Those Years I Employed Non-Humans as Actors

Chapter 3: Read the script

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Zhong Jiudao started dealing with ghosts and monsters at a very young age and has done quite a bit of research on them.

Although evil spirits were once human, due to the influence of death and resentment, their way of thinking is completely different from that of humans.

They are paranoid, stubborn, and one-sided, and cannot look at problems from a macro and dialectical perspective. Death has taken away most of their rationality and thinking ability, leaving them with obsession and resentment in the world. They can only observe the world with these negative factors, which cannot be changed.

After all, all normal ghosts without resentment have left the world of the living. Resentment and obsession are the reasons why evil ghosts stay in the world. If these are changed, they will no longer exist.

Don't try to communicate with them. Either beat them or be beaten by them. This is the teaching that Zhong Jiudao received since childhood.

Although he has never made a movie, Zhong Jiudao shot many short films when he was in school and also interned in some crews. After watching his works, his mentor told him that he was quite talented in shooting techniques. Zhong Jiudao had a sense of picture in his mind and was able to present the picture perfectly through skills.

There's nothing wrong with his shooting technique, but he lacks something pure.

"You have a steady personality and are not startled by things. You can always look at things from the perspective of an outsider. This is an advantage in dealing with people, but it is a disadvantage in artistic creation." The instructor said meaningfully, "Your works lack something extreme and impactful, and they cannot reach people's hearts. Don't always be so steady, try to be a little crazy, there is only a fine line between genius and madness."

Zhong Jiudao couldn't do what his mentor taught him.

Because to uphold the right path and ward off evil, one needs to hold on to one's true heart and be a person who is not moved by external things. Overly strong emotions can be exploited by evil spirits and confuse the mind. In the confrontation with these ghosts, the slightest mistake can lead to eternal damnation.

This is the kind of training Zhong Jiudao received since childhood, which is contrary to art.

The tutor both cherishes and regrets the student Zhong Jiudao.

He was like a perfect learning machine, able to present the best pictures, unlike other students whose works were full of mistakes and looked rough and inferior.

But art can have flaws, but it cannot be without emotion.

The person who tied the bell must untie it, and the aftereffects of exorcism seem to have to be solved by these evil spirits.

Looking at these evil spirits with different ideas, Zhong Jiudao couldn't help but think of his new drama.

Among the several short videos shot by Zhong Jiudao, the only one that the instructor approved was a horror suspense video.

It’s not that the story is well told, but Zhong Jiudao is simply gifted in shooting horror atmospheres. It’s as if he has seen with his own eyes how evil ghosts harm people. The scenes he shows are not bloody, but they can make people feel cold in their hearts.

As this was his first time directing a movie, Zhong Jiudao naturally chose the horror genre, which is what he is best at.

Zhong Jiudao took out the script of his new movie. As the crew was seriously short of funds and could not afford to hire an excellent screenwriter, he purchased the script from a not very professional studio.

Because of his poor empathy and the fact that he is not a professional screenwriter, it is difficult for Zhong Jiudao to complete the script independently. The short video scripts he shot during school were basically purchased original scripts. When making a movie at this moment, he also went to the studio he often cooperated with to buy scripts, but short videos are different from long videos after all, and in order to control the budget, Zhong Jiudao bought scripts that were too ordinary and routine, and the reversals were also very stiff. Zhong Jiudao was not very satisfied, and he personally changed it several times, but he always felt that it was not good enough.

The story is about a group of college students who received an invitation from a high school classmate during the summer vacation. The classmate claimed that he had recently moved into a new house and invited friends to come and visit.

When the group of young people arrived at their classmate's home, they found it to be an incredibly luxurious villa with a long history. They felt very strange because the classmate usually dressed simply and it was hard to tell that his family was so wealthy.

The classmates' parents were wearing cheongsams and long gowns, and the nanny and driver at home addressed the landlord in a very feudal way. Several students seemed to be in the old society.

