With the auditions wrapped up, we dove headfirst into preparing for the graduation film shoot.
Simultaneously with the auditions, I had already assembled the art team and tasked them with handling costumes and props.
Thanks to Jun-seong's connections, securing locations was a breeze.
To downplay the fact that he came from a wealthy family, Jun-seong brushed it off with excuses like, "It just happened to work out this way."
However, anyone could see that it was an incredible house that wasn't easily accessible to just anyone.
He mentioned that the house had a perfect space to use as a secret room.
As our team stepped into the house, we were greeted by such an immaculate setting that there was no need to bring any additional props, aside from those that might break during filming.
"Jun-seong, are you secretly rich? How did you manage to get a place like this...?"
"Come on, this guy's always doing part-time jobs. He's no rich kid. Doesn't he live with Seonbae Chan-hyun?"
"Chan-hyun's rich too, though. It's like they say: real recognizes real. Is that it?"
The whispered chatter from the art team juniors was a bit annoying, but the truth was that Jun-seong really was from a wealthy family. It couldn't even be compared to my own.
In fact, my family's business had been crumbling due to those damned multiplex cinemas.
Though my father didn't show it, in the past, I couldn't have imagined how much stress he must have been under.
Still, the rise of multiplex cinemas is a good thing for filmmakers.
With big corporations investing in films, the Korean film industry has expanded rapidly.
That's how world-renowned directors like Bong Joon-ho, Park Chan-wook, and Lee Chang-dong came to be.
After all, where there's no investment, there's no opportunity.
But for the son of a family running a small cinema, it's not necessarily a good thing.
If I succeed quickly enough, though, my family won't fall apart.
It's one of the reasons why I absolutely have to succeed.
"Let's get the props set up and start filming."
At my words, the staff began bustling around.
It was a short film, and on the surface, it seemed like just a graduation project.
But to me, it was my long-awaited return to the director's chair. I took a deep breath, bracing myself.
My hand trembled slightly from gripping the megaphone too tightly out of nervousness.
"You okay? Why's your hand shaking like that?"
Jun-seong, watching from the side, asked with concern.
"I'm just excited. Who's in charge of the slate?"
"Hey, Changshik! The director's asking for the clapper!"
"Yes, sir!"
Though I could see my junior running toward me, I was still taking deep breaths, trying to calm my racing heart.
"Hey, you feeling alright? Want to wait a bit?"
"No, I'm fine."
The actors, assistant director, art team, sound team, and lighting team. Though there were only one or two people per department, everyone on set was waiting for my cue.
Forget the past. I've been reborn. I won't repeat the same mistakes.
Those foolish—no, idiotic moments won't happen again.
"Ready."
My junior widened his eyes in anticipation, clearly nervous. The camera started rolling, and the sound recorder beeped into action.
"Scene 1, Cut 1, Take 1!"
Clack!
My junior shouted, struck the slate, and quickly darted out of the frame.
"Action!"
And just like that, the first film shoot of my new life began.
The story of my first film was about a woman who receives an inheritance from her father, whom she thought had died when she was young.
That inheritance is a grand, detached house.
The day she moves in is when the real events begin, as a burglar breaks in.
The opening scene of the film is the protagonist, Jung-min, unpacking at her new home while talking on the phone with her boyfriend.
The key to this scene is conveying the unease Jung-min feels as she detects something off while cheerfully chatting with her boyfriend.
As Jung-min, played by Hyo-seon, looks around the eerily unsettling room, she says:
"Oppa... something feels a bit off."
Through the camera, Hyo-seon's voice carried her anxiety and nervousness perfectly, and it hit me directly.
I had noticed this before, but Hyo-seon is really good at acting.
"Cut! Okay!"
Thanks to Hyo-seon's stellar performance, the first scene turned out beautifully.
To enhance the effect, the camera maintained a level horizontal shot with a long take, gradually tilting into a Dutch angle.
The Dutch angle is a filming technique where the camera is tilted to give the audience a slight sense of discomfort.
The psychological unease from the off-kilter framing pulls the audience into the thriller genre.
The combination of Hyo-seon's excellent acting and the Dutch angle resulted in a scene I was deeply satisfied with, even upon rewatching.
But this was only the first step.
As I frowned at the monitor, thinking about the upcoming scenes, Hyo-seon cautiously approached me, looking a bit nervous.
"Seonbae, is everything okay?"
"It's great. Really. You're a fantastic actress."
Though my attempt to convey my appreciation was a bit awkward, Hyo-seon beamed brightly in response.
Jun-seong, standing beside us, also gave her two thumbs up in approval.
"Hey, you even outshined Kwak Yeon-ji, who's already been touted as the next big thing. No need to be so nervous. Chan-hyun might not have the best reputation, but once you get to know him, he's a good guy."
"T-thank you!"
"He said so himself—you're better than Kwak Yeon-ji. And now, after watching through the monitor, I'm convinced."
Embarrassed by the compliments, Hyo-seon's face turned bright red as she responded.
"N-no! There's no way I could compare to Seonbae Kwak Yeon-ji..."
"No, you're much better."
Trying my hand at a compliment, I chimed in as well.
Hyo-seon bowed deeply, a full 90 degrees, before returning to her position in front of the camera. Jun-seong, still laughing by my side, turned to me and said:
"Hey, you've gotten better at giving compliments. Weren't you the one who used to say compliments were poison?"
"They say even whales dance when praised."
"Yeah, and you said that was nonsense, didn't you?"
"Well... should I stop giving compliments then?"
"No, I think it's good you changed your mind. Why are you so extreme?"
