The invention of movie stunts

A major feature of the film is its spectacle effect, which enables people to enter the plot and scene like a "dream" and experience another life in it. How to dream, how to make dreams more magnificent and brilliant, and how to present more amazing visual effects on the screen are the goals that filmmakers have been pursuing since the birth of the film. From George Meria to george lucas, James Cameron and Steven Allan Spielberg, they all made unremitting efforts for this. This is the field where computer technology is popular-movie stunts.

Computer technology in film production

Film stunt refers to the use of special shooting techniques to complete the special effects of film pictures. In the process of film making, we often encounter some difficult, frightening or dangerous shots and scenes that are difficult to shoot in real life. Because the conventional shooting technology is difficult to complete, it must be done by special effects. According to the production order, it can be divided into pre-production movie stunts and post-production movie stunts. Traditional film stunts rely more on the former, such as trick photography, miniature photography, electronic model stunts, synthetic stunts (including synthetic photography and printing synthesis), physical and chemical effects stunts, stunt makeup and so on. For the latter, there are not many means to complete special effects in post-production. In the past, it was mainly realized by optical printing technology. After the computer is involved in the field of film special effects, the post-production ability of film special effects is greatly enhanced. The content of digital movie stunts is also more extensive and in-depth.

The early film stunt was trick photography, which was the earliest stunt technique. Its birth was purely accidental, and it was discovered by French movie master Georges Méliès when he was filming a play at the Paris Deleux Theatre. When he turned the crank of the camera, the equipment suddenly got stuck. Back to normal after one minute, continue shooting. An interesting phenomenon appeared during the screening: on the screen, the bus became a hearse, and the man instantly became a woman. This is the freeze-frame technology. In this way, a seemingly accidental shooting accident gave birth to early film stunts. Therefore, Georges Méliès became the "father of film special effects". Subsequently, Mei used a series of stunts such as repeated exposure, slow motion, fast motion and overlapping. Later, I tried split screen technology when shooting rubber man in 1902. Star Wars movie stunts

Miniature photography is a trick photography method which takes miniature models as the shooting object. In the process of shooting, miniature scenes, buildings, urban landscapes, spaceships, etc. are made with model props. Actually, it can't be filmed or it doesn't need to be built at a huge cost. Using the perspective principle, shooting with a camera, the effect of seeing the big from the small is obtained.

Film stunts give the film more vitality, make the audience see the past and the future, and realize the director's fantasy and creation. However, the curiosity of human beings may never be satisfied by film stunt masters, and the tricks in traditional film stunts can no longer escape people's critical eyes. At this moment, the situation changed.

A ghost, a digital ghost, began to wander in the movie. Whether we like it or not, filmmakers are either passive or take the initiative to please the ghost.

The bits in computer hard disk have replaced the atoms in chemical film and become the new carrier of film images. Once the image exists in digital form, the computer will exert its magical charm and deduce the ever-changing visual magic with the infinite changes of "0" and "1", and everything is under control.

When the computer is involved in film production, great changes have taken place in film production, which has completely affected the film production technology and process. From the film preparation (including script writing, story version creation, shooting schedule establishment, etc. ) to the scene, as well as editing and post-production, its influence has never been as extensive and in-depth as it is today, and the most representative is the film stunt.

The marriage of computer and film history originated in America, and Hollywood led the trend of film digitalization. The revolutionary significance of computer technology to film art has been recognized by filmmakers all over the world. Similarly, China films have made a lot of efforts in this respect.

The Digitalization Process of Movies and Its Challenges

Since the 1990s, some domestic film directors with keen vision have begun to try to introduce computer technology into film production, such as early Qin Song who adopted CGI pictures. More CGI shots were used in the emergency landing of Shanghai Film Studio. In 2002, Shanghai Film Factory invested 20 million yuan to film Polar Rescue. One-third of the shots were taken entirely with digital cameras, and a lot of digital movie stunts were used. Among them, 60% of the scenes such as mudslides, sandstorms and avalanches use CGI synthetic lenses. In recent years, domestic blockbusters such as Hero, House of Flying Daggers and Promise, as well as Hong Kong-made films such as shaolin soccer, Old Master Q 200 1, Wesley's Blue Blood Man, Biography of Shushan, and The Great Sage of Emotion have also adopted a large number of CGI lenses and digital synthesis technologies.

The digitalization process of China movies is accelerating, which shows that the digital film production platform has begun to take shape. 1999 10 The State Planning Commission approved the "Demonstration Project of Film Digital Production Industrialization" declared by China Film Group Corporation. Therefore, the head office decided to set up a film digital production company as the specific undertaking unit of the project, engaged in film digital production, including digital scanning and recording of films, film special effects and animation creativity, film special effects synthesis, three-dimensional animation, nonlinear editing, digital audio and special effects shooting, etc. In April 2000, in order to adapt to the wave of digital development, the state invested 90 million yuan to set up Hualong Film Digital Production Co., Ltd. to implement the "Demonstration Project of Film Digital Production Industrialization". With the in-depth implementation of the project, the level of digital film production in China has been further improved.

On the occasion of the 0/00th anniversary of the birth of China Film, the national digital film engineering base with world-class technology broke ground in Song Yang Town, Huairou District, Beijing. This is a digital film base with an investment of 900 million yuan and an area of 35 hectares, involving all aspects of film production. After the base is completed, it will have an annual production capacity of 80 feature films, 100 digital films, 200 TV films, 500 TV series and animated films. The completion of the base will greatly enhance the technical level and screen expressiveness of China films, and enhance the international competitiveness of China films.

This is an important measure to popularize digital intermediate film technology. Digital intermediate film is a digital post-production technology that has emerged in the world in recent two years, and it is the direction of digital development of film post-production.

Objectively speaking, under the impact of the huge trend of digital technology, the domestic film industry first thought of equipment, so advanced production equipment was introduced one after another, including training a group of technicians in cooperation with foreign countries, and digital technology was also adopted in film production. But compared with foreign countries, especially Hollywood, the gap is still very big. The digitalization of movies can't be solved simply by introducing some equipment. On the specific level, the level of domestic film stunt production is not mature enough. The reason is that we have not formed a complete production system from hardware. It should be noted that all problems can not be solved by one means (even computer technology), but must be coordinated by various special effects; In addition, the lack of experienced producers is also an important reason. From a macro perspective, China has not yet formed a large-scale film market. Obviously, in the absence of sufficient film production and mature film market, the road to digitalization of China films is more difficult. Therefore, on the one hand, China's film digitalization should be technically updated, and at the same time, the cultivation of China's film industry and market can provide a solid foundation for it.

While coping with the challenges of digital technology, we should also see the development opportunities brought by digital movies to China movies. Digital film refers to the film works that are shot and stored by digital technology and equipment, transmitted by satellite and optical fiber in the form of data stream or carrier such as disk and optical disk, and the digital signals are restored to images and sounds that meet the film technical standards and projected on the screen. Entering the digital cinema field as soon as possible and establishing a domestic digital cinema with a certain scale can effectively resist piracy, improve the intellectual property protection environment in China and increase the domestic distribution and screening income. Secondly, entering the field of digital film as soon as possible, setting up a digital program management and exchange center in line with China's reality as soon as possible, and using our own digital transmission and management technology will effectively maintain the value-added ratio of China in the whole digital film technology link and increase our share in the negotiation with foreign producers.