Shadow Empire

Chapter 754 Inertia

In the morning, many people gathered at Jingang Wharf to watch the fun.

Although filming is very common here, people...are still curious about the films being filmed today.

Because today's movie involves the Navy!
Seven or eight warships were lying on the sea outside Jingang City. The docks were almost full of people, and even some wealthy people from the Bay Area appeared here.

Of course, they couldn't stand on the dock and look into the distance like the lackeys. Instead, they took a private boat and watched the warships on the sea from afar on the sea near the port.

"I heard they will test-fire today, is that true?" a girl couldn't help but ask curiously.

She was wearing the most fashionable and bold swimsuit, but it was just a sleeveless swimsuit. The bold thing about it was that there were two slits on the sides of the waist, revealing two holes about the size of a man's palm, through which you could see the snow-white skin inside.

The lower body is slightly tight and has a small lace skirt that reaches the knees. Unlike those more conservative women's swimsuits, the pants below are knee-length.

Although in Lance's opinion this is already a very conservative swimsuit, and it may not take many years for them to find strings in their buttocks, it is already very bold for now.

Designers allow girls who wear clothes to show off more of their proud figures, which is indeed a remarkable breakthrough, and they will continue to make breakthroughs.

Arthur, who was standing next to the girl, was wearing sunglasses and smoking a cigarette. "Yes, I heard that they might open fire today."

"What to shoot?" the girl asked with great interest.

This girl is Arthur's second girlfriend after Corinda. For Arthur, novelty is the most important thing. He is keen on exploring the secrets of every girl. Once he knows those secrets, he will find them meaningless.

He is a person who pursues novelty. He is superficial, materialistic and ordinary, and there is nothing wrong with that.

In fact, whether it is Mayor Williams, his brother James, or even his mother, the three people in the Williams family who currently have considerable say, have all talked about what Arthur looks like now.

In their words, it is better for him to change girlfriends frequently than to get into trouble frequently.

The biggest trouble for him now is that he got the girl pregnant. The Socialist Party is clearly opposed to abortion, so this is indeed a big trouble for ordinary people.

There were many ways that Mayor Williams could have gotten those doctors to help him get the baby out, so that was the biggest mistake Arthur could have made, not anything else.

In a sense, he is actually a "good kid" given his status, influence and destructive power.

Feeling the wind and enjoying life, this is all he likes.

He glanced back at the pretty girl, smiled and said, "Cum in you."

The two had competed before, so this was not an excessive joke. The girl smiled and lay on top of him, "Are you willing to do it?"

"why not?"

As the two were joking, suddenly a warship in the distance fired two shots at the shore, causing chaos among the crowd watching at the port.

Not all of them, some were still standing there, while some were already screaming and running backwards with expressions of fear on their faces.

Arthur, who was flirting with the girl, was so scared that he almost jumped into the sea. It was not until more than ten seconds later that he squinted his eyes and found that he did not find any place where he was hit, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Fuck!" he cursed, then stood up again and raised his middle finger at the warships.

But then the other warships also started firing. Without a doubt, they were all firing blank shells, and the sound was very scary!

This also scared the residents who were watching at the port.

By the time they reacted, they gathered together again. They didn't quite understand what these warships were filming.

"Well done!" The two directors' faces flushed slightly. This experience was enough to shock the entire film industry!

They fired "live ammunition" on the warship, and the footage they captured was not only realistic but also extremely impactful!
Especially when shooting, even if the camera is fixed, the camera will still shake involuntarily at the moment the battleship fires, which gives it an unimaginable sense of reality!
This is something that can never be expressed by shooting in a studio, it is a kind of "language", a kind of "power"!
The soldiers were also very excited. The reason they were excited was not because they fired cannons or anything like that, but because they fired at Jingang City!

It was a feeling... they didn't know how to describe it, especially when the crowd in the distant port was screaming and running around, causing some naval soldiers to burst out laughing.

Lance also nodded slightly. The filming went very well. He had originally planned to give Admiral Miles 100,000 dollars as funding for cooperating with the filming.

But Admiral Miles refused outright. He told Lance that it wouldn't matter even if he used up most of the ammunition, let alone firing a few shots.

When the time comes, he just needs to submit a report and the Ministry of National Defense will transport new ammunition, and he won't have to spend any money at all.

The business between the two parties was very big, so Lance didn't refuse to let him take the money.

This scene shows the fleet bombarding Jingang City. They will do some editing later and add some "explosion" scenes to make the smoking sand table look like a burning city.

To ensure that there would be no need for additional shooting, they fired another round.

Many ships have fixed cameras that faithfully record all the scenes.

