Chapter 121: New Muse

A couple minutes later after the meeting, Niall and Camille headed out to their next destination.

Vrael Productions.

Meeting up with Mark and Henry whom he’d informed beforehand, Niall introduced Camille to them as well.

Then he proposed to have her work as one of the concept artists in the movie.

Considering they were planning to hire professional artists at some point to do the job anyway, they saw no reason not to have her on-board.

After going through her portfolio, they were that much more supportive of the idea and it really didn’t take long before they all shook on it.

Following that, the trio got to discussing about the set they’d been planning to build... one that soon had them shifting to a pretty expansive, basement in Vrael Production’s building.

Currently, green screens were still being plastered everywhere, and a lot of the props were currently being worked on.

Within seconds, Camille found herself cautiously wandering about the set, a palpable hint of intrigue in her eyes as she found one interesting thing after that caught her attention.

From a what seemed to be the foundation of what would be Chesire’s Twisted Cottage in the corner, to thickets of green protrusions from the ground she could only assume was the mushroom glade Alistair met Alice in the script, and even a small hill-like dome of green placed on the floor in another corner that was set to be the Well of Wonder as the name tag on it implied, all of it kept her senses tingling and her attention piqued.

Considering she and Niall had discussed in length about the script before their little outing today, she was aware that most of the film would be shot in this very space.

That said, she was also aware that they planned to use some on-site locations.

Like the Corvin Castle in Romania for Time’s Castle of Eternity, to a rather familiar location in the form of Puzzlewood, England where he’d filmed [The Promised Queen] for the Outlands, and Charlestown Harbour in Cornwall, England for a grounded, realistic link between Alice’s world and Wonderland itself.

This was all to say that they’d literally planned everything out to such a tee, they were essentially rounding up pre-production.

In any case, Niall and the duo were currently standing in the middle of the bustling green room, Henry speaking to them in a rather a thoughtful tone;

"You know, I’m quite surprised no one’s thought about that LED screen idea you proposed, Niall..."

"...or maybe it’d be safer to say no one’s done it on the scale you’re imagining?" Henry corrected, titling his head slightly as he stared at a portion of the room where the walls were purposely left untouched in almost semi-circular arc.

"Yeah. It is quite curious..." Mark muttered a moment afterwards.

To that, Niall simply kept staring at the wall, his hands tucked into his pockets and a thin smile on his lips.

The idea Niall had, was very similar to a technology that had become commonplace much later in the future.

The Volume, was a pretty nifty but arguably expensive technology in filmmaking.

To put it simply, it was a visually enhanced, 3D-controlled environment that utilized massive LED video walls to heighten the immersive quality of a scene through the use of computer-generated backgrounds.

This then allowed the virtual environment within the space to be manipulated and adjusted in real time, making it far easier for actors to interact with elements they would otherwise have to imagine while working with CGI.

As a result, they could respond more naturally to their surroundings, ultimately delivering more authentic and convincing performances.

But perhaps where it was a real game changer, was how it could really cut down on production costs across the board if it was planned out well.

Not only would it mean that less props had to be built, it could also really help with reducing post-production costs since most of the CGI would’ve been caught on screen during the shoot and filmmakers could simply build off of that.

That meant less time expended for green-screen clean-up, lighting correction and several other factors that had to be taken into account when making a movie that was heavy on CGI use.

At the same time, that meant less moving for everyone between sets, thereby significantly saving on transportation costs by quite a lot.

That said, it wasn’t as if it didn’t have its own downsides.

One of it, would require them having to rent a large LED screen which was bound to come out at about a costly $300,000 per week as they had no plans of buying one themselves.

The second was the fact that they would most definitely need a specialized crew that would be tasked with managing just the technology itself, and they were bound to charge heftily as well.

Third, was the fact that if at any point in time, they wanted to make changes to a scene, it could really eat into their budget as most of these scenes would’ve already being pre-rendered ahead of time and having to rework them from scratch could be very costly.

But even then, after weighing things, the trio soon realized that the pros far outweighed the cons.

That had been more than enough for them to follow through with the idea.

