Made in Hollywood

No one knows how long James Cameron thought about the big boat project before it was officially approved, but in late October this year, three and a half years after the project was approved, the film was finally completed, not counting the continuous investment in publicity. The cost, the production cost alone cost 200 million US dollars!

Even after fifteen years, this is a terrible production cost.

The film has been delayed again and again, and the tyrants on the set kept bouncing tickets. It is conceivable how urgent the idea of ​​​​the producers who invested heavily in it is eager to recover the cost.

The most important thing is that everyone from inside and outside the industry is laughing at this big ship, thinking that it must sink, especially film critics, when they learn that there is $50 million in funds from Duke, they are constantly sneering, Simply put him and James? Cameron described as the biggest fool in the history of Hollywood.

Even on "Roger Albert and Siskel at the Movies", every recent show routinely mocks the two and titled the film "The Doomed Titanic"!

Although Paramount Pictures and 20th Century Fox have no doubts about their abilities, or they would not have been in such high positions, people will always be influenced by the external environment. Duke got the news that Twentieth Century Fox was ready to file for bankruptcy protection after the film failed.

After the completion of "Titanic", Duke flew back to Los Angeles specifically to attend an internal preview held by Fox and Paramount, and then completely relieved.

The big boat is a little different from what it used to be, mainly in the details, but this is normal. After all, a director's shooting clips today and tomorrow's shooting clips will be different, but the same thing is the quality of the film, Duke believes. Even if the announcement of the film is not in place as before, the possibility of this film's rise is still infinite!

And with his $50 million investment in it, Duke naturally won't see the film's announcement go the old way.

In fact, in terms of publicity, as in the previous life, the cynicism of the media and film critics, plus a huge investment of 200 million US dollars. The popularity of the film is not a problem at all. The most important thing to do in publicity is how to spread the good audience reputation at the fastest speed after the film is released or previewed.

The former big ship has fully proved that audience word-of-mouth can easily overturn the prejudice of film critics.

Another is the theater problem. Duke met Shelley Lansing and Townsend Rothman one after another and asked them to get as many theaters as possible. Although he claims to be optimistic about the film, it can attract a lot of attention from the high-level executives on both sides, but the empty vernacular has never been convincing. Duke simply declared that he is willing to bear the cost of the film in proportion to the investment!

Over the past few years, Duke has demonstrated his market grasp on commercial films. In addition, the attitude of actively participating in the announcement has also increased Paramount and Fox a lot of confidence. Of course, both sides want the film to sell well, and then intensified contact with the North American Cinema Alliance. In order to compete for the most number of theaters.

The next one is the trial meeting. The former big ship did not hold any trial. Duke suggested that before the film is released, there must be two or three test sessions for the media, ordinary fans and representatives from the theater, and use all available means to feedback the audience's true feelings.

The last one is the premiere. Paramount and Fox wanted to put the film's world premiere in Tokyo because the Japanese side was willing to shell out a sponsorship, and James Cameron was a standard Japanese culture lover.

"We must put the premiere in North America!"

When facing Shelley Lansing and Townsend Rothman, Duke was more like the director of the film. At this point, James Cameron's voice has been infinitely reduced, and he himself is not good. No matter what, the fate of this film is actually no longer under his control. "Invite as many stars as possible to the premiere, and don't forget that this is the premiere of an unprecedented big production!"

Although the North American distribution rights were in the hands of Paramount Pictures, Shelley Lansing negotiated with Townsend Rothman, and when Duke returned to Sydney, he received a call from them for the film's premiere. The style will be in Los Angeles! And the film will be released in the UK and the US at the same time!

The things Duke mentioned are just the most conventional means of publicity. The big boat film does not need any surprising and alternative means of publicity, but the executives of Paramount Pictures and 20th Century Fox are eager to recoup their investment. , The mentality is actually a little out of balance. Duke is just ringing the alarm bell for them to restore calm and calm, and when it comes to the actual publicity operation, he is far worse than the professionals of the two film companies.

Just when Duke returned to the Fox studio in Sydney to continue shooting, a series of good news was reported to him by two film companies one after another. Paramount Pictures and 20th Century Fox are no longer independent production companies. , with the support of a huge media group behind him, as long as you have enough attention and a rational mind, you can mobilize a large number of resources without much effort.

