Heads Up Hollywood

Cameron said: "Why don't current directors like to shoot with green screen? In addition to not being used to it and breaking the inherent movie impression, shooting with green screen will affect the texture of the movie..."

"Texture?"

Hearing this word, Tang En shook his head disapprovingly.

Film texture...is a very mysterious topic.

For example, in the movie "The Da Vinci Code", it is necessary to frame the Mona Lisa painting in the Louvre. Ron Howard strongly urged Tang En Pictures to contact the Louvre and go to the scene to shoot.

That is a world-class treasure!

Not even allowed to take pictures.

Make a fake painting, just take a photo and it will be over?

It is simple, convenient and saves money.

But Ron Howard insisted. (Because the Louvre firmly refused, a replica was found in the end.)

Because shooting real products, there will be a "movie texture", and fake ones are fake, and they are also fake when they are shot.

This kind of theory... Dun En couldn't understand it anyway.

On the movie screen, even the most professional antique experts have difficulty distinguishing the authenticity of paintings, and they must be tested in kind. Even experts can't tell, how can movie audiences tell the truth from the fake?

This happens a lot in Hollywood.

When Bernardo Bertolucci was filming The Last Emperor, he still insisted on filming in the Forbidden City. As a result, there was a fire scene that was almost ordered by the Forbidden City... He will never be able to go to the Forbidden City to film in the future.

Cameron smiled and didn't dwell on the topic, and said, "Of course, these are factors other than the movie. As far as the movie itself is concerned, green screen shooting will create a big obstacle for the actors' performance."

This time it was on time, Tang En nodded approvingly.

Green screen shot... lacks background, lacks atmosphere, even the props are simple.

A shell represents a car; a stick can replace a sword; a mask can become an alien...

Without listening, seeing, and feeling, how could an actor perform brilliantly?

Because of the lack of background contrast and atmosphere creation, it is often difficult for the director to judge whether the actor's performance is good or bad. It has to be synthesized by computer in the later stage before it can be synthesized to judge whether the actor's performance in that section meets the requirements.

George Lucas' "Star Wars Episode 3" finished filming last year, and as a result, there have been a large number of reshoots this year.

Why?

Because of green screen shooting!

After a year of post-production, he found that many performances could not meet his expectations, so he naturally called the actors back for a reshoot.

"Could it be that your virtual camera can solve this problem?"

"The root cause cannot be solved, but there is a benchmark for judgment."

"What's the meaning?"

Tang En raised his eyebrows.

Cameron said: "This virtual camera... is actually just a concept. It's not a real camera, but a monitor with an LCD screen. Behind it is a high-speed computer that can simultaneously preview the actors' performances. to the real-time CG picture generated by the computer, and you can watch the picture effect at any angle and display ratio at any time."

An unconcealable excitement appeared on Tang En's face, and he said excitedly, "Really?"

"Of course, I have communicated with Stan Weston and Kurt Ross, and this technology has already made a breakthrough. Give them another year, and more functions will be developed, such as the monitor can be moved arbitrarily and Rotate to see the cg effect of the final composition in a 360-degree view."

Speaking of this, Cameron's face was a little weird.

Stan Weston and Court Ross, both famous special effects masters, are the founders of "Digital Domain".

This is the second largest special effects studio in Hollywood after "Industrial Light and Magic". The shocking special effects of "Titanic" come from the "digital field".

The realistic special effects of the upcoming disaster film "The Day After Tomorrow" were also completed by "Digital Domain".

Two years ago, at the suggestion of Tosca Musk, Tang En bought "Digital Realm" from Cameron and became a subsidiary of Sillywood Animation, responsible for the production of animation special effects.

At the beginning of this year... New Universal sold Sillywood Animation to Disney for a whopping $2.2 billion.

The "digital domain" naturally also belongs to Disney.

Tang En twitched the corner of his mouth.

No wonder he didn't know about such a high-end virtual camera technology, that is, real-time preview technology. It turns out that the inventor has gone to Disney...

Of course, he can't be blamed for this.

In recent years, special effects studios have sprung up like mushrooms after rain, and there are hundreds of them in the entire United States, not including the cheaper special effects technologies in Britain, Germany, France, South Korea, New Zealand and other places.

Although the technology in the "digital field" is good, it is a bit tasteless for New Universal.

For high-end technology, you can find "Industrial Light and Magic" and "Weta Digital"; for low-end special effects, you can find special effects companies in Britain, Germany, France, Korea and other countries for outsourcing.

This is a more commercial and lower-cost mode of operation.

All the packaging is done in one mind, and all of them are handed over to the company to produce special effects, which is very cost-effective.

But I didn't expect... After selling Sillywood Animation and "Digital Realm", they developed black technology...

"It doesn't matter. Disney is our partner. This kind of technology is kept secret from others, but not from New Universal." Tang En is very confident about this, and he is also very excited.

