NOVEL NEXT Chapter 4: Chapter 4: Castle in the Deep Mountains
After Shinji came up with the idea of using cue cards to help the actors with their lines, the next few days of shooting became slightly easier.
Unfortunately, just slightly.
The smooth delivery of lines by the actors couldn't hide the various other problems within the Fate/Stay Night production team.
Film, you see, is a comprehensive art, and the process of filmmaking is composed of many different elements.
Aside from lines, issues in blocking, lighting, sound effects, and more can ultimately affect the footage captured by the camera.
Apart from Shinji's lack of experience in his first film being a major contributing factor, the majority of the Fate/Stay Night production team members were amateurs, with only a few exceptions in specific roles.
Shinji couldn't help it; after all, the shooting location was his hometown of Fuyuki City, which was far from Tokyo, Kyoto, and other cities with well-established film industries.
Aside from the long-term employed cinematographers and lighting technicians willing to come to Fuyuki City, only local residents could be hired for smaller, lower-paying positions.
While the entire crew was made up of novices, the advantage lay in the low hiring costs, saving a significant amount.
However, the overall performance of the crew could be seen as a concrete manifestation of the phrase "you get what you pay for."
Fortunately, commercial films like Fate/Stay Night had relatively simple requirements for dialogue scenes, and the action sequences, thanks to the existence of Heroic Spirits, only required considerations in camera movement and post-production editing for Shinji.
So, even if the production process wasn't very smooth, Shinji managed to guide everyone through completing the film step by step.
During these days, Shinji gained a deep understanding that while watching and learning about filmmaking was one thing, actually producing a film was another.
The difference between the two wasn't as close as one might think, and the gap had become as wide as the difference in cup sizes between Arturia Saber and Arturia Lancer.
Although he faced numerous difficulties, Shinji never thought of giving up on this film.
Giving up now was impossible; Shinji had already invested nearly a million dollars into this film alone. Not to mention the additional investments he had made over the years to enter the film industry, which included funds from the Tohsaka family and other cooperating magus families.
If Shinji were to give up now, those magus families that had placed their bets on him would surely tear him apart.
Though determined to persevere, Shinji couldn't help but feel frustrated with the crew's performance.
There was someone else who felt just as frustrated as Shinji – the owner of the Emiya Residence, Shinji's good friend, Emiya Shirou.
In order to save on set design costs, Shinji had decided to use "real locations" for filming, which resulted in the entire Emiya Residence being taken over by the production team.
When Shinji had initially mentioned this to Shirou, he thought it might take about a week to finish, but in reality, the production team spent several weeks there.
Although the crew members didn't actually live in the Emiya Residence, many filming equipment and props were piled up in the house, leaving only a small space for any activity.
One night, when Shirou got up to use the bathroom, he was scared out of his wits by what looked like his own bloodied corpse lying in the hallway, almost causing him to forego using the bathroom altogether.
Later, Shirou turned on the lights and realized that it was a model used for shooting in place of himself.
"Shinji, couldn't you have them tidy up the props?"
The next day, Shirou reprimanded Shinji.
Shinji innocently shrugged, "There's nothing I can do. Those things can't be folded up without leaving marks."
"Seriously, if it weren't for school, I'd go live in the mountains with my old man."
Because filming the movie took up space, the cunning Emiya Kiritsugu had long gone to Einzbern Castle in the mountains with his wife, Irisviel, for some quality time together.
Shirou rubbed his temples and said, "It's fortunate that Illya has been staying with her classmates these past few days, or she might have been scared to tears."
Thinking back to that silver-haired little devil from his memories, Shinji couldn't help but smirk.
"No, I think she might have gone over and kicked it."
"That's possible too..." Thinking about his mischievous sister, Shirou nodded in agreement.
"But you don't need to envy your dad." Shinji patted Shirou's shoulder, giving him a thumbs up. "Once we're done filming here, I'll go cause some trouble at Einzbern Castle in the mountains."
"Um... please go easy on them."
Seeing his mischievous friend's enthusiastic expression, Shirou couldn't help but break into a cold sweat.
