Cause and FX
Released: 6th February 2015
Special FX Help Quest
Special FX Help Quest
Main Characters / Extra Characters:
My Characters
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Requirements / Rewards
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Part 1
Ashton: Impossible is nothing!
One day, in Professor Hunt’s lecture...
Thomas Hunt: As everyone like to remind you, Hollywood U is the most prestigious entertainment art university on earth... One of the benefits of that status is that we have nearly unlimited money for our students to blow on vanity projects. This week, five students will be chosen to lead the rest of you in creating high-budget, effects-heavy student films.
Beside you, Ashton raises a hand.
Ashton: Professor! Professor, over here! Hi. First off, awesome idea. Can’t wait. And second... How are you choosing the five?
Thomas Hunt: I’m not. You are.
Hunt passes out voting ballots to everyone in the class.
Thomas Hunt: Be sure to cast your ballot for leaders who are driven, organized, skilled, resourceful... But most importantly, choose someone with vision... someone with imagination.
Ashton turns to you.
Ashton: Ha! Sounds like he’s describing you, Danny!
Danny: Me? No way in hell Hunt lets me win one of the spots.
Ashton: Come on, everybody knows you’re the most creative person in the whole class, so fortunately, it’s not his call!
Time - 5 hours
Soon, Hunt has gathered all the ballots and forces a student to count them.
Thomas Hunt: It seems we have, by a clear margin, our five project leaders. They are... Bianca...
Bianca: Ha! Suck on that, losers!
Hunt reads off the next three names, each one met with cheers from your classmates
Thomas Hunt: And finally...
Ashton: Danny... come oooon, baby, Danny...
Thomas Hunt: Danny.
Danny: Really?
Ashton: Cha-ching! Told ya!
Thomas Hunt: Surely there must be some mistake... but I’m not interested in wasting time on a recount. You may begin.
Ashton: So, uh... Danny... now that you’re rolling in Batman money for this movie... Have you, um, thought about who you want as your visual effects lead?
Danny: Actually, I was thinking about you.
Ashton: Me?! For real, though?! Oh man, oh man, oh man! I’ve always wanted to work with you on a big-budget project. So when do we get started? Now? Now’s good.
Rewards
You walk back toward your dorm after class. Ashton is practically running circles around you with boundless energy.
Ashton: Isn’t moviemaking the greatest? You get to imagine daring, impossible worlds... and bring them to life with special effects for audiences everywhere! Even back in 1900, they were using stop tricks, cardboard cutouts, and smoke clouds to send men to the moon and transform cars into horses!
Danny: It sounds like we have a grand tradition of movie magic to uphold.
Ashton: Don’t worry. Your creative vision, plus my technical wizardly, plus stacks on stacks of cash... equals unstoppable! I seriously cannot wait to see what you come up with! Do you know what you want to movie to be about?
Danny: We won’t often get this big a budget, so we should really take advantage of it. That’s why I’m thinking of an action-packed love story that jumps through time and space, spanning entire universes and alternate realities!
Ashton: Epiiiiiic!
Danny: But we won’t lose track of the intimate humanity either. We definitely need a romantic kissing scene between our stars.
Ashton: Against a spectacular backdrop of wonder! Yes! You find us some sexy screen presence. Leave the rest to me.
Part 2
Ashton: A kiss needs chemistry and fireworks... and often, so do special effect!
Alexandra, Tegwen, and the whole cast and crew arrive on set for the first day of shooting.
Alexandra: My lips are moisturized and ready for their close-up!
Danny: Okay, okay, people... let’s start rehearsing!
Ashton jogs up to you, bouncing withe excitement.
Ashton: Hey, Danny, I just want you to remember that, with all the money Hollywood U is giving us for this... you can basically set this scene anywhere you want... with any special effects you can think up!
Tegwen: I like to think my tongue has its own ‘special effect’ on people.
Ashton: I’m serious! The only limit is your imagination!
Tegwen: Exactly!
Danny: ...you’re still talking about your tongue, aren’t you?
Time - 7 hours
You gather the cast and crew for a meeting.
Danny: After much deliberation, we’re going to have this kissing scene take place among the ice clouds! On this alien planet, they’ll be able to walk among the clouds... just how they always feel when they’re together!
Ashton: A metaphor! Brilliant! I know just how to make this happen...
Ashton coordinates with the rest of the visual effects team, and soon, large trucks arrive with enormous payloads of equipment!
