My Hollywood System

Chapter 138:

“This whole scene will need a lot of miniatures and scaled models. The number of explosions you are talking about is, frankly, absurd.” A tall grizzly man wearing a neon vest said to Will. He was Charlie Wesley, the Pyrotechnics expert they had hired for the film.

“I understand, and I will get Mega Works’, and my own CGI department to handle the rest. I really need this scene to look good.” Will said.

The man nodded and continued, “We already have the green screen ready for the single shot. We have set the small explosions along the path, as well as the sparks, to simulate the ricochets of the bullets. And we have fit it such that the spark will go off whenever Mr Silva presses the trigger of the prop gun that he will be handed.”

“Alright, Jeffery, are the extras ready? Do they know what they have to do?” Will asked, directing his next question to his cinematographer.

“Yeah, we have informed them. They will give chase to Ethan and Leo, and slowly peter off, once we start giving the signals.” Jeffery replied.

“And is the camera crew ready? This will need to be done with precision. Ethan and Leo will have it easy this time. Most of the effort will be by the CGI and Camera department.” Will be questioned again.

“Yeah, my team is ready, and we have the line ready, and the camera is mounted on the wire. We will get it done easily enough,” Jeffery reassured him.

They were going to be shooting a chase scene in between a falling and simultaneously exploding five-story building. They had set the studio to replicate the building and had the green screens set up wherever necessary.

Leo and Ethan will be moving to escape the exploding building while being chased by guards and men who are also trying to escape as well as catch them.

Pyrotechnics in Hollywood usually depend on building scaled models of a realistic environment, and then those models are made to explode. Some small-scale explosions are used to generate movement of static objects, but real explosions are almost never recorded directly, as they are both a safety hazard, and environmental regulations strictly deny lighting large things on fire for filming purposes.

Alan Will’s assistant director had managed to point out that with the number of explosions in this particular shot, it would be necessary to pan the cameras wide in order to fit the massive destruction that they intended to portray. So while Ethan as Tommy and Leo as Mario would try to run through the building, escaping both the explosions and the men chasing them, the final scene where the entire building explodes would have to be either CGI or a miniature building model actually made to explode with added CGI for realism.

“Alright, I want to finish this scene in one take, and it shouldn’t be difficult. Most of the focus is on you, Charlie. We need to time the explosions perfectly, with Leo and Ethan’s movements, the gunshot ricochets are automatic anyway. Let’s get the camera rolling, people!” Will said, giving his last-second emphasis on the importance of precision.

Modern Hollywood films have generally let go of the use of Pyrotechnics in favour of CGI, mainly due to the precision and accuracy required to get a good take for a pyrotechnics show. The other reason was due to the push from environmentalists that denounced Pyrotechnics use in movies entirely, along with the safety hazards it generally brought with it. Will wanted to capture the scenes using a mix of Pyrotechnics and CGI for the added realism effect.

***

“Action”

“Come On, Ya Cocksucker, we gotta run!” Tommy Vercetti said as he pulled Mario up and out of the room. “This place is about to explode. Ol’ foxy will get a big payday with my dick smeared all over it.”

BOOOOOM!

“Let’s move! Let’s move!” He said as he sprinted out of the room.

As soon as Tommy and Mario were out of the room, they were fired upon by a barrage of bullets, but their attackers mostly hit the pillar they ducked behind. The bullets stopped when yet another explosion sounded from the other side of the corridor.

“Holy! Fuck!” Mario exclaimed, covering his ears.

“Get your shit together, kid!” Tommy said as he pulled Mario up again after he had recoiled from the explosion. “You see that window at the end of the corridor.” He said, pointing down the corridor, which was slowly getting filled with smoke.

Mario nodded, “Yeah, I see it.”

“We have to make a run straight for it and jump out! Don’t stop! You hear me?! Don’t stop! On three!” Tommy said.

Another explosion went off behind them, and they could hear men running their way.

“OH FUCK THIS! THREE!” Tommy screamed and made a run for it.

Mario quickly started sprinting behind him. He could see that the men behind him were shooting bullets at him, but he couldn’t stop anymore, or he would get shot or get caught in the explosion.

Another explosion went off, and Mario glanced back, stumbling a little at the wreck behind him. The entire ceiling had fallen down, and the men that were chasing them were being licked slightly by the flames. They wouldn’t make it.

Stumbling a little, Mario used his hands on the floor to steady his footing as he kept on sprinting.

He reached the window at the end of the corridor, and both he and Tommy jumped out the window together and fell down the few stories of the building. Immediately after they were out the window, flames erupted from the window, signifying that all other people in the corridor had been burnt to a crisp.

“And Cut! That’s perfect,” Will’s voice sounded, signifying the shot had been captured.

Leo and Ethan fell on the soft foam mattress that the team had erected for when they would jump out of the fake corridor that they had built for the scene.

***

“FNN sources suggest that Dream Vision may acquire parts of Mega Works under a deal proposed by the former. This comes after rumours previously suggested that a Dubai-based company was in talks with Mega Works to acquire all assets that belonged to the film studio. What this entails for the future of Mega Works and Dream Vision, stay tuned to find out.” Will was watching the television inside his hotel room at The Plaza in New York City.

He had just returned after a day of filming at an on-site set and wanted to relax for a while. He was browsing through the various channels that were available on the TV in his suite when his phone started ringing.

*to do, to do, to do to do to do to do to doooooo to do to do*

Seeing that it was a video call from [1917] ‘s director Lucas Amspoker, he switched off the TV and picked up the call.

“Hello!” He said, picking up the call.

“Will! It’s good to see you!” He could see Lucas smiling on the screen.

“It’s good to see you too, Lucas! How can I help you?” Will said, getting up from the bed and walking to the window to open the blinds and look at the nighttime view of Central Park.

“Listen, I have finished all that I needed to do with [1917]. We can have a private screening for the company whenever you’re back in Los Angeles. I just received invites to the Cannes Film Festival, and I thought it would be the perfect opportunity for us to do the first public screening there. We can enter it into the competition, and based on its quality; I am sure we can attract a large crowd and get some awards for it. What do you think?” Lucas said.

It had been a month since [Liberty City] had started filming. If they did go ahead and submit [1917] They would be postponing their release by two weeks, which was fine by Will. By the time the film festival rolled around, the filming of [Liberty City] would be complete, and he could take time to relax and go there. He could also take June along with him.

“I think that is a great idea. Plus, it is your movie. You directed it. So it’s your call on when and where you want to do the first screening. After that, we will release the movie to the general public, after the film festival.” Will said finally.

“Will you be at the festival?” Lucas asked him.

“Yeah, I did receive an invite, and I am sure it would be a fun event to attend. I will probably be there, alongside June.” Will said, plus the Cannes festival would be a fantastic opportunity for Will to meet many new directors, both young and old.

“Great! I will see you when you’re back in Los Angeles, and we will go over the private screening of [1917] then.” Lucas said enthusiastically.

“Alright, I will see you then.” Will nodded and cut the call.

He sighed as he turned away from the window and decided to head down into the city for a nighttime stroll to clear his head from work.

…

//DreamNote//

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