That woman with disheveled hair, wearing a red T-shirt and jeans, has been walking up and down the road for four or five hours. With so many vehicles passing by, she is not afraid of being knocked down, right? "After the man finished speaking, he looked at his companions with a puzzled look.
"She has gone crazy. She went crazy filming. The companion replied.
In a small town called Hengdian in Jinhua, Zhejiang, a young woman was confused, her eyes were dull and her hands were shaking, like a malfunctioning machine, Keep shuttling back and forth on the road .
Hengdian Film and Television City was rated as "China's Hollywood" by an American magazine. It is a national 5A-level film and television industry pilot zone and the cradle of TV and movie stars, so it attracts many young people. People rush to do it without hesitation.
However, 90% of young people are neither from acting majors nor have academic qualifications or backgrounds. They have nothing to fear and are not afraid of hardship. They cannot be a male and a male, and a female and a female. They can only start from scratch. Starting from the lowest level of extras.
The mentally disturbed woman is one of thousands of inconspicuous extras.
“Life will never treat any passerby with ideals badly. " This is a classic line in Er Dongsheng " I am a passerby ".
But life is definitely not a philanthropic Lei Feng. After staying for a few months, you will deeply realize that Hengdian does not believe it at all. Tears.
Hengdian is very realistic, and the work of group actors in Hengdian is also very difficult. When they first came, the boys and girls who looked confident and high-spirited were slapped in the face by reality within half a year: " Hengdian is too tired. . "
At this time, smart people will leave Hengdian immediately and look for new ways out, while those who stick to their positions will create a world of " scenic spots": The paradise of lazy people, the world of bachelors, and the paradise of madmen.
1. A paradise for lazy people: I would rather be a mobile tool than use my brain.
Acting sounds like a glamorous and well-paying job. However, group actors are not actors, they are just temporary workers. is not like us. There is a huge gap between the beauties and handsome guys you see on TV.
Extras are divided into three types. Each type has different requirements, and the salary levels are also very different.
There are almost no extras. Any requirement is as long as the limbs are sound and the eyesight and hearing are normal. They usually play passers-by and dead bodies, and the income is the lowest, eighty or ninety yuan a day.
The second is the special extras, who are one level higher than the extras and are required to be girls. Height is 165+, male is 175+, and has outstanding image and temperament. He plays specific roles such as soldier eunuch maid, with a few lines, and a salary of two to three hundred.
Then he is a special actor, with more lines and close-ups. But the requirements are also the highest. Not only must the height, figure and appearance be impressive, but they must also be flexible and able to quickly understand the director's intentions and the role of the character. Most people can earn up to 2,000 yuan a day.
They are all basic extras. What we usually call "Hengdian extras" also refers to this category. They have middle school and high school education, no background, no connections, no culture, no appearance, but dreams of becoming the second one one day. Wang Baoqiang, soaring to the sky.
The ideal road is smooth and smooth, but the reality is endless bumps and bumps.
First of all, it is the filming process because it is difficult to synchronize the climate in the play with the real cycle of seasons, and the extras are not available. Capital strives for a comfortable working and resting environment. In the high temperature of 37-88 degrees Celsius in summer, the extras often have to wear large cotton-padded jackets and heavy armors and run back and forth in airtight studios
or large. When filming summer scenes in winter, the weather is 5 to 6 degrees Celsius and you can only wear thin layers and endure the cold and shivering. Therefore, heatstroke and colds have become very common for the extras.
Sometimes, in order to capture night scenes or cater to the schedule of the crew boss, the extras have to wait until one or two in the morning to start work, and the filming is completed in the afternoon of the next day.
The crew has never washed the hoods, clothes and shoes worn by the extras during the filming. The moldy and smelly boots, the clothes with sweat odor body odor, and the worn and damaged props, the extras cannot raise the issue. Resist opinions, otherwise you will be banned by the group leader.
Some people may ask, if filming is so hard, will the crew provide three meals? of course.
The crew will provide three meals every meal time, but the meals are divided into different levels for different people. The directors, screenwriters and producers all eat the best food. The important roles can eat three meals and one soup, while the food for the lower-level extras is the worst. A white foam box is filled with rice, and one or two dishes are scooped out. There is no table. You can eat by sitting on the floor with a chair.
"Being a group performer in Hengdian is like a god who violated the laws of heaven and was demoted to the mortal world to experience the sufferings of the human world."
