Made in Hollywood

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"Lieutenant Colonel, where the script ends..."

Directly closing the script handed over by Lieutenant Colonel Renho, Duke stood up and strengthened his tone highly, "It must be a civilian who destroys the weapons of the alien spaceship, not the president or the military!"

"why?"

After all, the two had worked together once, and the Pentagon representative was waiting for Duke to explain.

What's the biggest reason? Of course, it's because audiences like to see little people save the world, because the mainstream American culture still has the characteristics of being anti-intellectual and anti-elite, because the movie can cater to the mentality of mainstream audiences and allow them to pay for tickets.

Small people save the world, and there are always stupid pigs at the top. This can be said to be a point of view that is strongly promoted in Hollywood movies, but Hollywood movies do this not because they agree with anti-intelligence and anti-elite, but because it allows the audience to pay for it and obtain commercial profits.

Most typically, in all Hollywood youth campus movies, more than 95% of the football quarterbacks are villains. The movies always portray them as simple-minded and well-developed idiots. In fact?

The quarterback is the core of a football team and is usually the leader of the team. He not only directs the offense on the field, but also changes the coach's strategy on the spot. Most of these people are strong, clear-headed, quick-witted, and have extremely sharp judgments. And the determination to implement, is often the most popular with girls on campus, can be described as a real elite.

Therefore, in the anti-intellectual and anti-elite culture, they are like the senators of Congress and the previous owners of the White House, and they have become the most often ridiculed objects in the film.

When it is impossible to raise those simple-minded North American audiences to the height of agreeing with their own views, as a commercial film director, it is necessary to take the initiative to lower the figure and cater to the taste of mainstream audiences.

Duke understands these truths, but he can't use it as a reason to convince the Pentagon.

So, he started talking nonsense again, "Lieutenant Colonel, America is a democratic country, and everyone is an important part of this free country. When the country is in trouble, the people will inevitably save their lives. In the script, our army, the Pentagon, And the president, there are too many places to show heroism, and finally civilians piloted planes into alien spaceships, it just shows that once the time of crisis comes, the people and the federal government will stand together and unite!"

"What you said does make sense."

The incarnation of the former Soviet political commissar still played a little role. Lieutenant Colonel Renho turned to another sensitive point. "Duke, the tone of the film and the fighting spirit of the army promoted are very satisfactory to the Pentagon."

Certainly satisfied, if the Pentagon is still nitpicking on the tone of such a great Americanist theme film, it is purely a collective rust of heads.

Just as Duke was so defiant, Lt. Col. Renho continued, "But the Pentagon wants you to take everything out of Area 51."

"Lieutenant Colonel, this is just a boo to attract the audience." Duke spread his hands and said, "We don't mean to promote conspiracy theories, we just want to use this to attract more audiences."

"That's not what I meant, Duke." Lieutenant Colonel Renho stood up from his seat and walked back and forth. "My boss is a little sensitive about this."

sensitive? Duke was stunned, thinking that there would be no Area 51, right?

"The Roswell incident and Area 51 have been around for so many years, and the public knows it's fake."

True or false is not important to Duke at all, he doesn't care about these, "If we have mastered alien technology, wouldn't we have dominated the world already? This is just a propaganda hype for the film, attracting more audiences to enter. cinema."

Lieutenant Colonel Renho stopped and said nothing, with a contemplative look on his face.

"In my opinion, having more audiences in theaters is definitely more beneficial to the Pentagon than it is."

In order to convince the Pentagon to save tens of millions of dollars in weapons and equipment rental costs so that more money can be invested in special effects production, Duke really racked his brains, "Lieutenant Colonel, as far as I know, since the Iraq War, the military has The enlistment rate of the military has been declining, and it has even reached an all-time low in the past two years. You once told me that "Brave to the Dead Island" can become a conscription commercial, but in fact it is not."

After a short pause, when Lieutenant Colonel Renho turned to look at him, Duke put on a more sonorous tone, "You have seen the script of "Independence Day", Lieutenant Colonel! This will be the best one Recruitment commercials, do you still remember the enlistment effect brought about by the release of Top Gun? An excellent film promoting the military is ten times or even a hundred times more efficient than the Ministry of Defense's military recruitment advertisements on major media!"

The "Top Gun" in the 1980s brought about a strong conscription effect. After the release of this film, dubbed "F-14 Super-Long MV", the following teenagers flocked to watch it and the box office soared. It also allowed the U.S. Navy to usher in the highest enlistment rate since World War II.

Since "Top Gun", Hollywood has not shot a hugely influential conscription promotional film for many years, and "Independence Day" has a distinct conscription advertising quality.

