Compared to those not-so-glamorous dances, the music was what mattered most in High School Musical. It was the soul of the entire movie. The singing really excited the audience and struck a chord with them, so that they sang together with the characters while watching the movie.
And the songs would last in the audience’s memories for a long time. That was exactly how the original soundtrack of the movie had been sold out.
But the first thing was to ensure those songs, in addition to being integrated with the story of the film, had catchy melodies that were easy to remember as well as a trendy style that catered for young people’s taste. All songs, from fast basketball songs to lyrical songs sung by the leading actor and the leading actress, should be composed and arranged in the form of the contemporary popular music.
It was not that they were asking for world-famous songs that would be handed down from one generation to the next, but with all those requirements, it was actually a quite demanding task to find the right music they wanted. Flames Films had contacted many composers and songwriters and communicated the requirements for the songs to them as early as they had started to build the crew of High School Musical, in hopes that they could get some satisfying works.
Some composers did send the studio their works during that period. Wang Yang and the art director of the film evaluated all those songs. Some of them were pretty good, including the Wildcats’ team song. Wang Yang bought all of them. The studio paid hundreds of thousands of dollars—namely, the buyout fee of the copyright—to get the ownership of the songs. The thing was they had not found the right lyrical songs yet, especially the songs the leading characters would sing in the last two rounds of the audition.
“Hi, Sandy.” Sitting behind his desk and frowning at the computer screen, Wang Yang was checking his email inbox. He asked Sandy Parks on the other end of the call, “No more new songs left? We will shoot the musical part in two days, and some scenes of a cappella singing, too. I need songs fitting for those scenes!”
“I’m sorry, Yang, but there are no more new songs. We haven’t received any new ones yet.” Sandy Parks sounded helpless. Whether this task could be completed would depend on those composers instead of him. His hands really were tied at that moment.
Wang Yang closed the webpage. Then, something suddenly occurred to him. He asked Sandy Parks right away, “Hey, Sandy, have you tried to contact David Lawrence?”
The puzzled voice of Sandy Parks came through the phone speaker, “Which David Lawrence?”
David Lawrence was the composer of the original High School Musical’s soundtrack, but he had not gotten his fame by then yet. However, next year, he would get an opportunity to compose the original soundtrack for American Pie. After that, he would make a name for himself, little by little. And afterward, he would compose music for films like High School Musical.
Recalling what he had read about David Lawrence, Wang Yang explained to Sandy, “Uh… he composed music for Camp Nowhere. I watched that film. His music seems to have a light and joyful style. I feel like it should be fitting for us.”
Yeah, he meant the Camp Nowhere starring Jessica. Wang Yang did watch it because of Jessica. It was interesting to see her acting at the age of fourteen. And it was not easy at all to buy a Collector’s Edition DVD of the film on eBay. He really made a great effort to find one, although Jessica had several of them herself.
“Sandy, just give it a try. Try to reach David Lawrence as soon as possible. See whether he has some good songs at hand.” Clicking open the official website of High School Musical with his mouse, Wang Yang said on the phone, “If he has any good stuff, I’m going to hire him to compose the music for the post-editing of the film.”
Sandy Parks agreed, “Okay, got it. I’ll make some phone calls right away to reach him.”
Wang Yang put his cellphone aside after hanging up. Then, he checked the shooting schedule of the film. When the shooting of the non-musical part was finished, they could shoot the scenes for which they had found the right songs first.
The design of High School Musical’s official website was simple and full of youthful vitality. In the meantime, the site had rich content and great amounts of features. The galleries were especially well maintained. New photos of the film would be uploaded every few days. Wang Yang logged in to the back end of the site. He uploaded a few more new photos, all taken at the rooftop garden this very day. The scenery there was wonderful, which made it a perfect place for photos.
Releasing photos is a common technique used in film promotion because films usually have a long production cycle. It is so long that fans could totally forget about a film they were once interested in and divert their attention to other films. Photos can satisfy fans to some extent. They can capture their attention and make them want more so that the film will not be utterly forgotten.
However, this was not all Want Yang had expected. He actually expected more from releasing the photos of the film. In fact, all of the photos uploaded by him this day would be categorized into the East High column on the website. What he wanted was to build a dream school atmosphere on the site. It was not to advertise the East High of Salt Lake City but to promote the film.
And that was one of the reasons he chose East High. This school had a great environment as well as great facilities. It was spacious and clean. Everything students might find attractive could be found here. Not all schools were so beautiful. Compared to East High, even Lincoln High School, where he’d gone, was put to shame. As long as he could shape the “East High” into the dream school among teenagers—a place where they could find a sense of belonging and could catch their fancy, they would naturally be interested in the stories that happened there.
Actually, they already cranked up a new round of publicity campaign for High School Musical as soon as the shooting had started. Uploading photos onto the website was only a part of the campaign. As the first person to implement viral marketing, Wang Yang would certainly put this magic into full play. The studio hired some new employees to post online about the film every day, and that was the only job they were hired to do. All school forums should be covered, but by only keeping one active thread in those forums, they prevented themselves from going too far.
The moment to ignite the bomb was yet to come. The effect Wang Yang was hoping to get for the moment was only to keep some attention and not to be forgotten. He would not launch a comprehensive saturation campaign until the film was officially released.
