29 The Road Ahead (1/2)

Chicago, the crown jewel of Illinois—it was the third-largest city in the United States next to New York and Los Angeles, home to the Chicago Bulls, as well as the city in which Harpo Studios, the producer of the Oprah Winfrey Show, was based. Wang Yang and his companions had come to Chicago at the invitation of Harpo Studios in order to film an episode of the Oprah Winfrey Show.

Wang Yang was thrilled to have been invited, as he had been a fan of the show ever since he'd been a boy. Besides, from a practical standpoint, appearing on the Oprah Winfrey Show had its advantages. The truth about the ”college expulsion incident” may have been established, but Wang Yang was not out of the woods yet. The topic was still fresh on everyone's lips and his public image was still up in the air. For all he knew, he could be labeled as a troublemaker by the media. After all, he had given Terrance Ben a thrashing. And what a thrashing it had been!

But Wang Yang did not care very much about his image. He was a director, not a movie star. He made films. He worked behind the camera, not in front of it. He sought neither attention from the public nor visibility in the media. It did not matter to him how others painted him. As long as everyone knew he was not a scumbag, and as long as he could continue making films, he was happy.

Lionsgate Films, on the other hand, was shooting for the moon. John Feldmeyer was due to be promoted to CEO and he was not about to let a golden opportunity slip by. The Oprah Winfrey Show could provide a final impetus to Paranormal Activity's sales. Although the movie had grossed a spectacular 118.5 million dollars in box offices in the fourth week, it had shown little signs of slowing down. There was potential yet to be tapped from that movie, so what better way to promote it than an appearance on America's highest-rated talk show?

Upon their arrival, Wang Yang and Zachary were escorted to a hotel located downtown, which John had arranged for them. After making sure they had settled comfortably in the hotel, John left the two to their own devices. ”Feel free to travel around and explore the city. This isn't summer camp, you know,” John told them. The Oprah Winfrey Show had been scheduled for filming on Wednesday afternoon; at that moment, it was noon on Monday. John Feldmeyer had gone to Harpo Studios to discuss the specifics of the talk show, whereas Zachary had gone out to have some fun by himself.

Zachary had been looking forward to going to Chicago. Throughout the trip, his face beamed with an elation that made him appear ridiculous to those around him. From time to time, he tugged on Wang Yang's shirt sleeves to ask in disbelief and wonderment, ”Am I really going to be on The Oprah Winfrey Show?” And every time, Wang Yang nodded assuredly and answered, ”Yes, you're going to be on the Oprah Winfrey Show.” Then, Zachary would wind up his body in jubilation and break into his little dance. During these moments, he crowed, ”Oh, my God! All my family and friends are going to see me on television. It'll totally blow them away!”

It was Wang Yang's first time at Chicago, and he had just arrived in the early morning, but he had taken upon himself the task of fetching Rachel at the O'Hare International Airport that night. He did not have to do it; he could have simply waited at the hotel for her, but he could not wait to see her.

Wang Yang sat on a bench at the arrival hall. As he observed the endless procession of people walking past him, he could not help assigning a background and a story to each and every one of them. He lifted his head at the electronic display intermittently to check on flight arrival statuses. After a while, he lifted his head to look at the display one more time, and sure enough, Rachel's flight AC5149 had touched down safely.

Wang Yang reminisced about the night Rachel had left him for Toronto. That been a few months before. As she had been about to enter the boarding gate, she'd turned around and said to him, ”I hope our movie makes it to the silver screen. Then, we'll be able to see each other again!” It had been four weeks since the movie had been released in the cinemas, and their promise had yet been fulfilled. But that was about to change; he'd see Rachel again in just a few minutes. Wang Yang smiled to himself as he thought about it.

After a while, a river of passengers and tourists gushed along the boarding bridge and into the arrival hall, carrying along with them all manner of bags and suitcases. They did not appear to be tired, as the flight from Toronto to Chicago only took less than an hour. Rachel had originally booked her flight in synchrony with their schedule, such that all of them would arrive at Chicago on Sunday night—she from Toronto, and Wang Yang and the others from Los Angeles. But when Wang Yang and the others decided to postpone their flight, she had no choice but to change hers too.

Wang Yang arose from the bench. His eyes swept the length of the boarding bridge. Suddenly, he was glad to spot a familiar and beautiful figure. She was wearing a purple jacket and dragging a small suitcase behind her. Her light, golden hair flowed like a sunbeam. It was Rachel.

Her eyes found Wang Yang's, and immediately she smiled. Her smile, with her dimpled cheeks, was as sweet as everything else about her. She quickened her footsteps, hurried toward Wang Yang, then began to slow as she approached him. She looked up at Wang Yang, biting her lips as she smiled.

