Hollywood Director 1992.

Chapter 50: Finale

The second version of "Paranormal Activity" was filmed intensively in the villa for six days and was declared completed.

The film was shot in San Diego over 16 days, which took longer than expected and cost $2 more than the budget.

Including actors' salaries, props expenses, costume expenses, makeup expenses, food, accommodation, and post-production, the total investment is approximately US$8.5.

If his salary as director and leading actor is included, the investment is over 500,000.

In fact, after filming the movie, he couldn't believe that the original director Oren Pelly was able to complete the movie with only $1.1.

Even if all the actors are non-professionals and the filming takes seven days, the cost of post-production including subtitles, sound mixing, digital format conversion and other issues will be more than $5.

However, the small investment is a good gimmick. When the movie is released in the future, he will announce to the public that it only cost 2 US dollars.

After the second version of "Paranormal Activity" was completed, Link and the crew returned to Los Angeles again.

After handing the apartment key to Monica, he took the videotape back to the editing studio under Guess What Pictures and began editing version 2.

The second time I edited the same movie, the operation went more smoothly and it took me three days to finish the rough film.

But when he watched the second version, he found an obvious problem: Monica's performance in the second take was much worse than the first time.

When you look at each shot individually, it is not so obvious, but when you watch the finished film after editing, many small problems will be magnified and the differences will become obvious.

From her facial expressions to her lines to her movements, none of them were as natural and casual as when she acted opposite him. She was also not intimate enough when interacting with the male lead Jeremy Northam. Although they looked a good match, they were not in harmony with each other at heart.

Link sat in the editing room and watched version one and version two over and over again.

After reading it several times, he came up with a solution.

Cut out Monica's performance from version one and put it in version two.

This idea is bold, but also highly feasible.

In this movie, the role of the male protagonist is similar to that of a cameraman and director, often standing behind the camera to shoot the female protagonist.

Except for the sleeping scenes at night, he rarely appears on screen with the heroine during the day, and most of the time he appears in scenes with his voice.

Just do it.

He continued to spend time in the editing studio editing two films. There was a bathroom and a bed in the studio. Except for eating, he spent all his time in the editing room.

It took four days.

After rough and fine editing, the two versions were finally perfectly combined to form version three.

With the addition of post-production sound effects and mixing, version three is almost complete.

It was only when he watched version three that he discovered something strange that made him shudder.

In version three, there seemed to be a non-existent person in the villa, wandering around the hero and heroine, constantly creating a terrifying atmosphere.

This phenomenon is more obvious in Monica. Her eyes and movements have an indescribable sense of weirdness in the new version.

The thriller brought by version one and version two is even stronger, as if it were real.

When he was watching the finished film alone in the editing room, he always felt like there was something standing behind him, and his back felt slightly cold.

When I looked back suddenly, there was nothing.

This is also the charm of the movie.

The individual lenses are unremarkable.

When these shots are edited and spliced together to form a complete movie, many elements in the movie will be magnified, producing an effect of turning decay into magic.

When shots containing love elements are combined together, emotions are amplified and the plot becomes sweet, sad and touching.

Shots containing comedic elements are combined together, emotions are amplified, and the movie will make people laugh and cry, or cry and laugh, or laugh out loud.

Horror movies bring this effect to the extreme. Although they cannot make people laugh, cry or be moved, they can speed up their heartbeats, stimulate their endocrine system, and affect their psychological and mental state. It is a deeper level of stimulation.

When a horror movie is taken to its extreme, it can even affect people's perception and cognition, making their perception of the surrounding environment disordered.

For example, when he was watching version three, there was nothing behind him, but stimulated by the movie, there seemed to be something in his sensory feedback, giving him an extremely insecure feeling.

The stronger this kind of mental stimulation is, the higher the quality of the movie is. "Link, what did you call me for?"

"Version 2 has been edited. Can you help me check if there are any mistakes? Find them and I'll cut them out."

"No problem, it's a piece of cake."

After watching version three twice, Link felt very uncomfortable, so he called Chris Bauer to come over to keep him company.

The movie starts playing.

At the beginning, Chris Bauer crossed his arms, flexed his strong muscles, and watched the movie leisurely.

After watching for more than 13 minutes, on the evening of the th day, Chris Ball began to cover his eyes with his hands, and a layer of goose bumps appeared on his exposed arms.

"Shh, this is too scary, Link, is there something wrong with this version? Why is it so scary? It seems like there really is a ghost in that room."

Chris Bauer not only covered his eyes, he also planned to plug his ears with tissues.

"Don't scare yourself. You made those noises. Don't you know what's going on?"

"It's different, totally different. When we were filming, I was just making noises outside. Now in the movie, there are not only sounds, but also pictures. In short, I feel terrible."

Chris Bauer touched the back of his head and couldn't help but turn his head to look behind him.

"Don't be afraid, there's nothing to be afraid of between the two of us."

"Okay, I'll hold on a little longer."

Chris Bauer persisted until the 17th night and refused to watch it no matter what, even if he was paid, for fear that he would be scared to death in the apartment at night.

Link had no choice but to call Daniel DeVito and ask him to bring two brave staff members to the editing room to help.

More than ten minutes later, Daniel DeVito came in with two staff members from the production department.

When five people watch a horror movie together, the horror effect is much weaker, but it is still very scary.

As Daniel DeVito watched the movie, his hands were clenched into fists and a thin layer of sweat appeared on his forehead.

Like Chris Bauer, the two staff members looked back three or four times while watching the film.

One of them couldn't help but scream three times and turned his head away, not daring to look any further.

"Link, is there something wrong with this movie?"

Daniel DeVito wiped the sweat off his forehead with a tissue, and saw that there was also sweat on his glasses, so he took them off and wiped them. His head, which was slightly larger than that of an ordinary person, looked even funnier.

"what is the problem?"

"Is it too scary? Five of us men, watching together with the lights on, would feel uncomfortable. The lights in the cinema are dim and the sound effects enhance the sound, which makes the sense of horror even stronger. Many viewers may not be able to hold on."

"You underestimate the audience. Audiences who like horror movies are relatively bold. They like to seek excitement by watching such movies. The stronger the excitement, the more they like it. We just need to capture this part of the audience and meet their needs without worrying about the lack of box office revenue."

“When are you planning on releasing it?”

"Don't worry, let's have a meeting tomorrow to discuss the promotion of the movie before it's released. This movie is relatively new, so if we want to make a profit at the box office, we have to think about the promotion."

"Ok."

After Daniel DeVito and others left, Link continued to find flaws and refine the film images in the editing room alone.

When I watched it alone, that creepy feeling came over me again, and I felt a chill all over my body.

That's the downside of being a horror film director.

When ordinary people watch horror movies, they can cover their eyes and turn their heads away when they see scary things.

But horror film directors have to watch.

Face your fears.

It’s just that the aftereffects are a bit serious.

　Thanks to '删除级的米蟲' for the reward, plus 1 to express my gratitude.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)