I created the myth of the Great Old Ones.

Yes, Lu Ban's "Crying" is produced in the form of a mockumentary.

Documentaries are films that record real events and allow viewers to see real experiences, while mockuments are films that "pretend" to record real events but actually show viewers fictional stories.

The earliest mockumentary should be "The Blair Witch Project" from the last century. This film tells the story of three film students who went to a mountain village to film a documentary, but mysteriously disappeared. It wasn't until a year later that someone found their camera and tapes, and thus learned the whole story through what they had filmed.

Much of the film is made up of real footage “shot” by the three people, which looks very real and immersive. It even led viewers at the time to believe that these events were real, causing a certain degree of panic.

Since then, mockumentaries have been widely used in the production of horror films, giving rise to many subgenres, including serious documentaries that record paranormal events, and films like "The Blair Witch Project" that are shot from a first-person perspective using handheld cameras.

Lu Ban's camera is a handheld camera.

The story begins with Lu Ban speaking to the camera, providing a brief background. Then, the audio tape plays, and the story moves into its second phase.

"It's not just handheld; it also utilizes the processing of surveillance cameras. That's very interesting."

Jia Wenbin observed that when presenting the storyline involving the audiotape, Lu Ban employed a different pseudo-documentary style, using "lenses" such as surveillance cameras and mobile phone cameras to film the subjects. This created a sense of immediacy, and the various shots peeping at the actors from different corners gave the viewer an uneasy feeling, as if they themselves were being spied on by something.

As he watched, a subtle emotion began to stir within Jia Wenbin.

The first tape contained the troubles the workers encountered during construction, which basically set the background for the film. Only when the demolition team leader disappeared into the room at the end of the corridor did Jia Wenbin get a chill down his spine.

After reading it, Jia Wenbin felt like someone was watching him.

Turning around, Jia Wenbin could only see the walls; the large study was empty.

He continued watching the movie.

"The smell of disinfectant?"

Jia Wenbin noticed a hospital disinfectant smell in the room again. He sniffed, but the smell seemed to disappear.

"Is it through the psychological suggestion of the scene that the illusion is created?"

he analyzed.

Some directors are very good at using scenes, special effects, and visuals to give the audience psychological cues. For example, some violent scenes will show scenes of blood and flesh flying everywhere, making people empathize with the experience.

The hospital scenes in this movie are very realistic, just like a real hospital. Combined with the atmosphere created, it's easy to imagine the air in a hospital.

"Once you see through the filming techniques, it's actually quite boring, and you can't really enjoy the movie."

Jia Wenbin joked that someone like him, with his professional habits, likes to nitpick and analyze movies, making it difficult for him to fully immerse himself in them.

After all, he's a professional photographer; he's seen it all.

However, what Jia Wenbin didn't expect was that after watching the second tape's plot, his previous thoughts completely vanished.

When he saw the old man waving at him, a shiver ran down his spine. Although reason told him that it was because the old man's makeup made him look like a dead person, and that the previous foreshadowing made the audience think that the old man might no longer be alive, and that now it was a corpse or a ghost greeting him, fear is fear.

Even someone like Jia Wenbin, who can understand the director's ideas through the language of the camera, would find it even more terrifying.

This means that Lu Ban didn't use any fancy techniques; he simply used the visuals to make Jia Wenbin feel as if he were there, experiencing the chill of the cold hospital corridor.

When ordinary people see a magician perform, they think it's amazing and they can't understand it. But if a magician can't understand a magician's performance, then it's a bit frustrating.

Now, Jia Wenbin can see the use of camera angles in Lu Ban, the actors' focus, and the atmosphere created by light and shadow. However, he still finds himself empathizing with the doctors, nurses, and workers in the tapes, feeling the same fear, helplessness, and dread they experienced back then.

Having forced himself to finish watching the tape, Jia Wenbin's eyes were bloodshot, and he gripped the sofa tightly to relieve his tension.

