Chapter 198 White Willow Plaza

White Willow Plaza, Elffire City.

6:49 PM.

he are cold.

The plaza was enormous.

Each side of it had at least 200 meters in length.

Several restaurants, bars, dance clubs, and so on were located there.

This was one of the most privileged locations to open a business in Elffire City.

No car was allowed in the plaza as the paving of the ground was made of white and red stones.

And on the middle of the plaza, a towering willow tree could be seen.

The tree was the center of attention of everyone who visited the plaza.

Its height was 31 meters, its circumference was 15.2 meters, and its spread was 32.8 meters.

And with the white coloration of its bark, the tree became grabbed even more attention.

The tree was preserved by the city mayor's office, so it was not possible to touch the tree because it was isolated from the public.

But everyone could get close to it to take pictures.

And that's what most of the tourists did when they visited the plaza.

At that moment, the plaza did not have many people walking through it.

Most of the visitors would arrive after 7 pm, at that time the movement of the plaza would reach its peak.

Street artists would start their performances, couples would come to have their dates, tourists would come to enjoy the entertainment options that the plaza offered, and so on.

But that day a new group had a different objective as they arrived at the plaza.

They were a strange bunch.

They carried loads of equipment and boxes.

Arthur and the crew arrived at the White Willow Plaza to film the first scene of the music video!

"Helena, Ishii. You two start rehearsing the scene while we shoot the shots that you don't appear." Arthur ordered as they arrived next to the willow tree.

Helena and Ishii nodded and proceeded to rehearse the scene.

It was a necessary step for them because they needed to get used to the location so when they performed in front of the cameras their act looked natural.

"Nomura, Buddy, Kaitlyn, and Bobby. You four set up the equipment to film some shots of the willow tree and the plaza." Arthur said as he looked at the four people.

"Leave to us!" Buddy exclaimed excitedly, he could not wait to start filming.

The other three just nodded to express that they understood.

"Obara, I want you to be ready to start the editing of the shots we take. I want to know if the takes are good enough." Arthur said again as he looked at his on-set editor.

The shy man just nodded to express that he also understood.

"Arabella, Niwa, and Kanna. You three should take care of the extras and the props of the scene." Arthur said as he looked at his girlfriend and the other two girls.

On the scene, the male lead would buy a flower from a street vendor to give to the female lead, so the three girls needed to install a stall that sold flowers.

The vendor would not be shown because Arthur did not have time to hire an extra to act as the vendor, but that was not a problem for them.

They just needed to play with the cameras in the right way and the continuity of the scene would not be broken.

Kanna and the other two girls nodded and started setting up the flower stall.

"Kate, take care for their makeup to not fall." Arthur finally gave his last order as he looked at Kate.

Kate nodded and went to Helena and Ishii to retouch their makeup.

Arthur looked at his crew who was working at full speed to set all the things for the shooting with a satisfied heart.

He then moved to work with Nomura.

As the director of the production, Arthur was involved in all the procedures of filmmaking.

Arthur knew precisely that what a director does in every stage of a production's life cycle is vital to the success of the project.

A director's job description involves participation in nearly every phase of a project. Because their vision largely impacts the final product, directors work closely with department heads and technicians to bring it to fruition.

But what does Arthur have to do as the director?

He had to interpret scripts, set the tone of the film, work with department heads, work with casting directors to find talent, direct actors and the camera, work with editors to assemble the film, and work with sound and music departments.

But because Theo would take care of the last two processes, his work was considerably shortened.

Arthur, the director, and Nomura, the director of photography, started to work on setting up equipment in the way they planned.

The two of them were especially busy during the majority of production, which is when the film was actually being shot.

And there was a checklist that the two of them had to follow.

They were:

Block Shots: The director of photography had to work with the director to decide how to shoot the scene.

Shoot: During production, the Nomura and Arthur had to direct the camera and lighting crews, paying attention to the following areas:

Composition and framing: How everything is arranged within the frame.

Exposure: The amount of light being captured by the camera and how a scene is lit.

Lens and filters: Nomura had to choose the camera lens and must consider a number of factors like the story they are telling (emotional scenes might need a lens-specific for close-ups), how far they are from the subjects (is there enough depth of field for certain lenses), how much light do they have (certain lenses are better for capturing natural light than others), etc.

Camera movements: Arthur would instruct the camera operator, Buddy, where to put the camera and how to move it through the scene.

Go over dailies: Dailies refer to the raw, unedited footage that was shot that day. Dailies are reviewed by the director and director of photography to ensure that everything is aligned with the original vision.

And that's why Arthur and Nomura were discussing with focused faces as the crew set up the equipment.

The crew was so concentrated on their jobs that they didn't even notice that they became the center of attention to the surrounding people.

It could not be helped.

How would someone react if they were enjoying their night out and a bunch of people arrived and started setting filming equipment?

Everyone would get curious.

And that was what was happening.

The surrounding people pointed fingers and observed with curious eyes as Arthur and the rest set up everything.

Couples talked with each other about it.

Friends commented about it.

And while this was happening, Ayia and Shizuka observed everything with shining eyes.

Shizuka was just curious about the procedure.

But Ayia was so excited as she saw that all of the crew were focused on what they were doing.

This was the start of the production of the music video from Theo!

She could not wait to see the whole world listening to and seeing this music video.

She did not have any doubts that it would be a success.

After all, she and Theo were working so hard for this music album that she was completely confident even if she did not hear all the songs of the album yet.

But after she saw that all the songs that Theo produced so far were amazing, Ayia became even more confident.

And she admired Theo even more.

She could not wait to listen to all the songs on the album.

But at the moment, she looked at the crew as they finished the preparation for the shooting.

They would start filming!

It was time!