Director J.J. Abrams walked over with a walkie-talkie, obviously coordinating the shoot.
Seeing Dakota and Cassius, he nodded in greeting.
His attention quickly returned to the monitor, directing the lighting and photography on set.
Cassius stood in an area that didn't affect filming.
His eyes scanned around.
Soon, a blue attribute orb dropped from J.J. Abrams, who was staring intently at the monitor:
[Visual Narrative Rhythm +5]
Cassius absorbed it immediately!
He felt his understanding of narrative rhythm become clearer!
Didn't expect to absorb two attribute orbs right after arriving!
Cassius instantly perked up!
His attention became more focused!
From a cinematographer adjusting a complex track camera, a blue attribute orb dropped:
[Camera Movement Sense +3]
From several adult actors playing town residents waiting on standby, green attribute orbs dropped sporadically:
[Slice-of-Life Performance +2]
[Emotional Foreshadowing +1]
...
Cassius silently absorbed these beneficial attribute orbs!
He felt the experience bars for his [Expression] and [Emotion] attributes rising steadily!
Cassius noticed some child actors playing around during breaks. Green attribute orbs representing [Uninhibited Body Expression] or [Instant Emotional Outburst] occasionally dropped from them.
Although individual bonuses weren't much, they were precious for their purity and naturalness!
Elle was soon called to shoot a take.
This scene was her and several young protagonists at the train station at night, witnessing the terrified reaction to a train derailment and explosion.
There was no real explosion, only a green screen and special effects to be added in post-production.
Cassius saw Elle, prompted by the director, show extreme fear towards the empty green screen and scream.
Her performance had layers, not just screaming, her eyes filled with helplessness.
Just then!
A blue attribute orb dropped from Elle who had just finished performing:
[High-Intensity Emotional Focus +4]
After absorbing it, Cassius felt his understanding of mobilizing extreme emotions deepen slightly.
One take done, the director shouted "Cut," indicating a pass.
Elle breathed a sigh of relief and trotted back, fine sweat on her forehead.
"How was it? Was my performance okay just now?"
She asked Cassius quietly, with a hint of expectation.
"Acted very well! Especially the feeling of fear, very realistic!"
Cassius spoke honestly.
Elle was indeed a child star; her acting skills were really good!
Receiving Cassius's praise, Elle was so happy she almost flew!
Making several young male actors filming with Elle look over frequently.
Cassius ignored them.
His attention was completely attracted by attribute orbs!
Every time an attribute orb appeared, Cassius absorbed it immediately!
He felt his understanding of acting undergoing a qualitative change.
Parts that previously required deliberate mobilization and design now seemed to flow out more naturally.
Observation and empathy also improved significantly, allowing him to more keenly capture the subtleties in others' performances and internalize them.
As soon as Elle's scene ended, the set began preparing for the next explosion shot!
Cassius, Elle, and several other non-participating actors and staff were kept behind the safety line!
Boom!
The explosion sounded!
A stuntman precisely completed a roll to dodge explosion debris!
A blue [Body Control Precision +4] attribute orb dropped.
Cassius absorbed it immediately, feeling his micro-control over body muscles become a bit finer.
Just then!
His [Body Language] attribute experience broke through 400!
[Body Language Attribute Leveled Up! Current Level: Lv3 (2/600)]
Done!
Body language attribute broke through first!
Cassius felt his physical coordination and strength control become much handier!
He subconsciously moved his fingers and wrists, feeling more flexible and free.
This would be greatly beneficial for interpreting the clumsiness of the coder protagonist and the strength of the lion dancer in the Green Lantern script.
Immediately after, he observed a veteran actor filming a complex dialogue scene.
The subtle muscle twitches on the veteran actor's face and the complex emotions revealed in his eyes were textbook-level.
A purple [Expression Layering +6] attribute orb slowly floated out.
Absorb!
Cassius felt as if more neurons in his facial muscles were activated.
He gained new insights on how to mobilize his facial features to express subtler and richer emotions.
[Expression Attribute Leveled Up! Current Level: Lv3 (5/600)]
Expression attribute leveled up too!
Cassius couldn't help touching his face, feeling stronger control over his facial features.
There was a key scene in the afternoon shoot!
It was the collective reaction of Elle and other young protagonists witnessing a huge catastrophic event at night.
For the safety of the child actors, the real explosion scenes were arranged in the morning!
The afternoon shoot relied on J.J. Abrams using lighting, smoke, and precise scheduling to create an extremely tense and terrifying atmosphere.
Cassius stood behind the monitor.
Watching Elle and other young actors erupt with infectious fear and screams towards the green screen.
Their emotions were completely driven by the atmosphere created by the director, the performance full of primal impact.
A large number of attribute orbs burst out from these committed young actors:
[High-Intensity Emotional Immersion +4]
[Group Reaction Authenticity +5]
[Instant Fear Explosiveness +3]
...
Cassius greedily absorbed these high-quality emotion-type attribute orbs.
He felt his ability to perceive and mobilize emotions improving at a visible speed, as if a valve for emotions deep in his heart was opened, allowing him to touch and control various strong emotions more freely.
[Emotion Attribute Leveled Up! Current Level: Lv3 (4/600)]
Emotion attribute leveled up!
A deeper emotional resonance and expressiveness flowed within him.
Now, only the [Rhythm] attribute was stuck at Lv2 (390/400), just 10 experience points away from leveling up.
At dusk, Elle's scenes for the day finally ended.
Removing makeup and changing back into her own clothes, she was still in a state of over-excitement.
"Brother Cassius, let's go eat at that famous family restaurant in town! My treat!"
Elle proposed with shining eyes, obviously wanting to spend more time with Cassius.
Dakota looked at Cassius, asking for his opinion with her eyes.
Cassius nodded.
Going back now was obviously unrealistic; he and Dakota came by plane!
The three drove to a warmly decorated family restaurant in the nearby small town.
Wooden tables and chairs, checkered tablecloths, local scenery photos on the walls, relaxed and cozy atmosphere.
After ordering, Elle's chatterbox couldn't be closed, chattering about funny things on set today, imitating the director's way of speaking, complaining about a prop almost hitting her...
Her narration was vivid and lively, full of vitality and leaping thinking belonging to her age group.
Dakota occasionally interjected to supplement or gently remind Elle not to just talk and forget to eat.
The interaction between the sisters was natural and interesting.
Cassius listened while observing them.
He noticed the unconstrained rhythmic sense in Elle's narration—orderly fast and slow, pauses just right, always capturing the listener's attention.
And Dakota's supplements always cut in precisely, not interrupting her sister's enthusiasm while perfecting details, also possessing a rhythmic sense for controlling conversation flow.
If he hadn't seen with his own eyes that there was a several-year age gap, Cassius would really think they were twins.
Truly too tacit!
Sisters indeed!
Cassius felt a special CG waving at him.