Exploiting Hollywood 1980

Ronald came to the studio of the film studio. Xiao Yan's father was the lighting engineer of the crew "The Female Director's Boyfriend". He stood next to a large trailer with several wires pulled out from the trailer that connected the lights to the scene.

"The Female Director's Boyfriend" is the sequel to another blockbuster movie "Postal Fate" two years ago. The leading actor is Guo Kaimin, the actor who played "Romance in Lushan Mountain". He was speaking his lines into the camera.

Ronald noticed that the crew here did not have a microphone for live recording. He was wondering when he heard a man wearing a director's hat tilted to stop the rehearsal.

That was a senior director of the film studio, his surname was Sang. After he went up and talked about the scene with the actors, he gestured for the camera to start filming. The shooting habits here are very different. Perhaps in order to save film, the actors have to rehearse many times before going on camera to shoot.

"Buzz..." The scene was still filled with a moderate noise. It was also the first time for Ronald to see a crew filming like this.

"Do you, Hollywood, also make sequels to successful movies?" Ever since Assistant Director Huang found out that Ronald could speak a little Chinese, he had been pestering him to ask questions, and he was very interested in Hollywood's advanced concepts and technologies.

There was no radio at the scene and there was still noise, so Ronald was not afraid of disturbing the filming and explained to Assistant Director Huang from a distance.

"There are many situations like this in Hollywood. It is very natural to make a sequel after a blockbuster movie. The audience is familiar with the plot and characters, which can greatly reduce marketing costs. The main creator no longer has to worry about exploring the plot and whether it will be liked by the audience."

"Stop!" Director Sang stopped another rehearsal, "Very good, this is it, we will officially shoot later."

"Dad!" Xiao Yan ran over, said hello to his father, then pointed at Ronald and told Director Sang why Ronald was here.

"Ah, it turns out it's a foreign friend. Let Lao Yan go. His apprentice has already started training. It's fine as long as he is here."

"Hello, Mr. Yan," Ronald greeted Xiao Yan's father very politely.

His name is Yan Zhongfang. He is a lighting engineer and engineer in a film studio. He has invented many practical new lighting equipment.

"Buzz... click"

The noise stopped after Yan Zhongfang turned off a switch on the car.

"Hello." Yan Zhongfang wiped his hands with a towel and came up to shake hands with Ronald. He didn't know why the foreigner wanted to see him.

"I would like to ask,

What's this? Why do you want to put a noise source here? Isn't it very inconvenient for on-site recording? "Ronald was interested in different shooting methods.

"This is a DC power supply vehicle for lighting. Unlike Hollywood, we have advanced technical level dysprosium lamps. The dysprosium-holmium lamps we design and manufacture ourselves are used with DC. It happens that our crew does not need to receive live sound, so DC Converter noise is not a big deal.”

"What do you want from me?" Yan Zhongfang asked Ronald.

"I'm here to buy advanced lamps from you. I hope you can sell or rent them. The price is negotiable." Ronald said he wanted to buy the lamps invented by Yan Zhongfang.

"Aren't you a guest from Hollywood? Why do you want to buy our lamps? Your lamps are more advanced than ours?"

Yan Zhongfang had a look of surprise on his face. He didn't understand that his invention was reverse-engineered and manufactured based on advertisements in overseas magazines and brief performance descriptions. How could a Hollywood director want to do this? Buy from yourself?

"No, yours is more advanced than ours." Ronald said affirmatively.

…

"Oh, what you are interested in is the lightning lamp." Yan Zhongfang listened to his son's explanation for a while, and then took Ronald to the warehouse of the film studio.

Pulling open the carefully covered cloth, one of Yan Zhongfang's inventions, a boxy lighting equipment, lay quietly on the ground.

"That's it, we didn't have a lot of movies to shoot lightning shots on, and it wasn't used in many places, so it just sat in the warehouse."

Yan Zhongfang turned on another DC power supply, connected it to the light power supply, set the switch on the back of the lamp, and then gently flipped the switch, and a burst of bright light emitted from the scene.

"Wow, this is it!" Ronald was excited.

The lights stimulated by 50,000 volts of high voltage are like lightning, making the warehouse shine very brightly. The light emitted from the boxy lamp illuminated the entire floor regardless of the brightness of the original incandescent lamp in the warehouse.

The lightning flashed three times, each lasting for more than a second, and then calmed down.

"How is this done? No one in Hollywood can create lightning effects as realistic as yours. Mr. Yan Zhongfang, you are going to make a fortune." Ronald also wanted to step forward and do it himself.

"The lightning lamp needs to rest for a period of time and wait for the heat of the explosion to dissipate before it can be started again." Yan Zhongfang felt the temperature near the lamp with his hand, and then asked Ronald to set the time himself, and another lightning strike occurred.

