Made in Hollywood

Before the official establishment of the Big Ship project, no one knows how long James Cameron thought about it, but in late October this year, after three and a half years before the project was approved, the film was finally completed, not counting the continued investment in publicity. Expenses, the production cost alone cost 200 million US dollars!

Even after fifteen years, this is a terrifying production cost.

The film dragged on again and again, and the tyrant on the set kept bouncing votes. It is conceivable how urgent the idea of ​​a producer who invested heavily in it to recover the cost is eager.

The most important thing is that everyone from the industry to the outside is laughing at this big ship, thinking that it must sink, especially the film critics, when they learned that Duke’s $50 million in funds, they kept ridiculing. Simply describe him and James Cameron as the biggest fools in Hollywood history.

Even in "Roger Albert and Siskell Watching a Movie", each recent episode will routinely taunt the two of them, and the film is named ‘The Sinking Titanic’!

Although the abilities of Paramount Pictures and Twentieth Century Fox executives are undoubted, otherwise they would not sit at such a high position, but people are always affected by the external environment, and they do not have the idea of ​​looking down on this film. According to Duke got the news: 20th Century Fox is ready to file for bankruptcy protection after the film fails.

After the completion of "Titanic", Duke specially flew back to Los Angeles, participated in the internal trial meeting held by Fox and Paramount, and was completely relieved.

There is a little difference between the ship and the past, mainly in details, but this is normal. After all, a director's filming and editing today will be different from tomorrow's filming and editing, but the quality of the film does not change, Duke believes. Even if the announcement of the film is not in place as it once was, the potential for the rise of this film is still infinite!

And with his $50 million investment in it, Duke will naturally not see the announcement of the film go the same way.

In fact, in terms of publicity, just like in previous lives, the cynicism of the media and film critics, coupled with a huge investment of 200 million US dollars. The popularity of the film is not a problem at all. The most important thing for publicity is how to spread the good reputation of the audience as quickly as possible after the film is released or tested.

The once big ship has fully proved that the reputation of the audience can easily overturn the prejudices of film critics.

The other is the issue of theaters. Duke met Shelly Lansing and Townsend Rothman one after another, asking them to strive for the largest number of theaters, although he claimed to be optimistic about this film, which can make high-level leaders on both sides pay attention to it. less. But empty words have never been convincing. Duke simply declared that he is willing to pay for the film's publicity costs in proportion to the investment!

In the past few years, Duke has proven his grasp of the commercial film market, coupled with the attitude of actively participating in the publicity, has also increased a lot of confidence in Paramount and Fox, of course, both sides want to sell the film, and then with The North American Theater Alliance stepped up ties to compete for the largest number of theaters.

The next one is the trial meeting. There was no preview of the old ship. Duke suggested before the film was released. It is necessary to hold two or three sessions of media, general fan trials and theater representatives, and use all available means to feed back the audience’s true feelings.

The last one is the premiere, because Japan is willing to pay a sponsorship, plus James Cameron is a standard Japanese culture lover, Paramount and Fox want to put the world premiere of the film in Tokyo .

"We must put the premiere in North America!"

Faced with Shelly Lansing and Townsend Rothman. Duke is more like the director of the film. At this point, James Cameron’s right to speak has been infinitely reduced, and he himself is not good to say anything. The fate of this film is actually no longer affected by him. Take control. "Invite as many stars as possible to the premiere. Don't forget that this is the premiere of an unprecedented big production!"

Although the North American distribution rights are in the hands of Paramount Pictures, Shelly Lansing discussed with Townsend Roseman, and when Duke returned to Sydney, they received a call from them. The premiere of the film The style will be in Los Angeles! And the film will be screened simultaneously in Britain and the United States!

Duke mentioned these are just the most conventional means of publicity, and the film of Da Chuan does not require any unusual publicity methods. However, the top executives of Paramount Pictures and 20th Century Fox are eager to recover their investment. In fact, the mentality is a bit out of balance. Duke is just ringing the alarm for them to restore their composure and calmness, and when it comes to actual publicity operations, he is far behind the professionals of the two film companies.

When Duke returned to the Fox Studios in Sydney to continue filming, a series of good news was reported to him by two film companies. Paramount Pictures and Twentieth Century Fox were not independent production companies for a long time. With the support of a huge media group behind him, as long as there is enough attention and a rational mind, a large number of resources can be mobilized without too much effort.

