20 days to make a film film, Ye Wei completed, to be precise, 18 days, counting from the 4th, the first production 4 days, 8 days of shooting, 6 days after the production, all completed on the 21st, the 22nd returned to Los Angeles, in time for the Christmas holidays to hold a screening meeting.

At this time, in a screening room at DreamWorks headquarters, the dim light, the silent atmosphere, and the wide projection screen reflected the "Exorcism Video".

In the front row of the audience seats sat a bunch of big shots, Jeff Smead, Terry Price, Gary Gonzman, Spielberg's assistant Bao, Tom Hanks also came today, and a teenager who didn't match their average age, Ye Wei.

Looking at the shaking image of the hand-held camera, everyone's expressions were different, Ye Wei was there, Gozman covered his forehead a little as if he was stunned, Smai seemed to be in the play and seemed to be thinking, Price was happy and a little uncertain, Bao and Hanks were as nervous as ordinary audiences.

A gunshot rang out, and they all moved, frowning, changing their seats, shrinking back, and the story on the screen came to an end, followed by the end credits:

Director: Yunik Gu

Producers: Yunik Gu, Andrew Grande, Heck Portko

Writers: Heck Potko, Yunik Gu, Andrew Grande

......

There was silence in the screening room, and then, almost at the same time, two very different voices rang out:

"It's genius!"

"It's cheating!"

It was Price who said he was a genius, and it was Gozman who said he cheated, and everyone quickly divided into camps, and there was no change from the last meeting, Hanks and Bao were neutral for the time being, and Smai thought uncertainly. Ye Wei looked at Gonzman, who was two seats apart, and asked, "Gary, what's going on now?"

Gonzman waved his finger at the projection screen, and said with a stern face: "I'm not commenting on the film itself, it's this thing, a pseudo-documentary with hand-held photography? Is this 90-minute shot half of that of a regular movie, even if it's a conventional exploitation film? You said it was shot with Flex's Lightweight Second Generation, the camera didn't have a lot of things, and it didn't have a lot of trouble, but you can't use it to shoot "Little Sunshine Beauty", you have to use Flex Platinum, you have to use Millennium, right?"

You didn't follow the normal process of film shooting, you didn't face the possible problems, you avoided it, did you see the dailies? I suspect you didn't even look at the dailies. ”

"I don't deny it, I only watched it for one day. Ye Wei shrugged, but was very serious: "After that, my partner Grande is in charge of watching it every day, and call me if I have any questions." I don't think it's bad, it's a matter of flexibility, and if I have enough time, I'll watch it all the way. ”

"That's how to cheat," Gozman said, looking left and right, "Did you see it?" ”

Ye Wei couldn't help laughing, he was really angry, and said calmly and confidently: "Gentlemen, if this can't convince you, then I don't know what it means to make a movie."

There is no set that is without problems, and the problems are full of unknowns, I think this film is not a proof that I can solve a particular problem, but I have the ability to lead a team to solve any problem, I can shoot "The Exorcism Video" in 8 days, can't I shoot "Little Sunshine Beauty" in more than 9 weeks and 40 working days? Gary, the first time I can make a film with a lightweight second generation, the first time I can do it with platinum, with Millennium, with gold...... No matter what the model, you can do it. ”

Price nodded in agreement: "But that's right, he has proven what he needs to prove, and it would be difficult to say that he can't." Hanks suddenly expressed his attitude: "But it is really well done, although this film is a pseudo-documentary, it only took 18 days to make it, we know how difficult it is." ”

Gozman couldn't refute what he wanted to say, which was faster than the average of the top exploitation filmmakers, at least Weige proved himself to be a prodigy once again.

"I feel that the risk of switching to film is acceptable now. Smai finally figured it out and turned to the film pie. Finally, Bao also said: "What I see is an excellent film, which meets Mr. Spielberg's requirements. ”

At this time, it was useless for Gonzman to object, nodding silently, looking at the cast that was still scrolling on the screen, "I hope we won't regret it." ”

Ye Wei clenched his fists, and really breathed a sigh of relief, I knew that I could do it!

