They Paid Too Much / Shiki Ryougi: Star (×) Workhorse (√)

"Master, I want more to eat..."

Joan of Arc's forehead was covered in black lines, and her whole face was filled with depression.

Shinji's addition of a gluttonous personality to her character left Joan of Arc d'Arc speechless.

"I think that eating more snacks can make your Saintess character look cuter and more youthful in the eyes of the audience."

These are Shinji's exact words when he was explaining the play to Joan of Arc. He spoke with such conviction that Joan of Arc almost couldn't help but believe him.

--If she hadn't known that Artoria was a real foodie.

"Hmph~~ Master, this way of forcibly adding the same settings to us just because we have the same face is really awkward! I'm not a replacement for that Britain!"

Miss Joan of Arc protested by waving her little fists.

Chapter 205 They gave too much

Joan of Arc d'Arc was naturally indignant that Shinji had portrayed her as a glutton.

She fought the Britain her whole life, and now she's become Britain stand-in? How could Joan of Arc possibly accept that?

Unfortunately, whether Joan of Arc liked it or not, the character of a gluttonous Saintess was implemented in the filming at Shinji's request.

In fact, in FSN, Artoria didn't portray herself as a glutton; rather, she was more like a glutton who ate too much.

It's understandable that people might have this impression, because the main storyline of Nasu is too serious, and the side quests were cut by Shinji due to time constraints.

That leaves the Emiya family's dining table as the only scene that can showcase a foodie.

Unfortunately, Artoria's Acting Skills was terrible back then, turning a cute little foodie into a ravenous lion, giving the impression of a gluttonous monster reincarnated.

If we're to say that Artoria's foodie nature was truly established by the outside world, it was in the late-night spin-off drama, "A Bite of Fuyuki City."

Whether it's fate or not, Artoria finally mastered the adorable way a young girl eats, but now she's not the one appearing on camera to portray a young girl enjoying snacks.

For this reason, Artoria pestered Shinji for a long time, hoping that in the scene where she eats, she could wear Joan of Arc's clothes and play herself.

Then Shinji and righteously rejected him.

"If I let you appear on camera, you'd definitely deliberately do NG takes just to eat more, right? No way!"

With that roar, Shinji threw Artoria out.

"You stingy thing, Master!"

Artoria complained, unconvinced.

"It's not being stingy, it's being thrifty!"

Shinji delivered a karate chop to the King of Knights' head.

Besides the issue of food costs, the Second Master's refusal of Artoria's request also stemmed from his desire to mold Joan of Arc into a different kind of foodie than Artoria.

Despite the suspicion of riding on Artoria's popularity, Shinji has no interest in portraying Joan of Arc as a copy of Artoria.

If all these Artoria subspecies are to be cut from the same mold, then what's the point of summoning different Heroic Spirit?

Why not just use Artoria herself, and then adjust her size using slimes?

Therefore, the character of Joan of Arc must be different from Artoria. In order to create a different feeling from Artoria, Shinji had Joan of Arc try countless kinds of food, just to capture the unique characteristics of the Saintess.

In reality, according to Joan of Arc's estimation, even though she ate thirty or forty different snacks and desserts in front of the camera, only two or three of them would actually be used in the movie.

If they actually used so many shots of people eating, FA would turn into a documentary about Western Europe street food.

Ultimately, among all the various snacks, Shinji chose one as the signature snack for Joan of Arc d'Arc in the film.

"Cut!"

Shinji, holding a megaphone, advised Joan of Arc in front of the camera, "Don't finish it so quickly. This is your first time eating Ferrero Rocher in the real world, and afterwards you'll fall deeply in love with this snack and eat it in all sorts of situations."

"So, for this memorable first time, the most important thing is for you to show that tentative feeling."

"At first, you should gently touch the shell with the tip of your tongue. Don't go too fast; you should have that shy, animal-like feeling."

Joan of Arc glanced down at the snack in her hand—an unwrapped Ferrero Rocher chocolate—her face full of question marks.

