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Text Chapter 3 The Great Detective Sherlock Holmes

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    At a cafe called "Low Sugar" on Wilshire Boulevard in Santa Monica, customers are here and there, drinking coffee, chatting, reading newspapers and books, and enjoying their leisure time in the afternoon.

    Ye Wei was sitting in a quiet corner. He had no intention of tasting coffee. He was concentrating on looking at the "Wedding is Coming" documents, turning over page after page without missing a single letter.

    Many advantages and disadvantages of these documents cannot be seen by a layman, but he can because of the college experience in his dream.

    Cultivating "Film-Maker" is the core concept of the School of Cinematic Arts of the University of Southern California, and the "Film and Television Production" he studied is its most important and best signature major. In the early stage, he learned almost everything, as long as he followed  All aspects of film production can be found in the introductory course.

    Students must study in many aspects and choose courses according to their personal talents and interests. After completing the basic courses, they can take advanced courses to determine their development direction.

    So a very common situation is that when many people first enter school, they shout "I want to be a director", but when they graduate they become a photographer; they shout "I want to be a producer", but they become a  Editor.

    In the dream, Ye Wei was determined to fulfill his father's last wish. He studied directing since he entered school, and eventually became a director.

    But he is familiar with production and other matters, and has practiced it. He has served as a producer in short film production more than once.

    This is the case for every student. For example, when taking the CTPR508 production course, two people work in pairs to make "our movie" and they also need some friends to help them. If you are the screenwriter and director in the first short film production team, another  You have to do photography for the first part; maybe you will do the filming, recording and editing for the next one

    In short, students will have practiced every part of the film production process and know something about everything.

    Ye Wei has also had the experience of working as a production assistant, set assistant, etc. for free on independent film crews outside of school, so he can understand these things now.

    It has to be said that Kevin Thomas, an old liar, still has some skills. The production copywriting is very professional, detailed and rigorous, and can bluff the insiders.

    He has seen more than half of the production schedule. Although there are many places where money was spent excessively and could have been more efficient, this does not change the producer, because it can be explained as his own lack of production ability.  I didn¡¯t mean to spend more.

    On the other hand, in the storyboard script, even some insert shots and main shots were not shot, resulting in very little material available for editing. However, it can also be said that the director's ability is insufficient, or simply that this is the director's intention.  So none of these errors will work.

    He wants to find a mistake that can silence Kevin Thomas and checkmate the opponent.

    But the good news is that he can clearly see that the further back in the production schedule, the lower Kevin Thomas's vigilance becomes, and the mistakes become more intensive

    Time passed gradually, and the waitress came to see him several times, but she still didn't drink half of his cup of coffee.  Ye Wei felt a little embarrassed, so he drank the cup of coffee in one gulp and asked her to get a refill. He frowned in pain.

    His head was also agitated, and he turned over another page of the detailed production expenditure table. At this moment, a flash of light suddenly seemed to flash through his mind.

    "Wait a minute" Ye Wei turned the document back to the previous page and looked at one of the small items: Equipment rental fee - Steadicam, US$1,500.

    This is a filming expense on April 8, 2003. At a glance, there is nothing wrong with it. However, does it really cost as much as US$1,500?

    A Steadicam is a camera stabilizer, a device used by photographers to keep the balance of shooting actions. However, the rental price of a large Steadicam is generally 500-1,000 US dollars per day. If independent filmmakers work hard to find it, they can even find someone willing to provide it for free.  Equipment manufacturers rarely need to spend $1,500!

    Ye Wei frowned, feeling that he was very close, but this was an "additional rental", that is, a temporary rental without a prior plan. It was not rented from the equipment rental agency "SLV" that the crew mainly cooperated with, nor was it rented from the equipment rental agency "SLV" that the crew mainly cooperated with.  It was not clearly stated which company the $1,500 was given to, and could not be verified immediately.

    Doesn¡¯t SLV have Steadicam rentals?  He was basically certain that this was a false account with a large number.

    It was not a well-planned action, but a moment of greed, and he was greedy for a few hundred dollars. Kevin Thomas' mentality was already crazy at that time, probably thinking that even if he made this false account, no one would  Discover, never.

    Yeah?  Ye Wei chuckled and said to himself: "If God wants to destroy him, he must first make him crazy. Kevin, you are caught."

    But he needs definite proofAccording to, for example, a rental contract with a price of US$1,000/day!

