Chapter 82: Not Adapting It into a Film Would Be Too Great a Waste

Chapter 82: Chapter 82: Not Adapting It into a Film Would Be Too Great a Waste

The novel was very long, one afternoon naturally could not possibly be enough to finish it.

When night came, Liam slipped into the soul space, spending five days running inside it to read it to the end. Once it was finished, Nirvana even felt the loss:

"Why did it end so fast? I wish there were a next instalment."

Liam tutted as well: "Quite right, I think that lot ought to be tormented a good while longer, after that you run another new loop, like that Thai film Girl from Nowhere. But Elijah is coming into contact with the creative world for the first time, writing more than five million words in a month is already a godlike speed that the great gods of literature aspire to."

At the mention of Girl from Nowhere, Nirvana grew eager: "Host, tell Elijah to adapt it into a screenplay, then let your brother turn it into a film! I guarantee this film will be a tremendous hit, you will see!"

Liam clapped his two hands hard together as well, saying excitedly: "Good idea! I am going right now to haul him out of bed and make him write the screenplay."

Nirvana: "... Host, he has only just come off a long journey, let the poor thing rest first!"

Liam gave a dry cough of embarrassment, after that he left the soul space. He lay on the bed yet could not sleep at all, his whole body flipping this way and that like a pancake being fried. In the end, he had to call Nirvana out to talk with him:

"Nirvana, I cannot sleep, let us talk a while. You tell me, if it really can be adapted into a film then how should we shoot it? Shoot it with AI? But Benjamin has never been through a single class on AI film production. Or should we send him off to study now?"

Nirvana shook its head: "AI films are swarming everywhere now, people do not even like watching them. You see it yourself, even a restored film acted by two Robots is still hanging in the cinemas to this day, the other AI films certainly have no chance of competing."

Liam lay on his side, propping his head on his hand to look at it: "You mean using new-generation Robots, made up into the appearance of the characters?"

Nirvana waved its tail: "Why do you not think about finding real people to act?"

Liam sighed: "The Lumina Film Academy only teaches screenwriting and AI film production, training AI actors. In this day and age who still studies acting."

Nirvana clicked its tongue: "Then go and look, like the star scouts back on Earth. You could even invite people who have been through school violence to take part in the acting outright. I guarantee they will act as though they are not acting."

Liam rubbed his chin: "How would that be any different from poking at their pain? Not everyone is willing to expose a wound for other people to go prodding at further."

However, the moment he had finished saying this, Liam slapped his forehead: "Look at the nonsense I am talking. With so many people having been through school violence, some will not want to but some will. Because in a film, they can take revenge on the ones who bullied them."

Nirvana nodded along: "That is right. But the problem is that they have to be taught to control their emotions really well first. If they lose control in the middle of a scene and break their co-star’s neck that would not be nice at all."

Liam was silent for a long while.

This was the real difficulty, and the difficulty did not lie in the acting. In his previous life, a crew shooting a school violence scene still had to have someone following the psychology of the young actors closely, had to have rehearsals so both sides got used to each other’s hands and feet, had to have someone standing outside to call cut when they saw that somebody’s eyes were no longer inside the role. And that was a world where everybody knew what acting was.

Whereas here, this whole Galaxy only knew how to watch two smart units stand there reading lines.

After thinking a while, Liam slapped his forehead again: "Our house has a doctor, what is more the Hall family has a whole private team of doctors, borrowing a few of them to monitor the actors’ psychology certainly will not be a problem!"

With a way out in sight, Liam and Nirvana talked on animatedly. The next morning Liam came down the stairs with two pitch-black rings under his eyes, which startled the four adults and Elijah sitting at the dining table. Auntie Camila immediately picked up the medical assistance device in her hand and came over meaning to examine Liam’s body.

Liam waved a hand to refuse: "Auntie, there is nothing wrong with me. I only stayed up too late yesterday."

Elijah narrowed his eyes, asking: "You stayed up all night reading the novel, did you?"

Liam did not deny it, telling the truth outright: "Mm, the plot was far too gripping, I could not put it down." He sat down at the table, opening his mouth to eat meat buns and drink soy milk. This soy milk was made from restored soybeans, its flavour far more fragrant and far smoother than the original soybean. The energy in the soy milk was on a par with synthetic nutritional milk, making it something a great many pregnant people across the Galaxy ordered specially.