Fortunately, while the Emiya Residence was an important location in the film, it didn't require too many scenes to be shot there.
After a few more days of turmoil, Shinji finally finished filming at the residence and led the team to Einzbern Castle in Fuyuki City.
"We're here."
Three box trucks and two mini buses stopped at the entrance of Einzbern Castle.
The first to jump down from the bus was Shinji, who greeted loudly, "Hurry up and unload the equipment. Let's try to capture a shot before the sun sets!"
Thus, King Arthur—Arturia, the Gorgon—Medusa, the Hound of Ulster—Cu Chulainn, and the great hero Heracles, among other Heroic Spirits, now had new roles – as movers.
Shinji discovered another benefit of using Heroic Spirits as actors – they could serve as the production team's free labor.
Though these Heroic Spirits couldn't participate in the Holy Grail War, compared to ordinary people, their physical abilities were exceptional. Moving things and performing heavy tasks were a breeze for them.
"Having Heroic Spirits move things around, Shinji-kun, you sure know how to come up with new ideas."
Seeing the Heroic Spirits bustling around with equipment, Irisviel smiled teasingly as she stood at the castle gate to welcome them.
"No choice, I'm just being thrifty~" Shinji replied with a grin.
"Shinji, it's been a while."
Kiritsugu nodded at Shinji as a greeting.
"Kiritsugu-san, hello."
Shinji extended his hand to Kiritsugu, politely greeting him.
Smack
Kiritsugu firmly shook Shinji's hand. But while shaking hands, he also gave Shinji a quiet warning in his ear.
"Shinji, you better pay attention to something. Work is work, but it's best to keep a certain distance from Illya outside of that."
"I- I understand."
Shinji's mouth twitched slightly, and his facial expression became somewhat rigid.
Though Shinji himself had no intentions towards Illyasviel, hearing that advice from Kiritsugu felt a bit awkward.
'Kiritsugu, you, the guy who eloped with your employer, don't have the right to say that. Have you forgotten how you got your wife?'
Shinji muttered inwardly.
Due to the mysterious decline in Einzbern's artificial human technology in this world, Irisviel's abilities were far less advanced than what Shinji remembered, making it impossible for her to function as a human-like being.
In this world, Irisviel is indeed a legitimate member of the Einzbern family and also the heiress to the family legacy.
Logically speaking, in this timeline without the Holy Grail War in Fuyuki City, Irisviel and Emiya Kiritsugu shouldn't have had a chance to meet.
However, the story involving the Emiya family had led Shinji to genuinely appreciate the phrase "serendipity beyond words."
Eleven years ago, during an outing, the Einzbern family hired the then-mercenary Emiya Kiritsugu as a bodyguard for Irisviel.
It truly was a destined romance. In just a few days, Irisviel fell in love with the magus-mercenary, and the two of them eloped, escaping the pursuit of the Einzbern family and ending up in Japan.
After a heartwarming and tear-jerking battle to defend their love, Emiya Kiritsugu finally married into the Einzbern family, marrying a beauty and reaching the peak of his life.
As a side note, to Shinji's knowledge, Kiritsugu adopted the young orphan Shirou because at that time, Kiritsugu believed he would remain single for life and was planning to raise Shirou to take care of him in his old age.
However, less than a year after adopting Shirou, Kiritsugu eloped with Irisviel.
This made Shinji marvel at the powerful force of Counter Force, which compelled one to suppress their impulses. It was truly something to be admired.
"Fate is indeed quite mysterious."
Shinji muttered under his breath.
Fortunately, Kiritsugu had only heard of Shinji's exploits at the Clock Tower and was afraid he might do something inappropriate.
After warning Shinji, Kiritsugu didn't pay him any more attention. Instead, he went with Irisviel to greet the other members of the production team.
But someone wasn't going to let Shinji off the hook so easily.
"Heh."
Just as Shinji was about to direct the set design, he heard a mocking chuckle from behind.
"Hmph, bad news travels fast. Even Emiya-kun knows about your perverted adventures at the Clock Tower."
Turning around, Shinji saw a certain red-haired twin-tailed devil smirking and resting her elbow on her hand.