I'm Not A Master, I'm A Director
Chapter 460: Jeanne: Have Some Shame, Master
No matter how much Olga regretted boarding this ship now, it was useless.
She had agreed to play this role herself, and there was no turning back.
Shinji felt that the current Marie perfectly embodied an old internet saying:
"The online date you arranged yourself is one you have to see through, even through tears."
What? That's not how the saying originally goes?
Sorry, but Shinji insisted that this was the all-ages version. If anyone wanted the R18 version, they could search for it themselves. He never made adult films.
As for Olga's acting problems, all Shinji could do was help guide her emotions and keep her from being distracted by a certain dragon-themed idol Servant, the rest was up to her.
Fortunately, this take went well.
The Queen Marie portrayed by Olga sang her exorcising song with an extremely graceful and beautiful demeanor.
That's right—at least in Shinji's eyes, Queen Marie's actions were essentially an exorcism.
The thing being exorcised was Jeanne Alter, the witch.
Shinji freely admitted that, according to the Servant settings, Jeanne Alter was the type who acted tough on the outside but was actually soft-hearted underneath.
But in Hundred Years' War of Evil Dragons, she was a villain through and through.
As a result, Shinji simply assigned her the Avenger class and called it a day, rather than making her a Ruler like in the game.
While the Nasuverse had all sorts of explanations for why this version of Jeanne Alter was a Ruler, Shinji's movie was a movie.
Audiences weren't interested in carefully studying complicated lore explanations.
Using the Avenger class to immediately communicate Jeanne Alter's antagonistic role was far more effective.
As for how Ruler Jeanne was supposed to defeat an Avenger who technically had class advantage over her?
Shinji couldn't care less.
If the director says she can win, then she can win! (James Cameron face.jpg)
"Everyone, attack together!"
On set, Olga stretched out her arms and began singing toward Jeanne Alter.
In an ordinary movie production, Olga would merely pretend to sing while the magical effects of her voice would be added later through CGI.
But this was Shinji Matou's film set.
If something could be solved with magecraft, why would he waste money on post-production effects?
Especially since this shoot differed from most others.
Everyone present—the actors and crew alike—belonged to the moonlit world.
There was no need to hide magical techniques.
Under those circumstances, Shinji's magical special effects could be far more extravagant and free-flowing.
At the very least, Miss Marie really was casting sound-based magecraft while singing.
Of course, this didn't mean Olga herself possessed the ability to use materialized sound magic.
If she could sing while simultaneously deploying magecraft at that level, she would already be the darling of the Clock Tower's Three Major Factions.
The Department of Astromancy certainly wouldn't be regarded as one of the least influential departments in the Clock Tower.
The person actually casting the sound magecraft was Yan Qing.
Disguised as Mozart, Yan Qing used one of Medea's ingenious magical items. The conductor's baton in his hand had been enchanted so that each wave of it released sound magecraft.
After all, to ensure Mozart's music matched his legendary reputation, every piece performed by "Mozart" in the movie would be professionally recorded by an orchestra during post-production.
"Since you're already waving a conductor's baton in front of the camera, you might as well use those movements to cast magecraft."
Recalling Shinji's words, Yan Qing could only marvel at his ability to squeeze value out of absolutely everything.
Though he has to admit, this lets me have some fun.
Since there were no specific requirements regarding how the baton should be waved, Yan Qing simply improvised throughout the entire scene.
Although he had never handled a conductor's baton before being summoned, Yan Qing—the Resourceful Star Tianqiaoxing—was skilled in both literary and martial arts and possessed countless talents.
To describe his abilities using the words of Water Margin:
"Singing, dancing, musical performance, local dialects, and every manner of art and craft—there was nothing he did not excel at."
A mere conductor's baton was no challenge.
After only half a day of practice, he had already become remarkably proficient.
Compared to true musical geniuses like Mozart or Beethoven, Yan Qing naturally fell short.
But for filming a movie, he was more than capable.
The only problem was that standing alone in front of a camera waving a baton was incredibly boring.
So Yan Qing decided to entertain himself.
As Jeanne charged forward:
The pseudo-Elizabeth in the music trio handled the noise and sonic attacks.Miss Marie struggled against the noise while maintaining an elegant singing posture.And Yan Qing...
Yan Qing cast sound magecraft with one hand while secretly conducting the famous folk tune "Shiba Mo" (The Eighteen Touches) with the other.
Yan Qing knew full well that the people who recognized the song probably couldn't read conducting gestures, and the people who could read conducting gestures probably wouldn't recognize the tune.
Even if someone happened to know both, it didn't matter.
Once the movie was released, the background music would be replaced, making it impossible to tell what he had actually been conducting.
Since there was virtually no risk of being discovered, Yan Qing completely let loose.
After all, Shinji Matou had thrown Elizabeth—the living embodiment of noise pollution—right next to him.
This was simply Yan Qing's way of getting a little revenge on Shinji.
At that moment, Yan Qing's mood was much like that of a cook who spits into a dish while cooking.
The customer probably wouldn't know.
The cook certainly wouldn't tell them.
But the cook would secretly enjoy it.
Getting increasingly carried away, Yan Qing even began swaying slightly along with the tune he was "conducting," humming the melody in his mind.
♪ Fast beats on the drum, slow beats on the gong~
Stop the gong and still the drum, listen to the song~
All kinds of idle chatter become a song~
Listen while I sing the Eighteen Touches~ ♪
Bang!
A blast of sound magecraft fired by Yan Qing struck Jeanne's helmet, severing several strands of hair.
