Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
After a hard day’s work, they finally finished the renovation of the living room, bedroom, and some other places where the shooting would take place. Thank God he got help from Jessica and her brother. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to finish the work just by himself. Now, the walls were all snow-white and good enough for filming.
After Jessica and her brother left, Wang Yang cleaned up the “construction site”, took a hot shower, and quickly ate up a large pizza sent to him by delivery.
After satisfying his stomach, Wang Yang sat down in front of the computer desk and began to write the script. The “Paranormal Activity” in the future was not shot with a settled script, but it was created at the scene. The reason for that was because the lines in the horror movies of this type were not the key to success. The key should be using the scenes to create a frightening atmosphere. In other words, it should make the audiences “scare themselves”. Moreover, the DV camcorder movies should be close to real, daily life, so the lines should be colloquial instead of intentionally sophisticated. Therefore, there was not too much work for the lines in the script. He just needed to clarify the plots in order to make the actors understand the overall circumstance.
The emphasis of his creation was the shooting script, also known as the “director script”. Just like the human body consisted of cells, a movie consisted of shots. The director needed to design every individual shot, and Wang Yang’s job was to complete the design. In fact, the whole crew’s responsibility was all his, so he could make the script relatively simple as long as he could understand it himself.
One of the advantages of the shooting script was it being visually direct. For example, it could help the director explain complicated shots to the crew, such as the shots with special effects and the shots in need of digital image processing technology after shooting. Without the shooting script, the director would have to explain the script to dozens of people, including the actors, cinematographers, and even hundreds of members of the crew. It was, no doubt, dreadful work. In the end, it was highly possible that the director would be driven insane wondering why nobody could understand his intention.
Nobody could read minds. No language could be as direct as the image. As long as you could draw the images in your head on the paper, others would understand it immediately, and that was the advantage of the shooting script.
When Wang Yang was still at USC, he had also understood the weaknesses of the shooting script. Simply put, this method of dividing shots could put a shackle on the director’s creation. With the shooting script, the director may mechanically make the images on paper into films. But for a lot of times, when the story, actors, and the reality all collided together, some magical chemistry would be created. Naturally, those contents and surprises were unpredictable, and the shooting script would even hinder them from happening.
“A long time ago, when I first realized this point, I tore up my shooting script. Ever since then, I have avoided using the shooting script as much as possible.” This was the word of wisdom said by a professor of a shooting class. Wang Yang still remembered how the professor had said in enjoyment, “Life itself is far more abundant than anything. When you are on the job and connect your ideas with reality, you will have a magical feeling.”
And then, the professor had made a joke, which had filled the classroom with laughter. “Of course, you can also fall in love with the shooting script. Because as long as the cinematographers set up all the machines and the actors are all in position, you can start to spread the shooting scripts to all of them. You don’t even need to look at the monitor! What? How do I feel about the position of that actor? Should he move a little left or a little right? Let’s leave this question to the assistant director, please! Because I am going home!”
Thinking of those anecdotes in class, Wang Yang smiled, shaking his head. Although he didn’t have much shooting experience, he couldn’t have agreed more with that professor. The shooting script shouldn’t become a shackle to a director. In his opinion, a director should first decide the camera position and visual effect, and then tell the crew his or her intention during the shooting, giving enough freedom to the actors to create the roles. A good director should always control the degree of flexibility.
Therefore, Wang Yang’s shooting script was more like a rundown. He would only draw those decided and unchangeable shots on paper—for example, the scene of “in a dim room, the TV screen reflects a creepy ghost shadow”. But his drawing was so ugly… Well, as his art teacher had commented, “Perfect composition of the picture, but lack of talent of drawing. Suitable for abstractionism.”
Fortunately, for now, he was the only one who needed to understand the shooting script.
It wasn’t till late at night that Wang Yang went to bed. The next day, he continued the project of building up the set, and his mission was to go to the leasing company for furniture and appliance renting. This time, his companion was only Joshua. He, obviously sent by Jessica, was driving a blue minivan, ready to load the furniture. Jessica had an audition for a small role in a comedy, so she had no time to help him today.
According to the story, a new couple moved into the new house, meaning all of the furniture should be rather new, if not brand new. Therefore, the sofa with several giant holes was totally out of the picture. As a matter of fact, the entire set in the apartment, including the sofa, cabinets, bed, big TV, and fridge needed to be replaced. But none of them were cheap. Sadly, his 9,500 dollars wouldn’t even be enough to purchase all of the furniture and appliances.
He was so grateful for the person who invented “leasing”, and he was even more grateful for the first runner of the leasing company. Because of the leasing service, Wang Yang could rent all of the furniture and appliances for one month with a small amount of money, and one month was long enough for him to finish shooting “Paranormal Activity”. In fact, shooting the original version had only taken one week.
The leasing company Wang Yang chose was called “The Entrepreneur”, it was a big furniture and appliance leasing company that focused on the service of young entrepreneurs and helped them reduce the burden of purchasing office equipment. At the same time, this company served families, such as Wang Yang, who required a big double bed and all kinds of other furniture.