"Master, wouldn't it take a long time to lick it clean little by little?"

"Who told you to lick it from beginning to end?"

"So how exactly am I supposed to eat this?"

Shinji tapped the director's microphone, looking utterly speechless.

"I thought this kind of thing didn't need to be taught at all, but I didn't expect you to make me stipulate it so rigidly."

Shinji pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed helplessly.

"First, tentatively touch it with your tongue."

"Then, finding it quite delicious, you take a bite of a third of the chocolate, your face flushed with a triumphant blush as if conquered by the sweetness."

"After seeing the nuts inside, you should feel the novelty of discovering a treasure."

"Then, you lick the chocolate sauce and nuts inside clean with your tongue, and a happy smile appears on your face."

Finally, you devoured the rest of the chocolate in one bite, and then contentedly licked the chocolate off your lips with the tip of your tongue.

After hearing the whole process, Joan of Arc of Arc felt that Shinji's description was a little strange.

"Master, where did you learn this behavior from? Do girls these days taste things like that?"

"Some girls are like that the first time. I remember when I went on a date with Miss Barthomeloi, she... cough cough cough!!! Never mind what I said."

Shinji coughed loudly, changing the subject.

"For you."

Shinji handed the script to Joan of Arc.

"This is?"

Joan of Arc glanced at it and found a long monologue written on it.

"What... this... it's an indescribable flavor. Sweet, crunchy, and fragrant, yet it highlights the deliciousness of the nuts, with a rich and smooth chocolate sauce that evokes the natural essence of the forest... Hey! Master, what's with that embarrassing line?"

"Read more about the embarrassing parts; these are the lines you'll be dubbing later."

Shinji said expressionlessly, "Use these lines to simulate your state of mind, so you can be more immersed in your performance."

Joan of Arc's eyebrows twitched wildly. "Master... it's just a piece of chocolate, isn't it? Although I love sweets, this is just too much!"

Shinji said impatiently, "All you have to do is act like a country girl who's never tasted sweets before."

"Master, believe it or not, I'll hit you!"

If it weren't for the fear of killing someone with a single flagpole, Joan of Arc probably would have actually knocked it down.

As for why Shinji chose Ferrero Rocher as Joan of Arc's snack in the movie, why he gave this candy so much screen time, and why he had Joan of Arc recite such a cheesy monologue...

The reason is simple—they gave way too much.

Contrary to Shinji's original expectations, the commercial film industry in this world is underdeveloped, but the product placement industry chain in movies is quite well-established.

Given the underdeveloped surrounding markets, it's natural to explore new avenues in order to earn more money.

Many movies have low box office returns but rely entirely on product placement for profit.

Businesses aren't stupid; as long as a movie can be made, regardless of its box office performance, the copyright will definitely be sold countless times.

So spending some money to get an advertising slot in a movie can be good publicity for yourself for several years.

Even movies that lose money get advertising revenue, so a successful movie like Fate certainly won't be overlooked by advertisers.

Therefore, when Shinji announced that he needed to recruit a snack advertising agent, countless food manufacturers unanimously chose to bid for the project.

Ultimately, after a bidding process, Ferrero Rocher won and became the exclusive snack for Miss Saintess.

According to the product placement agreement between the two parties, Miss Saintess not only has to eat Ferrero Rocher in various poses in the movie, but she also has to film a special Ferrero Rocher movie-linked commercial for promotional purposes.

This materialistic approach naturally aroused the dissatisfaction and contempt of the artistic young woman, Joan of Arc.

Compared to Michael Bay, the "genius" of product placement in his previous life, the Second Master believes he has been quite conscientious.

At least he didn't do what Explosive Bay did, having Joan of Arc read the sign aloud, making the product placement feel very awkward.

At least he made up a story, giving Joan of Arc a reason to eat Ferrero Rocher, which makes it seem slightly more believable.

In Shinji's own eyes, even if his product placement wasn't a masterpiece, it was at least on par with the chocolate product placement in "God of Gamblers," which was plagiarized countless times in novels.