He surfed a little on the official site and checked the current effect of publicity. After making sure everything was on the right track, he checked the time. It was already past eleven o’clock. Wang Yang turned off his computer, brushed his teeth, and got ready to go to bed. His cellphone, which he had left on the bedside table, beeped when he had just slipped under the covers. He took the phone and looked at the screen. It was Jessica. She had sent him a message.
“Good night, Yang. I really had a great time tonight.”
Wang Yang broke into a smile. He wrote her back. “Good night. Now, go to bed!” After putting his phone back onto the bedside table, he closed his eyes, trying to sleep again. Feeling drowsy, he was so close to falling asleep when he vaguely heard someone calling him by his name. “Yang…” Then, there was a knock on the door, and a man’s voice came in, “Yang, are you still awake?”
“Who is that?” Wang Yang opened his eyes reluctantly. Rubbing his eyes, he got off the bed and went to open the door. It was Michael Pitt, standing there with both hands in the pockets. Wang Yang was struck dumb. Frowning with a confused look, he asked, “Michael? What’s up? It’s very late.”
Looking into the room, Michael Pitt said, “Did I interrupt anything? Jessica isn’t here, is she?”
Leaning his head back unhappily, Wang Yang said, “For God’s sake. She isn’t here. But I was disturbed indeed. I was trying to sleep! What on Earth happened?” Then he turned around, yawning. He was going to pour some water.
“Yang, about tomorrow…” Michael Pitt walked in. He took a deep breath. Then, looking at Wang Yang, he asked, “My part will be shot tomorrow, won’t it?”
Wang Yang looked at him. He sipped from his glass filled with tepid water and nodded. “Yes, exactly.” Smiling, he added, “Are you nervous?”
“I probably am.” Smoothing back his hair, Michael Pitt was blinking self-consciously. He groped into his pocket with his other hand and pulled out a cigarette.
Wang Yang stopped him. “Don’t smoke here. I’ll kick you out if you smoke here!” Michael Pitt shrugged his shoulders helplessly. He put the cigarette back into the packet. Then, pacing the room even more uneasily, he asked again, “You are sure it’s tomorrow, right?”
Draping a coat on his shoulders, Wang Yang answered, “If you came here only to confirm this, you can go now, because I’m one hundred percent sure your part will be shot tomorrow!”
“Yeah, I know, but I…” Michael Pitt breathed out slowly. He spread his hands as if he could not find any other way to express his feelings. Looking at Wang Yang, who was sitting at the edge of the bed carelessly at the moment, he suddenly asked, “Yang, how did you feel when you shot on camera film for the first time the other day?”
Wang Yang felt totally refreshed and not a little bit sleepy when this question had been brought up. Recalling that day, he said, “Nervous. Excited. Joyful. Happy… what else could it be? I achieved something I had always wanted to achieve. That was crazy!” Then, shaking his head, he said with a small smile, “Actually, I was kind of lost, too.”
As if lost in thought, Michael Pitt asked, “Lost? How come?”
“I don’t know.” Wang Yang lay down on the bed. Gazing at the white ceiling, he said in a low voice, “There was a voice in my head that day. It kept asking me questions: ‘Is this what I want?”Did I make it?”Were all of my dreams realized?”That’s it?'”
Frowning, Michael Pitt stayed silent. Then, looking at Wang Yang, he asked, “What was the answer?”
Wang Yang sat up with a rush. With a puzzled face, he said, “Answer? I don’t have an answer. Why don’t you tell me about it? I don’t think things are over. I made it, but things are not over yet. Not like this.”
“It sounds like a complicated feeling.” Michael Pitt smiled.
Wang Yang smiled, too. He looked he did not give it a d*mn. He said, “Hey buddy, you’ll know tomorrow anyway.” Michael Pitt nodded without speaking. He looked he was feeling anxious again, trying to pull out a cigarette out of habit. Wang Yang lost his impatience. He said immediately, “Get out. Smoke outside. I need to get some sleep.” So Michael Pitt walked out, holding his cigarette between his lips. He said goodnight before he closed the door.
After driving Michael Pitt out of the door, Wang Yang lay down on his bed again, but he suddenly did not feel sleepy anymore. Instead, he kept asking himself, “What is the answer?”
He tossed and turned restlessly for some time. Then, he stopped struggling. He put on his coat and walked onto the balcony. He gazed at the dark, night sky. The chilly wind made him shiver, but it also put his mind extremely clear. “Is this what I wanted? Of course. I always want to make films. Did I make it? I seemed to. Yeah. I’m a director now. I’ve found what I sought. Then, what’s next?”
Making more films! Isn’t this what I like to do—what I want to do all the time? Wang Yang suddenly burst out laughing. The answer turned out to be so simple. He had made it, but he still had more dreams. His dreams were not over yet.
“At least I haven’t watched Cinema Paradiso’s last films yet, have I?” Wang Yang smiled happily, shaking his head. He had planned to wait until Paranormal Activity had been released, but when that day had finally come, he could not bear to watch them, as if he would lose something precious if he were to watch them. So, he told himself he would wait until his first camera film was released instead.
Walking back into his room, Wang Yang said to himself with a smile, “D*mn it. What kind of images would those films present? It’s killing me!”