Huayu Zhihao

Chapter 952 Two Problems of Space Movies
Chen Hao came to Chang Hongsong and said, "How is it? Is the simulation of the space environment okay?"

"It should be no problem." Chang Hongsong nodded upon hearing the words, "The 260 million LED lights in the space light box have been programmed, and the backgrounds required for each lens have been set in advance. Background required.

We also simulated the strength and texture of the light based on the previous storyboard and black and white animation, and adjusted it according to Du Jie's requirements. "

Chen Hao nodded, "Then get ready to start."

"OK!" Chang Hongsong immediately signaled to the special effects personnel, who then input instructions, and the huge light box of 10 meters by 10 meters by 10 meters gradually changed its color and brightness.

Chen Hao then entered the space light box. This huge space light box can be entered through an entrance and exit at the bottom.

At the same time, the bottom of the space light box is not fixed, but can be rotated, just to match the situation when the photographer flips up and down and the lens shakes in the state of weightlessness in space.

Chen Hao looked at the space background simulated by the space light box. It was quiet and dark, with only a faint light, simulating the sun's rays.

This big guy that cost a lot of money, and the results look good.

At the same time, this huge space light box has another advantage, that is, it can make the real shooting picture and the CG environment more seamlessly synthesized, which is convenient for post-processing special effects.

Actors are often lit differently than the CG environment, and if the lighting isn't right, the composite can look unnatural.

This requires that the real shooting lighting is as consistent as possible with the CG environment lighting.

If it is just a simple real shot, then in the post-production special effects processing, in order to reflect the realistic space light, these light sources on the earth must be converted into space mode, which is a big project for the post-production special effects.

The four sides of the space light box are all composed of LED screens, playing videos or pictures simulating the surrounding environment, and the lens controlled by the robotic arm rotates flexibly in this space.

The special effects team is responsible for playing the pattern of the virtual scene on the LED screen to match the subjective perspective of the actors.

In this way, the picture displayed on the LED screen will illuminate the actor and put the actor in the space environment, which is like the actor rotating in space.

With the simulated light source of the space light box, the amount of work brought about by light conversion can be greatly saved, and naturally the post-production time of the film can be greatly shortened.

However, this space light box also has a big disadvantage, that is, 260 million LED lights are turned on at the same time, the temperature in the light box will continue to rise, and because there is only one entrance and exit, the temperature inside will be very high after a long time.

This is not a small challenge for the actors, photographers, and other staff operating the robotic arm in the space light box.

"Did you hang it?" Chen Hao asked looking at the actor who was lifted by the mechanical arm in the air.

In addition to the light source, the two major problems in shooting space films are weightlessness. After all, we are in outer space where there is no gravity. Weightlessness is everywhere, and it is not easy to shoot realistically.

Shooting in a weightless environment, the major sci-fi film crews have started from scratch for decades and have been constantly exploring, but until now, it is still a big problem in shooting.

In the past, the production crew used water simulation, hanging steel wires, and various other methods to shoot weightless environments.

For example, there is a scene where the actors jump forward on springs to simulate the weakening of gravity on the moon. Of course, it is a moon film from the 50s.

However, over the past few decades, human beings have accumulated little by little the technology of shooting weightlessness.

In the history of shooting human weightlessness shots, there are two milestone films that have to be mentioned, that is "2001 Space Odyssey" and "Apollo NO.13".

"2001: A Space Odyssey" took an epoch-making approach to shooting scenes of weightlessness.

In a circular room, fix a camera and let the actor run, the camera recorded the picture as if the actor was running along the roof.

This ring-shaped room cost a very high price, but it was also a high IQ move by director Stanley Kubrick, which broke through the shackles of shooting weightless scenes in the past and reached a very high level.

And "Apollo NO.13" is a space disaster film somewhat similar to "Gravity", but it is adapted from historical real events.

The weightlessness scene shot in "Apollo NO.13" is one of the most classic weightlessness scenes in film history. Even in 2012, it still does not make people feel outdated.

