Don't Call Me Master, Call Me Director

Fortunately, although Shinji wasn't skilled in music, he wasn't tone-deaf either. With his diligent review, the song was finally reproduced perfectly as he remembered it.

Moreover, since there were no messy copyright disputes, Shinji directly used "Disillusion" as the song's title, instead of "This illusion," which he had used more in his previous life.

The former fit the movie's plot better, and Artoria ultimately abandoned her illusions and calmly accepted her destiny.

Actually, a slightly melancholic ending like this didn't align with the rules of a commercial blockbuster movie. If anything, the Grand Ending of the UBW route was more in line with the path of a commercial film.

Shinji had also shot footage of that Good End as an alternative ending for the movie. However, during the final editing, Master Shinji felt that the original ending better reflected Artoria's character growth and made her character more complete, so he still chose the original ending.

Fortunately, art films were dominant in this world, and art films were never short of tragic endings.

Therefore, the audience was not dissatisfied with the slightly sorrowful ending of FSN; they only felt it was unfinished.

"What a melancholic piece of music..." Aoko said, leaning back against her chair with her head tilted up. "But it really fits the state of mind of that King Arthur. Arisu, do you think this King Arthur has found peace and ascended in reality?"

"This is just a movie; you need to separate it from reality."

Arisu nodded and commented with her head lowered.

"Is that so..." Aoko said, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "But Older Sister told me that the actors in this movie are all playing themselves."

"Mhm~"

Arisu raised her eyebrows upon hearing this.

"You're not thinking of going to Fuyuki City, are you?"

Aoko's interest immediately piqued. If Arisu really had such an idea, she could take the opportunity to see Touko as well.

Arisu replied expressionlessly, "We'll see."

"Hey, hey, that's too much!"

Aoko felt her friend definitely had something on her mind, but she couldn't figure out the emotionless face in front of her at all.

Fuyuki City preview screening.

As the audience savored the epic plot of the FSN movie with the melodious singing of Disillusion, Shinji had already retreated with the film crew as soon as the movie ended.

Before the movie started, the audience didn't know them, so everything was fine. Now that the movie was over, at least in this theater, their group had definitely become famous.

To prevent any accidents in the cramped theater, Shinji decisively led his people away early.

"Hey, hey, Master."

As soon as they walked out of the cinema, Cú Chulainn came up and put his arm around Shinji's neck.

Shinji shot him a glare. "What is it?"

Cú Chulainn said with a grin, "Master, considering how hard I worked during filming, let me be the protagonist in the next movie~"

Recalling how he was forgotten during the movie screening when he only appeared for the second time, Cú Chulainn felt very indignant.

Especially...

[Why is this guy remembered with less than 40 minutes of screen time at the very end, while I, who appeared from the beginning, am not?]

"You, the protagonist?" Shinji looked Cú Chulainn up and down. "Are you planning to film Final Destination?"

Regarding his E-rank luck, Shinji's first reaction was the classic line, "Lancer died again!"

If there were more, he would add, "So inhumane!"

Cú Chulainn didn't know what his Master was thinking. Upon hearing the movie title Shinji mentioned, he immediately became interested.

"What movie is that? A horror film?"

After such a long time since being summoned to the present world, Cú Chulainn had a basic concept of movies. When he heard Shinji say the name, he immediately guessed it was a horror movie.

Shinji shrugged his shoulders. "Something like that."

[For you, it's undoubtedly a horror film.]

"That sounds good," Cú Chulainn said, sounding a little eager. "Hey, hey, Master. How about letting me act in it?"

"We'll talk about it after you can recite the lines word for word."

Shinji patted the big dog's head and gave this ambiguous answer.

Since he wanted to use Heroic Spirit Actors as a selling point for his film company, it was only a matter of time before these Heroic Spirits acted in other movies.

The Heroic Spirits were all handsome men and beautiful women; not renting out such good resources would clearly be a waste.

