Made in Hollywood

During the filming, the crew also borrowed some of Duke's personal belongings, such as a black Rolls-Royce sedan and a private business jet. Originally, Marvel Studios also proposed to use Duke Manor as Tony Stark in Malibu. The mansion was rejected by Duke on the grounds that it was not enough sci-fi in the future.

Those personal items can be used as much as possible, and Duke won't charge even a dollar, but using his home as a filming location is still exempt.

While the speed of information exchange made it harder to keep celebrities private, Duke didn't want to put his home in a movie so the public could see it.

The interior scene of Tony Stark's mansion can be shot by renting a seaside villa, and the panorama can also be easily achieved by reducing the scale of the model.

With the passage of time, some literary dramas were gradually filmed. After the blue-screen venue of Warner Bros. Studios was built, the scenes of Tony Stark, which were filmed using motion capture, were also put on the agenda by Duke.

"Andy, Rob, how are you getting ready?"

After checking the work of other departments, Duke walked to the blue screen. Andy Serkis turned his head and said, "Don't worry, Duke, with me, Rob will be in the best shape."

After answering Duke, he looked at Robert Downey Jr. Downey was wearing a steel helmet without a face shield and a motion capture suit specially designed by Weta Studio with dozens of motion capture devices on it. , coupled with the special camera used by the crew, will record the movement trajectory of Robert Downey Jr. without omission.

Filming is about to begin, Andy Serkis made the final explanation to Robert Downey Jr. "Rob, forget the trap on you and the green screen behind you, and treat this as a real performance! Remember, real How did you perform before. How do you perform now, you don’t have to care about motion capture, all the motion capture systems are working with you.”

Of course, this is not to say that Robert Downey Jr. does what he usually does, but he can do it now, although the Mark II suit is in the setting. It is completely designed and made according to Tony Stark's body shape and various habits, but it is impossible not to be affected by wearing this metal clothes.

This is what Duke came to Andy Serkis for. He did some simulation training for Robert Downey Jr. so that the way he walked during motion capture would change from the usual one, and the change should not be too great. big. But put it in the lens, and let people see it.

Otherwise, the setting of Mark II will be overturned by the film itself.

With motion capture scenes, Duke is simply in control. The specific technology, scene layout and computer generation were handed over to the professional technicians of Weta Studio, but the initial shooting was not smooth. After all, Robert Downey Jr. was only a novice in motion capture. Even with the help of Andy Serkis, it is impossible to become a master in this area in an instant.

Everyone's talents are different. When it comes to live-action performances, maybe Robert Downey Jr. can ditch Andy Serkis, but when it comes to motion capture, he keeps making mistakes.

But Duke had already anticipated these. There is enough patience and enough time.

There is also Weta Studio. Unlike Duke's production of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Weta Studio has completely updated the motion capture technology. The motion capture equipment used by Duke has been eliminated by Weta Studio.

Through the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Weta Studio became famous all over the world. While becoming famous, it also received a large number of special effects orders, including Disney Pictures' "Pirates of the Caribbean" series, which was used for the filming of "Pirates of the Caribbean". The shooting environment for motion capture was far worse than when Duke filmed The Lord of the Rings trilogy. The giant lake studio that Rosario dug up by James Cameron was humid and sultry, requiring extremely high equipment.

Weta Studio took this to update the equipment, integrated various technologies, and established a motion capture system called iMoCap, and the second generation of this system was used for the shooting of "Iron Man".

Unlike previous motion capture systems, iMoCap is not based on optics, or magnetic fields, mechanics, ultrasound, but directly recognizes human actions from video images captured by cameras. This great innovation makes iMoCap almost unrestricted by the environment, as long as the camera shoots Once the resulting image is recognizable, motion capture can be performed.

In other words, this system does not have to be rigid in front of the blue screen, if necessary, it can be used in a real environment.

In fact, in Duke's view, any motion capture is not a 100 percent solution, it's just CGI.

Based on the concept of the director Duke, the upgraded version of the iMoCap brought by Weta Studios, accuracy is not what it pays special attention to. It is light and easy to use and has good maneuverability, which is its advantage.