After enjoying a sumptuous dinner, they stayed in the villa that night. They woke up in the middle of the night and found an extremely horrifying scene. They wanted to escape, but they found that the doors and windows were locked, and the classmate's family was smiling at them strangely.

The villa has become a big maze. In order to escape, several students must find out the reason why their classmate's family has become like this. After a thrilling fight and escape, only the hero and heroine successfully leave the villa. The hero looks back at the villa after surviving the disaster, but sees a person who looks exactly like the heroine on the second floor of the villa, looking at him quietly.

In this era, the story is not outstanding. With Zhong Jiudao's current conditions, he can only complete this level of script. If he wants to give some highlights on the basis of completion, he needs to think about the characters carefully.

If Zhong Jiudao had enough money, he could hire some actors with good acting skills and fame, and the actors themselves could fill the blanks of the roles. But he had no money, and the only people he could afford were ordinary students who were studying at film and television academies or had just graduated. Among these people, there were some talented and spiritual actors, but finding such actors was like looking for a needle in a haystack, and required extremely good luck.

The best way is for Zhong Jiudao to write biographies of the characters himself, with each character image in mind. He then provides one-on-one guidance on the acting based on the actors' characteristics, and after post-production editing and music background, he can create eye-catching characters.

Zhong Jiudao swept his eyes over the group of ghosts and made a decision in his heart.

The ghost in the suit was lying in front of the DVD player changing the disc. When he felt Zhong Jiudao's gaze on him, his whole soul froze. He hid himself and left, leaving only a disc floating strangely in the air.

I don't know when the ghosts in the theater increased. Standing at the door was a middle-aged woman with a rag and a simple face. She should be Aunt Yang who has been diligently cleaning the villa. Aunt Yang saw Zhong Jiudao found her, smiled awkwardly, picked up the rag and wiped the door: "My lord, I am here to clean the room."

Aunt Yang found an excuse, and the ghost immediately became confident and ran into the house to clean the glass. It also enthusiastically asked Zhong Jiu: "Master Tianshi, do you want to wash clothes?"

It would be fine if no one had an excuse, but Aunt Yang's excuse made the ghosts feel awkward. The ghost in the suit also showed up excitedly: "I studied abroad and know a little about Western things. I will help you change them, so you don't have to do it yourself."

After saying that, he firmly stuffed the disc into the CD-ROM drive, determined to watch one more movie.

The candle in Bai Qipao's hand turned into a wine pot and wine glass. She poured a glass of wine and handed it to Zhong Jiudao. Her expression became more and more sad and beautiful, like a white lotus in full bloom. "I don't have any skills. I can only accompany you to drink and cheer you up. I can also sing some little songs. Do you want to listen?"

Zhong Jiu said: "..."

For the first time, he discovered that the spiritual life of evil spirits was so poor that they could be so compromising just to watch a few movies. What was the difference between a ghost being a servant to a Taoist priest and a mouse combing the hair of a cat

"Don't watch the movie yet," Zhong Jiudao opened the script, "look at this."

The woman in white cheongsam, who was closest to the script, leaned over to take a look, and tears immediately fell down. She said pitifully, "I, I can't read... Woo woo woo..."

Devil May Cry is fatal. If it weren't for Zhong Jiudao's powerful magic, the cry of Bai Qipao would probably have caused the soul to leave the body of an ordinary person.

A ghost dressed in a grey robe and looking like a scholar came over and said, "I was a scholar in my lifetime. I can read this book to you, sir."

"Yeah." Zhong Jiudao nodded in agreement.

The script floated in the air. The scholar was stunned for a moment, then muttered "so many abbreviations", and then began to read.

When the scholar ghost was reading the script, some ghosts showed headache expressions when they heard the reading and wanted to escape from the room, but they did not dare to move due to Zhong Jiudao's power.

But as they listened, they found that this book was different from the one they were familiar with. There was no "zhihuzheya" in it, and the words were easy to understand. Even Aunt Yang, who had little education, could understand it.

