Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"Aniation?" Ronald was puzzled as to why Cameron recommended an animation talent.

"Ah, I forgot. People who are not engaged in visual effects will misunderstand this name and think it refers to those Disney cartoons."

John Van Fleet smiled and explained it to Ronald.

The original meaning of the word animation is to make a static object move. Disney's cartoons are actually to make the characters drawn on paper move, thus turning them into a movie.

In the field of visual effects, there is also a kind of people called animation experts. Their job is to make the objects that originally did not move in the movie move on the screen according to the director.

The two found a place to sit down, and Ronald handed the text of several scenes with dense visual effects in the script to Van Fleet, and then picked up a pencil and began to draw the scene image he wanted.

"There are three densely populated scenes that I want to deal with in particular. The first is the streets of Broadway in New York, where Sam is shot to death and his soul leaves his body, which is lying on the ground and dead in Molly's arms.

Both Sams must be in the same scene, but one must have the feeling of a ghost, able to pass through various objects and human bodies without hindrance."

"Traditional visual effects can solve this problem. You just need to let the double lie on the ground instead of the actor..."

Van Fleet saw Ronald shaking his head and knew that the director on the other side was not satisfied with this B-level movie method. "But this processing method is too rough, and close-ups cannot be used. Another way is to use multiple repeated exposures... That is not very accurate, or use a green screen to shoot the ghost's actions, and then synthesize them into the film."

"I want to see the effect. The second scene is the picture of the ghost in the subway car, jumping through the wall between different trains."

"This is the same idea, but for a high-speed moving object like the subway, you need high-precision camera control..."

"The third scene is that the bad guy Carl got what he deserved and was killed by glass. The ghost came out and pushed him to hell, and Sam finally went to heaven after saying goodbye to Molly..."

"You mean you want some black phantoms to pull Carl to hell, and then Sam's whole body emits outline light and finally goes to heaven?"

The two discussed the effect Ronald needed on the drawing board. Van Fleet pondered for a while, and then gave a plan.

"I understand that for a big production of more than 20 million, you need a sense of reality that is different from the special effects of B-level movies."

"That's right, that's right. I can't stand the audience thinking that it's Roger Coe on the screen... Hey, you know, the special effects that Cannon Pictures shot for Superman IV, the two dollars and thirty-five cents special effects..."

Ronald conveyed his meaning.

"To achieve this sense of reality, it is not necessary to have any new technology, but a lot of experts working hours, slow work and fine work."

Van Fleet understood that there were not many breakthroughs in the visual effects of this Ghost movie.

For example, the two people appearing on the same screen that he needed, Hollywood has been shooting since the 1920s, but now with the help of computers, there are more sophisticated methods to control it.

And the special effects of passing through the wall and emitting a soft holy light before going to heaven were solved as early as 1985.

That year's "Ghostbusters" became a hit with the exquisite special effects of various ghosts on the screen.

The real trouble is the shot of the villain Carl going to hell.

"For the holy light shot, you'd better find Richard Edlund of Boss Pictures. He invented the contour light visual effects in "Ghostbusters". It can follow the character's movement seamlessly.

"Is your team not good enough?" Ronald laughed when he saw that Van Vliet was still a technical expert. This kind of person is actually quite cute.

"No, I can't afford such a large team. Only Industrial Light and Magic in Hollywood can afford so many full-time employees. "Van Fleet waved his hand. He was good at animation special effects, and it was impossible for him to continuously receive a large number of film orders using visual effects. He could only keep a few core employees, and then recruit those engineers to come back to work when there were orders.

Those visual effects engineers in Hollywood were like nomads. Wherever there was a special effects movie, they would flock to work, and then retreat. The next time might be another movie, led by another company, but it would still be the same group of nomads working there.

"Okay, but my movie needs a visual effects director to coordinate the work and progress of various companies."

"Then Richard Edlund is the most suitable. His subordinates are all experienced. About three or five engineers can do a good job..." Van Fleet didn't seem to understand Ronald's hint to him, and said on the spot that Edlund from Boss Pictures was the most suitable for this job. ..

"Are there any other difficulties that need to be solved? "Ronald understood that these people had not yet been tainted by Hollywood's habits and were more pragmatic in their words.

"In addition, the movement of high-speed cameras requires engineers who can accurately replicate the trajectory of the camera's movement during the last shooting. Only Industrial Light \u0026 Magic is the most suitable company in Hollywood..."

