Chapter 907: Some Money Cannot Be Spared

Taking a creative concept from selection and planning through to the production phase was difficult enough, but that was merely the beginning of the battle. The production phase came with its own myriad of problems. Filmmaking was ultimately a feat of organized manufacturing; a director had to remain faithful to their inspiration, but they also had to prioritize management.

Throughout the shoot, Duke repeatedly emphasized set safety.

A film crew could range from a dozen people to hundreds. A production like Star Wars: The Force Awakens frequently involved thousands. When the demands of a shoot brought that many people to the same location, a lack of preparation and preventative measures could easily lead to chaos, making accidents inevitable.

Duke was not just the director, but also a producer. As the film's primary investor and the head of the production company, he knew perfectly well that any safety incident would eat directly into his own profits.

Therefore, aside from implementing proactive safety management, he signed liability agreements with key personnel, pinning specific responsibilities down to exact individuals. The Star Wars: The Force Awakens crew also established a dedicated safety team to maintain order on set.

Set safety went beyond personal injury, fire hazards, electricity, transportation, finances, and equipment security; it also had to account for unexpected variables, such as sudden shifts in the weather.

The most notorious examples were prop-related accidents. Duke still remembered a tragic on-set incident from the mid-nineties: Bruce Lee's son, Brandon Lee, was accidentally killed in 1993 while filming The Crow. The cause of the tragedy was a real bullet loaded into a prop gun—a weapon not a single person had checked before it was chambered.

A chain of oversights ultimately led to the tragedy. At the time of his death, Brandon Lee was only twenty-eight years old.

For any film crew, a safety failure of that magnitude was undoubtedly fatal.

The production also purchased prompt insurance tailored to the project's needs. They were fully prepared with standard Hollywood coverage: accident liability, group personal injury, property damage, vehicle and equipment insurance, and coverage for props, sets, and costumes.

For a production so heavy on explosions, stunts, combat, and wirework, some money could be saved, but other money simply could not be spared.

Filming in Iceland went smoothly. After ten days, they wrapped up all their shots there. Anna Printz led a portion of the crew back to Los Angeles to continue shooting on the soundstages at the Hughes Aircraft Plant, while Duke took the main unit to Ireland to resume location filming.

Throughout the journey, the raw film and its copies were securely guarded by personnel specifically appointed by Duke, strictly preventing any loss or leaks.

There was no room for carelessness here; a minor oversight could easily turn the crew's hard work to dust.

Although the rapid development of digital technology had drastically reduced filming costs, it brought its own issues with storing and managing massive amounts of raw footage. There were already instances in Hollywood where careless crews had lost hard drives full of material while on the road.

For example, after MGM digitized The Wizard of Oz, they threw away the original copies. When they later wanted to convert the film into 3D, they discovered that twenty percent of the digital file was corrupted. Fortunately, the University of California, Los Angeles had preserved the original negatives. MGM was able to rescan them and produce the 3D version, turning a potential disaster into a close call.

What would the consequences be if a project was shot on film, but the negatives weren't retained or properly stored?

Besides film, Duke's crew also worked with digital footage. Digital material had to be converted between various formats, which meant backups were essential to prevent any mishaps during the process.

Beyond that, regular inspections were necessary. Some crews simply dumped their digital footage onto solid-state drives and forgot about it, only to find files missing the next time they tried to access them.

Keeping good records, making timely backups, ensuring proper storage, and running checks all sounded easy, but they required strict adherence to procedures on the job. One could never afford to cut corners just to save a little trouble.

Upon arriving in Ireland, Duke gave the crew just one afternoon to rest. They were to begin location shooting early the very next morning. Even though the film was bankrolled by his own investments, the project's schedule could not afford to drag.

This was an issue any director had to be mindful of.

Of course, unless you were the Sunglasses King and had someone willing to throw money at you and wait until their hair turned white, or you had a filthy rich relative willing to invest in your movie without expecting any returns, the schedule was an unavoidable hurdle.

This didn't mean blowing things out of proportion to force the director to slap something together; rather, it meant completing the work within a controllable scope. Once a schedule spiraled out of control, it triggered a chain reaction: funds might dry up, seasons might change, prime release windows might be missed... It wasn't just time being wasted, it was cold, hard cash.

The best way to manage the timeline was to lay out a shooting schedule during pre-production. Based on Duke's accumulated experience, a daily shooting pace of about two to four pages of the script provided a reliable baseline estimate.

