Hollywood Director 1992

《Live: Ghost Record》 begins screening.

The movie opens similar to a documentary, with only the logo of Guess Guess Pictures, and no cast or film company names appear.

Initially, the camera goes directly into the scene. A young man in a mirror holds a camera, pointing it at the TV in the living room. The TV is playing a concert of the late Freddie Mercury, lead singer of Queen. The scene is chaotic and noisy, lasting only a second.

All the shots above and below are taken with a handheld camera.

Ring ring!

The phone on the table rings. The male lead answers it, then takes the camera to the villa entrance. A red sports car slowly drives up the street.

"Hi, baby!"

"What's that thing?"

The woman in the sports car stops and asks.

"Hello, baby."

"Is that what I wanted?"

"Yes, I don't know what model you wanted, but never mind, this one is very useful anyway."

"I think this is a big-head camera. What have you done to that small handheld camera? Can it rotate around, or is it multifunctional?"

The female lead, Katie, stands in front of the camera and talks to the male lead, Micah.

Because it is filmed with a handheld camera, the picture displayed on the screen is very unstable.

It looks like a home video shot with a camera, rather than a professional film.

"This counts as a movie? Even a child could film this kind of thing. Is this really a movie?"

During the screening, a middle-aged man says disdainfully, his voice loud enough to be heard in the last row.

Several people around him turn to look at him. Seeing that it is the famous producer Fred Olin, some echo that the movie shots are indeed very shaky and uncomfortable to watch, and don't look like something a professional director would make.

"Sir, do you have any health problems? We have an ambulance prepared for you here."

Liu Xiaoli walks over and asks with a polite but expressionless face.

"Damn it, there's nothing wrong with my health. It's just, does this kind of shaky footage count as a movie? Which professional director would film like this? We came here to attend a movie screening, not to watch this kind of garbage movie."

Fred Olin shouts.

"Mr. Olin, if you have any questions about the movie, please communicate with us after the movie screening. Everyone is watching the movie now, so please be a little quieter, okay? If you are not feeling well, we can arrange a doctor for you."

Liu Xiaoli says expressionlessly.

"Humph! No need! Whoever wants to watch this garbage movie can watch it. I don't want to waste my time here."

Producer Olin makes a fuss and walks out. More than a dozen producers who were invited to attend the screening get up and leave, and the scene is chaotic for a while.

Link watches these people leave, unmoved, and doesn't ask Michael Leeson to step forward and try to keep them.

After this group of people leaves, 58 people remain in the audience.

"Boss, those guys went too far. The movie only started a few seconds ago, and they didn't even see the names of the male and female leads before they started complaining that it's not good. They didn't even watch it, so why do they say it's not good? I feel like they're doing it on purpose. Their hearts are too evil."

Liu Xiaoli says indignantly.

"Possibly, that makes sense. Daniel, which production companies do Fred Olin and the dozen or so people who left with him belong to?"

"Fred Olin was originally a contracted producer under Universal Pictures. His contract expired last year, and he joined Castle Rock Entertainment, where he participated in the production of films such as 《When Harry Met Sally...》, 《Stand by Me》, and 《Motherlode》, but he was not the executive producer.

In 1990, he served as executive producer for 《Super Scoundrel》, which suffered a box office loss, which is also why Universal Pictures did not renew his contract. The remaining thirteen producers are from Universal, Castle Rock, Regency Enterprises, and Carolco Pictures, respectively."

Daniel DeVito says.

"Michael, later inform their respective film companies of their behavior, and apologize to several film companies. Our movie is too novel and failed to attract them. This is our mistake. Next time we hold a new movie screening, we will be more cautious when sending out invitations to several companies."

"Okay, boss."

Michael Leeson responds.

"Boss, we didn't do anything wrong. Why should we apologize to them? Wouldn't that be too weak? The competition in Hollywood is so fierce. Being too weak will lead to being bullied to death. We should be more ruthless. You can't stand firm if you're not ruthless."

Liu Xiaoli shakes her fair fist.

"That makes sense. Next time we hold a new movie screening, we won't send invitations to several film companies again. If our movie is a big hit and the film companies that cooperate with us make money, but they don't have a chance, won't they regret it later?"

"It seems that's the case. Boss, you're pretty smart."

Liu Xiaoli smiles and pats him on the arm. Suddenly noticing that Michael Leeson and Daniel DeVito are still there, her face turns red, and she restrains the extra expression on her face, looking at the big screen expressionlessly.

The movie continues to play.

After Fred Olin and the others leave, no one else makes a sound, and no one makes inappropriate movements. Everyone quietly watches the movie.

This is the charm of the documentary genre, similar to a live broadcast, transmitting the most authentic pictures in front of the camera to the audience, with extremely high authenticity.

This kind of picture is also similar to the monitoring and candid shots of a camera.

