It's all about learning

On July 15th, the weather was sunny.

California, as the center of the Hollywood film industry, constantly welcomed various film and television crews for shooting. Now it had welcomed a new crew.

In the next two weeks, the constructed outdoor set, under the supervision of Lyman, transformed into a military camp for the shooting of the film "Fury".

On the muddy road, there were traces left by the wheels, and on the slightly overgrown flat ground, several dozen tents were set up, surrounded by fences and barbed wire. Inside the set, there was a bustling scene. Hundreds of people were busy around, some setting up cameras, others arranging lights to check the brightness and colors. Some were assisting in moving props...

Several large trucks were coming in and out, and there were also more than ten military vehicles and dozens of commercial vehicles parked on the open space next to the camp. Lyman stood in the shade of a canopy, listening to reports from various departments and arranging the shooting affairs.

"Director, the tank has been transported here. How should we arrange it?" a crew member ran over and asked.

"I'll take a look."

As he said that, the actors standing or sitting nearby, including Heath Ledger, were also excited and followed behind Lyman.

"Hi, Colonel, thank you for your hard work."

Under the sun, Lyman, standing at the camp gate, pointed to the transport vehicles and asked, "Can we bring the tanks in?"

"Of course, just tell me where to put them."

Colonel Logan, the liaison officer from the Pentagon responsible for all military-technical support to the crew, nodded and asked, "How should we arrange them?"

"Four tanks should be driven in and placed in the empty space at the southeast corner of the camp, and the remaining M4A3E8 model should be placed at the entrance." Due to budget constraints, they could only afford to have eight tanks. Five of them were Allied tanks, three were German tanks, and the rest were either in need of repair or prop models. Of course, they only needed five tanks for the current scene, and the transport vehicles had already arrived.

With the help of the M4 HST, the tanks were parked in their designated positions. For a moment, many crew members put down their work and came to see the excitement. This thing was truly majestic and a man's romance.

"Director." A member of the prop team, holding a can of spray paint, stood next to the tank parked at the camp gate and shouted to Lyman not far away, "I'm going to start spraying."

"Oh." Lyman walked over, patted his shoulder, and pointed to a flat area on the right side of the tank's hull, saying with a smile, "Spray the letters "Fury" here. Make sure they connect smoothly and don't overlap."

The crew member smiled, started spraying, and in one go, the tank had the dark English word "Fury" on it. He continued, "Okay, once the paint dries a bit, we'll add some color, make it look worn out, and do some touch-ups to achieve the desired effect."

This M4A3E8 Sherman tank was naturally the one driven by the main characters, and "Fury" corresponded to the film's title. Similarly, the remaining four tanks had different models: M4A4, M4 105HVSS, M4A1E4, and the tank the platoon leader rode in, an M4 variant with reinforced armor and a gun suspension system.

These were all part of the Sherman tank series. However, during that time, new tank models and modifications were produced every year, and fortunately, they had arranged for five tanks of different models.

As for the weapons and equipment, let alone mention them, they were all mainstream during that time. M101 howitzers, Thompson M1A1 submachine guns, M1 carbines, and the iconic M1 Garand rifles from World War II. There were also the M18 Hellcat armored car, the German MP44 assault rifle, the M3 half-track, the M2 60mm mortar, the MG42 machine gun, the Colt M1917 revolver, and various types of anti-tank rocket launchers.

For the sake of authenticity, they even managed to secure the most precious and valuable tank—the Tiger tank. From a historical perspective, there were only six surviving Tiger tanks in the world, each housed in a different museum in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Russia.

Lyman directly borrowed the only operational German Tiger tank, known as Number 131, from the Bovington Tank Museum in the UK, which had been maintained and repaired for many years. The daily rental fee for this tank was a staggering $450,000, making it an exceptional addition to the filming.

Of course, the tank was not here at the moment. After all, the rental cost was so high that it would only be brought out when needed. For this reason, the relevant outdoor scenes were specially moved to the UK for convenient transportation. This was truly an antique. If projections turned out to be true, it could be even costlier than Nicholas Cage's acting fee.

However, it was all worth it. How could one hope to vividly and realistically recreate the story that happened on the European battlefield without using real equipment?

"All departments are ready," René walked over quickly and said.

