Sword and Magic and Clear Flow

Chapter 98

Director Zhao's Chinese music is very popular in Yufabi City. This coastal city is all-encompassing, and the aborigines' love for art and entertainment is regardless of language genre.Especially with the help of Kaxiu, after translating some Chinese songs into the popular and simple Pislan continental language, it has gained a certain degree of popularity. In a few days, fishermen who go to sea will hum the new popular songs.

She also gradually mastered the language here with the help of her new friends.

Kaxiu was a little surprised when he learned that she was illiterate, but he didn’t say anything, and he still patiently taught reading and writing—the teaching materials were the ones commonly used in local primary schools. .

"You learn so fast! You know, the content of this book is usually a year for primary school students to study steadily..." Ka Xiuyan looked at Director Zhao's homework notes and found that even though she was a little old, she still had a strong memory , is an out-and-out genius.

Those who break it apart and then teach people to practice repeatedly can still produce a lot of wrong inflections. The grammatical structure is extremely accurate in her hands, and subjects such as arithmetic only need to be taught symbols once, and they can be integrated by themselves. She is keeping accounts for daily income and expenses.

The frightening thing is that Director Zhao doesn't need to use another piece of straw paper to list the numbers, calculate them with his fingers, and record them. He just glances at them, and the accurate answer comes out.

The more this is the case, the more proud Kaxiu feels at the same time, the more regretful she is. She has such a smart mind, she clearly has the qualifications of a university student and a magister, but she missed the magic school due to her poor physique...

"Xiao Zhao, don't be sad, you'll be fine after learning the basic subjects. As artists, we don't need fancy magic!" Kaxiu comforted, his eyes seemed to be looking at a weak little white flower.

Director Zhao's expression was indescribable: "...Thank you?"

Her actual age is 65 years old. The average life expectancy of human beings has been greatly extended, and it is common to be over 30 and 40 years old. It is indeed a lively age, because % GP "B is appropriate and has the advantage of oriental people who can't tell their age just by looking at their faces. , has been regarded as three or [-] years old by the aborigines.

However, Kaxiu is not targeting her, but all the human beings here can add the word "small", after all, this elf male "youth" is over 400 years old.

"Breakfast is ready." A human girl pushed the door open and greeted everyone to eat.

Kaxiu's wandering art troupe lived in a small hotel in the city of Ufabi, and performed in different hotels and restaurants at noon, and the owner of the shop gave them an appearance fee.In the afternoon, I drive to markets with a lot of people, and set up a show near the pier. In the evening, if someone invites me, I will sing a little song, and if no one invites me, I will rest.

In addition to Ka Xiu, the leader who sings love songs that make your legs weak and epic poems, there is also the bright and lovely, cheerful and smiling human girl Heizena and her boyfriend Mai Lunxi. This pair of lovers is versatile, singing and dancing. All good.

All three are the pillars of the current regiment.

In addition, there is Rui Zhen, a female orc of the Golden Cat tribe, who has a charming honey-colored skin and a peerless appearance—at least in the eyes of Director Zhao's earthlings; Pi Kan, an elf bard He is just over a hundred years old, and unlike the carefree Kaxiu, he is shy and shy, and is good at singing narrative poems; Amond, a human musician, is good at both playing and singing; Jin Keou, a dwarf musician, is eighteen Proficient in all kinds of musical instruments.

These four are also regular members, and they are responsible for the accompaniment when there is no personal program, and the cooperation is very tacit.

They have been in this business for five or six years % GP " 9 , wandering around the world, making their homes all over the world, if they live in a small town for two or three days, in a big city like Ufabi, they usually stay for more than ten days and a half months, the wind blows Sun exposure is unavoidable, depending on the situation, the audience earns hard money.

Now another director Zhao has joined.

Breakfast is sago fruit porridge. This starchy food extracted from the trunk of the sago palm tree is one of the common staple foods in the Dragon Island Kingdom. It is stewed in a large pot until it is soft, and it is served with papaya, mango, pineapple and coconut meat or simply adding some milk. , is a nutritious sweet breakfast.

Director Zhao has adapted well. It is very interesting to experience this kind of food culture where desserts are the staple food. It is also very interesting to sit around with new friends and listen to them chat about the unique customs of various places.

She can't wait to have an instant trip, a wonderful adventure.

