raknovel Chapter 80 Start-up and Skyworth's Fierce Development
Chapter 80 Start-up and Skyworth's Fierce Development
Chapter 80 (Hacker) Skyworth's Development is Ruthless
Before we knew it, 1992 was coming to an end, and December 31st was Laba Festival.
In a studio owned by Skyworth not far from the Oriental Pearl Tower, which was still under construction, Su Nan, as the director of (The Hacker 1), held the opening ceremony.
He then led the team to set up the film set, preparing to start filming (The Matrix).
The director of this version (The Hacker) is Su Nan, and the assistant directors include Yuan Heping, Cheng Xiaodong, and even Xu Ke. There is also a fifth-generation director, Lao Zhou.
The assistant directors are still Da Pao Hui, Li Lu, and Zhang Li.
Director Zhou was sent by China Film Group. He wasn't famous among the Five Generations of Chinese filmmakers, but people like Kai Zi and Zhang Yimou wouldn't usually come here as ordinary assistants.
After studying on the (Jurassic) film set for several months, Su Nan returned to work, and the Skyworth Studio has been initially completed.
The negotiations with China Film Group resulted in the latter paying the bills in mainland China, and Skyworth will receive 20% of the box office revenue from the future release of (The Hackers) in mainland China.
The rest are all from China Film Group, which is much better than the 13% that Hollywood studios take.
Today, on Laba Festival, the hackers are starting up their machines to let everyone get used to the blue screen studio shooting and production process before the New Year holiday.
Su Nan used the megaphone to maintain order, then walked over to several work computers in the studio and began communicating with the computer operators.
What does a hacker photograph first when they turn on their computer?
What he created was "bullet time," a programming software he developed by himself while studying in the United States, using "smart drugs."
By quickly mastering a book, Su Nan taught herself computer graphics, computer vision, image processing, and more.
Making quick profits through stock market speculation, they established Skyworth Special Effects Studio in Hollywood.
Those who can't make a fortune but can still keep their studios running.
He also met and dined with industrial light and magic special effects pioneers such as John Knoll on several occasions to discuss future development.
Industrial Light & Magic has a department that specializes in translating cutting-edge technologies from academia into film and television special effects.
These technological breakthroughs are all targeted efforts aimed at solving real-world problems.
The main focus of the Southern Jiangsu region is on motion in time-freeze mode, digital avatars and motion synchronization, and virtual camera path planning.
Furthermore, background reconstruction technology and other special effects technologies are still in their infancy.
The current photography studio shooting area has a huge curved support frame, which is filled with 120 Nikon SLR cameras.
The work computer is connected to the camera group via a data cable. When it is turned on, the savior A-Ming strikes a pose.
120 cameras were activated in quick succession within a second, taking a series of still photos.
This is the foundation of bullet time effects. The real bullets on the big screen later, and dodging bullets while swaying, are the result of CGI rendering.
The rooftop and other building backgrounds are also rendered using CGI.
The three years from Jurassic Park to Independence Day were a period of rapid development and leapfrog growth for special effects technology in the United States.
The 94 version of The Mask also featured many groundbreaking CGI effects.
Su Nan will try his best to achieve the best visual effect when he does hacking. He has only taken 100 smart pills and still has a lot left.
In (The Hacker), it wasn't just Ah Ming who showed bullet time; the agents who were chasing Ah Ming, including Chen Hong, also showed it.
Today's scene features the rooftop showdown between Li Ming, Xu Yajun, and Chen Hong.
The three had already put on their respective battle outfits. A-Ming was wearing a full trench coat, leather pants, and sunglasses, while Xu Ya-Jun was wearing a slim-fit suit and trousers, sunglasses, and a wireless earphone prop model.
Ah Hong wore a tight leather jacket with her hair in a ponytail.
All the props were ready, including a helicopter parked in the large studio.
Su Nan, as the director, was chatting with the computer technician.
Old Zhou, who was standing not far away, looked a little confused. He nudged Xu Ke's arm and smiled as he looked at the wall of cameras. "Director Xu?"