Ashton: Check it out, Danny! I contracted an industrial R&D firm to hook us up with one of their state-of-the-art weather simulation machines. It’s what the military uses to imitate blizzard conditions.
Danny: It’s a snow machine?
Ashton: It’s the snow machine.
Once everything is set up, Alexandra and Tegwen take their places atop a windswept snowscape!
Danny: And... action!
Alexandra: Up ahead! I think that’s Cloud Nine!
Tegwen: No... we’re already here.
Alexandra and Tegwen kiss passionately against the breathtaking backdrop!
Ashton: Beautiful! Just beautiful!
Rewards
That evening, you review the dailies from the day’s shoot with Ashton.
Ashton: So I threw in some stand-in CGI to fill out the scene. You like it?
Danny: Wow... I’m seriously blown away, Ashton. It looks so polished, I can’t believe it’s just a student film.
Ashton: It’s a Hollywood U student film, Danny. You got in here, so now you get to reap the rewards. But even this is nothing compared to what we could do. Dream big! Let your imagination run wild!
Danny: Well... I did have an idea for the action scene... but I’m not sure if we can pull it off.
Ashton: Trust me, Danny. Bringing your vision to life is why I’m here. Just make sure the actors are ready to film the most epic fight scene ever!
Part 3
Ashton: Effects need people to affect, of course! Who are our action stars?
You and Ashton meet up with Susan, Royal, and Carolyn at the university’s gym.
Royal: ‘Sup, Danny? We were just finishing this Insanity workout.
Susan: Gotta look swole for the cameras, you know.
Carolyn: What’s up with you, Danny? You lookin’ to get ripped?
Danny: Actually, I have a job for you. We’re shooting a thrilling showdown for the second act, and it’s going to take some Grade-A stunt work.
Ashton: We’ve got a ton of money to burn, and every penny of it will go to making you guys look absolutely badass!
Susan, Royal, and Carolyn share a smirk.
Carolyn: You had us at ‘badass’.
Ashton: ...that’s the last word I said.
Time - 9 hours
The next day, you explain the scene to Susan, Royal, Carolyn, and the entire crew...
Danny: In this next sequence, Susan battles the villainous, faceless henchmen, portrayed by Royal and Carolyn.
Royal: Aw, yeah! Bad guys in the building!
Royal and Carolyn do a leaping chest-bump!
Susan: Set the stage, Danny. What’s this scene about?
Danny: I want it to be a shootout through a time vortex!
Ashton: We’ve spared no expense. Check out the set.
Carolyn: Um... what about it? It just looks like the bar from ‘How I Met Your Mother’.
Ashton: Yes, but in the time vortex, everything ages super fast! So every item of furniture on set was specifically made from a prototype substance that disintegrates on contact. It literally turns to dust!
You start filming the scene! Susan grapples and throws Royal through a table... which instantly crumbles to dust!
Susan: Hrah! You’re old news, pal!
Carolyn charges Susan, swinging a pipe... but that too disintegrates as soon as it strikes! Susan sweeps out Carolyn’s legs with a kick, before driving a punishing elbow into Carolyn’s sternum!
Carolyn: Kff!
Susan: Time flies when you’re having fun!
Danny: Cut! Print! You guys nailed it!
Rewards
You review the footage with Ashton...
Danny: I can’t believe you actually pulled that off, Ashton!
Ashton: It was all your vision, your creativity.
Danny: This is crazy. I never thought I’d see my wildest dreams come true on screen like this.
Ashton: I don’t think I’ve seen anything close to your wildest yet... But I hope to tomorrow, when we plan the biggest scene of them all... the climax!
Part 4
Ashton: Go big or go home!
The next afternoon, you find Ashton alone in the university’s cavernous main soundstage.
Ashton: I hope you’re ready to really let your creativity soar, Danny. We’re all counting on your vision to take this movie to the next level.
Danny: I have to say... between your talent and all this university money... It’s been so freeing to be able to just imagine without any restrictions at all. We can literally do anything!
Ashton: That’s what I’m here for. Heck, that’s why I got into this business. When I was a kid, I grew up in a real bland suburban neighborhood. Cookie cutter houses. Identical streets, identical people. So I’d spend all day in my backyard with my mom’s cheap camera, using stop motion and fireworks to make dumb little movies with my action figures. I knew back then, all I ever wanted to do was spend my life creating impossible worlds... bringing to life the imagination of visionaries... like you, Danny.
Danny: That’s... that’s really sweet, Ashton. I’m lucky to have you.
