Master Bian said, “That’s good. You will learn more when we start. There are several processes such as selecting materials, carving, coloring, and stitching. Coloring and other processes are affected by various factors such as the external environment and the difference in the texture of the leather. Shadow play styles vary from place to place. Our theater follows the Southern style and the Jiangzhe Style. I will be taking you to our studio now.”
As Yan Mu Lin followed Master Bian to the workshop, they were followed by the cameraman and the director. The program team asked for the voice actors to make a good shadow puppet before sunset, which would then be displayed one by one in Liuli Pavilion’s lobby. They would be graded by other shadow play masters who did not participate in the production. At this moment, every play that would be produced by voice actors were all kept secret. No one knew which drama was selected by which voice actor.
The time was too short. Yan Mu Lin followed along as Master Bian taught him how to make a shadow puppet. His skillful techniques and movements caused Master Bian to change back to the original methods. The young voice actor in front of him was not how he had imagined. He also relied on his face to eat in the entertainment circle, but why was his granddaughter’s idol not like him, and instead is a combination of teenagers who sang some non-nutritive pop songs all day long.
During lunch, he was accompanied by the masters at the workshop. Yan Mu Lin did not nitpick and chose the work meals that his companions ate. Of course, compared to their big mouthfuls, his eating style was still more elegant. He also sincerely praised their meals for being better than the ones in his school, which amused Master Bian. Compared to this morning, the atmosphere was now harmonious.
The cameraman filmed the whole time Yan Mu Lin was following after the shadow master. Before coming to the show, he did not mention to Zhou Wen Jing and the program team that he knew some skills about shadow play production and hoped that it would not cause trouble with anyone. Zhou Wen Jing found out that he already knew how to make shadow puppets, and she was happy about it. The program team naturally thought that this could be a selling point. Yan Mu Lin would probably be the highlight in the first episode of their program, and also the dark horse.
After completing seven steps, Yan Mu Lin and the masters carefully did the final step——the binding. In order to make a shadow puppet flexible, a shadow puppet usually had a head, chest, abdomen, legs, arms, elbows, and hands. A total of eleven parts.
Yan Mu Lin’s 《Peacock Flying to the Southeast》 did not involve martial arts so it would save time during production. This was why he did not hesitate to choose 《Peacock Flying to the Southeast》. It did not involve a lot of characters, was convenient to make, and the performance was only from the excerpt.
It was really easy.
After an afternoon of hard work, Yan Mu Lin and the team of shadow masters finished making all the shadow puppets they needed to use for tomorrow. Yan Mu Lin and Master Bian took their finished products to the designated hall in Liuli Pavilion within the specified time.
Yan Mu Lin’s group was the first to arrive. Of course, their work was taken out and displayed in the hall, but they could only sit temporarily in a private room and wait for the four actors to finish.
Within thirty minutes, the five actors’ works were all in line. They were placed on a transparent glass box for shadow masters to judge.
Each actor was given a private room that had a live TV broadcast. They could watch the voting process downstairs through the TV. There were a total of 30 shadow masters, all of whom were invited by the program team. They had ten minutes to view the works, and after that, they had to put their tickets into the works they felt that were the best.
Since today’s task had nothing to do with their voices, the five voice actors wanted to use their voice to campaign for votes, but they could only sit silently in front of the small TV and watch the shadow masters vote for other voice actors. I am so sad. My master even prayed for me. Although my work was ugly, I was really attentive.
However, prayer had no use. After the masters voted, they chose to sit down. The five creators walked from the private room to the hall downstairs. They passed by the exhibition hall and went to the other side.
Tao Bai Chen pointed at a delicate and beautiful shadow puppet, and said: “Teacher Tian, I heard that you studied how to create shadow puppets before, this is definitely your work.”
Tian Zhen Yang looked at him and said: “That is really not mine.”
Lu Zhong Ting pointed to the shadow puppet that had one of the legs look like it was about to fall: “Wen Hao, isn’t this your work? The legs are falling, hahaha!”
Tang Wen Hao said with a smile, “You guessed wrong this time, it’s not mine!”
Standing next to Tian Zheng Yang, Tao Bai Chen’s face was red, while the other four: “…..” We understand.
Everyone immediately changed the topic. At this time, we should not continue to talk about it.
The program team of 《Who Has That Good Voice?》 had no host, so the one who was going to announce the results was the director who had a really easy name to remember, Teng Jian Ren. Director Teng stood in front of the five actors and started to announce the results. The top-ranked actor would be performing as the finale tomorrow.
Before the rankings were announced, the director asked them who they think was the first. Everyone pointed at Tian Zhen Yang, while Tian Zhen Yang said that it definitely was not him. The director did not stop on keeping them on tenterhooks.
For the show, he spent ten minutes on announcing the rankings.
The first to be announced was the fourth and third place, the former was Lu Zhong Ting, while the latter was Tang Wen Hao.
Unsurprisingly, the fifth place was Tao Bai Chen. He smiled at everyone, “I have failed art since childhood, so I am definitely the fifth.”
Only Yan Mu Lin and Tian Zhen Yang’s results were not yet announced.
Tian Zhen Yang shrugged and said: “The first place definitely isn’t me.”
Yan Mu Lin touched his ears, “I am a little nervous now, but I think that Senior Tian would definitely do better than me.” The slightly shy expression was done so well that the people present felt nervous for him.
The results were announced. Everyone present, including the shadow masters and four actors, were all surprised. They did not expect this at all.
Yan Mu Lin was first, while Tian Zhen Yang was second.
After the announcement, the works of the corresponding actors were shown on the big screen. The work of Yan Mu Lin was really beautiful. It did not look like something done by a novice. The serious Master Bian had a wider smile on his face, compared to this morning.
This young man had high prospects.
After comparing the works of each other, the three seniors unanimously lamented: The younger generations will surpass us in time.
Only Tao Bai Chen’s thoughts were different. He had already been looking down on Yan Mu Lin from the start. Of course, he was not that stupid to go and ask the director whether Yan Mu Lin had a backer and if that was the reason why the program team cheated and made him first. if people invited big stars to participate in shows, they would naturally not want to be losers, so when signing with a program team, the program team was required to give them a first place position. Otherwise, they would definitely not want to increase the ratings of the program.
Since they were peers, Tao Bai Chen did not want Yan Mu Lin to snatch the limelight, so in the evening, Tao Bai Chen talked about his agent about this matter when the program was aired.