"I'll call Lucas. How many people do you think we need?"

"Your most complex scenes will require two shifts of camera operators, a team of about twenty people."

"So I only need these people to do the visual effects work?"

"That's definitely not enough. You still need some very careful people to do the visual effects part and match the original film frame by frame. The realism you want mainly depends on how many good alignment engineers you can find. , it’s best to be women, they are very powerful, about 6-8 people are enough, but if there are more, they can’t rush the work at the same time.”

"Do you have any recommendations?"

"Catherine Keane, she used to work with me. She now runs her own small studio and is doing restoration work on old newsreels for TV stations and governments. The quality of their delivery is very high."

"So, all that's left is the special effect of the ghost dragging the bad guys into hell. What do you think?"

"Well, let me be honest, instead of using the most advanced computer graphics CGI, you might as well use the most traditional hand-drawn animation, Disney kind..."

Sometimes, high technology is not as good as using artists. An experienced painter may ultimately be able to complete this special effect better than the most advanced CGI computer rendering.

"Then you must come..." Ronald pointed at Van Fleet and smiled.

"This is indeed my specialty...I need about three people..."

"Find all the people you mentioned. After I talk to them, I will form a special effects team. You will have about... Ronald looked at the calendar on his notebook, "It will be about 6-7 months. Time to complete all the special effects. Our filming will be completed in about five weeks, you can experiment now..."

…

"Are you sure? The price of the team you formed is much lower than if it were all done by Industrial Light and Magic? If you think the cost is too high, we at Paramount can make an additional investment." Lindsay Dolan asked after seeing the offer made by Ronald.

She has not worked with such a big director who saves money for big studios.

"It's not that I'm saving money for you Paramount, but the main manpower of Industrial Light and Magic has to do special effects for several of their own movies. And there are a lot of special effects in our movie, which Industrial Light and Magic is good at. It’s different, for example, when it comes to finely controlling the position of characters in a movie, Katherine Keane’s company is the best, and the White House Press Office also approached them, not Industrial Light \u0026 Magic.”

The main work force of Industrial Light and Magic was used to give Robert Zemeckis, an insider of the Spielberg-Lucas alliance, to do the special effects for the second and third parts of "Back to the Future" .

"Who Framed Roger Rabbit," a big visual effects production shot by Robert Zemeckis that blended live action and animation, lost big money. For the sake of Spielberg's Amber Lin and his own future, he had no choice but to swallow his promise not to make a sequel to "Back to the Future"...

And he still filmed two sequels in one shot. It is said that it is cheaper to shoot in this way, so Elizabeth Shue, Leigh Thompson, and Michael J. Fox and others had to shoot continuously for more than six months.

Michael J. Fox had to quit the "Family Ties" TV series in order to make the movie. As a result, this evergreen drama that has accompanied TV audiences for seven years has come to an end.

Industrial Light and Magic is actually a semi-monopoly visual effects manufacturer. Because in Hollywood, the only directors and producers who can really invest huge sums of money to continuously shoot special effects movies and push technology to breakthroughs are Spielberg and Lucas.

Their family background is also strong enough. Although they encountered many box office failures, they were able to continue filming.

Other film producers do not have the ability to continue investing, so it is understandable that Industrial Light and Magic charges very high prices.

Fortunately, Ronald had the help of Cameron, who helped him find the best and most cost-effective visual effects team on the market, which reassured Ronald.

"So, we don't have to worry about the end result of the special effects, right?" Lindsay Dolan just wants Ronald to nod.

"There is no problem. We are using the newly developed technology in Die Hard 2. The software called Photoshop is very easy to use. I think the effect will surpass any traditional visual effects..."

"Okay, let's go check out the first day of rehearsal. Bruce Willis and Patrick Schwytz's wife Lisa are also coming today..."

Lindsay Dolan took the budget to deliver the project. Although Ronald had raised the price a lot, it was still 30% lower than Industrial Light and Magic. The boss would praise her management skills.

"Bruce... welcome... Demi is still preparing..."

Ronald was outside the rehearsal room, greeting Bruce Willis, who was visiting his wife for class.

Willis ostensibly didn't care much about Demi Moore's movie, thinking it was just a traditional romance film. But I heard that the leading actor was Patrick Schwytz, so I came to visit the studio specially.