Ashton: Then you gotta promise me something. When we start planning this climax... don’t hold back.
Danny: I promise.
Rewards
The hours race by as you and Ashton lose yourselves in the excitement of the brainstorm. At last, you sketch out one final storyboard and show it to Ashton.
Ashton: Oh my god... I’ve never seen anything like it...
Danny: That’s a good thing, right?
Ashton: Good? That’s fantastic! And I already have a ton of ideas for how to pull this off! It’ll be the most expensive scene I’ve ever done... but an idea this awesome deserves it!
Your phone buzzes with a new email. You read it over...
Danny: Well, hang onto those ideas... because right now, we have to get over to the lecture hall. Hunt says he has news...
Part 5
Ashton: I wonder what news the good professor has for us...
The entire class gathers in the university’s main auditorium. Professor Hunt eyes you as you file toward your seat.
Thomas Hunt: I trust you’re all having a simply marvelous time blowing the university’s endowment on your garbage movies?
Ashton: Our movie is coming out awesome! The climax Danny just came up with blew my freakin’ mind!
Bianca: Um, I don’t really pay attention to money. It’s whatever.
Thomas Hunt: Good. Because it’s gone.
Danny: Wait, what? But the movies aren’t done!
Thomas Hunt: Too bad. The money’s dried up. The five of you blew through the allotted funds faster than even I could’ve imagined.
Bianca: Whatever, who cares. I’ll just get my dad to write a check--
Thomas Hunt: You may only use school funds.
Bianca: Eeeek!
Ashton turns to you horrified!
Ashton: What are we going to do, Danny? How are we going to shoot the climax?!
Time - 12 hours
The class leaves the theater in dejected silence. Ashton trudges across the moonlit quad, staring up at the distant stars.
Ashton: It’s over...
Danny: No, it’s not, Ashton. We’re fine. I can just rewrite the finale to be really cheap and easy.
Ashton: That’s just it, Danny. You shouldn’t have to change it. You shouldn’t have to tone down your vision. Your vision is why everyone voted for you. It’s why we’re all here. It’s my job to bring it to life... and now I can’t. I’m letting everyone down... I’m letting you down.
Danny: No, Ashton. You’re only letting yourself down.
Ashton: Huh?
Danny: You told me that, back in 1900, the first filmmakers were using cardboard and camera tricks to send men to the moon. They used the possible to create the impossible. And even you, as a kid in your backyard, used whatever you had around to make movies with your toys. You keep talking about my creativity, my imagination... but you’re creative too.
Ashton: What do you mean?
Danny: I mean it’s gonna take your imagination to make mine a reality.
Ashton pauses for a moment... and gazes back up at the field of twinkling stars, and all the imagined worlds they might hide...
Ashton: I have an idea...
Rewards
At dawn the next morning, you meet Ashton on set...
Ashton: I was up all night thinking... and I’m pretty sure I know how to pull off the big crowd-scene climax without spending any more money.
Danny: How?
Ashton: It’s like you said. We use the resources we already have. And one of those resources is people. All the people who believe in your vision. Like me. So I went looking for extras. And here they come now!
Part 6
Ashton: Everyone wants in on the big finale!
A huge crowd of your classmates stream into the soundstage!
Dylan: Ashton told us you’re gonna need lots of people in this scene, and crowds are my speciality!
Berry: We’re happy to help... provided I get to choose my own outfit.
Jennifer: Don’t gotta ask me twice to get on camera!
Ashton: I have the effects all planned out. Just tell everyone your vision, and I’ll make it happen.
You grab a megaphone...
Danny: Thanks for coming, everybody! We’re gonna need every last one of you for the climax! In this scene, magic reverses Earth’s gravity, and everything starts falling upwards... and all of the water on the planet is raining into the sky!
Berry: Whoa! I mean, that sounds cool and all... but I thought you guys were completely out of money! How do you expect to pull that off?
Ashton: That, my friends, is where I come in.
Time - 15 hours
Dylan: You really think you can make it look like gravity is flipped and everything’s falling into the sky?
Ashton borrows your megaphone and announces the plan to the gathered extras...
Ashton: You’re right. We’re completely out of money. But there’s a way we can do this with only the sets we already have... plus a few camera tricks. We’re going to turn the set and the camera upside down.
Danny: That way, when we drop objects or pour water... it will look like it’s falling upwards!
Everyone works together, turning the temporary set of a house interior completely upside-down! Soon, couches, tables, chairs are hooked into the ceiling, and light fixtures and fans are on the floor!