He stood up, hugged his fists to everyone, and said solemnly: "Thank you for your trust, it's really my honor." Looking at Gonzman, "Gary, I know that I am young, I have little experience, and there is still too much to prove, and you don't want me to mess up, I understand, all I can do is to continue to work hard to do a good job, and please take care of me." ”

"Better that way, smart boy. Gozman smiled helplessly, and said: "You mess up equals me mess up, how can I not help you?"

"Haha! Then I can't fail. Ye Wei said with a smile.

There was a chuckle among the crowd, and the contradiction was resolved satisfactorily, none of them were idlers, and they all got up and prepared to leave.

Price happily praised: "The film is really good, some scenes scared me a lot, that girl's twisted movements have special effects?" Ye Wei laughed proudly: "No, it's all done by Nina herself, she is a member of the Canadian rhythmic gymnastics national youth team." Everyone immediately praised it, and Hanks also praised: "However, the shooting is good, and the ending is very shocking." ”

Speaking of the film itself, even Gozman praised: "The story is very good, the pacing is well handled, and it is a bit of a waste to make a pseudo-documentary." Smai also said: "The editing technique is very innovative, but Ge, your film talent is enviable. ”

"Thank you, thank you!" Listening to everyone's praise, Ye Wei smiled with joy on his face, this month's hard work has not been in vain.

Nina had a high fever that almost turned into pneumonia, and it took two days to start getting better and recovering. Fortunately, he almost never left the studio during the post-production period, and he worked harder than the post-production of "The Wedding is Coming", and he didn't suffer much from the reproachful eyes of Konstantin and Mihaela. Not only them, but everyone on the crew put a lot of effort into "The Exorcism Video", and he also paid $450,000 in production fees, and now with the recognition of these characters, it is very close to success.

Seeing that everyone was leaving, he hurriedly seized the opportunity and asked with a smile: "Gentlemen, do you think it can get a chance to be released in theaters?"

The implication is DreamWorks, Pretong, who wants to release it?

There was no unexpected situation where everyone was eager to try or even compete, they were all obviously stunned, including Price, who was full of praise just now, also reacted in this way, as if to say, "Release? Theatrical release? What are you talking about?"

"......" Ye Wei's smile couldn't help but retreat, and his heart sank, these people are not interested, the film is good, but it is not good enough to land on the big screen in theaters everywhere.

"I'm afraid it doesn't work. Gozman shook his head and said that Price agreed with him this time: "A small number of disc releases are possible, but theaters are not viable." ”

Direct video disc market, there is still a small amount, 10,000 copies, 1,000 copies, that's a waste! Ye Wei 100% disagreed with their words, and his mind was spinning about how to lobby.

"You talk about this, I will miss the company first. As the head of the production department, Smai is not responsible for the purchase and distribution of films, so he walked outside the screening room. Bao, who has no right to speak, is also gone, he has completed the task, if the distribution department is interested, after communicating with the purchasing department, he will ask for instructions step by step.

Hanks' heavy face looked thoughtful, and he didn't know what to think, so he probably didn't want to be released.

Gozman elaborated: "Not every movie is suitable for theatrical release, "Exorcism Video" is like this, it is enough for the audience to be deceived once by "Blair the Witch", and they will not be fooled again. It's not bad, it's just not showing up at the right time. If it's your movie, "Little Sunshine Beauty" is your next film. ”

"Yunik-Gu and Weige-Ye can be two people......" Ye Wei had been prepared for this, knowing that it would not be released if he didn't pass in this aspect.

"But, Brian said that Nina who plays Maggie is your girlfriend?" Hanks suddenly asked a key question.

Only then did Gonzman and Price say that "the release of the disc should be shelved first", "Let's release its disc after "Little Sunshine Beauty", the reason is very simple, if it is released, it may make the outside world associate Nina, "Exorcism Video" and Ye Wei together, and it is not so difficult to guess that Gu You is Ye Wei.

"She is. Ye Wei didn't deny it, and he couldn't deny it, his words were fast and organized: "This is not a problem, our relationship has not been exposed yet, I will try my best to keep it secret, and if it is exposed, it can also be because I watched "Exorcism Video" and dated her, not that I came forward to say it, just find an 'insider around you' to break the news."

