1982 Started from Hong Kong

Chapter 56 Selected Movie
One of the twelve public housing units was vacated for Deng Leling to live in.

The remaining eleven public housing estates were consolidated and converted into three video halls located in three different housing estates.

Including the two rooms owned by Deng Zecheng, Zhai Yuan now has a total of five video rooms.

There are a total of 44 resettlement blocks in Sau Mau Ping Estate, and his short-term goal is to open a video hall in each block.

Current progress, 5/44.

Half a month passed in a flash, and the five video halls began to make profits.

Guan Ji's 20,000 "Jennifer's Revenge" videotapes also began to be supplied in a steady stream.

Zhai Yuan's wallet became fatter again.

He put a batch of Jennifer's cassettes in the video hall, but the sales were mediocre.

But it makes sense. Most of the people who can go to the video hall to watch movies can't afford a VCR, so naturally they are not interested in videotapes.

So, Carlos Chan and Leung Chi Chiu were arranged to visit various video tape sales outlets to discuss orders.

After Zhao Meizhen and Zhai Yao found out, they also took a batch and set up a stall in front of the theater, asking everyone they met if they wanted the tapes.

Deng Leling is running her lawsuit in the ICAC. According to the news brought back by Shen Wei, she and Shi Binghui's parents-in-law met in the ICAC, and they had a complete falling out, throwing dirty water at each other, and seemed determined to kill each other.

"She won't be locked up, will she? I need someone right now."

"Don't worry, boss. Miss Deng is just a person who knew about the incident but didn't report it. Besides, she is not a public official. At most, she will be fined and punished with one or two years of probation."

Everyone was busy, so Zhai Yuan was naturally not idle.

In the past half month, he has been thinking about what kind of movie to make to promote his video hall.

The first thing to consider is the equipment issue.

Sitting at the desk in the public housing unit, Zhai Yuan bit the pen, the notebook in front of him was filled with data from the past few days of investigation.

"Film cameras really are out of our reach. We should consider magnetic recording cameras."

As for film cameras, of course they are affordable. For example, the super-8mm cameras made by Canon, Kodak, Polyx, etc. used by mainstream production companies are not expensive to rent.

The main reason is that the film can't be burned.

That thing charges by the second once it's turned on, and every time an actor makes a NG it's like throwing money into the water. Even though the price of film is stable now, it's still not cost-effective.

So Zhai Yuan planned to use a tape camera.

The Betamax and VHS technologies of major manufacturers such as Sony and Panasonic have been iterating since the 480s and are now gradually stabilizing. Except for the resolution of only P, all other aspects are similar to the later digital DV.

But the resolution is a flaw on the big screen in the theater, but it is not a problem at all on the TV in the video hall.

Not to mention TV stations like TVB and ATV today, even around the millennium, there were still many TV dramas in mainland China shot with tape cameras, but the resolution had been increased to 720P at that time.

"The scenes need to be small, the actors should be few, and both the plot and the action need to be taken into consideration."

After considering the equipment issue, Zhai Yuan started thinking about what kind of movie to make.

Before the return of Hong Kong to China in 1997, the most popular Category III films in Hong Kong were divided into two parts.

One is the imported film "Basic Instinct" and the other is the local film "The Treasure Mirror of the Futon".

The only ones left are Young and Dangerous, Barbecued Pork Buns and the Strange Cases series.

But Zhai Yuan actually likes the later one "The Ring" more.

It’s a pity that the photo couldn’t be taken.

Deng Leling is a newcomer, and it would be difficult to improve her acting skills even if Director Li were possessed by him.

Besides, there is no such thing as so much production cost.

Low budget and new actors, these two factors alone are enough to hinder his plan to remake masterpieces of famous directors.

Moreover, Deng Leling really has her own bottom line, which is that she cannot take off her clothes in front of the camera. This seems to be her last adherence.

This problem is not difficult to solve. Just find a prostitute to be a substitute. Zhai Yuan did not force it.

However, it might take some effort to find a prostitute with exaggerated pectoral muscles like hers.

"How about making a sleazy version of Paranormal Activity? Change the long and boring sleeping scenes into action scenes..."