Danny: This shot starts with the moment gravity flips... so I’m going to need all the extras standing on the ceiling!
Dylan, Berry, and Jennifer strap themselves into wire rigs, and you position them in the upside-down house!
Dylan: Whoaaaa! Does my face look all flushed now?
Berry: From up here, it all looks so... normal!
Jennifer: There needs to be a reality show about someone who lives their whole life like this! Trademarked! Copyright by Jennifer!
Danny: Aaaaand... action!
The upside-down camera rolls! In an instant, your crew releases all of the upside-down furniture, which goes crashing into the ‘ceiling’! The wire rigs loosen, letting Dylan, Berry, and Jennifer levitate off the ‘floor’!
Dylan: Aaaaah!
Watching over the camera monitor, the shot looks like the gravity in the room had suddenly flipped!
Danny: It worked! I can’t believe it!
Ashton: You should. We just made the impossible possible.
Rewards
The next day in class, the five teams arrive.
Ashton: Wow, Danny, look... all the other teams look so miserable and exhausted!
Danny: I think that’s because they didn’t have you to bail them out.
Thomas Hunt: Ahem. Congratulations on completing one of the biggest projects of the year. Next week, we start all over again... But for now, you may relax. The university is hosting a special screening of the finished films tonight at the IMAX Megaplex downtown. And for the love of all that’s holy, dress appropriately...
Part 7
Ashton: The only place to watch special effects is on the biggest screen you can find!
Your whole cast and crew arrive at the Megaplex, dressed to the nines.
Ashton: Damn, Danny! And I thought I knew how to dazzle people.
Danny: Thanks, Ashton.
Your team enters the lobby, which is decked out in decorations. Waiters in white tuxes serve classy appetizers.
Danny: Whoa... hey, is that an open bar over there?
Ashton: Somebody spent a lot of money on this... I thought the school was running out of funds!
After sampling the open bar, your team heads into the colossal theater... and your movie plays out on a five-story screen! The whole audience gasps, cheers, and applauds with the imaginative, jaw-dropping effects!
Danny: I don’t think they’ve ever seen anything like your effects, Ashton...
Ashton: And they’ve never seen anyone like you either.
Rewards
At the afterparty in the lobby, you and Ashton run into Professor Hunt.
Thomas Hunt: Impressive effects, Ashton. I was quite pleased with how you managed to execute the climax despite... certain obstacles.
Ashton: Thanks, Professor. But I have to give credit to Danny, who inspired me. One thing I’ve always known is that effects on their own are nothing. Just empty spectacle. But when they bring to life a vision, something that makes the audience think and feel... that’s when they really wow you.
Hunt eyes you with a half-scowl.
Thomas Hunt: Hrm. Seems you two made quite the team.
Danny: There were ups and downs, but we stuck through it together.
Ashton: It sure would’ve been nice to know the university was going to run out of money, though.
Hunt laughs and shakes his head. He starts to walk away...
Ashton: What’s so funny?
Danny: Wait a second... you didn’t actually run out of money, did you? You planned to see how we’d handle the funding being pulled!
Thomas Hunt: You finally caught on. Took you long enough.
Ashton: But why? I don’t understand!
Thomas Hunt: Let me tell you a little story. A 26-year-old Spielberg is give nine million to make ‘Jaws’. He pours half the budget into the animatronic shark. Only it doesn’t work. it keeps breaking down in the water... sinks to the bottom of the harbor. So he rewrites the movie to scarcely show the monster. He uses ropes and pulleys to yank his actors underwater... To portray something sinister and unseen dragging you down into the dark depths. The result? One of the most classic films ever made. You see, imagination is about freedom, yes... but sometimes, it’s the obstacles that make creativity truly flourish. That’s the real sign of imagination. It’s the challenges that make the star.
Danny: So is that how you see yourself, Professor? As the challenge? The obstacle that makes us who we are?
Hunt’s face tenses for a split-second, nearly imperceptible.
Thomas Hunt: Maybe. Or maybe I just have zero tolerance for garbage. Goodnight to you both.
He marches off.
Danny: Goodnight, Professor.
Ashton: Impossible is nothing!
- Ashton
One day, in Professor Hunt’s lecture...
Thomas Hunt: As everyone like to remind you, Hollywood U is the most prestigious entertainment art university on earth... One of the benefits of that status is that we have nearly unlimited money for our students to blow on vanity projects. This week, five students will be chosen to lead the rest of you in creating high-budget, effects-heavy student films.
