Entertainment: You're asked to make a graduation project, but you're asked to film Ultrama

Chapter 327: A model worth tens of thousands of dollars just exploded like that? This script is insa

(This episode will be released over two days~)

Rewind three months to the pre-production stage of "Ultraman Gaia," just before its finale.

Gu Nan's office was filled with the strong atmosphere of a classroom.

A group of core creators worked around the clock.

The whiteboard was covered with storyboard sketches and shooting notices.

The printer hummed and roared almost without stopping.

The paper jammed several times and almost dried out completely.

We've used up several boxes of A4 paper.

The script was revised again and again...

The discarded drafts piled up like a small mountain in the wastebasket.

As the plot of "Ultraman Gaia" continues to unfold, its reputation among the public has become exceptionally positive.

But as a result, the size of the entire production team also expanded rapidly, with more and more people joining.

As audience expectations rise, the team is forced to set increasingly higher standards for itself.

Of course, everyone's workload is also increasing, and they are getting busier and busier!

Fortunately, the scriptwriting coordination team, special effects supervision team, and art and set design team have now formed a core team that works perfectly and coordinates seamlessly after the initial adjustment period.

"Hey everyone! Stop what you're doing, Brother Nan's calling a meeting!"

Chen Bo clapped his hands and shoved all the department heads into the soundproof conference room.

The atmosphere inside the meeting room was inexplicably tense.

Gu Nan strode in and sat in the main seat.

He handed out the stack of newly bound scripts to everyone.

The script is the script (third version) for episode 47 of "Ultraman Gaia".

"Everyone, take a look."

Gu Nan tapped on the table.

"This is the absolute highlight we're about to film, and the most crucial part of the entire Gaia final battle!"

That's right, this is the final part of Gaia's storyline, and also the period when divine episodes exploded.

After more than forty episodes of buildup, the Destruction Summoning Entity has finally launched its final offensive!

Therefore, everyone needs to strive for excellence in the future.

Chen Bo, who was sitting on the left, was the first to reach out, pick up the top book, and open it.

Immediately afterwards, the assistant director, visual effects supervisor, art director, model team leader... a group of "gods" from the crew also picked up the script and quickly flipped through it.

The meeting room fell silent, with only the rustling sound of papers being flipped through.

At first, everyone seemed relaxed and normal.

After all, he's been with Gu Nan for so long, what storms hasn't he weathered?

Official media praise, the festivities of the international tokusatsu festival, visits from various top celebrities...

These people are seasoned veterans; they're no longer the naive college students who were just full of enthusiasm back then.

In the previous episodes, the mournful music box music in the Sorrowful Swamp, the visual feast of Agul's rebirth, and the tragic beauty of the Silver-Eyed Tiger King Yzak—they were all people who saw the script and perfectly visualized it at the first opportunity. They believed that their hearts had long been forged into incomparably strong by Gu Nan.

However, as time ticked by, ten minutes later... the atmosphere in the conference room began to feel strange.

The first to break the silence was Chen Bo, who gasped and forced a smile as he rubbed his face.

"Brother Nan... this plot... is it for real? There's some truth to this! You're almost at the finale, and you're still hiding this kind of 'tough stuff'?!"

The visual effects supervisor sitting opposite him had his brows furrowed into a deep knot.

The workload for this has doubled compared to the previous two episodes...

"Director Gu..."

The visual effects supervisor swallowed hard, his voice trembling, "Are you...are you serious? This plot development...it's too..."

The aerial combat scenes and shot design above...

They're treating their special effects team like donkeys!

He stammered for a long time, unable to find a suitable adjective in his limited vocabulary.

"I know what he's going to ask!" Chen Bo replied with a wry smile.

"He probably wants to ask..."

"Director Gu! Are you crazy?!"

The model team manager, who was standing to the side, finally stopped completely. He slammed his hand on the table and stood up abruptly, his voice cracking with obvious pain and heartache:

"Why?! You're going to destroy the air base?! That's our main location! That's the home of our XIG defense force!"

"Faith!"

"Do you know that our entire model team spent over ten thousand yuan and months building that interior and exterior realistic flight model?! And now you just say 'destroy' it with a single sentence?!"

Upon hearing this, the few people who were slowly reading the earlier parts of the story immediately turned to the last few pages in a great hurry.

Then, a series of gasps of cold air rose and fell in the conference room, as if it were leaking air.

"Director Gu, you're amazing..."

"My God..."

"Are you serious? Are you really going to smash it?!"

The script's words coldly and clearly depict a post-apocalyptic scene:

[The ultimate weapon of the Destruction Summoning Entity—the cosmic behemoth Mochian—has arrived! It carries immense monopole energy capable of distorting space itself.]