Xu Ke also said, bewildered, "I don't understand either. I've seen the storyboard of the finished product."
"Knowing that it's Ah Ming and Xiao Xu's rooftop gunfight, dodging bullets as they sway their bodies, it would be amazing to show that on the big screen."
"Director Su spent more than half a year in Hollywood from the second half of 91 to this year for further studies."
"But this camera—"
Computer controls 120 cameras, triggering sequential shooting in an orderly manner at super speed within one second.
Xu Ke scratched his head a few times and sighed, "I remember now, Director Su said that in 1988 a man named Tim made a short film (Cats)."
"The other party used a wooden camera array to capture frozen time footage that is not part of the animation field."
"If this were replicated in a live-action movie, dodging bullets would be sensational enough."
Old Zhou was dazed. "The idea is brilliant, but it's really expensive!"
He heard that Southern Jiangsu spent hundreds of thousands of dollars hiring American computer experts to develop software to control the cameras.
This is a rumor. The truth is that people in southern Jiangsu hired professionals to develop the technology, and the quote was hundreds of thousands of US dollars.
He turned around, took the smart drug, and his liver was damaged. The smart drug concept in (Never End) is too overpowered.
At this price, will this footage only last a few dozen seconds or a minute or two in the final film?
The later CGI production and rendering might cost several million dollars.
When you build the savior Amin in the mainland, he wakes up in the Matrix world and lies in a nutrient pod displaying the magnificent human farm.
Building a physical property in mainland China in the early 90s didn't cost nearly as much.
Old Zhou glanced at Li Ming and Xu Yajun in the filming area a few more times. He remarked with a smile, "These two really have the looks of young actors."
In 1993, (Speed) was finally pulled from theaters in various regions, and it sold $3100 million in Europe, which is equivalent to nearly $8000 million in Europe and the United States.
The island nation's 77 billion yen is equivalent to 6200 million US dollars, so these three items amount to 1.41 million US dollars.
The film grossed nearly $1300 million at the Hong Kong box office and eventually reached $1.6 million worldwide.
For Golden Harvest, box office revenue of this amount is hardly a huge profit. They can still sell videotapes, which is a way to accumulate wealth over many years.
After World War I, Jackie Chan's status skyrocketed, and his GG fee was on a completely different level compared to before.
Old Zhou's experience as an assistant director is also a learning opportunity; his first day here is no small matter.
Many people in other areas of the Blue Screen Studio were also quite shocked by what they had seen today.
Chinese sci-fi blockbusters—the gimmick alone sounds extraordinary. A visit and learning experience? I'm getting more and more confused as I watch.
In the first film, Liang Jiahui played a leader of the human resistance who had a group of teammates, including You Yong, Li Youbin, and Ning Li.
The three Shanghai Theatre Academy graduates who were standing outside the filming area, trying to broaden their horizons, were getting more and more confused as they watched.
Seeing the staff start helping Li Ming onto the wire, Ning Li exclaimed in surprise, "Isn't this all flat ground? There aren't any high platforms or vehicles nearby?"
In the rooftop showdown, the protagonist, Ah Ming, dodges the bullets by simply standing and swaying his body, without needing any wire work.
But when Ah Ming dodged the bullets, he stood up and leaned back, constantly falling backward.
The last pair of lower legs are still standing, lying flat at a 90-degree angle starting from the knees, which requires the help of wires.
Li Ming worked hard for this role for nearly a year, practicing wire work and performing various cool and stylish moves and routines.
You Yong laughed and slapped Ning Li hard on the shoulder. "You don't understand. Using so many cameras for shooting."
"They're definitely different from what we've encountered before. Don't think you know more just because you're famous."
More than a year after Kung Fu Hustle was released in Hong Kong, Ning Li's portrayal of the scoundrel master not only impacted Hong Kong and Macau, but also Korean stars in Malaysia and Thailand.
Countless videotapes were sold across mainland China, making Ning Li an overnight sensation.
(Kung Fu Hustle) was eventually released in the United States under the management of 20th Century Fox and grossed $16 million.
