At work, Mark did what he was tasked with doing, effectively creating the vibrant worlds where the movie took place.
"Hey Kraig, I have a few ideas, but I'm not that good of an illustrator. Mind if I go and ask one of them from the visual effects department to come over to help? They aren't doing much anyways without the script, and the better it is, the easier it will be for them." Mark said with mock enthusiasm.
"Hold on," Kraig said before leaving the room. About 10 minutes later, he came back with three people, each of who had arts materials and sketchbooks.
"Here are Sam, Malik and Brody. They will be working with you to sketch out your characters, scenes, and background respectively. Alright, we have no time to waste, let's get right to it!" Kraig, clapped his hands in finality before leaving the room he had only entered moments before.
'Now let's see if helping an artist make art helps me or not...' Mark signalled for Malik who was apparently more adept at scenery in their brief introduction, to come and work with him on the planets they had to create.
Working with someone who knew what they were doing was really easy, and within just a few hours he had sketches of the planets from space, as well as a city-wise sketches of important cities. After lunch, they would be working on a closer; street-level sketch for important scenes so the prop-masters would have an easier time bringing scenes together.
Mark estimated that his work would likely speed up the production of the movie, from its original 3 years to around 2.5, or perhaps even 2 years since George Lucas would not have to design all the sets himself, and could just delegate it to be produced and ready before shooting began.
Returning home on time, as usual, Mark noted Eddie would still take a few more days of constant shooting to complete his role in the movie. So, he instead pulled out the notes for the Sixth sense and began writing the next scene.
[Movie: The Sixth Sense (Scene 7)]
[Following the incident with the young girl’s spirit, Cole begins to feel more at peace with his gift. He tells Malcolm that the ghosts don’t want to harm him; they just need his assistance. He starts becoming more confident and is no longer as frightened of the spirits he encounters. Cole’s relationship with his mother improves as well, although he still hides the full extent of his ability from her. There’s a particularly poignant scene where Cole’s mother confronts him about why he’s been acting so strangely. In a touching moment, Cole confides in her that he has been communicating with her deceased mother, revealing details only she would know. Lynn is shocked but moved, finally beginning to believe her son.]
"The warmth of a parent to their child. I suppose mother and father felt the same for me most of the time... until the day I was not with them, and my sister was put into a coma instead," Mark sighed. He felt the happiness and relief of Cole finally getting through to his mother, but strangely it did not resonate too well with him for once. Perhaps it was the grief he felt for his own parents or the guilt of nat having taken his sister's place...
'Will I no longer feel positive emotions related to parents? Or perhaps this is just a phase... something temporarily caused by the nightmare i had," Mark was lost on thought as he had dinner and went to bed, finally able to get a sound night's sleep, waking up fresh the next morning.
However, today was a Sunday, so he did not have work. Instead he was heading for a crash-course in directing. The New Mark's body indeed had knowledge on directing, but it was only limited to a fresh graduate. Plus, the old Mark had no experience in the art. As such, Mark decided it was best to have a crash course in it from an experienced director to understand how to direct movies. If he was unable to sell his script and earn some starting funds, he would end up having to direct the movie himself.
On the other hand, if he was able to sell it, knowing how to direct a movie would help him in writing scripts that are easier for directors to understand and use.
...
"Hello Mr. Nolan. Thank you for meeting me on such short notice."
"Oh no, Mr. Whitehall. It's quite alright. After all, I am getting paid by the hour for this. But... are you sure you wish to spend the money on someone like me, someone without a formal education?"
"I'm taking a leap of faith here. Let's hope my faith is not going to waste... shall we?" Mark opened the door to the studio he had rented for the next three hours.
Christopher Nolan, who looked exactly like the box-office hit director from the future, but much younger, walked on through the door, followed closely by Mark. Mark spent the little money he had saved up from college, and the little he had saved up from work, to hire the young and aspiring Christopher Nolan who had only made a few short-films that had not caught much traction to teach him directing.
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At first, he wanted someone established, but realised they would not agree, and at best they would just make him an assistant director and make him run around to complete errands for the director, and those were not so successful directors. For those who were successful, they would not even bother to reply to his request due to how little money he was offering.
On the other hand, Christopher Nolan, who should have only been a small child by now, was in reality already an adult, just barely, but an adult nonetheless.
