"Cotton, that's what we call conceit! When you use a person's name as the name of the script, do you need that person to be a celebrity? Like Albert Einstein, Napoleon, Confucius, Sweet Cake Monster...... But Cotton? Who is that? We don't know each other, so how can we be interested? Unless cotton isn't a name, it means liking, but it's not a romance script!

Guys, the name would kill a good script, think about what the busy big guys would do when they read the name and throw it in the trash. Don't call it "Cotton," "Cotton the Exorcist" is much better, "The-Exorcism-Tapes"? ”

In the office where there is only one person, Ye Wei looked at the cover of the script in his hand and felt the DV camera.

The name of the script is like the appearance of a person, at first glance, everyone is judging people by their appearance, and "Cotton" looks very mediocre, not ugly, but so mediocre that people have no impression, no feeling, no mystery, no expectation, and no interest.

He was sure that if anyone was willing to make it and distribute it, whoever it was, it would definitely change the name, and he would change it to "The Exorcism Video".

The synopsis of it is this, an exorcist who doesn't believe in demons, followed by a documentary film team, goes to a remote town to exorcise a young girl, and something terrible happens. ”

Ye Wei opened the script and said: "There is no special pseudo-documentary story, and there are strong traces of imitation of "Blair the Witch", so I ranked it so last." Speaking of pseudo-documentaries, I like this genre very much, it's easy to shoot, haha, let's start watching it. ”

The DV video began to become quiet, only the sound of flipping the script, Ye Wei read page after page seriously, looking more interested.

The main character, Cotton, is a priest and an exorcist, who preaches since childhood, but does not believe in the existence of God and demons, and preaches and exorcises are only to make money and help others. His so-called exorcism is all a hoax, and he knows that his peers are doing the same, because he saw a news article about a little boy being killed alive during an exorcism ritual, and he decided to hire someone to make a documentary to prove that the exorcism was fake and avoid more victimization.

This is the background of the story, and then he takes a job and goes to a small town called Ivanwood to exorcise the suspected demon girl Maggie Switzer, and he goes with a two-person film crew with a female sound engineer and a male photographer.

When he arrived, Cotton learned the details of the case, Maggie's family living on the farm were devout Christians, her mother had died of cancer a few years earlier, which devastated her father, Switzer, who was still loyal to his faith, but did not identify with the local sect, and from then on, Swaitzer did not let his children go to church school, and switched to homeschooling, Maggie, Maggie's brother Ramon, an angry young man who loved his sister.

After a few years, Maggie should have lived a very closed and depressed life, so much so that she developed mental problems and unconsciously harmed the livestock on the farm. Cotton tricked them into saying that Maggie was invaded by a powerful demon "Abalam", and he performed an exorcism ritual for Maggie with a deceptive trick, after which, he believed that Maggie's mental state had been cured, and Switzer believed that the exorcism was successful, Ramon saw through the deception but did not expose it, and with their thanks, Cotton and the group left.

At the end of the first act, it seems that this is it, Cotton is right, there are no gods and demons in the world, only mental and psychological problems.

Then, the first turning point came, and that night, Maggie suddenly appeared in the motel room where Cotton and his party were staying on their way home, and was delirious......

"Oh, here and here, here, here, the devil is coming!"

Ye Wei smiled and said, quite happy to see it, the first scene of this script is not bad, the explanation of the background of the story is a little slow, but it creates an atmosphere, suspense and expectations, what to expect? Of course, it is the appearance of the demon, the confrontation between the liar exorcist and the demon.

Let me be more surprised!Continue to flip through the script and move on to the second act.

Cotton and the others take Maggie to the hospital, only to get a diagnosis that she is completely healthy. The next morning, Swaitzer came to the hospital to take Maggie home, and Cotton and the others went to Manley, the former pastor of the Switzer family, to inquire about the situation, and Manley said that he hadn't seen Maggie in two years. Cotton and the others go to the farm again, something happens, Ramon is cut in the face by Maggie with a knife, Switzer takes Ramon to the hospital and ties Maggie to her bed with a chain.

Is she really possessed by a demon, or is there something wrong with her spirit? The three of Cotton have found a turning clue, it turns out that Maggie is pregnant!

And the finger seems to be pointed at Switzer, because it has been revealed that he has a bad temper, that he is an alcoholic, that he is eccentric, and that there are Manley's words, and Ramon's note saying that Switzer and Maggie should not be left alone. The truth seems to be that Swift raped his own daughter, and Maggie became mentally ill.

"Let me guess......" Ye Wei stopped reading, and after talking about the outline of the DV footage, he guessed: "I guess Maggie was not raped, but there was a demon growing inside her." Please, it's terrifying, it must be even more terrifying!"

He saw some signs that something was not quite right, the whole story was moving in the direction of suspense, and he also tried to do some humanistic discussions, as far as commercial elements were concerned, rape exploitation and ethical exploitation were introduced, but there was a lack of fright, tension, and supernaturalness, where is the expectation of the first act?