Humanity's conventional weapons, which it takes pride in, are like a mere scratch on its surface. Once this behemoth, capable of altering the Earth's poles, lands on the ground, its immense gravitational field and energy shock will instantly shatter the earth beneath its feet, unleashing a devastating geological catastrophe upon the entire planet's tectonic plates.

In this state of utter and suffocating despair, Commander Ishimura made the final decision—he ordered a mandatory evacuation of all personnel!

[The scene shifts to the control room: In the empty base, Commander Shi Shi stands alone in the main seat. His gaze is resolute as he manually pilots the massive aerial base, the pinnacle of human technology, with a death wish, like a retrograde meteor crashing into the behemoth Mochian!]

"Not only are you going to smash this air base, which cost hundreds of thousands to build, to pieces, but you also want Commander Shi Shi to perish with it?!"

The assistant director's eyebrows were completely raised!

Now he was a little annoyed, and he was sweating profusely with anxiety.

"Director Gu! All that effort to create that perfect character—that calm, wise, always unfazed even in the face of a collapsing mountain—and you just let him die like that?! Isn't this Bad End a bit too depressing?"

"That's right, Director Gu! This is a tokusatsu drama aimed at all ages! No matter how profound the themes are, the death of Yzak was already enough to make viewers depressed and fans send us death threats. Now you've just burned down XIG's crystal? And killed off the leader of the defense force, the pillar of strength?!"

For a moment, the meeting room was filled with chatter, and everyone was a little uneasy, even harboring a hint of opposition.

It's no wonder they reacted so strongly. After so much filming, the crew had long since come to regard the characters as flesh-and-blood family members. Gu Nan's sudden and ruthless decision to kill him off was emotionally difficult for everyone to accept.

What's more, the plot is just too crazy and too subversive!

Chen Bo broke the awkward silence:

"Brother Nan, I seem to remember that Tsuburaya Productions did something similar with Leo back in the day... right?!"

"I remember the director was almost cursed by the audience for eighteen generations of ancestors."

"Yeah, yeah."

Those present began to discuss it amongst themselves.

Writing such a terrible story, killing off such a core character who symbolizes the "ultimate protector of humanity," will surely draw a massive backlash from fans!

Have you not seen that alien with a cane driving a jeep, who ultimately perished in the mouth of Sylbabulme along with that aerial base?

That ruthless act in the last century already shocked everyone.

This is also a direct reason that led to the bankruptcy of Tsuburaya Productions, which was the source of this worldview!

Although the defense forces' base is often used as a target by monsters, it is humanity's last bastion. At most, it might emit some smoke or experience power outages, but how could it be allowed to crash directly from the sky?!

Even the later production of Eddie couldn't reverse the decline...

Therefore, given this precedent, how could anyone possibly agree to Gu Nan imitating the previous work!

Faced with the crowd's doubts and excitement, Gu Nan did not immediately refute them.

He simply sat there quietly, his gaze sweeping over everyone present with profound intensity.

"I know you're feeling the pinch right now, and it might even be hard for you to accept."

Gu Nan finally spoke, his voice not loud, which quelled the restlessness in the room.

"Let's first analyze Tsuburaya's motivations back then."

"That was purely because they ran out of money while filming 'Ultraman Leo,' they couldn't afford the actors, so they wiped out the entire Mac team!"

"At that time, the motivation was purely to save money, which led to the design of such an abrupt plot."

There was a lot of discussion in the meeting room.

"Indeed, when I rewatched the plot back then, I was so frustrated I almost exploded. It was just disgusting to watch the audience."

"A bunch of illogical plot points, the story is completely ruined!"

"By the way, don't we have plenty of funds?"

"Exactly! The most expensive special effects team is still working non-stop!"

Seeing everyone talking at once, Gu Nan continued:

"A massive defense base was built in space, yet it lacked basic hospitality. Facing the disc-shaped creatures, it not only offered sporadic resistance but also became their mobile buffet!"

Gu Nan criticized without any politeness.

He placed his hands on the table, his eyes blazing.

"But this time is different! It's still the same theme of 'Defense Force Devastation,' but our Ariel Air Base is a fortress that's truly armed to the teeth."

"Our goal is to show humanity fighting to the very last moment despite overwhelming odds; we're driven by the story!"

"We're not just not going to skimp on money, we're going to spend it to maximize the visual effects of this segment and give the audience a real shock. We want to prove that we can surpass Tsuburaya Productions and make good use of their tired material!"