In addition, this is a horror film with a strong Republican style, so the ghosts felt very involved in the story and gradually became fascinated by it.

The script was not long, and the scholar read quickly, so he finished it in a few hours. At this time, except for the female ghost in a dress who served as the power source, all the evil ghosts in the haunted house gathered in the theater to listen to the story. There were actually more than thirty ghosts.

The scholar ghost does not need light to read, so in order to save electricity (female ghost in Western dress), Zhong Jiudao turned off the lights.

At about two o'clock in the morning, in the dark villa, Zhong Jiudao sat alone in a large house shining with a faint green light. From time to time, there were applause, shouts, sobbing, the sound of heads rolling excitedly on the ground, and the weak cry of "spare... my life" from the ghost girl in a dress downstairs.

If other people saw this scene, they would probably be so scared that they would send him directly to the ICU for emergency treatment.

The scholar ghost did not have a dry mouth. He read for five or six hours straight, until after three in the morning, when he finally finished reading the entire script.

After hearing the last sentence in the script, the ghosts couldn't help but start chatting happily.

"good!"

"I thought it was another story where the protagonist was murdered, but it turns out there's something else going on."

"Compared to killing them all, this is the right approach. Follow the man out of the house, absorb his vitality, and then possess him to find other people. Not only can you become stronger, but you can also leave the place of bondage. This is the right way!"

"This book is much better than the movie I just watched. It would be great if it could be made into a movie."

Zhong Jiu said: "..."

They said that his dry script was better than the classic movies directed by famous directors that have been around for more than ten years. The aesthetic taste of these evil spirits is indeed different from that of ordinary people.

The suit ghost took off his eyeballs and wiped the tears hanging on his eyeballs with a handkerchief. The eyes in his palms were full of envy: "The villa in this book looks like our house, and the protagonists in the book are just like us. It would be great if we could do it too."

Zhong Jiu said: "You have a strong grudge and must have harmed some people."

The man in the white cheongsam said, "A few decades ago, some foreigners with foreign guns occupied our house. We drove them away and absorbed some vitality. But after they left, no one lived in the house until three years ago when a family moved in. We made trouble a few times, and the family was scared and moved away. After that, it was you, Tianshi, who came."

Zhong Jiudao knew the history of this haunted house. It was occupied by a group of invaders during the war years. Later, these people either died or escaped, leaving behind the legend of a haunted house. No one dared to move in since then, and it became an ownerless house.

It was not until modern society that the descendants of that time returned to China across the ocean, inherited the house, resold it, and it was bought by the current owner.

These evil ghosts, born in troubled times, have survived for many years by chance. If it weren't for Zhong Jiudao's powerful magic, any other heavenly master would have returned empty-handed.

Such evil spirits should be eliminated. However, the Zhong family forbids Zhong Jiudao from using the magic of the Heavenly Master. In this case, it is no big deal if it is not eliminated, and it can be restrained.

Zhong Jiudao said: "I am a director, and I plan to make this script into a film like the movie just now, which requires..."

He thought that he needed to write a biography of the character and wanted to ask the ghosts for their thoughts for reference.

Before he could finish, the ghost in the suit said excitedly, "Do you need someone to act? I can do it!"

"Me too!" "Me too!"

The ghosts rushed to Zhong Jiudao with their mouths full of chatter, and were so excited to fight for the role that they were about to start a fight. Tongues, eyeballs, arms, and heads flew everywhere, like a group of demons dancing wildly.

Zhong Jiu said: "..."

It seems that it is possible. As long as you draw a revealing symbol on the camera, you can shoot a supernatural video. Let the ghost play the ghost, which is not only true to itself, but also saves special effects and makeup costs.

Moreover, it seems that they don't use human paper money. They can just burn some ghost money as payment. Not to mention one or two million, they can even afford 10 billion or 20 billion (unit: ghost yuan) in pay.