Beside you, Ashton raises a hand.
Ashton: Professor! Professor, over here! Hi. First off, awesome idea. Can’t wait. And second... How are you choosing the five?
Thomas Hunt: I’m not. You are.
Hunt passes out voting ballots to everyone in the class.
Thomas Hunt: Be sure to cast your ballot for leaders who are driven, organized, skilled, resourceful... But most importantly, choose someone with vision... someone with imagination.
Ashton turns to you.
Ashton: Ha! Sounds like he’s describing you, Danny!
Danny: Me? No way in hell Hunt lets me win one of the spots.
Ashton: Come on, everybody knows you’re the most creative person in the whole class, so fortunately, it’s not his call!
Time - 5 hours
Soon, Hunt has gathered all the ballots and forces a student to count them.
Thomas Hunt: It seems we have, by a clear margin, our five project leaders. They are... Bianca...
Bianca: Ha! Suck on that, losers!
Hunt reads off the next three names, each one met with cheers from your classmates
Thomas Hunt: And finally...
Ashton: Danny... come oooon, baby, Danny...
Thomas Hunt: Danny.
Danny: Really?
Ashton: Cha-ching! Told ya!
Thomas Hunt: Surely there must be some mistake... but I’m not interested in wasting time on a recount. You may begin.
Ashton: So, uh... Danny... now that you’re rolling in Batman money for this movie... Have you, um, thought about who you want as your visual effects lead?
Danny: Actually, I was thinking about you.
Ashton: Me?! For real, though?! Oh man, oh man, oh man! I’ve always wanted to work with you on a big-budget project. So when do we get started? Now? Now’s good.
Rewards
- 20 Cash
You walk back toward your dorm after class. Ashton is practically running circles around you with boundless energy.
Ashton: Isn’t moviemaking the greatest? You get to imagine daring, impossible worlds... and bring them to life with special effects for audiences everywhere! Even back in 1900, they were using stop tricks, cardboard cutouts, and smoke clouds to send men to the moon and transform cars into horses!
Danny: It sounds like we have a grand tradition of movie magic to uphold.
Ashton: Don’t worry. Your creative vision, plus my technical wizardly, plus stacks on stacks of cash... equals unstoppable! I seriously cannot wait to see what you come up with! Do you know what you want to movie to be about?
Danny: We won’t often get this big a budget, so we should really take advantage of it. That’s why I’m thinking of an action-packed love story that jumps through time and space, spanning entire universes and alternate realities!
Ashton: Epiiiiiic!
Danny: But we won’t lose track of the intimate humanity either. We definitely need a romantic kissing scene between our stars.
Ashton: Against a spectacular backdrop of wonder! Yes! You find us some sexy screen presence. Leave the rest to me.
Part 2
Ashton: A kiss needs chemistry and fireworks... and often, so do special effect!
- Anyone Besides Ashton (Alexandra)
- A Level 10+ Movie Star Besides Danny (Tegwen)
Alexandra, Tegwen, and the whole cast and crew arrive on set for the first day of shooting.
Alexandra: My lips are moisturized and ready for their close-up!
Danny: Okay, okay, people... let’s start rehearsing!
Ashton jogs up to you, bouncing withe excitement.
Ashton: Hey, Danny, I just want you to remember that, with all the money Hollywood U is giving us for this... you can basically set this scene anywhere you want... with any special effects you can think up!
Tegwen: I like to think my tongue has its own ‘special effect’ on people.
Ashton: I’m serious! The only limit is your imagination!
Tegwen: Exactly!
Danny: ...you’re still talking about your tongue, aren’t you?
Time - 7 hours
You gather the cast and crew for a meeting.
Danny: After much deliberation, we’re going to have this kissing scene take place among the ice clouds! On this alien planet, they’ll be able to walk among the clouds... just how they always feel when they’re together!
Ashton: A metaphor! Brilliant! I know just how to make this happen...
Ashton coordinates with the rest of the visual effects team, and soon, large trucks arrive with enormous payloads of equipment!
Ashton: Check it out, Danny! I contracted an industrial R&D firm to hook us up with one of their state-of-the-art weather simulation machines. It’s what the military uses to imitate blizzard conditions.
Danny: It’s a snow machine?
Ashton: It’s the snow machine.
Once everything is set up, Alexandra and Tegwen take their places atop a windswept snowscape!
