Chapter 09.

Ever since Ian found Kevin, things have been running quickly. One of the very important things regarding the project was to choose locations.

The perfect place in Ian's mind to shoot the movie wasn't finalized, as he just needed a place where snow was falling. After some discussion, they chose Canada. As snow falls in October there, it was easy and quick to finish the movie.

Their plan was to finish the movie by December and release it around Christmas. With that thought, they have been super busy lately.

The post-production would take 20 days to a month. So, it all was a rush.

One of the things he was grateful for, was the crew. They were super supportive and highly professional. They did things with great focus.

It was hard to find such professionals with a low budget. The crew was almost like a lucky break for him.

Though sometimes, they'd take Ian for a kid. As in, they would doubt what he's capable of, his lack of experience. It was frustrating for Ian, but he managed it with patience.

He knew that it was because of his age. A young director is always taken lightly especially one with no previous work to show for himself.

In Hollywood, only the top directors started directing in their 20s. Most of them only began in their late 30s and 40s.

Among the crew, the cinematographer Niko was a well experienced person with sound knowledge of lightning, camera, and tone of the scene.

For a director, a cinematographer is really important as he operates the camera and turns the director's imagination into reality.

Many famous directors had top cinematographers too. It was one of the most important aspects of filmmaking.

In that sense, Niko was pretty good. He's been shooting movies for a while and was pretty experienced.

Although at times he tried to give some advice for scenes, trying to help out the newbie director Ian. But ended up finding out that he was not really a newbie.

"Ian, I think in this scene, we should show more of the background and take a close-up shot. Putting up photos of Kevin's family might be a nice idea. What do you think?"

"It's a good idea but we need to keep the background bright. It's a comedy, so expressions need to be on point, so the entire scene will fall on the actor's shoulders most of the time."

"Yeah, let's hope those guys do a good job."

Like that, they had a lot of conversations and they generally got a better idea for the movie. Home alone was a movie that Ian just wanted to emulate completely from the original in his memories.

That way, there will be more chances of success.

Though he didn't like it and wanted to add his own flavor to it, his studio needed a big hit and he wanted to get a higher chance of success.

He had changed the actors but he knew that if he could somehow match the feeling of the original movie, he would surely succeed.

-

It has already been some days since the shooting started. It was one fun ride to everyone including Ian. And many things have changed about Ian in the eyes of actors and even the crew.

At first, they were simply doing their lines.

As the actors didn't have many expectations from the movie doing well, they weren't trying to give their best in their acting. They thought it was just an experimental movie that a young director was making to experience filmmaking.

Because of that, most actors simply treated this as a way to earn quick money.

This frustrated Ian to the point where he scolded the actors one by one. After all, they were having so many cuts and shooting and a single scene wasn't cheap.

"There are fourteen people in this house and you're the only one who has to make trouble. Get upstairs!" The actress playing the character of Kevin's mom Kate repeated the lines just as it is.

"Cut!" Ian shouted.

"What?" She asked back, noticing Ian's angry face.

Fiona, who was an E-grade actress, was acting as Mrs. Kate McCallister. Ian wanted her to give a good performance as Kevin's mom, who was an important role in the first few scenes.

But it looked like she wasn't even willing to try.

"This is not what you're meant to be doing. Where's the rage? Where's the haste? Where are the emotions? Do you guys think this is a joke?"

He looked around the four corners of the room. This was his breaking point. Everyone was the same before he started to scold them.

"A family with twelve kids. Do you think the mom would be so calm? Knowing the trip will be to another country…?"

"Uh…"

"Say something. You all have been in the industry for so long and you don't even know how to do such a simple scene…"

The lecture went on for fifteen more minutes, while the actors looked at each other's faces and in the end, started taking the script and the movie seriously.

After all, what Ian had said was true. The only reason they weren't serious was that they were taking Ian as a newbie. But after he scolded them again and again, their ego as actors was hurt.

This made them take the script seriously.

-

It was the scene where Kevin was watching an adult's action movie, after knowing that no one was at home. Of course, with his snacks. In the original movie, it wasn't even a real movie. Ian too decided to create the scene.

"Come out, y'all. I'm eating junk while watching a rubbish movie,"

Kevin's mom was strict about not allowing him to eat or watch those types of movies. Not to mention, Adam was perfectly doing the scene so far.

The scene was pretty hilarious, knowing Kevin was having the time of his life because he always wanted his family to disappear.

The guy on the screen, shot the other man with his gun, talking about their little money deal. Horror was written all over Kevin's face.

"Keep the change, you filthy animal," said the murderer while he killed the other guy, and kept shooting even when he was dead.

Kevin closed his eyes from his hands and shouted at the top of his lungs,

"Mom!"

They were shooting the last scene in the house where Kevin shouts 'mom' after watching the television. Ian was perfectly content with that scene and Adam's acting.

The scene after that was, in which the mom and dad who were already on the flight realised that they left the kid alone.

Adam was perfect as Kevin, maybe even more than the original actor in some scenes.

"Cut!" Ian stopped, "Okay, Adam, that was good."

"You sure?" The kid asked back, still energetic after a day of shooting.

"Yeah, let's pack up now! Good job everyone."

With that, the day's work finally ended but the shooting had just started.

-

The next day, the shooting took place inside the studio. It was the scene where they realise Kevin is not with them and they were on a flight. The green screen helped them to perfect the background. They started and continued doing the scene two or three times only to realize something was missing.

"The parents, you both should act oblivious. Just like a couple who'd forget their kid. I mean, that's what you are-"

They all burst into a fit of laughter. The shooting started with jokes here and there, yet the scene wasn't perfect.

Kevin's mom suddenly woke from the small sleep she's been having and took her bag. Shuffling through the bag, she found her purse.

"What's the matter?" Kevin's dad asked. "Honey?"

"I.. uh- I have a terrible feeling."

"About what?"

"That we forgot something-"

"Nah Nah… you feel like that because we left in such a hurry. We took care of everything…. Believe me, we did."

"Did I turn off the coffee?"

"No… I did,"

"Did you lock up?"

"Yeah…"

"Did you close the garage?"

"That's it.. I forgot to close the garage.. that's it."

She sighed hearing his words. "No, that's not it…"

"What else could we be forgetting?"

Ian was looking closely at this conversation. He was content with the pace, expressions, and how smooth the conversation flew.

"KEVIN!"

She shouted.

After seeing the clip again, it was as if something was missing… Ian felt.

"Can we start over? I want the best you could pull off…! Give me more… expressions," Ian asked.

They nodded and continued to do the whole thing over.

"KEVIN!" Kate shouted again. Which made Ian rise from the chair, due to happiness for a perfect shot.

After a whole lot of attempts, Ian was happy with the last shot of the day. He clapped loudly seeing how good she did it. Everyone else joined him, being happy after so much effort.

"That's it for today!" Ian said.

It brought a smile to everyone's face as it was the last scene they had to shoot that day.

Especially because from the very beginning, Kevin, who was the main character, has been doing the role seriously and perfectly, making others doubt their own acting skills.

Moreover, seeing how hard Ian works, the constructive criticism he gives off in every bad scene made the actors start truly doing their characters better.

They packed off their belongings one by one, while some went off to their homes straight away, but the film crew had to stay at the studio to discuss more the scenes.

During the packing up, they started talking about today's shootings.

"I never thought you'd scold them that way," the Assistant cameraman, Jack, said loud enough for Ian to hear.

"Yeah, but it was due to this that they took their roles seriously. Now, see, we've had perfect scenes shot already," he replied with a slight smile.

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