And Shinji believed the Mage families would be very interested in his plan, too.
Because of mages' tradition of keeping a low profile, ordinary people knew very little about them, so the number of new mages dwindled year after year.
The struggle to find suitable students had become a major headache for many mage lineages.
If Shinji succeeded, using Magecraft to make films would undoubtedly expand its influence and bring new students to the various Mage families.
It was much like how the kung fu movie craze in his previous life had driven traditional martial arts schools to recruit more students.
When Shinji brought the plan to Matou Zouken to ask if it was feasible,
Matou Zouken was very interested. He encouraged Shinji to go for it and gave him his full support.
After all, the Matou Family wasn't short on money. Even if Shinji failed, he would still have a comfortable life.
If he succeeded, Shinji would become a benefactor to the entire Mage world, and the Matou Family might even gain a prestigious position within it.
Shinji himself was quite impressive, too. In just a few years, he had made considerable progress in Magecraft. Four years ago, on Matou Zouken's recommendation, he earned the opportunity to study at the Clock Tower.
After auditing classes at the Clock Tower for nearly two years, Shinji had not only learned about the overall level of Magecraft in this world, but also confirmed that his plan was entirely feasible with the technology currently available.
Once he understood all this, Shinji left the Clock Tower and headed to the University of Southern California to continue auditing courses on film production. He even found time to intern on a Hollywood set.
He couldn't help it. In his previous life, Shinji had been a mere shut-in. He had watched plenty of great films, but he still needed to learn the professional skills required to make them.
After spending another year or so in the United States, Shinji felt he had learned enough about both Magecraft and filmmaking, so he returned to the Clock Tower.
This time, he wasn't there to attend classes. He was looking for partners.
The plan was simply too ambitious. The Matou Family alone couldn't support it; Shinji needed a partner with some influence in the Mage world.
In the end, Shinji approached the Archibald Family, where Kirei Kotomine was based, and reached a partnership agreement with him.
He hadn't chosen Kirei because they were close. It was simply that the Archibald Family was the strongest partner Shinji could find.
The more powerful factions looked down on Shinji and had no interest in his so-called modern entertainment venture.
Those old men, fit to be tossed into a museum alongside mummies, believed only in tradition. They thought noble Magecraft should never stoop to entertaining ordinary people like some street clown.
Just thinking about how some of them wouldn't even use telephones, insisting on communicating through Familiars, while others still clung to bloodline inheritance,
left Shinji speechless. He had only one thing to say to those antiques:
"Go spend the rest of your lives at Hogwarts with those fat-faced Scottish chickens!" (middle finger)
Fortunately, there were Mage families at the Clock Tower that embraced modernization. Besides the Archibald Family, where Kirei was based, Shinji found several other partners.
After completing all the preliminary preparations and founding the so-called Type-Moon Film Company, Shinji brought his project back to his hometown of Fuyuki City to begin his grand plan.
The first step was to make a film: Fate/stay night.
However, despite all the preparations, the actual filming still ran into all sorts of problems, big and small.
For example, this—
"Hm?"
On set, Shinji picked up a poster being used as a prop.
In the film's script, Shirou Emiya used this poster to fend off Cú Chulainn for a moment. After raising it as a shield and taking a spear thrust, the poster was ruined.
It was one of the most ordinary props in FSN. And yet...
"Who picked this poster?"
Shinji asked with a dark expression.
There was nothing wrong with the poster itself; it was an advertisement for a gym.
But once a spear punched a hole in it, it looked very inappropriate, because the hole landed right over the muscular model's lower body.
"Someone get me a different poster. Make it one for a teen idol—no, a ramen shop."
Thankfully, Shinji realized in time that putting a hole through a beautiful girl would look even stranger. The shot of Lancer piercing the poster would probably end up heading in an R18 direction.
Watching the crew member walk away, Shinji shook his head helplessly.
"Honestly... filmmaking really is a meticulous business."
Shinji rubbed his forehead and sighed.
Since Sweet Words Deserve More Candy
Some things didn't seem difficult until you tried doing them yourself.
That was especially true of film, a fusion of industry and art. Every great movie embodied the hard work of a crew whose efforts were beyond most people's imagination.
Even with two lifetimes' worth of experience, even after studying in Hollywood, and even with Heroic Spirits from legend as his actors, Shinji still had to shoot those few minutes of footage again and again to capture the scenes exactly as he envisioned them.
Between takes, Shinji adjusted things based on what had gone wrong in the previous one.
Dozens of crew members worked tirelessly for half a day before they finally achieved the shot Shinji had been hoping for.
"We finally got it."
Watching the footage on the monitor, Shinji finally let out a small sigh of relief.
The warehouse scene didn't involve much action, but it was one of the most important scenes in the entire film.
It was the heroine's first proper appearance, making it crucial to her character.
In his previous life, countless Type-Moon fans—including Shinji himself—had plunged headfirst into the Type-Moon rabbit hole after being captivated by the beautiful knight maiden beneath the moonlight.
To make sure the audience would be drawn to Artoria at first sight, Shinji had racked his brains. He had even used soft focus.
This was a common technique in filmmaking, used to emphasize a character's divinity. The most familiar examples were the elves in the Lord of the Rings films, who seemed to arrive with special effects of their own.
Of course, Shinji's approach was a little different from traditional filmmaking. He had Artoria summon the mana in her body when she appeared on camera, making her armor emit a silvery-white holy light.
With the other lights on set arranged and coordinated around her, a knight maiden radiating a sacred glow, her eyes bright and alert, came to life before them.