In early November, after the film held three trial sessions in a row, the media's views on the film suddenly changed. Many viewers' views were revealed. The film was praised by quite a lot of viewers as "unprecedented and super exciting"!

The representatives of the theaters are of course an indispensable part of the preview. The North American Theater Alliance then reached an agreement with the publisher Paramount that "Titanic" will land in North America on a super large scale of 3100 theaters.

Due to the huge investment in the film, Duke also stood up to cheer for the film, and for this reason, he specifically accepted an interview with the Fox TV Family Channel.

"Yes, I have watched this film. I can't describe it. I don't think it is too much to add all the words I have about praise to it! I know some people mock it because of prejudice, but Facts will prove how ignorant these people are! When the film is released, everyone will find that a new era has arrived! Film history will be divided into "Titanic" before and "Titanic" after!"

Now everything is ready, only to be released, unless the end of the world comes, otherwise no force will stop the big ship from breaking through the wind!

However, before witnessing the glory of the ship, Duke must first complete the final filming of The Matrix.

When mid-November arrived, after 70 days of shooting, "The Matrix" was left with only the last and the most technically difficult scene-bullet time!

How is Bullet Time taken? Duke used to read a lot of materials, and the statements of each material are different. He is not a blind follower, and he will not rashly use those methods on the Internet who knows to be unreliable. He was responsible for suggestions, and then John Schwarzman and professionals from Industrial Light & Magic designed the plan, and through experimentation, found the most suitable type from different plans.

"Duke, someone has come to visit your class."

Just after the busy period, Duke heard the assistant's words and couldn't help turning his head to look. It was a short and thin girl with a brown ponytail. It was much darker than when we met more than a month ago.

"Hi, Duke." She greeted with a smile.

"Hello, Nat."

Throwing the coffee cup in his hand to the assistant, Duke asked curiously, "Why is it suddenly black?"

"The crew went to the desert area for a location." Natalie rubbed her face lightly. "The sun over there is very poisonous, but don't you think this looks healthier?"

She looked at the busy set behind Duke and asked embarrassedly, "Is it bothering you?"

"It's okay." Duke shook his head, took the initiative to take the two new cups of coffee from the assistant, handed one of them to Natalie, and walked her to the temporary resting place. "I just finished a while and I am taking a break. ."

The two sat at a table, and Natalie's curious eyes swept across the set, "I heard that this is your last scene? Why are there so many cameras and cameras?"

"I want to shoot a special scene." Duke briefly explained the concept of bullet time, and then said, "Industrial Light & Magic's special effects artists first design the action, and then use the ordinary camera to complete the shooting. We will scan the screen into the computer. , Using a specially designed laser-guided tracking system to work out the camera motion trajectory to capture the final scene."

Duke pointed to the shooting site that had been set up, "Then, we placed a large number of cameras in the motion path, and each camera only took a static photo. These photos were scanned into the computer, and the computer would use the information to generate The coherent movement in the middle of the action eventually connects a series of pictures quickly or slowly into a complete scene through computer special effects."

"It's very complicated and amazing." Natalie shook her head, "I still don't understand."

"Sit here and look good."

After drinking the coffee in the cup, Duke stood up, "It's not magical to shoot."

There is nothing magical about the shooting, because after doing enough experiments in advance, Keanu Reeves, wearing a wig, stood in front of the camera, and when he completed the action similar to the iron bridge, there was nothing surprising to the naked eye. But after experiencing a lot of blue-screen shooting in Star Wars, Natalie knows very well that more and more advanced post-production technology will make many impossible possibilities possible.

Just in case, Duke deliberately took many shots to collect enough material. When the shooting was over, Keanu Reeves was tired because he had done too many iron bridges, even if the wire was hanging. I have to be a little straighter.

"I declare!"

Standing on the green screen surrounded by the camera, Duke exclaimed, "The filming of The Matrix is ​​officially over!"

As usual, there was sparse applause, and Duke said again, "I leased a private island in Fiji, and our shutdown party will be held there!"

After speaking, he left the shooting location, walked back to the resting place, looked at Natalie who seemed to be in a trance, and tentatively invited, "Nate, can you invite you to our party? I have invited many stars. Members of the war crew participate." (To be continued.)

ps: A new month has begun, I am continuing to work hard, and I will ask for various votes~~~