After resolving the lighting issue, the filming of the movie continued, and soon they reached a foreshadowing scene in Dead Silence.
Jamie and his stepmother went to see Jamie's father. While this scene appeared ordinary, it had special requirements for sound recording to plant the necessary clues.
"For the next part, I want the first line spoken by Jamie's father to sound as if it's coming from the stepmother's direction," Vincent called for a cut and made his request.
"I see. So this is where we hint that Jamie's father is already a puppet, right?" Diantha sounded excited. Having read the script, she understood what Vincent was trying to achieve.
"Yes. So Jamie, when he speaks, you need to glance at your stepmother," Vincent continued arranging the details. This was actually the stepmother using ventriloquism.
For a plot twist to leave the audience amazed, it had to be set up logically with subtle hints early on. Vincent intended to use small details to foreshadow the revelation that the protagonist's father was already dead.
When Jamie's father spoke, he wore an oxygen mask, making his voice sound distorted. This was why the protagonist didn't realize his father's words were actually being spoken by his stepmother through ventriloquism.
Vincent also added a very subtle sound detail: after the stepmother removed the oxygen mask, if one listened carefully, they could hear a faint scraping sound against flesh.
This was another clue hinting at the father's death.
However, Vincent didn't want the audience to figure it out too early. If they realized the truth about the father and stepmother too soon, the horror of the final reveal would be diminished.
In truth, Dead Silence followed a fairly conventional horror movie structure until the final twist. It was only then that the audience would feel the creeping dread, realizing the protagonist had been trapped in Mary Shaw's scheme from the very beginning. His struggles were futile, all under the watchful gaze of the vengeful spirit.
This sense of despair was what made the horror even more potent.
But filming this scene took Vincent an entire day.
The reason was simple.
"Miss Diantha, are you not very skilled at using puppets?" Vincent asked, somewhat amused. He hadn't expected Diantha to struggle with operating the meticulously crafted puppet of Jamie's father.
For realism, Vincent hadn't used a live actor from the start. Instead, he had commissioned an oversized puppet that looked identical to a real person, complete with internal organs. To enhance the horror, the puppet had a seam running down its back.
Since it was an actual puppet, making its performance believable required skillful manipulation. Vincent had originally planned to assign this task to a professional puppeteer working remotely. However, Diantha had wanted to try it herself.
Vincent didn't mind, as filming had gone smoothly so far, and having Diantha operate the puppet could make it feel more authentic.
But to his surprise, Diantha still hadn't mastered the technique after multiple attempts.
"It's my fault..." Diantha's face flushed slightly. Clearly, puppeteering was harder than she'd thought.
"But this time will be different. Just wait." Diantha sounded confident. She then released a Gardevoir. Vincent was momentarily stunned, quickly realizing what she intended to do.
Wasn't this a bit overkill?
"My Gardevoir can control Psychic energy very precisely, so there won't be any obvious visual effects," Diantha explained. Seeing this, Vincent didn't object and let her try.
To his surprise, Diantha's Gardevoir performed exceptionally well. Even though Diantha's puppeteering skills were still lacking, with Gardevoir's assistance, they smoothly completed the scene.
With this attempt, the segment was finally done.
By now, the sky had darkened. Vincent considered filming the remaining scenes in one go. Diantha's stepmother scenes were mostly concentrated at night: feeding Jamie's father, conversing, answering the phone, and the final reveal.
However, filming didn't go smoothly. Vincent had to reshoot several takes to ensure quality, which meant they had to wrap up after finishing the dinner scene.
Vincent hadn't expected to finish everything in one day anyway. Though Pokémon in this world made certain scenes easier to film—like Mary Shaw emerging from the puppet's face, which could be done with Ghost-type Pokémon instead of special effects—it would still take several days to complete. Today's progress was only possible because Diantha and the others were skilled actors who often nailed their scenes in one take.
"Editing and dubbing need to keep up. I want to finish Dead Silence as soon as possible," Vincent said to Fa Wu as the crew packed up.
Fa Wu was a versatile employee, functioning somewhat like an assistant.
"Understood, boss," Fa Wu replied promptly. Meanwhile, Vincent mentally planned the scenes for the coming days.
Compared to other films, horror movies like Dead Silence with a small cast didn't require long shooting schedules. In his previous world, James Wan's Saw had been filmed in just eighteen days. With competent actors and proper props and effects, a low-budget horror film could be completed in about half a month.
In this world, with Pokémon's assistance, Vincent estimated Dead Silence wouldn't even take that long.
Half a month might even be excessive. Since the most critical special effects could be handled by Ghost-type Pokémon, Vincent only needed to film the scenes and then have the Pokémon perform the effects.
In the Hoenn region, there were companies specializing in film production and special effects using Pokémon. Vincent could simply hire them when needed.
(End of chapter)