He saw in the film that, after the preliminary investigation was completed, Lu Ban personally entered the abandoned hospital.

Chapter 162 Handheld Lens

Most of the footage was provided by a portable camera on Lu Ban's chest. The image quality of this type of camera is not very good and it is generally used for selfies during extreme sports. Of course, although that's what they say, Jia Wenbin knows very well that it was definitely shot with professional photography equipment, but he just pretended to make it look like it was handheld.

Although this scene features a handheld camera with shaky, realistic elements, it doesn't actually make viewers feel dizzy or disoriented; everything that needs to be seen is perfectly clear.

Before entering the hospital, the camera tilted up slightly, allowing Jia Wenbin to see the entire hospital clearly. Desolate, bleak, dilapidated, and decaying—all sorts of negative words could describe this hospital. As dusk fell, the hospital became dimly lit, deep, and secluded.

However, as the camera panned down, Jia Wenbin clearly saw a little girl standing on the windowsill in the hospital corridor!

The image flashed by, but it was deeply etched on Jia Wenbin's retina.

He knew very well that a special filming technique was being used here. It looked like a fleeting glance, but in reality, the focus lingered on the little girl for a few more moments as the camera moved, creating an effect that, while seemingly casual, could attract the viewer's attention.

However, despite understanding the situation clearly, when Jia Wenbin looked at the little girl and saw the pale and gloomy expression on her face, he still felt a little breathless and instinctively resisted going into the hospital.

But movies don't give viewers a choice.

Lu Ban entered the hospital and began his exploration.

In the dimly lit environment, this first-person exploration really tests the audience's endurance, because the area that can be seen is only the small area illuminated by the flashlight. The rest is not completely dark, but rather hazy, as if there is something there, yet also as if there is nothing there.

Therefore, the appearance of any face in a poster, a broken medicine bottle, or anything else can cause emotional fluctuations in the audience.

"Something's bound to happen next..."

Jia Wenbin knew the formula for horror movies: in such a quiet environment, the protagonist was bound to encounter something.

At this moment, Lu Ban in the movie seems to have discovered something. He shines his flashlight and sees the elevator door.

"The elevator, is it the elevator that had the accident?"

Jia Wenbin speculated that the elevator was mentioned in many places in the previous tapes, and the elevator seemed to be somewhat eerie.

He saw Lu Ban pry open the elevator door, and the light from his flashlight shone into the dimly lit car. Then, a figure appeared in front of Jia Wenbin. He was stunned, his heart skipped a beat, and only then did he realize that it was Lu Ban.

Lu Ban appeared in the mirror, motionless.

Just as Jia Wenbin breathed a sigh of relief, he saw something flash past Lu Ban's feet.

He knew very well that it looked like a little girl!

crunch--

The elevator doors began to slowly close, and amidst the grating metallic scraping sound, Lu Ban ran out of the elevator, taking one last look at the mirror inside.

Lu Ban in the mirror seemed to be smiling.

Jia Wenbin felt a chill run down his spine; his scalp tingled, and he clenched and unclenched his fists, his palms already drenched in sweat.

Lu Ban continued exploring and arrived at the nurses' station.

He found a notebook there, which recorded some of the nurses' night patrols. The writing in the notebook was somewhat messy and illegible, and Jia Wenbin could only make out the details.

Suddenly, Lu Ban stopped flipping through the notebook. The camera trembled slightly and tilted up to reveal a human face in the center.

"hiss--"

Jia Wenbin gasped, but he quickly realized it was just a promotional poster on the wall. The camera zoomed in, revealing that the person was the former director of the hospital.

The camera pans, the laptop is put away, and the person walks towards the stairs, occasionally glancing at the adjacent departments and wards, but they are empty except for trash.

Then, the camera pans to reveal one of the hospital rooms under the light of a flashlight.

The room wasn't empty; instead, it contained a hospital bed and an operating table.

The camera zooms in and enters the room.

