Chapter 224 Special Effects and Position

The next day, Liu Zhou came to the special effects company for this collaboration with some concept drawings he had drawn.

These concept drawings were prepared in China when Liu Zhou was planning to shoot the movie "Edge of Tomorrow".

The special effects company for this collaboration is Peter Jackson's Weta Digital.

Because "Edge of Tomorrow" requires more special effects shots, Liu Zhou also wants to strive for perfection, so he chose a well-known special effects company.

Weta Digital was originally just a small, unknown special effects company in New Zealand, but after Peter Jackson used it to shoot "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, Weta Digital became famous all over the world.

This time Liu Zhou sought cooperation with Weta Digital, and they specially arranged a team to contact him.

What Liu Zhou didn't expect was that they were surprisingly enthusiastic and came downstairs to greet him in person.

"Director Liu, thank you for choosing Weta Digital."

"Mr. Bradley, you are a little too enthusiastic. I am flattered."

Bradley is the vice president of Weta Digital. He is not responsible for technology, but only for docking and business negotiations.

“We have always been very enthusiastic about our partners,” Bradley said with a smile.

You can’t be without enthusiasm!

Except for Industrial Light & Magic, all special effects companies are having a hard time these days.

Although there are many Hollywood movies that require special effects, there are also many special effects companies.

As the oldest special effects company in Hollywood, Industrial Light & Magic has the strongest strength and the widest network of contacts, and almost all of Hollywood's big productions are done with them.

Therefore, they have no shortage of orders and live a very comfortable life. They even disdain to take small orders.

But other special effects companies don’t have such good treatment.

Although Weta Digital became popular because of "The Lord of the Rings", after the popularity faded, the company did not encounter a situation where orders were in short supply, and it still had to compete with major special effects companies in Hollywood.

If Weta Digital were not supported by its boss Peter Jackson, it would not have had a good time.

Only Peter Jackson's output is not low. Otherwise, like James Cameron, he only makes one movie in more than ten years. Weta Digital's current days are similar to those of Digital Domain.

Although Digital Domain has the halo of James Cameron, it has been losing money for years and I heard that it will be sold soon.

The amount of this cooperation between Liu and Zhou is as high as 10 to 20 million US dollars, which is also a large order for Weta Digital.

So, for Bradley, no enthusiasm is too much.

Liu Zhou didn't talk much. He shook hands with everyone one by one and went upstairs to their company's meeting room.

At this time, Bradley also left tactfully, leaving space for Liu Zhou and the two engineers from Weta Digital to communicate.

They were all technical people. Liu Zhou exchanged a few brief greetings with them and then handed over the concept map he had drawn.

The two of them each got half. One of the engineers saw the drawing and immediately praised:

"Director Liu, this is the most vivid and intuitive concept drawing I have ever seen. As soon as I saw it, I immediately had a three-dimensional image in my mind."

Another person also said:

"Yes, much better than Peter's."

Liu Zhou could see that this was not a deliberate compliment.

In fact, Liu Zhou’s artistic skills are average, but when it comes to special effects production, the more beautiful your drawing is, the better.

Instead, it is necessary to let the special effects engineers intuitively understand what you need. Otherwise, no matter how gorgeous it is or how good the coloring is, it will be useless.

Afterwards, the two of them ignored Liu Zhou and looked at the concept map seriously.

Liu Zhou was not in a hurry either. He sat back in his chair with his legs crossed and waited.

After five or six minutes they exchanged the drawings, and after a few more minutes they put them down.

"Director Liu, this isn't a powered mecha, it looks a bit like an exoskeleton, but a little different."

“This is an exoskeleton.”

Liu Zhou took a drawing and told his idea:
"The suit shown in this picture has a relatively balanced relationship between flexibility, carried weapons and defense, focusing on protecting the torso, forearms, legs and other parts that are more important for combat."

What Liu Zhou needs is not the kind of iron armor that covers his entire body like Iron Man, but just some protection for some key parts.

"If we fight alien creatures, we will be seriously injured if we are hit in other places," an engineer asked doubtfully.

"Yes, but if you cover the whole body, you lose flexibility. The armor that the soldier wears is mainly to protect him from being attacked so that he can continue to fight, not to stand there and endure the attack of a half-hour undamaged artifact."

Seeing that they seemed to want to ask more questions, Liu Zhou continued:

"This is a design issue, and it also affects the plot. You two don't need to worry about this."

Since it was related to the plot, the two shrugged and said nothing more.

"Next is the attack method. I need its fire control system and weapon safety to be integrated into the handle of the forearm weapon rack, and partially operated by buttons."

"It's right here." Liu Zhou said, pointing to the arm on the drawing.