And most humans have a voyeuristic tendency, and this shooting method can meet the needs of many people.

Even if the person in front of the camera is sleeping, eating, or going to the toilet, some people will be willing to stare at the screen.

"Steven, don't you think it's quite interesting to film like this? It's like we're observing the daily life of a couple."

Quentin Tarantino touches his chin and mutters softly.

"Don't talk."

Dong dong dong ~ dong dong ~

Suddenly, some static comes from the cinema's sound system.

According to the conversation between the male and female leads in the kitchen just now, everyone knows the reason for the strange events in the house:

When the female lead was eight years old, she saw a shadow like black smoke. The black shadow sometimes stood by her bed at night, breathing on her. Once, the house caught fire and was completely burned down. The fire department couldn't find the cause of the fire.

From childhood to adulthood, no matter where the female lead is, the ghost will follow her.

After receiving this key information, the audience roughly understands the situation encountered by the female lead, and also generates some sense of substitution.

Including seeing the black shadow when she was a child, the house catching fire for no reason, and the male and female leads cooking and eating, chatting on the sofa, and so on.

After having a sense of substitution, the atmosphere of terror begins to increase.

Dong dong ~ dong dong ~

"Did a ghost appear?"

Quentin asks, grabbing the armrest of his seat.

"Don't talk!"

The male lead also thought it was the sound made by a ghost, so he put down his guitar and picked up the camera to look for the source of the sound.

After searching around, he found that it was the sound made by the ice maker.

The male and female leads breathed a sigh of relief, and the audience also relaxed.

In the evening, the male and female leads went to bed in a relaxed atmosphere, but after turning off the lights, the light in the house suddenly became gloomy, like a dark and silent forest.

The camera lens is facing the bed of the male and female leads, and the open door, and outside the door is a black hole.

"Sleeping with the door open? I wouldn't dare to sleep like that either."

"Don't talk."

"Look, is something about to come in?"

"Don't talk."

After the male and female leads fall asleep, the picture in front of the camera lens becomes a still picture, and only the time on the timer in the lower right corner is constantly refreshing, quickly going from 12 midnight to more than 2 in the morning.

Kong kong kong kong kong ~

A very uncomfortable sound comes from the open door.

The audience also couldn't help but hold their breath, wanting to see if something would come in from outside the door.

The female lead on the bed turns over, and nothing else happens.

The next day, the female lead gets up, and the car keys are thrown on the ground.

"Link is indeed a little bit good. With just a few simple conversations, a camera, an open door, two sleeping male and female leads, and some strange sounds, he can make people's hearts palpitate. That's a little good."

Quentin Tarantino says.

"Have you noticed that it seems like there are really three people in the room."

"The male and female leads and Link, exactly three. It's too cheap to make this kind of movie."

"Not that kind. Don't you feel that even during the day, there seems to be an invisible person beside the male and female leads."

"It's that ghost."

"Yes, although we can't see it, we seem to be able to truly feel the existence of the ghost, as if it were real. It's amazing. How did Link do it?"

"This should be the effect produced by the pseudo-documentary, giving us a little bit of the ghost's traces, and leaving the rest to our brains to associate, evoking the terrifying sounds and terrifying memories we encountered when living alone. This shooting method is too effortless. I want to shoot one too when I have time. I don't think I'll do worse than Link."

"Don't talk!"

The next day, the female lead invites Dr. Frederick to come to the house. Dr. Frederick asks about the physical condition of the two, asks about the female lead's childhood experiences, and the doctor also believes that there is a ghost in the villa.

On the third night, the male and female leads continue to sleep. At more than two in the morning, another 'Kong kong kong kong kong' sound is made in the bedroom, which is even more terrifying than the last time.

In the cinema, those sounds are transmitted to the ears through the surround sound system, and the horror effect is even stronger, making people's hearts beat wildly.

Quentin Tarantino covers his eyes with his hands, staring at the open door on the screen through his fingers, wanting to see if something will float in.

Squeak ~

The white door is suddenly pulled a little.

"Fack! There's a ghost! Steven, there's a ghost, the ghost is coming."

Quentin shouts, pulling on Steven Soderbergh beside him.

Steven Soderbergh glances at him speechlessly. How can a burly man of 190 centimeters be so scared by a horror movie that he screams? How small must his courage be?

Quentin comes back to his senses, and a red blush appears on his old face full of flesh. He scratches his face,

"I'm not afraid, there are no ghosts in the world, I know that, not to mention ghosts, even if the devil Satan stood in front of me, I wouldn't even blink my eyes, just just just"

"Okay, no need to explain, I understand, you're just . you're just . forget it, let's continue watching the movie."

Steven Soderbergh thinks hard for a while, but can't think of a good excuse to help him cover up, so he simply shuts up.