Finally, I read "Searching for Dragons". Let's write something.

The word-of-mouth of "Seeking the Dragon" is as good as an advertisement, and it is known as "representing the highest level of China film industry". I know that after reading Qian Fan, you smart friends will not easily believe all kinds of "best" that don't even accept the advertising law. Today, let's take a look at how this "highest level" came from.

since we are talking about "film industry", it has nothing to do with characters and acting skills. Chen Kun, of course, contributed a new dimension of handsome in his career, and Shu Qi also went to Tomb Raider. However, the lessons from the past tell us that the special effects of movies with such themes are poor, and they only cover their faces for idols. What is the special effect of "Searching for Dragons"?

according to the director, there are 18 shots in the whole movie, and 153 of them are computer special effects shots. Fans who have been heartbroken by the five-hair special effects of local movies finally have hope and tell each other!

the so-called special effects are generally thought to be the later stage. Such an opinion cannot dominate the circle of friends. The film industry is a set of assembly lines, which means from the beginning to the end. In the special effects part, if you wait until the film is finished, there are usually only two results left: burning money and remaking; Rotten is rotten ...... For example, the big scene of an explosion, the scenery, the position of the characters and the position of the camera are all closely related to the production of special effects. If you don't think about the demand and realization of special effects when shooting, congratulations, call 3, people back and explode again, and investors may blow up the director.

veteran fans will say, isn't there a split mirror and a storyboard? Yes, but it's okay for ordinary movies, and for sci-fi/fantasy genres with high demand for special effects, storyboards can't meet the director's control requirements for shots, time rhythm, actors' positions, special effects, and countless links. In the end, they can only burst into tears at the actual shooting and post-production time and cost that are out of control.

So how does the most industrialized Hollywood make this kind of film? Today, I will introduce you to a technology that is not new, but rare in China: Previs.

preview is the abbreviation of preview, which can be translated into visual preview, preview and preview. Some people call the image "dynamic split mirror" and "3D storyboard" vividly.

It's a great celebration to be able to reach this level, especially when you are a special effects artist, and you often meet customers with a bunch of unsightly materials and whimsically ask you to make changes. I often encounter such wonderful materials and production requirements, and I must have collapsed many times.

rehearsal can be understood as rehearsal, that is, before the official shooting, the content of the film is roughly produced with low-profile and simple animation, which shows the specific needs of the scenery, the actors' walking, and the erection of cameras. There can be many versions of the preview. After the director puts forward N rounds of opinions, it passes, and then the director shoots according to this blueprint. When you arrive at the scene, you will have a bottom.

another important function is to use preview clips to pull investment. Everyone has a movie dream. Now, as long as you make a quick clip, you can show the general style of the film and show the director's skill, which is much more feasible than talking to investors about the plot.

Then the question comes again. Since the rehearsal is so good, why didn't the directors use it before?

in a word: technology didn't work in the past.

To make animation in the preview, animators are expensive, and they can't get up quickly, so they have to draw one frame at a time. The clever little friend thought again, isn't there motion capture? You don't have to draw all the movements by hand. Little friend, you gave the correct answer tonight!

Not so long ago, motion capture was still a greenhouse flower that could only exist in the studio. One or two actors wore tight clothes full of sensors, surrounded by special cameras and lights. In 199, motion capture technology was first applied to movies, and it was not until Pirates of the Caribbean 2 in 26 that it finally left the studio and went to the studio.

After "Avatar", the motion capture was proud and began to work towards higher, faster and stronger. When "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" was made, dozens of orangutans with different shapes appeared at the same time, and the scene was magnificent, and it was already possible to control them by moving and catching them.

(In the rehearsal, the traditional way of animators adjusting their movements by hand is very costly, especially in large scenes and group plays. However, the optical moving capture system that was widely used in the past is very expensive, and it also has the problems of limited space and number of people. Therefore, the inertial motion capture system has become the most critical technology to save the rehearsal: there is no rigid requirement for the venue, and capturing multiple people at one time can be realized in an instant, and the cost is jumping off the building. )

Fans usually don't care about the technical history behind movies, but the content and technology love each other, so Cameron wanted to shoot in 1995, and didn't really shoot Avatar until 29.

"Searching for Dragons" can produce a 6-minute preview clip that sets a local film record, thus making the top-level special effects in Asia according to the strict industrial assembly line and getting the "highest level" evaluation. Apart from the sincerity of the creative team, it also benefits from the evolution of technology all the way. As a movie fan, I am honored.

What fans may be even more surprised is that the cost-effective whole process Previs achieved by Searching for Dragons adopts the motion capture technology provided by China local technology company Nuoyiteng. Once upon a time, "international team" was the premise of special effects quality assurance, and directors shook their heads when they heard the word "domestic". However, in the field of inertial motion capture, China's technology is now at the forefront of the world. When the production team of Game of Thrones won the Emmy Award for Best Film and Television Special Effects, they specifically mentioned that they used Noyiteng's moving capture technology. Nowadays, this technology can be applied to domestic film production, participate in improving the standards of local film industry, and then promote the evolution of the whole industry. This is probably the dream of geek programmers when they were young. Whether geeks can change the world doesn't matter, but at least they can change China movies.