Chapter 455 Technology Development and Learning

Chapter 455 Technology Development and Learning

Chapter 455 Technology Development and Learning
As the largest, most advanced and most influential film and television production base in China today, the status of [Eastern Galaxy Movie Metropolis] can be said to be unique, even Hengdian, which is known as the largest film and television production base, cannot compare to it.

After all, firstly, it is located in the core area of ​​the country of Shangjing, and secondly, [Oriental Galaxy Movie Metropolis] is mainly focused on high-end film and television production services.

With the strong support of Wang Hao, an international commercial film director, and after so many years of vigorous development of Galaxy Group and the tempering in the process of shooting and producing the [Galaxy Cinematic Universe] series of films, [Eastern Galaxy Cinema Metropolis] has reached the top domestic and world-class level in terms of both hardware facilities and software services.

There are two 1 square meter indoor studios in the Film City. These two large studios alone are constantly booked in advance by big-budget films from home and abroad. Even many Hollywood productions have no time to spare.

In addition, there are two indoor studios of 8 square meters, two indoor studios of 6 square meters, four indoor studios of 5 square meters, eight indoor studios of 3 square meters, eight indoor studios of 2 square meters, ten indoor studios of 1 square meters, one outdoor pool and one indoor water shed, which can basically meet the various needs of different crews.

Of course, if you have special requirements for underwater shooting, the Hangzhou Bay branch of [Eastern Galaxy Film City] also has the largest underwater production center in China and even in the world.

Just this year, at the end of 2014, Wang Hao, through his strong support for 3D movies and his mutual appreciation for technology, reached an agreement with the Hollywood director Cameron to bring part of the filming and production of "Avatar 2" to the Hangzhou Bay branch of [Eastern Galaxy Movie Metropolis].

This incident was reported extensively by many domestic media and local media, creating quite a stir.

In addition to these large and small studios, [Oriental Galaxy Movie Metropolis] also has a complete set of the most advanced film and television virtual production platforms in the country.

These include HMC facial capture system, motion capture system, virtual shooting system, 3D scanning system, DIT image management system, real-time rendering system, and Witness camera system.

It can be said that it is precisely because of this complete set of film and television virtual production platforms that Starlight Fantasy, a subsidiary of Galaxy Group, is currently China's top special effects company, and has the confidence to compete with Hollywood's Weta Digital and Industrial Light & Magic for business.

Don't think this is an exaggeration. If nothing else, the HMC facial capture system in this film and television virtual production platform was based on the equipment used in many movies such as "Avatar" and "Rise of the Planet of the Apes". It was jointly researched and created by Galaxy Group, DJI, OPPO, and Huawei.

The system is equipped with a pair of 2K cameras that can accurately capture the details of the actors' facial movements and convert them into computer images.

In addition to the facial capture system, the motion capture system is also necessary. This system is composed of a motion capture array of 132 Optitrack Prime41Xs and 12 Optitrack Prime41s. It was created by Gary Roberts, a famous Hollywood virtual shooting expert, at the invitation of Galaxy Group. It is also the most advanced shooting equipment in the country.

The system has basically achieved a shadowless environment and can capture 11 people at the same time. The capture accuracy and film and television applications are both the highest standards in Hollywood, and it can undertake projects with the highest technical standards in the industry.

Of course, these devices are mostly used in China in the science fiction films produced by Galaxy Group.

However, after [Oriental Galaxy Cinema] took over Hollywood's film and television projects, it was also able to meet their related needs.

For example, the "X-Men: Apocalypse" in which Jing Tian is currently making a guest appearance was not only filmed in the large studio of [Oriental Galaxy Movie Metropolis], but the creation of several characters, such as Apocalypse, Beast, Angel and other characters, also applied these two sets of equipment to capture and collect, convert them into digital information, and then perform special effects rendering.

Of course, "X-Men: Apocalypse" was also filmed in several locations in China, and used most of the Chinese behind-the-scenes team and some Chinese actors.

But the main reason is that Galaxy Cinema is well-equipped, has a large number of staff and strong technology, so they can rest assured to hand over the special effects work of the movie to Galaxy Group's special effects company Starlight Fantasy.

