The white complex is located under the sky, consisting of three parts: the main building and the east and west wings. It has a unique neoclassical style, coupled with the star-striped flags flying above the main building, which looks dignified, elegant and atmospheric.

According to rumors, the ghost of John Adams's wife, Abigail Adams, had washed clothes in the East House; the ghost of Dory Madison liked to appear in the Rose Garden; Lincoln's bedroom was a place where "Honest Abel" often visited; Marilyn Monroe also walked through a secret passage to meet her master.

This is the political center of the United States, the official residence of the head of state that claims to be the best hospitality in the world, and the famous White House!

Today, this building will be completely blown up by Duke under the gaze of dozens of people, surrounded by nearly ten cameras!

"Everyone, back! back!"

Standing on the smooth shooting stage, Duke kept shouting with a loudspeaker, "Don't step on the turf in front of the White House again! Mr. Ben Watts, if you knock down the grass and trees on the turf again, I will tie you to the White House and blow it up together!"

The one who was warned by Duke was a photography assistant introduced by Naomi Watts. After John Schwartzman and Duke passed the inspection personally, he joined the crew. He is also the elder brother of an Australian actress.

"The White House is ready!"

“The Oval Square is ready!”

“The Kennedy Garden has been laid out!”

“Lafayette Square has been laid out!”

There was a 'OK' sound from the set, special effects and model team, and then Jos William's fireworks special effects team entered the venue and began to wire the explosives set in advance below the White House.

Of course, this is definitely not the real White House, but a scale-down model specially copied by the crew. Not only is the length of this White House more than 70 feet, the model team also restored all the buildings and scenery of the former White House according to its current arrangement.

“Has there been shots in Hollywood movies that directly blow up the White House?”

Sitting on the shooting stand, Duke asked Robin Grande standing next to him, "or something similar."

“It should be.”

The producer nodded, then shook his head, "But not many people can really leave a impression."

"Robin." Duke held his chin with one hand, "How do you think of using the image of blowing up the White House as the first promotional poster?"

"Charles and I have this idea, too." Robin Grande obviously agreed.

"Maybe after we made the sample..."

After the promotion of two movies, Duke also had more considerations, "You can send it to the White House first for Bill Clinton's family to watch. No matter how he evaluates it at that time, it can be used as a promotional point, right?"

"Good idea." Robin Grande wrote it in his notebook.

As the scene arrangement was approaching, Duke got off the shooting station and circled around the White House twice. After confirming that there was no problem, he returned to the back of the monitor and waited for Joss William's team to complete the final work.

"Fireworks, ready!"

Hearing the sound coming from over there, Duke shouted to the crew, "John, lower the boom, the No. 1 unit shoots according to the scheduled plan."

Wide-angle shooting, medium-scene capture and mixed upward angle close-up shots are all the specialties of Duke when shooting explosive action shots. As early as the scene began, he and John Schwartzman finalized the specific camera position and shooting method.

Adjusting the monitor, Duke carefully observed the effects of each camera, made several fine adjustments, took the megaphone next to him, and shouted to the White House, "Clear the scene! The last time, clear the scene!"

Even when the model was filmed in the studio, it was still using military explosives. Duke didn't want someone to bump into it stupidly. Some accidents would attract messy things like the union.

"The clearance is over!"

An associate director shouted loudly.

"Jos..." Duke aimed the loudspeaker at the fireworks group, "detonated in the last twenty seconds!"

The White House became empty, as if aliens were really coming. Under the cover of darkness, it seemed particularly quiet and gloomy. It seemed that this was not the Presidential Palace, but a hell full of vain.

“10,9,8…”

The countdown of the fireworks group on the other side was particularly loud, reminding everyone that a heavyweight explosion was about to happen.

“3,2,1, explode!”

The bright fireball rose in an instant, not only was the White House blown to pieces, but even the lawn in front of the White House cracked and flew into the sky. The flames quickly spread, swallowing up the trees in the gardens in front and behind. The administrative center of America was completely destroyed by Duke!

"Great!" Duke stood up from behind the monitor and shouted with satisfaction, "Good job! The first shot of the camera was successfully passed!"

There was warm applause at the scene, and dozens of people were celebrating the successful blow-up of the White House.

“Transfer!”

