Acting Without Filming

A costumed and good-looking boy came into the filming crew's view. There was no mystery about who the boy is... as they were briefed that he was the director's son.

Who in their right mind would cast a four-year-old in a starring role other than a family member?

Hollywood was about connections, so they weren't too envious that a boy is already on his steps to stardom. What they were worried about is the ensuing headaches that working with such a young child would entail.

Spoiled, uncooperative, too energetic, camera shy, cries a lot, being too sensitive, various child laws, and so much more. It is still unanswered whether working with his father as a director would be a good thing or a bad thing.

Subverting their negativities was the feeling that Alexander was exuding. He looked cute and handsome but there was a pervading sensation that he was hiding something exceptional.

He was too different from what they imagined a child should be. He was quiet... in fact, it was too quiet! It was as if he was judging everything his gaze is pointing at.

Only those who were extremely familiar with the Kid Psychic script can tell how the young boy translated the script into reality. A psychic boy who sees a world that the normal and ignorant could not comprehend.

Whether it was fortunate or not, most of the onlookers could not make heads or tails on how to evaluate and accommodate the child.

They only needed to do their job and adjust to the boy's intricacies whilst working with him.

With Alexander in position, the set choreographer briefed him on what he was going to do... along with the camera crew that was going to tail him. There was also a slightly important passerby actor ahead of him.

Having repeated, reiterated, and practiced! All that was needed was to get the camera truly rolling and recording.

Mark judged that everything was ready and everyone got into position. "Kid Psychic. Scene 3: Take 1. Action!"

With his cue, Alexander walked the street at a certain pace whilst gesturing his expressions and hands at certain marked areas.

In the first walk, a camera would be ahead of him and most of the time on Mr. Passerby.

Then, there was the second walk. About five cameras were following him and when they reached a certain spot, they would be put down.

At certain spots on this commissioned street walk, Mark's new cameras would be left stationary after a while of following the stoic John.

When all of that is done and dusted, Alexander would try to recreate his walk again and pace through the gaps of those cameras.

"Alright, bring in the actors!" When Mark was satisfied with his son's continuous repeats, he gestured to his correspondents. "As planned, we will go first with the army veteran!"

"Alex and Mr. Passerby, sorry to break it to you but you're going to have to repeat all of it until all of the ghosts perfect their parts!" Mark briefed the constantly walking duo and felt pity for his son.

It was at that moment that Alexander found out that his NGs were the least of his worries. There were also the NGs of his supporting actors.

An important fact to note as well is the many repetitions that he had to do just to make this one scene as perfect as possible.

Alexander was the one to storyboard the whole thing and chose the complicated angle changes. If he knew it was going to be this crazy and tiring, he would have opted to not go too crazy or... not take in acting at all.

However, there would always be pros and cons to things. A pro would be that he wouldn't be too tired or compromise the shots because someone else would do it for him.

The big con is that it would be another child or maybe a bit older. The biggest downside to this is the child actor's unpredictability and irritability. Meaning more mistakes and more burning of money.

At those stationary cameras, the trapped souls would appear as he walked by them. These cameras were a bit more special in purpose as an important fade-in and fade-out effect is to be used.

These trapped spirits will have very brief lines and ghastly complexions. Alexander would mostly walk through them in the finished product but in this production stage, he had to patiently walk through their numerous mistakes.

Poor Alexander could only grit his teeth and repetitively walked more than a hundred times. Even with Mark and his crew's persuasion, he declined and wanted to finish it all in one go.

The other extras were also ashamed to rest while a child isn't, so they were on a roll. Thus, the overcomplicated scene 3 was done by the time lunch arrived.

Everyone had about the same servings of food, even the directors and more important personnel would follow the virtue of equality.

It isn't a rule used by everyone but an equality rule imposed by Mark whenever he was in film production.

Alexander, Mark, and Sullivan would then live this lifestyle for the next six months and most of the succeeding months after that. After all, there are still a lot of voiceovers and narrations to go over.

At this very long period of repetitions, green screen set-ups, computer advising, actor interactions, location shiftings, and piling up of frustrations. The crew was subjected to a much tamer process of awe than the Creeds had been through when interacting with Alexander.

He was too contrary to how a child should behave and dedicated to his craft that they sometimes doubted that he was a child at all.

By then, they were able to find out that the feeling he exuded towards them when they were filming was an exact manifestation of what his character is all about.

Of course, Alexander followed his grandfather's code of being low-key and had to act childishly innocent when the filming would stop and whenever everyone would get together to talk.

Yes! He was too mature and smart but that is not something that should be haphazardly boasted about and shared with the world.

In the eyes of these outsiders, he was an incredibly talented actor at a very young age.

Only Mark and Old Sullivan knew that he was cunningly tricking them with his near-perfect facade. The Creed elders know that whenever young Alex was on set, he was acting on camera and out of camera.

In other words, he was always acting even without the filming.