Exploiting Hollywood 1980

"This is a great white shark on land. Steven hasn't made this kind of movie, which he is best at, for a long time."

After seeing the latest version of the high-power lightning lamp that Ronald brought out and showing it several times, Simberg was very satisfied and rented several units on the spot. He hasn't managed the filming of a movie in person for a long time. This time he wants to create a miracle again.

The attitude of the Japanese towards him does not fully understand his importance to a company. So he wants to work with Spielberg again to make a movie like the great white shark that year, shocking the whole Hollywood.

"Hi, Steven..." Ronald saw Spielberg discussing with some special effects staff and came forward to say hello.

"Stan?" Ronald accidentally found Stan Winston, the special effects director of Cameron's Terminator 2, an expert who just won the Oscar for Visual Effects.

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

"Why are you here?" Ronald quietly asked Stan Winston.

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

"Huh?" Ronald felt extraordinary.

"Steven thinks the dinosaur in this movie must be an animal, not a monster in previous Hollywood movies. I was also asked to make a dinosaur machine..."

"I've been too busy these days and have forgotten my manners." Spielberg was very satisfied with the effect of the new lightning lamp and took a photo with Xiao Yan as the company's promotional materials.

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

Spielberg briefly introduced some of his ideas. The biggest difficulty in filming great white sharks on land is to maintain the authenticity of dinosaurs. This is unlike the great white sharks of the past, which were mostly underwater. 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 chickens without hair?" Ronald asked his doubts when he saw the small models 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 wanted to use the technology of those big guys in Universal Studios to try to make mechanical dinosaurs, but I'm afraid that dinosaurs of this size will not work well, and they are too expensive..." Spielberg is now facing some difficulties. He explained to Ronald the difficulties of selecting some technologies and wanted Ronald to think of a solution.

"I saw your polar bear Coke commercial. The effects are quite realistic. Do you think it can be used in the dinosaur movie?"

"Ahaha, that's hard to say. You noticed that the polar bear commercial can only show them sitting and sliding on the ice. There is 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 it out. Can we try the possibility of gait simulation with your experts..."

"Great, it's settled..."

Spielberg's goal was achieved, opening up a new technical route for computer special effects to try out the effects. Ronald's goal was also achieved. If successful, their special effects team will have a good technical progress. Being able to do special effects in Spielberg's movies is a good golden signboard.

...

But some people's goals were not achieved.

Cameron came to complain to Ronald a few days later that all the special effects teams in Hollywood were requisitioned by Sheinberg with a large sum of money, making it impossible for his "Terminator 3" project to be established.

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

"Carroco is being reorganized, and is being invested by Italy's RCS Mail Group, France's Channel Organa Production, Japan's Pioneer Electronics, and MGM. Otherwise, given their financial situation, they need to wait until they recover their original costs before investing in the next big production." Cameron was also a little angry.

"This is the current situation in Hollywood, Jim. The special effects force of the entire Hollywood is only enough to shoot a quality special effects big production."

Ronald understood the core of this industry. The audience of this kind of special effects movie is limited, and there are not many directors who can shoot it, so there are not many special effects experts.

Only directors like Spielberg and Cameron who are good at shooting special effects movies can expand the entire market and expand Hollywood's special effects wonders to cinemas around the world. Only then can we see the growth of the special effects industry. At that time, the scale is large, and it is possible to shoot two special effects big 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 \u0026 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 the design of the gait?”

Two weeks later, Van Fleet worked with Dennis Mullen, an expert at Industrial Light and Magic, to develop a prototype plug-in for computer rendering of animal gaits. Both Ronald and Cameron went to Spielberg to see the latest developments.

"Yes, although it's still very rough..." Van Fleet pointed at the two smooth animal legs on the computer screen, which were constructed like chicken legs. The two chicken legs were long on a torso represented by a cube. As soon as he pressed play, it I saw him walking away quietly.

"This feels good...it has a sense of power and rhythm. The most important thing is that we don't look fake. How did you do it?" Cameron was very interested, while Ronald was silent. Silent, it was still played over and over again.

"I think it's time to show it to Steven..." After a long time, Ronald finally nodded in approval.

Several people ran to see Spielberg, who was discussing with Dinosaur director Phil Tippett, and asked them to come over and see the latest results.

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

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

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

But stop-motion animation still has its problems. First, the animation has a laggy feel. After all, the movement between each freeze-frame photo cannot exactly match the range of human body movements, and the human eye will feel uncomfortable.

Second, after all, these animations are realized by people playing with the joints of the model, and the movements of each joint can be as realistic as possible. But looking at it as a whole, if the audience is used to seeing the movement of animals and human bodies in the real world, they will find that there is an overall disharmony.

Although the current method of computer simulation of sports gait is very primitive and crude, it has solved both problems well. The computer relies on formula calculations to implement gait simulation and automatically calculates the animation between two action nodes, which eliminates the feeling of lag. In addition, there are also set formulas between each joint to limit their relative movement, which makes most of them feel inconsistent with kinematics.

Spielberg, like Ronald, lay in front of the computer and watched for a long time.

"How to ensure the details and lighting of this animation? How long does it take to produce a ten-second animation?" He asked a series of detailed questions, and Van Fleet and Dennis Mullen answered them in detail one by one.

Finally, Spielberg pointed to his chief dinosaur supervisor, Phil Tippett, and said, "Looks like you're going to lose your job...Phil."

