Heads Up Hollywood

Is Tang En a filmmaker?

You can say that.

But he is by no means an artist, at least not in an artist's mind.

For him, movies are a tool to make money and realize his ambitions, far from the belief concepts of "ideal", "pursuit", and "you can't become a Buddha without being crazy".

Hollywood has gathered the best film artists in the world, and there are too many believers who regard movies as their lives.

Old-school directors, nothing less.

Mr. Clint Eastwood, in his nineties, still insists on making a movie every year, why?

money?

Obviously not.

His money has already run out.

Master-level directors all have a faith-like pursuit in their hearts, even... including the young Christopher Nolan.

Although Nolan is young, his "conservative" film creation view is also quite well-known in the industry - sticking to film shooting, sticking to "scissors" editing, sticking to real scenes and on-site framing, sticking to traditional physical special effects...

This kind of loyalty and adherence to "film ethics" will appear out of date in the digital age.

Of course, no matter whether it is the new school or the old school, there is no distinction between high and low.

The old school has Martin Scorsese, Clint Eastwood, Woody Allen, David Lynch, Christopher Nolan...

The new school has George Lucas, James Cameron, Ann Lee, Peter Jackson, Zack Snyder...

No one is bad!

Tang En didn't cultivate his belief in movies since he was a child. Like Cameron, he came from a wild family background, and he really didn't have a strong desire to defend the "orthodoxy" of movies.

Especially from the perspective of investors and producers, he really hopes that commercial blockbusters can be shot on green screen!

It's easy and saves money!

The current green screen technology is very mature, enough to confuse the real ones.

Not to mention ordinary audiences, even professionals, it is difficult to distinguish with the naked eye.

For example, "Ghost Rider", half of the shots are shot on green screen, who can tell?

In Roland Emmerich's disaster blockbuster "The Day After Tomorrow", even 80% of the shots were completed in front of the green screen.

There is no way, the current film technology...is still being promoted.

Dunn is mainly promoting the imax format, George Lucas is mainly promoting digital photography, James Cameron is promoting 3D movies, Robert Zemeckis is promoting motion capture technology...

However, the mainstream is still the traditional old-school director.

Even New Universal, in the face of this group of old forces, has to back down, and offered a sky-high price of 150 million US dollars in production costs to direct Tim Burton's "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory".

For a green screen shoot...$100 million is enough!

Who called him Tim Burton?

Hot!

Tang En didn't give the money, but was robbed by others.

Anyway, the movies created by the "Iron Triangle" do not have the possibility of losing money.

The higher the production cost, the higher it is.

In contrast, Twain still prefers to cooperate with directors like Cameron.

Although this force is also a waste of money, the money he wasted was in the presentation of movie content and the development of new technologies, not in the pursuit of movie concepts.

...

A week after "Ghost Rider" hits theaters, Warner Bros.' epic "Troy" will hit the market.

But Tang En didn't take it to heart.

Although the film invested 175 million US dollars and brought together stars such as Brad Pitt, Orlando Bloom, and Diane Kruger, it wanted to replace the magical action-themed comic blockbuster "Evil" with this old-fashioned plot. "Spirit Knight" is still very difficult to become a hit in the market.

Tang En is currently meeting with an important person——James Cameron!

"I went to the underwater world for three years on vacation, and I'm finally going out of the mountain?"

Tang En laughed and teased him, opened his arms, and gave him a big hug.

Cameron had disappeared for a long time. He followed Tang En to the reception room. While walking, he looked around and said with emotion, "Yes, it's been three years. I never expected that such a big change will take place in three years!"

Tang En said stinkingly: "It's not bad, he is the richest man in the world, hehe."

Cameron was slightly taken aback, and couldn't help but said, "I'm not talking about you, but about the current movie situation."

"Um?"

Tang En blinked, his heart skipped a beat, and he suddenly thought of something.

After Cameron took his seat, he didn't shy away from Dun En's secretary, Ella Fisher, and said bluntly: "Tang En, I think the time is ripe. That project... can be launched."

"Avatar?"

"That's right!"

Tang En took a deep breath.

There was a surge of excitement in my heart.

Wonderful work!

The script of "Avatar" was written as early as 1994. This was limited by the computer technology at the time, and there was no way to shoot it, so Cameron took the next best thing and filmed "Titanic".

It's a pity that it was snatched away by Twain who turned out to be out of nowhere.

Later, Cameron filmed "Unsinkable" and achieved great success. Then he handed over the script of "Avatar" to Tang En, and told Tang En that he was going to the underwater world, and when there was a breakthrough in film technology, when would he come back.

Start filming "Avatar"!

"Is the technology okay?"

Twain thought he could be regarded as a representative of the new school of directors, but when it comes to film technology, there is still a big gap compared with Cameron.

