Global Film Emperor

Chapter 509 A Letter from China
Where is Fanny?

"I took her home. She's become more sensible. Knowing I have work, she offered to let me take her home first, and I'll treat her to a big meal tonight."

"Good girl."

"Right? By the way, what do you think of this?"

Lu Ze and his daughter walked behind, chatting quietly. It was clear that Mickey's daughter's understanding and support had put her at ease. She smiled and moved closer to Lu Ze, pretending to be cautious. She took out a brooch from her pocket. It looked to be gold, with only one small gemstone. The design was simple and unique, very suitable for a little girl to wear.

"That's right, you should have bought one for your daughter a long time ago. It's more reliable than boxing gloves. When girls grow up, clothes are always more important than toys."

"I've learned something new."

It's rare for him to get Lu Ze's approval in fashion, so this praise from Lu Ze gave Mickey even more confidence. He put his big hand on Lu Ze's shoulder and patted him a few times to express his satisfaction. His steps were so light that he could probably fly to the sky if he stepped on his left foot with his right foot and his right foot with his left foot.

The cinema on the third floor was rather small, with only twelve seats and no 3D equipment installed. For a film company, this was rather beneath them. However, Mickey and Lu Ze had no intention of upgrading it further. After all, only Lu Ze would usually watch old movies here to pass the time; the others, including Mickey, rarely came up.

Because the equipment was still the mainstream equipment from the early 2000s, all operations were still quite cumbersome. If you wanted to study a movie or do a detailed analysis, it was more appropriate to play it second by second on a computer. In a movie theater, it would slow down the process and make it difficult for people to patiently watch the movie slowly.

Even though it is somewhat cumbersome, time has added a lot of value to it. Starting with the earliest hand-cranked video recorder, each updated and iterated device is displayed in the display case, occupying about half of the space on the third floor. The remaining space is occupied by tens of thousands of film reels, all of which are usable and watchable, representing the development of world film art.

Most of the collection here would only be worth scrap metal to ordinary people, but for filmmakers, they are treasures that can bring tears to their eyes. Even amateur director Griezmann was dazzled, standing in front of the wall, gazing at the somewhat damaged masterpiece, the first printed poster of Chaplin's "City Lights".

He was somewhat lost in thought, and his right hand, which he couldn't control, slowly rose and gently placed on the walnut wood frame, carefully stroking the wood grain that flowed down like a waterfall.

The times subtly change people's positions and mindsets. As filmmakers, we find that the films we make today actually use shooting techniques that were developed a long time ago, making it difficult to innovate. As for special effects such as 3D, they are visual effects, not new ways of using lenses.

Forty or fifty years ago, or even nearly a hundred years ago, filmmakers were innovators, creating a creator that could expand space and time. Today's filmmakers are all following in the footsteps of their predecessors, each step on the path paved by their predecessors. Filmmakers today are all inheritors.

They mostly carry on and learn from these experiences, and as time goes by, they can't help but reminisce about the shock and disbelief they felt when they first encountered a new filming technique.

“My grandfather used to be a film reel courier at the movie theater. He also had a poster like this and once said he wanted to keep it as a family heirloom, but I have been looking for it several times since he passed away, and I still can’t find it.”

Lu Ze and the others didn't respond, but stood quietly behind him, waiting for him to reminisce about his youth. Because of this, his sadness didn't last long before Ke Sha led him to the equipment room to display his work.

Lu Ze and Mickey took their seats first. They didn't talk much and sat in the emperor's seat, each playing on their phones. A few minutes later, the screen turned on and all the lights around were turned off. The two who had returned from backstage sat down next to Lu Ze and Mickey.

Without investors, there was no opening sequence, and the scene went straight to the main feature. However, Lu Ze's first impression was not good, and he frowned after only three seconds.

The footage was too shaky, swaying here and there, making people dizzy. Although Lu Ze knew that this was a movie with a budget of only 10,000 pounds and that it was shot entirely with a handheld camera, with the widespread use of gimbals these days, even a short video recording wouldn't be this shaky.

This wasn't a dislike for the movie, but simply a discomfort with the visuals. Out of respect, Lu Ze remained silent, only glancing at Mickey and Kesha beside him, both of whom had furrowed brows.

As the male and female protagonists begin to communicate, the storyline unfolds, which also proves that this is a mockumentary film. The use of irregular camera shake in this type of film is understandable, as it is necessary to consider the era set in the script. The Nikon old camera that flashes by in the footage can basically determine the era to those who know about film.

Between 2005 and 2010.

Then comes the scene where the male lead appears and sets up the camera; the actor playing this male lead is none other than Griezmann, who brings the film to the door.

