Chapter 56: Field Investigation

Chapter 56: Chapter 56: Field Investigation

It was another sunny morning.

Even though it was already December, the warm California sun still filled the room.

Irene stretched lazily in her soft bed.

Her neck and shoulders felt a little sore from typing so late the night before.

She rubbed her shoulder and muttered softly, "I need to ask Ophelia to give me a massage sometime."

Just then, the phone by her bed rang with a sharp, urgent sound.

Irene reached out and answered it.

The voice on the other end belonged to Adelaide Griffin, an executive from Fox Pictures.

"Hi, Adelaide. Good morning," Irene said as she stood up with the phone in her hand.

"Hearing your voice right when I wake up makes me feel like today will be a lucky day."

"Good morning, my Director Irene," Adelaide replied with a hint of a smile in her voice.

"I do have good news, and I couldn’t wait to call you about it."

"We’ve successfully bought the rights to The Italian Job."

"Now it’s up to you."

"How is the script coming along?"

Irene felt overjoyed.

"Really?"

"That’s fantastic!"

"Don’t worry, the script is almost finished."

"I just have a few details left that I need to check in person at the filming locations."

"I promise I’ll have the complete script in your hands this week!"

After she hung up, Irene gave an excited scream.

Then she jumped onto her large bed and bounced a few times to get herself pumped up.

Getting the rights meant the project could officially start.

She quickly hopped off the bed and found the map of Los Angeles she had been using the night before on her dressing table.

In her past life, The Italian Job was filmed in July of 2002, but now it was only December of 1999.

The two and a half year time gap meant that the streets of Los Angeles might look different now.

She had to visit the locations in advance to make sure there were no mistakes in the script.

After carefully remembering the original film in her mind, she wrote down several key car chase locations.

The spots included 350 Broadway in downtown Los Angeles, the subway tunnel at Los Angeles Union Station, the Los Angeles River bed, and the Figueroa Street Tunnel next to the 110 Freeway.

She decided to check each one today.

Doing this would make the script seem more realistic and detailed.

It would also help Fox Pictures trust her more.

She changed into comfortable clothes, grabbed some bread from the kitchen, and drank a large cup of coffee to wake herself up completely.

She grabbed her sketchbook and a small video camera.

Then she asked the driver to put her bicycle in the trunk of the car.

She didn’t have a driver’s license yet, which was annoying, and she really needed to find time to get one soon.

For now, she had to rely on her bike.

With everything ready and a long list of tasks for the day, she had to leave as early as possible.

After Irene got out of the car at 350 Broadway in downtown Los Angeles, she began filming.

She stood in front of the old building and imagined the scene where the MINI Coopers would come roaring out from there.

She rode her bicycle slowly along the escape route she had planned.

Her eyes scanned the narrow streets and the sidewalks, which didn’t have many people on them.

She wrote in her sketchbook that this location needed a wide camera shot to show the cars suddenly appearing.

Then the camera should quickly cut to a close-up of the tense faces of the characters inside the cars.

Next, she went to Los Angeles Union Station.

She pushed her bicycle slowly into the grand building that mixed Spanish and Art Deco styles.

While admiring the building’s design, her eyes searched for the doors and hallways that led to the subway.

She wrote in her sketchbook that this was a perfect spot to change the mood of the scene.

The camera could move from the bright, open station hall into the narrow, dark, and tense subway tunnel.

The lighting should instantly switch from warm and bright to dark, with only the car headlights shining.

The sound should also change from the echo of the big hall to the sharp noise of tires on the tracks.

She used her video camera to record some empty shots of the station.

She planned to study how the light and shadows changed when she got home.

Later, she rode along the wide, dry concrete bed of the Los Angeles River.

She felt the wind and heard the sound of her tires rolling over the surface.

This area had a cool, industrial look that many movies liked, such as Terminator 2 and Transformers.

Now it was her turn to use this location.

She excitedly wrote that they should film a chase with police cars here.

The cars could race in a straight line down the riverbed and then make a sharp turn at a gate to escape.

She wanted an overhead shot to show how small the cars looked compared to the huge riverbed.

That would make the scene feel more exciting and risky.

The final location was the Figueroa Street Tunnel next to the 110 Freeway.

She couldn’t ride her bike on the freeway, so she took a taxi nearby.

Inside the tunnel, she rolled down the window to feel the air from passing cars.

She also listened to the way engine sounds echoed in the closed space.

The echo effect in the tunnel was great.

It could make the unique, quick sound of the MINI Cooper’s engine stand out more.

After she finished checking all the main locations, it was already evening.

She had only eaten a few pieces of bread all day and hadn’t had a real meal.

Her stomach was growling loudly from hunger.

She slowly rode her bike to downtown Los Angeles, parked it by the road, and walked into a Spanish restaurant.

Looking at all the rice and meat dishes on the menu, she couldn’t help but swallow.

This was real food.

Bread didn’t compare at all.

She quickly ordered seafood paella, Iberian ham, gazpacho, and a glass of sangria from the waiter.

She asked them to bring the food as fast as possible.

Luckily, there weren’t many people in the restaurant, and Irene’s meal arrived quickly.

She looked at the pan filled with large shrimp, mussels, squid, and other seafood.

The rich sauce mixed with the smell of the food, and the aroma was impossible for a hungry person to resist.

When Irene walked out of the restaurant with a full stomach, only a bit of orange sunset was left in the sky.

The sun seemed to hang there, not wanting to leave.

She took out her video camera and walked through the narrow alleys.

She looked for more scenes to film while she let her food digest.

Suddenly, she heard a soft whimper from a puppy.

She looked around, found a wooden stick in a corner, and held her video camera in her right hand.

She walked carefully toward the sound.

She decided to make the city of Los Angeles, especially its huge and complex subway system, feel like an important character in the story.

The crimes that happened in the daylight would create a strong contrast with the dark underground world.

She had studied a lot of information about Los Angeles buildings and transportation.

She wanted to make sure the robbery and escape routes were not only possible but also clever.

She wanted the plan to feel like it was using a hidden trick in the city’s design.

Late at night, the only sounds were the tapping of her keyboard and the scratch of her pen on paper.

Sometimes Irene would sit and think deeply.

Other times, she would write quickly.

Occasionally, she would stand up and act out how her characters would move in tight spaces.

She also used her hands to trace the paths of the car chases on her map.

Writing this script was a brand-new challenge for her.

It was no longer about a teenage girl’s thoughts or school problems.

Now the story was about adult issues like trust, careful planning, and the feeling of getting even.

She was taking the funny timing she learned from Legally Blonde, the understanding of people she learned from Mean Girls, and the visual style she learned from the Victoria’s Secret runway.

She was mixing all of those skills together to create a tougher, cooler, and more exciting movie.