But such a weightless scene comes from a very expensive shooting mode.

NASA (NASA) has a training device called the "vomit comet", which is a modified Boeing KC135, which can take the crew to a high altitude and then free fall for a period of time.

During this period, all objects and environments in the cabin are relatively weightless, and a flight can obtain about 25 seconds of weightlessness.

Ron Howard, the director of "Apollo NO.13", took 612 weightless flights in order to shoot this movie!
And among the 612 times of weightless flights, 234 minutes of weightless time shots were shot. This method completely solved the problem of weightlessness and became a highlight in film history.

However, this method also has two drawbacks. The first is that this method cannot shoot weightless shots outside the cabin.

The second is that not every crew can afford to rent NASA equipment, even if they can afford it, they can't rent it 2 times!

After all, there is only 25 seconds of weightlessness at a time, and you can't guarantee that every shot will be usable. It is too extravagant to finish a movie with this method.

For this reason, Chen Hao naturally adopted the method of shooting weightlessness in "Gravity" in his previous life.

It is to use a mechanical arm to lift the actor under a specific light source, and then use a camera at a specific angle to shoot the actor's weightlessness scene.

Because the weightlessness on the big screen is not the real weightlessness in real life, but the weightlessness of the perspective of the screen.

Therefore, the core problem that the crew needs to solve is how to deal with the constantly changing perspectives, instead of shooting pictures in real simulated weightlessness scenes like "Apollo NO.13".

Changing the angle of view is actually very simple. The simplest example is that if someone is crawling on the ground and depicts the scene of tall buildings on the ground, then change the angle and keep the camera parallel to the ground to shoot. The effect of tall buildings climbing.

I believe that when you watch Douyin or other short videos, you should have seen similar videos. This kind of perspective change is used to deceive your eyes and make you think that you really saw unconventional and incredible actions. picture.

In the same way, as long as the angle of view of the camera is changed, the effect as if the actor is flying weightlessly in the sky can be shot.

The robotic arm is an artifact for shooting in this way. It can adjust the angle and orientation of the actors at all times. Coupled with the addition of another robotic arm to adjust the lighting and camera, the effect of weightlessness can be relatively completely resolved.

This robotic arm is the flexible and precise IRIS robotic arm.

This IRIS robotic arm has a motion speed of 4 m/s, a motion radius of 3.1 m, an accuracy of 0.04 mm, up to 7 joint axes, and a track of more than 10 m.

It is enough to complete all kinds of complex and fine movements, and to shoot shots from various tricky angles at will. With the existence of this kind of thing, any weightless movements required by the director can be completed.

Of course, it is a kind of torture for actors.

Because actors need to be suspended by robotic arms at all times during filming, and sometimes there are not one or two. In order to show irregular movements, actors sometimes have to be suspended by several robotic arms at the same time.

Although a thick septum has been laid on the lifting ring of the mechanical arm to ensure that it will not hurt the actor's body, it is a steel wire after all, and it will definitely hurt if it is really thrown.

It doesn't take a day, just one scene is filmed, and the actor probably suffers from severe pain. After a long time, he must have back pain.

This is also the reason why Chen Hao asked Mr. Xun to exercise and do special training, otherwise he would be really easy to get injured.

Even so, if there is an accident during filming, it is very likely to be injured.

Therefore, when filming "Gravity", the use of lenses, robotic arms and space light boxes must be refined, otherwise either the lens cannot be used, or the actors are vulnerable to injury. It is comparable to a major surgery. Isn't it huge!

In addition, the use of the mechanical arm is not only used to hang the actors, but also can be used to hang the camera.

Especially when shooting actors flying around due to impact, if the actor is not good at swinging around with the robotic arm, in fact, the robotic arm can be used to move the camera up and down to reflect the actor's tumbling.

After all, movement is relative. If the actors don’t move, the camera can still produce the desired effect.

I believe that after "Gravity", shooting with a light box will undoubtedly become one of the important props for future space films, and the robotic arm will undoubtedly be a major breakthrough in the history of space film shooting.

