Made in Hollywood

When Duke was living on the other side of the Pacific Ocean, he had read many articles about Hollywood from the other side. These articles always described Hollywood stars as playthings that can be played with by throwing some bait at will, or the status of the old times here is extremely low. Perhaps this was indeed the case in the 1930s and 1940s and even the so-called golden age of Hollywood, but the commercialization of Hollywood has developed to this day, just like the role of a business manager hired by a high salary to a company. Suddenly Mingxing's position in this industry with a scale and output value of hundreds of billions of dollars.

To some extent, Hollywood stars, like businessmen, are a group of people chasing fame and fortune, but if you think that throwing some characters or scripts at random, Hollywood superstars will take off their pants or skirts and let others do whatever they want. It can only be said that it is too naive.

Celebrities are definitely a special kind of existence in Hollywood. An unprofitable investor like Duke who is willing to pay Harrison Ford $20 million is enough to prove their status and value.

It is no exaggeration to say that, just like Chanel and Versace, the name of a star represents a famous brand, and few Hollywood stars and the teams behind them are real idiots. Necessary publicity and promotion.

In this huge industry, celebrity brands are established through repeated emphasis, but branding only brings into play the value of celebrities as a commercial symbol. After branding, what is more important is to expand the brand.

Brand extension occurs when an established brand is applied to another product category.

Similarly, when Hollywood stars leave the kind of roles or functional activities that made them famous, they are doing star brand expansion. This expansion has several forms, which can be roughly divided into the expansion of innovative value. and business value expansion.

The expansion of innovative value refers to the extension of the star's familiar image in other creative work. When the star's new role is intended to surpass the familiar image on the screen, thereby successfully opening up the drama path, the expansion of innovative value appears.

For example, a series of hilarious comedies such as Grandmaid in disguise and Dumb and Dumber quickly established Jim Carrey's status as a comedian, but in The Truman Show and Movie Life, he began to turn to more Straightforward dramatic roles. These movies turned Jim Carrey into a different product category.

It's just that it turns out that Kim Carrey's transition to the acting school was a wrong path. This transition directly caused him to fall from the ranks of first-line superstars, and he never had a chance to return.

Therefore, some stars take a more secure approach and enter the field of creativity through the expansion of other related occupations. A large number of star directors who act and lead are vivid examples.

Nowhere is this more typical than Ben Affleck, when his career as a star actor faltered. He saves himself by jumping into directing just in time.

The expansion of the business value of Hollywood stars is basically divided into two forms. One is another form of realization of the aforementioned career expansion. For example, actors set up their own independent production companies, surpassing performances and entering the production management industry. Such as George Clooney's President Killing Bureau and Allied Indian Army.

Another form is the high commercialization of the movie star system, when the net worth of the movie star is used to promote the sales of other products besides the movie, in short, when the star endorses a certain product. It is to realize the expansion of business value.

By branding the star's characteristics and brand expansion, the Hollywood star industry makes the most efficient use of the star's symbolic value. And expand it into the business world beyond the movies.

Hollywood star branding is a medium used to help build public awareness of movies.

Through the prism of celebrity branding identity, movies are positioned in the bar of similarities and differences in the market. Therefore, the star brand must present a special meaning. Make it have obvious symbolic features to generate commercial value.

The business rules of Hollywood stars are aimed at this. Economic value has always been at the center. The star group represents the high-level elite among popular actors, and it can also be said to be the elite in this highly commercialized society.

At the end of the press conference, Duke once again became the focus of the media siege.

A reporter from the Los Angeles Times asked, You've said elsewhere that the movie will be a powerful psychic force. Did you feel the Force during filming?

Feel the presence of the Force? That is of course impossible.

However, Duke gave the most publicity-friendly answer, Harrison Ford was injured one day by a prop door, which hit his left leg. Of course, it was a very serious accident. Scared, it could end badly, but he was lucky enough to survive, God forbid, we all feel lucky.

