《My Hollywood System》Chapter 22
Advertisement
This was the seventh day of the shooting, but they were already very close to the end of the script, and if everything went well, they were practically going to wrap up the shooting before even a whole week passes.
Will stared at papers on the table and a walkie talkie in his hand while sitting on the couch of a cottage they had rented a few miles away from the town. There were always about ten to fifteen crew members and actors at the cottage, and because the space was limited, they had to sleep on either the couch or on the floor.
To Jeffery’s crew, this was one of most intense filming sessions they had ever done, especially since the whole filming was going non-stop 24/7.
As for the three main leads, they were mostly in the tents, and had the walkie-talkie with them, through which Will was constantly in contact with them. The main reason why Will brought the walkie-talkies was to prevent them from getting lost in the woods.
But still, Zach, who was playing Mike, managed to get lost more than once in the three days of shooting itself.
He was truly bad with his sense of direction.
Over the course of the last seven days, as the shooting went on, Will wanted to get as raw reactions as possible from the three main leads, and that was why he was trying a few low-blow tricks, but just in case, he had already given the three actors a subtle warning.
However, before that, Will had made a slight change in the contracts. This was the most important clause for the contract, and for some reason, his mind had been too preoccupied with other things that it had slipped his mind.
“This contract will allow me to add some external factors and improvise the plot on the spot, without informing you, and this is done to get a raw expression of yours. A few things might happen which may mess with your mind, but if you think it’s too much, just come to me. Also, I will provide a psychological doctor’s appointment for you three, with the first two visits paid from my own pocket.”
Advertisement
The three of them had agreed to this, not taking Will’s words seriously.
In his previous life, the Blair Witch Project was an instant success and raised the bar for horror genre movies.
People regard it as one of the must watch movies before dying.
The movie was such a hit that even two decades later, many people believed it to be real, and when it was released, some conspiracy theorists had even started a man-hunt for the three main leads of the movie.
But in all this success, what the audience and viewers didn’t know of, was the real life effect it had on the lives of the actors who were part of the movie.
All actors had used their real names in this movie, under the instructions of the director to make everything as realistic as possible for the audience.
And it had worked in terms of bringing money, but in the case of the real lives of actors, this movie made things even worse.
The main lead, Heather, had to quit acting because she couldn’t find another job because many believed that she was actually a ghost because in their minds, the movie was real footage.
In fact, her mother received letters of condolences and sympathy cards from the audience because many assumed it to be real footage and thought that her daughter was either dead or missing.
The thing was, the production team had also made the actors sign a similar contract with the actors which allowed them to “mess with their heads.” The only difference was, Will was not going to push the actors to their limits and exploit them with this new clause.
While the word ‘exploit’ may sound a bit absurd for the first clause, and even for the actors, who were unknown people at that time, it didn’t sound like a big deal.
However, what they did not expect was how the previous world’s production team “messed with their minds.”
Advertisement
While most of their techniques were alright, some of them were quite right exploitation and taking advantage of the contract.
The most infamous of them was when one night, the actors were sleeping in their tents, and the production team quietly began to shake their tent.
This mind sound like nothing, but the problem was, the actors were not aware of this. Neither were they warned about it and because they had already signed the contract, they couldn’t even speak anything against it, because of the strictness of the production team.
Will chose not to make any contract, and used a less subtle way of creating in-depth horror.
Instead of keeping the actors fully in the dark, Will told them a bit about the plot and then he would make it so that there's something unexpected happening, which in turn would generate confusion, and that was how he would get a much raw expression from the actors.
“There will always be one scene which I will change on the spot, and that scene won’t be revealed to you.”
For example, he just told them that they would hear laughter of a kid, but what they didn’t expect was the laughter from not one, but tens of kids, overlapping with each other. This laughter came from a pre-recorded clip which Will had himself recorded from a nearby town’s kindergarten.
Another thing Will did was replace the sound of crackling wood to someone running through the forest. This one had a much better effect.
