Chapter 8

Chapter 8: The First Shoot

Several days passed after the first table read.

During that time, Geonwoo and Hyeonsu came to the university almost every day.

They couldn't afford to rent a real funeral hall.

So they decided to transform a seminar room beside the school auditorium into one.

At first, it seemed hopeless.

White wallpaper.

Fluorescent lights.

Folding tables and chairs.

No matter how they looked at it, it didn't resemble a funeral hall at all.

But they couldn't give up.

Juniors from the art department prepared white chrysanthemums and black ribbons.

A junior from the photography club printed the photograph they would use as Seoyun's memorial portrait.

Students from the film department organized the lights and cables.

Geonwoo personally spread the black cloth and moved the camcorder beneath the memorial portrait several times.

Hyeonsu measured the distance between the chairs again, then shook his head.

"Hyung, you're really not moving that camcorder again, right?"

Geonwoo looked down at it.

It was an old camcorder.

The prop Seoyun always carried in the film.

For Seorin, it represented the last trace her brother left behind.

For Minjae, it was an object he could barely look at.

Later, it would also become the starting point of Seorin's journey toward the truth.

That was why its placement couldn't be chosen casually.

Geonwoo turned the camcorder slightly to the right.

Hyeonsu immediately spoke.

"You moved it again."

Geonwoo chuckled.

"This time I'm really done."

"You said that yesterday too."

"I'm serious this time."

Hyeonsu stared at him with an unconvinced expression, then finally straightened his back.

"Fine. I'm not paying attention to that camcorder anymore."

After all that preparation, the morning of their first shoot finally arrived.

The seminar room now looked surprisingly similar to a funeral hall.

It wasn't perfect.

But the areas that would appear on camera were convincing enough.

The camcorder beneath the memorial portrait looked even smaller and lonelier on screen than it did in real life.

Because I recreated the image I saw through Optimal Scene, it looks incredibly real.

Standing in front of the set, Geonwoo checked the blocking one more time.

Then the door opened.

Hyeonsu looked over first.

"He's here."

A middle-aged man entered from the hallway.

He wore a black cap pulled low over his head.

An old camera bag hung from one hand.

He was Im Myeongho, the cinematographer Professor Kim Dohyeon had introduced.

As someone with years of field experience, he quickly looked around the set before turning toward Geonwoo.

"Director Baek Geonwoo?"

Geonwoo immediately bowed.

"Yes. I look forward to working with you."

"I heard about you from Professor Kim."

Myeongho answered briefly, then looked at the storyboard Geonwoo was holding.

"Is that the shooting storyboard?"

"Yes."

Geonwoo handed it over.

Myeongho silently flipped through it.

The first cut showed the camcorder.

The next showed Seorin's hand holding incense.

Minjae's face only appeared after that.

More precisely, his foot caught on the threshold appeared first.

Myeongho's hand stopped for a moment.

"His foot comes before his face."

Geonwoo nodded.

"Yes. I want to show that Minjae hasn't truly entered yet."

Myeongho didn't ask anything else.

He simply turned another page.

"Even veteran directors often fail to prepare storyboards this carefully. This is very detailed. Good work."

Geonwoo bowed his head.

"Thank you."

Without saying anything else, Myeongho walked toward the monitor.

He didn't look down on Geonwoo.

But like someone who had spent years on film sets, he also didn't rush to judge people.

A little later, the actors began arriving.

Kang Taejun entered first.

Wearing a black suit, he started to casually raise one hand in greeting, then stopped when he saw the set.

His gaze landed on the camcorder beneath the memorial portrait.

"This looks more real than I expected."

Hyeonsu asked,

"Right? Do you know how hard we worked on this?"

"Looks like it. You did well."

Soon after, Han Yura entered.

Wearing funeral clothes, Yura stood before the altar and quietly looked around the set.

Her gaze eventually stopped on the camcorder too.

Geonwoo asked,

"What do you think? Does anything look lacking?"

Yura slowly shook her head.

"No."

Then she quietly added,

"If I were Seorin, I don't think I'd be able to keep looking at that."

Geonwoo nodded slightly.

