Millennium director

Chapter 221 Novel shooting method, casting of "Those Years"

["Gravity" was shut down on the first day of production. The first domestic science fiction blockbuster is in a difficult situation! 】

【Stillborn? Suspending filming at the first moment of turning on the camera, may Wu Yuan encounter the biggest setback in his life? 】

[The difficult path of domestic science fiction blockbusters is even difficult for Hollywood directors to grasp! 】

The fact that "Gravity" stopped filming on the first day of production could not be kept secret at all. There were so many reporters at the Huairou Film and Television Base that day. Although the opening ceremony was over, they were still waiting for work to end before looking for an opportunity to interview.

Unexpectedly, I didn't wait for the interview, but I waited for a big melon.

Only half a day after "Gravity" started filming, the crew stopped working.

The reason for the shutdown is unknown. According to the official statement of the crew, it is a technical adjustment, but various speculations immediately became rampant.

Some speculated that the set was not up to standard, some speculated that there was an accident with the special effects, and some speculated that the actors and the director were at odds with each other and that they were embarrassed on the first day of filming.

Anyway, the news that production was suspended on the first day of production has once again cast a shadow over this domestically produced science fiction film that has been criticized.

There are many scoffers on the Internet.

Although Wu Yuan is now the pride of Chinese directors and a major director in Hollywood, in this era of rampant public knowledge, he is also the target of public attention and criticism.

Wu Yuan made movies in Hollywood, and Internet celebrities praised him in various ways, praising him for his vision, knowing that Hollywood is the palace of the global film industry, and knowing that mainland movies are hopeless, so he went to Hollywood to develop.

And once he returned to China to make movies, these public figures said that he was degenerate, unsatisfactory, and shameful.

These days, people say that the air in North America is sweet. If you can live in North America, don't come back.

People like Wu Yuan, who has made great achievements in North America and still wants to return to China to start movies in the mainland, are sick in their eyes!

What other domestic science fiction movies are you going to make?

Didn’t you know that science fiction movies can only be made in a global beacon like Hollywood?

As soon as they heard that "Gravity" had been shut down on the first day of production, Internet celebrities immediately became enthusiastic and commented on the movie on their blogs.

The meaning behind the words is that Wu Yuan has found his way and returned it in time. Stop messing with this impossible domestic science fiction film and go back to Hollywood to develop. Hollywood is the palace!

Returning to Hollywood as soon as possible and cooperating with outstanding American actors and six major actors is the right path!

Wu Yuan didn't pay any attention to these negative and ridiculing public opinions on the Internet.

As long as he understands these idiots, they are all devaluing their prices.

He only cares about one thing now, how to solve the current problems of the crew.

He is still too young, and it is true that he has no experience in making science fiction movies in his whole life. And making science fiction movies in China does have to face too many unexpected difficulties.

With the crew's props team, camera team, and scenery team, Wu Yuan held several days of meetings and even made many overseas phone calls to learn from some of Hollywood's top cameramen.

Wu Yuan even shamelessly called Spielberg and asked him if he had any suitable suggestions.

With the collective efforts, Wu Yuan was indeed pointed out a way.

Within half a month, Wu Yuan and the props team came up with a plan: the LED light box plan.

This solution requires building a container full of LEDs.

To put it simply, it is to make a six-meter-square light box, print a virtual scene inside it, illuminate the face of the actor in it, and match the actor's subjective perspective.

Inside the LED light box, a CG environment spanned the entire wall and ceiling, simulating the reflected light of the Earth as well as the scene's reflected light to illuminate the actors and provide a visual reference for the actors, making them feel like they were floating in space.

This unique solution can directly use the virtual ambient light that will be used for compositing to illuminate the actor's face.

That is to say, when the actors are in the light box, the scene and light of space will be displayed on the LED screens on all sides. This will make the light on their faces consistent with the appearance in the movie script, which will facilitate post-production.

It can also help the two actors get into the scene, making them feel more or less immersed in the scene.

This is much easier than acting in front of green cloth.

For example, if this scene involves a scene where a space telescope is hit by satellite debris and explodes, then the CG images of this scene will be played directly on the LED screen inside the light box.

In this way, when the protagonist is in it, the explosive fireworks projected by the LED screen will be reflected on his face, which is full of effects!