Director Zhao and Professor Park have been husband and wife for decades, and the unexpected parting seems to have a different meaning. When they meet again in this strange and novel world, it is not an exaggeration to call it a romantic encounter. The family affection that has settled down may be able to sprout again, and then bloom the flower of love.

It was raining lightly today, which was not a good day for a stage performance. After dinner, Kaxiu took Director Zhao out to buy paints, intending to take advantage of the rainy day when there was no work to repair the dry and cracked background cloth.

The color of colored soil and ore is cheaper, and the color extracted from plants and shells is more expensive to sell. When used, it is mixed with vegetable oils such as linseed oil and walnut oil, and it becomes the most commonly used paint in Pislan. .

There are three background cloths in the art troupe—woodland, lake view and street view. They are all realistic oil paintings. They are rolled up when not in use, and hung up for scene decoration when setting up the stage. Frequent exposure to wind and sun will inevitably lead to discoloration and small cracks , Maintenance is very troublesome.

Kaxiu bargained with the store owner with a heartbroken face: "What? The price of walnut oil has increased again? I bought so many pigments, please give me a discount."

"Well... I can give you a discount if you buy more than two barrels, but don't say it, the nearby students will kill me if they hear about it." The boss couldn't stand the handsome guy from the elves, so he agreed.

"It must be kept secret, two barrels first!" Kaxiu counted out a pile of odd coins and handed them over, this time it was another 20 gold coins.

The stage background painting is not a fine painting, but just the large roll of cloth needs to be covered with a lot of pigments. Due to the craftsmanship of Pislan, the oil production of oil-pressing crops is also average, and the price remains high. Auxiliary materials and brushes are worn out... Photography has been poor for three generations, and painting has ruined a lifetime. The road of art is often bumpy. Director Zhao feels distressed when he sees the young people (?) who are bent over by life.

Kaxiu filled his tin bucket with oil and carried a large bag of paint. "After two or three more touch-ups, the background painting will no longer be usable, it will become more and more dirty and unreadable, and the color blocks will fall off if it is thickened, alas..."

Director Zhao didn't know much about the painting tools here, so he thought about making a suggestion: "How about mixing paint with gum?"

Kaxiu: "Hey? Isn't that for food?"

Gum is the exudate of various trees and shrubs that dries in the sun to form a slightly transparent glue.Different from resin, it is a kind of polysaccharide substance, which can be used in food as a multi-purpose auxiliary material such as emulsification, thickening, bonding, and glazing after collection.

Dragon Island Kingdom is located in the tropics, all kinds of fruit tree gums are very cheap, and are widely used in candy snacks - you can also go to the forest to collect the gums secreted by wild trees, free of charge!

Some gums are water soluble, others absorb water and swell when soaked, and are used as vehicles and binders for aqueous pigments.

Oil paint is opaque, while gouache paint is between transparent and opaque. The change of lightness and saturation is controlled by water. Adding water has a clear and light effect, and thick coating can cover the background color.

Director Zhao explained it, and Kaxiu was so moved that he bought gum on the spot to try it.

He first experimented with painting techniques such as flat painting, overlaying, and rubbing on a small piece of canvas. The coloring ranged from light to dark. As expected, the color was bright and clear and natural. The effect is very good, and the complementary color is also convenient, which is suitable for large-area background painting.

Director Zhao also talked about several "playing methods" of watercolor - it is embarrassing to say that her painting level has nothing to do with art, it is purely a hobby, and she came from art classes in her school days.

Apply a layer of rubber tree latex on the canvas and then paint. After finishing, wipe off the glued area with pigskin to leave a blank space; use a fine short brush to pick up the paint, and splash it on the canvas with your hands to make a painting. The effect of the starry sky; sprinkle salt on the wet color block, and the salt particles will form a special texture like mottled flowers after absorbing the pigment; droppers, rollers, and soap bubbles can also play a lot of tricks.

She also took out a bath sponge from the bathroom, a square piece that looked like SpongeBob SquarePants with his pants off—the sponges in Pislan are all natural, and the material is the endoskeleton of sponge animals picked from the seabed. Cut into easy-to-grab shapes.Natural sponges have irregular pores and fibers that absorb paint and apply it to the canvas, giving it another unique and interesting texture.

Painting should not be limited by rules and regulations, there is nothing that cannot be used in order to create the desired style.

No matter if you are a master at painting or a novice, the whole wandering art troupe had a great time playing with new paints and new tools.

