Chapter 6： new start

Making a movie is not an easy task, and Lehmann is very aware of the need to be well prepared, especially in terms of funding.

So, the next day, he showed up on time at the coffee shop where he had an appointment with Christopher Lambert.

When we met yesterday, he made some new demands as an investor: such as increasing the investment budget to 500,000 euros and taking 50% of the proceeds.

For Lehmann, who was holding the empty-glove and white wolf approach, there was absolutely no reason to refuse. He was coy for a while, and pretended to be reluctant to agree to the investor's new conditions. So, he came here today to sign a contract.

"Thank you for your support, Mr. Lambert."

In the cafe, in the presence of a lawyer, Lehmann signed his name and pressed his thumbprint.

"You're welcome, this is what I should do."

"..."

It was only at this point that Lehmann finally got the start-up funds for the film as he wished, so when saying goodbye to each other, he also shook hands with Christopher Lambert, "This will be a pleasant cooperation."

Lambert also responded with a smile: "I think so too."

After speaking, he took the lawyer out of the cafe.

Lehmann looked at his back, shrugged his shoulders, relieved his inner excitement, and left the cafe after he calmed down a little.

On the way, he went to a Swiss bank. Sure enough, he found that there was an extra 500,000 euros in the newly opened account. Christopher Lambert didn't bother him.

All the way back home, Lyman sat on the bed in the bedroom and began to think about how he should use the money.

First of all, this money must not be used for filming, at least 50,000 euros must be kept.

After all, making movies is risky. Even if he has a lot of memories about movies in later generations, it does not mean that he is absolutely reliable. In case of failure, the money left behind will also prevent him from getting into trouble immediately.

Lehman still has lingering fears from the days he just passed through. He finally managed to pull in the investment, but of course he couldn't put it all down.

As a sensible person, the 50,000 euros is the way he left for himself.

No one can guarantee that the first film he directed will be recognized by the film market.

He has experience, yes, but most of it is in TV dramas, making movies. This is the first time in his life.

The predecessor was not counted, and Lehmann didn't take that movie as his own at all.

Then, there is only 450,000 euros left to invest in the film project.

I don't have much money, so I have to think about the design of the script content. As for the script written by his predecessor, which was used to fool investment, he directly tossed it aside. With ambiguous, pornographic, story frameworks, only Europe likes to play this set, and Lehmann doesn't like this tone.

What is the difference between a literary genre film and a pornographic film?

Letting go of his mind, Lehmann began to recall the excellent works he had watched in his previous life, trying to find a movie suitable for his situation.

There is very little capital investment, so it must be produced at a low cost, and the lower the cost, the better. After all, Lehmann is a novice, and he still doesn’t know what will happen when shooting, so he needs to set aside a budget accordingly. Prevent possible problems.

Then the scene transition, the number of actors, the camera position, and the behind-the-scenes staff must all be taken into consideration.

After such screening, there are not too many movies.

In the past two years, there was an atypical and successful route such as "Blair Witch". The production cost was only 60,000 US dollars, but it easily won hundreds of millions of dollars at the box office in North America. However, this method is not suitable for Lehman, that film. A large part of the success of the film is due to the amazing amount of money that the distribution company has invested in publicity.

Marketing costs are in the tens of millions of dollars. If Lyman had that much money, he wouldn't have to think about films like Blair Witch.

Of course, he doesn't have a distribution company willing to take over the distribution work. Whether it can be released or not is still a matter of choice.

Therefore, films such as "Smart-Ghost Recording" that focus on similar properties will not work either.

So, what other good options are there?

Lehmann turned his head, and after a long time, the name of a movie came into his mind.

"Buried Alive"!

There is only one character who really needs to spend the camera to portray, and the other characters are all tricks.

The scene is even easier to manage. More than 80% of the plot takes place in a closed coffin. There is no need for too many scene transformations. It can be easily done with a small amount of money and a few more coffins suitable for shooting.

There are also behind-the-scenes shooting teams, which also need to be found.

It is impossible for Lehmann to part-time directing, photography, lighting, make-up, props and a series of jobs by himself. Even if he wants to, it seems that his strength is not allowed.