Danny: And... action!
Alexandra: Up ahead! I think that’s Cloud Nine!
Tegwen: No... we’re already here.
Alexandra and Tegwen kiss passionately against the breathtaking backdrop!
Ashton: Beautiful! Just beautiful!
Rewards
- 20 Cash
That evening, you review the dailies from the day’s shoot with Ashton.
Ashton: So I threw in some stand-in CGI to fill out the scene. You like it?
Danny: Wow... I’m seriously blown away, Ashton. It looks so polished, I can’t believe it’s just a student film.
Ashton: It’s a Hollywood U student film, Danny. You got in here, so now you get to reap the rewards. But even this is nothing compared to what we could do. Dream big! Let your imagination run wild!
Danny: Well... I did have an idea for the action scene... but I’m not sure if we can pull it off.
Ashton: Trust me, Danny. Bringing your vision to life is why I’m here. Just make sure the actors are ready to film the most epic fight scene ever!
Part 3
Ashton: Effects need people to affect, of course! Who are our action stars?
- An Action Hero (Susan)
- A Level 4+ Stuntperson (Royal)
- A Level 4+ Stuntperson (Carolyn)
You and Ashton meet up with Susan, Royal, and Carolyn at the university’s gym.
Royal: ‘Sup, Danny? We were just finishing this Insanity workout.
Susan: Gotta look swole for the cameras, you know.
Carolyn: What’s up with you, Danny? You lookin’ to get ripped?
Danny: Actually, I have a job for you. We’re shooting a thrilling showdown for the second act, and it’s going to take some Grade-A stunt work.
Ashton: We’ve got a ton of money to burn, and every penny of it will go to making you guys look absolutely badass!
Susan, Royal, and Carolyn share a smirk.
Carolyn: You had us at ‘badass’.
Ashton: ...that’s the last word I said.
Time - 9 hours
The next day, you explain the scene to Susan, Royal, Carolyn, and the entire crew...
Danny: In this next sequence, Susan battles the villainous, faceless henchmen, portrayed by Royal and Carolyn.
Royal: Aw, yeah! Bad guys in the building!
Royal and Carolyn do a leaping chest-bump!
Susan: Set the stage, Danny. What’s this scene about?
Danny: I want it to be a shootout through a time vortex!
Ashton: We’ve spared no expense. Check out the set.
Carolyn: Um... what about it? It just looks like the bar from ‘How I Met Your Mother’.
Ashton: Yes, but in the time vortex, everything ages super fast! So every item of furniture on set was specifically made from a prototype substance that disintegrates on contact. It literally turns to dust!
You start filming the scene! Susan grapples and throws Royal through a table... which instantly crumbles to dust!
Susan: Hrah! You’re old news, pal!
Carolyn charges Susan, swinging a pipe... but that too disintegrates as soon as it strikes! Susan sweeps out Carolyn’s legs with a kick, before driving a punishing elbow into Carolyn’s sternum!
Carolyn: Kff!
Susan: Time flies when you’re having fun!
Danny: Cut! Print! You guys nailed it!
Rewards
- 20 Cash
You review the footage with Ashton...
Danny: I can’t believe you actually pulled that off, Ashton!
Ashton: It was all your vision, your creativity.
Danny: This is crazy. I never thought I’d see my wildest dreams come true on screen like this.
Ashton: I don’t think I’ve seen anything close to your wildest yet... But I hope to tomorrow, when we plan the biggest scene of them all... the climax!
Part 4
Ashton: Go big or go home!
- Have 2 Upgraded Director Dorms
The next afternoon, you find Ashton alone in the university’s cavernous main soundstage.
Ashton: I hope you’re ready to really let your creativity soar, Danny. We’re all counting on your vision to take this movie to the next level.
Danny: I have to say... between your talent and all this university money... It’s been so freeing to be able to just imagine without any restrictions at all. We can literally do anything!
Ashton: That’s what I’m here for. Heck, that’s why I got into this business. When I was a kid, I grew up in a real bland suburban neighborhood. Cookie cutter houses. Identical streets, identical people. So I’d spend all day in my backyard with my mom’s cheap camera, using stop motion and fireworks to make dumb little movies with my action figures. I knew back then, all I ever wanted to do was spend my life creating impossible worlds... bringing to life the imagination of visionaries... like you, Danny.
Danny: That’s... that’s really sweet, Ashton. I’m lucky to have you.
Ashton: Then you gotta promise me something. When we start planning this climax... don’t hold back.