However, other directors didn't have Master Shinji's patience. Before handing them over to others, Master Shinji felt they should at least meet the basic requirements of an actor.

At the end of the procession, Risei Kotomine looked at Shinji and the others goofing around ahead and showed a gratified smile.

As he put on his coat, he said to Tokiomi Tohsaka, "The children who were barely knee-high back then have all grown up now. I truly feel old."

"Mhm..."

Tohsaka, who had been silent all night, finally spoke.

"I say, has Shinji's Magecraft attainment reached such a high level already? The depiction of Jewel Magecraft spell formulas in the movie uses advanced techniques that even Rin hasn't learned yet..."

Saying this, Tohsaka looked up at the moonlight in the sky.

"In this world, does such a prodigy truly exist?"

"Hey, you've been quiet all night, were you just thinking about this?!"

Risei Kotomine almost spat out his drink.

Shinji and his group in Fuyuki City were having a great time, and far away in Tokyo, the employees of Bandai, led by Udagawa Nao, were also cheering with joy.

After everyone's hard work and overtime, the results of the audience survey for the Tokyo preview screening were finally out.

"Ms. Udagawa, here are the statistics from the Tokyo preview screening."

The staff member in charge of the survey handed over the report to Udagawa Nao.

"We distributed 345 audience questionnaires and received 302 back," the staff member summarized concisely. "There were 275 excellent ratings, 15 good, 5 satisfactory, and 7 poor. Additionally..."

The staff member paused slightly, glancing at Udagawa Nao before continuing, "Among the special target audience group (ages 15-35) mentioned by Director Matou, there were only two satisfactory and one poor rating."

The office was silent for a few seconds, followed by loud cheers from the staff.

"Haha! That's great!!"

"Long live Director Matou!"

"Your Majesty Artoria is truly the best!!"

"Fate is the greatest!!"

The office instantly became chaotic, littered with the belongings of the overworked staff.

The employees of Bandai hadn't experienced such overwhelmingly positive audience reception in years.

One excited individual even took off his shirt and swung it around, causing the female employees to shriek.

Compared to her subordinates who had descended into a frenzy, Udagawa Nao was much more composed, but the beaming smile on her face clearly revealed her inner thoughts.

The excellent feedback data from the questionnaires, along with the audience's enthusiasm she felt in the theater, further solidified her confidence in the film.

"You've done a really good job."

Udagawa Nao casually picked up an audience survey from the table and softly read the words on it.

"The various Magecraft spells in the movie were incredibly realistic, making it feel as if I personally participated in a real Holy Grail War. The thrilling, battlefield-like sensation never faded from beginning to end. Although the entire story seems a bit exaggerated and the spell effects were amplified, it actually made the action scenes more exhilarating, especially the battles between the Heroic Spirits, which showcased their peak condition."

The somewhat strange content recorded on the questionnaire made her unconsciously think of the two chuunibyou girls sitting beside her tonight.

"Even though it's a bit exaggerated, and there are situations where people can't distinguish between reality and the story..."

Regardless of the circumstances, the fact that the audience liked the movie was a good thing.

Rather, it was precisely these fervent fans who were so enthusiastic they couldn't distinguish between the movie and reality that Bandai needed the most. Who else would they sell merchandise to?

"As expected, just like he said, the younger audience demographic has a higher acceptance of this movie."

Recalling the supplementary content at the end of the survey report, Udagawa Nao smiled noncommittally.

"Since the results are as he predicted, it's time to put his distribution plan into action."

With that, Udagawa Nao took out a proposal for a promotional plan, written by Shinji long ago, from her office drawer.

Just as Shinji and Bandai were envisioning the future of the movie, the Japanese Magecraft circle was shaken to its core.

"Hey, do you know about that movie?"

"Yeah, I heard the depiction of Magecraft spells is amazing!"

"More than amazing, they say the Director actually made many spells that were originally just concepts a reality!!"

