MMB Chapter 248 No Substitute Needed! The Silent Dimensional Reduction Strike of the Dream-Making Brush
Chapter 248 No Substitute Needed! The Silent Dimensional Reduction Strike of the Dream-Making Brush
Chapter 248 No Substitute Needed! The Silent Dimensional Reduction Strike of the Dream-Making Brush (9/71)
The filming of "Tell Me You Love Me" has entered an extremely high-pressure, intense phase.
The first episode's phenomenal ratings, achieved through a simultaneous filming and broadcasting model, gave a significant boost to TBS television, but also made the production schedule even more demanding.
This morning's shoot is a crucial solo scene featuring the male lead, Koji. In a secluded art studio, Koji, overwhelmed by inner turmoil and struggle, paints with a sense of solitude, almost frantically.
To ensure the absolute perfection of the artistic details in this pure love drama, the TBS producers spent a lot of money to invite Mr. Muto, an oil painter who is quite famous in the young art world, from Tokyo University of the Arts to serve as the production team's "art consultant" and the male lead's "hand close-up stand-in".
"Camera ready! Dim the lights a bit more, we need that oppressive atmosphere."
The director, behind the monitor and holding a walkie-talkie, gave instructions before turning to Muto, who was standing to the side: "Mr. Muto, the following long shots will be performed by President Kitahara himself. When we cut to the close-up of the brush touching the canvas and the final painting, we'll need you to change into the same white shirt and perform the painting process for the president."
Muto, dressed in an impeccably tailored linen suit, held a cup of coffee in his hand and slightly raised his chin. He possessed an inherent aloofness and arrogance characteristic of the fine art world.
"That's to be expected." Muto glanced at Kitahara Shin, who was adjusting his breathing not far away, and said with an undisguised sense of superiority, "Mr. Kitahara's acting skills are indeed amazing. I've also seen the sketches he drew on variety shows. He's really talented to laymen."
He paused, a proud smile playing on his lips: "But sketching for a television program and actually expressing the profound despair of a deaf-mute person on canvas with oil paints are two completely different concepts. Art requires years of immersion. For the sake of the professional quality of the image, entrusting the close-up shots to me, a professional, was the wisest choice."
Upon hearing this, the expressions of the crew members around them immediately became extremely subtle.
Although this guy was a consultant invited by the TV station, the veiled sarcasm in his words that implied "actors are just decorations, the real art is for me" was simply provoking a major scandal! Kitahara Shin is now a super tycoon with a box office of 5 billion, and this bookworm really doesn't understand any social skills.
However, Kitahara Shin, who was standing in front of the easel, didn't even lift his eyelids.
He completely ignored this low-level provocation, his entire being having completely entered into Kouji's cold, lonely, and forgotten silent body.
"Attention all departments, Action!"
The clapperboard fell.
Kitahara Shin stood with his back to the camera in front of a huge blank canvas. He slowly picked up the palette and brushes.
The director was about to pick up the walkie-talkie and shout, "Get ready for close-up, stunt double!" but the next second, his voice was abruptly stuck in his throat.
Under everyone's gaze, Kitahara Shin's expression changed instantly.
The "Dream Weaver's Discarded Paintbrush (Blue)" he had once found in a corner of the Ghibli studio possessed an incredibly terrifying, top-tier ability to perceive color and create compositions. This ability had long since become his most instinctive muscle memory, and it had been completely awakened through his fingertips.
The most powerful attribute of the Dream Painter is its ability to accurately visualize the most intense emotions from the depths of one's heart onto the canvas.
Kitahara Shin had no intention of stepping aside to make way for his stand.
He dipped his brush directly into an extremely concentrated dark blue paint, and with a sudden flick of his wrist, he drew a rough, glaring line on the pristine white canvas with a "whoosh," as if he were about to tear the canvas apart.
"Wait! What is he doing?!" Muto's expression changed drastically. He was about to speak up to stop him when the director grabbed his shoulder tightly.
"Shut up! Look at the monitor!" The director stared intently at the screen, his breathing becoming extremely rapid.
On set, only the extremely violent scraping sound of paintbrushes on rough canvases could be heard.
Kitahara Shin's movements grew faster and faster; he was completely immersed in the unspeakable pain. His eyes were almost crazed, and the paint under his brush lost its conventional constraints, with deep blue, dark red, and deathly gray intertwined.
He completely abandoned those fancy academic techniques, and boldly crushed and recombined colors.
In his hands, the paintbrush became a sharp blade, desperately hacking through a silent abyss!
Muto, who had initially looked down on the canvas, froze instantly when he saw the outline gradually appearing on the canvas.
He involuntarily took two steps forward, his eyes wide open, a surge of intense shock welling up within them.
It was an extremely abstract painting, yet one filled with a terrifying and oppressive feeling.
The twisted lines resemble countless hands being choked, struggling to break through the deep blue seabed.
The clash of colors is extremely violent and aesthetically pleasing, but at the very center of the picture, there is a sense of fragility that makes you want to cry at first glance.
