1 Chapter 1: The Talented Director at USC

1991, Los Angeles, United States.

University of Southern California, also known as USC, is the most famous film school in America.

This school has produced a series of directors, editors, cinematographers, and other film industry talents for Hollywood.

On the campus, under the watchful eyes of countless people, a handsome young man and a beautiful woman were engaged in a conversation.

"Kevin, let's break up."

With a cold expression on her top-tier green tea face, Perla said, looking at Kevin's handsome face, feeling a hint of regret in her heart.

Steve Kevin, an orphan and a director prodigy, his short film was praised by numerous professors at the school.

In a sense, such a prodigy had immeasurable potential.

This potential-filled man was someone she shouldn't give up on no matter what.

But...

Perla glanced at the man in the crowd who cast admiring looks at her and responded with a sweet smile.

No matter how talented he is, he is still just a potential stock.

At USC, there are many directors who are known as geniuses every year, but 95% of them end up as failures.

The reason for all this is simple: Hollywood does not accept failures.

They only give you one chance.

And as a new director, it is extremely difficult to achieve success with your first film. The difficulty is immense.

If Kevin had a wealthy family and wasn't an orphan, even if he failed, his family could give him more opportunities.

But as an orphan, even raising funds for his first film was extremely difficult, let alone considering other issues.

However, that man was the son of a high-ranking executive at Fox Studios. If she could be with him, her chances of becoming a big star would greatly increase.

Especially since that man recently promised her that as long as they were together, she would be given the lead role in a low-budget film.

With this in mind, Perla became even more determined.

….

Kevin was utterly confused when the foreign woman in front of him suddenly mentioned breaking up. In his mind, a memory suddenly surfaced.

His name was Chen Daoxuan, a young director from the year 2020.

In that memory, in order to secure funding for his new film, he accompanied an investor to a KTV and drank a lot of alcohol, eventually passing out there.

In the final scene of his drunken state, the only thing he could say was, "So big, so fair."

Yes, the lead actress was so big and fair.

As for the details of their relationship, there's no need to delve into that.

How did he suddenly find himself among this group of foreigners?

Confused and eager to escape the current situation, Chen Daoxuan involuntarily nodded and spoke in English.

"Okay!"

...

Three days later, inside the dormitory.

Steve Kevin finally sorted out what had happened and his current situation.

He, Chen Daoxuan, was a mediocre director from China in his past life.

He, Steve Kevin, was considered a genius by the professors at the University of Southern California.

The intertwining of these two memories created him.

Of course, even though he had two sets of memories, Chen Daoxuan's memories were dominant.

However, he couldn't use the name Chen Daoxuan in the United States.

Therefore, from now on, his name would be Steve Kevin.

"Kevin, are you okay?"

Beside him, a tall and sturdy man asked with concern.

Since the breakup with Perla three days ago, Steve Kevin had become dull.

He barely spoke and spent the past three days lying quietly on his bed.

It was hard not to worry about him.

"Thanks, I'm fine. I've just figured some things out."

"By the way, Mitt, do you want to work on our graduation project together?"

A smile appeared on the muscular man's face.

"Of course! We're the best partners!"

Steve Kevin's face also lit up with a smile.

During these three days, he hadn't uttered a word. Aside from organizing his memories, he had been contemplating his future path.

Being a director in both his past and present lives, he chose the same path in this life as well.

His goal was to become a great director like Steven Spielberg.

This meant that he had to continuously achieve success in the film industry.

For a director, real success did not lie in artistic awards but in box office performance.

No matter how many artistic awards one received, if they failed consecutively in three films, no one would dare to invest any more money in them.

But as long as the box office numbers kept soaring, he could expand his network, earn money, and gain status through this position.

And the first step was to create a perfect graduation project.

That is, a film.

Yes, Kevin's target was set on filmmaking.

In the normal path of a director's career, one would start from editing, cinematography, and other roles, then progress to assistant director and finally director. Typically, it would take at least five to ten years to make a name for oneself.

But he didn't have the time to wait and struggle for recognition. The memories in his mind were limited to thirty years, and if he couldn't achieve a high enough position and wealth within that time, it meant that all the prophetic memories in his mind would lose their effect.

This opportunity lay before him, and if he missed it, he would be a fool.

After setting a goal with his roommate and partner to complete their graduation project together, Kevin immediately began his seclusion. He picked up pen and paper and recalled which film he should choose.

As an aspiring student who hadn't graduated yet, even though he had a certain reputation within the university, he was unknown outside.

This meant that it would be difficult for him to secure significant investments.

Therefore, he opted for a low-budget film.

And among low-budget films that had the potential to surprise, Kevin instantly thought of horror movies.

Blood and sex were the two most eye-catching elements, and horror movies were undoubtedly the genre that blended them most perfectly.

However, today Kevin wasn't choosing some B-grade horror film disguised as a horror movie. He aimed for a genuine classic horror film.

[Saw]

As a classic horror film produced by Lionsgate, he knew every plot, arrangement, and shooting technique by heart.

This was also a common learning method for many directors—to analyze and break down the techniques and frames of certain movies.

And in his past life, Saw was undoubtedly one of the films.