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“Over here.” Yoonseok pointed at the building in front of them. They entered and went to the 2nd floor. Around halfway through the dark corridor was a lecture room with its lights on. Yoonseok’s footsteps headed there.

“Our actor is here,” Yoonseok said as he opened the door. There were three students in the lecture room. Including Yoonseok, there were three men and one woman.

“Welcome.”

“This way.”

Maru sat down after being overwhelmed by the ceremonious greeting.

“We were all worried that you wouldn’t come.”

Yoonseok put the plastic bag down on a desk. The students looked inside the bag and checked the items they ordered before splitting the toasts.

“I get that you’re hungry, but you should hear the actor’s introduction. No wait, we should introduce ourselves first.”

Hearing Yoonseok’s words, everyone put down their toast.

“It’s okay. You can do it while eating. I was getting hungry too.”

Maru reached out for the remaining toast. He couldn’t believe that a single toast sandwich was all they were eating when they were at an age where they should be eating a lot. If he had deep pockets, he would’ve treated them out so that they could have their fill.

“You haven’t had dinner yet, have you?” asked a man sitting on the other side.

Maru responded that this was his dinner just like the rest of them as he peeled the packaging.

“I’m sorry. We’re saving up as much as possible, so we usually eat toast for dinner. Or we just go to the student cafeteria and have ramyun.”

“Is it because of the production costs?”

“Yes. We thought we could somehow get by if we got together, but it turned out like this since everything is about money. We plan to save up and use it for the shoot.”

“If you take into account the equipment rental fees, transportation costs, acoustics, editing, food, and various props, it should amount to quite a lot. If you have to take into account your labor costs, it would be in the millions.”

“Right. If we used external helpers we would be in debt.”

The man glanced at Yoonseok. Everyone stopped eating when they heard ‘external helper.’ It seemed that the most sensitive topic had come up before they could even introduce themselves.

Maru also thought that this was better than delaying it as much as possible, so he spoke up. “It will seem a little cold to talk about money before we even introduce each other, but since things are heading that way, should we clear that up first?”

“As long as you’re okay with it.”

“Seeing as how you’re saying that you’re short on money instead of talking about the piece itself, can I take it that you are confident in your work?”

“I’m sure the contents would look ridiculous to a critic, but I’m at least satisfied with it.”

“Very well. Then let’s talk about the estimated shooting time and the minimum guarantee.”

Maru took a big bite out of the toast. The students exchanged looks. They seemed to be deciding on who should be the one to speak, and ultimately it was Yoonseok.

“According to various internet communities, we’ve found out that 50 thousand won is suitable for a new actor in their 20s, per shoot.”

“I see.”

“And we’re considering 10 shoots.”

Maru raised his hand to stop the conversation.

“This is a short film, right?”

“Yes.”

“10 shoots for a short film, huh? How long do you plan the film to be?”

“Around 20 minutes.”

“Do you plan to switch locations a lot?”

“No. We’re limited on places.”

“Then 10 is a little too much unless you plan to shoot an hour a day.”

“Really? I overestimated the budget a little.”

“Unless you’re the type to shoot as much as possible and then go all out on the post-processing, you should be able to do it within 4 shoots. If your content is properly ready, it might even take less.”

The students all nodded at the same time. This felt like he was teaching a bunch of elementary school students about addition and subtraction. They were all focused on the product, the ‘film,’ and seemed like they thought the most important ‘production’ was secondary.

It was understandable that they were not knowledgeable about the details because this was their first time, but that was nothing to be proud of.

“Is there anyone majoring in theater here? Regardless of production or acting.”

No one responded. Even the director, Yoonseok, just smiled awkwardly. Despite no one asking, people started introducing their majors one by one.

Two computer sciences, one chemistry, and two design.

“May I ask the reason you’re planning to create a short film?” Maru asked Yoonseok.

“To show other people, of course.”

“What other people? Family and friends?”

“No, we plan to hand it to a film festival.”

“Then that will make things complicated. I like people who challenge themselves to shoot a short film in a difficult environment, but I don’t like people who just recklessly tried to shoot one without thinking. Actually, if the work is good, I would not have made an issue about the guarantee, no matter how small. Participating in good work is something helpful to me and something I’m grateful for just being able to do it. But when I listen to your words now, director, I honestly find it rather uneasy. I even feel like the work might be pathetic to the point that there should be no other reason for you to talk about the guarantee first.”

He didn’t care that a bunch of non-theater majors was coming together to create a film. In fact, he wanted to praise them for it. However, if they were planning to get it judged and not save it for themselves, nothing they did until now was praiseworthy.

