"Adjust the fourth camera for aerial shots!"
The film set was busy yet orderly. Duke held a megaphone, constantly issuing commands. "Cruz, your second camera's aperture is off; readjust the white balance. Third camera, just focus on the female lead!"
After tossing the megaphone to Sofia Coppola beside him, Duke walked into the makeshift bus, nodding at a few actors who greeted him, and headed straight to the driver's seat.
"Uma, you had issues during the test shoot too."
Seated in the driver's seat was a blonde woman, about five feet ten inches tall. Like most Hollywood actresses, she was very thin—perhaps describing her as skin and bones was an exaggeration, but she was nearly at the physical limits of such a body.
"You were too wild just now," Duke reminded her. "Tone it down a bit, and don't roll your eyes; that's a very bad habit. Your facial features are already sharp, and rolling your eyes makes you look too fierce!"
Turning around, Duke looked at Keanu Reeves, who, perhaps due to his long association with Johnny Depp and River Phoenix or perhaps still not fully shedding his last role, carried an air of carefree recklessness.
"Keanu, put away all your cynicism! I don't have high demands, just give me a serious expression!"
"I got it," Keanu Reeves waved his hand casually, not really taking Duke's words seriously.
After glancing at him again, Duke walked into the back of the bus. Since the beginning of the shoot, Keanu had always been this way; perhaps he should be grateful that at least the actor wasn't high on drugs when he came to the set.
"And you all!"
Inside the bus sat actors of various ethnic backgrounds—Asian, Russian, African, Latin, and white actors including Naomi Watts. Duke scanned each of them. "You're not just decorations; every one of your expressions will impact the lead actors. Don't let me see you all looking wooden again! Otherwise, I will replace you!"
After stepping off the makeshift bus and returning to his position, Duke coordinated the various departments and, after clearing the set, filming resumed shortly thereafter.
For this type of film, the demands on the actors were not particularly harsh. Duke didn't need difficult long takes. After more than ten days of adjustments, the crew's efficiency had improved somewhat. While he would still adjust angles and reschedule shots to compensate for initial mistakes due to inexperience, overall, things were going much smoother than in the first week of shooting.
His meticulous research from his past life still had some effect.
Especially in Duke's plan, the final public version of the film would be between ninety to a hundred minutes long. He wouldn't shoot unnecessary scenes that would waste film and budget.
Although he had no say in financial matters, the film's production budget was only 15 million dollars, so Duke had to be frugal during filming.
However, when it came to spending, he wouldn't hold back, especially regarding several explosion scenes that were to be filmed.
After wrapping up the morning shoot without eating lunch, Duke, accompanied by the photography and special effects teams, left Universal Studios in several cars for a small town on the eastern edge of Los Angeles. A few days earlier, the crew had found a standalone house scheduled for demolition that was suitable for filming.
They grabbed hamburgers and cola on the way, which had become the norm for the busy crew.
"Not to your taste?"
Duke noticed Sofia Coppola hadn't touched her burger.
"Such food is a woman's enemy," she said, not even glancing at the enticing burger.
Hearing this, Duke recalled that Sofia had once been an actress. Even now, she could be described as extremely thin.
Duke wasn't very hungry; he ate a quarter of his burger before tossing it aside. He also avoided the cola, and with a rare moment of downtime, he closed his eyes. The recent workload and mental stress had been overwhelming, and he ended up falling asleep in the car. When Sofia shook him awake, they had already arrived in the small town.
"Thank you!"
Duke pulled off the blanket covering him and said to her. Sofia shrugged, "No problem."
The crew's convoy passed through the small town, reaching the eastern edge and turning onto a side road, driving for another five minutes before stopping in front of a white wooden house.
The house was small, about a hundred square feet. Thanks to some recent repairs by the crew, it didn't appear too dilapidated from the outside. Most importantly, the house was set far enough from its neighbors that even a missile-sized explosion wouldn't affect anyone else.
All the paperwork had been completed. After getting out of the cars, Duke and the others immediately began working busily.
The special effects and pyrotechnic teams were setting up explosives while two producers negotiated with the house's owner. Duke directed the camera team in setting up the camera positions.
This was a live shoot with no opportunities for retakes. The only thing he was grateful for was that the former him had filmed many explosive scenes independently.
"Cruz, set the first and second cameras in the front."
Standing on the lawn in front of the house, Duke instructed photography director Cruz. "These two cameras will shoot with a wide-angle. The third and fourth cameras should be positioned at a 45-degree angle for close-ups of the explosion. And where's the wireless high-speed camera I requested?"