The videotapes sold well, so Stephen Chow made a small foray into Hollywood.
The rooftop gunfight scene, which begins with the savior Ah Ming and the female lead Chen Hong taking down a group of police officers, starts with Ah Ming turning the tables on them.
There were hand-to-hand combat and gunfights, before the special agent henchman Xu Yajun finally appeared, possessing the body and changing his appearance.
Initiate the bullet time battle.
After completing the preliminary preparations, Su Nan officially called the start of filming. The scene was about A Ming and A Hong fighting the stuntmen's underlings.
Props such as guns and throwing knives are also available, which makes it easy to perform. This is the strength and specialty of the Yuan Clan, and they rehearse their moves on the flat ground of the blue screen studio.
When Ah Ming arrived, he opened fire on Xu Yajun.
Old Xu stood there, swaying his upper body left and right, back and forth, while 120 cameras on the huge curved support took a lot of photos one after another.
The actors' performances without a real set were simple, and they had all prepared for a long time in advance.
The difficulty of shooting this shot lies in manufacturing 120 dedicated shutter release cables for film cameras, with a computer control program sending electronic pulses along the cable to simulate the time difference of physically pressing the shutter.
The foundation for bullet time special effects is taking photos in an orderly fashion within a fraction of a second.
Nikon SLR camera data cables are all custom-made using the best materials to avoid high latency.
Not to mention 1992, even the 98 (hacker) made a film Nikon SLR camera.
Because the resolution of digital cameras in 98 was still too low.
Take more photos of Xu Yajun swaying her body; manually selecting photos from a group of images is an extremely tedious and time-consuming task.
Li Ming began to react, requiring even more photos to be taken.
Fortunately, Southern Jiangsu is already overpowered; besides gene therapy, it also has Tai Chi skills, making these projects child's play for it.
When the filming and production were completed, post-production was done in 93 and 94.
In order to promote the development of various software technologies that did not yet exist, and to provide advice on hardware standards, he believes that continuing to take smart drugs and improving liver technology is essential.
Choosing items from the photo group will be much more efficient.
After a day of filming and production in the studio, it was 6 PM when Su Nan announced that dinner was served.
Ah Hong, dressed in her costume, came over to warm herself up, her smile especially sweet. "Brother Nan, are we going to the photography street for a night shoot?"
The various quaint buildings constructed by (hackers) in Shanghai, as well as the photography streets and props, are also numerous.
The opening scene shows Jiao Enjun, the head of the secret service, leading his underlings and a group of police officers in a chase after Chen Hong.
From warehouse fights to alleyway chases and gunfights on rooftops and rooftops.
These are easy to film; Hong Kong films have already mastered the most advanced action sequences.
The challenge was that Ah Hong and the agent easily jumped more than ten meters into the air above the street, from one rooftop to another, with a gap of more than ten meters between them!
A similar dramatic jump to Jackie Chan's (Rumble in the Bronx).
This is like a basic jumping performance in (hacking) circles.
Of course, wire work was impossible on the set of Rumble in the Bronx, and it would be difficult to seamlessly remove the traces of wire work on the big screen.
Jackie Chan's life-risking jump shocked Hollywood.
In most films, as long as you can be suspended by wires, all you have to do is maintain your action performance while suspended by wires.
After that jump, Ah Hong demonstrated another long jump of twenty or thirty meters? That's a CGI rendering technique to increase the sense of distance.
In the end, before the agent could crash his car into the roadside phone booth, Ah Hong ran inside to answer the phone and escape the Matrix world through a disappearing act?
You can do a great job using misalignment, prop switching, and fast editing.
Su Nan nodded, "It's time to move on to another location. Before the Spring Festival, we'll use this time to practice and get the crew working together."
The overall (hacking) production cycle is extremely long; even with the "smart drug" cheat, it's still very slow.
However, Skyworth's overall development is not slow.
Aside from Ah Hong's relatively focused approach, she has only appeared in (Kung Fu Hustle), (The Fortune Teller), (Project Gutenberg), and joined (The Matrix) so far.
