I'm Not A Master, I'm A Director (Type-Moon Fanfiction)

Chapter 4: Castle in the Deep Mountains

After Shinji came up with the idea of using cue cards to help the actors with their lines, the next few days of shooting became slightly easier.

Unfortunately, just slightly.

The smooth delivery of lines by the actors couldn't hide the various other problems within the Fate/Stay Night production team.

Film, you see, is a comprehensive art, and the process of filmmaking is composed of many different elements.

Aside from lines, issues in blocking, lighting, sound effects, and more can ultimately affect the footage captured by the camera.

Apart from Shinji's lack of experience in his first film being a major contributing factor, the majority of the Fate/Stay Night production team members were amateurs, with only a few exceptions in specific roles.

Shinji couldn't help it; after all, the shooting location was his hometown of Fuyuki City, which was far from Tokyo, Kyoto, and other cities with well-established film industries.

Aside from the long-term employed cinematographers and lighting technicians willing to come to Fuyuki City, only local residents could be hired for smaller, lower-paying positions.

While the entire crew was made up of novices, the advantage lay in the low hiring costs, saving a significant amount.

However, the overall performance of the crew could be seen as a concrete manifestation of the phrase "you get what you pay for."

Fortunately, commercial films like Fate/Stay Night had relatively simple requirements for dialogue scenes, and the action sequences, thanks to the existence of Heroic Spirits, only required considerations in camera movement and post-production editing for Shinji.

So, even if the production process wasn't very smooth, Shinji managed to guide everyone through completing the film step by step.

During these days, Shinji gained a deep understanding that while watching and learning about filmmaking was one thing, actually producing a film was another.

The difference between the two wasn't as close as one might think, and the gap had become as wide as the difference in cup sizes between Arturia Saber and Arturia Lancer.

Although he faced numerous difficulties, Shinji never thought of giving up on this film.

Giving up now was impossible; Shinji had already invested nearly a million dollars into this film alone. Not to mention the additional investments he had made over the years to enter the film industry, which included funds from the Tohsaka family and other cooperating magus families.

If Shinji were to give up now, those magus families that had placed their bets on him would surely tear him apart.

Though determined to persevere, Shinji couldn't help but feel frustrated with the crew's performance.

There was someone else who felt just as frustrated as Shinji – the owner of the Emiya Residence, Shinji's good friend, Emiya Shirou.

In order to save on set design costs, Shinji had decided to use "real locations" for filming, which resulted in the entire Emiya Residence being taken over by the production team.

When Shinji had initially mentioned this to Shirou, he thought it might take about a week to finish, but in reality, the production team spent several weeks there.

Although the crew members didn't actually live in the Emiya Residence, many filming equipment and props were piled up in the house, leaving only a small space for any activity.