Producer [American Entertainment]

Since the previous titles of the movie were completely rejected, the crew is hurrying up and shooting a new title.

It was a sunny afternoon, and French soup was simmering slowly on the gas.The intoxicated expression on the heroine Amy's face seems to allow people to smell the freshness and deliciousness of the soup through the camera.

The answering machine is playing a call from Amy's friend asking her to remember to try on her mother's old wedding dress.

The wedding dress is placed on the sofa, and in the spacious and warm living room, there is also a white-frame fitting mirror of equal height.Reminded by her friend, Amy left the semi-open kitchen, picked up the white wedding dress and put it in front of her, and swayed it around a few times in the mirror, humming a cheerful song. Joy and happiness are beyond words.

This is a bride-to-be who is about to enter the wedding hall. She is at the happiest moment of her life, full of hope for the future married life, and has not been polished by daily necessities.

At this moment, with a bang, there was a strange noise from the second floor of the house where there was no one except Amy.

Amy was taken aback.Did someone come in?She hurriedly put down her wedding dress, picked up the nearest baseball bat in the living room, it came from her fiancé, held it in front of her, took a deep breath, and decided to go upstairs.

"Most of the protagonists in horror movies have such a fearless spirit." William complained to his assistant Wendy while watching the filming.

Assistant to a production assistant, what a weird position.

Wendy thought about William's words, and it seemed that this was really the case: "I know it's dangerous, but I still go up. Is the hostess afraid that I won't die fast enough?"

"It's the same as everyone knowing that such a plot is stupid, but they still want to shoot it." Because this can create a sense of tension, it echoes the theme of the movie's horror from the beginning.

The empty home, the protagonist alone, and the sudden and dangerous noise, combined with the horrible background sound effects in the later stage, work together.

Shooting continues.

As most people know, after Amy went upstairs, at the moment when everyone was emboldened, she kicked open the door of the bedroom on the second floor, only to find that there was nothing inside except the windows. Closed, the curtains rustled, and the wind blew off the decorations on the table.

Amy breathed a sigh of relief, even smiled slightly, relaxed all her nerves, and returned downstairs with a baseball bat.

then……

She looked at the blood-stained wedding dress thrown to the ground, and screamed.

On the full-length mirror, a big sentence full of bloody meaning was written in red unknown liquid: "I Know You're Alone. (I know you are alone)"

Here is just the name of the movie, He Knows You're Alone (He Knows You're Alone, also translates blood red splashing white gauze).

This is a common practice in horror movies.

Raise the tension of the audience to a tense level first, and then nothing happens, disappointing expectations. When everyone is still adapting to this kind of helplessness that seems to be punched on the cotton, it is violent.

It's hard for the audience not to be scared.

But... if you watch it live, you won't be intimidated at all.Because it was just this simple scene, which was filmed back and forth four or five times, Wendy felt that at least she would not be afraid anymore, because she already understood how it all happened.A wedding dress without paint, a wedding dress with paint, a mirror without writing, and a mirror with writing written in advance.

The two scenes, the first floor and the second floor, are actually on the same plane.

Actress Catherine, who plays Amy, is on the first floor on the left, holding a wedding dress without paint, and performing happiness in front of a mirror without writing; .In the end, he went back to the left, faced the props that the scene manager had changed, covered his face, and screamed again and again pretending to be scared.

"In a short time, I probably don't want to watch horror movies anymore." Wendy said.

William shrugged, and he didn't think about it either.He found another topic: "Do you want to know what the crew is filming?"

Wendy's current status is not enough to touch the script.In fact, even the boss who was in charge of bringing Wendy to familiarize herself with the business—the one who was not brought to New York this time—Secretary Ji Ye was not qualified to know.

After arriving at the set, Wendy has always been very disciplined and never showed unnecessary curiosity. Even if the script is close at hand, or even handed over to her directly, she insists on never looking through it, because she is not sure Whether William believed her, and whether she was allowed to read these scripts, which were still secret to the outside world during filming.

Finally, Wendy's loyalty earned William's initial trust.

Although William had always known that Wendy would be a great assistant-type talent, he was not in a hurry to use Wendy.Because his standard for employing people has always been to put "loyalty" at the top of the list.It was William's father, Mr. Therus had told him.

"Loyalty is more important than ability, do you know why?"

The young William looked at his distraught father with a puzzled expression, and finally shook his head honestly: "I don't understand, what my grandfather said clearly is that ability is more important than loyalty, because as long as you are strong enough, you can spot betrayal first, No one dares to do anything to you. Blind loyalty will not accomplish anything."

