The King of Huayu Science Fiction

Chapter 198 Compensation to Guo Fan
Regarding Chen Jingxing's confident words, Guo Fan got a little comfort. If others were categorically sure that the Mekong River could achieve outstanding results, he would only think it was polite, but after all, Chen Jingxing had achieved so many successes. After a miss, it is still the box office champion of the new branch, and the words that come out of its mouth are indeed convincing.

Moreover, Chen Jingxing's recommendation was exactly what Guo Fan wanted. He himself is a fan of science fiction. What Chen Jingxing said on an American talk show when he was a child watching the works of Asimov, Clarke and other sci-fi masters was actually a portrayal of Guo Fan. Before graduating from Beijing Film and Television Graduate School, I co-produced a small-budget sci-fi film "The Adventures of Li Xianji" with my friends. Of course, the result was a blood loss, and the box office was not as high as the production cost.

After Chen Jingxing and Guo Fan confirmed the shooting plan of "Edge of Tomorrow", DreamWorks soon started the preparatory work for the film.

"Edge of Tomorrow" is a heavy industry movie no less than "Gravity" in terms of production scale, and even higher than "Gravity" in terms of production difficulty.

Because "Gravity" is an animated special effects film, although it takes a long time to produce and costs a lot, it does not involve too much industrial division of labor. After the special effects artist designs the shooting plan, most of the actors' performances are in the light box. , the rest depends on the CG rendering of the special effects artist. The difficulty lies in the heavy workload and high technical requirements.

And "Edge of Tomorrow" is not an animation special effects movie, there are a lot of real shots, including blasting and fighting, and Chen Jingxing and Guo Fan agreed to use 3D cameras to shoot, which is not something that can be solved in front of a computer.

Just an exoskeleton armor cannot be designed in a short time, and it requires a very high level of industrial design. In Chen Jingxing's previous life, the final design of the exoskeleton armor of "The Wandering Earth" also shot by Guo Fan took nearly In one year, hundreds of concept drawings were drawn back and forth.

Moreover, the exoskeleton armor in "Edge of Tomorrow" can be worn on the body, and at least it can walk. Many scenes require actors to shoot in real scenes, which is the main reason why the movie's exoskeleton gives the audience an extremely realistic feeling.

In addition, there are aircraft, vehicles, firearms, and very important image design of alien monsters, as well as the manufacture of physical models. These physical special effects—physical special effects that are different from computer special effects are often more difficult and time-consuming to realize. Longer, the industrial categories involved are more professional and refined.

The above are the most important things in heavy industry movies. If they are done well, the audience will have a strong sense of substitution and immersion. If they are not done well, "SH Fortress" has no texture and is very fake, even if your computer special effects No matter how perfect the CG rendering is, poor industrial design will also give people a strong sense of detachment. It feels like watching a special shot, or even worse than a special shot.

It can be said that "Edge of Tomorrow" is the second challenge after "Gravity" since the establishment of DreamWorks, and even the biggest challenge.

After all, "Gravity" was led by Legacy special effects studio, while "Edge of Tomorrow" will hand over most of the special effects work-including computer special effects and physical special effects-to domestic special effects companies.

If ink cannot be contracted alone, then find other special effects companies to undertake less difficult work. If it is not possible, find Korean special effects studios. Compete with domestic special effects companies for Hollywood outsourcing.

In addition to considering the improvement of domestic special effects technology strength - in the previous life "The Wandering Earth" has cultivated a large number of special effects design talents, the main reason is that Hollywood special effects companies really can't afford it. If the studio undertakes the production, then the production cost may be higher than that of "Gravity".

If it weren't for Chen Jingxing, such a film project might not be able to be produced for two years - including the preparation time. In fact, "Gravity" is also the same, but who let Chen Jingxing have a "film library" in his brain?There are not only formed sub-shots, but also mature industrial design of physical special effects and props. These processes, which are often the most time-consuming, have become the simplest steps for him.

Of course, he is not going to throw these things out directly. DreamWorks and Mo have recruited so many talents, so it is natural to use them. These planes, vehicles, firearms, exoskeleton armor and alien monsters will be designed by the designers first.

It would be better if it could bring him a surprise, and he doesn’t have the obsession that all designs must follow the original version. If it is not ideal, he will also give suggestions for modification with reference to the industrial design in the original movie—even so, it can be greatly reduced. film lead time.

In addition, the polishing of the script, which is also time-consuming, has basically been completed. Chen Jingxing believes that if the preparation progress of "Edge of Tomorrow" is fast, the production can be completed within one and a half years.

Of course, before "Edge of Tomorrow" is officially approved for filing, there are still two issues that need to be resolved.

One is Guo Fan's director contract, which has nothing to do with his signing with DreamWorks. His salary as a director will be renegotiated; the second is casting.

In "Operation Mekong", because Guo Fan was strongly recommended by Chen Jingxing to Qin Zhonghe, and with his qualifications and historical achievements, he did not have the capital to negotiate a high salary, so except that he paid 200 million out of his own pocket, he was regarded as participating in the Mekong River. In addition to being able to participate in the production of the project in the future, the director's contract only has a fixed salary of 200 million yuan, which is due to the difficulty of filming.

Although "Operation Mekong" has not yet been released, and Guo Fan's box office performance has not been improved by the market test, but with the directing qualifications of this [-] million blockbuster, it is naturally different from "You at the Same Table" after it was released.

In addition, Chen Jingxing also has selfish intentions. After all, he has delayed Guo Fan's future "Ascension" to a certain extent. With his intervention, it is unknown whether Guo Fan will be able to find a good sci-fi film project, let alone attract investment and achieve a box office miracle after several years of polishing.

However, Chen Jingxing still has a certain compensatory mentality towards Guo Fan. In addition to planning to make concessions on the remuneration, "The Wandering Earth" will naturally return to Guo Fan's hands, but that is not what is happening now. The original "Wandering Earth" was limited to that time. Huaguo's level of special effects and tight production costs, both in the script and in the finished film, have some flaws and imperfections.

Without the appearance of Chen Jingxing, the original version of "The Wandering Earth" would still have achieved extraordinary success here, but with domestic special effects blockbusters such as "Source Code" and later "Gravity", the flaws of the original version of "The Wandering Earth" are It will be magnified by the audience, after all, they are targeting domestic films.

(End of this chapter)