But to achieve this, the special effects department must first create this part of the CG special effects screen, render it completely, and then put it on the LED screen, and then the actors can actually shoot it.

Generally speaking, any special effects movie is shot on green cloth first, and then the special effects are synthesized in post-production. It has never been done first and then shot in real life.

But when it comes to "Gravity", this is the first time.

This is definitely a novel thing for the Chinese film industry.

Hollywood's special effects technology has always led the world, and directors from other countries around the world have learned how Hollywood uses computer special effects.

Now, Huaxia Film has actually created a new way of shooting!

In Wu Yuan's idea, the crew would first create some CG special effects shots, and then put the actors in a synthetic virtual environment before filming the feature film!

Inadvertently, he came across a shooting technique that combined virtuality and reality, which was so ahead of its time.

If you want to try this novel shooting method, you need to wait first.

Building such a six-meter-long and wide LED light box is not only expensive, but also takes time.

It will take the props team at least a month and a half to complete this thing.

Wu Yuan also had to temporarily change the shooting plan, scheduling all the outer space scenes to be filmed later. In the early stage, he mainly shot the scenes inside the space station.

As a result, all the other actors except Gong Li will not be able to start work for the time being, and Wu Yuan will have to re-modify the contract with them.

After all, the filming schedule in the contract signed by Wang Xueqi was originally from October to November, but now it may have to be changed to December to January, which all need to be coordinated.

Fortunately, Wang Xueqi has a generous schedule this year and is easier to talk to.

After revising the filming schedule of the actors, the crew of "Gravity", which was suspended for half a month, has restarted production again.

It's just that this time it was restarted, it didn't receive much attention.

Wu Yuan didn't care about this, and started filming Gong Li's one-man show in two studios at the Huairou Film and Television Base.

As the number one actress in the country, and also the number one actress in literature and drama, it is absolutely easy to work with Gong Li.

He didn't even need to tell the story, Gong Li already had a deep understanding of the script.

The story of "Gravity" is very deep and has some philosophical meaning.

For the heroine, her extraterrestrial journey is also a journey of spiritual redemption.

Fear is vividly reflected in this space movie, and this fear stems more from the loneliness caused by the vastness of space.

Satellite fragments that may come at any time are unpredictable dangers, a space station that suddenly catches fire, a spaceship without power, a spaceship that is caught by a parachute, and the heat of passing through the atmosphere.

The film creates a threatening obstacle almost every two minutes, and behind each obstacle is life-threatening fear.

And Gong Li played this mentality of facing fear just right, no less than the original heroine Sandra Bullock.

Your Emperor Gong is infinitely arrogant!

In the presence of real gravity, she just performed the role of an astronaut in a weightless space station, facing various crises, but still tirelessly persisting in life and eagerly pursuing life.

Even though he knew that all this was fake and was just filming, Wu Yuan was still affected by Gong Li's performance.

A good actor is so contagious that even when people know that she is acting, they are still moved and involved by her perfect performance, and their hearts rise and fall with her emotions!

"Sister Li, you did a great job!" After another perfect performance, Wu Yuan gave a thumbs up and couldn't help but praise.

Gong Li, who was wearing a tights and tight pants that outlined her beautiful figure, smiled generously and accepted Wu Yuan's compliments.

Of course she knew that she was good at acting. How could an actor who came from a professional background and was trained by Zhang Yimou in several dramas single-handedly be bad?

At the same time, just when the filming of "Gravity" started smoothly, Zhang Guorong also left the set of "Gravity" and went back to shoot his new film.

He didn't have time to wait on the set of "Gravity" for that LED light box to be ready.

With this time, I can shoot a third of "Good Guys, Bad Guys, and Weird Guys".

The preparations for this movie have basically been completed. Since there is no need for any special effects, the main preparation work for this movie is to select a few suitable filming locations and then build a steam train prop.

The schedules of the three leading actors have almost been adjusted, and they joined the cast in early October.

Just after the filming of "Gravity" resumed, "Good Guys, Bad Guys, and Weird Guys" also officially started shooting in Gansu.

As for "Those Years", Li Yang, who got the script and studied it in detail, thoroughly studied the script, also started auditioning for actors in this movie.