"Unemployment, you mean extinction, right?" Phil Tippett was also shocked by this technology. In his opinion, although it is still crude, this new technology has unlimited potential and will definitely transform the traditional electrical model. And the stop-motion animation method was beaten to extinction.

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

"Is it really that awesome?" Diane held a baseball and let Ronald hold a catching glove and practiced pitching techniques with him. Hearing Ronald talk about the magical computer special effects technology, he couldn't help but marvel.

"You will know when this movie is made. It will be a realistic monster that has never been seen before. I feel that the Roger Corman-style monster exploitation film will be resurrected in Hollywood in a different way..."

"Ha, the animals created by computers are so real, can they also be humans in the future?"

"It's not impossible..."

"Then won't all us actors be unemployed by then?"

"Your voice is very sexy, and you can also dub a computer person..."

"Watch the ball..." Diane waved her arm and used a very strange posture to throw the ball over from the side..."

There was a "pop" sound, hitting Ronald in the chest.

"Oh……"

"Forget it, I'd better go practice with my partner. You don't know how to play baseball..." Diane breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that Ronald was fine. Never practice again with this man who can only wrestle and not play baseball.

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

The business jet landed accurately at the Staten Island airport. After getting off the plane, Ronald went straight to the parked yacht and drove directly to the South Side pier in Manhattan.

"Ronald..." Helen Slater smiled and rolled down the glass from the car across the pier and waved to him.

"Well..." The two kissed for a long time in the car. The two of them haven't seen each other since the Golden Globe Awards. If they don't come to comfort Helen this time, there will be a problem.

"My album has been released, listen to it..."

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

Ronald's previous jazz album for Columbia Records was already on the market. Once it was released, it was a huge hit, and the sales didn't 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..." When Ronald heard this, it seemed that there was something in his words.

"I know it depends on luck, but I don't know if I will have the chance to be on the Oscar stage. My father also sent me to New York Art College when I was very young, hoping that I would become a good actor. Actor’s…”

Helen pestered Ronald obsessively and talked in his ear. Her singing voice came from the speakers on the other side again, which made Ronald feel a little overwhelmed.

These words are obviously arranged according to Diane's acceptance speech for the Best Supporting Actress Award!

"..." Ronald couldn't answer this and had to remain silent.

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

Helen didn't know whether she was self-aware or felt that she didn't want to compete with Diane in the same place and took the initiative to lower her standards. There is no Oscar, but it would be nice to have an Emmy.

"..."

Ronald was still speechless. The Emmy Awards are awards given to the protagonists and important supporting actors of the year's hit dramas. If you think I have the ability to make a TV series, how can the "Working Girl" I lead be ignored? What about cutting in half?

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

"..."

Ronald yelled in his heart, please spare me. Just a female singer who plays and sings her own music and lyrics, and found six musicians who accompanied the jazz masters of the year. How can she have the confidence 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 say I can get. It all depends on opportunity and luck... Look, I haven't won the Best Director Award yet... I will remember your dream, but I have to Be patient and move forward slowly..."

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

This holiday has been weird too. Helen was unusually gentle, but Ronald knew that she had other thoughts in her heart and always felt a little guilty when receiving tenderness.

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

The plane landed in San Francisco first. Here, "Sister Act" directed by Emile Adolino and starring Whoopi Goldberg has been edited out of a preview version, and Ronald went to see the quality of the sample.

"Hahahaha... Why is it so funny? I almost burst into tears..."

Ronald watched Whoopi Goldberg play the resident singer in Las Vegas on the screen. She liked to express herself, loved music, and was restless. Later, she was protected and went to a monastery to hide. She wore a nun's uniform and made trouble. After a lot of trouble, they finally reformed the old church choir tradition, incorporated black soul music singing into the choir, and finally performed for the visiting Pope.

"Is this supporting actress Maggie Smith from Britain? You did a great job filming her. Without her, the movie wouldn't stand up..."

"That's it, and I think this is the casting that I'm most satisfied with. Without Ms. Smith, the whole movie would be a farce, with no basis in reality. With her, people will think, oh, so this is Things can happen in the real world..."

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

"Okay, you can go and shoot your New York City Ballet play. Just treat it as a holiday. When this movie is released, I guess you can shoot a real big production..."

Ronald liked the director Adolino very much. He could make musicals, documentaries, and romantic comedies, but he was probably best at comedies.

It's just that he doesn't really like making comedies, but that's no problem. Ronald is very optimistic about the box office prospects of "Crazy Sisters" this time. If he can find Adolino's movie by then, the director's salary will definitely be quite high. , who can have trouble with money?

Looking at the obviously thin Adolino, Ronald showed concern for him and said, "You should rest, and don't rush to film while I'm watching that documentary. I won't put pressure on you in terms of the shooting schedule. When this movie is released, you There will be many people coming to you with scripts to beg you to film..."

Adolino just smiled, he preferred to shoot his favorite subjects. For example, ballet themes.

Ronald had another good movie in hand and was in a good mood. I am going back to Los Angeles to talk to Disney's Katzenberg to get more filming resources for "Sisters Are Crazy".

As soon as he got off the plane and got into the car, Ronald felt something was wrong. Los Angeles seemed to have changed a bit from what it was before.

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

"Yeah, when you said it was true, what happened?"

"LAPD has made another big arrest, and a large number of street gangsters have been arrested...poor children..."