"Thanks for the compliment."
"Oh, you can even say 'thank you' now?"
"I'm going to start doing that."
__________________________________
After successfully wrapping up the first scene, we moved to another location for the next shot.
Jung-min, wandering through the large house, eventually makes her way to the basement.
Though it's filled with random junk, a particularly beautiful wardrobe catches her eye.
And in front of the wardrobe, Jung-min notices scuff marks on the floor. Curious, she struggles to push the wardrobe aside.
And behind it, a secret room is revealed.
"Cut! Okay!"
"Shall we get Jae-hoon and Se-jin ready now? Director?"
Jun-seong smiled as he spoke, and I nodded in response.
Jae-hoon will play Joong-hoon, the half-brother of the character Hyo-seon plays—an unruly troublemaker.
And Se-jin ended up playing 'Jung-se,' a friend who joined forces with 'Jung-hoon' to split the money.
One of them was the son of a fairly wealthy family, while the other was a person living at rock bottom, lured by the promise of easy money into participating in a robbery.
Their dialogue needed to show clearly that they were evil characters, revealing their personalities to make it obvious who the bad guys were.
Honestly, I wanted to create something like the narrative between Joker and Batman in The Dark Knight, with a more ambiguous line between good and evil.
But this is a short film. It's too difficult to unpack such a complex storyline in this format.
So instead, I opted for a black-and-white logic—something that easily grabs people's attention and is simple to understand.
"Director, the actors are ready."
"Alright, ready!"
"Scene 3, Cut 1, Take 1!"
Clap!
"Action!"
Both Jae-hoon and Se-jin, like Hyo-seon, gave excellent performances.
Just moments before the camera started rolling, they were joking around and fooling about, but that was nowhere to be seen now.
The two must have practiced separately because they naturally jumped over the wall and drew attention with their crude jokes, just as the script required.
Right before my eyes stood 'Jung-hoon' and 'Jung-se.'
"Cut! Okay!"
"You alright, senior?"
As soon as the cut signal was given, Se-jin, as if snapping out of the 'Jung-se' role, asked nervously.
"You and your brother could easily star in your own crime movie. That was incredibly natural."
"Wow, Se-jin. Turns out you're quite the potty mouth. We're lucky we're your seniors; otherwise, we'd have to take all those insults."
Se-jin gave an awkward laugh, looking a little embarrassed at my and Jun-seong's compliments.
"Jae-hoon, your acting was great too. You looked so slimy. Let's keep it going like this."
Jae-hoon, now back to his usual 'village idiot' persona, smiled warmly and said, "Who knew Chan-hyun could give compliments? Are you sure you're not being sarcastic?"
"Hey, this guy's acting weird lately. Maybe he's finally becoming a decent human being!" Jun-seong said with a laugh, to which Jaehun responded with a kind smile.
Why had I never thought of creating this kind of atmosphere before I returned?
I used to think that the atmosphere on set should always be heavy.
As a director responsible for everything, I felt like I needed to stand above everyone else on set.
But after letting go of that obsession, the atmosphere on set improved drastically.
Even as I reviewed the footage, I noticed there were more cuts that I would describe as great, rather than just acceptable.
It seemed I wasn't the only one who felt that way, as Jun-seong, who had been watching the footage next to me, threw in his two cents.
"This is insane. We were talking about the works of seniors who already graduated, right? This blows them out of the water."
Jun-seong stared at the monitor, not even blinking, as if he were being sucked into it.
"Hey, you're gonna get sucked into that monitor. Step back a bit. You're gonna ruin your eyesight."
At my comment, Jun-seong stepped back from the monitor with a satisfied smile.
"This is really gonna be a hit. It's going to become legendary at the exhibition. What if all the professors stand up and give a round of applause?"
"You have a real creative imagination, don't you?"
"Dreams are supposed to be big, man. You need to have ambition. Don't you want to make your debut as a professional director soon?"
"I'm definitely doing that by next year."
"Pfft... Now that I've hyped you up, you're ready to fly up into the sky. 'Definitely'? At 27?"
"What's age got to do with it?"
"And what about an assistant director?"
"With the experience I get over the break?"
Hearing my answer, Jun-seong dropped the act and responded seriously, "Sorry, I take back what I said about dreams needing to be big. Was I the one who filled your head with hot air?"
"Weren't you the one who said we should make this into a full-length feature?"
"That was a possibility."
"Huh… I didn't expect you to have such small ambitions, Jun-seong."
"What?"
"My friend is a 'ha-namja'!"
Hearing me use the term 'ha-namja,' Jun-seong let out a chuckle.
"Did you just make that up? Ha-namja? What is that, the opposite of a macho man?"
"I don't know. You're just a ha-namja. Tsk, I guess I'll have to find a different producer."
"Aww, come on now, Director Kyung. Let's work together for a long time, yeah?"
"Yeah, yeah."
I pushed away Jun-seong, who was putting on a ridiculous act, and took another look at the footage.
The scenes we had shot so far, aside from the fact that there was no daughter character, reminded me of David Fincher's Panic Room.
But we can't just follow his style completely.
The 'god of cinema' told me to grow the movie industry by making films that don't exist in this world, but if all I do is copy, I'd just be some plagiarizing director.
That's not what I want.
Whether I take the long route or the short one, what I aim for is to grow the industry, like the so-called 'god of cinema' wants.
I'll reference other creative ideas, but I'll make my own films.
Production, planning, filming, lighting, art direction—if I use everything I know, this will definitely work in this world.
And along the way, I'll grab a slice of the pie in the film industry too.