Rebirth: The Path to Hollywood Queen

5-minute long shot

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After so many days since Eva was reborn, one day she finally smiled from the bottom of her heart. She finally found her chance. After returning home, she began to think about practical issues. First of all, to make a short film, you need funds. Those with more money can shoot for 30 minutes, while those with less money can only shoot for 5 minutes. Although a 30-minute short film is definitely more attractive than a 5-minute one because the content is richer, Eva has no money. So she chose to shoot a 5-minute one.

Secondly, she needs to rent a venue; although it is not necessary to use commercial land, it is also possible to find some suitable venue that does not require rent. She also needs to find actors and buy some props, which will definitely cost money. But she is a student at a film university, so she can recruit at school because everyone is a college student, and the asking price will not be too high. And as a student at a film university, her foundation will not be too bad. Since they are all alumni, communication is more convenient.

As for funding, she really didn't have any money, but a 5-minute short film wouldn't cost too much. She could start by diverting some of the 100,000 euros. But before recruiting actors, she had to think clearly about what kind of short film she wanted to make. She has to draw the storyboards, prepare the director's explanation, and write the script. A 5-minute short film doesn't really have any substantial plot, but a story outline is still necessary. As for the theme – Eva chose the theme “City of Angels.” If Ireland is a green crown on the edge of the European continent, then Dublin is the jewel in the crown, known as the "City of Angels" in Ireland.

She plans to shoot a five-minute song and dance short film based on the theme of Dublin, the City of Angels. Yes, due to cost constraints, she couldn't make a longer short film, but in a 5-minute feature film, you can't see anything. If you want to stand out, you can only shoot short films of a different format, such as song and dance shorts, music shorts, documentary shorts, etc. Eva chose the musical short. Then she started writing the script and drawing the storyboards. At the same time, she went to the university's stage drama club in person to recruit more than a dozen stage drama actors.

As for the shooting location, she did not plan to rent any commercial land, but just shoot on a street with maple leaves flying in front of the university campus. On this day, she went to the school's stage play club with a pair of materials about her short film. The person who received her was the president of the club. After hearing the purpose of Eva's visit, the president said generously: "Of course, since we are all alumni, you can choose anyone in the club. If you think someone is suitable, just talk to him individually." Then, she went to the club to select people.

She explained her purpose, and many members were very interested. They sang, danced, and filmed at the same time. This format, which was similar to "High School Musical," was very interesting. The interview process went very smoothly. They were all students from the acting department and had quite a lot of experience. They would often do some seductive little moves during the interview, for example, pinching the waist, lifting the hair, or something like that. Moreover, all the students in the acting department are young and beautiful, handsome men and beautiful women, and Eva was very satisfied with most of them during the interviews.

In the crowd, she noticed a girl who looked more like a country girl. This girl gives her a feeling of Saoirse Ronan, who is hailed as the "Irish Elf" by Hollywood because of her beautiful eyes with apertures and sweet girl-next-door style. This girl has that feeling. Eva gave her a detailed audition, hoping that she could become the heroine of the short film. After learning that this girl named Alsha had performed on stage at the age of ten, Eva was even more surprised to find that she couldn't be more suitable. She smiled and asked, "It seems that your singing and dancing skills are quite good, Alsha?"

Arsha is quite modest. “If it’s something like The Phantom of the Opera, I probably can’t do it, but if it’s something like High School Musical, I think I can handle it.” She then performed a classic song and dance scene from "High School Musical." It is a solo sung by the heroine alone. This Alsha is obviously very flavorful and has a solid foundation. And she looks very soft, very girl-next-door, very pastoral and sweet. Eva decided immediately that she would be the heroine of the short film.

This temperament is completely in line with traditional popular aesthetics and is considered a relatively conventional and conservative choice. Eva then selected more than a dozen other members who were good-looking and had excellent professional skills. Of course, she will select some other extras to play minor roles, but those are not within the scope of this kind of singing and dancing actors. Then she distributed the script and the director's explanation to them, hoping that they would prepare in advance.

After interviewing the actors, Eva left and needed to find a suitable photography studio to do her shooting and post-production. Being a director is not that simple. It does not mean that you can just get a DV and start shooting. Those directors who claim that they can shoot a masterpiece with just a DV are either exaggerating or they just happened to succeed with a very small chance. Although the director can hold the camera, he still needs a professional photography team to assist him.