The second reason is that there are no shooting opportunities.
Before the epidemic, Hengdian could accommodate up to 80 crews every day for simultaneous filming. The scene was so chaotic that a documentary director vividly called it "the era of chaos.".
This is actually a good thing for group performers, because it means that they have many opportunities to make money and can choose from them. Otherwise, people who have no advantage can only queue up in the old trade union at 4 o'clock in the morning, scrambling to recommend themselves to the group leader, and can't wait like refugees fleeing famine.
However, after the outbreak of the epidemic, the group performers can only seek their own blessings. Especially this year, a large number of crews have suspended filming, and even the promotional updates on Hengdian's official account have been reduced by more than 50%.
An extra actor on the Internet cried and complained that he had only received two dramas in the past three months and earned 216 yuan. is simply worse than a beggar .
Since being a group performer is hard, tiring and makes no money, why are so many young people reluctant to give up?
There is an interview with a group performer online. Why do you want to be a group performer? A girl in her 20s answered bluntly: because extra actors don’t need to use their brains .
The extras don't have to think hard, they only need to follow the director's instructions and be a movable tool, which reflects the laziness deep inside the extras.
Moreover, people who are lazy and lazy are becoming younger year by year.
When Er Dongsheng was filming "I Am a Passerby", he lamented that the extras in Hengdian were too young, some were only 17 years old. However, when he went there again the next year, he actually met two 13- and 14-year-olds. The girl scared him badly.
was at the age when he should have been in junior high school, so he dropped out of school early to become a drifter. was not so much about dedicating himself to the illusory ideal of stardom as it was about escaping the pressure of study.
However, many times, the problems you escape will find you again, and escaping does not mean solving the problem itself. When you reach adulthood, you can only regret it.
"Their education level is too poor, and they still dream about being stars all day long, so it is impossible for them to succeed." Director Er sighed.
Jobs that require no brain work often require multiple physical compensations. The low threshold for group performances also makes mediocre old group actors accidentally replaced by flexible and studious newcomers.
2. The world of bachelors: rhetoric will eventually fail, making money is the last word
"I am already 26, and it is impossible to abort my child for your illusionary dream."
"The child is here at the wrong time! We Is it okay to have children in two years? "
" Then let's get divorced. "
When Xu Xiaoqin said the word "divorce" to Shen Kai, everyone on the screen clapped and applauded, " Finally divorced, so comfortable. "
In "I Am a Passerby", Shen Kai did not hesitate to let his wife abort the child in her belly for the sake of his dream of becoming an actor.
That woman with disheveled hair, wearing a red T-shirt and jeans, has been walking up and down the road for four or five hours. With so many vehicles passing by, she is not afraid of being knocked down, right? "After the man finished speaking, he looked at his companions with a puzzled look.
"She has gone crazy. She went crazy filming. The companion replied.
In a small town called Hengdian in Jinhua, Zhejiang, a young woman was confused, her eyes were dull and her hands were shaking, like a malfunctioning machine, Keep shuttling back and forth on the road .
Hengdian Film and Television City was rated as "China's Hollywood" by an American magazine. It is a national 5A-level film and television industry pilot zone and the cradle of TV and movie stars, so it attracts many young people. People rush to do it without hesitation.
However, 90% of young people are neither from acting majors nor have academic qualifications or backgrounds. They have nothing to fear and are not afraid of hardship. They cannot be a male and a male, and a female and a female. They can only start from scratch. Starting from the lowest level of extras.
The mentally disturbed woman is one of thousands of inconspicuous extras.
“Life will never treat any passerby with ideals badly. " This is a classic line in Er Dongsheng " I am a passerby ".
But life is definitely not a philanthropic Lei Feng. After staying for a few months, you will deeply realize that Hengdian does not believe it at all. Tears.
Hengdian is very realistic, and the work of group actors in Hengdian is also very difficult. When they first came, the boys and girls who looked confident and high-spirited were slapped in the face by reality within half a year: " Hengdian is too tired. . "
At this time, smart people will leave Hengdian immediately and look for new ways out, while those who stick to their positions will create a world of " scenic spots": The paradise of lazy people, the world of bachelors, and the paradise of madmen.
1. A paradise for lazy people: I would rather be a mobile tool than use my brain.
Acting sounds like a glamorous and well-paying job. However, group actors are not actors, they are just temporary workers. is not like us. There is a huge gap between the beauties and handsome guys you see on TV.