Yura was already looking at the camcorder from Seorin's point of view.

The actors playing the neighborhood residents soon arrived as well.

The supermarket owner, neighborhood association head, and detective were all senior alumni from the university.

They looked over the set, then naturally sat in the mourners' seats and checked their blocking.

The actor playing the neighborhood association head looked at the storyboard and asked,

"Director, we shouldn't look uncomfortable from the beginning, right?"

Geonwoo nodded.

"Right. At first, you should look like ordinary neighbors who came to pay respects."

He pointed toward the mourners' seats.

"Until Seorin asks her question, pretend you don't know anything. Only react briefly after she asks it."

The actor nodded.

"Understood. Ordinary at first."

Myeongho listened from beside the monitor.

Geonwoo gathered the actors and opened the storyboard.

"Today's first scene is the funeral-hall sequence."

Everyone focused on the storyboard.

Geonwoo pointed to the first cut.

"We begin with the camcorder. It's the object Seoyun always carried."

He pointed to the next cut.

"Then Seorin's hand. She's holding incense, but she still hasn't properly cried."

Next came the image of a foot caught on the threshold.

"Then Minjae's foot."

Taejun looked down at the storyboard.

"My foot first?"

"Yeah. Before your face."

Geonwoo pointed toward the entrance.

"Minjae has come to the funeral hall, but he hasn't really entered yet. He didn't come because he wanted to. He's closer to someone who couldn't stay away."

Taejun silently nodded.

Finally, Geonwoo pointed at the cut showing the mourners.

"And then the neighborhood residents."

He looked around at everyone.

"This isn't just a scene where Minjae is shaken. Minjae is hiding something, the neighborhood residents are hiding something, and Seorin is the only one who doesn't fully understand yet."

He continued.

"So don't show your emotions too early. What's important is who looks at whom, who avoids whose eyes, and who pretends not to notice anything."

The actors nodded one after another.

Hyeonsu raised his hand.

"Rehearsal starting. No camera yet. We'll just check blocking."

The actors moved into position.

Yura sat before the altar.

Taejun stepped outside.

The neighborhood residents scattered among the mourners' seats.

Myeongho watched with his arms crossed beside the monitor.

Hyeonsu raised his hand.

"Rehearsal starting."

Geonwoo spoke quietly.

"Start."

Taejun entered from outside.

Or rather, tried to.

One foot crossed over the threshold.

At that moment, his gaze moved toward the memorial portrait.

Then he immediately lowered his eyes.

His lips stiffened.

His fingertips pressed against the seam of his trousers.

Yura hadn't even looked up yet.

But Minjae already looked like a man hiding something.

Yura raised her head.

Their eyes met.

Her hand tightened.

Several neighborhood residents looked toward them.

Then quickly looked away.

The rehearsal wasn't bad.

The blocking had no major problems.

It matched the storyboard.

But Geonwoo immediately raised his hand.

"Wait."

Everyone stopped.

Hyeonsu looked at him.

"Hyung?"

Geonwoo studied the whole set.

The actors hadn't done anything wrong.

In fact, they all clearly understood the scene.

The problem was that everything happened too quickly.

Geonwoo looked at Yura first.

"Yura, the emotion is good."

She raised her head.

"But if your hand tightens the moment you see Minjae, Seorin looks like someone who already knows the answer."

Yura looked down at her own hand.

Her fingers had stiffened around the incense.

"Seorin still doesn't know. Let's keep it at the level of just feeling that something is strange."

Yura nodded.

"Okay. I'll delay it."

Geonwoo looked toward the actors playing the neighborhood residents.

"You were a little early too. You looked away the moment you saw the two of them."

The neighborhood association head asked,

"Should we look away later?"

"Yes. At first, just keep watching normally. You're mourners. Then, when Seorin asks Minjae the question, pause for just a moment."

They nodded.

Finally, Geonwoo walked toward Taejun.

"Taejun."

"Yes."

"You were early too."

Taejun raised an eyebrow.

"Me?"

"Yeah."

Geonwoo pointed toward the threshold.

"You looked at the memorial portrait immediately after stopping there. Then you looked away."