It is precisely because of the participation of Chinese forces that the production cost of the movie "X-Men: Apocalypse" was at least 8% less than their original budget plan, and the shooting time was also shortened by half a month.

Don't underestimate this 8%. With the same amount of money, you may not be able to get such a high interest rate if you put it in the bank. These are all real US dollars. With this as a foundation, there is absolutely no problem for Jing Tian to make a cameo appearance in "X-Men: Apocalypse" and show his face.

Even at the beginning, the crew actually wanted Jing Tian to play the female character "Psylocke" among the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in the movie, but she refused. After all, the role had a lot of action scenes, and her back and legs were not in good condition, so there was no need for her to suffer for such a role.

Anyway, with Wang Hao as her fiancé, she doesn't have to worry about filming, so in "X-Men: Apocalypse", Jing Tian only made a cameo appearance as a teacher with the ability to "encourage".

Moreover, this part of the guest appearance was not long. It only took Jing Tian half a day to complete the filming task.

Just finishing her guest appearance in "X-Men: Apocalypse" does not mean that she has no other work in [Eastern Galaxy Film City].

After leaving one studio, she quickly entered another studio, and in this studio was another Hollywood movie that was also shot and produced in [Oriental Galaxy Movie Metropolis].

In this movie, Jing Tian undoubtedly has a lot more scenes.

However, even if he had more roles, it would not be of much benefit to Jing Tian, ​​because the protagonist in this movie is not a human being, but a gorilla.

Yes, Jing Tian’s second Hollywood movie was the fantasy adventure blockbuster “Kong: Skull Island” jointly produced by Warner Bros. Pictures, Legendary Pictures, Wanda Pictures and Galaxy Pictures.

The film is directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts and stars Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, John Goodman and Jing Tian. It is also a series in the same cinematic universe.

Just like in "X-Men: Apocalypse", Wang Hao was invited by Legendary Pictures, the main producer of "Kong: Skull Island", to take on the title of chief planner.

However, unlike 20th Century Fox, perhaps because the first film in the series, "Godzilla", did not receive good reviews, Legendary Pictures was eager to change this situation and listened to some of Wang Hao's opinions and suggestions on the Monster Movie Universe.

The first is the issue of rhythm. Wang Hao had seen works in the Monster Movie Universe in his previous life and knew that because the copyright of Godzilla was purchased by Legendary Pictures from Toho and time was limited, there was not enough time to lay the groundwork.

This series is different from the Marvel and Galaxy movie universes which were planned by high-level executives, and also different from Warner DC which was coordinated by director Zack Snyder. There are four works and four directors, and the look of each film is okay, but there is no unified style of expression.

I don’t know whether it was due to the pursuit of realism or cost control reasons, but the full appearance of Godzilla was not revealed until halfway through the plot. In short, the whole process was dull and boring.

As for Kong: Skull Island, it learned from the previous film and made Kong the absolute protagonist, with all human characters being tools, so the plot was much smoother. But the problem is that the film is set in the 70s, which is completely different from the main timeline of the first Godzilla, and it does not help the newly established worldview at all.

That is to say, the later "Godzilla 2: King of the Monsters" performed quite well. After the trial and exploration of the first two films, Legendary Pictures finally got the hang of the "Monster Movie Universe".

The first thing Wang Hao has to do is to help Legendary Pictures solve the copyright issue.

This is actually not difficult, after all, the Galaxy Group still has some influence in Japan.

Thanks to China's cultural opening-up strategy toward Japan over the past year, and the huge cake of the Galaxy Cinematic Universe, the Galaxy Group has attracted several film and television companies, cultural companies, many artists, celebrities, and behind-the-scenes teams there.

In addition, with the mediation of Sony Pictures and the endorsement of Wang Hao, the successful "Father of the Cinematic Universe", after several difficult negotiations, Toho finally agreed to extend the cooperation with Legendary Pictures and give the "Monster Cinematic Universe" more room for development.

Of course, in this process, Galaxy Pictures and Sony Pictures naturally joined the project, and Galaxy Pictures also brought Wanda Pictures in.

Because Wanda is now asking Wang Hao to help make connections in order to acquire Legendary Pictures.

After solving the copyright time issue, Wang Hao's second step is to help the "Monster Movie Universe" establish a suitable world view structure.