♪ Reaching out to touch my lady's silken hair~
Like dark clouds drifting across the sky~ ♪
"Such audacity!"
Playing Jeanne Alter, Jeanne touched the spot that had been hit and let out a fierce battle cry.
♪ Oh my~ Reaching out to touch my lady's forehead~
So full and smooth, so enticing~ ♪
The corner of Yan Qing's mouth curled upward.
On the surface, it looked like Mozart was wearing a confident, victorious smile.
In reality, Yan Qing had simply thought of something amusing.
Bang!
The second blast struck Jeanne right above her eyebrow.
♪ Reaching out to touch my lady's curved eyebrows~
Gracefully spreading wide and long~ ♪
Jeanne frowned slightly, completely unaware that she had become Yan Qing's personal source of entertainment during filming.
Bang!
This time, the attack hit her eye.
♪ Reaching out to touch my lady's little eyes~
Dark pupils shining in bright white sclera~ ♪
Unfortunately, Yan Qing's folk tune came to an end there.
Because obscuring Jeanne Alter's vision was the turning point of the scene.
As smoke rose before Jeanne Alter's eyes, the glass carriage seized the opportunity and sped away.
Even if Yan Qing had wanted to continue his little performance, he no longer had the chance.
"Cut! That's a wrap for this take!"
When the carriage had dashed dozens of meters away and was nearly leaving the set entirely, Shinji finally called for a stop.
There was no helping it.
The next shot was supposed to be a close-up of Jeanne Alter's furious reaction after realizing her enemies had escaped.
To ensure smooth continuity during editing, Shinji needed to reposition the cameras for the next sequence.
Coincidentally, Olga was beginning to show signs of fatigue after the action-heavy scene, so Shinji promptly announced a break.
"Thank you for your hard work, everyone."
As always, Saint Jeanne was the first to thank her fellow actors and crew members with a gentle smile.
If another celebrity did something similar, it might come across as forced or insincere.
But Jeanne never gave that impression.
Instead, her natural warmth and friendliness seemed capable of washing away people's exhaustion.
Privately, Shinji suspected that Jeanne activated her Noble Phantasm every time she smiled in order to remove negative status effects from everyone around her.
"Not at all."
"You worked hard too, Jeanne-san."
The staff were infected by the saint's radiant smile and responded in kind.
Only Yan Qing let out a disappointed sigh.
"What a shame."
"Yan Qing, what's wrong?"
Jeanne assumed he was dissatisfied with his performance.
"Was there a scene you didn't do well? Should we ask Master to shoot it again?"
"No. It's just that another couple of verses and I could've finished touching the whole head."
Jeanne: ( ´ﾟωﾟ)?
No one understood Yan Qing's regret.
Although Shinji was an experienced ladies' man, he wasn't knowledgeable about Chinese traditional folk music.
At that moment, he was already focused on planning the next action sequence after Jeanne's appearance:
Chaldea versus Martha—the battle between village girls.
Unlike the brief skirmish with Jeanne Alter, this fight against Martha was the first truly major battle of Hundred Years' War of Evil Dragons.
To make a comparison, this battle was like the opening New York conflict in Avengers: Infinity War.
The quality of this fight would heavily influence the audience's first impression of the film's action scenes as a whole, so Shinji needed to make this fight scene spectacular.
The visuals had to be stunning.
The 3D special effects had to be used to their fullest.
Every punch delivered by Martha, the Iron-Fisted Saint, needed to feel as though it was bursting right out of the screen, showcasing her overwhelming presence.
Once she had fully demonstrated how impressive she was, Martha could make her exit.
That's right.
Martha only had this one scene.
It was also her final appearance in the FGO main storyline.
As a veteran FGO player, Shinji swore that he genuinely loved Martha as a character.
Especially her Summer version.
She could heal, charge NP, and unleash powerful triple-Buster fist attacks.
She was incredibly useful during Grail Front events, second only to Heracles equipped with Castle of Snow.
But the thing was—
Passion for a character couldn't put food on the table.
The moment Shinji decided that most of the enemy Servants would function primarily as combatants, Martha's fate was sealed.
A character who only appeared once was destined to become little more than cannon fodder.
"The best I can do is fully showcase Saint Martha's imposing presence and give her a dignified exit. Even if she only has a single scene, she'll leave a lasting impression on the FGO movie series."
"Master, when you say 'a lasting impression,' do you mean having her commit a massacre under the name of a saint and then get impaled by my banner?"
Jeanne tilted her head.
"Your way of being a fan is really strange."
"Jeanne, you just don't understand," Shinji spoke as though explaining a profound truth.
"Having a saint fall into darkness and corruption creates a wonderful contrast. Just like your Alter version, fallen saints are incredibly appealing."
Although Shinji sounded completely serious, Jeanne's Revelation skill told her that this was absolute nonsense.
If Shinji truly adored Martha that much, he would have summoned the real Martha herself rather than using a pseudo-Servant substitute.
"If she's supposed to be like me, then why didn't you design a black outfit for Miss Martha too?"
"Why would I create an extra costume for a character who only appears in one scene?" Shinji replied matter-of-factly.
"That would mean I'd have to modify her Spirit Origin one more time. Too much work."
"Heh... men," Jeanne let out a cold laugh.
So this was the extent of her Master's so-called affection.
Or perhaps a more accurate way of putting it was:
This man liked all beautiful girls equally.
It was just that some beautiful girls were liked a little more equally than others.
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Tn: I updated the story once every 2 days, but if you want to see more chapter of this story ahead of time, please go to my Patreon.
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