The walls of the room are mottled and dirty, and the hospital beds and operating tables are broken and dilapidated, giving it a gloomy feel.

The camera enters the room, looks around, and then appears to lie down on the bed.

This perspective made Jia Wenbin feel very uncomfortable, giving him a sense of instability.

Such tilted perspectives in photography are often used to create a sense of unease. Especially now that the first-person perspective has been incorporated into the film, it makes Jia Wenbin even more uneasy. Furthermore, the fact that such a shot cannot capture the appearance of the doorway makes him worry that something might run in at this moment.

Before Jia Wenbin could worry about Lu Ban in the movie, a slight metallic clanging sound rang out. Jia Wenbin's heart skipped a beat, and the camera, as expected, looked towards the door. There, he saw a doctor in a white coat slowly walk in, holding a scalpel in his hand.

The camera shakiened, making it difficult to see the doctor's face clearly. However, in a few brief pauses, Jia Wenbin could tell that the doctor was not alive; his eyes were even colder and more desolate than those of the dead.

Jia Wenbin saw Lu Ban pick up a crowbar and, while dodging the doctor's scalpel, smash it hard into his head. In the chaotic struggle, the doctor seemed to be defeated, and was kicked twice by Lu Ban, knocking him unconscious.

Lu Ban reached out and removed the doctor's mask.

Jia Wenbin's eyes widened as he saw the stitches on the doctor's face. The marks were so realistic that even the most skilled special effects makeup artists would have difficulty achieving such a level. This realism led to a sense of shared fear, and Jia Wenbin even felt a slight itch on his face, as if he had personally experienced those scars.

At this moment, the sound of metal scraping could be heard in the corridor, and the once dark and quiet hospital seemed to suddenly wake up.

However, the doctor walking outside was carrying a saw, looking equally ferocious and terrifying.

The camera immediately turned its back to the wall, suppressed its breathing, and fell silent.

Jia Wenbin also held his breath, afraid that his breathing would attract the other party's attention.

He could even hear his heartbeat gradually slowing down.

At this moment, the camera pans to the doorway, and Jia Wenbin sees an ugly, stitched-up head peeking in through the door.

Even though his reason told him it was all fake, Jia Wenbin's body behaved perfectly, trembling violently. His heart raced and his blood rushed to his ears, as if his deepest secret had been exposed in broad daylight.

"I'm going to die, I'm going to die, I'm going to die..."

Jia Wenbin muttered to himself, his heart filled with anxiety. He didn't know when he had put himself into Lu Ban's shoes and into this abandoned hospital. Faced with the sudden monster, he felt not only terrified but also panicked.

He saw the monster look around the room once before finally leaving, and only then did Jia Wenbin breathe a sigh of relief.

After confirming the situation outside, Lu Ban chose to continue walking forward, but Jia Wenbin felt that he needed to slow down.

For the first time, he paused the movie in his little theater, stepped out of his study, and wanted to have a drink to calm his nerves.

As Jia Wenbin calmly entered the kitchen, he had just taken out a wine bottle and poured himself a glass when he heard a voice.

Why did you suddenly decide to drink?

"Grass!"

Jia Wenbin nearly dropped the wine bottle in his hand. He looked in the direction of the sound and saw his wife lying on the sofa, the lights off, playing on her phone.

"You scared me to death..."

He was still shaken.

Chapter 163: The Film Festival Opens!

Late at night, emboldened by alcohol, Jia Wenbin finally finished watching "The Crying".

He never usually eats or drinks while watching movies, but who knew that Jia Wenbin never thought a movie could really scare him?

Even at the very end, as the simple credits rolled and photos and videos of the actual demolition site of the Nanhua Private Renji Hospital appeared, Jia Wenbin still felt a sense of unreality.

Although the ending is a bit far-fetched, it feels so real, as if something might be lurking under the bed or in the closet.

Moreover, besides the suggestive scenes and horrifying visuals, the most terrifying aspect of this film is that it presents the ugliest side of human nature.