"Yes, yes, from my father's education, it used to be the most reasonable thing in the world I believed in. But look at our results now, William, your grandfather is dead, and our family will soon be kicked out of the family , this is why."

William combined the two experiences of his grandfather and father, and put loyalty first before he was not strong enough.

"Of course I'm curious, but if it embarrasses you, then I'd rather die of curiosity." Wendy was caught off guard, and at that moment, like a stroke of magic, she understood William's subtext.

After this problem, the relationship between them has taken a qualitative leap.

This is the dream opportunity for anyone who aims to become the boss's confidant.Wendy considered herself lucky to have touched the edge in the first month, her nervous palms were sweaty because she didn't want to screw it up at all.

"Relax, Wendy, it's just a script, and it's not a state secret. You don't need to risk your life."

Wendy didn't relax, because for Hollywood, the script is a state secret.But she didn't say that, she just cooperated with William and said, "After following the crew for so long, I still haven't been able to understand what this thriller is about."

"Based on what you've seen so far, let's make up a story that you think is possible." William didn't rush to talk about the content of the movie, because he suddenly had a brand new idea about Wendy's positioning.

"Well, the male protagonist played by Hanks and the female protagonist played by Caitlin are a pair of unmarried couples. They are very loving and are about to get married, but Caitlin was targeted by a perverted killer, and her friend died because of it. Yes. I can see so much now, oh, yes, sometimes I think Hanks’ hero is very strange. When he doesn’t watch the heroine, he will suddenly become abnormally attractive and bad. That kind of charm. But it kind of conflicts with his honest and reliable fiancée, doesn't it?"

William raised the corners of his lips: "If Hanks is the perverted killer, then there will be no conflict."

"It's impossible!" the brown-haired Wendy exclaimed in a low voice, she covered her mouth, "Oh, God, this is too cruel, the hostess never found out about it, she trusted him so much, I want to be with him all the time, thinking it's safe. God, if you can't even trust your fiancé, who else can the heroine trust? I can't say it, I feel the hair on my back."

William spread his hands, wondering whether it was a difference between men and women, or a difference in personality. He didn't actually feel how scary it was.

"What was the original script like?" Wendy pretended to be brave and asked a curious question that she thought was bold.During this time, Armand, the director, never stopped telling people how he and William revised the script and brought new inspiration.

"The plot is similar to this, almost the same"

"Huh?" Wendy was taken aback.

It's just that in the original script, as the male lead, Hanks basically didn't have any part in the scene, and it was purely a soy sauce.Moreover, from the beginning of the story, Hanks' role setting has been unreservedly spoiled to the audience to know that he is the perverted killer who specializes in killing his own bride.

William asked again: "What is the most frightening thing, do you know?"

"Uh, the devil hiding under the bed?" This was what Wendy was most afraid of when she was a child. She always felt that a furry hand would reach out from under the bed, grab her suddenly, and drag her to hell, or somewhere else.

"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself (the greatest fear is fear itself). Roosevelt's famous quote."

Why do people fear?Because unknown.At least, a large part of the reason comes from this.Pain, death, a killer who doesn't know where to hide, or supernatural power, isn't it all the same?

In order to pursue excitement, some viewers will act like masochistic, the more frightened they are, the more they want to watch.

But like the script at the beginning, it is completely unacceptable to directly spoil the bride being killed by the groom.It is conceivable why this movie was disliked by so many people in the beginning.The murderer already knew, what else is unknown?Without the unknown, there is no fear, and the whole thriller is just boring.

In fact, from the director's intention, it can be seen that he also wanted to set the identity of the perverted murderer as unknown at the beginning, but...probably in order to let the audience have a feeling of sudden enlightenment in the future, so the foreshadowing is in one It was buried at the beginning, but the foreshadowing was so obvious that even a person with no brains could guess that the murderer was his fiancé.

Setting the foreshadowing also requires skill. Obviously, Armand, who is a director for the first time, is a very bad foreshadowing setter.

However, Armand still refused to stop, so he arranged a weird ex-boyfriend role, but this not only failed to save the spoiler, but even had the opposite effect, the role of this ex-boyfriend would make people feel safe.

Think about it, the unknown is not scary enough, plus an ex-boyfriend who looks like a bad guy, but everyone knows that he is a good guy... What else can this thriller wait for if it doesn't hit the street?

"But that's not the worst." William said, "The worst thing is that there is a big problem with the perspective of the movie camera. Many shots are shot from the perspective of the perverted killer. This side of the camera is the audience , the character that the audience brings in unconsciously will definitely not be the heroine who is in danger, but the heroine who regards the heroine as prey. Tell me, when you feel that you are a perverted murderer, you still feel that Is it dangerous?"