    Now looking through some other information, he learned that the crew of "Wedding Day is Coming" was filming in Orange County that day, which undoubtedly made the verification more difficult. There are too many film shooting equipment rental and sales manufacturers in the greater Los Angeles area.

    "The stupid way is the best way." Ye Wei took a sip of coffee and already had an idea.

    There is one principle for equipment rental: rent it nearby!  This is even more important than being cheap, because transportation also costs money. It is impossible to shoot in Orange County and rent equipment in New York.  So the most likely manufacturer is the one closest to Orange County and has Steadicam rentals.

    ¡°As long as you ask those manufacturers one by one, you can get the result even if there are a thousand stores.

    "Waiter!" Ye Wei called the waitress and asked, "Do you have the Yellow Pages for the greater Los Angeles area? Can you also provide Internet access? I want to check something quickly."

    "There are yellow pages, but online" The waitress was a little embarrassed, "You have to ask the boss."

    There is no Internet service in the low-sugar cafe. There is only a computer at the counter, but it is not for customers to use, but the boss's personal computer.  Ye Wei repeatedly requested, and the boss happened to be Chinese, so he agreed to use it for a while.

    Through the Internet, Ye Wei found the directories of many relevant manufacturers and wrote down their contact numbers.

    By the time he left the computer, he had been using it for nearly an hour. After he returned to his seat, he checked the Yellow Pages for a while and then started calling numbers one by one: "Hello, is this Full Speed ??Photography Company? Well, I want to ask.  I¡¯m asking if you want to rent a Steadicam, and how much does it cost for a day?¡±

    "We have rentals, large ones cost 800 yuan a day, small ones 100 yuan a day. If the rental period exceeds half a month, the price will be negotiated separately."

    Ye Wei said OK and then asked: "Is it possible for you to rent a large Steadicam for 1,500 yuan a day?"

    ¡°It¡¯s impossible, we won¡¯t rent something so expensive, we only charge a fair price.¡±

    "In this case, our company may have cooperated with your company in the past. Can you check the specific contract status at that time? This involves some financial issues of our company, and I implore you to help."

    ¡°As long as you provide detailed information, including date, company, project and lessor, we can check it for you.¡±

    "Trouble, on April 8, 2003, Weiduo Image, the film project "Wedding Day is Coming", the lessor Kevin Thomas, a large Steadicam."

    After a while, Ye Wei got a reply: "Sorry, we don't have records here." He said, "Okay, thank you, excuse me." He hung up the call and continued to call the next manufacturer.  .

    Just like this, one phone call after another, one after another, Ye Wei inquired about more than a dozen manufacturers, and they were getting farther and farther away from Orange County. This made him full of anger. There were so many nearby manufacturers that did not rent, but went so far away.  Let's rent it. What are we going to do? Is it expensive to transport it?  Do you have less time to shoot?

    Of those 2 million in production costs, I really don¡¯t know how much was wasted by this bastard Kevin Thomas!

    These costs that are wasted bit by bit add up to a large amount of money, which is my father¡¯s hard-earned money and my whole family¡¯s money!

    Ye Wei took a breath, temporarily suppressed his anger, and continued to investigate.  If that bitch had colluded with a certain manufacturer and failed to keep records, this false account would have been useless. I hope not. Now I can only try my luck.

    There were several manufacturers again, and he was approaching Los Angeles County. When he got through to a small company called "Amity Photography Equipment", he asked the same questions, but in the end he got different answers!

    "Yes, it was found. There are records here."

    "Really!" Ye Wei shouted immediately, causing other customers to cast displeased looks. His face flushed with excitement, and he asked repeatedly: "How much is it?"

    "Our database record is $600 a day, which is our usual price."

    "Are you sure?" Ye Wei asked this question again and again, making the other party feel helpless, sure!  He punched the table with a bang and asked again: "If I need it, can you provide proof of the contract that was valid at the time?"

    "Yes, we have a record."

    "Thank you, thank you! Let's get in touch then." Ye Wei's heartbeat became very fast, and he couldn't help laughing, but his eyes were shining fiercely. With this sharp weapon, Kevin Thomas was dead this time, General  !

    It is certain that the 1.8 million that was invested in "Wedding Day is Coming" will be lost, but now, we can get back some of it.

    He looked at the time. It was almost five o'clock in the afternoon. It was not early.??, I have to rush home immediately.

    After paying the bill and giving a tip, Ye Wei had almost no cent left in his wallet, so he had no choice but to take the bus and leave.
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