Most importantly, it was in the favor of Little Sunshine to release it!

First of all, except for us, all the people who may have broken the news have signed a confidentiality agreement, and Nina is no exception, and the relevant personnel in the future are no exception. Even if anyone wants to break the news, they can't do it openly, and who would do this kind of stupid thing that will only get themselves into big trouble? So if the news leaks to the media, it will only be an undetermined rumor, and no one will admit it, and it will always be a rumor.

"All news is good news", if "Exorcism Video" has a topic and popularity, isn't it a kind of propaganda for "Little Sunshine Beauty"? The more successful and more topics, the better. For movie fans, the attraction of mystery is mysterious, and for ordinary audiences, you know that they don't have the leisure to gossip at all, and gossip doesn't affect them to go to the movies, Tom, Julia...... They don't even know who the viy is.

Anyway, before everyone agrees, I won't admit it, I won't respond, I won't be reckless, Gu You is Gu You, Ye Wei is Ye Wei. ”

Ye Wei said a lot in one breath, but the three of them were not moved, the reason is reasonable, the problem is that "Exorcism Video" is not "The Exorcist", Gozman asked: "You haven't thought about it, what is the situation if you fail?" Price was even tougher: "It doesn't work, we really don't need to take this risk, it's enough for LMS to do the current publicity plan." ”

"We can do a few theater test screenings like "The Wedding is Coming", and then promote it step by step depending on the box office results, if it is a failed ranks, no one notices it will disappear, whether there are rumors or not it doesn't matter, does it? Ye Wei then said again.

"Young people, that's why it doesn't work, it's not promoted, it's just redundant to be released in theaters, "The Wedding is Coming" has a genius viy, what does it have?"

Price laughed, young people are still inevitably naïve, who doesn't know how much money it takes to make a pseudo-documentary, but after "Blair the Witch", who made money in theaters with pseudo-documentaries? If miracles can be simply replicated, every film company is making pseudo-documentaries.

He asked, "Apart from 'Blair the Witch,' can you tell which pseudo-documentary you've watched in the theater?" Ye Wei was dumbfounded, Gonzman and Hanks couldn't either, and Price said: "'Blair the Witch' is the only film that has been released so far in the style of remaking old films." ”

There are many types of pseudo-documentary, strictly speaking, it is nothing new, and what is new and can now represent the name "pseudo-documentary" is the found-footage, which refers to the pretense that the film is made from some footage made by someone else, usually the protagonist of the film.

"Blair the Witch" is the pioneer and the pioneer of deceptive viral marketing, and after its miracle, there have been many thriller pseudo-documentaries in recent years, such as "The Soul Does Not Possess the Body", "The Dangerous House Under the Hawk's Eye", "The Last Horror Movie", ...... But they're all non-cinematic productions.

There are too many reasons, one of which is the publicity fee, 200,000 production fees, 2 million or 20 million publicity expenses to be successfully promoted, why gamble this money on inherently shoddy pseudo-documentaries?

On the other hand, no matter how the remake style of old films is made, there will be strong traces of imitation of "Blair the Witch", this is the second exploitation, who will like it?

So no one even wants to try to do a small release, because the miracle can't happen again, because it won't work, because not everybody is stupid, it's that everybody doesn't want to be stupid.

"Gentlemen, I think 1999 has been a long time since the success of Blair the Witch, not just a single case of consumption, but a revelation of an emerging market, a new audience demand, and now, the audience is hungry......!

Ye Wei was still trying to change their minds, but Price and Gozman were all smiling, as if he was talking crazy, and Hanks had no intention of helping.

He suddenly understood that it was useless to tell them, they were not optimistic that the pseudo-documentary could win again in theaters, and they were not optimistic that "The Exorcism Video" would be popular, they would not release it, absolutely not.

"If you're really not interested. Ye Wei sighed, but his determination did not waver, "Give me a chance, I will find other companies to cooperate, no matter what, I hope to let my crew watch it in the theater screening room, I owe them." ”