On the way back, Admiral Miles found Lance and proposed an idea to him, "What do you think, can I show my face in the movie?"

Lance was stunned for a moment, then immediately agreed.

A story about naval revenge, with the appearance of a real naval admiral, will definitely deepen its authenticity and professionalism in the minds of the audience.

Lance did not refuse this, he will continue to play his role as naval commander, spending most of his time in the office making phone calls, which is a very easy role to play.

After returning to the port and declining Admiral Miles's invitation to stay, they returned to the production company. In the production company's small studio, several one-to-one miniature sand tables of Jingang City had been prepared.

Each of these sand tables costs thousands of dollars. The ability to produce so many sand tables so quickly is thanks to Lance's "money power".

There are some people in the refugee community who are good at handicrafts, such as carpentry, carving, or some other craft.

With the help of high daily wages, Lance hired hundreds of people at once to make multiple sand tables at the same time for later shooting.

These sand tables are reproduced one-to-one according to the real Jingang City, and now is the time to destroy it!
There were already many people in the studio, and the prop master in charge of the explosion and ignition had already buried the props and gasoline for the explosion on the sand table.

Just press the buttons in sequence, and the entire Jingang City will be blown up!

Of course, they also set up some larger scenes in Valley City, such as bombed streets.

The buildings on both sides of the street are actually made of cardboard, and only some of the buildings that have been destroyed are temporary structures.

Since they don't need to be very strong, this kind of work only requires enough manpower and looks absolutely real.

Both directors were full of admiration for Lance's imaginative ideas, and the entire crew believed that Lance was definitely one of the best producers in the Federation.

Not everyone knows him.

As the director shouted "start", the prop master began to light the fire. The models on the sand table were then destroyed by the explosives, and a small amount of splashed gasoline began to burn.

As for running people and the like, they will be edited in later.

The first pass was not perfect, and the explosion effects of some models did not meet the directors' requirements. Then Lance made a suggestion.

First cut the model open, then put it together, so that when it explodes it will meet the director's needs.

The prop masters were busy for another half an hour and achieved very good results when shooting the second take.

The moment the shells fell, the buildings were shattered and blown into the sky by the huge force of the explosion. The farther and more macro perspective made everyone exclaim in surprise!

"Perfect!"

The big director breathed a sigh of relief and started to have people clean up the sand tables. The next few scenes would be shot in Valley City, so the work here came to an end.

Before this, they had already filmed a lot of Jingang City in daily life, which was prosperous and full of smiles. At this moment, it formed a strong contrast with the city with smoke and fire on the sand table.

The best way to express contrast is not to tell people through naked expressions and let them compare, but to let them witness everything with their own eyes and then be shocked and astonished, then they will be impressed!

It's like being a sweet, well-behaved girl and you tell people she's a slut.

It's hard for people to have a direct impression unless you let them see it!
"Mr. Lance, when can we leave?"

"I can't wait to see the finished film. It's an absolute miracle in cinema!"

“We are making history!”

"Each of us will become an unavoidable page in film history!"

"I am full of energy now, just like when I was 20 years old again, with so much energy that I can date three people at the same time!"

The great director was good at talking, and his words made all the crew members smile.

Although they are small figures, they will be remembered by everyone when the film becomes a must-learn classic like a professional subject.

In the worst case scenario, people will see their names in the credits list, over and over again, for ten, fifty, or even hundreds of years!
Lance patted the director on the back and said, "We'll leave after you pack up your things."

He asked people to urge the protection of the remaining sand tables, as they might be useful someday.

At the same time, he also had an idea. He planned to collect one for himself, and then make a more exquisite sand table model of the entire Jingang City and put it in his office.

It was already night when they arrived in Valley City, but there was no distinction between night and day in the studio, so they shot some indoor scenes first.

It was like a family of four were sitting at the dining table eating dinner, and suddenly a cannonball fired in.

When shooting, the foreground explosion effect was used, that is, the fire, smoke and dust produced by the explosion were all between the "room" and the camera.

During this process, the staff in the studio quickly pushed down the wall and sprinkled flour on it, and the family of four lay on the ground pretending to be dead.

Everything looks very real and shocking.

A great director uses warm family meal times and destruction to create his camera language.

The family was happily talking about life, work and the future together just a second ago.

The next second, just one artillery shell ended the happiness of four people and filled three families with tragedy!

When reviewing today's materials in the evening, Lance smiled with satisfaction as he looked at those shocking shots.

