Chapter 7 Teacher Fu
The two left the dormitory and headed straight for the Acting and Directing Building. This building was exclusively for the Acting and Directing departments, and the teachers' offices were also together, on the second floor.
As they went upstairs, before they even reached the door, they could already hear voices from inside. The teachers were chatting idly. The official start of school wasn't until the day after tomorrow, so the teachers' work wasn't heavy these past few days.
Zhang Chen peeked at the doorway. Inside the office were several teachers from the Acting Department; not a single teacher from the Directing Department was seen.
Seeing someone looking in from the doorway, a teacher raised his head, “Classmate, who are you looking for?”
“Oh, hello, Teacher. I’m a student from the Directing class, and I’m looking for Teacher Fu. Is he not here?”
The teacher inside was about to speak when a voice sounded from behind him: “Zhang Chen? Are you looking for me?”
The two turned around, and it was indeed Teacher Fu.
“Uh, Teacher Fu…”
“Something wrong?”
“It’s like this, I wrote a script during the holiday and wanted you to help me look it over.”
“A script? Alright, bring it over, I’ll take a look first. Come in and talk~”
Teacher Fu ushered the two into the room and motioned for them to sit down.
Zhang Chen handed the script over with both hands. Teacher Fu took out his glasses, put them on, and began to read.
Another teacher nearby spoke up: “Cao Bingkun, are you also involved in this script?”
Apparently, the speaker was Cao Bingkun’s teacher.
“No, no, Teacher Ding, I’m just here to help.”
Unlike typical colleges, the Beijing Film Academy primarily uses small-class teaching, and every instructor knows his students. Cao Bingkun was in the Acting Associate’s class, and his teacher happened to be in this office.
Teacher Fu was still flipping through the pages…
“the descent”?
The title wasn’t cliché, but it didn’t provide too much information, making it hard to tell what kind of story it was. Teacher Fu continued reading.
Several girls exploring a cave?
A collapse occurs?
Is it an adventure story?
Teacher Fu was puzzled, but he didn't stop, continuing to read along the text. When he saw ‘monsters appear’, he couldn't help but frown.
A horror movie?
That’s quite rare.
He subtly glanced at his student, Teacher Fu said nothing, and continued reading.
Monsters appear, the girls scatter and flee, and the injured supporting actress is killed by a monster.
Juno, due to nervousness, accidentally kills Yang Xiaoyue.
The separated Xia La discovers Yang Xiaoyue, who is still alive, learns the truth, and the seed of misunderstanding sprouts in her heart.
The monster's pursuit causes Xia La to fall into a pool of blood. The extreme environment coupled with her friend's betrayal causes Xia La's inner transformation.
After emerging from the blood pool, Xia La is reborn in blood.
Monsters are everywhere. Xia La and Juno meet again. Under the pressure of external crisis, the two cooperate, struggling to survive.
However, just before breaking through the encirclement, Xia La injures Juno, leaving her alone to the monsters, completing the same cycle as Yang Xiaoyue.
When localizing the adaptation, Zhang Chen naturally changed the names. Xia La is Sarah, and Juno is still Juno.
Teacher Fu was engrossed in the story, unconsciously flipping through the pages. In a blink of an eye, the not-too-thick script was turned to the last page, and he had finished the entire story.
This time, his gaze towards Zhang Chen was filled with surprise.
Honestly, when Zhang Chen said he had written a script, he didn't take it too seriously.
Directing students are expected to dabble in screenwriting, cinematography, lighting, and so on, so trying to write a script is quite normal.
But Zhang Chen was only in his second year. What kind of good story could he write? At most, it would just be practice.
However, he didn't expect Zhang Chen to bring a 90-minute movie script, and it seemed to be quite good.
Not only was the completion extremely high, but the subject matter was also a very rare horror movie.
Of course, there were horror movies in China.
Li Xiaowan's debut work, “The Silver Snake Murder Case,” was a horror movie about a serial killer.
In addition, “The Black Building Lonely Soul,” released in 1989, also caused quite a stir at the time.
But Zhang Chen’s “the descent” was completely different from those; it was a genre that had never appeared in China before.
Teacher Fu closed his eyes and began to savor it; the script's visual impact was truly too strong.
After a while, he opened his eyes again and asked uncertainly, “Tell me the truth, is this… really written by you?”
It's no wonder the teacher asked such a question. The script's completeness was simply too high. The horror atmosphere escalated layer by layer, and it even delved into the exploration of human nature. It didn't look like something a second-year student could have concocted.
Cao Bingkun was not at all surprised by Teacher Fu's reaction; he had also read the script, and his first reaction was exactly the same as Teacher Fu's.
Zhang Chen really wanted to roll his eyes. The script was indeed plagiarized, but was he really that bad?
“Hmm~”
Zhang Chen nodded affirmatively. Copying movies from his memory doesn't count as plagiarism, right?
“I suddenly got inspiration during the New Year and wrote this story. Later, I felt it wasn’t good enough, so I revised it more than a dozen times, little by little, until I got the version you see now.”
Zhang Chen explained softly, while also handing over the remaining shot list and storyboards.
Teacher Fu was surprised again; there were even a shot list and storyboards? One must know that even among famous directors, very few bother to draw shot lists.
He opened the shot list and looked at a few pages; there were absolutely no problems. If he were to shoot it himself, it would probably look just like this.
Teacher Fu was a bit stunned. What was going on?
A genius?
He actually had a genius student under him?
Teacher Fu found it a bit hard to believe.
From the moment he saw the shot list, he completely believed that the script was indeed written by Zhang Chen.
This kind of thing can't be faked. If it wasn't his own 'child', it would be impossible to have such a profound understanding of the script.
“The script is good. Do you plan to film it?”
“Yes.”
“Then why is it a horror movie?”
Zhang Chen understood Teacher Fu’s meaning. Horror movies have a small audience and many restrictions, and there’s a very high chance they won’t be released after filming. That’s why this genre has been almost absent from theaters in recent years.
Hearing that the script was good, and a horror movie at that, the other acting teachers immediately became interested.
It had been so many years since a horror movie of this genre had been seen in China. They were very curious about what kind of horror story this student had written.
“Teacher Fu, would it be convenient for us to take a look at the script?”
Subsequently, the script was passed around among several teachers. Zhang Chen could feel that after reading the script, those teachers looked at him differently.
Yes, yes, this feeling is right. Finally, there's a bit of the reborn person's demeanor.
However, while secretly pleased, he couldn't show it on his face. Whether this movie could be made depended entirely on whether Teacher Fu was willing to help, so Zhang Chen decided to butter him up first.
“Choosing this subject was also because of you…”
“?” Teacher Fu was completely bewildered.
Zhang Chen continued: “You once said in class that, globally, the genres that can achieve the most with the least investment are comedy, erotic, and horror movies. I can’t write comedy, erotic is impossible, so it can only be horror.”
Hearing Zhang Chen attribute such insightful words to him, Teacher Fu was slightly taken aback. Had he really said that?
However, he quickly felt relieved. He had indeed seen this argument somewhere, and perhaps he had just mentioned it casually in class, not expecting a student to remember it.
Hmm, it seems this student respects him quite a lot, remembering even the things he casually mentioned.
Feeling the gazes of the other teachers, Teacher Fu’s heart was filled with a small sense of satisfaction.
Zhang Chen observed their reactions from the side, knowing he had hit the right spot, and was secretly pleased. Only Cao Bingkun listened on the side, a bit bewildered, wondering if the Directing Department's usual lessons were really this profound.