Wendy shook her head vigorously, even she could feel how bad the previous script was.

"How can this be remedied?" The whole script seems to have no other way to save it except for remaking it. After all, the shooting angle was wrong from the very beginning.

"Adjust the front and back sequence of the filmed plot."

Chapter 11 No. 11 Days to Earth: The word "smooth sailing" has nothing to do with the crew.

Wendy got it right: "It's similar to saving the 'surprise' that the hero is a perverted killer until the end, and revealing it in the climax part. Is this an adjustment?"

"bingo (correct answer)."

Blood Red had a start that couldn't have been worse, with two main slots.

First, at the most critical point, it is necessary to arrest people and help the audience understand the beginning of the movie, and spend several minutes acting a horror movie that has nothing to do with the main plot.

Yes, it's the kind of title that makes the audience build up a familiar emotion after acting hard, and then tells everyone that this is actually someone watching a horror movie in a movie theater.And this horror movie has nothing to do with our main storyline, dear.

"...What a strange beginning." Wendy felt that this was the gentlest word she could find.

The first impression is very important. Whether it is for people or movies, it is quite daring for Blood Red to spend a few minutes to send the audience's attention to another completely different story.

Director Armand explained the reason to William at the beginning: "This horror film at the beginning tells the story of a woman who cheated on her, her boyfriend killed her and the adulterer who cheated on her, echoing why the hero became a The original reason for the perverted killer. I want to express it a little more cryptically."

When he heard the director's idea at that time, William felt that scolding him without opening his mouth was a good way of self-cultivation.

Because just after the plot in the movie theater, the second dead bride played immediately. She has already faced the camera and explained to the audience why she was killed. She betrayed the male lead... this Where is the obscurity?A question, I said it twice, is there too much film to use?Semantic repetition is a taboo in fast-paced films.

Again, Armand is really a bad foreshadower.

Either the burial is too obvious, or the burial is meaningless.

"Then what happened to the title?" Wendy asked.

"Delete lengthy clips and put them in the back, so that the heroine, the hero and friends are watching a movie at home. The hero commented that the heroine in the movie deserves to be killed. The heroine disagrees, argues with her, and separates because of this. Encountering a life-threatening situation, the friend who stood on the side of the heroine was killed in the end. It hints at the theme and serves as a point of conflict for a small climax."

"What about the first two brides that the killer killed in the first place?"

"This is the second failure at the beginning, which destroys the mystery of the whole movie. Of course, it must be played later."

At the beginning, one of the two women who watched the movie in the cinema died, and the movie pointed out the identity of the deceased bride-to-be through the mouth of others.This is not over yet, and the second bride-to-be who was killed was played immediately, allowing the audience to see how she was killed from the perspective of a murderer... The identity of the fiancé and the reason for the murder were completely spoiled.

Armand is also considered a talent, able to make a thriller so not scary.

"It's been 15 minutes since then? The heroine hasn't appeared yet?" Wendy's eyes widened in disbelief.

"Oh." This was William's answer, and it lasted more than 15 minutes.

The clips of the two brides will be processed in the same way as the previous horror films, cutting out the lengthy and weird parts, and postponing them for the climactic memory kill, as the key to revealing everything.By the way, it can also echo back and forth with the horror film with a small climax, making people understand that it is a foreshadowing, not something meaningless to delay time.

"Where's the heroine's weird ex-boyfriend?" This one took up a bigger part of the scene, making it hard to tell who is the real heroine.

"He will become the heroine's fantasy."

Armand is not completely without advantages, but his advantages are as obvious as his failures.From the movie, it can be felt that he wanted to shoot this film with layers, and used a lot of bold and innovative shooting techniques.

It's just that he didn't grasp the level of fire he wanted, and his innovative shooting techniques were completely in the wrong place.

But by changing the angle of these shot clips and turning them into the hallucinations and horror dreams that the heroine had under great mental oppression, it will turn decay into magic, creating a very illusory, but Enough tension.

Coupled with a few scenes of the heroine waking up from a nightmare, it will become a good selling point.

By the way, it can also be highlighted from the side. Before killing the man, it is a strange pleasure and a clever method for the male protagonist to constantly mentally torture his fiancee.

"It's not that he doesn't have talent, it's just that he uses it in the wrong place." Wendy nodded thoughtfully.

"Many people have flashes of special genius." It's just that most of the time, these flashes of inspiration are used in the wrong place, and a talent is buried.

"These can be done by post-editing, right? So what is the crew filming now?"