"What novel is this?" Isabella asked curiously.

"It is a novel Elijah wrote. Actually I lost sleep not only because I was reading the novel, but because I was absorbed in thinking about something else." Liam swallowed down his mouthful of bun, after that he said to Elijah: "Elijah, can you adapt it into the form of a screenplay?"

"Turn it into a screenplay? I have tried but I could not do it. Writing a novel and writing a screenplay are two entirely different fields, I have not learned how to write a screenplay yet. However I know a third-year senior, he writes screenplays for hire for the AI film crews, his rates are reasonable too."

"Then try getting in touch with him." Liam looked over at Benjamin, transferring Elijah’s novel to his smart watch: "Brother, last night I kept thinking about adapting this work into a film, and I am certain you can do it. Read it and give us your impressions."

Elijah’s eyes brightened slightly, looking at Benjamin with a face full of expectation. Benjamin suddenly felt the pressure, rubbing his forehead as he said: "All right, let me read it first, only then can I give an answer. The only film I have shot is that restored one, with no technique in it whatsoever."

Liam smiled: "Do not put yourself down like that, your potential reaches far further."

The film [Wall - E, A Robot in love] had brought Benjamin a certain reputation.

Although he was only the restorer, the lifelike images he filmed made people love it without end. The money taken in from this film was entrusted by Benjamin to the Lumina Galaxy Arts Committee to be set up as a charitable fund, half supporting orphaned children all across the Galaxy, half contributed to the Lumina Galaxy’s Green Search and Restoration Facility.

Thanks to this Benjamin’s reputation grew further still, with a tendency to reach a long way.

If he now shot a new film himself, the level of welcome would certainly be very high.

Benjamin gave a bitter laugh: "I do not even know anything about AI film production, where do you get the confidence that I could do such a thing?"

Liam raised his index finger in front of his face, wagging it: "Not AI film production, we use real human actors, from the acting stage to the make-up and the delivery of the lines. All of it using real people."

Everyone was startled. Alexander raised an eyebrow: "Where would anyone still following the actor’s trade be found now, everybody has replaced them with AI and Robots."

Liam unhurriedly drank off the rest of his milk, wiping his mouth before he spoke: "If there are none then we create them. Alexander, lend me your household’s medical team, above all the ones with experience in psychology."

Hearing this Elijah knitted his brows: "What are you planning? Planning to have the doctors act in the film?"

Liam shook his head: "No, I want to engage psychological counsellors for the actors in the crew." He stood up, opening the plan he and Nirvana had sat up all night drafting: "We have two possible directions. The first direction, choose actors from among people with a gift for it, then let them learn to act. Since it is a horror film, during the shoot or after the shoot is over their minds may have problems to a greater or lesser degree."

"The second direction, riskier but with a truer effect. That is to invite people who were once victims of school violence to come and act in the film. Why is it risky? Because these people already have psychological problems in place, during the acting there is certain to be a state where they cannot tell what is real from what is false, which very easily leads to loss of control."

Alexander knitted his brows: "The second way cannot be called risky, dangerous is the right word for it. If an actor should lose control and use mental power or physical force to attack the people around them, then the attendant liability would be very high."

Liam nodded: "That is exactly why I need doctors with experience in psychology to control the situation. Not only that, there also has to be a security section responsible for safeguarding the members of the film crew."

Benjamin knitted his brows in thought, after which he said hesitantly: "Perhaps let us drop it. I will go and take a course in AI film production, then come back and make the film, that would do."

Elijah, who had been silent all this while, spoke up: "No, use real people. I will act the most haunting role myself."

Liam turned to look at him: "You mean the character Wyatt? Elijah, are you sure you can bear it?"

Elijah shrugged: "I have been through worse than that already, this much is nothing at all. Set your mind at rest."

Benjamin raised a hand to stop him: "Hold on, I will not let you do anything before I know what sort of character that is. Wait until I have finished reading the novel before we discuss this again."

After that Benjamin stood up, handing his work over to one of the retainers, while he himself shut himself in his room to read the novel Elijah had written.

This reading took half a month to finish.