"Four firing points that can fire simultaneously: guns in both hands, weapons stored in the retractable mechanical arms on the back, small-caliber cannons and guided rocket pods."

The soldiers in the movie are similar to airborne paratroopers, without fire support, so they need strong individual combat capabilities. Moreover, they fight with alien tentacle monsters at close range, which also requires more powerful firepower configuration.

"So what style do these weapons use?" asked an engineer.

"Based on the top-level equipment of the same type in the United States, it looks more lethal and mysterious."

"Ok, we can make a few more plans, and you can choose the one you like after the three-dimensional drawings come out."

As for the mecha suits, several sets are needed, in addition to the most important ones for the male and female protagonists, there are also ones for other J team members.

It took Liu Zhou a whole morning to explain to them his ideas, all the characteristics of the exoskeleton, and the mimicry's attack methods and features.

Although special effects are just about appearance, you can only do them well if you fully understand them.

In the afternoon, Liu Zhou discussed with them about the production of three-dimensional images.

The most important special effects in this movie are alien creatures and exoskeleton mechas.

There are not many appearances of alien creatures in the film, and there are many repeated shots at the beginning.

But some characteristics of alien creatures also need to be communicated clearly to them so that they can carry out CG production.

In addition to the alien creatures, Liu Zhou changed the background to one where the entire world is almost destroyed. The White House, the Louvre, and the Kremlin will all be bombed, and these will flash as clips of a few seconds each.

When Liu Zhou finished explaining and was about to leave, he said:

"You two, I need you to make a 3D model as soon as possible. Make a few. Once you are sure, have someone start making the exoskeleton mecha.

Before filming begins, the actors also need to adapt to the exoskeleton armor in advance."

"no problem."

"I will arrange for the crew's art director to come over tomorrow and study with you."

The things that are made still have to look good on camera. Maybe the real thing is very handsome, but it won’t look good on camera. This is where professional film art directors come into play.

The crew has always been a whole, and photography, lighting, art, props, and makeup must all be coordinated with each other.

In fact, exoskeletons are not that difficult to make. The U.S. military has been researching this type of individual combat weapon for a long time.

Civilian exoskeletons have even been used in medical and other fields.

In a few years, there will be exoskeleton power system suppliers listed on Nasdaq.

After communicating with Weta Digital, Liu Zhou also asked the crew's preparation staff to take him to see the filming location.

Although this is a science fiction movie, most of the shots in the movie were real.

Although special effects technology is becoming more and more advanced, no matter how good it is, it cannot replace the beauty of real-life shooting.

Special effects are only a part of the movie, and the more they are used the better is not the case.

The special effects of the previous film "Havoc in Heaven" were actually very good, but they were used in the wrong way. 90% of the backgrounds were made with special effects.

If James Cameron did the same thing when filming "Avatar", with 90% of the backgrounds not using real scenes, the movie wouldn't be much better.

Some of it is fine, but all of it is fabricated, so it will definitely be distorted.

The reason why Christopher Nolan's science fiction films feel beautiful and real is that he insists on shooting real scenes.

However, "Edge of Tomorrow" is just a movie with climaxes, laughs, excitement, sadness, and of course a bloody love story. It is a standard Hollywood blockbuster and does not require so many beautiful shots.

Just make the audience happy.

Lionsgate still has some face left as they have already communicated with the U.S. military.

The military base's airport, the heroine's training ground, the interior of the base, and the arsenal were all filmed directly with locations provided by the U.S. military.

Finally, there is humanity’s last beach stronghold.

This requires using a green screen to enclose a 30000 square meter area of ​​land for filming.

After everything was confirmed to be fine, more than half a month had passed.

At this time, Weta Digital had already made the exoskeleton mecha, and Liu Zhou thought it was quite good.

At the same time, Jason Tatum also officially signed an actor contract with Nicolas Cage.

The salary is 20 million US dollars plus 15% of the North American box office share.

According to Tatum, Nicolas Cage actually wanted to not get any share of the profits and just give him more money, but he refused.

He doesn't dare to break this unspoken rule in Hollywood, and this is a risk that everyone has to take together.

This is not a hit sequel, and although we have confidence in Liu Zhou, no one knows whether this movie will be a hit before it is released.

Later, Tatum found out that Nicolas Cage had some financial problems due to his extravagant lifestyle and was in urgent need of cash.

Liu Zhou doesn't care about these. Although Nicolas Cage is Liu Zhou's favorite Hollywood star, he is destined to not escape the economic crisis next year.

Liu Zhou can't control other people's lives, he just hopes that he can make "Edge of Tomorrow" well, which may help him increase his offer for future movies.

As the shooting date approaches, the main actors have gradually been put into place.

(End of this chapter)