”Hi!” Wang Yang waved a hand at her smilingly. He surveyed Rachel for a second, then said cheerily, ”You look great.”

”You think so?” Rachel responded with a giggle. For reasons unknown to her, her heart was beating fast. She sized Wang Yang up and said, almost meekly, ”You look great too.” She unhanded her suitcase and stepped up to him.

Wang Yang responded to her advances in kind. He stepped forward with his arms wide open, scooped her into his chest, and greeted her with a hug. ”Welcome to Chicago, Rachel,” he said with a smile. Subdued by a sense of comfort and security as she lay in his arms, Rachel replied softly, ”Thank you, Chicagoan.”

They gave each other two more small hugs, one left, one right, then separated. Wang Yang took her suitcase, smiled at her, and said, ”Allow me, Ms. Chicago.” Rachel lifted her shoulders and said, ”Thank you.”

Afterward, they made their way out of the airport, chatting and laughing, and started for the hotel where Wang Yang had checked in. It had been four months since they had last seen each other, but the pair felt as if they had never parted in the first place. It would be difficult to describe the familiarity that had been established between them. It was more than the result of their frequent phone conversations, and there was surely in it a chemistry that was personal and heartfelt.

The following day—Tuesday—was still a work-free day for them. Wang Yang and Rachel decided to visit the Navy Pier. Zachary declined their invitation unhappily as he had planned to visit a bar there called Hip-Hop Mecca. When they extended their invitation to John Feldmeyer, he said cheekily, ”No can do. I've got to work today. There's still much to be done. Besides, why would you bring me along on your date?”

Wang Yang and Rachel looked at each other unamused, grinned slightly, then rolled their eyes at John's blatant attempt at humor.

Navy Pier was one of the many tourist attractions in Chicago. It consisted not only of the pier, but also a park, shops, a museum, and other points of interest.

Wang Yang and Rachel visited the museum, and then the art center, where they saw countless collectible items, including some rare and unusual paintings. As they gazed up at an original Picasso oil painting, Wang Yang said to Rachel, ”Rachel, did you know, back in high school, my art teacher used to say I had the talent to become a famous painter.” Rachel's face shone with amazement. ”Wow, a painter? Like Picasso?” she cried. ”No, like Van Gogh,” Wang Yang said with a solemn expression.

”Van Gogh's not bad, either,” Rachel pointed out with a smile. But Wang Yang was serious. He said, ”Yeah, my teacher thought so, too. One time, he said, 'Yang, your painting is absolutely mind-bending. It's way ahead of our time, just like Van Gogh's was. I'm not sure I know how to appreciate it.'” Then, he switched his tone to that of a different person, mimicked his art teacher's angry expression—eyes wide and mouth agape—and said, ”But seriously, what the heck are you drawing? Is it an apple or an a*s?”

”Oh, my God… haha!” Rachel cracked up upon hearing Wang Yang's parody of his teacher. Her face reddened as she convulsed with laughter. She smote Wang Yang's back and condemned, catching her breath. ”Oh, Lord! That was uncalled for, you dirty-mouth!” Wang Yang replied innocently, ”It wasn't me who said it; it was my teacher. He gave me a fear of apples. I've never looked at apples the same way ever since. I'm the victim here.” Rachel rolled her eyes at him with a smile.

After half a day of fun-filled activities, they came to the seaside at Navy Pier. There they stood, leaning against the railing as the wind from Lake Michigan blew gently against their chins, cheeks, and brows, watching the clear, blue skies, and the clear, blue lake. At that moment, all was right with the world.

Unconsciously and simultaneously, Wang Yang and Rachel looked at each other, and they smiled softly. The wind tangled Rachel's hair as she slid her hand across it. She closed her eyes and said in beatitude, ”What a beautiful view. I never would've imagined myself coming here a few months ago.” Wang Yang looked sidelong at her and said, ”Yeah, me neither.” Rachel suddenly turned her face on Wang Yang and asked, incredulous, ”Yang, did I really act in a 100-million-dollar movie? As the female lead?”

Wang Yang smiled at her and nodded. ”Rachel, you're beginning to sound like Zachary. That's exactly what he says every day, except for the part about being the female lead,” he commented.

”But Yang, can you blame us?” Rachel said as she squinted up at the sky with the traveling snow-white clouds and wagged her head in incredulity, ”It's all happening so fast.” She smiled, then complained to Wang Yang, ”It's been such a drag lately. Whenever I walked around my neighborhood, people would point at me and shout, 'Oh my God, it's Mae! She's not dead after all…'” Smiling resignedly, she added, ”You know, school's about to start. I can't imagine what will happen when I walk into my class. Everyone's going to treat me like I'm some kind of oddity.”

