Didn't you say that we would lose money after filming?

This time, the filming was smoother, after all, the set and everything had been prepared a long time ago, but the progress was stuck on the casting of the actors.

The first set of this film, which also has the most scenes, is also quite special. It is not located in any film and television base, but in a prison called Alcatraz Prison.

Yes, that's right, a real prison!
Alcatraz Prison was established in 1934.

This is also the most famous and notorious prison in American history.

The official name of Alcatraz Island is "Pelican Island". It was named after the many water birds, pelicans, on the island when the Spanish invaders discovered it in the 18th century.

Pelican Island is close to San Francisco but is surrounded by extremely cold sea water. Its special geographical environment led to it being set up as a prison by the U.S. federal government in 1934. It is placed at the "red alert level", which is the highest control standard. Due to its special geographical location, the surrounding waters are complex, with a large number of sharks and undercurrents. There is no other accessible road except for the only safe waterway which is under extremely strict security.

It is said that many prisoners who attempted to escape were blocked by the sea water and were either caught or died of illness. The reputation of "Devil's Island" spread.

This prison has three floors, with iron bars on both sides separating the cells.

This prison corridor also has a nice name called "Broadway Street".

Any new prisoner who had just entered the prison had to strip naked and walk through here, like a show that was performed on schedule, causing the old prisoners in the iron cages on both sides to scream and shout in anger.

The layout of each cell is exactly the same, 5 feet wide, 9 feet long, and 7 feet high. They were all built in 1934. Each person has his own small space, a separate wash basin with running water, and a toilet. Each cell is also given a small square mirror. There is a fixed time for showering every week. Turn off the lights and go to bed at 9: every night. The shiny thing in the middle of the cell is the square mirror. On the right is a simple table and stool. Every prisoner will get a brand new blanket, pillow, and cover after moving in.

The area where prisoners can exercise is about the size of three basketball courts. It is bare and outside the high walls is the blue sea. The prisoners take walks and play baseball here.

The cell is heavily guarded, with only steel bars and concrete electric fences, making it impossible for the prisoners to escape.

This place has also been home to some of the most notorious criminals in American history, including the world-famous Godfather of Chikago, a top serial killer who killed 720 people, and a pervert who was made into a series of movies and liked to disembowel and cook people for food.

There are also some extremely special people. For example, Hanxia's nuclear engineering scientist, the backbone, was once imprisoned in Alcatraz Prison. In the end, it was the top leaders of Hanxia who spent a lot of effort, mobilized a lot of resources and exerted pressure on international relations to successfully rescue that gentleman.

Eventually, this most notorious prison in history was abandoned for multiple reasons and has now become a famous tourist attraction for people to visit.

It's perfect for filming movies nowadays.

The owner of the prison had no objection to a film crew wanting to rent the prison. After all, it was not the first time that Alcatraz was contracted by a film crew to be used as a set.

Therefore, after everything was arranged, Xia Yuan took a boat and took all the actors to Devil's Island.

At this moment, deputy director Wang Dashan had already led the entire crew to prepare for a long time in the Alcatraz Prison. The prison had stopped operating a week ago and no longer accepted passengers. Now the set has been officially built.

Because the film being shot this time was quite special, Tang Ying did not come along.

It can be said that except for Edward Chris and Chu Zhongtian who are professional actors, all the actors are actually amateurs among amateurs. Not to mention having never been involved in filming before, they only have a vague understanding of many related knowledge. Therefore, they have been very curious since they got on board.

It was not until they arrived at Alcatraz Prison, entered the prison, and saw the busy crew members and various equipment everywhere that they were truly enlightened.

"Okay, everyone, listen to me first." Xia Yuan announced to everyone: "Let me introduce myself to you. I, Xia Yuan, am your chief director this time, but in fact, you will listen to the arrangements of this person, my assistant director, Mr. Wang Dashan. You need to go through a series of training with him before he will arrange the corresponding scenes related to you!"

This is Xia Yuan’s arrangement.

After all, they are all amateurs, and it is definitely impossible to let them get started right from the beginning.

Then the training matter can be left to Wang Dashan.

After all, the most important thing now is to teach them some basic things first, which is basic training. Wang Dashan is also an assistant director with many years of experience. Maybe in another one or two years, he can go out to direct himself. By then, his level should be enough, and it will not be a problem to train a group of amateur extras.

Then Xia Yuan’s task is to provide in-depth and detailed guidance when it comes to their scenes, and to provide precise guidance based on the filming content. This is advanced training.

"Then the dormitory area is over there, the meals are served here, and the study area is over there." After Xia Yuan finished explaining the precautions, he began to arrange matters related to life.

As for where they live, there are no good conditions this time. The most convenient thing is to live directly in the cell.

In addition to being convenient, there are ready-made places where you can also experience it in advance and get a feel for it.

Edward Chris was among them, following the instructions attentively.

Compared to when Xia Yuan had just recruited him, Edward Chris had become a different person. He no longer looked shabby with long hair and beard, but had changed into normal clothes and had cut off his hair and beard.

Now, he looks gentle and refined. Although there are indelible traces of vicissitudes and traces of time in the corners of his eyes, overall he looks like a handsome middle-aged man with elegance.

I have to say, he was once a superstar.

Edward Chris was also in a very nervous state. After arriving at the crew, he immediately started to help the crew with their work and took the initiative to run around.

After all, this is a rare opportunity for him. To put it bluntly, in the life he has lived in the past few years, few people have treated him as a human being, let alone respect him.

In his opinion, the fact that Xia Yuan was able to find him was already a chance for him to be reborn.

But since he was the leading actor after all, Xia Yuan still did not let him continue to help. After all, these things were the work of the staff from various departments of the crew. As the leading actor, he only needed to consider performing well.

Next, after everything was settled, everyone spent the first night in Alcatraz Prison and then went through a simple startup ceremony.

It has to be said that this opening ceremony also opened the eyes of these actors.

After all, in their eyes, this behavior of worshiping gods, placing tributes, and cutting ribbons is simply the legendary mysterious oriental secret technique.

Then, the first scene was arranged.

We will start shooting soon.

The set for the first scene was actually located in a prison bathroom.

At this moment, all the cameras on the set are ready and set up.

Those involved in this scene are the three main actors and some extras.

At the beginning, we definitely couldn't arrange any overly complicated roles for these extras, so we chose to have a scene between the main actors.

At this moment, two of the three leading actors had obvious resentment on their faces.

That is the little black fat guy Eddie, and Chu Zhongtian.

They held in their hands the scenes that had been distributed last night, and looked at Xia Yuan with resentment on their faces.

"Is this the handsome character you mentioned?" Chu Zhongtian asked.

"Dude, this is not cool at all, I mean oh! Shit! This is outrageous!" Eddie also looked disgusted.

"Is it outrageous? Not outrageous. Come, take the props." Xia Yuan handed over the 'props' with a smile.

It was a bar of soap.
(I slept well, got up and wrote! Wuhu!) (End of this chapter)