This summer, "Iron Man", "Thor", "Ant-Man 2" and "The Avengers" will be launched at the same time.

In addition to "Iron Man" and "Ant-Man 2" that have already started filming, maybe... "Thor" and "Avengers" can also use this real-time preview technology of virtual photography.

This is an artifact of green screen shooting!

Cameron frowned, "I'm afraid it's difficult, the technology is immature, the angle rotation is limited, and... the real-time preview picture is not clear enough, probably... just like the game screen ten years ago, with very rough frame by frame .”

Tang En smiled and said: "That's enough! It's better than nothing! Anyway, "Avatar" will start shooting next year, let's use my "Avengers" as a test field first. Real knowledge comes from practice."

Cameron smiled wryly.

He really didn't expect that the first beneficiary of the real-time preview technology prepared for "Avatar" after he and his friends deconstructed and created it was Dunn Walker!

It's so dark!

This is a protected black technology that has not yet applied for a patent. You can use it if you say so?

"Okay, don't act reluctantly, don't you want me to be your guinea pig?" Tang En glared at him contentedly, and said flatteredly, "Let's go on, the next technical problem—all cg character model construction."

Cameron said angrily: "Do I need to introduce more? You don't know?"

"Full CG character? Oh, this one!"

Tang En glanced at the document in his hand, and suddenly understood.

The cg technology of computer special effects has been popular for more than 20 years. However, this kind of cg technology usually produces the shipwreck of "Titanic", the magic of "Harry Potter", and the superhuman action stunts of "Spiderman"...

To put it bluntly, it is a relatively simple cg special effect that lacks enough details.

Character cg has always been a big problem.

For example, in "Star Wars Episode 1" filmed by Tang En, there is a famous character "Master Yoda". This is a Jedi knight with a cat-like face. From the body to the face, it needs to be produced by computer CG.

But after watching the movie, you will find that the effect of this "Master Yoda" is a bit fake.

It's a bit like the special effects of characters in the game, lacking nuanced consideration.

It is because the cg technology back then was not enough to produce so many complex and subtle movements of the human body. In "Star Wars Episode 2" and "Star Wars Episode 3", the character image of "Master Yoda" is much fuller.

This is the advancement of technology.

Ten years later, Paul Walker, the star of "Fast and Furious 7", died unexpectedly. Many of his shots in the movie were post-processed with CG technology, and the resulting effects were exactly like real people!

At this time, the CG technology of the characters is already perfect.

"Learn from Industrial Light \u0026 Magic? No problem, I'll talk to George." Dunn said confidently.

Technology is a top secret in the special effects industry. With Cameron's face, it may be difficult to convince George Lucas.

Cameron curled his lips and said disdainfully: "Industrial Light and Magic? They can't do it! The special effects of the "Star Wars" series are simply ugly! The "Avatar" I am looking forward to must surpass "Star Wars" in an all-round way!"

"Then who are you looking for?"

"you do not know?"

Tang En slowly thought about it and said: "The digital field is definitely not good, what they are good at is the fluid special effects of objects... Is it Weta Digital?"

Cameron smiled and said, "That's right, I really didn't expect that a New Zealand special effects company could develop such high-end technology! The 'Guru Guru' in the "Lord of the Rings" series is simply a miracle of computer cg! It's not Peter Jackson, I'm afraid the series of "Avatar" will be postponed for a few more years."

Tang En said: "Yeah, the image of 'Gulu Gulu'... doesn't have the slightest sense of disobedience. It's very different from the 'Master Yoda' in the "Star Wars Episode 1" series. The CG technology of the whole character is really the same. Weta Digital is one step ahead."

To get Weta Digital, New Universal must come forward.

Tang En has already understood that Cameron ranked the six major technical problems of "Avatar", from high to low, they are new digital photography system and digital technology, expression capture technology, motion capture technology, and full CGI character model construction technology , Real-time preview technology of virtual camera, and direct shooting technology of 3D camera.

He thinks the 3D pen-hold shooting technology is the easiest because he has already completed the technical realization; he and his team have also made a breakthrough in the real-time preview technology of the virtual camera, and it is also very simple; the CG technology of all characters is out of his control , I need help from others, so it will be more difficult.

It is conceivable that Cameron and his team are powerless to solve the next few major technical problems.

It's time for Tang En to show off his muscles!

Sure enough, Cameron said next: "Of course, the special effects capabilities of Industrial Light \u0026 Magic are still number one in the world in general. Their understanding of the principles of mechanical, acoustic, electromagnetic, active optical, and passive optical Mastery is far beyond what other special effects companies can match."

"so?"

"So Industrial Light \u0026 Magic's motion capture technology is an indispensable and important part of the "Avatar" project!" I want to chat with more like-minded people about "Single-out Hollywood", follow "Youdu Literature" on WeChat, chat about life, Find a confidant~