”Well, you can't blame me for that,” Wang Yang said with a chuckle. Then, he recalled the reason Rachel went to Los Angeles the last time. He had been meaning to ask her about it but had never got around to it due to his hectic schedule. Since the question had surfaced on his mind, he might as well ask. ”By the way, Rachel, how's your term paper coming along? Is everything okay?”

Rachel nodded and said, ”It was okay. Passed. My professor gave me some pretty good comments. He said my ideas were original and my understanding of film was very profound. Hah! Little did he know that most of the ideas in my term paper came from you.” Wang Yang shrugged his shoulders and said, ”Still, you're the one who wrote the paper.” She twitched her mouth, threw her hands up, and said, ”But my classmates weren't impressed. When I told them about my term paper, they said, 'Whatever. The golden age of the musical is long gone. There's just nothing going on these days. It's dead. And who cares about movies like Grease and Flashdance anymore? Rachel, you must be dreaming…'”

She looked at Wang Yang with a certain sadness and remarked casually, ”Sometimes I think to myself, 'if only someone could produce a musical that'll take the world by storm. Then, they'd know I was right all along.'” Shrugging, she added, ”And I'd know I was right, too.”

”Perhaps I could make such a movie?” Wang Yang teased. It brought a smile to Rachel's face. ”Wow, that'd be awesome! I'd be able to tell them, 'See? The musical is still alive!' then,” she exclaimed.

”Perhaps I could make such a movie?” Even as Wang Yang said those words in jest, he suddenly felt a rush of inspiration. His mind ventured off into speculations as he stared at the deep blue lake. As of late, he had been wondering what he would do after Paranormal Activity had run its course.

Perhaps he would go back to San Francisco and become a chef? Perish the thought! Or perhaps he would continue his studies at USC? No way. And not because he had a grudge against his alma mater. It was because school had nothing to offer him besides theoretical knowledge on film production, cinematography, and directing—things he already knew like the back of his hand. He knew full well that getting his hands dirty was far more enriching than sitting through lectures, reading textbooks, or taking practical classes in college.

That was the reason why most college graduates had to start as an assistant director—to familiarize themselves with the realities of filmmaking and earn their chops. Then, there were the greats, such as James Cameron, who had not studied filmmaking in school, but they had taken up various roles within the industry and gained invaluable experience before they got their big break. Hence, Wang Yang saw no reason to go back to USC to study, for he had already been doing what he loved, which was making films.

To Wang Yang, the road ahead was obvious. He would continue doing what he loved and make another film. And this time, there was nothing to hold him back. He decided that his next movie would be shot on traditional film instead of a digital medium. He hoped to gain more experience with the former as he had always wanted to work with real film, which was a completely different ballgame compared to DV movies. Besides, the market was still infatuated with Paranormal Activity. It would take some time before the craze died down. So, it was unlikely for another DV movie to achieve a similar level of success during that time, no matter how well-made it was.

It would take 10 years after the phenomenal success of The Blair Witch Project in 1999 before another worthy contender would appear. Paranormal Activity would have been released in 2009 and outshined The Blair Witch Project 2, bringing an end to the franchise. Such was the fate of DV movies. Though there had been no lack of outstanding DV movies between 1999 and 2009, the market had been simply too saturated. When the DV movie genre had first been introduced, it had shaken the world. But its novelty had gradually worn off with each successive movie release. Wang Yang foresaw no place in the world for another DV movie, so he decided to focus on traditional film instead.

Traditional films were often associated with big, commercial productions, also known as blockbusters. But that was not Wang Yang's style. First, blockbusters required vast sums of money to make. In pursuit of excellence, directors had to pull out all the stops. Nothing was ever too expensive; nothing was ever too much trouble. They could not afford to cut corners and put out subpar movies. Moviegoers expected to be dazzled at the cinemas, so if a blockbuster missed the mark and turned out to be a boring, forgettable, waste of time, they would have no qualms about voicing their dissatisfaction.

Lacking funds was one thing, but lacking experience shooting with traditional film was another. Wang Yang knew better than to think he could defy the rules of cinema and set the world afire just because he had taken a few classes and made Paranormal Activity using a DV camera.

To produce a proper movie involved a staggering amount of work. Even before shooting could begin, he would need to put together a crew. He would need to hire people, screen for actors, choose the right filming locations, and organize his contacts, among other things.

He could very well delegate these tasks to a producer. However, he wanted to be the producer. These were the nuts and bolts of making a proper movie, and he wished to experience it all. Besides, he did not like the idea of a producer meddling with his work. He resolved that he would stay true to his vision and make his movies exactly the way he wanted them to be, free from anyone else's influence. That was the spirit of independent films that he admired so much.