Jin Ke'ou, who is good at traditional oil painting, jumped up and punched the head's knee at the beginning, yelling "Nonsense, how can I use that!" Later, he discovered the wonderful use of watercolor, and he can break the stereotypes and enjoy it .

"This thing is so good, it's refreshing and not greasy, and the magic lamp doesn't reflect oily light - we can try to perform at night in the future," Kaxiu said excitedly.

Originally, there are more idle people at night than during the day, and everyone is willing to spend a few dollars for entertainment after a day's work.However, their stage is too rough, because it is a mobile stage transformed from a carriage compartment. In order to save space, there are no decent props except for the background cloth.

When an oil painting is illuminated with a light at night, the reflection is very strange, and the audience's attention will be distracted.Without the background, there is a lack of atmosphere. Using the background is simply the atmosphere of a ghost story...

Director Zhao looked at the magic lamps. Although she didn't understand the principle of the magic ore, it didn't prevent her from changing the frame of the magic lamp.The spotlight is disassembled, with a threaded lens in the front and a reflector in the back, and the central light source is just an ordinary light bulb.

She found the glass workshop of the dwarves and communicated with the craftsmen, asking them to add metal oxides to ordinary glass for melting, and press out circles of threads on the surface to become threaded lenses that can filter ultraviolet rays.The reflector is also simple, the glass is fired into a curved concave surface, and the back is silver-plated.

Build a bracket to fix the spotlight, and when it shines down, it will be a beam of bright light. The actors under the light can use this to attract the attention of the audience.Hezena and Mai Lunxi are not afraid to move around when dancing. They can arrange people to climb on the bracket, control the direction of the spotlight, and follow the dancers at all times.

As for the background cloth, there is no need to focus the light. Ordinary magic lamps are still hung. Director Zhao changed the shell and made it into a long strip closed on three sides to avoid light divergence and make the light evenly shine on the canvas.

In order to make the faces of the actors stand out more under the light, Director Zhao gave the actresses Hezena and Rui Zhen a more prominent facial makeup—that is, what is commonly known as heavy makeup.

Thick eyebrows, thick black eyeliner, large eye shadows and flaming red lips... just like Cleopatra, it is almost impossible to see during the day, and it can scare children to cry when going out, but under the lights at night, it is called A beauty!

A few male actors who needed to be on stage were awkward and reluctant, but for the sake of stage effect, they also asked her to draw eyebrows and eyeliner. Under the spotlight, they looked more thick-browed and full of energy...

They tried the effect by themselves at night, and Kaxiu told Director Zhao to let it go, and he fully supported it.Director Zhao recalled that the stage of the theater on the earth should be improved as much as possible under the existing conditions. In front of the mobile stage, a foldable and telescopic metal bracket was connected, and the same wooden boards as the stage were laid to make it look like a catwalk. Part of the stage can be extended into the audience.

Two days later, the first evening performance of the Kaxiu Wandering Art Troupe was a great success. The audience was obviously more than during the day. Even if there were no seats to sit, hundreds of people surrounded the stage, and those behind stretched their necks to watch, standing in a daze After watching the whole process, it is more generous to reward.

Emotional cohesion is very important in open-air theater performances.Music, lighting, and scenery complement each other, with a heartfelt greeting or one-liner at the beginning, and the climax of the song invites everyone to sing together.

The more than 100 audience felt that they were a part of the performance, and they devoted themselves to the audio-visual enjoyment, as if walking into a fantasy dream, and there was endless aftertaste when they woke up.

There are only eight people in the Kaxiu Art Troupe, who stand out from all kinds of wandering artists and have made a name for themselves in the huge city of Ufabi. They can earn money that they have struggled to earn during the past few days in one night performance.

Other vagabond troupes, and even higher-end local theaters have also begun to steal the spotlights, make-up techniques, and interaction with the audience from the Kashuu Art Troupe... After all, the stage is clear at a glance, and the peers will be able to see it at a glance.

"Why are they doing this? It's so shameless!" Hezenna blushed with anger.

The little girl was quite cute when she was so angry that she turned into a puffer fish. Director Zhao lovingly stroked her big wavy hair and said calmly, "Don't be afraid, we have better ones."

While researching lighting effects these days, Director Zhao made the projector by the way.

Projectors were made in ancient times on the earth for the convenience of missionaries. They were made by using the principle of inverted convex lenses and magnified real images.There is everything here. After she drew the blueprints and asked craftsmen to make accessories, she made them casually like assembling toys.The screen was just a blank background canvas that they had, coated with metal powder to make a diffuse screen.

