After the film was finished, Bart asked Morris, "When will it be released?" ”

Morris replied: "I still need to edit the soundtrack, prepare the advertisement, and then contact the cinema chain to finalize the release time." I think it should be released in two or three months. ”

When Alex heard this, he had an idea and said, "Need a soundtrack?" Why don't we score the film? Well, it's better to add a little music shot to the back of the movie. ”

Morriston excitedly said, "yes, we can play some of the filming footage as Easter eggs after the story of the film. ”

Bart and the others thought it was quite interesting to hear it, and everyone was talking about what tidbits to put in the back. There were so many things they wanted to put in them, which made Morris feel very embarrassed.

"Why don't we just shoot a scene where Joey and Reilly sing and dance! Just use the songs from the record that we are going to release recently, so that it can also be used as a record promotion. What do you guys think? After Alex finished speaking, he talked in detail about how to shoot this music scene.

Alex envisions the back of a western cowboy in front of the camera in the setting sun. The music plays, and the cowboy walks into a western town where another cowboy is waiting to duel him, dressed as a villain. In a tense atmosphere, the two men drew their guns and fired at each other almost simultaneously. The villain cowboy is fucked to the ground, and the good guy wins the bad guy.

At this time, when the camera is lifted up to reveal the cowboy's face, people realize that this cowboy is Joey, and at the same time give a close-up of the villain cowboy who fell to the ground, which is Reilly. Just as the audience was unaware of what was going on, many people poured out of the town's houses, singing and dancing. At this time, Reilly, who had fallen to the ground, also got up and sang with Joey.

And that's not all, halfway through the previous song, the camera turns to the fantasy of Joey and Reilly when they watch a western at home. They pretend to be playing a cowboy showdown at home, but when they get into a fight, they get their mom into a fight, and she angrily quiets them down. They stopped for a while, and when their mother was gone, they started arguing again.

In the midst of the noise, the camera turns to singing again, this time singing a different song. It was sung until the end, and then it was pitch black.

"That's so clever! Alex, you're amazing, you have such a wonderful idea! When Morris heard this, he clapped his hands with joy.

Bart and Richard and others also nodded, thinking that this part must be interesting to film. Who hasn't played a similar game when they were young, especially those born in the twenties and thirties in the United States, they almost all grew up watching Westerns, and they are very familiar with things like playing western cowboys. It's sure to bring back memories in people's hearts.

Morris is a man who does what he says, and he hurriedly went to find someone else to arrange a job, and soon found all the personnel. They filmed on Collin Island, where there was a playground modeled after a small western town, and even the town's actors were ready-made.

The progress of the shooting was very fast, it was done in one day, and as for the music or something, it could be matched in the post. After calculating it, the filming cost did not exceed 30,000 US dollars, on the one hand, because there were only a few actors, plus the crew was not too many, the labor was cheap, and the Carpenter brothers were the kind of salary for every penny.

The main cost is the film film, which accounts for 60% of the total amount. The money from the unfinished painting is going to be used by Morris to make a promotional poster, and he also plans to use it to participate in the Venice Film Festival. If you can get the award, it will be of great help to the box office.

When shooting this easter egg, Morris always asked the photographer to pay attention to saving film, saying, "Save a little, save a little." We don't have a lot of money. ”

When Alex heard this, he noticed it again and said, "Mr. Morris! I think you should place ads in your movie so that you can get sponsorship. ”

"Product placement? What is that? ”

Not only did Morris not understand, but the others did not quite understand Alex's words. At this time, movies rarely had the concept of product placement, so Alex gave them a detailed description. Soon, Morris, they understood.

"Oh, so you're talking about the sponsor of the movie! Aren't you one of the sponsors, and I've put the name of Carpenter Electronics on the list of acknowledgements. ”

Barthes's money is half investment and half gift, after all, Morris's solo film is very risky and may lose all his money. As for free sponsorship, there are also those that are sponsored, but they are usually in big-budget films, and no one will sponsor a solo film like theirs that is not famous.

"That's not the case, the product placement I'm talking about should be a specific product that appears in the movie and is cleverly displayed to the audience in some way."

Alex then rebranded the classic product placement advertisements he had seen in his later life. Morris was a seasoned filmmaker, and he immediately recognized that there was a lot to be done.

"It's only now that I think of product placement, it seems a little late." Morris touched his chin and said distressedly.

After Alex heard this, he was speechless. He knew that Morris was right. The movies have already been filmed, and they still want to do implantation, so it's too late.

"But ......," Morris recalled, "I think I was approached yesterday by a floor wax merchant who wanted me to shoot a commercial for them after the film." I didn't reply to them at the time, what do you think of inserting an ad for floor wax in our movie? ”

"Floor wax oil? Do you want them to try product placement? ”

"Yes, after you say that, I do have an idea."

