Chapter 165 - Apprenticeship of Virtual Systems

(cont'd)

"ShhH!" Luca shushes his group and points at the other people in the dome, all facing towards the same direction, with focused expressions. The group sneakily walks behind the wall of crew members, looks over the crew members' shoulders, and see an ongoing filming process. 

The four actors see the cameras pointing towards a backdrop of a vintage-looking alleyway.

"Looks like Italy." Luca mumbles.

They see three children, dressed in early 20th century European clothing, sitting on a real wooden bench, their backs against the screen backdrop, chatting in Italian. A woman then joins the children and fetches one of the kids. After the woman and the child walks out of the backdrop, the four actors hear 'CUT!' from a young man who is operating one of the cameras.

They then see the young man nod towards the children and.

"huh? That was it? They didn't look like they're acting." Geoff could not help but comment.

"Hey. That's exactly the realism that Isaac wants." Luca says, his comment reminding not only Geoff but also Warren and Frank about the acting process. 

"Alright! Let's take 30!" The young man then announces.

The crew and the actors working all disperses and filters out of the dome until only a few of the crew remains.  The four newcomers also remain to see the workings of the state-of-the-art set. 

"Welcome! You guys are early." The young man who was operating the main camera earlier walks towards Luca and his group.

"Yeah. We're…" Warren is about to introduce themselves when the young man raises his hands to shake Warren's. 

"It's me, Isaac." Tayaw says.

"Oh… I didn't recognize you." Warren says as he studies the sports get-up that Tayaw is wearing in contrast to the three-piece suit they usually see Tayaw adorn in their video conferences.

"Neither did we. Hey. Nice to finally meet you in person." Luca says as he shakes Tayaw's hands.

"Thanks for giving me the role." Luca says.

"Meh. I wouldn't have if I didn't think you didn't fit the role well." Tayaw says to Luca.

"And same goes for y'all." Tayaw says to the rest of the actors' group. 

"Hey man…" Geoff, who is closely observing Tayaw, could not help but be intimidated, and greets awkwardly.

"Hey there too, Geoff. Where's the rest of your group?" Tayaw asks, seeing that Geoff is hanging out with Luca's group.

"I don't really know… They'll probably be here tomorrow." Geoff says, strangely compelled to defend his cast mates. 

"Okay. Anyway. How are y'all feeling? Have a good feeling now about your scenes?" Tayaw asks the four.

"Hell Yeah. Looking at this place, we'll be more immersed, so I think we'll get it better." Frank says who cannot stop looking around.

"Really? Alright." Tayaw nods in affirmation. 

"Hey Steven!" Tayaw calls out to Steven, his digital team's leader he hired directly from Cognito Technologies.

"Yeah?" Steven, with dark bags under his eyes, weakly answers by the computers as he pops his head out for Tayaw and the group to see.

"Jesus. You need some sleep." Luca cannot help but remark.

"What I said…" Tayaw shakes his head.

"Can't. Jet lagged. Didn't think it would get to me. What do you need?" Steven asks. "Anyway. Is Vegas ready? These are the actors who'll be using that." Tayaw says. 

Soon after. The alleyway in the dome transforms into the busy streets of 1940s Las Vegas. The view of the dome took the actors' breaths away.

"Holy sh*t. I thought those were real people." Geoff points at the virtual people.

"Oh.. they walk… weird, now that I'm looking closely." Luca remarks at the robotic movements of the game models in the virtual background.

"Their faces too. They look blurry." Frank remarks. Before the four actors can further examine the background, they are attacked by a bout dizziness as Steven suddenly starts playing around with the set and as if their wall is spinning, the surrounding display walls starts spinning from Steven's quick adjustments. 

"Alright. Stop it!" Tayaw orders, and Steven obliges.

"Sorry. Wrong file." Steven says.

"Switch to the fancy office room, please." Tayaw orders and the surroundings changed again.

Most of the screens in the dome becomes black and the remaining screens display what looks like a fancy office with window overlooking a vineyard. 

"Wow. That's MY office right there." Luca says, his emotions attaching quickly to the backdrop as he steps closer to it.

"Feels real too. Just a few furniture and we're good." Frank says. 

"Good to hear that from you, too bad you won't get to use it yet. It needs more polishing. Probably done by the time we start filming the part where y'all appear." Tayaw says. 

"So… Uhh. We're really filming all of our scenes here? It's all seems very convenient." Warren asks.

"Convenient, yes. But all filmed here? Nah. You remember the hijacking scenes? Those will be filmed either in Vegas or in Australia, depending on the weather, after we're done here." Tayaw says. Warren nods.

"How about New York? Do you have backgrounds for them too?" Geoff asks.

"Yeah. They're done. You and your group will start filming next week." Tayaw says.

"I can't wait…" Geoff says. 

"Anyways. I'm gonna go talk with the crew. You guys hang around if you want to see how it goes, might help you get ready. We've got a long way ahead." Tayaw says, his words putting pressure on the actors' shoulders. 

"Hey! You're here! Welcome back!" Tayaw suddenly calls out, in Teungebian, to someone behind the actors.

"Hey. Good to see you…" Jouny replies and approaches Tayaw for a hug.