"It's been hoisted." Guo Fan replied looking at the actor whose head and feet were hoisted by two mechanical arms in the air.

"Old Du, how is it?" Chen Hao asked.

"The LED lights have been adjusted, and the camera on the robotic arm has been designed according to the predetermined trajectory, and we can start shooting at any time!" Guo Fan said.

"Okay then, get ready to start!" After Chen Hao finished speaking, he walked to the monitor and sat down.

"Everyone keep quiet!" Wen Muye yelled loudly, "Everyone keep quiet, the filming will start right away! One last confirmation, lighting?"

"Everything is ready!"

"recording?"

"no problem!"

"photography?"

"OK!"

……

""Gravity" Scene 15, Scene 1, Shot 1, pop!"

"Start!" Chen Hao shouted.

Female doctor Ryan Zhou (Xun Gongzi) and astronaut Matt Kowowski (George Clooney) take the "Explorer" space shuttle to perform the STS-151 mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope.

While out of the cabin to perform repair work, Russia fired a missile that destroyed one of its defunct spy satellites. Debris from the explosion knocked out a large number of spacecraft and rushed to the Explorer, crashing it along with the Hubble telescope.

Except for the two people who got out of the cabin, all other astronauts died.

Then Matt and Ryan began to search for the bodies of the astronauts. When the two returned to the Explorer space shuttle, the two astronauts who stayed here were also dead.

The scene to be filmed now is the two returning to the damaged space shuttle Explorer, and then seeing the bodies of the two astronauts floating in space.

Driven by the two mechanical arms, a corpse was slowly floating forward, and then suddenly bumped into Ryan Zhou who came to check the situation, so it floated in the opposite direction.

Mr. Xun is not here, so the mechanical arm needs to move forward for a certain distance before controlling the corpse to take it in the opposite direction.

It's just that because of inertia, when the corpse floated in the opposite direction, it moved forward again.

"Crack!" Chen Hao shouted, "When the mechanical arm stops and then moves in the opposite direction, the corpse moves forward again due to inertia. In this way, the rope is slightly longer, and only one mechanical arm is used to move forward." The arm pulls, and the other mechanical arm does not move.

When the corpse floats in the opposite direction, turn it around again, keep the forward mechanical arm still, and use the other mechanical arm to pull it. "

"If the rope breaks down, the body won't float on the same level," Guo Fan said.

"This is space, there is no gravity, so it's right not to float on the same level." Chen Hao said.

Guo Fan thought for a while, then nodded.

"Du Jie, you are adjusting the angle and trajectory of the camera." Chen Hao said.

"Already adjusting." Du Jie replied.

Sure enough, the plan can't keep up with the changes, the design is perfect, once it is implemented, it will be found that it doesn't work, and it can only be adjusted.

And if there is a slight change, the previously planned coordination parts have to be adjusted accordingly.

Half an hour later, Du Jie adjusted the trajectory of the camera, and the shooting continued.

""Gravity" Scene 15, Scene 1, Shot 2, pop!"

This time, only one mechanical arm was used to pull it, and then stopped when the corpse was drifting in the opposite direction, and the other mechanical arm was used to pull it back, and the corpse did not move forward due to inertia.

The camera also moves in sync with the body, moving in the opposite direction a little faster so that the footsteps can be captured from the head.

After filming the first corpse floating in the opposite direction, another corpse also floated over, and the two corpses floated up and down slowly.

"Okay, it's over!" Chen Hao shouted happily after a pause for 3 seconds.

I thought this kind of weightlessness scene was very difficult, and the coordination requirements were even more precise, so it would be difficult, but the first shot was passed in just 2 shots, which made Chen Hao very happy.

Of course, Chen Hao also knew, because what was shot here was only the floating corpse, there was no unnecessary movement at all, and there was no scene of rolling around, so it was not difficult.

The real challenge came after Mr. Xun came, and her role was the most difficult.

(End of this chapter)