Made in Hollywood

In order for Chinese audiences to understand the Star Wars plot of Americans, there is actually another good way, which is to think differently. Someone once said that Harry Potter is the Star Wars of this era. If Chinese audiences can understand why they are so obsessed with Harry Potter, then they can also understand why others are so obsessed with Star Wars. War obsession.

No matter Harry Potter or Star Wars, they have created a world that will grow by itself.

When George Lucas was released in Star Wars: A New Hope, he specially added a subtitle at the beginning of the film, telling the audience that the story they saw next was just a small wave in the background of a larger story. It's just a brief moment in the long history of the Galactic Republic, and he will also add some information to many of his lines, suggesting some things that happened in this world that were not shown in the movie.

This tip of the iceberg setting is widely used in many such creating a complete world works of art. For example, in The Lord of the Rings, before Frodo Baggins met the Lord of the Rings, Middle-earth had existed for many, many years, and countless epic people and things happened there, but what the audience saw was only this part of Frodo .

The same is true of Star Wars. The Galactic Republic has existed for a long time, and the Death Star has not just begun to be built. What the audience sees on the screen is just a corner of this huge world and a bit of time.

This kind of open setting has an advantage, it can open the audience's brain hole to the greatest extent, let the audience imagine to their heart's content, and automatically fill in the part of the iceberg below the water surface, everyone will be attracted by this illusory world, and will not stop Discussing, arguing, and sharing, just like living in this world.

This is how the fan culture of Star Wars was formed, and it may also be the earliest fan culture gathering place.

Since the release of Star Wars in 1977. Inspired the creative inspiration of countless people, and gave birth to many Star Wars fan novels, comics, games, and movies. This is a kind of complicity between the creator and the audience, and the two have been in such a virtuous circle before. In the end, like a snowball, the influence of the work is getting bigger and bigger.

For Star Wars fans around the world, Star Wars is far from a few movies, it changes a way of life. Through role-playing, fashion art creation, technological research and development, and academic discussions on The Force... Fans maintain the vitality of Star Wars in different ways, increasing the cultural significance of this legend.

That's what the Star Wars: The Force Awakens promotion can do best.

Entering May, as the start time of Star Wars Day and Star Wars: The Force Awakens is getting closer, a series of Star Wars cultural promotion activities have appeared around the world.

The 10th Annual Star Wars Fan Celebration kicked off in San Francisco. More than 150,000 people from all over the world gathered near Lucasfilm in San Francisco to participate in this event.

On this day, Star Wars elements are everywhere in the Lucasfilm headquarters. The entrance is a three-dimensional statue of Master Yoda, and the images of Stormtrooper and Darth Vader are all over every floor of the company. every corner.

Even the employees of Lucasfilm put on all kinds of Star Wars costumes and appeared in front of the media cameras with fans.

One of Lucasfilm's employment criteria is that employees must be die-hard fans of Star Wars. Lucasfilm has full-time staff to study Star Wars knowledge and write Star Wars Encyclopedia. Establishing the Star Wars database, Lucasfilm has its own fan business department, and spares no effort to instill Star Wars knowledge to Star Wars fans.

Through these methods, Lucas has connected Star Wars fans around the world.

The Star Wars audience has become a unique phenomenon.

Relevant statistics. Star Wars has accumulated more than 300 million die-hard fans. These fans enjoy everything related to Star Wars, and even use Star Wars elements at weddings.

In May, Warner Bros. media highlighted the wedding of a pair of Star Wars fans.

Duncan and Sammy, members of the Galactic Empire, met long ago, in a place far, far away. The power between them is unbreakable.

These are the vows of a couple of newlywed Star Wars fans who describe themselves as Members of the Galactic Empire at their wedding ceremony.

And Star Wars fans will buy Star Wars toys for their children after they have children, watch Star Wars movies with their children, and continue their obsession with Star Wars to the next generation.

On May 4th, Star Wars Day finally arrived.

Just how hot is Star Wars Day? Watching the performance of fans around the world can be jaw-dropping.

In Australia, the Star Wars-themed rugby game attracted countless fans to cheer; in Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico, a Star Wars 6-kilometer run was held; the Colosseum in Italy was also occupied by Star Wars fans, and these are just the global Star Wars part of the fan celebration.

