Reborn and become a Great Scientist

Chapter 317 56 The wedding was forced to be postponed

Chen Muwu was still looking forward to making a fortune from copyright fees. However, the staff member from United Artists who came over did not even ask or care whether Chen Muwu’s pen name was Chandler York, and he never mentioned the George Chen series. things.

"Dr. Chen, I hurried over from London after receiving a telegram from the U.S. headquarters. The headquarters said in the telegram that United Artists Film Company wants to hire you as..."

hire?

What would a film company want to hire me for?
Be a director?Be a screenwriter?Be a producer?None of these three options are possible.

He has nothing to do with movies, and United Artists, a film company, has been striving to make a lot of money since its establishment. It is impossible to do this kind of business of losing money and making money.

What are you hiring yourself for?
Could it be that he saw a photo of himself tall, handsome, and suave in a newspaper and wanted to hire him to be the male lead in a movie?
It can only be said that there are still people with very good vision in United Artists Film Company.

He understood the kindness, but as for the actor, let it go.

Brother is now focused on the Cavendish Laboratory, and he must not neglect his duties and create extraneous matters.

Chen Muwu secretly did some psychological construction that was inconsistent with the situation, but it turned out that he was being sentimental again this time.

"...hiring you as a consultant to our film company."

consultant?

What is a consultant?
This made Chen Muwu, who had just been dreaming of becoming a leading actor and movie star, suddenly feel a bit psychologically disconnected.

"You...are you going to make a movie about physics?"

Otherwise, why would the other party hire me as a consultant?He really couldn't figure it out.

Maybe the only thing that related to physics in early movies was the design of special effects?

Chen Muwu saw some animations a long time ago, which included split illustrations of several dangerous actions performed by Chaplin during the actual filming of "Modern Times."

For example, there is a scene in which Chaplin is hanging in mid-air, holding tightly to the hands of a large clock on the side wall of a skyscraper, trying hard not to fall into the busy main road below.

But in fact, this section was only shot from a borrowed position. The place he was in was not a tall building, nor was he a busy road with cars passing under him.

He himself is only about one meter above the ground. He just cleverly arranged the position of the scene, actors and camera, using visual difference to create the effect of hanging in mid-air.

There is another scene where he and the heroine stay overnight in a department store with a dazzling array of goods. The protagonist, who feels the taste of love, roller skates happily in the lobby of a certain floor. Then he gets carried away and forgets. The railing behind him is under repair and there is no object blocking it.

Fortunately, Chaplin stopped in time after being reminded by the heroine's scream. Otherwise, he might have fallen from several stories in mid-air, and even if he survived, he would have been paraplegic.

Of course, such a dangerous scene cannot be actually shot. The principle behind it is still to create a visual difference. The dangerous scene several stories high without railings is actually just a painting.

——Exactly the same as those artists in future videos who paint on the road and draw a 3D-like pit to trick the drivers of passing vehicles.

Chen Muwu felt that this was the only way to shoot things with poor vision, which had something to do with the physics he was good at. But to be honest, this kind of proficient use of the principle of perspective should actually be found by art students.

"No, Dr. Chen, the headquarters said in the telegram that Director Fairbanks wants to make a film about aliens and hired you to be a consultant for this film."

This……

Fairbanks was one of the four partners in the early days of United Artists, and he was married to another one of them, Ms. Pickford.

Because the movies of these people had been introduced to China as early as the Republic of China, their names were not completely transliterated when translated, but they all received a Chinese name-style translation.

Chaplin, strictly according to the transliteration rules, should be translated as "Chaplin" rather than Chaplin.

Likewise, Fairbanks should be "Fairbanks" not Fairbanks.

His wife, Pickford, whose real surname is Pickford, has the same surname as Pickford, the future national gatekeeper of the San Miao Legion.

In addition to being Chaplin's partner, Fairbanks will co-found the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in California in May this year and serve as the academy's first president.

The most famous thing about this academy in the future is that it serves as the organizer of the Academy Awards, awarding Oscars every year.

Like Chaplin, Fairbanks was also a famous American director in the silent film era, and he was also very good at directing and acting.

However, because of his muscular body, Fairbanks' career as an actor is usually based on starring in action movies. His representative roles are Zorro and Robin Hood, both chivalrous and righteous characters.

As movies were sold to movie theaters around the world by the powerful American film industry system, people around the world regarded him as a symbol of the courageous American spirit.

Because Chen Muwu was accustomed to the high-end movies of the future, he was actually not very interested in these early, very simple dramas. He occasionally went into the cinema just to relax by watching Chaplin's comedies.

However, if Fairbanks doesn't continue to make his personal heroic movies, why does he suddenly want to make aliens again?

It seems that there is no difference between 100 years ago and 100 years later.

In order to make money, everyone will immediately take advantage of the popularity of whatever is popular.

"So, if I agree to serve as a consultant, what obligations and responsibilities should I bear?"

Chen Muwu asked tentatively.

If the other party proposed that he participate in the writing of the script, he would definitely not do such a time-consuming and labor-intensive matter.

The popularity of aliens has only just begun, and this kind of movie was launched immediately. It is completely improvised. There must be many unreasonable places in the story.

Taking the consulting fee of Sangualiangzao to work as a screenwriter, Chen Muwu is not stupid, he will not be exploited and oppressed like this!

In order to escape the exploitation and oppression of capitalists, a few of them established United Artists Pictures. How come they ended up becoming capitalists?

Of course, that's another matter if the price offered by United Artists is high enough.

If they could spare [-] US dollars, Chen Muwu could write the script for "ET" on the spot.

The $[-] consulting fee that Chen Muwu was thinking about was not just a whim.

Griffith, one of the founders of United Artists Film Company, had spent more than 1916 million U.S. dollars on the filming of "Party and Opposition" in 200, before the company was founded.

