1674 Spotlight
But they did not stay as long as they did at the NFA.
On top of the existing conflict with Lu Man, Howard had the most direct conflict with the NFA.
Meanwhile, the experiences of the students from the NFA were much deeper than the students from the other three schools.
"How ridiculous!" someone said in a hushed voice.
But they would not be afraid to say it out loud either. They would not understand anyway.
The other students were fuming as well. They hoped that the NFA would be competent enough to win against this Howard with complete dominance!
At that moment, they heard the host announcing on stage that it was finally time for the NFA's team to come up on stage.
The lights on the stage dimmed once again. When the lights came on again, the stage backdrop had changed to that of a school.
A few students walked around, Lu Man cleaning the school grounds amid them.
Right after that, the scene changed and the big screen at the back continuously changed backgrounds, from a school alley to the roadside, and then to the club where the female lead works at night.
When the whole scene ended, everyone realized in surprise that in that whole scene, all the characters had very few lines.
They all expressed themselves through their actions and expressions.
They only paired it with one or two lines occasionally, just to create a sense of flow.
The kinds of laughter had even more variation than the lines.
Like that of the lighthearted, bright laughter heard in schools.
At the club, however, the kinds of laughter became those of sophistication, sarcasm, mockery, bitterness, and even crying while laughing.
Without lines to steal the show, these sounds of laughter actually became so noticeable.
It evoked peoples' thoughts to try and analyze what these sounds of laughter meant and represented.
The students in the school wore youthful clothes, but when the scene changed to the club at night, the outfits became sexy and racy, presenting a clear juxtaposition.
The number of lines spoken on stage was close to zero. It was so silent that it was as if they're watching a silent film.
The audience below the stage were actually also quietly watching, as if they were holding their breaths, watching the performance on stage closely.
They did so right until the performance ended, and the students on stage rushed down to bow.
Robert and Hayer suddenly took the lead to clap.
Both of them clapped especially hard and agitatedly, even their faces were reddened from agitation.
Xu Jiashan smiled hearteningly as he clapped.
When the host stepped up on stage to invite the judges to comment, Xu Jiashan said, "This was an exciting performance. You all performed really well. Although there were still some bits lacking here and there, at least you guys knew to hide these inadequacies as much as possible, to reduce their presence, akin to promoting one's strengths while avoiding one's weaknesses. And Lu Man's stage presence here was way too amazing."
"The moment she came out, she subconsciously drew everyone's attention to herself, but she did not do this on purpose. She was only acting out her character well, but she just had that charm that would make people subconsciously stare at her," Xu Jiashan said. "This kind of charm, for an actor, is very, very precious. It is precisely because of this that the other actors' shortcomings in the performance were minimized to the maximum, because the audience is mostly focused on her. What's left that we can pay attention to would be the merits you want us to notice."
"Of course, the other students performed very well as well. As there were almost no lines spoken, everything relied heavily on your body language and expressions to be conveyed. This made your acting skills even more pronounced, and the key points that you guys wanted to convey were not detracted because of your lines. The person who came up with such a presentation method is really highly skilled."
Xu Jiashan laughed and said, "This show was performed really well, and the credit goes to you all. But it was directed very well too! The director who directed this performance for you all is ingenious—and really amazing too!"