In this part, he also absorbed the essence of "Godzilla 2". In what he told Legendary Pictures, the world view established by the "Monster Movie Universe" must be grand, mysterious and fascinating.

Humans are not the kings of the earth. There are still many ancient Titans in the world. Our human civilization is not the first civilization on earth. There were super ancient civilizations tens of thousands of years ago.

Prehistory and modern times, mythology and the end of the world, Titans and humans, as well as differences in ecological concepts among humans. This is a magnificent world full of complex and contradictory relationships.

In addition to monsters, it would be better to incorporate more other elements.

For example, we can borrow the setting of Jules Verne's "Journey to the Center of the Earth" and make the earth not only have the world on the ground, but there is actually a space for another monster to live in the center of the earth.

For example, some Cthulhu elements are incorporated into the "Monster Movie Universe", while some ancient Titan monsters are given divinity, introducing the concepts of mythical beasts and magical beasts.

In this way, while forming a confrontation between good and evil, it can also allow humans to form a symbiotic relationship with monsters because of their faith, linking it to the history of ancient human civilization and enhancing the audience's sense of involvement.

Legendary Pictures accepted all of this and quickly made certain modifications and improvements to the plot of the movie "Kong: Skull Island" based on the world setting of the "Monster Cinematic Universe" given by Wang Hao.

For example, Legendary Pictures' original "King Kong: Skull Island" chose the United States, which had just ended the war in the 70s, as the background of the story, and the indigenous people on Skull Island were closer to the realistic yellow people in the South Pacific.

With Wang Hao's participation, these South Pacific natives became descendants of the ancient Chinese ancestors, and the architectural style of the island is also full of Chinese elements.

As for King Kong, it also has a Chinese name, which is "Long Bo".

The "Classic of Mountains and Seas: Great Wilderness East Classic" says: "In the Bogu Mountain, there is a country of great men, called Longbo Country."

The book "Tang Wen" in Liezi recorded: "In the country of Longbo, there was a great man who could reach the place of five mountains in just a few steps and catch six turtles with a fishing rod."

Chapter 46 of Romance of the Three Kingdoms: "As for Long Bo, Hai Ruo, Jiang Fei, jellyfish, whales a thousand feet long, centipedes with nine heads, ghosts, monsters and strange creatures, all are present."

Guo Pu of the Jin Dynasty commented on the "Hetu Jade Plate": "The people of Longbo country are thirty feet long and live for 18,000 years before dying."

The second poem of "Entering the Sea" by Zhang Shuo of the Tang Dynasty also has this: "Long Bo is like a human being, one hook catches two turtles."

These descriptions can all correspond to the situations of King Kong and Skull Island, and will also be spoken by the scholar of ancient Chinese civilization played by Jing Tian in the movie, fundamentally providing a solid historical support for the monster world.

Of course, Wang Hao and Jing Tian participated in the production of "Kong: Skull Island" and the "Monster Cinematic Universe", and those consulting fees and actor pay are actually nothing.

The key point is that this project was also pulled to China's [Oriental Galaxy Film City] for filming and production because of Wang Hao. The various impacts brought about by this are much more important than the film remuneration and consulting fees.

Although Legendary Pictures had to turn to Hollywood's Industrial Light & Magic for help due to the higher difficulty in producing the special effects of "Kong: Skull Island", thanks to Wang Hao and Galaxy Group's greater say in the film, as well as the host and price advantages, Galaxy Group's Starlight Fantasy Special Effects Company was also able to participate in the production of the project.

Not only did they undertake almost half of the special effects work, which was not that difficult, but they also used this project to learn a lot of technology from Industrial Light & Magic while cooperating with them.

You should know that "Kong: Skull Island" still has a lot of technical content. Its special effects are created differently from many visual blockbusters. It is not a King Kong image created by full-scale or partial-scale electronic animation, motion capture and CG technology, but a 100-foot-tall keyframed CG image with specific design features.

The members of Starlight Fantasy had never been exposed to this new technology. They had previously thought that Industrial Light & Magic would create the giant monster King Kong through CGI and motion capture technology, just like Weta, another industry giant that participated in the production of "Rise of the Planet of the Apes".

It is through this rare opportunity that they can come into contact with top foreign counterparts and understand and learn new special effects technology content.

(End of this chapter)