Chapter 56 Preparation for Special Effects

“Yes, it’s the special effects.”

Wang Hao looked at his uncle, smiled and nodded.

“The name of this new movie is The Shallows, and as the name suggests, the story naturally involves sharks and the sea.

Of course, we couldn’t find a real shark to shoot the movie. In addition, there are many underwater shots in the movie, which is one of the nightmare contents of filming. It is extremely challenging for the equipment and special effects level. "

"Then why did you choose this subject?"

Lu Guotao was speechless for a moment. He was not an administrative manager who knew nothing. At least he knew that special effects were extremely expensive.

Even if Wang Hao's previous movie was a success, the movie channel's investment in his new movie would definitely not be too much.

With this kind of investment, the risk of making a very difficult special effects movie is indeed much greater.

"Although I am the leader of the station, it is impossible for me to support you without limits."

Lu Guotao looked at his nephew and spread his hands helplessly.

"The investment budget for your new film is only 150 to 200 million at most. If you want more, you have to pay for it yourself."

"Two million is enough, maybe there's some money to be made."

Wang Hao smiled when he heard this, and seemed to be very satisfied with his uncle's offer, which surprised Lu Guotao a little.

“You can make a science fiction movie with 200 million?”

"No, maybe 200 million is not even needed." Wang Hao emphasized.

"How is this possible?" Lu Guotao was a little unconvinced.

Seeing this, Wang Hao could only explain:

“If I wanted to make it better, even if I put two million dollars into special effects, it would still be impossible to complete it.

But this is a TV movie, and the medium for broadcasting is a TV, a small screen! It is not meant to be put on the big screen. To be honest, it is not much different from a TV series.

If the special effects are produced with the resolution of a TV, there is no need to make them so detailed and clear. After all, it is a free movie, and the audience will not mind even if the special effects are not as good.

In addition, compared to hairy animals such as lions and tigers, the special effects cost of sharks is even lower.

In addition, we not only focus on special effects, but also on special effects and models.

This will reduce the corresponding costs.”

This explanation made Lu Guotao come to his senses. "So you are planning to fool us with some fake special effects?"

"How can this be considered fooling around?" Wang Hao complained, "We only have so much money, and I'm just spending a small amount to accomplish a big goal!"

"That can't be the case."

Lu Guotao also understood that it was impossible to make a well-made blockbuster with only 200 million yuan.

“Then can’t you just change the movie script and change the background of the story?
Why do we need to shoot the sea and sharks? We can shoot the desert, the mountains, the cliffs, etc. It’s a thriller anyway.”

It has to be said that Wang Hao had really thought about his uncle's suggestion.

Because in addition to the movie "The Shallows", there will be another movie called "126 Hours" in the future, which is also a thriller of a similar genre to "The Shallows", and can also be modified and inserted into the science fiction movie universe.

Moreover, this thriller about a rock climber being tied up is easier to produce and less expensive than The Shallows, and it seems to be more suitable for them. However, after some hesitation, Wang Hao finally chose the more difficult The Shallows.

It’s not that he is too shameless and wants to challenge something difficult.

It's not that he's become arrogant and thinks he can do anything.

The key is that he wants to take this opportunity to organize and train his own special effects department and cultivate his own special effects talents.

Just as he told his uncle, this was indeed a good opportunity.

First of all, what they shot was a TV movie, which was funded by the movie channel, so the costs were fixed and there was no pressure on the box office.

Secondly, because of the broadcasting platform, the audience will be more tolerant of their works, and as long as the special effects are acceptable, it will be enough.

In this situation, if I don't do some movie special effects to practice, do I have to wait until I can practice on the big screen movie in the future?

You know, what Wang Hao wants to do in the future is to build a science fiction movie universe that is unique to China. This means that most of the movies he shoots in the future will be science fiction films with a lot of special effects.

So when it comes to special effects production, it is better to prepare early than late.

This kind of preparation is not only about technology and equipment, but more importantly, it is about the reserve of special effects talents and the accumulation of experience.

This is not a joke.

You have to know that this special effects production technology is difficult but also simple.

In Wang Hao's previous life, after a long period of development, China's special effects industry was actually not much weaker than that of foreign countries.

Many special effects production companies have obtained a number of outsourcing projects from foreign companies by relying on low labor costs.

Even many big-budget movies have the presence of Chinese special effects companies behind them.

But now that technology has advanced, why do the special effects in many Chinese movies still give people a shoddy and cheap feeling?

In addition to the arrival of the traffic era and the high cost of film remuneration leading to the compression of production costs and special effects costs, it is actually because many Chinese filmmakers simply do not know how to use special effects.

Especially some directors and teams, they don’t even have experience in this area.

You must know that the so-called special effects do not just refer to the post-processing work after the filming of a movie, it runs through the entire film production process.

Special effects are not just some kind of visual effect, but a complete organic system that is closely linked to the entire movie.

From the moment a project is launched, special effects personnel have to work with the crew's art, props, styling and other departments to create conceptual designs for characters and scenes based on the script and director's settings, so as to achieve a complete unity of special effects and film style.

Just based on this point, many of China's future movie special effects will actually be substandard.

For example, although it is clearly a Chinese mythology or fantasy film, the monster models that appear in the movie are all Western styles.

This is a communication problem between the early stage director and the special effects production department.

In addition to this, there are actually many similar problems.

For example, many directors blindly worship foreign special effects technology, so they also find foreign special effects teams when shooting movies.

As a result, due to language barriers and cognitive differences, there was a miscommunication between the two parties. In the end, a lot of money was spent, but the special effects produced were disappointing.

Therefore, for the future "science fiction movie universe", Wang Hao must now start preparing for his own special effects work.

(End of this chapter)

previouscatalognext