Alex scratched his head, he was a little worried, this advertisement for floor wax oil is not easy to implant. Suddenly, he had an idea: "There you have! I guess we can do that, aren't we shooting cowboy eggs? simply add one more easter egg, which is to engage in the advertisement of this floor wax oil merchant. ”

"Really? You say come and hear it. ”

"My easter egg looks more like an ad than a product placement. I thought of it this way, using the theme of western cowboys to make a floor wax oil commercial. ”

"It takes a lot of creative advertising to make those businessmen pay."

"Listen to the idea. The first shot is in an eerie room with a wall clock with the hands ticking off on it. In the second shot, one hand holds the prison-like railing, and the music from the western movie plays. At the same time, there is the sound of approaching footsteps, and the camera pans to the door. ”

Morris and the others were all fascinated by it, and felt as if a shootout was about to happen, and some people couldn't help but ask: "Is it the sheriff or the bandits who are going to come in?" ”

"The door was opened, and the dark space suddenly brightened, and in came a housewife with a mop and a bucket!"

"Huh?" Everyone was stunned by this sudden turn of events.

"It turned out that the hand belonged to a dirty kid who was wearing a denim outfit, just like Joey from our movie. He was locked under the table by his mother in an upside-down chair, where he was first oiled with wax before he was released. Joey grabbed the pillar in his chair and shouted, 'Get me out!' Let me go! Alex described vividly.

Everyone seemed to have seen Joey's naughty appearance with their own eyes, so they all laughed: "Ha Lu! Sounds like a lot of fun. ”

Morris also smiled and said: "Then let Joey's mother clean the floor, and then release the child and say the advertising slogan, as long as it is mentioned." Isn't that so? Yours is yours, Alex. ”

Alex smiled and said, "I've thought of the advertising slogan, so I said that if I use a certain brand of floor wax oil, I'm no longer afraid that your child will stain the floor of your house." ”

Morris clapped his hands and praised: "Okay, I'll go to that floor wax oil company now." After listening to your plan, they will definitely adopt your ad creative. ”

"Wait a minute, we're not selling creatives, we're selling ads! How much are you going to sell this ad for? ”

"Uh, $50,000?"

"How can they be so cheap, at least 500,000 yuan."

"So much?" Morris was taken aback by Alex's appetite, and he thought that $50,000 in advertising would be good, and it was for Alex's sake.

"How? I don't think it's much. Alex thought the idea was a bargain, and if he had an advertising agency, he would have to sell it for millions of dollars.

Morris thought for a moment and said, "If it's $500,000, I'm afraid the other party won't want to pay this price." After all, the production cost of our film is only $30,000, and if it is one of those big productions, it may be able to sell for this price. ”

Alex thought about it and felt that Morris's concerns were also justified. This movie has not been released yet, and I don't know how many people have watched it, and those manufacturers are not idiots, and it is impossible to have confidence in this movie with no stars, no fame, and no investment.

He thought for a while and said: "That's it, our advertising fee is linked to the number of box offices, if the box office exceeds one million, then at least one or two million people have seen our movie." In that case, there should be so many people who have seen their ads that they will have to give us at least $500,000. ”

Morris thought about Alex's plan for a while, and thought it was a good idea, so he immediately contacted the floor wax oil company. After signing some confidentiality clauses to prevent the other party from stealing the idea, they told the other party about the ad idea.

When the "colorful" floor wax company heard about it, they thought it was a good idea, and they offered to buy it for $50,000. This plan was not approved by Alex, and Morris proposed a plan that would link the box office to advertising costs. Now everyone has no opinion, and at the same time, it is added that for every 1 million increase in the box office, the advertising cost will be 500,000 more.

The ad was so simple that it didn't take the crew ten minutes to shoot it. After the editing came out, the "Colorful Floor Wax Oil" company liked it very much after watching it, and paid $50,000 to buy the TV broadcast rights of this advertisement. The money was split equally between Morris and Alex, one and a half.

After the film was finally edited, Morris gathered everyone to come and watch it, and everyone thought that the film was very interesting, at least not like the mainstream movies on the market today.

"By the way, Mr. Morris, what's the name of this movie?" Alex suddenly thought of a key question, the name of their movie had never been decided. Some people want to call it "Joey", some people want to call it "The Little Fugitive", and some people think it would be better to call it "Runaway Kid".

Morris thought for a moment and said, "How about being called 'The Little Fugitive'?" ”

If you think about it, the name sounds good. Both a gimmick and a plot feature that highlights the film, Joey mistakenly thinks he killed his brother Reilly, so he runs away from home. It's really appropriate.

Eventually, the film, titled "The Little Fugitives," was sent by Morris to the Venice Film Festival. At the same time, they hurried to print promotional posters and began to contact movie theater chains everywhere.

The rest of the matter is not something Alex can help with, but this filming of the movie gives the Carpenter family a good opportunity to go out and play. Not only did they spend almost two weeks on Collin Island, but they also participated in a filming session.

At the same time, Bart also became interested in Morris's work, and whenever he had free time, he followed Morris and asked questions. If he hadn't been busy with Carpenter Electronics' R&D work right now, he would have followed Morris to the Venice Film Festival.