52 What Is BPT?

After the lunch break, the afternoon's fierce competition is back in full swing.

Waylon, who was the first in the group to make it to the second round, comes back with a sullen look on his face. It seems that his luck ends here and he will now miss the chance to perform in full make-up and costume in the third round.

Chow Mingrun rushes over to console him. Waylon says incredulously, "The casting director for this round asked me to play a complete wreck! Something about being hit by a battering ram, having my gut ripped open and spewing blood out of my mouth and whatnot, but I couldn't feel anything, so I was sent off within two minutes."

Just then, a well-known beauty is also eliminated from the women's audition, and she cries to her agent, "This round is so sick! They made me play a heavily pregnant woman with a big belly, fighting the enemy on the battlefield until she vomited blood, but still holding on and not giving up, and the final act was to commit suicide. What a sick act that was! What kind of film is King Guan making? They are making things difficult for us purely for the sake of it!"

Hearing her go into such detail, a group of actresses immediately gathers around her anxiously to ask for more details, no longer caring to save face. Even a few of the big names in acting looks a little nervous under their facial masks, unable to appear relaxed and confident.

Chestnut also panicked when she heard this, "Director Yuan, I have no problem playing a pregnant woman. I can definitely act like one, with my hands on my hips and my belly out. When my sister was pregnant, I looked after her the whole time, so I've seen all kinds of pregnant woman looks. But how am I going to act this vomiting blood move? I haven't practised it at all!"

"I don't think they are going to provide you with a blood bag for the purpose of audition. They probably will ask you to take a mouthful of water instead. Here is some water, take a mouthful, go practice now!" Chow Mingrun says as he pushes a bottle of mineral water into Chestnut's hand.

When Yuan Ge see that Chestnut immediately poses as a pregnant woman without regard to her image and is about to take a sip of water, he gently pulls her back and says with a smile, "Chestnut, let's not rush into the acting itself. You have to think about it in your mind first - what does the casting director really want to see?"

Chestnut's small face is scrunched together, "Director, you know I'm not that educated, and I'm terrible at analysing things. Please help me out."

"It's clear that this film of King Guan's places a lot of importance on the BPT feel of its male and female leads."

"Director Yuan, what is BPT? Can you tell us more?"

Sean, who has been watching on the side, is caught by this unusual term and sneaks closer wanting to hear more about it. Chow Mingrun rolls his eyes at him, but he doesn't care and still keeps a toadying look on his face.

"BPT means beautiful, powerful and tragic. It is a popular characterisation in film and television dramas these days, and female viewers, in particular, are especially attracted to it. What this persona entails is that while the characters are powerful and strong, their miseries, especially physical humiliation and injuries, are shown in a way that is visually pleasing to the eye …"

Seeing that several young actors don't seem to understand, Yuan Ge continues, "For example, an important part of BPT persona is crying. How to cry without appearing weak and yet touching, that feeling of the hero's end, the vulnerability in the sadness, the tenderness in the hardness, all need to be handled skilfully and expressed with subtlety."

"Director Yuan, you're making it sound too complicated!" Sean pulls a small bottle of eyedrops out of his pocket and says with slight relief, "I came prepared. I can cry whenever I need to. These are the most pungent eyedrops that ensure your eyes turn red and teary in an instant. The casting director in the last round was fooled by my secret weapon."

When Stephen hears of such a dark tech, he turns eagerly to Sean to borrow his magic weapon, but Yuan Ge has stopped him, saying, "It's basic training for a good actor to cry whenever the situation calls for it. He doesn't need any eyedrops at all. In a moment, at the audition, if you need to do a crying scene, try this little trick I learned when I studied acting abroad."

Chestnut and Stephen have just dug up a lot of gossip about their director from Chow Mingrun and knew that he had not only majored in directing at the College of Performing Arts, but had also studied acting at two of the world's most prestigious film schools, so asking him for advice is certainly the best way to boost their audition performance. Some of the actors from the acting schools who have passed the first round of auditions also recognised the budding director and quietly slipped over to hear what he has to say. Soon, a large group of people have gathered around Yuan Ge.