Ups and Downs

"Cut!" Mark shouted while he was in his orange suit courtesy of acting as Jonathan Smith. "With that, I declare that the production of the Kid Psychic movies is officially finished!"

The many staff and tired crew rejoiced as they would finally be able to let down their heavy equipment and harrowing design tools. This filming session may be the weirdest that they've had.

Director Creed was making use of a lot of new filming techniques and equipment that even they found hard to keep up. A lot of them are veterans of the industry but the sheer eccentricity of the visual effects hodgepodge was too much. A lot of them had doubts that this movie is even a movie at all.

While the staff was debating whether they should be relieved or confused, the actors in the final scene were finally able to take a breath and relax.

A lot of them were newbies, so they didn't complain much about the peculiarities such as the terrifying repetitions, the practicalities of the green screen, the explosions, and the harnesses. They just accepted what was thrown at them and hoped that it would be their big break.

There were a lot of them that fit the eccentric looks of the esper villains such as a muscled lady, toy samurai guy, punky muscles, and the doll girl.

A lot of the cast is practically unknown to Alexander's knowledge except for the big villains in the sequels.

His father somehow got Joe Pesci to play the ugly guy in a mask with a girl's voice. Although there was some make-up applied to make him a bit more grotesque, he was still the famous thief in Home Alone.

The guy was only some backup dancer in some 60s film now, so he took this film quite seriously.

Another famous guy in the cast was the Mandarin in Iron Man 3, Ben Kingsley. He was the biggest boss in the esper syndicate and the psychic at about the same level as John Smith. His villain role now might just be his template for the villain roles he would take in the future.

As everyone is wrapping up the equipment, the Creeds looked at the receding set with melancholy. The sheer effort and struggles they went through during this filming period were staggering.

It was all over but the grueling sessions of unprecedented complexities were also taxing on them. These entire six months could fill two books on its richness and content but one word could accurately sum it all up... hell!

Stress and uncertainty would cloud their minds at every turn of every day. Moviemaking was a gamble and they wouldn't know when they have won until the movie itself would show its prowess in the theatres.

Old Sullivan was hoping that his money's worth would be guaranteed while Mark was the most battered. He starred, directed, and produced, so the worry tripled on him.

The filming crew was also a big part of the film's creation, so the fear of failure loomed in their thoughts at every scene they were part of.

There were still many ups and downs within the half-year period of filming but that was already in the back of Alexander's mind. All that was needed was for the post-production to be as perfect as he hoped it would be.

The Kid Psychic trilogy is a film about magical realism and he wanted to make sure that it would be as magical and realistic as promised.

"Dad, didn't you already start post-production of the first movie from a while back? Can I see the samples or even better, can I take part in process of it?" He had already given his dad the concepts of how the effects could be achieved but the apparent lack of his participation might lead to troubling consequences.

"Of course, you can come, Alexander! You still have a big part to play in it. After all, the Cosmic logo and its accompanying track were themed quite nicely under your design and suggestion." Mark smiled at his son's question.

Even though the production process pushed his stress levels to an all-time high, he still coped with it due to the overwhelming sense of accomplishment that his post-production samples gave him.

He was now a director who can mix and mash all the elements of filmmaking he had mastered without hassles and limitations. The visual stimuli, smartly sharp cuts, thrilling music, action design, and artistic senses that this film would evoke to its viewers would be unlike any other.

It was undeniable that with his skills coupled with Alexander's innovative stories would result in something that he never thought he could pull off.

Of course, he did not forget his father's money but that was all he could think of to satisfy his old ego. Old Sullivan kept asking about familial teamwork, so he could give him the title as the rich financier.

"Maybe I was too busy with all the filming but I forgot to ask, where is the editing process being held exactly?" Alexander was slowly shaking off his innocent child facade and the vestiges of John Smith's persona. There weren't any people around them, so he was back to being his business self.

"Is it in the Cosmic headquarters or are you borrowing from the major studios? If you are using other studios, that would be bad news for the technological edge that we carry!"

Old Sullivan and Mark could only shake their head at their grandson's impressive feat of manipulating his demeanor. These months of acting work really developed his charismatic aura even further.

"Haha! We aren't that foolish enough to have Hollywood snoop to our advantage!" Sullivan appeased his grandson with his laugh as he shrugged off his fascination with the boy's influencing character. "I even took on a deeper level of paranoia than you, little grandson! Any personnel that I've let your father hire on the post-production team had little to no Hollywood connection at all."

"How exactly?!" Alexander couldn't really get the gist of what his grandpa was insinuating. "How would a non-industry insider even edit something that even an industry insider would find hard to do?"

"It's simple..." Mark, on the side, paused for dramatic effect and slowly mouthed it out. "... the answer is in Bollywood!"