After Harrison recovered, I felt like the whole crew and cast became one big family because we've been through such horrible things, life and death.

Although the leading actors of the crew are not unfamiliar or hostile, they are not as friendly as Duke said. In fact, apart from work, the actors rarely communicate with each other in other aspects. However, Duke will not report these situations to the media Mentioned, Especially after Harrison came back, everyone was injected with a kind of energy and enthusiasm, feeling that light and darkness are more distinct, making us stronger. I have always liked the Force and its non-religious spirit. , I think we can all feel a power to connect with each other, it can be said that it is a force.

Such words are not only beneficial to the publicity of the film, but also the media and the public are happy to see it.

As for the infighting of real Hollywood crews, who cares?

A media reporter from China also focused on Duke, Director Rosenberg, you are very discerning in selecting newcomers. How did you choose Daniel Wu and Daisy Ridley?

We followed the normal casting process, but in order to find the right person, we also conducted a wider search. Both roles have to have a special personality.

Duke knew what these Chinese reporters wanted to hear, and said unhurriedly, I think Danny is very good. I have seen his New Police Story and other works, and I know he has a great sense of humor and sense of character. Very strong, but Daisy is more troublesome, because we don't know much about her, and her previous works are not many, but when we met, we found that she has a very good personality, and her sense of strength makes me feel very suitable for the heroine The role of Rey.

After the interview, the crew continued filming at the Black Forest studio in Dublin. A special effects team leader from Industrial Light \u0026 Magic also came to Ireland, not only responsible for the special effects used in the shooting, but also brought some completed special effects shots to exchange Give Duke a final review.

When shooting the film Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Duke can use all resources to tell the story, which is very interesting. Which scenes can be completed with live special effects, and which scenes will be completed with CG in the later stage? What he wants to control as a director.

This film will have super-large special effects scenes, magnificent and amazing special effects. Of course, many contents cannot be completed through real-time special effects. However, in order to achieve a sense of nostalgia and arouse the feelings of Star Wars fans, Duke And the crew try to shoot as realistically as possible,

In the completed shots brought by the head of the special effects team, there are many scenes about the new robot BB-8. It is impressive in the film because there are two puppeteers on the set. The post-production special effects team removed the two puppeteers through computer special effects, and then used CG to remove the wires, equipment and operators. Sometimes it was to enhance the effect of the real scene scenery and props, but most of the time it was directly Shoot with a lens.

All the special effects, the mass of special effects that have been completed, are very exciting. Some of the special effects in the film are also unprecedented. Some of the simulation techniques used are specially developed for the shooting of Star Wars: The Force Awakens of.

It is no exaggeration to say that the entire Star Wars: The Force Awakens crew is following Duke's rhythm.

Following the director is a universal value in the film industry, just like following the feeling is popular and rampant in today's society. .

There was a popular saying in Hollywood, James Cameron is responsible for changing film technology, and Duke Rosenberg is responsible for changing mainstream commercial films. In the 120-year film history, the real film leaders are all directors. Without such great directors as James Cameron, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, there would be no world cinema that is entering the golden age today.

Director is the dominant job in the entire film industry. Every year, thousands of film practitioners dream of becoming directors. However, the road to directors is not always smooth.

Even Ang Lee had been a home cook for 6 years before that; even Quentin Tastino was an unknown guy in a video store before that; even Duke now shoots and produces every The movie will also go all out.

All roads lead to Rome, and while the paths to successful directors vary, there is always a universal truth hidden in them, and that is enough hard work and focus.

Duke’s filming in Dublin’s Black Forest studio lasted for a long time, and a large number of real-life shots of the Millennium Falcon and X-wing fighters were shot here. It was not until mid-July that Duke ended the filming in Ireland and led the entire crew back to the Los Angeles.

He is preparing for the San Diego Comic Con, which can be said to be a very important large-scale promotional event before the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and will also release a lot of information for the first time to attract the attention of movie fans. (to be continued ~^~)

PS: Ask for a monthly ticket and a recommendation ticket!