Chapter 64: A Day in the Life of an Extra

In the narrow connecting corridor, a group of people fired rifles with reckless abandon. Henry was among them, standing at the very end.

Suddenly, a bear-like man burst from a hiding spot. A flying knife took down the person at the very front, and seizing the opportunity created by the blind spots in their gunfire, he rushed forward.

Immediately following were several crisp strikes, and everyone fell with a cry.

Henry, standing at the very end of the line, could not stay out of it either; he took a solid chokehold kill, his whole body soaring into the air as if hit by a truck, then crashing heavily to the ground!

The man who struck the blow carried a blonde beauty wearing a jacket, her lower half seemingly missing, and passed through the corridor without looking back.

"Cut! Good, everyone prepare for the next scene," the director shouted, holding a large tin megaphone.

Immediately, behind-the-scenes crew members began adjusting the equipment, preparing to switch angles and shoot different shots.

These shots would be used for segments showing the protagonist constantly moving inside the battleship. In fact, it was simply shooting repeatedly from different angles in a few different locations.

After all, this was an active-duty battleship; they could not allow the production team to run all over the ship. So by repeatedly shooting shots of entering and exiting from different angles and directions, they could create the illusion of their movement through post-production editing.

Henry, who had just been killed, got up like the other background actors; next, another group of people would take over the role of the defeated villain henchmen.

But this did not mean Henry could wrap up and go home. Now, he had to die several times a day, doing his best to let the director accumulate footage for editing.

After all, filming a movie didn't stipulate that a person could only die once.

Which final shot would be used depended entirely on which segment of the protagonist's footage was suitable to string together a plot sequence, regardless of whether Henry's death was spectacular.

Of course, it was also possible that everything would be edited out in the end. In the finished film, Henry might not have a single shot. This was very common for a background actor; after all, he was a background character on the same level as a roadside tree or a wall.

Actors belonging to other action teams naturally had members of their own team temporarily taking on assistant duties, handing out towels, checking costumes and makeup for damage, and arranging for replacements or touch-ups.

Henry was alone; he had to do these things himself.

The reason everyone had to check was that Shi Difen's fight scenes, which looked so realistic on screen, required every movement to be timed precisely for the reaction.

If it was too early, the scene would look fake. But if it was too slow... then it would be a real hit.

If one took a solid hit from this male lead, who also served as a martial arts instructor, it would truly result in injury or even death.

This was also why Henry, who did not belong to the action team, had mixed in to take on the job of a defeated villain henchman.

Simply put, too many actors were being consumed. To avoid delaying the shooting schedule on the battleship, everyone was almost always getting injured as soon as they shot, then getting back on after being hurt. As long as they weren't killed or crippled, they had to take turns in front of the camera.

This was something they originally sought after, yet it had become a torment, leaving the actors in great distress.

No wonder stunt actors often accused Shi Difen of using filming as an excuse to hit people, even taking the matter to the news pages.

Henry had no difficulty coordinating with these shots; he just needed to perform the action of being knocked down at the very last moment.

He dared not let the male lead actually hit him; if the male lead injured himself while hitting Henry, Henry would be guilty of a crime for which even ten thousand deaths would not atone.

But as a defeated villain henchman, even if Henry wasn't injured like the others, he couldn't possibly get a perfect attendance record for the entire scene. So he still had to yield the shooting opportunities.

Those with no immediate shooting work had to go to the designated rest area on the battleship and wait. Because the corridors at the filming location were truly too narrow, a crowd of unrelated people squeezing in there would undoubtedly only hinder the filming work.

The rest area was planned on the deck, with a restricted zone marked off by barricade tape. Members of the film production team were not allowed to leave the restricted zone, while the officers and soldiers on duty on the ship were not allowed to enter it.

Theoretically, that was the arrangement...

But the production team's rest area was stocked with snacks and drinks, plus ashtrays for smoking. For American soldiers accustomed to freeloaders, not reaching out was harder than killing their parents.

The production team certainly couldn't forbid the soldiers from taking things from the rest area. If someone crossed the line and came in, as long as the military police in charge of supervision didn't say anything, the crew members would pretend not to know the ban existed and chat freely with these soldiers.

Having gone up to the deck, Henry came to the ship's railing again. The Missouri was not sailing; it was moored at the port berth.

In the movie, the scenes on the deck surrounded by the open sea were created in post-production.

Also, because the battleship was stationary within the port, this super-tonnage steel giant was unaffected by wind and waves, making movement on board as stable as walking on land.

Being asked during the audition whether he got seasick was purely superfluous.

The side where the rest area was planned faced the direction of the port. A gangway was set up nearby, allowing one to disembark at any time.

The reason it was so convenient was that most of the production team's supplies and equipment were stacked on the dock. Items not needed immediately were rarely moved onto the ship.

Including the temporarily built makeup area and changing rooms, these were all on land; none were set up on the ship.

Henry poured himself a cup of coffee and drank it in one gulp. He casually crushed the paper cup and tossed it into the trash. Then he walked to the smoking area, lit a cigarette for himself, and chatted with a group of heavy smokers.

Speaking of which, after unexpectedly learning this secret about the movie in this different universe, Henry's life had not changed at all; he didn't even have the desire to investigate who that mysterious person actually was.

The phrase often heard: "When you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you."

This saying isn't only applicable to those indescribable things, as if it were the beginning of some bizarre event. This phrase can be applied anywhere, or to anyone.

When an investigation is launched against a certain person or thing, traces are inevitably left behind. When the opponent is not an ordinary person, one's own actions are very likely to startle the snake, forcing the other party to pay attention to oneself.

Henry wished he would never encounter a person of that level; how could he possibly be interested in a person who could mobilize an active-duty battleship and thus launch an investigation?

What difference was there between that and reminding the other party to pay attention to oneself? Did he find his life too comfortable?

In any case, the target was not himself; the other party had come for the female lead. His connection was merely that they were filming in the same movie production team.

Moreover, she was the female lead watched by the masses, while he was an insignificant background extra; even if he tried to get close, he would likely be despised.

So Henry smoked with a clear conscience, his fingers tapping lightly on the ship's railing like playing the piano.

(End of Chapter)