Heads Up Hollywood

After several discussions, a decision was finally made.

The shooting plan of "The Avengers" needs to be adjusted, and the latest expression capture equipment must be used.

However, it will not be used until next summer, and it will take a year to complete the improvement of the equipment.

In other words, the shooting of "The Avengers" will be divided into two parts: live-action shooting and green screen shooting.

Live shooting, will start immediately.

For green screen shooting, we will wait until next year when technology and equipment are more mature before shooting.

Live shooting needs to maintain a huge crew, with hundreds of various staff members. It is also necessary to communicate with the local government to arrange police forces to maintain law and order, and to run around in major cities, which is extremely expensive.

Green screen shooting is much easier, just get a studio and organize a shooting team.

According to the shooting plan of "The Avengers", 40% of the shots in the movie need to be shot in real scenes, and 60% of the shots can be completed with green screen.

However, 40% of live-action shoots take up to 8 weeks, and 60% of green screen shoots take 4-5 weeks.

This can also explain the simplicity, convenience and controllable cost of green screen shooting.

According to the schedule plan of Marvel Pictures, "Iron Man" and "Ant-Man 2" will be released successively next year, and "Avengers" will be launched in the summer of 2006.

From the perspective of time, it is not too late to shoot the green screen part next summer, but there will be less opportunities for reshoots, reshoots and subsequent rectifications, and there are certain risks.

The current cycle of "shooting + post-production" for commercial films is usually two years.

For example, George Lucas's "Star Wars Episode 3", such as "Daredevil 2" that Nolan is filming, such as "The Day After Tomorrow" and "Pirate Alliance 2" that have been released.

The main reason is to allow enough time to have a chance to remedy.

of course there are exceptions.

For example, a fast shooter like Spielberg must have one movie a year.

Marvel Pictures' "Avengers" series of movies, because of the formatted routines and definite style, so the risk is very small, and a one-year shooting cycle is usually enough.

Not to mention a director of Tang En's level.

The plot direction of "The Avengers" has long been deeply engraved in his mind.

Although this version of "The Avengers" is different from the previous life, there is no "Black Widow" and "Captain America", but there are "Ant-Man", "The Wasp" and "Spider-Man" participating in the battle, and the popularity is even higher!

Theoretically speaking, Tang En's version of "The Avengers" does not have any possibility of failure.

...

Twain has already transferred all the work of the new universe to Barry Diller, and he started the final retreat before the launch of "The Avengers".

Everyone also knows that the big boss is very busy, so they don't bother him.

The only exception is Chad Gelfond, the old prime minister of imax.

He came all the way to meet Tang En.

"What's up?"

Tang En's attitude was very friendly.

Under the leadership of Richard Gelfond, imax has developed very well.

Since imax developed the DMR conversion technology two years ago and successfully launched the first imax giant-screen film "Pirate Alliance 1: The Curse of the Black Pearl", imax has skyrocketed.

Within two years, the company's revenue has quadrupled!

Not only that, driven by New Universal, Disney, 20th Century Fox and other companies, movie theaters all over the world are working hard to upgrade their projection systems, and cooperate with imax to launch the imax giant screen hall.

Now, nearly 300 imax theaters have been built in more than 40 countries and regions around the world, including more than 100 in North America.

The cost of each imax theater will be between 1 million and 1.5 million US dollars. The biggest expenditure is the imax brand name, equipment rental and technical support fees.

Among the 300 imax theaters, 120 are one-time buyout deals. For future movie screenings, only 3%-5% of the box office share will be given to imax.

For the remaining 170 imax theaters, in addition to the box office share that must be given, they also have to pay a large amount of equipment rental. These are the main profit points of imax.

In front of Twain, Richard Gelfond's attitude became more friendly and humble, and he said with a smile, "Boss, I heard... your movie is not going to be shot directly with an imax camera?"

Tang En nodded, and said: "The Avengers has more characters, and the scene changes are more complicated, no more than "Daredevil 2". If you use an imax camera to shoot, it will be very troublesome to operate."

In the history of Hollywood, there has never been a movie shot directly with an imax camera.

All through DMR technology, post-transformation.

Nolan's Daredevil 2 will be a challenge. He will use an imax camera to shoot some of the highlights, which will account for about 20 minutes of the final film.

The main reason is that the imax camera is too bulky, and it is almost impossible to use it except for fixed-point shooting.

Richard Gelfond hesitated and said: "Boss, with all due respect, if the imax image wants to show the best visual effect, it still needs to be shot directly through the imax camera."

Tang En said: "So, it is necessary to upgrade the DMR conversion technology, and to convert 4K images!"

