Chapter 118: Cost Overrun

Chapter 118: Chapter 118: Cost Overrun

The prop team immediately brought in higher-definition 4K micro-cameras, but new problems followed one after another.

To adapt to high-speed movement, these cameras had image stabilization modules that wore out extremely quickly. After filming just three takes, two of them suffered from autofocus failure.

Even more troublesome was that the vibrations during high-speed driving caused the camera interfaces to loosen, requiring recalibration after every take. The shots originally planned to be finished in half a day were dragged out until three in the afternoon without completion.

From 6 AM until now, everyone had barely rested. Looking at their exhausted faces, Irene had no choice but to call for a halt.

Executive producer Brown Charles walked over with the bill, his expression looking very grim. "Director, four sets of high-definition cameras have already broken. If this continues, we’re going to go over budget!"

Irene didn’t even look up. "How much over?"

"Just the camera wear and tear alone has cost nearly one hundred thousand, plus the rental fees for the closed road and vehicle maintenance costs. If we keep shooting, we will seriously exceed the budget."

He pointed at the motion-blurred footage on the monitor. "How about we simplify this shot? Change it to a long shot. There’s no need to obsess over the in-car close-ups."

Irene shook her head decisively. "No! This shot is key to connecting the characters’ chemistry. A long shot simply can’t convey the tension."

She turned to the technical director and said, "Is there any way to add a reinforced mount to the cameras? Prepare ten more backups and rotate them."

The technical director looked troubled. "Reinforcement is possible, but the wear on the high-definition cameras is irreversible. Even with the mounts, they can only last for at most five more takes. Furthermore, the backup units need to be shipped from other areas, and the fastest they can arrive is tomorrow."

Misfortunes never come singly. No sooner had he finished speaking than the weather suddenly turned. The previously clear sky became overcast, and a torrential downpour began.

The rain hitting the car windows created streaks, not only affecting the clarity of the shots but also doubling the risk of the vehicle drifting on the wet, slippery road.

"Just got word from the dispatch center, this rain might last for three days!" Jack ran over to say, a corner of the script in his hand already soaked by the rain.

Matt wiped the rain off the car window and walked over to Irene. "Should we shoot the interior scenes first? Let’s hold off on the car chase until the weather improves."

Charlize also chimed in. "Shooting in the rain is too dangerous. The wheels were already slipping a bit during the drift just now."

But Irene looked at the fully packed shooting schedule and felt troubled. The rental time for the closed road was only five days. If they couldn’t film for the next three days, the scenes definitely couldn’t be completed on time. They would have to re-coordinate with the traffic department, causing a delay of at least two weeks.

"Let’s try again!" She gritted her teeth and had the prop team put waterproof covers on the cameras, while also having the drivers practice low-speed shots in the rain to get a feel for the slippery surface.

However, another problem arose during the test shoot. The waterproof covers affected the camera’s audio pickup, the actors’ lines inside the car were drowned out by the sound of the rain, and the lenses fogged up, leaving the footage blurry.

Charles stepped forward again to dissuade her. "Irene, there’s really no need to push so hard! Even if this shot is filmed, post-production restoration will cost a fortune. It’s better to just give it up and switch to a simpler way of presenting it."

Irene didn’t respond, but instead walked to the monitor and repeatedly reviewed the test footage from just a moment ago.

In the rain-blurred footage, the expressions in Matt and Charlize’s eyes actually held a bit more realistic panic, and the curtain of rain outside the car added a sense of atmosphere to the chase.

"I’ve got it!" Her eyes suddenly lit up.

"We don’t need to change the shot. We’ll adjust our strategy: we’ll use post-production dubbing to compensate for the audio issues in the in-car close-ups, and the fogging effect on the lens will actually enhance the tension.

Also, have the ground camera crew switch to high-speed cameras to capture the moment the rain splashes, increasing the visual impact."

She turned to Charles and said, "I’ll handle the cost issue. This shot cannot be dropped. I will save the excess budget from elsewhere! Have them rush twenty high-definition cameras over first thing tomorrow morning."

Charles looked at Irene’s determined eyes and finally sighed. "All right, I’ll go arrange it."

Without the high-definition cameras and with the heavy rain, Irene had no choice but to suspend shooting for the day.

At 9 AM the next day, the backup cameras finally arrived, and by then the rain had eased significantly.

Irene personally inspected the reinforced mounts and had the drivers do three low-speed test runs. After confirming everything was correct, she called out "Action!" again.

Matt and Charlize’s car shot out like an arrow from a bow, with rainwater carving arcs along the sides of the car, while the high-definition cameras steadily captured their tense profiles.

The high-speed cameras outside the car froze the moment the tires rolled over the puddles, sending water splashing everywhere, creating an extremely tense image.

"Cut! Perfect!"

Seeing this shot, Irene quietly breathed a sigh of relief, but thinking about the several car chase scenes remaining, which couldn’t be filmed in the rain, and not knowing when the weather would clear up, the pressure she had just slightly eased came flooding back.

...

It was already seven in the evening when they returned to the nearby hotel.

Irene took off her soaked jacket and threw it onto the sofa. The room still had a faint scent of disinfectant from the day’s cleaning.

She slumped onto the sofa and picked up the shooting schedule from the table to flip through it. Several "Pending Reshoots" were circled in red pen among the dense notes. The originally tight schedule had been completely disrupted by this heavy rain, and a sense of helplessness welled up in her heart.

Just after washing up and drying her hair, her phone rang. Vivian’s name flashed on the screen.

"Hello, Vivian."

"Irene! I just checked the weather forecast and it says there will be heavy rain in Los Angeles for the next few days. Did you fail to shoot your car chase scenes?"

Irene smiled bitterly and walked to the window, looking at the curtain of rain outside.

"Yeah, the rain is too heavy, and the cameras didn’t arrive in time, so we had to pause. The shooting cycle is completely disrupted. The car chase scenes originally planned to be finished in five days have only yielded a few useless shots in one day."

"What a pity. School has started, and I can’t get leave, otherwise I could have continued learning by your side." Vivian’s words were full of regret.

"We can’t film much while it’s raining these next few days. When the rain stops on the weekend, you can just come over and help me organize my camera notes."

Vivian’s voice instantly became cheerful. "Really? Then I’ll come over first thing on the weekend! By the way, Irene, is the shooting progress really that bad? Do you need me to help with anything?"

"You just focus on your classes. Although there’s a bit of pressure right now, and there are still three car chase scenes left, I don’t know when the weather will clear up. But it doesn’t matter, things will work out in the end." She didn’t want Vivian to worry, so she just glossed over it.

After hanging up, the room returned to silence.

Irene walked to the desk, opened her laptop, and began to modify the upcoming shooting schedule, trying to squeeze out more buffer space within the limited time.

But the more she calculated, the more anxious she became. The numbers on the screen seemed to turn into death warrants, making her unable to help but rub her throbbing temples.