Chapter 37

"Mom, Dodo, I'm back!"

When Ye Wei returned to his home in Brentwood, it was not even 10 a.m., and the thrilling morning had not yet faded away.

That excitement and joy were still there, his smile bright as he hummed a tune and strode into the dining room. He saw his mother sitting at the dining table, a laptop in front of her and a pile of documents. She looked up briefly before burying her head back into her work, "Why are you back so early... Did you have a good time on your date..."

"It was great." Ye Wei's smile dimmed slightly as he walked to the fridge, took out a bottle of chilled water, and took a sip. "Actually, it was amazing. You wouldn't believe what I did; I even admire myself a bit! Where's Dodo?"

Gu Qiao, not paying attention to her son's habit of exaggeration, continued to focus on the documents, her pencil scribbling away, "Dodo and Toto are playing in the backyard."

Walking to the dining table, Ye Wei picked up a translated document at random. It was a detailed Chinese-to-English translation. He shrugged, "Mom, there's no need to add so many notes. It's a lot of work for little reward. Just translate the main points." He appreciated her dedication but didn't want her to work so hard.

"Put it back!" Gu Qiao lightly scolded her son, "Don't worry about these things. Go out and play. What are you doing at home on a Sunday?"

"I just got back from playing. Never mind, I'll go see Dodo."

Exiting through the small door from the dining room, Ye Wei arrived in the backyard. Since there was no swimming pool or other dangerous items, and it was less than ten steps away, Dodo's voice could be heard clearly, so his mother felt safe letting her play outside, especially with Toto watching over her.

The backyard was filled with flowers and trees, a children's sandbox, a swing, a birdhouse... and a small vegetable garden with ripe fruits and vegetables, which his mother tended to well.

A small soccer goalpost stood in the distance, where he usually practiced, though he hadn't kicked much in the past half month.

"Hey, buddy, how have you been lately?"

Before Ye Wei even stepped down the stairs, he saw a dinner plate-sized sulcata tortoise slowly crawling below. It was Benji, a member of the family, often forgotten. The name came from the dog in the movie "Where the Red Fern Grows," and Benji was supposed to be a Redbone Coonhound, but his mother didn't agree to having another dog, so Toto never had a boyfriend.

Benji seemed uninterested in acknowledging him and continued to crawl away, as it always did.

Ye Wei ignored it and walked over to Dodo and Toto, who were playing in the sandbox. He called out, "Sweetie, look what I have!"

"Dada!" Dodo saw him and immediately abandoned her sandcastle, running over happily. When she saw him pull out a pack of M&M's from his pocket, she exclaimed, "Wow! Chocolate!!"

Toto also ran over, sniffing the air and wagging its tail enthusiastically.

"Here you go." Ye Wei handed her the chocolate, which he had just bought from the street, and said with a smile, "Don't let Dad know."

As the children of a dentist, they weren't as exaggerated as in "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," but they were still not much better than Willy Wonka. They had to remember from a young age to eat less candy and take good care of their teeth. On the bright side, his teeth were now so white, straight, and beautiful that everyone wanted to kiss them, all thanks to his father's medical skills.

"I know." Dodo nodded, her face beaming sweetly as she tore open the packaging and poured the chocolate beans into her palm. "Dada, for you; Toto, this is for you."

After everyone had their share, she started to eat.

"Good girl, but don't give Toto too much. Just a few, or he'll have to see the doctor." Ye Wei said in Chinese, his heart full of warmth as he patted her head. This little angel was always so considerate of others.

For you, for all of you, no matter how hard or low I have to go, lying, flattering, walking on thin ice... it's all worth it! For our happiness, for a better future. He suddenly threw a few chocolate beans into his mouth, crunching them, feeling the sweetness deep in his heart.

"What were you playing just now?" Ye Wei continued speaking in Chinese, cultivating Dodo's Chinese speaking ability.

"I was building a castle, and a Princess lives inside!" Dodo ran back to the sandbox, with Toto following. "Dada, do you want to play?"

"A Princess? Haha, a Frog Princess? No, I'll just watch. If the Princess sees me, she won't want to live in the castle and will want to go with me."

"Why?"

"Because your big brother is too handsome."

Ye Wei sat on the wooden steps, smiling as he watched the little angel and Toto play, lost in thought.

Now he had an important goal: to shoot a short film! This had to be done immediately, preferably before Willis replied. If the other party was interested in further discussion, he could bring the short film with him.

He expected a reply after Thanksgiving, which could take anywhere from ten days to a month or two, or even be forgotten, as it was a movie star.

He just needed to focus on his own tasks.

The purpose of this short film was to showcase his talent, skills, and abilities in filmmaking, so everything had to revolve around this core.

He had a few options. One was to use the three-minute public service announcement he had previously directed and produced, but it was only at a middle school level, suitable for a school film festival but unlikely to impress big shots. Even if he re-shot it, the story wouldn't be much of a surprise.

It was a short story composed of five scenes without dialogue: a young couple had an argument, the female lead didn't answer the male lead's calls, the male lead was very troubled, but he picked up a can on the street and put it in the trash, which turned out to be a street test show. He appeared on camera, apologized to the female lead, and was forgiven. They embraced on the street, and the story ended.

In this short film, Ye Wei played the male lead, the female lead was played by Lev in drag, the production crew was Chen Nuo, Bud, Li Ming, and others, and Colewin was the DV cameraman, all of whom were his friends.

A month ago, Ye Wei would have been proud of this story and the DV footage, boasting that he could expose John Williams and others, but now it wouldn't do.

