31 New film project
Late at night in an apartment.
Lyman lay on the bed, stretching his body out without covering himself with a blanket. He forcefully closed his eyes, trying to force himself to sleep. However, his mind was in disarray, and he couldn't fall asleep no matter what.
He sighed and put on a pair of pants, then walked around the room bare-chested without wearing shoes. Looking out through the window, the streetlights on the roadside were still working as usual. The soft light filled the surroundings, casting a half-lit, half-dark ambiance on the open space outside the house.
After wandering around for a few laps and still not feeling sleepy, Lyman decided to go to the study and continue working on his new script outline. In fact, he had two plans in mind now. The first one was naturally a low-budget production, as the profits after sharing would only be enough to support similar projects. The second one involved financing the filming, as EuropaCorp had mentioned something along those lines after the success of "Buried". Lyman thought about it and felt it was also a viable option.
Putting all his assets into the production of a single film, that immensely risky behavior, should only happen once. Aside from that, he also needed money for his own future life. If he could live a good life, why force himself to suffer and make do? Lyman wasn't a masochist, and he didn't want to repeat the bitter experiences.
He spread out the manuscript paper, picked up a pencil, and began writing the story for the second plan following his thoughts.
Scene 5: Dormitory, close-up spotlight.
Characters: Protagonist.
A young student unscrewed a light bulb and, using his knowledge of high school physics, created a simple electrical prop. He wrapped a wire around a piece of metal and extended it outside the door through a gap.
Then, the school senior who wanted to protest by urinating was painfully shocked in a certain area by the electric current...
Yes, the film he was preparing to shoot mainly told the story of a university freshman named Rancho, who fought against the decaying education system in India in a feature-length drama.
Imperial College of Engineering (ICE) was the most prestigious school in India in terms of comprehensive strength. Rancho, the newly admitted student, was a unique university student who openly questioned the dean's teaching philosophy and used his nonconformist approach to break the traditional educational concepts of the institution. In short, he was a thorn in the teachers' eyes.
Life in college always revolved around studying and exams, repeating in a never-ending cycle. Rancho excelled in his grades, always ranking at the top, and had an extraordinary passion and obsession for mechanical applications. His two roommates, Farhan and Raju. The former didn't actually want to study industrial design but aspired to be a wildlife photographer. However, his family's lack of understanding and persuasion led him down this path. As for Raju, he came from a very poor family, and his family hoped he would find a good job after graduation to support the household, so he also entered the industrial design college.
During their time together with Rancho, the two of them did many things that went against the dogmas of their previous lives until they realized that they were likely unable to graduate if they continued like this. People's intellectual talents differ, and coincidentally, their good friend Rancho was an exceptionally talented person. He didn't spend much effort studying every day but always achieved high scores in exams. In their confusion, they chose to cut ties with Rancho...
Unlike the single character and scene in "Buried", this time, Lyman wanted to shoot grand scenes, using a college campus with a large spatial span as the backdrop for the film.
In terms of story design, there wasn't much novelty, but the focus was placed on the educational system in India. Education problems are something that the whole world pays attention to. And who doesn't want their children to succeed through education? So, his new film was prepared to tell such a story.
A film called "3 Idiots".
The name may sound a bit cheesy, but there was no better title that came to Lyman's mind that better suited the story so he stuck with the format of his previous work.
Similar to his first self-produced film, "3 Idiots", Lyman also planned to extract some core elements from his past work and innovate and adapt in shaping the story. This was his work, and naturally, the value of the film wouldn't overly idealize the Indian education system like the previous one did, such as faking studying and still smoothly graduating, receiving the "space pen" that symbolized honor from the dean. Such design concepts wouldn't happen even in India, let alone in the traditionally liberal and democratic American schools.
Breaking free from the limitations of the region, Lyman decisively chose to interpret this story in his own way. Therefore, in terms of overall impression, although this film also has a cheerful tone, it predominantly carries a sense of desolation. The rigid educational doctrines suppress the nature of every student, forcing them to study hard, take exams, and obey, or else they won't graduate. That small certificate is related to the aspirations and helplessness of all students.
