Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 1310 Computer Simulation of Great White Shark on Land

“This is Jaws on land, and it’s been a long time since Steven has made a movie like this, which is what he does best.”

After seeing the latest version of the high-power flashlight that Ronald brought out and demonstrating it several times, Simberg was very satisfied and rented several on the spot. He had not personally managed the filming of a movie for a long time, and this time he wanted to create a miracle again.

The Japanese people's attitude towards him was that they did not fully understand his importance to a company. So he wanted to work with Spielberg again to make a movie like Jaws that shocked the whole of Hollywood.

"Hi, Steven..." Ronald saw Spielberg discussing with some special effects personnel and walked up to say hello.

"Stan?" Ronald unexpectedly discovered Stan Winston, the special effects supervisor of Cameron's Terminator 2, the expert who had just won the Oscar for Visual Effects.

"Hi, Ronald. Your lightning flash has been delivered. Let's go take a look..." The two of them attached great importance to the special effects of the lightning. They personally watched Xiao Yan use it several times in the sun and took several sample clips with a camera to confirm it.

"Why are you here?" Ronald whispered to Stan Winston.

"Everyone is here. I am here to try to make a dinosaur model. All the special effects experts in Hollywood have been invited by Sheinberg..."

"Huh?" Ronald felt unusual.

"Steven felt that the dinosaurs in this movie must be animals, not monsters like in previous Hollywood movies. I was also asked to make the dinosaur machinery..."

"I've been so busy these days that I've forgotten my manners." Spielberg was very satisfied with the effect of the new lightning light and took a photo with Xiaoyan for the company's promotional materials.

"Let me introduce them to you. Stan already knows them. This is Professor Jack Horner, a famous paleontologist. This is Phil Tippett, my chief dinosaur supervisor. These are all model experts from Industrial Light & Magic..."

Spielberg briefly introduced some of his ideas. The biggest difficulty in filming the great white shark on land is to maintain the authenticity of the dinosaur. This is unlike the great white shark that was underwater most of the time. The dinosaurs have to appear with human actors for a long time, so he spent most of his time choosing the special effects route.

"Why do these dinosaurs look like hairless chickens?" Ronald asked his question when he saw the small model that had been made.

"Yes, dinosaurs and birds are close relatives, or chickens are direct descendants of their cousins..." Professor Jack Horner explained to Ronald.

"Originally, I was going to use the technology of the big guys at Universal Studios to try to make mechanical dinosaurs, but I'm afraid that dinosaurs of this size won't be very effective, and they're too expensive..." Spielberg is now facing some difficulties. He explained to Ronald the difficulties in selecting some of the technologies, and wanted Ronald to think of a solution.

"I saw your Coke commercial with the polar bear. The effects were pretty realistic. Do you think it could be used in a dinosaur movie?"

"Aha, that's hard to say. As you noticed in the polar bear commercials, we can only do shots of them sitting and sliding on the ice. There's no way to make an animal with a gait that fits human imagination. But I can ask my special effects supervisor Van Fleet and his team to try and see if they can work with your experts to explore the possibility of gait simulation..."

"Great, it's settled..."

Spielberg achieved his goal of opening up a new technical route for computer special effects to try out the effect, and Ronald also achieved his goal. If successful, their special effects team would have made great technological progress, and being able to do special effects in Spielberg's movies would be a good brand.

……

However, some people’s goals were not achieved.

Cameron came to Ronald's house a few days later to complain that all the special effects teams in Hollywood had been requisitioned by Sheinberg at a huge price, making it impossible to get his "Terminator 3" project off the ground.

"Ah? You are going to shoot Terminator 3 now? Why didn't you say so earlier?" Ronald didn't expect that Cameron was encountering a talent crisis.

"Carlocco is in the process of restructuring, with investments from Italy's RCS Post Group, France's Channel Organa Productions, Japan's Pioneer Electronics, and MGM. Otherwise, given their financial situation, they'll need to wait until they can recoup their initial costs before investing in the next big production." Cameron was also a little angry.

"This is the current situation in Hollywood, Jim. All the special effects resources in Hollywood are only enough to make one quality special effects movie."

Ronald understood the core of this industry. This kind of special effects movie has a limited audience and not many directors can shoot it, so it is impossible to support too many special effects experts.

Only when directors like Spielberg and Cameron who are good at shooting special effects movies expand the entire market and extend the special effects wonders of Hollywood to cinemas around the world, will we be able to see the growth of the special effects industry. At that time, when the scale is large enough, it will be possible to shoot two large-scale special effects productions at the same time.

