....
Zack's newly put forth editing room was dimly lit - with the triple monitors set up across the desk.
One of them displayed a paused fra of the [Death Note] - a wide shot of Light standing under a flickering street lamp, rain trickling down around him.
The rest of the screen was a patchwork of tilines, color correction layers, and sound design cues.
It was late into the night.
Regal sat adjacent to the main editor chair occupied by Zack - while fully focused.
Still, it is apparent that they both looked tired, while surrounded by empty pizza boxes and coke cans.
Zack, being in charge, glided his hand across the control board, pausing, scrubbing, trimming. He asked, adjusting the audio gain. "We are opening with the dad's voice?"
"Right." Regal responded.
Their discussion of the topic is regarding the beginning of the trailer they are editing.
The shoots of the trailer were mostly decided as Regal prefers to sit down and write the script of the trailer too - like a story about what to reveal and conceal - with only the goal to create curiosity to watch the film.
He did the sa with [Following].
"Um, listen to this." Zack pauses, eyeing the waveform of a newly imported audio file.
It's marked: Ross_VO_Final.wav.
Imdiately, Ross - playing Light's father - voice resounded through the speakers, deep, deliberate, with just the right touch of weariness.
"There was no warning. It isn't an explosion and it isn't a virus either. Just nas. Dropping, one after another like flies."
The screen stays black as the voice plays.
Then it cut to a flurry of shots, chaotic but purposeful.
A teenage boy standing still as the world blurred around him.
A notebook falling in slow motion.
A detective staring at a wall of red string and newspaper clippings.
Zack paused the footage, eyeing Regal. "Are we dumping too much too fast?"
Regal shook his head. "Huh...? I don't think so, we are giving them questions, not answers. Instead of explaining anything or everything, let the voice lead the trailer. It should do the trick."
"Alright, but we have still got to make sure they get the premise. No one has heard of a death notebook before. If they don't catch on, we lose them."
"Ture. That is why we drop it at the thirty-second mark. Clean shot. Notebook on the desk. Handwriting fills a page. And sa here - let Ross's voice carry it through."
Zack nodded slowly, adjusting the cut. "And then Light's first real line cos in?"
Regal leaned forward. "Yeah. Right after the scene of that businessman collapsing in the station. We let that breathe, then cue Light's voice."
A mont later, they played the sequence.
"In a rotten world, you either clean it... or you beco part of the filth."
Zack clicked his tongue. "That line should explain the age rating we might get. But don't you think it might boost their decision to go with R and the trailer went viral."
"....we knew [Death Note] wasn't gonna get a PG rating from the beginning. As for the influence this trailer is gonna have on Sensor mbers. They shouldn't be passing R rated. So it wouldn't be a problem."
Regal and team already knew [Death Note] wasn't gonna be a clean cut good vs evil story. It is a war of ideologies. Two people fighting for their version of justice.
So they are prepared to get an R rating.
Zack moved onto another clip. "Then we bring in L."
However, the screen only shows his silhouette.
"I am justice." Light's voice echoed.
A second later, an overlapping voice ca: "No... I am."
Their lines overlap slightly, creating a dissonance.
Zack tweaks the audio levels, nodding to himself. "Nice layering. Adds tension." He added. "It's the best way to sell that this is a duel. Philosophy, intellect, ego. Not just two guys trading punches."
Zack hit pause again. "Okay, and are we still ending it with laughter?"
Regal nodded. "You hear that laugh and you know this movie isn't going where you think."
Zack dragged the tiline to the final scene.
A dark hallway.
A flash of movent.
Then, nothing.
Silence.
Until a low, almost amused chuckle began.
It grew deeper, raspier, more delighted.
It didn't feel evil in the traditional sense, more like soone enjoying a private joke at the world's expense.
It rings out, echoing even after Zack hits pause.
Both n are quiet for a mont.
When it ended, Zack sat back. "Jesus. That laugh... it's... unsettling. How could you have found such an eerie side from a person who voices children's movies."
"It doesn't matter. His voice fits perfectly to Ryuk." Regal said quietly. "There is no vileness in his tone, except for unsettling. It is just like Ryuk - He is no villain. He's the observer. And that's exactly what we are conveying."
Zack turned to him. "You really think people will get it?"
Regal shrugged, eyes back on the screen. "So will. So won't. But they will talk about it. And that's all we need."
