"Son, why do you look so distracted?" Han Zhiyan had already spent three months at university and was now lying on the sofa in Old Han's office, staring blankly, listless.
"Nothing, Christmas is coming soon, and I'm thinking about what gifts to prepare for my friends." Han Zhiyan's lips curved upwards unconsciously as he thought of that adorable little girl.
However, what he was truly worried about was preparing for his first "movie," or more accurately, a short film. He wanted to shoot a short film first to prove his capabilities, so it would be easier to find investors and distributors for future feature films.
"Ding-a-ling-a-ling ~" At this moment, the phone rang, interrupting Han Zhiyan's thoughts.
While Old Han was on the phone, Han Zhiyan suddenly remembered a short film, the 87th Oscar Gold Statue Award for Best Short Film, "The Phone Call" (suicide hotline).
The short film tells the story of Heather, a suicide hotline operator, who receives a call from an elderly man named Stanley seeking help. Stanley, having lost his wife two years prior, had taken an overdose of antidepressants. Heather patiently comforted him, attempting to evoke his will to live by mentioning his family, while simultaneously trying to find his address to send help, but both attempts were unsuccessful. Finally, Stanley recounted his past with his wife to Heather, then passed away. In the end, Heather followed the old man's advice and went to watch a performance at Ronnie Scott's with her secretly admired male colleague, starting a new life.
"Zhiyan, Zhiyan!" Han Zhiyan, who had just walked out of the airport, watched the little girl run towards him. Just as he was about to greet her, she rushed into his arms and hugged him tightly.
Old Han, behind him, smiled at the scene and looked at Mia and Liu Xiaoli not far away.
"Xixi, you're a grown woman, be more composed," Liu Xiaoli said, rubbing her temples, seeing Liu Yifei still hugging Han Zhiyan.
"I won't, I won't! It's been two... no, three months since we last met!" Liu Yifei's eyes were slightly red.
Looking at the little girl in front of him, Han Zhiyan also hugged her tightly once, then pulled her away under Mia's teasing gaze.
"Should we go first and make some space for you two? And we've already booked a restaurant, we're spending Christmas Eve together this year," Mia's teasing voice rang out.
Xiao Fei Bao's face flushed slightly. She ran over, linked arms with Liu Xiaoli, and walked quickly forward, then turned back to make a face at Han Zhiyan.
Because Mia had been alone in New York these past few months, she often went shopping with Liu Xiaoli, who had even more free time, and learned a few Chinese dishes from her. Their relationship was now as close as sisters, which is why the two families decided to spend Christmas together.
Christmas was spent amidst laughter and joy. Coincidentally, Han Zhiyan gave Liu Yifei an off-white scarf, and Liu Yifei also gave Han Zhiyan a red scarf with white accents.
The next day, when they saw the scarves around each other's necks, they couldn't help but smile at each other.
During this Christmas holiday, he spent his days playing with Liu Yifei. Recently, Liu Yifei had grown fond of listening to Han Zhiyan tell stories, and every evening, she would be so engrossed that she'd hold onto his arm, not letting him leave.
Helpless, Han Zhiyan could only give Xiao Fei Bao the manuscript of his upcoming novel, "the devotion of suspect x," and the second part of the series he adapted from a script he bought from A. Lee Alfred II for less than ten thousand dollars, "pirates of the caribbean 2," to read herself.
After returning home in the evening, he discussed the finished script of "suicide hotline" with Old Han and Mia. Old Han introduced Han Zhiyan to a senior from the cinematography department and several seniors involved in behind-the-scenes work.
"It's a bit of a waste to make this script into a short film; if it were a feature film, it could potentially win awards at the three major film festivals," Old Han said with some regret. He had tried to persuade Han Zhiyan several times over the past few days, saying that he could raise a few million and use his connections to make it happen.
But Han Zhiyan still insisted on making it a short film, saying that if the story of this script were made into a full-length film, too much filler would be needed, which would definitely affect the story's pace. Moreover, he had even better scripts, and this was just a practice piece. Mia, who understood her son's work, couldn't help but roll her eyes at his humblebragging.
Time flew by. Han Zhiyan, who had returned to school, had also prepared his current small film crew. With his father's assistance, he also secured funding from the school, not much, only one hundred thousand dollars, but enough for this short film. After all, the equipment was borrowed from the school, the film was Old Han's stock, and there were behind-the-scenes staff who only needed food and no salary. The next step was to find actors.
Initially, Han Zhiyan thought of finding actors from the school and the actors' guild, but after several days of auditions, he couldn't find anyone satisfactory. In his previous life, although this film was a short film, it heavily tested the lead actress's acting skills, with over eighty percent of the shots being her solo scenes. The original cast included Sally Hawkins, the Berlin Silver Bear Best Actress, and Jim Broadbent, who had won Best Actor at Venice and Best Supporting Actor at the Oscar Gold Statue Award and Golden Globe Awards.
He considered bringing in the original cast, but they were all British, and the expense of bringing them over for a short film would be too great, and they might not even be willing to come.
Finally, with Mia's extensive connections, she recommended several actors to him. Since the male lead didn't need to appear on screen, only provide voice acting, Richard Farnsworth, already 80 years old, was chosen based on Mia's recommendation. People might not know him, but he was nominated for the Oscar Gold Statue Award twice and won the Golden Globe Awards for Best Actor, a very talented veteran actor.
For the female lead, she recommended Gwyneth Paltrow, then 28 years old, who had just won Best Actress at the 71st Oscar Gold Statue Award in March for "Shakespeare in Love." You might not recognize her by name, but you definitely know her by another name: she is Pepper Potts in "iron man."
Both of them appeared as a favor due to Mia's connection and did not ask for a fee. After meeting Han Zhiyan and reading the script, they were both very satisfied with the story. Looking at Han Zhiyan's numerous hand-drawn storyboards, they had great confidence in this young man, as if the film had already been completed in his mind.
Because Mia had nothing much to do during this period and was worried that it was Han Zhiyan's first time assembling a crew, she took on the role of producer for this short film, which was also a good opportunity to teach Han Zhiyan about crew matters.
The remaining male actor was found from the school's performing arts major, a senior with good acting skills. His screen time was not much, and he was given five hundred dollars in remuneration. After the main creative team and crew held a preparatory meeting, filming was set to begin in a week.
Days passed. Han Zhiyan borrowed an office at the school as a filming location, and another scene was shot at home. With everything prepared, Han Zhiyan welcomed his first independent directorial experience.
"suicide hotline," Scene One, Take One, Action!