This was also one of the main reasons Shinji had chosen mages and Servants as his actors: they could provide their own special effects during filming.
That meant many shots that would normally require post-production could be filmed directly, and at a lower cost.
After filming the footage, Shinji also took several close-up photos of Artoria to use in the film's promotion.
In the photos, Artoria resembled a goddess of war who had descended to the mortal world, perfectly combining beauty and strength—two qualities that seemed incompatible.
Her eyes, which Shinji had paid particular attention to, were elegant and luminous, yet revealed an unwavering resolve. They seemed to pierce the viewer's soul and steal it away.
Only a seemingly perfect knight maiden like her could stir the audience's emotions and leave them all utterly spellbound, right?
Although the heroine's first scene was done, that didn't mean the FSN Film Crew's work would go smoothly from there.
To make this film a benchmark and model for mage-made movies—and, more importantly, to protect the core secrets of Magecraft—
Shinji had hired a large number of mage crew members. The actors in particular were almost entirely the original FSN cast.
That meant there were rookies everywhere on set.
The Heroic Spirits, especially Artoria, had been summoned into the modern world and couldn't be expected to immediately adapt to filmmaking.
The action scenes were easier. They just had to fight within the camera's frame and avoid damaging the props. The rest was simply a matter of making sure the cameras captured the Servants' impressive combat.
For the FSN Film Crew, the biggest challenge was the dialogue scenes: blocking, lines, expressions, movements... almost every take came with a new set of mistakes.
Take this shot, for example: Artoria and Cú Chulainn were fighting in the courtyard of the Emiya Residence.
Artoria's fighting was going reasonably well. But when Cú Chulainn confronted her, her expression and tone of voice felt off.
More accurately, Artoria's emotions were too obvious, making her performance seem too deliberate.
"Cut!"
Shinji called a halt to the entire crew. "That's enough for now. Everyone take a break. We'll continue in an hour."
After all that work, even energetic Shinji needed a breather.
He went straight to sit in the living room of the Emiya Residence, and Sakura hurried over with a cup of coffee.
"Thanks, Sakura."
As he savored his talented little sister's handiwork, the tension in his face gradually eased.
"I'm sorry, Master..."
Artoria sat on the tatami with her head lowered.
She knew it was her fault they had to reshoot over and over, and she felt terrible about it.
"This is all my fault. I haven't done well enough."
Shinji casually waved a hand. "It's fine. Being serious is a good thing. You don't need to blame yourself so much."
Truthfully, Master Shinji was a little troubled. But when he saw Artoria's adorable, guilty and conflicted expression, his mood immediately improved.
[New expression unlocked√. It feels like playing a game and gradually unlocking the heroine's CGs.]
Setting down his coffee, Master Shinji glanced sideways at the cool beauty.
Artoria was proud at heart, and she must have been frustrated about holding up the crew. If she got stuck in a rut, the rest of filming might become even more difficult.
Shinji had his own way of encouraging girls like her.
"Saber, you should act more naturally. Don't keep thinking about the camera. Just imagine you've really run into Cú Chulainn during the Holy Grail War, and act like yourself.
"It's mainly when I'm delivering my lines..." Artoria said haltingly. "I can't help thinking about reciting them."
Shinji looked at Artoria. He could hear the effort and determination in the knight maiden's words.
Even without the Holy Grail as her goal, this knight was still as dutiful as ever, the most reliable partner in the Holy Grail War.
"Master, I think..."
Artoria looked up at Shinji. He gave her an encouraging smile.
"Artoria, you're already doing a great job."
Resting his chin on his hand, Shinji said with a smile, "I think you have even more room to shine."
"Hm?"
Artoria furrowed her brow slightly. She had no idea what her Master was getting at.
Strictly speaking, Shinji wasn't the ideal Master for Artoria. She respected his talent for Magecraft, but his personality was too frivolous and unreliable.
He reminded Artoria of one of the knights who had once served under her: Lancelot.
That Knight of the Lake was also very capable, but had a few issues with his private life and knew how to charm women.
No, he's even more frivolous than Sir Lancelot.
Artoria's emerald eyes fixed on the blue-haired boy before her.
Master Shinji had no idea that his Servant was insulting him in her thoughts. He offered her the suggestion he had just come up with.
"Here's what we'll do. I'll hang cue cards on either side of the camera and write the important information on them. Then you can improvise based on that instead of memorizing fixed lines from the script."
"What?" Artoria's eyes widened in disbelief. "Would that really work?"
Before filming began, she had attended a short acting course. Even with her limited acting experience, Artoria knew how difficult it was to perform without a script.
"Of course it will." An indescribably delighted expression spread across Shinji's rather wicked face. "The character in the script is already you. For this film, the ultimate performance is simply being yourself in front of the camera."
"I... I suppose that's true."
A hint of light finally appeared in Artoria's previously gloomy expression.
"I just need to act like myself in front of the camera! Master, you really are a genius!"
"Just call me Shinji." He gave her a thumbs-up. "We'll be spending a lot of time together, so you don't need to be so formal."
In his previous life, Saber had been Type-Moon's cash cow. In this life, she would be his cash cow and ace.
Master Shinji had always been kind to high-quality employees like her.
Of course, it would be even better if she blushed like a maiden. Master Shinji was looking forward to the day she opened her heart to him completely.
"Then I'll go tell Lancer about your suggestion."
Artoria leapt to her feet, unable to wait.
"Thank you so much, Mas... Shinji."
"I'd rather you called me Director."
Before you continue