"I guess you're right. Carloco has made three hit movies in a row, Total Recall, Terminator 2, and Basic Instinct, and he can't afford the slow cash flow. I'd better think of more scripts. You have to support me when the time comes..." Cameron also figured it out. He and Ronald couldn't compete with Spielberg for resources. After all, Industrial Light & Magic, the largest and most capable special effects company in Hollywood, was founded by Spielberg's good friend Lucas.

However, they also need to expand their special effects capabilities. If they can be self-sufficient by then, they can shoot whatever they want.

……

“Is this how the gait is designed?”

Two weeks later, Van Vliet and Dennis Muren, an expert at Industrial Light and Magic, worked together to develop a prototype plug-in for computer rendering of animal gaits. Ronald and Cameron both went to Spielberg to see the latest progress.

"Yes, although it's still very crude..." Van Vliet pointed at two smooth chicken-like animal legs on the computer screen. The two chicken legs grew on a cube-shaped torso. When he pressed play, he saw the animal moving with a swish sound.

"This feels good... It has power and rhythm. Most importantly, it doesn't look fake. How did you do it?" Cameron was very interested, while Ronald remained silent and kept playing it over and over again.

"I think we can show it to Steven now..." After a long while, Ronald finally nodded in approval.

A few people ran to see Spielberg, who was discussing with Dinosaur Director Phil Tippett, and invited them to come and see the latest results.

"Huh?" Spielberg's eyes also lit up.

The method used by Phil Tippett before was the method of Ray Harryhausen, the stop-motion animation master who just won the Gordon E. Sawyer Technical Achievement Award at the Oscars.

A method of using a model, then using stop-motion photography to shoot its different movements, and finally synthesizing them to form a realistic model movement.

However, stop-motion animation still has its problems. First, the animation has a sense of lag. After all, the movement between each stop-motion photo cannot be exactly the same as the amplitude of human body movement, which makes the human eye feel uncomfortable.

Second, after all, these animations are realized by people manipulating the joints of the model, and the movements of each joint can be as realistic as possible. However, as a whole, the audience, who are used to watching the movements of animals and human bodies in the real world, will find the overall incoordination.

Although the current computer simulation method of gait is very primitive and crude, it solves both problems well. The computer relies on formula calculation to achieve gait simulation, automatically calculating the animation between two action nodes, which eliminates the sense of lag. In addition, there are set formulas between each joint to limit their relative movement, which also makes most of the laughter feel inconsistent with kinematics.

Like Ronald, Spielberg also spent a long time in front of the computer watching.

"How do you ensure the details and lighting of this animation? How long does it take to produce ten seconds of animation?" He raised a series of detailed questions, and Van Vliet and Dennis Muren answered them one by one in detail.

Finally, Spielberg pointed to his chief dinosaur supervisor, Phil Tippett, and said, "Looks like you're going to be out of a job... Phil."

"Unemployment, you mean extinction?" Phil Tippett was also shocked by this technology. In his opinion, although it was still crude, this new technology had unlimited potential and would definitely drive traditional electrical models and stop-motion animation methods to extinction.

Everyone felt that the trip was worthwhile, and went back to arrange recruitment and search for experienced computer graphics engineers in the market to prepare for the upcoming new era of special effects.

"Is it really that amazing?" Diane held a baseball and asked Ronald to hold the catching glove while practicing pitching techniques with him. She couldn't help but exclaim in amazement as she listened to Ronald talk about the magical computer special effects technology.

"You'll know when this movie comes out. It's an unprecedentedly realistic monster. I feel like Roger Corman-style monster exploitation movies are going to be revived in Hollywood in a different way..."

"Ha, computer-generated animals are so realistic, so can they become humans in the future?"

"It's not impossible..."

"Won't all of us actors be out of work by then?"

"Your voice is very sexy, and you can also voice over computer characters..."

"Look at the ball..." Diane swung her arms and used a very strange posture to throw the ball from the side..."

With a "bang", Ronald was hit in the chest.

"Oh……"

"Forget it, I'll just go practice with my sparring partner. You don't know how to play baseball..." Diane was relieved to see that Ronald was fine. She would never practice with this man who only knew how to wrestle but not how to play baseball again.

Now Diane was busy with baseball practice every day, and Ronald felt bored, so he found an excuse to go on a business trip to New York.

The business jet landed accurately at the Staten Island airport. After Ronald got off the plane, he went straight to the parked yacht and drove directly to the South Manhattan Pier.

"Ronald..." Helen Slater rolled down the window of the car across the pier and waved to him with a smile.

"Hmm..." The two kissed for a long time in the car. They hadn't seen each other since the Golden Globe Awards. If he didn't come to comfort Helen this time, something would go wrong.

"My album is out, listen to it..."