"So, How's 'merica?" Tayaw returns the hug before shortly breaking away.

"Screw you. You didn't pay me enough for that shit." Jouny jests.

"Ohh. Don't be like that. It's you who was excited to take the job." Tayaw says. 

"Hey Jouny."

"Hey. What's up."

"Hi there!"

"Hey" The four actors, who were caught off-guard by the unexpected arrival of Jouny, are pleased to see the person who cast them and intruded at Tayaw and Jouny's greeting.

"Hey, you guys. Sorry. I'll borrow Ta- uhh. Isaac here for a moment. Nice to see you all." Jouny says to the four and drags Tayaw outside the virtual room.

The four are caught off-guard by the half-dismissal of the lady they thought was very nice, but they brush it off immediately and got busy in familiarizing themselves with the virtual sets with Steven's help. 

"I thought you were supposed to be relaxing in Clambu right now? Or at least help Ongki with your seafood store?" Tayaw asks Jouny shortly after extending the cast and crew's break time right outside of the dome.

"I was gonna, but I have no idea what to do in there. I'll just get in the way. And, Ongki says my money is enough help." Jouny says.

"Aside from that, I don't have much inspiration in writing right now so I don't have anything better to do." Jouny explains. 

"…I thought casting these actors were tedious? Don't you need some rest?" Tayaw asks.

"Especially with…" Tayaw continues as he glances at Jouny's tummy.

"What? I'm just gonna lie around at home and be an unhealthy mother?" Jouny scoffs.

"Fair… So, what are you doing here? Without Ongki? You and him are almost inseparable." Tayaw asks.

"Oh. He's moving our stuff right now to our new apartment in West Ouigab." Jouny says.

This surprises Tayaw.

"You're moving to Ouigab?" Tayaw asks.

"Yeahp! We'll be living a few blocks away from Chala. And the seafood store will be there too." Jouny says.

"Hmm. That's good. But why of all places, in Ouigab?" Tayaw asks. 

"Wow. You sound like you don't want me here." Jouny says. Tayaw just shakes his head at the comment.

"Anyways, we like the weather here. You also have that famous maternity hospital at West Ouigab." Jouny says.

"Nice.... While' I'm quite happy that you're moving here, you're not here just to tell me you're moving right?" Tayaw asks.

"Nope. You got me. Hehe. I'm here to actually ask for a favor." Jouny says. 

"Alright… Sure, as long as I can help." Tayaw says, interested.

"I just wanna tag along. Like, shadow you while you film. It might distract you if I'll just hang around here without your permission." Jouny says.

"Oh…" Tayaw's mind starts running at why Jouny would want to do what she said.

"You can always hang around here, man. But while I don't mind, you really wanna watch filming again? You weren't bored when I was filming 'September Ninth'?" Tayaw asks.

"I wasn't gonna be in the set everyday then if I thought it wasn't fun, especially watching the Uranto and Iliene give life to my characters. Anyways. Watching your process may help me write or something." Jouny says. 

"Or maybe learn enough from me to make your own film in the future…" Tayaw smilingly says as he smells bullcrap with Jouny's words.

"Fine… You got me." Jouny sighs and chuckles, relieved that she was caught in her lie.

"Heh. Why didn't you just say you wanna learn film making?" Tayaw asks.

"Okay.. You know, your style is a game changer to how films will be made from now on, right?" Jouny says.

"That's a generous assessment, but I can see it going that way." Tayaw nods. 

"It's a fair assessment. And it's exactly because of that that I'll feel like I'm stealing some sort of a trade secret if I don't ask for permission to watch." Jouny says.

"Hmmm." Tayaw processes Jouny's words. Tayaw almost forgot that even though 'September Ninth' was universally liked, his directing style is very new and is quite possibly highly coveted. 

Seeing as Tayaw is staying silent, Jouny decides to continue. "Another thing. Me who never learned how to direct, can take this an opportunity to start learning. It's a perfect time. I mean, I now have the same starting line with most experienced directors." Jouny says.

"Alright. Tag along with me then. I will also try to teach you something if I can spare the time." Tayaw says, glad of Jouny's desire to learn.

"Thank you…" Jouny is happy to hear Tayaw's half-promise.

"But, making this film is still my priority." Tayaw says.

"That much is obvious." Jouny says.

"Oh. You know how I work, right?" Tayaw says.

"Yeah? Working to exhaustion with almost no sleep?" Jouny asks.

"Exactly. And if you tag along with me, I wouldn't want you to be like me especially with your recent… blessings. So, I'll kick you out if I think you need some rest, alright?" Tayaw asks.

"Hey. Just like this film is your priority, my baby is my priority too, okay?" Jouny is dumbfounded at Tayaw's 'threat'.

"I'm just saying, sorry. You stuck with me closely last February, trying to match my sleeping schedule, so I'm just trying to make sure you won't do that again." Tayaw says. 

"Aww. You're so sweet. I'll leave the set when I'm tired, so don't worry." Jouny says.

"Anyways. That's that then. I'll resume filming in around… thirty minutes. Come watch if you want. The next scene is just talking and sitting around, but I'll show you the subtleties of it." Tayaw offers. 

"Alright. I'll go grab a chair." Jouny smiles in excitement.