At sunset, the camera was set up on the third-floor corridor of the abandoned building. From above, it captured Ryogi Shiki looking up at the structure.
"I never thought I'd end up back here."
Originally, Nanaya planned to start filming The Abandoned Building scenes first in order to manage the budget more efficiently. But due to the issues with the previous female lead, he unexpectedly returned here to shoot the final scenes.
Life truly was unpredictable.
Because these shots were all wide-angle scenes, Nanaya used a wide-angle lens for the first time to film from above. To make the visuals more poetic, he also captured both sunrises and sunsets. Filters could fake similar effects, but Nanaya preferred the authenticity of natural light.
Of course, he was only able to afford this luxury because Illya's sponsorship had greatly eased the production team's financial troubles.
However, dawn and dusk were painfully short windows. The crew spent several days capturing just a few shots, delaying the schedule significantly.
If the footage Nanaya showed them hadn't been genuinely impressive, several crew members would definitely have complained.
Today was the fifth day of shooting at dusk,
And finally, the last.
Nanaya stood on the third floor, looking through the camera. The lighting was perfect.
"Shounan! Lower your angle a bit!" Nanaya instructed Shounan Rantarou, who was operating the ground camera. "Once I start shooting, immediately begin a 720-degree orbit around Ori. Slow down during every close-up of her face. Got it?!"
Shounan raised his hand in an OK sign without replying.
"Ori! Put on that ice-queen expression! The colder the better!"
"Do you believe I'll chop you up with a knife?!" Ori snapped the moment Nanaya described her as an "ice beauty."
Nanaya, however, gave a satisfied thumbs-up.
"Perfect. That's exactly the expression. Action!"
At his cue, Ori instantly switched into character. She looked up at the camera, eyes filled with cold fury and fighting spirit.
"Absolutely perfect!"
The moment the scene ended, Nanaya didn't bother using the megaphone. His voice was hoarse, but loud.
"I announce
All filming for Kara no Kyoukai…
is officially complete!"
As soon as the words left him, he slumped to the ground, drained.
Scattered applause erupted. After more than a month of exhausting work, everyone felt relief rather than excitement.
To save money, and operating under Nanaya's brutal philosophy of "treat women like men, and men like livestock," he had squeezed every drop of labor out of the entire crew.
Fortunately, they were in Japan,
a place where people were used to enduring hardship.
If this were Hollywood, the unions would've shut down the production long ago.
After wrapping, the crew immediately sealed all footage for the post-production team.
Then, using the tiny amount of funds left, Nanaya treated everyone to a barbecue feast for the wrap party.
After nearly two months of cheap bento meals, the crew devoured meat and ice-cold beer like starving beasts almost emptying the entire restaurant.
The next morning, half the crew suffered from indigestion due to overeating.
"You're not that young anymore. Haven't you thought about how overeating wrecks your stomach?"
Nanaya said smugly, glad that his own stinginess had spared him the same fate.
"Shut up, you shameless bastard!"
---
Post-Production Begins
After filming ends, most crew members get a long break to reset before joining another project.
But the core post-production team including Nanaya was not so lucky.
After only a single day of sleep, Nanaya returned to work with Shounan Rantarou, Ikeda Subaru, and Ryogi Ori.
A film's post-production typically has three parts:
• editing
• special effects
• sound design
Each part divides into dozens of tasks.
Since 2010, film productions often spent half a year on post-production.
While Kara no Kyoukai wasn't that complicated, having only four people doing everything meant each of them carried a heavy load.
The only blessing was that Nanaya had final cut, which saved him from countless pointless arguments.
Nanaya immediately divided the team:
• Ori stayed at the animation company handling outsourced VFX to supervise production.
• Ikeda took the remaining 200,000 yen to hunt for a musician to score the film.
• Nanaya and Shounan edited the scenes that didn't need special effects.
The editing room was unusually quiet. Nanaya leaned forward, chin on his hands, eyes glued to the monitor.
Thanks to having watched the theatrical version of Kara no Kyoukai in his previous life, he had already mapped out the cuts before filming. This let him shoot far fewer takes than most directors, making editing smooth.
"Rantarou," Nanaya said, "swap the A17 lens cut with A20."
"Okay, Nanaya-san~"
Shounan immediately complied. He didn't mind being the subordinate who simply followed instructions, in fact, he liked it. It meant he didn't have to think.
It would be truly perfect if only he stopped using that frivolous tone…
And stopped secretly playing games during work.
The footage replayed. Ryogi Shiki walked down the street.
"Keep A20 for six seconds… not seven. At seven seconds, Satomi Adachi's face appears."
While showing Adachi's face would violate portrait rights, the footage itself wasn't useless.
If the face couldn't appear, then they could use:
• back shots
• side angles
• head-and-below framing
• and all usable cuts from before
Illya had only provided 5 million yen, nowhere near enough for a full reshoot. Nanaya, who had fully awakened his inner penny-pinching gremlin, used every frame possible.
Fortunately, Ori, Sera, and Adachi Rimi were all similar in size. Otherwise, this trick wouldn't work.
In the end, the public only needed to believe that every shot was of Ryogi Shiki.
Believe it or not, Nanaya believed it himself.
BANG!
While Nanaya was splicing footage, the editing room door suddenly flew open. Ikeda Subaru walked in, looking utterly defeated.
"Rejected again?"
Nanaya didn't even turn around. He could guess from Ikeda's expression.
Ikeda rolled his eyes.
"Yeah. This is the eighth rejection. Your 200,000-yen budget is too low. No one wants it. And your backup choices are all famous producers! Do you know how many people looked at me like I'm insane when I told them the price?!"
Nanaya clicked his tongue.
"These short-sighted fools will regret it later, just like those screenwriters who rejected Iron Man."
"What movie?"
In 2000, Marvel was on the brink of bankruptcy. The Iron Man film project hadn't even begun.
The character who would one day become a pillar of the MCU was barely known outside American comic circles, and practically unknown in Japan. So Ikeda didn't understand a word Nanaya said.
"Anyway, figure something out," Ikeda said, collapsing into a seat. "Even if someone agrees to compose, what if there's no time left?"
Nanaya leaned back lazily.
"So where am I supposed to find a high-quality composer for cheap?"
"Who told Nanaya-san to be such a stingy miser~?"
Shounan giggled, immediately turning on the editing room computer since Nanaya had paused work.
"You're playing games again?!" Nanaya lunged, putting Shounan in a chokehold.
"It's gonna break, it's gonna break~!"
"Stop being disgusting! What are you even playing?"
Nanaya squinted at the screen.
A familiar pixelated round face blinked back at him.
He released Shounan and stared.
"…Looks like the problem is solved."