In terms of actor selection, with the exception of Liu Yifei, Wu Yuan left all the arrangements for other roles to Li Yang, but also arranged for a producer to supervise him.

Supervise what?

Of course, it was to supervise that he did not seek personal gain with his power and unfairly select suitable actors, but arranged roles for private money.

Although there is a high probability that Li Yang would not dare to do such a thing, he still needs to be on guard against others. When making investments, one cannot place all his bets on the word "trust". These two words are really useless in the face of the temptation of money. Worth mentioning.

Under the watchful eye of the producer, he also conducted the audition calmly.

The news that there is a new movie to be filmed in the Light and Shadow Era, and the script is provided by Wu Yuan, and it is his specialty youth romance film, quickly spread in the circle.

Not to mention how envious some directors in the industry are that Li Yang, a lucky guy who got Wu Yuan's favor and support, actually got the script written by Wu Yuan.

Just talk about the actors in the circle, it's called a mass excitement.

Although Li Yang is a little-known director, the only information that can be found is that he is one of the six lucky winners in the first phase of the Light and Film Era Young Director Support Program.

But since he can be valued by Wu Yuan, he naturally has his own merits.

Moreover, the script of this new movie was written by Wu Yuan. This name alone is worth at least 20 million at the box office!

Even though there are movies with over 100 million box office every year now, there are only a few mainland actors who can really act in such movies.

Most mainland actors are still struggling in small and medium-budget movies. For them, movies produced by the Light and Shadow Era are definitely the best pie.

Because in the age of light and shadow, there are basically no actors from Hong Kong and Taiwan!

Compared with other Hong Kong and Taiwan co-productions, the films of Light and Shadow Era and Huayi are considered the best commercial films in the mainland, and they are also the easiest movies for mainland actors to hook up with.

It's a pity that Huayi currently uses half of the products for Hong Kong and Taiwan stars and half for mainland stars. Most of the mainland stars used are their own contracted artists.

Movies here in the Light and Shadow Era are different. Movie actors who have not been contracted by them can all compete fairly.

Li Yang released the news about the audition, and the Light and Shadow era was crowded with mainland actors, both male and female, who came to audition.

What makes Li Yang a little regretful is that Hu Ge failed to come to the audition because he was still recuperating.

After Wu Yuan decided to cast Liu Yifei, Li Yang thought it would be great if he could make Hu Ge and Liu Yifei a threesome.

The two have acted in "Your Name", which is also a youth campus-themed love movie. Fans are also looking forward to their reunion.

Until now, there are loud calls for a sequel to "Your Name", and most netizens want to see the story of Luo Sanye and Lin Wenjie's reunion.

Wu Yuan had no intention of making a sequel, so Li Yang thought it would be good to bring the two of them together in "Those Years".

Moreover, Li Xiaoyao, played by Hu Ge in "Sword and Sword 1", is quite similar to Ke Jingteng's character design in "Those Years", he is naughty and a bit childish.

It's a pity that he was in a car accident and couldn't take on this movie.

Li Yang had no choice but to hold an open audition to see if there were any other suitable candidates.

When he came to the Age of Light and Shadow, he was immediately startled by the battle in front of him.

Huang Xiaoming, Tong Dawei, Yin Xiaotian, and Nie Yuan, the four top students selected by the media, are all here.

Lu Yi, Ren Quan, Hu Bin and other older generation big and small students were also not absent.

Even better, actors whose image is not suitable for youth movies such as Wang Baoqiang, Shi Xiaolong, Hao Shaowen, and Xie Miao also came.

Also present were Luo Jin and Zhu Yawen from Grade 02 who had collaborated with Wu Yuan on "Your Name". They have the qualifications to star in "Your Name", the highest-grossing youth romance film in China. If you are here, you must come!

Seeing so many different actors with "all-inclusive" looks in front of him, Li Yang immediately had trouble choosing.

There are so many actors, who should you choose?

I'm not making this up, this LED light box shooting method was first thought up and pioneered by the crew of "Gravity", and it is indeed very effective. It is reflected in the movie, in the case of full CG shooting in outer space, the actors' faces were captured. The picture is very real, and when I saw it I didn’t expect it to be all made of CG.

In theory, this method can already be done in 2007, because LED and CG special effects are not new things, but no one has ever tried combining them.