In early November, after the film was held three times in succession, the media's views on the film suddenly changed, and the views of many viewers were disclosed.

The representative of the theater chain is of course an indispensable part of the preview. The North American Theater Alliance then reached an agreement with the publisher Paramount, and "Titanic" will land in North America on a super-large scale of 3,100 theaters.

Due to the huge investment in the film, Duke also stood up and cheered for the film, for which he specifically accepted an interview with Fox TV's Home Channel.

"Yes, I've seen the film, I can't describe it, I don't think it's too much to put all the praise-related words I have at my disposal! I know some people mock it out of prejudice, but Facts will prove how ignorant these people are! When the film is released, everyone will find that a new era has come! Film history will be divided into before 'Titanic' and after 'Titanic'!"

Now that everything is ready, it is only a matter of time before the release. Unless the end of the world comes, there is no force to stop that big ship from slashing the wind and the waves!

However, before witnessing the glory of the big ship, Duke must first complete the final filming of "The Matrix".

When the middle of November came, after 70 days of filming, only the last and most technically difficult part of "The Matrix" was left - bullet time!

How is bullet time filmed? In the past, Duke had seen quite a lot of information, and there were discrepancies in each type of information. He was not a blind obedient character, and he would not rashly use those unreliable methods on the Internet to shoot. He was in charge of the proposal, and then John Schwartzman and professionals from Industrial Light \u0026 Magic designed the scheme, and found the most suitable type from different schemes through experimentation.

"Duke, someone came to visit your class."

Just after being busy for a while, Duke heard the assistant's words and couldn't help turning his head to look. It was a short and thin girl with a brown ponytail, much darker than when we met more than a month ago.

"Hi, Duke," she greeted with a smile.

"Hello, Nate."

Putting the coffee cup in his hand to the assistant, Duke asked curiously, "Why did it suddenly turn black?"

"The crew went out to the desert area." Natalie rubbed her face lightly. "The sun over there is poisonous, but don't you think it looks healthier?"

She looked at the busy set behind Duke, and asked embarrassedly, "Did it bother you?"

"It's okay." Duke shook his head, took the two new cups of coffee brought by his assistant, handed one of them to Natalie, and led her to the temporary resting place, "I've just been busy for a while, and I'm resting. ."

The two sat at a table, and Natalie's curious eyes swept across the set. "I heard that this is your last scene? Why are there so many cameras and cameras?"

"There's a special scene to shoot." Duke briefly explained the concept of bullet time, and then said, "ILM's special effects artists design the action first, and then use a normal camera to complete the shooting. We will scan the image into the computer. , using a specially designed laser-guided tracking system to map out the camera movement trajectory to capture the final scene."

Duke pointed to the set up shooting location, "Then, we put a lot of cameras in the motion path, each camera only takes a still photo, these photos are scanned into the computer, the computer will use this information to generate The coherent movement in the middle of the action finally connects a series of pictures quickly or slowly into a complete scene through computer effects.”

"It looks very complicated and magical." Natalie shook her head, "I still don't understand."

"You sit here and watch."

After drinking his cup of coffee, Duke stood up and said, "It's not magical to shoot."

There is nothing magical about the shooting, because enough experiments were done in advance, and when Keanu Reeves wearing a wig stood in front of the camera and completed an action similar to an iron bridge, there was nothing surprising to the naked eye. , but having experienced a lot of blue screen shooting in Star Wars, Natalie is very clear that more and more advanced post-production technology will make many impossible possible.

Just in case, Duke deliberately shot many times to collect enough material. When the shooting was over, even with the steel wire hanging, Keanu Reeves was still tired from doing too many iron bridges. I can't stand up a little bit.

"I announce!"

Standing on a green screen surrounded by cameras, Duke exclaimed, "The Matrix is ​​officially over!"

As usual, there was sparse applause, and Duke added, "I leased a private island in Fiji, where our shutdown party will be held!"

After finishing speaking, he left the shooting venue, walked back to the resting place, looked at Natalie who seemed to be in a trance, and tentatively asked, "Nate, can I invite you to our party? I have already invited quite a few stars. The members of the war crew participated." (To be continued~^~)

PS:   A new month has begun, continue to work hard and seek all kinds of tickets~~~