Chapter 66: I'll Let You Become Demonic

  "The Grudge" content, "Paranormal Activity" shell of new horror movie, first day of shooting.

  "Mrs. Lawrence, just wait a moment and you'll show this expression, not smiling, stiff face, how to say it, just like a vegetable, without any vitality." Yi Feiyang carefully instructed Mrs. Lawrence on acting.

  In the original work, Emma is an old woman who suffers from mental illness and lives a rigidly isolated life. However, in Yifei Yang's view, directly turning her into a "zombie" would at least not require too much "acting" from the character.

  "But dear Yi, I'm just half-paralyzed and can still move around."

  "Hehe, I've told you, from now on, you're an actor in this play, so just do what I say and that's it." Yì Fēi Yáng said patiently.

  "Oh, I see. So the play-acting begins, does it? Oh God, look at me, you old fool, don't worry, I'll do just fine. It's not as if I'm pretending to be disabled or anything, I'm actually disabled anyway!" Mrs. Lawrence felt proud of herself for the first time sitting in a wheelchair and being unable to walk freely.

  Yi Feiyang nodded and turned around, seeing Annie Hathaway holding a script in a daze.

  "What's wrong, Annie?" Yì Fēi Yáng asked.

  "This role... doesn't seem quite right for me," Annie said.

  "Why? From head to toe, this female lead seems to not believe in religion at all. If she were a devout believer, even if she didn't pray, God would still protect her from these evil spirits."

  Yi Feiyang fainted.

  It seems necessary for me to give her a detailed explanation myself.

  "Sorry, Annie. I hope you can understand that from now on, it's not about making the heroine more like you, but rather making you more like the heroine, gradually becoming her, got it?"

  Anne Hathaway blinked her eyes, "I understand what you're saying, but..."

  "Alright, no more excuses," Yiyang said in his heart. "You're already on my pirate ship, and you're still so sloppy. The play is about to start shooting soon, go get your makeup done first. Oh right, Mickey, later also help Mrs. Lawrence touch up her makeup, make her look a bit pale, yeah, just like those zombies in horror movies..."

  Mrs. Lawrence, who was thrilled to be an actress, touched her wrinkled face in surprise and complained: "What zombie? I'm a beauty..."

  ……

  Four hours later.

  "Alright, this shot is done! Let me see... the effect is pretty good." Yifeng praised Cindy's shot.

  Although he hadn't done much directing before, Yi Feiyang had a unique advantage - his understanding and grasp of various films. Most importantly, Yi Feiyang had some "genius" qualities, where many unexpected inspirations would suddenly emerge during filming, such as which shots to enlarge or shrink, how to handle close-ups, and how to portray the characters' eye expressions, etc., all of which seemed very "professional" in the eyes of old cinematographer Cindy.

  Thus, in the process of filming, Yi Feiyang has unknowingly played the role of director very well and to the point, most importantly, he has gained the respect of Cindy, Charlie, Mickey and other crew members.

  Being a director requires control, in short, it must have a domineering aura. Being able to subdue people. Therefore, some people make an analogy that the director is actually a general on the battlefield and the embodiment of military affairs, who can bravely kill enemies, issue orders, and operate strategically to win victories thousands of miles away.

  Although the shooting was done quickly, the sky outside still darkened down.

  Everyone is very tired, but Yi Feiyang didn't call for a stop. In his view, this is the time to fight for every second, not the time to show kindness and let things slide.

  "Alright, everyone get ready, prepare to shoot the next scene... Ah, Annie, wait a minute, we're going to shoot you helping Mrs. Lawrence wash her hair, yes, washing her hair, as required by the script, while washing her hair, you'll see an evil spirit, first the water in the pool turns into a terrifying blood red color, your eyes show panic and fear, then a mass of hair emerges from the water, a pair of white-eyed ghosts staring at you, you start screaming loudly."

  "But the evil spirit, we can't create it now, we need to ask a special effects company to help us make it later. So I need you to use your imagination, yes, just imagine, first bleeding water, then hair growing out, and finally the white eyes of the evil spirit... I need you to express the levels of fear and horror gradually, and truly get into character. You are now a lone, helpless private caregiver for an old man! You're no longer Heather, there's no film crew, no camera, and no us! You're just one person alone in this terrifying big house, and then you encounter a ghost, got it?"

  Yi Feiyang's words left Annie Hathaway stunned, to be honest, she didn't think acting would be so complicated. Watching movies before made it seem simple, but now she realizes that nothing is easy.