The patterns used for projection are painted on transparent glass with watercolors, not to mention saving paint, and the content of the painting is more. In addition to projecting the background, it can also project decorative patterns, flowers and plants, characters and animals...Use multiple projectors to operate at the same time, The background painting is more varied.

However, with canvases of different sizes and well-arranged backgrounds, the projection of different images becomes full of layers, and the small stage gives birth to infinite possibilities.

The whole Director Zhao had the urge to make cartoons. Many single-piece paintings are connected into a roll, and the continuous rotating projection is an early cartoon. The members of the art troupe don't have to work hard to dance and sing It’s fine to dub there—it’s a pity that drawing glass takes a lot of work, it’s easy to bump and it’s not easy to store, and it can’t be rolled up...

She ran the most diligently to the glass workshop, and deeply felt that the dwarves were good companions for home travel, especially that they, like her, did not know much about magic. They were all Muggles, so there was no obstacle to communication, and technical problems were easy to understand.

Under the guidance of Director Zhao, the dwarf craftsman melted the glass batch materials into glass liquid, and sprayed it with high-speed airflow. The liquid droplets formed fine balls due to surface tension, and after cooling, they gathered together to become glass particles like shining fine sand. beads.

Glass beads and resin varnish are coated on the surface of the cloth base, using its high refractive index to make ordinary cloth reflect light under the light. It is mainly used in products related to road safety on the earth - such as cone road signs, traffic police vests ...

But those are not available for the time being. No matter how widely the glass microbead paint is used, Director Zhao has to consider the food for the whole team first, and made stage banners and clothing accessories, making the Kaxiu Art Troupe the brightest star in the dark night.

In the future, even if their talents are exhausted, they can use projectors to pull foreign films and sell glass bead paint to make a living.

stop!How could a star have such a worthless idea!Director Zhao resisted the urge to provide for the elderly, she has not yet become famous all over the world, yet she has found a wife!

"The props are just hardware. At first glance, it looks complicated, but after a few more times of thinking, it is easy to imitate." Director Zhao said: "Our software also needs to be developed, and the actors have to have a wide range of artistic skills, singing and dancing. Impressive stories last forever when you are angry."

"What's hard... what's soft?" Pikan and Almond were obsessed with playing with the projector, and they were confused.

Captain Kaxiu understands this truth.

However, looking at the magical paint that glows after just one layer, he doesn't think that these hardware can be figured out by others casually. At least based on his experience, if he didn't participate in the entire production process, he would never have thought of it...

Kaxiu thought for a while and said, "As you said, a good script is very important, and that's why our vagabond troupe can't compare to other regular theaters."

Where there are people, there are rivers and lakes, and the entertainment industry in Pislan mainland is also divided into three or six grades. The most difficult to mix is ​​the bard who wanders alone. If you have a few more people, you can hug a group to keep warm. If you have spare money, you can buy a carriage and transform it. Become a mobile stage, just like Kaxiu and others; the upper level is an artist in a fixed theater, with high income and stable audience, but must have a high-quality stage script to support the appearance; to reach the top is a court artist, It is the face of the dignitaries of a place and even the entire kingdom.

"But we can't imitate other people's stories. If the performance is good, the local theater will make trouble. If the performance is bad, they don't have to make trouble. The audience can drown us with a single spit." Kaxiu said. "So we vagabonds can only sing and dance, and we can't compete with the local theater."

Because of the fact that the spotlight was imitated by the local theater, Director Zhao was dragged by Hezena and the others to watch the opera a few times, and he had a certain understanding of the routines here: "So we make up our own, and we are not afraid of not having a good story that arouses the audience's emotions. "

Whether it's Earth or the continent of Pislan, good stories are made out of routines, where they are abused, where they are fun, make people cry, make people laugh, director Zhao can't help but grasp the rules.What's more...there are too many dog-blood stories of the people on earth. Using a ready-made framework to fit the situation of this world and modifying it is a complete script.

Shakespeare's ancient dramas have been performed repeatedly in the modern and contemporary times. The Prince's Revenge adapted from "Hamlet" and the American gangster movie adapted from "Romeo and Juliet"...isn't it still admirable.

She also changed it to fit the local characteristics. Please refer to "The Daughter of the Sea" written by Andersen.Director Zhao asked everyone to form a circle and told fairy tales.

"What?! Is the prince mentally retarded? I don't even remember who saved him!" Kaxiu looked contemptuous.

