Chapter 147: Essential

After staying in Dublin for just two days, Mrs. Leah flew to London. The 1995 annual runway show wasn't just a first in the history of Victoria's Secret; it was their most important event since the Super Bowl halftime show. As the advertising and planning agency, Santa Fe had far too much preliminary work to handle.

After seeing his mother off, Duke buried himself in his work, completely forgetting about his plan to invite Sophie Marceau from the neighboring set out for a drink. Even though his abilities as a director were growing stronger, his focus on the profession had not diminished in the slightest.

In mid-December, the temperature in Ireland plummeted to around fifteen degrees Fahrenheit. Set construction and some preparatory work were still ongoing, but Duke announced the official start of filming anyway, as the beach set was fully ready.

This was the largest-scale shoot Duke had undertaken since entering the film industry, surpassing even some of the battlefield scenes in Independence Day.

Out on the water, across the beach, and behind the coastal fortifications, massive crowds of people swarmed the area. Counting the props, makeup, wardrobe, and other crew members, the total number of people involved in shooting this sequence exceeded 2,000. It was a severe test of Duke's organizational skills.

Fortunately, those 2,000 people would never appear in the same frame. Even for the shots featuring hundreds of soldiers, only a few live actors in the very front were physically present; the rest would have their backgrounds added or replaced using CGI in post-production. Furthermore, this wasn't a single continuous take. Various montage techniques were more than enough to solve many of the filming challenges.

Of course, the shoot wasn't without its difficulties. The waters around the British Isles were far from calm this time of year. The large ships the crew had rented held up fine, but the landing craft rocked violently on the waves, making many people intensely uncomfortable. While the resulting shots of men vomiting looked remarkably authentic, it also wasted a considerable amount of time.

The troops loaned by the Irish government fared a bit better. Despite being an army unit, they were rigorously trained. The actors playing the American GIs, however—led by Tom Hanks—were a different story. Aside from a few with exceptionally strong adaptability, almost all of them threw up violently.

Standing in a tent beneath the German fortifications, Duke stared at the monitor. It played the footage John Schwartzman had compiled from the various camera assistants, capturing the genuine pre-battle reactions of the US Military soldiers packed inside the landing craft.

Duke's brow remained furrowed; he was clearly not entirely satisfied with the footage.

"Is there a problem?" Sofia asked curiously. "I think it looks great."

"Hmm?" Duke turned to look at her.

Perhaps because she had worked on multiple film sets and was now serving as an assistant director, Sofia Coppola was clearly feeling more confident. She pointed at the monitor and said, "I think these reactions are incredibly realistic. Some are vomiting, some are praying, some are terrified, and some are just pretending to be calm..."

"Even though I haven't enlisted," Sofia said, glancing over at the rest area where a few Marine Corps officers were sitting, "I've interacted with them. I imagine this is the most normal human reaction. If every soldier marched onto the battlefield with high morale and no fear of death, wouldn't that just be fake?"

"That's not where the problem lies. Their performances are fine."

Sofia looked slightly taken aback at these words. Not waiting for her to respond, Duke turned and waved at the director of photography sitting in the rest area. "John! Come over here for a second!"

John Schwartzman immediately hurried over.

"Is it a problem with the shots?" he asked.

"Here, look at this..." Duke pressed the pause button and pointed at the monitor. "John, the shot is too bright. It feels distorted and doesn't fit the documentary style. I need the lighting to be more diffused and soft."

"Also," Duke frowned and added, "the colors are too saturated..."

"Desaturate?" Sofia chimed in.

Duke nodded. "Right, desaturate."

"That's not difficult." John Schwartzman was an expert in this field. "I can apply a special treatment to the film negatives to desaturate the colors."

"As for the lighting issue..." He considered it for a moment, then shouted to his assistant, "Ben, bring over a handheld camera!"

Ben Watts quickly walked over carrying a handheld camera. John Schwartzman took it, fiddled with it for a moment, and shot a few test frames facing the sea before saying, "Duke, I've got a solution!"

He hooked the camera up to the monitor, pressed play, and pointed at the screen. "Look at this shot. I took off the camera's protective lens. Without it, the light can enter the lens directly and scatter, making it much more diffused and softer than before."

"We'll handle it like this for now." Duke was generally satisfied. "Do a few more test runs and we'll see."

After a dozen consecutive test shots, the overall effect looked solid. The crew wrapped up their short break, and the massive crowd of actors and extras dressed in US Military uniforms prepared to board the landing craft and head back out onto the choppy sea.

"Zack..."

Duke was urgently assigning tasks on his end as well. "You go to landing craft number two and capture the soldiers inside. John, you go to craft one; your task is to keep a close eye on Tom Hanks! Sofia, you and Ben Watts take speedboat two—focus on capturing the bow and the port side of the landing craft! David, you're with me on speedboat one!"

