I Forged the Myth of the Ancient Overlords
Chapter 311 - 311 310. A Community of Shared Future_1

Chapter 311: 310. A Community of Shared Future_1 Chapter 311: 310. A Community of Shared Future_1 After the title, there’s a section laying the foundation and describing the big picture. It illustrates through the interactions of the young soldier Birmingham with his family and companions that their world is often afflicted by the strikes of the Demonic Tide, and the main plotline of the movie is clearly about resisting the Demonic Tide.

As a professor, Amitage felt that the most impressive aspect here was the exceptional performance of the actors.

He taught at the film academy and had been to many film sets. He knew that the most troublesome part of filming wasn’t the performance of the star actors, but rather the setup of the lighting and the extras.

Natural light shooting may seem authentic, but in fact, due to issues with angles and light intensity, footage shot with natural light either comes out too dark or too bright, especially indoors. Without additional lighting, it’s simply unwatchable, much like common people trying to take selfies in a room with a phone, surrendering to the harsh truth beneath the lens.

And after setting up the lights, an actor’s face sometimes becomes something that’s limited by angle, only looking good from that specific perspective, with other angles being unsuitable. So sometimes, when shooting indoor scenes, the lights have to be moved around, which is time-consuming.

Yet, in this movie, Amitage couldn’t detect any unnaturalness from artificial lighting; it all seemed to have been shot using natural light, but the brightness was just right—the dim scenes were appropriately dark, and the bright scenes were suitably light. It was as though they had waited for days on end just to capture these shots at the most perfect timing.

As for the extra actors, they impressed Amitage even more.

Typical extras, without discussing their looks, mostly have poor acting skills and don’t take their roles seriously enough. Extras who discuss how to fall down with the director and adjust their performances in movies are almost non-existent.

Thus, the more people there are, the harder it is to coordinate.

Sometimes one extra takes his job seriously while another slacks off. Sometimes both extras slack off. A world where everyone is earnest just doesn’t exist.

Therefore, in films with many extras, a close look reveals that these background characters are inattentive and fake, often resulting in continuity errors.

But in “Magic Tide,” the townspeople from Birmingham’s childhood and the common soldiers in the Ranger Corps all appeared extremely professional. Their performances were so flawless that Amitage couldn’t spot any imperfections, as if they truly lived in that world.

Previously, Amitage heard of directors making the entire cast live in a small town for three months to shoot the most realistic effects, acquainting the actors with the environment, familiarizing them with the streets, and integrating them into the plot.

Could this movie have done the same?

After all, it’s the modern era. Amitage guessed it would be improbable to find a classical-style town for filming.

“This movie is pretty incredible,” he said.

Amitage glanced at Lex, who was beside him.

Lex had been completely stunned, more astonished by the overall imagery, the actors’ states, and the occasional shots, which he couldn’t quite tell whether they were special effects.

However, one thing Lex was certain of was that those scenes featuring people using spells must have had special effects added.

The first half of the movie passed in an atmosphere of anticipatory tension, as though a storm was imminent and the building was filled with intense anticipation. Through the portrayal of Birmingham, a minor character, the whole world’s framework was revealed. Commoners revered and feared the Demonic Tide; the Rangers stood guard on the front lines, tensely preparing for the safety of their families and lands; the Mages of the Gray Tower observed the Black Forest, rushing about for the impending Demonic Tide. Even the Gray Tower, situated farther from the front, didn’t underestimate the Demonic Tide. The entire world was in a state of unity, all to withstand this natural disaster.

For Lex, this was a novel experience.

Because disaster movie openings like this are plentiful in Hollywood, but in most cases, these films, either for the sake of political correctness, commit a mishmash of personal bias or create dramatic conflicts by portraying foolish politicians who hinder the protagonist’s efforts to save the world, causing them unnecessary trouble, or who are still scheming against each other before calamity strikes.

Some movies also craft extreme “saint” characters who do foolish things when faced with danger and cause the death of their teammates due to their own kindness. Of course, in Hollywood, there also must be the presence of Black characters, either as sacrifices to save the protagonist or as the protagonist themselves.

However, in this movie, there wasn’t any of that convoluted nonsense. Everyone was striving for the same goal, giving off a sense of a shared human destiny.

In Lex’s view, it was somewhat fake, yet also full of longing.

What was more important was that these storylines didn’t seem boring.

As Eternal Night and the plague appeared, the situation grew increasingly dire, and the entire world seemed on the brink of doom. The suspense hung like a massive stone over the hearts of the viewers.

Amid the escalating tension, the progressively intensifying sense of urgency, and the oppressive atmosphere, Lex simply couldn’t afford to think about anything else, only wishing that time would slow down, allowing the characters in the movie to prepare a little more.

For this reason, when he heard that wolf howl, Lex felt as if his heart and lungs had stopped.

Of course, at that moment, Lex still harbored a slight hope for “Magic Tide” to flop.

Because the extensive buildup indicated that the coming Demonic Tide would be the real climax— it had to be spectacular enough to suffice.

In some movies, the early buildup might be pretty good, but then the major battle scenes would disappoint, coming across as extremely shoddy and subject to fierce criticism.

If “Magic Tide” couldn’t sustain the momentum after such buildup, it would definitely drag down the overall impression of the film.

It’s like with some works that are full of suspense in the beginning, with various characters acting as if they were hiding some earth-shattering secrets, and the situation so dire it seems there’s no solution, yet the protagonist looks confident as if there’s no longer any reason to fear, only for the story to have a poor resolution and go to ruin. A good work requires time to polish, while it only takes a foolish conclusion to destroy it.

It was just that Lex hadn’t expected, when the Demonic Tide began, he would no longer be able to entertain those strokes of luck.

Accompanied by a gust of wind, the camera lens soared upwards, reaching above the Black Forest.

At the vast canopy of the forest, the Gale Wind raged, causing the fallen leaves to form a torrent, undulating like waves— perhaps that’s the reason why the Demonic Tide was so called, because it was an unstoppable force like a tide.

With the howling of wolves, clouds in the sky gathered, forming an unprecedentedly huge storm, with silver lightning flashing within, and along with the sound effects, Lex felt as if a gale had blown across his face. In the midst of thunder and lightning, a small hill appeared in the camera shot.

No, that wasn’t a mountain peak; it was a wolf.

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