Moreover, Duke has always wanted the motion capture equipment to be versatile enough, that is, with as few constraints on the set and actors as possible.

Therefore, after the improvement of Weta Studio, the iMoCap system can use any type of camera, without any special treatment on the shooting site, and without carrying any other complicated equipment, it can be captured at any time.

In addition, even if there are occasional occlusions, jumps and other problems in the capture, even if some data are incomplete, it will not affect the entire production, because according to Duke's concept, it is to simplify the requirements of real scene capture, and the relatively complex processing process. are left to the post-workers.

What this brings is the reduction in the difficulty of actors' motion capture. Robert Downey Jr. can be said to be the biggest beneficiary of Duke's move.

This also benefited Robert Downey Jr. After the shooting of several motion capture scenes, he begged Duke with a very earnest attitude to reduce the number of times he wore a prop steel suit, and instead used motion capture to shoot more.

"The Sanders gang told me that those beautiful coats were specially designed for my body shape and must be thoughtful and comfortable to wear."

Just like Tony Stark in the setting, Robert Downey Jr. stood next to Duke's director's chair, talking non-stop, "But the truth is that suit of armor makes me very uncomfortable. , severely restricted my movement, and it was hard for me to get the pose you want, or the script to move the way you want."

In the face of chattering Robert Downey Jr., Duke never said anything. Instead, there was an inexplicable feeling of Tony Stark running into the real world.

"Duke, dear Director Rosenberg," Robert Downey Jr. not only did not stop, but squatted down, leaned against the arm of the director's chair, and said earnestly, "Can you consider digitizing that set in the future? Armor? My head hurts when I see that thing, I really don't like it."

Turning his head, Duke looked at Robert Downey Jr. After thinking for a while, in Downey's hopeless eyes, he said, "Then we need to do more special effects shots than expected."

"This..." Little Robert Downey scratched his hair.

Just when he lowered his head and was about to leave, Duke suddenly said again, "Rob, everything the crew did is to make the actors perform better without getting in the way, so I can agree to your request, but you have to. Put on a better performance than before."

"I will!" Robert Downey Jr. almost raised his hand to swear.

"Really?" Duke showed an inexplicable smile, "Some shots that originally required stunt doubles to be shot with props, it's not bad to let you generate them through motion capture, why not, let's shoot Tony Stark's flight in the afternoon. ."

Although he felt that Duke's smile contained something, Robert Downey Jr. said without hesitation, "No problem, I'll prepare now."

But when it came time to shoot, Robert Downey Jr. found that even using motion capture equipment to shoot Iron Man flying, it felt equally uncomfortable, although he was hanging under the boom, he only needed to pose for the Iron Man flight specially designed by the stunt team. There is no need to move at all, but if you persist for a little longer, the whole person seems to be falling apart.

Duke swore he wasn't taking revenge on Robert Downey Jr., and he wouldn't tell anyone if it meant something.

The shooting here only requires Robert Downey Jr. to pose, and he doesn't need to do much. When Iron Man is flying, the camera feels like a long shot that covers the entire action.

Duke tries to make it feel like it's on a tripod with the camera moving and tilting, or using a slide rail, or shooting with a boom, trying to avoid the camera moving through the space like magic.

"We need to do what we need to do with the action, but we'd better not hinder the actor's action and make the overall action look like a silly comic action."

That's what Duke said to Anna Prinz, who was next to him. As in the past, Anna Prinz would lead a setup team and shoot some of the shots.

Anyone likes to think the way they like, and so do film makers.

Even a partner who has worked with him for many years is deeply influenced by his style. Duke will never forget what he must explain when necessary.

After the shooting of the flight scene, Robert Downey Jr. was released from the boom. Although it was only a few minutes before and after, when he walked to Duke, he kept dangling and seemed to fall at any moment. .

However, Duke ignored him because someone came to the set to find him.

"You're getting engaged, Wallace?"

Duke was somewhat surprised when he heard Wallace Lee's invitation, "Who is the bride?"

Wallace Lee showed an embarrassed smile, "You know her, her name is Kate Beckinsale."

Duke was not too surprised by this answer. After thinking about it, he said, "I will attend on time." (To be continued ~^~)

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