Ever since the shootings started, Ian hadn't had anything too easy. It was mainly because of how perfectly he wanted the shots.
Some were better than the original, some were worse. When Ian looked through, he couldn't find any shots that were similar to the original movie. The scene that Ian was recording was that of where Kevin goes inside a toy store.
"Thirty minutes and the camera should be rolling!" Mason said as everyone started to get prepared for the scene.
The original scene reminded Ian of something. All of the children who appeared in the toy store scene were allowed to take their favorite toy home as part of their salary. Even though it didn't work, and was created specifically for the movie as a prop, Macaulay Culkin was allowed to keep the Talkboy.
Here, Ian had paid all the managers of the kids, and the sponsor who provided the toys had mentioned how it was possible to share the toys among the kids.
"If this scene can be taken within two-three shots, I swear, you guys can take any toy in here with you!" Ian said and all the kids jumped in excitement.
They were just any kids. Some were rookies in the industry, but the majority had experience with acting.
In not more than forty minutes, the shooting started.
It started from the outside of the toy store. The cameras took shots of the name of the store, which Ian had to customize twice or thrice to get the perfect setting with the story theme.
"....ACTION!" Ian yelled.
Everyone was already in their roles. The street was already crowded with people, so Ian had to put almost no effort into filling the street with Christmas spirit—although there was plenty of time left for Christmas.
The limousine halted in front of the store and the driver hurriedly got out of it.
"Here we are, sir. Duncan's Toy Chest." The driver said as Kevin looked up at the toy store in disbelief.
His mouth formed an 'O' while he excitedly looked at the outside of the store.
There's more yet to come.
"Merry Christmas, Kevin," Adam mouthed out.
"CUT! Perfect shot in the first go! Your expressions were on spot, and that was something we can hold onto," Ian said and saw Adam smiling back while raising his hands to show the thumbs up.
"Alright, let's go inside then, everything is ready, right? Send the actors in, and Adam, I'll explain how your expressions must be, and I'm pretty sure you already have the role of Kevin inside you,"
-
They all went inside, and it took longer than Ian thought to get everything in order.
The toys and the placings of the props weren't to his exact expectations, so he had to talk here and there to get them in order.
"Take the shot from the train, and moving up, the front of the store should be revealed. Kevin would take a turn in here, and that's where camera 2 moves to the left. From above the lights, I want to zoom in on Kevin's face… Yeah, that's it. Let's see how this would go," Ian said and got back to stand in front of the monitor screen.
The entire store was filled with Christmas decorations left to right.
"....ACTION!" Ian commanded as everyone was already in their roles.
Kids were touching, looking, and enjoying the view in front of them. There were also actors and actresses showing things to their kids inside the toy store.
It was one hell of a scene.
"CUT! No, the entire right side area is being covered. You cannot just stand there and look at the toys. Imagine you brought your kid to a toy store, and what would you do? Make them see toys, show how they work, and entertain using your own words… right? I want it to be shown. And James, when she comes to you, you should show as if you're selling something out of the store. Show the variations of the toy, and explain them.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
In the background, there'd be music, but the actions should be realistic until the focus turns to Kevin, shall we try again?" Ian asked.
"YES!"
"Sure!"
"We are ready!"
"One more time!!"
-
Several days passed after the scene in the toy store.
Now the part Ian focused on was where Marv and Harry get tortured by the kid.
It was the fun part. Ian initially wanted to go ahead and create the tricky parts including where Marv and Harry get beaten up first, but then he decided to go with the script and take things slowly one by one.
"Within two more weeks, I'm pretty sure we'll be done with the shooting," Ian said to Raelynn.
"Yeah, maybe even before that I'm pretty sure," she replied and both of them got back to work.
In the set, the main focus was on Will Murray and Hyde Wilkins. If someone doesn't remember, Will Murray acted as Marv and Hyde acted as Harry in Home Alone 1.
"Okay, so I guess everyone knows what they should do right? When the alarm is ringing loudly, Harry and Marv must hurry up. And then Harry, you jump on this, then Marv should come running closer, and then must jump. Then, cut.
"After that scene, Hugh here would help with the stunt, again, Cut. Then, Harry should look done with his life, head facing towards the sky. The car is supposed to be crashed due to your weight, so no worries, it'll look like that.
"Focus on the camera placement here, Rae. When Hugh is replacing Harry, it shouldn't look obvious. You know how to do your job, why should I even explain," Ian said and chuckled along with Raelynn.
-
"....ACTION!"
"I'm up here and I'm really scared," Kevin shouted.
The next scene was the ending scene of the tortures. It had been quite a journey of streaks with risky stunts.
This time, Ian made sure to share the thrill of the stunts with the actors. Just like in the first movie that he made Will walk through the glass toys, this time majority of the scenes made the actors go through hardships.
Just like the current one that Ian was watching through the little monitor screen.
"What's that sound?" Harry asked as he kept his ear to the door. Behind the door, it was absolutely nothing, but in the movie, there's going to be a huge tool chest being pushed by Kevin.
In the end, the door from the other side was pushed along with the tool chest towards Marv and Harry.
"CUT!" Ian shouted as everyone dropped their act.
"My back hit hard on the wall," Will said and bent backward. The cracks were audible which made everyone laugh.
"We need to warm up before these shoots, from the next shot upon, we're going to do five laps around the set," Hyde said and laughed along.
"I guess I might as well consider joining the workout team. Handling the lighting isn't any sort of easy job. It's supposed to be dark here, which in fact makes things more difficult," the cameraman joined the discussion and laughed along as well.
-
Currently, Marv and Harry were hanging themselves on a rope—yes, a rope.
Some cables secured their life, which if not was hanging by a rope. Pun intended.
Somehow, the shooting had begun and the actors were repeating their dialogues with enough expressions and body language.
Hyde Wilkins had a different mindset while hanging on the rope.
"I don't think I can complete the scene without throwing up on the set," he had said to Ian while the director was explaining the scene.
'Don't look down. Don't look down. Don't look down.' he had told himself over and over again.
"Harry? You wearing aftershave?" Marv said.
The camera that basically focused on their faces made the facial expressions highlighted.
-
Ian smiled at Marv's expressions. He looked genuinely confused while hanging on the rope.
It was understandable, as they were battling for their lives after a lot of torture from a kid, the smell of aftershave could be quite confusing.
"That's not aftershave, that's kerosene. The rope is soaked in it," Harry was the smart one among them, and it was proved here.
"Why would anyone soak a rope in kerosene?"
"CUT!" Ian shouted. "Perfect, next part of the scene is basically for the stuntmen. Only your facial expressions would be needed, and that could be done easily. Let's take ten minutes, I've to go through this again," he said and Marv and Harry were safely brought down to land.
Hyde Wilkins sighed the longest sigh he had ever sighed and slept on the floor itself.
Raelynn kept shooting what was happening while holding back her laughter.
"SHIT! We could have done it on the floor itself!" He said and kept looking at the sky.
"I wanted realistic facial expressions," Ian said and chuckled seeing how scared Hyde looked.