Chapter 163 Industrialization of European and American Films

Chapter 163 Industrialization of European and American Films

Chapter 163 Industrialization of European and American Films (1)

Given the particularities of the North American film market, the fact that "Wushuang", a film directed and produced by a Chinese director and starring Chinese actors, was able to open in 571 theaters is enough to show the sincerity of Columbia Pictures.

You should know that when Zhang Guoshi's "Hero" was released in North America, it was only opened in 2500 theaters.

But at that time, Chinese martial arts films still had a certain reputation in North America and other places because of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", and some audiences liked them.

After that, this oriental craze gradually declined, and it was rare for foreign films to open in such high theaters.

As for Chinese-language films, it is even more difficult for them to enter the mainstream.

Therefore, Wang Hao is actually quite satisfied with the number of openings.

Moreover, he is also confident that his "Wushuang" will definitely conquer these foreign audiences.

After communicating with Howard Bruno about some matters concerning the movie release, the convoy finally arrived at the five-star hotel where they were staying.

It was already late at this time. Wang Hao and his companions had just arrived in North America and needed to adjust to the jet lag, so Howard did not stay long. After discussing tomorrow's visit and study with Wang Hao and others, he said goodbye and left.

Nothing happened that night. The next day, the entire "Study in the United States" class followed the predetermined plan and first went to Columbia Pictures' Hollywood studio to observe the industrial process of film production.

As a collaborator, Columbia Pictures was very open and did not hide anything. Not only did it show them the entire industrial process of the completed "Casino Royale", it also arranged for someone to explain it to them.

In the following days, they also visited various departments of Columbia Pictures and held a small symposium with the heads of various departments of Columbia Pictures.

At the meeting, everyone took "Casino Royale" as an example and conducted in-depth discussions and exchanges on film development, production, publicity and marketing, and distribution.

Before coming to Hollywood, everyone at Galaxy Interactive Entertainment knew more or less about the production process of Hollywood movies, but most of that knowledge came from textbooks, publications and papers. Although the content was not false, it was still somewhat distorted compared to what they learned after actual contact.

At least the "film industrialization" demonstrated by Columbia was somewhat beyond their expectations. It was truly industrialization in the literal sense.

There are rules and regulations to control the entire film production from beginning to end, which firmly controls the project in the hands of the company.

For example, the initial film project development plan.

As one of the "Big Seven" in Hollywood, Columbia has been somewhat desolate after being acquired by Sony. It is considered to be at the bottom of the Big Seven. However, the number of films produced each year can reach 15-17.

The selection of these film projects must first be cross-screened and reviewed by more than a dozen employees in the development department.

Only in this way can we select suitable projects from more than 400 reserve projects.

In order to select good projects, the creative team needs to submit a story outline of about 7 pages to the decision-making level, which is the so-called "green light" committee.

This "green light" committee is generally composed of members from the planning department, production department, finance department, global distribution department, derivative development department and legal department.

Together, they constitute a film project risk assessment and control system, which can be said to be an important mechanism in the development of Hollywood film projects.

Only with unanimous approval from the decision-making level can the project be further developed. This process alone may take as long as two years.

Although this may mean that project finalization may take a long time or even take forever, this "industrialized" process also has its advantages.

At least every film project of Columbia has formed its own data estimation model from the beginning of development, considering market demand, artistic value, production difficulty, budget size, distribution recovery, derivative output, legal risks and other aspects.

In this way, the company can ensure that films that enter the project approval process can achieve a profit return target of more than 15%.

Don't underestimate this point. For a large company, controlling risks is always more important than making profits.

Many Hollywood film companies have fallen into this trap. Often, a big-budget movie can seriously damage the company.

Therefore, these strict process restrictions often contain bloody lessons.

In contrast, domestic production management does not have a unified standard process and relies more on the personal abilities of the director or producer.

This situation may not have any impact on low-budget movies, but once it enters the field of commercial blockbusters, it is enough to determine the life or death of a film company.

