Chapter 392.POV of a behind the scenes director
The shooting for [Hex] was happening in LA, the mecca of Hollywood. With all the technology lying around the city and a lot of space, it was easily one of the most coveted places for shooting.
Though, a major portion was also going to be shot in places like Dubai and London because of a few scenes. <[Hex] had portions of deserts and one of the cities in the world of the fantasy novel was based on London, so Olio wanted to make it as realistic as possible.
All in all, the movie was going to take three months to shoot with the chances of additional shoots later.
The VFX itself was going to take months to do, so Titan studios had already planned everything. From the shooting to the VFX to the release – This was after all their biggest movie in years and it had to earn according to their calculations.
Meetings had already happened about the marketing aspect of the movie and the studio was even in talks to release special products like toys or a mobile video game with the release of the movie.
If they don’t start it months ago, then the movie won’t be able to release on time.
One of the things that the marketing team had decided was a behind the scenes team to shoot everything to release as materials before the release.
After all, if the movie worked, then people would be very interested in the makings of it. Most mid to high budget movies would do this too, so it wasn’t anything innovative or ground breaking.
But they wanted to make it a bit more raw with this one to appeal to people. After all, there was absolutely no need for them to make it a reality TV show.
As for Olio, he didn’t really care about it as the only thing he focused on was the movie itself. He just wanted to not be disturbed when he was working.
So, the behind the scenes team that was working on the sets of [Hex] left him completely alone and instead focused on other important people — The actors.
“Johnny, what did the agent of Emma Lander say? You got the nod?”
A middle aged man with a face that looked freshly shaved, asked as he looked at a short guy who was wearing a baseball hat.
“No, her agents don’t even let me enter her vanity van, saying that she’s in the middle of practising her lines.”
“But it will take a few minutes? Didn’t she agree before?” He asked with a frown of disappointment. “I want the introduction to start with the actors now that the director had told us to not disturb him. Two other actors also refused.”
“Well, you know actors. They have an air of importance around them and they don’t really care knowing that their team won’t let us show her in a bad light. So, they don’t care about what they say. They change in seconds like they have bipolar disorder.”
The middle aged man sighed as he looked at the sky in disappointment. It was looking pretty good with the sun out but his day was going completely opposite.
He was again reminded of his bad life choices.
Though in his defence, Ronny Wick had no choice. He had come to Hollywood to become a director ten years ago after someone close to him had passed away but he had only gotten random jobs.
Now, Ron was working on the behind the scene footage of movies. He would make himself feel better thinking that he had come a long way but it wasn’t enough, especially when actors would treat them with no respect.
Recently, even his dog had died, so job was really making it worse for him.
‘I really don’t want to keep doing this but we need to get some footage in today. The first day of shooting is one of the most important after all.’
Ron thought in his mind as he looked at his whole team who seemed to already be used to this kind of behaviour.
It didn’t stop their disappointment though.
Around them, everyone looked pretty busy with different jobs. The opening scene had been a success so it was a good start. Now, they were preparing for one of the scenes in the beginning of the movie.
The chase scene — Aiden’s character, Blaze Hart was a local thief working for the police against a gang and after his identity would come, he would run away. The chase scene was supposed to be a good introduction for the main character while making the audience a little aware of his powers.
Obviously, with Olio at the helm here, he wanted to make it one of the best chase scenes in recent times and give it a nice mixture of fantasy and reality.
Ron saw one of the crew members carry around some props for the scene and wondered for a second as to how he would direct this scene.
It was then that Johnny, the cameraman spoke.
“How about we go and ask Aiden Silvereye for a short interview for the opening for the video. It would look great if the actor playing the main character started it. After all, we are going for a documentary-like video.”
Ron got out of his thoughts hearing that and shook his head.
“Even supporting actors rejected us, saying they don’t want to be disturbed. That bi- I mean Emma Lander rejected us. What makes you think that Aiden won’t?”
“Because I talked with his assistant in the morning. He was going around offering tea and coffee to anyone he saw. Very nice guy. We talked for a bit and he revealed that he’s been Aiden’s assistant for two years now.”
Ron was pleasantly surprised hearing that. If that was the case, then maybe they could make it work.
After all, an assistant could clearly convince the actor he had worked with for two years.
The question was if they could convince the assistant.
“What’s his name?”
“Tom. He’s hanging around the makeup room. Aiden’s scene is next.”
“Then, let’s hurry.”
They picked up the camera and started walking towards the makeup area with a few other members of the behind the scenes crew.
On the way, they could see the giant sets built just for the scenes. It was all gigantic and the houses built were in such a way that it was easier to climb on them.
‘I heard that Aiden would perform this scene himself. He’s probably trying to imitate the big action stars who do their own stunts.’
From a directing point of view, it was risky but every director loved a guy who could do his own scenes. It was just more real and they didn’t have to worry about editing.
When they reached the makeup room, they found a few people hanging outside. Tom was one of them and John instantly recognised him.
He was talking with a few crew members with a smile.
“Hey Tom.”
When John called him out, Tom turned around and for a second, there was confusion on his face before he recalled who he was.
“Ah, you are from the behind the scenes team. Johnny, right?” Tom said as he came forward. “The one whose wife makes the best coffee.”
“Yeah, that’s me. Haha.”
Johnny laughed and nodded his head and Tom gave a friendly smile. Ron found it a bit weird but he just attributed it to him being a very friendly person.
“So, why are you here?” He asked and Ron quickly introduced himself.
“I’m Ron Wick, the person in charge of making the behind the scenes documentary on the project and as we wanted to make it as raw as possible, we wanted to interview Aiden before the first scene. It will obviously be a short interview that won’t take more than five minutes. We would be very grateful if he could do it.”
Tom nodded hearing that, taking in the request.
“Is the behind the scenes team going to be on the set everyday?”
“Yes, we would try to get as much footage as we can and would edit it out in a two hour documentary as part of the marketing material. We have gotten directives to make it as good as possible.”
Tom thought about it for a second. The behind the scenes team became nervous as seconds ticked by.
Maybe another rejection awaited them.
pA(nD)A no ve1 “Okay, I will go talk to Aiden. I don’t think he will mind. He tries not to turn away from any type of interviews.”
Saying that, Tom walked inside the makeup room and everyone took a sigh of relief. They were finally not getting rejected straightaway.
‘No, there’s still a chance Aiden would reject us. After all, an assistant won’t have too much leeway over him.’
“He agreed. Come in.”
All the pessimistic thoughts left his mind as soon as Ron heard that. He quickly moved inside and saw Aiden for the first time in his costume.
He looked ready for the scene.
Although Ron had seen. him before from a distance, it was the first time they would be talking.
“I heard you are the director of the behind the scenes team.”
“Yes, if you don’t mind, we wanted to take an interview.”
“I am okay with that but I was hoping it would be more than just an interview.”