"Okay, I know." Lyman returned to the shade of the canopy, greeted Colonel Logan, who was sitting on a resting chair, then picked up a bottle of mineral water that had already been opened. After taking a big sip, he turned around and walked to the position of the director's monitor. He picked up a microphone and shouted loudly, "Five minutes, we're about to start. Double-check the set facilities and arrangements."

The crew entered the final preparations before shooting.

Heath Ledger, Nicholas Cage, and the rest of the main cast walked to the "Fury" tank parked at the gate and, under the command of the tank squad members assigned to them, further familiarized themselves with the tank and practiced their positions.

Under Sandy's guidance, dozens of extras, all former soldiers, went through another rehearsal of the movements they would need during the shoot, striving not to steal the limelight but to serve as suitable background actors.

In this production, apart from top stars like Nicholas Cage and the increasingly renowned Heath Ledger, there were no other highly recognizable actors. Furthermore, thanks to Jonathan Gavin's idea, the inclusion of extras significantly reduced costs and even came with a positive side effect.

Due to the shooting schedule, a military representative was invited to the crew to oversee the team. This demonstrated the military's satisfaction with the crew's decision to employ former soldiers. It truly alleviated the financial pressure and resulted in additional benefits.

Although the expenditure on actors was compressed to only 30% of the budget, it was still somewhat tight. There's no way around it. While much of the real equipment was provided free of charge by the military, the crew still had to cover the costs of maintenance and repairs.

Military equipment was costly, and the actors' catering expenses couldn't be too low. Most of the extras were former soldiers, as well as several main actors from the crew. Their treatment couldn't be reduced. As for film stock loss and deliberately aging costumes, they also required money.

Lyman really spared no expense for the sake of authenticity.

Five minutes flew by, and the director Lyman nodded to the script supervisor who was waiting beside him. He watched as the script supervisor placed the slate in front of the camera lens, then spoke up, "Fury, Exterior Scene 1, Shot 23, Take 1, action!"

For the outdoor scenes, two cameras were set up in different positions. One was placed on the left side of the camp gate, and the other was positioned at the center of the camp, elevated on a high rig. The camera lenses of the two cameras intersected perfectly, creating a 45-degree spatial shooting angle.

Thomas and another member of the camera crew operated the cameras. Since the lighting conditions on set were good, there was no additional lighting setup. They only used reflectors and flags to adjust the natural light's brightness and create the desired lighting and shadow effects.

Nicholas Cage, wearing a tanker uniform and goggles, stood halfway out of the "Fury" tank, exposing half of his body through the hatch. His body was covered in blood stains, and his face was blackened by gunfire, accentuating the paleness of the skin around his eyes that was protected by the goggles. He portrayed the image of a seasoned veteran who had just come off the battlefield.

In a war film that emphasized authenticity and attention to detail, the character's costumes received significant attention. They wore cavalry boots, tanker jackets, M1938 leather gloves, M1 steel helmets with an attached tanker cap. One had to note that the caps weren't bulletproof, so a helmet was reinforced on the outside for mounting communication devices.

They used HS-18 headsets for communication, and the tank's intercom system was the T-17 model. It was all necessitated by the fact that when fighting, with all the booming sounds of artillery, it was hard for the WW2 tankers to hear each other, so tank crews were equipped with these devices. Inside, there was also an infantry radio.

As for the goggles for eye protection, everyone wore the M1938 model. Only "Wardaddy" played by Nicolas wore German-produced goggles, symbolizing a captured war trophy, which enhanced his image as a seasoned veteran.

Maya Meschede, responsible for costume design in the film, was meticulous. She even went to Berlin to find clothing from the 1940s, painstakingly replicating every detail, from the buttons to the distribution of pockets.

In the scene, several military vehicles driven by extras drove into the camp from a distance, followed by tanks driven by Nicholas Cage and the others. They moved smoothly, but it seemed that the direction and speed were off. They were almost out of the range of the outdoor cameras. Lyman also noticed this situation and furrowed his brow, shouting, "Cut!"

The busy crew immediately stopped, and everyone looked towards Lyman.

Lyman stood up from behind the monitor, walked all the way to the position of the "Fury" tank, and then said, "What's going on? Did you not notice that the direction was wrong? The cameras almost couldn't capture it."

"My mistake. I was a bit nervous. I've never done this before." A serving soldier who was operating the tank and sitting in the driver's seat apologized, "I got confused just now."