Made in Hollywood

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"Lieutenant Colonel, where the script ends..."

Closing the script handed over by Lieutenant Colonel Renjo directly, Duke stood up and strengthened his tone highly, "It must be a civilian, not a president or an army member, who destroys the weapons of the alien spacecraft!"

"why?"

After all, the two have worked together once, and the representative of the Pentagon is waiting for Duke to explain.

What is the biggest reason? Of course, it is because the audience likes to see the little people save the world, because the mainstream American culture still has the characteristics of anti-intellectual and anti-elite, because the movie can cater to the mentality of mainstream audiences and allow them to pay for tickets.

Little people save the world, and there are always idiots at the top. This can be said to be a point that Hollywood movies strongly promote, but Hollywood movies do this, not because they agree with anti-intellectual and anti-elite, but because it allows the audience to pay for their money and make commercial profits.

Most typically, in all Hollywood youth campus movies, more than 95% of football quarterbacks are villains. The movie always portrays them as ±↙, simple-minded and well-developed fools. In fact What?

The quarterback is the core of a football team, usually the leader of the team, not only directs the offense on the field, but also changes the coach’s strategy on the spot. Most of these people are physically strong, clear-headed, quick-thinking, and have extremely keen judgment. And the determination to implement is often the most popular among girls on campus, and can be described as a true elite.

Therefore, in the anti-intellectual and anti-elite culture, they are like the senators of Congress and the successive masters of the White House, and they have become the most often ridiculed objects in movies.

When it is impossible to raise the simple-minded North American audiences to the height of agreeing with their own views, as a commercial film director, you must take the initiative to lower your body to cater to the tastes of mainstream audiences.

Duke understands these truths himself, but he cannot use them as a reason to convince the Pentagon.

So he started talking nonsense again, "Lieutenant Colonel, the United States is a democratic country. Everyone is an important part of this free country. When the country is in trouble, the people will inevitably work hard to save themselves. In the script, our army and the Pentagon With the president, there are too many places to show their bravery. In the end, civilians drove the plane and crashed into an alien spacecraft, which just shows that once the crisis comes, the people and the federal government will stand together and unite!"

"What you said does make sense."

Incarnation of the former Soviet political commissar, he still played a little role. Lieutenant Colonel Renjo turned to another sensitive point, "Duke, the Pentagon is very satisfied with the tone of the film and the fighting spirit of the army promoted."

Definitely satisfied. If the Pentagon is still picking up the tone of such a major Americanist film, it is purely a collective rust.

Just when Duke was so slanderous, Lieutenant Colonel Renhou continued, "But the Pentagon hopes you can get rid of all the content in District 51."

"Lieutenant Colonel, this is just a boo head to attract the audience." Duke spread his hand and said, "We don't have any intention to promote conspiracy theories. We just want to attract more audiences."

"That's not what I meant, Duke." Lieutenant Colonel Renhou stood up from his seat and walked back and forth. "My boss is somewhat sensitive to this."

sensitive? Duke was stunned, thinking that there would really be Area 51, right?

"The Roswell incident and Area 51 have been passed on for so many years, and the public knows it is fake."

True or false is not important to Duke. He doesn’t care about these things. “If we master alien technology, wouldn’t we have already dominated the world? This is just the film’s publicity and hype, attracting more audiences to enter. cinema."

Lieutenant Colonel Renhou stopped, said nothing, his expression was thoughtful.

"In my opinion, the benefits to the Pentagon are definitely greater for the Pentagon to have more audiences entering the theater."

In order to persuade the Pentagon to save tens of millions of dollars in weapons and equipment rental costs so that more money can be invested in special effects production, Duke really racked his brains, "Lieutenant Colonel, as far as I know, after the Iraq War, the army The enlistment rate has been declining. In the past two years, it has even reached the lowest point in history. You once told me that "Brave to Death Island" can become a conscription ad, but in fact it is not."

After a short pause, when Lieutenant Colonel Renhou turned his head to look over, Duke changed into a more powerful tone, "You have read the script of "Independence Day", Lieutenant Colonel! This will be the best one. Recruitment commercials, remember the enlistment effect brought about by the release of "Rising Clouds"? An excellent film that promotes the army is ten times or even a hundred times more efficient than the Ministry of National Defense's recruitment advertisements in major media!"

The "Rising Clouds" in the 1980s brought about a super conscription effect. After the film, dubbed the "f-14 super long mv", was released, teenagers flocked to watch and the box office soared. It also allowed the US Navy to usher in the highest enlistment rate after World War II.

Since "High Aspirations", Hollywood hasn't filmed an influential conscription propaganda for many years, and "Independence Day" has the distinctive characteristics of conscription advertising.

Duke himself doesn't care about this. He and the Pentagon are simply a cooperative relationship of interests. Since he is in Hollywood, he must consider the problem from his current standpoint. How to do it in his best interests?