When they arrived at the mansion on Fifth Avenue, after a passionate moment, Helen took out a CD and started playing it.

The jazz album that Ronald had released for him on Columbia Records had already been released. Once it was released, it was a hot seller, and the sales did not stop until more than 100,000 copies were sold.

"I saw your speech at the Oscars. You are the perfect man in my heart..." Helen hugged Ronald, her eyes full of tenderness.

"Uh..." Ronald seemed to have some hidden meaning when he heard this.

"I know it depends on luck, but I don't know if I will have the chance to perform on the Oscar stage. My father sent me to the New York Art High School when I was very young, hoping that I would become a good actor..."

Helen was obsessed with Ronald, whispering in his ear. Her singing could be heard from the speakers on the other side, making Ronald feel a little overwhelmed.

This was obviously arranged according to Diane's acceptance speech for the Best Supporting Actress Award!
“…” Ronald couldn’t respond and could only remain silent.

"Do you think I'm more suitable for TV dramas? The Emmy Award is actually a great recognition for an actor..."

I don't know if Helen is self-aware or if she feels that she doesn't need to compete with Diane, so she lowered her standards. Even if she doesn't have an Oscar, an Emmy would be nice.

"..."

Ronald was still speechless. The Emmy Awards are given to the leading and important supporting actors in the annual hit TV series. If you think I have the ability to make a TV series, why would the "Working Girls" that I directed be cancelled?

"I heard that the competition in the jazz category of the Grammy Awards is not very fierce now..."

"..."

Ronald screamed in his heart, please spare me, it's just a female vocal record that I played and sang by myself, composed and wrote the lyrics, and found six musicians who accompanied the jazz masters back then, how could I be so confident to win a Grammy? If I hadn't found someone to sell the CD...

Forget it, as long as this kind of thing makes women happy.

"Honey, this is not something I can achieve just by saying so. It all depends on opportunity and luck... You see, I haven't even won the Best Director Award yet... I will remember your dream, but you have to be patient and move forward slowly..."

"Ronald..." Helen hugged him and cried with joy, "You really have a place for me in your heart."

This holiday was also strange. Helen was unusually gentle, but Ronald knew that she had other thoughts in her mind, and he always felt a little guilty when receiving her gentleness.

After staying for a few days, I ran back to California.

The plane first landed in San Francisco, where a preview of Sister Act, directed by Emil Adolino and starring Whoopi Goldberg, had been edited, and Ronald went to see the quality of the sample.

"Hahahaha...how can this be so funny? I'm almost laughing to tears..."

Ronald watched Whoopi Goldberg play the resident singer in Las Vegas on the screen. She liked to show off, loved music, and was restless. Later, she was protected and went to hide in a monastery, wearing a nun's uniform, causing a lot of trouble. In the end, she reformed the old church choral tradition, incorporated the singing style of black soul music into the choir, and finally performed for the visiting Pope.

"Is this supporting actress Britain's Maggie Smith? You made her so well, the film wouldn't stand without her..."

"That's it, and I think this is the casting that I'm most satisfied with. Without Ms. Smith's role, the whole movie becomes a farce, and it has no basis in reality. With her, people will feel that, oh, it turns out that this thing can happen in the real world..."

Adolino was also very satisfied. Ronald came up and praised him for his most proud arrangement. It seemed that he had done a good job.

"Okay, you can go shoot your New York City Ballet show now, just take a break. When this movie comes out, I think you'll be able to shoot a real big production..."

Ronald likes director Adolino very much. He can make musicals, documentaries, and romantic comedies, but his best work is probably comedies.

It’s just that he himself doesn’t really like making comedies. But that’s no problem. Ronald is very optimistic about the box office prospects of “Sister Act” this time. If he can find Adolino’s movie by then, the director’s salary will surely be quite high. Who can resist money?

Looking at the obviously thin Adolino, Ronald showed concern for him. "Recover from my worries. Don't rush to shoot the documentary. I won't put pressure on you on the shooting schedule. When the movie is released, many people will come to you with scripts and ask you to shoot it..."

Adolino just smiled, he prefers to shoot subjects that he likes, such as ballet.

Ronald was in a good mood because he had another good movie in hand. He was going back to Los Angeles to talk to Katzenberg of Disney to get more screening resources for Sister Act.

As soon as he got off the plane and got in the car, Ronald felt something was wrong. Los Angeles seemed a little different from before.

"Are you not used to it? Those blacks and Latinos who used to burn tires and wood for heating on the streets are gone..." Little Bud knew what Ronald felt was strange.

"Yeah, once you say it's true, what's going on?"

"LAPD has launched another major arrest, and a large number of street thugs have been arrested... Poor kids..."

(End of this chapter)