He wants to see the liar exorcist being taught a lesson by the facts, he wants to see Maggie being tortured by demons, and he wants to see the horror of demons, just like the 360-degree turn of the little girl in "The Exorcist", not more suspense, because whether there is a demon or not, whether Cotton can fight the demon or not, the two core suspense is enough, Maggie's pregnancy suspense is really unnecessary, this is acceptable, don't complicate it again. Keep watching......

That night, Maggie starts to go berserk, kills a cat, and tries to kill Cotton, but is stopped at the last minute.

At this time, Switzer returns, denying the accusations of incest, saying that Maggie is a virgin and has been defiled by demons. He asks Cotton to do another exorcism, but Cotton thinks that Maggie's most important need is to see a doctor, and an angry Swaitzer drives the three of Cotton to leave immediately, otherwise they will break into the house, and he is ready to kill Maggie with a shotgun, death is the only way to escape.

Maggie starts to go crazy again, running around, and the photographer leaves because he is afraid of Jianyì, but Cotton still cares, and when he sees Switzer about to shoot his daughter, he has to agree to do another exorcism.

The second act ends, it's a little long, and the confrontation is finally about to appear.

"Finally, write more scenes, and break out......"

In the barn of the farm, the second exorcism is carried out, and the second turning point has arrived, and the demon has appeared! Maggie and Cotton have a direct conversation, and finally have the iconic horror show scene of the exorcism movie, "Maggie's body twists", but it is over after a few back and forth, Cotton catches the demon and doesn't understand what "blowing-job" is, thinking that someone raped Maggie, she is not a demon, just a girl with a nervous breakdown, which makes Maggie seem to come back to her senses.

"Please, seriously?" Ye Wei slapped the script with some dissatisfaction, did the people who think about blowing-job write it all day long?solve the demon in a dialogue way?where is the exorcism method?where is the demon's magic?where is the frightening thing?continue to read......

Maggie says that she actually had sex with a café waiter named Puro, so the truth about the pregnancy is there, and she is very ashamed, and the source of mental stress is also there.

Cotton arranged for Manley to come over and take over the Switzer family's counselling and leave with the film crew.

Again, the story seems to be like that, but no, when Cotton and the others are curious to go to the café to find Puro, Prolo says that Maggie lied because he was gay and had only met Maggie at a pie at Manly's house 6 months ago and had a brief conversation with her. But Manley said he hadn't seen Maggie in two years......

Who's lying?Maggie?Pro-Manli?What is the nature of Manley's pie?Whose child is it?What the hell is going on?

"Suspense, suspense, but what about horror?"

In the third act, the three of Cotton return to the farm again, it is night, they find that there is no one in the house, the walls are painted with demon signs, and then find that the house is very noisy, it is Manly and a group of people performing a cult ceremony, Maggie lies on the altar in pain and gives birth to the demon child, Swiftzer is tied to the side and struggles.

Manley then threw the deformed son of the devil into the fire, and the flames burst into the sky, which was a good baptism for the demons.

Seeing this, Cotton awakened the power of faith in his heart, and rushed to the fire with the cross in his hand to complete his mission of exorcism. And the photographer and the sound recorder hurriedly fled, but were killed by the cult personnel who caught up, this person was none other than Maggie's brother Ramon, apparently he had already joined the cult, he had always been a villain, the-end.

A standard Blair the Witches-esque ending of a team death. also left multiple suspense, are there any demons?

If not, the freaks are incest and premature, and the other golems are Manly's tricks, like Cotton's exorcism. Under the influence of the cult, the town is collectively hysterical, full of lies, and anyone could have raped Maggie, and her previous drawings predicted the death of the three people.

If anything, the demon was summoned by Manley's cult, and that faction was the chosen sacrifice, and maybe it happened sex, or maybe it didn't. Maggie has actually been accused by the devil in the barn, her lie is to trick Cotton into leaving, her previous prophecy was foresight.

Yes or no. This script allows for multiple interpretations, as well as conflicts about gods and demons, religion, and beliefs......

But.

"Who cares? Not even Maggie herself, damn it. ”

Ye Wei scolded angrily, put the script back on the table with a snap, and said to the DV camera: "It could have been a good script, with a good beginning, a good development in the first half of the second act, and then it went to the wrong track, driving farther and farther."

How do you describe the second half of the scene, especially the third act?arrogant?stupid?scientific way?We want to see a horror story about exorcisms, not a specious suspense story, we want to see a demon, not a cult!

Yes, this scientific approach is an interesting interpretation of the exorcism theme, and the hidden fighting method maintains the realism of the pseudo-documentary, and maybe some applause from the critics, don't be stupid, they say that "Chainsaw" is rubbish, but "Chainsaw" has a box office miracle, and there are a large number of fans, they say that "Cotton" is good, but "Cotton" must be scolded. Why? Because those guys don't need money to watch movies? There are people who pay them to watch them. ”

Ye Wei couldn't help laughing, tapped the script of "Cotton" with his right index finger, and asked: "Who are you? "Fragments of Memory"? "Mulholland Drive"? This kind of story is suitable for writing a suspense novel, but not for making a movie, I use my head to vouch, no audience will like this.