In the near future, from the Pyramids of Cairo to the skyscrapers of Chicago, from the broken walls of Los Angeles to the vast Pacific Ocean, from the highways on the streets of Paris to the military bases in the Middle East with yellow sands, Hollywood screens, all over the world There have been waves of alien invasions on an unprecedented scale.

When the earth’s common homeland is in danger, there will always be a group of "heroes" who will come forward and enter the battlefield with flesh and blood, save the building, and finally defeat the conspiracy and tricks of the alien thugs, defend the earth and save it. The people of the world returned to the barracks surrounded by flowers and applause after their accomplishments, hiding their merits and fame.

The "heroic feats" of these American soldiers on the screen made global audiences "awe-inspiring" and "fascinated" by passionate men. It also made these films unknowingly become US military recruitment advertisements.

In fact, it’s not news for the US military to set up a stage and Hollywood to sing. As early as the film was born nearly a hundred years ago, the two sides had a close relationship, but the reason why the military cooperated with the crew was for teaching purposes-the film can be used as a military school Teaching materials.

Based on this, the U.S. military during World War II was able to directly participate in the production and distribution of conscription films. Directors such as Frank Capra had made high-level conscription films, but that was incompatible with the hawkish movie star who advocated the Vietnam War. The "Green Beret" filmed by Wayne in the 1960s is just like praising the U.S. military. It is a short-lived "exceptional period".

"Conscription films" in the current sense refer to a group of high-investment commercial films that focused on shaping the positive image of the U.S. military after the film reflecting on the Vietnam War died down. It started with the popular "Rising Clouds" in the 1980s. Although the effect was good, it was due to the characteristics of advertising. It's too obvious, and I have encountered a lot of criticism.

However, now and in the future, with the refurbishment of film narrative techniques and visual language, the image of American soldiers on the screen has become more and more majestic, and the comprehensive strength of the US military has also been more and more vividly displayed. The effect of conscription is naturally rising, and the Pentagon opens. The amount of sponsorship has also risen sharply.

At the same time, experienced screenwriters know how to weave advertising elements into the plot without revealing a trace, thereby greatly reducing the audience’s sensitivity. Today’s "Independence Day" is like the future "Transformers", with these characteristics. , And if you complete the film according to Duke’s vision, you will find that the advertising intentions are far less explicit than that of "High Aspirations."

From a commercial point of view, the collaboration between the crew and the Pentagon is a win-win deal that only fools will refuse.

Since the smoke cleared in the Vietnam War and the United States changed from a voluntary military system to a voluntary military system, the military had to spend a lot of money to shoot recruitment advertisements every year, but the best advertisements are not as provocative as well-made commercial blockbusters, and movies and advertisements are similar. The comparative advantage is huge, and its public relations propaganda elements are covered up and eliminated in a complete story, allowing the audience to subtly indulge in the sensory bombing and psychological adventures that are the same as the characters, and at the same time avoid the natural resistance to advertising. .

From the perspective of Duke, this "main theme" war sci-fi action film he produced has commercial features such as an intelligent and courageous protagonist, a passionate plot, and a magnificent battle scene. The positive charisma produced is just as needed for the recruitment advertisement. It coincides with each other. It is of course possible to obtain props and technical support provided by the military, and to obtain higher profits at lower production costs. Why not do it.

Of course, Duke himself does not have a mentally retarded aura. Even if he is a political commissar of the former Soviet Union and talked about such a big deal, Lieutenant Colonel Renhuo did not give any promises. He himself did not have this power. He just promised to take Duke. The original version of the meaning of the movie is sent back to the Pentagon, and it will also help the crew to fight for sponsorship.

"Who said that the Pentagon is all idiots and idiots? Their money is very good?"

After sending off Lieutenant Colonel Renhuo, Duke also complained a bit. If the Pentagon is as naive as portrayed in movies or on the Internet of previous lives, he doesn't need to spend such and such talk, maybe he doesn't have the opportunity to spend these talks.

In the following days, Duke re-reviewed the thick stack of artwork drawn by the art and special effects team. The appearance of the alien and the spacecraft were finalized. The drawings were transferred to the Special Effects Department of Industrial Light and Magic, by Stan Winston The model making in charge kicked off the curtain.

In the last week, Duke has mainly focused on models. In addition to alien models, it also needs to determine the models of cities and landmarks in North America. All explosion scenes will only be shot in real scenes, and movies need computer-generated cg lenses. Also entering the pre-production stage, a computer special effects department of Industrial Light and Magic, like the model special effects team, has also been stationed in the crew at Warner Studios, and constantly communicated with Duke.

In addition, the actor audition has entered the second round, and Duke has to be distracted by the choice of the main actor.

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