The second option was to shoot a few minutes of the "Little Miss Sunshine" script, but this was not appropriate, as it was a method to convince investors, not actors. Actors, especially stars, rarely liked seeing others play the roles they were considering joining, and they would even criticize the script for adding too many expressions and actions before the dialogue, claiming it interfered with their creativity.

The third option was to write a new short film script.

"Okay, let's do this." Ye Wei nodded, deciding to take charge of the scriptwriting, directing, producing, editing, and music. The cast would depend on the situation.

He would probably have to handle the cinematography as well. Since he could do everything, he would do everything. All the creative materials needed to be prepared, and he couldn't be lazy just because he knew his intentions. These materials would be shown to others to demonstrate his seriousness and professionalism.

Additionally, during filming, he would use a DV to record enough behind-the-scenes footage as documentation, to show the big shots how he directed and to confirm that the short film was indeed his work.

First, he needed to create a short film script. A 20-minute or 35-minute film was too long for big shots, and a 3-minute or 5-minute film was too short to showcase his skills, so a 7-10 minute range was suitable.

With the length decided, what type of story should he write?

"Hmm..." Ye Wei looked up at the blue sky, where white clouds were drifting, but no UFOs were in sight... Sci-fi? Mystery?

These were the two genres in short films that were easiest to stand out, largely due to their surprising and creative ideas.

Wait, no! He shook his head, pulling back the train of thought that was about to run away. What he needed to showcase was not clever ideas or gimmicks, but solid basic filmmaking skills and talents in all aspects!

Moreover, the short film needed to instill confidence in others about his ability to produce and direct "Little Miss Sunshine," so it needed to be of the same genre and tone: family, warmth, courage, and inspiration.

It should be emotional and touching, and it didn't matter if it was cliché, because at this point, all the stories humans could think of were cliché and primitive. For example, "Star Wars" was just a knight saving a princess and the Oedipus complex of "I am your father"; "The Lord of the Rings"? In Plato's "The Republic," a shepherd named Gyges accidentally found a magic ring that could make him invisible, so he sneaked into the palace, seduced the queen, and killed the king to become the new ruler.

No one could be completely original or innovative. Every storyteller stood on the shoulders of giants. The key was to redefine and repackage those primitive stories, add new elements, and form new combinations, creating new stories. In technical terms, this is called "bisociation."

So clichés were fine; in fact, they represented the most primitive human emotional needs and were the best means of emotional appeal, like "Romeo and Juliet," "Titanic," and "Butterfly Lovers" in China. All classic love tragedies were the same: separation and death.

The most important thing was to touch the audience's hearts. Once emotions took over, people were more likely to make irrational decisions, such as believing a 15-year-old boy could make a good movie.

It needed to be cliché, and it needed a little girl as the main character!

This was a key point. "Little Miss Sunshine" had a little girl as the core character, and the short film should have one too. Moreover, children were one of the two most challenging species to direct on set. If he could direct a child well, it would be easy to direct adults, which would boost others' confidence.

"Right..." Ye Wei looked at Dodo and Toto, thinking of another key point: it needed a dog!

Animals were the other of the two most challenging species on set. They were hard to control and didn't really understand what was happening, so their "performance" had to rely on camera design and timely capture, which was a great test of a director's skills.

"Ha ha ha, perfect!" He couldn't help but laugh. Children and dogs were the most challenging but also the most likely to stand out!

There was a saying in the acting world: "When performing with children and animals, be careful not to be upstaged!" Many great actors had been outshone by child stars and animals.

This was because the performances of these two species had a natural charm, their innocence, cuteness, and honesty easily touched people's hearts.

So their emotional impact was doubled. Think of "Lassie Come Home," "Hachiko: A Dog's Story," or "Where the Red Fern Grows," and you could see how they could make audiences cry.

Dogs were truly a powerful tool for emotional appeal!

Yes, that's it, a touching story with a little girl and a dog as the main characters.

"Dodo, I'll be back in a bit."

Ye Wei stood up, ready to go to his room to get paper and pen to write the script. He had only taken a few steps when his phone vibrated in his pocket, indicating a message. He took it out and saw it was from Lev: "Bro, we're heading to Sweetie Cafe. Lots of big-breasted college girls! Are you really not coming?"

This had been discussed last night. Ye Wei tapped on his phone and replied, "I'm busy, really can't go. Have fun, and don't leave until you've touched some chests!"

"Roger that, bless us!" Lev replied immediately.

At this moment, Ye Wei noticed he had another unread message, sent by Lily a few minutes ago. He had been so engrossed in his thoughts that he hadn't noticed.

"Are you home?" Lily asked.

Although it was a bit late, Ye Wei still replied, "I'm here, just got back. I'm proud of myself."

A few seconds later, before he even reached the stairs, Lily replied, "Do you have time to go out this afternoon?" His heart skipped a beat. He had sensed during their call that she had something to say but didn't, and now she was inviting him out!

Should he reply, "Sorry, I have to write a script, no time for you"? That might mean no more dates.

Fortunately, a good script wasn't written in a day. The brain needed rest, and the subconscious needed to re-ferment. He calculated how long it would take to write a ten-minute draft and replied, "After 4:00 PM? I want to write a short film script draft before then, planning to produce it."

Before he even entered his room, Lily replied, "OK, 4:00 PM is our routine. PS: Same place, don't be late. PS2: Show me the script when it's done."

Same place! Seeing this phrase, Ye Wei couldn't help but smile and replied, "Same place (Old-Place), or I'll be a stubborn old man (Be-There-or-Be-Square)."

"LOL, :-P" Lily replied a few seconds later.