Since they've already paid, Shinji believes he should do his job to satisfy the client; he's not going to do anything as disgraceful as Michael Bay did in Transformers 4.

Back then, a certain scenic spot in China successfully integrated a tourism advertisement into "Transformers 4," and before the movie's release, it engaged in all sorts of promotion and fawning, almost to the point of claiming kinship with the movie.

It turned out that when the movie was released, it was discovered that although the film was shot in its own scenic area, the name of the scenic area did not appear in the movie.

Ultimately, the scenic area resorted to crying, making a scene, threatening suicide, and even taking legal action, finally forcing the production company to awkwardly Photoshop a stone tablet with the scenic area's name into the movie's DVD, thus fulfilling the advertising agreement.

I don't know what the scenic spot was thinking with this failed product placement. Anyway, Shinji thinks it's more like a post on a forum to expose someone than an advertisement.

A film businessman with integrity like Shinji would never do something that would embarrass both parties. Making money comfortably and satisfying both the audience and the advertisers is what Shinji wants to do.

As for how much Ferrero Rocher paid, Shinji couldn't reveal too much.

This is not only a trade secret, but also because the two parties use a tiered bonus agreement, which is determined based on the final box office performance.

However, if FA's box office performance is as good as FZ's, Ferrero Rocher's final advertising fee will exceed half of the film's production cost.

So--

"Making money is nothing to be ashamed of."

Anyway, the story of FA takes place in modern times, and there's nothing wrong with a France high school student possessed by Joan of Arc eating Italy brand chocolate in Romania.

There were no common-sense bugs, nor was there any deliberate attempt to remove the breast tissue.

At least, Shinji thinks the fact that the France Saintess liked to eat chocolate is much more plausible than the fact that a third of the Knights of the Round Table and the black Guinevere character appeared in the King Arthur TV series.

What?

You asked why Shinji's characters in the movies King Arthur and Mordred are women?

This is called restoring history, do you even understand, you bumpkin?!

In short, Shinji came up with quite a few ways to integrate chocolate advertising into the FA movie.

Therefore, in order to show off her culinary skills, the second-generation foodie Joan of Arc has been tasting several times more high-sweetness chocolates than the average person during this period, and incidentally received envious and jealous expressions from the first-generation foodie Artoria.

Fortunately, Heroic Spirit don't get fat, otherwise Joan of Arc would definitely worry about her figure going out of shape.

If the early scenes of the FA movie hadn't been relatively few and filmed quickly, the impatient Artoria would definitely have eaten Shinji's head like Ferrero Rocher.

When filming for FA came to a temporary halt, Shinji finally received the message he had been waiting for a long time.

Udagawa Nao moved from Tokyo to Fuyuki City, deciding to switch Type-Moon Company.

Chapter 206 Ryougi Shiki: Celebrity (×) Tool Person (√)

To welcome Udagawa Nao, Shinji specifically left the crew's temporary residence and returned to the city to meet with her.

"Welcome, Sister Nannou."

After shaking hands with Udagawa Nao, Shinji asked with a smile, "You're not leaving Fuyuki City this time, are you?"

Udagawa Nao had already spoken with Shinji by phone before arriving in Fuyuki City, and the two parties had finalized the relevant employment agreement.

So she appeared particularly composed at this moment, wearing her usual professional smile, and said, "I don't want to go back to Tokyo; the cost of living is too high."

"Fuyuki City has been developing rapidly in the past two years; it might even become more bustling than Tokyo in the future."

Udagawa Nao rolled his eyes at Second Master: "Shinji, are you dreaming?"

Shinji shrugged innocently. "Of course not, that's just a polite way of putting it."

After the banter, Shinji asked Shiki to get two cups of black tea for the two of them.

While sipping his tea, Shinji asked, "Nannou- nee, regarding compensation, besides salary, do you have any other requirements?"

Udagawa Nao didn't stand on ceremony and said directly, "Give me a car and a driver."

"That's no problem."

Shinji nodded.