Rosamund Kwan often works on multiple film sets simultaneously, taking on numerous roles to accumulate a lot of money.
After the broadcast of "The Greed of Man", Vivian Chow's popularity soared. In addition to her previous roles in "Tricky Master", "The Untold Story", and "Royal Tramp 2", she also gained popularity.
She even snuck into (Fight Back to School 3) and replaced the original actress, Zhou Haimei.
The fact that Amin's record deal with Skyworth for releasing songs and albums has greatly helped boost her overall popularity.
The main production team was still eating boxed lunches, with only a small number of production assistants moving to the photography street first.
Rosamund Kwan arrived, and she instructed her assistants to give each of the workers present a small gift.
She laughed when she got close to Sunan, "Brother Nan, you're absolutely right. You can't easily fall into Wang Jiawei's trap."
"I heard Ah Rong complain a lot on the set of (All's Well, Ends Well), he was really screwed over."
"He skipped the pitfall of Days of Being Wild and still believes in this nonsense, which is unbelievable. The collaborative experience is far inferior to filming (Farewell My Concubine) in Beijing in the first half of 92."
When Joey Wong last went to Hollywood for fun, the first thing she did after joining Skyworth was to turn down the role of Ashes of Time played by Karl Wong.
Once Xiaoxian joins the company, he'll definitely mention this on his WeChat Moments.
Su Nan couldn't help but laugh, "You guys finished filming? Ah Rong managed to sneak away for some fun amidst your busy schedule."
The films "All's Well, Ends Well" and "The Eagle Shooting Heroes" were created during the filming of "Ashes of Time".
The former two earned HK$93 million and HK$3500 million respectively during the 2200 Lunar New Year season.
It's quite a stressful situation.
Sister Guan nodded happily, "I finished filming this morning and flew straight back."
"(The hacker) filmed for about half a year before and after the Lunar New Year, and then spent a year and a half on post-production before it was even released in mainland China in 94?"
"Will this allow us to obtain accurate box office data in mainland China?"
Given the clear co-production model, she was genuinely curious about the box office performance.
Although the mainland box office has collapsed, one film still grossed about 2 million RMB last year.
The data isn't very clear or accurate, especially for mobile film projection teams in rural areas, which you can't even count.
But Rosamund Kwan found out that the total number of moviegoers in mainland China in 1992 may have exceeded 10 billion.
10 billion views?! Kung Fu Hustle in Hong Kong only had 1.4 million views with a box office of over 50 million.
Chen Hong was also excited, "If we were to tally the specific box office revenue, we could probably catch up with Taiwan in the next few years."
Ordinary films won't do; a co-production between China Film Group and Skyworth is a different matter altogether.
For example, in 9500, the mainland had 1.03 million RMB in "True Lies" and 95 million RMB in "Red Zone".
Even excluding the rural mobile film screening team model, Skyworth getting a 20% cut isn't bad.
Su Nan chuckled, "A big box office is possible, but it's mainly for psychological comfort. You guys should wait until the pirated copies are circulating and then make money by selling high-priced copies based on the huge popularity."
(Project Gutenberg) also grossed 35 billion yen in Japan, breaking Jackie Chan's (Project A) (Wheels on Meals) record.
After a delay of several months, a GG (Golden Boys) company has offered Rosamund Kwan a one-year endorsement fee of HK$300 million and a film fee of over HK$150 million.
With the addition of the character of Aunt Thirteen from the movie "Dynasty Warriors," Guan Dajie is considered a medium-sized gold mine.
Taking on a few beauty, skincare, or jewelry gigs can earn you ten to twenty million before taxes.
Ah Hong isn't too outdated; she's in the HK$500,000 to HK$1 million range.
Sister Guan chuckled and exclaimed, "It's like a dream that I can make so much money at only 30 years old. Luckily, you've been there to protect me."
Even if Su Nan and Chuang were protecting her, she would now be on the list of people the gang leaders are forcing her to take on roles.
Just like Joey Wong filmed "The Emperor's Disciple" back in 90.