But there is one thing worth mentioning. Out of all inhumane techniques which the previous world’s production team used, Will chose to take the two most… crippling one.
As per the script, as the plot progressed, the three actors began to have a discord among them, which was very important in the success of the movie, because their anger and frustrated expressions were very genuine.
However, those emotions were not fake, instead, they were real.
The production team gave the actors less and less food as the days went by, and Will followed this one.
And the second one which he chose to do was the ending of the movie.
The ending was set in a basement.
Will did not tell Heather and Mike about what to expect in the basement of the house at the end. He instructed Mike to run up and down the stairs while also yelling for Josh before running to the basement, and to keep Heather as far behind him as possible.
When Mike reached the basement two production assistants dressed in black grabbed him and told him to stand in the corner.
When Heather arrived they also grabbed her and gently placed her 16mm on the floor while gesturing to her stop screaming.
And then in the camera recording, on the floor of the basement, a shadow was seen, coming from behind the camera screen, but as Heather’s cries faded, the shooting came to an end.
But for June, who was acting as Heather, this scene was too unexpected, and adding on the ‘unexpected improvisations’ by Will, she was so scared that she had to be calmed down by him.
In fact, Will had even called in a psychiatrist before the ending shoot even began - this was his final measure, in case the situation went out of hand.
Advertisement
-
In Serial24 Chapters
HIS BABY
Watching the most desirable man that ever walked the planet is captivating. He is titillating mouth-watering with so much sex appeal. All women look at him, they stare with lust, seductiveness wanting him to pay attention to them, but he does not show interest. I just stood watching him as he stimulated my senses. He casually walked towards the office, not even taking a glance around him. My heart began to slow down when he disappeared into his room. Then the door closed. So many sighs could be heard coming from women who had their mouths agape. I smiled, taking my seat to finish my workload.
8 195 -
In Serial20 Chapters
No Fear Shakespeare-Merchant Of Venice
ALL CREDIT TO SPARKNOTESCrowther, John, ed. "No Fear The Merchant of Venice." SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. 2005. Web. 16 May 2016.
8 243 -
In Serial7 Chapters
Scar ► Richie Tozier
You thought you were leaving everything behind when you moved to Derry. Turns out, you were wrong.Richie Tozier x Fem!Reader► soulmate au
8 198 -
In Serial23 Chapters
I Take Care Of His Highness's Son
i went home after a tiring day, i decided to take a nap but when i woke up i got transmigrated into an otome game?!•••Started: [ 10-27-21 ]Ended: [ 12-03-21 ][Cover pic not mine]
8 185 -
In Serial16 Chapters
A Silence Full of Sound
He stared at me, his green eyes bore into mine as if searching for an answer to an unasked question. He cracked a smile, the warmth hit me, and in that moment it was the safest I had felt in a while. The scar on his face shimmered in the light and his eyes seemed to dance with excitement.He pointed at himself, then crossed his arms over his chest. Then pointed at me. Oh god.<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>Riley Davidson had felt alone her whole life. Her family knew what she was going through, but they could never understand it. How can you try to understand something that you had never been through yourself?When her family packed up and moved across the country, she thought she would be alone forever. It was a 'new start' according to her mother, a 'new life'. With the first day of her new high school looming, and the nervousness she felt at trying to fit in, would Riley's life really change? Or would it be the same, just half way across the country?#1 in 'asl' category September 2022#1 in 'signlanguage' category May 2022#1 in 'signing' category April 2022#7 in 'Romance' category November 2022#5 in 'deaf' category#2 in 'bsl' category April 2021
8 181 -
In Serial80 Chapters
Letters To The Moons
"Dear Moon, if you hear me calling, will you come to me?"This is a book with my letters to the people I treasure the most, the ones I call my Moons.TW! slight suggestion in some chaptersTW! sh, su1cid4l in some chapters× ongoing× short chapters× slow updates
8 158