As for whether such a substantial adaptation will fail or if it's too risky, well, on the other hand, which film, at the beginning of shooting, isn't taking a gamble? Gambling that the audience will accept it, that the market will approve, that the theatrical release will go smoothly...
Before filming, there's no way to truly predict whether any film will succeed, or whether it will achieve good results. Even if the Indian director Rajkumar Hirani from the previous life were to direct "3 Idiots" at this time, it would be impossible to completely replicate everything from the previous life.
The design of lighting, the use of camera angles, the director's shooting philosophy, the connection between characters, and even the editing, soundtrack, and sound effects in post-production—any slight change will produce a different final product. There are never two completely identical leaves in the world. Moreover, the film he's shooting was aimed at the global market, not solely relying on the Indian region for box office contributions.
For him, the original work's runtime of nearly three hours was something he found difficult to replicate. Not to mention, if he were to shoot it this way, the theaters would definitely not provide good showtimes or more opportunities for screening.
In the world of businessmen, profit is everything that measures value. If another film has been screened twice, and you only have one screening, even if the attendance rate is high, the theaters will definitely prioritize the former film for scheduling.
In terms of the sentimental aspects and the fillers in the plot of the original work, there were many areas that could be trimmed. The male protagonist's extensive didactic monologues in the film could be significantly reduced.
As for the portrayal of the antagonist, the dean, it was somewhat stiff. After teaching for so many years, his cognition was definitely fixed, and as someone who adhered to the education system, he wouldn't be easily persuaded. The storyline involving the daughter used in the film to completely challenge the dean's beliefs also dragged down the overall pace of the film, so Lyman directly abandoned that subplot.
What he wanted to depict was the decay and suppression of students' nature within the Indian education system, rather than focusing on the ambiguous story of Rancho and the dean's sudden awakening.
Once he clarified the adaptation approach, Lyman quickly wrote the outline, and the shaping of each character began to emerge:
The dean, symbolizing the rigid doctrines and rules of the old era, always had a serious expression and stubbornly believed that grades were the only measure of a student's value.
Rancho, symbolizing the new era of educational new thinking, was naturally optimistic and always had the ability to influence the people or things around him. He didn't regard the dean's emphasis on grades as important but instead encouraged his roommates to persevere in pursuing their own ideals.
This complete opposition determined all the conflicts and pacing of the film.
The series of events triggered by the clash of ideas became the main storyline, while the remaining subplots used for embellishment, those unrelated to the main story, were all removed. The narrative technique used by the original director, starting the plot from a ten-year-old promise, naturally couldn't be employed. With the subplots removed, the important promise in the story itself became a joke.
Lyman had a simple idea: to portray the real life of Indian universities through straightforward and direct narration. The suppressed nature of each student under such high-pressure circumstances was what he wanted to convey through the film.
He had never thought of mechanically copying a film. He was a director with his own ideas, and the story he wanted to tell naturally wouldn't be the same. Even with the success of the previous work as a precedent, it couldn't be completely copied. He had his own shooting philosophy. Moreover, blindly copying has never been a panacea. Just like certain directors who shoot films that don't end up being edited as they initially intended, in this world, there are too many changes, and being unchanging is the most deadly.
For example, black politics has become the mainstream direction of Hollywood's creation in recent years, and "Black Lives Matter" has become a focal point people love to discuss. But if you were to present a film completely led by black people, at this point in time, in the context of the United States, do you think it would still be successful? Would there still be many viewers who would identify with it?
The answer is uncertain. Timing, location, and people are all important in films. Different environments will shape different films. Acceptance of homosexuality only became mainstream after the turn of the century. Who could have imagined that these terms would become commonplace in people's conversations?
Therefore, blind copying is not always the correct approach.
Moreover, if everything in film is just copied and pasted, it would lose the charm it should possess—the wonderful feeling of immersing oneself in the world created by the director, which is what this art of light and shadow truly needs. Artistic creation requires the nourishment of the creator's thoughts and spirit in order to truly take shape and experience the sweetness.
"When the orange is grown in Huainan, it remains an orange; when the orange is grown in Huaibei, it becomes a kumquat."
In this small study, supported by soft lighting, a man held a pencil, shaping his own views on Indian education and a story about a college.