“This is my girlfriend.”

Sitting next to Mickey, Griezmann explained softly that, after all, it was a low-budget film, and it was common to use relatives and friends as actors in order to save costs.

"Your girlfriend is very beautiful."

"Thank you." After a brief exchange between Mickey and Griezmann, everyone's attention returned to the film itself. Although the picture quality was somewhat rough due to the limitations of their equipment, the editing was excellent, without any unnecessary dragging, and the plot unfolded smoothly.

This is a very slow-burning movie. The atmosphere of terror only begins to emerge from the very first night when only the key is dropped on the ground, and it still requires a lot of horror elements to build up.

This inevitably requires a character to take on the task of courting death. This is the limitation of horror movies. Other styles of movies generally use events to introduce characters and develop the plot, while these kinds of supernatural movies require people to trigger the events. As a result, most horror movies are very similar. For viewers with rich movie-watching experience, they can clearly deduce the story that is about to be told.

Therefore, supernatural movies always give the audience the feeling that the main character is not mentally sound. If it were a normal person, knowing that there is something evil around them, they would run as far away as possible. Who would dare to be stubborn and go closer?
But there's no way around it; without someone risking their life, this story can't unfold. Unless you break out of this mindset and design an unsolvable horror pattern, or work on camera language and scary plot devices, it's hard to escape the label of being cliché.

Currently, Paranormal Activity is still considered to be in the category of old-fashioned films. Only the pseudo-realistic aspect is somewhat interesting. If it can't even do that, Mickey and Lu Ze will hardly be interested in watching it.

However, as the plot unfolds, with the arrival of the psychic and the male protagonist recklessly buying Ouija board tools to summon spirits, Lu Ze and his companion begin to see through some of the clues.

The control of rhythm is really good.

As each night falls, the atmosphere of terror intensifies. This gradual, incremental progression piques Mickey's interest. This filming method has its advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is that it can draw the audience in, but only if the story is interesting. If the story is uninteresting, the audience will only find it tedious and boring, making them sleepy. In any case, being able to master this rhythm is enough to prove a director's skill.

This made Lu Ze understand why Griezmann chose this documentary style to shoot the film.

Because the plot is slow-burning, he needs to find another point of interest for the audience as a motivation to keep them watching. This point of interest is a bit difficult to talk about, but both men and women will be interested in it.

Peeping, probing, and desire.

We're peeping into the lives of a young couple, and even if they don't do anything outrageous, it's enough to pique our curiosity. What if we add some supernatural elements? For many, it's not particularly thrilling, but they can still watch with great interest, and that's where Griezmann's brilliance lies.

Of course, many people are not interested in this kind of story and are not interested in other people's lives at all. For such people, the story will seem much less interesting. But that doesn't matter. After all, a movie that costs more than ten thousand yuan to make can break even or even make a profit as long as it can attract a small number of people to be interested in it.

The story continues, and after the fifteenth night, the plot begins to get a bit scary. The four of them start to talk less and are completely focused on watching the movie. But Lu Ze knows in his heart that Mickey next to him probably wants to talk to someone.

Someone was scared, and the coward next to him was one of them.

Because of the differences between Chinese and Western cultures, the things that trigger fear are also different. Even if this film is a bit rough for film professionals, as long as it is close to real life, it will always scare some people, even if you are a professional.

Mickey unconsciously rubbed his hands on his trouser legs, probably trying to wipe away the sweat that kept pouring out. His gaze was somewhat evasive, but he would always bravely look back at the film the next second after looking away. It wasn't that he was so engrossed, he just couldn't help it.

Why did he want to buy the movie?

On the contrary, Lu Ze and Ke Sha were somewhat uninterested, indeed because this stuff couldn't scare the Chinese. Changing the face to white, painting the lips with money eyes, and applying some blush might have some effect.

On the twenty-first night of the movie, when the female lead was pulled off the bed by something invisible, Lu Ze clearly felt Mickey next to him tremble. But before he could laugh, his phone in his pocket suddenly vibrated.

Give me a call when you have time.

The text message read that the sender was his second brother, which confused Lu Ze for a moment. Fearing that something urgent might be causing the delay, he gently nudged Kesha, who was almost asleep, with his elbow, squeezed a little space to pass through, and quietly left the screening room. On his way to the conference room, he dialed his second senior brother's number.

"What's wrong, second brother?"

"Daze, there's something I need to ask for your opinion on on behalf of my master. He's in a meeting right now, so he asked me to call you. It's like this: your group leader is retiring due to illness."

"..."

(End of this chapter)