Danny: I promise.
Rewards
- 2 Diamonds
The hours race by as you and Ashton lose yourselves in the excitement of the brainstorm. At last, you sketch out one final storyboard and show it to Ashton.
Ashton: Oh my god... I’ve never seen anything like it...
Danny: That’s a good thing, right?
Ashton: Good? That’s fantastic! And I already have a ton of ideas for how to pull this off! It’ll be the most expensive scene I’ve ever done... but an idea this awesome deserves it!
Your phone buzzes with a new email. You read it over...
Danny: Well, hang onto those ideas... because right now, we have to get over to the lecture hall. Hunt says he has news...
Part 5
Ashton: I wonder what news the good professor has for us...
- Danny
- Level 2+ Ashton
The entire class gathers in the university’s main auditorium. Professor Hunt eyes you as you file toward your seat.
Thomas Hunt: I trust you’re all having a simply marvelous time blowing the university’s endowment on your garbage movies?
Ashton: Our movie is coming out awesome! The climax Danny just came up with blew my freakin’ mind!
Bianca: Um, I don’t really pay attention to money. It’s whatever.
Thomas Hunt: Good. Because it’s gone.
Danny: Wait, what? But the movies aren’t done!
Thomas Hunt: Too bad. The money’s dried up. The five of you blew through the allotted funds faster than even I could’ve imagined.
Bianca: Whatever, who cares. I’ll just get my dad to write a check--
Thomas Hunt: You may only use school funds.
Bianca: Eeeek!
Ashton turns to you horrified!
Ashton: What are we going to do, Danny? How are we going to shoot the climax?!
Time - 12 hours
The class leaves the theater in dejected silence. Ashton trudges across the moonlit quad, staring up at the distant stars.
Ashton: It’s over...
Danny: No, it’s not, Ashton. We’re fine. I can just rewrite the finale to be really cheap and easy.
Ashton: That’s just it, Danny. You shouldn’t have to change it. You shouldn’t have to tone down your vision. Your vision is why everyone voted for you. It’s why we’re all here. It’s my job to bring it to life... and now I can’t. I’m letting everyone down... I’m letting you down.
Danny: No, Ashton. You’re only letting yourself down.
Ashton: Huh?
Danny: You told me that, back in 1900, the first filmmakers were using cardboard and camera tricks to send men to the moon. They used the possible to create the impossible. And even you, as a kid in your backyard, used whatever you had around to make movies with your toys. You keep talking about my creativity, my imagination... but you’re creative too.
Ashton: What do you mean?
Danny: I mean it’s gonna take your imagination to make mine a reality.
Ashton pauses for a moment... and gazes back up at the field of twinkling stars, and all the imagined worlds they might hide...
Ashton: I have an idea...
Rewards
- 20 Cash
At dawn the next morning, you meet Ashton on set...
Ashton: I was up all night thinking... and I’m pretty sure I know how to pull off the big crowd-scene climax without spending any more money.
Danny: How?
Ashton: It’s like you said. We use the resources we already have. And one of those resources is people. All the people who believe in your vision. Like me. So I went looking for extras. And here they come now!
Part 6
Ashton: Everyone wants in on the big finale!
- A Level 8+ Celebutante (Dylan)
- A Level 8+ Wardrobe Designer (Berry)
- A Level 8+ Reality TV (Jennifer)
A huge crowd of your classmates stream into the soundstage!
Dylan: Ashton told us you’re gonna need lots of people in this scene, and crowds are my speciality!
Berry: We’re happy to help... provided I get to choose my own outfit.
Jennifer: Don’t gotta ask me twice to get on camera!
Ashton: I have the effects all planned out. Just tell everyone your vision, and I’ll make it happen.
You grab a megaphone...
Danny: Thanks for coming, everybody! We’re gonna need every last one of you for the climax! In this scene, magic reverses Earth’s gravity, and everything starts falling upwards... and all of the water on the planet is raining into the sky!
Berry: Whoa! I mean, that sounds cool and all... but I thought you guys were completely out of money! How do you expect to pull that off?
Ashton: That, my friends, is where I come in.
Time - 15 hours
Dylan: You really think you can make it look like gravity is flipped and everything’s falling into the sky?
Ashton borrows your megaphone and announces the plan to the gathered extras...
Ashton: You’re right. We’re completely out of money. But there’s a way we can do this with only the sets we already have... plus a few camera tricks. We’re going to turn the set and the camera upside down.
