I'm Not A Master, I'm A Director
Chapter 454: Aoko — "That White Beast Gives Me the Creeps"
The very next day, Shinji began the final round of preparations before filming Hundred Years' War of Evil Dragons.
There was no helping it. If the movie was going to premiere by the end of the year, filming had to start as soon as possible. Otherwise, there wouldn't be enough time for post-production.
Even though Shinji relied on magecraft as much as possible during filming, some shots still required CGI effects.
To ensure the visual effects looked convincing and didn't break immersion, it was essential to give the staff enough time and energy to complete the work properly.
Despite being called "the world's most perfect lamppost ornament" by the scam-artist extraordinaire Merlin, Shinji was actually quite considerate toward his non-Heroic Spirit employees.
After all, unlike Heroic Spirits, ordinary staff couldn't simply be re-summoned if they worked themselves to death.
If Shinji had to evaluate himself, he felt he was far kinder than Disney had been in his previous life.
By the time of his reincarnation, Disney had already become the dominant force in the film industry.
With Star Wars, Marvel, and 20th Century Fox all under its umbrella, Disney released a huge number of effects-heavy films every year.
Saying that Disney occupied half of Hollywood's visual-effects market wouldn't be an exaggeration.
Yet every effects studio in the world knew that Disney projects were among the hardest jobs in Hollywood.
Not only did Disney demand huge quantities of high-quality visual effects, but they would often require multiple versions of the same effect to be created before choosing one after endless rounds of review.
Many of the infamous "trailer bait" scenes that fans talked about weren't deliberate attempts to mislead audiences.
They were simply discarded concepts from earlier stages of production.
The problem was that all of this extra work didn't bring the VFX teams any extra income.
Disney only paid for the final approved version.
A vivid analogy would be a difficult customer ordering grilled fish at a restaurant.
First, the customer would summon the staff and demand one grilled fish in spicy flavor, one in mushroom flavor, one in tomato flavor, and one in garlic flavor.
After all four were prepared and served, the customer would take a bite from each, carefully compare them, choose a single flavor, and then demand that the restaurant prepare a fresh version of that one as quickly as possible.
Then, when it came time to pay, the customer would only pay for a single standard grilled fish.
The restaurant would have to absorb all the costs of the other three.
Because Disney produced so many movies, and because visual-effects work couldn't simply be accelerated by throwing more people at it—just as ten women couldn't produce a baby in one month—many Disney projects began creating visual effects long before the films themselves were finalized.
During Marvel's later years, when multiple projects were released every year, it wasn't unusual for the final battle's visual effects to enter production before the screenplay had even been completed.
As a result, entire movies ended up being written around preexisting action scenes.
That was one of the major reasons why the storytelling quality of later Marvel films deteriorated so badly.
The relationship between action sequences and narrative development had been completely reversed.
Naturally, Shinji had no desire to become a second Marvel.
No matter how many FGO films were planned, he intended to proceed step by step and maintain both quality and consistency.
The downside was that his schedule became extremely tight.
Prologue had only just been released on streaming platforms, and he was already moving into production for the next film.
In fact, Shinji's decision to bury himself in work alongside the core members of the FGO production team was proving to be a very wise one.
At that very moment, entertainment reporters everywhere were scrambling to secure interviews with people involved in Prologue.
Not only was director Shinji Matou being pursued, but so were lead actors Charlemagne and Sakura.
Even the unfortunate Director Olga Marie had reporters staking out her whereabouts.
Why were paparazzi following the foolish little Marie too?
Did reporters really need a reason to chase after a beautiful young woman?
Ultimately, all of this attention stemmed from the success of Prologue's television and streaming debut the previous day.
In North America especially, Prologue had actually outperformed the Oscar Awards ceremony, despite the latter receiving overwhelming promotional coverage beforehand.
To be fair, looking solely at average ratings, the Oscars lost to Prologue by quite a large margin.
However, if one examined the median ratings, the Oscar ceremony trailed Prologue by only 0.3%.
The problem was:
Who in the world treated median ratings as the most important metric?
To make matters worse, Shinji and Cloris—the shameless duo—had been loudly publicizing the Oscars' humiliating ratings defeat throughout the media.
In this situation, it was hardly difficult to guess what film critics affiliated with North America's Times Group would think of Prologue.
For example:
"I should say that throughout the screening of Prologue, I was haunted by a sense of strangeness, absurdity, and unease. And yet, this is not a horror film!"
A well-known North American film critic published his review in his newspaper column immediately after the Times Group released its article.
"At its core, Prologue ought to be an action-packed, exciting movie. Yet Shinji Matou somehow managed to turn it into a horror film. No, that's not quite right—it should be called a disaster film. The very existence of this movie is a disaster."
"Given director Shinji Matou's track record, I'm not surprised he managed to make something like this. This man, a pure commercial filmmaker, is no longer content with ruining theaters—he's now reaching into our living rooms."
