smaller. He was only a little puzzled as to why the actors had suddenly been told to change outfits, never imagining it had anything to do with him.

When he saw that all the actors had indeed changed into smaller sizes, he thought it over and understood the director’s intent. Smaller clothes were more faithful to the conditions of that time.

“This director is really meticulous. No wonder he’s so renowned at home and abroad,” Chen Jing said admiringly, with no idea it was his own presence that had prompted the discovery.

The scenes that followed had nothing much to do with the extras. It was all the lead actors’ turn to spar on camera. Chen Jing was glad to be free of extra work and watched the others with great interest as they traded lines and emotions on set. In truth, watching someone else act earnestly was a very fascinating thing. His gaze burned with enthusiasm, and he genuinely loved seeing people perform like this. Of course, if he could go up there and act himself, that would be even better.

No rush. There would be a chance someday, he quietly told himself.

“Hey, man. You’re so big and tall, and you came here to be an extra too?”

A voice suddenly interrupted his watching.

Chen Jing turned toward it and saw an extra who was nearly a head shorter than him.

“Yes. I quite like watching people act, so I came to have a look.” Chen Jing smiled warmly.

The other man was very outgoing and took Chen Jing’s words in stride. “I like acting too. Someday I want to become an actor.”

After a moment’s thought, Chen Jing extended his hand and introduced himself with a smile. “Nice to meet you. My name is A Jing.”

With gray grime smeared all over his face, Chen Jing was certain no one would connect his present appearance to that musical prodigy named Chen Jing.

“My name’s Liu Manqiang. Nice to meet you too.” Liu Manqiang grinned broadly at him. “A Jing, are you new to being an extra?”

Chen Jing asked curiously, “Oh? Yeah. How could you tell?”

“Because I’ve been running extra work with this crew for a long time now—nearly two years, I guess. You could say I’m Director Zhang’s regular extra.” Liu Manqiang joked.

“Heh heh. I see.” Chen Jing suddenly understood, then continued curiously, “You’ve always been with this crew? Never worked on other sets?”

Liu Manqiang shook his head. “How could I survive on just this one crew? If I relied on that alone, I’d have starved long ago. For extras like us who do bit parts, if we want to feed ourselves, we have to take on as many jobs as we can and just keep grinding it out.”

He sighed. “Only if one day we grind our way to the top and get lucky, if a director takes notice of us, might we have a chance to turn things around and become real actors. Otherwise, we’ll be doing extra work for our whole lives.”

Chen Jing listened in silence to the realities of the extra-acting world and said nothing.

Liu Manqiang gave a self-mocking laugh. “I’ve been an extra for three years now, so I know this business pretty well. I’ve also gotten to know a few extra crew leaders, enough to scrape by. At least I won’t starve. But if you want to make it, you’ve got to keep grinding. Without opportunity, that’s just how it is. The extras I’ve met who’ve been doing this for five or eight years are everywhere.”

Chen Jing nodded, showing that he understood. He had heard of the hardships of being an extra since his previous life. The two of them then fell silent and watched the actors filming not far away.

Seeing how intently Liu Manqiang was watching the performance, Chen Jing could clearly read the passion for acting in his eyes. After thinking it over, he asked, “You said you’ve been following Director Zhang’s crew for more than a year. Is it because you really like war films?”

Liu Manqiang nodded without taking his eyes off the set and said, almost to himself, “I really like war movies and action movies. Don’t laugh, but when I was little I even went to learn kung fu for a few years. I studied at a small martial arts school. Only after I grew up did I realize that learning all that flashy, decorative stuff had little use except maybe as a stunt double. In this day and age, not even being a security guard requires real skill.”

Chen Jing said nothing. In present-day Huaxia, with peace and stability so openly established, there was indeed not much need to learn martial arts.

Just then the shot being filmed in the distance had been completed, and the actors paused to rest. Seeing that there was nothing more to watch, Liu Manqiang turned back to Chen Jing and sighed. “Filmmaking is changing too. Everyone’s moving toward special effects now. Some of the hard action scenes can just be made on a computer. Even the stunt-double profession is getting harder to work in.”

Chen Jing shook his head after hearing this and said softly, “A film made entirely through computer effects has no soul. The essence of cinema lies in its almost real performance. If everything depends on effects, then there’s no real substance left. It’s just a popcorn movie; people watch it and forget it, and it leaves nothing behind in their hearts.”

Liu Manqiang looked at Chen Jing in surprise, then nodded with deep agreement. He truly had not expected Chen Jing to have such a profound understanding of film.

After the crew’s break, it was time for the extras to go on again.

“Xiao Qiang, come here.”

The man in charge of the extras suddenly waved Liu Manqiang over. Liu Manqiang hurried over.

“Brother Le, what’s the plan?”

“Later there’s a shot where you’ll be on camera, but it’s a bit dangerous. You’d have to run across a blast zone. Want to do it?”

“I’ll do it!” Liu Manqiang said without hesitation. Risk was something that could be controlled, and an opportunity to be on camera could not be missed.

After a moment’s hesitation, Liu Manqiang tried asking, “Brother Le, I’ve got a buddy with me. Could you let him do that shot with me?”

“Fine. One or two people makes no difference for that shot.” Yan Le did not care about Liu Manqiang’s small request. The young man had followed this crew for more than a year and was a steady sort, usually quite good at handling himself. He was naturally happy to give him a small opportunity.

Hearing Yan Le agree, Liu Manqiang thanked him at once. “Thank you, Brother Le.” Then he jogged back to Chen Jing and said excitedly, “A Jing, the chance has come. There’s a shot where we’ll be on camera. It’s a little dangerous because of the blasts. But don’t worry—you can just run with me then. Are you in?”

Though Chen Jing was surprised that Liu Manqiang would bring him along, he would not refuse such an opportunity. He nodded. “I’m in!”