At least his makeup is very scumbag, let alone controlling photography and lighting at the same time.

Therefore, we also need to find a suitable and cheap photographer who can light up better. If not, we will find a lighting engineer to help out.

These money can’t be saved, and the quality of those filming work is directly related to the quality of the footage.

As "Buried Alive" is a horror movie, the sense of camera is very important.

In the same way, a makeup artist is also needed. If the unmodified actor is directly shot on the camera, the high-resolution camera will infinitely magnify a seemingly insignificant defect, and there are still some pictures of wounds in it. All need the help of a makeup artist.

Thinking of this, Lehmann found that the 450,000 euros that he thought were almost the same was a little nervous. It would take a lot of money just to prepare the shooting team, not to mention the post-production of the film. Music, editing and other work also need a lot of money to get it done.

He should also plan carefully how to save expenses, otherwise, the money seems a bit unreasonable.

This is a very realistic society. If you want others to work, you always have to give them corresponding remuneration.

So how can we pull out a professional production team with less money? Lyman couldn't help but bow his head to think.

By the way, "intern".

Lehman's mind flashed across the conditions that the lady said when he applied for an art job that day.

"Interns" don't need to give money. Wouldn't it be better to find "interns" yourself?

There are still many schools in Cannes specializing in film and television production. After graduation, most of the students must start from the most basic?

Just like Lehman in the previous life, he started as a field assistant on the set.

This is really a good way to solve problems. Lehman is very satisfied with his quick thinking ability.

In this way, the expenditure on the staff behind the scenes can be greatly reduced, and the funds will not be too tight.

Regarding the issue of filming and production, Lehmann thought about it for an entire afternoon before thinking about it all clearly.

No one can guarantee the success of a movie, but you can never go wrong with adequate preparations. With reasonable production thinking, it can also reduce the possibility of film failure.

Do you want to make a movie, or you don't want to make a movie. If you want to make a movie, you must figure out all the problems that may occur, and try to solve them in advance. Even if the investment is small, you can't slack off the work in this area.

For dinner, Lehmann went to a nearby restaurant to eat, a local specialty buckwheat cake, a roast beef rib, the portion is very large, completely enough to eat, the taste is also very good, the total cost of 42 euros. After all, he is also a person with a huge sum of money on his body, and it is really unreasonable to buckle his stomach, and Leiman doesn't want to eat bread and drink cold water. Be nice to yourself, no need to frugal on this.

After returning home, Lehman took out a notebook, carefully recorded the ideas he had thought about in the afternoon, and wrote a plan by the way.

After completing these preliminary preparations, Lehmann began to write the script.

Although it is said that among the elements of a movie, the script is relatively low-ranking, and many directors will not describe the shooting according to the plot design above the script. UU Reading will even completely separate from the script creation. But anyway, this is also the basis of a film's production.

And with the script, it is also possible to better conceive the work of splitting shots and the formulation of the shooting plan, which can be used for the actor to read, so that he can understand roughly what kind of story to tell, and it can also be convenient for him to bring into the role. In short, the benefits are many, especially for a new director like Lehmann.

He first wrote the script outline, and all the content of the film revolves around the "protagonist" alone. The story is very simple. It tells the plot design of a construction contractor from the United States who was attacked while working in Iraq and woke up to find himself in a coffin, buried alive and trying to escape.

Since the scenes of the whole work are roughly shot inside the coffin, other scenes are rarely involved.

And such a bold setting: starting from the coffin and ending with the coffin also means that the world outside the coffin and the relationship between the characters are all completed by the protagonist's lines, which also puts all the plot promotion on the protagonist. .

Therefore, this film also has very high requirements for the leading actors - in a simplified space, the information of the incident is completely filled with expressions, actions and words, how to show the simultaneous events inside and outside the coffin, and the explosive power and appeal of the storyline. , How to restore the original background of the relationship between the characters in a critical situation, this is a test of the starring's acting skills.

In fact, there are very few works of this type of one-man show, because it is very difficult to tell the content of the movie so that it is not so boring. A single scene for a long time, with the main actor appearing alone, can easily make the audience's mind tired.

How to deal with this aspect is also what Lehmann needs to pay attention to as a director.