After firefighters wiped out the explosion flames, Duke shouted again, "Next target, Capitol!"

The director is the commander-in-chief of a crew and the soul of a crew. The characteristics of a director often affect the entire crew. There is no doubt that after working together, Duke's team can always complete the work relatively easily and outstandingly when shooting explosions and visually impactful scenes.

For half a day, Duke led the crew to carry out continuous battles, destroying the White House and the Capitol. After an hour of rest, he came to the Empire State Building again.

However, the Empire State Building is no longer an independent building, but is connected to the entire Manhattan. What the crew wants to blow up is the economic lifeline of America and the financial center of the world.

"Duke, there are some problems."

Others were still laying out the venue, and Jos William came over, "According to our plan, the explosion was centered on the Empire State Building, and the flames spread outwards, but most of the flames after the explosion burned upwards and were difficult to spread around."

"Why not blow up Manhattan at once?" he asked tentatively.

"No, no..."

Duke shook his head and according to the settings, the explosion flames spread from point to surface, and the special effects group of Industrial Light and Magic has started the computer special effects production of laser weapons in turn. If it is changed rashly, a lot of preliminary preparations will be overturned and started over again.

Even if the preliminary preparations are perfected, there will still be various difficulties during shooting.

Walking to the Manhattan model, Duke looked at the model fixed to the chassis, frowned with Jos William who was following him, obviously thinking about solutions.

After circling around the model chassis, Duke called the heads of several departments over.

"In this way, fix the camera position on the model chassis." Duke said while gestured with his hands, "and then use the crane arm to hang Manhattan up, or use the Empire State Building as the explosion point. After the explosion, the flames should rise up. We only take a half of Manhattan above the Empire State Building..."

Duke walked to the side of the model, pointed at the Empire State Building, and slid backwards. "After hanging up, the part below the Empire State Building should be properly shading, and the lens highlights the upper half of the explosion and fire."

"This method is OK," said Jos William to ensure the smooth shooting, "I will take someone to experiment with other discarded models first."

Even with the scale reduction model, Manhattan only made one piece in order to save money.

About half an hour later, feasible experimental results came from Joss William. The departments started again, and three small cameras were fixed on the Manhattan chassis at different angles. After Joss William personally arranged the explosives, the mobilized boom slowly lifted the model.

It was another routine cleaning. After Duke shouted to start, the Empire State Building turned into ruins with a loud bang, and half of Manhattan was trapped in a blazing fire.

Sitting in front of the monitor, Duke looked back and forth twice. Although it was a little different from what he expected, it was OK.

"That's all today." He issued an order to finish work, "You can get off work after packing!"

Someone left one after another, but Duke was still sitting in front of the monitor and watching the footage taken today. When he saw the Manhattan explosion that had just been photographed, a monotonous nasal voice came from behind him.

"The alien laser column exploded, and the flames did not rise up, but spread around them. It was too unreasonable. How would you explain then?"

"Why do you need to explain?" Duke looked back at Sofia Coppola. "This is an alien technology, a weapon that is hundreds of years older than the earth, and we don't need to explain it at all!"

If you really want to explain these issues one by one, you should not shoot action movies and science fiction movies. Don’t talk about anything else. According to common sense, the famous screen hero Lan Bo has long since died many times.

"When will I come back?" Duke asked.

"This afternoon." Sofia pulled over the chair next to her and sat next to Duke. "I got off the London-Los Angeles flight, and I came here directly."

"Thank you for your hard work." Duke picked up the coffee pot, found a new cup, and poured her a cup of coffee. "Is it going well?"

"You know that there is New York." Sophia took a sip of coffee before saying, "We have taken it down because Broadway is preparing to restart the show, which took a little bit of trouble and cost a little more than expected, $2 million."

All these calls were discussed, Duke nodded, "Where is London?"

"It's not very smooth." Sofia sighed, "Your Duke Studio is just an empty shell and has no influence. It's too difficult to get the copyright of this masterpiece."

"That way..." Duke fell into thinking, and after a while, he said, "Continue to talk to them and keep in touch with them properly. Perhaps it will change when Independence Day is released."

If Independence Day can achieve the expected results, then he will be the first-class commercial director in Hollywood, and he can even stand among the top commercial films, and his signature will be louder by then.
Chapter completed!