"This lightning can also set the time accurately!" Ronald liked it more and more.

"The scientific name of this is high-power high-voltage DC long-arc xenon lightning lamp." Yan Zhongfang proudly introduced his invention.

"The color rendering of xenon lamps is very good and the brightness is sufficient. The flash time can be precisely controlled and can simulate the brightness of lightning at any night. However, the lamps used are long-arc xenon lamps, which we use to illuminate large stadiums. They are in public places, so the cost is relatively expensive. We can’t use them indiscriminately. There are some film studios across the country, and those who want to shoot lightning scenes come to borrow them.”

Ronald had a very interesting chat with inventor Yan Zhongfang.

Yan Zhongfang not only invented the lightning lamp, but also imitated the same studio lighting lamp as Alai in Germany.

Movies have evolved into the color era, and the carbon arc lamps used in the black and white era can no longer be used. Later, someone invented the dysprosium lamp and added the rare element dysprosium to the lamp, which allowed various colors to be reproduced more accurately on color film.

However, the film studio could not find a matching high-power AC power supply, so it had to bypass the AC-DC converter and make a lamp that uses DC power. It added two unique rare elements, dysprosium and holmium, to overcome the stroboscopic effect. question.

The price of the DC power supply is that there is low noise on set. Fortunately, film studios now use post-dubbing for filming, so this shortcoming has not been amplified.

"How did you come up with the idea of ​​increasing the voltage to increase the brightness of the lightning lamp? The high-voltage performance of the long-arc xenon lamp is so good." Ronald touched the lamp and looked at it like a treasure.

"I also once connected the wrong power supply to 380-volt industrial electricity on the set. I found that the light bulb was much brighter than the 220-volt one before it blew up, so I came up with the idea of ​​inventing a lightning lighting lamp.

Finally, it was in the journals of the Soviet Union that I discovered the performance advantages of the long-arc xenon lamp and invented the lightning lamp. However, our factory director said that I was not doing my job properly and was not very supportive of my continued experiments. "

"Why? With your talent, you should be engaged in specialized product research and development work, instead of condescending to be a lighting engineer on the set." Ronald started to think about poaching people.

"My inventions and creations all use equipment from the factory. The long-arc xenon lamp was also reported to the superiors by the factory. Without the support of the factory director, I would not have invented the lightning lamp. Let me go, I will not I'm willing to give it up." Yan Zhongfang's family is here, so he is a little reluctant to go to America.

"Then I will buy two sets of lightning light equipment, and you can set a price."

"I can't set a price. This is the property of the factory."

"I'll buy a complete set of patents and production processes from you. I'll pay in US dollars and you set a price." Ronald keenly felt that the effect of this lightning lamp was extraordinary. As long as it was introduced to Hollywood, all movies related to lightning would be If you want to rent your own lamps, it will be a separate business at that time.

"This belongs to the unit. Private individuals have no right to sell it, but I can report it to the factory director."

"You want to buy our lightning lamp?" Director Xu of the film studio was surprised when he saw Ronald bringing Xiao Yan and his son to express their willingness to buy.

"Yes, it's a very good light fixture, and we don't have such good equipment in Hollywood."

"But our film studio doesn't produce this kind of lamps? These two lightning lamps are prototype lamps made by Master Yan Zhongfang when he was inventing."

"Huh?", Ronald thought, why don't you understand the value of this lamp?

"But they don't seem to understand that with such a small amount of films being made every year, not many have lightning shots. It's not like all the shoddy romance films, horror films, and even Broadway stage plays in Hollywood, which all have lightning effects." Luo Nader understood that here, Yan Zhongfang's invention was just a toy. It could only be turned into a business in America, which has a huge film and television market.

"How about I give you a letter of introduction, and you go to the state-owned electronic lighting factory in Minhang to purchase. Master Yan Zhongfang's drawings can be given to you, as long as..."

"I can bid on your patent."

Director Xu also traveled to Japan and the South and knew the meaning of capitalist patents, but that was not what they needed.

"Our country's scientific and technological strength is still relatively backward. Only at certain points can we break through the world's advanced scientific and technological level..."

Ronald didn't know how to answer this.

Xiao Yan translated Director Xu's words, and then said to Ronald, "We rely on ratings for everything here. My dad has invented so many new equipment, but he has not yet been rated as a senior engineer. As long as you can give us a proof, This invention has reached the international advanced level in the 1970s, and both my father and Director Xu are responsible for it."

"Oh, don't be modest. You are not at the international advanced level in the 1970s, but you have achieved international breakthroughs. Now your lightning special effects level is the best in the world, and the entire Hollywood is not as good as you."

"Is what this foreigner said true? Is it really that good?" Director Xu was a little worried and quietly asked the translator Xiao Yan.