As soon as he arrived at his destination, he began to browse around zealously. All of the furniture and electrical appliances were rowed up on the floor neatly with a “$” sign indicating the leasing price per month.
Joshua followed him behind, idling around. He randomly touched the sofas and chairs. At last, he even lay on a big bed, pretending to sleep.
Along the way, he hadn’t really talked much, but Wang Yang knew he was just preparing for a big show. As expected, when Wang Yang was picking the sofa, he sat on the corner of a sofa lying backward and said, “Dude, it’s only the two of us now, so let me make it clear.”
“What’s up?” Wang Yang turned around and took a glimpse at him confusingly. And then he continued browsing the sofas, considering which one of them could provide a stronger feeling of stress to the audience in a dark environment.
“I’m not sure what game you are playing, but if you are trying to hurt my family, then I’ll make you regret being born into this world,” Joshua said maliciously. Unfortunately, his immature voice sold him out.
Wang Yang couldn’t help laughing and turned to Joshua again, opening his hands and saying, “Why do you think like that? Come on, why would I hurt Jessica? How would I hurt her?”
“Uh-oh, I wouldn’t know about that!” Joshua snorted and continued profoundly, “But women always get hurt by various things. Well, I’ve personally broken many women’s hearts.”
“Wow, really? Who would have expected that you were such a big charmer? So you mean, I am a charmer, too?” Wang Yang asked, laughing. Interestingly, he wasn’t angry with Joshua at all for what he had said to him.
Joshua changed his position and began to rub his chin, observing Wang Yang from head to toe, then he evaluated him like an expert. “Well, you? Not too skinny, no obvious flaws on your face, but you have nothing to do with the word ‘charmer’. Absolutely zero connection to the word ‘charmer’!” He looked at Wang Yang compassionately and shrugged, saying, “But you know, women were born with curiosity. They always want to explore the things they are not familiar with. For example, an Asian guy who has a different skin color and hair color.”
In fact, Joshua had never seen his sister, Jessica, being so enthusiastic about a man. She had always kept a lukewarm attitude toward men, sometimes even rather alert. She once had said men spent 90 percent of their time thinking about women’s bodies, which made her feel disgusted.
Actually, Joshua knew the underlying reason. Jessica was not a pretty little girl when she was a kid. Therefore, she was always bullied and made fun of by the boys at the same age. As she became more and more good-looking, the boys at the same age started to flatter her. Such experience had made Jessica very disappointed in men. But he just couldn’t figure out what’s so special about Wang Yang, which made Jessica treated him so differently.
“Joshua, you really think too much. Jessica and I are just friends.” Wang Yang shook his head smilingly and then sounded him out carefully, “Honestly, she and I only met each other two days ago. I don’t even know whether or not she has a boyfriend.”
“Now what? You want to know?” Joshua lifted his frowns and laughed, “Then let me tell you, the answer is yes! Of course, yes! Jessica is not a kid anymore, let alone the fact that she is so hot now! Gosh, her admirers could line up from LA to China. Her boyfriend, well, Jack… Jack is an extremely outstanding person, handsome, great sense of humor, and good at sports. He is the core player in the school basketball team in the position of the swingman, like Michael Jordan.”
And then he sighed loudly. “You know? Jessica loves the guys who play basketball! So they are super intimate.” Then he continued smilingly, “Anyway, man, let me tell you the truth. You are out!”
“Oh, really?” Wang Yang couldn’t tell whether what he had just said was true or not, but he tended to believe it was a lie. However, it was true that Jessica was not an 8-year-old anymore. She was 17 and gorgeous now. It would have been absolutely normal if she had a boyfriend.
A gloating expression was all over Joshua’s face. Wang Yang then asked curiously, “Dude, why do you hate me so much? Come on, be a man. Tell me the truth.”
“Oh? I hate you? How did you expect being treated by me?” Joshua scorned and said, “How should I treat a student who got kicked out from USC? And the reason being racism toward African Americans? Dude, my father is a Mexican American, and so am I.”
Got it! That’s the reason! Wang Yang asked, “Did Jessica tell you about this?”
“Nope, I found out by myself. There was an expulsion letter in your cardboard box. Oops, sorry, I took a look at it by myself.” Joshua crossed his legs. Wang couldn’t find any trace of regret on his face, even though he apologized.
Wang Yang shrugged and explained, “I am not a racist. I’ve been wrongly accused.” And then, he told Joshua the whole story.
“Okay, okay, I guess you’ve told Jessica some story, haven’t you?” Joshua burst into laughter and shook his finger at him, saying, “I’ve seen too many people of your kind. Maybe your story could fool an innocent girl, but it won’t work for me. Cut the crap. USC is a top university, so how could it be possible that they would wrongly accuse you? Not to mention, did they really expel you for this one mistake? Obviously, you must have a long list of being a bad student, so that the school couldn’t put up with you anymore. I reckon your terrible history not only includes racism but also includes drugs!”