Duke himself doesn't care about this. He and the Pentagon have a simple interest cooperation relationship. Since he is standing in Hollywood, he must consider the problem from his current position. How to do it will be in his best interest?

In the near future, from the pyramids of Cairo to the skyscrapers of Chicago, from the ruined Los Angeles to the vast Pacific Ocean, from the highways on the streets of Paris to the sand-filled military bases in the Middle East, on the Hollywood screen, all parts of the world will suffer. Wave after wave of alien invasions on an unprecedented scale.

When the earth, the common homeland, is in danger, there will always be a group of "heroes" who will come forward, enter the battlefield with flesh and blood, save the building, and finally defeat the conspiracy and tricks of the alien thugs, defend the earth, and save the earth. The people of the world returned to the military camp surrounded by flowers and applause after the completion of the work, hiding their merits and fame.

The "heroic feats" of these American soldiers on the screen made the global audience "awe-inspiring", and made the hot-blooded men "fascinated", and also made these films unknowingly become the recruitment advertisements of the US military.

In fact, it is no longer news that the US military set up a stage and Hollywood sang opera. As early as the beginning of the film nearly a hundred years ago, the two sides had a close relationship, but the reason why the military cooperated with the crew at that time was for teaching purposes - the film can be regarded as a military academy teaching materials.

Based on this, the U.S. military during World War II was able to directly participate in the production and publicity of conscription films. Frank Capra and other directors once made high-level conscription films, but that was not the same as the hawkish movie star John W. Wayne's "Green Beret" filmed in the 1960s sang the praises of the U.S. military, and it belongs to the "extraordinary period" of a flash in the pan.

The "conscription film" in the current sense refers to a group of high-investment commercial films that focused on shaping the positive image of the US military after the film reflecting on the Vietnam War died down, starting with the popular "Top Gun" in the 1980s. Although the effect is good, due to the characteristics of advertising It is too obvious, and it has also encountered a lot of criticism.

However, now and in the future, with the renovation of film narrative techniques and visual language, the image of American soldiers on the screen is getting taller and sturdier, and the comprehensive strength of the US military is also more vividly displayed. The effect of conscription is naturally rising. Sponsorships have also risen sharply.

At the same time, experienced screenwriters know how to weave advertising elements into the plot without any trace, thus greatly reducing the sensitivity of the audience. Today's "Independence Day" is like the future "Transformers", fully equipped with these characteristics , and completing the film according to Duke's vision, you will find that the advertising intentions are far less explicit than "Top Gun".

From a business standpoint, the crew's partnership with the Pentagon is a win-win deal that only a fool would refuse.

Since the smoke of the Vietnam War cleared and the United States changed from a conscript system to a volunteer system, the military has spent huge sums of money to shoot conscription advertisements every year, but no matter how good an advertisement is, it is not as provocative as a well-made commercial blockbuster, and the movie is similar to the advertisement. The comparative advantage is huge, and its public relations propaganda elements are concealed and dissolved in a complete story, allowing the audience to be subtly intoxicated in the sensory bombardment and psychological adventure of the same suffering as the characters, while avoiding the natural resistance to advertising. .

From Duke's point of view, the "main theme" war sci-fi action blockbuster he produced has commercial characteristics such as a brave hero, a passionate plot, and a magnificent battle scene. Coincidentally, it is natural to obtain props and technical support provided by the military, in exchange for lower production costs for higher profits, why not do it.

Of course, Duke himself does not have the halo of mental retardation. Even if he is a political commissar of the former Soviet Union, and he talks about such a big deal, Lieutenant Colonel Renho has not made any promises. It means that the original version will be sent back to the Pentagon, and it will also help the crew to win the possibility of sponsorship.

"Who says the Pentagon is all idiots and idiots? Their money is a good trap?"

After sending Lieutenant Colonel Renho away, Duke also complained a little. If the Pentagon was really as naive as the movies or the Internet in his previous life, he wouldn't have to spend such words, maybe he didn't have the opportunity to spend such words at all.

In the next few days, Duke re-examined the thick stack of drawings drawn by the art team and the special effects team. The appearance of the alien and the spaceship were finalized. The drawings were transferred to the special effects department of Industrial Light and Magic, by Stan Winston. This is where the responsible model making begins.

In the last week, Duke has mainly focused on the model. In addition to the alien model, he also has to determine the model of the city and the landmark buildings in North America. All explosion scenes will only be shot in real scenes, and the film needs computer CG composite shots. Also entering the pre-production stage, a computer special effects department of Industrial Light \u0026 Magic, like the model special effects team, also stationed in the production crew at Warner Studios, constantly communicating with Duke.

In addition, the actor audition has also entered the second round, and Duke has to be distracted by the choice of the main actor.

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