"Before "Project 880" is released, it should be able to be done. However, it may be difficult to complete the technical upgrade before the release of "Avengers". This is not only an upgrade of DMR technology, but also an upgrade of digital projection technology." Richard Gelfond shook his head.

In the previous life, imax did not launch laser digital projection technology until 2013, which replaced the original digital projection technology, raised the resolution of projection to 4K, and greatly solved the problems of light and color. (Previously, film was 4K and digital was 2K.)

However, the imax company in the previous life was impacted by "Avatar", and it only started research and development in 2010, and it took three years to complete.

In this life, because of Tang En's appearance, he began to urge imax in 2004 to increase the cost of research and development.

The future of movies must be the era of giant screens.

Whether it is 3D or Dolby sound effects, it will be more enjoyable if it is equipped with a giant screen.

Tang En let out a "huh", "Digital technology is the master of the future, and everyone must invest in research and development at any cost. In addition, I remember that imax company once launched HD high-frequency technology?"

Richard Gelfond said: "That's right, HD high-frequency technology can increase the frame rate of a movie from 24 frames per second to 48 frames per second, reducing screen flicker and increasing the viewing effect. However , because the cost of filming would double, and it was abolished in 2000."

"That's high-frequency technology for film, right?"

"Boss, you mean...introduce digital HD high-frequency technology?"

Richard Gelfond suddenly realized.

Tang En said sternly: "3D, imax giant screen, Dolby panoramic sound, high-frequency video... These are the main directions of future movies. I held a meeting with the executives of Marvel Studios that day, and I mainly mentioned it. , Hollywood’s commercial films have completed industrial upgrading, and creativity and technology are important side by side! Technology is also the root of film!”

Richard Gelfond blinked and nodded solemnly, "No problem. After I go back, I will immediately start the research and development of HD digital high-frequency technology."

The high frequency of film will greatly increase the cost of shooting.

Double the frequency, double the shooting cost; triple the frequency, triple the shooting cost.

Especially imax film, it is more expensive.

The numbers are different, the cost is so small that it can be ignored.

In the face of digital technology, film will gradually become the edge of the times.

"Boss, since you love digital technology so much, why don't you set an example yourself?" Richard Gelfond explained the purpose of his visit today.

Tang En shook his head and said, "Not exemplary enough? "The Avengers" will be filmed entirely digitally... eh? What do you mean?"

As he spoke, Tang En was startled for a moment, with surprise on his face.

Richard Gelfond said with a smile: "The world's first imax digital camera has been successfully developed. You don't like to use bulky imax film cameras, why don't you try our new products?"

"When did it happen? Why didn't you say it earlier?"

"It was just finalized at the beginning of this month. But we have to conduct internal testing, so we haven't reported it."

"Passed the internal test?"

"It's very successful. Except for a slight disadvantage in weight, other aspects are no different from ordinary digital cameras."

As soon as these words came out, Tang En's heart was moved immediately.

He is very excited!

Because of his appearance, the appearance of the imax digital camera was nearly ten years ahead of schedule!

His emphasis on digital technology is destined to help imax reach even higher heights.

Although the imax digital projection equipment has not been upgraded, it is still 2K resolution.

However, if you shoot directly with an imax digital camera, there are still many advantages.

The biggest point is that there is no need for post-transformation of DMR!

This will make the color of the image more saturated, sharper and brighter.

Furthermore, if you shoot directly with an imax digital camera, the final image displayed on the imax giant screen will be 40% larger than that on an ordinary screen.

This is a private product unique to the imax version!

If it is post-conversion with DMR technology, compared with ordinary theaters, imax theaters have no difference in content except for larger screens.

However, if you shoot directly with an imax camera, it will be different.

That's two kinds of movies!

Movies seen in imax theaters have 40% more content than movies in ordinary theaters!

This 40% of the content cannot be seen in ordinary theaters, CDs, TV stations, or online on-demand.

This is the exclusive content of the imax giant screen hall!

This is the core selling point of imax in the film industry!

If Twain wanted to lead by example and popularize digital formats in Hollywood, he must use digital cameras to shoot "The Avengers" throughout. He rejected the imax film camera, in addition to being too bulky, this is also a major reason.

However, if you have an imax digital video camera, it will be completely different.

Digital cameras are much lighter than film cameras.

George Lucas is the first director in history to shoot a Hollywood blockbuster with a digital camera, Nolan is the first director in history to shoot a Hollywood blockbuster with an imax film camera, Cameron is the first in history to shoot a Hollywood blockbuster with a 3D camera director of...

Well, Tang En, he will be the first director in history to use an imax digital camera to shoot a movie!

Reputation matters!