We want you to live up to the expectations of the first act, to stimulate your senses and the tension in your heart, instead of constantly thinking about who raped Maggie, who lied, who was good and who was bad.

Rape, cults, fright, these are three different kinds of exploitation! But you haven't done even one well, man, I tell you who you are, you are a horror story.

The audience doesn't want to be real, the audience wants to be intimidated, and pseudo-documentaries don't mean they want to be real, we just want real feelings, and that's a big difference, I want to be real, why don't I go to watch real documentaries, like "National Geographic: The Vatican of the Holy See", I've seen it.

You say you have a lot of horror elements? There are quite a lot of elements, but none of them have exploded, but they are messy, and the second exorcism Ricton used any mysterious rituals? Although he is a liar exorcist, don't forget that he is a descendant of an exorcism family, so he doesn't know something? What about his exorcism book?

I thought that after the demon showed up a little, he would start to try to take it seriously, using the exorcism methods recorded in the family exorcism book to fight the demon, and in the process regain faith and believe in God. Look at what you've done! You're obsessed with suspense, and you're talking nonsense about religion, humanities, and society, and I'm suing you, and I'm suing you. ”

Stopping his words, Ye Wei looked at the DV footage, and said to the script: "Cotton, not only are you not afraid of the heart, but you are also not shocking the heart, the topic you want to discuss has been discussed for seven days a week!

Do you want to say that if you want to believe in God, you must first believe that there are demons, and that there are not necessarily gods, but there must be demons, and it is very difficult to believe in God, and it is easy to believe in demons, but it is God who will redeem you, and it will be demons who will destroy you.

These are the truth, but they are not rare, they are neither commercial nor literary in your place, and this is not how they play literature and art in horror movies, you have fooled the audience! We don't like you.

It's a pity, it's a pity, you have about 60% of what I want to shoot, and what about 40%?"

Ye Wei said that he was about to throw "Cotton" on the pile of abandoned scripts, but suddenly stopped his hand and grinned at the camera:

"Unless...... Congratulations, you've been shortlisted, and now the only shortlisted script candidate. ”

Time passed in the review of one script after another, the time went from evening to more than 7 o'clock in the evening, the DV machine was already out of power, and when I finished reading all 25 scare scripts, there was still only "Cotton" on the shortlist.

"We don't have a lot of options. Ye Wei muttered and scratched his hair, and was about to say something, only then did he remember that he was not recording, and still said: "Maybe there is a new challenge, revise the script." ”

The reason why he is willing to do this is that he likes the idea, the revision range is acceptable, and more importantly, the script is very suitable.

First, it is a pseudo-documentary genre, with fewer shots and less scheduling, and it is much faster to shoot than conventional films, just say that the scenes at the beginning of the story where the characters sit and talk to the camera, it doesn't take an hour to shoot, and you can get a few minutes of feature film.

Second, its scenes are quite concentrated, and it can become more concentrated after the new version is modified, just in Switzer's farm, find a farm and shoot all the real scenes, no need to run around, no need to build any scenes, just do a good job of the set, how much time does this save?

Third, its character settings are simple enough, and the new version can be simpler, the three of Cotton, Maggie, Ramon, and Switzer, it is easy to find actors, and it is not difficult to act, this shooting can be like "Saw Horror" without rehearsal and direct action, otherwise it will not be completed as scheduled.

Four, Nina is very suitable to play Maggie!

This is his favorite place, Maggie is 16 years old, Nina is almost 16 years old, Maggie's casting requirements are sweet and innocent girls, Nina fits, and the most consistent is that she can complete the sign of the exorcism movie, the poor girl possessed by the devil twists her body into a chilling look.

For example, turning the head back, bending the waist back, a horse, tearing off one's own skin or something, that is terrifying, that is the audience's expectation.

If you find an ordinary actress who has not practiced to play it, how can she twist it into a twisted shape? You can only use special effects, it will be a waste of time, and the more those distorted shots, the more time-consuming, but Nina! Nina doesn't need to, she can make herself twist and twist like a demon.

Thinking of this, Ye Wei couldn't help but think of the previous Halloween night, Nina scared him so much, she leaned back, her head almost hung to her waist, her long hair hung to the ground, and she was still pretending to be weird, looking really terrifying, he was really afraid that she would break herself, but fortunately she didn't.

However, Maggie is not an easy role to play, if it is really filmed, it is really played by Nina, he is a little worried about whether she can handle it, after all, she has just started to learn some acting basics in school, and she has acted in ballet and school stage plays before.

I don't know now, let's see, but it's important for Nina to be happy, and he wants her to be happy.

Ye Wei went to turn on the DV machine, while there was still a little bit of power, pressed it, started recording with a bang, and said with a smile: "Yes, what we have to do now is to buy "Cotton", and then make a certain amount of revision, and then use the new draft to make a movie!

First of all, I'll change its name to, "Exorcism Video!"