Chapter 92: The Pentagon's Suggestion

"Getting out of California,to blow up the whole of America!"

Starting the next day, Warner Bros. and Fox's media began an extensive promotional campaign for *Independence Day*, with a slogan shouted by Fox Television quickly becoming one of the popular phrases in North America.

"The young director Duke Rosenberg is full of creativity and a desire for destruction. After demolishing Santa Monica in *Speed* and blowing up San Francisco and Alcatraz in *The Rock*, he has finally decided to leave California behind. In his new film *Independence Day*, he has set his sights on all of America; perhaps the entire North American continent will be submerged in his endless explosions..."

Sitting on a campus bench,Irene put down the newspaper in her hands and asked her friend Anna beside her, "Which place is this lunatic going to blow up? The White House? The Statue of Liberty? Or the Empire State Building?"

"Hey, why isn't there any mention of the film's release date in the paper?" Irene complained as she folded the newspaper.

"Can you be a bit smarter, Miss Lauder?" Anna shifted her seat slightly away, teasingly creating some distance. "The film is called *Independence Day*, so it's definitely going to be released during the Independence Day holiday."

"That's true." Irene nodded. "There will be no shortage of movies next July."

"Are you sure you'll have time then?" Anna nudged her shoulder. "After this semester, we'll have internships. You should be heading back to the Lauder Group for your internship, right?"

"Yeah, Mom wants me to work for the family company." Irene sighed and then asked, "What about you, Anna? Do you have any plans? Broadway or Hollywood?"

"I haven't thought that far ahead." Anna seemed to be pondering.

"How about this?" Irene suggested casually, "You love Duke Rosenberg's films, right? Why not go work for him? At least you could be an assistant director!"

"Hollywoood isn't as simple as you think."

Compared to Irene's privileged background, Anna had a more realistic outlook and chose not to pursue that topic. Instead, she changed the subject. "Erin, have you noticed that Duke Rosenberg seems to be falling into a trap?"

"A trap?" Irene didn't understand and shook her head.

"Yes. His first two films achieved massive commercial success, especially *The Rock*, which has now surpassed *Speed*'s global box office with over $355.6 million."

As a top student at New York University's film production program, Anna was able to share her insights. "His explosions, car chases, and visually striking shots are indeed attractive, but! These are all pure sensory stimuli! They can easily lead to aesthetic fatigue! Duke's current thinking is obviously to attract viewers with even bigger and more exciting explosions. Perhaps *Independence Day* will still succeed, but such success cannot be maintained for long."

Coming from a luxury goods family, Irene understood the impact of aesthetic fatigue and nodded slowly after considering.

"So, you mean Duke must change his style?" she asked.

"I think that's the case."

This was a private conversation between friends, and Anna didn't hide her random thoughts. "If *Independence Day* only maintains the box office and influence of his previous two films, the market might still accommodate his next similar project. But if *Independence Day* becomes a massive hit, his next film will need to change direction. He can't rely solely on explosions and visual impacts as selling points anymore; he must focus more on the story itself and emotional conflicts, otherwise..."

She shrugged.

"Oh, Anna," Irene exclaimed, "You really should consider becoming a professional film critic."

"A professional film critic? They're all a bunch of men who lack real... capabilities..."

Even as a film production student, Anna's words were laced with disdain. "And yet they want to guide real men on how to... love!"

Irene found her friend's comments amusing and laughed, then hugged Anna. "I'm so happy with you; I don't want to part ways."

"Me too." Anna patted her back. "I'll always remember the movies we watched together, the times we laughed, and the times we cried."

Far away in Los Angeles, Duke was unaware that a pair of fans in New York were worried about his future. The preparation for *Independence Day* was more complex than his previous two films.

"Hansen, I've reviewed your sketches."

In the *Independence Day* studio, Duke, holding a stack of drawings, had just gathered the heads of the special effects, art, and painting departments and quickly stated, "The aliens' appearance is too simple and friendly!"

"Listen carefully to my description!"

Although the script contained similar lines, Duke emphasized it again to ensure it received more attention. "They come from the red dwarf star system Grays, 25 light-years away. They are organic life forms resembling locusts, with multiple antennae, flat skulls, weak bodies, and no vocal cords."

"In terms of weaponry, we have massive motherships, large laser emitters, green shields, and small spacecraft!"