Extras are divided into three types. Each type has different requirements, and the salary levels are also very different.
There are almost no extras. Any requirement is as long as the limbs are sound and the eyesight and hearing are normal. They usually play passers-by and dead bodies, and the income is the lowest, eighty or ninety yuan a day.
The second is the special extras, who are one level higher than the extras and are required to be girls. Height is 165+, male is 175+, and has outstanding image and temperament. He plays specific roles such as soldier eunuch maid, with a few lines, and a salary of two to three hundred.
Then he is a special actor, with more lines and close-ups. But the requirements are also the highest. Not only must the height, figure and appearance be impressive, but they must also be flexible and able to quickly understand the director's intentions and the role of the character. Most people can earn up to 2,000 yuan a day.
They are all basic extras. What we usually call "Hengdian extras" also refers to this category. They have middle school and high school education, no background, no connections, no culture, no appearance, but dreams of becoming the second one one day. Wang Baoqiang, soaring to the sky.
The ideal road is smooth and smooth, but the reality is endless bumps and bumps.
First of all, it is the filming process because it is difficult to synchronize the climate in the play with the real cycle of seasons, and the extras are not available. Capital strives for a comfortable working and resting environment. In the high temperature of 37-88 degrees Celsius in summer, the extras often have to wear large cotton-padded jackets and heavy armors and run back and forth in airtight studios
or large. When filming summer scenes in winter, the weather is 5 to 6 degrees Celsius and you can only wear thin layers and endure the cold and shivering. Therefore, heatstroke and colds have become very common for the extras.
Sometimes, in order to capture night scenes or cater to the schedule of the crew boss, the extras have to wait until one or two in the morning to start work, and the filming is completed in the afternoon of the next day.
The crew has never washed the hoods, clothes and shoes worn by the extras during the filming. The moldy and smelly boots, the clothes with sweat odor body odor, and the worn and damaged props, the extras cannot raise the issue. Resist opinions, otherwise you will be banned by the group leader.
Some people may ask, if filming is so hard, will the crew provide three meals? of course.
The crew will provide three meals every meal time, but the meals are divided into different levels for different people. The directors, screenwriters and producers all eat the best food. The important roles can eat three meals and one soup, while the food for the lower-level extras is the worst. A white foam box is filled with rice, and one or two dishes are scooped out. There is no table. You can eat by sitting on the floor with a chair.
"Being a group performer in Hengdian is like a god who violated the laws of heaven and was demoted to the mortal world to experience the sufferings of the human world."
The second reason is that there are no shooting opportunities.
Before the epidemic, Hengdian could accommodate up to 80 crews every day for simultaneous filming. The scene was so chaotic that a documentary director vividly called it "the era of chaos.".
This is actually a good thing for group performers, because it means that they have many opportunities to make money and can choose from them. Otherwise, people who have no advantage can only queue up in the old trade union at 4 o'clock in the morning, scrambling to recommend themselves to the group leader, and can't wait like refugees fleeing famine.
However, after the outbreak of the epidemic, the group performers can only seek their own blessings. Especially this year, a large number of crews have suspended filming, and even the promotional updates on Hengdian's official account have been reduced by more than 50%.
An extra actor on the Internet cried and complained that he had only received two dramas in the past three months and earned 216 yuan. is simply worse than a beggar .
Since being a group performer is hard, tiring and makes no money, why are so many young people reluctant to give up?
There is an interview with a group performer online. Why do you want to be a group performer? A girl in her 20s answered bluntly: because extra actors don’t need to use their brains .
The extras don't have to think hard, they only need to follow the director's instructions and be a movable tool, which reflects the laziness deep inside the extras.
Moreover, people who are lazy and lazy are becoming younger year by year.
When Er Dongsheng was filming "I Am a Passerby", he lamented that the extras in Hengdian were too young, some were only 17 years old. However, when he went there again the next year, he actually met two 13- and 14-year-olds. The girl scared him badly.
was at the age when he should have been in junior high school, so he dropped out of school early to become a drifter. was not so much about dedicating himself to the illusory ideal of stardom as it was about escaping the pressure of study.
However, many times, the problems you escape will find you again, and escaping does not mean solving the problem itself. When you reach adulthood, you can only regret it.
"Their education level is too poor, and they still dream about being stars all day long, so it is impossible for them to succeed." Director Er sighed.