Finished speaking, Duke looked at the other three assistant directors and the rest of the camera assistants. "You guys stick to the pre-arranged setup and shoot wide shots from the shore!"

The group dispersed to carry out their tasks. Duke grabbed the handheld camera beside him and headed toward the water, shouting over to Sofia Coppola as she walked the other way, "Be careful! Fasten your safety belt and don't fall into the sea!"

"Worry about yourself." Sofia shrugged and walked with Ben Watts toward the speedboats parked by the shore.

Approaching the landing craft, Duke first waved to Tom Hanks and the others, then waved to the commanding officer leading the Irish troops. Large groups of US Military soldiers filed into the landing craft, and the amphibious assault scene kicked off once again.

Working out on the water in this season was bound to be a grueling experience. Although it was far from freezing, the seawater was still bitterly cold. Standing on a speedboat to film the landing craft charging forward, the feeling of kicked-up spray hitting his face and falling down his neck was absolutely miserable. Yet, Duke's posture remained perfectly straight; his passion and focus for this career seemed as though they had never faded.

When the shoot ended and they returned to shore, Duke, as the director, had no time to rest. He reminded the relevant crew members to promptly bring hot water and hot coffee to everyone who participated in the filming. He especially shooed the main actors into their trailers to change into dry clothes; after all, if anyone fell ill, it would delay the progress of the entire crew.

"You're almost soaked through!"

Having already changed, Sofia walked over, squeezed Duke's wet clothes, and handed him a thermos. Waiting for Duke to drink a few mouthfuls of hot coffee, she urged, "Hurry up and go change your clothes. If you, the director, get sick, the crew will be in even bigger trouble!"

Flashing her an "OK" gesture, Duke stepped into his trailer. He stripped off his dripping waterproof gear, changed into a dry tracksuit, threw a baseball cap onto his head, and marched right back out onto the set.

Most of the crew could temporarily rest, but Duke could not; he had to review the footage they had just shot. Fortunately, after the readjustments, it basically met his requirements. Even if the lighting and color were still less than ideal in some places, they could be completely resolved through post-production techniques.

After resting for about half an hour, Duke stepped out of the tent, glanced at the scene still being set up, and strode over.

Because filming had only just begun, the shoot could hardly be called smooth. Take the first sequence of the landing craft assault, for example; counting rehearsals up through the end of today's shoot, they had already spent over three days on it. With December nearly half over, if the film was to make it in time for next year's Summer Season, they had to speed up—or at the very least, not shoot any slower than their current pace—since they still needed to leave enough time for post-production.

The next sequence involved the landing craft hitting the beach, leaving the Allied Forces entirely exposed to German machine-gun fire. This scene required massive amounts of fake blood. While Ireland didn't have as many annoying environmental protection groups breathing down their necks as North America did, they still couldn't just pollute the ocean. Animal blood was strictly off-limits, so the props department had specially ordered a custom blend of ketchup and vegetable juice designed to mimic human blood.

Duke had led his team to scout this location several times, putting together a thick stack of just storyboard sketches and shooting plans. When preliminary preparations were thorough, the filming would become relatively smooth. After Zack Snyder led them through three simple rehearsals for the camera positions, explosion points, and main actors' blocking, Duke finally had the assistant director call for action.

The sounds of gunfire, wind, water, explosions, and miserable howling all blended together at once. Since they were adopting a documentary filming style, they naturally had to use live audio recording.

The entire filming scene appeared extremely chaotic. The Irish extras acting as the background canvas followed their respective settings: some collapsed at the landing craft doors, some died on the path of the charge, and others hid behind obstacles...

Standing on a platform not far away, Duke did his best to observe the situation as a bystander. Although the beach was chaotic, it had not actually slipped out of his control; before filming began, Zack Snyder had already taken them through extensive rehearsals here according to the pre-set plan.

Holding the most critical position, John Schwartzman personally operated a handheld camera, focusing entirely on Tom Hanks as Captain John Miller. The Oscar Best Actor and Hollywood superstar displayed incredible professionalism. Despite being drenched to the bone in freezing seawater, he poured everything he had into his performance.

The wounded rolled on the ground, and the shrinking soldiers huddled together trembling. Under the weight of war, there were no strong men, only cruelty...

The battlefield gradually quieted down. Duke returned to the beach and, ignoring the red liquid all over the ground, began to arrange the filming for those smaller scenes.

Soon, the beach regained its vitality. A soldier hid behind an iron frame made of angle iron, shivering as if he had already lost his soul. Carrying his camera, Ben Watts ignored the background characters moving back and forth, solely capturing this soldier.

"Mama! Mama!" the soldier yelled in fear.

Perhaps this soldier's performance was too realistic, or perhaps this timid behavior was indeed cowardly. Duke suddenly heard a snicker from behind him. The sound wasn't loud, but it was enough to be recorded by the on-site audio equipment.

He turned his head, his eyes looking back with an icy glare.