“The school refused to give me a second chance because of my skin color. They are the racists.” Wang Yang didn’t want to further the argument any longer, so he added, “I didn’t do it, no matter you believe it or not.” Then, he went back picking sofas.
Joshua stood up, snorted, “Dude, I’ll keep an eye on you anyway! So don’t you play any games.”
“Yeah, keep an eye on me. Let’s see if you can find any glass pipes,” said Wang Yang indifferently. Finally, he picked a sofa in maroon, then he took off the price tag and asked for help from a shopping assistant, “I’d like to rent this one, that one, and that…”
After about one hour browsing, Wang Yang signed a short-term rental contract with “The Entrepreneur”. Since the furniture was all in very good condition, and he only needed them for the short term, the price was relatively high. The deposit was three grand, and the rental fee was one grand. In the end, 4,000 dollars were spent.
Except for the deposit, the production cost of this movie had risen to 1,500 dollars, which meant he only had a 5,500-dollar cash stash now.
“All set! Since the contract that I signed is a short-term one, we will have to ship these giant pieces of furniture home on our own. Let’s do it!” Wang Yang, rolling up his sleeves and patting the sofa, told Joshua to lift the sofa up.
Joshua stared at the gigantic maroon sofa, frowning miserably and saying, “God d*mn it! I am not only the driver today, but a furniture remover, too?!”
After a few trips coming back and forth, they finally transported all the furniture and electrical appliances to the apartment. As for the old furniture and appliances, Wang Yang stuffed them all into a small room. In fact, the more chaotic the small room was, the better shots he would get.
“Oh, God, my holy God… I’m so exhausted. I’m exhausted to death…” After a long, hard-working day, Joshua lay on the sofa, closing his eyes and panting heavily. Apparently, he was too tired to move a finger.
Wang Yang also felt exhausted, but not as exaggerated as Joshua. He said, “It’s too dangerous driving like this. How about I drive you home, and I can just take the subway back?”
“No, no, NO!” Upon hearing Wang Yang’s suggestion, Joshua instantly jumped up, and his eyes almost popped out. He said, “I know what you want to do, but no way!” He rushed into the bathroom, splashed some cold water on his face, and grumbled for a while. When he was about to leave, he said, “I’m leaving, and don’t follow me!”
The door was slammed. Wang Yang rolled his eyes, thinking, “How come I don’t even know what I want to do?”
After a shower and his dinner, Wang Yang held the shooting equipment he had rented from the leasing company today, wandering in the apartment, shooting here and there. The deposit of the DV camcorder was one grand, and another 300 dollars for its leasing. That was to say, the total cost of the movie had become 1,800 dollars, and his cash decreased to 4,200.
But anyway, the apartment looked like a brand new home now! Wang Yang held the DV camcorder, swinging it unstably. He wanted to figure out the special shooting technique that could present the narrative from the first-person perspective—the one that could make the audiences feel dizzy!
By then, the shooting script and the set for the movie were almost done. As soon as he found two actors, the entire project could start rolling!
How important were the actors to a movie? Undoubtedly, the answer was “extremely”. Besides the script and director, the other most vital factor in a successful movie was the actors, especially to feature films. Only could a qualified actor understand what the director wanted to express, and only with a first-class performing technique could the director’s intention be fully delivered to the audiences. A bad actor, however, could simply ruin everything.
Although “Paranormal Activity” was a horror movie, which was shot by a DV camcorder, it seemed that the actors only needed to open their mouths and scream. But in fact, that was not true. To begin with, there were not many plots that required the actors to scream. The story was a psychological game, which would depend on the performance of the actors. Therefore, it required the actors to have a certain level of performing skills. Simply put, not everyone walking on the LA streets could be an actor.
To cast two good actors would be the most expensive part of the production cost.
Certainly, the highest price he could afford, including the deposit, was only about 8,000 dollars… Good actors? Well, it was still a long time till Christmas, and the old buddy Santa was still on vacation now.
But no matter what, Wang Yang was going to find his actors in Hollywood tomorrow.
While he was thinking about the casting, the phone rang. Wang Yang held the DV camcorder in one hand and drew out the cellphone with the other hand. It was Jessica, so he answered, “Hi, Jessica.”
“Hi, Yang! How was your day? Did Joshua help you?” Jessica’s voice was as sweet as usual, which reminded him of her pretty smile.
“Yeah, he was a big help. It was very nice of him.” Wang Yang sat down on the sofa with a big smile on his face. Actually, he hadn’t heard any news about Jessica’s audition, so he asked, “How was the audition?”
Jessica, from the other end of the line, sighed disappointedly, “Not well. The producer said I was not bad, but the director didn’t like me. So I’ll have to stay unemployed.”
“I’m so sorry.” Wang Yang tried to comfort her and said, “But, Jessica, you gotta remember there are still so many chances out there.” The role that Jessica got cast for only had one or two lines in total, and she would have less than three shots. This role was just one of many female student roles in a school comedy. That director was, no doubt, a picky one.
“Thank you. I’m fine…” Jessica smiled strong-mindedly.