Made in Hollywood

Today is an era when simple and popular commercial films can be really popular. Inception is far from being as simple as being able to sell with high quality and quantity. In addition to market appeal, the cultural transformation caused by the rise of the Internet and video game culture is also a factor that cannot be ignored.

This is also the focus of Duke's publicity proposal to Warner Bros., using Internet terminals to formulate some ingenious publicity methods to induce the audience's attitude towards the film in the direction of the participants.

That is to say, it is very easy for audiences who have generally experienced the baptism of online virtual society and role-playing video games to intervene in the film story as a participant, allowing them to participate in the production of the film’s meaning—specifically to Inception showed that after the release, fans enthusiastically interpreted the plot of the film based on me, coupled with the gathering of like-minded communities and fan culture, the momentum of Inception surged Higher than a wave.

Compared with any connotation or decryption, this is the real killer feature of Inception - to let the audience participate, neither too difficult nor too elegant, but also not too simple and rude, just like in the film Cobb let Just like in the scene where Ariadne designs the maze, the additions and subtractions need to be just right.

As for video games, this makes it easier to understand. If some viewers say this is a video game after watching it for two hours, then the film will basically be a big success.

During shooting and post-production, Duke also paid great attention to this aspect.

In some respects, Cobb, like Neo, is trapped in the matrix empire. Once he enters the realm of dreams and virtual reality, it will always be an endless loop. A black party of real time and doing nothing.

Precisely because it is a dream. You can do whatever you want, which also provides an excellent opportunity for Duke to create a visual spectacle.

Inception can be said to be an Inception version of The Matrix to a certain extent. The popularity of video games now allows movie fans to accept the story of Inception more interestingly.

After the shooting in Paris, Duke led the crew to leave Europe and came to the Whitler Mountain Ski Resort in Canada. Filming the bunker attack scene.

Frankly speaking, the second half of the film is the key to the success of Inception.

The biggest highlight of Inception is the solution to the dream-within-a-dream problem in the second half. The former Christopher Nolan set up the time difference between different dream levels, allowing the audience to witness a minibus falling into the bridge. He held his breath during the process of gazing-the innermost part is Cobb going to the edge of the dream to see his dead wife, then a gunfight in the snowy mountain, then a fight in the weightless building, and then the CMB falling into the bridge. Each level must be traversed at the same time.

Therefore, whether the bomb will explode at the last moment has become the most concerned issue for the audience. The seemingly boring dream game has been transformed into an action blockbuster by Nolan. This is the focus of the success of Inception.

As for the last-minute trick with the top still spinning, that's just standard Hollywood routine.

And dream in dream to play more. In the end, there is no need - and largely impossible - to explain why Cobb woke up in the cabin? Is he still in the dream? Was his late wife's theory that reality and dreams were indistinguishable correct? When the film screening is over, these question marks are and must be.

If we really want to go back to the source, what is real is an eternal philosophical dilemma. Heidegger once said: The being for which this being exists is always my being.

According to this solipsistic phenomenological philosophy. As long as it's perceptually completely real, it's real—if Neo never wakes up in his terrarium, that virtual world is as real to him as Neo's world is. As long as the perception system does not call the police, it is meaningless to question the authenticity of the world.

But for the audience, the biggest significance of these questions is that they will tirelessly pursue the truth after watching the film, and then want to use their own truth to convince others. They will watch the movie over and over again to find evidence that their truth is the truth. the truth!

This is the greatest use of setting these question marks.

Whether it's Duke or Christopher Nolan, it's bound to be the same.

The scene of the ski resort is one of Duke’s major changes. Almost everyone knows that action scenes are Christopher Nolan’s weakness. Duke asked a professional team headed by Jimmy Carter to redesign the entire action scene. In the shooting of these hot scenes, it is more like his style.

In fact, just like filming The Dark Knight, all the action scenes in Inception were overthrown by Duke. These are the things he is best at, even if Leonardo DiCaprio The action scenes with James Franco and others are a bit bad, but there are corresponding stunt doubles that can be used.

The filming at the ski resort lasted until mid-January, and Charlize Theron's scene ended the earliest, and she didn't have many shots.