"I can ask the American Film Association and the American Film Institute of Technology and Arts to provide you with evaluation reports. I will also purchase a large number of bulbs for your lightning lights. As long as you can sign an exclusive supply agreement with me .”

Ronald stated his conditions.

"The American Academy of Film Technology and the Arts is the organizer of the Oscars." Assistant Director Huang also knew some English and immediately reported to Director Xu.

This film studio's scientific and technological breakthrough was discovered by Ronald, and it went from a lamp that no one cared about in the warehouse to the most important scientific and technological breakthrough on the literary and artistic front.

People from the Municipal Science and Technology Commission also came and talked with Ronald for a long time. Finally, the mayor personally approved the exclusive sale of movie lightning tubes and the control equipment invented by Yan Zhongfang to Ronald's "Daydream Production Company" .

After signing the agreement, Ronald also followed Chinese rules and hosted a banquet for the leaders of the film studio and famous actors and directors.

Yan Zhongfang has already explained to Ronald, "This kind of long arc xenon lamp is only manufactured in the Eastern camp. In the West, you have already switched to metal halide lamps with lower cost and better luminous efficiency as lighting equipment for large stadiums. .

However, the color rendering effect of metal halide lamps is not good, and the film appears yellowish, so it cannot be used for movie shooting. "

This kind of lamp is only still produced by a state-owned electronic lamp factory in Minhang. The products produced by this factory are also supplied to the whole country.

A large number of light tubes were purchased first and the bill was paid in US dollars. Then he purchased the lighting control equipment and manufacturing drawings from the film studio. And we got the exclusive right to purchase America and the right to apply for a patent in America.

Ronald was very happy, knowing that he had picked up something good this time. Not only can it be used as a monopoly business, but it can also be used to enter many Hollywood crews.

Factory Director Xu and other leaders are also very happy. Not only are they about to receive two national-level scientific and technological progress awards, but there will also be one more senior engineer in the factory. The mayor has agreed to give Yan Zhongfang a special allowance from the city government.

This kind of talent is rarer than an eighth-level fitter. If a film studio has one, it can put the rubber factory next to it a little bit lower than the university.

Yan Zhongfang was also very happy. Not only did he solve the problem of senior engineers, he also received a subsidy. The younger son's future was also settled together.

Ronald said privately that although Yan Zhongfang, as an employee of the film studio, could not personally invest in the lightning lamp production and sales company that Ronald was planning to establish, his son Xiaoyan would learn English well and would receive a letter of recommendation, tuition scholarship, and study in America in the future. Director Ronald will take care of all the issues for him in his future work units.

Xiao Yan is also very happy. Not only can he study photography openly, but he also has the opportunity to study abroad in America. This is a treatment that only a few popular female stars in the film studio can have.

Ronald, who was very happy because he accidentally drank too much rice wine, pulled Xiao Yan aside and gave him his Nikon SLR camera.

"You study photography and English well, and when you come to America in the future, whether it's New York or Los Angeles, I'll take care of it for you."

Assistant Director Huang who was accompanying her was also very envious. She had just started working as Director Xie's assistant and had not yet directed a movie independently. Xiao Yan was so envious of her for having such good conditions.

"Assistant Director Huang, I can see that you really like movies. If you like movies, the most important thing is to make them. From now on, I will regularly send you the latest Hollywood movie videos, as well as the latest Hollywood movie science. You can read the latest theories and trends in the art academy’s journals.”

Ronald was also moved by these people's enthusiasm for movies. Rice wine has a strong stamina. He made a huge pledge to give young people more opportunities to get in touch with Hollywood.

"Director Ronald, let me toast you." Assistant Director Huang didn't expect that he would do something good, so he immediately stood up and gave him a toast.

"You can't drink any more. Your wine starts off mediocre and has too much stamina." Ronald felt like he had drunk a little too much.

"Ah, let me make you some wolfberry to relieve hangover." Assistant Director Huang quickly went to get some wolfberry, made a cup with black tea, and handed it to Ronald.

"Well, this tastes good, sweet."

"Director Luo likes it and asks the factory office to prepare some for him to take back." Director Xu immediately ordered.

"It tastes really good." Ronald was sitting on the return plane, drinking wolfberry black tea. This trip was really fruitful.

Ronald locked a lightning lamp sample, dozens of accessories for long-arc xenon lamp tubes, design drawings, and materials for patent applications into a large prop box made by the film studio. Equipment box, brought on board in person.

When I went back this time, I just happened to find someone to modify it and try out the effect in the typhoon and storm scenes of the new movie "Dragon Boy 2".

－－－－－－Digression－－－－－

The author is busy today, so there is only one update.

In addition, it is true that Yan Zhongfang invented the lightning lamp, and it was used by a Hollywood lighting engineer to open a medium-sized lighting rental company.

Yan Zhongfang also won the Oscar Technical Award for this lightning lamp.

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