The image of Johnny in Dirty Dancing is so dazzling that Hollywood is full of Schwytz's nymphomaniac fans. I heard that there were a lot of intimate scenes between the two of them in the script, so Willis thought it would be a good idea to come and take a look.

"Hey, you know, she used to often visit my crew. Although Demi didn't say it, I guessed that she really wanted me to visit..." Bruce Willis couldn't admit his worries, so he still put on a show A heroic look.

His image is that of a blue-collar hero, and he cannot worry about his wife being raped by someone else because he is not charming enough... So even though he specifically took a leave of absence from the crew of Die Hard 2, he still had to act like he didn't care.

"Let me introduce to you, this is Lisa Niemi, the actor's wife."

Lisa, who is also a dancer, is also worried about her husband filming such a romantic film. After all, it's Demi Moore starring opposite her, and she's not as calm as she was when she was filming "Dirty Dancing."

The Jewish girl Jennifer Gray is also ugly, but this time Demi Moore is different.

"Hello..." The two spouses looked at each other tacitly, crossed their arms, and looked at the door of the rehearsal room.

"Good morning, Ronald. Hi, Honey, why are you here..." Demi Moore opened the door and saw Bruce Willis, and she was very happy. I finally gave this tough guy on screen a sense of crisis.

"I'm here to visit..." Bruce Willis was obviously relieved. There seems to be no chemistry between Patrick Schwytz and Demi. The two of them spoke three feet apart, and there was no tacit understanding between their movements.

"My dear, are your knees okay recently?" Lisa over there was obviously relieved. When she saw Demi Moore cut her hair short, she kept fiddling with her long hair.

In addition, Demi's voice was very hoarse when she spoke today, which was incomparable to her own very feminine voice.

"Let's rehearse this line again... Sam is a child who suffered psychological trauma when he was a child. He doesn't say I love you, he only says dido (meaning me too), because he is afraid that the things he loves will be lost like he did when he was a child... …

Although Molly looks strong on the outside, she also longs for her lover to express love to her often, and always avoids saying "I love you", which makes her very uncertain about this relationship.

Of course, despite saying this, Molly will most likely forgive Sam, she really loves him, and if there had been no accident, they would not have hurt each other..."

The rehearsal lasted for more than an hour. Ronald was not very satisfied with the two's understanding of the script, so he had to go on stage to explain the script to them in person.

Bruce Willis and Lisa Niemi were relieved and said goodbye with satisfaction.

"I wish the movie success..."

"Good luck to you, Ronald..."

The two spouses looked at each other and had a bad feeling in their hearts.

The two male and female protagonists had no chemistry when rehearsing their lines, so it was impossible for them to create sparks. In other words, Ronald was kind to them all, so it was hard to say anything about gloating about their misfortune. Anyway, their family doesn't rely on this movie. Dirty Dancing has allowed Lisa to live a wealthy life. Willis thinks it's not a bad thing that his wife didn't become a big star.

Ronald came back and watched the two rehearse for a few minutes. The director of photography and art director next to them both frowned. This pair has not entered the situation yet, and there is indeed a problem.

"Bring a camera and shoot them..." Ronald finally spoke.

The camera crew quickly brought a Sony video recorder and started filming the two of them.

"Sure enough, there is no problem..."

After this rehearsal, Ronald inserted the videotape into the TV set at the scene and took the two protagonists to watch their rehearsal results...

Some things are just wonderful. After the camera lens is deformed, Schwitz and Demi Moore appear on the TV screen, and they become inexplicably bright. When the two speak their lines, the scene is like high school. Male and female students are equally ruthless, but when it comes to the camera, they become affectionate.

Demi Moore and Patrick Schwytz looked at each other. They couldn't see how bad they were acting live. Seeing how good the chemistry between the two was on TV, there was a little more understanding in their eyes.

"Bring the movie camera here, let them put on the costumes from the play, and rehearse again." Ronald touched his chin and continued to give orders.

The next day, the films that were rushed to be developed were projected onto the screen in the screening room.

"How amazing..."

Director of photography Adam Greenberg had never seen anything like this before. Close-ups have a special magic. Both actors are the kind of actors who shine brightly on film. The chemical reaction on the movie screen seems to be an order of magnitude better than on the TV tape.

I don’t know how Ronald saw it…

Now, several of the main creators looked at Ronald like a magician.