Ming Dynasty and New Rome and Infinite Magic Machine

Chapter 1645 Flying Yaksha
“Flying Yaksha? I’ve never heard of such a thing.” Victoria denied Shang Luo’s guess. “Although I have heard of similar crimes, I have never heard of the name ‘Flying Yaksha’—that’s an artistic creation, isn’t it?”

"What if?"

"Compared to 'what if'—Shangluo, I'm actually more worried about something else: I've also seen the plot of 'Flying Yaksha,' and it really is a demon that flies around, appearing and disappearing without a trace. If we really air that movie, won't it cause copycat crimes?"

This was something Victoria had been worried about from the beginning.

The actions described by the Flying Yaksha are not fictional, but based on the real Roman Empire. Considering the numerous extraordinary individuals within the Roman Empire, imitating the Flying Yaksha's crimes wouldn't be difficult, because the Flying Yaksha's criminal logic is simple and direct: he is, in a sense, a heretical cultivator, cultivating by exploiting the power of others. This path is not hard to conceive of, and it's easy to implement. As long as one is ruthless enough, one can become powerful enough.

However, not everyone will necessarily do this, because the total number of people who have achieved extraordinary success in Rome is not large. Murphy's Law states that "if something can happen, it will happen given enough time." Conversely, if the time frame is short enough and the sample size is small enough, the probability of it happening will also decrease.

This is not happening in Rome now.

This could be a coincidence. Given insufficient time or a small sample size, it's common for things to not happen due to various coincidences.

However, if the movie reminds them of this, many people who were unaware of this matter will likely be reminded.

This kind of thing is rare in history. Because when someone is on the verge of committing a crime, all they need is a gentle push, and they will fall.

“I think it’s fine as long as the entire process of the crime isn’t shown here,” Shangluo replied.

This is also the principle of crime films. These films cannot describe the entire process of the crime in detail, and some details must be omitted—the details only need to be rich enough to tell the story clearly, and the rest is not so important.

“That’s true.” Victoria pondered for a moment. Although she enjoyed instructing others, this task wasn’t something she could direct; it was a decision made by her father. Ultimately, matters in Rome were decided by her father.

“But I have a bad feeling about this,” Victoria pondered for a moment. “I feel like we might have overlooked something. After all, there are so many themes, why did we have to choose this one? Oh, I’m not against you making movies, you can keep making them. Anyway, the studio has already been rented, and the hole that blew up in Aru last time has been filled in. I asked the management of Alexandria, and they said that doesn’t require you to pay for it; it’s included in the maintenance of the facility. You can continue with your work and don’t need to be affected by outside affairs.”

"That's not bad."

"So, how far have things progressed for you two?"

"Right now, Yanqiu's group is doing most of the work, so I'm taking a break."

Shangluo felt that the reason why Master Sa called him over that day to shift the blame, and to shift the blame to him as the "producer," was probably secondary, because the producer might not necessarily need to be on set.

The real issue is the "Group B Director" role that was dumped on Yanqiu. Since Yanqiu accepted the position, Shangluo hasn't seen Master Sa anywhere; he's completely absent from the set, seemingly traveling off somewhere. As for Yanqiu, Shangluo hasn't seen her either. She's practically on set 24/7 now—although it was agreed that she'd be the Group B Director, sharing responsibilities with the Group A Director. But which shots belong to Group A and which to Group B? Theoretically, that's Shangluo, the producer, deciding. But with Master Sa completely missing, it's left to Yanqiu to handle.

Fortunately, the panoramic studio provided by Rome had almost all the technical personnel needed for the film's production, and during filming, even the actors themselves were not required to be present. The filming location was now cleaner than a stage, with nothing but sets, props, and actors.

A photographer isn't needed because it's a panoramic shoot. Lighting and audio recording are also unnecessary.

No script supervisor is needed; the system handles it automatically.

The Romans also provided the vast majority of assistance with logistics.

Sometimes, there wasn't even a need for actors, because in the early episodes, there were many one-woman shows featuring Wang Lingguan, which Yanqiu could perform by herself. She only needed to direct her own part.

In other words, Yanqiu is the entire film crew by herself. If you include Shangluo, it's a movie made by just two people.

“So that’s how movies can be made,” Victoria nodded. “That’s a good idea.”

"Isn't that panoramic photography studio your property?"

"That's true, but its main purpose wasn't actually for filming movies—we haven't had a big production like that here for a long time. That panoramic studio used to be the main studio for shooting promotional videos."

"No movies? Why not?"

“Hmm,” Victoria thought for a moment, “I think you understand now: there were no washing machines before, right? Because servants did the laundry. With servants, whether or not a washing machine was invented made no difference to Roman nobles, because they didn’t have to wash their own clothes anyway. They would sometimes even object to buying a washing machine, because if they bought one, the servants wouldn’t have to wash by hand, which would affect the quality of the clothes being washed.”

"So, movies are like that too?" Shang Luo asked.

"Yes. The Romans' main public entertainment venues were bathhouses, which weren't really suitable for watching movies because of the lack of interaction. Many films required the audience to concentrate for one or two hours, which was too much of a waste of time for the senators. Furthermore, there weren't enough citizens who could actually go to the movies to support the box office. However, the real reason why movies lost their market was not the movies themselves."

The most crucial reason is that the Romans were capable of "entertaining themselves"; they could enjoy the content at home. In fact, with the help of magic, Roman theatrical actors were able to create near-cinematic effects on stage—although essentially plays with special effects, the viewing experience and freedom were far superior to that of film. After all, for theatrical actors, the plot and performance style were highly customizable.

However, this form of entertainment has one small limitation: you need to have a theater at home.

(End of this chapter)