"Ready," Cruz showed Duke the prepared camera.
"This is the fifth camera." Duke looked at the dummy dressed in a police uniform beside him. "Mount the camera on it."
It was clear that Duke wanted to capture the explosion from the inside.
Just as Cruz was about to leave, Duke grabbed his arm and reminded him, "The camera needs to be placed at least two hundred feet away!"
While he valued this shoot highly, Duke didn't want any tragedies to occur.
After finishing those instructions, he entered the house, walked through the hallway, and stepped into a bedroom where the props team was setting up the scene, striving to replicate the studio's environment; this was also the first explosion point.
Seeing the pyrotechnic team burying explosives at the house's support points, Duke suddenly felt an urge to take part. In his past life, he was quite skilled in this field, but now he wouldn't take anyone's job; for him, filming the explosion was more important than creating it.
Exiting the house, the four cameras positioned in front and at the sides were already set up. Duke walked across the lawn to check each camera's angles, confirming everything was fine before returning near the first camera.
"Why use wired control?"
Sofia Coppola asked curiously, looking at the people setting up the wires in the distance. "Isn't wireless remote control more convenient?"
"Don't you know?" Duke saw her confused expression and briefly explained.
Wired detonations are a necessary guideline for film crews. Many people think explosions are triggered by pyrotechnicians using remote controls; in reality, it isn't, as modern communication devices can easily interfere with signals, causing accidental detonations, making wired control safer.
This misunderstanding is also closely related to Hollywood movies, where characters effortlessly press buttons to blow up vehicles or buildings, yet never look back at the explosion's flames…
Generally, the explosives used for filming differ significantly from military or mining explosives. The latter two rely on solid matter instantaneously turning into gas, resulting in massive explosions; in contrast, film crews typically use specialized soft explosives, which work by burning to create pressure for detonation, resulting in much smaller destructive power.
In some scenes of bomb explosions, soft explosives may obviously lack impact, resulting in poor filming effects. However, this can be easily solved by filling some dirt into bombs made from plastic foam, which would create the effect of dust flying everywhere after the explosion.
Of course, if you want to film scenes that blow up a boat, a large vehicle, or a house, military explosives must be used.
What the pyrotechnic team was setting up was military-grade explosives!
To achieve the explosive scenes that Duke wanted, a considerable amount of explosives was required. The pyrotechnic team had installed nearly thirty pounds of explosives at various key points in the house, clearly intending not just to collapse the building but to give it a thorough demolition treatment.
"You mean…"
Upon hearing Duke's words, Sofia's mouth gradually dropped open. "They're using military-grade explosives? And thirty pounds at that?"
"Because I want a spectacular explosion!"
With his arms crossed, Duke calmly looked at the house that was about to fly into the sky.
"You're insane!" The words Sofia squeezed out from between her teeth were surprisingly free of nasal tones.
"To achieve the best visual effects," Duke's face took on a hint of madness, "requires a spirit of craziness!"
"Did Robin not stop you?"
"There are no stars in this film, and the director is just an unknown figure like me." Duke suppressed the rising fervor in his heart and regained his composure. "Only with enough thrills can we attract the audience."
Three hours later, the setup work was finally completed. All the vehicles had moved to a safe distance. Duke stood behind the first camera, raising the megaphone.
"Clearing the area?"
"Area cleared!"
"Cameras?"
"Ready!"
"…"
After the routine inquiries, Duke raised a finger toward the pyrotechnic team, which promptly returned an 'OK' gesture, and another person shouted the countdown at the top of his lungs.
"10, 9, 8, 7… 3, 2, 1!"
"Detonate!"
The invisible current activated the detonator along the wires, and a deafening explosion suddenly erupted. An orange-red fireball shot up about fifty feet into the air, and the white wooden house instantly disintegrated, with countless fragments scattering everywhere. The scorching shockwave surged like a tidal wave.
Debris fell within fifty feet, and the turbulent air pressure swept back hair, creating a loud buzzing in the ears of those wearing earplugs, while the ground seemed to tremble continuously…
None of this distracted Duke; he was fully concentrated on controlling the camera, worshiping the explosion's flames like a fervent religious devotee!
"Oh God! Oh God!"
With trembling hands, Sofia Coppola slowly removed her earplugs, bending over to brace herself against her thumping thigh. Watching Duke, who was still operating the camera, she realized that after spending more than half a month on set together, they had become familiar with each other. In that moment, Duke was anything but his usual calm and composed self; he was nothing short of a madman!