Zhai Yuan thought of this and began to recall the plot of the movie and wrote it down on the manuscript paper. "Paranormal Activity" is a pseudo-documentary about a young couple who move into a new home and use a camera to follow their daily life. Later, they find that there seems to be other dirty things in the house. Every morning when the male and female protagonists fall asleep, they will be recorded by the camera. At the end, the female protagonist runs out of the door like crazy, and the male protagonist chases him out, but is thrown back in front of the camera by supernatural forces. Then the female protagonist smiles eerily at the camera.

"No, no."

After Zhai Yuan finished writing, he read it through, shook his head and sighed.

Although this movie was made on a low budget, the plot is actually quite boring, or it can be said that it is only suitable to be watched on a big screen in a small theater so that you can feel involved.

A group of grown men were crowded together in a video hall, and they wouldn't be afraid even if you played "The Ring" for them.

He even wished Sadako would crawl out of the TV.

This is also the reason why horror films are currently struggling to make a mark in Hong Kong. In a large theatre with only two to three thousand people, who do you expect to scare?
"If a movie like Paranormal Activity lost its thriller feel and only had the love and action scenes between the male and female protagonists, it would definitely flop."

Zhai Yuan shook his head and drew a big cross on the movie synopsis he had just written.

According to his experience of running a video hall so far, movies that are entirely composed of love and action scenes are actually not popular. Audiences still hope to see movies with plots, even if the plot is a bit ridiculous, it is better than having no plot at all.

Listening to a movie for 90 minutes without being allowed to fast forward is not an enjoyment, it is torture.

"It needs to be exciting and have gimmicks. Tsk! You still haven't watched enough movies!"

Zhai Yuan scratched his hair, regretting that he had not learned a few more foreign languages, even just Korean.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have the names of movies like "Pretty Sister-in-Law", "Sister's Friend" and "Gorgeous Outing" in his mind, but have no idea what the plot is.

At that time, there were no subtitles and I had to fast forward to watch it. Now I can’t even copy it if I want to!

"Look for some news papers to see if there are any hot topics I can cover."

Zhai Yuan had no choice but to pick up a stack of newspapers on the table and start reading them.

These were all bought by him recently. Riding on hot news is an ancient tradition in the film industry.

I flipped through the pages and realized two hours had passed in a flash.

Until my stomach growled in protest.

Zhai Yuan continued to read the newspaper while wondering whether to order takeout to be delivered to his door or go out for dinner.

My attention was suddenly drawn to a piece of news from March.

The news was very simple. It was about a house being robbed by two thieves. The hostess who lived alone was afraid of being hurt, so she hid under the bed and escaped.

“I think I know what to shoot.”

Zhai Yuan stared at the news, his eyes brightening.

He thought for a moment and wrote down the outline of the second story on the manuscript paper.

……

Police Inspector Shek's wife, Ah Ling, had an eye surgery and temporarily lost her sight for three days. It happened that Inspector Shek went to Formosa to investigate a case, leaving her alone in Hong Kong.

At this time, a mysterious man named A Yuan breaks into A Ling's home and plays with her in his hands.

It turns out that A Yuan once bribed Inspector Shi, but the other party took the money but did not do the job, so he came to seek revenge.

Three days later, Inspector Shi returned home. When facing A Yuan, he not only refused to admit his crime, but also wanted to kill A Yuan to silence him.

But Inspector Shi was eventually killed by A Yuan and received the punishment he deserved. The inspector's wife A Ling also suddenly regained her sight at this time, so she took advantage of the environment at home and started a life-and-death struggle with A Yuan.

……

That’s right, this movie is “1993 Hours of a Blind Girl” which will be released in .

Starring Huang Qiusheng and Ye Yuqing, one is a professional pervert and the other is the queen of third-level films.

Zhai Yuan made some adaptations to the film's plot based on the real experiences of Shi Binghui and Deng Leling.

The purpose was to use the slogan during publicity: Based on true events, the inspector was arrested, and the inspector's wife personally told the climax of that night.

"The newcomer's acting is poor and he can't make expressions, but a blind girl can always act!"

Putting down the manuscript, Zhai Yuan let out a sigh of relief.

In this way, the movie has been selected and the next step is to prepare for the start of filming.

(End of this chapter)