'An alternate history indeed. people are older than they were in my old life, and perhaps history itself is slightly different to what I remember. I should take the next Sunday to read-up on world history at the public library. I will need this information for many of my future movies. It's is unfortunate that the new Mark I took over just slept through most classes other than drama and literature. Well, at least physics is the same, which means history differentiated from the original course somewhere after the universe was created... only a few billion years of history to see where things went skewed.'
The session with Christopher Nolan only cost him $100, about $500 in the future currency. This was mainly because Christopher Nolan was not an actual director yet. He was making short-films, mainly to get his name out and hope it caught someone's eyes to allow him to direct a full-budget movie.
"Thank you for the insight," Mark smiled at Christopher.
"The pleasure is all mine. But if I may, you don't seem to be too interested in directing yourself."
"Oh? and why do you say that?"
"Call it a hunch? It's the way you were paying attention to what I was saying. Instead of listening to the tricks when it comes to dealing with actors and the crew, you were clearly more interested in portraying different emotions through different kinds of shots and character placement within the shots."
"... An apt assessment. I am a scriptwriter. Currently I am working on my first script, and I am trying to understand directing to make the cript easier to translate into a movie, and a better movie that is closer to my intended vision," Mark nodded.
"Oh? What is the movie about?" Christopher asked with interest. For an aspiring director like him, good scripts were difficult to come by, and he had to take any opportunity he could.
"A supernatural psychological thriller. My main character is a child-psychologist who survives a deadly attack by a past client of his, and is growing distant in his relationship with his wife, and is taking up the case of a child who claims he can see ghosts! Except.. he later finds out that he really can see ghosts!"
"Oh?" Christopher exclaimed in interest.
"Yeah, so they spend half the movie building a relationship to the point the child is willing to work with the main character, and after realising the child is not lying they work together to get revenge on a mother who poisoned her own daughter while the father was away!"
"Hmm..." The blonde-haired aspiring director's interest wained considerably as the interesting plot suddenly turned dull.
"But then... at the end of the movie, the main character realises he too is a ghost! The deadly encounter is not one where he survives! And his relationship with his wife grows fainter because he is dead and she is mourning him. He only realises this at the end. Of course, he does not fly into a rage and only feels sorrow and deep regret, but he goes to his wife and speaks to her sleeping body, easing her into letting him go. Ash he finished, she lets go of the ring she had been tightly holding onto, and then he fades away after having no more regrets."
"..." Christopher was at a loss for words at the sudden turn of events. But then the ending Mark had described was an apt ending for such a twist. A satisfactory conclusion to a turn of perception.
"However, I still have 2 scenes left to write, plus it will take me another week at least to get the script in order, and wrinkle out the final issues with the plot, grammar, and the way the actors should appear, dress and behave. Naturally, I will be leaving the exact shot details to the director, but I have already included some references for certain shots that I think will make it more interesting."
"Say, how about you let me make the movie?" Nolan asked tentatively.
"Sure. As long as you can get a producer. That is the hardest part of movies... getting a producer."
"That is true..."
"How about this. Once I finish the script, I'll register it with the writer's guild, then hand it over to you by the end of the month. If you can get a producer for the movie within that period of time, it's yours to direct. After that time, I will also begin searching for producers, who I'm not sure will agree with having you as the director... If I even get producers..." mark lamented with a sigh, but it was all fake. He was actually observing Christopher's reaction.
And just as he wanted, he could see excitement and passion within his expression, thought he tried to hide it well. But who was he standing in front of, a master of creating false emotions.
"You have a deal, Mark," Christopher shook Mark's hand and gave him his business card.
"I already have your number."
"Yes, but keep the card."
"Sure. Take mine," Mark pulled out his own Junior Writer Intern card and handed it to Christopher, "I'm currently working on a really big project right now, I can't give too many details, but I can say it's definitely going to be a blockbuster hit!" Mark exclaimed in the slightly eccentric writer personality he had put on all his previous life to become successful, and he had starter to put on after meeting Christopher Nolan to leave a lasting impression.
The two shook hands and spoke a few pleasantries before parting ways. Mark loosened the button on his t-shirt, one of only two buttons on it, to let air in. It was nearly summer, and being mid-afternoon did not do him any favours. He closed his eyes for a moment and recalled the raw emotions he felt while watching Interstellar. The dread, the hopelessness, the hope, the love, the determination, the shock... and so much more.
And he would be working with that director, possibly even working long-term with that director if their first movie worked out.
'This should be interesting...' Mark thought to himself, not realising he felt something. As faint as it may be, he felt interested and excited for the future. an emotion from the real world, other than grief!