Before leaving Whitler Mountain Ski Resort, Charlize? Theron specifically found Duke.

Will there be time?

Knocking on the door and entering Duke's room, Charlize Theron glanced at Scarlett who was studying the script, and said to Duke, Can I go for a walk?

Duke nodded to Scarlett, took the down winter jacket from the hanger, put on a cotton hat after putting it on, and then walked out of the room with Charlize Theron and left the hotel where he was staying.

The weather outside was a bit gloomy, and a few snowflakes would fall from time to time. Because the weather was a bit cold and the air pressure was a bit low, the two of them didn't go far, but walked slowly towards a place with few people in the small square in front of the hotel.

The thick leather boots fell on the bluestone ground, crushing the falling snowflakes. Charlize Theron put her hands in her pockets and said, I just got the news that I have been nominated for the Oscar for Best Actress.

Congratulations. Duke also got the news.

Charlize Theron stopped and turned to look at Duke, How can I thank you?

Of course Duke didn't misunderstand the meaning of this sentence. After thinking about it, he said, If you have time when the NFL starts next season, attend my team's first game opening ceremony.

The Oakland Raiders he bought have moved to Los Angeles this season and officially changed their name to the Los Angeles Raiders. It is now January 2010, and the Super Bowl is about to be held, but the Los Angeles Raiders are getting Tom Brady, After Marshawn Lynch and others signed contracts, this season is still in the run-in stage and has not reached the playoffs.

In the words of the hired team leader, the team's poor record is also related to Duke, because after he bought the team, he has never been to the scene to watch the game.

Therefore, Duke plans to pay more attention to its own team next season. After all, the profitability of NFL teams is also considerable.

Without any hesitation, Charlize Theron agreed, I will definitely have time.

As they spoke, the two continued to walk forward, and the topic of discussion turned to this year's Oscars. Duke could also hear it from Charlize Theron's words. She knew that winning the nomination was a victory, and she wanted to The possibility of winning the best actress statuette with the role of Firoza is infinitely low.

Except for Best Actress, Fury Road did not receive heavyweight Oscar nominations, and the rest were technical awards such as Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Makeup and Best Art Direction.

Obviously, apart from Charlize Theron's outstanding performance, the Academy does not want to give Fury Road other aspects of recognition.

But in various selections by the media and the audience, Fury Road was the biggest winner among the films released last year.

Among the top ten films of 2015 selected by the National Film Association, Hollywood Reporter, Empire magazine, Vanity Fair, New York Times and many other media, Fury Road was not only on the list, but also ranked first. !

In the various votes for the public on the Internet, Fury Road also took almost all the titles of the best film of the year.

With these, it doesn't really matter to Duke whether there is affirmation from the academy and the Oscars.

Besides, this is also a good thing. If he runs out of character this year, it will definitely affect his preparation plan.

The planning time is very tight, because next year's Oscar must be taken into consideration. Duke has asked Nancy Josephson to submit the first draft of the script and the rough plan for the record to the review committee of Warner Bros. After Inception is released, the Will fully transfer to work on that project.

In this filming, there is only one scene about Scarlett left. What she is studying is also the script of that project.

Duke is well aware that time is tight, but after last year's Cannes Film Festival, he has certain plans.

And he didn't want to spend too much time on an Oscar film, and the compressed months were just used to prepare and produce The Avengers, which was far more important to him than the Oscar statuette.

Duke and Charlize? Theron gradually came to the edge of the small square, the topic turned from the Oscars back to the film itself.

By the way... Charlize seemed to remember something, The latest blacklist of Hollywood scripts has been released, are you interested?

No. Duke shook his head directly, I have no interest in the scripts and projects on the list.

In the current era of sequels, remakes, and reboots in Hollywood, excellent original scripts are indeed a guarantee of excellent works to a certain extent. The blacklist may not be a list of 'best', but scripts do have certain quality.

Most of the scripts on the blacklist are not large-scale films, but scripts that touch the inner emotions of the characters-in other words, they are basically scripts with low cost, small investment, and small production.

That simply doesn't fit Duke's needs. (to be continued ~^~)