"This—this tension of color and emotional expression—" Muto's lips began to tremble violently, cold sweat sliding down his forehead. "This is impossible—even I couldn't paint with this breathtaking control of the image—"
His academic skills, which he was so proud of, became nothing more than a pale and powerless piece of paper in the face of this genius painting full of wildness and despair!
"Cut! Absolutely perfect!!!"
The deathly silence on set was broken only when Kitahara Shin stopped what he was doing, his chest heaving slightly as he took a half-step back, and the director's almost hysterical roar.
The entire room fell silent, then suddenly erupted in a collective gasp.
Takako Tokiwa stood on the outside, looking at the oil painting that was not yet completely dry. Her eyes instantly reddened, and she didn't even dare to look directly at the extreme despair conveyed in the painting.
Kitahara Shin slowly pulled himself out of Koji's emotions. He put down his easel, picked up the towel beside him, and carefully wiped the paint off his long, slender fingers.
After wiping his hands clean, he turned his head and calmly looked at Muto, who seemed to have all his strength drained away.
Kitahara Shin, with a gentle expression, elegantly gestured "thank you for your guidance" in sign language, then nodded slightly and turned to leave the set.
The most deadly attack is the silent one, the one that reduces the distance between you and your opponent.
Muto watched the departing figure in the white shirt, then glanced at the masterpiece on the canvas—a work of genius worthy of being exhibited at a top-tier art exhibition—and his face flushed red and then pale. An overwhelming sense of shame and awe made him wish he could disappear into the ground.
Today he truly learned what a real monster was like. To talk about artistic superiority in front of this man was simply the biggest joke in the world!
A few weeks later, this major studio drama, filled with extreme emotional catharsis, aired as scheduled on TBS's prime time slot.
When Koji appeared on screen in an extremely oppressive studio, wielding his brush to express the loneliness deep within his soul onto the canvas, television viewers across Japan were gripped by the oil painting, a work brimming with despair and tension.
At first, most viewers thought he was a professional painter stand-in hired by the production team.
After all, in the conventional practice of film and television dramas, close-up shots that showcase professional skills are usually just edited and spliced together to get by.
However, the level of detail achieved by Shunji Iwai was perfectly replicated by the director of TBS.
During post-production editing, the director cleverly preserved a long shot—the image pans upwards from the paint-covered, bony hands along the cuffs of the white shirt, and freezes on Kitahara Shin's cold, lonely, and even slightly crazed face with remarkable clarity.
The entire Japanese audience went wild!
"My God! He drew that himself?!"
"Those masterpiece-level oil paintings were actually painted stroke by stroke by Kitahara Shin himself?!"
Countless young girls, white-collar women, and even housewives watching on television were all stunned by this extraordinary talent.
Being handsome and having godlike acting skills is already a miracle in the entertainment industry, but this man is also a hidden painter with such terrifying abilities!
This exceptionally versatile and perfect quality has cemented his legendary status in the hearts of his fans.
Soon, some die-hard fans started frantically explaining on various forums and fan clubs: "You guys need to go watch Kitahara's own variety show! He already showed off his god-level drawing skills on the show, it's all the real deal!"
While Kitahara Shin's late-night variety show is of extremely high quality and consistently maintains an impressive viewership rating of over 20%, it's still a late-night program that only airs once a month, resulting in a relatively fixed audience. Many mainstream viewers who have recently gained popularity through shows like "Tell Me You Love Me" and "Bayside Shakedown" haven't actually seen it yet.
This intense curiosity quickly triggered a terrifying chain reaction.
Within just a few days, major video rental stores across Japan (such as TSUTAYA) experienced an extremely rare "raid." Any videotape bearing the name "Shin Kitahara," whether it was past episodes of his late-night variety show, early works like "Tokyo Love Story," "Under One Roof," and "The White Tower," or even a few behind-the-scenes clips from his dramas, were snapped up by frenzied fans. Store managers, seeing their shelves empty, frantically called distributors overnight to urge them to restock.
Kitahara Office has an incredibly keen business sense.
Upon seeing the reported data on the market boom, Secretary Aida immediately realized that this was an extremely huge business opportunity.
"Immediately adjust the production lines of related industries!" Secretary Aida issued the order decisively in the conference room. "Continue shipping the Aoshima police officer's trench coat and related merchandise for 'The Great Investigation Line.' At the same time, immediately edit the president's past variety shows into deluxe edition videotapes! Contact major television stations to repackage and release all the original DVD sets of the president's past classic dramas!"
Once the machine of capital is running at full speed, its efficiency is terrifying.
In less than half a month, exquisitely crafted official merchandise and video sets flooded the market. To capitalize on the current hype, the agency even cleverly released a "Kouji-style blank sketchbook" and a high-definition limited-edition postcard featuring that despairing oil painting.
The fans' purchasing power was astonishing. These expensive merchandise items and deluxe CDs were sold out instantly by fans waving their cash as soon as they hit the shelves.
They are extremely enthusiastic supporters of their "all-around idol," completely disregarding the price, only seeking to buy all kinds of collectibles related to this perfect man.