Danny: That way, when we drop objects or pour water... it will look like it’s falling upwards!
Everyone works together, turning the temporary set of a house interior completely upside-down! Soon, couches, tables, chairs are hooked into the ceiling, and light fixtures and fans are on the floor!
Danny: This shot starts with the moment gravity flips... so I’m going to need all the extras standing on the ceiling!
Dylan, Berry, and Jennifer strap themselves into wire rigs, and you position them in the upside-down house!
Dylan: Whoaaaa! Does my face look all flushed now?
Berry: From up here, it all looks so... normal!
Jennifer: There needs to be a reality show about someone who lives their whole life like this! Trademarked! Copyright by Jennifer!
Danny: Aaaaand... action!
The upside-down camera rolls! In an instant, your crew releases all of the upside-down furniture, which goes crashing into the ‘ceiling’! The wire rigs loosen, letting Dylan, Berry, and Jennifer levitate off the ‘floor’!
Dylan: Aaaaah!
Watching over the camera monitor, the shot looks like the gravity in the room had suddenly flipped!
Danny: It worked! I can’t believe it!
Ashton: You should. We just made the impossible possible.
Rewards
- 20 Cash
The next day in class, the five teams arrive.
Ashton: Wow, Danny, look... all the other teams look so miserable and exhausted!
Danny: I think that’s because they didn’t have you to bail them out.
Thomas Hunt: Ahem. Congratulations on completing one of the biggest projects of the year. Next week, we start all over again... But for now, you may relax. The university is hosting a special screening of the finished films tonight at the IMAX Megaplex downtown. And for the love of all that’s holy, dress appropriately...
Part 7
Ashton: The only place to watch special effects is on the biggest screen you can find!
- Change Danny’s outfit
- Change Danny’s hairstyle
Your whole cast and crew arrive at the Megaplex, dressed to the nines.
Ashton: Damn, Danny! And I thought I knew how to dazzle people.
Danny: Thanks, Ashton.
Your team enters the lobby, which is decked out in decorations. Waiters in white tuxes serve classy appetizers.
Danny: Whoa... hey, is that an open bar over there?
Ashton: Somebody spent a lot of money on this... I thought the school was running out of funds!
After sampling the open bar, your team heads into the colossal theater... and your movie plays out on a five-story screen! The whole audience gasps, cheers, and applauds with the imaginative, jaw-dropping effects!
Danny: I don’t think they’ve ever seen anything like your effects, Ashton...
Ashton: And they’ve never seen anyone like you either.
Rewards
- 5 Diamonds
At the afterparty in the lobby, you and Ashton run into Professor Hunt.
Thomas Hunt: Impressive effects, Ashton. I was quite pleased with how you managed to execute the climax despite... certain obstacles.
Ashton: Thanks, Professor. But I have to give credit to Danny, who inspired me. One thing I’ve always known is that effects on their own are nothing. Just empty spectacle. But when they bring to life a vision, something that makes the audience think and feel... that’s when they really wow you.
Hunt eyes you with a half-scowl.
Thomas Hunt: Hrm. Seems you two made quite the team.
Danny: There were ups and downs, but we stuck through it together.
Ashton: It sure would’ve been nice to know the university was going to run out of money, though.
Hunt laughs and shakes his head. He starts to walk away...
Ashton: What’s so funny?
Danny: Wait a second... you didn’t actually run out of money, did you? You planned to see how we’d handle the funding being pulled!
Thomas Hunt: You finally caught on. Took you long enough.
Ashton: But why? I don’t understand!
Thomas Hunt: Let me tell you a little story. A 26-year-old Spielberg is give nine million to make ‘Jaws’. He pours half the budget into the animatronic shark. Only it doesn’t work. it keeps breaking down in the water... sinks to the bottom of the harbor. So he rewrites the movie to scarcely show the monster. He uses ropes and pulleys to yank his actors underwater... To portray something sinister and unseen dragging you down into the dark depths. The result? One of the most classic films ever made. You see, imagination is about freedom, yes... but sometimes, it’s the obstacles that make creativity truly flourish. That’s the real sign of imagination. It’s the challenges that make the star.
Danny: So is that how you see yourself, Professor? As the challenge? The obstacle that makes us who we are?
Hunt’s face tenses for a split-second, nearly imperceptible.
Thomas Hunt: Maybe. Or maybe I just have zero tolerance for garbage. Goodnight to you both.
He marches off.
Danny: Goodnight, Professor.