This release will not only bring him huge profits, fame, and influence, but also satisfy the military, Congress, the presidential palace, and everyone else's delusions of being persecuted!
How is this a movie?
This is simply a gear in history!
Lance stayed on the set for two weeks in a row. Because of the importance of the film, he could not let his guard down and had to produce it to a level that satisfied him.

In order to prevent the two directors and the crew from saving money, Lance added another 300,000 yuan in filming funds before leaving, so that they could use it with confidence.

For example, there was a scene where they were going to blow up a small boat, and they were originally planning to use a model, but Lance just told them to buy one and blow it up for real!

In the past, he sometimes wondered if those directors who destroyed a lot of cars or other things in a movie were crazy.

But when he started to supervise the production, he realized that only in this way could a grand scene be created!
He had originally planned to stay in Valley City until almost all the big scenes were filmed, but something interrupted his plan to continue supervising the production in Valley City, and he rushed back to Jingang City early in the morning.

When I returned to the office after more than two weeks away, the sand table Lance wanted was already placed in a corner of the office, but it still looked too big.

"Let's put him next door later." Although Lance liked it, he couldn't let a huge sandbox make his office look a bit out of place.

He returned to his seat and sat down, patting the armrest. "Where's the stuff?"

Erwin took out a brown paper bag and handed it to Lance, then motioned for Lance to open it.

Lance glanced at him and poured out the contents of the brown paper bag. It was a brick-like object weighing about three or four pounds and wrapped in oil paper.

He already had some inexplicable guesses in his mind, even a little expectation, as if he was witnessing history, he turned this thing upside down.

There were some patterns and instructions printed on the front. This thing was called "solid grape juice". It looked like the residue of fruit pulp that had not been completely squeezed out was pressed together and was still a little damp.

Lance couldn't help but laugh twice. He shook his head and continued reading. There were instructions below.

"Put the product in a clean, boiled container, add cooled hot water, stir well, add powdered sugar and drink..."

Everything was normal up to this point, but then it added, "This product has the effect of natural fermentation. Please do not store it in a sealed container in a cool place for 20 days or more. Natural fermentation may occur."

Lance tore open the outer packaging, revealing the inside... He didn't know how to describe it, it was a bit like the inside of hawthorn cake, with a strong grape flavor, and a faint smell of fermented glutinous rice wine.

He skimmed off a small piece and put it to his nose to sniff it.

The strong grape aroma emanating from the fracture and the faint fermentation smell hidden in it are the initial products of winemaking after primary processing.

Just like the sweet glutinous rice mixed with yeast, you just need to wait and it will become fermented glutinous rice wine. The same is true for this thing.

It’s just that the grapes need to wait longer for fermentation and contain less fermentation bacteria, so they can get away with it.

"Where did you find it?" Lance threw the small sticky piece in his hand back and looked at Erwin.

Erwin picked up the small piece and sniffed it himself, "The state police found it, but they didn't know how to determine what the shipment belonged to, so they sent some over to ask."

State police hounds barked at a truck, but when they opened it, they found that it was selling solid grape juice, which they tried on the spot.

It does taste like grapes, just like... concentrated juice, which can be restored by adding some water.

But someone instinctively thought that something was wrong, so they sent a box over.

There are twelve pieces in a box, and each piece can produce about five or six liters of wine.

"Does Jingang City have these things?" Lance asked.

The huge profits from alcohol have led to the continuous upgrading of criminal groups' smuggling and sales methods. Lance controls the market of the entire state, and they use this method to break the blockade. In order to make money, these people use the logical thinking abilities they used to prepare for college entrance exams to find loopholes.

Erwin nodded. "Yes, there are many places selling this thing. The price is three dollars."

Lance whistled, "Not cheap."

"But it's cheap!" He refuted his own words, "If the wine is sold at four or five liters, it's three yuan, which is less than one yuan per liter."

Alvin was also a little troubled, because this thing...it was difficult to directly determine whether it was wine or not.

If you want to call it wine, before it is fully fermented, the detectable alcohol concentration is very small, and legally it is not wine at all.

Moreover, it does not fall into the category of "intoxicating beverages" and is not covered by the law.

But if you want to know whether it is wine, it is clearly stated above. Add cooled boiled water and stir evenly. Find a place to store it for a month and it will become wine.

Moreover, it is very difficult to catch this kind of illegal brewing. From the perspective of collecting evidence and sending it to the procuratorate, there is no good way to deal with them from a judicial perspective.

Lance was also scratching his head. He couldn't ask people not to buy this thing or let it ferment into wine.

Who the hell has nothing better to do than spend three bucks on crushed grapes?
Don’t they know how to buy fresh grapes?

So both the seller and the buyer actually know what this thing is used for!

(End of this chapter)