Please note that the more than 200 million U.S. dollars here are U.S. dollars in 1916, and their purchasing power is far greater than that of U.S. dollars 100 years later. When converted, one U.S. dollar at this time is equivalent to nearly thirty U.S. dollars in the future.However, Griffith's film, which is full of personal understanding, also achieved completely unexpected results after its release.

The box office revenue was less than 20 US dollars, which directly knocked Griffith off the altar. He is no longer the talented director who spent 11 US dollars to shoot "The Birth of a Nation" and earned 800 million at the box office.

Capitalists also realized because of this movie that directors could not be allowed to do whatever they wanted, so since then, Hollywood film companies have become more inclined to the producer-centered film production model.

Chaplin and Fairbanks probably founded United Artists Pictures to make more money.

But Griffith probably joined the company because he wanted greater creative freedom, and he wanted to work part-time to slowly repay the debt he had to carry for the rest of his life because of one movie.

Griffith is Griffith, and Fairbanks is Fairbanks.

Although they are both in the same film company, the fact that the former can spend so much money to make a movie does not mean that the latter is willing to spend [-] US dollars to hire Chen Muwu as a consultant.

Therefore, he was just thinking about it in his mind, and did not offer a jaw-dropping price to the staff member in front of him.

"The director said that this consultant position is just in name only. It can have a publicity effect before the film is released and does not require you to do any specific work."

"Then do I need to go on a mirror or something?"

"That's not necessary, Dr. Chen."

"Write an article? Or be interviewed by reporters."

"You don't need to do anything yourself. I think when the movie is finally produced, you just need to allow the company to use your name and publish an article in the newspaper similar to 'Alien research expert Dr. Chen Muwu read it and agreed. 'An advertising slogan like this is fine."

It turned out to be the case.

It seems that he just wants to use his fame as a cover for the promotion of future movies.

That fool didn't agree to the invitation and could make a lot of money for nothing by doing nothing.

It's just that Chen Muwu's wish to be on camera was in vain, and he couldn't let go of his addiction to being a movie star.

"I agree with this for now, but everything must be put in black and white on paper. It's best to let your company draw up a contract."

"Easy to say, easy to say. Dr. Chen, please rest assured that as for the consulting fee, our company will never treat you badly."

Chen Muwu thought for a while, but rejected the other party: "I like watching United Artists movies very much, and the consulting fee will be ignored.

"——But I have another request. I plan to get married next year. Can you please send a photography team from your company then? I want to record all the situations before and after the wedding."

In the era of smartphones, it is "commonplace" to open the camera software and take pictures.

But now, if you want to record images anytime and anywhere, you will be worried about the governor of Jiangzhou.

When Oppenheimer bought himself a Leica camera in a Berlin department store, Chen Muwu couldn't put it down.

Later, he went even further and wanted to buy a portable video camera that could be carried with him, but there was no such thing in department stores in Germany. After returning to the UK, Harrods in London did not have such a thing.

There was no way, Chen Muwu could only put his wish on hold for the time being, but he never gave up.

Because he remembered another incident. At the fifth Solvay Conference held in 1927, which was this year, there was actually a video that has remained in later generations.

In that video, basically everyone among the physicists participating in the meeting was wearing a suit and tie, with a fedora hat on their head.

Elderly people hold sticks in their hands, while heavy smokers always have cigarettes or cigars between the tips of their index and middle fingers.

In that video, Marie Curie appeared at the window, spinning around in circles as excitedly as a child.

It was a video like this that made Chen Muwu feel that there should be convenient equipment that can record images with him.

But now that I think about it, Ye Keng wanted to better record the Solvay meeting. The organizer of the meeting, the Solvay Foundation, specially invited a photographer.

No matter what, Chen Muwu still wanted to record his marriage properly.

Just taking some photos is always not enough. If you can make images, it will not only be more memorable, but also leave a precious historical data for future people to conduct research.

When United Artists Film Company came to your doorstep, Chen Muwu thought it was a waste if he didn't use it.

I felt uncomfortable if the consulting fee was too little, but if it was too much... I guess United Artists wouldn't be able to give too much money.

It's better to just go with the flow and ask them to come to Europe to be your wedding photographer without any consulting fees. At the worst, you can add some money. There is only one chance to get married, and many big names from all walks of life will inevitably appear at the wedding. .

"This……"

The staff member who came to Cambridge obviously did not expect that things would develop in another direction. He did not make any plans in this regard before coming, so he did not know how to deal with the new requirements put forward by Chen Muwu.

"How about I communicate with the United States and see what the headquarters decides?"

"Please do as you please and wait for good news."

Initially, it was Kapitsa who decided to get married this year.

Chen Muwu and Kapitsa are good friends, and they are both foreigners studying and working at Cambridge University. They are both practitioners in the physics industry. They are both married to a girl from France. The two couples also know each other.

With so many chances and coincidences combined, Chen Muwu planned to hold a wedding with Kapitsa.

However, the plan could not keep up with the changes. At the end of last year, Rutherford suddenly wanted to return to New Zealand. He was appointed as the interim director of the Cavendish Laboratory.

Chen Muwu had long promised to leave the UK at the beginning of the year and the end of the year to attend two physics academic conferences in Italy and Belgium.

If he goes to France to get married again, including the pre-marriage preparations and post-marriage finishing work, he will basically have to leave the Cavendish Laboratory every three to five times during the year. This director, although temporary, is too A little bit incompetent.

Therefore, Chen Muwu's wedding date could only be postponed for one year, but his family said they would get married this year, so they left Bihai as planned.

Counting the days, it should not take more than a few days for the ship to arrive at the Royal Victoria Dock in London.

(End of this chapter)