Harem: Shooting Anime In Another World

Chapter 5

After agreeing to Durin's request, Zat was kept in the castle. During this time, Durin had Windy take Zat's measurements to prepare costumes for him for the upcoming filming.

Meanwhile, Durin made some localized modifications to the beginning of the story of "Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo." For example, the original protagonist, Sato Kazuma, was a traveler from another world, which would be quite difficult for the people of this world to accept.

After thinking for a while, Durin decided to modify the protagonist into the son of an ordinary merchant. Since his family had sufficient wealth, he had never considered his future and lived his days in a daze.

This protagonist, while out buying something, encountered an 'accident' in his eyes. When he tried to save a little girl who was almost hit by a donkey cart, he ultimately suffered a heart attack and died due to not having exercised for too long.

The filming of this segment is very simple. With Zat's acting skills, portraying a shut-in who hasn't moved for a long time is not a problem at all. However, the challenge comes afterward: who should play the role of the female protagonist, that intellectually challenged goddess character?

Yes, even if we temporarily set aside the subsequent issues, his biggest problem right now is still casting the actress.

A girl who must have excellent acting skills and cannot look too bad—where on earth can such a person be found?

Just as Durin was pondering this, Zat, who had finished taking his measurements, slowly walked in and immediately spoke up, "Lord Durin, I heard that you seem to be looking for someone with acting skills?"

Realizing that the other party had heard about his thoughts from Windy, Durin smiled and nodded, "Yes, after all, I don't know many people, and I'm looking for someone with acting skills, which makes it a bit difficult."

Hearing this, Zat, whose expression had become conflicted, thought for a moment before resolutely saying, "If that's the case, I might be able to recommend a suitable candidate."

"Oh? Do you know someone like that?"

Durin was somewhat surprised that the other party would say such a thing and quickly showed a curious expression, while Zate sighed and said, "Actually, I didn't want to recommend anyone, but I heard that this seems to be very important to you, so..."

Although he had often wanted to tell the other party not to be so reserved, Durin ultimately said nothing, understanding that mere words could not change the strict social structure of this world, and quietly listened as Zat expressed his thoughts.

According to Zat, she is a very peculiar girl. She suddenly appeared in the village he managed and was subsequently tied up by the elderly Mr. Fort, who was still strong despite his age, for stealing his chickens.

During this process, although she acted very frightened and even begged him tearfully for leniency, once Zat chose to release her without charge, the girl immediately ran away with a smile, to the point that Zat didn't even have time to react.

The next day, however, Zat saw her again at the knight's hall, bound and trembling on the ground. According to witnesses, it seemed she had been beaten up after stealing a lollipop from a child at the village entrance, and then her parents had thrown her at the knight's hall.

Although Zat had been diligently helping the villagers as a knight over the years, he found himself at a loss when faced with such a thick-skinned individual.

Ultimately, realizing that she seemed to have lost her memory and had nowhere else to go, Zat, as a knight, still softened and took her in at the knight's hall.

However, even so, due to her apparent lack of common sense, she would cause trouble in the village almost every few days. The villagers felt quite helpless, and even Zat himself was troubled, determined to send this "troublemaker" back to her original place as soon as she regained her memory.

Now, upon hearing that the lord was looking for a girl with good acting skills and a beautiful appearance, Zat immediately thought of her. Although the girl lacked common sense in many aspects, with her acting skills and indeed pretty looks, Zat still chose to recommend her.

After listening to Zat's account, Durin, who became interested in the girl, nodded and asked, "What is that girl's name?"

"She can't remember her name due to amnesia, so I named her Aya. Initially, I wanted to call her 'the intellectually challenged one,' but she refused..."

"Normal people would probably refuse that."

Surprised that Zate also had a sense of humor, Durin smiled and got up, saying, "Then, Zat, please go get this Aya."

...

Next, during the time Zat left the castle, Durin continued to revise the script and took out the magical version of the camera he had previously acquired.

After all, to shoot a movie or TV show, aside from the script and actors, there are many other issues to resolve, such as camera effects, special effects rendering, music enhancement, editing playback, lighting arrangements, and so on.

In such a magical alternate world, there is no need to worry about special effects. For instance, the explosive magic in "KonoSuba: God's Blessing on This Wonderful World!" could be achieved with similar effects by the great mages of the Mage Tower. Additionally, this world has many renowned musicians, and editing can be done through the fusion bridging of imaging crystals.

Thus, the biggest issue seems to be the sense of the camera. After all, there is a significant gap between anime and live-action. Many grand shots and scene transitions that can be accomplished in anime are quite subtle when converted to live-action. Although this world has a black technology called magic to assist, Durin's level is still somewhat insufficient to achieve it. After all, he is just an ordinary otaku who has done some editing, and this alternate world has not provided him with anything to learn from.

Just as Durin was struggling with how to shoot good footage, he was jolted out of his thoughts by a knock on the door. He quickly tidied up his appearance, waiting for Zat and the girl he mentioned to arrive.

When the door slowly opened, he immediately saw the girl following Zat, who had walked in first.

With long light blue hair cascading behind her, her plain clothing concealed her feminine features but could not completely hide her beauty. As Zat had said, this mysterious girl named Aya was indeed very pretty.

This was Durin's first thought, and then the next moment...

"Lord! I was really wronged!! Whether it was stealing Old man's chicken, snatching Little Amy's lollipop, trampling Aunt Tifa's crops, breaking Timmy's piggy bank, or eating all the chicken legs everyone gave to Zat, I was only awakened by Zat's snoring at night because the soundproofing of the room was too poor, and out of revenge, I planned to sell Zat's knight's sword... none of this has anything to do with me!!!"

"What chicken leg? What sword did you say?!!"

Seeing the girl on the floor, tearful and almost grabbing his pants to cry, and Zat beside her looking like he was about to choke the girl for a proper inquiry, Durin's brows twitched as a second thought emerged in his mind...

She is indeed a intellectually challenged one.