Taejun fell silent briefly.

Geonwoo continued.

"Your lips stiffened too, and your hand moved first. Seorin hadn't even looked at you yet, but Minjae already looked like he'd been caught."

The joking expression disappeared slightly from Taejun's face.

But he didn't immediately back down.

"Sunbae."

"Yeah?"

"Minjae feels guilty, right?"

Geonwoo looked at him without answering.

Taejun explained his interpretation.

"Then shouldn't he start shaking the moment he arrives at the funeral hall? If I hide too much, won't he just look shameless?"

The set grew quiet.

Hyeonsu, Yura, and the actors playing the residents all looked at them.

Even Myeongho uncrossed his arms beside the monitor and watched Geonwoo.

Let's see how this rookie director handles this.

Geonwoo didn't get angry.

Instead, he opened the storyboard again.

"Your interpretation isn't wrong."

Taejun's eyes changed slightly.

"Minjae does feel guilty. That's right."

Geonwoo pointed to the first cut.

"But if you show your instability first, this becomes Minjae's scene."

He pointed to the storyboard.

"The camcorder comes first."

Then the next cut.

"After that, Seorin's hand."

Then the image of Taejun's foot on the threshold.

"Then your foot at the entrance."

Finally, the mourners.

"Then the neighborhood residents."

Taejun looked down at the storyboard.

Geonwoo continued.

"This isn't a scene where only you are unstable. Seorin doesn't know yet. The neighborhood people are pretending not to know. And Minjae absolutely cannot be exposed."

He pointed toward the threshold again.

"If you reveal the answer first, every reaction from the people behind you starts looking like explanation."

Taejun said nothing.

"Don't look at the memorial portrait immediately. First, look for a place where you can stand."

Taejun's gaze lowered toward the threshold.

"Avoid Seorin. Avoid the other people's eyes. Look at the camcorder last."

Geonwoo paused.

"And don't look at it for long. Let your eyes touch it, then pull away immediately."

He looked directly at Taejun.

"Minjae isn't someone without guilt. He's someone who cannot afford to let anyone notice that guilt."

Taejun looked at the storyboard again.

The camcorder came first.

Then Seorin's hand.

Only after that did Minjae appear at the threshold.

The neighborhood people's reaction came even later.

It was as though Taejun had only been looking at Minjae's dialogue before, and was now finally seeing the cuts surrounding him.

"I was only looking at my own shots."

He bowed his head slightly.

"Sorry."

Geonwoo nodded.

"Your interpretation of Minjae himself was good. The timing was just too early."

Taejun exhaled briefly.

"I'll try again."

Geonwoo nodded.

Taejun was an actor with strong opinions.

That was why he had clashed with directors on sets in Geonwoo's previous life, eventually creating controversy around his personality.

But once he understood something, he didn't argue for the sake of arguing.

The same was true now.

Once Taejun understood Geonwoo's explanation, he asked no more questions and returned to the threshold.

Whoa... Geonwoo hyung's presence just now was insane.

Watching from the side, Hyeonsu swallowed and looked around the set.

Taejun's words, I'll try again, loosened the tension slightly.

Meanwhile, Myeongho quietly watched Geonwoo from beside the monitor.

I thought this was just a beginner's movie by someone fresh out of university. Guess I was wrong.

He already knew Geonwoo's storyboards were meticulous.

The set was also better than expected.

But what he'd just seen was especially impressive.

When an actor brought forward his own interpretation, rookie directors usually did one of two things.

They either lost confidence and became vague.

Or they pushed back too aggressively because they felt challenged.

Geonwoo did neither.

He didn't tell Taejun his interpretation was wrong.

He acknowledged that Minjae was indeed a guilty character.

Instead, he corrected the order in which that guilt should appear.

The camcorder came first.

Then Seorin's hand.

Then Minjae at the threshold.

Finally, the neighborhood residents' reactions.

Geonwoo hadn't simply told the actor to show less emotion.

He had repositioned the emotion so it wouldn't appear too early inside the camera frame.

Myeongho uncrossed his arms.

"A rookie director who understands cut order this well... That's impressive."