"about there."

Cameron said confidently.

Tang En frowned and said, "Didn't you say that you want to make "Avatar" into a 3D movie?"

Cameron said, "Yes."

"A breakthrough in 3D technology?" Tang En asked in surprise with his eyes wide open.

Cameron said proudly: "Do you think I really went to the underwater world for vacation? The year before last, I had a creative reform of 3D technology and filmed the documentary "Return to the Battleship Bismarck". Last year, 3D direct shooting technology basically took shape, and I I shot "Deep Sea Ghost". In the past two months, my team has finished filming "Deep Sea Alien", and the 3D pen-hold shooting technology has been completely perfected!"

"Put two cameras side by side to simulate the human eye?"

"Almost, that's the principle."

"sharp!"

Tang En took a deep breath.

Sure enough, he is a master of technology!

Cameron said disapprovingly: "It's not that magical. 3D movies appeared decades ago, and I just made a slight improvement. Among the six major technical problems of "Avatar", 3D shooting technology is the simplest. .”

"No?"

Tang En had a look of disbelief, as if his world view had been subverted.

Among the six major technical problems of "Avatar", 3D shooting is the easiest?

3D movies have indeed been around for 50 years.

However, traditional 3D cameras are too bulky and can only shoot straight ahead. Except for fixed-angle documentaries, they are almost useless.

Most of the 3D movies on the market use 3D conversion technology. It is to convert ordinary format movies into 3D format through technical means, and watch them through 3D glasses.

Converted 3D movies have poor effects, dark colors, and low resolution. After wearing the glasses, there will be a strong sense of dizziness and discomfort.

The viewing experience...is not even as good as an ordinary movie.

This is also the reason why imax conversion technology can become popular after its appearance, but 3D conversion technology is despised and discarded by Hollywood.

In "Avatar", Cameron upgraded the traditional 3D camera into two smaller high-definition digital cameras, which solved the problem that 3D movies cannot be shot directly.

This is definitely a world-class innovation!

Unexpectedly, the 3D pen-hold shooting technology... In the eyes of Cameron, it is only the easiest one to solve among the six major technical problems of "Avatar".

So how many difficulties did you experience during the filming of "Avatar"?

No wonder the production cycle of "Avatar" is so long!

The project was established in 2004 with a one-year preparation period; (Actually, Cameron has started self-preparation since 2003, looking for language experts to design languages, looking for animal and plant experts to study animals and plants, looking for anthropologists to design the concept of aliens, etc. wait)

It was started in March 2005, completed in April 2007, and the filming period was two years;

Released at the end of December 2009...the post-production also lasted for two years.

Cameron smiled, "The unknown is difficult, and the solved problems are, of course, simple."

Tang En said angrily: "Okay, don't be fooled, tell me, what are the six major technical problems? Let's study and study. Those that have not been overcome must be overcome, and those that have been solved must be upgraded."

Cameron then took out a thick stack of documents from his briefcase, which are detailed information, and said succinctly: "Six major technical problems - 3D camera direct shooting, virtual camera design, full CGI characters Model building, motion capture technology, expression capture technology, new digital photography systems and digital technology."

You don’t need to look at the 3D camera to shoot directly. This is a difficult problem that has been solved.

This part of the information, up to 25 pages.

On the last page, Tang En narrowed his eyes. It was a "patent" report.

"You even got the patent?" Tang En looked at him with a strange expression.

Cameron said as a matter of course: "Of course, this is my creation!"

Tang En said deeply: "If I remember correctly... When you went to the underwater world, I even gave you a sum of money to let you explore 3D pen-hold shooting technology."

Cameron said innocently: "Didn't you say that it was a free donation?"

"Fart! Free donation... Have you paid the gift tax?" Tang En cursed very rudely.

Cameron smiled and said: "I said, 3D pen-hold shooting... is really not a great technology. The traditional 3D camera is equipped with a film camera, which is of course bulky. With the advancement of digital technology, 3D pen-hold shooting technology There will definitely be better and better development. My patent...that is, the past few years can be regarded as high-tech."

Tang En said angrily: "If New Universal wants to use this technology, it must be free."

"certainly!"

Cameron accepted it as soon as he saw it, and immediately agreed, and then sold it, saying: "Aren't you promoting imax format movies? That imax film camera is too bulky. If you want to popularize it better, you must launch a portable and lightweight one. Digital version."

"Even digital cameras are boycotted by old-school filmmakers, let alone imax digital cameras?"

Tang En waved his hand, calmed down, and said, "Dolby Laboratories is still in the process of research and development. Let's talk about "Avatar". The six major technical problems... For example, what does this virtual camera mean?" ()

Please remember the first domain name of this book: . :