Films for submissions weren’t for those playing around. Was saving up money on their meals to increase the budget the only thing there was to production? Everyone did that. Everyone experienced such things when they entered the arduous world of creation.

The important thing was realistic planning and meticulous preparations in order to realize that plan. A film with the aim of being submitted to a film festival had to be especially mindful of the pre-production. If he had to estimate the most basic thing, the number of shoots, what would it be like for other aspects?

Maru knew very well the result of films shot shoddily. Either it would fall apart halfway or produce a terrible result. There was no need to go with a bunch of newbies who only had motivation. Without the basics down, their desire would only result in meaningless labor.

He didn\'t come here in order to earn chump change. He came here to find potential. He expected a ground-breaking story unable to be found in the commercial world due to all sorts of reasons. If he wanted to earn chump change, he would\'ve just continued doing background actor jobs.

"It looks like I need to listen to the story first before the guarantee. I talked about the money first because you all seemed sensitive to it, but now I\'m worried about the piece itself. Director, you should know too that this isn\'t a one-sided audition, right? Just as you are evaluating me, I will also be evaluating you. If you think that I\'m not qualified to judge you, then we don\'t need to drag this out any longer. What will you do?"

Yoonseok looked at his friends with a complicated gaze, as though he didn\'t expect Maru to respond so coldly.

"For now, explain to him what the film is about. I don\'t think that you\'ve written a bad story," said the woman, who hadn\'t spoken until now.

Yoonseok took out a purple clear file from his bag.

"This is the content." Yoonseok added after handing the file to him, "Also, it might seem awkward, but I don\'t plan to shoot a film recklessly."

Maru nodded and received the file. On the left side was a column of boxes with illustrations of the composition of the cut, and next to it was the method. They were mostly well-explained instead of using professional jargon. There were also some self-questions and answers.

There were directors who preferred a clean outline, and those who preferred ones that contained every single thought, so Maru didn\'t take issue with the format.

"There are several scenes that require night shoots. Can you do this? Without natural lighting, you would absolutely need lights, and if you want to reveal the faces of the characters like this, you\'ll need at least three of them. Can you handle them with just these members? Above all, do any of you know how to install lights?"

Yoonseok became speechless at just one question.

The main character walks out of the faint lights and shows his face.

That was easy to say, but to shoot, it would require professional lighting knowledge.

There was even a piece of common advice about this when making short films: don\'t shoot outside at night. Natural lighting was hard enough to handle, so there were many short films shot under fluorescent lights.

"If this was a film you want to share with the people you know, then low-quality videos are okay. But if you\'re thinking about submission, then you can\'t do this. I\'m asking just in case, but you aren\'t planning to shoot this on 16mm film, are you?"

"I thought about it, but we changed it to digital. Rolls of film are too expensive."

"Good. HDVs produce good results these days."

Maru glanced at Yoonseok, who shrank back, before looking at the content outline again. He thought that he would keep making issues if he thought about the shooting methods.

For now, he decided to evaluate based on the story alone. He pictured the character the director made and read the story.

"How is it?"

Maru took his eyes off the outline.

There were multiple bold scenes that wouldn\'t be possible without the help of equipment, multiple cuts that made him wonder how they were going to take care of the acoustics, and backgrounds that made him suspect if they really scouted such places.

As a producer, not an actor, he would fold this outline in half if he read this. He would have said that he would need more realistic alternatives, whether financially or just plain feasibly.

However, he was an actor who had to dissolve into the production, not take care of the production from the outside. And from the perspective of an actor, there were many points that he liked about the world Yoonseok made.

"Going by the story alone, it\'s quite good. I want to do it."

"Really?"

"But you\'ve clearly let your imagination run wild. Not about the story, but about the shooting process. If you want to shoot like what\'s written here, you might have to get private loans."

"R-really?"

"Imaginative cuts. While they\'re good, you\'ll need a lot of money in order to do it, just like that person said before. Take this introductory cut for example. If you want to do this, you\'ll have to install rails and do a dolly shot, but can you handle that?" Maru asked as he looked at the man sitting on the other side.

"If I move while holding the camera as still as possible…."

"No matter what you do, the video will be terrible like it was shot by someone with shaky hands. I can guarantee that."

Yoonseok became dejected. Maru looked at the director who was honest about his feelings before speaking,

"So please fix it. I like the story itself. I want to do this role. However, not like this. If you don\'t want to pay a team of experts hundreds of thousands of won per day, then you must come up with a more realistic cut composition."

"A realistic cut composition…."

Yoonseok repeated his words with a dazed face.