After Eva left, the actors she had interviewed before suddenly started talking about it. "Is that from the directing department? She looks so hot." "Did she deliberately get that tan? Very sexy." "I think she might be a lesbian. I flirted with her just now, but she didn't react at all." "That makes sense. She seems to be particularly interested in Arsha." They talked about Eva for a long time, but at this moment, Eva had already rushed to a photography studio.

She pushed open the door of the photography studio and saw the staff inside were taking a nap. She had no choice but to cough dryly, which woke up the staff inside. The staff members turned over and saw Eva, and they were obviously surprised, "Ma'am, what's the matter?" Eva walked in and asked politely, "I want to rent your studio, including shooting and post-production. What's the price?" The staff and photographers began to look Eva up and down with strange eyes, "You, are the director?"

Eva had long been accustomed to such strange looks. It was just industry discrimination and was normal. Isn't it worth breaking down discrimination and barriers only when they exist? Eva ignored their strange looks and smiled generously, as if she didn't care at all. "Yes, I'm a director. I'm preparing a 5-minute short film." Although Eva was very calm, the staff was still a little incredulous. "You look very young. Are you a student at a film school?" "That's right." "Then you can talk to our manager."

Eva was then taken to the office, where she discussed the filming of the short film in detail with the studio manager. Because it is only 5 minutes in total, and in order to save costs, Eva plans to let the actors rehearse in advance, and when the rehearsal is almost done, she will let the studio shoot. This can reduce the time of renting the studio; after all, the charge is by day. The conversation went smoothly; after all, it was just a business. Finally, Eva negotiated a package deal for a not-too-expensive price, which included all the necessary staff, including photographers, prop masters, makeup artists, and post-production special effects artists.

However, the specific cost will be calculated based on the specific shooting days and post-production projects. After the deal was settled, the manager asked, "Before we leave, do you have anything to leave for us, such as storyboards or director's notes, so that we can prepare?" Eva thought for a moment, then took out a copy of the director's statement from her file bag and handed it to the manager. "This is the director's statement I wrote. I think we can let the staff, photographers, prop masters, etc. take a look at it first. They may have an idea of what I want to shoot."

The manager accepted Eva's director's explanation and personally sent Eva away. Although he also thought that the girl was too young, her words and actions were very calm. After Eva left, the remaining staff members began to speak, "Recently, there have been a lot of complete college students coming here to shoot short films. Is there any major competition?" "I don't know. Anyway, they are all newbies. What kind of decent things can they produce? Being a director depends on accumulation. The more you shoot, the better you will be." "Then we can just do it casually. I guess these newbies won't be too picky."

At this time, the manager spoke up, "This is the director's statement for this client. You can take a look at it when you have time. It is expected to start next month. Group A, go and shoot." He explained the director's instructions to the A-Team members and then left. Afterwards, Group A began to read the director's statement left by Eva. After flipping through a few pages, a special effects artist was suddenly stunned. That expression can only be described as seeing a ghost. He stood there in a daze and said, "OH MY GOD, these newbies are really getting more and more daring."

Another photographer laughed and said, "What's wrong? Did her storyboard scare you?" Thespecial effects artist shook his head and said, "What's the difference between the two lenses..." The photographer was very surprised by this answer, "What do you mean? How can we shoot without split frames?" "Because... the director said that she wanted to shoot the entire 5-minute short in one take!" With the emergence of the term "one-shot," the entire studio went wild. There was an expression of incredible astonishment on everyone's face. Did they hear it right? The simple meaning of one-shot is that the shot is not edited at all.

This means that this will be a long shot lasting 5 minutes. Wow, it’s a 5-minute long shot. This is really not something that ordinary people can shoot. Generally speaking, directors who can shoot such long shots are already amazing. Because, in order to control a long shot, the director needs profound skills. The coordination of each character, the scene arrangement, and the camera movement; every link must be very tight, and there can be no mistakes. It requires very precise character arrangement and prop placement to complete. Because long shots cannot be edited or modified in post-production.

This 18-year-old young girl who was just starting out actually dared to challenge such a long shot that lasted from beginning to end. You are so brave! But isn't this too much of an overestimation? She didn't even have any filming experience before. Is she crazy? Young people nowadays are thinking about flying before they can even walk. How could she possibly take that picture? Unless she is a genius. However, in most cases, she may just be a mediocre person who thinks she is a genius.