  "Alright, that's all I've said, I hope you can remember my words, just one sentence: I'll make you go crazy! Yeah, that's it! Alright, let's start filming... Camera in place, lights ready, Action!" Yi Feiyang stared tightly at the lens as filming began.

  Inside the lens, Anne Hathaway plays a female nurse who walks to the edge of the pool, utters a cry, and turns on the faucet.

  The camera zooms in on the pool.

  According to the script, the water flowing from the faucet will slowly turn into blood, but it's not time for special effects yet. This kind of terrifying shot has appeared in many horror movies, most notably the "Ju-On" series, with an amazing and thrilling effect, just like a Viagra for horror movies, always effective.

  Anne Hathaway Now I'm no longer myself, I'm the heroine, I want to feel lonely and terrified, with no one around me, no camera...

  "Card!" Suddenly, Yi Feiyang shouted loudly to stop.

  "Annie, what are you looking at? I told you not to look at the camera, just pretend that nothing around you exists." Yì Fēi Yáng said loudly.

  Anne Hathaway felt embarrassed, she had reminded herself to forget the lens, but still couldn't help sneaking a peek.

  Habits die hard.

  "Sorry, director, can I try it again?"

  "Alright, camera ready, actors in position... Action!" In a moment, Yì Fēi Yáng gave the order again and filming resumed.

  This time, Annie remembered Yi Feiyang's words and forgot everything.

  Eerie music seemed to echo in my ears, the night wind howled and blew, and the glass window creaked and groaned.

  Turn on the faucet, water is flowing out.

  Serene.

  Suddenly, Annie saw the pool water suddenly turn blood red, and the chilling blood gurgled out of the pool and rushed towards her feet...

  Close-up shot:

  Annie's face was terrified, her beautiful eyes wide with fear.

  "Awesome, this expression!" Yi Feiyang praised, staring straight at the camera.

  Then, Annie, who had already entered the play, saw that in the pool that was originally filled with blood, many black hairs suddenly crawled out, spreading out like a spider web and quickly filling the entire pool. As the black hair gradually emerged upwards, a pair of eerie white eyes suddenly appeared...

  "Ah!" Annie began screaming loudly.

  The cry was shrill and eerie, as if he had really seen a ghost.

  "Alright! Filming is finished!" Yì Fēi Yáng shouted.

  But inside the lens, Annie, who had already entered the play, was still screaming and shaking all over her body, pointing at the pool with her fingers, "There, where..."

  "Alright, Annie, you've done a great job, no need to act anymore," Yiyang said.

  Annie seemed to have not heard what Yifei Yang was saying at all and continued to scream loudly with an inexplicably terrified look.

  "Pal, she doesn't seem to be faking it."

  "Is it? Won't be Zhongxie, right?!"

  People around them gossiped.

  Seeing this, Yifei Yang hurriedly went up and hugged Annie, "It's okay, it's all done, don't be afraid!" Patting Annie's shoulder.

  Under Yifeiyang's comfort, Annie-Hathaway finally calmed down, but the terror on her face had not yet dissipated.

  "Easy, I saw a ghost, a real ghost!"

  "That's just acting, Annie, you're getting too much into character!"

  "No, no, I really did see it, a very scary pair of eyes... They were staring at me, always staring at me!"

  Annie's reaction scared the people around her.

  "Oh God, I told you this place isn't clean!"

  "Yes, such a big old building, so chilly!"

  "Oh God, protect me!"

  ……

  "Shut up!" Yi Feiyang burst into rage, only a foot away from kicking the guy who drew a cross on his chest flying out.

  Under Yee's fierce and stern gaze, everyone was silent as a cicada in winter, it can be said that this is the first time they realized how "fearsome" this Chinese director could be when he loses his temper.

  "Today's shooting has ended, all of you go rest, don't gossip! If I hear any of you still wagging your tongues, then immediately pack up and get out!"

  Under Yifeiyang's rebuke, everyone fell silent. Although some newcomers didn't like Yifeiyang's overbearing attitude, especially in the United States where democracy and freedom were highly valued, as soon as they met Yifeiyang's gaze, they became timid.

  The crew members slowly dispersed.

  Yi Feiyang comforted Heather for a while, and her condition improved slightly.

  "Go take a rest, today's filming will stop here."

  "I'm sorry, I just..." Heathervy didn't understand why she was so fragile.

  "Don't overthink it, you're just too into the act." Yi Feiyang smiled.

  "Hey, Annie dear, can you two stop chatting for a moment? Can someone push me to the bathroom? For goodness' sake, I've been bursting all morning!" exclaimed Mrs. Lawrence in desperation.