"In short, I want the audience to feel disgusted, hated, and repulsed the first time they see the aliens. They should think of them as a group of locust-like marauders!"

Seeing that the heads of the departments nodded seriously, Duke waved them off, instructing them to go back and redraw the samples for the aliens and mothership.

A series of loud knocks echoed, and Sofia Coppola walked in. Without any small talk, she directly said, "Warner Bros. and Fox have tentatively set a promotional budget of $25 million for the film. If you can keep the production cost under $90 million, they will invest another $10 million based on the film's response after its release."

Duke nodded and said, "Continue."

"The props team has secured the rental of the White House interior; we won't need to recreate it, which saves us some costs."

This was good news. Sofia continued, "The production team has decided to run ads during the Super Bowl next year. Also, IBM, Coca-Cola, and Cadillac have confirmed their sponsorship for the film. You should quickly consider the scenes in which they appear, so the studio can quote them."

"Let's go see how Zack and his team are doing."

After Sofia finished, Duke was the first to leave the office, heading directly to Zack Snyder's office, where he led the assistants in creating the scene scripts.

Commercial films require a clear and concise plot structure; the story summary for *Independence Day* is very simple—aliens want to destroy humanity, and humanity rises up to fight back and ultimately wins. The film's screenplay is designed around the response of people fighting back.

First, a mysterious spaceship heads toward Earth. Second, the government discovers this, and the Department of Defense and the White House take countermeasures. Third, a scientific genius, disheartened in love, plays chess with his father to ease his mind and discovers alien signals. Fourth, a Vietnam War pilot who was captured by aliens and subjected to experiments drowns his sorrows in alcohol, causing his work to suffer. Fifth, an excellent Air Force pilot does not reject his girlfriend, who is a single mother and a stripper, and they ultimately end up together.

These events initially seem unrelated, but none are wasted, and in the end, they all play irreplaceable roles as the aliens attack. Ultimately, these events will intertwine.

Although this is a typical cross-narrative technique often used in films, it might seem mundane, but it is sufficient to tell the story clearly.

After instructing Zack Snyder to find suitable advertisement insertion scenes, Duke reviewed some scripts they had drafted before returning to his office to continue contemplating the issues surrounding film production.

For commercial films to succeed, merely telling a clear story is far from enough; the most effective weapon is emotional manipulation! Emotion here refers to sentiment!

Whether it's a monologue or action and explosion scenes, they ultimately aim to resonate with the audience, allowing the majority of moviegoers to feel exhilarated and satisfied, rather than leaving them confused like in art films, which would actively push most viewers away.

Explosions and action are Duke's forte, but beyond that, the film must have a fundamental way of generating emotion, just like *Speed* and *The Rock*, where good ultimately triumphs over evil!

The idea that "good" must ultimately prevail is one of the most basic rules of commercial cinema!

Many people might wonder why, after watching so many movies, they rarely see the bad guys win, if at all. This is not because filmmakers are inherently good-hearted and fear audiences will imitate wrongdoing; rather, it stems from commercial considerations, as they cannot present a "bad guy victory" ending to viewers.

No one can deny that mainstream audiences largely cannot accept an ending where the bad guy wins.

Even though movies exist in a fictional world, the public prefers to see the evil of bad guys ultimately defeated by justice, and that bad guys receive their deserved punishment—just like audiences would never accept Mickey Mouse becoming a ruthless murderer or Donald Duck turning into a robber.

Moreover, mainstream society requires this kind of film, which, on a subconscious level, reminds people that life is not a dangerous society.

The pre-production preparations are tedious and repetitive. Although Duke doesn't have to do everything himself, as the director in control of the overall situation, every task must be approved by him and the two production managers. He hardly had a moment's rest that entire afternoon. Finally, when it was time to leave work, he received a call from the Hollywood liaison office of the Pentagon.

"What? Are you not satisfied with the script?" Duke's eyebrows furrowed slightly. "You want to remove Area 51 and change the ending of the final battle?"

"No, no, no. General Joseph, the one who destroys the alien spacecraft's weapons must be a civilian, not the president or military personnel!" Duke emphasized specifically, "This is a plot point I designed after careful consideration."

"Tomorrow? The representatives from the Pentagon will arrive in Los Angeles tomorrow?" Duke felt a bit relieved upon hearing the name mentioned on the phone. "I will discuss it in detail with Lieutenant Colonel Lenho tomorrow."

....