"What?! The sea witch cut off the tongue of the mermaid princess?" Hazena looked terrified.

"What?! My feet are cut like a knife and I have lost my voice. What's the point of being a human? I'd rather be a salted fish!" Pi Kan looked pained.

"What?! The prince is married to another woman, and he is on two different boats?" Mylenxi looked embarrassed.

"What?! Just get rid of the prince when he marries someone else. Why does the mermaid princess become a bubble? It's so unreasonable!" Jin Ke'ou looked angry.

"What?! Kill the doggy prince? This is a good idea! I suggest killing, killing that cheating scumbag!" Rui Zhen had a murderous look on her face.

"What?! There is an injustice and a debtor. I think it's all because the sea witch is too vicious. Can killing her break the curse?" Amond looked confused.

The mermaid princess turned into sea foam and disappeared completely, and the story ended.Everyone broke down emotionally, and expressed that they couldn't accept it: "What kind of poisonous fairy tale is this! Are you a devil?!"

Director Zhao: "..." I don't take the blame, it's all Andersen's fault.

Tragedy is to create a sincere, pure, kind and lovable image, and then smash it to pieces for everyone to see.

The aboriginal people's emotions are inflamed, but this emotion seems to be wrong, the rhythm of throwing things on the ground every minute.Director Zhao thought to himself, why are you like the readers of a certain literary website, sending blades to the author crazily when you see BadEnding... It's really cruel.

Director Zhao: "What do you like, we can discuss and change it."

The members of the art troupe looked at each other in blank dismay, and then they revised it one by one.

Two nights later, the ripples of the waves were projected on the open-air stage, and a new-style art troupe made its debut. Kaxiu personally played the background projection, and temporarily hired a few scattered musicians to play the soundtrack.

Because there are not enough actresses, the good-looking male elf Pikan even wears a shell bra to act as a female partner—the little sister of the mermaid princess.

…The mermaid princess Hezenna and her brothers and sisters beat up the mentally handicapped and cheating prince, let out a breath of anger, and jumped into the sea to find the sea witch's palace. The two sides fought fiercely.

They work together to finally defeat the evil forces and get back the lost tongue and fish tail. The princess turns back into a beautiful mermaid and swims in the sea with her brothers and sisters, living a free and happy life...

By the way, Director Zhao played the role of the defeated sea witch with heavy makeup and a long black dress, and he was heartbroken throughout the whole scene.

This is probably a fake fairy tale, and it can be renamed "Saint Warrior of the Sea".

The slapstick version of "The Daughter of the Sea" is booming in Yufabi City. Even the high-ranking local theaters have put down their heads and invited the Kaxiu Wandering Art Troupe to perform indoors, asking if they are willing to stay as regular actors.

Everyone turned their trustful eyes to Director Zhao, expressing that everything was at her disposal.Director Zhao smiled slightly at the friends, and declined the proposal of the local theater troupe.

Her goal is the sea of ​​stars, not just one city or one place, but the entire continent.Where the starlight shines, it must be able to summon her compatriots and her lover.

In a flash, more than two years have passed, and the Kaxiu Art Troupe has expanded to [-] regular members, and performed more than a dozen popular popular plays that are endlessly emerging, novel and interesting.And the stage they created not only has various props, but also all kinds of magic have become part of the audio-visual feast, just like a changeable miniature world, people will never know what kind of wonderful dream awaits when the stage lights up next night them.

Today, Director Zhao led the entire art troupe to the stage of the Royal Palace Theater in Arokaxia, the capital of the Dragon Island Kingdom.

This night, the theme revolved around the legendary stories in the kingdom epic. It started with a strong sea storm. Lightning and thunder flashed on the curtain, and a giant dragon flew by faintly. , turned into a sea clan while the steam was transpiring.

Shining stars, fierce battlefields, high-pitched battle songs, mournful chants... until finally the dragon and sea tribes shook hands and released a group of white doves representing peace.

This is a fantastic and spectacular journey, and the whole stage is full of magnificent imagination.

The members of the action team who were invited by Prince Pannabo stared wide-eyed. They would never admit that they were mistaken. In the realistic scene of the waves crashing on the cliff, the woman who let the strong wind blow through the sleeves of her toga and sang loudly shocked the audience. .

Everyone trembled in their hearts, and they couldn't help muttering: "I found... Director Zhao."

She is the brightest star on the stage.