Star Wars fans around the world had a happy Star Wars Day as Simon Pegg, Charlize Theron and Robbie Williams also participated in a fun photoshoot.

Star Wars Day celebrations even extend beyond Earth!

NASA specially released a video about 1 minute long, R2-D2 Saves the International Space Station.

In this one-minute-long video, R2-D2, the reliable partner of the protagonists in the film series, once again becomes the role of turning the tide. In fact, the name of this video is called: R2-D2 Saves the International Space Station.

The story goes like this: Astronauts on the International Space Station want to send blessings and greetings to Star Wars fans on Earth on Star Wars Day. However, the empire conspired to sabotage the delivery of this good wish. Therefore, the courageous and witty R2-D2 once again took on the important task. R2-D2, who came to space, repaired the communication system of the space station at a critical moment, so that this blessing can be successfully transmitted to the earth-May the force be with you.

At the same time, Duke, who started busy shooting at Warner Studios, also released a video through his official instant sharing.

In the short video greeting, Duke said that while he would love to celebrate the holiday with fellow Star Wars fans, he had to start filming Star Wars: The Force Awakens in the studio.

At the end of the video, Duke also released a notice for the crew to recruit extras for all Star Wars fans.

The recruitment criteria for these extras is very special. Any actor over the age of 16 with impressive face, strange appearance, surprising bones and exotic flavor is an ideal candidate.

This also attracted enthusiastic comments from Star Wars fans.

Of course, Duke and Lucasfilm will not miss the Chinese market, which accounts for half of the world's box office. , Strength, Awareness, and Awakening let the whole world know that this section of the Great Wall was contracted by Star Wars.

The outside activities did not affect Duke in the slightest. After several months of intense preparations, Star Wars: The Force Awakens started on time in the studio of Warner Studios.

The huge studio was extremely quiet, only the hum of various machines running. Duke stood behind the director’s monitor, carefully watching every scene on the set. The first shot shot did not have any real actors. , there are only two ball shapes in front of the camera lens, BB-8 rolling around.

While John Schwartzman was recording all this with a video camera, there was also a stills photographer taking stills of BB-8, which would be the first stills released from the film.

As for the reason? Very simple, BB-8 is not only one of the most important peripheral profit points in the future of the film, but also an important part of the publicity plan at this stage.

Starting tomorrow, the crew will launch a concept trailer. After the trailer is released, Instant Share will launch 3 Star Wars custom emoticons——C3PO, R2D2, and BB-8. The emoji will appear after the hashtag is pressed.

Nowadays, the marketing of cute pets is not uncommon. What Duke formulated is the marketing of cute robots. BB-8 is a new robot added to this film. Those who have not kept up with the rhythm of the film will suddenly wonder, what is this cute little thing? who? It's so cute, it makes the topic of the movie a hot topic in minutes.

In order to make the cute image of BB-8 deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, the stills released in the first edition are very important.

But after Duke called CUT, the still photographer took pictures of BB-8, which did not satisfy him.

In order to meet the needs of the crew, Duke specially designed BB-8 to shoot the scene just now. This spherical robot is like a human being. When it encounters danger, it hides behind the warehouse of the spaceship, and quietly stretches out half of its head and the one-eyed eye on it... …

Lucasfilm's professional marketers even came up with a tagline for the scene—just because the crowd took one extra look at you.

However, according to the still photographer's picture, BB-8 is more like a blunt and cold robot, without any cute pet characteristics.

Jack, tell me...

Calling over the stills photographer who joined the crew not long ago, Duke asked directly, Do you have any ideas?

The stills photographer didn’t have any reflections, but said happily, “I think my job is done well, and I shot a creative work.”

Creative? Duke couldn't help frowning. The stills photographer introduced by Sofia Coppola obviously couldn't figure out the difference between independent films and commercial films. He was too lazy to continue nonsense with such people, so he said directly, Well, your job is over here, and you don't have to come here from tomorrow on.

The film was released at the end of the year, and the shooting time was quite tight. Duke didn't have the energy to train a creative stills photographer into a type that meets commercial needs, so he simply fired him. (to be continued ~^~)

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