The screen plays again in the background, muted. As the images flicker and the final laugh fades, Regal sits back, drained, but satisfied.
Honestly, the trailer wasn't perfect as [Following].
But it was truthful. And in a world that's never heard the na [Death Note]... that mattered more than anything.
This isn't just any other trailer.
This is the trailer - for what is supposed to be the biggest independent movie ever made in Hollywood.
....
Once the trailer was finished editing, the long hours of editing the final cut of the film was picked up from where they had left.
And so did their constant argunts -
"I am telling you." Regal said, voice rising. "This shot has to follow the line. You cut to her face after he says the na. Not before. It ruins the tension if we already see she is cracking!"
Zack didn't look away from the monitor. "And I am telling you, if we don't give the audience ti to feel her doubt, they will miss the emotional payoff. You want them to be shocked, but right now you're rushing it."
"I am not rushing it! I am trying to tighten it! We've got two goddamn minutes to sell this thing, Zack, we can't afford to hold their hand."
"Right, because dumping everything in rapid cuts worked so well in that first draft you hated?"
Regal stepped forward, standing just behind Zack's chair. "Don't start throwing past drafts at like I didn't spend nights fixing your ss."
Zack finally turned around. "My ss? You were the one that kept changing direction every other day. You wanted tension. Then mystery. Then moral conflict. You want it all, and you expect it to fit like Tetris blocks."
"I expect you to trust the vision!" Regal snapped. "We are not making a conventional trailer! This movie's not safe. It's not clean. It's not going to explain itself."
"Well maybe you should've thought about that before dropping a god of death into a noir cri thriller with two leads who talk like philosophers on th!"
Regal clenched his jaw, the vein in his neck twitching. "We are wasting ti."
He moved toward the door.
"I am not cutting it your way." Zack muttered, not turning around.
Regal stopped.
Then without a word, he swung the door open and slamd it behind him so hard the wall rattled.
Zack flinched, then scowled at the monitor.
"Brilliant." He muttered. "Fucking brilliant."
He slumped into his chair, rubbing his face with both hands.
The tiline on the screen kept playing, Light's blank expression, the woman's trembling eyes, Ryuk's looming silhouette. The sa loop.
....
Minutes passed. Quiet. Stillness.
Then the door creaked open again.
Regal walked in, face still taut with irritation, holding two cold beer cans. He tossed one onto the desk, where it landed with a thud.
Zack glanced at it. "This is your version of an apology?"
"No." Regal said, popping his own open. "It's a tactical ceasefire."
Zack snorted. "You're still wrong."
"You are still slow."
They stared at the monitor again.
"I just think if we let her expression sit for one more second, the audience will understand her fear better." Zack muttered.
"And I think if we do that, it looks like she figured it out. Which ruins the dread. The tragedy is she never sees it coming."
"I still say your version rushes the emotion."
"And I say your version explains too much."
The voices rose again.
Zack slamd his hand down on the keyboard. "Fine! Why don't you cut it yourself?"
"I would if I didn't have to keep arguing with a guy who thinks timing is a fucking democracy!"
Zack stood abruptly, knocking his chair back. "Jesus Christ, man!"
He stord out, this ti it was his turn to slam the door.
Regal rubbed his face with both hands, then took another long pull from the beer. The silence again. Even the hum of the monitors sounded judgntal.
Five minutes later, the door opened.
Zack ca back, two more beer cans in hand.
He tossed one at Regal, harder than necessary. "You're still wrong."
Regal caught it, popped it open. "You cut like a grandma with arthritis."
"Better than a director who wants to reinvent cinema with every goddamn fra."
"Then go direct your own movie."
"Maybe I will."
They both drank.
Watched the loop again. Silent.
Then Regal leaned forward. "Okay... what if we let her eyes shift for just half a second longer. Not enough to break the illusion. Just enough for doubt to flicker."
Zack hesitated. "And we keep the cut right after the na?"
Regal nodded. "Imdiate. Cold."
Zack sighed, then dragged the fra forward. "Alright. Let's try it."
A few more monts passed.
Then Zack muttered, "We are gonna need more beer."
Regal exhaled. "Yeah."
And so it went. Another loop. Another beer. Another argunt. Another walkout.
But sohow, piece by piece, in the haze of irritation and stubborn respect, the trailer started to click. Like broken glass slowly forming a mosaic.
Ugly. Sharp. Beautiful.
.
....
[To be continued...]
★─────⇌•★•⇋─────★
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