In Hollywood, script breakdowns were the foundational tool for establishing a shooting schedule. They isolated various elements within the script and converted them into a shooting plan and budget. This not only allowed the director to spot and prepare for ambitious, expensive, and potentially problematic elements early in the process, but it also made it easier to group scenes for block shooting, drastically improving efficiency.

During pre-shoot location scouting, the director and producer also needed to remember to invite the heads of the cinematography, lighting, and art direction departments to the site. They needed to listen to their opinions and suggestions; after all, these were experts in their respective fields. A shot conjured up in a director's head still relied on those experts and their teams to become a reality.

Furthermore, plans could never fully keep up with changes. Therefore, a schedule had to be as precise as possible while leaving enough breathing room. This was not just technical work, but an art form: the technique came from professionalism, and the art came from experience.

Although no two projects were ever exactly the same, the problems encountered on the last one became invaluable experience for the next.

With the start of the Irish shoot, Harrison Ford—the biggest star in the entire cast—joined the production. He was also the highest-paid actor on set. To bring him on board, the production had paid out a cool twenty million dollars.

Even though Duke had decided to kill off Han Solo to prevent Harrison Ford from appearing in the sequel, the atmosphere between the two remained fairly amicable during filming. Duke was no longer the inexperienced young director he once was; even a long-established figure like Harrison Ford had to show him adequate respect on set.

As for what Harrison Ford might do in private, Duke didn't care in the slightest. Theirs was simply a commercial partnership, and Harrison Ford had enough leverage to command his twenty-million-dollar paycheck.

His presence in the cast wasn't just for filming; he was also there to support the movie's promotional campaign.

Not long after Harrison Ford arrived in Dublin, a massive piece of news broke from the Star Wars: The Force Awakens production, instantly igniting the enthusiasm of both the media and the fans.

Warner's TMZ Website was the first to break an exclusive story regarding Harrison Ford.

"On June 22nd local time in Ireland, seventy-one-year-old veteran actor Harrison Ford suffered an ankle injury while filming Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The situation is not optimistic, with a possible fracture, and he has currently been rushed to the hospital for treatment. During his recovery, filming will continue."

"It is reported that during filming at the Black Forest Studio in Dublin, Harrison Ford was crushed by a hydraulic door that unexpectedly fell. The injury to his ankle is severe, even carrying the risk of a fracture. Interestingly, this door belongs to the Millennium Falcon from the film, which seemingly indicates that the Han Solo played by Harrison Ford in Star Wars: The Force Awakens will be piloting this spaceship once again."

"Duke Rosenberg's spokesperson, Tina Fey, has confirmed Harrison Ford's ankle injury, but specific details such as the severity of the injury and how soon he can return to set remain unknown. However, she stated that while Harrison Ford undergoes treatment, the movie will still proceed according to schedule..."

Naturally, the production's main promotional focus shifted to the actors.

Harrison Ford's injury drew the concern of moviegoers, but this deliberately manufactured news cycle could not last for long. Just eight days later, Harrison Ford reappeared on the set.

As a result, Warner's media outlets launched another round of hype.

"Star Wars: The Force Awakens continues shooting this week at the Black Forest Studio in Dublin, Ireland. Previously, the production took a brief pause due to the injury of lead actor Harrison Ford. On June 22nd, Harrison Ford accidentally sprained his ankle during filming. The injury was quite serious, and coupled with his advanced age, doctors recommended a week of bed rest..."

"After recovering from his injury, Harrison Ford wasted no time and immediately threw himself back into the tense filming schedule."

Meanwhile, Duke also recorded a video on set and handed it over to Lucasfilm and Warner Brothers for public release. In the video, he announced that the Star Wars: The Force Awakens production would offer Star Wars fans the opportunity to visit the sets in Dublin and Los Angeles. The lucky winners would not only get to meet the film's incredible cast but also appear as extras in the movie.

This fan contest was tied to a charity campaign called "Force for Change." To enter the competition for this perk, one needed to make a donation to the Children's Fund Innovation Lab, an organization dedicated to helping children worldwide.

Furthermore, participants who didn't win the chance to appear on screen could still receive Star Wars 7 themed T-shirts and posters.

As time progressed, the promotional campaign for Star Wars grew increasingly aggressive. Aside from Duke and Harrison Ford—the two biggest names in the crew—the rest of the cast also made frequent appearances in the media.