"This will be completely different from what Tsuburaya Productions presents! The 'Collapse' we're filming is a resolute act of destruction before construction! It's the ultimate expression of heroism!"

"After evacuating everyone, Commander Shishi held fast to the isolated city. Even when the spaceship malfunctioned at a critical moment, his eyes never wavered or hesitated!"

"He's going to personally pilot the near-explosion base and engage in a head-to-head clash with the monster, Morgian!"

"Writing a hymn to humanity"

He stood up, walked to the whiteboard at the front of the conference room, picked up a black marker, turned around, and with a forceful flick of his wrist, wrote four large characters on the whiteboard in a flowing, elegant style:

Human courage

Gu Nan turned around and looked directly at everyone:

"What do you think we, as humans, should do if faced with a truly formidable enemy capable of instantly destroying the Earth?"

Gu Nan countered with a question, his voice gradually rising:

"Are we just going to sit in the rear base of the defense forces, watch the monsters invade, humanity be defeated, and then desperately pray, waiting for Gaia or Agul to descend from the sky and save us?"

Everyone fell silent instantly.

"Remember Ultraman Tiga? We want to return to the spirit we wanted to convey in the final episode of Ultraman Tiga—humans are never weaklings passively waiting for Ultraman's protection! Humans can also become light, and can lend their light to Ultraman to help the gods fight side by side!"

"but,"

Gu Nan paused, a glint of ambition flashing in his eyes. "I think Tiga didn't express things to the fullest enough! Tiga is too romantic! To the point that it's not realistic enough!"

"Therefore, in Gaia, we must write a poignant hymn to human courage that is uniquely our own!"

"Don't forget the core message of this show—human beings are also children of Earth!"

Gu Nan placed his hands on the conference table, looked down at everyone, and continued:

"The purpose of the Destruction Bringers is clear: to eradicate humanity from its very core. Whether it's the previous natural control machines or the now-descended Mochian, they are constantly testing and destroying humanity's psychological defenses. In this process, if humanity is merely a bystander waiting for rescue, then it doesn't deserve to be called the guardian of Earth!"

"The scene where Commander Shishi sends everyone away and pilots the aerial base alone to crash into the monster is the ultimate embodiment of humanity's indomitable will!"

"Even at the cost of our lives, even if we lose our last bastion, we will stand firm against Earth as 'human beings'! This is not only the heroism of Ishimuro personally, but also represents the indomitable fighting spirit of all human civilization in the face of adversity—a spirit that refuses to retreat even when facing death like moths to a flame!"

Upon hearing this, the conference room fell completely silent.

The anger that came from losing a character was gradually replaced by an indescribable sense of grandeur and tragedy.

The eyes of several grown men unknowingly began to well up with tears.

"call……"

The assistant director took a deep breath, as if to expel all the pent-up emotions in his chest. "Director Gu, I completely understand what you mean. You want to use the crash of this expensive aerial base to shatter the audience's preconceived notion that 'Ultraman will always be there to protect us in times of danger.' This is an ultimate spirit of sacrifice, prioritizing the greater good and taking responsibility for the continuation of the race."

"That's right."

Gu Nan nodded with satisfaction. "Faced with disaster, humanity's power may be small, but it is never weak. I want all the viewers sitting in front of their televisions to see that this beautiful Earth was protected by humanity and Ultraman, who shed blood and sweat together!"

The atmosphere reached its peak, and the model team leader, who had been the most resistant before, finally relented after gritting his teeth and getting slightly red in the eyes!

"Blow it up! Damn it, blow it up!"

The head of the model team slapped his thigh.

"But Brother Nan, we have a deal. This time, we must make a name for ourselves in the history of special effects photography! I can't let all my hard work go to waste!"

"Sigh..." He sighed, his tone softening, like an old father about to send his daughter off to get married.

"The meeting is about to end, I need to go to the studio to take a few more photos of that model as a memento... after all, it's been meticulously crafted for almost half a year..."

His appearance amused everyone, and the heavy atmosphere eased considerably.

Looking at the energetic team in front of him, their eyes shining, Gu Nan smiled confidently.

He knew it all too well.

The moment this episode and this scene are officially broadcast, it will absolutely explode, causing a nuclear-level super earthquake across the entire internet and even the entire film and television industry.

However, this is still a top secret within the production team.

……

The sheer shock of witnessing humanity's last bastion fall like a meteor, the tragic grandeur of mortals declaring war on the gods with their flesh and blood, will undoubtedly leave an indelible and unsurpassable mark on the history of tokusatsu.

Now, everyone in the conference room is putting in their final, most frantic effort to prepare for that ultimate explosion.