Jobs that require no brain work often require multiple physical compensations. The low threshold for group performances also makes mediocre old group actors accidentally replaced by flexible and studious newcomers.
2. The world of bachelors: rhetoric will eventually fail, making money is the last word
"I am already 26, and it is impossible to abort my child for your illusionary dream."
"The child is here at the wrong time! We Is it okay to have children in two years? "
" Then let's get divorced. "
When Xu Xiaoqin said the word "divorce" to Shen Kai, everyone on the screen clapped and applauded, " Finally divorced, so comfortable. "
In "I Am a Passerby", Shen Kai did not hesitate to let his wife abort the child in her belly for the sake of his dream of becoming an actor.However, Shen Kai is not a person with outstanding looks and excellent acting skills, and his road to fame is far away. If his wife Xu Xiaoqin obeys his willfulness, it will undoubtedly delay her life.
Netizens scolded Shen Kai for not knowing how to cherish a gentle and considerate person, and also advised women not to choose unrealistic men like Shen Kai. But in reality, does not have famous male actors, and it is almost impossible to find a girlfriend in Hengdian.
Some men do group performances in Hengdian for impure purposes. They are not chasing their dreams of becoming stars, but they want to win the beauty among the many beauties performing in the group.
They believe that there are many beauties of all kinds in Hengdian, and the sample size is large enough. This will not work and that will work, which increases the probability of success.
According to statistics, nearly 90% of the female extras in film and television cities are single young women. However, they will never marry a man who is also an unknown extra.
The reason is actually very simple - they look down on incompetent male group actors .
First of all, the income earned by male actors through filming is very low and unstable. They also have to pay rent, and the rest can only make ends meet. With such an economic level, they cannot support their wives and children.
Secondly, most of the male cast members are accustomed to a hazy life, content with the status quo, not wanting to make progress, and cannot bear the hardships of other jobs.
Female extras with outstanding image and temperament hope to be upwardly compatible by virtue of their appearance advantages, so naturally they will not waste their years on male extras.
Therefore, the targets of the female extras who are everywhere are not likely to be men who are also performing in extras, but well-known actors, screenwriters, producers, assistant directors, directors, etc. who have status and achievements and are financially well-off.
I saw a piece of news on the Internet before. A girl in her early 20s stayed in Hengdian for several years and gave birth to two children without getting married. Since she had no financial resources, became crazy and could only take her children on the street. begging.
A girl is not kind to others, and being abandoned by a man is because her ability to recognize people is not up to standard. However, men can also think about why a girl would rather have children before marriage and beg along the way than marry an ordinary male actor?
The division of labor between men and women in society determines that during the period when women are pregnant, giving birth and raising children, men must have sufficient financial strength to ensure the food, clothing, housing and transportation of their wives and children.
In fact, whether it is Hengdian or other cities, actors or other jobs, sweet words are just superficial skills for men to court mates. Savings and earning power are men’s eternal hard power in the marriage and love market.
Therefore, unmarried men should not think about going to Hengdian to try their luck and marry a beautiful woman. Instead, it is better to improve their earning power. When the economic conditions are up to standard, everything will fall into place.
3. A madman’s paradise: The most terrifying thing is that you have not survived yet, but you have gone crazy
There is a jargon in Peking Opera : If you are not crazy, you will not survive. means that no matter which industry you are engaged in, you must reach a state of madness in order to achieve the ultimate in one thing.
However, most of the group performers in Hengdian and have already entered the devil's path before they have achieved any results.
Lao Jiao, who is over 40 years old, is a veteran extra in Hengdian. He has been in Hengdian for more than 20 years and has never made any appearance. Now he is crazy all day long, speaks incoherently and behaves erratically, making him the laughing stock of many netizens.
Wearing clothes and pants backwards
In 2012, Lao Jiao, a tall and decent-looking actor, was demoted from a special actor to an extra. His income was getting less and less, and his self-confidence became increasingly vague.
In 2022, Lao Jiao could not even find a temporary job as an extra. He talked nonsense all day long, claiming that he was a savior hero with great achievements and disdain for the world's fame and fortune. Netizens suggested that he be sent to a mental hospital in time.
The dreams of my youth were like the sound of clinking glasses, shattering crisply. Under the attack of reality, idealists will eventually fall.
