Made in Hollywood

The white building complex is located under the sky and consists of the main building and the east and west wings. The unique neo-classical style, coupled with the stars and stripes flying above the main building, looks dignified, elegant and atmospheric.

The ghost of John Adams' wife Abigail Adams is rumored to have washed clothes in the East Room; Dolly Madison's ghost likes to haunt the Rose Garden; Lincoln's bedroom is a frequent visit by "honest Abel"; Marilyn Monroe also passed through a secret passage and came here to meet her master.

This is the political center of the United States, claiming to be the most hospitable head of state residence in the world, the famous White House!

And this building, today, will be completely blown up by Duke, surrounded by nearly ten cameras and under the watchful eyes of dozens of people!

"Everyone, back off! Back off!"

Standing on the stable stage, Duke held the loudspeaker and kept shouting, "Don't step on the turf in front of the White House again! Mr. Ben Watts, if you touch the grass and trees on the turf again, I will tie you up. Blow up together at the White House!"

The one who was warned loudly by Duke was a camera assistant who was introduced by Naomi Watts and joined the film crew after John Schwartzman and Duke personally inspected and qualified. He is also an Australian actress. 's brother.

"The White House is ready!"

"The oval square is ready!"

"The Kennedy Gardens are finished!"

"Lafayette Square is finished!"

There was an 'OK' sound from the set, special effects and modeling teams, and then Joss Williams' pyrotechnic team came in and started wiring the explosives that had been set up under the White House.

Of course, this is definitely not the real White House, but a scaled down model specially copied by the crew. Not only is the White House more than 70 feet long, but the model team has also faithfully restored everything in the front court of the White House according to the current layout. buildings and landscapes.

"Are there any previous Hollywood movies that directly blow up the White House?"

Sitting on the set, Duke asked Robin Grande, who was standing next to him, "Or something like that."

"should have."

The production manager nodded, then shook his head again, "But not many are really impressive."

"Robin." Duke rested his chin in one hand. "What do you think of using the image of the bombing of the White House as the first promotional poster?"

"Charles and I have the same idea." Robin Grande clearly agreed.

"Maybe after we've made a sample..."

After the announcement of the two films, Duke also had more consideration, "Can you send it to the White House first and let Bill Clinton's family watch it. No matter what he thinks at that time, it can be used as a propaganda point?"

"Good idea." Robin Grande wrote it down in his notebook.

The scene arrangement was gradually coming to an end. Duke got off the shooting stage and circled around the White House twice. After confirming that there was no problem, he returned to the monitor and waited for Joss Williams' team to complete the final work.

"Fireworks, ready!"

Hearing the voice over there, Duke shouted to the camera crew, "John, lower the boom, Unit 1 is shooting as planned."

Wide shots plus medium shots and mixed up close-ups are all Duke's forte when it comes to shooting explosive action shots, and he and John Schwartzman nailed down the exact shots from the very beginning of the set. location and shooting method.

Adjusting the monitor, Duke carefully observed the effect of each camera position, made several fine-tuning, took the loudspeaker next to him, and shouted to the White House, "Clear the scene! Last time, clear the scene!"

Even if the model was shot in the studio, military explosives were still used. Duke didn't want someone to bump into it stupidly, and an accident would happen, which would lead to a mess like a union.

"Clearing is complete!"

An assistant director shouted loudly.

"Jos..." Duke pointed the loudspeaker at the pyrotechnic group, "Countdown to twenty seconds to detonate!"

The vicinity of the White House became empty, as if aliens really came. Under the cover of darkness, it looked extraordinarily quiet and gloomy. It seemed that this was not the presidential palace, but a hell full of executioners.

"10,9,8..."

On the other side, the countdown sound of the pyrotechnic team was exceptionally loud, reminding everyone that a heavyweight explosion was about to happen.

"3,2,1, detonate!"

A bright fireball shot up in an instant. Not only was the White House blown to pieces, but even the lawn in front of the White House was cracked and flew into the sky. The flames spread rapidly, engulfing the garden trees in front and back, and the administrative center of the United States was completely destroyed by Duke. destroy!

"Great!" Duke stood up from behind the monitor and shouted with satisfaction, "Good job! The first shot went through smoothly!"

Applause erupted from the scene, with dozens of people celebrating the success of blowing up the White House.

"Transitions!"

After firefighters extinguished the explosion, Duke shouted again, "Next target, the Capitol!"