The interesting thing about all these though, was that technology itself had been around as at the time Niall had regressed.

However, considering he’d pretty much locked himself away from Hollywood, he hadn’t even been aware of its more popularized use-case.

Now though, he was going to be the one to pioneer that technology... all because he’d practiced a couple dance moves in front of a 55-inch TV and had wondered if he could replicate it on a much bigger scale.

A rather intriguing butterfly effect, to say the least.

That said, Niall couldn’t help but chuckle to himself a moment after due to the whimsicality of it all, Henry and Mark glancing over with a curious looks on their features.

...

...

...

Niall slipped into his vehicle, a smile on his lips as he asked of his lady;

"Did you miss me?"

"Even though you were only gone for about thirty minutes?" Camille rhetorically asked, a light smile on her lips as she looked up from the manuscript of the [The Hero of Fate] she was reading.

"Yes. Yes, I did." she declared, to which her man chuckled lightly as he ignited the engine, the vehicle humming to life.

Niall had just rounded up his meeting with Victor regarding the casting auditions for [A Maddened Wonderland].

Considering HTA was his agency, he only felt it natural to extend the goodwill they’d afforded him thus far, much like they had when they’d got around to blitzing through the pre-production of [Silver Comets].

In any case, Niall had scheduled the auditions for early next year--the second week of January to be exact.

With most of the pre-production set to round up before the third week of December, it was only natural that he wanted to afford everyone a break before they dived head first into the last stages.

After that, he speculated production would be set to begin sometime in early March.

"Is it always this packed, sugah? Your schedule, I mean?" Camille soon asked as he pulled out of the driveway and into the festive city streets.

"Most times, yes." Niall honestly replied.

"And I reckon its only bound to get even more packed in the coming year." he added to which the lady nodded in understanding.

Then she proceeded to switch topics, her smile coquettish;

"I have something to show you when we get home."

"A surprise, eh? I’m all for surprises." Niall grinned to which Camille added with a delighted beam;

"I’m sure you’ll love it."

Half an hour later, the couple arrived home to meet Claire and Clark on the lawn, the middle-aged couple basking in each other’s company as they watched the sun set, much like they would back home.

Upon exchanging greetings and pleasantries with them, Niall and Camille made their way in.

Casually swiping his deck of cards from the bedside table in his room where he’d last left it, Niall soon began performing one-handed card tricks without much thought, his skill proficiency incremental.

Yet, his other hand had dipped into his pockets to retrieve his phone as he intended to give Paul a call whilst seated on the bed.

Just as he was about to, he suddenly caught something from the corner of his eye.

Turning his head over fully, the cards he was messing with fell right out of his hands, his expression stunned to no ends as perhaps the deepest blush he’d ever had formed on his usual reserved features.

Standing in the doorway to the dressing room was Camille, the lady in a full witch get-up that accentuated proportions he’d always appreciated, but never found himself dwelling on as he loved her for more than just that.

It had the overly pointed hat that drooped over in a slight crooked curve, the wide brim framing her face beneath a cascade of her bright-red hair.

A fitted black dress hugged her figure before flaring slightly toward the knees, its deep purple accents and delicate lace giving it a suitably wicked yet playful charm.

A pair of black stockings also disappeared beneath the hem, while black boots completed the ensemble with a distinctly witchy flair.

Even her makeup had been given a subtle Halloween touch, with darkened eyes and a deep shade of lipstick that complemented the rest of her outfit.

It was definitely a hot, super smoking sexy witch. Just like she said almost two years ago.

"Surprise!" she beamed, then posed seductively whilst asking;

"What’d you think?"

It was rather ironic because Niall didn’t even think before answering her;

"I’m gonna marry you."

To that, Camille’s grin went right from seductive to genuine delight, her expression brightening up like fireworks on the fourth of July.

Yet, at the very same time, Niall’s brain had started doing that thing where whenever he found something that deeply affected him, he needed an outlet to keep that feeling alive.

That’s right.

In that very moment, Niall had found his new muse... a muse that would inspire yet another beautiful song he had every intention of bringing to life.

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/Caer07