Lao Jiao’s experience is very representative, representing the inner struggle and unwillingness of drifters.
The ideal is plump, but the reality is skinny. confuses ideals with reality, and confuses the inside and outside of the play. will make people more and more confused.
However, this is often the case for people who have not taken professional acting classes.
Er Dongsheng once said that the difference between professional actors and Hengdian group actors: professional actors such as Tony Leung and Liu Qingyun only perform emotions that the audience can accept, and do not need to show their true reactions to such situations.
Actors without academic qualifications can hardly act. They can only put themselves in the character's shoes and experience the feelings of the characters, quarrel like a real couple, communicate like sisters, etc. They can't distinguish between the inside and outside of the play, and they just act. He lost control of his emotions and started fighting with his opponent.
Life is like a play, but "play" is not all life.
This is just a script.
The extras who wander around Hengdian often have to accept different role settings from different scripts in a short period of time, which results in them having to experience multiple happy or sad lives in a short period of time. This kind of life is easy to let people down. I'm stuck in it and it's hard to extricate myself.
During their filming career, they have seen all kinds of things in the world and tasted all the hardships in the world. However, there is always a limit to the human spiritual world. Will the extras be a little confused?
The answer is yes. In and out of the play, who is the real you? Which one do you want, the short-term success in the movie or the ordinary life outside the movie?
As time goes by, before the extras have become famous in Hengdian, quite a few of them have become "crazy", dreaming of becoming famous overnight. In reality, they are depressed and can only rely on knitting. Feel free and easy in the fantasy world.
However, no matter how beautiful a dream is, there will always be a day when you wake up. The huge gap between the ideal self and the reality will inevitably lead to a psychological gap, resulting in emotional instability, mental abnormalities, and eventually becoming a "madman".
In this era where entertainment is paramount, more and more children are "not doing their job properly" and regard actors and celebrities as their lifelong aspirations.
"What do you want to do when you grow up?"
"Being a star is the fastest way to make money."
The pan-entertainment of capital and the excitement of the star-making era have made stardom the fastest way to make money. More and more young people are giving up their studies and formal jobs and entering the entertainment industry to show off their skills.
However, the meaning of life and the value of life should be pursued through struggle, instead of squandering the youthful vitality in the "City of Dreams" in Hengdian.
confuses ideals with reality, and confuses the inside and outside of the play. will make people more and more confused.
However, this is often the case for people who have not taken professional acting classes.
Er Dongsheng once said that the difference between professional actors and Hengdian group actors: professional actors such as Tony Leung and Liu Qingyun only perform emotions that the audience can accept, and do not need to show their true reactions to such situations.
Actors without academic qualifications can hardly act. They can only put themselves in the character's shoes and experience the feelings of the characters, quarrel like a real couple, communicate like sisters, etc. They can't distinguish between the inside and outside of the play, and they just act. He lost control of his emotions and started fighting with his opponent.
Life is like a play, but "play" is not all life.
This is just a script.
The extras who wander around Hengdian often have to accept different role settings from different scripts in a short period of time, which results in them having to experience multiple happy or sad lives in a short period of time. This kind of life is easy to let people down. I'm stuck in it and it's hard to extricate myself.
During their filming career, they have seen all kinds of things in the world and tasted all the hardships in the world. However, there is always a limit to the human spiritual world. Will the extras be a little confused?
The answer is yes. In and out of the play, who is the real you? Which one do you want, the short-term success in the movie or the ordinary life outside the movie?
As time goes by, before the extras have become famous in Hengdian, quite a few of them have become "crazy", dreaming of becoming famous overnight. In reality, they are depressed and can only rely on knitting. Feel free and easy in the fantasy world.
However, no matter how beautiful a dream is, there will always be a day when you wake up. The huge gap between the ideal self and the reality will inevitably lead to a psychological gap, resulting in emotional instability, mental abnormalities, and eventually becoming a "madman".
In this era where entertainment is paramount, more and more children are "not doing their job properly" and regard actors and celebrities as their lifelong aspirations.
"What do you want to do when you grow up?"
"Being a star is the fastest way to make money."
The pan-entertainment of capital and the excitement of the star-making era have made stardom the fastest way to make money. More and more young people are giving up their studies and formal jobs and entering the entertainment industry to show off their skills.
However, the meaning of life and the value of life should be pursued through struggle, instead of squandering the youthful vitality in the "City of Dreams" in Hengdian.