"I'm glad you asked about this, they are now re-shooting the hero's shots." In the previous version, the number of minutes played by the hero was really too small, because at the beginning, the heroine found herself While being followed, his fiancé went out to have a bachelor party.

The director probably wanted to use this method to numb the audience and let everyone rule out the possibility that the fiancé was the murderer.

However, it didn't work at all.

Because when a person feels in danger, what does she do?Find your own family and friends to be there for you, not to be alone.These people who are hired to accompany the heroine will be the most reliable and safe for the audience.For example, in the original version, the ex-boyfriend who was pulled by the heroine to make up the number.

That's what William thinks is the biggest failure of the movie. The role of the ex-boyfriend makes people feel safe.

If the movie must give people a sense of security, it should also come from the male protagonist, so that when he is exposed in the future, the chilling feeling that makes the spine feel particularly frightening.

These are basically single-person shots of Hanks. The crew will insert the shots of the male protagonist into the night talk without him through post-editing. This is probably the magic of the movie. After special processing, it can do It's hard to notice that when shooting this scene, these actors are not in the same room, or even in the same time and space.

For the crew, these single shots without any action scenes are very easy.

The only difficulty is Hanks' acting skills.In the early stage of the movie, he always had to play an honest and stable fiancé, but at the same time, he had to make the audience feel a little restless and couldn't tell what was wrong.

Originally, both William and Armand were ready to have a long talk with Hanks to let him let go of his psychological burden.As a result... Hanks was very excited about it.He said that any good actor, at least someone who aspires to be a good actor, would not want to let go of this opportunity to challenge himself and show his acting skills.

With the cooperation of Hanks, the filming went very smoothly.Although it is his first time acting, as 2B250 judged at the beginning, his performance is very spiritual, and he enters the play very quickly. Even if he is filming alone, he can still meet the requirements of the director and the script.

It's a pity that the word "smooth sailing" probably has nothing to do with the crew.

Just when the script was revised, the director found his status, and the male lead was very talented in acting, the cameraman had a big problem.During the on-site shooting, everyone didn’t notice it when looking through the camera’s viewfinder. After filming for a while, William invited Wendy and the director to watch the raw film that had been shot before, and they realized this major omission in the film.

The cameraman took very fake shots.

The camera has a stabilizer, so there is no super-amateur situation where the picture shakes, but there are no other advantages except that the picture does not shake.

In the dark and cramped studio, Director Armand exploded when he saw such a sample: "What the hell is going on?!"

Many people think that the most important thing in filming is the actor's acting skills. This is true, but if you can't move, you can't find the right angle of light, and the cameraman doesn't cooperate, no matter how good your acting skills are, it's useless.

Now the crew is facing this kind of problem. The cameraman seems to be dozing off when shooting, and he didn’t follow the fill light at all. He took the bright picture that should be there. The whole film is dark and obscure, which is not the kind of intentional The good effects of art films or horror films come out, but they are very bad. Let children hold the camera and they can shoot the effect.

And this is a shortcoming that is difficult to find through the viewfinder under strong light during the day.

Even Wendy, without a harsh critic, can tell that it's not much better than our family's home video at Christmas each year, and there's nothing that isn't amateurish.

Wendy didn't dare to tell the director directly, but in private, she suggested to William: "Even if it's to save money, don't hire an amateur cameraman."

Not everyone can be a photographer.

A good cameraman can make an ordinary person shine in front of the camera, and a bad cameraman can do it successfully, even the most glamorous Hollywood superstars. Both will look like a cheap stripper.There are many examples of films being ruined by cameramen.Of course, there are many examples of successful photographers transforming into directors in the end.

William kneaded his brows: "This is the strange thing, because the crew didn't save money on the cameraman, and even spent more money to hire a cameraman assistant."

Although it was the first time for Armand to be a director, he had a lot of experience running around in the crew before, and he couldn't be stingy about hiring a cameraman.

"And the part that was filmed before is also very good, isn't it?"

"Then what happened to what we saw today?"

"I don't know, but I want to know." William glanced at the brown-haired Wendy. The meaning was simple. It's time to test your assistant's ability.

It is impossible for a superior person to be omniscient and omnipotent all the time. Even Sabatino, as a trapeze man, can control a group as large as Microsoft and even take care of the dissatisfaction of every employee. He opened his eyes, but he has a whole team of professional secretaries and assistants.

Wendy just happened to do a good job in this regard.Although her interpersonal relationship was not very good when she entered MGM, which was full of elites, but in the blood-red film crew full of dicks, she seemed like a fish in water, and she could basically talk to everyone.

Especially before William had specifically asked her to listen to more gossip.