Even with the approval of the "green light" committee, a project is only the first step towards success, and there are countless "industrialization" processes afterwards.

It is like the work of improving the script after the project is approved.

Regarding this part of the content, not only Wen Pengcheng, the head of the screenwriting department, was interested, but others were also very interested.

Columbia's screenwriting team consists of thirty or forty people. Yes, you read that right, there are indeed that many people.

Some of them are formal employees, while others are assistants or part-time workers.

The reason why so many people are needed is that Hollywood has its own industrial process for perfecting scripts, and often does a lot of things in advance.

For example, when the screenwriter perfects the script, some people are responsible for the world environment and social ecology design, some are responsible for the lines writing, some are responsible for the emotional scenes, and some are responsible for the action and war scenes.

Even the writing of details such as slogans or advertisements in certain environments is handled by dedicated people.

The reason why more than a dozen people were able to work together without any problems was that, on the one hand, the script format in Hollywood had been standardized, using the same font, format, and line spacing, and even having standard requirements for how many lines each character spoke and how many times each scene was used.

On the other hand, screenwriters in Hollywood have already used high-tech screenwriting software in their work.

As the saying goes, "If you want to do your work well, you must first sharpen your tools."

More than a dozen screenwriters are involved in the improvement of the film script at the same time. If no one is responsible for one aspect and then they coordinate together, the workload will be huge.

Therefore, the screenwriting departments in Hollywood all have the same screenwriting software. Through this software, screenwriters can modify the scripts in different places and at different times, exchange and communicate with each other, and work collaboratively in real time.

For the film industry, especially for large-scale commercial science fiction blockbusters, this trendy screenwriting software is necessary and can also greatly improve efficiency.

At least after listening to the introduction from his Hollywood colleague, Wen Pengcheng immediately looked at the boss behind him.

"Boss, we have to get a set of these. This is so convenient!"

He looked at Wang Hao, then at the computer on the table, and spoke excitedly. Although his voice was not loud, it was just loud enough for Wang Hao to hear clearly.

“Usually when we write a script, the most annoying thing is to change the script.

But what's even more frightening is that after making changes, you want to go back to a certain version but don't know if you can find it. This is very good. It uploads and stores in real time. All changes will be recorded and will not be deleted. All versions can be traced back.

Moreover, it not only allows text editing, but also has an insertion function.

In this way, when the director is involved in the screenwriting work and gets inspired by the story, he can add pictures, music or even videos to let other participants know the specific style and atmosphere. "

When Wang Hao heard this, he nodded in agreement and pointed out another advantage of this software.

“I see there is a basic statistics function in this software, which can count how many lines each character said and how many times each scene was used.

At the same time, you can also see the curve of each character's role after the software statistics, which allows you to know whether the proportion of this character in the script is too high or too low, and whether the plot points are sufficient.

With such precise data support, what is finally completed is a 'standard script'.

When an experienced producer gets this kind of script, he will definitely have the clearest and most intuitive concept of the film.

After all, the script is 90-120 pages long, which is exactly in line with the movie's 90-120 minutes length.

The plot’s plot has a clear plot structure and rhythm, and the data alone can help producers determine whether a film has the potential to be successful.”

Zhang Yang and others who heard his words were even more surprised at the power of Hollywood's screenwriting software. The staff member of Columbia who was explaining it to them was also proud of it and introduced it with a smile:
“You all seem to be very knowledgeable. For us, it is indeed a very convenient software, so now as long as there is an internet connection, our screenwriting department will use this software for their creations.

At present, this software has gone through many versions and has many new functions. It is a very powerful software.

However, as far as I know, there are companies currently researching a new scripting software.

I have heard from some colleagues in the industry that the advantage of the new software is that the development company is a company that specializes in assisting the crew.

So in addition to screenwriting, supporting software has been developed to assist in each industrial link, such as storyboarding and location scouting.