"In fact, Prologue even reminds me of the Citizen Kane of bad movies—The Room."
"Not because this film is like The Room in the sense that, despite being terrible, it still has redeeming qualities. Rather, because, like all of Shinji Matou's heavily advertised productions, this movie is destined to become famous for how bad it is."
"Trust me, if you're spending your day off sitting on the couch looking for a movie to watch, do not choose Prologue. It will do nothing except waste your valuable free time. You should watch films that strike directly at the soul, films that teach life lessons and the meaning of existence. Those are the kinds of movies that—"
"Boss, it looks like our director has received some very high praise."
The secretary removed her glasses and placed the newspaper on her desk. Across from her, sitting on the sofa and sipping tea, was Cloris.
"Heh. That guy clearly never watched Prologue. He's just talking nonsense."
"How can you tell, Boss?"
Cloris shrugged.
"If he'd actually seen it, he'd be criticizing the way the movie suddenly ends. Right now, plenty of fans online are venting about Shinji's shameless cliffhanger by saying, 'I just watched a two-hour-long trailer!' That's the obvious angle to attack. And secondly..."
At that point, Cloris raised an eyebrow.
"Secondly, after its premiere, Prologue was never broadcast on television again. It isn't being released on VHS or DVD either. Shinji wants to push streaming services, so anyone who wants to watch Prologue now has to use a computer or mobile platform. Watching it on a television while sitting on the couch is impossible."
"Then should we sue him, Boss?"
"My heart isn't so small that I'd stoop to that."
Despite her youth, Cloris was already a veteran producer and one of the most powerful figures in the North American film industry. She possessed a certain magnanimity befitting her position.
"Filing that kind of ridiculous lawsuit would be meaningless. It would only increase his popularity. What we should do is pressure that newspaper into canceling his column and publishing an apology article titled 'We Were Wrong!'"
"..."
How ruthless. As expected of her boss.
The young secretary silently put her glasses back on, pretending nothing had happened while locking her true opinion deep inside her heart.
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The fact that Prologue was being torn apart by professional critics was entirely expected by both Shinji and Cloris. Compared to these "paper keyboard warriors," who could do little more than talk, they cared far more about what ordinary viewers thought of the film.
Perhaps because audiences viewed Prologue as a relatively low-budget television movie, their reactions were much more forgiving than Shinji had anticipated.
In Shinji's own opinion, Prologue was the worst film he had ever made.
That assessment had nothing to do with the story itself. Rather, it was because Prologue served primarily as a setup piece, forcing Shinji to violate many of the fundamental rules that commercial films were supposed to follow.
When fans said Prologue was essentially a two-hour trailer, they were completely correct.
Because of that, Shinji had fully prepared himself to be roasted alive by audiences before the film's release. He had even assembled an army of paid internet commentators in advance, ready to step in and rescue the movie's reputation if public opinion spiraled out of control.
What surprised Shinji was that audiences were actually very satisfied with Prologue itself.
From the audience's perspective, what more could you possibly ask for from a free blockbuster packed with special effects?
The fight scenes were thrilling, the characters were engaging, the plot was full of twists and turns, and humanity's extinction at the end laid the groundwork for everything that was to come.
If there was one thing viewers were unhappy about, it was that Prologue ended as soon as they finished watching it!
They hadn't gotten nearly enough.
[Where's the sequel? Where's the sequel? Where's the sequel? If I don't get another FGO movie soon, I'm going to die! rolling around on the floor emoji]
Reading the endless stream of complaints demanding more from fellow fans online, Aoko couldn't help but smile in sympathy.
"Sure enough, fans are the same everywhere. No matter how much they get, they always want more."
Chuckling, Aoko added her own comment:
[Exactly! Shinji Matou's crimes are unforgivable. He should be locked up and forced to make movies. Don't let him out until he's finished filming all of FGO! (˵¯͒〰¯͒˵)]
While Aoko was chatting with people online, Alice walked into the room carrying a white plush toy, her face glowing with delight.
"The more I look at it, the cuter it gets. How did Sir Matou come up with such an adorable little thing? He's a genius. I kind of want a familiar like this."
Seeing the plush nestled in Alice's arms, Aoko's eyes widened.
"You actually bought one?!"
"Of course. Fou merchandise is selling incredibly well right now. I had to visit three different stores before I found one. I heard the next shipment is going to be sold by lottery."
As she spoke, Alice rubbed her cheek against the plush's fluffy tail.
Noticing Aoko's hesitant expression, she frowned.
"This one's mine. If you want to hold one, go buy your own."
"That's not it."
Aoko scratched her cheek awkwardly.
"Maybe it's just intuition, but that little guy kind of creeps me out. It feels like he could swat me to death with a single slap."
Alice stared at her for a moment.
"I think there's something seriously wrong with your intuition."
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Tn: I updated the story once every 2 days, but if you want to see more chapter of this story ahead of time, please go to my Patreon.
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