On the other hand, as a director, his job would no doubt entail shooting the movie. He would need to learn how to use all kinds of film shooting equipment, including filming equipment, lighting equipment, and sound recording equipment, He would also be expected to lead a crew of over a hundred people, ensuring every member performs their duty as planned.

It dawned upon Wang Yang that he had left college with neither the experience to work as a producer nor the skills required of a bona fide director. He was a layman, an outsider, a dabbler. He had to take the first step. But if he committed himself to a big-budget production right off the bat, he might fail miserably before he even began.

If blockbusters were not suitable for him at that time, how about drama movies? After all, they did not require expensive effects or laborious post-production work. He just had to throw in a few superstars and let them do their thing. But therein lay the problem—what actor worth his salt would be interested in working on an 18-year-old director's drama movie?

He might have succeeded for now. He might have earned his place in the sun. The media might have called him a ”superstar” with ”limitless potential”. But the truth was that even Lionsgate Films thought he was a one-hit wonder. Just a few days ago, John Feldmeyer had said to him, ”Yang, we're considering making a sequel for Paranormal Activity. We might offer you around one million dollars for the rights. The project is still pending approval, but I want you to think about it first. Oh, and by the way, you won't be directing the sequel.”

What John Feldmeyer really meant, and Wang Yang understood, was that he should go back to USC to finish his education first.

But that was to be expected. Flash-in-the-pan directors sometimes made it big with their first one, but often faded. That was certainly the case for the three young creators of The Blair Witch Project. Wang Yang foresaw that the three young men would take America by storm with their movie. And by dint of them being of the ”mainstream race”, the media would put them on an even higher pedestal than they did Wang Yang. They would receive requests for interviews wherever they went. Among them, Eduardo Sanchez and Daniel Myrick, aged 30 and 35 respectively, even made it to the cover of Time Magazine. In no time, they would become America's most celebrated directors.

But what would become of them afterward? Had they gone on to do amazing work, living up to their potential? No. On the contrary, they had nothing much to show for their lives ever since.

During the first two years after The Blair Witch Project had become a huge success, they'd spent most of their time and energy slugging it out against Artisan Entertainment in court. They had not had a hand in The Blair Witch Project 2, which had come out in 2000, as the sequel rights had been bought out by Artisan Entertainment. After they had won their lawsuit, the two directors had decided to make a comedy movie. However, their sponsors had insisted they make a horror movie instead. They had not been willing to listen to their sponsors, nor had they been willing to fund their own vision. In the end, none of their plans had made it beyond the drawing board.

One year later, the two directors had begun producing a series of movies, but none of them achieved any success at the box office. At that point, no one remembered the young men who were once featured on the cover of Time Magazine; no one remembered the praises the media had piled on them. And over time, their names faded.

When a man had achieved success, broken out of his shell to display his beautiful wings, and had been regarded as important by the world, he would've been filled with the feeling that all possibilities were available. But if he hadn't stayed grounded in reality, he would become lost; he would fly farther and farther away until he could no longer find his way back home. Eventually, he would exhaust his energy and drop to the ground. Should fate decide he be picked up and preserved in a book as a specimen, to be admired at times when someone opened the book and saw its beauty, he would still be a shadow of a butterfly that had once dazzled the skies. And once the book closed, he would be forgotten again.

Such was the cruel reality of life. The world was filled with pretty butterflies, fluttering busily in kaleidoscopes, and Wang Yang was but one that fluttered slightly above the others. But if he did not know his limits, he might very well suffer the same fate as the directors of The Blair Witch Project.

Wang Yang thought it best to start with a low-budget, low-difficulty, and non-technically-challenging movie so that he could grasp the foundations of making a proper movie. But he could not decide on the genre, although he was leaning slightly toward school comedy.

And as for why he did not choose horror movies, it was because he simply lacked the drive and the passion for them. He had always been squeamish about watching horror movies, and those weeks when he'd shot Paranormal Activity had been accompanied by frequent nightmares and bouts of night terrors—waking up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat was not an experience he would like to relive. Besides, although he wanted to continue working with Rachel and Zachary, he would also love for Jessica to act in one of his movies, and he knew Jessica had been looking forward to an opportunity to do so.

He looked forward to making his next movie with his best friends and the fun they would have together, but he also wanted his friends to share in his success and become famous actors, so he had to choose a movie that would suit his own tastes as well as elevate his friends' careers. A high school drama seemed to fit the bill. In fact, a musical set in high school sounded like a pretty good idea…

Rachel noticed that Wang Yang had not spoken in a while and wondered what was on his mind. She tapped his elbow, which he had rested on the railing, furrowed her brows, and enquired, ”Yang, a penny for your thoughts?”