This forms an organic whole, that is, a dedicated ERP software for the entire film and television industry, including the entire industrial chain of front, middle and back ends, which can be managed and data can be mastered with one software.

It’s not like what we have now, where photographers, gear technicians, scene managers, etc. all use their own software.”

"What's the name of that company?"

Wang Hao asked curiously. As a director and company owner, he actually wanted to purchase this kind of software.

After all, after more than a year of filming, Galaxy Interactive Entertainment has expanded from a small company with only a few people to a new film force that integrates production, special effects, publicity, and agency businesses.

Especially "Fatal Call" and the current "Wushuang" have brought a lot of funds to Galaxy Interactive Entertainment's account.

What should we do with this money? Of course, we should continue to improve the level of China's film industry. It is also meaningful to spend a few million to buy technology and equipment from the North American film industry.

Besides, the industrialization of the film industry requires not only equipment and technology, but also talents. How do you get talents? Of course, you need practice.

How to practice? Doesn't this still require equipment?

As the saying goes, "A good cook cannot cook without rice." Only by purchasing new equipment and new technologies can the employees of Galaxy Interactive Entertainment gradually practice and adapt to the industrialization of the film industry.

In response to Wang Hao's question, the employee smiled and took out two business cards from his pocket.

"Call the number above and remember to say my name.

If you want to purchase other new equipment and software, you can also come to me."

It can be seen that he has done this more than once.

Wang Hao took the two business cards and immediately understood that the person in front of him must have introduced these software to countless people.

It is indeed a capitalist society, and there are people everywhere who can find business opportunities.

After leaving the screenwriting department, they visited other departments and discovered many good things hidden under industrialization.

For example, Columbia Pictures' film market research department, relying on the global advantages of the company's distribution department, compiles and compiles various data related to the film industry from all over the world, and then summarizes them to the company's headquarters. These market research data are used to guide the company's early development of film projects.

In addition, there is the development of film derivatives in post-production, which is also something that the film industry in mainland China lacks.

In Hollywood, once a movie has an initial script, cast, and art drafts, the business team will quickly step in and begin analyzing the material to study whether the film can or is worth making into derivative products.

Various toys, peripherals, collaborations, soundtracks, CDs, clothing, and even amusement parks can help film companies earn extra revenue, thereby greatly offsetting the risks brought by the film.

Of course, as a boss and director, what Wang Hao values ​​most in Columbia's entire industrial process is the PreViz step in their production preparation.

The so-called PreViz is the abbreviation of Previsualization, which means visual preview and pre-performance in Chinese. It can also be called "dynamic storyboard" or "3D storyboard".

To put it simply, PreViz is to simply make the shooting content before the formal shooting, using simple animations to show the actors' movements, framing, camera angles, camera movement trajectories and ranges, etc., for reference by directors, directors of photography, etc. during shooting.

This allows for a so-called "packaged-in-a-box" lens shooting solution.

This is already a very mature technology in Hollywood today. In many visual effects movies, dynamic storyboards have replaced traditional visual planning methods such as storyboards, concept maps, and physical model props.

Some more radical film companies have even proposed the concept of pre-shooting, which is to use completely digital means to shoot the entire film in a virtual scene.

Of course, this also means an increase in production costs.

But spending money also has its benefits.

"How much can you achieve with this 'packaged in a box' lens shooting solution?"

When Wang Hao asked this question, the staff of Columbia Company replied proudly:
“Through the systematic management of this entire lens list and dynamic lens preview, we can ensure that the lens shooting plan can achieve a high degree of restoration of more than 90%.”

“That’s really amazing!”

Li Kui, who knew the most about photography among the group, couldn't help but exclaim in admiration. At the same time, the other people looked at each other and had the same idea in their minds:

They should send producers and finance staff over here to exchange ideas and learn from them. If they knew that this kind of thing existed in the process of film and television production, they would be so happy.

(End of this chapter)