  Annie's face turned red, "Okay, I'm coming!" and ran over.

  ……

  The second day of filming "Paranormal Activity".

  "Alright, today we continue filming, similar to yesterday. After the female lead, Jia Yun, screams and realizes everything she saw was an illusion, she starts panting heavily. Here, I need the lighting engineer to dim the surrounding lights a bit, to highlight the female lead's terror. Then, Jia Yun gets up, preparing to push the catatonic old woman in to wash her hair, but when the old woman reaches the door, she seems to sense something and refuses to enter... Yes, that's exactly the kind of inexplicable eeriness I want, as if there's something frightening inside that makes the old woman dare not enter. That's roughly the plot, if nobody has any objections, let's hurry up and prepare!"

  After Yì Fēi Yáng announced the order, everyone started to get busy.

  The weather was originally quite good today, and the outside was also sunny and beautiful. However, in order to set off the gloomy atmosphere here, Mickey, as a lighting engineer, covered up those bright lights with plastic sheets outside, creating a dull grayish atmosphere that felt suffocating.

  "Alright, everyone in position, ready...!" Yi Feiyang stared into the camera lens, "Epic!"

  At the sound of the command, filming began.

  This time Anne Hathaway's performance was better than yesterday, at least in terms of expressing the emotions of terror and fear, eeriness and astonishment.

  As for Mrs. Lawrence, it has to be said that she really has the makings of an actress. Originally, Yifei Yang was afraid that her acting skills were too poor and restricted her from using too much body language, even deleting some of her lines, fearing that she would "break character" during the performance. But once the performance began, Yifei Yang discovered that Mrs. Lawrence's acting skills were actually much better than Heathervy's!

  What's going on?!

  An old lady who has not received specialized training actually has such good acting skills.

  Could it be that I've misjudged things myself?

  In fact, Mrs. Lawrence was able to bring "Emma" this nervous old man to life because she had lived long enough.

  As the saying goes, people become more cunning as they age, and ghosts become more spiritual.

  As people age and experience more, they encounter various human behaviors, become worldly-wise, and inevitably, their "acting skills" are affected. In academic terms for actors, this is called "having life experiences".

  Besides, Emma's character background was almost the same as Mrs. Lawrence's originally.

  Used to being alone, physically disabled, needs care from others, occasionally also a bit neurotic.

  ……

  "Paranormal Activity", day 3 of filming.

  The story continues: Jiayun moved into this old building that was full of eerie and terrifying things, carefully taking care of the mentally ill elderly person. Then she began to feel that something was wrong, strange noises came from upstairs, her bed shook up and down at midnight, and the bathroom door creaked... And all these supernatural scenes were captured by the camera installed in the corner of the old building. A very terrifying evil spirit seemed to be approaching her.

  According to the shooting schedule, this day mainly shoots some DV machines capturing strange events in old houses.

  In other words, transform this play from "Juon" to "Onryo".

  The difference in shooting techniques makes no big difference for Yi Feiyang, a director who holds the camera for the first time.

  If there's really a difference, it's - DV shooting is really cost-effective!

  As a photographer, Cindy also recommended DV shooting techniques to Yifei Yang.

  In this regard, Cindy emphasized that the most important thing for DV shooting is pre-shooting. If the pre-recording is not good, let alone post-editing, it will definitely be a disaster. After all, what kind of material can produce what kind of delicacy? Give you a pile of garbage, and you can make a French feast, that's a miracle.

  DV shooting should be flexible and adaptable, good at changing, both shooting scenery and entering the scene, from the empty lens of the scenery to the character, letting the character walk into the empty lens frame, from the character's line of sight or walking direction to shake out the scenery, or from the full view of the person to push towards the end of the recording, so that people and objects are organically integrated together. This kind of shooting is more in line with viewing habits.

  Listening to Cindy's introduction, Yi Fei Yang's mind was filled with the many AV movies he had seen in his past life.

  Some introductions say that those actresses who look very comfortable, with their buttocks pressed on the bed, performing "old what push what" shots. In fact, it is the poor actors holding heavy DV cameras, working hard from below while shooting from top to bottom with their own vision and angle.

  From this perspective and angle, it can give the viewer a strong sense of substitution, as if the person pushing the cart is oneself.

  Now combining what Cindy said about shooting techniques, "shaking out the scenery from a character's appreciative gaze or walking direction" is simply a principle.

  "It seems like filming is not as easy as it looks!"

  Someone sighed.

  My mom is hospitalized, things at home have changed suddenly, everything is in a mess, updates may be delayed, sorry about that.