The director is the commander-in-chief of a crew and the soul of a crew. The characteristics of a director often affect the entire crew. There is no doubt that after fighting together, Duke’s team is shooting explosive and visually impactful scenes. At times, the work can always be done relatively easily and well.

For half a day, Duke led the crew to carry out continuous operations, destroying the White House and the Capitol one after another, and after an hour's rest, he came to the Empire State Building again.

However, the Empire State Building is no longer an independent building, but is connected to the entire Manhattan. What the crew wants to blow up is the economic lifeline of the United States and the financial center of the world.

"Duke, there are some problems."

Others were still arranging the venue, and Joss Williams came over, "According to our plan, the explosion is centered on the Empire State Building, and then the flames spread outward, but most of the flames after the explosion burn upward, and it is difficult to spread around. ."

"Why don't you blow up Manhattan all at once?" he asked tentatively.

"no no……"

Duke shook his head. According to the settings, the flames of the explosion spread from point to surface, and ILM's special effects team has already started the computer special effects production of laser weapons. If it is changed rashly, it will take a lot of preliminary preparation Work overturned.

Even if the preparations are perfect in the early stage, there will still be various problems in the shooting.

Walking to the model in Manhattan, Duke looked at the model fixed on the chassis, and frowned with Joss Williams who came over, obviously thinking about a solution.

After walking around the model chassis, Duke called over the heads of several departments.

"In this way, fix the camera position on the model chassis." Duke said while gesturing with his hands, "then use the boom to hang Manhattan upright, or use the Empire State Building as the explosion point. After the explosion, the flame should be upward. Rising, we're only shooting half of Manhattan above the Empire State Building..."

Duke walked to the model, pointed his finger at the Empire State Building, and slid back, "After hanging up, the part below the Empire State Building is properly shaded, and the camera highlights the explosion and fire in the upper half."

"This method is fine." Joss Williams still said in order to ensure the smooth shooting, "I will lead someone to do an experiment with other abandoned models first."

Even a scaled-down model, in order to save money, Manhattan made only one.

About half an hour later, the feasible experimental results came from Joss Williams, the departments restarted, and three small cameras were fixed on the Manhattan chassis according to different angles. After Mu arranged the explosives with his own hands, the boom he mobilized slowly lifted the model.

It was another routine clearing. After Duke called to start, with a loud bang, the Empire State Building was reduced to rubble, and half of Manhattan was caught in a raging fire.

Sitting in front of the monitor, Duke watched the results of the two shots back and forth. Although it was not as expected, it was okay.

"I'll be here today." He gave the order to stop work. "After you pack up, you can get off work!"

As people left one after another, Duke was still sitting in front of the monitor, watching the footage shot today. When he saw the Manhattan explosion that had just been filmed, he heard a monotonous nasal voice behind him.

"The alien's laser beam exploded, and the flames did not rise upwards, but spread around. It's so unreasonable. How would you explain it then?"

"Why explain?" Duke looked back at Sofia Coppola, "This is alien technology, a weapon that is hundreds of years more advanced than Earth, and we don't have to explain it at all!"

If you really want to explain these problems one by one, then don’t shoot action movies and sci-fi movies, let alone other things, the famous screen hero Rambo, according to common sense, I don’t know how many times I should die.

"When did you come back?" Duke asked.

"This afternoon." Sophia pulled the chair next to her and sat next to Duke, "I got off the flight from London to Los Angeles, and I came here directly."

"It's hard work." Duke picked up the coffee pot, found a new cup, and poured her a cup of coffee. "Is it going well?"

"In New York, you know." Sophia took a sip of coffee before saying, "We've taken it down, because Broadway is going to restart the show, it took a little bit of effort, and the cost was a little higher than expected, $2 million. ."

It's been discussed on these calls, and Duke nods. "What about London?"

"It's not very smooth." Sophia sighed, "Your Duke studio is just an empty shell without any influence. It's too difficult to get the copyright of this masterpiece."

"This way..." Duke fell into thought, and after a while, he said, "Continue to talk to them, maintain proper contact, maybe after "Independence Day" is released, it will change."

If "Independence Day" can achieve the expected results, then he will be Hollywood's first-class commercial film director, and even stand in the top ranks of commercial films, and his signature will be even louder.

(This book is on the shelves on Friday, thanks to my friends for their continued support. Today, the fourth update broke out, and it will explode on the same day it is on the shelves. Please continue to support! Please recommend tickets! Please collect!)