"And that ritual called the Holy Grail War, they say it can reach the Root!!"

"The Root!!! Is that true?"

"I don't know, I haven't seen the movie."

Although Bandai didn't hold many preview screenings, and the proportion of Mages in Japan wasn't very high, there were still quite a few Mages among those who attended the screenings, besides the Fuyuki City viewing group and Aoko.

After watching the movie, these individuals immediately reported the situation to their respective families.

The topic of FSN immediately became a hot discussion in the Magecraft community.

The information network among Mages should not be underestimated. Even though only a few had seen the movie, the news quickly spread throughout the entire circle.

The reason the topic spread so rapidly was that many things Shinji depicted in the movie, such as powerful Magecraft spells, the Heroic Spirits' Noble Phantasms, and the possibility of reaching the Root, were all things the current Magecraft community yearned for.

"Hey, investigate it thoroughly!"

"The people who made the movie are from the Matou Family, right?"

"Was the movie set in Fuyuki City?"

"Quickly figure out the feasibility of the Holy Grail summoning ritual!"

To understand the magical aspects of the movie, many Mage Families began to mobilize.

However, FSN had not yet been widely released, and it was difficult to describe the specifics based solely on the accounts of those who had seen the film.

Therefore, most Mages only knew that there was a movie about Magecraft, and that it revealed many Magecraft secrets, but they didn't know the exact details.

However, regardless of anything else, the movie FSN has completely spread throughout the Magecraft community.

Chapter 27: Aoko: Is this watching a movie, or a Mage gathering?

Shinji was still unaware that he had once again become famous within the Mage community.

However, even if he knew, he wouldn't care. After all, he had more important things to do right now—promoting FSN.

After a long wait of 3 days, Bandai finally compiled the audience feedback data from all the preview screenings nationwide.

This speed couldn't be considered fast at all, but for a country that only used three fax machines to compile nationwide epidemic data 20 years later, Shinji didn't expect anything faster.

This nationwide preview screening could be considered a great success. Not only was the audience's response overwhelmingly positive, but many audience members explicitly stated they would watch the movie again after its release.

Among those who said these words, there were definitely many "I'll definitely go next time" freeloaders, but the audience's preference for the movie was certainly a good thing.

Riding the wave of popularity from the preview screenings, Shinji, with Bandai's arrangements, also accepted an interview with several lead actors from media reporters.

Bandai's conservative distribution strategy meant they couldn't invite the major newspapers. Furthermore, Shinji strongly requested the interview be held in Fuyuki City, so even fewer reporters came. Only journalists from some mid-to-low-tier media outlets were willing to conduct this slightly peculiar interview.

The gazes of these people were basically focused on the two lead actors, Artoria and Shirou Emiya. Although Shinji was mentioned, the attention he received was far less than theirs.

This was also related to Bandai's promotion strategy. Shinji, as an unknown new Director, lacked selling points. On the other hand, Artoria, who had already captured a large number of fans during the preview screening and possessed a certain commercial value, was more likely to attract the attention of moviegoers and the media.

Therefore, the promotional strategy Bandai set for FSN revolved around the actors.

If FSN became a huge success, then Shinji's next movie could be promoted with the label [Director of FSN].

The reporters conducting the interview had all watched the movie, so compared to the male lead Shirou Emiya, they actually wanted to interview Gilgamesh more.

Shirou's performance in the movie was also commendable, but the "nice guy" persona left a far less profound impression than Gilgamesh.

But how could Master Shinji dare to release Gilgamesh during such a crucial promotional period?

Even the King of Heroes version of Gilgamesh certainly didn't have a pleasant tone of voice. Not to say he was arrogant to the extreme, but he could certainly be described as looking down his nose at everyone.

In fact, as long as Gilgamesh didn't constantly spout "mongrel," his arrogant and conceited attitude could even be marketed as a "tsundere" persona.